Hanging out with friends tonight. We were going to see fireworks but with impending storms and bananas amount of rain we’ve had in the last 2 days, we’re just going to stay and chill at their house instead. Even if the storms clear it will be wet and gross. I’m bringing farro salad 😋

Spending my 4th practicing Urinetown! Not too terrible for an oboe player lol. Don’t ask me about the clarinet parts 🫣

Definitely. I moved to IL from TN 24 years ago and never really identified as a Midwesterner or Illinoisan for a while. But I’ve lived here longer than I lived in TN now! I think after Pritzker became governor I have identified more as someone proud to live in IL.

First outdoor bike of the year! Before vacation it was so rainy and stormy and (hard to believe now) a little too cold so I just haven’t gotten out yet. I was hoping with all the big storms we had last night that it would be cooler today, but it was only marginally cooler. I’m so hot and sweaty 🥵

*taps the sign*

Home from vacation and back to work! Sitzprobe and wandelprobe for Urinetown tonight. My brain and body are still in pacific time 😵‍💫

Really enjoyed Water for Elephants!

Whew, we were in 30s-50s rainy and foggy weather the last several days in Mount Rainier and Glacier and came home to an extreme heat warning with a 105 heat index 🥵 my body is very confused. And sweaty.

Ugh, now every end of June is tainted by some horrible Supreme Court decision and it’s always when I’m on vacation ☹️

Train is delayed 2 hours AMA

My bed frame and dresser I got from my grandparents that are from the 50s. After that my alto sax lol. It’s about 50 years old!

My husband just told me about a colleague of his that every night recites her wedding vows to her husband and he recites his vows to her. Every single night. She did this over the phone, in public, while on a work trip once. Like what even. I have so many questions.

Nothing makes me feel young like taking an Amtrak and being the youngest person by at least 20 years. When you’re about to turn 46 soon, you take whatever wins you can get!

My feet hurt

We are so cooked

I live in B so I’d probably pick A just for something different (plus northwoods WI and MN is awesome) but B def is the best choice hands down if you don’t live there (or even if you do bc it has so many options!)

I downloaded the Merlin bird app (thanks to @nysmusic.bsky.social) and making obsessing about birds my new vacation personality.

Sitting in the car ferry line for the next 2-4 hours AMA

I wonder if the appeal of Forest Gump to boomer men is because they think everyone is just dying to hear their life story.

Had a bunch of bad anxiety stress dreams which is not doing great things for my brain. But I’m sure drinking too much coffee will make it better, right?

Enjoyed Kinky Boots!

I still have my first ever band t-shirt from elementary school that I got in 1989. I also have a sweatshirt that’s from either 89-90.

Several years ago I started getting lesson requests from students from a one school whose band director wanted them to get 4-5 lessons over the summer before they start 5th grade band camp. They all said the same thing, it was bizarre and I was kind of taken aback but I said yes initially.

That’s a wrap on Something Rotten! Another Egg-cellent production at Wheaton Drama! We play in a loft backstage and no one can see us. So we do different pit themes for each show. Here is 1500s fashion/something old, royals, fandom, bright colors, and Shakespeare days.

It’s ok though because this is our neighborhood brewery that we’ve been regulars at for almost 10 years (!!) and we know everyone here. Someone is wearing a shirt here that says “trans people existing does nothing negative to your life you whiny bitch” if that gives you an idea of how great it is.

My (extremely white 100% European) husband ordering Indian food and choosing spiciness level: “very mild for children”

Olives 🤮

Iykyk

A big flew directly into my eye ball on my hike at the arboretum. 🙈

Well that was fun 😵‍💫 tornado sirens went off during Something Rotten and everyone had to go down into the basement green room 🌪️ the show must go on!

When I worked at NY&Co we had cassette tapes (yes tapes!) that we had to play in the store on repeat. It was a fake NYC radio station broadcast with fake weather and traffic reports. It was so strange. Especially playing it in rural TN.

The Knicks players have more fun neon-colored shoes, so I want them to win.

My husband and I do these summer in the parks concert series every year for the last 6 years. The person coordinating everything sent an email out about rehearsal with two options, June 30 or July 1. We email back right away that we can only do 7/1.

Yourself, but as a cartoon

$500 more for some silver coins that my husband just found inside a coffee cup on top of a bookshelf. And about $250 cash that he found stuffed into a random coat pocket. I guess we’ll have to literally go through every pocket of every clothing item before we throw anything out bc who tf knows??

You know you’re old and boring when you get really excited about buying a new mop.

We saw the mama and baby ducks again twice this week! They were so big now! I couldn’t believe how much they grew from 19 days ago! No picture this time unfortunately.

Do we think the teenaged mutant ninja turtles air freshener smells like: A. Turtles B. Pizza C. Sewers D. a secret 4th thing

We just saw a bald eagle fly over the house 😲😲😲😲😲😲

New furniture delivery day!

Landscaper next door is absolutely blasting the New Radicals “You Get What You Give” loud enough for the world to hear. Me: “I guess he’s got the music in him” Husband: 😑

Pick a selfie from your gallery & turn it black and white, if you feel like it

Today was my husband’s last day of school. There was a family with 5 girls that all played all 4 years in band and the last one just graduated. The family gave him $200 and a thank you card signed by every family member 🥹

The finale of Hacks was so perfect and the finale of Euphoria was so terrible. Well the whole last season was bad and weird really.

This is a very important video and you need to see it and watch to the end.

My husband and I have so many. One time at a Chinese buffet when we had just started dating he excitedly bit into a mozzarella stick expecting it to be really good bc he had had excellent cheese sticks there before (yes a Chinese buffet in the middle of IL….he should really have known better)

One of the short ballads from Something Rotten from Thursday’s show that I always enjoy playing!

In hoarding news, my FIL had a small coin collection and my husband just took it to get appraised and sell them. $700 for a few of the rare coins that were silver 🫨 we had no idea. I thought we’d just get a few bucks from them 😯 we just made that coin collector’s day lol

For probably the first time in my post-grad adult life I am debt-free! (minus my mortgage but whatever) I paid off my car back in the Fall (my husband’s was paid years ago) and just finished paying a debt-consolidation loan that we got many years ago. All of our credit cards are at a zero balance.