More violin

I continue to take violin lessons up at UBC with my teacher, Monica. It's hard! The learning curve is so much steeper than it was with flute! But I am enjoying it. Here's the hallway for the practice rooms that I am in once a week

And here's a shot of Monica in the School of Music recital hall. She has her end of term concert coming up, which I won't be able to attend. She invited me to come sit in on her practice. It was lovely, she's a great musician. I don't think I will ever play like her, but hopefully I can make it through a nice-sounding version of Danny Boy.

Happy Easter

We had Easter dinner at my sister's house on the weekend. They have an accordion!

Me and Noah wish you a happy day.

And a happy easter!

Inner Beauty Pageant

This past weekend was a Family Day in BC - long weekends rule!

I had the pleasure of judging the Inner Beauty Pageant for Too Fly Productions. This is the same company that produced Little Miss Glitz last year, and it's a fundraiser for their upcoming show, Robin Hood: Prince of Tease.

There was a TON of talent, from the contestants and all the other acts that performed during the night.

It was held at the Junction on Davie Street, and it was their second annual pageant.

It was SO much fun! And my friend Mike came and it was his birthday! So I got to celebrate with him.

Here are all 6 contestants.

And here's the winner, Matthew!

Here are the judges: me, David and Barb. What a fun night, thanks for having me, Too Fly!

Learning Violin

I am learning how to play the violin! I mentioned I bought some music books here, and the big bear was helping out here.

I started at the end of last summer, with my teacher Monica. She is a 4th year violin student at UBC, so we do lessons at the School of Music on my lunch break. It's perfect. She's very good. I am not. But it has been a nice challenge, and the instrument is in C - so I can play all my flute music on it. Well, perhaps eventually I will be able to play all my flute music on it. It sure is humbling learning something new as an adult.

Crescendo

Over the weekend, my niece Brianna hosted this event, Crescendo.

I organized the silent auction prizes.

It was very well done and well attended - just a night of sharing talent and listening to good music, all for a great cause.

Selfie time! Me and the hubs sang a song together (him on guitar) and he accompanied Bri for one song (on piano).

I supervised this hooligan, who is hoping to make her stage debut soon - ha!

Here we are with the lady of the hour. It was a really great event!

Music sale

There was a music sale in my building at work today.

I got these two books on violin. Because I am learning violin! More on that later.

How can you beat these prices?!

I got all of this for 6 bucks!

Breaking up the band

My husband and I have gotten to play, work, and perform with some amazing musicians over the past few years, and they have also become our friends.

We even started a funk band with some of them. But alas, they are so talented, a few of them have left for new endeavours. Our pal Peter, the guitarist seated to the right of me in the pic below, is on a contact with Princess Cruise lines in the Bahamas!

And today our buddy Colin, drummer, in the light t-shirt below, leaves for Australia for a 5-month contract, also with Princess Cruise lines. That's what happens when you have talented friends, they get great job offers and leave! But we wish them well and hope they'll return ready to make more music with us.

Funkifze wedding gig

Funkifize played our wedding gig and it was so much fun!

It was at the Vancouver Golf Club, which is in Coquitlam.

Nice views on the green, and off!

Here's some snapshots of the band, in full swing.

Here we are - all 10 of us - almost! Drew was off doing groomsmen duties.

It was so much fun, I hope we get to play together again soon!

Impromptu Music

Spotted at UBC: a bit of impromptu music, should you wish to jump on and tickle the ivories.

Flute - Part Two

I already told you about my walk to the studio, and now I will blog about my beautiful flute!

My husband bought it for me when I first started, on a payment plan. We paid for it over a year.

It's a silver Maramatsu, and I love it! Maybe next week I will post some clips of me playing. Maybe…!

Flute - Part One

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet - but I am taking flute lessons! I started over 3 years ago!!

Every week I go to my teacher's studio, along this walk, past this sunny deck...

and along this lovely path way.

I can't believe I haven't posted about it, it has been such a big part of my weekly routine. Maybe because I was shy?! Ah well, the time has passed for that. I'm finally at a post where I feel pretty good about my skill level. This was part one of my flutie flute post - next post I will blog about my actual flute, which is beautiful. And then maybe I'll put up some clips of me playing!

Yellow brick yarn

Here's the yarn I picked up last week when I went to So Much Yarn:

I listened to a podcast while I rolled it up into this:

I'm going to make myself a spring cowl scarf. The label calls this colour "gold," but I bought it because I've had this song stuck in my head for the last few weeks. It's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, done by Sara Bareilles. Man, I love her, and I love her take on this song. Here she is live on PBS American Voices. Amazing. 

Where the wind comes sweeping' down the plain

Tomorrow is our anniversary! For the past two years, the hubs has been out of town. This time he is in town - yay! And to celebrate, we are both going to be at rehearsal for separate shows, ha! He is music directing Oklahoma at Studio 58, Langara College.

I snuck in at the end of one of his band rehearsals. I love the music in this show, can wait to see it! And happy anniversary to us :D

Blueberry Festival 2014

The Blueberry Festival at UBC is on now! I love going to this event, so we set out bright and early on the first day.

This was the line up after maybe 20 minutes. It's very popular...

Because they sell yummy things!

This year my friend got pancakes and I got blintzes, and we shared. Delish :)

And look - there's my friend Allison providing music and entertainment to all those awaiting blueberry treats!