Promise me.

One day when I have kids, promise me that if I ever...

1) Blog about my kids' bodily functions (poop, pee, barf...really anything)
2) Narrate my blog as my kid "Today my Mommy gave me rice cereal and I gobbled it alllll up!! YUMMY!!"
3) Post a picture of my "positive" pee stick on my blog

...you'll punch me in the face. Ok? Ok.

(DISCLAIMER: This is in NO WAY hinting that I am pregnant. Don't even think about it.)

Where have I been all your life?!?

Well friends, it's taken me ten years, but I'm finally posting. Sorry for kind of dropping off the face of the earth!!! I suck.

Anyway, I've had all kinds of ideas for blog posts over the past (three) months, but I've forgotten all of them. So I'm going to take a moment and reminisce on the summer and get you alllll caught up to where we are now.

This summer we...
-Went to the University of Michigan to take lessons and got to know the trumpet and bassoon teachers there. Had a good time. We'd never been to Michigan before, so we checked a new state off our list.
-Went on tour with the BYU chamber orchestra to the Oregon coast. Another state checked off. Enjoyed being the Bus Fun officianados/reinstating the Katie and Joe Talk Show.
-[I] went to New York for my Grandpa Killian's funeral.
-Went to the University of Maryland to check out their teachers. Also had a good time and were amazed by their impressive brand-spanking-new fine arts building (complete with coded practice rooms! Oh baby.)
-In the process, stayed in Ashburn with the Nance and Randinator. We were spoiled rotten and gorged ourselves on Mom Smith's culinary delights.
-[I] had my second and hopefully last gum graft. FUN!
-Worked as Summerfest counselors for the second year in a row. Best. Job. Ever.
-In the process, ate at the Morris Center for a week straight.
-Went to the American Idol concert for my birthday present. You read the posts. Enough said about that.
-Dropped off Sister Weiner at the MTC. Saddest day of my LIFE!
-[I] took my very last GE's during summer semester. For a few weeks, I was convinced I wanted to be an anthropologist and live among the African Bushmen. Then I realized I'd have to live among the African Bushmen. Drinking blood to hydrate onesself = not enticing.
-[Joe] worked hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours as a performance librarian.
-[I] worked not so many hours at BYU Independent Study.
-[I] went on a crash diet a week before graduation in an attempt to look good in my graduation (tent) gown. It consisted of only two foods - celery and peanut butter. It lasted seven hours. I good food poisoning from some dirty celery. The end.
-[I] graduated with the two things I wanted out of BYU - a degree and a husband (and a dang cute one at that!)
-[I] quit Independent Study. After one year of working there, I abandoned my life as an office lady in favor of teaching some undergraduate music classes. Just give me a tweed jacket and call me Professor Nibley!

Which brings us to...now! Joe and I are busy working on graduate applications, practicing our guts out, and still trying to keep it awesome in the process. Joe is also crazy and has his senior recital coming up in just a few weeks!

Sorry for the somewhat boring play-by-play, but I felt it was necessary after my long absence. More entertaining posts to come!

Behold, the smooth pits.

You guys, this is my LAST post about the American Idol concert. I promise. Cross my heart. I swear upon Adam Lambert's baby-soft armpits.

BUT.

I found raw footage of Glambert's performance in Salt Lake, featuring THE PITS. Up close and personal. Yes, I know this is your dream come true. Yes, I know you probably never thought you'd be able to experience it (except vicariously through my previous post, complete with fuzzy, low-quality pictures). And yes, even I never thought I'd see it again, except when I replayed it in my mind as I fell asleep every night [creeper alert]. But now, you too can view the silky-smooth armpits, just as I did on that fateful night. I decided the only thing that would make them better is if he glued rhinestones to them. That glamazon would be unstoppable.

Annie, if you have made it through this whole post and the video without either of them invoking some kind of gag-reflex...well, you deserve a prize.

I would also like to point out that approximately 50% of the screaming you hear in the background was probably me. The other half was Brooke.

An addendum.

For some far, far better pictures of the American Idol concert than my own, go here. Thanks, Yahoo. My personal favorite? Number four. Just read the caption.

