There are holiday crumbs in the couch, on the floor, around the kitchen, even on the walls of the condo.
Not real "crumbs", more like the random detritus of the holidays. Christmas and holiday cards, ornaments, packing materials from boxes in the mail, empty holiday plates, and of course the twinkling lights along the indoor-plant 'christmas tree' and the mantle.
So today I'm cleaning. Time to take down the lights and pack up the holidays that seemed to sneak up on us, ambushed and then flitted away into the night. What day is it anyway? Oh, right... the third of January... 2009!
With cleaning always comes introspection on my part... which is probably why I'm waxing philosophical at the moment. That, and the holidays always tend to bring people out of the woodwork. Those that you've sort of let slip over time and have reunited with for whatever reason that the holidays always seem to spark.
Perhaps its the movie that I received through Netflix this week? I watched "Home for the Holidays" while eating a brunch of sorts. Buy this movie... seriously.
Its my favorite holiday movie. Its not one of those movies like "Miracle on 34th st" or "Its a wonderful Life"... its more of a real 'how life over the holidays' sort of thing. It always makes me want to hug my mom and thank her for raising me. It doesn't sugar coat the holidays, but it does make you feel good about the holidays that you do have.
The special things that make you and the ones you love different are the things that should be treasured.
Who cares if you got what you wanted or if crazy Aunt Jane asked you fifty times if you were done with school or if your Dad has never apologized for anything in his entire life or if you accidentally got your Mom drunk for Christmas. Its the memories that matter!
Life keeps on going and you just have to keep going... even if its not perfect like you think it should be, it is what it is, so make the best of it. Thats my big plan for this year... make the best of whatever happens and just to keep smiling as best I can. There are some things I can change, but there are some that I can't, so I'll do what I do and hope for the best!
I basically work, eat, sleep and play guitar. Not necessarily in that order, but hey... that's the fun part, right? Variety of the when versus the variety of the what.
I guess its one of those easy things to pare down on when you can't afford to drive half-way across the state to hang out nonchalantly with friends.
I'm not complaining... Life's been good for the most part. Sean, my boyfriend who I live with in Boulder, has been busybusybusy and we've just managed to squeeze in actual social activities on all the major holidays including New Year's Eve.
The plus side of his being busy is that he's one of the few people who are thriving monetarily in this whacked-out economy. I'm scraping by bill wise and am very happy that I still have my savings chugging along.
Currently I'm waiting to hear back from Betty on whether or not she wants me to come back to faire sans Madrigals... Dana and Leah quit, Michelle is having her baby in March, Emily wants to start a whole new group, but I'm really burned out on the group thing...
Last year, trying to get all of the girls together for rehearsals (nevermind the antics AT the faire... but we won't get into that... oi.) was much like trying to herd cats. If you can convince one, the others want to do something else, or vise-versa... and the prospect of starting over with people that I don't know? Gives me heartburn just thinking about it.
But I'm getting pretty damned decent on guitar. Sean's recently taught me bar and power-chords. I've been in touch with Gary and Steve Mariner about getting tab or chords for some of the faire songs... Steve promised that he'll get back to me on it.
So, yeah... All things concidered, I think 2009 will be much better than last year... There is a hope in the air that I didn't have last year. Makes me smile a bit... guess I'll just have to wait and see, right?
Happy New Year!
I hope that you and yours have lots of luck, lots of love... and a postive outlook for the future. It is what you make it, so make it a good one!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Holiday Greetings!
Now, I know a few of you will be getting this in a card in a couple days so I'll be ruining the surprise... Sorry about that... LOL But hey, what good is working at a print shop if you can't send a few Holiday letters, right? Well, here is the end of the year letter! Wow... 2008 on its way out. Whew....
Happy Holidays everyone!
Whoosh!!
Did you just see that? A whole year just flew by... and what an eventful year it’s been!
