My little Bumble Bee!

Ah, bello Mendocino!

Waking up in Mendocino, CA at 7am everyday was not that bad...especially when this was the view from the Bay View Cafe at 8am every morning. Such a sight for sore, tired eyes in the morning! I have a lot of photos to share with all of you this post, so bare with me, it is going to be a visual reading experience :)

Waiting for the plane to take off, I was full of nervous energy. Score in hand, I frantically drilled the awkward English translation of Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart into my brain. Thinking about it now, this was the first time I was flying alone! Weird, but I was 21 and scared to fly alone. I felt like a real adult...don't tell anyone. I finally arrived in Oakland, after a long afternoon of flying and it was now time for another long 4 hours of driving. Don't get me wrong, the drive is breathtaking, but very curvy!

As more and more people arrived at the Oakland Airport, we naturally sized up the competition in our head, and smiled. I, of course, had my trusty buddy with me, so I was in a comfort I wasn't expecting. We gathered up the troops and began the trek up to beautiful Mendocino!

The mile markers got smaller, I got more and more excited! Finally, we arrived and it was everything I expected and MORE! I couldn't believe I was chosen to train at the Redwoods Opera Workshop 2010 with the legendary Elizabeth Vrenios and Adriana Hardy. I was ready to sing and learn everything I could from these brilliant people.

After a wonderful sing-in at Elizabeth's gorgeous house, I was introduced to my incredibly generous host couple. Since it was pretty late when we got home, I wasn't able to see the house very much the first night. The next morning, I was not surprised when I walked out the front door and saw this...

Isn't this the cutest thing in the entire world! I swang every morning waiting for the great Sara Salas to pick me up for breakfast. It was pure bliss. And when you see a swing like this, it definitely makes you think of "senior portraits". I decided to recreate some pretty magical moments that turned out...well...

...this was absolutely candid if you couldn't tell. Our photographer...aka Sara...was saying, "Ok, look at each other and fake laughing..." how could we resist from cracking up!

Now, you are probably thinking, this is an Opera Workshop, so when did the singing happen? Trust me, we had long hours of singing, but how can we not have this much fun doing what we love? There was plenty of singing being done. Thanks to our fabulous directors, we were able to have a wonderful experience of high quality training.

Don't they just look so happy to be doing what they love? That energy was definitely contagious up in the high mountains of Mendocino! I can't tell you all enough how much I learned, because I am still learning. I am definitely considering going back!

I'm done writing for now, but here are some more photos of the alluring Mendocino, CA!

I hope you enjoyed them, and until next time...

The innocence is breathtaking!

The end of a great semester...in Opera Scenes that is!

 Shh!! Performance in progress!

Last night was a success. After being sick for more than two weeks, I somehow managed to get on stage and perform. And I mean, perform. I did my best and thankfully, my voice worked with me and not against. I was so happy and relieved at 7:55pm when my scene was OVER and I could take a nice deep breath, with the satisfaction that I didn't let my scene partners down nor my teacher!

The entire night was indeed one for the books, and I took tons of pictures with my "Sandra" (which is what I named my camera). I was so proud of the whole cast of not just my scene. We all came to entertain last night, and boy did we do just that!

But alas, I cannot thank the one woman who made it all possible...

This is Dr. Kristin Dauphinais, my infamous voice teacher! I love her dearly, and thank her for her patience, kind heart, and strong hand! I owe more than she will ever know and can't thank her enough.

(Just some of...) My studio mates and I got to sneak some pictures with the great miracle worker we call our lovely teacher :) and here is just one of them...

It was a magnificent evening and I thank everyone for their hard work and dedication throughout this semester. Thank you for making the end of the semester a success for me!

Ciao!

This is just what a Monday needs...some great laughter.