And magically, overnight, our backyard turned into THIS:

Welcome to winter, Ann Arbor!

The extent of our Christmas decor this year:

Just call me Martha Stewart.

Ketchup time!

Guys, I can't believe it's been seven months since I've updated this thing! But I'm back! So let's review where the heck I've been...

-I graduated (unofficially) at the end of April! "Unofficially" means I'd finished all of my classes, but still needed to play my recital (minor detail).

We're cute.

-Joe flew to China with the UM Symphony Band for almost a month while I went back to VA to live with the parentals and work. Joe had a great experience in China, but missed American food (and bathrooms) and of course ME! We stayed connected through his Yahoo email (gmail's banned there) and some jerky, pixelated Skype chats. Boy does being halfway across the world from each other make you appreciate one another so much more!

Anyway, back to the food and bathrooms... He also ate some new animals/animal parts like jellyfish, donkey, and duck tongues, and even walked in on a Chinese man smoking a cigarette in a squatty-potty! Ah, culture at its finest. The last concert of the tour was in LA at Disney Hall over Memorial Day weekend and I, being the luckiest daughter-in-law in the world, was flown out courtesy of Joe's mom. We spent the whole weekend with Joe's family in LA and had a great time! I still look back at that as one of my favorite trips EVER! The band sounded amazing, Disney Hall was awe-inspiring (if you haven't seen the interior, you should google image it real quick), and it was so great to finally be back together again!

Joe on the Great Wall of China...how cool is that?!?

The Nib fam before Joe's concert at Disney Hall. If you're wondering what the heck is going on with my hair, it was a windy day...don't judge.

-If you didn't think it could get any cooler, Joe took a trip to France with his trumpet teacher and a few studio to France just a few short days after he got back from China. They stayed in a small town called Pontlevoy that looked like it came straight out of Beauty and the Beast. Poor thing! They stayed there for ten days, playing recitals, taking masterclasses from famous French trumpet dudes, and most importantly, eating amazing French pastries!

The view from Joe's room in Pontlevoy. I mean, come on...is this even real?

The pastry shop Joe frequented on a daily basis. I am laughing really hard right now about how daintily he's holding his pastry box. That's my husband!

-While Joe was off gallivanting around the world, I was busy living the dream working at LOFT. Come to find out, I quite enjoy working in retail. I must say, it came pretty naturally considering I've been my mom's personal stylist my whole life. Real Housewives of Loudoun County, thank you for allowing me to style you.

-Oh yeah and I also spent a lot of time practicing for my itty-bitty Master's recital.

-After Joe got back from France, he went to Chautauqua, New York for a seven week-long musical festival (i.e. band camp for big kids). Chautauqua is a tiny, weird little lake town where rich people come to vacation and "experience the arts." Picture "Dirty Dancing" and you've pretty much got it. He played in an orchestra and chamber groups, took weekly lessons with a trumpet teacher, and spent hours in little practice cabins (or shacks, as I called them). He also had to live in a dorm, eat cafeteria food, and SURVIVE WITH NO AC for seven whole weeks. How he did it, I do not know.

The trumpet section after their last concert. Aren't they cute?

Joe duking it out on Lake Chautauqua. This picture actually kinda freaks me out a little.

-Then finally, after a very long summer, we were reunited and came back to Ann Arbor! I played my recital (which I didn't really get any good pictures of...woops), then started working again at the LOFT here in Ann Arbor. After a week or so, I decided one job wasn't enough and decided to get a second job at Pandora (not the online radio station or the mythical box, but the jewelry store). It has been a lot of fun to learn a new job and have a chance to meet and interact with new people! Also, now that I'm done with school, I have time to do fun things like try new recipes, Book Club, and other housewifey-type things. I am looking for a new (cheap) hobby, so if anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears.

-Joe is still working on his Master's (he'll be done April 2012) and he is super busy preparing for his DMA auditions. We are loving life here in Ann Arbor!

Screw you, hips. I'm eating carrot cake.

Guys, I found a fabulous carrot sheet cake recipe that I made for Easter Sunday. It was TO DIE FOR and uber-moist, the perfect carrot cake but without the stress of a layer cake. Yes, it does involve grating 1.5 lbs of carrots, but it is WORTH IT. Or you can just use a food processor. Also, I topped it with chopped pecans and used a different cream cheese frosting recipe, but I'm sure her version with heavy whipping cream isn't bad...

