All posts by hannahviolin

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

December

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It’s been a minute since I’ve posted, so I wanted to pop in. Thanksgiving Break was fantastic, but I’ll tell you about that another time. Things since we got back have been go-go-go with students, performances, rehearsals and concerts!

We played a concert of piano quartets at Washington University.

I did a little Christmas decorating. I decided not to do a tree this year.

Part of getting older is saying, hmm, wasn’t it just Christmas already? I couldn’t bear the idea of packing up the tree again, so I figured I’d skip it this year. Next year maybe I’ll have two trees, haha!

Sometimes I am struck by how impossibly soft and adorable Miles is. And a little bite-y as well.

Fun with friends last week. Trying to make a point to go out and support other local musicians when I can.
Yes, it’s December!

Okay, so random photo dump, random thoughts…Christmas will be here soon and then after that we close on the house, and I need to PACK. That’s the plan for after Christmas, get packed and get ready to move. We still have to decide when, but it’s over a month till closing and we aren’t in a huge rush so it’ll be fine. (it’s be fine is my mantra, we will see how it goes!)

I am excited about some stuff coming up this month, and I’ve already done some fun stuff. I have been having quite the fall of playing with some well-known popular artists such as the Who and this past weekend played with Harry Connick, Jr. It was a lot of fun!

It’s not always my preferred genre of music, but it is always fun to play with famous artists, regardless! And Harry is very nice and it is just plain cool to be so CLOSE to people like that. Practice your violin, students!

I’ll tell you about Thanksgiving and New Orleans another time. I am tired, and dealing with some annoying work things right now as I’m trying to blog, so maybe I’ll drink more coffee, exercise, and then try to teach this afternoon and play an evening rehearsal…it’s a busy week in a busy month, and I am NOT doing a good job practicing self care. 🙂

Random thoughts

Thanksgiving Week

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It’s funny not having any cooking to do this week! We are eating out for Thanksgiving, so I won’t be making anything.

I forgot in my last post to tell you about a fun adventure we had, so I’ll do that first. Louie and I went on a “Full Moon Float” with Big Muddy Adventures. We canoed down the Mississippi River at night! This might sound scary, but it was awesome. First we met up and loaded into vans and drove upstream a bit. We put two large canoes into the water and then boarded, sitting two by two with a guide in front and back. We paddled across to an island that was mostly made of sand and enjoyed a bonfire and lovely dinner (seriously, it was delicious, cheese and crackers, fresh guacamole, flank steak, butternut squash lasagna, salad, etc) and then once the sun set and the fire died down, we all loaded up again into the canoes and headed down to the Arch. It was a fantastic day and we would recommend the trip to anybody who enjoys a little outdoor adventure.

Watching the sun set on our private island.
Paddling by the Arch
Paddling under the Stan Musial Bridge.

We’ve had a few little snows so far this winter, which have been pretty enough. I’m glad it’s just been a little bit…I’m not in the mood for snow.

I got a new violin case, finally! I ordered it months ago and it has been backordered.

It was a busy weekend of recitals. Saturday morning was a student recital at Wash U and Sunday afternoon was my studio recital. I was proud of all of the performances! I’ll have a few more student performances before the semester is over.

We went to a play on Saturday night. We saw Upstream Theater put on “The Good Ship St. Louis” at the Marcelle Theater. It was a nice production and we really enjoyed the evening. It’s nice to see small, more local companies doing things, and I would recommend you see the show except I believe the run has already ended. One of the actors was someone I had worked with on The Runaway Cupcake and with a production at St Louis University I did the music for and it was great to see her in a different role.

A picture at intermission. It was the premiere of the play, which was really neat!

We are moving slowly with buying the house…inspections are basically done, painters are lined up for after closing, but now it’s mostly a holding pattern. We went under contract early with the idea that the tough things would be done before the holidays and then we would just wait until the current owner is ready to move out (the date is set for that). I haven’t started packing yet, but I am THINKING about it, and getting other things in order. I can’t quite wrap my head around the whole thing, but it is going to happen and we will be ready when it does.

Two cats sitting on the couch.

I’m finishing up errands and getting ready for our trip today, doing some teaching, and that sort of thing. Tomorrow we hit the road for our Thanksgiving trip. As always, the cats are in good care with our sitter, and they will likely spend a lot of time sitting on the couch.

What are your Thanksgiving week plans?

Deep Thoughts

Too much to do and thoughts on phone calls

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It’s amazing that sometimes things can feel overwhelmed and go go go, and then you get a morning to sleep in and relax and suddenly all is right in the world again.

I’ve been entirely too busy–a thing I keep returning to in my life due to my workaholic tendencies and the fact that a musician really can fill the entire week with work if you aren’t careful…but it’s been going well, and aside from a few moments last week when I was wistful about the time I spent 10 days in bed recovering from surgery in August, and secretly thinking getting COVID again might be nice because then I wouldn’t have to go anywhere…aside from those moments, things are going well.

