| ClarinetFest Day 3 |
[Aug. 8th, 2011|12:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  chipper | ] |
I was able to make my way to one of the lectures in the morning, given by Larry Guy on teaching the Rose 40 Studies and 32 Etudes. He had some wonderful ideas on how to work with middle and high school students, especially with the 40 studies. He stressed having the student actually play the subdivisions instead of just counting them aloud. This way, the student is able to internalize the pulse. I use this with my students but he then proceeded to make correlations between the etudes and major clarinet works such as Premiere Rhapsodie (16th note passages), and Weber's Second Concerto (large intervals). Larry then spent a little time on the 32 etudes, which he said are to be used as more of stand along performance pieces. I think I need to go get his book. I'm sure it can only better my teaching.
In the final round the excerpt competition, I felt just a good about my playing except for the Brahms Haydn Variations. The excerpt from Don Juan, beginning at rehearsal letter P, rocked! My little blips and fumbles were overshadowed by my style, which I think really saved me. I ended up winning second place and Emilio won first place! Just goes to show me that I've got to nail everything the first time, even with nerves. He didn't miss a thing (according to my father who sat through the entire final round).
I was very glad to have that out of the way. Peter Wright, who coordinated the competition, was mentioning that he felt the prize money wasn't enough for the orchestral competition. I suggested that since the competition is done by mid-afternoon on Friday, why not have the four finalist perform in a masterclass on Saturday with a major orchestral clarinetist, like Stephen Williamson, Richie Hawley, Greg Raden, Alcides Rodriguez, or (you get the idea!). That way the prize money can stay the same and the finalist can gain more than simply winning money.
Peter brought it up at the ICA meeting and it was a hit! Hooray! And to top it off, they're adding bass clarinet excerpt to the competition next year. Sweet!
So needless to say, I felt really good for the rest of the day.
After the competition, I ran over the catch the Bass Clarinet Blowout recital. I missed the beginning but managed to catch Rocco Parisi playing the first solo written for bass, from the opera Emma d'Antiochia. He made the bass seem so effortless, especially the altissimo. Bass clarinet never sounded so good. Well, that is until Alcides performed, but I'll get to that later!
Richard Nunemaker sounded wonderful on Improvisations on Lines Where Beauty Begins and Timothy Bonenfant played Treny-Laments by Virko Baley (originally written for solo contra bassoon!). The next two pieces left a bit to be desired so I'll skip right to the final piece, which was hilarious! The work was called The Kaleidoscopic Pocket Hockets Boogaloo by Arthur Gottschalk and included all eight bass clarinetist and two contras. The best part wasn't just the Chick Corea references but the movements the ensemble employed. As the contras played a great grove riff, the bass clarinets acted like back up singers and moved from side to side. Pretty darn hilarious, since they were all serious about it. That's always the best!
Sadly, I did not get to catch Corrado Giuffredi performing with Eddie Daniels and Ricardo Morales. It would have been nice to see them all on the same stage but I was dying to finally get to the exhibit hall to try some equipment out.
Side note: I'm doing a write up for the Clarinet Cache on new and interesting equipment of note at the festival, which I will post later.
The evening concert was full of varied solos for the clarinet. Everything from Solo de Concurs to the new Ticheli Clarinet Concerto was played. Julian Bliss performed the Solo de Concurs but the band overpowered him. It just works better with piano, in my opinion. Robert Spring performed Scott McAllister's Black Dog. I enjoyed hearing the work performed by the person it was originally written for. Spring is crazy good. It was really cool to hear Alexander Fiterstein perform a rather new work called Bennu's Fire.
Hakan Rosengren rocked out on Ticheli's Clarinet Concerto! Each movement was dedicated to a different major clarinet work. The first movement was a homage to Rhapsody in Blue, the second to Copland's Clarinet concerto and the third to Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs.
It was a very impressive concert. I felt inspired to try new music. =) |
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| ClarinetFest Day 2 |
[Aug. 8th, 2011|12:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
I didn't make it to any morning lectures or recitals, but I got a really good warm up in so I was feeling good. Quite a few folks didn't make the early morning events since everything was spread out a bit more than past festivals.
