Amand'a Most Awesome Day

I just had the greatest day! So . . . nothing was so special about the first eight hours . . . but after that, things started spicing up! Some of my friends from work were going to a friend, Tricia's, house to see her and her babies and to eat dinner with them since her husband is out of town. While I'm riding with my friends to Tricia's house, we stop by Resch's to get a cake for her because her birthday is on the 4th. They have little gifts for her birthday, and I am getting a little mad thinking, "Um, why didn't anyone tell me that this was a birthday thing? I didn't even get her a card!" Here's why: it was a surprise for me too! My birthday is on the 5th and the presents weren't just for Tricia, they were for me too! Whoo hoo!

I've never had a surprise anything (at least that I can think of right now at 10:15 PM). So it was great! And, drum roll please . . . they got me a Pandora bracelet and a present charm! A real Pandora bracelet all for me! Can I use any more exclamation points! I'm not sure! I feel so special. I have the greatest friends! (see there's that darn exclamation again:)

Then, on the way home, I called another friend, Krysta, who lives in DC and just got engaged, and she asked me to be in her wedding! I know that it could be applicable in my spinster situation to say, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride," but I've never even been a bridesmaid before:) So this is a first!

To quote from one of the cards I got this evening (from my cool entourage, of which, of course, I am the head because I am the coolest;) : "Happiness is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel its warmth." If that is true, then I better invest in some Depends because I am very, very happy to have such a wonderful day:)

Amanda Is Embarrassed

Yesterday, I was coming out of the store and tried to get into the wrong car! The parking space next to me was empty and someone was pulling through into that spot, so I was all flustered and distracted thinking, "Oh, I better get in quick so this guy can park!" And I go to pull on the door handle and it is not my car (if you must know, my car handles are open on the top and the bottom and this one was just open on the bottom!) So, there is this guy waiting for me to get into my car; the only problem is, it isn't my car! So I said, "This isn't me car!" and walked away (two spots down to where my car REALLY was!) Ah, so embarrassing!

Amanda Is Sorry

Sorry I haven't been writing so much lately. I am sick again! Maybe some miracle will happen, and I won't have to have surgery to fix this one! But even if I do, it is 10x better this time around since I know what to expect and all that:) If you refer back to around October - December, you'll see that I don't really write much when I'm not feeling well. (I seem to lack my stunning wit and charm!) So, if I'm absent for longer than a few days, you'll know I am tucked in bed sleeping (and hopefully not camped out in the bathroom!) TMI? Sorry about that too.

Amanda's Stomach is Making Unholy Gurgling Sounds

The title speaks for itself, right?

Amanda Sings

This weekend, I sang with the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra. It is the third year that I have gone up to Mansfield with one of the groups I sing with, Capriccio. This year, we sang "Candide" by Leonard Bernstein. One of the songs in this operetta is one of my all-time favorites: Make Our Garden Grow. I just love it and loved the chance to get to sing with with a real orchestra (and not just my ipod!)

The Mansfield Symphony Orchestra is conducted by a great guy named Robert Franz, and watching him conduct is like a full semester of conducting courses! Since it is my favorite art form (conducting) I just eat it up every time.

When I was deciding what I should be when I grew up (college deadlines looming and all that) my high school band went on a trip to San Diego for contests. I remember watching the director (Greg Taylor - awesome!) while he conducted the top band playing an arrangement of Make Our Garden Grow, and I just loved that image of him: standing on stage and embodying the music. So, right then, I decided that I wanted to be a band teacher. (Well, you see where that has gotten me:) but conducting is STILL my favorite thing in the world!)

Here is my mosaic from facebook:
1. Name?
2.Favorite food?
3. Hometown?


4. Favorite color?
5. Favorite movie?
6. Favorite drink?


7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. Describe yourself.


10.Feeling right now?
11. Love most?
12. Be when you grow up?

Amanda Hopes

I hope my neighbors don't hate me too much. My cats have been running like crazy people (I mean cats) all around the house all night long. I know it must sound thunderous to my neighbors. Oh well.

Amanda's Grandpa is Cool

Here is a link to a blog that talks about my grandpa! He just had a book dedicated to him for his 88th birthday. More on this later!

Cool Blog Link

One more war thing too

Here's a funny quote from Weeds about the war in Iraq:

Doug: You signed up for the reserves on your own free, drunk , horny accord. You're f*****.

Andy: Well I am not going to Iraq to fight in some bulls*** war about oil money.

