Carmen is over, and now Madison will be busy until May...

Well, Carmen is finally over...I put so many hours into that opera! It was really nice that Madison, Danica, Jason, Suzanne, and Nowell came for the Friday night performance. I am extremely tired! I had a wedding yesterday that I played in, so I have been putting in lots of viola hours lately! I was so happy when our performance was over today...I am ready to get that music out of my head! It is continuously stuck in my head!

Well, Madison has his 30-page brief he has been working on a ton for a long time. It's due in just a few days, so he is wrapping it up and revising everything. After he turns that in, he starts studying for finals, along with his daily reading for class. From here on out until May, we won't see that much of each other. I am thankful that I have been through this once before now (Christmas exams) so I know how difficult it is going into it, but how rewarding it is afterwards in so many ways. I have really learned how to hold my tongue whenever I want to tell him something, I just write it down for later. It's really difficult, since he's one of the only people I have here, but at least it's temporary. I have been so busy lately, so I haven't really felt the difference in our communication on his end yet, but I know it's coming. I cannot imagine having to retain everything from the whole semester and study for a final that equals your entire grade...yikes!

I started a new student last week, and I am starting another new student on Wednesday! I cannot believe that I am still building my studio with how terrible the economy is! It's quite exciting! I am babysitting for a friend from law school. Her nanny quit, so I'm filling in until something else comes along for them. I have Mondays and Fridays off every week (my orchestra moved days) so I babysit from 9-6 those two days. Charlie Mac is 3 and Willa Ann is 1. They are really cute and fun.

The diet is going well! I already feel a tiny bit better, my jeans are sagging a bit, and I am not feeling dizzy or anything anymore. We are enjoying the low fat recipes from my low fat cookbook, and I am entering in my daily intake and excercise at myfitnesspal.com which is a free site that you can figure out how many calories you should eat for how much weight you want to lose, and if you add all your foods in there, it keeps track of how you are doing. I put in all the ingredients to what I made tonight and it figured out all the details of what I ate. It's really nice to have! My cravings for bad foods have finally stopped, and I don't feel like ruining my diet which is a great place to be! The only time I sort-of cheated was when we went out to dinner with friends...but even that was okay because I had such a light lunch, that my calories were hardly over...now I am being completely good though!

Well, I better get everything picked up since tomorrow I will be babysitting all day!
Liz