In February I celebrated one year in Boulder with Sean. We also celebrated two birthdays! My mom's birthday was on February 25th, and Sean's was on February 28th. So Sean and I celebrated his big day with a bunch of our friends at an Old Chicago in town. Sean, Mom and I went to California Pizza Kitchen for my mom's birthday dinner. I like being able to finally afford things like two birthday dinners in a week. Good stuff, having a steady job and a steady income. Who knows what the future will hold?
March brought some interesting news when we found out that Anikka would not be leading our Merrye Madrygal Mavyns for the 2008 CoRF season. As you might expect, we had a flurry of communication as to who would lead our group. I ended up picking up the reigns for the group. We later held auditions for a new Alto/Bass and found the lovely and talented Michelle Boudreau.
In April and through May we were practicing and working and re-working and rehearsing and what-not the entire time. I was so tired by about mid-May that I almost skipped town for a few weeks. This is where having Sean is truly a blessing. He is my rock and my champion. The only real spat that we had from April through the summer was because I don't take good enough care of myself. Wacky, eh? To be fair, he has a point. I was burning the candle at both ends and partly in the middle: getting stuff ready for faire and working at the print shop or collecting music or doing website stuff, or whatever, and haven't been taking much care of myself.
April also featured a lovely visit from Sean’s Mom, Jill. She was here for only a week, but we had a lot of fun. We were the last stop on a meandering trip through the southwest. Being so busy during this time, I really wanted to go with her!
May brought the realization that music, just like anything else, can be a job. Michelle, our newest member, learned her music faster than I thought was possible, which was excellent. She plays piano and has quite a bit some music experience. Plus, she's a fun and energetic person. Leadership is something that I had always craved, especially in our group. Even with the sudden and mostly unexpected departure of Anikka, we really pulled together. At times it felt like I was driving a previously owned car that was very well taken care of: There are parts missing or broken, but for the most part it drove great.
In early June the Madrygals finally finished up our one and only CD. Sean had it mixed in record time and we began selling CDs at the faire. They’re still available online if anyone is interested www.cdbaby.com/cd/mmmavyns.
July brought a chipped tooth due to my own antics. Michelle and her fiance hosted a good many of our rehearsals both before and during the faire. Her apartment building has an entryway with a small closed circuit camera that they can watch who is buzzing to enter the building. The Mavyns and I would take joy in doing silly stuff to the camera because we knew they were watching. Well, one time I mimed that I was eating the camera(it peeks out of a hole for security) and misjudged the distance to the wall. Yep, chipped my tooth. LOL
In August we parted ways from the Renaissance Festival and the Merry Madrygal Mavyns splintered. We might get back together down the road, but for now we’ve disbanded. Dana wants to pursue other performance opportunities which will be excellent for her. I’m excited to see where she goes with it. Leah would like to take a season or two off to rest her voice and get settled in Boulder where she moved about mid-season. Emily and I are in talks at the moment to see if we’ll do a duet sort of thing featuring a guitar. Hmm...
September was filled with a lot of laundry at a Laundromat, financial recuperation and sleep. Believe me, I needed it. Actually... I’m still tired. We also lost one of our most celebrated performers this month. Joe Kudla, aka Thomas Snot, passed away. He was part of the most integral performance teams, the Puke and Snot show at the Colorado Renaissance Festival.
Also in September, we had a bit of a flood in our basement. A water main broke and flooded the parking/storage area in the basement of our condo building. We didn’t have water for three days and then didn’t have our laundry machines for over two weeks.
In October I turned twenty-six and my brother hosted a Luau in my honor. Sean, Anne Osborn and my best friend Megan came to party. We ended up with a fair turn out. The Luau fire-pit that my brother Thomas built in the backyard was a bit hit. He even called the fire department so that the pit would be up to code. It was great!
In November Sean played at our friend Lou’s happy birthday show as a special guest along with a couple others. I even sang happy birthday in Italian for him. Thanksgiving was lots of fun and Sean was even able to make it for dinner! It was great food and great fun all around. Thomas, the kids and Diane made it out also. Thanksgiving also gave us all a good chance to enjoy Mom’s new kitchen floor. Her and Thomas did an incredible job. Diane helped a lot on it and I helped with the grout. (Also, Congratulations Barack!)
