All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.
childhood

I used to be really bad at holding cats

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I’m pretty sure the cat wasn’t really enjoying this.

But I did rock at building stuff and being blonde. And so did my brother Jesse.

A short lived stunt in T-Ball. Confession: I don’t believe I even got a hit. In T Ball. THE BALL IS RIGHT THERE ON A T AND YOU JUST HAVE TO SWING AT IT.

So originally I thought it was odd that I was the one in yellow and Leslie and Jesse got pink and blue. But I recently realized that I am the only sibling with a name that is ONLY a girl’s name. Jesse/Jessie. Leslie can be a guy’s name. Carrie/Cary. So…I had yellow because my gender was clear.

Random thoughts

Is this a sign of getting old?

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What does it mean when you have to stretch a bit BEFORE you get out of bed? Or that you lie there for 15 minutes attempting to garner the courage to try to walk?

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It means that yesterday I was a little insane and ran BEFORE I went to the gym for leg day. A friend wanted to run in Tower Grove Park and the weather was amazing, so I had to do that, but I also needed to get my squats, lunges, and deadlifts on.

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So that meant that this morning I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. Luckily today’s gym session was upper body….

My friend April cooked dinner last night—we wanted to hang out but wanted to save some money, so she made a yummy noodle dish, and then we drank wine and had ice cream and solved all the social injustice in the world.  (Well, one of those isn’t quite true, but it would be nice.)

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Doesn’t the bowl look awesome?

Recently a friend told me that my instagram account (hannahviolin, come follow me, oh wait, then I can’t resuse all my photos…) was sad, because it had devolved into only cat pictures. I made a vow right then and there to do better. Not that there is anything WRONG with cat pictures, but that I do actually have a couple other things going on.

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Wedding on Saturday at the Provincial House Chapel at UMSL—I loved the organ and the whole place was really beautiful.

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My student (this is the student who once came into a lesson wearing a horsehead mask) showed up in this shirt. I requested a picture, which he was embarrassed by but I told him of course I would cut off his head. Not literally, or else you’d see more blood.

I’m leaning towards sucking it up and doing the mud run. I need to stop being afraid and get back out there, and I have this vision in my head of a Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White type of transformation.  That might be overdramatic, but I just have to get up early, drive there, do it, and I always feel awesome about myself after I do crap like that. I’m not going to take any pictures if I do, because I’m not risking that, so unless the pros get some, it’ll be like it didn’t happen, but heck, why not.  That’s my two cents about it. I might change my mind and decide I need to sleep on Saturday instead, and that’s okay too, but I know if I go I’ll have a good time. It’s not too late to register if you want to, and the link goes to my first post about it where there’s a coupon code.

Alright, I’d better shower and attempt to practice violin (arms…soooo…tired….)

Product Reviews

Yoplait Fruitful

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Thanks to Yoplait for sponsoring this post and for the opportunity to try Yoplait Fruitfuls.

What’s not to love about fruit? It’s sweet, cool, juicy, and delicious. And what’s not to love about yogurt? It’s creamy and you don’t have to waste a lot of time chewing it. So I’m glad to see that Yoplait is is dedicated to providing even more REAL FRUIT in its newest product, Yoplait Fruitful.

One of my favorite memories of Yoplait yogurt (not this product, because it’s new, but the regular kinds)—when I used to live with my sister Leslie and my two cats, we ate a lot of yogurt. After we’d finish a container of yogurt, my cat Heifetz would spend HOURS licking the inside of the container. She loved it so much and would try to get every last yogurt smelling morsel out, and struggle to get her mouth inside the tiny opening. We got so much entertainment out of watching her do this that it enticed us to eat even MORE yogurt. I wonder if Heifetz (rip) would enjoy the fruitfuls as much. I imagine so.

Facts:

1/3 cup of real  fruit in each serving.

Yoplait Fruitful is just fruit and yogurt—no artificial flavors or sweeteners.

Flavors include blueberry, mango, cherry, strawberry, peach (love love peach!), and pineapple.

I love eating yogurt for breakfast (mixed in with my oatmeal, of course) or occasionally as a late night snack or afternoon pick-me-up.

Are you a yogurt lover? Or a fruit lover? OR A FRUIT AND YOGURT TOGETHER LOVER? Do you want to try this new product? I have a coupon to offer you—it’s unfortunately not for a free yogurt, but for 30 cents off. Follow this link to learn more and download the coupon! (Yoplait Fruitful is currently only available in select Midwest and Central regions. To find out if your local store carries Yoplait Fruitful, use the “where to buy” feature located at the bottom of the Fruitful landing page.)

When do you like to eat yogurt? Has your cat ever tried to eat yogurt?

Deep Thoughts

Labor Day and the Minnesota Orchestra

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I’ve been entertaining for the past few days and haven’t had a moment to myself, but I’ve finally got the house to myself. While doing some listening for rehearsals and practicing this week, I was also puttering around online and catching up on links and articles my friends found worthy and interesting enough to post on facebook and twitter.

It is Labor Day, after all, and while many of us don’t realize, have forgotten, or perhaps don’t care what unions have done for us (with the attitude of either, “I’ve got mine, you get yours on your own,” or the attitude of “Mine stinks, yours should too”), as a working musician I am a member of the American Federation of Musicians, local 2-197 here in St Louis, and I’ve been a union member of various locals since I started playing with small orchestras while in school.  I don’t agree with everything the union does and sometimes feel that the union is more interested in the union itself than its members, but the underlying VALUE as a union member is that if we work together, our lives will be better than if we work against each other. That I believe in wholeheartedly: that our lives and our society will be a better place if we work together and work towards the future.

