Monday, April 26, 2010
Best Friends
Posted 9:45 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
In the fall of 1990, I was starting seventh grade. I was in the Symphonic Band, and played mostly the mallet instruments. There was a French horn player who sat right in front of the bells that I usually played on. During down time during band, she and I started talking. Her name was Becky, and she was in eighth grade. Over the year, we became really good friends, and I remember being sad when she moved on to high school.When I was in eighth grade, I went to all the home football games, and Becky & I hung out during the third quarter, which was when the band had a break. Then her family moved, and we stayed in touch by writing letters. The summer before my tenth grade year, we were roomies at band camp, and imagine my surprise the first day of tenth grade, when I walked into the band hall after morning marching rehearsal and Becky was standing there! They had arranged for her to live with family and go to The Colony High School for that year.
We stayed in touch throughout high school, but lost touch for a few years in college. Imagine my surprise when I heard her voice on the line during my senior year of college! Thanks to e-mail, phones and the like, we have been able to stay in touch ever since. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding, and I was in hers. Now that we're both married, we hang out together with our husbands.
Becky and I have been through a lot together. Besides David, she probably knows more about me than anyone! I know that I'm so blessed to have a friendship in my life that has lasted so long, and I hope that it lasts for many, many years!
We went to Becky's Master Recital on Saturday, she will be graduating with her Master's in Vocal Performance next month. As I watched and listened to her sing, I was thinking about when we met in middle school and how far we've come since then! Happy (almost!) twenty years of friendship!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Lotsa Happenings!
Posted 5:10 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Holy Week is a big week in any church, ours included! We started off on Palm Sunday with the procession of the palms during each of the Sunday services. That afternoon, we had the Easter egg hunt. As I was talking to various kids beforehand, we were practicing our egg hunting stance! They had spaces marked off for the various ages. Unfortunately, they did not have an area marked off for 31 year-olds! Oh well, maybe next year. I enjoyed watching the kids, and the egg toss was also fun to watch!Thursday night was the Last Supper Tableau. I had volunteered to help with costumes/makeup. I helped with getting their arms 'bronzed' for the production. Luckily, there were other people who knew what they were doing, I just followed their lead. It was funny how some of the men were almost unrecognizeable once they were in their makeup! Right before the show, we all took Communion together, which was really neat. The performance was amazing! It was inspired by Da Vinci's The Last Supper painting. Everyone did a phenomenal job, I'm really excited that I got to be a part of it!
On Friday, a group of us from the NERFS gathered to celebrate Chris' birthday by singing karaoke at their house! We sang all sorts of different things, and the highlight was when all the guys were singing along with "Ice, Ice Baby." At least, I thought it was really funny! Everyone sang along on just about everything, and we even got out Beatles Rock Band for some songs, too!
Saturday night, the focus of the service was on baptism. We had 18 baptisms that night, including babies, children and adults! I thought that it was a very moving service. After church, we took our lawn mover out to some friends of ours. While we did have a nice visit and got to see their new house, after awhile, my allergies were really bothering me. They offered me a Zyrtec, which I was grateful for. Let me tell you, I slept really, really well.
The next morning was Easter, which is always one of my favorite days! I had been asked to play the claves during the traditional services on Easter Sunday, which I did. That did mean a lot of sitting around, since I only played during the offering. After sitting through the first service, I decided I had about forty-five minutes until the offering, so I walked over to Starbucks (I had a really, really good parking spot at church!) I made it back in plenty of time. I had a great time at the services, but it was also good to get home.
After changing clothes, it was time to head out to DeSoto to my family's Easter gathering. I had a great time, but since I was still feeling a bit groggy from the Zyrtec, I had to be careful not to stay seated for too long! The rest of the day was spent not doing much at all, which was okay by me!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Spring Break Highlights
Posted 8:35 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Here is what all happened on my spring vacation:All in all, very eventful! The past week was also crazy. It's that crazy time of year, trying to get all my assessments completed, end of year ARDs scheduled, etc. One thing about my job, is that it is NEVER boring, and I like it that way! Most of the time.
Monday, March 01, 2010
A Week of Culture!
