2:30am. restless.


The only redeeming hope for being held captive to this awakedness would be the glorious sound of rain outside my window. Oh rain. Washing away the grime of the day. Cooling off the remaining heat of the earth, sweltering from the testing, Florida sun. But that was all a long time ago, now.

So many thoughts. So many questions. If only the rain could wash that away, too.

Tomorrow begins early. What am I doing with myself? The question of my calling has come full circle. What seemed so clear now is distant. Surely God did not give me passions to be forsaken. Surely He did not give me talents to be abandoned. Do the two go together? Or was my first calling only a test of willingness? I am willing, God!

I searched my heart, placing things that mattered to me on the altar. Whatever these things were gain to me I count them all as loss in view of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ my Lord. All at once I was reminded to place myself on the altar.

So what can I pursue when my future is here and I lack clear direction? Pray, yes. But also, chase after what has been so clearly revealed in His Word. "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward." Heavenward. I have been called heavenward; To "Set [my] mind on things above, not on the things of the earth."

There is no question here. Nothing vague. No room for misinterpretation. I have been called to live a life of Godliness--wherever I am.

This truth gives me rest. The rain has come and gone again. My eyes are heavy.

It happens sometimes...

While I was getting a much-needed haircut yesterday, the lady asked me if I was 13. Took me a while to convince her I'm 20 years old and in college. No moral to this story... just confusion as to whether its my looks or my demeanor that makes people ask me such questions.

I'll make this short...

Hi there.

Day 4

Sorry, I skipped day three. It was a good day three... I'll prolly post my notes later. I don't remember the last time I've been this exhausted, and therefore this emotional. My goodness. Pretty sure if I do something as little as stubbing my toe my makeup will run.

Needless to say, I've learned a lot. Today was the last day of sessions. Tomorrow we get to watch the professionals put together a two minute clip from start to finish. Writing --> Acting --> Recording --> Music. It's gonna be awesome.

My lesson today with Mr. Campbell didn't work out exactly how I had planned, but I did get a chance to ask him some pressing questions... and also his opinion on whether or not I should go back to school. It was extremely helpful. I love watching that guy work. He put together some short orchestral pieces today... quickly. And he also played us some commercial music he's written... absolutely phenomenal. I wish I could do that. He definitely inspired me to try.

Some thoughts that have been rolling around in my mind today:

If you're hungry (for a specific knowledge), you need to feed yourself... if someone else feeds you, you're probably gonna end up getting a whole bunch of stuff you don't want.

Collaboration isn't as hard or as intimidating as I thought.

I could get used to living at a resort.

All I wanna do is compose something.

Man, I'm tired.

God is the ultimate source for creativity. Check in with Him first. Every time.

Know your audience.

Melodies don't have to be complicated. Sometimes only a groove is enough.

Take care of your ears.

I can't act.

I hope I can get as good at my craft as these people are and be as humble as these people are.

Why am I so shy?

God's character is revealed in His creation... God is beautiful.

Speak the truth in love.

God, be my rest.




Anywho... Getting ready for a fabulous time of worship/learning tonight. Can't bring myself to take a nap. The fear of not being able to wake-up is what's keeping me from doing it. Lord willing, I will sleep wonderfully tonight. Planning on hiking up to the tower on the top of the mountain at 5:00am tomorrow morning to catch the sunrise with Caroline. Should be glorious.

Day 2 - Part 2

So tired.

Woke up at 6:00am to meet Mr. Hamby for devotions. Unfortunately, something came up, so I did my devotions by myself looking out over the beautiful lake. Awesome time with the Lord.

Then we did a group devotion, which was phenomenal. We were dismissed into four groups. My group (group 4) met with John Campbell first. Just a reminder, he's the composer for Adventures in Odyssey, Lamplighter theater, Focus on the Family radio theater... absolute genius. I was quick to go meet him to tell him that I needed to schedule a lesson with him. He was up for it and asked me about myself. I told him I was a composition major, and that he was the main reason I wanted to come to this guild. He seemed very excited to meet with me later. His session was really helpful... also very technical. He went over the fundamentals for our DAWs and a boatload of other terms and pieces of equipment. Really looking forward to meeting with him later this week.

