Christmas Musical Memories

Every year when Christmas time rolls around, I make several playlists of holiday music, ranging from pop favorites to folky tunes to classical masterpieces. One recording I cannot live without at Christmas is the one I remember most distinctly from my childhood. The Philadelphia Orchestra's "A Christmas Festival" - I have it on now.

I Can't Do Anything Without Getting Hurt....

Not even a simple bike ride is safe for me. I managed to rip open a chunk of skin on my knuckle this morning on an early ride. I started young when I crawled out of my crib and broke a collarbone. Sigh....

A Great Loss

I am a relative newcomer to opera. I have loved classical music since college, but was never able to enjoy opera until sometime over the last ten years. Part of the process for me understanding this beautiful form of music was listening to Met Opera broadcasts on Saturdays, specifically to hear Margaret Juntwait's insightful commentary. I made sure I caught up on missed broadcasts by subscribing to XM Radio and listening to past broadcasts. When Margaret gave her last broadcast back in December, of Lehar's The Merry Widow, I was not able to listen in. In fact, I was unaware it was her last broadcast. She passed away June 3rd after a long battle with ovarian cancer, the disease that also took my mother ten years ago.

The Met Opera mourns the death of our beloved radio host Margaret Juntwait, who passed away this morning. http://t.co/LhhoX1l1iO

— Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) June 3, 2015

Sleep Tracking

One of my favorite features of the Fitbit is its ability to track my movement while I sleep. Admittedly, it was difficult to not be aware of my Fitbit on my wrist and try and control my movement when I first got it, but now I don't even think about it. What I have discovered is that my sleep pattern is often in this pattern: restless, sleep a few hours, get up and pee, sleep a few hours, restless right before my alarm, awake. For the most part, I am well rested after spending around 7 hours with this pattern.

I have discovered that when I am stressed my sleep pattern is much more restless, leading to a bad night's sleep. This really isn't surprising. What is surprising is just how restless I am. This has led me to try and be a bit more conscious of my nighttime pre-sleep rituals when I'm under stress. It hasn't completely eliminated all the restlessness, but it has made a difference.

My next task is to get my body in bed sooner and work towards a full 8 hours. Yeah right, it's baseball season!

Funny, I don’t remember getting up in the middle of the night 😴 pic.twitter.com/B2VwjUMPZm
— Nancy Stanley (@nukediver) April 25, 2015

Thank God!

#SpringTraining games begin in exactly ONE WEEK. #BaseballBegins pic.twitter.com/g9MoyXUEU3
— MLB (@MLB) February 22, 2015

Kings College Choir, Cambridge

I would love to spend Advent and Christmas attending these services, even though I rarely set foot in a church anymore. This is the only thing I miss, particularly at this tim eof year.

Happy World Vegan Day!

From Mediterranean Tomato Tart to Raw Caramel Peanut Pie - recipes for World Vegan Day http://t.co/ru3JALdb4z pic.twitter.com/ykRpcKXBhi

— The Independent (@Independent) November 1, 2014

Seven of us are eating vegan for 14 days. It hasn't been nearly as awful as I thought it would. Seven more days.

Fall Baking

I found this recipe on Pinterest. It's fall. That means apples. And I have vanilla ice cream. Mmmm.

Maker Faire NY!

Where I'll be tomorrow. Why didn't this exist when I was a kid/budding scientist?

World Maker Faire this weekend! http://t.co/ux20MsNxfA Check it out =) @makerfaire #makers #makerfaire #crafts #DIY pic.twitter.com/jwB74dZO05

— Guidecentral (@guidecentral) September 19, 2014

Here's looking at you!

Let’s play an #EarthView game we like to call “Lake or Dragon Eye?” http://t.co/up2WkogXfP pic.twitter.com/56j6ESYYGu

— Google Maps (@googlemaps) August 31, 2014