salience

A quick re-cap since we're now well into March:

A few of Flora's old Boston roommates came up for a weekend visit. We had a great time.



I made it out to Alex Clark's coffee shop. He quit his day job and decided to open up his own place, Ost Cafe, in the East Village. I was happy to see he really loves what he's doing, and although he has to work nonstop, he seems truly content. His shop sits on the corner of a really great block, the space itself is very airy with many windows. It's been decorated in a very clever style too. My favorite was learning the Wi-Fi is turned off during the day to discourage people from getting too comfortable with the few seats available. Genius! Clark even made sure to make my mocha extra special (see below). We've come a long way from our days in the sax section of the BCMB together to be sure. A few pictures:





I had Presidents' Day off for the first time ever, which coincided nicely with Valentine's Day weekend. I went down to Virginia to go to the Shenandoah Valley with Ryan. It was an amazing trip, very peaceful but quite cold! We stayed at an inn which takes in stray cats and of course I became attached very quickly to an orange tabby.

Meet Hero, named for his love of sleeping with both front patas out in front of him, much like Superman:


Yes, this little guy made me cry when we had to leave him outside for the night. He is very loving, a Hemingway gato with six toes on his front patas. Ryan too became attached, and went back to adopt him the day after we left. :)

My Valentine's Day gifts to Ryan went over very well: a set of Thomas Pink cufflinks and two handkerchiefs.

Ryan surprised me with tickets to see Celtic Woman perform at Radio City Music Hall this upcoming weekend (think Michael Flatley music set up minus the Irish steppers), as well as cookie cutters, a paper flower making kit, and a beautiful hair comb to wear to Foxfield's.

I am so excited for Celtic Woman, I can hardly wait! Máiréad Nesbitt is a current obsession of mine (see my current favorite performance of her here).

While in the Shenandoah we opted to head to Luray Caverns instead of horseback riding with the rainy weather. Despite all of my time living in Virginia, I had never been. It was such an amazing thing to see (especially the working organ)! A few pictures:





I went back down to Virginia the following weekend. Hero was adapting to being an indoor cat pretty well, although he would still beg to go outside. Ryan and I walked him around the perimeter of the house, but mostly I think he missed sunning himself.

Let's see, the weekend after that Ryan came up to NYC. There was quite the UVA reunion going on in town and lots of time was spent with great friends. I think the next time the entire crowd will get together is Foxfield Races next month.

I was able to get tickets to see Will Ferrell's "You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush" one man show. Ferrell rarely does live acts and the show is in its final week of performances as we speak. I jumped at the chance and I'm glad I did. The show was just over an hour long and I cried from laughing so hard. When we left the theater my sides actually hurt. A few pictures:



The next day was Columbia's Festival of Winds. This was the first time I got to see the MWE/CSW crew since Deb and Dan's deaths. It was pretty sombre, but great to see everyone again. Although MWE was supposed to perform, with our lack of rehearsal space, we opted to volunteer to work instead. We got to hear great music from area schools, as well as Columbia's Wind Ensemble perform. Andy dedicated a piece to both Deb and Dan which was great. I was only able to get one picture in since we were working:



Michael Jackson announced a series of concerts at O2 Arena this coming July. While there is great debate as to whether this will actually happen, tickets go on sale this week. El papa wants to see if I can get tickets and we may end up taking a familia excursion to see the famed gloved one himself (see my favorite rehearsal video of MJ here).

I went to see this Chicago City Limits with the brothers Friday night. It has to be hands down the funniest improv I’ve seen in a good, long while. The brothers’ mutual friend’s coworker was one of the performers and we sat right in front, center stage and got picked on a fair amount. We had a great time with the whole crew (including comedian Jason Fletcher himself) at Divine afterwards. We even got the inside scoop of the tricks the actors use and the exercises they go through to gear up for a show.

And I think that gets yall up to date on what's been going on. Hope everyone is doing well!