December has been up and down, surprisingly warm and incredibly cold. Between work and housework, I’ve been a little out of touch. That, and I’ve been learning guitar since November 10th at Lou’s show.
Singing on stage woke something up in my head and I decided to seriously learn guitar. Actually, I’m doing well enough that I got to sing at Lou’s special guest show on December 12th. Sean did some songs from OilCan Drive. I played and sang Good King Wenceslas and I Just Can’t Get it Right Today by Joe Purdy. Then Sean and I played and I sang Santa Baby. It was a great time. Next time I’ll be sure and invite more people... the first time was more of a trial run to see if I could do it or not. Guess what? I can!
So, its been an eventful and sometimes incredibly stressful year... but a good and learning year! “And why do we fall? ...so we can learn to pick ourselves up!”
Have a Great Holiday Season and a Happy, Healthy and Successful New Year!!!
A couple other changes....
New email: monikacgraf@gmail.com
New blog: monikacgraf.blogspot.com
Happy Holidays everyone!
Whoosh!!
Did you just see that? A whole year just flew by... and what an eventful year it’s been!
In February I celebrated one year in Boulder with Sean. We also celebrated two birthdays! My mom's birthday was on February 25th, and Sean's was on February 28th. So Sean and I celebrated his big day with a bunch of our friends at an Old Chicago in town. Sean, Mom and I went to California Pizza Kitchen for my mom's birthday dinner. I like being able to finally afford things like two birthday dinners in a week. Good stuff, having a steady job and a steady income. Who knows what the future will hold?
March brought some interesting news when we found out that Anikka would not be leading our Merrye Madrygal Mavyns for the 2008 CoRF season. As you might expect, we had a flurry of communication as to who would lead our group. I ended up picking up the reigns for the group. We later held auditions for a new Alto/Bass and found the lovely and talented Michelle Boudreau.
In April and through May we were practicing and working and re-working and rehearsing and what-not the entire time. I was so tired by about mid-May that I almost skipped town for a few weeks. This is where having Sean is truly a blessing. He is my rock and my champion. The only real spat that we had from April through the summer was because I don't take good enough care of myself. Wacky, eh? To be fair, he has a point. I was burning the candle at both ends and partly in the middle: getting stuff ready for faire and working at the print shop or collecting music or doing website stuff, or whatever, and haven't been taking much care of myself.
April also featured a lovely visit from Sean’s Mom, Jill. She was here for only a week, but we had a lot of fun. We were the last stop on a meandering trip through the southwest. Being so busy during this time, I really wanted to go with her!
May brought the realization that music, just like anything else, can be a job. Michelle, our newest member, learned her music faster than I thought was possible, which was excellent. She plays piano and has quite a bit some music experience. Plus, she's a fun and energetic person. Leadership is something that I had always craved, especially in our group. Even with the sudden and mostly unexpected departure of Anikka, we really pulled together. At times it felt like I was driving a previously owned car that was very well taken care of: There are parts missing or broken, but for the most part it drove great.
In early June the Madrygals finally finished up our one and only CD. Sean had it mixed in record time and we began selling CDs at the faire. They’re still available online if anyone is interested www.cdbaby.com/cd/mmmavyns.
July brought a chipped tooth due to my own antics. Michelle and her fiance hosted a good many of our rehearsals both before and during the faire. Her apartment building has an entryway with a small closed circuit camera that they can watch who is buzzing to enter the building. The Mavyns and I would take joy in doing silly stuff to the camera because we knew they were watching. Well, one time I mimed that I was eating the camera(it peeks out of a hole for security) and misjudged the distance to the wall. Yep, chipped my tooth. LOL
In August we parted ways from the Renaissance Festival and the Merry Madrygal Mavyns splintered. We might get back together down the road, but for now we’ve disbanded. Dana wants to pursue other performance opportunities which will be excellent for her. I’m excited to see where she goes with it. Leah would like to take a season or two off to rest her voice and get settled in Boulder where she moved about mid-season. Emily and I are in talks at the moment to see if we’ll do a duet sort of thing featuring a guitar. Hmm...
