Why I love UNT

Today was University Day. I have no idea what this means, except that there were all kinds of booths and stuff in the courtyard this afternoon, and I got a free box lunch. Being vegetarian usually means one of two things when a box lunch is involved:

1. Most often, there will be a selection of meaty sub sandwiches. I get to choose the least invasive lunchmeat (usually ham, because it picks off in one piece) and carefully de-meat-ify my sandwich.

2. If I'm lucky, there may be a handful of cheese sandwiches, or perhaps some PB&J's.

If I were at BYU, I can almost guarantee that there wouldn't be much attention to the veggies. I would have been picking off my ham and feeding it to the birds (or something). I was pleasantly surprised to walk up to the table where it was announced that there was ham, turkey, and vegetarian lunches--and they even had a good stock of the veggie ones.

Upon opening my lunch, I was also impressed by the fact that they enclosed the lettuce and tomato in a separate baggie, in order to eliminate sandwich sog. I was somewhat saddened to see that there was no cheese on my sandwich, but proceeded to construct my lettuce and tomato sub.

My first bite was surprising. Apparently, they had sneakily put in some hummus into my sandwich! It blended in with the whole wheat bread, so I didn't notice it. I love hummus. It was the best veggie box lunch I have ever eaten.

Thank you, UNT. It's the little things like a hummus box lunch that make my day.

Spring Break Day

As Andy doesn't get a Spring Break now that he's a grown-up with a real job, he decided to take one of his personal days so that we could hang out this past Monday. The rules were: no work (we almost succeeded, though each of us had some things that came up), just playing, and taking the time to do things we don't usually get to do.

The weather happily cooperated with us. On our agenda: sleeping in, eating a good breakfast, going to buy supplies for our first garden and subsequently gardening, cleaning up, visiting nearby town of Ponder, getting a picnic lunch, going for a walk, to Recycled Books, and then home for dinner, and a movie with popcorn. A full day, but a delightful one.

I look like half of American Gothic.

Andy, toiling over the land and our cute little tomato plants, given us by our lovely landlords.

Carefully reading the seed packet instructions. "Put in dirt and add water."

Just kidding.

I know the Road to Nowhere is in Alaska, but tell me this doesn't make you think . . .

One of the highlights from our trek to Ponder: the Ponder Water Tower.

I have always been grateful for the fact that Andy and I both like the simple pleasures of life, and for the fact that all we need to have a perfect date is a sack lunch ($5 footlong?) and a picnic table in a park on a sunny day. It was lovely to have a whole day to spend with the boy that I love.
Hooray Spring!

Six month inventory

I could be using this time much more wisely, but I justify it in that I'm listening to the piece I'm playing in a recital later this week. Although, I don't really know for sure what the instrumentation is. I know there is a string quartet involved, but I found several recordings with different ensembles, and I don't even know what the guy who contacted me does. Nevertheless, therein lies my justification.

Last week, I had the pleasure of going to the dentist.



I have had the same dentist ever since I started going to the dentist, and he knows the interior of my mouth more intimately than anyone else in the world. He has pulled many baby teeth, he has given me fillings (two), he has spent five minutes with me every six months for the past 18 or so years of my life. This time, particularly, I was struck with how much changes in the period of six months.

It seems like such a small amount of time, but so much can change. For instance, last appointment, I had just recently become engaged. This appointment, I have just been married (it's our two-month-aversary today). And next appointment, I don't even know where I will be, or doing what. It's pretty wild.

Andy and I have given up sweets for Lent. This has been an interesting experience. More than anything, it makes one aware of how often one eats unconsciously. If you go to a recital, there are sure to be cookies and cream puffs and all sorts of things. If you go to a church function, the same holds true. I have been of the habit of eating as many of these delicious tidbits as my stomach could handle, any time they were offered to me. Reflecting upon this, I realize that perhaps it is not the best way to go about life, nor is it the best way to fulfill my dream of becoming a supermodel.

I'm beginning to feel guilty for sitting here in the library with all these studious scholars, with tabs open on my browser only to my gmail, our blog, and my facebook account. I suppose I should go loaf at home--and by "loaf' I do mean clean up and do laundry while continuing to listen to my Vaughn-Williams.

Here's to the next six months!

I guess its my turn...

That would do a lot to explain the blog lag. Not sure if that's a word. I'm not too hip to the "blog lingo," so if perchance a more experienced blogger would like to correct me, they're more than welcome to do so.

We had our first official date night. We had a gift card from the Olive Garden (thanks suegros!), so that took care of dinner. The main event, so to speak, was our venture to the Dallas arts district for DMA "Late Nights." Every third Friday night, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Crow Asian Art Museum are open until midnight. Beyond the cool art, there were a number of live music dance performances, free wine-tasting, and presentations by a silk worm wrangler.

It was really fun, and not at all expensive. The Crow is free and the DMA's only $10 (not sure how much if you have student ID). We'll definitely check this out again.

