The end of the school year is always busy with performances and such. I’ve had juries at two schools (don’t even ask), festival, the studio recital, school recitals, school concerts, and this weekend is graduation for Louie and we have people coming into town.

I am ready for some downtime and vacation. I’m worn out and exhausted! The good news is that the house is doing well and we are mostly just living in it. There is still more to do: mostly putting stuff on the walls, but we are unpacked, we have all the furniture and rugs we wanted to get, and we are finding where things work best to store and use them. It’s a delight living in this house, and it’s a delight teaching in this house. There are many things in my life that haven’t turned out the way I wanted, or perhaps as well as I wanted, but Louie and I are very happy together in our beautiful home.

Every time I come home I am so happy to be there. I love how our rugs and furniture turned out and I am so excited that we picked them out ourselves…Louie and I learned quite a bit about what our personal styles were through the process, something we had never really done before. Muriel approves of the rugs as well.

My parents visited last weekend. I realized I didn’t take any pictures, but my dad took a nice photo on his bike ride.

We had dinner with Louie’s parents, took many walks, had dinner out, went to a biergarten and enjoyed the outdoor weather, and they watched me play a solo with the St Louis Classical Guitar Orchestra and assisted with my studio recital. It was a great visit and I’m glad they were able to make it up here.

Playing a short piece with the Guitar Orchestra. It was a lot of fun and they were really nice.

A lovely gift from a student. The studio recital was terrific. We held it in Tower Grove Park at a pavilion and had a little reception afterwards as well. It wasn’t too long but everybody did well and it is always nice to get everybody together in one place for a bit.

Sometimes Miles and Muriel share the hammock. They spend HOURS a day on the cat tree looking out the window. I would too if I were them.

Peonies blooming in our yard.

I have to say, I’m feeling much better about the progress we’ve made on our move after having people over. I tend to be pretty hard on myself, but I realized, we moved in less than two months ago and basically are done (except for the walls) so, that’s actually pretty good. I tend to compare myself too negatively to others and have been trying to focus more on the positive. I feel good about what’s going forward with my career and jobs, and I’m looking forward to a summer filled with family visits, vacation, events, and relaxing, as well as teaching.

It’s easy to see what other freelance musicians are doing and feel jealous of them: I don’t sub with the symphony, I am part time in my jobs, I don’t have any really fancy titles, I don’t have any summer festivals I go to, etc. But I have what I have and nobody can do everything, nor should they! I try to remind myself to count my own blessings (cheesy, I know) and to not compare my inside to other people’s outside!

I keep thinking I’ll write here more often. Perhaps I will going forward, now that things are settling down. How is May going for you?

I am counting down the days left that I have to get up really early! School is nearing an end, everything happens all at once, and then we are hitting the road for a bit and seeing some mountains.

I got to see my favorite current performing violinist, Augustin Hadelich, play a solo recital Sunday night at the 560 Center at Wash U as part of their Great Artists Series.

A program which includes Bach’s Partita no. 3, Ysaye Obsession Sonata, and Bach’s Partita no. 2!

He played entirely from memory, of course, and even had an encore: the slow movement from Bach’s A Minor Sonata. It was an unbelievable night, and at times it felt as if the entire audience was holding their breath.

I was lucky enough to be able to meet him after the concert as well. Louie was kind enough to take a picture.

The next day Augustin did a masterclass with some students at Wash U which I attended as well. In addition to experiencing such an amazing performance, it was fun to see various friends and colleagues from the violin (and viola) community here. I got to catch up and chat with several people that normally I only see in passing here and there, and it was really nice.

We have seats right up front and we adore them. I highly recommend any concerts that the Great Artists Series puts on, but this was a highlight. Thank you Jen!

Other stuff going on: Jazz Saturday night with friends (and dinner before at Brasserie), Dim Sum with Louie’s parents on Sunday, lots of stuff around the house, and lots of teaching!

We’ve been opening the windows when the weather is nice and of course the cats love this.

I forget if I shared our new living room set up with you yet. We put the finishing touch on the furniture the other week when we got the orange chairs, which I love. When I walk in the front door, I am just so happy every time.

It’s always one of those “I can’t believe we live here” moments. I was never a person who wanted a big house or cared too much, but I might have been wrong. Having this lovely home has made the past month so phenomenal. I am sure it will wear off, but we are both just so happy to be here. To be fair: I hope the feeling doesn’t wear off, because we need to appreciate our privilege and how lucky we really are to be able to afford a lovely home like this one. There is still more to organize and unpack (mostly pictures, some books) but I can’t believe how much we have done in just over a month.

If any local readers need any cardboard boxes or know anyone who does, please let me know. We have a few. Also packing materials.

Muriel has started climbing up on the stair railings. This makes me very nervous when she does it on the higher floors! I suppose she’ll be fine…

It’s been a crazy time. Unpacking, work, decorating, shopping, work, trying to get fresh air and enjoy the spring…it’s always a crazy time of year.

