Happy Birthdays!

First, I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my grandfather, Grumpy! It is also the 250th birthday of another great guy, Mozart.And it also happens to be the birthday of the greatest flutist on Earth, Emmanuel Pahud. What an exciting day!

Chuck's recital was a huge success yesterday. People have been coming up to me all day and telling me how wonderful they thought it was. My boss even said that he was going to stop by for the beginning of the recital, just for a few minutes, but that it was so good that he ended up staying the whole time! We went out for dinner with our friend Amanda and her new friend Aaron to celebrate - Indian food!

Lenny's news

Congratulations to Lenny, who won an "Honorable Mention" in the Fox Terrier Network "Fashionable Fox Terriers" Photo Contest. He was also entered in the "Wire Fox Terriers" category, but unfortunately not a winner.

I was rather surprised by the judges' choices of the winners...I didn't agree with a lot of them. And a SMOOTH fox terrier dressed as a pirate beat Lenny in the contest. How insulting! I was a little disappointed that my favorite of all the entries for the wire fox terrier category didn't win (pictured here). If you click here you can view all of the entries/winners in the contest.

The other news is now Lenny's NEW vet is leaving! He's moving to Ohio. So we'll be moving on to Bloomington Vet #3, whoever that may be. Luckily he's been so healthy that we haven't had to go to the vet in many weeks. We're wondering if Lenny is that awful that he's driving them away! :)

Opinions please

Well, the headshot photos are back. There was quite a variety - these are the ones that Chuck liked the best. (Obviously some can be used for different purposes than others!) Which is your favorite?



Chuck's first rehearsal with the IU Symphony Orchestra was yesterday afternoon. I got to go to the second half of the rehearsal after work. It went really well. Chuck was really pleased. Today is the other two-hour rehearsal. On Thursday, the first hour is rehearsal, and then the concert is at 5:00.

Project Runway!

I'M SO GLAD IT'S FINALLY THE WEEKEND!!! It's been a really long week for all of us, for only being a 4-day week!

Well, I have gotten over my fascination very quickly with "The Apprentice" - both the Donald Trump and Martha Stewart versions - and I have found a new quality reality show. Project Runway on Bravo features fashion designers competing each week on different design projects, with host/model Heidi Klum. It's really fascinating because they show the designers going through every step of the process, including picking out the fabric, laying it all out, and sewing it together. The season is about halfway through, now down to 7 contestants (one is eliminated each time). Here are my big predictions for who will be the three finalists (and will be featured at "Olympus Fashion Week"):
Next episode is Wednesday night at 10, but they show reruns all the time if you're interested.

Have a great weekend!

Our visit to PetSmart

Lenny and I went to PetSmart to pick up a few things this evening. (We like to support PetSmart because of their charity work helping the rescued fox terriers in Canada!) We hadn't been there two minutes when Lenny made a big pile of doo-doo in Aisle 1! How embarrassing. He also tried to eat somebody's bag-o-goldfish while we were checking out. And he still got two toys out of the trip! He got a little squeaky goose and these really cool pink Valentine's kissy lips that make a "smooch" sound when he bites them. He has been antsy the past few days, cooped up in the house with bad weather.

Speaking of which, Bloomington freaks out over weather. We had a grand total of ONE INCH of snow last night, and some schools were delayed. They must not own a snowplow, because the roads are always bad, even with minimal snow. Some other things that irk me about Bloomington:
1) There is no good place to buy clothing. Most of my clothes come from Target, because all of the rest of the stores at the mall require you to be about 13 and carry a sequined purse just to walk in the door and not feel ridiculous, or to be about 103 and carry a walker!
2) Soda is really, really expensive for some reason. And everyone calls it pop. And my grocery store has really weird shopping carts that fold up.
3) At Christmas, my favorite radio station played a song called "Leroy the Redneck Reindeer."
4) This same radio station, which formerly was just "Oldies," now has started playing 80s music.
5) There are way too many weird restaurants. Chuck loves it of course, but I'm really not into vegan burritos.
6) It was 60 degrees on Monday. Today we have wind and snow. It only snows on the days I need to walk outside down to the laundry room.

