Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

We want to wish everybody a wonderful Thanksgiving.  In challenging times, as these have been for most, we are very thankful for having you all in our lives.

Blessings and Happy Turkey Day!!!

Love,
Matt, Pia & Sapphie

Dunaway Gardens

Well, we’re back on planning and preparing wedding stuff.  Today we went to Dunaway Gardens and put a deposit for the wedding for Monday, November 21, 2011...

Love,
Matt and Pia

Papers, PMR, and Wedding

Hello everybody!

It's been a while since the last post and much has been going on since then, as many of you know.

One of the reasons I stopped posting was that I didn't want to vent out loud my unending frustration with all the paperwork that was -- and is -- being required by the Church even after the annulments were done at the end of last year.  That is probably all what I will say on the matter, at least for now.

About five months ago, Matt started experiencing severe pain in his arms and upper body.  To make a very, very long story short, after seeing about seven different doctors and specialists, he has been diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica, PMR.  We spent all those months almost completely sleepless, for the most part, whether him pacing around the house with ice packs in his upper body, or me giving him massages to ease the pain and help him sleep 30 minutes here and there, all of this with him getting up at 6 pm and going to work in 100F.

He is currently under treatment and better than he has been for the last two years, and -- at his request -- we will leave it at that...

So this past weekend we went to see a place that had been recommended to us by two different people (thanks Amy!)  We loved it!!!  We have decided to have the wedding there, but it will be next year, 2011, on the same date.  The place is called Dunaway Gardens.  It is located in Newnan, about 30 minutes from the house.  You can check it out here:  http://www.dunawaygardens.com/ and on the video above. 

During the 20's, 30's, and 40's, it used to be a summerstock center of theater and music, so what could be more appropriate???The place is absolutely gorgeous and it just felt so right!  We both feel this was meant to be and we want to welcome all of our friends and family to share with us in the celebration.

Anyway, that's all for the time being folks.

Love,
Matt and Pia

A New Week Again...

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Monday, March 1, 2010

Starting the week, getting things done, lessons and stuff...

Thought of the day:

“Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect you have enough…

(Gail Sheehy, Writer and Lecturer)

Life searches for balance. Nature searches for balance. Knowing where that middle point is, a life long search.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Busy day, good practice day.

Thought of the day:

“There cannot be true democracy unless women’s voices are heard. There cannot be true democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives.”

(Hillary Clinton, First Lady 1993-2003, Former US Senator, and Secretary of State)

A right and a privilege that so many still don’t have around the world.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Lessons and working on prep material for Zaphyra rehearsals.

Thought of the day:

“We can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.”

(Madeleine L’Engle, Writer)

How key, how incredibly true…

Back in the Writing Trail

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Training, and one day to go…

On a separate note, I had a great vocal coaching today! Worked on Rusalka and Boheme. Vocally, seems that things are moving forward.

Thought of the day:

“We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons…but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.”

(Gloria Steinem, Political Activist, Writer, and Editor)

The world could always use more sensitivity and nurturing, inherent female qualities but not exclusively. As women, we are always complaining about why men aren’t more caring, but, when we think about it, it really starts with how we teach our own to be.

Thanks Cathy…You taught my Matt well…I just hope I give back as much as I receive…

Friday, February 26, 2010

Well, we graduated! It has been an intense week, but certainly worth it. If only, we have certainly learned a lot!

Thought of the day:

“Life is an immense mural that requires each of us to pick up the brush and paint a bold stroke.”

(Holly Near, Singer, Writer, and Activist)

How much it takes to paint that first stroke and how rewarding it is when we can see our creation on the wall…

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Oh, just resting, much needed after such an intense week.

Thought of the day:

“We know it maters not what we have been, but this and always this: what we shall be.”

(Angeline Grimke Weld, Nineteenth-century Politician, Lawyer, Abolitionist, and Suffragist)

And how much freedom and self forgiveness it takes to remember and embrace this.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Lessons, rehearsal with the girls and recording. A good day.

Thought of the day:

“When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given.”

(Barbara Sher, Writer, Entrepreneur, and Career Counselor)

If we could just have the energy and courage to live our lives with commitment and passion for all we do, so when we look backwards we think “wow,” when we look forward we think “here I come” and when we fall asleep every night we think “thanks.”

IMPACT

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Monday, February 22, 2010

Well, Matt and I started a week of intensive training (IMPACT). We have been talking for a while about the possibility of doing some foster parenting. There is something called Respite, where you host a kid or kids for a day or two or even just a couple of hours. We have been thinking we would like to do this for infants to preschoolers.

We went to an informative orientation and we decided to go ahead and attend the training and so we started tonight.

Thought of the day:

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do.”

(Amelia Earhart,the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean)

Wise words from a experienced doer. The first hump, even with something as simple as exercising, is many times the biggest to overcome. When we go ahead and take that first step, things start to unravel on their own.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Second day of training. Lots of information, very enlightening and very sad.

Thought of the day:

“One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness – simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain.

(George Sand, Nineteenth-century Novelist and Feminist)

In simpler words, the path to happiness is built on awareness and knowledge of the self, don’t you think?

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Training continues; four hours a night.

Thought of the day:

“It’s important not to get yourself obsessed [with aging], because it’s a game you’re going to lose. When people get too obsessed we start to see these faces that don’t move and are so manipulated that there’s no life to them anymore. One of the most important things about anti-aging is really in your thinking. It’s what you believe.

(Demi Moore, Actor)

Given the source, a little surprising. That said, hope we all can grow with a young heart, into a wise mind and with a healthy body.

The Weekend

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Well, all the girls did very well in the Chick Fil’A finals. They were certainly able to apply something they have heard me say many times, be ready for the unpredictable.

It turned out that the sound system had only two functions: on or off. So there was no setting levels, no gain control, no patching instruments, nothing. Basically, there were two mics. One was used for the singer and the other for the instrument if needed. Everybody adapted as needed and did extremely well. I was very proud of all!

Thought of the day:

“When you undervalue who you are, the world will undervalue what you do and vice versa."

(Suze Orman, Personal Finance Expert and Best-Selling Author)

How true! And many times, we are our worst enemy. Personally, I think neither overvalue or undervalue. The just measure, which is what nature is always trying to find. And that is an art.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Had a very nice rehearsal today. We’re getting some nice sounds and did some work on the solo pieces. Recorded Matt in the evening and now need to work on some editing.

Thought of the day:

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”

(Helen Keller, Activist for the Deaf and Blind and Winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom)

I have tried to imagine, many times before, how it would have been to be a Helen Keller. For the life of me, I must admit my imagination is not able to go there.

When I was kid, some times I would walk around the house blind folded trying to figure out what it would be to move around being blind. Needless to say, I would start to bump around everything even though I knew where everything was. Little by little, I would, though, start to be able to move around somewhat, without running into every single piece of furniture.

I try to add to that the fact of total, absolute, involuntary silence. First, of course, I think of a world without music. All I can imagine is a deep bottomless hole, where one is alone, unable to communicate…

Then I think of the strength of the human spirit and the amazing things it is able to accomplish. We might not be able to see a light with our eyes, or hear a guiding sound with our ears, but we can figure out where the sun shines by feeling its warmth even though we might have never seen it…

And, if we have the courage to reach out, chances are someone will reach back…