Today on Facebook lots of my friends (most are current and former classmates and colleagues, so primarily musicians) were sharing various blog posts people have written about the Minnesota Orchestra’s ongoing work stoppage. Here in St Louis we have a wonderful symphony with hard working and talented (as much as I hate that word, sometimes it works, as long as you include hard working too) musicians who are paid at or above market value for their careers, and they start their 2013-2014 season soon. Minnesota, on the other hand, has been locked out for a year. Some might say, well, there is no place in the world for classical music and “overpaid” musicians, but I think the fact that other similar markets find plenty of place for their orchestras shows otherwise. Sure, some would rather watch Miley Cyrus twerking on television, but many are thrilled to attend an orchestra or chamber music concert and see some actual artistry and passion…and have the expendable income to spend to help make sure that our culture and humanity continues into the future. (And some might like both—why limit ourselves as human beings?) And why settle for a watered down version of our culture, and pretend that our country doesn’t have the potential for greatness?

TL:DR version: Check out some links to blogs possibly better written than mine (I imagine they proofread and possibly even edit…)

Drew McManus—Arrogance is a weed that grows mostly on a dunghill

Baseball and Beethoven: The Minnesota Orchestra, the Marlins and the Perils of Market Correction

On Patron Advocates

And, if you don’t care about reading all that, I posted the Homestar video that is most appropriate for today on twitter and facebook, but why not here too…

Deep Thoughts

Summer is finally here

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I am doing a guest post in September on another blog (I am Meg and so can you) and she wrote a little feature about me the other day in anticipation. Go check it out!

I got my haircut. Looks really different, right?

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(I was not wearing makeup. SO BRAVE.)

For reference here’s how it looked before.

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I forget why I was so surprised. There was a good reason though, I’m sure.

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Seen at Target—that’s pretty much how I am on the phone. I’m so excited that somebody is listening to me that I just talk nonstop until I have something else to do. I mean, I definitely am a good listener and ask questions. Sure.

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Speaking of Target, I bought this awesome Owl Shirt and polka dot jeans. How adorable am I? I bet I could pass for 14. Luckily I have the sort of job for which I only have to be dressed, not dressed up. Unless I’m wearing black, and then I have to wear black. So my wardrobe is split between black clothes, purple clothes, and whimsical clothes. With a few cocktail dress and recital gowns. It’s kind of odd—not a traditional “professional” item of clothing anywhere to be seen. Being a musician is the best!

I had to be at a gig this morning at 7 am. It was rough. I need a nap.

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The cat doesn’t mind the heat because she is inside and enjoys lying in the sun. Or lying on the floor. Really anywhere she can lie down, that is what she likes best. I think being a cat must be a pretty relaxing life.

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Here’s Leslie’s cat, doing a similar thing.

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What I like best about this picture is that you can tell Leslie and I are related by the fact that we both take pictures of our cats with our toes in the picture. Obviously that is a genetic thing.

So, I’m having a dilemma. Awhile back I was comped an entry for the Dirty Girl Mud Run (link goes to blog about it, and if you are interested there’s a discount code) which is coming up in like, a week and a half here—September 7. So…I haven’t really been running. Do I suck it up and go anyway or do I bail like I’ve been doing on stuff lately? (Which I’m okay with, I just probably want some people to say either, hey, go do it it’ll be fun, or hey, you’ll probably die.) Or, YOU SUCK AND I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU AREN’T GOING TO RUN A FREE RACE JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T BEEN RUNNING YOU ARE REALLY LAZY AND I HATE YOU.

Deep Thoughts

It’s okay

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Do you ever have periods of time where you just find it really difficult to get things done? You know you have a lot to do, but you just…can’t?

I’ve been like that for awhile. You work (and maybe practice too, in my case) but beyond that simple tasks can seem really overwhelming. Or you think, man I ought to go for a run, but then you just don’t feel like it?

It’s kind of like a depression, but it’s not.

I’ve decided to let myself off the hook. I’m tired of feeling guilty for what I am or aren’t getting done. As long as the bills are paid, the students are taught, the gigs are played, the rest, well, I’ll just do what I can. I think that’s good enough right now, isn’t it? If I want to spend the entire evening lying on the couch watching TV, that’s okay. If I want to stay up until 2 am and stay in bed until 10:30 am, that’s okay too.  I’m tired of feeling guilty and overwhelmed. The guilt is all in my head.

It doesn’t matter if my dishes are washed promptly, or if my bed is made, or if my apartment is smartly decorated. It doesn’t matter if I dry my hair or if it’s a bit wavy, and it doesn’t matter if I go a day without eating the US RDA of vegetables. If I want to cook pasta for every meal, that’s okay too. In the long run, yeah, maybe some of these things matter, but in the short run, no they don’t. If I have the chance to ask a friend how he or she is doing, that’s great. If I forget, or I just can’t, well, that’s fine too. Friends will understand.

It’s hard enough just keeping up with my work schedule! I feel so old and forgetful, though now that the school year is started and everybody is supposedly coming regularly it’s a bit easier. And it’s easy to get ready to go to a gig…it’s just doing anything else in the downtime that’s challenging!

But that’s my mantra going forward here. It’s okay. It’s my life, and I’m not going to stress myself out anymore by beating myself up.

Remind me of this tomorrow, okay?

photo

My friend April took this picture of me in the opera pit the other night. It was intermission so I had my violin away for the moment. I like to think of it as “me in my natural habitat.”