The Orchestral Audition Competition I was involved in took place at 1pm. The eight semi-finalist were: Kelly Coyle, Amy Glover, Erin Miesner, Randolph Palada, Jennifer Rucker, Sarah Todenhoft Demy (myself), Henry Caceres, and Emilio Borghesan. I went fifth out of eight. I felt that my performance overall was solid. I was happy with the way the Mozart exposition went and that my style was appropriate for each excerpt. My Mendelssohn Scherzo had a blip or two, which is not normal for me but has been a running trend in my past few auditions. I've been getting all the hard excerpts and making small mistakes on the easier ones. I think quite a bit of it is focus and being present in my playing. Out of the eight of us, the judges selected four finalist: Amy , Randolph, Emilio and myself.
Getting that out of the way, I was able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon at the recital in the main concert hall at CSUN, which consisted of performances by Burt Hara playing Muczynski's Time Pieces, Mark Nuccio playing Chromatic Fantasia for Solo Clarinet, and both playing Mendelssohn's Concert Piece No.1. That was the first half but I had to run out to grab dinner before the shuttle came to pick us up for the LA Phil concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
The program for the concert at the Hollywood Bowl ended up being is a slightly different order which was a ok with me. I was excited to hear Kari Kriikku play the Lindburg Concerto because I have yet to hear that work. Personally, I don't know if I will ever be able to do all the extended techniques Kari did. He was out of this world. The cadenza was my favorite part because it is completely ad lib, which was amazing!
Paul Meyer performed the Copland Concerto, which sadly I didn't enjoy was much as I thought I would. He was so lyrical in the slow section and his style overall was very characteristic of Copland but once he got to the cadenza, he clearly couldn't tongue. It just kind of ruined the latter half of the piece for me.
The LA Phil was quite nice to listen to as they performed the Maskarade Overture by Nielsen and Appalachian Springs by Copland. It was really something to hear them at the Hollywood Bowl and I loved the cool weather by mid-concert! I wish it cooled off like that in Texas! |
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| Off to ClarinetFest! |
[Aug. 5th, 2011|11:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
I'm off to ClarinetFest which is being held at the California State University in Northridge, CA, just north of LA. It's been a little over three years since I've been to a convention and I'm looking forward to catching up with folks.
ClarinetFest 2008 was very important to me because it was a time in my playing career when my skills were slowly gaining momentum. I had just spent the first year of graduate school clawing my way up in the studio and getting into the excerpt competition was a first for me. I was finally feeling a bit more legitimate as a clarinetist. Listening to numerous inspirational performances encouraged me to grow musically, especially hearing Anthony McGill perform Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie!
This time around, I'm really looking forward to competing in the Orchestral Excerpt competition again. I am far more prepared but the excerpts are far more challenging so I have my work cut out for me. I've got the Mozart exposition, Beethoven 6th (mvt. 1&2 solos), Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (solo from the pastorale mvt), Mendlessohn Midsummer Night's Dream Scherzo, Schubert Unfinished Symphony (mvt 3 solos), Don Juan (solo in the slow section and all the fun fast runs afterward!), Stravinsky Firebird (introduction, variation movement). Hopefully Don Juan and Firebird go well. No matter how prepared I get those, there is still a sense of the uneasiness. I'm solid on them so hopefully my nerves stay solid as well.
Flying has been super easy this time around. I usually never check my bag (unless I also have my bass clarinet) but since my father is tagging along and military gets one free checked bag, I don't have anything to carry other than my clarinet. It's rather nice for a change and my back is grateful. We have one stop in Dallas/Fort Worth then we get to LA by 12:30pm. So right now it's really 5:45am in LA! This might explain why I've been staying up and sleeping so much recently. I'm acclimating to the time change. Wink
Needless to say, I'm super excited about this weekend. I will finally get to spend more than 36 hours in LA. Might just change the way I feel about Southern California.
Here's to a wonderful weekend full of clarinet! |
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| Things that make me happy. |
[Jun. 29th, 2011|11:05 pm] |
Things that make me happy (to name a few):
1.getting to wake up next to my husband every morning.
2.Having the ability and opportunity to teach children music, specifically the clarinet
3.having a wonderful church to attend that is so supportive of us
4.having the opportunity to perform with the Midland-Odessa Symphony. It's the first ensemble I have performed with since NRO last summer
5.Supportive parents
6.two really awesome kitties
7.WINNING A JOB!!!!!!!
