HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHUCK!

Happy 28th birthday to Chuck today!


And congratulations to Chuck! He graduated on Saturday (finally!) with his master's degree in Instrumental Conducting, after three years of hard work. Our friend Aaron (Amanda Niskode's fiance) also graduated from the law and business programs here at IU. Amanda made a great sign that she stuck on her garage door. She lives on a very busy street in Bloomington, so a lot of people saw it!

Here are some pictures from Saturday afternoon. We attended the School of Music graduation luncheon, but not the university-wide ceremony. (We were disappointed to miss Tavis Smiley's speech at commencement, but not that much.) After the luncheon, all the music graduates names and degrees were announced, and they shook hands with a bunch of VIPs, including the dean. I was very proud and I cried. We had been ready for it for a long time, but it felt like a very nice ending to Chuck's time at IU.




Sunday night, we celebrated with a barbecue. We had lots of food and friends and had a great time. Chuck wasn't as proficient at grilling as he used to be back when he ate meat, but things turned out alright. I have some pictures of some of our friends who were there:


This is Chuck with some of his conducting friends: Christian, Marcello, Hakan (trombone player), and Chris. His teacher, Mr. Baldner, also came to the barbecue.


This is our wonderful friends Renee, Amanda, and Aaron (the graduate). We went to Ohio State with Renee and Amanda.


Our friends Gaye and Rob, and hornists Zach and Eric.


We also had some canine guests, Lenny's buddies Tobey (red collar) and Stoney (blue collar). They belong to our neighbor and friend Steve.

Lenny was a little bit anti-social, though, because he was preoccupied with his rawhide chew, a special treat for him.



I attempted a small Martha Stewart project - to make cute cupcakes with the IU symbol on them. They came out looking a little bit more like lobsters than IU, but at least they tasted pretty good!

Thanks to everyone who came, and those who brought food also! We had a great time!

Chuck's new toy

I am starting to feel like Paris Hilton. Chuck got a new fancy camera from our parents for graduation, and it arrived yesterday. He's been taking pictures like he's one of the paparazzi!

On Sunday afternoon, Lenny and I did our first session of interval training - and I don't mean something out of a freshman music theory class. We were taking the advice of a study published in the NY Times that said it would help build our endurance. We're giving it a try!

We had a great weekend, and I will give updates and pictures soon. In the meantime, Chuck was listed in Fanfare! - the Jacobs School of Music online newsletter.

Birthday parties

Yesterday was a big day at the Jacobs School of Music - Mrs. Clouse turned 100 years old! She has worked for the practice room scheduling office for 46 years, and each year she throws a Christmas party for all of the students. The lounge that connects two of our music buildings is called "Clouse's Lounge" in her honor.

The school had a little event outside for the naming of "Clouse's Plaza," which is a recently landscaped and re-done area in front of the Practice Building.

The Dean and the president of the University both spoke, along with a member of the city council. The governor of Indiana sent a letter to be read and the mayor of Bloomington made a decree that May 1 was "Helen Clouse Day."


The Brass Choir performed, and then we all had lots of cake. Mrs. Clouse is planning on retiring in July.


CHUCK'S BIRTHDAY
On Sunday, we'll be celebrating Chuck's 28th birthday, and his MM graduation, with a barbecue - please join us! We'll be starting around 6 p.m.

Chuck is out of town right now for his audition. I haven't heard much in the way of updates, except that he forgot to pack his toothpaste. He flies home tomorrow.

Running update: Lenny and I ran an entire mile on Monday without stopping to walk! A small achievement, but it felt big to us. Lenny didn't move the rest of the evening.