We then had a session with Phillip Glasborough (spelling?) and his wife, Lizzie. They're from England, so they're automatically awesome. Phillip works for BBC and is a casting director for the radio dramas and the equivalent to Broadway in England. He's also an actor. I probably got those facts all mixed up, but the moral of the story is that this guy makes things happen. His wife is a vocal coach who studied opera at the Royal College of Music (whew!). She gave us some breathing exercises and Phillip coached us in some acting (one thing I just can't bring myself to do). Both the Mr and Mrs have very inviting, flamboyant personalities. Fun people.

Our next session was with Todd Busteed. He gave us some exercises in listening to our surroundings, indoors and out. Then he gave us some EXTREMELY interesting biological information about the ear... how we see with our ears, how we can tell where things are, how tall someone is, etc, and also how we hear with our body. Amazing stuff. All of this was crucial to understanding sound design (which I'm still not sure how to define, but I know it involves a lot of listening). Mr. Busteed is a very animated guy... very easy to listen to.

Our last session was with John Forenof (Again, I probably butchered the spelling) who is a screenwriter/scriptwriter. He's done several Adventures in Odyssey episodes and quite a few other shows. What I really appreciated about his "lecture" was that he focused on keeping God central to our work. He talked about Jesus as a story teller and mentioned the verse in Matthew where it says that He never went anywhere without telling a parable... and He's not done telling stories. Now He tell them through us. So, when we go to write, it's crucial that we go to Him first. Ask Him for inspiration. Ask Him if this is His story. Having trouble starting or finishing a story (or song, in my case)? Go to the Alpha and Omega. Extremely helpful, especially since most of my songwriting training focuses on the music portion, whereas that's only half the song.

The rest of the afternoon was free for me. Many people went rock climbing, but my body is still sore. It's crazy to think I've only been here a day; so much has already happened. I went up to Mr. Campbell's office and left my number on his desk asking if we could set up an appointment. Then went swimming with Carrie, my other roommate. We had a great time together. Was nice to get to know her better.

I slept for a few minutes, woke up shaking cause I was still exhausted. It was time for dinner... got all dressed up, and headed to the dining room. Mr. Campbell caught my eye while at dinner and came over to confirm if I was the Grace Coleman who left a note on his desk. Why yes, I was. He said Wednesday works best for him, so Wednesday it is. I can't wait to ask him all sorts of questions.... I have a hard time thinking of questions to ask people, but once I get on a role... well, 15 minutes is gonna fly.

After dinner, the Harrow family gave us a lovely concert. They're a family that plays instruments from all over the world and have set seven CDs worth of scripture to music. Very talented bunch. Mr. Hamby then gave another sermon, I guess you could call it. Very inspiring.

Then we watched a video about entrepreneurship (no way, I actually spelled that right?). Business is not a concept I'm familiar with, but apparently should be as a musician who one day will have to support herself and sell her craft. We shall see.

Oh! Got a new keyboard for tomorrow. My awesome dad did some checking around and found a Yamaha (my personal preference) at an affordable price for the week. He's the best.

Ok, I'm tired. Gotta get up early again, so night all.

Day 2 - Part 1

Barely 7:00am and I've already learned so much.... Lamplighter is all about doing a skill with excellence for the glory of God. So with that in mind, this REALLY spoke to me. I'm just chewing on it and can't really get my mind around just how much and in what ways it's affecting me.

"And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind."

Ecclesiastes 2:10-26

Guild - Day 1 - Part 2

I apologize. I promise the next few days won't be so long. But this has been an extremely long day and thus gets more detail.

At approx 11:00am we landed, found my suitcase with no problem (thank you, Lord!) and also found the three other guild members. It's funny... you can just tell who they are. They have this... wholesome look to them. We walked outside and found two others. A 12 passenger van picked us up, and we were on our way to Mohonk.

