Nina continued her rehearsals for Broadway Night, culminating in her first performance on Friday the 4th. Jill’s mom came down for the weekend, and we saw the first show (show #3) while Jill was a chaperone. For the second show Saturday afternoon I was an usher, then I brought over some Wendy’s for her lunch. We all got Big Buns for dinner, then the three of us all watched her evening show (show #4).
Sunday morning we all went over to Jammin’ Java as the performances weren’t over – she still had Open Mic for her voice classes. Rehearsing and performing on stage seemed to help any remaining stagefright (even recovered when she started late) as she sang Ava Max’s “So Am I” (and that was concert #5, with lots of nice cover choices). That night I went to see Beth Patterson at The Old Brogue for concert #6. This time she had Seán Heely performing with her for more traditional songs. I wished she’d done more of her own songs as she didn’t even get the chance to sing much. That week Nina started her Curex drops for immunotherapy to hopefully build up her tolerance for her allergies.
Friday the 11th I went to the Strathmore for concert #7: Bonny Light Horseman and Anaïs Mitchell. Since Anaïs Mitchell is a member of Bonny Light Horseman, it was the same musicians in different configurations for each set. I really enjoyed the harmonies of Bonny Light Horseman. Saturday Nina shopped at Safeway with several Girl Scouts to get ingredients to prepare for a badge. She also had a cookie booth outside Ledo’s.
Sunday marked a year since I made my low sodium red miso paste, so it was time to stop fermenting. I also made gochujang with it so now I can make a low sodium version of Bon Chon chicken. This was in addition to making Louisiana hot sauce and blue cheese dressing for wings for the Super Bowl. Valentine’s Day was Tuesday and Nina redecorated the table.
Tuesday the 15th I said “Wow” as the full Daily Show from the night before was only a conversation with India.Arie. They had interesting thoughts on how to respond to racism.
Thursday the 17th Jill and I followed Nina’s suggestion and had lunch together on Jill’s day off. We thought Founding Farmer’s would be good as it wasn’t too cold, but it was windy and we ate inside as it wasn’t busy at 2PM. Saturday the 19th was Eric’s funeral, at a church off 29 between Bristow and Warrenton. It was sad to bid him farewell, but nice to see his wife, daughters, brother and mother. I went to a nearby Panera afterwards to hang with college friends I hadn’t seen in 15-20 years. I finally left at 5 – I needed to pick up some additional Switch controllers in Tyson’s and Ledos Pizza before we had game night with the Hocrodels and Larsens. The 5 kids ate first, then played Switch downstairs while the grownups played Cards Against Humanity upstairs.
Monday Nina and I were off for President’s Day. It was a beautiful day, and in the afternoon she ran a cookie booth right outside the house on the trail. When the Grunspans were done with their friends, they joined her before Nina had to go to Tae Kwon Do to earn her last stripe. They did so well both households nearly sold out of their stash. Nina had hives that night – they may have been from a dog that licked her, but we weren’t sure, so we paused her drops for a day.
Friday the 25th I had to LOL at Butt-centric literary star Chuck Tingle buys GovernorAbbott.com. That evening we watched Nina’s Tae Kwon Do graduation as she made it to her bo-black belt (second to last belt, black is last). Then we went out for dinner at Clyde’s in Reston as they’ll be closing soon. Unfortunately it was too windy to eat outside, but the booths had plexiglass barriers and felt fairly safe. Saturday Nina made some #flowerfood.