Beethoven Weekend

This weekend Chuck and I spent a lot of our time in Columbus for the CIP Beethoven 9 concert. We were there all day Saturday for the dress rehearsal and then the concert. Chuck was singing in the choir and had a great time. He was also the designated flower-bringer-outer at the end of the concert for the soprano soloist. I was playing piccolo. The thing about Beethoven 9 is that the piccolo only plays in the very last movement, and not until pretty late in the movement. So the entire orchestra has been playing together for maybe 40 minutes, while the piccolo player sits there, counting and waiting for the little solo in the Turkish march. It's difficult to stay "warmed up" that long and to come in quietly enough and in tune. So I felt good to have a successful performance of that under my belt. It was my first time performing any part of the symphony, so it was a great experience.

Most of my Sunday was spent trying to get a clean apartment back. Our friend Peter (Indiana Peter, not Columbus Peter) is staying with us Thursday night, and the apartment was looking pretty bad. Also, on Sunday, May 6, we are celebrating Chuck's graduation and 28th birthday with a BBQ! Please come join us! (This is a change from our original party date of May 5th, because Chuck has ANOTHER interview - this one local - so we had to move things around.)

I haven't been running all weekend due to all of this, but Lenny and I are going today after work.

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF CLASSES! HALLELUJIAH!

Chuck's castle

So this is the Schloss Arenberg, where Chuck will be living this summer while he is in Salzburg for five weeks.

Meanwhile, I will be busy working at new student orientation! I'm thrilled.

Chuck did get a job interview, and if he got the job, it would save me from the onslaught of 300 new students - because we would have to move away from Bloomington. His audition is next week. We don't want to get our hopes up too high, but please keep your fingers crossed for him.

June reminded me that I had not given any running updates lately. Nothing to brag about - last Friday I tried to go running with the dog at our usual trail at Griffy Lake. He was so tired and stubborn that I almost started crying out of frustration. (We had been to the dog park the day before and he wore himself out.) He just wouldn't really run and wanted to stop and pee on EVERYTHING! He's very good at digging his heels in while you're pulling on his leash at the other end. So we only went about one mile, walking and running. On Sunday I went running without him because I was still mad. The trail was really crowded so that made it difficult, and again I only did the one-mile lap. I'm full of excuses this week!

Tonight my friend Gaye is coming with Lenny and me to the trail and we are going to walk. It's gotten really warm again - spring is back!

Student Conductors Concert

Charles had his final concert at IU on Sunday night. The student conductors conducted the University Orchestra, and Chuck conducted the Prometheus Overture by Beethoven.


This is Chuck with his friend and colleague Lawrence. Lawrence is one of my favorite people in Chuck's studio.


This is Chuck with Tom, the coordinator for all of the orchestras at IU. He has been very supportive of Chuck throughout his three years here.


This is Chuck with Andy, one of the doctoral students. He conducted the doctoral dissertation piece, which is usually what Chuck gets assigned. (Chuck was glad to have Beethoven, though the dissertation piece was pretty cool.)


This is Chuck and the wonderful Mr. Baldner. He is one of Chuck's teachers and has been wonderful to him from Day 1. And Day 1 began back when Chuck was a senior at Ohio State. He emailed some conducting professors to ask for advice on graduate school, and Mr. Baldner emailed his phone number to him. They chatted for an hour!


Our friends Gaye and Rob came to the concert to support Chuck, and we all had ice cream afterwards to celebrate.


Here is Chuck with his conducting buddies, Ben, Andy, and David. David went to BU for his undergrad, but it was after I was there.


And finally, Maestro Baldner with the young Maestros, including Chuck's good friend Thomas.

Exciting news

Chuck had kind of a tough day yesterday - he got two rejection letters from some summer possibilities he was looking into.

But today, he got some amazing news about his summer. He won the Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, and he will spend 5 weeks at the Salzburg Festival in Austria this summer. His travel expenses and room and board are paid for by the fellowship.
This is very prestigious - only 2 young conductors from around the world are selected each year. If you look at previous fellows, you will see two of Chuck's colleagues - Phil and Dongmin. According to Phil, it is the principal players of the Vienna Philharmonic that watch the videos of the applicant conductors, and select the best. This is the best conducting achievement he's had in a very long time, if not the best ever!! He's turning in to a big shot. :)

Also, an update on his pops concert this summer - it will not be in June. It will now be in Bloomington on July 1. Everyone is invited!

