With thunderous applause, the curtain has closed on the CFCArts Once Upon A December show and I am officially on break from orchestra until 2018. It was an amazing show and I am so proud to have performed in it. So now the big question is where do I go from here. I've got the following orchestra goals for the 2018 performance year.

1) Strengthen my low notes on the flute.
For the 2018 spring concert, the CFCArts Orchestra will be performing Maurice Ravel's Bolero. A large part of the flute part involves playing in the first octave. This is an octave that I rarely perform in so I'm a bit weaker in it than the others. My hope is that, through frequent practice, I'll be able to proudly perform Bolero without worrying about having a funky sound in that first octave.

2) Practice my piccolo.
I did not have any piccolo parts, by my choice, this year so my poor piccolo sat in my flute bag without being used. My plan for 2018 is to at least pull up the piccolo parts on Dropbox and run through them. When I finally decide to try and get a piccolo part for a performance I want to be confident in my skills.

3) Relearn/Learn the saxophone.
I've played the sax before. I know the fingerings and how to play basic items with it but I want more. I want to actually feel confident to perform both the bari sax and the alto sax. I've swiped all my brother's sax books from my mom's house and have been working on the bari. I have reeds for the bari but am still waiting for the alto reeds so picking that up might take a few more days.

4) Perform in the major choir concerts.
This goal is a bit out of my control. Even though I played in Once Upon A December I am not guaranteed a spot in the choir orchestra. Just like everyone else I have to apply and get selected for each individual concert, so my goal is to at least apply with the hope of performing in the choir concerts for the 2018 year. I would love to perform at their spring concert and would kill to return to the holiday concert.

They might not be big goals for 2018 but they're goals that I'm pretty confident that I can accomplish or at least attempt to accomplish. Here goes another year of musical progress.

Day 10 of the NYX Lippie Countdown looked like it was a color that would be more my style than the purples that were included in previous days. From the mini preview, it appeared to be either a pale pink or a nude which, if you haven't been able to tell, are both colors that I love.

After I opened the tab, I was amused to see that this lip color was from the NYX Lingerie collection. Because this collection was the entire calendar last year I find it interesting that two have been included in this year's calendar, so far.

After removing the tube from the box, I was pleased to see that this was Corset. Corset had been included last year and while it wasn't my favorite color, it was a nice soft color that worked ok with my skin tone.

Like other Lingerie colors, Corset applies nicely and mistakes are easily corrected. This color does settle into the lines on your lips but does not make them look overly dry. It lasts long and only needed to be reapplied after lunch. One word of caution, Corset does look cakey if too many layers are applied.

Overall, I wouldn't buy Corset just to have it but I would not shy away from using it. This is a nice solid color that can be extremely useful for a nude lip look.

Almost every December for as long as I can remember I've played in a Christmas concert or played Christmas music with a small group. With the exception of last year.... I missed the music and being the one playing it, but hadn't found a group that I fit in with. It took finding Central Florida Community Arts for me to get back my Christmas concert! On December 7th, 8th, and 9th I'll be joining the CFCArts Community Choir as a member of the orchestra for the Once Upon A December show.

As you can probably guess, the song Once Upon A December is going to be featured which makes me super excited. The flute part is so amazing and so much fun! I can't wait to share this and all the other songs with my friends and the community. There will be songs featured from both Christmas selections and other holiday music. I'm excited for the variety of music and the opportunity to accompany a choir. I've played in musicals, I've had fun with friends playing while they sing, but I've never accompanied a choir in a formal setting. 

Unfortunately yes, this is a formal setting where I have to pull out the infamous "Amazon concert" dress. I love dressing up and picking out the right heels and accessories for each concert but I am getting soooooooooo sick of that Amazon dress. It might be time to hunt down a new dress. 

Anyways, off of my little dress issue and back to the concert! If you're interested in attending then information and tickets can be found at this link. According to friends who have attended past Holiday concerts this is one of the biggest and best events that CFCArts hosts all year! I look forward to seeing everyone who attends!

Today is day three of the NYX Lippie Countdown! If you're wondering why I'm talking about a random lipstick then please see this post. The past two colors have been pretty neutral and my style so I was a bit nervous when I saw that the preview of today's color was purple and looked dark. I tend to be intimidated by dark lip colors because I don't believe that I can pull them off. 

Upon opening day 3 I was not surprised to see that the line this color belongs to is Simply Vamp. I was surprised to see that this is a Lip Cream seeing as the past two have been dedicated lipsticks. 

This specific shade is She Devil and honestly the name fits the the color. This is a deep purple almost plum shade. This looks highly pigmented but didn't want to apply evenly. The edges of my lips applied nicely but the inside was much lighter and needed two passes with the stick. It applied nicely and cleaned up nicely, but was extremely easy to smear. This color did not hold up to drinking and needed multiple applications through out the day.

Overall, I like the color but it's not for me. The color suited my skin tone but is completely wrong for my personality. It's too bold and too dark. If I go towards bold and dark I prefer the reds because they're more in line with classic colors, purple is much too strange for me. Despite my dislike of the color I do plan on keeping this and possibly using it for a costume or fun event down the line. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun purple lip color but I would not recommend this for someone looking for long wear. 

Like many of you I try to set individual goals for each month. While scrolling through the various blogs I follow, I realized that many of them share their monthly goals. It dawned on me that this would be a great way to hold myself accountable, so here are my 5 goals for August!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August Goals
1) Canter through the water.
Thanks to all the rains Florida has been having there is a small section of the arena that's flooded. Now Cupid is 'Little Miss Prissy Pants' and hates getting her feet wet. Our recent goal has been to walk through this puddle without issues, and we've managed to trot through it without a major break in gait. My goal for August, if the puddle sticks around, is to canter her through the puddle. Because I would love to take her cross-country schooling and to a hunter pace, she's going to need to adjust to going through water.

2) Practice the flute for 2 hours a week.
Central Florida Community Arts Orchestra rehearsal has started again and this time I need to really dedicate myself to the music. I would love to play for the Christmas concert so I need to make sure that I give this whole season 110%. The upcoming concert consists of music that is from Spain and Latin America which are pieces that I'm not really familiar with but have proven to be extremely fun to play!

3) Read 3 books.
I would love to start working through some of the books on my GoodReads "Want To Read" list, but first I've got to read through the 100 books that are currently on my Kindles! (Yes, I've got two of them)

4) Workout 3 times a week.
It's no secret. I've gained weight. I hate it so I've got to do something about it. I'm going to be checking out a training program through a local running store but until then I've got to start rebuilding my strength.

5) Paint office.
I've got this room in my house that has sat and done nothing for the past year. It started as a guest room, then went to my office, then started to gather stuff that I didn't know what to do with. I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do with this room and what my goal was for it. But now I've settled on a basic plan and just need to talk with my mom about swapping furniture. In the meantime I've picked out my paint color for the room and need to get it painted before bringing the heavy antique furniture into it.

See. It's in need of a makeover.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now for the fun part; seeing if I can achieve these goals! I'll be using my planner to track what I've accomplished, and when, so I will have an accurate record of what I've done.