Ok so #7 is new to that list. I officially won my first job with a symphony! I am stoked! It's the Las Colinas Symphony, a regional group in Irving, TX, but I get to perform music and get paid for it. I couldn't as for much more right now in life! It has been rough getting into the teaching and performing circuit int he Dallas/Ft. Worth area. It's nice to finally be getting into the system around here!
Seeing this in my e-mail inbox was fantastic!
"Sarah,
Thank you for coming out to audition last evening for the LCSO. I am happy to inform you that you won the audition and the position in the LCSO. We are currently working on your contract for the upcoming season and will be sending it along with a schedule to you shortly."
Huzzah!
Other than that, I've been so run over lately with driving to schools to teach. Not having an ensemble to perform with is killer. It has been so good to play with the UNT Wind Symphony for the past three weeks. I have really learned to appreciate playing in an ensemble and not to take advantage of it. Getting paid to play for UNT's Conductor's Collegium is a real plus on top of that. I've met some really awesome people and played some wonderful music. I've also played some not to great music but what can you do.
Things to look forward to this summer:
1 being a bridesmaid at Stephanie's wedding
2.competing in an ICA competition and getting to go to LA
3.having occasional weekends to spend worry-free with my husband at a cute little lakeside cottage
Life is good. =D |
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| Writer's Block: It must be love |
[Mar. 24th, 2011|06:53 pm] |
Matthew Duncan from my 6th grade elementary English class. I was good friends with him and his twin brother both of whom I played in band with. I never told him how I felt but I'm sure he wasn't completely clueless. He was a fellow clarinet player. Big surprise, I fall for musicians!
I was really close to his mother, whom I had many a long conversation with and babysat for their youngest brother often. They moved away the year after and I managed to keep contact for a few years but lost contact around 9th grade. I have fond memories of wall ball and the many chats we had. Every so often, I wonder how them and their family are doing and where Chris and Matthew are now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 24th, 2011|03:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  drained | ] |
I'm FINALLY posting. I promise to be a bit more regular this time. Life has been rather busy.
As I write this, I am very angry. I just took the US Navy Band audition. I was the most prepared I have ever been, hands down. I played my best and didn't advance. Obviously, some person on the audition panel did not like the way I played. Ok. Fine, that's how it goes. This time I can actually say that the Navy Band is missing out on me. Yup. Call it an ego but I finally have a healthy one for my playing. They missed out.
I have the Air Force Band audition two weeks from today and I know I will play just as well. At least I have made semi-finals for them. Oh well, C'est la vie!
Recently, I've been teaching four days out of the week in Texas. My kids at the middle schools are more attentive them some of my high school kids. Just depends on the day. Most of my upperclassmen are doing well and I even have a few kids that want to go into music. One is going into music education and the other into performance. I've been preparing them for their auditions and if they do as I have instructed, they will be fine. All of my beginners are super excited about that clarinet! I have one kid who always has something right away to play for me in her lessons. They all make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. They are good kids.
Richard and I finally cleaned up the house and have people over last weekend. Turned out that it was Chris' birthday but he and the other euphonium players showed up to have some dinner before they went out drinking. It's nice to finally have some people to hang out with. I have had the hardest time finding people my age not in school or married without children. We have a couple from church that we play bridge with but that's not quite the same as someone who is my age. I miss my gals from Cincinnati, big time. We'll see how they next few months go.
Life feels a little weird right now. I'm settled but I know I could move for a job at a moment's notice. I just want to win one of these job auditions, sooner rather than later. =/ |
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| Marriage and Texas: A new chapter |
[Oct. 3rd, 2010|04:25 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
I am officially married, moved and employed. Ok, so I am not getting paid to perform in an ensemble but I am teaching private clarinet lessons!
The past month has been nothing short of a whirlwind. The wedding was amazing. Having nearly all of my closest family and friends were there to help us celebrate. We had a brass quintet made up of LSU and CCM friends and Marti played the organ. Rachel, my old roommate from Cincinnati, played solo violin during communion, which was gorgeous. I had my three closest girls by my side, Candy, Stephanie and Rachel. My dress looked wonderful. The alterations that were made to my mother's wedding dress were fantastic. It looked like an entirely new dress and was still appropriate for a summer wedding. I couldn't have bought a dress like this. Plus, Great Grandma Compton, who I was very close to as a child, made this dress for my mother 31 years ago. My something old rocked!