It was a year ago today that we lost our five students in the plane crash. It's hard to believe it's been that long already, but it's especially hard to see all of the Virginia Tech coverage and know that they are going through a similar event, losing so many of their students, faculty, and staff. I can't imagine what a tremendous burden that must be, but we share in their heartache.

What is also very sad to me is the fact that the Korean community here in Bloomington is very frightened about retaliation over the Virginia Tech massacre. My friend Hyun Jung, who I play flute duets with, said that events at his church and other places are being cancelled, and that he doesn't want to be out in public. (It doesn't help that the KKK is threatening to march in Bloomington tomorrow.) We were disappointed because we want to go out to dinner and celebrate with Hyun Jung - he improved his TOEFL (English exam) score by 20 points. He only needed three points higher to be accepted into the masters program, but he's been working very hard on his English and scored that much higher. (I had been helping him practice speaking and listening for the test, but that's the only category that actually went down! D'oh!) So congratulations to Hyun Jung - and we'll celebrate a little later.

Off to a running start

So Monday was the running of the Boston Marathon. As you may know, my dad has run the Boston Marathon course very recently, besides running a marathon when he was about my age, I believe. Last summer I began my quest to become a runner; or rather, someone who was capable of jogging more than 100 yards without stopping to walk. My goal was to run a 5K but I was unable to complete the one in October without stopping to walk once. So now that it is spring, I have started my quest again - and Monday's Boston Marathon was my symbolic, psychological start. I am going to be one of the people running, not the guy watching with the Dunkin' Donuts coffee!

My first goal will be to complete a 5K - NO WALKING. I've decided to update my progress on the blog so I am accountable to more than my tired legs - everyone can share in my training misery and successes. I have announced it to the world, so now I have to do it!

My boss (a tri-athlete and marathon runner) has been encouraging my running since last year, and giving Chuck tips with his running. He asked on Monday if I had heard that the half-marathon in Bloomington date had been announced (the half-marathon that Chuck ran last year), and I said I had - Sept. 8th. "Are you going to run it this year?" he asked.

"Oh, I think I'm going to try!" I said foolishly, thinking in my head that it would be a good achievable goal. If Chuck can do it, why can't I? "I've got new shoes and I've already started jogging with the dog!" I went jogging that evening and regretted my optimism. I'm going to start with the 5K and see what happens from there. :)

Tuesday evening I ran in the woods by Griffy Lake (our favorite trails) with Lenny. We ran about 2 miles, with several stops to walk. He is doing great - he runs behind me, but he doesn't put on the brakes randomly anymore, and I don't have to tug on his leash to get him to run rather than walk. That helps me a lot. I also have my cool Nike gear thanks to my mom, my iPod with cheesy workout music, and I'm tracking my progress on nikerunning.com. 5K here I come!

Lenny's Photo Shoot

Lenny actually sat still last night long enough for me to snap a few pictures on the cell phone. As you can see, he just had a hair cut.



AREN'T I CUTE?

KELLEY'S BOYS



SAY CHEESE! (See his teeth?)

TIM GUNN

"Designers, read an article all about me, in today's New York Times!"

Happy Easter

A long, long time ago, my mom lobbied for Seatbelts on Schoolbuses! Now we have Seatbelts on Terriers! I got Lenny a little car harness that buckles in to the seatbelt so he doesn't get jostled around by Chuck's driving when we go to the dog park. Yes, I know, some of you may think that's weird. But for those of you who have pets like Lenny that go nuts at a drive-thru window, you can get the harness at Target - it's about $9.

