Update

Hi everyone!

I'm writing this from my grandma's computer in Lincoln, Nebraska. My mom and I are here for a few days visiting my grandparents and various aunts, uncles, and cousins that live in the area. I won't bore you with all the family details - suffice it to say that my mother has 9 siblings and that four of them and their families live here in Lincoln.

My summer plans have changed somewhat. I was very dismayed last week to learn that the festival I was going to attend in Italy was canceled due to lack of participants and rising costs in Europe. So, I'll be home for four weeks instead of going to Italy. Needless to say, I'm rather angry and upset about that. I suppose God has a reason for wanting me to be at home rather than in Italy this summer.

Magic Mountain Music Farm was incredible. It completely changed the way I view music and myself as a musician and I might be doing some backtracking in my studies once I talk to Dr. Ross. The people there were all really great, and the teacher was pretty brilliant. I loved it and definitely plan to go back in the coming years. There are loads of pictures on my Facebook and also some rather silly videos.

Other than that, nothing terribly exciting is going on. I'm practicing quite a bit, watching tv shows online (I've recently become addicted to Bones) and enjoying the quiet. Ben is coming to visit next month around the fourth of July and I'm very excited about that - this distance thing is proving to be quite difficult.

I confess that I haven't been to Mass because I was in upstate New York in the middle of nowhere. I did go to a Methodist service last Sunday with my friend Kristen Klehr (who lives in Binghamton) when we hung out before my flight back to DC. We'll be going to Mass tomorrow with the family, though, and then I hope to get back into a regular routine since I'll (unfortunately) be at home for the rest of the summer (grrrr.)

I hope you all are well!!! :-)

Love,
Claire