September was filled with a lot of laundry at a Laundromat, financial recuperation and sleep. Believe me, I needed it. Actually... I’m still tired. We also lost one of our most celebrated performers this month. Joe Kudla, aka Thomas Snot, passed away. He was part of the most integral performance teams, the Puke and Snot show at the Colorado Renaissance Festival.
Also in September, we had a bit of a flood in our basement. A water main broke and flooded the parking/storage area in the basement of our condo building. We didn’t have water for three days and then didn’t have our laundry machines for over two weeks.
In October I turned twenty-six and my brother hosted a Luau in my honor. Sean, Anne Osborn and my best friend Megan came to party. We ended up with a fair turn out. The Luau fire-pit that my brother Thomas built in the backyard was a bit hit. He even called the fire department so that the pit would be up to code. It was great!
In November Sean played at our friend Lou’s happy birthday show as a special guest along with a couple others. I even sang happy birthday in Italian for him. Thanksgiving was lots of fun and Sean was even able to make it for dinner! It was great food and great fun all around. Thomas, the kids and Diane made it out also. Thanksgiving also gave us all a good chance to enjoy Mom’s new kitchen floor. Her and Thomas did an incredible job. Diane helped a lot on it and I helped with the grout. (Also, Congratulations Barack!)
December has been up and down, surprisingly warm and incredibly cold. Between work and housework, I’ve been a little out of touch. That, and I’ve been learning guitar since November 10th at Lou’s show.
Singing on stage woke something up in my head and I decided to seriously learn guitar. Actually, I’m doing well enough that I got to sing at Lou’s special guest show on December 12th. Sean did some songs from OilCan Drive. I played and sang Good King Wenceslas and I Just Can’t Get it Right Today by Joe Purdy. Then Sean and I played and I sang Santa Baby. It was a great time. Next time I’ll be sure and invite more people... the first time was more of a trial run to see if I could do it or not. Guess what? I can!
So, its been an eventful and sometimes incredibly stressful year... but a good and learning year! “And why do we fall? ...so we can learn to pick ourselves up!”
Have a Great Holiday Season and a Happy, Healthy and Successful New Year!!!
A couple other changes....
New email: monikacgraf@gmail.com
New blog: monikacgraf.blogspot.com
Friday, November 28, 2008
Happy Turkey Day!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Because I really don't have the energy to do much more than drool at the moment... I thought I'd share some of my favorite www.youtube.com videos... Enjoy!
And my all-time favorite:
Because Pachelbel follows me too... LOL
And my all-time favorite:
Because Pachelbel follows me too... LOL
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Journey of several blocks...
One of my favorite weekend past times is to adventure by foot, bike or both... todays journey took about three and a half hours and spanned about 8miles (much of it uphill ;-D). I parked my bike at one point and walked the Pearl st mall for a while. It was a lot of fun... and I thought I'd share some pictures from it. Enjoy!
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step...
This is a vacant lot between a posh upscale bistro and a swimsuit shop. Its a very charming little spot. In my head there is a little restaurant in here with a wondering guitarist singing to the people eating under the ivy.
This is one of those cute little nooks in downtown Boulder that sparks the imagination. It almost dares you to write a little story about the occupants of those little lofts above the shops... Who lives there? What do they do for a living?
Downtown at dusk!
In the newspaper picture there is a little italian restaurant that I think I'll have to drag Sean to... mmm. My mouth actually watered while reading the menu posted outside.
The picture above is fun because on the hot-dog wagon is a sign in yellow that says Veggie Dogs $3.00. I love Boulder... wacky fun. A little pretentious sometimes, but still fun.