We arrived around 12:30. Our rooms weren't ready yet so a valet (oooh ahhh) took our bags and we roamed around the campus. We met Christina, who is a wonder woman... she's holding this guild together. We also met Mark Hamby's (president of Lamplighter Publisher) wife and daughter, and son-in-law, who is also the tech guy this week. Once he found out that we were the "musicians" he welcomed us with "You do know we don't have a plan, right?" I came here with the intention of being flexible and now was time to put my intentions into action. We exchanged numbers and he informed us that we would know when he knew something.

Then Jonathan, Michael, Caroline, and I went out on the trails. Caroline and I were wearing dress shoes, but the sights, sounds, and smells were too powerful to go find our luggage again. However, after an hour or so of climbing on rocks and looking for a nonexistent spring, we headed back to the... castle. We sat on the second level deck and just breathed in the serenity of our surroundings. Around 3:20pm Caroline and I were starting to get a little antsy about our room... so we went to check if it was ready. It wasn't. So we went exploring. Mohonk is huge... very easy to get lost. However, we managed to find the spa (very important) and also the dining room (also, very important).

Finally after some more wandering around, we got a call that our room was ready. We grabbed our key, but then had to check in with the other students and faculty. As I walked into the designated room with Caroline and some other girls, one of the teachers instantly engaged us in conversation, asking what track we were doing... all of us were Dramatic Arts. He then introduced us to Todd Busteed, who has been a hero of mine for years. I couldn't believe I was standing in the same circle with him. He has a studio in Wheaton, IL and produced audio drama series like Adventures in Odyssey, Left Behind, Left Behind The Kids, and countless others. He dove right in to telling us how the process works... apparently they do A LOT of their work in London (oh my goodness!) I was racking my brain trying to think of an intelligent question to ask him, but I couldn't think of anything and this other girl kept beating me to it... so I just remained engaged in the conversation by the occasional "oh, wow!" and "that's amazing!" and it was.

Caroline and I were trying to stay out of the way, but time was running out and we still didn't have a plan. We talked to this person, who lead us to that person, who lead us back to Jarred (Mr. Hamby's son-in-law) who in tern lead us to Mr. Hamby. I had already met him a few minutes earlier, but this time I was introduced as "the girl with the music." He knew Caroline plays violin, and somehow it was communicated that I play piano and sing. I made the mistake of saying that I lead at church, to which he said, "Do you lead?" I didn't know what he meant. Was he asking "would I lead?" Was he thinking that I came from a background where women lead men? Was he asking if I was simply capable? Was he asking if I was a leader? I gave the very intelligent answer of "sometimes?" Then I clarified and said that I play at my church with the band and brought the repertoire that we do on Sundays and also the specific songs he had requested and was flexible and would do whatever he wanted. That seemed to clear things up. So then came the decision of what we would do that night. Or tonight... wow, that was so long ago, now. We went round and around on what we could do, what we were all familiar with, what we had music for, and finally landed that Caroline would do a solo and we would both do "Give Us Clean Hands" congregationally. He then asked me if I had a solo... again, I didn't know what he meant. He then said that Christina had sent him one of my songs and that he wanted me to do something original at some point this week... but not tonight, we concluded. Mr. Hamby seemed very pleased with the plan. We were about to wrap things up and go our separate ways when he stopped us and said, "Ok, let's pray." This guy is for real.

We had a little housekeeping meeting, then Jarred went off to try and find this midi piano he had been telling me about... it was the only option. Apparently John Campbell is using it this week, but I can use it for the sessions, which is pretty awesome (John Campbell played this keyboard? whoa!) Midi pianos are cool, they just lack one thing: sound. So as long as I am hooked up to somebody's mac, it would work.

