Birds, Turtles, and Alligators (Oh, My!)

I spent most of today biking through Brazos Bend State Park with some friends. It was amazing...one of the best things I've done here so far! The weather was gorgeous...mid 70's and sunny and there were alligators everywhere! This is especially exciting for me because I usually don't have such good luck with these kinds of things. For example: 1. I've been on a couple whale-watching trips and have never seen a whale even though they were sure we would 2. A couple of summers ago, I went to 11-12 baseball games- major, minor, and little league and all winning teams. EVERY game was lost! I've been to several Cardinal's games since then and they still haven't won when I'm in attendance! 3. I have terrible luck with my bike: it's had countless flat tires, ran into someone, was hit by a car, and was stolen! (fyi...it was miraculously found a few days later!) 4. I don't think I've ever caught a fish and people I'm with rarely do (even though I've been fishing several times). My friend took me fishing once and promised we would catch several because he always did. Did we? NO! Did anyone in our group of about 10? NO! Anyway, I could go on and on, but that's the idea. I am still completely amazed that we saw so many alligators today! This was the first time I've seen them in the wild!

The very first one we saw!

This one's hiding...they're very sneaky!
This one was pretty scary because he was so big and he had his mouth open...he looked artificial.

The alligator couple

Mike, Jordan, and Kristen

You were supposed to stay at least 30 feet away, but that was kind of hard when they were right up there on the trail!
This was as close as I got!


Lots of birds!

Kristen was a lot braver than I was...she touched his tail!
Spanish moss everywhere...definitely in swamp land!
I love turtles! There was also a baby on the log, but it jumped into the water about 2 secs before I took the picture : (Once the sun started going down, it got dark really fast! Jordan and I rode back the way we came, and it was really hard to see any alligators. There were still several up on the trail, and with all of the frogs and splashing noises, it was pretty creepy. Luckily, we made it out safely!

San Antonio Take Two!

So last weekend I was in San Antonio again for TMEA- Texas Music Educators Association Conference. It's for all music educators (k-12, band, orchestra, and choir) and though every state has one, Texas' is the biggest with over 25,000 people (go figure)! It was so nice to get away for a few days...I even got to miss some school! I went to classes, walked around the booths, and attended a couple of concerts. The best part was that I ran into several people that I didn't expect to see- my orchestra director from SIUE, my student teacher advisor from BYU, and a couple people from St. Louis. I also met up with a few friends from church to go country dancing. It was so nice to go somewhere, stay in a nice hotel, eat good food, and not have to pay for any of it! We arrived in San Antonio on Thursday (Valentine's Day) and I had dinner that night with Linda and Kristell (co-workers) on the River Walk. (I find it difficult to call it a river...it's a lot skinnier than I expected!) We're the only single people in the music dept. at our school, so it makes sense that we had dinner together that night!Our restaurant...they all have about half of their seating outside...it's a fun atmosphere.
The next night, Linda and I took the River Cruise...it was so pleasant outside...around 70 or so!
Our boat and a pretty view of the river.
Part of our dancing crew at Cowboy's. It's the biggest dance hall I've ever seen (again, in Texas, so go figure). They even have a rodeo arena attached to it!

The view of the river from our hotel room. Apparently the island is a popular place to get married because it's shaped like a heart and supposedly brings good luck. We saw several newlyweds taking pictures on it since it was close to Valentine's Day.

Okay, Stephanie, here you go: (My first tag!)

1. What are you most afraid of? bad things happening to the people I love; other than that I'm not sure; sometimes I dream that my teeth rot and fall out or that my violin is smashed into pieces...maybe that says something!

2. What is the most recent movie that you have *seen in a Theater*? Juno (don't recommend it...not my kind of movie)

3. Place of birth? St. Louis, MO

4. Favorite food? pasta, avocados, strawberries, cheesecake, seafood (especially sushi...I'm really into it right now!), chicken, ethnic food (I'll try pretty much anything), good old midwestern BBQ (my dad's!)

5. What's your natural hair color? dark brown

6. Ever been to Alaska? no, but someday, hopefully!

7. Ever been toilet papering? yes

8. Love someone so much it made you cry? yes

9. Been in a car accident? a couple very minor ones

10. Croutons or bacon bits? croutons

11. Favorite day of the week? days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday

12. Favorite restaurant? right now, any good sushi restaurant

13. Favorite Flower? lillies, roses, daffodils, daisies

14. Favorite sport to watch? baseball, if I go to the stadium; not on tv

15. Favorite drink? hot chocolate

16. Favorite ice cream? vanilla, with something mixed in, like peanut butter, oreos, or chocolate candy

17. Disney or Warner Brothers? both

18. Ever been on a ship? last year I toured the royal ship Brittania in Edinburgh; someday I'm going on a cruise though

19. What color is your bedroom carpet? light tan with speckles

20. How many times did you fail your driver's test? none, but I think I took the written test twice

21. What do you do when you are bored? email, read, clean, relax, watch tv or movies, practice (if I'm especially motivated); I rarely get bored...I enjoy every minute of free time!

22. Bedtime? about 10:30-11pm

23. Favorite TV shows? Oprah, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Top Chef, I don't really have anything I watch on a regular basis; I prefer movies; I have been watching more of the food network and HGTV lately...don't ask me why!