I have no words for when you look into the eyes of the one you love dearest and tell them that you love them and will continue to all the days of your life. I seriously worked to hold myself together the entire service. I only cried once; when we turned around at the end of the service to look at all the family and friends that were there to support us in our marriage. It was then that I lost it. Knowing you are loved and seeing that love in the physical manifestation of your loved ones presence is overwhelming.
The reception was a blast! The jazz combo we had made up of Army Blues guys was a huge hit with everyone. Nobody really danced but instead clapped at the end of nearly every tune. It was so good to see folks appreciating the music. The food turned out wonderfully and so was the cake.
Speaking of cake...Only one thing went horribly yet hilariously wrong. When we went to cut the cake, Mark wanted them to move the table a bit for better lighting. So one of the caterer's helpers went to move the table. Instead of picking up the table a bit to move it, he pushed it from behind and the table gave out! The cake slid forward but luckily stayed on the tablecloth. We were able to get the cake back up (slightly tilted) for the cake cutting photos. We just laughed about it and cut the cake. Mark is fixing those photos in post editing. =P
Everything else from our first dance together to the garter and bouquet toss went smoothly. We got to have the last dance together ("I could have danced all night") and cheered as we left the church in a rather silly looking decorated car.
We went to a lovely bed and breakfast in Orange, VA called Chestnut Hill B&B. It was owned and run by a wonderful couple and is a historical site. The actual house had to be moved over several hundred feet so it wasn't in the original location. Kathleen and Troy did a really nice job of restoring the house. All of the fixtures and fireplaces were is the style of the one original fireplace in the main room. The entire atmosphere was elegant and classy with a friendly touch. And there was an open bar (no extra charge!). We went wine tasting a King's Family, Veritas and Prince Michels Vineyards and even watched a polo match at King's Family. I have a whole new respect for Virginia wines, and a whole bunch of new wine glasses!
Richard surprised me with a hot air balloon ride really early on our last morning there. Virginia in the early morning looks gorgeous. Nothing like being up before the sun is.
Our honeymoon was only two days due to both of us having military band auditions four days after the wedding. Richard had the Army Band and I had the Air Force Band. We both made the semi-finals but didn't advance. He got nervous and I just screwed up Pineapple Poll. Seriously, I could have won that job and I let one of my best excerpts get the best of me. But for the first time, I'm not nearly as upset because I still have a husband, a job, and a house to live in.
The move to Texas took two days. We managed to get Richard back in time for the first full week of classes at UNT. I spent the first week hunting down cheap furniture and cleaning the house. We have a three room house that was definitely built in the 1930's. The sink in the bathroom is rather small, round and has separate faucets for hot and cold! Think of the sinks in the movie The Green Mile.
Job-wise, I am teaching in the Hebron Cluster at Killian and Creek Valley Middle Schools in Lewisville ISD and at Boswell HS in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD. They have all these different independent school districts down here in Texas. It's strange and quite a pain going through different isd's with all the paperwork and jumping through stupid hoops. I'm sill not teaching at Creek Valley. Luckily, I am teaching at Killian and Boswell. With all three school, that gives me a total of 38 students. I'm sure I will loose some and hopefully gain some more. The kids are such a joy to teach (well, most of them.). I am very thankful that I have a job here. Quite a few folks aren't so lucky.
More on Texas to come in my next entry. |
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| Snippets from my NRO blog |
[Aug. 11th, 2010|06:30 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  optimistic | ] |
Over the summer while I was at the National Repertory Orchestra, I had a blog. Sadly, I wasn't very good at keeping it up. Try as I may, it ended up being updated every 1-14 days. Anyway, here are some snippets from that blog.
June 14, 2010
"I woke up this morning to summer snow! We were warned about this but it was certainly different to experience it. It has been rather chilly since we arrived but tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60's instead of the upper 40's! We went from the snow in the morning to rain, then sleet followed by more rain. Early summer weather here is unpredictable.
Downtown Breckenridge is rather quaint. Main Street is full of shops and restaurants. It feels homey. I'm looking forward to meeting some of the locals at some point.