I can just picture Lenny's TV editorial..."Some people say we'd chew on the belts, but we don't. Some people say we'd wriggle out of the belts, but we don't. Some people say we won't jump around without seatbelts - (paw up to face for emphasis) - but we do! Tell your legislator that YOU (paw points to the camera) want seatbelts on your terriers." Any of those yellow t-shirts left, Mom? :)

Lenny had a lot of fun looking for Easter eggs yesterday. We hid some around the apartment with doggie T-Bonz treats in them. He figured out how to get the plastic eggs open to get the treat out, and he thought it was a really fun game. My dad sent the annual Easter treasure hunt puzzle via email. It was a good puzzle and took me about half an hour to solve. (And just a little bit of Googling.) Thanks Dad! :)

More good news

Congratulations to our friend Pete in Columbus, OH - he just got promoted to manager at his job!!

Congratulations also to Jamie Barton, a colleague of ours here at IU. She just won the Metropolitan Opera competition in New York City. She is an amazing singer and also is one of the nicest people in the entire world.

News

Here is a website for my sister's new hospital where she will be working. I hope we get a tour when we go out to NH in May!

Congratulations to my friend Mary Ann, who is expecting her second child!

And speaking of new babies, how cute is my new niece Elise? Her christening is in two weeks, but unfortunately, we won't be able to go. The Maestro is busy.

Chuck's two concerts (CIP and his youth orchestras) both went really well. He had a really successful weekend.


My friend Jason was featured in the NH Union Leader newspaper!

Chuck was interviewed this morning for his own profile in IU's student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student. The story will be published later this week, so I will be sure to post a link.

Spring is here!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY SISTER!!!! Annie was hired on the spot at her interview today. She will be working as a nurse for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Go Annie!!!! She said they only had one opening to fill, and she was it! We are so proud, happy and excited for you, Annie!!!


Spring has arrived in Bloomington - the weather has turned very nice very suddenly. We had 80 degrees for a couple of days, but it's settled into the 60s and 70s.

Chuck conducts music from "Porgy and Bess" on tomorrow night's Columbus Philharmonic concert.

Go Buckeyes!

In honor of the Buckeyes making it into the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, I am posting a very special picture that my friend Dan forwarded to me.

Proof that Jesus is a Buckeye fan:

Charles back with the BSO

Chuck has been asked to conduct a pops concert with the BSO (Bloomington Symphony Orchestra) again this summer. This concert will be June 3, and at a park about an hour south of Bloomington. Everyone is welcome!

Heidi is back!

I hope this means PR #4 will start up in July. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Walter es muy guapo

I forgot to mention that my parents just got back from a trip to Mexico with their amigos, Donald and Susan. They had a great time and even brought Walter back a little souvenir - his own Mexican sombrero.

Welcome back

We are back from Spring Break. Chuck had a very successful week at his conducting workshop in Bowling Green, Ohio. He also got to visit our family in Toledo. This is a picture of him conducting the BGSU orchestra under the guidance of Gustav Meier.

Chuck also had another celebrity moment while he was there. Someone from Japan recognized him, and told him that he had watched all of his conducting videos on Youtube!

My week didn't start off very well. About fifteen minutes before I got to leave work on Friday, I found out that I got a big fat DENIAL on my PD application here at IU. The admissions director came up to me this morning to tell me that there was very little space in the flute studios, and only about 4 people total (for 2 studios) were accepted. That made me feel a little better, but of course I am still disappointed. But I was lucky to have my trip to New Hampshire to relax and get over the bad news.

I had a great time relaxing with Mom and Dad, and we drove down to Providence, Rhode Island to have lunch with my sister Annie. She just got some great news - she will have a job interview for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Yale Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. Go Annie! Just two months until graduation! Chuck and I will be flying back in May to attend her graduation ceremony.

I was hoping to see some presidential candidate action in New Hampshire - my current favorite, Barack Obama, was in town one day for two events, but the closer one to us got snowed out. We had a big storm with about 8 inches of snow. I'm reading Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope," and so far think it's great.


