7 year something or other

Hello all! Chenda is together once again! Chad is sitting next to me on our couch in London, and he's hard at work studying, so I'm on blog duty this week. Don't get me wrong, just because "Così fan tutte" has opened doesn't mean I'm done working, but I think our neighbors would revolt if I kept practicing "Don Giovanni"! That's the next opera I start rehearsing (in less than 2 weeks! Ack!), and it's also by Mozart! It's fun to be working on two operas by the same composer in such close succession. Obviously the music is very similar in style, but the two pieces have such different moods! The opening of Così on Friday went really well, and was also very enjoyable! It's very much an ensemble show, with all characters being of basically the same importance, so it helps that the whole cast is friendly. I'm looking forward to the next show on Sunday!

I did take some time off of studying during the weekend and Chad and I got to enjoy some beautiful weather in Frankfurt and London. We took a walk to the Stadtwald, one of our favorite places in Frankfurt, and I for one was very excited to see all the flowers and trees in bloom! Europe in general has had a much milder winter than the US, and temperatures have been in the 50s for quite a few weeks already. We left for London on Sunday, but before doing so, we had our friends Barb and Michael over to our place for a vegan brunch! They have recently gone vegan, which is even more strict than my plain ol' ovo-lacto vegetarian diet, but I had fun cooking a delicious vegan meal for us! Plus, mimosas are completely vegan, so how bad could it be? We arrived in London to more beautiful weather, and decided to walk to a movie theater to see "The Grand Budapest Hotel", which we would highly recommend! We actually went to another movie on Monday night, "The Lego Movie", and haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a very long time! Perhaps we were just exceptionally giddy, because we were celebrating seven years of marriage that day! Yep, seven years ago I somehow tricked Chad into marrying me. How happy and fortunate I am to have such a wonderful partner in this crazy wandering life!

On the way to the Stadtwald in Frankfurt! Pretty little flowers on the tree!

Our sunny kitchen where we hosted brunch! Of course I forgot to actually take pictures during brunch… Details, details...

Chad just wants to rub this weather in the Midwest's face.

Magnolia trees in bloom in London! 

I am not happy that there aren't pictures of Chad for the blog, but the picture I took of him last night at the gastro-pub in our neighborhood where we had dinner is much too dark. Even Rembrandt would have added more light… Maybe I can catch the elusive Chad on film for next week's blog! Until then, have a great week!