American Idol in review

Whilst my sister, brother, and dad are off gallivanting around England, I've had to make my own fun here in Utah. So, Joe and I went to the American Idol concert last night!!! I felt it was my responsibility as a die-hard Idol fan (for this season, at least) to give my public a full review. So, here goes:

Here we are, sitting outside the E-Center, waiting for Kubo to come with our tickets. We killed time doing some people-watching. If there was one thing I noticed, it was that the place was CRAWLING with cougars, as well as old ladies with shirts that said "I heart Adam Lambert." Sometimes it was a combination of the two. But whatever the case, this concert attracted some GEMS. What can I say, Utahns love their Idol! Anyway, we got into the E-Center and settled into our fan-freaking-TASTIC front row seats, courtesy of Brooke. Literally, floor-level, 20 feet from the stage. Amazing.

Anyway, we'll get on with what you really want to hear about...the Idols. First was Michael Sarver:
Complete with bedazzled white fringed jacket!! There was even a sparkly cross over his heart. I wish I could've gotten a better shot of it. You'll have to forgive my crappy pictures, we were really close, but my camera's kinda ghetto. Anyway, Michael was a non-event. Just, whatev. He sang "I'm in Love with a Girl" and some other song I can't remember...it was fairly good kareoke. Moving on...

The Artist Formerly Known As Corkrey:

Despite being Utah's own, the audience wasn't THAT enthused to see her. Maybe because she's not that good? Just a hunch. But man, she looked good! I can't deny she rocked that little pink dress with her awkward dance moves. She did "Put Your Records On" and another song I've never heard. I looked it up - "Tears Dry on their Own," by Amy Winehouse. There you have it. She was pretty dang awful...worse than Sarver, I'd say. But it's ok cuz she's PRETTY!~!~!~!

Scott MacIntyre:

This was a pleasant surprise. He was MUCH better than the first two. He sang "Bend and Break" by Keane and "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton. And in case you were wondering how they avoided the whole he's-blind-and-how-the-crap-did-they-get-him-out-on-stage...he was perched on his piano bench, and they raised him up from below.

Lil Rounds:

I didn't get an individual photo of her, so this is from the end of the first half, with Megan Joy. Just imagine her in a tacky, bespangled black trench coat with wannabe-Beyonce gloves. The singing itself? Pretty gosh-awful. For someone who claimed she was a stronger singer than Bette Middler (scroll about half-way down to "Lil - 1"), it was a bit disappointing. She did "Be Without You/Just Fine" by Mary J. Blige, "No One," by Alicia Keys, and "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. The first two were pitchy, overdone, and lacked control (classic Lil Rounds) BUT...I do have to hand it to her, "Single Ladies" was pretty fun, though the choreography was disappointing. She claimed she worked with Beyonce's choreographer, but she wasn't even CLOSE. She didn't even do the down-low fist pumps! Come on! Do we need to get Justin Timberlake to show her how it's done? Or that one Jonas Brother? Either of them could've done it better!

ANOOP!

I didn't get an individual picture of him, either...so here's another group number picture. (See him? He's the one on the very left!) I personally like it because it features his fabulous black and blue-rimmed glasses. Nerd-chic. Anyway, Noop-Dawg sang "Always on my Mind," some Ne-Yo song, and "My Perogative." He did a good job, and he looked pretty adorable up there. I liked watching his awkward/stank dance moves in person.

Matt Giraud:

So good he got two pictures!!! This guy brought down the HOUSE with "Hard to Handle." Fantastic! He also sang "Georgia on my Mind" and "You Found Me" (The Fray). I've never been a big Matt fan but I have to say, he was great. Plus his piano playing was way better than Scott's...

[Scott = pwned!]

---INTERMISSION---

[Note our pure freak-outedness as we anticipate Allison, Glambert, and Kris Allen]

Allison Iraheta:

Well she was just freaking amazing. She came out with a wind machine AND a sweet electric guitar singing Pink...it just doesn't get much better than that. This girl is a STAR! There was a marked difference between the performance-level of the first half and that of the second. She sang "So What," "Cry Baby," and "Barracuda." Favorite Moment: her "eff-you" raspberry at the end of "So What." Amazing! I loved every minute of it, and I was so excited to hear "Cry Baby" live. What a great moment.