We ended the week with a trip to the "TD Banknorth Garden" (Boston Garden) for some college hockey. The Hockey East finals were between UNH (Mom and Dad's favorite team) and Boston College. UNH went in to the game ranked number one, but BC beat them pretty soundly, 5-2, which was pretty disappointing. We had a great time at the game though. We were in the sixth row, so we could see all the action. It was also St. Patrick's Day, and everyone in Boston was in a very festive mood. It was a lot of fun.


Mom and I did a lot of fun shopping, including a trip to the Nike store. I am ready for running! I have started jogging again, now that it is light out longer and a little bit warmer. We even took Lenny back to the dog park yesterday (74 degrees out!) for the first time this year. He did great! He didn't end up limping, and he ran around like a fool, chasing big dogs and barking at everyone. It was really great to see him back to his old self.

Star suggestions

Thank you for the latest casting suggestions! My friend Jen had a suggestion for J.D. - Wes Bentley, the actor from American Beauty. And I think Sandra Bullock would be a good pick to play Jen - so I will give up my claim on her - Elizabeth Hurley can play me. :)

Chuck's sister Amy suggested that she could be played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Doesn't she look like her? And happy birthday to Amy's daughter, my niece Molly, and son Ben, whose birthday is coming up soon! Chuck and I got SEA MONKEYS for Ben for his birthday, but Chuck got so excited about them that he decided to keep them, and we had to go buy another kit to send to Ben! The ants in his ant farm died, so I think he needed a new project.

Indiana University had some big news this week - it selected a new president, Michael McRobbie. The reason I mention it is because he was a frequent customer back when I worked at Sew N' So's. I learned the proper way to sew on buttons on his shirts - he had all of his shirts changed to french cuffs. I also made pillow cases for him. (I got the easy projects.)

Last week, I was pretty busy playing a gig - I performed Mendelssohn's "Elijah" with the Bloomington Chamber Singers, with three of our voice faculty performing as soloists. They were amazing. I was so-so. I think they are going to play it on our local NPR station - I'll put a link on the blog if they podcast it.

On Sunday, my flute duet had its third coaching. At our second coaching two weeks before, the flute teacher kicked out our harpist for not playing in tune, so we were VERY nervous coming into this next coaching. Hyun-Jung and I played through our two-flute piece, which we had practiced A LOT. The teacher said it was great, and asked what else we had prepared. AAAAUUUGGGHHH! We had nothing else prepared because we had worked so hard on that one piece, but he coached us on it. That was a big relief to get through that. However, I still haven't heard anything about my admissions status. This is the same teacher that I want to study with, and he hasn't said anything to me, and my records haven't been updated on my online application. The last auditions happened last weekend, and the admissions committee met today. I was hoping to find out one way or the other before spring break, but I don't think I'm going to. So please keep crossing your fingers for me.

My parents went to Mexico this past week, so I am looking forward to hearing about their trip. I'm flying to New Hampshire on Saturday morning - I can't wait for vacation and to see them. Chuck leaves on Tuesday for his big masterclass at Bowling Green State University with Leonard Slatkin and Gustav Meier! He's been working really hard this week on his scores, and his been feeling a little overwhelmed. I know he will do well! Lenny is going back to his new place, Bark'n Buddies, so he will be in good hands.

And speaking of Lenny, he may have his own casting possibility soon. Today, Dreamworks announced that they were going to make a big-screen version of the adventures of Tintin. Tintin was a Belgian comic book reporter character who went on adventures around the world with his dog, Milou. I first learned about Tintin in my office. There is one piano professor who, when he sees my picture of Lenny, always tells me that he used to read the Tintin comics when he was little, and that Lenny looks just like Milou. (Milou is described on the Tintin website as "an exceptionally white wire fox terrier," and the name Milou translates to Snowy.) So if the movie is live-action, they'll have to pick a wire fox terrier to fill the role. Otherwise, the Target dog can play Lenny - he's pretty cute.

Ready for Spring Break!

Only a week and a half left!