Holy Week was insane this time: I ended up with an extra gig fairly last minute and between that and all my teaching it was exhausting, but in retrospect, fun and satisfying. I played at 4 different churches and 5 different services! Probably overdid it, but I’m still here.

We are working on getting our house even more in order. I won’t say I’m done unpacking yet, but I’m getting really close. We’ve gotten quite a few new things, but that’s slowing down soon. We just have a couple more rugs we need, some little lamps, and maybe a light fixture, and then we are really doing well. I’m sure there will be other things overtime, but as far as initially getting the house how we want it…we are almost there. Today the last of the chairs we’d ordered for the living room arrived, and I’ll share pictures with you later.

Teaching at my house has been going really well. Sometimes I ask myself why I even leave: it’s a wonderful place to teach and it’s so nice just to be at home to work! But then I go and play with other people and that’s a lot of fun, to interact with colleagues.

People ask if we are getting settled. Yes, but I still feel like I’m on some sort of vacation in this house. It feels like home, but nicer. I pinch myself pretty often to be so lucky to have purchased this place! The cats enjoy it too.

Just some updated cat photos for you! Life will settle down here once school is done, but until then, it’s crazy (as always). I’m really looking forward to this weekend: Augustin Hadelich is playing a solo violin recital as part of the Great Artists Series at Wash U. I also have a fair amount of free time, and we are going out to dinner on Saturday night with friends and then going to Jazz St Louis. AND Friday and Monday my morning job is off school so I may finally get to sleep in a little bit. It’s a happy time!

I’m trying to manage my stress and remind myself that the house is terrific, that it doesn’t need to be perfect yet or ever, and it’s okay if my garage is full of boxes (hey, if you need any and you are local, let me know!) but there is so much work…I can’t wait for vacation and for things to settle down a bit. Until then, I will sit on my velvet couches when possible and enjoy the windows and watching the cats!

We made it through the move! It was a stressful time leading up to it, but the actual moving day was easy and smooth. Trick: hire movers.

The day started rainy and we were nervous about having all our things moved in the rain, but by the time the truck arrived it had stopped raining. Since we aren’t getting rid of the old house yet (planning to do some fixing up first before dealing with it) we didn’t have the added pressure of having to get absolutely everything out and clean as well…I’ve done plenty of those moves in the past!

The movers were great: quick and professional. The whole move took just over 4 hours and then it was time to start unpacking! And (other than some gigs) that is what I’ve been doing for the past week. I’ve spent hours unpacking, moving boxes around, all of those fun things, and I have to say, the house is better and more amazing than I even thought it would be.

One of the more stressful parts of moving day was moving the cats. While the movers were at the old house, we put them in the bathroom to wait. Then we tried to load them into their carriers. Muriel went easily, but Miles was doing that cat thing where he became basically liquid and it was very challenging to get him into his carrier!

I drove the cats over ahead of the truck and got them settled into a basement room. Muriel seemed thrilled that we hadn’t arrived at the vet, but Miles was terrified and frantically looking for a hiding place in the room I placed them.

After the move was done Muriel was ready and eager to explore. I’m not sure if she is brave or stupid, but she couldn’t wait to get out and see where she was. Miles needed some time to hide, so we let him do his thing, and by evening he was venturing out a little bit.

By now the cats are super comfy here and chasing each other all over. We got a few new cat trees and scratchers for them to use as well, so it’s basically cat heaven.

One of the two new couches I ordered has been delivered and it’s fantastic! I read mixed things about Joybird, but their couches looked awesome and comfortable, and I hoped that the delivery issues people complained about were pandemic related, and it turned out well. Our couch was delivered during the week they said it would be, and the color, texture, and feel is amazing.

There’s still work to be done unpacking, particularly in the kitchen. We had a painter do a lot of the walls, but we decided to do a few things in the kitchen ourselves, mostly because we plan to remodel in the next few years. There is an amazing pantry, but it was this blue color that I didn’t care for, so we finally finished painting it white yesterday. I would spend today unpacking the kitchen and getting it set up, but I have a rehearsal and a concert, so that will have to wait, though I’ll manage a bit this morning.

I start teaching here tomorrow though, so I’ve done a lot of the office set up.

I feel lucky in that all my students have agreed to come to have lessons at my new house. It’s not terribly far, but for some of them it will add 10 to 15 minutes each way. I am looking forward to getting back to work–I told Louie yesterday that if I weren’t starting up this week I don’t know if I ever could again: I enjoy teaching and love my students, but I’ll tell you, it’s been nice to just be doing stuff around the house all day and playing some gigs.

However, it’ll be back to teaching, but there is just 7-8 weeks left until summer vacation. Less for my college students, more for my private students, and everything else in between. There’s a lot happening between now and then: NFMC Festival, my studio recital, school concert, college recital, Holy week services (SO many!), several concerts and performances on my end (more being added all the time, gah!) and some visits from family. It’ll be a busy time, but nothing too terrible for the most part. I can’t believe it is almost April!

I’ve got laundry going right now and I do want to get some work in the kitchen, so I’d better go. What have you been up to lately?