Danny Gokey:

[not pictured]

Sorry, folks. My camera battery started dying and I wanted to save what little juice I had for the big show. Here's the rundown...he sang "P.Y.T." (awkward MJ tribute complete with "clumsy" dancing...I don't think he meditated on it enough), "Maria Maria" (a subtle tribute to his wife. Somewhere in the middle he straddled the mic stand and put it into a compromising position...Joe told me later that if Adam had literally pooped and peed on the mic stand, it would've been more sexy than what Danny Gokey did to it. Just sayin'.) Then he sang "What Hurts the Most," and last but not least, after a rambling sermon that left me wanting to yell "PRAISE THE LORD!" he sang "My Wish," by Rascall Flatts. It made me feel like I accidentaly walked in on a Christian rock concert. Sorry, Danny. Your live performance didn't convert me. After 10 minutes of straight yell-singing, I just couldn't see the light. The final hoarse, off-key wail at the end of "My Wish" was the cherry on top of a gritty, overbaked cake.

ADAM LAMBERT:

[This is the part where I started pooping my pants.]

GLAMBERT. What is there to say, really? It was amazing. I seriously FREAKED OUT that I got to see this hot gay man in real life. He sang "Whole Lotta Love," "Starlight" (which I was SO excited to hear because I've thought since Day 1 that he sounded just like the lead singer from Muse), "Mad World," "Slow Ride" (with ALLISON!! He introduced her on stage as his "little sister," and dang it was awesome. That was one of the best moments on Idol, and I was so excited to see it LIVE! They completely rocked), and a David Bowie medley (so fitting). It was so many levels of awesome, I can't even describe it. He definitely got the pimped-out lighting, stage effects, etc. Near the end he ripped off his bedazzled coat with tails to expose a tux vest with no shirt underneath. Joe noted that his armpits were phenomenally smooth. Kubo said he sounds like a lady. Whatever he is, it's sexy. That was perhaps one of the greatest moments of my life. Top ten at LEAST.

Kris freaking Allen:


WOO!!! This guy was just dang adorable and he sounded FANTASTIC live! He started off with "Heartless," which was spot-on. Then "Ain't No Sunshine" on the piano which was, again, amazing. Then there was "Bright Lights" and "Hey Jude," which I was very glad he sang because The Beatles is totally up his alley. I remember his version of "Come Together," and "Hey Jude" was no disappointment. I must say, Kris got a little hosed on the stage effects compared to Glambert. All he got was this ghetto fabric drape (pictured above), while Glambert got fog, a streaming beam of light shining down on him, and background lights that suddenly appeared behind him like an angel. It was quite the show. Anyway, Kris still did a very VERY good job and it was a nice little "screw you" to Simon who said Kris's style of voice could never fill a big concert hall.

Grand Finale:

Well dang, I accidentally got some of Danny in there. Woops. Anyway, the whole group joined in in the middle of "Hey Jude," and then sang "Don't Stop Believin'" with Scott and Matt raising from below the stage, dueling piano-style. It was great!

Favorite quotes from the night:

"He sounds like a lady."
--Kubo, talking about Adam Lambert

"That Adam Lambert is just DARling!"
--a cute 60-year-old lady who you'd never guess would say that about Adam Lambert

"I want Danny Gokey to have my babies!"
--some girl

Wow, that was long. If you read this whole thing, you deserve a medal. Or a trophy of Adam Lambert's armpits.

Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I had a request from a co-worker of mine for the chocolate chip recipe I use most. It's actually my mom's, so I can't call it my own, but it is DELICIOUS. I highly recommend it. So, here it is:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. butter (2 sticks)
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. firmly-packed brown sugar
1 package small instant vanilla pudding (I've tried vanilla, French vanilla, and cheesecake. All are good!)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 package chocolate chips (my mom likes to use mini-chips)

-Preheat oven to 375
-Combine butter, sugars, pudding mix, and vanilla. Beat til smooth.
-Add eggs, beat til smooth.
-Add flour, baking soda, chocolate chips. Texture should be fairly stiff.
-Bake for 8-10 min. (For our oven, I like to keep it closer to 8...that way they're softer.)

