Hillshire Lane

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have a new home. I hope to get real pics out to everyone ASAP. We are moving in this weekend and will hopefully have something that resembles a home by Saturday night. Well, at least in the living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, office, and master bedroom. Furniture is still yet to be purchased for the guest room. But, not bad! Christina and I couldnt be happier and more excited! Please come visit us!

Who knew that owning a home was so much work to get started? Well, I guess that people who own homes know this. I keep saying that there should be a mandatory class that you must take in college before graduating that explains all that goes into purchasing a home, what the hell an escrow account is, different options that you have in financing, etc. I felt like a moron for the first few weeks...until reading the Idiot's Guide to Buying and Selling a Home! hahaha!

This past week I had an amazing thing happen. My dad drove up from Houston and helped me get started with the transition from apartment renting to home owning. I seriously cannot say what an incredible honor and joy it was to have him here with me. It makes a HUGE difference to have someone that has been there and done that to help you get started with a new anything...but especially a house! We probably hit the Home Depot a handful of times in those 3-4 days...but, every trip was well worth it. I know that it may sound cheesey, but those were some of the best 4 days in my life. Thank you Dad.

So, thanks to my hard-working woman, (and me) the house is probably cleaner now than it ever will be (and probably ever has been) and awaits the furniture and kitty cats (and puppy on the way) that will soon inhabit this wonderful home! This week will be more runs back and forth with loads in the car of boxes and clothes and the TV and stereo, as we anticipate getting everything set up. Fun fun times!

I look forward to this weekend as we not only move into our first home, but also as we start another chapter in our lives.

Mama, I'm Coming Home...

After a wonderful 2 weeks in Vienna, I have decided to cancel my audition tour due to bad weather, bad timing, and other factors such as closing on a house. So, what does that mean? I'm coming back to the states today! I'm currently writing from the beautiful Vienna Airport where they offer FREE wireless connection! HELLO!? This is definitely one thing that the US can learn from! Why should we have to pay extra money to log on wirelessly at the airport! Uggh.

So, Its 9:30am here in Vienna and I will spend the next 10 or so hours en route to Washington DC where I will make a connection to DFW. I think my flight gets in this evening at 7pm back in the Big D!

I apologize for not blogging more while I have been overseas, however my time has been taken up with coachings and German lessons and socializing with my new friends on this side of the pond. This week brings much excitement as we start packing up all our stuff in preparation for the move to our new home!! We close on the 31st (maybe sooner now that I'm going home today) and are very much looking forward settling into our new casa!!

Until later...

Life across the pond

I arrived in Vienna on Saturday morning and after standing in a not so long line at the airport customs, was greeted by a smiling man that spoke broken English but that did have a picture of me! We hopped in his Mercedes-Benz taxi cab and were headed to the center of town. We arrived at my hotel and he insisted on helping me with my luggage and showing me exactly how use the key to open the apartment outer doors and then went up with me to the 6th floor to my apartment. He even came in with me to make sure that all was in order. It indeed was.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting unpacked and settled in my home away from home. After I had finished unpacking, I phoned my new friend Tammy and we met for an early dinner. It was GREAT food! I was there for a few hours and already had a friend, and was now having a beer, Wienerschnitzel, and a very yummy Goolash soup. This made for a great night.

On Sunday, I woke up around 10am and again phoned Tammy, and this time we were headed to meet new people. We went over to Johannes and Monica's. They are Germans that are living here in Vienna, as he is a fest bass at the Staatsoper. They are GREAT people. Johannes and I are long lost brothers. We had a fantastic breakfast of eggs, toast with jelly, cheese, various sandwich meats, and of course, shots of aquavit! After hanging with them for a few hours, we headed out and met up with my old friend from Texas Texh, Becca Babb, who is now Rebecca Nelsen, and her husband Greg. Ooooh, I forgot that Brigitta joined us over at breakfast...so, now thats 6 new friends in 2 days. Pretty cool, eh? Its great to see Becca again and to meet her husband...a Texan as well. After hanging at the Starbucks for an hour or so, we headed back to rest. Then, later that evening...I cant believe that this was YESTERDAY! ...anyway, later yesterday evening, we headed with Johannes and Monica (his fiancee) over to Matt and Mary's for a wonderful Greek dinner!~ Mary is quite the cook...we had Moosaka...I have no clue how to spell that, but certainly ate my filling! And then at Matt and Mary's, we met the infamous Al. What a character this guy is. Wow. Fun guy, but I think small doses would be best. I mean that in the nicest way. ;-) So, then I headed back to the apt and crashed.

Today I woke up and had my first German lesson with Prof. Helge Hambauer. She is a VERY sweet woman and a very good German teacher. After my lesson I went grocery shopping and then came back to my apt and started work on DER FERNE KLANG. I'm singing this with the American Symphony Orchestra in April...and boy is it TOUGH! Hopefully it will start becoming easier I get better with the German and more familiar with the music. Then, I met up with Tammy again and we went to get my sim card for my new "Handy" or cell phone. So, we got that situated, and I now have a European cell #. Cool, right? We then had a fantastic dinner at this Middle Eastern restaurant that was cheap-o but yummy-o! My other new friend Genevieve met us at the restaurant...whats that , like 8 new friends? Oh, I forgot about Tom, who I went to Juilliard with, and this other guy that I met...shoot, I cant remember his name!! Anyway, all nice folks. :o) -- After dinner we headed back to the center of town and decided to go over to Max's apt, who lives just around the corner from me. So, we then met Max and he had 5 friends over having dinner...so, I met all them too! IS THIS CRAZY? So, yeah..I will always have a place to stay in Wien!

Wow, I'm exhausted just by reading all that I've done...and its just Monday! Tomorrow I have another German lesson and start my voice lessons with Hilde Zadek. Should be interesting to say the least!

More later...

Happy New Year!

I truly hope that the new year brings many happy things to everyone. I believe that it will certainly bring us some things that are new! We ar ecurrently in the process of figuring out which house we are going to buy! We have put offers on 2 different houses and will hopefully know which house we will get in the next few days...so, stay tuned!

Another exciting tidbit is that I will be traveling to Vienna, Austria on Friday! I leave the 5th out of DFW and will be traveling to JFK and then onto Vienna, arriving on the morning of the 6th. I'll be in Vienna through the 21st, and then will take a train to Berlin, Germany for the beginning of my audition tour. I'll stay there until the 29th and then take a train back to Vienna to fly home on the 30th. ...and then close on our house on the 31st!! (lets keep out fingers crossed!)

Please do stay tuned during the following weeks, as I will be sure to post regularly from across the pond. :)

Performing-wise, next up on the agenda is memorizing L'Arlesiana which I perform at Carnegie Hall on 2/21 and then I will continue learning/memorizing Der Ferne Klang, which I will perform at Avery Fischer Hall on 4/15. I think I'll certainly have things to do while in Vienna and Germany!

So, stay posted about our new house, updates from afar, and new pics!