Tosca, Phantom, and Les Mis!

I am writing this post for journaling purposes.  I want to remember these things I have done so I am writing them here.

Tosca (September 22) - About a month ago some friends and I went to the Nationals Baseball stadium.  We did not go to see a game, but to watch an opera.  The Kennedy Center (at the time) had performances of Tosca (an Italian opera). They broadcasted the opera live to the stadium onto the big screen there.  Not only did we watch the opera for free on the big screen at the stadium but we sat on blankets on the playing field (near second base, I believe).  It was an awesome experience!

Kara, Nani and I at Opera in the Outfield.  The person taking the picture also was with us, but I cannot remember her name right now.

Les Miserables (October 12) - Can I just say how much I like the story of Les Miserables?! Well I do.  I went to see it at the Kennedy Center a couple of weeks ago.  It was amazing!  Jean Valjean was superb!  He has played Jean Valjean for 7 years now and he knows what he is doing...  He was awesome!  I loved when he sang "Bring Him Home."

I like how Jean Valjean strives to become a better person after the bishop defended him and gave him a chance at a normal life and gave his soul for God.  He changes for the better.  He is an honest man and works hard to do what is right.  I like Jean Valjean :)

I also like Eponine because I think we can all relate to her.  She loves Marius but he does not love her back (at least not in the way that she likes him).  I think that's happened in everyone's life. Unrequited love...  She is strong and street smart.

I like Javert too.  I know that may seem weird, but I like him.  And I feel that he is trying to do his best at his job.  He's trying to do his duty, but no one likes him for that.  Of course he is a cop so I can see why people might not like him... but I feel Javert is a good soul! 

McKaylee, Kara and I after Les Miserables.  We went together but there was also a big group from our ward there that night too, which we did not know about when we bought our tickets.

Phantom of the Opera (October 5) - One day I was going to see "The Help" at Tyson's Corner, but when I got there I saw that they were playing a recording of a live show from Royal Albert Hall in London of "Phantom of the Opera."  It was only showing for a couple of days so I decided to see that instead. And it was awesome!  The camera work was really good and the performers rocked the house.  It was almost like seeing it live.  

Of course these are not the only things I have done, but these are just the big things recently.  Well I think that is all.  Stay tuned for a post about my birthday at Disney on Ice...

Monticello, Oh How I Love Thee :)

 I went to Monticello in Charlottesville yesterday and I fell in love with it! 

The man in the blue suit coat was our tour guide.  He was an excellent tour guide! He was excited about being there and he was very knowledgeable about Thomas Jefferson and the house and the grounds.

This picture is at the front of the house before we went in.

 We couldn't take pictures inside, so I only have pictures from the outside. Here is the back of the house.  It is beautiful!  I loved the tour of the inside. A lot of the furnishings and paintings and decorations are from the time of Jefferson, so we were not allowed to touch anything, but it was awesome to see!

I loved how Jefferson tried to be efficient with the use of space in the house.  For instance he put a bed in an alcove in the middle of a room and then used the wall space above it as a closet.  Or how he had folding dining room tables that he pulled out and made big when guests were over, then they folded them back up and put them in the corner and used the space for other things.

The house also had lots of windows, which brought in lots of natural light!  

 Just in case you were wondering that's me in back of the house... :)

I found it fascinating that Thomas Jefferson wrote a lot.  He had lots of notebooks with a lot of different stuff in them such as what flowers or plants to plant that year and where, the design of his house, the materials he would need and how much it would cost etc...  He also wrote over 19,000 letters in his lifetime.  That is a lot of letters.

Just one more fascinating tidbit about Thomas Jefferson, most of the cool contraptions Jefferson had in his house, he did not invent but he saw something like it on his trip to Europe and drew a design of it and then had someone here in America build it for him.  I always heard he was an inventor of many things, but according to the tour guide, he only invented one thing.

 After the house tour, I went on the slave tour or Mulberry Row tour.  On this tour we walked a long the road where slave houses once lined the street. We learned that Jefferson had about 200 slaves on his plantation at a time. Most of the slaves did not get enough food and only had one change of clothing to last for a year that were pretty much rags. But those slaves who were nail makers and met their quota each day got more food and a special suit to wear.

The tour was fascinating!  I learned a lot on both of the tours, but alas I cannot write it all here.

Now enjoy some beautiful pictures from the grounds. I saw these flowers and they reminded me of Taiwan, because the last time I saw them was in Taiwan ;) 

The front of the house!

The gazebo thingy in the garden!

This was on the grounds of Monticello!  I loved this flower!  It was soft and unique and I've never seen anything like it before. It's called a Cock's Comb.

I really liked this flower too!  I don't remember the name.

The back of the house again!

A butterfly on the flower!

Me inside the awesome gazebo thing! What a place it would be to sit and read a book or just look out at the beautiful scenery!

The view from the garden!

Another view of the garden! I really liked the trail on the mountain.

This was an accidental picture, but I liked the changing leaves, the top of Jefferson's grave, and the bright blue sky!

Jefferson's grave!

Jefferson's grave looks likes it's glowing!

 

Thomas Jefferson!

 

After I went to Monticello, I decided to go to Carder's Mountain, where they have an apple orchard and pumpkin patch. I didn't pick any apples or pumpkins, but I did buy apple butter.  

But just look at the view! It was worth the drive up the mountain just for the view! 

I loved my little trip to Charlottesville! I fell in love while I was there...  Charlottesville, Monticello, if I could just come and live there...I think I would love it :) 

I can see why Jefferson loved Monticello and the area surrounding it!