"The Phantom of the Opera is here inside my mind...."

[Edited since posting...previous paragraphs removed]


My "day job" has been fantastic. Last Friday, I felt so special to get to witness Sofia's first really long moments of walking. I turned on the Toddler radio station on Pandora, and had basically a toddler dance party which involved jumping, bouncing, clapping, and walking in a circle. I have a video to document her cuteness. Since then, she has gotten even more confident in her walking. Today I took them to look at fish at the pet store, and it was the first time she didn't want me to hold her in a public place. She walked around to each of the tanks and cages of furry pets.
During our time in the car when dropping off/picking up Alexander from school, I discovered Chicago's classical music station, and I decided that's what will be our majority of music listening. I want them to appreciate classical music :). This week was the first week Alexander has actually loved listening to it. When opera comes on, he tries to figure out what is happening and describes the scene to me. Of course it's completely different than the real scene, but I'm so proud of his growing imagination. He likes my translations of the libretto, too. ;)

We began staging "The Sorcerer" this week! It's coming to life. In one of the scenes a few of us ladies will be "sprites" that are working for the sorcerer. Karla, who is also in the chorus, is helping with choreography in the show, and she began teaching us movements for the sprite scene. It's soooo much fun. It's more of a modern dance feel to the scene which enables us to be creepier. I'm happy she believed in me enough to pick me to be in the scene in spite of my lack of dance experience.


Remember that record snow storm we had a week and a half ago? I wasn't able to dig my car out for a few days, so I took the bus to work. I had ridiculous adventures (I guess you could call them that), trying to get home with the bus problems due to the storm. One night while waiting for the bus with my friend Eric (also in Sorcerer and was in the Mikado last year) after rehearsal, I thought I was going to freeze and become a snow lady. It supposed to be -25 degrees that evening, and thankfully it wasn't that cold, but it wasn't above 0 degrees that's for sure. We told stories, and attempted to have fun in the snow to keep our minds off of it.


It hit me that THIS is the month we hear that Chicago people just want to die, because the cold and snow just needs to end in their minds. I have to admit that I can see that, but I think it's beautiful when it snows. Definitely can't wait for summer, though. ;)