congrats

i want to give a shout out to the little simon. i'm so excited to see him! i hope he's doing great at home.

second thought: i took my high school kids to the marriage of figaro this past week. it rocked. i strongly recommend seeing it as Figaro was incredible. i laughed out loud in several sections (yes, i'm the opera nerd). does the period go after the ) ? i need to review my writing skills apparently.

low point: i watched AND enjoyed little house on the prairie yesterday. wow. laura was all grown up and married. sniffle. come visit me anytime :) ha

more to come on my adorable music room....

V day!!!

yes....the yellow truck...."bulldozer" get it? subtle.


























a w e s o m e.












My favorite truck of the night.

So instead of placing unrealistic romantic expectations on aaron this year i decided to plan valentines day. i think every wife/girlfriend should take over planning dates because it's harder than you think!!! aaron was amazed at how much time i spent planning. (i think it's good to set a high standard ha.)

so white trash date here we come.

the night began after I researched the best hamburger in salt lake...."the Garlic Burger" was the critic choice so we headed out to "the cotton bottom inn" i.e. bar. hilarious. imagine psycho....shower scene knife jabs...death music....and welcome to the good ol' cotton bottom.

being the awkward non-drinkers in the small dark creepy room, we order our diet cokes and pick the darkest corner in the shack. ha. then we jump into our burgers. ah long-lasting garlic breath isn't the most romantic idea in the world. stupid natalie. ha



next up. MONSTER TRUCK RACE!!!! yeah! too much testosterone. at first i was very confused on why anyone would want to spend money on this event...but that was before the monster truck "freestyle" uh huh. HUGE jumps, spinning, rolling, man shouting, air jabs, hand slap, YEAHHHHHHH. chest slap. phew. what a date.

i'll spare you details of our white trash "after party" ha. welp. love ye aaron.

cutie pie

yes i am eating conversation hearts. so i'm sitting here in the hospital watching my rock star sister sleep. she just had her new baby boy Bryant. he's now in the nicu (newborn intensive care unit) for some breathing complications. it all seems so unreal that my twin sister has a child. i'm hoping he's going to make it through today with no other problems, that they'll be able to find the problem so that bec and bry can reunite. i see how much she misses him already. to you mothers out there. way to go. that's the scariest thing i've ever seen!!! ha. i can't believe women put themselves through that! and those of you who don't have an epidural. wow. masochists? jokes

another heart.

I hope....

love you bec and bryant. i just want bec to have a room full of flowers and family with her little boy. i hope it happens!!!!

and to trav. you'll be the best dad of all time. no really

job hell

i had to give out grades today. i am horribly bad at giving out grades. what is the point of some stupid letter defining how smart a person is? well, i had lots of kids with lots of bad grades. (okay probably not THAT many but does that mean i suck as a teacher?) mmmmm don't think about it.

notice how much of a fine line there is between hope and holy crap my life is turning to crap? i choose hope. that's my message of the day. choose, because it's too easy to fall off the ledge.

i've been listening to tin hat trio...i strongly recommend it. even if it's just a one time go.

i like randomness. shall i try word association? black. black speaker. black like my decaying dark demented soul ha. soul. music. the thrill is gone. gone. sunlight. tan. swimming. st george. becca. laughter. baby. bec's baby. excited. aaron. car horn. aaron's home!

the end. love to all.

why hello

so i'm not a blogger. those of you who know me well....know this VERY well. BUT i'm making a change. mostly so that my niece will know my name. so here's a shout out to the ava. your aunt's name is NATALIE. (deb, this is where you practice....n a t a l i e). very good.

things of interest for today and/or thoughts of the day. aaron had me record some funny sounding vocals for some track he's putting together. it was incredibly fun and aaron was a very good vocal coach. his comments and I quote, "just put more air in it. stop supporting it. sound like a little girl." a betty boop visual was the key to unlocking my voice teacher's worst nightmare. ha. it was a pretty great diversion if nothing else.

Other thoughts. i'm rereading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. I read this book two years ago and thought it was ...well....not very captivating and scattered. BUT aaron claims it was a society changing book so i'm giving it a second chance. apparently he wrote the whole book on one long sheet of paper with no punctuation or paragraphs. so when I read it seems like a very very very very long road. ha. those intellectuals out there please forgive me, i'm trying!

well...another day of teaching tomorrow. i have two auditions coming up so we'll see how they go. keep an eye out for any events that need a singer. woot.

things and stuff

ah the opera.  a few weeks ago i took my classes to see madame butterfly.  what can i say, it's three hours of operatic singing with a suicide at the end.  i probably should've warned them of that but i couldn't resist seeing their reaction.  my take on the production= great scenery but not so great singing.  this could've been because i attended a "dress rehearsal" and some of the singers were marking (i guess it is puccini and very long).  overall i felt that it was lacking some emotional connection to the audience.  

on a lighter note, i'm soon posting pics of my apartment for all to see. woot.  o, and i participated in the cope family pumpkin carving night last night (aaron with a drill and mixing tip is something not to miss)...stay posted...

happy happy happy

i'm HAPPY. ha.  i've made a goal and i'm sticking with it.  so this week brings lots of happy activities *mad laughter.  thursday i'm taking my performing arts kids (and the fam) to the opera.  i'm pretty excited to take these kids to something completely different than the norm they're used to. hopefully they won't fall asleep.  i have school off thursday & friday. woot.  bec and i decided to craft a table so we'll see what actually happens.  as for the other details in my life.  not much happening that i will openly talk about on a blog. ha.  i'm in serious need of good friends.  i think i've officially past the "only want to be with my husband every day and night" stage and am ready for outside individuals in my life.  (as much as i do love aaron) it's time.  i've been thinking about what i like about winter.  you notice i say "like" because actually i HATE winter. yes random rant. i'm tired.  so i came up with a few "happy winter activities".....

barnes and noble.  new book smell.  hot chocolate.  quiet corner. heaven.  all i need is a light snow outside. mmm mmmm

crisp air.  weird i know. i love walking outside and thinking.  *ahhhhhhh THAT'S clean air.

holidays.  need i say more.  i'm a five year old stuck in a tired body.

yeah.  that's all i've got.  any ideas?