Blog break (sort of long)

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth - things have just been a little too busy lately. Things are always busy in the fall, but this year it got to me a little bit more than normal...

German Day weekend was fun, though not as successful as last year. We had the double whammy of being at the bar & food tent that typically doesn't make as much due to location, and the fest as a whole being down in sales due to the economy. I had a couple of nice surprises - two different friends from high school appeared at my bar! One actually read it on my Facebook status update, and the other just happened to be there. Fun!

Other weekend highlights included the Kindergruppe being so absolutely adorable during their new Tatzelwurm dance that my mom and I were showered with compliments for the rest of the weekend. The Tatzelwurm, by the way, is the reason the kids were so cute in Detroit as well. It's a new dance that Evi got at a workshop, and the main part of the sequence is when the kids get into a "worm" - think conga line. It's easy for the older ones who can do the steps, but the little ones spend much of the beginning of that part of the dance running to catch up and giggling. During one of the Detroit performances, I kept hearing comments from all around me about how cute it was, and even had some little girls from a different city run up to me and tell me that they loved our dances. :-)

The following weekend was Chicago Chamber Choir retreat, for which we drove up to Kenosha. We did a Saturday afternoon workshop (I missed the Saturday night stuff & the Sunday morning church service) and a Sunday afternoon concert. In the workshop and for the concert we worked on & performed mostly things from our CD (to be released October 14!), and I feel like our work with the clinician was so much more productive because we were all so familiar with the music. Since I am better able to sing correctly and energetically from a physical standpoint when I know the music well, the concert was also exhausting - I loved it!

This past weekend was Kirchweih at club, always a fun event. The Kindergruppe couple that won the Strauss (rosemary bush decorated with ribbons) was a 4 year old boy and 6 (7?) year old girl who happened to be paired up. When little boy's name was pulled out of the hat and read he looked confused. I told him that he'd won and he got a big grin on his face...but had no idea. His partner was thrilled - so thrilled in fact that she carried the bush around with her all night. I seriously don't think she put it down at all. It's a big deal to win the Strauss!

Kirchweih was also the first time Logan wore a leiwl - not bad considering he's only 3 months old. :-) There are pictures on his blog - if you need an invite, let me know and I'll send a request to Karen.

Other than that - life is busy as usual. So busy, in fact, that I dropped out of Wicker Park Choral Singers for the fall. I'm blaming it mostly on Trey starting up grad school and reverting back to a time when he didn't have as much responsibility, and therefore having to retrain him this fall but pick up the extra slack around the house in the interim. I've always had more household responsibility, but it got suddenly (& what felt like exponentially) greater. That paired with all of my regular rehearsals starting in the same week, several weekends in a row of major events and/or being out of town, our upcoming vacation that still needed/needs a bit of planning, and potential visits from out of town people had must just about having panic attacks.

I feel like a schmuck, but I should be able to get back to WPCS in January. I also let them know very early on the in the rehearsal process, so hopefully it's not as bad. Plus, if I'd have had a nervous breakdown I wouldn't have done them any good anyway.

Ok, enough update for now. I may be back Friday to do a report on how Chicago reacts to the 2016 Olympic bid winner announcement. Until then...