Merry Christmas

from our family to yours....
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Photo shoot

So Roxi, Megan and I did a photo shoot yesterday for our dueling pianos show. Its hard for me to express in words how much I dislike organized picture taking sessions. Of any sort, really. Posing in awkward positions while trying to look natural....sigh. And I don't know about you, but it generally takes 20 or 30 for one to be ok. Having said that, I found out yesterday morning as we were getting ready to start, that Garret, who is our magici....I mean photographer, has PHOTOSHOP. I mean how great is this....??!?! Bags under the eyes? no problem. Arm squished against body therefore doubling in size? Let's just whittle that sucker down. Two chins? Flat hair? I mean the possibilities are so endlessly fun. I haven't seen any of the pics yet, but whichever one we decide on will be our new poster/advertisement. Here is one we took with my camera:

Dena's on the news!

Anybody tivo the 7 am news on KCCI? (Because who doesn't tivo random hours of the news, right?) If so, pull that sucker up and fast forward to about 7:25 am, where you will see my mom and Marcus McIntosh having a little heart to heart by the fire. She is offering free music classes for ages birth to 4 with a toy donation for the children at Blank Children's hospital. AND if you didn't catch this snippet, she's going to do it again on the Channel 5 news, Monday 12/17 around 11:15 am. If I ever figure out where to find the video clips I will upload them here!

lumbar extender

So I am not a flexible person. When I was in 5th grade and we had to do that blasted presidential fitness test of situps, pushups, the mile (gaahhh), flexibility, etc....I was the least, the LEAST flexible person in my gym class. I am not making that up. I could not even TOUCH the little silver thing, let along push it. For those of you who don't know where that little silver thing is, its probably mid to low shin. By the way, I know that's not normal. When I was 4, I told my mother she could not put me in dance and make me do the splits. I even did synchronized swimming for a year in high school, and after a year of consistent stretching, I was not even remotely close to the splits. I'd actually like to write to Dr. Oz via Oprah's website, because *someone* very special in my life accuses me of this being in my head. And I would like Dr Oz to validate the fact that perhaps I have extra ligaments in my back or legs, or some sort of little known congenital condition/deficiency. But anyway, I am here to let you all in on a little known (okay, not even remotely known) secret of back stretching. Its called the lumbar extender. And it is the bomb. When I put in a hard day's practice...... okay 2 hours of practice....fine.... 15 minutes..... nothing feels better than lying on this baby. Check it out at www.lumbarextender.com

office supply stores

I love Staples. I just love it. I could wonder the aisles for hours. Much like Walgreens. But anyway, yesterday I went in with a list of very practical, needed items. (I've decided I need to work more with lists. That's what organized people do, right?) And yet, funny enough, I still came away with items not on the list. Not sold on the list concept as of yet. But, the good news is the new shredder I got will only be $10 after rebate. I mean, how do you beat that?! And the endless amusement I will get from using the shredder will be more than worth the $10. Also found a very knowledgable employee who walked me through the ins and outs of wireless printers. Did you know you can buy printers now that are wi-fi? yes, yes you can. This eliminates the need for a wireless printer router. Never mind the fact that you may have a perfectly capable working printer, and that the cheapest wireless printer is double the cost of the router (and of course they only go up in price). I'm realizing that the reason Staples promotes the easy button is because its so easy to spend money there.

doggie daycare

This is Oliver:If you think Oliver is the cutest thing you've ever seen, well, you are right. He is a Goldendoodle, which is a mix of a Golden Retriever and Standard Poodle. And he is about the best thing ever. Oliver lives in Dexter now with his mom and dad (also my mom and dad, incidentally. Which makes me his sister). Every Thursday Oliver comes to Ankeny and goes to doggie daycare. Now I had heard of doggie daycare before, knew they were out there, but never really gave the idea much thought. Until, I head about Oliver's new daycare. He goes to The Bark Zone in Ankeny, run by Joey Courtney. After his first couple visits, I started hearing stories from my family about time outs, and nap time, and decided I needed to go see this for myself.

