what a weekend! tipps church rehersal, downtown & CSO, tipps church performance, tons of christmas shopping, very little sleep, and a Wonderful sunday evening. quite the eventful pair of days.

i had a lot of fun singing with the choir at mr. tipps' church. met some great people. i liked the music better last year, but i can't decide which tipps experience i liked better, since i did two different things. either way, it was a good time. vinnie, jim, eamonn, and matt came to the second service. i was very surprised, and very pleased to see familiar faces there. you guys are the best!

as for branford... amazing!!! if you're interested, you can ask me for details about the concert and the night. there's too much to list. i've got some rockin' pictures.
after branford's feature number, he came onto the stage for an encore with a clarinet and bass player. they improved. it was incredible! the three of them were just so great to watch and listen to. sitting on the main floor in the center of row K definately helped. branford is a funny guy. he was making jokes during their little trio. on top of it all, i'm convinced that wynton marsallis was sitting 5 or 6 rows directly in front of us. he looked just like branford only with more hair and a mustashe. it's a shame we'll never know for sure.

i went christmas shopping with kevin today. i felt very accomplished by the end of our spree at woodfield. i got stuff for everyone i could think of, with the exception of 4 people. 2 of those people have things already, but i need to add to their gifts, and the other 2 i have yet to buy for. on the birght side, i know what i'm getting, so it's just a matter of getting my butt moving tomorrow and buying it all.

by the time this is over, i will have spent over $300 on my friends and parents. i feel great about it!!! it's as if i'm finding the true meaning of christmas. i may not be able to go out for a while, but i feel sooooo good about giving things to the people i care about. it's christmas! i'm not the important one.. it's everyone else! hold on to your hats, friends. you're prolly getting something from me for christmas =)!!!

i've been kinda down recently, but now, i'm just flat out happy. today was so perfect. aside from sam's car almost not starting after the tipps church extravaganza, i can't think of a single bad thing that happened. i had a few scares at night by a certain boy that threatened to steal his notebook back from me before i was done with it, but it all worked out in the end. (it'll be done soon. this time, i promise =).

i can't say much more about today/tonight other than..... it felt right.

she had warm summer eyes that flickered like fireflies
when she stared at the world