Left: Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Geez, next week is Thanksgiving... I better get going and start practicing some Christmas guitar songs, huh?
See you later!
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step...
This is a vacant lot between a posh upscale bistro and a swimsuit shop. Its a very charming little spot. In my head there is a little restaurant in here with a wondering guitarist singing to the people eating under the ivy.
This is one of those cute little nooks in downtown Boulder that sparks the imagination. It almost dares you to write a little story about the occupants of those little lofts above the shops... Who lives there? What do they do for a living?
Downtown at dusk!
In the newspaper picture there is a little italian restaurant that I think I'll have to drag Sean to... mmm. My mouth actually watered while reading the menu posted outside.
The picture above is fun because on the hot-dog wagon is a sign in yellow that says Veggie Dogs $3.00. I love Boulder... wacky fun. A little pretentious sometimes, but still fun.
Left: Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Geez, next week is Thanksgiving... I better get going and start practicing some Christmas guitar songs, huh?
See you later!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ghosts of falls past?
I know, I know... it really should be "ghost of Christmas past" but we're not quite to that season yet, no matter what the department stores would like you to think!
This week I was going through some old papers and knick-knacks that I picked up from my Mom's house, and I found myself thinking about where are they now? Friends that have moved, people I'm just not in touch with anymore... and those characters that you think you see when you're out doing errands.
Are they your long lost buddies or just doppelgangers? Pod people? Wait, nope... sorry, too much sci-fi lately.
In any case, I got a bit of a wild hair and started looking people up. Being in theater for so long, I did start a bit of a list of people that I could try and track down... but instead I opted for the "ex-boyfriend" quest.
A few months ago I actually had one guy that I had dated for a while years ago... We're talking High School, and we had met at a dance that our friends had dragged us to (Megan in my case) at a Mormon church (back when she was Laurel Class President). Aaron and I chat from time to time and I've added him to the list of people that I call friend.
Alrighty... getting to the chase: I found my last serious boyfriend. Brian. Yep...
So after befriending him on myspace on Monday, guess who I ran into today?
His cousin, who I also haven't seen since he moved out of my Mom's house where we were living. Crazy ol' world, ain't it? I think things like this sort of happen in waves. At least thats my theory.
It was a strange day all the way around, and then when Tracy showed up at my work it topped the sundae with an odd little cherry.
To top it ALL off... well, I have a song stuck in my head that I'm going to share with you all... why? Cause I can... thats why. LOL
This week I was going through some old papers and knick-knacks that I picked up from my Mom's house, and I found myself thinking about where are they now? Friends that have moved, people I'm just not in touch with anymore... and those characters that you think you see when you're out doing errands.
Are they your long lost buddies or just doppelgangers? Pod people? Wait, nope... sorry, too much sci-fi lately.
In any case, I got a bit of a wild hair and started looking people up. Being in theater for so long, I did start a bit of a list of people that I could try and track down... but instead I opted for the "ex-boyfriend" quest.
A few months ago I actually had one guy that I had dated for a while years ago... We're talking High School, and we had met at a dance that our friends had dragged us to (Megan in my case) at a Mormon church (back when she was Laurel Class President). Aaron and I chat from time to time and I've added him to the list of people that I call friend.
Alrighty... getting to the chase: I found my last serious boyfriend. Brian. Yep...
So after befriending him on myspace on Monday, guess who I ran into today?
His cousin, who I also haven't seen since he moved out of my Mom's house where we were living. Crazy ol' world, ain't it? I think things like this sort of happen in waves. At least thats my theory.
It was a strange day all the way around, and then when Tracy showed up at my work it topped the sundae with an odd little cherry.
To top it ALL off... well, I have a song stuck in my head that I'm going to share with you all... why? Cause I can... thats why. LOL
Thursday, November 6, 2008
A week of change!
