Choir

My first experience with choir came when I was quite young, just a 3rd grader. Our region of Ohio had an audition-only choir for youth grades 3-9 called Junior Choral Society. I so wish I had pictures, because we wore dark plaid skirts (the boys wore navy pants) with white shirts. There were matching plaid ties for the boys and these little snap on cross-over ties for the girls. We were dorky, but we sang great music and it was a lot of fun.

Fast forward to high school, where my tone-deaf music teacher sucked all the fun out of choir, so I only joined for two years, and then it was only because that way I wouldn't have a study hall 3 days per week. She was, however, oblivious and we got away with all kinds of things, like making Pop Tarts in a toaster in the bass section during rehearsal.

In college, things got more serious. I joined the Chorale and enjoyed singing Verdi's Requiem with a huge choir and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. I continued to sing all through college, and got into the upper level choir, Chamber Choir, my junior year. That year I went from singing Soprano (generally 2nd Soprano) to singing 2nd Alto, the lowest female part. It was a tough transition, and I was fully convinced I was truly a Soprano. I have since embraced my alto-ness. Those were some really great years. The picture at the top of this post is from our choir tour over spring break (yes, our dresses were unflattering). The joy of singing together and working on really challenging music and really GETTING it was amazing. It is so good for my brain to do things like that.

Also in college, I sang with the Women's World Music choir. We wore ethnic cloth with our choir dresses and sang amazing, loud, energetic, exciting music. One of the best feelings is when a song sort of takes over inside you, and your whole body just beams with excitement and joy. This happened most often with the loud, joyful music we sang in the women's choir. The energy of a song where you can let go and have fun is amazing.

After college, I realized how much singing in a choir meant to me. So I joined an area community choir. This was a much different experience than college choir, where many of the members had been vocal performance majors. This was a group of people who liked to sing. It didn't necessarily mean they were good at it, and many of them were older and found the semi-challenging music our director chose too difficult. It was still wonderful to sing with a group of people.

In recent years, choir hasn't been a part of my life. I've been busy, and the experiences I'd had were not that meaningful. But at church last Sunday, we sang a song I'd never heard before. I had to focus on the notes and use my sight reading skills. And my brain just came alive. It was that old feeling, a taste of what I felt in rehearsals in college, when we'd spent hours singing the same passage of Bach and my whole brain was dedicated to getting the notes and the rhythm and dynamics exactly right. I remembered again how important singing with a group of people is to me.

So I am dedicating myself to church choir. It's the level of commitment I can handle at the moment, and while the music is less challenging, it's a great way for me to ease back into singing in choir. Maybe someday I'll audition for a more elite choir, but for now, this is enough. I had my first rehearsal with them this morning, and it was so good to focus on something outside of me. I'll keep you updated with how it's going!

Pumpkin Fest

5 years ago, 5 girls had a vision.



A vision to celebrate the delicious-ness of pumpkin foods. A vision to celebrate the glory of fall. A vision to gather together to feast and celebrate sunshine and good weather before the drudgery of winter in Northern Indiana.

The first Pumpkin Fest, in 2006, was a success:



At the bottom of the invitation it reads, "Get ready to be pumpkin-afied!"



Then I hosted another one (my housemates from the previous year had all moved away), so I continued the tradition with a new group of people. We called this one the 2nd Annual Fest, Fall Edition, as one of my housemates was not terribly enamored with pumpkin foods. It was still delicious, as Sarah exhibits below.



Then we hosted another one--this time in Denver. Pumpkin Fest 2008:







2008's offerings included homemade pumpkin donuts, pumpkin whoopie pies, savory pumpkin cumin/chile-spiced dip, and pumpkin soup served in a pumpkin.

I seem to have no pictures of Pumpkin Fest 2009, so we'll skip ahead to 2010, the fifth annual Pumpkin Fest, which did not disappoint. There were TWO types of pumpkin cheesecake, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin ganoush (like baba ganoush, but with pumpkin, not eggplant), pumpkin dip with apple slices, pumpkin lentil sausage soup, pumpkin ice cream, and more. My contribution was Mama Pea's pumpkin scones, which were a HUGE hit. Mine weren't vegan (I used butter and cow's milk) and I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour (b/c I didn't have whole wheat pastry flour), but they were egg-free and delicious.