Doug: Bulls*** war? What about 9/11? Didn't Iran hide the terrorists?

Andy: We're fighting a war in Iraq, Doug, and neither country had anything to do with blowing up the World Trade Center.

Doug: Well they both have sand.

(my favorite part, thank goodness Andy gets his toe bitten off by a dog in a later episode so that he doesn't have to be in the army!) Andy: Bush invaded a sovereign nation in defiance of the U.N He's a war criminal and now I have to be one if his disposable thugs with a f****** target on my head in the middle of the desert waiting to be blown up by a car bomb rigged by a 12 year old who loved Friends and Metallica until one of our missiles blew up his house! I don't think so.

Doug: They had weapons of mass destruction.

Andy: There were no weapons of mass destruction!

Another question

Do angry liberal radio shows exist? I only hear angry conservatives. Is it because angry liberals don't exist (like an oxymoron) or do they have a different media outlet? And, why do conservatives gripe about the money spent toward the recession and not the trillion dollars for the war in Iraq where we caught the bad guy six years ago? I'm not a political person, but this gets me!

Amanda Asks Some Questions

If you haven't guessed by now, my mind works in mysterious ways. (Or maybe all minds work this way and I'm the only one dumb enough to say it all out loud). But here are some questions that have recently been gnawing (did you know that's how you spell that word? gnawing? I tried to spell it "knawing!") at my mind:

1. Why do all the people who play Bible characters in movies have an English accent?

2. Do more people face the shower head or away from the shower head when taking a shower? Does this depend on the sex? (The sex of the person, not sex in the shower) (I mean, do boys face one way and . . . you know what, I'm abandoning this one)

3. How can the annoying person (who lives across the street, no, let me amend that, who is dating someone across the street) sense the perfect 10 minute window to come in and steal my parking spot?

4. Why are short weeks so long?

Amanda Says, "Never Fear"

So, during this contest, I was really not "present" which is what I like to do when I am onstage and competing. (I love to compete!) But I was so thrown off by the song being in the wrong key, that I totally missed the second song. I was even a little worried that I didn't do any of the choreography because I couldn't remember a thing (other than, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, we're too high, we're too high, in the wrong key, oh my gosh") Apparently, my body went on autopilot and I sang the whole song WITH choreo! I saw the DVD Monday to prove it! Actually, I have stood in the same place for eleven years, which is right, smack dab on the end of the risers where no one can see me. When we watched the DVD, I was off the screen and on the wall and I had to stand up and watch the little DVD player instead so I could see myself. But being on the wall was better than the show last year because I was in the shadows the whole time. I wasn't even lit up!

Evidence:
(Yes, that's me, the very last one on the right at the very top, IN THE SHADOWS!)

More evidence:
(More me in the shadows, no wonder I need therapy!)

I even went on facebook and tagged my(shadowloving)self

Amanda Describes the Transformation of a Sweet Adeline

Hi everyone!

I just got back from Covington, KY and my eleventh region 4 Sweet Adeline contest! We placed fourth, yea!

I amused myself by taking pictures to share with you about how one transforms herself into a Sweet Adeline.

Step 1: Plain Amanda

















Step 2: Putting on the spackle (I mean make-up); notice the difference between my face color and my neck color. Yikes!















Step 3: Made up Amanda
















Step 4: (Hair substep 1: this thing is complicated, isn't it?) Curl hair (I've always had a little orphan Annie/ Shirley Temple complex, can you tell?)



























Step 5: Brush out curls, pin and go! (This is my, "let's get ready to rumble/ bring it" face)

























Step 6: Find 70 other people dressed EXACTLY like you (scaring numerous, unsuspecting hotel guests in the process) and wait in the lobby















Steps 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14: Ride on bus; load into freight elevator; warm-up; wait in hall/ go to the bathroom; wait backstage/ apply vaseline to teeth (so they don't stick!); PERFORM! (second song in wrong key, threw me off the whole time. Did I do any of my choreo?); wait for results (when they say 10 minute intermission, they mean 45); have Mary Ellen bestow you with a fourth place medal.

(By the way, somewhere around 13.5, there was this strange pie plate/ Star Wars thing going on which I didn't participate in, but liked watching, but was also a little spooked out like I was in the Twilight Zone)

Step 15: Strip off make-up and outfit and kiss your medal. Another year of competition done!
























Step 16: Free happy hour, dinner and fun with BEST CHORUS EVER!!!