Fun things: Louie and I went to dinner again at the Lucky Accomplice. It was us really wanting to eat the Missouri Rice dish again (so good!) and a few other things. We agreed that we need to not go there for awhile. We also went to the Symphony last night, which I didn’t want to do because I was tired and the idea of staying home and watching Deadwind on Netflix instead was so very appealing, but we had tickets and so we went. And enjoyed it. Leila Josefowicz played a concerto by Helen Grime, and it was an intense experience. I would say that half the audience was blown away in a good way and the other half was blown away in a bad way, but there is no way to walk away not having had an experience!

Other fun things: the Election results weren’t so bad, so that was okay. And that was a gorgeous day, weather wise, so Louie and I were able to spend a little time walking around the neighborhood. It is becoming a bittersweet feeling, and we will really miss this neighborhood.

Work things: I had two lovely weddings yesterday: I love working with good musicians who are relaxed about weddings. I’ve had some stressful experiences the past few years and it’s nice to just show up, play, and be told calmly what the plan is. Yesterday was great.

I have gotten better at making phone calls again. Over the course of my life I’ve had mixed feelings about calling people I don’t know (as many do, I’m sure!). I got over my fears in college when I worked for the Box Office at my school and often had to make and answer phone calls. At some point in my life I grew wary again, and a few years ago really got bad at it after getting yelled at by a potential student’s mom. Well, not a potential student. I had kind of forgotten this, but I remembered recently and wanted to share because I realized it made me stressed about phone calls for a long time afterwards and now I feel like I can face it again and that yes, it’s okay to pick up the phone, because that wasn’t my fault and most people are kind and decent.

What happened was (at least in my recollection) I got a voicemail from a person looking for violin lessons on a Friday. I was busy. I was busy all weekend, and besides, it’s the weekend, right, there’s no law that you have to make business calls on the weekend? and then I called the number Monday morning, and they YELLED at me for not returning their call sooner. It took me several years now to realize WHY I was stressed when I got voicemails and to feel like I needed to call them back right away, because getting yelled at by strangers is for me one of the worst things. And I am reminding myself, I didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, I can return a phone call weeks after and anybody who yells at me about that is the one in the wrong. So when I have phone calls to make, I am trying to just relax, and say to myself, they may or may not answer, and if I leave a voicemail and they call back later and I can’t answer, that’s okay too. Because my work schedule is such that often answering the phone is hard.

That’s my Sunday navel-gazing 😉 but seriously, with all of the stressful things going on, trying to get in touch with people about house and moving stuff, it’s nice to pinpoint why phone calling is so stressful because then I can move past it, which I did pretty well with last week and made like, 6 phone calls to people I didn’t know, and every single person was totally great!

Okay, one more full week until Thanksgiving week, isn’t that crazy?? What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Hope

If the weather were like this all the time, nobody would be able to afford to live here

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We had a few days of cold weather but otherwise are having a really great fall.

It’s been a busy time, and I haven’t blogged recently, sorry about that! On the one hand, there’s not much new going on, but on the other hand, there is and it’s so busy. I’ve been working like mad, forgetting all those things I said during the pandemic about me time and balance and just saying yes, yes to gigs and playing so much. I’ve played with The Who on a big show at the Enterprise Center, I’ve played countless church services, several weddings, and have some really fun stuff coming up as well. I’ve been teaching so much as well, and in between it trying to work out, hang out with friends, take an improv class (on violin), read, clean and declutter the house, and deal with all the things that go with the fact that we are yes, moving, though the details haven’t been worked out (re: timing and such). I have to do so much and let so many people know and I’m waiting on just a few more things to know before that.

Onstage with The Who

We are also planning our Thanksgiving trip to New Orleans, which should be fun, and trying to enjoy this fantastic weather. We haven’t been able to get outside as much as we’d like, but Louie and I did enjoy a nice hike the other weekend and we’ve had some nice walks in the neighborhood. We went to the Lucky Accomplice for his birthday and to the Symphony last weekend (oh, and saw a coyote on Southwest Avenue, what), and this weekend we are doing a moonlight canoe trip with Big Muddy Adventures.

I’ve also been doing physical therapy on my shoulder (rotator cuff). I’m fully recovered from my surgery in August (unrelated) and feeling really great about that, but I have had a nagging shoulder problem since early spring. I also fell over a curb and really busted up my knee the other week, so I’m kind of a mess…but I’m on the mend. Honestly, things are looking up, and we are walking on air around the house thinking of the future and what our new house will be like and how to make it all work. It is a dream I never even had and it feels like a dream! I am excited, and worried, and all of that in between. (And like I said before, to any students reading, don’t worry, I’m not going too far and I will let you all know soon and it won’t be until late winter or spring.)

Random thoughts

The Who

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It’s been a busy October as well. I think I thought after the show at the Fox (Ain’t Too Proud) finished I would be more free, and while I am, it’s really only an extra two hours a night! Life is busy, I have all the students, plus extra concerts (playing with the Who today, for instance), and additional appointments like physical therapy for my rotator cuff or the like. I’ve also mentioned in passing that we are house hunting and truthfully looking to buy a new house, and a lot that goes into it. It’s a big deal, and feels like a dream, and there’s just so much to do before it becomes reality, but I’m excited. I remind myself that people move all the time, and just because I haven’t moved in 8 years doesn’t mean I can’t do it again!