Caroline and I went and saw our room... it's lovely with a GORGEOUS view. I'll post a little tour video hopefully soon. Shortly after settling in, we went to dinner. Here at Mohonk, you have to dress up for dinner, which totally makes me happy. My body was aching at this point from all the walking in terrible shoes... but anyway, I think our group cleaned up pretty well.... the food was amazing and in great abundance. Upon completing the selection for my plate, I began to head back to my table. I was just passing the dessert table when I felt my foot slide on something wet. "That's strange" I thought to myself as I tried to catch my balance... I slowly realized that I wasn't regaining balance at all, and before I knew it, I was laying on the floor. As quickly as I was down, I was back up again. I was hoping that only a handful of people saw. Waiters came out of the woodwork to ask if I was all right... "Yes." What a lie. I did mention to one of the waitresses that there was "something slippery" on the floor over there... I may be prone to falling, but I think it was more God saying, "Here's a little humble pie for you." I swallowed it and went back to the table.

I went back to my room way before dinner was over. I was in pain and just needed to be still for a bit and gather my thoughts. I really did need that fall. However, my hands and feet continued to shake afterward. After a while, we went back to the conference room, found the keyboard all ready to go, ran through our song, fixed the power point, and it was time to go! We sang all together at the very beginning of tonight's session. It was a really sweet time. Mr. Hamby gave a very thought provoking message about Sight and Sound and how image is everything. Here's a clip from my notes.


"Lucifer was created as the most beautiful creation that stood before God and brought glory to him. And even after he rebelled against he was still beautiful, but then God created man in His own image. Now, Lucifer wants to distort the image of God. ......What type of image are you projecting on life's screen?"

Carolyn ended the night with a beautiful violin solo.

I've learned so much today, I don't think I even realize. Not just from Mr. Hamby's message (although I gleaned a lot from that). But I learned about life... and I was reminded about how there can be millions of details that we can stress over, but there's no point in doing it. If you're where God wants you, He's not going to let anything slip through the cracks. If something doesn't work out the way you want it, it's because you obviously didn't need that and God has something better in mind. God gives us challenges to grow our faith, not in ourselves, but in Him alone. I've learned to be more flexible, to say yes to hard things, and trust that God can strengthen someone as weak as I am in order to carry out His plan.

That being said... I'm exhausted.

Guild - Day 1

8:13am

I woke up to my dad sounding a little panicky. I was 4:10am and I had overslept. After checking 2134 times to see if my alarm was on and everything... it didn’t go off. Technology.

I was ready in 15 minutes, grabbed a few last minute things, and we were out the door. Got my Dunkin Donuts fix (poor guy who runs the night shift has to do EVERYTHING) made it to the airport ON TIME, checked my bag (that’s already falling apart), and even had a minute to sit. That almost never happens.

Breezed through security, walked up to the gate, asked if I was in the right place, sat down, stood up, got on the plane, sat back down again. TMI? Sorry. The airplane scene in U.S. Marshall kept playing in my head as we were waiting to take off... so far so good.

I’ve had to get creative on my sleeping arrangements. I usually resort to pulling the tray table down and collapsing on that. It works.

Missing my New Life family. Not being with them on a Sunday morning just doesn’t feel.. like Sunday morning. Thankfully, worship takes place in the heart and not in a building.

Supposedly, three other guild attendees will be on my next flight. I have so much anxiety it’s not even funny. Wait, “be anxious for nothing.” Ok. I’m sure everything will be great... I feel like a lot has happened for such a time as this. God is sovereign.

That’s all I got, so I won’t keep talking.


9:37am

Well, I thought I’d have a second once I got off the plane to post my last uh, post.... but little did I know...

I got off the plane in good time. I figured that my connecting flight gate wouldn’t be that far away... how many planes can U.S. Airways have? I looked down at my next boarding pass.... F20.... no problem. Then I got out of the little walkway thingy... I was in a mysterious land of B’s. Maybe my gate changed... I walked up to the handy little monitor and didn’t see a slot for “Newburgh.” Well, that wasn’t a good sign. I did what any normal daughter would do... I called my dad. Unfortunately, it was 8:40 and dad’s phone was off. Ok, next option was to ask someone who worked there. I calmly explained my situation to this man at the gate I had just exited, and the man kindly explained that I had to take a shuttle to gate F. No mistake, apparently. My plane was gonna start boarding in 15 minutes, so I had to hoof it. This lady started following me and in a similar panic voice to my own, asked if I was going to gate F. Why, yes, I was. Apparently the man I talked to had told her to follow me... not sure if that was a good idea, but such was the case.

