I'll dress my family in corduroy and denim.

Tomorrow, when I'm hanging out with David Sedaris*, I really hope people aren't too jealous of me.

* operative name drop

Sometimes I think to myself, "I wish I had My Little Pony hair."
Lady Gaga is pretty lucky.

Don't waste your time or time will waste you...oh, whatever.

Assignments I DO like in grad school:
1) Song Lit presentations (especially featuring animated clip art)
2) learning in my 20th Century Music History class
3) singing

Assignments I DO NOT like doing in grad school:
1) anything for French Diction class...I have a minor in French. How is it possible for me to be so shitty in this class?
2) studying for my 20th Century Music History class
3) learning complicated and confusing Poulenc songs 36* hours before I perform them

Assignments for which I choose to procrastinate instead of doing:
1) All of the above

*So, let's make that 20 hours before.


This photo shoot (which later features Lady Gaga as the witch) must have been inspired by the Hansel and Gretel that the Met staged in 2007. It's probably my favorite opera production.



And this cat is obese.


And I sure do wish I owned this fancy dress. I think about it every single day...

lovely, dark, and deep

After about 3,007 edits, I've just finished my website. It was quite the undertaking...and I haven't even posted (or created, for that matter) any videos yet. I probably ought to get some of those soon since this is my "publicity"/ opera singer Nancy site to help me raise money for La Musica Lirica.

I have to thank my roommate, Lance, for helping me set it up. Also, for the new bath towels upon the unfortunate Easter-break forgotten laundry mildew situation.

BTW, I'm getting super pumped about being Flora. She's just so fancy...and a courtesan (wink, wink). I would like to think that she would be a highly illustrious and awesome at life courtesan. We'll see. Hopefully, she won't be a "Shit, I don't know my music" courtesan.

This Robert Frost poem is constantly running through my mind these days. I even typed it on an ipad at the Apple Store today:

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village, though,
He will not see me stopping here
to watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
to stop without a farm house near.
(That's all I can ever remember until the last stanza...)

Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep
And I have promises to keep,

It felt so crystal in the air

Lately, I've been reminiscing about all of the awesome bands and performers I've seen this year. So far, these are my top picks (MGMT would have been in here, but they put out that new album and have been cut from the list).

Lykke Li- I saw her at All Points West in Jersey City last summer. Tim and I were like, "Who's this Mary Kate Olsen chick?"
Then we realized what was up. Stellar performance and some really worthwhile songs.



The xx- These kids are REAAL good. I started listening to them when NPR kept playing their tracks as interludes and transitions during news casts. I was looking at tour dates to find out if they were playing anywhere in the south. Um, they were playing at the Spanish Moon here in BR...tickets were $12. Amen. This is why it rocks to live in a college town sometimes.



Ghostland Observatory-If Michael Jackson, Geronimo, and Freddie Mercury had a baby, the lead singer of this band would be their love child.


I'm not going to bother to describe them. I'll just use this picture for explanation:
These people are warming up and stretching before the show began... I think the awesomeness of Ghostland Observatory has now been sufficiently explained.

Something pretty:

You're resting on your laurels and stepping on my toes...

After being out of town for a few days, it's REALLY hard to get back to real life.
I haven't made enough headway on my trip $ for Italy. I've fallen a little behind on school work, and I've been too hoarse from allergies to do any worth-while practicing.

I did get to sing with Adam Philly this weekend. It was Phantom of the Opera (possibly the most nauseating musical ever written), but I still had a good time laughing with him. I also got to hang out with some other old friends. I'll post some pictures of that soon.

The whole trip made me completely nostalgic. I ended up with the following (approximate) playlist on the long drive home:

Pink Moon- Nick Drake
Parenthesis- The Blow
Tuna In The Brine- Silverchair (flashback to 2006)
Title and Registration- Death Cab for Cutie
Tonight- Lykke Li
A long series of Passion Pit songs
23- Jimmy Eat World
Song to the Moon- (from Rusalka, sung by Renee Flemming)<- This is music's greatest masterpiece, by the way.

I'm back to my real life now. LOOP performance today and plenty of catching up to do.
Oh, yeah, and Happy 4-20!

Question. What kind of bear is best?

Michael Scott: Myth: Three Americans every year die from rabies. Fact: Four Americans every year die from rabies.

I wish I worked at Dunder Mifflin.

I've often seen a cat without a grin; but a grin without a cat...

Top 5 study time distractions:

5) tiredness
4) cereal
3) daydreaming
2) inner ear itch
1) internet

My friend, Kristi, works part-time at Disney World (part-time opera singer- she lives a pretty magical life). She bought me this Alice in Wonderland mug last week when she was there.
For those of you who don't know, this is the most practical gift I could ever be given since I eat and drink exclusively out of mugs.

I don't know where's I'm going, but I hope it's warm and there are lots of kittens.

It's Monday and spring break is over.
I'm actually really happy about this. I'm pretty sure spring break had begun to suck a little too much for my taste.
I did get to see a traveling production of Wicked yesterday in NOLA. The cast was REALLY good and I am so glad I was able to go.
I don't have very much to say on this Monday morning, but I felt the start of a new week warranted a post. Here are a some pics from the weekend:






French Quarter Festival...really good food and a 100% chance of sunburn.

And here's something pretty:

Reflections on a Spring Break

Ok, double catch-up time: two posts in one day (3 if you're lucky).

I'm on spring break this week. Well, guess what. It hasn't been much of a break.
I've driven all across Louisiana this week; BR to Monroe, Monroe to Shreveport, back to Monroe, back to BR...NOLA tomorrow. I got my headlight repaired in Start, LA (home to Tim McGraw and home-adjacent to ole Nancy Carey).
I've spent most of my time stressed over $ and sneezing. I also lost my voice entirely for approximately 24 hours. Fortunately, Helen's symptoms were identical, she called in sick to work, and we were able to provide some mutual long-distance moral support via gchat and text.
We really discussed the deepest of life's questions.For example:





I did take the last 2 hours to sit in the quiet of my house, blog, drink some good coffee, eat cereal, and pretend that spring break actually happened in my life.




I guess I'll stop now and get on with my day. Spring Break, you were beautiful while you lasted. I hope I can enjoy you next year.


















And here are the obligatory pictures of pretty things (spring allergy theme):


























































And this will make you feel high if you look at it too long: