Summer has gone by unbelievabley fast this year. Summer school flew by, and I've been really busy at the school office. Institutes start on Wednesday, and the kids come back on Friday. I start my own classes again the first week of September. Yay!

"Angels and Demons" was great. I think I liked it more than "The DaVinci Code". I need to watch the movie again now to do a better comparison. Even though I knew how the story would end, I plowed through the last third of it as if I would never read again. ;-) I've also got a copy of Dan Brown's next book on reserve. (Or, it will be on reserve once it's actually released.) I'm so excited. In the meantime, I've been reading "The Constant Princess" by Philippa Gregory. I love historical fiction, and lately have become very intersted in that specific time period. I've reserved a copy of her new book too, which I believe comes out this week. I don't remember exactly.

Last weekend I saw "Julie and Julia". (I have not read the book, though I do plan to.) It was such a charming film. (It also made me hungry. I wanted to go home and cook something gourmet. haha) I thought Meryl Streep was outstanding, and she and Stanley Tucci made a very charming (if, in my opinion, unlikely) couple. It was really good. Very enjoyable. (I feel like I had more to say about it, but it's a week later and I've been thinking about so many other things lately...)

As for this weekend...very musical. My orchestra performed last night at an outdoor concert at Cantigny Park. Minus the annoying little bugs, it was a blast. I thought we did very well and our audience seemed pleased. :-) And it's just a fun concert in general. More informal than our other shows. It was the perfect way to end our summer season. Now we have a little bit of a break before our 2009-2010 season, which looks to be very promising. Can't wait.

And finally...

The Grant Park Orchestra gave its last performance of the season at Millenium Park this weekend. Beethoven's 9th, Friday and Saturday. I went on Friday, and may I say that it was quite possibly the best GPO performance I have attended. (And I've attended a fair number.) My friend and I ended up sitting on the lawn (on the actual grass) because I thought I'd be there early enough to get seats by the pavilion, and therefore did not bring a blanket or some beach towels to sit on, as usual. Usually I would have been able to get actual seats, but the park was already so crowded when I got there that I even had a hard time finding a spot on the lawn. I managed to find a space right in the middle, and it only got more crowded from there. As for the actual concert...AMAZING. I love Beethoven's 9th, played it myself this summer with my orchestra, but had never heard it performed live. The GPO rocks. The performance was perfection. (Or, as close to perfection as humans can get. lol) Even the crowd on the lawn was into it. They usually are, but there's more conversation and distraction out there than at the pavilion. The reaction on the lawn was the quickest and most intense I've ever seen out there. Clapping, cheering, and standing up were practically instantaneous. This orchestra has the capability to hold such a large group of people enraptured for a 75-minute symphony outside, in nice weather, with multiple distractions all over the park. It was a great end to the season, and it only made me more excited for next summer.

Even so, I think I'm ready for autumn...cool weather, changing leaves, football...:-)