Jupiter

This week I've been listening to The Planets by Holst this week, and (of course) my favorite one is Jupiter! ;) It's really well written and I just love the melody, it's so passionate!!! It's an outer passion that is just poured out from every instrument. My nieces always know when I get to my favorite part because I just stop everything that I'm doing and just listen. It's so beautiful!!! I love this piece and I really hope that my orchestra actually plays it at our next concert. (Our conductor has been talking about playing it, I hope he actually does.)  If I ever play any of The Planets I will never forget it. Amazing is written all over them, in a word they are, epic. :) 

An Afternoon Visit

On Saturday while Mom and I were making pizza, my brother came downstairs and said "Look out the window!"  I looked up and this is what greeted my eyes:

Cool right? I know, it was amazing! We all went out and it got really close to our house and I got some really good pictures!! It was so cool to see it so close!

(I told you I got some really good pictures ;)) It was beautiful, and as my mom said "If you are going to have a hot air balloon, it might as well be bright!" :)  

Snow

I love snow!!!! I always have, and since we moved up north we've gotten a little more snow than we used to!! (Most of my family doesn't not consider that as one of the advantages of our move up here, but my brother and I do! ;))  I love the peacefulness that you feel when you go outside after it's snowed. Everything is sparkly white and it's just beautiful!!!! I love curling up on the big green chair with a cup of tea, a good book, and my favorite cloak and looking out at the snow as it slowly meanders to the ground. :)  I can't wait until I look out the window and see this: 

Pumpkin

Tonight I'm dreaming of Pumpkins... :)

Actually I'm just thinking of all the deliciousness that can come from a pumpkin. Things like pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin rolls!!! (and other such pumpkin yumminess!)  Since it is fall, and the pumpkins are in abundance we ought to use them, right??? I'm going to use one of our pumpkins from the garden and make pumpkin rolls in the next week or so. What's your favorite pumpkin dish???

The Black Gate Opens

This evening was a great evening for me!!! I had an orchestra rehearsal that was really, really fun, and then I got to listen to epic music while talking to my brother on the way home!! (It was all fine and dandy until we got home, and everyone had been responsible and actually locked all the doors... :P) Buuuut the epic music that we listened to was The Lord of the Rings Return of the King soundtrack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were times where we'd stop talking and turn the music up because it's so good! (Then after that part was over we'd pick up our conversation where it left off...) One piece from the soundtrack brings tears to my eyes everytime I listen to it, and that is "The Black Gate Opens". It's so good!!! Howard Shore is a genius! I love how at the end he puts in the theme from "Into The West" and has the french horns play it!!! It's just so epicly beautifully heartbreaking!!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!! 

My Weekend

This post is to tell you all why I'm not writing a longer post. This weekend, for me, is going to be me + my violin + my metronome. :) I hope it's not going to be too aggravating, and hopefully I'll still be sane tomorrow! :) I also made two loaves of zucchini bread, and will be making two more later. I've been busy! I may even find time today to write program notes for my next orchestra concert! Boy, won't that be fun? ha ha! Anyway, I'd better get busy!!!
Here is an epic song for your weekend!!!!

Apple Squares

Last week we had company over and my mom again asked me to make a dessert. (Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE making desserts??) Since it is fall I decided to use some of our many apples and make a very yummy dessert called Apple Squares.  (or as my niece and I call them, 'Monkey Brain Casserole', she actually believed me for a little while!!! :D) Everybody loves them and they are so easy to make!! I top them with a delicious cream cheese frosting, which makes them amazing! Without further ado here is the recipe: 

Apple Squares

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder 
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped apple 
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional, I never use them) 
2 Tablespoons white sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x9 inch pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon; set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of white sugar with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in egg and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture until just combined, then stir in the apples and walnuts. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over the top of the bars. 

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven; finished bars should spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan, and cut into squares. 

(This recipe easily doubles, and it is generally better to put in more apples than called for.) 

The Incredibles

A week or two ago my family watched The Incredibles! It'd been a while since I'd seen it, and I'd forgotten how good it was!!! It's funny, it almost made me cry (ok, not almost, it made me cry), it had cool action scenes, and Mrs. Incredible/Elastigirl/Helen Parr has the best superpower ever! (I want it... :))  It's well made and the soundtrack is amazing!!! I just love the movie as a whole. If you haven't seen it, you need to, and if you have seen it you need to watch it again!   Here's one of my many favorite tracks from the soundtrack!!! (You should also find 100 Mile Dash) :D 

Fall!!!

