all settled in

Hey all! Brenda and I are in the kitchen in our lovely Santa Fe digs making a late dinner. We're all fully adjusted to the new time zone, and Brenda and her castmates have already staged their opera. They even had their first rehearsal on stage today. The first performance isn't for two and a half weeks yet, so maybe they'll get a week off to just hang around the pool on the opera campus.

 Brenda posing for a picture with herself next to the Santa Fe Opera box office.

Brenda sent me this picture during her lunch break while I was locked in a room reading about the Federal Rules of Evidence. 

 Brenda's parents, Rowan, and I joined Brenda for her lunch break a couple of days ago. Rowan got to meet a bunch of new people, and he enjoyed pushing his stroller all around the grounds.

If you like sunsets (and sunrises for that matter, although you have to get up pretty early for those) then this is the place for you.

I need to get back to the grind. I hope you all have a great weekend, and we'll talk to you next week!

Santa Fe

Greetings from Santa Fe! We arrived late Monday night after a very long day of travel. Rowan was a champ and managed the flights and the long layover really well. He's been having a great time this week with Brenda's parents who kindly came to Santa Fe to look after him while I study for the bar. The bar prep is still quite intense, and I couldn't do it without the help of Brenda and her parents. They've been great.

Not a bad place to study.

I should call it a night. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!

equitable servitude

Hello again! I just finished taking a multiple choice quiz on real property law (hence the blog title), which marked my last bar prep assignment for the day. The good news is that I got more questions right than I got wrong. The bad news is, well...let's just say I'm thankful I don't have to get an A on the bar exam to pass.

Our trip to Santa Fe is imminent. The to-do list on our blackboard is still quite long, so the next few days should be busy ones. We're going to be subletting our apartment while we're gone, which means we should probably wash some sheets and maybe even clean the bathroom. It will be interesting to see if leaving Frankfurt feels different this time since Brenda will not be coming back as an ensemble member. We'll still have our apartment here (at least for now), and Brenda will still sing here (as a guest), but I'm curious to see if we get a little teary eyed as we head to the airport next week.

Actually, I know I'll be teary eyed because we'll be about to endure a really long day of travel with a fourteen month old. I think the days of Rowan resting calmly in our arms as we fly over the ocean are gone. He wants to walk everywhere, touch everything, and he's usually pretty vocal when he doesn't get what he wants. It could be an interesting flight, but we're hopeful he'll just walk up and down the aisles smiling and waving at our fellow passengers.

I should get to work so I can cross a few things off the to-do list. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!

a legal refresher

Hey all! Sorry for the very delayed post. It has been a busy week. I began my bar prep on Monday and learned that they weren't kidding when they said it'd take 8 - 10 hours a day. That may not sound like much to you employed folks, but I've grown accustomed to a rather relaxed lifestyle as a trophy husband. Actually, the tricky part has been coordinating the studying with parenting. Brenda has been amazing about taking care of Rowan while I cram Contracts and Sales, among other subjects, into my brain.

From my desk I could see that it's been a beautiful week in Frankfurt. Brenda has taken Rowan outside several times to enjoy the weather and to play with the wood chips at a nearby park. He's started taking a serious interest in the swing and the sandbox. His ability to get around is just getting better, and he's figured out how to climb onto the couch now. I think we can count ourselves lucky that we don't have a flight of stairs in our apartment.

Brenda has her penultimate Arabella performance tomorrow night. Last week she performed at the annual ensemble dinner and enjoyed chatting with the opera supporters there. Many of them remember her from her first season with Oper Frankfurt back in 2008.

The curtain call at the ensemble dinner.

Well, it's past my bedtime, and since I've got the first parenting shift tomorrow so I should hit the hay. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!

enjoying the sunshine

Hey all! It's been a quiet week since my parents flew back home last weekend. They left just before the weather in Frankfurt got really good. We've been enjoying getting outside and letting Rowan run around the nearby parks. (We've discovered that he really likes wood chips). He's at an age now where he's curious about absolutely everything, he's mobile, and he doesn't understand what "no" means. That's a dangerous combination. To make matters worse, when we tell him "no" he realizes he's getting a reaction out of us so he keeps doing whatever he's not supposed to be doing. So his favorite toys these days are the dirtiest things in our apartment (i.e. our trash can and our shoes) and the most dangerous (i.e. the outlets and power cords). He keeps us on our toes.

Brenda's season in Frankfurt is winding down. She is singing at the ensemble dinner tomorrow night and has just three more performances of Arabella. I start studying for the bar in earnest next week, which means Brenda will be busier looking after Rowan. Hopefully the weather will continue to be good so they can get in a lot of park time.

It's getting late and it's my turn to get up with Rowan tomorrow, so I'd better call it a night. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!

looking forward to summer

Hello again! It's quiet around here tonight. Rowan is sleeping, Brenda is at the opera house singing her second performance of Arabella, and my parents are watching the show. I really enjoyed seeing the opera on Saturday, which actually surprised me a little. The cast is great so I knew I'd enjoy the singing, but when I read the synopsis beforehand the story didn't seem all that interesting. Thankfully I was wrong. The plot of Arabella is a little bit like an episode of Dowton Abbey, and the Oper Frankfurt production is excellent. Also it was refreshing to see an opera where the main character doesn't die some tragic death at the end like many of Brenda's characters do. If you'd like to see some of the photos from the Arabella production you can do so here.

Speaking of tragic opera, we're getting really excited about flying to Santa Fe in less than a month. I think I mentioned previously that Brenda is singing the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor this summer, which admittedly is not the cheeriest story, but the music is truly stunning and Brenda will sing a whole bunch of high notes. You should definitely come see it. Plus, Santa Fe has incredible Mexican food, hiking, and sunsets. Yeah, we can't wait to get there. By the way, Santa Fe Opera announced their 2018 season yesterday and sent out this brief trailer. It's worth a look.

I should do a little studying. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next time!

Arabella

Hello again from Frankfurt! All's well here in Mainhattan. My parents arrived on schedule last week, and they've been having a lot of fun chasing after Rowan. He couldn't be happier to have them here. In fact, if I pick him up he'll often want me to hand him over to Grandma or Grandpa. I think that shows his affection for them as well as his resentment towards me for making him take naps.

Brenda had her last Rigoletto performance on Friday and is now totally in Arabella mode. The first performance is on Saturday. As soon as the opera is up and running she should get to enjoy a little more free time, although she has a few more songs to get under her belt before she can take a big break from learning new music.

My parents have been kind enough to babysit for us (or should I say grandparent for us?), which has allowed Brenda and me to do some fun stuff like see a movie (Guardians of the Galaxy 2), go to the grocery store, and vacuum the apartment. I can't help but notice that our idea of fun has changed a little since Rowan came along.

I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!