OK, I feel better now. I've got to go do some laundry.

Another vegetarian?

This is a really cute story about a snake that won't eat hamsters - he must be vegetarian like Chuck! I had to go to the grocery store and buy tofu for him....ewww....

We've started the countdown to Chuck's recital - it's a week from tomorrow. Rehearsals with the Symphony Orchestra start on Monday.

Terrier times

Thanks to my sister for sending me this great picture of Lenny, taken over Christmas break!



Tonight on Animal Planet the Eukanuba Tournament of Champions is on at 8 p.m. This is the second part of the competition, and the Terrier group is on tonight, for all of my fellow terrier fans. Chuck's friend Blake is doing a reading of Tchaik 6 tonight, which I'll be playing in, so I'll have to tape it. Blake is doing the reading because he got in to the Kurt Masur masterclass in NY! Congratulations Blake!



This is a picture of Chuck with his fellow masters conducting students, taken right before break. Blake is the tall guy in the back. The others shown are Phil, Scott, Christian, and Thomas.

Chuck sent me some of his fun pictures from his trip to NYC to the Conductor's Guild conference. Here he is around the Big Apple!


Lincoln Center


Times Square


Grand Central


The Metropolitan Opera

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day tomorrow!

Some NH ski pictures

These are some shots from Chuck's ski trip with Annie and John.

Return of the Blog

My mother-in-law has reminded me that I am woefully behind in my blogging! Not the best way to kick off the new year - I apologize! Things were very busy over the holiday break and I have lots of fun pictures to share with everyone.
On December 17 we went to Jen Miller's wedding! It was so beautiful!! It was wonderful to see her and Alex so happy, and we had a great time seeing old friends. I made my own shirt to wear to the wedding - it was the first article of clothing that I've made for myself and actually worn in public! (Except of course for the Sleeping Beauty dress.)



We stayed with Chuck's grandmother Bubs, along with Amy, Greg, Ben, Andy, and Molly. It was a full house! On the 18th we celebrated Christmas with Chuck's side of the family. It was a lot of fun. I even got to be the first wear-er of the new Latshaw Birthday Hat.






So after all that fun, we had to go back to Bloomington so I could spend three more very boring days at work. Then we took off for New Hampshire! The 18-hour drive went pretty quickly. It felt so good to be back. We spent Christmas and a lot of the time there up at the new lake house. My sister came up for several days and we also got to see her boyfriend John. They went skiing with Chuck one day. We went to Boston one night, visited Chuck's old conducting teacher, and got a lot of relaxing in too. Chuck also got his professional headshots done while we were there - I can't wait to post THOSE on the blog once they arrive!

On January 1, Lenny and I started to drive back to Bloomington. We spent a night in a Holiday Inn in Buffalo, NY, and arrived at home in time to see the second half of the Buckeye victory in the bowl game! Chuck stayed behind and took the train to NYC for a conductor's conference. He got to go to the Metropolitan Opera twice while he was there. Meanwhile, I had to start back to work at the School of Music. He shaved the beard off for Christmas, but he's sticking with the vegetarianism still.

Classes started this week and things have been very hectic in the office. Things should quiet down soon, but I am pretty tired and am looking forward to this three-day weekend. This afternoon I got asked to sub last-minute for the IU Philharmonic Orchestra, so I went in "cold" and sight-read Shostakovitch 12 (principal flute!). It was a little scary because Chuck's teacher Mr. Effron was conducting - he's got a reputation for not being the nicest conductor in the world. It went fine though, and it was nice to play in the orchestra.

Chuck is getting ready for his master's recital on January 26. He'll be conducting Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Suite #2. He's also got TWO ad hoc orchestra concerts this semester - one on Sunday, Feb.19, and one on Sunday, March 26. Hopefully the new year and the new semester will bring good things!