Yummy Day!

Wow wow wow! Fabulous day.

Voice lesson this morning went pretty well. I warmed up beforehand so we'd have more time to work. Learned a new vocalise with triplets going up and down, then went over parts of Batti Batti.

This afternoon I had a rehearsal for the recital in two weeks. I was nervous but excited. I sang Una Donna. They cut me off near the end - they being, the man and woman in charge of the group. They wanted to give me advice on how to get through a certain part - they kept apologizing for offering advice!! I'm like, pour in on! As much as you want!! It was this one part of the song near the end where the woman said I was getting off pitch because I was losing ... I can't remember her exact words... but that I needed to use my entire head as my instrument and bring the sound up to keep it at the right pitch. She said to think of how Julia Child spoke, and use that sort of tone or practice or whatever to maintain the loftiness in the sound. So I tried it again and it did sound better. THEN she asked if I'd be willing to come see her one day this week for a quick coaching FREE OF CHARGE!!!! She's a retired opera singer - she has sung with some Very Famous People. She was super sweet. Both she and the man in charge kept telling me that I have a beautiful instrument and how easy it is to fix what it is I'm doing wrong. I was like, "Beautiful instrument? Me? ME?" Ohmygod. I couldn't believe it. She and I spoke for a while. She said that even after 62 years of singing she still has to think about it to produce that lofty "Julia Child" sound, but once you get there, it feels natural and it feels so good it's like an orgasm. Yes, that's what she told me. She was telling all sorts of great stories about people she's sung with (like one Famous and Handsome tenor whose wife was always around and wouldn't let any women near him!). So we exchanged phone numbers and we'll talk about me coming for a quick lesson/coaching. How friggin cool is that? And as I was leaving the guy in charge told me that my Despina was "cute as hell." Cute as hell. Love that!

Alex and Husband came to retrieve me so they got to see the place and meet everyone too.

Wow. Professional opera singers and teachers told me I have a beautiful instrument and that my singing was "cute as hell." Does it get any better?

Of course it does, because it's Saturday, which means that after my and Alex's music lessons this morning we went to the farmers' market and got those mouth-watering tamales, which we had for dinner. And also on the way to the car after the rehearsal we passed a chocolate shop where I bought a few uber-fancy chocolates at $1.50 a pop, including one with cayenne and one with cardamom, cayenne and other yummy things mixed in.

AND my super comfy old-lady nightgown came in the mail today and is in the dryer as I type this.

So this day has left me all giggly and happy. A yummy day. I was long due.