Wanna Read?

Today was a crazy day. DMV/tag agency is never fun. Ever, ever, ever. If any of you have thought of moving out of state, please let me know so I can heed you a warning. It may not be worth it if you own a car. For real. It is more expensive than you imagine! Luckily we saved some money because the great state of Florida remembered that we were both born here. Two days to the DMV/tag agency and we are finally on track. Luckily two very nice ladies that responded well to smiles made our experience much nicer. Another thing, Texas is weird. It was much more complicated in Texas and not fun.

Later, while we waited for Gabe's tires to be rotated  at Discount Tire we were both reading magazines. Me- Ladies Home Journal, Gabe- Travel and Leisure. I read a really great article by Nora Ephron about divorce and I said "Honey, I think you should read this. It's very interesting." Then he flipped back a few pages in his magazine and said "Here, I think you should read this.You'll like it."

Simultaneously we were reading magazines and then thought of each other while skimming the content. We switched magazines and read the respective articles, then kept reading our magazines. It might have been simple, but at that moment I realized that we love each other so much that even when we're reading magazines, we are on each others minds.

He'll be gone for a few days to Houston, then NYC and I will miss him so.

I seriously loved today. Orlando is beautiful.

Home sweet home

Hi friends! We are back in Orlando and have seen all four sets of parents this weekend. Did you know our life is just like this movie...

via

We hit the ground running as soon as we got home. It's been great seeing everyone! We hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!

Ours looked a little something like this...

Hope you all have a great week!



Yamadori

Oooooh, doesn't he look scary? This is his costume for Butterfly. It was amazing, by the way.

He did an awesome job.

Never mind that he was the tallest one on stage......

This has been a hectic weekend already and it's only 1:30pm. I am packing for our trip home and Gabe is in Cinci for guess what??? Another audition. This guy is a machine lately. He's had some good feedback so we're both excited. Keep the positive thoughts coming. Thanks!

Guess what else...

Harry Potter tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love ya, miss ya, bye

last days in louisville

Since this is our last week here, we wanted to make sure to hit up some hot spots. Stuff we've been meaning to do for three months. The one day we set aside to do these things it rained, a lot. We walk more than drive here, so I was not excited about walking in the rain but Gabe tried to convince me it would be fun.

 I thought the water looked like Christmas lights. So pretty!

Our first stop was The Galt House, a hotel a few blocks down from us. It has a gingerbread village on display now. It looked delicious! The Christmas Tree is made of lollipops!

Next stop, 21 C, a swanky hotel downtown with a bar/restaurant called Proof and an art gallery. It's all super modern and contemporary.

 This instillation below was called Text Rain. A tiny camera in the wall projected your image on the wall, and the text rain landed on your silouhette, and moved as soon as you moved. It was my favorite piece. The text was from a poem about the body.

If you have time, you sould totally check out this website and explore the hotel and museum, most of the exhibits are featured on their site.  

Last stop, Louisville Slugger museum. We actually stopped by the museum when we first came here but we forgot the camera. I just took one pic on my phone of the outside with Gabe standing in front of the giant bat.

Can you see him? :)

This go around, we dove in and hit the batting cages! I used an aluminum bat, Gabe used an authentic Louisville Slugger, that was a replica of the bat Babe Ruth used.

I know this will be shocking to you...but I actually hit the ball. Not just once, but several times. Gabe did much better, but did say that the wooden bat was much more difficult than the aluminum one.

So, I have to admit, even though it was raining, we spent much of the time indoors and we had a ton of fun!

Don't you just love Thanksgiving

This commecial has been playing in Louisville for a few weeks and I just love it. Enjoy.

sometimes

When you're married to an opera singer sometimes he comes home and looks like this...

cell phone picture quality = bad

liquid eyeliner to make you look japanese = good... wait, um..... 



hi

Here's to a random Monday.

1. This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a dear friend whom I hadn't seen in over three years. It sucks that life gets busy. We worked together in Tallahassee and were next door neighbors. Those were fun times! Thanks Lexi for a fun Saturday! We will need to do this again soon. Real soon.

2. We leave Kentucky in a matter of days. For real. I can't believe it. Time has flown by. I'm not sure if it has hit any of you yet, but it's already the middle of November. AAH! Gabe's last show with Kentucky Opera is Madame Butterfly by Puccini. I'm going Wednesday night. His last performance is Sunday. Then we're done! Next stop, home. Then, Pensacola in January.

3. Gabe has had audition after audition lately with more coming up in New York. If you all could send some positive vibes and prayers our way it would be greatly appreciated. I know he is so talented and I truly believe he is possible of accomplishing so much. I hope other people will see that too.