We sprint-walked, following sign after sign for the shuttle. Finally, the escalator down to the busses. There was a long line, so I joined in where I was... then was told to get in the back of the line which wound around the escalator into a dark hallway.

The line moved quickly and before I knew it I was on the bus, and so was my new friend. Both of us were freaking out that both of our planes were now boarding... we got on the bus and met another kindred spirit. But at least we were moving...

it’s a nutty system... we were riding this massive bus on the tarmac? We stopped in the middle of the runway for what felt like an eternity... to let a plane go by. While we were waiting, my two new best friends, in between outbursts of “I’m gonna miss my plane” were taking note of this tiny little plane sitting next to us... I wondered what kind of passengers ride on those. We started moving, passed my gate, and wound up on the complete opposite side of where I needed to be. Great.

You gotta understand something, the reason I blog about this in great detail is because this is only my second time flying by myself... no my third, but my second dealing with a layover. I walked as fast as my short little legs could take me and found a whopping three people at my gate. Boarding was closed. Except for a “Grace Coleman? Where is Grace Coleman?”

“I’M GRACE COLEMAN!”

“Ok, you’re gonna walk out this door and get on that plane over there... DFR” or something... all I saw was that tiny little plane I mentioned earlier. She scanned my boarding pass, and I was back on the tarmac... this time walking to my plane. By myself. I looked at one of the luggage guys and yelled to him “Will you go with me?!” The friendly soul answered “I gotcha on this one...” I climbed up the stairs to see 30 people staring at me blankly. Without trying to make eye contact with ANYBODY, I tried to spot the other 3 guild people... The only stewardess on this flight looked at me with this “are you lost?” type look... for a minute, I forgot everything. Was I supposed to give her my name? No, silly. Seat number. C3. Ok, sitting now.

The plane started up and it sounded like one of those old, broken wall unit air conditioners... not a good sound. The plane was shaking from the propellers. My dad used to always say I can be afraid when he’s afraid... but this time my dad wasn’t here. So I applied this rule of thumb to the stewardess, who although she’s trained not to panic, looked extremely comfortable and calm.

That’s enough for now. We’ve already begun our descent. My heart has finally started to slow down and I’ve caught my breath. I’m hungry and pretty sure my suitcase didn’t make it on the plane seeing how I barely did. U.S. Airways, thank for the adventure... not sure if I’ll pick you again, unless of course you’re the cheapest again.

6:56pm
Just finished dinner... getting ready to rehearse with my new friend Caroline... more later.

The Guild

Well, here I am. Not packed, but pretty sure I'm prepared. I have this lingering feeling that something's about to happen and everything is about to change. Maybe not, but I might as well brace myself, right?

I leave early Sunday morning for New Paltz, NY to attend The Lamplighter Guild for Creative Disciplines. I suppose the reason I feel this way is because of how this all came about.

I don't know how, but somehow I'm on the email list for Lamplighter Publishers. Around the middle of this past school semester I received an update from them that particularly caught my eye:

"Calling All Musicians!"

I opened it. Turns out, Lamplighter was putting on this guild that would feature a focus on composition... and not just any composition, but the kind that I had described in every college application I had sent out: Music that conveys thought; melodies that intensify emotions.

Apparently, Lamplighter has taken over Focus on the Family's radio drama, and John Campbell composes most, if not all, of the music for them. I suppose film score is the closest thing I can compare this to, except, and I dare say, that radio drama is better cause there's more room for imagination. Anyway, this guy knows what's up. I get a 15 minute lesson with him, and also get to learn about voice acting, screen writing, and other aspects of production. To say I'm excited would be the skinniest understatement of the month.