First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who came out and voted this past Tuesday. Republican or Democrat or whatever, the amount of voter turnout topped out at approx. 121,562,000. Thats incredible! Whatever the turnout, people made their voices heard, and thats amazing.
As the first one in my family born in the United States, I'm pretty gung-ho about voting.
What I really don't understand is the amazing amount of people who care who wins, but DON'T VOTE?! What? In all seriousness, I understand being busy. I'm very busy too, but there are mail in ballots for that. If you're upset and didn't vote, thats your own too bad. I'm sorry, but its true!
As for me? I'm proud to be an American... and its been a while. As a dual citizen up til I turned 18, I gave some serious thought to the possibility of moving to Germany and becoming a citizen there. But I did stay and register to vote, which works very much like declaration of citizenship.
Congratulations Barack Obama! I'm confident that he will be a very competent and charismatic leader. In that order. Plus, my Mother will no longer be plagued by stupid questions from my Uncle in Germany about what our President is up to... LOL
Ah... another interesting adventure this last two-three weeks has been the addition of serious budgeting of both my time and money. I'm taking spending very seriously by limiting groceries and extraneous frivolities like candy or cookies.
Something I've noticed already: Energy! Its incredible... if you eat right and exercise a little every day (but I'm still doing the three nights a week at 24hour fitness) you feel great! We'll see if I lose any weight in my endeavors. I just want to fit in my skinny jeans, to be honest. :D
I'm also happy to report that Sean is one fantastic man. He bought me two pairs of my all-time favorite earrings. Beautiful, thank you Sean!
One last interesting tidbit: Did you know that you can record using your earphones? We found this out last night. It works better with the larger headphones that cup your ears. Sean found it on a website detailing ways to mic your drum-kit. Basically, the man put the headphones with one on the top of the snare drum and one on the bottom.
We were giggling about it a little and thought... hey, lets try it! So we did, but with a guitar. Sean strummed into his recording equipment and I held the headphones on the sweet spot of the acoustic guitar below bridge. Sure enough! It works. If you have some bigger headphones it works a little better, but smaller ones work to some extent. So yep! Fun fun!!
As the first one in my family born in the United States, I'm pretty gung-ho about voting.
What I really don't understand is the amazing amount of people who care who wins, but DON'T VOTE?! What? In all seriousness, I understand being busy. I'm very busy too, but there are mail in ballots for that. If you're upset and didn't vote, thats your own too bad. I'm sorry, but its true!
As for me? I'm proud to be an American... and its been a while. As a dual citizen up til I turned 18, I gave some serious thought to the possibility of moving to Germany and becoming a citizen there. But I did stay and register to vote, which works very much like declaration of citizenship.
Congratulations Barack Obama! I'm confident that he will be a very competent and charismatic leader. In that order. Plus, my Mother will no longer be plagued by stupid questions from my Uncle in Germany about what our President is up to... LOL
Ah... another interesting adventure this last two-three weeks has been the addition of serious budgeting of both my time and money. I'm taking spending very seriously by limiting groceries and extraneous frivolities like candy or cookies.
Something I've noticed already: Energy! Its incredible... if you eat right and exercise a little every day (but I'm still doing the three nights a week at 24hour fitness) you feel great! We'll see if I lose any weight in my endeavors. I just want to fit in my skinny jeans, to be honest. :D
I'm also happy to report that Sean is one fantastic man. He bought me two pairs of my all-time favorite earrings. Beautiful, thank you Sean!
One last interesting tidbit: Did you know that you can record using your earphones? We found this out last night. It works better with the larger headphones that cup your ears. Sean found it on a website detailing ways to mic your drum-kit. Basically, the man put the headphones with one on the top of the snare drum and one on the bottom.
We were giggling about it a little and thought... hey, lets try it! So we did, but with a guitar. Sean strummed into his recording equipment and I held the headphones on the sweet spot of the acoustic guitar below bridge. Sure enough! It works. If you have some bigger headphones it works a little better, but smaller ones work to some extent. So yep! Fun fun!!
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