Having a kitchen table makes me an adult, and other stories...

So, I went to America's Attic and bought a good-sized kitchen table and 5 chairs for $75! I AM AWESOME! Let me explain to you that I am adding 'having a kitchen table' to the list of things that make me feel like a grown-up, along with having my own apartment, making my own food, having my own car, paying bills, being in graduate school, having crushes on internet celebrities, and having an age that starts with a '2.' There's something very civilized about eating at an actual table rather than eating on a couch. MANY SIGHS OF SATISFACTION ARE MINE. Plus, I found out (after I got it home) that it's an Ethan Allen table (what was it doing at America's Attic?) so it will probably last forever and I will probably take it with me wherever I go next!

In other news...my recital happened! I was pleased with the way it went, and everyone who saw it deemed it to be successful (including LaToya, who actually knows how to sing, so that makes me happy) and also loved the food that I made the reception! For the reception I made the following things:

1. Salmon Pesto Spread
2. Onion Fig Goat Cheese Spread
3. Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip
4. Sour Cream Fruit Dip
5. Berry Iced Tea
6. Ginger Grapefruit Punch

I used all fresh ingredients and everyone said it was delicious! It might sound funny, but I'm almost more excited about having made delicious food than I am about having had a good recital. It made me so happy! Courtney Odening came on her way to Hamilton for Aretha Franklin, which was amazing because she came all the way from NEW JERSEY WHAT??? Also, Jessica was able to come which was AWESOME because she had not yet seen my new car or where I live and I was happy to show those things to her!

On Friday night after the recital, we went out to Flashbacks which was the coolest place I've ever been and I don't know why we don't go there more! They have a light-up dance floor and they played such amazing hits of the 80s as "Livin' On A Prayer," "Like A Prayer," and generally any song that ended in "Prayer." They also played "Thriller" and certain ones of us danced like monsters and were quite frightening. I was quite frightened by certain ones of us.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Apple Hills Fruit Farm, which is a place that makes delicious homestyle foods and has an actual apple farm where you can pick apples during apple season! For our dessert there we had blueberry cornbread cobbler, which might sound bizarre but it was actually delicious. YUM.

I slept for much of the day on Sunday, with a rehearsal of Tomek's piece thrown in in the evening. As is normal after a stressful event, I got sick shortly thereafter, 'shortly thereafter' being yesterday when I canceled all my things and locked myself up in my apartment and alternated hibernation with trying to find my lungs and making things to eat out of flour and water (I actually made pie crust crisps!). Today I sang Tomek's piece on a video conference with the Manhattan School of Music composition faculty, which was super awesome and techno-savvy. I think the performance went well, but I would love to keep working on Tomek's piece with the revisions he makes because it is pretty awesomely cool and I think it would be super effective if it could get memorized and worked on for more than a couple of weeks.

What really brightened my day yesterday was a recital present from Liz that arrived in the mail, which was the biography of Christopher Lee! I will read it as soon as I have time to read it! I'm still working on the Master and Commander book I borrowed from Julia months ago :)

In case you don't remember, I'm Christopher Lee. WOO.