Carrot Sheet Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

*Serves 16-20

Cake:
4 large eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 pounds carrots, washed and ends trimmed (they don't need to be peeled)

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour an 11X17-inch rimmed baking sheet. Shred the carrots, finely, on a box grater or food processor. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, oil, applesauce, water and vanilla. Whisk in the sugar to combine until evenly mixed.

In a second bowl mix flour, spices, salt, soda and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until moistened. Gently fold the carrots into the batter until evenly distributed. Bake the cake for 30-32 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely.

For the frosting, mix the cream cheese, vanilla and butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the frosting and whip to combine (don't overmix or the frosting will become too stiff). The frosting should be smooth and creamy.

Recipe Source: from melskitchencafe.com/adapted from Alisha O. http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/03/carrot-sheet-cake-with-whipped-cream-cheese-frosting.html

Winter Survival

Well friends I suppose it's time for an update seeing as it's the first day of spring (can I get a HALLELUJAH?!). Joe and I have had a really fun winter despite all of the nasty cold, wind, and snow.

First off, I think we can officially rename our apartment the Nibley Bed and Breakfast. We finally put our air mattress and sofa bed to good use because we had lots of guests coming to Ann Arbor! At the beginning of January, our friend Jason came to town to finish his last trumpet recital and oral defense for his DMA. It was so much fun to catch up with him and hear all about life in Mississippi. Plus we ate a lot of ice cream and watched a lot of Hulu...despite all of our efforts to distract him, he gave an incredible recital, finished his orals, and became a doctor! We loved having him over and we are so grateful for his friendship and great example!

A couple weeks later, we hosted a Brazilian trumpet student of Jason's who came up to Ann Arbor to check out UM and have a lesson with Professor Campbell. It was very fun to get to know him and hear all about what it's like coming from Brazil to America. He loved the snow, which is good because we had a LOT of it!

But wait, there's more! At the end of February, my parents came in town for the weekend to hear our USO concert. We were playing Shostakovich 10 and we really wanted them to hear us and get to experience Hill Auditorium. The concert was wonderful - everyone sounded fantastic. I can't think of many other performance experiences that could top it. It was really special to have my husband sitting right behind me, and my parents sitting out in the audience. Can I just say that I have the BEST family?!? How did I get so lucky? The rest of their visit was a blast because the first time they came to A2, we were moving in and had NO idea where anything was. This time we could actually show them around and go to all the good restaurants (Zingerman's, anyone? MMMM). On the day that my dad was supposed to fly out, there was a HUGE snow dump and so his flight got delayed til the next day. Luckily he and my mom were able to fly out the next morning, but it was fun to have him over for an extra night!

Joe and me after the Shostakovich concert. (No that is not a yarmulke on my head...it's a flower headband, people!!!)

Nance and Randinator at Zingerman's.

And finally, Joe's mom Carol flew out the very next weekend to come hear Joe's chamber recital! Joe sounded great and we were so glad to have Carol there. This was her first time in Ann Arbor so it was really fun to give her the "Grand Tour" of the place. We went out to some great restaurants, took her to our ward, and just had a really good time showing her "our world."

We took Carol to Bagel Fragel. Fragel = fried bagel, a Michigan delicacy.

Joe and me after his recital

Phew, that concludes our guest list! We love our family and friends and boy they sure helped to make our winter brighter! If anyone would like to book a stay at the Nibley Bed and Breakfast, you have until May and then we are shutting the place down for the summer!

Right after Carol left, we drove down to Virginia for SPRING BREAK! I'd forgotten how awesome those were...darn that BYU. We got some much-needed R&R and spent some time with our friends Beau and Mackenzie who were staying at La Casa Smith for most of the week. Joe was excited to have a basketball buddy and I was excited to have a talking buddy. Other than that, I got to spend most of my Spring Break with this little guy:

Me: Ok hold still, just one more picture!

Baby D: PLEASE, SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM CRAZY AUNT KATIE!!!!

Poor Baby D...he was a good sport, though, putting up with my amateur diaper-changing skills and watching Say Yes to the Dress with me. I love aunting!

Day 1: Husband out of town

5:10 a.m. Wake up

5:30 Drive Joe and trumpet friends to the airport

6:30 Back to bed

9:00 Yoga

10:00 Go home, shower

11:00 Practice

1:30 p.m. Class

3:00 Go home, work

4:30 Soak in tub

4:32 Fall asleep in tub

5:15 Wake up in half-full tub

5:45 Go to Kroger, buy essentials (nail polish and movie that Joe refuses to watch)

6:15 Make lazy dinner (pasta) and watch girl movie while painting nails

MY LIFE IS AWESOME.

