An Update

BUSY BUSY BUSY!

(A Beautiful Sunset after Babysitting for Olivia and Kinley with Mom)

That is the buzz word for the last half of this year for me.  And within the past two weeks its been rapidly accelerating.

So last I wrote after auditioning Be a Good Little Widow with the Hutchinson Theatre Guild.  Since, I have completed production, been appointed their production coordinator, spent a weekend in Chicago for a wedding (some Shooks who frequent this blog as a matter of fact), a weekend with my best friend Estelle Cowie in Seattle, a week of touring around my 2nd cousin Janice from Australia, working on the Theatre Guild building, selecting a 2014 Season for the Hutchinson Theatre Guild, being asked to be an adjudicator for the Jester Awards (which are Music Theatre of Wichita's version of the Tonys for high schools) and finally, completing repair on Grandma and Grandpa's door (a final coat of stain and polyurethane).   And those are just some highlights since August.

With Mom preparing for surgery next week, we've been busy decorating.  Here are some highlights from the past couple of months.

Seattle Adventure

Estelle and I goofing off at the Airport

The View from our Hotel

Decorating Fun

Our First Artificial Tree - To Be Decorated This Weekend

Our Mantle

I guess Clara got tired from Watching Us

Village

Village

Hutchinson Theatre Guild

Seats from Sterling College for our new theatre

Be a Good Little Widow

Be a Good Little Widow

Be a Good Little Widow

Be a Good Little Widow

Be a Good Little Widow Set
Designed and built by ME :)

Closing Moments for Be a Good Little Widow

String Festival Picture

It rained on our festival :-), so we were in a high school gym (and yes the fire marshal showed up by the end of it and encouraged our quick exit!)

Not the best quality photo, but I thought you might like to see a shot of the festival!

There's Just Something About Christmas Music

So I have a confession to make: I'm listening to the Pandora Radio Station based on Mannheim Steamroller Holiday songs. There is just something about the Christmas season and music that calms me down and reminds me of what is most important in life. 

I turned on the music while I made banana nut muffins. I've enjoyed the ease of muffins for breakfast recently. One batch usually gives James and me a muffin for breakfast through one week. It allows us to take it with us to work as neither of us typically has the time left in the morning to sit down for a bite to eat. I have successfully or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, created another coffee drinker in the house. We now both take a traveling coffee mug with us on the way out of the door in the mornings :-).

To be quite honest work has become overwhelming again (quite possibly the reason Christmas music is now playing), so prayers for my humility and positive energy to stay intact for the kids I teach would be greatly appreciated. We have our AISD Fall String Festival performance this Tuesday at Zilker Park. Our special song this year is Star Wars :-). We play seven songs total, which is quite a bit for students that are in their first year of playing! In honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Festival our t-shirts are Tye-dye this year!

James is busy with work and school. He is researching for a paper on John Philip Sousa and how the Sousa Band (an immensely popular concert band) influenced and continues to influence musical taste and the modern American band tradition. The paper is due the day after his birthday, so we will probably celebrate a little late this year. As for work, he recently had a famous TV actor (from Breaking Bad and Revolution) attend his information session. Pretty cool! His events are going well and are almost done for the semester...he's now beginning the part of the year where he reads and scores tons of admission applications. Last year he read over 700 and was reading while we were in Minnesota for Christmas. He is very much hoping to have it done by Christmas this year!

Last weekend we attended the 5th anniversary of a local brewery called 512 Brewery (the main Austin area code is 512). They have a pecan porter that is excellent. For the event they pulled out some of their rare beers including a double pecan porter aged in whiskey barrels, which proved to be worth waiting in a rather long line to try. We also tried a pumpkin pecan porter which was served out of a huge pumpkin! 

Yesterday we attended the UT vs KU football game. It was a beautiful day - mid to high 70s! It has proven to be an interesting football season. We will be getting a new athletic director this year, so we will see if that means we get new head football and basketball coaches as well. The rumor has been that we will.

We will be home for Thanksgiving and cannot wait to see everyone at the reception for Andrew and Katie! The wedding was absolutely perfect and unbelievably beautiful in so many ways. Hope to see you all there!

Love, grace, mercy, and peace,

James and Hannah

Thankful November

For November the Rutherfords are celebrating with Thankfulness:

* for a happy parting of ways from our home in Brooklyn with many friends to visit in the future
* for being able to locate an apartment, then sign a lease and move in less than a week
* for an area that we now love and feel safe in and an apartment that now feels like home
* for friends that share their time and their hearts to make us feel like we have a community
* for family that share years together, stories and support each other from far reaching places
* for the ability to travel easily from one place to another
* for jobs that teach us lessons, encourage growth, & support a lifestyle that breeds happiness
* for mutual respect and support in a relationship
* for change, as hard as it may sometimes seem
* for health
* for learning new things and putting old things learned in to practice
* for public transportation
* for recycling
* for a city that never sleeps and is filled with possibilities
* for so many more nameless little things that we get to experience every day

It's not a long list, but it's a start to tell you a bit about what we have experienced since returning from Australia in a subtle, but very thankful way. Next time you'll find some pictures of our empty apartment...mainly the kitchen because we are in love with it.


Love you all!
Mary and Kurtis