I managed to get a bit of practicing done in the morning. I'm still slowly adjusting to the altitude. My lungs were tingly while I was warming up and I was winded playing a single scale on the bass. However, rehearsal in the evening was much better. The orchestra sounds wonderful! I, however, was dealing with transposing from b-flat to C. I am either right on when I'm transposing of right off! Tonight's rehearsal was a little of both. Carl Topilow, our conductor, was very forgiving tonight. I'm sure tomorrow will be a different story."
June 20, 2010
"
During the week I managed to meet my host family, David and Gail, who live on the bottom of Peak 7. The have three dogs and love to hike! What a perfect match for me. More than one musician is assigned to each family. Evan (a violist)and I had lunch with Gail today and finally got to chat a bit. I'm looking forward to meeting her husband and dogs next week. She even goes to the chapel I happened to attend this morning for church! This church has free dinners for the NRO musicians every Tuesday night. And to top it off, I got asked by the pianist to come and play at church in the coming weeks. Now to get some of my church rep sent to me!
This coming week we have three concerts. Tuesday is Imagination Station which includes an instrument petting zoo. I love showing kids how to play and seeing their faces when they get a sound out! On Friday, we have a concert with Leonard Slatkin conducting. And Saturday is the Denver Gala, the largest fund raiser for the NRO. We will be playing dance music for most of the night.
After the concert last night while staring up at the clear night sky, I realized just how lucky I am. This festival is amazing because all of the musicians want to be here and want to play, no matter what the music is. It is such a fantastic feeling to make music with people who truly love what they do in such a beautiful setting.
I am so grateful."
June 27, 2010
"Our concert this past Friday with Leonard Slatkin was nothing short of exciting! I had so much fun playing Beethoven Symphony No. 8 under him. Slatkin has a no nonsense approach to rehearsals. Very efficient and inspiring. I enjoyed all of our rehearsal time. The clarinet solo in the third movement was splendid every time we ran it, save a note not speaking (not the final high G). The performance was energized for both the Beethoven and Berlioz. The concert was well received by the audience.
After our final rehearsal, he gave us a little talk on auditions. This was mostly to inspire us to be ourselves whenever we perform and not compromise our personal musical integrity. People talk about the "sound" of an ensemble and wanting to play in the style. While that is all fine and good, if you don't play that way, then perhaps that particular job is not for you. One should take an audition for a job that works in favor of their strengths. That being said, auditioning is a skill that we must perfect and sadly, does not show one's ability in an ensemble. Slatkin told us to write out our strengths, weaknesses, dream plan (5 years from now), and a realistic plan. I hope to do this in the coming weeks. He told us that we should use all of our strengths to help us succeed in our profession whether it includes public speaking, teaching, or administration work.
Last night was the Denver Gala, our biggest fund raiser for the NRO. The orchestra plays during the auction and performs dance music afterward. During the auction, the chance to conduct the orchestra is auctioned off. We had three people donate $1,000 to conduct us. One was a chairperson of one of the bassoonist! This was quite a surprise! They apparently do this every year. Dana, the lucky bassoonist, was a good sport! Between playing William Tell Overture and a movement from Carmen, the conductors were a hoot to watch (or not watch!).
The evening was capped off with three sets of dance music. We all had a good time and enjoyed the music but were more than ready to go home by the end of the last set (11pm!).
Today I went biking with my roommate's host family! We biked around a good part of Lake Dillion and I was able to ride a really nice touring bike. She then had dinner ready to go for us once we returned from our ride, just in time for an afternoon shower to come through. She's a writer and I'm hoping to read her book at some point.
Colorado is gorgeous. I know I will say something to this extent in nearly every post, but it's true. Every time I got for a bike ride, I am enamored with the natural surroundings.
It is beautiful and so was this weekend."
July 21, 2010
"The 4th of July was a rather taxing but exciting day for the NRO. We played three concerts throughout the day in Dillon, Evergreen and Breckenridge. Emily and I ran into Zack while in Evergreen. I had totally forgotten that he lived there! I had such a blast playing pops music. I guess it helps when those around you (i.e. my fellow musicians) are having as much fun. It was nice to have Richard and his buddy Will were in town for the week.
After all of that madness, Richard, Zack and I hiked up Mount Quandary (a 14-er) in around six hours. I ran into a few LSU alums, which is why I always hike in my LSU baseball cap. You never know who you will run into!
