My mom was right...

...I do regret giving up on piano lessons. Turning 30 hasn't done amazing things for all parts of me, but it has strengthened my resolve to take care of a few things. One such item is getting back on the Dozen-A-Day/John Thompson saddle.

Ruth recently gifted me her keyboard (she's upgraded to the real deal) and once we we got around to taking our Christmas tree down (we were bordering, if not completely white trash this year about that), Nate set up the keyboard in the front room so my keyboard is in plain view to remind me to practice.

Kathryn's not so subtle form of protesting the removal of the Christmas tree.

Starting over officially bugs me. Playing songs that I know I played better in elementary school is horribly depressing, but maybe that's the humility I need to keep going. My goal is to beat my younger self, and at this point all I need in order to do that is to not be a quitter. Eh, Mom?

I've been at it about a month, so it almost feels like a habit, and while I'm without a metronome, Gwen Chesley saying "and it's MEMORIZED", Cheryl Morrow complimenting my sight reading skills, and Mom telling me I couldn't quit until I could play the hymns...it's still something. My very own piano hymn book came today too. The real one too, it was a bit less expensive than the simplified one and I decided to set my sights high...or at least to my mother's 15 year old standard.

Speaking of goals and repeating things, I started back to school last week. Again. This time, I really started over. I have to take Portfolio I over again because I've been out of school over a year. That seems fair in some respects, but it's difficult to think about when I took that class the first time...between piano and school and working at GoGo again, I feel like I may be regressing.

Silver lining: I can still play "The Man in the Moon" in all 12 keys and I still give one heck of a PowerPoint presentation*

*provided Nate creates/polishes my slides

Adjusting

I've lived in Las Vegas for about five months now. Five?? There are some days when I feel like I've been here forever, but I have more days when I feel like I'm living amongst and working with people I don't know. Nate of course doesn't fall into this category, but hopefully you get what I mean. To help me stay sane during the work day, I've taken to eating lunch in my car. The temperature will allow me to get away with this for now...I know it won't last, but in the meantime I've been very grateful for the escape. While I eat, I read; and I've made it through a few books. I recently finished one, and close to the end of the book, I read a paragraph I've been thinking about a lot:

"You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, I told him, you'll not only miss the people you love, but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way again".*

I think my problem is I assume I will stay the same person; that I could go right back into an old situation and feel right at home. While I know that is of course not true, that is normally what I tell myself when I leave somewhere or something, just as a way of coping.

We've fallen into a lot of wonderful things out here, but many moments still carry a sting, because I can't help but compare them to either my life in Utah or Ohio; mostly Ohio, honestly. I miss the friends I could've only made in Toledo, as well as friends I was able to "follow" out there and hang on to. Las Vegas is becoming our home, but as it happens, I am often reminded of what home has meant in other places.

Just had to get that out.

*Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi

Happy Phantomtime's Day

Nathan has figured out that he cherishes a surprise a bit more than I do. However, I've been entertained with the idea that, as of late, he's become worse and worse at actually holding in said surprise for very long. His Valentime's surprise was very much a surprise to me, and knowing a few days early only gave me something to look forward to.

Is this creepy and confusing to you as well?

The Friday before Valentime's we headed down to the Venetian and saw "The Phantom of the Opera". It was fabulous. It had been a long time since I'd seen a production like that and it made me so happy, it brought me to tears. It reminded me of my time in London when I was ridiculously spoiled with all sorts of shows weekly. So major points for Nate, and a few more points to Vegas.

Contraband picture in the theater. ps-the Phantom also had a small role in an episode of Frasier, so...obviously he was good.

After the show, we walked around and took in the sights which brought us to this:

I've always loved H&M (coincidentally a common "after show" spot for me in London) so it was fun to walk through. Isn't anything made better with a horse lamp though? Seriously.

Traveling for work can=traveling home

One of the perks of working in an office that used to be in Salt Lake and still services that area: getting to visit "on business". The last weekend in January, I went with my boss Paula to Salt Lake for the Morris Murdock Travel Show at the Sandy Expo Center. Way too many proper nouns, but there you go. It's an odd thing to fly for about 5 minutes and be home, but be at the airport, then rent a car and settle back in Sandy...at the Hampton Inn. We stayed in the Auto Mall complex just across from South Towne mall.

I jokingly offered a few times that I could sleep at my parents' house...but really, it seemed ridiculous. I will say the Hampton Inn provided unlimited hot chocolate, so I was able to seemingly keep up with my boss's insatiable coffee habit, and their workout room provided much needed alone time and fitness all in the same go.

The day we got into town, we had a travel show, so I wasn't able to see family, but we had an open house where I saw quite a few travel agents I'd worked with in the past, so it was a lot of fun to visit with them. (side note: before the show, I had the opportunity to visit my very first liquor store...in my home state. It was a special, seedy moment) The next morning I met up with Ruth, Vince, Bella and Mom. And because Jim is omnipresent, he showed up as well. :) We went to Hagermann's for their (rightfully so) famous french toast and had a nice visit. We took a jaunt to Wal*Mart and saw this:

The irony was almost enough to make me forget that I had to get along to work...it wasn't incredibly taxing, but again, it seemed wrong for me to be working when there was a family to visit and grocery shopping to do. It was a long day, but it was over soon enough, and that evening I found myself at McGrath's with a group of people that included the director of the Mexico Tourist Board. For the record, he asked me if I was British. I asked him why he thought so and he explained because of how I talk. It's a new one, but I somehow turned it into a compliment, if an undeserved one.

The next morning I had an early breakfast with Tom, Stacey and the croupy Grey. I was sick over this weekend, so I felt like it was okay to be around fellow sickies (Bella was also sick). We had a lovely breakfast at Paradise Bakery and I briefly made Grey happy by pulling out an oldish cookie (like a day) from my purse ( I took it from the front desk at the hotel and decided against eating it). Breakfast was over too quickly and I again was whisked back to the Expo Center. Thankfully the second day seemed to be a bit more tolerable...if only because I knew we'd be heading home soon...and maybe also because of this:

Once the show was done, we made our way to the airport way too early, had some "express" California Pizza Kitchen and I made my way through a good portion of "Reading Lolita in Tehran".

It was great to fit in a few visits with family, but most of the time, I felt homesick yet comfortable all at the same time. I guess that's fair, considering that is how I tend to feel when I'm home in Vegas too.

Viva Las Salt Lake!