Adventures in Detroit

This post is about a month late! Sorry for the lack of blogging! So, some of you might know that I am subbing right now as a mentor in the Detroit Civic Youth Orchestra. Basically that means that I get to drive up to Detroit every Saturday, rehearse with the orchestra, and play concerts with them. Even though it makes for a long Saturday afternoon, I am very grateful for the employment right now!

ANYWAY, I had quite the experience back in January driving to Detroit for the first time. If you know me at all, you know three things - 1. I am a terrible driver 2. I get very nervous navigating around places I'm not familiar with on my own 3. I am very paranoid and I get really scared in shady cities like Detroit. Plus on top of all that, I spent the night before googling the shadiest areas of Detroit so needless to say I was feeling pretty scared to go into the city. Luckily, everyone had been telling me that the orchestra hall is on one of the main drags of the city (Woodward) so as long as I stuck to that street and didn't wander too far, I'd be ok.

So I start on my journey and everything's going well when, about 30 min. into my drive, I'm cruising along in the left lane and see a big ol' chunk of what I thought was black snow/slush. There were cars all around me so I couldn't exactly swerve out of the way and I thought, "Oh well I'll just roll right over it, it's just snow." AU CONTRAIRE my friends this was not soft snow but some kind of rock-hard piece of...rock. I felt and heard a huge KA-CHUNK on my left front wheel and immediately my stomach flipped. I tried to stay calm and kept driving, promising myself that if I noticed anything off about the car, I'd pull over. Well, I got into Detroit, drove a little bit through the city (even the supposedly un-shady parts look SHADY) just praying that I could get to the parking garage by the orchestra hall where I knew I would be safe. I mean, I was a blonde girl driving a bright red car with Utah plates with my little GPS inside...how much more could I scream, "JUMP ME PLEASE I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I'M GOING!"

Well thank heavens I got into the parking garage safely without having to pull my car over (although I could tell something was seriously wrong with my tire), got out of my car, and discovered that my front left tire was JACKED. Totally flat. So of course the first thing I did was call Joe and tell him what happened. I unfortunately couldn't do much about it because I had to be in my rehearsal but luckily Joe was at home and in a position to take care of it. He called USAA (thank goodness we have roadside assistance) and set up a time for someone to come and change my tire after my rehearsal.

After my rehearsal, I came back out to the parking garage and expected to wait for the guy for the next half hour. Well lo and behold I hadn't been out there for two minutes when the guy called saying he was pulling into the parking garage! I hadn't even gotten to my car yet so he swung around and picked me up and we drove to my car. Now, this guy was a CHARACTER. Big black guy, big smile, named Larrance (pronounced Luh-rahnce). He was the nicest guy EVER...kept calling me "Miss Katie." Here are a few of my favorite excerpts from our conversation:

"Well thanks for coming and helping me Larrance, I just moved to Michigan a few months ago so I'm not too familiar with the area."

"Oh, really? Do you like it here, Miss Katie?"

"Yeah, we love it, it's great!"

"REALLY?!?"

"Larrance, how much should I drive on this spare tire? My husband told me I shouldn't drive too fast on it."

"Miss Katie, do you know what kind of tires they used on the original Model T Fords?"

"Umm...not sure?"

"BICYCLE TIRES! I mean seriously, they were drivin' around on bike tires on those things and they were just FINE! So you'll be fine on this tire here, Miss Katie, don't worry about goin' too fast or anything like that."

And my personal favorite...

"Man it sure is cold out here, Larrance!"

"I know...it is so cold it makes me want to SHOUT!"

Anyway, I was very very grateful that I got my tire taken care of and that Larrance was so nice to me when I was feeling pretty scared and vulnerable. After he got the tire replaced, he drove off and I swung around to leave the parking garage. I was not looking forward to paying the seven bucks it cost to park there, but in my panic to take care of my tire, I didn't pick up a Civic Orchestra parking pass. I figured it was worth the money to park somewhere safe and not have to park on a creepy side street. So I pulled up to the booth, scrambled around in my wallet for cash, and the lady at the window said, "Hey you know what, don't worry about paying, sweetheart! My shift's about to end and I am just done for the day! You go along now." That just MADE my day. I mean, seriously, talk about a cherry on top!

So I've decided that Detroiters are a lot nicer than people give them credit for! Of course I'm sure that there are still some very scary and creepy people in that city, but I felt very sure that I was being watched after and protected by my Heavenly Father that day. He knew that I was feeling worried and scared so he put some wonderful people in my path to help me out. And luckily none of my trips to Detroit after that have been quite so eventful!