First Sunday in Advent

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.  For the offertory in this morning's service, I played my favorite Advent hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  This arrangement, by Bill Wolaver, is absolutely gorgeous!  It's part of the Big Red & Green Book of Christmas Solos.  I love the quiet simplicity of the intro, and the piano at the church has such a lovely upper range (which is not necessarily heard in this amateur video ). 

 This year, I'm trying so hard to be true to the Advent season and not play "Christmas" tunes until our Christmas Eve service.  It's such a hard thing for me to do, since the rest of the world started blasting Christmas songs the day after Halloween! I love Christmas music, so I'm thinking about doing "The 12 Days of Christmas Solos" and posting a new piano solo every day, beginning on December 25.  I have too many favorites from my Big Red & Green Book of Christmas Piano Solos, and there's no way I'll be able to perform all of them in the 3 Christmas services we'll have. 

Apparently this book is currently out of print.....I hope I never lose my copy : /

Enjoy!  Thanks for watching!

Amanda


 

Sunday Hymn: My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

Today was Christ the King Sunday, so I played my favorite hymn My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.  This simple, gorgeous arrangement is from Mark Hayes' book Hymn Settings That Touch the Soul. 

I have played this arrangement too many times to count, and it's always a huge hit with our congregation. 

Enjoy! 

The 12 Days of Cookies!

Okay, I've entered my Aunt Kay's best cookie recipe into "The 12 Days of Cookies" contest.  Public voting will take place online November 16-25 to determine the top 24 recipes, and the panel of judges will then narrow the list to 12 winners. The first recipe will be published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on December 13th, and another recipe will be featured on each date leading up to the Christmas Day.

Not only do the 12 winners win a feature in the newspaper, but they also win a year's supply of milk from Hiland Dairy! 

Out of 95 entries, we are currently in 15th place!  Not bad, huh?  If anyone out there actually reads this, I'd sure appreciate your vote!  It takes just a minute to sign up to vote on the website, and once you do, you can vote ONCE A DAY! (Subtle hint)  Just click here to get started. 

And in case you feel like you should taste-test them first, here's Aunt Kay's recipe:

Aunt Kay's Oatmeal, Chocolate-Chip, Toffee Cookies

1 c. butter
1 c. light-brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 3/4 c. old-fashioned oats
12 oz. chocolate chips
8 oz. toffee bits
1 c. pecans--chopped, toasted, & cooled

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a microwave-safe, large mixing bowl, melt the butter on high for 1 minute.
4. Add brown sugar, white sugar, salt, and vanilla to melted butter. Stir to mix well and remove lumps.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Mix flour and baking soda together in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in large bowl.
7. Stir in oatmeal and mix thoroughly.
8. Add chocolate chips, toffee bits, and pecans, stirring to mix into dough.
9. Drop scoops of dough onto lined baking sheets and bake in oven for 13 minutes.
10. Cool on wire racks until completely firm

Firecracker 5K

For the 4th of July, my friends and I ran in Little Rock's Firecracker Fast 5K. This race has been held in our capital city for the past 37 years, and believe me--it is a fast 5K! The race starts in The Heights and ends down by War Memorial stadium. The course is almost all downhill, so it's a great race for improving speed. I was super excited because I set a new PR--I finished in 36:13:59, my fastest 5K yet! And, I almost ran the entire thing. I walked through the hydration station, and I walked the last turn of the race because it was uphill. I will definitely be running this race next year, and I WILL run the entire course! My goal is to be able to run a 5K in 35 minutes or less. I'm almost there! 

I was so glad that Katherine and Beth could join me for this race. I made our tutus the night before. (I've become a tutu guru : ) I can turn them out pretty quick now.) We decided we're also going to run the Watermelon 5K for the Hope, Arkansas Watermelon Festival, and we're going to make tutus for our "watermelon costumes." Woo hoo tutu party! 

Beth was the first in our group to cross the finish line and was interviewed by Channel 7 news. Her interview and our 3 tutus were featured on the 6:00 news...umm....AWESOME! 

