Collin and ShamanKat

I'm a member of EVMCO, a local choir/orchestra. We had the privilege of playing a concert with Collin Raye this last weekend. It was super fun. That man has a voice like butter. Love it. I didn't shake his hand or anything (I figured that he was being mobbed by enough people) but was a really nice guy. I did give him a thumbs up as he was walking by once and he pointed at me as if to say "No, you are the one that deserves a thumbs up." He was probably right. I do deserve a thumbs up.

Seeing as I play percussion, we're off to the side of the orchestra towards the back. We don't play every song, so we have some chairs set up back there. Well, during rehearsal while he wasn't singing, but I was standing up playing, he did come and sit down in my chair. So there's that. I don't know that I would call it awesome or anything, but I can now say that I've sat in the same chair as an artist that had some #1 hits. I'm pretty much cool by association. Well, maybe just my backside. Since that's the part that was sitting in the chair. My cheeks are 3.4% cooler than they were the day before. Awesome. I took one picture during a rehearsal in a stake center on Friday night. He was way on the other side of the room, so the pic isn't a great one. I jazzed it up a bit, and put a singing-bubble so you could see where Collin was. Butter.

I'm coming up to Utah next week with EVMCO, and then I'll be in Denver for a week for work, so I have a LOT of work to get through this week. So tonight I walked down to Taco Bell to get some grub at dinner time. After I had eaten my chicken burrito and munched on some cinnamon twists, I start to walk back on campus. I was walking along, diet pepsi in one hand, nerdy sci-fi book in the other, and some guy asks me if I'll buy some art off of him for some change. Sure. Why not? He looks like a young, blonde, Chuck Norris with a ponytail, complete with black leather vest. And Chuck Norris is awesome. The internet says so.

Alas, he wasn't Chuck Norris. This guy goes by the name of ShamanKat. Yes, with a K in the middle of it. Mr. Not-Chuck-Norris starts rummaging through a backpack and pulls some pictures out of a binder. I tell him to give me whatever he's willing to part with for $5. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and I figured that he needed the $5 more than I did. He gives me a credit-card sized magnifier thingy with a built in light and a picture of an elf.

Its actually a pretty cool picture, even if it does smell a bit weird. Like incense. (No, not like weed. Incense.)

Those are my awesome stories so far this week. Just thought I'd share with all of my devoted fans. If anything else awesome happens (that I'm willing to share with the world) I'll be sure and write a post about it.

May the 4th Be With You

Well folks, its that time again... International STAR WARS DAY!!!

This year's festivities were a bit more low-key than those of last year, but there were still cupcakes.

These were a little easier to put together. Frost cupcakes in white, color the rest with quite a bit of cocoa to make the hair dark. The amount of dry cocoa powder that I added made the frosting pretty thick, so I had to thin it out prior to putting it in the piping bag. I made the bangs with the chocolate frosting, colored in the middle of the oreos so the white filling wouldn't show, and then I stuck the oreos to the sides with more chocolate frosting.

I did the lips and eyes and lips with gel colors I picked up at the grocery store. It's a pain to get frosting to a good, dark black or red color and I really didn't feel like dealing with it.

I think they turned out dang cute!

I also decided to make a "Bantha Milk" punch, rather than just coloring milk blue like I did last year. (The milk that comes from Banthas on Tatooine is blue. It's a Star Wars thing. Obviously)

"Bantha Milk" Punch

2 cans pineapple nectar (you could use regular pineapple juice)
4 pouches Kool-Aid Blue Raspberry Jammers
1/2 can coconut milk
1/4 cup Lemon Juice (needed a little more tartness)
1/4 cup sugar (needed a little more sweetness)

Mix all ingredients well just before serving. The coconut milk will slowly rise to the top, but just mix it back in and enjoy. It's a pina colada type of flavor. I really enjoyed it. The pineapple nectar was really yellow, so it turned more of a teal than the blue I was looking for, but it was a fun experiment. Pineapple juice would probably be a little less yellow.

May the force be with you all!