Mass Recording and Visit from Home

This past weekend we were honored to be surrounded by my parents and by great friends.

On Friday night we held the second session to record the my setting of the mass that I’ve composed over the past two years.  The Mass of St. Edward is based on a Lamb of God setting that I wrote while at Notre Dame, after spending hours in the St. Edward’s Hall chapel. While getting it published is a tall order (a tall, very humble request, perhaps), it has been a great experience to write and work under the guidance of noted composers and liturgists, and especially with Aimee (my live-in guinea piglet) and our talented friends who helped record it.

Below is a complete recording of the mass.  Special thanks to our wonderful friends for their help:  Megan, Emily, Katie, Laura, Tim, Michael, John, and Brad. 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, my parents came to Chicago to stay at Hotel Scozzafave for two nights.  It was a relaxing time together but we managed to get a lot in.  We went to India House in River North for what was essentially my parent’s first experience with Indian food.  Aimee and I love it there.  They “could see how someone would get to like it”.  They were good sports and really did genuinely enjoy it.  Both that night, and a little bit the next day.

Other food stops included two trips to Intelligensia coffee for their amazing lattes and breakfast sandwiches at Hannah’s Bretzel on Adams.

Sunday was the third installment of our “Sing Sh*t” night – a relaxing opportunity to cook and share amazing food, and get practice singing a wide variety of music.  For me, I get to drink wine and work on my sight reading.  For my parents, they got to eat, drink, and be quite entertained!

Getting Back Into Football Season

One of the first realities of being in Atlanta last year was that we would not be back to South Bend that fall.  Football season is again upon us and we are getting back into the swing of things:  back to the hot weather on campus, back to the heart-breaking turnovers, last minute scoring, and slow season start.  It’s also back to heart-warming trips to the Grotto, tailgating with friends and family, and reliving the days of campus life, if only for a few hours.

We received tickets to the home opener, graciously, from Frank and Courtney and took along the Neary’s for their inaugural home football game.   It was very hot but we made our way through most of the A-list sites before taking our seats in an even hotter stadium.  We took part in the first stadium evacuation in Notre Dame history.  But we did not take part in the second.  There was pizza, wine, warmth, and a misery-free evening to be had back in Chicago after the first half and we took it!

Sara and Adam hosted a game watch and birthday celebration for Sara for our annual game against the Wolverines.  After the craziness of that Michigan game, we had the next Great Lake state rival to look forward to!  This time my parents met us in South Bend with Frank and Darlene, McLaurys, and Farhats.  We had a great time tailgating and catching up with my parents (under much happier conditions this time).  We may be 1-2 but we’re 2-0 with Parisi’s Italian Restaurant being able to seat a party of 8 right after the game.  Nicely done!

And oh yeah, we won!!  Following the game, Aimee and I spent some much needed time at the grotto.  Its prayerful warmth never ceases to quiet our busy minds, or to quell our anxious hearts.  Write that down.

That’s probably it for us attending games this year.  Coming up next is a round of celebrations (Katie’s birthday, Dad’s birthday, Jami and Scott’s anniversary, Justin’s birthday, our anniversary) followed by a week in France!