Posted 7:16 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 1 Thoughts
Last Sunday, David and I got all dressed up and headed out to the Music Hall at Fair Park for the first of our Dallas Summer Musicals season package! We have several great musicals to enjoy, and starting us off was The Phantom of the Opera! It's one of our favorite musicals, and we were both very excited to see it! We got down there with no problem, and found our seats, which were very good!I must say, the performance was very good! Since I know the musical so well (I used to listen to the original London cast album very frequently when I was in middle school/high school), I tend to be very cognizant (and critical) of differences from the original. This was the first time that this particular actor had played the role of the Phantom, and he was awesome! The actress who played Christine was very good as well, but my favorite character was Carlotta! I really loved the way that she played that role. I had so much fun, and it was hard not to sing along! I'm excited about our next musical!
Fast forward to Thursday, when I drove over to my parents' house after work. Mom and I had tickets to see Itzhak Perlman perform with the Dallas Symphony. We also had made a reservation at Opus, one of the restaurants there. We asked about vegetarian options, and they had the chef whip something up for me. I called it Veggie Surprise, and it was very yummalicious!
Afterwards, we headed into the theatre. I ran into someone from church, which didn't surprise Mom or David. Apparently, I run into someone I know everywhere! Anywho, the concert started, and Itzhak walked out. He played the during the first selection, then conducted the second two. During the first selection, which was Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor, Mom and I swore that he had notes on his violin that we don't have on ours. At least, I've never played those notes on purpose!
Next up was Serenade for Strings by Dvorak. That was beautiful, but my favorite was the finale, Beethoven's Symphony Number 5! Mom told me I couldn't hum along, but I really wanted to! My favorite movement is the fourth movement, I'm still humming the theme from that one! It was a late night, but definitely worth it. What a great week of culture!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Crummy Monday
Posted 6:52 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Today was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong. I think it should just be declared a National Bad Day. Here is a sampling!Now my day is getting better, and here is why!
The day is over, and as Scarlett O'Hara said,"Tomorrow is another day!"
Thursday, February 18, 2010
ESL Class!
Posted 9:31 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
I'm part of the Stewardship Committee at church. Our theme for the year is 'Generous Living'. At our first meeting last month, we talked about this theme, and various books that expand on the theme of generosity. I borrowed one book, entitled The Giving Heart by M.J.Ryan. I read on it at home, and I found it really inspiring. I started looking at ways to give in the community.The next week, there was a notice in the church newsletter about needed volunteers to help teach an ESL class held at the church. I talked it over with David, and decided to go for it! I attended the training, where they showed us the curriculum and gave us ideas on how to teach the class. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into, but I was really looking forward to it.
Two weeks ago, we had our first class. There were about sixteen people in the class, plus the teacher and two assistants. Since my Spanish is very limited, I was very glad to know that the teacher is fluent in it. We worked on the basics, such as teaching them the alphabet and how to write it, as well as how to ask each other basic questions, such as "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" I felt that we had a great group and was excited about the class.
Last week, we didn't have class due to the bad weather, so tonight was our second meeting. (The class is actually on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we only help on Thursdays.) We taught them about buildings in the community and reviewed the alphabet with them. The latter part of the class was spent in pairs, working on a conversation to be performed in front of the class. I felt that everyone did a wonderful job on their conversation, and it was really heart-warming to hear them use the skills that we are teaching them!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Blizzard of 2010
Posted 4:47 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Yesterday morning, I got up, was getting ready for my day. I went out to get the newspaper, when I saw a beautiful snowfall! I received a call from the district announcing that the district was closed, so I finished my breakfast, changed into comfy clothes, and drank my coffee. The snow continued to fall throughout the day, and I got another phone call in the afternoon that school was closed again today.
I got a bit of cabin fever this morning and decided to go play in the snow. Roxie came with me, although she definitely did not enjoy getting her feet wet. I made a snow angel, although when Roxie saw me drop to the ground and wave my arms and legs to make the gown/wings of the angel, she thought I was in trouble and ran to my side. Glad to know she is watching out for me!
I also attempted to make a snowman. It didn't go so well, I'm afraid it was a rather goofy looking snowman. The head came out a really odd shape and every time I tried to fix it, the entire head would roll off. Then I tried to put a carrot in for the nose, and that caused the head to fall again. Finally, I added sunglasses, which also took several tries, as I kept decapitating the poor snowman yet again. Oh well, the pictures came out okay.
Lastly, I took a bunch of pictures of the shenanigans, as well as the view from the front yard as well. Roxie stayed in and watched as I ran around taking pictures of the snow. It was absolutely beautiful and was a record-setting snowfall! Then I warmed up with a steaming mug of hot coffee.
This afternoon, I decided to run to Kroger for some groceries, and then to Starbucks. I may be the only person in the world who drinks a cold beverage on a day like today, but I do! Hooray for snow days!
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