I had a period of time where I moved every year or every two years. My 20’s were a time of moving a lot, changing cities, changing apartments, etc, and moving wasn’t a big deal then. When I moved in with Louie I was in my 30’s and it was my 3rd move in as many years! So I was happy to sit and I honestly thought I might live here for the rest of my life. But as it turns out, it seems that’s not going to be true, and while I don’t like to get ahead of anything, I can say with certainty that I won’t live here the rest of my life: we have decided no matter what happens with this particular house we are looking to buy (and it’s looking promising) that we are moving.

Of course, interest rates are through the roof, and things are uncertain in the world, and perhaps we don’t even want to be in Missouri or the United States anymore, but we live here now and there’s no reason to make yourself suffer more than needed, ha! I remind myself that people buy houses all the time, that people buy houses even when they are sad to leave their current house and its memories, and it is okay to have mixed feelings about things, when mostly those feelings are that it’s a good thing to move. It will change things for my students a bit, though I’m not going far, but in case any are reading: I will let you know when things are certain and you’ll have plenty of time to work things out.

Anyway, the cats are snuggling more lately as the weather cools down, which is of course adorable. And we got out for a nice hike last weekend at Greensfelder Park. We took the Eagle Owl Trail and got a bit lost at one point, but we were always on a A trail, just not the Eagle Owl, and we found our way back. I think that has happened before as well, so who knows what the deal is. Perhaps we will go the opposite way on the loop and have slightly better luck next time. The fall leaves were beautiful, though I didn’t take many pictures, and the weather and temperature were absolutely perfect.

I have a busy weekend ahead: I had thought I might be able to take Sunday off but I needed to do some makeup lessons for things I missed, so I’ll work in the afternoon.

I did have time to read a fantastic book: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Highly recommend! (I love all of her books, especially Station Eleven, but this might be my new favorite).

Deep Thoughts

So many appointments

My to do list isn’t too bad, but I keep having appointments! For instance, in addition to my regular work schedule (nearly 40 students a week plus morning classes) I had an eye doctor appointment and an appointment for a blood draw for my yearly physical. Nothing big, but adding those things on makes life busier! In addition, I’m working on decluttering here, giving things away on my local Buy Nothing Group (this is relatively new to me and I absolutely love it), and we might be getting ready to buy a house…that is, we are working on that, and that means more appointments, as well as looking for various financial paperwork stuff and figuring out what needs to be done.

The “Ain’t Too Proud” mural at the Fox Theater: visiting shows can paint on the walls backstage and it’s always fun to see the new murals.

I’m also getting my students ready for the Arch Cup, which means more paperwork and communication. And we divided into individual classes for my morning job, which means attendance is now my issue as well as communication with parents. Basically, things are hectic here! It’s a lot! We are managing, but I sometimes feel like I’m just running on adrenaline. I had thought October would be my breathing time, and while yes, it is compared to September, it’s still pretty crazy. If we end up getting the house, I don’t think we will have any breathing time until all is moved and settled, and that seems like a long way away.

However, it’s all good stuff. If we get a new house, it’s a very good thing. My students are doing well and most are really trying their best and just the sweetest kids. Decluttering is always a good thing as well, as we all know. And while I feel like I’ve been having tons of doctor’s appointments, it’s just the time of year a lot of my annual things come up, and I’m recovered really quite well from surgery: almost entirely back to normal. I’m dealing with a shoulder problem though, nothing super serious, but I’m meeting with a physical therapist next week about it. And I thought my vision was getting back that I couldn’t read well and would need bifocals, but it turns out that my right eye prescription just isn’t strong enough, and when my new contacts come in I should be able to see perfectly again! The cats are well, Louie is doing well, our parents (and siblings) are doing well dealing with their various maladies but with solutions and medical interventions that seem to be working, and we have some nice travels planned for the rest of the year: New Orleans for Thanksgiving and our families, though separately due to scheduling issues.

Muriel and I enjoy a few moments of down time.

Other than the horrific things going on with our state and national government, life is good. We are planning a hike for this weekend, which will be lovely. I haven’t gotten outside for something like that since before my surgery, and the weather looks perfect for it: cool enough and sunny. Every time I think life will be less busy I obviously don’t mean it, but I think it’s probably just important to recognize that I get value from being needed in my career and that Louie and I both do enjoy our work and end up doing it more hours than some people do.

Funny thing yesterday: (well, sort of funny). I have this two drawer wooden filing cabinet that I bought the first year I was working. I remember I thought, well, I need somewhere to file important paperwork. Which is absolutely true! And then I’ve kept things filed in it for years, I know that any important papers are in there and even if the filing system isn’t always perfect stuff is there. I was looking for a particular tax document yesterday and realized I still had my taxes from 2003 and 2007. Which I don’t need so, yay, decluttering! But you know, that little filing cabinet was a really good purchase!