4. Jennifer Grey should win Dancing with the Stars. I told you this would be random. I don't even really like the show that much, but she must win. Also, I would be okay with having her physique when I grow up.  We also did a happy dance when Marty was voted off Survivor on Wednesday

5. I'm excited to see my family soon. Sister- when will I see you?

6. Friends- thanks for reading.

"My Old Kentucky Home"

If you were to come and visit us in Louisville guess where we would go?

You need more help?

That's right. Kentucky Fried Chicken. When was the last time you had one of their biscuits?

I have thought about them everyday since we went. That good.

Then...............

We would go to Churchill Downs to see the Kentucky Derby Museum



The museum was a definite hit. The history of church hill downs dates back over 160 years.

Horse racing is the longest running American sport. We saw lot of exhibits

and even pretended to be  jockeys for a few minutes. Gabe was very excited.

Then we did a walking tour of Churchill downs...

The twin spires on the upper right corner are now a historic monument and cannot be altered. The space was awesome. You could truly feel the history and also smell the poo.

When the walking tour was over we decided to watch a short movie about Derby day. The screen was 360 degrees so you pivoted in your seat to see all around you. It was pretty cool. Right after we sat down an older woman sat next to us in the theater with her children. She was being escorted by a Churchill employee so I sensed that she was important. I thought that maybe she or her family members were in the movie perhaps. Then someone on the other side of us tried to approach her for a picture.  I thought she must be pretty important for a picture, but I didn't recognize her. Her son implied that she would after the movie. So, right after it was over we asked the woman next to us and she told us that it was.....

Penny Chenery

Does anyone need a hint? I assume that a lot of you will have no clue.

 

Have you seen this movie? Diane Lane played Penny Chenery!!!!!!!!!!

She was the owner of Secretariat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, we got a picture with her too! 

How cool is that! We were so excited. I should also tell you that we had not seen the movie yet, but we had heard all the buzz and seen a lot of pictures of her when she was younger. The museum had a whole exhibit dedicated to the movie and had a lot of behind the scenes pictures from the taping at churchill downs.

Now after seeing the movie I have tremendous respect for all she accomplished when most of her male counterparts at the time thought she was "just a housewife." Secretariat was a triple crown winner which meant he won three races in 5 weeks and still holds the fastest race time in Kentucky Derby history.

So, it was an exciting day, then we went to Wagner's Phamracy which also was featured in the movie.

 He was soooo over the camera, but I did not care. It's fun reliving movie history.

One more picture before heading to the airport. Thanks for visiting Mom, we had fun!!

The Barber

(Bridge over Ohio river, driving into Owensboro)

**Long post ahead**

As we approach the end of our time here in Kentucky, Gabe ventured into his largest role this season, as the title role in The Barber of Seville. Gabe is one of four studio artists or artists in residence as some programs call them. Basically, it means that young singers can work with opera companies for more experience and training. A big plus to this program was that the studio artists were able to put on a semi-staged production of Barber with orchestra. Gabe was very excited about this. A good thing for his resume, because once you learn a three hour opera, it doesn't leave your brain overnight. Hopefully, he'll have many more opportunities to sing the same role. Kentucky Opera collaborated with the Owensboro symphony to produce the show, which meant staying there (about 2 hrs from Louisville) for a week during rehearsals. We stayed with wonderful patrons that spoiled 6 of us rotten. They loved having the company and some of us...loved the attention. Mary, our patron was also in the chorus for Barber and at the very end Gabe requested that she be his dance partner in the finale. She was very happy to oblige. Another chorus member came up to Mary after rehearsal and said "How come you get to be up front with Figaro?" To which she said "...because I feed him."

Here are a few shots of rehearsals and the big night!

(Sitzprobe- orchestra sing through, first night)

Next stop Moonlight BBQ. If you ever happen to be driving through, ever, maybe, sometime. Stop. Someone said BBQ buffet and I went gross  uh oh, but it was amazing! All the BBQ, veggies, casseroles and desserts you could imagine!

Dress rehearsal (Gabe as Figaro, Dan as the Count, and Brandy as Rosina)

The whole gang!

 Curtain Call, photo via, they got a standing ovation! It was amazing!!

The Mission President and his wife came to see Gabe. We love them!

Gabe's mom was here all weekend ! So glad she could make it. More pics of her to come :)

Cast, with director and conductor at the cast party. Job well done!!

"Affectionate Goat"

For your viewing pleasure. You may want to push your mute button. My high pitch voice whenever I encounter an animal or a baby is so annoying.

This was taken at a farm in Owensboro, KY. We were there recently for Gabe's performance of the Barber of Seville. I'll post pics from that soon. The conductor of the Owensboro symphony owns this farm with his wife. The property is gorgeous.
 We didn't want to leave. 

Howdy