Spring Showers

Awww what a good day this was. 

Here you see our little Grace Notes singing group (minus two... unfortunately they missed the picture) after our last of two performances on Wednesday. We started singing together last Christmas for a few of our local nursing homes and didn't want to stop. So all decided to keep it going for other holidays as well. I'm so glad! Yesterday was our Easter/Spring program. We sang some spiritual songs and of course a little Andrew Sisters as well ('Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree'). To top it off Amy (far left) played a piano piece and then Kari (front and center) and I played  piano and violin together. Over all it went really well. The residents are always so welcoming and excited to see you. So you can't help but enjoy singing for them. 

The rest of my Wednesday was just as good... although a little bizarre. Since my dear friend Marissa was (or is) on spring break we just had to get together. So wasting no time I headed over to her house right after singing. Now the weather was nice (at this time) and after considering the occasion we decided to be really girly and get our toes done. So here we are the first time since last summer wearing flip flops on our way to dinner and it starts snowing! Really snowing. By the time we were done there was at least two inches on my car and it was still going strong. I felt very strange walking through this blizzard with no coat and exposed toes. 

On the way back we got coffee... as you can see. 

This is me driving very responsibly on dangerous snow covered roads. 

Do not fear... my little automobile is equipped with trusty front wheel drive. 

A quick snow ball fight courtesy of Marissa's brothers.

Cold toes... very, very cold toes. 

Well by this morning there was about a foot of snow and it's been snowing off and on all day now. I never thought spring showers would be so cold, white, and fluffy. Amazing.

Easter Sunday

Before I give you a quick glimpse at our family Easter celebrations I have a very important announcement to make.... Emma is Walking! The little peanut is soo cute. She is still not sure if she wants to give up being the baby and the need to be carried all the time. But she is at least giving it a try. Her attempt goes something like this... from sitting position, 

1.)hands on floor 2.)bottom up 3.) brace with bent knees 4.) stand up 5.) arms out 6.) step, step, step. 7.) face plant 8.) giggle and squeal. 9.) try again...

It's very cute, especially when she is trying to walk over to give Auntie a hug (that normally takes place on step 7. face plant). 

I had a very nice Easter (as always) with my family this year. Although I did miss sharing it with my other two brothers that live in the area (I guess we have to share them every once and awhile).

 My parents and I enjoyed a special church service that included breakfast before hand. I was originally planning to play violin as well during service but my accompanist decided to hurt her hand at her last volleyball game. What a shame. Oh well, it was actually nice to relax and not worry about playing. My friend Marissa was on spring break too... so exciting! It was really good to she her. 

After church we came home, hid eggs, and cooked. Benjamin kept asking for more eggs to find s o we hid the same one again and again. Then when we stopped he decided to hide them himself.... kinda defeats the purpose but he was happy. 

Happy Resurrection Day!

Enjoy the pictures.

A Little More Filming

Can you believe this was the last big filming weekend! I can't. We wrapped up all the office shots on Saturday and then got all the bedroom stuff at my house on Sunday. There's still a few shots we have left of course but this marks the end of our Saturday, morning to night, filming experience. Try not to cry. Here's my recap of last weekend.

Saturday: The Office Take Two

Yes this was take two. I forgot my camera at the first one so I forgot to post as well. My apologies.

Key words to describe this shoot: Smooth sailing, relaxed, on schedule, great extras, great shots.

Schedule:

5:15 a.m. ~ Fall out of bed (I can't say this goes for everyone that was there. In fact I may have been the only one that stuck to this part of the schedule.)

6:30 ~ Depart.

7:00 ~ Breakfast at IHOP. (OK so I didn't actually eat breakfast. I think seeing a pancake smiling at me with banana teeth on their menu may have had something to do with that... I don't know. But I was there along with Brian, Natalie, Gary, Sam, Daniel, Stephen, Jacqueline and Andy.)

8:00 ~ Arrive at office and get ready to enter.

9:00 ~ Enter and set up. ( For the most part, Jacqueline, Stephen and I set up props, Gary and Andy did lighting, and Brian, Daniel, and Sam took care of camera/sound/whatever else they do.)

9:30 ~ Get rolling. Our fabulous extras started to arrive and we were able to begin our first shot. That is Greg coming back to the office on the 3rd day to a warm reception in the lobby.

We also did some retakes from last week, the conference room, and the scenes with the Mayor and his assistant. I was able to help out in ways like taking pictures, setting up props, filling in a s an extra, walking in front of the camera and into walls... that sort of thing. My Dad saved the day by bringing a few items we forgot and could not do without. He also discovered he's a natural at the part of a lawyer. No surprise to me... I have yet to find something that he's not good at. I think he's amazing. Besides a lack of laughter in the conference room scene, there was nothing to complain about. Everything went really great.

7:00 p.m. ~ That's a rap.

We finished the day at Taco Del Mar with food and Brian and Daniel's dialtone theme songs playing on speaker phone.

Sunday: Bedroom scene

Location: Brian's bedroom.

Crew: Brian, Natalie, Gary, Daniel, Priscilla, me.

Start time: 4ish

Food: pizza

I held cords for a short time but other than that Priscilla, Natalie and I played with trains... I mean watched the kids. After pizza the guys filmed some more and we put the kids to bed. Benjamin was very excited to have Priscilla as his bed time story teller.

Lastly we got some shots of the espresso machine. And of course that morphed, some how, into a close up photo shoot of each crew by the light (except Natalie and myself for some reason). You can see the results in the slide show. After Daniel and Brian downed a straight shot of espresso the night had come to a close. Natalie serenaded us on the harp while we packed up and then we watch a little footage before everyone departed.