So there you have it. Enjoy! These things are fan-freaking-tastic, and they stay SOFT even days after. I think the pudding is the secret.

[Note: not actually my cookies. Just some random image I found on the Internets.]

I can't believe I freaking did this.

Well this is one of the most narcissistic things I've ever done. I created a mosaic of myself. Spending an hour on Flickr trying to find images that represented me was a worthwhile endeavor of self-discovery. Right. Anyway, here's the end result:

[Basically, every picture corresponds with my answers to the questions below. Jsyk.]

1. My name: Katie

2. My favorite food: Pineapples. Fresh, mind you. Not canned.

3. My high school: Broad Run High School. Seeing that ghetto sign on Flickr really brought back the memories. Go Spartans?

4. My favorite color: Green (not orange, just the green part)

5. The place that I am at now: BYU...more specifically the HFAC. It's my house.

6. My favorite drink: Vanilla Coke Zero. Nectar of the gods.

7. My dream vacation: Australia!

8. My favorite treat: Cheesecake for sure. Any kind.

9. What I want to be when I grow up: A bassoonist.

10. Whats most important to me: My religion, my family, my husband. Everything the temple represents, really.

11. A word to describe me: Well I found two--obnoxious and annoying.

12. A nickname of mine: KT. I know you wish you could condense your name into two letters, sucka!

The End.

If you really want to waste an hour of your time, here's how you make one of these things:

Step 1: Go to flickr.com

Step 2: In another window open http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php

Step 3: Choose 4 columns, 3 rows
Step 4: Answer the questions in the search bar of flickr and pick your favorite picture on the page and paste the address into the mosaic maker. Create the mosaic and then save it to your computer and post it as a picture.

What Would Jackie Do?

If you want to read something inspirational, go here: http://crookedbrooke.blogspot.com/2009/06/then-hero-comes-along.html

You won't be sorry.

I KID YOU NOT.

So, a few weeks ago I had the most random dream ever involving a moose and my car. Basically, my car was parked in a church parking lot. When I approached my car to get in, there was this gigantic moose pounding on the hood and windshield with its...antlers? Whatever they're called. Anyway, my car was completely owned by this thing. I was mad. And that was the end of my dream.

And why am I sharing this? Because, lo and behold, yesterday I was reading the Police Beat in the Daily Universe:

"June 4: A moose was loose on campus so police called the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Officials came and tranquilized the moose. However, before going down the moose damaged two vehicles in the parking lot across from the SAS Building."

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

So glad neither of those cars were mine, but STILL. Freaky.

And here's another Police Beat gem that I couldn't help but share:

"June 3: An EFY counselor thought he could smell marijuana in Gates Hall around 11 p.m. He found three EFY participants smoking marijuana in the stairwell. Police said the juveniles will be charged."

Hahahahahahahahaha.

That is all.

10 of my favorite things about Grandpa Killian:

1. He taught me to love peanut butter and banana sandwiches. It is still one of my favorites.

2. On my eighth birthday, he taught me how to tie a square knot. He said I should learn it because it looks just like an "8."

3. Grandpa always liked to teach me new vocabulary. One day, he taught me the word "inconspicuous." Ever since then, whenever I saw that word, I always thought of Grandpa.

4. He explained to me that the word "inflammable" means what most people think "flammable" means, when in fact "inflammable" means that something could easily burst into flames.

5. Grandma and Grandpa always played a"game" with me (and the other Smith grandkids) in the car when we'd drive to and from their apartment in Kingwood. I was always a very quiet kid, so I'd usually sit in the backseat and listen to Grandma and Grandpa's conversations up front. After a while, Grandpa would say, "Hey Shirl, Katie's gotten awfully quiet--I wonder where she is?" and Grandma would say, "Gee, I don't know, George. Maybe she jumped out the window!" And then Grandpa would reply, "Oh well! I guess we'll just have to go home without her," at which point I would shout in protest, "No, no I'm still in the car!"

6. I always knew there was one person who would sneak more cookies out of Grandma's cookie jar than me, and that was Grandpa. (His favorite kind was peanut butter.)

7. I learned that one flavor of cereal was never enough for Grandpa. He always mixed three or four different kinds into one container for the "perfect cereal." Unlike sneaking cookies and eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches, I never picked up on the cereal habit.

