Today's Coffee: Starbucks Christmas Blend

As you can see, we are just now getting to Seth and Faith's coffee they gave us at Christmas. We got about 9 bags and have been loving it! Thomas and I want to be better about keeping in touch with people - and one way to do that is to update the blog more than once a month. So, here I am... sitting in Woolsey Hall getting ready to listen to an organ recital at 8 and thought I would blog again. Today was the first day back at school after we had the last week off. It was hard to get everyone to focus and we had small meltdowns about the whereabouts of instruments - but it all worked out by the end of the day.

Thomas and I went to Virginia Beach to see my Granny. She has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is starting radiation tomorrow for it. 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Ugh. We were able to spend some awesome time with her while we visited. We helped her take a car load of things to a thrift store - only to find out that they will not take anything that is stained or torn. She said that we had to leave quickly then before they opened up the bags and saw what she was donating. ;) We also fed the seagulls and ran around with her poodle Trixie. The weather was lovely and the jets were flying about every 4-5 minutes from the base near her house. Overall, it was wonderful to see her (even though it was on short notice). We hope to get back down there during Tom's spring break in March and then again during my spring break in April.

In other news, I played some duets with my dear friend Chloe the other day. I played viola and she played violin. We played through... let me rephrase that - she played and I hacked through the Handel-Halvorsen passacaglia duet. Needless to say, I'm hooked on viola. I love it. Such power and a nice change in tone from the usual violin sound. So, I borrowed the music from her and hope to truly it. Thomas' half hour recital in Woolsey Hall will be on March 3rd - so he is getting ready for that and practicing hard. He has also joined a chamber group where they play early music and Thomas gets to play harpsichord. He really likes it and hopes to possibly continue more on harpsichord.

Well, we are both fairly busy - with school(s), orchestra, chamber groups, church and private lessons. We really are going to start running and I want to cross train by swimming for our next race. Could be fun. Please keep us in your prayers as we hunt for new housing for next year while keeping the cost low.

In Christ,
The Russells

Today's Coffee: Grower's Alliance Coffee - Kenyan Coffee

It's been well over month since we posted - we need to be better about that. I have the week off from school this week. It's been nice being able to catch up on work, chat with friends and rest but I'm starting to get a little antsy without going to work each day. Thomas, sadly, does not have the week off and must continue going to classes. With his half hour recital approaching very quickly he also spends a lot of time practicing and getting ready for that in March. My students gave a second concert in celebration of Black History Month and did a fabulous job. We played Mary Had a Little Lamb, a D Major scale and Twinkle. I was so proud of them! We stood (except the celli) and I think it looked very professional. Thomas and I then played a Scherzo by Brahms for violin and piano. It was fun playing together again!

We met up with friends from high school to go travel around NYC for a bit one weekend in January. That was fun. We were able to see Columbia and ride some awesome elevators and eat some yogurt. I have recently stopped eating ice cream to test a theory that I may be lactose intolerant. Good news - no problems since I quit. Bad news - I quit eating ice cream. It was only my favorite food ever. We are currently making and eating snow cream. Yes, we go outside and gather some clean snow mix it with some sweetened condensed milk, chocolate syrup, a little bit of vanilla extract and some super strong coffee - mix it all up - and boom! Mocha flavored snow cream. A little unorthodox but we like it. It snowed crazy amounts yesterday - it was so beautiful! The snow landed and stayed on every tiny branch. It is many many inches deep so getting in and out the car is always an adventure. I believe that I can now I say that I can drive in snow. So, I feel pretty good about that too!

So, we are going to try to get down and see my Granny this weekend. Please keep her in your prayers - the doctors found a brain tumor and will be starting chemo soon. It will be good to get away for a little bit and also spend some time with her. Thomas and I have been doing a strenuous Bible reading plan - it's been great (except when you miss a day or two). We also have plans to sign up for a 10k in May. We would like to start training now and then maybe do a half marathon over the summer... we'll see. It's very difficult to get yourself to get dressed to run in 30 degree weather when there is snow on the ground. We were ready to run the sweetheart race on the 13th - but Thomas woke up with a migraine. We have counted and this is the 4th one he's had. We are fairly certain that it is food related - but we usually don't think about that on a super busy day. On a sad note, our new fish (Helen) died. It was sad. We still have Troy and Maximus and they seem to enjoy having the tank to themselves. We are also currently looking for a new apartment to move into in July. Something with 2 bedrooms in a decent neighborhood. That's about all for now. Thomas is working hard as am I. Please keep us in your prayers as well! :)

In Christ,
The Russells