I count myself lucky that I have had the privilege to participate in all five Pumpkin Fests and that 5 years later, I am still friends with all the girls from the original celebration. All but one of us live here in Denver. It is such fun to celebrate this holiday we made up, and it helps me remember to celebrate these friendships, too. I am so lucky have these amazing women in my life.

Here's to many more Pumpkin Fests!

Happiness

is happy hour on a roof-top patio with my favorite, passionate, hilarious, awesome coworkers overlooking Denver's beautiful skyline.

Happiness is calling your husband to say, "Please preheat the oven to 450 and slice up some peppers and onions! I'm bring home pizza sauce, cheese, and garlic bread."

It is sitting on your couch in your PJs, eating pita pizza and that amazing, terrible-for-you garlic bread from the freezer section while watching Get Him to the Greek.

Happiness is chocolate cake (made in minutes in a mug in the microwave) topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream.

All in all, it was a good Friday night.

Small Group

Tonight James and I broke from our regular evening routine of dinner, TV watching, and blog reading/computer time, all done from the comfort of our loveseat. Tonight we had our second meeting with our small group from church. The idea behind small groups is to forge connections with other members of the congregation, and to get to know some new faces at church. Our congregation is pretty big, and after two years of regular attendance, I still know just a handful of people's names. We've enjoyed our previous small group opportunities that have given us a chance to get to know a few people a little better.

Our current group is a nice mix of folk, some single, some married, some older, some younger. Our ages range from 22-70 (or 80?) and we come from various professions and walks of life. Tonight we played Catch Phrase, which I think is a really good leveling game. There are words that the younger generations know and words that the older generations know, and sometimes you just get stuck with a tough phrase like slap shot. It was fun to see how different members of our group approached the game--some with lots of hand motions and few words, some with lots of animation, some with a cool, calm, collected attitude. It was fun to laugh and play together, to discuss opinions and ideas, to tell stories.

I have to tell on myself, as I embarrassed myself a little in front of the group tonight. On one of my turns at Catch Phrase, I gave the following clues to my team: "Oh, Hugh Hefner lives in one of these." "Mansion!" my team guessed confidently. "No," I said, "it's a place where you might entertain women." Time ran out and my team was stumped. The other team tried to guess the word, debating bachelor pad as a possibility. At this point I realized I had gotten the meaning of the word all wrong, and would have been much better off with a clue such as, "a room at the top of a hotel or condo/apartment building," and start to giggle.

The word? Penthouse.

Oops.

The thing is, though I don't know these people well, I did not feel mortified or even embarrassed for long. I didn't for an instant consider that these folks might think less of me. I giggled (until I cried, as I often do when I laugh a lot) and made fun of myself. We all had a good laugh and moved on. It's so great to feel that safe and comfortable in a group of former strangers, now friends. Intentional gatherings to get to know people in your community really work. I am glad to be a part of such a group.

What I Ate: Wednesday edition

It may not yet be apparent, but I am challenging myself to write a blog post every day in November. (It has not escaped my attention that I missed Nov. 1, so maybe I'll double-post one day to make up for it.) I used to really enjoy blogging, journaling, and other forms of writing, but I've really lost interest recently. I'd like to get back in touch with the creative writing part of my brain, so I'm hoping that posting more will get me excited.

Because I am going to need something to talk about, I'm copying Abby and toying with the idea of daily themes. One I'd definitely like to do is What I Ate, where I write (and hopefully photograph) my Wednesday night dinner. I am the kind of person who reads cookbooks for fun and thinks about food constantly. Cooking and baking are some of the things I enjoy the most, so food posts are quite common on this blog.

Tonight I made an old stand-by that we probably eat at least once a month in Casa SW: frittata. Tonight's plate included:

• Sweet Pepper Frittata: potato, onion, and tiny sweet peppers from our CSA share sauteed with garlic, basil, thyme, and red pepper flake. Tossed with a little feta cheese, topped with beaten egg & milk, sprinkled with cheddar cheese and baked until bubbly and edges are browned.
• Toast with butter
• Green beans (frozen from the peak of CSA season this summer when we got a 5 pound bag of green beans per week) steamed and tossed with black pepper, granulated garlic, and while wine vinegar.