24. Last person you went to dinner with? Linda, one of my co-workers, when we went to San Antonio

25. What happened at 30? Not sure yet, but I guess I'll find out soon! : (

26. What are your favorite colors? I've always loved blue, but lately I've been into red.

27. How many tattoos do you have? none

28. How many pets do you have? none; actually, in my afternoon class we have a rubber spider named Viola

29. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? the chicken

30. What do you want to do before you die? tons of things: go skydiving, snorkeling, swim with dolphins, go to an Oprah show, visit all 50 states and as many countries as possible, visit my friends in NC and UT, take piano lessons, continue teaching violin, get married (eventually!), raise a family, and lots more!

31. Have you ever been to Hawaii? Not YET!

32. Have you been to countries outside U.S.A.? Canada, Italy, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, and most likely Japan (in June)

33. People you tag? Anyone who wants to

Suzuki Workshops and Presidents' Heads

This past week was the busiest one I've had since moving to Houston. My school had its 29th annual Suzuki workshop and we flew clinicians in from all over the country to teach our students and lead them in a final concert. Watching experienced Suzuki teachers instruct my students was very eye-opening and gave me a whole new perspective on my teaching. I learned so much! And, my students did a great job; everyone was so impressed with our program! Unfortunately, the day before the workshop began, I woke up with about half of my voice and the next day, it was completely gone. Luckily, I didn't have to teach at all that week and was happy to sit back and observe.

So cute!!

It was also an exciting week for me because Vera, SIUE's Suzuki program director and my Suzuki teacher trainer all through grad school, was one of the clinicians. It was fun to show her my life here. Though I kept her busy throughout the week, I was told I had to take her to see the "Presidents' Heads", gigantic busts of the presidents in this random lot not far from my apartment. No one really seems to know what they're doing there, but I think they're going to be moved to a park. This is something you definitely have to see to believe!

These Beatles are ginormous...about 4-5 times the size of the busts! Use the truck in the bottom left hand corner for perspective!

San Antonio and Suzuki Workshops

The Alamo!
The girls I went with to San Antonio...my first time to a Texan city other than Houston!

I'm still not sure how I feel about this blogging thing...I'm just not much of a writer. One of my New Year's resolutions has been to keep a journal (which hasn't happened to well), and this is a good way to document some of the things going on. I wonder why people want to read about me; my life seems predictable and sometimes boring with no family of my own, but I guess I have my own little stories and adventures. This weekend I was invited to go to San Antonio with a couple of girls in my ward and was excited about that since I haven't been anywhere in Texas except for Houston (excluding my drive down here)! It was a short trip, but I feel like I got a good taste. We went country dancing, visited the Alamo and River Walk, and went to church at the singles ward there. It's a nice little city and it was good to get away. I definitely need to explore and get out more often! Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon. I'm also not much of a photographer, but I have a few pics of our trip.

I was also able to teach at the Houston Suzuki workshop this weekend. I've attended and observed a bunch of them, but have never been one of the clinicians! It was kind of unnerving, teaching with experienced teachers and performers (some of them being household names in the Suzuki world), but I had a good time and met some new contacts. Good money, too! It's funny how I find watching a young child attempt to play a miniature violin so fulfilling and exciting! I never thought it was possible to find so much enjoyment in a job! I feel so lucky to do what I do. Oh, here's a cute teaching story....The other day I got an email from a mother of a 2nd grade girl that I teach. She said that they were in the car when her daughter said: "I think it's so neat that Ms. Benne is a mommy!" Her mom thought she was missing something and asked her daughter why she thought I was a mom. Early December I had taken a little boy that I teach outside of school and his family to one of our performances. This girl had seen me with these children and thought they were mine! (I guess that's fine with me...they are so adorable). The mom warned me that I might begin hearing random rumors at school. That was over a month ago...I am constantly amazed at how perceptive little children are! I absolutely love them!

England, Ireland, and Scotland

These are some of my favorite pictures from my trip to Great Britain in May and June!

Windsor, England (near the palace)

Our little chamber group at the top of St. Paul's in London

Getting ready to rehearse at St. James Cathedral in London

Buckingham Palace! Right before we saw the Queen leave....her car pulled right out in front of us!

My sister Kim and me walking in Glendalough, Ireland. Little did I know that we were being followed!

Our cute Irish tenors that we met in a pub. We even got them to sing for us!

Rehearsing in Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland (where part of the DaVinci Code was filmed)

Our group

My new laptop!!!

So, I now have a laptop again! I can upload pictures...finally! Too make a long story short, several months ago, I sent my computer to Dell so that they could fix a couple of problems. I waited and waited, called about it, and found out they had sent it to North Carolina (my address as of 4 years ago). I talked to this very nice woman in India who told me I should go check and see if it was still at that address. I tried to explain how impossible that was and she said that if they couldn't find it, they'd send me a replacement. Several days later, she called and said she'd checked with DHL and that my old laptop had been delivered that day. I couldn't believe they had found it so fast! Too good to be true, however; as soon as I picked up the box, I knew it was empty. I called again that night to talk to my Indian friend, but found out that was impossible, as I had called El Salvador. He promised me the same things, but I didn't hear from him again. A week later, I called again, this time got India. After months of frustration and hours on the phone, I was finally promised a new laptop! It came while I was on Christmas break and was waiting for me downstairs when I got back. I love it...it's a hundred times better than my old one! I just love how things often work out better than you expect them to!