Thursday mornings are usually my day to sleep in a bit and catch up on things around the house. I only have two more days of early mornings before summer so it doesn’t feel quite as pressing to me today, and I also didn’t really sleep in at all…

This has been an exhausting week! It followed a busy weekend, so that’s not surprising.

Last week: Thursday night we went to see a colleague and friend play at Jack’s Joint at O’Connell’s Pub. It was a fun show and they did two sets, but a lot of people left at the break (not because they didn’t enjoy it, but I think because they were exhausted!). We stayed to the end, and overall really enjoyed ourselves.

Friday night we went to the Symphony and heard Yo-Yo Ma play the Elgar Cello Concerto. This was a lot of fun, but the concert was sold out and the audience was LOUD and poorly behaved. He played softly, and the audience did not sit quietly and try not to make a lot of noise. But we definitely enjoyed the concert anyway.

Saturday morning I had a gig with the Bach Society and then had to teach a few makeup lessons at Wash U (I’m finally done!!).

Saturday night we had a really neat experience in our neighborhood: we attended a progressive dinner. Our first stop was for appetizers, and we met many neighbors we had never met before and enjoyed some hummus and pigs in a blanket. Then it was time for dinner. We had a bit of a mishap finding the house first as we went to the address listed and found that there was no house there at all, it was an address between two houses. I did a little bit of research and realized they had transposed the numbers, so we were just a little ways away from the correct house. We had a wonderful dinner of chicken piccata, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, and homemade bread, and enjoyed conversing with some really interesting people and drinking some nice white wine.

We had been a little nervous about the event, but we really enjoyed the dinner company, and then we headed to dessert at a third house (the most gorgeous place of the night, though all the houses were lovely) and enjoyed more conversation and lots of dessert options. We ran into some of the same people at two of the three courses, but overall met quite a lot of people. I didn’t take a single photo, I was just living in the moment! We ended the night at a fourth house which we were invited to by a couple at the dessert, and finally walked home and slept well. We will definitely do the progressive dinner again next year if we are able!

Sunday morning I had a gig with the quartet and then in the afternoon I attended a concert. I have a student who attends a local community college and he was playing a solo with the orchestra. I didn’t know until I got there that the orchestra was also playing a piece he had written! The evening was for relaxing and having a zoom call with my family.

So, Monday hit hard but the middle of the day was taken up with a hair appointment. I got a cut and color and ended up talking with my stylist about trying a more center part to modernize my “do”. I realized that having a side part definitely dated me in the same way that Princess Diana’s hair and that style dated people of that age. It’s been fun having a different look, though it’s probably quite subtle.

Tuesday morning I woke up extra early because of the tornado sirens. I couldn’t get back to sleep afterwards and there wasn’t enough time anyway, so I just had an early start to the day. Sigh. That made teaching extra exhausting, but I managed, and did grab a short nap around lunchtime.

Wednesday was a frustrating day in several ways, but I made it. I had plenty of teaching, and a school concert that night. I was meant to go from one concert to another but the second concert got postponed due to the weather (I am not sure I am onboard with the idea of canceling things due to potential thunderstorms, when perhaps delays are a better idea) which makes today longer than I wanted. Oh well. It’s concert season, my students are doing interesting and cool things, and I am trying to attend when I can and support them to pay forward all the support I received from my teachers when I was younger (and because I am a sucker, haha.)

So that brings us back to Thursday, which is where I started. I have lunch plans with a friend followed by teaching and said concert. Wish me luck!