A bunch of us went to Vail the past two Friday nights to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform. The program both weeks was awesome. On the 9th, they performed Capriccio Espagnol, Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Gil Shaham, violin), and The Rite of Spring. I managed to catch Ricardo Morales and Wagner Campos, who was the extra bass clarinetist on Rite of Spring."
"Other than performing concerts, I managed to get in some hiking. My roommate and a her host family took us hiking on the Mosquito Range on Monday. We hiked Mt. Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. It was quite a hike, taking 8 1/2 hours to complete. We managed to beat an afternoon thunderstorm on our way down from Bross."
More NRO updates soon...
Today, I'm off to Muskegon, MI for the Falcone Competition. Richard is one of 10 semi-finalist. Hopefully he will perform well. Time for the 14 hour drive!
Wedding wise, plans are going well. Only 17 days until I get married!!!! The only thing that really needs to get finished is my last dress fitting. Teri, who is working on my dress (my mother's wedding dress my great grandmother made!), is going a fantastic job. I can't wait to try on the newly remodeled dress. Once I get back from Michigan, everything will start to move a warp speed. Hopefully all this practice will pay off so I can win a job right after I get married. USAF Band audition here I come!
Talk about a few crazy upcoming weeks. =) |
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| 2010 Flying Pig Marathon! |
[May. 1st, 2010|02:48 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
"Our Deepest Fear is not that we are inadequate
Our Deepest Fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us
We ask ourselves,
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be
You are a child of God
Your playing small does not serve this world
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people need not feel insecure in your presence
We are all meant to shine as children do
We are born to make manifest the glory of God
That is within us
It is not just in some of us, but in everyone
When we let our light shine
We unconsciously give others permission to do the same
And as we are liberated from our own fears
Our presence automatically liberates others"
-Marianne Williamson
A friend of mine posted this note on her Facebook page and it really got my thinking about why any of us do what we do. Everyone has a special light to shine into the lives of others. One can influence so many people on a daily basis. It makes me feel better about why I am pursuing a career in music.
I find this quote very appropriate as I prepare to run my first marathon tomorrow morning. I missed my longest training run (20 miler) due to weather and never had the time to make it up because of my CCM commitments and I feel so unprepared to run. But at the same time, I am ecstatic to run. I have waited and prepared for this since I finished the half marathon last year. I love running because it helps me with goal setting, and is so very similar to preparing for an audition.
Weather-wise, it's supposed to rain buckets tomorrow morning, which I am not looking forward to but as a runner, I've grown accustomed to dealing with Mother Nature's unpredictable ways. It will be fun to be around so many people with a passion for running and to see all the folks who show up to cheer all of us on! Plus, running for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital also gives me motivation because I'm running to raise money for treatment and medical fees for kids with cancer. If that doesn't motivate me, nothing else will (other than just finishing the darn race!).
I've already got my race gear and end-of-race bag ready to go. Come 4:30am tomorrow, I'll be ready to take on the rain and all 26.2 miles!
Flying Pig Marathon 2010 here I come! BRING IT!
(updates to come later, most likely on Monday!) |
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| I'm engaged!!!! |
[Feb. 15th, 2010|01:07 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  ecstatic | ] |
So Richard proposed to me yesterday! I was totally surprised.
Here's the story!
The whole proposal was prefaced by Richard getting some of my friend to convince me that he was going to propose in New Orleans and that he had asked a friend for my ring size. The point was for them to leak the “secret” to me.
So at this point I’m completely clueless.
Richard had told me that while in flight to Cincinnati, he had sat next to a woman that worked at the Newport Aquarium (in KY) and that she had told him he was able to get a discount to the aquarium. This included at program called “Penguin Encounters” where you get to pet and play with the penguins. I was pleasantly surprised and excited. Penguins are, after all, my favorite animal!
So off to the aquarium we went on Valentine's afternoon. About 20 minutes into our penguin encounter, the handler gave me a small canvas with “penguin art” on it (they put paint on the penguins feet and they walk on small canvases). On the back was a poem Richard had written for me. Immediately it hit me and he got on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes (through all my crying).
He was able to get the handler to take a picture of us with a penguin. Pictures are soon to come.
Not your average proposal but definitely something I’m never going to forget!
I've got so much to do in the next 6 months but I'm so excited! =D |
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