Sweet survival

Well, I made it through Saul. Hallelujah!

It made me sad to only see Husband for a half an hour in the morning (6am) before he left for work, and then another half hour or so before we went to bed (11pm or so). Yes, I was definitely glad to welcome Saturday, the first Saul-less day. And this week has been gloriously Saul-free.

Our landlord, the coolest dude ever, keeps getting cooler and cooler. This weekend, we saw him riding one of the horses (bareback), and we chatted for a while. He asked if it might be alright if he called us up sometime to go sailing on a nearby lake. Also, he has been tilling the garden directly behind our little apartment for us to use for planting. He's the coolest, and really makes us want to stay where we are just so we can enjoy all that there is around us. (They also ninja-planted some pansies by our door. I don't know when they did it!)

So, yesterday I went to the public library to check out some books on gardening and composting. To my surprise and dismay, the selection there was quite sub-par by my estimation. There were only a handful of books about vegetable gardening, several of them having been published in the UK. Not that I have anything against the Brits or that I think that they don't know anything about gardening, but one must admit that there is marked difference between the climates of GB and TX. I welcome their advice, but would prefer something more locally informed.



I discovered I don't know the first thing about gardening. I've had reasonable success with my former gardening experiences (those little lima beans I planted in the plastic cups worked pretty well), but from what I gather, it's quite a different endeavor to plant one's own garden. Everything makes a difference: where you plant things, what kinds of seeds you use, how much you water, etc. And composting! I thought you just put a bunch of trash in a heap and then put that on your garden, but actually, there's a lot of that sciencey stuff behind it, apparently. You have to have a good balance of carbon- and nitrogen- rich materials, as well as sufficient amounts of water. Who knew? Science is amazing.

So, if anyone has any garden tips (what I should or shouldn't plant, how to nurture my little plantings, how long to let my horse manure rot before putting it on the compost heap, etc.) please let me know! I know SOMEONE reading this blog has to know something about gardening.

Saul, Saul, Saul.

My life this week has been consumed by Saul, the wonderful oratorio by G.F. Handel. I'm the T.A. for the baroque orchestra, which has been madly scrambling to get this performance-ready for our two concerts, one of which was last night and the other of which is tonight. I am exhausted, and today is the BIG day.

Being T.A. means that I get to haul harpsichords, violones, timpani, a portative organ, a celesta, and move lots of chairs and stands to set up the orchestra, as well as making sure everybody has their music and everything they need . It's been a glorious week for that. And today, our concert is off-campus--in fact, in Dallas. That means I get to drive the equipment truck (full of all those instruments and more) to and from the venue. I'm terrified. Please pray for me.

The ride home will be especially fun. The oratorio is three hours long, and our start time is 7:30. That means we'll be done about 10:30, at which point we'll get to load up the truck, drive it back to school, unload it, and return it to the facilities place. We may be done by about 2am. This is exciting to me, considering I was up this morning at 5:30 to be at a 6am seminary teachers' inservice. Did you guys know there's a five-thirty in the MORNING, too?

So, I'm about to head home for a nap. We drive the van down at about 2pm, unload and set the stage, go back to Denton, load the buses at 5pm for 6pm call, play our concert, then proceed as outlined above.

I will be so glad when this is behind me.

Teaching 101

So Rachel and I have been attending the Denton Spanish-speaking branch for the past few weeks. A more accurate description of this unit would be "bilingue" or perhaps "Spanglish." There's a fair amount of both languages bouncing off the chapel walls every week.

Last week the branch president asked if we would meet with him later this week. The reason was to offer us callings, or responsibilities in the branch (all positions are filled by volunteers in our church).

So, today I began as a young adult Sunday school teacher. Rach will be teaching seminary, in addition to helping me team-teach my class. Needless to say, we're sticking with this branch until we eventually move.

I think Sunday school is pretty well-understood by most, so I'll skip to explaining a bit about seminary. In LDS culture, "seminary," refers to an additional class taken outside of church where high-school age students can study the different books of our cannon: The New and Old Testaments, The Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. As a convert, I missed out on this experience, which tends to be quite enriching from what I hear.

I haven't taught a class in a while, religious or otherwise. It was a bit tricky considering I have yet to get a feel for the branch itself. I don't really know anyone's name yet. So I sort of hit the ground running if you will. I was of course nervous, and it showed. My class of five (including my wife) seemed kinda bored with the first fifteen minutes. Thankfully things went better for the rest of the lesson. I loosened up, sat down, and inadvertently opted for a seminar, as opposed to lecture, approach to finishing the class. It was nice. People started sharing thoughts and experiences, and I walked away feeling I had a good first day. Win-win.

Teaching is a great thing. I've had a lot of practice in church, as well as the mission field. Every time I always walk away learning more than anyone I attempt to teach. Still, its an important skill to obtain. Like all things, its a process. Hopefully I can remember one of the most important lessons in teaching: never quit being a student.

Andy