No pictures this week because dinner was devoured before I thought of it!

School-related Musings

It seems that computer problems happen only on busy days when computer functionality is most required.

Nothing beats a fourth grader telling me to "have a good day." (totally unprompted!)

Some days you will spend 45 minutes untangling pairs of headphones.

Other days you will be surrounded by the laughter of students who are actually enjoying learning about the Dewey Decimal system.

Coffee is the best antidote to starting work at 7:30 am.

It is truly amazing to have students waving, smiling, and saying hi to you each and every day. (even if you did just lecture them for forgetting their library books. Again.)

Everyone should be able to count (at least some of ) their coworkers as friends.

I really did learn most of the things I needed to know in kindergarten: share your resources. respect others. tie your shoes or you'll trip.

I smile at least once a day, thanks to the creativity and hilarity of my students.

Rainy Day Baking

Pumpkin muffin photo shoot!



Today it is rainy and gray out, but it smells cinnamon-y and delicious inside our warm house. When I am stressed and worried, as I have been much of the time recently, there are lots of things that soothe me: journaling, warm cups of tea, hugs from friends, baking, and more. Today and yesterday, I was called to the kitchen. I'd like to share what I whipped up while listening to good music and wearing one of my favorite wedding presents: a homemade apron with my initials hand-embroidered on it!

First up, my mom's pumpkin muffins recipe. I generally make it her way, but this time I wanted to try something a little "healthier." (Only mildly healthier b/c I added chocolate chips. :)

Karen's Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 12-15 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
6 T canola oil
1/3 c brown sugar, packed
1/6 c sugar (I would probably leave this out next time)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup + 2 T pumpkin
1/2 c milk
mini chocolate chips, to taste
2 t sugar + 1/4 t cinnamon, mixed

Method:
Combine all ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a bowl. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full with batter. After filling half of the muffin tins, stir chocolate chips into the batter. Fill remaining muffin tins. Sprinkle muffins with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

I have found myself tired of store-bought granola bars, but they are one of the easiest snacks for me to pack for work. I looked through my accumulated bookmarks from my extensive food blog reading, and found these breakfast bars from So I Married a Chef. I made just a few modifications: I used currants and dried cherries instead of raisins and dried cranberries. I used a combination of sunflower seeds and walnuts for the 6 T of nuts the recipe calls for. I used just one teaspoon of vanilla (I have to ration our amazing Dominican vanilla!) and 3 eggs + milk to equal the 3/4 c of liquid egg whites (per Carly's suggestion). I haven't tried them yet, but they smell and look fabulous!

The other recipe I want to share is a fun one. One of the pastors from my home church in Ohio used to always bring baked oatmeal to our Easter brunches. My mom has the recipe. I've made it many times with many combinations of dried fruits and nuts (my favorite being candied pecans and dried blueberries, or without either. Recently, I've been changing the recipe a bit so I can feel ok about eating it more often (the original recipe has a lot of sugar and oil in it). Enjoy!

Dee's Baked Oatmeal
makes a 9x13 pan, which is enough for 4 servings + leftovers

Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
1 c milk
1/2 c unsweeted applesauce
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt (the original recipe calls for 1 t--I don't like to use a lot of salt because high blood pressure runs in my family. I've found you can generally reduce the salt by half and baked goods turn out fine. If you aren't used to a reduced salt diet, use 1 t!)
1/2 t cinnamon
3 c rolled oats (the original recipe calls for quick oats--use what you have)
1/2 c dried fruit (I used dried cherries this time)
1/4 c-1/2 c chopped nuts (I used about 1/4 c of walnuts)

Method:
Whisk the ingredients from eggs to cinnamon together in a large bowl. Stir in the oatmeal, fruit, and nuts. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve warm with milk. (I find it delicious cold as well.)

Hope you enjoy if you try these recipes!