I love fall!! I have for as long as I can remember. I love the colors, the crisp air, the leaves, the apple cider, the apple sauce, the sweaters, the Christmas music, the fire in the fireplace, the dark clouds, the marigolds, the shoes ;), and especially the pumpkins!!! :) This afternoon I had a great desire to rake up a pile of leaves and jump in them. Sadly, however, not only did I not have the time, but I also didn't have that many leaves. Maybe some other day I'll get to do that!!! 

It's been fall for a while and we just last week got pictures of all the colors!!!! Now I'm going to share with you a few pictures of fall that we took from our decks!!! 

I also (yesterday morning) took a few pictures of the sunrise that I'm going to share as well!!

Here is a very epic piece, but not very fall-like. However, it's really good!!

Love Story Meets Viva La Vida

Tonight, I'm going to share my favorite Piano Guys song!! It's one that isn't on their main channel, in fact I think it was made before they were 'officially' the Piano Guys. I'm not sure why, but every time I listen to it I find myself singing and dancing around!! I just love this piece!!! The thing I love most about it is the transition from one piece to the other!!! I find it very funny that I just love this arrangement and I can't stand to listen to the originals... :) The Piano Guys just have that gift, they make some songs worth listening to. This is the one that they have the best singing in!! They only sing in a few of their videos, but this is definitely the best!! I just love it!!! 

Shoes!!!

Yes, that's what I said. Shoes! I'm a girl, I'm supposed to like shoes right?? It's just a part of our lives?? Right??? Whatever, I love shoes!!! (and so does my adorable niece!!!) :) My sister and I have both worn our favorite shoes when we weren't feeling well, and it helped us feel better! Shoes must have some magical powers. ;) ha ha 

I've gone through phases with my shoes, the past year and a half, I've been into heels and wedges. I don't wear high heels, the highest I have are about 3 inches. However, my sister and best friend LOVE flats, which I don't get because both of them are really, really short. (I'm not much taller though, so I have no room to speak. ;)) This year, I found myself really wanted a pair of flats! I couldn't figure it out, I pulled out my favorite shoes (with a three inch heel) and I didn't feel like I wanted that much heel, but I didn't have a pair of flats worth wearing in my closet!!!! Tragedy!!! Buuut, just the other day, my mom and I went shopping and I found the most adorable pair of flats!!! Look!!!

 Aren't they just adorable??? I love them so much!!! They are my new favorite shoes! My sister liked them so much, she wants to go get herself some... ;) That should tell you how cute these shoes are!!! ;) All things considered, these new shoes made my week!!

Now, I must prepare for an amazing trip to see the awesomest people on earth!!!! Here's the "I like my shoes" Sonata!! (Aka, Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 10 by Beethoven.)   

Brownies

Last Friday we had company over and my mom asked me to make a dessert. (In case you were wondering, I LOVE baking and making yummy goodies!!! :) :) So since my sister-in-law begged me to make brownies, how could I resist?? ;) They turned out great, and everybody loved them!!!!

    

                                                                                                                                   
             Stephanie's Brownies

1 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1 stick softened butter or margarine
5 T. coco
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. walnuts (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease square 8x8 baking dish. Beat all ingredients 50 times -- add nuts 10 times. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Optional topping: as soon as brownies come out of the oven, spread with semi-sweet chocolate chips and let them melt until you can easily spread them with a knife. Let cool and enjoy!

(The picture isn't actually of the brownies that I made, I just found a picture and used it. The brownies that I made were eaten too quickly for me to get a picture of them!!!)

Sibelius Violin Concerto

As I promised last week, today we're going to take a look at the Sibelius Violin Concerto. My brother played this concerto a few years ago and I just fell in love with it. During one of his lessons while he was learning it his teacher was telling him to play the opening mysteriously. Then she played it for him, and I've just loved it ever since. Someday I hope to learn it.

 The first movement starts with this beautiful (mysterious ;)) melody. It's beautiful, enchanting, amazing, passionate, and epic all in one!!! It's sooo hard (Suicide in the form of sheet music, to be precise, as a friend of mine said), but it's totally worth all the hours of practice that it takes to be able to learn it. The ending is actually very intense and brings the listener to the edge of their seats. :)

The second movement is beautiful. I heard Benjamin Beilman play it a few years ago and I cried, a lot. It creates a bottled up passion in me that brings tears to my eyes. Joshua Bell plays it amazingly well, as well. (but who's surprised, it's Joshua Bell...)

The third movement is... hard??? Ha ha. It's really hard to get a good fingering for it. When we met Ben Beilman at IVCI and my brother told Mr. Beilman that he was learning the Sibelius Mr. Beilman asked him if he had a good fingering. :) That made me smile. Of course my brother's wasn't any better than Mr. Beilman's but, still, that just shows how insane the last movement is!!

I will leave you with Mr. Beilman's YouTube recording of the last movement, but I highly recommend you listen to the rest of Mr. Beilman's recording on YouTube.