And what better place than to have it here? Can you say inspiring??

I did my research AND THEN found the price tag... not cute. I started going back and forth with Christina, who has been coordinating everything and doing a fantastic job. I discovered there was some scholarship $$ available, but not enough. My family and I prayed about it, but there was no way I could afford this.

So I forgot about it.

Time passed. I got home from school. This was gonna be a pretty boring summer from the looks of my empty calender. Then I had a little chat with my dad... who, in short, told me that he had casually mentioned the guild to a friend in a conversation, and this friend called him back later and said, "I want Grace to go to this."

So, I'm going.

It's a trite statement, but a true one... God works in mysterious ways. I think the biggest lesson so far in this is that we all have dreams, and sometimes we have to let the dream die before God will bless it. I'm convinced that before the beginning of time, God determined that at 6:00am July 17, 2011, Grace Coleman would be on her way to New York, scared out of her shorts, but excited about what's in store. This will be the first time that I will have to do things on my own... talk for myself... lead worship, possibly just me and my piano... but it's no accident, and apparently not too much for me to handle. Thankfully God equips those whom He calls.

I'll be blogging every night to keep y'all updated, if you feel so inclined to know what I've be up to. Facebook is deactivated for now... and I won't be texting either, unless it's the case of an emergency. Maybe that technology cut is that *big thing* that I feel is getting ready to happen ;)

Would appreciate your prayers.

Introverts... represent!

Despite all my masstexts that I send out weekly saying things like "chickfila, yall" and "movie night tonight. my place" and "menchies after Bible study" Yeah, despite all that, after almost 20 years of living, I finally discovered that I am, in fact, an introvert. My mom told me :)

I was reminded of this last Sunday... it was a good Sunday. I had had a very social week, then a very social morning at church, then a very social lunch with my family and the Shuff's, then was getting ready for a social praise team practice, followed by a social Bible study... I was starting to panic. I love being with people, I really do. I've been blessed with the most awesome friends and family I could ask for. But somewhere in there I had the difficult job of explaining to my sister that I had 20 minutes before I had to leave, and I needed to just be by myself.

I stubled upon this nugget on Adam Young's blog which apparently he got from Carl King (whoever that is...) So I pass on, these 10 myths about introverts.


aaaannd this computer won't let me copy and paste. so... here.

Pride

Tomorrow is my favorite day of the year. I will be spending it with some of my favorite people in one of my favorite places driving one of my favorite cars, wearing colors that when mixed together make my favorite color... ok, you get the picture.

Why such a favorite day? A friend of mine asked me that and I had to think for a minute.

Being with friends and family? priceless
Eating great food? perfect
Fireworks? breathtaking
On the water? exhilarating

But there was something else...

So many days I wonder what this country is coming to. Dad's sermon today was a reminder that while we have our Declaration of Dependence, that "dependence" only applies to Britain and in actuality it's declaring our dependence on our Creator, Almighty God. How do we not see that anymore?

I'm not gonna rant and rave about it... but there's obviously a problem, rooting with the misinterpretation of separation of church and state. God, Your mercy astounds me.

So... why is Independence Day my favorite day of the year?

Because I truly am proud to be an American.

I've always been... but especially after visiting other countries. Even while our conviction is waning, we are still reaping the benefits of being a country founded on the Word of God. I suppose it's the whole freedom thing... I can't explain it. I guess a terrible example would be having school pride, even though the school might have a horrendous football team.

I remember having a conversation in Africa with a Tanzanian man and him asking me what country I was from...

"America"

Maybe it was then that I realized how blessed I am to live in this country and that not everyone shares that feeling. I had been removed, and thus able to look back and realize that the privilege had been there all along. And now I'm gonna give up trying to explain how I feel... except to say that I'm happy here.

Happiness.

Jesus and music and bright colored paisleys
Coffee, Dark Chocolate, and pink gerbera daisies
Chick-fil-a, friendship, and Tanzanite rings
These are few of my favorite things