8. Grandma was always very good at calling us and keeping in touch. At the end of each and every phone conversation when we were saying goodbye, Grandpa would pipe in and say, "Goodnight!" It seemed that Grandpa let Grandma do all the talking, but he was always there, listening to every word we had to say.

9. When I was 8 or 9 years old, Grandpa taught me how to play Monopoly and Solitaire. He was very good at both. I never got past an 8 or 9-year-old level, but I appreciated that he took the time to teach me the things he enjoyed.

10. Although Grandpa was never a very "huggy" man, when I was little he'd pull me up onto his lap and snuggle with me in his chair. When we snuggled together, he called me his "lapbaby." It was always our special time together--just him and me.


Throughout his life, Grandpa always took the time to teach me new things, and share the things that he loved with me. I appreciate all the things he did to make me feel special as his granddaughter, and the many little things he did to show he cared. I will certainly miss him in my life, but I am grateful for the knowledge I have of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. I am sure he is very happy in the afterlife, sitting in a heavenly version of his chair, and enjoying the company of his ancestors.

I am an attention whore.

I know this is shameless self-promotion, but

COME TO MY RECITAL!

Thanks.

Our fam.

I'm usually skeptical of those sites that claim to predict what you and your spouse's babies will look like by combining your photos, but Mackenzie and Beau's result was actually pretty cute. So I decided to give it a try.

Holy crap. Heaven sent...really?

Ok, who thinks this looks like Emily Lloyd?

Creepy pictures, creepy baby. Huh.

Quite frankly, I am creeped out. Except for the Emily Lloyd baby...that one's actually cute. The rest of 'em--free birth control.

Stuff that's happened.

I just imported some pictures from Joe's camera, and here's what I found:

Omgit'sourquintet! Minus Kenji. This was from our recital last semester and I'd totally forgotten about this picture. Fer cute.

Also, in honor of Valentine's Day, I will publicly brag on the Internet about what Joe did for me. After a delicious dinner at Guru's (cilantro-lime quesadillas...DELICIOUS), he surprised me with this:



Tulips! Complete with homemade card and old brown banana in background.

We also went to Best Buy and picked out a little Valentine's gift for him:

The Prestige. Personally, my vote was for Hercules, but whatever. Still a good choice.

(On a sidenote, I just want everyone to know that we celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday the 13th. It was awesome--no snow, no crowds.)

I know I have some adorable Lulu pictures on my camera, but I can't find it at the moment. So, these less-cute pictures will have to suffice.

Bassoon Sense

This post is dedicated to my blue sweater-wearing friend and colleague, Jessi Judd.



Jessi and I were talking in rehearsal yesterday (always a dangerous thing), and we started discussing how some composers have great "bassoon sense" and others just... don't. What I mean by that is some composers really wrote awesome parts for us. They had a certain knack for bassoon-writing. They make us lowly bassoons feel important, needed, and just plain awesome (which we are). Typical good parts include sweet solos and material that makes us feel like we're actually part of the woodwind section and not a low brass player who has a curiously wooden-looking instrument.

Others composers, however, wrote us some particularly awful parts. These offenders make us feel like we are back in seventh grade band, playing some horrid piece with three other bassoons in our section. Typically, said "horrid piece" involves blowing our brains out and still struggling to be heard. Oh, but no need, because usually they just copy out the trombone part (or heaven forbid the tuba part) for us to play. It's like, they didn't know what to do with us so they decided, "Oh, why don't I just stick 'em with the low brass!" Horrendous. Heinous!

So to honor this distinction, we decided to make a list of composers with the best bassoon sense (Bassoon Whisperers, as I like to call them) and the worst offenders. In no particular order, here they are:

The Bassoon Whisperers
-Beethoven
-Shostakovich
-Stravinsky
-Rimsky-Korsakov
-Prokofiev
-Mozart
-Copland
-Moussorgsky
-Ravel
-Sibelius
-Tchaikovsky
-Vaughan-Williams

Worst Bassoon Offenders
-Mahler
-Wagner
-Brahms
-Berlioz
-Dvorak
-Delius
-Sousa