Superhero 5K

This past weekend, I ran in Russellville's Superhero 5K.  As you may know, I love costumes, and there's no better way to get me to run than to tell me I get to dress up.  I decided to go as Wonder Woman (because honestly, it's summer and too hot for the all-black Cat Woman getup, and we girls have fewer options than the boys).  It was so much fun making my Wonder Woman costume:  I made a no-sew tutu out of blue tulle and bought the sticky-back foam stars from Hobby Lobby.  I made the wrist cuffs, headpiece, and emblem (which fell off my shirt--I was too lazy to sew it on!) out of glittery gold fun foam.  I added a plain red t-shirt and my white compression sleeves to resemble boots--I wish I'd had them in red.

I love that the race also had a backdrop.  That was fun.  You really get the full Superhero effect, no? : )

I.Am.Wonder.Woman!

Playing with filters : )

Supporting the Cause.  It's always fun to dress up, but I also wanted to participate in this 5K for the cause is supported.  All proceeds were donated to the family of Carter (who loves superheroes--his favorite is Batman!).  Carter is the 4-year-old son of a Russellville police officer and was recently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.  Carter is currently undergoing treatment through UAMS and the AR Children's Hospital.  The family is still searching nationwide for alternative treatments.  Donated funds will help the family with medical bills and travel expenses, so I'm happy to join the cause.

Adam comes to most of my races, but his band had a show in downtown Little Rock late, late, late Friday night.  I was nice and decided to give him the morning off : )  I was thrilled when my brother & sis-in-law (who live in Russellville) decided they were coming to the race.  They met me at the finish line, and afterwards, we all went to Stoby's for breakfast.

Eli (on left), also ran in the race.  He must be a pretty fast runner since Andrew
talked to Eli for at least 5 minutes before I made it to the finish line : )

My sis-in-law Norma & me.

After breakfast, I went to Clarksville, where Norma's coworkers hosted a shower for Baby Noah.  Noah will be here this August, and I'm super excited to fill my role as the crazy aunt : )

Baby Shower with Norma

This was such a neat place--it's a coffee house/radio station in one (hence John Lennon in the background).  They also have a stage for live musicians to perform on the weekends.  If I didn't live so far away, I'd definitely be checking it out one weekend.

They had the cutest cupcakes at the shower!

DC Adventure, Part 1

A couple months ago, my friend Sarah told me about some bus tickets she had found.  Megabus had a great online deal--$10 roundtrip from Knoxville to DC.  Umm....sign me up!  We didn't really have a plan, but we decided a spontaneous trip to DC would be a fun way to kick off the summer.

I spent my first week of summer in Knoxville visiting family, and that Friday, Sarah and I loaded the bus.  We loaded the bus at 10:00pm. 

Sarah and I think this should be an ad for Megabus.
We might also be a little biased : )

Sitting in the front seat on the top deck.
We're still smiling because we don't know what's coming....

This was why we chose the front seat, top deck (as suggested to us by a friend).
We did have a wonderful view.

This was the point we realized we would be exploring DC on 0 hours of sleep.
Not exactly what we had planned.  

About an hour into the trip, Sarah and I noticed a few problems.  First of all, her seat was broken and would not recline.  Mine did, so I offered her my neck pillow, but neither one of us was comfortable.  Second (and by far the worst part of the ride) was the broken windshield wiper.  There was a rubber piece, about 6 inches long, that had separated from the wiper.  The wind would catch it, and it would whack against the windshield.  VERY LOUDLY, I might add.  Thump, thump, thump...all through the night.  It might have been a little more bearable if it had been keeping a steady beat or maybe some kind of rhythm, but no.  It was a very long ride.

The bus arrived at Union Station around 7:30am.  I'm very thankful for my Google Maps app.  If we didn't have a blue line to follow, we would have been even more lost! (Yep, I left the map of DC at home.) We had already planned on walking to our hostel because Sarah had read it was "close" to Union Station.  We definitely got in our exercise that morning because it was a "close" 25-minute walk to the hostel.  It did feel really great to stretch our legs after a 9-hour bus ride.  

The hostel was actually in a great location.  It was 8 blocks from the Capitol, 4 blocks from Chinatown, and 1 block from a taxi stand.  And if we had known...only a $7 cab ride away from Union Station : ) Most importantly (for we were starving when we arrived in DC) our hostel was just down the block from a little French Crepe restaurant, where we definitely indulged.

Nutella, banana, coconut crepe.  Um...yes, please!  

Any place that has a Nutella display in the window....is all right with me : )