Um, it might be the funniest thing ever. They are just like naughty little kids. Inside there are 2 areas divided up by a fence. Joey keeps the dogs behind the fence as dogs get dropped off and picked up. Otherwise they roam free inside, as they play with toys or each other, or nap on cushions throughout the room. Outside they have another big area to play in, complete with some sort of playhouse thing. There is also the "timeout" room. When they are especially naughty they have to go into a kennel for 15 minutes so they can think about what they did. Then from 1-3 pm, Joey locks the front door, turns out the lights, puts out cushions and blankets, and they all rest.

outside:

the beautiful Paigeback inside playin and lovin
this is Oliver being selfish and naughty as he tends to be with his toys:

The girls dueling piano debut!

So Megan and I played our first dueling pianos show 11/23. It was just a tad more nerve wracking than I'd planned on, but the good news is, the first show is now under our belts and it can only get better from here!

The sound isn't great, but here is Megan and I playing Billy Joel's Movin' Out:

Simply Music headquarters

So I walked into the SM headquarters Sunday after the conference and started drooling at all the materials. Student materials, teacher training, supplemental programs. It was ALL there. So note the devilish grin as I think I will be sneaky and slide a student home materials under my shirt.

Realizing I need some Christmas accompaniment programs, I then attempt to sneak some of those out.
Finally I thought, this is not nearly as efficient as it could be. Time to bring out the big guns:
**disclaimer** No materials were stolen or harmed in the taking of these pics. :o)

Simply Music trip 2007

What an amazing, thought-provoking, learning experience this trip was. The passion and energy surrounding Simply Music is just incredible. Here is a brief synopsis of our trip. Tuesday we headed over to Omaha to meet with the teachers there and and then later spend some time in a couple of their studios. Omaha has such a neat group of teachers. Although they each have their own separate studios, they work very closely together. They have a fantastic website (www.omahapiano.com) and a very giving, caring way about them. Last year one of the teachers was in a major car accident, and the other Omaha teachers stepped in and taught all her classes for several months until she could teach again! Wednesday morning we headed to the airport and made our way to the Bay area in beautiful central California. Wednesday afternoon/evening we spent some time at a very large studio run by our friend Jy in Marin county. We did more of the same on Thursday morning and then Thursday afternoon visited our friend Tommy in Mill Valley. Tommy is actually a former advertising executive who found out about Simply Music when his daughter started taking lessons at Jy's studio. Amazed at what he saw, Tommy opened up his studio not too long afterwards. Friday we made our way up to Sacramento for the conference. We had tentatively planned on doing some more observing Friday, but I am here to tell you that the traffic in California is a force to be reckoned with. We kept hearing horror stories about Friday night traffic to Sacramento so we decided not to risk it. Saturday was our big day with Neil. If Cali traffic is a force to be reckoned with, Neil is even more so. He is an amazing man. Don't let the sweater vests and accented 'be sure to keep your playlist alive', fool you. :o) He is a visionary who is passionate about providing the opportunity for everyone, everywhere to have the option/ability to play the piano. And just to have music in their lives. Below are some pics from the week....

This is Tommy

this is Neil with my mom and me:

dinner:

the wonder that is GPS

so I am pretty ok with directions. I enjoy a few minutes poking around on maps.google.com like anybody else. But oh my word I have now discovered the bliss that is traveling with a GPS. My mom and I just spent the past week trekking all over central California, and I can't even begin to imagine how we would have done it with out our girl Gladys Magellan here. Don't ask me why we named her Gladys. Hours and hours of travel along with hours and hours of sitting (ie way too much time to think) will do that to you. The thing is incredible. Not only does it get you *anywhere* you need to go, you can punch in 'Starbucks' and it tells you all the nearest locations from wherever you currently sit; "Mall" and you suddenly have a huge list of shopping options. I also feel like I learned some important parenting skills after dealing with her constant interruptions that were impossible to talk over. It was I imagine much like having a 4 year old child in the car. Except for it'd be a very helpful child telling us to 'stay on the current road' or that there was a 'left turn in 0.5 miles'.

the little things

When you're on an airplane, is there anything more blessed than an aisle seat AND nobody next to you in the middle??? ahhh. This is a picture of the empty seat next to me. It made my day. Truly.