Welcoming 2016

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful new year!
It was extra special for us because it was the first time we were able be together to celebrate NYE and the new year together!

The obligatory NYE celebration photo  =)

and of course, the other obligatory photo of us being us  haha

David had been talking about the new Star Wars movie ever since it came out, so we decided to go watch it before having dinner.  Little did we know, it would be all sold out... all weekend...  So instead, we tried to go to the Boston Commons only to drive around for half an hour trying to find parking. At this point, it was looking a lot like our first anniversary misadventures...  haha  We gave up on Boston Commons, and tried to find something else to do.  By then, we didn't have much time until dinner, but we decided to try the Faneuil Hall anyway since it was only a few blocks away.

Thankfully, we were able to find parking, and we had a good time poking about in different stores. In one, I found a Princess Leia's hair-esq fluff muff, and we called that good enough for our Star Wars experience for the night  ;)

with the tree  =)  

It wasn't anything special--just walking around and shopping, but it was fun to just spend some time together.

For dinner, we decided to try a spot in Cambridge, recommended by our friends Daon and Tristan. They couldn't say enough good things about Oleana, so we got a reservation (which I highly recommend), and crossed the river! 

We weren't really sure what to get, so we started with the chef's choice vegetable sampler.  Because they were chef's choice, I'm not sure what they were called, but we had some sort of carrot hummus, followed by these amazing falafels... 

another carrot dish, but roasted this time, with some amazing crunchy something happening.  Maybe it was fried quinoa? I'm not sure, but it was delish!

The next dish was made of some sort of vegetable from the broccoli family, but it tasted a lot like kale!

And of course, we have to continue our tradition of getting lamb at date night! It was quite literally falling off of the bone, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

I think my least favorite was the dessert, which was a fried cream puff sort of a thing...  but I think that's usually what happens with me at most restaurants.  It's so difficult to get dessert just right at a restaurant!  I much prefer bakeries for desserts.

It was so wonderful to spend NYE together and to ring in the New Year. (yes, I actually stayed up until midnight, which took effort for this grandma  ;)  haha)  The next day, we left the hustle and the bustle of the city to hike Mt. Holyoke, but more on that will come in the next post! 

Happy New Year, and thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm currently at home practicing away for my upcoming auditions, so it's not very festive around these parts, but I hope that you are all celebrating/enjoying the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 with your loved ones! The years that really stick in my mind are 2008 and 2012 because they were my graduating years, and it looks like 2014 is also going to (hopefully) be joining the ranks of the 'memorable' years!  Already almost done with my Master of Music degree...  I can't believe it!  haha but I am so excited to see what 2014 has in store for me and my loved ones  =D

Last year, I made a huge list of the year's highlights and what I was thankful for, so I considered doing that again, but I decided that I am thankful for much of the same things!  It's not that I don't think they are less important or that I'm less thankful, but let's try something new for this year, yeah?  

So!  we're going to be ending the year with a look at the December Photo Project!  DPP is where you take a photo every day of December, and I'm actually rather surprised/proud that I stuck with it for the whole month!  I tend to get bored with things quickly and don't end up sticking with things, but I guess this one kept my interest for the whole month! who would've thought...  haha   

so here is the month of December in pictures! and you can also see all of them on my Instagram feed here!

^^^Day 1 and 2!  My 5 year old student wrote that on the board for me, and it melted my heart!  love them so.  then, on the second day of Christmas, I mean December, I noticed that I was wearing Christmas colors, and had to snap the picture!  haha

^^^Day 3-8! Then, I wanted to put this together to show the strange weather that we deal with in Houston. Day 3 was 79 degrees and sunny outside (in December!), then day 5 was 40 degrees.. and then by day 6-7, it was all of a sudden fall weather!  we had fall colors and leaves and everything!  Day 4, I just took a photo of my life savers while dealing with bruised tendon.. Then, on day 8 (I know the order is switched here,,,) my students performed on the Shepherd Preparatory Program Recital, and I was soooo proud!!!

^^^Day 9 marked the beginning of what I fondly remember as 'hell week', but it was ok because we had a little dance break  =)  love him so.

^^^Day 10...  yup. hell week in full force..

^^^Day 11. I ran across this in the Rice parking lot, and was SO excited!  WHAT?! there's a fellow Nebraskan at Rice?!  who are you and what are you doing here! not to be creepy, but Nebraska and Nebraskans will always have a special place in my heart!

^^^Day 12-14.  Had an awesome time performing Beethoven Piano Trio Op. 70 No.2 and Beethoven Sonata for Piano and Violin #1 with these lovelies!  and day 14 is our apartment getting a little festive  ;)

^^^Day 15.  a little Christmas date with the boy  <3

^^^Day 16-17. Hell week passed, and celebrating with a girl's night in (first time making kettle corn from scratch!) and a double date!  my first gingerbread house experience ever with our favorite double date couple documented here!

^^^Day 18-19.  I'm HOME!!!!!! love Seattle.  and my parents had a new toy in the kitchen!  I wish I could take you back to Houston with me, little Vitamix...

^^^Day 20!  SNOW DAY!!!  First snow of the year!  you can check out more pictures of my little snow dog here.

^^^Day 21-24.  Just hanging out with my little man, my mommy (with her exercise hoop!), freaking out about my doctoral auditions happening in exactly a week! (OMG!! AHHHH!!  ok, breathe...), and hanging out at mommy's clinic in the children's section!

 ^^^Day 25-27.  Merry Christmas!!!  Christmas puppy, foggy walk, and a jeweled web discovered on our walk  =)

^^^Day 28-29.  Enjoying the last couple of days with the Vitamix and boxes and boxes of fruits we always have at home!  we really go through a couple of boxes of fruits a week as a family..  and then a mommy daughter date!!  Learned that if I'm going to invest in any fashion related accessories, it should be in purses, shoes, and outerwear (in mommy's opinion).  and I think I agree because they are the ones that last the longest.  For example, I use a leather purse mommy got when she was my age!  and because she took such a good care of it, it's still in amazing shape!  She also has a coat daddy got her when they first got married, and she still wears it!  So these are items worth investing in.  I'm looking forward to building my own collection of purses, shoes, and outerwear that I can potentially pass down to my own daughter in the future!  =D

^^^Day 30-31.  Spending some more time with the little man, who is about 70-80 years old in 'human years' but still acts like a puppy.  gonna miss this handsome lil chap so much when I leave tomorrow! sniffle... but it's been a fun 2 weeks!

So that's it for the December Photo Project!  It's kind of fun looking back at how the month has been documented.  I said it last year too, but I'm so glad that I'm documenting these times through this blog and instagram because it's so fun to look back and remember the things that would have otherwise been forgotten once in awhile  =) 

Thanks for being on this journey with me, and I hope you all have a wonderful start to this new year!

Much love,

--Janny