one week

3.30.2013


one week.  ready or not!

there's so much to do.  if you're out there, thinking about getting engaged, thinking planning a wedding sounds fun, don't do it!  run for your life!

and then run straight to the JP, and never look back :)

i guess after the party is over it'll be one of those things that you didn't enjoy at the time but are glad later that you did??  it's a lot of work, like a full time job, but thinking about marrying eric is so exciting.   that helps.

and i guess we've reached the point where we don't really care about the details anymore. which color ribbons? i don't care. is it ok if i wear this color? whatever you want!  no seriously. i. do. not. care.  bring who you want, wear what you want, put those kegs and that cake wherever you want.  let's just get married, please :) 

inside an organ

3.23.2013

have you ever been inside of an organ?  i hadn't until reilly took me up into the huge organ at national presbyterian.  with 7000 pipes, this multimillion dollar instrument is over three stories tall and about twenty feet deep.
^^reilly poses with some of the metal pipes^^
^^once you climb inside, there are mazes of planks to access different areas but no real walkways that would obstruct the sound^^
^^reilly pretends to lift one of the massive low register pipes :) ^^

after my tour, reilly climbed back down while i stayed to hear something played from the inside.  then something really cool happend that i wasn't expecting.  when we listen to live music it always comes at us from one direction.  even if you stand in the middle of an orchestra while it's playing, it's still not quite three dimensional.  but when you are inside of an organ, pipes are all around you in every direction, some close and some far, so the sound comes at you from every direction and from many different distances.  it's kind of like the first time you heard dolby surround sound in the movie theatre and it gave you chills.

i'm not especially into organ music, but this was moving.  it was surround sound, but live.  and loud. and the vibrations actually move your body.  this video kind of gives you an idea of it.  it's dark in the organ so you can't see anything in the vid.

 
inside an organ from Katie Gill on Vimeo.

a final reception

3.20.2013

eric and i were invited to a reception following my final concert.  these things are always fun because they're usually held in cool homes with great food and wine.  this one was particularly interesting since the hosts are collectors of all kinds of things.

below i pretend i'm taking pics of eric to actually take pics of the rooms.
^^beth and her mom, dariel, hanging out^^  dariel gifted me the sacred family recipe book as a going away present.... lucky us!!!
perhaps the most interesting collectable was the elephant's foot stool.  not gonna lie, i couldn't eat dessert after seeing this thing.  thankfully we didn't notice it until the end of the night.

apart from the foot, this is one of my favorite dc homes.  it was beautifully curated with with an enormous but eclectic collection of art works, sculptures, carvings, furniture, textiles, i could go on...

we said goodbye to reilly and beth, and moving day was upon us!

last day

3.18.2013

my last day of work was our sunday concert at national presbyterian.  it was bittersweet to be so excited about leaving, getting married, and going to australia but at the same time saying goodbye and enjoying one of these beautiful concerts for the last time as an insider.  schutz's musikalische exequien and bach's trauerode were both on the program.  they are both for funeral services and since we're kind of leaving one life and starting another i thought it was cool :)

it's really crazy how many people you meet and how much you learn in only three years of working somewhere.  there are lots of people to miss in this town!
todd studies a score while reilly plays for brandenburg vi.  the weather was nice so we had lots of light coming in those awesome windows.

no room on the couch

3.15.2013

in the midst of moving the only place left to sit in our home is the small couch.  our dogs (obviously too good for their dog beds) have been finding creative ways to sit with us.  sitting, staring, and pawing at us can get a little annoying, but we really don't mind because once they are successful at squishing joining us up there, it's impossible to resist the snuggles!

...and as soon as i got up to take a picture, my spot was stolen :)  poor confused girlies.

a trip to the plains

3.12.2013

my last week of work was full of concerts, galas, and receptions.  it was a good way to end a job, lots of time out and about, and not much time at the computer.  one of the days we headed out to the plains to pick up some flowers for a gala and stopped by instrument makers tom and barbara wolf's.  the old schoolhouse they live and work in is such a cool space filled with lots of light, beautiful instruments, and interesting tools.  reilly, of course, was in heaven and had to play each and every one of the keyboard instruments currently being restored :)

an engagement party

3.05.2013

between tons of concerts, events, moving, and wedding planning, there hasn't been much time for blogging or anything else.  we did have time to celebrate janey's engagement to phil at her party in her home with family and friends.  unfortunately, she and phil made a delicious punch that was mostly maker's mark, so my choices for decent pictures were pretty slim.  i did want to share these few that i feel summed up the evening.  we sang and danced and were basically annoying while eric laughed at us an took pictures :)

congrats janey and phillip!!
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