 Since I had to be in Wilmington for SME Week, it was cheaper and less crazy to simply stay over in Wilmington on Friday night and travel with Aaron and Albert from Wilmington to Munich, rather than try to go back to Austin for 24 hours.  I chatted with my mom, and the got myself packed up and checked out of the hotel. I am now in the airport waiting for the first leg of my flight to board. See you on the flip side!   
 As we approached the pub, I noticed that Dr. Who had also traveled to Wilmington for St. Patrick’s Day, as the TARDIS was parked outside the pub. I got a kick out of hearing people walking by asking, “What is a Police Public Call Box?” I never spotted The Doctor, but I am sure he was there somewhere. We drank green beer, and ate bangers and mash. We hung out with some other friends from work, and generally had a great time.
I traveled to North Carolina from Baltimore today. I landed in Research Triangle Park, or RTP to those of us who frequent the area, which is between Raleigh and Durham, NC, at around noon. I met up with some colleagues from the RTP office and we went to Neomonde Baking Company Cafe for lunch. Neomonde’s is a favorite stop of mine. I really love middle eastern food, and these folks know how to do it right. After a yummy lunch, I spent a few hours working in the RTP office, and then drove down to Wilmington.  My friend and colleague, Amy, had told me that, of the nights I will be in town, tonight is the one that she is available. Amy just got a new place overlooking the Cape Fear River, and we agreed to meet there. We spent some time catching up, and I helped her put together her new dining table. Following crazy, unclear directions in order to assemble furniture really worked up our appetite for some dinner! We drove down to Kure Beach and had all we could eat shrimp. It was a well deserved feast. My dad had surgery on his back yesterday. My sister, Laura, and I came up to Maryland to be with my mom and dad for a few days. The surgery went very well, and Dad is resting and recovering. After visiting with Dad today, Mom, Laura and I went over to the mall and went shopping.  Laura tried on some fancy gowns. She found a beautiful gown that looked amazing on her. Hopefully some wonderful patron will read this post and donate the money necessary to make the purchase. We left the gown on the rack, but I did get a picture. We shopped for a purse for mom, and pants for me. Both of those goals were a bust. Mom is still searching for the perfect bag: not too big, not to small, a strap long enough to put over her shoulder, classic but fun design. She found two she liked, one was Burberry, and the other was Jimmy Choo. So she has great taste, but the amount of money they were asking was crazy talk, and just not something any of us could get behind!  I am looking for taupe, tan, or camel dress pants that are not stretch, and are lined. I think I must be looking for the unicorn of pants. It seems that no one makes lined pants any more. I just don’t know what this world is coming to if I can’t find lined pants at Nordstrom’s! The sales lady said that the lining was originally part of pant construction to “hide the flaws”. I am thinking, “don’t we still have flaws to hide?”. But she clarified that it was to hide the flaws in manufacturing, and now that the computer controlled machines are so much more accurate, there is no need for the lining any more. I beg to differ! I will be looking at Macy’s when I get to North Carolina, where the Southpoint Macy’s has never failed me on the business clothing front.
An added benefit of the trip to Dallas was getting to hang out with Laura and Jason the day after their return from Amsterdam. I drove up to Denton to see them. Naturally I asked to go to Sweetwater for ceviche, and Beth Marie’s for ice cream. Reading that sentence, it dawns on me that beer, seafood, and ice cream sound like a terrible combination, but it is what I have whenever I go to Denton! Beth Marie’s actually had Courthouse Pecan, which is my favorite of their ice creams. They had been out of it my last couple of trips to Denton, so I was extremely pleased to get some! I made it back to Austin in time for the All Saints’ Twenties and Thirties BBQ at Father Mike’s house. I am happy to say that Joey and I both plan to be in Austin through the end of 2010! Joey and I made it back to Austin late on 22 September. We had a fabulous trip to The Netherlands and Germany. You can check out some of the early pictures in Joey’s Flickr photostream. He has not yet posted the second half of the trip. Once everything is up, I will post my favorites here on Etherlimits. Thank you to everyone who helped us out while we were out of the country! Katy and Elanor appreciate all the people who looked after them, and send wags and kisses. Joey got all of his pictures from our trip to New York and Tanglewood uploaded to Flickr. Lisa has also added more pictures to her NYC Staycation 2010 photo set on Flickr. Lisa’s pictures include some great photos of Laura singing at Tanglewood.
During our time visiting Brooklyn, NY, Joey and I travelled with Lisa to Lenox, which is in the Berkshires. Lisa commented that the trip to Tanglewood made our experience of New York City in the summer very authentic – extreme heat and humidity, several days of riding the subway and pounding the pavement, and then an escape to the much cooler country! Tanglewood is an amazing place. It has all kinds of musical artists: instramentalists, singers, composers, and conductors. There are multiple venues and practice areas. When we visited we were able to simply walk around the grounds and listen to the various rehearsals that were going on. We got to hear Laura during her vocal coaching. We also happened to be there on the right day to hear Yo-Yo Ma practicing with the orchestra. Amazing!
Sadly we could not attend the performance, but she got rave reviews from the New York Times, which said, “And on Sunday Laura Mercado Wright, a mezzo-soprano, gave a stunningly agile account of Berio’s Circles, in which she occasionally played percussion (and provided gestural cues) as well.” The Boston Musical Intelligencer, a virtual journal and blog of the classical music scene in Boston, also had good things to say, “Mercado-Wright may safely call this “her own” now with her masterful performance and the perfect voice for it: rich but not fat; a low range that speaks, and a high one that is graceful; and perfect diction for projecting words or sounds.” As always I am so proud of all that Laura has accomplished. I just cannot help bragging. |
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