All posts by hannahviolin

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

Miss No-Depth Perception

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I noticed this at my gym this morning.  It made me think of "Operation Beautiful", only the opposite. The difference is that if I wear something odd my trainer does make fun of me.  For instance, last week I could only find one pair of gym socks because the rest were packed somewhere.  I had to wear white socks and they weren’t as low cut as I usually wear.  I felt a little uncomfortable but told myself, nobody cares about what I look like.  I was warming up on the treadmill and Mike came over, and immediately he started mocking my socks.  He kept making fun of them the whole hour, and even the next time he saw me, he remarked on how relieved he was that I was no longer wearing them.

Basically I have learned in my life—and this may come from being tall—that people actually do notice you a lot, what you are wearing, how you wear your hair, what you say, what you do, where you go.  They notice, they judge.  The question is what are you going to do about that.  Do you care?  Often I care too much.  I try not to.

I am also aware of the fact that Mike was only mocking my socks because he could, and because I certainly make fun of him enough, in particular his atrocious haircut.

Look what I got in the mail the other day!

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The people at SendaFlyingCard.com asked if I would be interested in getting a flying card. (I think of it as a frisbee, but they just call it a flying card.  They explain this on the website, that the term "frisbee" is owned by another company and cannot be used.) I said sure, because I’ve told you guys I’m jumping on the free stuff bandwagon, right?  This is a pretty cool idea though, I’d think especially for a younger kid, or maybe a bored high school or college student. 

I am not a great frisbee player.  I attended a music festival many years ago, and a group of us liked to play frisbee.  I earned the nickname "Miss No Depth Perception" because I would run to catch the frisbee, reach out for it…and then it would float by, perhaps 4 to 6 inches away from where I thought it would be. 

Anyway, if you are interested in sending me or someone else a flying card, there’s a good sale going on right now, plus if you use the coupon code "firstorder" you get 10 percent off your first order.  I love this line from the website: "Get noticed and send a customized flying card today while promoting exercise and outdoor activities."  Who doesn’t want to do that?  Work off your birthday cake with a nice game of "flying card" in your backyard!

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I saw this sticker on the bathroom of a bar we hit up last night.  It made me giggle.  I went to the link just now and there is a nice explanation of the sticker too.

Habits of Highly Successful People

I’m trying to get back in the habit of doing certain things.  For instance, I used to practice violin every day.  Okay, I’m kidding, I’m not worried about that, haha, that’s just asking for an injury!  (Or would be the smart thing to do.  But this blog post isn’t about that.) 

I used to run several times a week and blog almost every day.  Those are the habits I’m trying to get back into.  I already "ran" this morning (I’m using quotations because it was awful and there was a lot of walking) so now I’m going to "blog".  (Okay, I’m going to actually blog.  Technically the quotations aren’t necessary.)

This week has been pretty busy with packing, moving, and then unpacking.  I am not beating myself up about not running, or not blogging, but I’m trying to start new habits.  I am planning to run at least three more times this week and planning to blog every day.  I actually have some cool stuff I’m doing for the blog including some book reviews and some giveaways, so stay tuned for that this week and in the future! (I decided it was time for me to get on the blog gravy train and get some free stuff, but I promise to stay real, even as my stock climbs…I won’t pretend to like something I don’t.)

The new place is AWESOME.  Most of the hard work of the move is done and all we have left is a bit more unpacking, some decorating, finishing cleaning the old place, and getting a dining room table and maybe another chair for the music room.  We had hoped to use our old couch for that room but it just didn’t fit in the door.  Oops. 

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We bought a new welcome mat.  Creatures with big eyes are a weakness Chris and I share.

We "celebrated" our move by going to Franco for a dinner.  I love getting anchovies on my caesar salad there.  I really like the white anchovies, but they are more expensive so I just got the regular anchovies.  Sometimes I get oddly cheap.

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Friday we spent unpacking and preparing for the yard sale.  Saturday morning was our yard sale, and we made approximately $185, so it was an overwhelming success. 

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We had never had a yard sale before, so we didn’t really know what to expect.  People who go to yard sales are an interesting bunch.  I was amazed at how much time people would spend deliberating over whether or not to purchase an item for 50 cents or a dollar.  Sometimes I just wanted to tell them, hey, you know what, just take it.  But I figured that would ruin the "fun."  The main reason we had a sale was to sell a couple of pieces of furniture, and we sold all of those, in addition to my old set of dishes, which were still very nice (we just got some amazing wedding gifts and didn’t have use for everything.)  Now all we have left to get rid of it is the aforementioned couch—it was already at the new place and the yard sale was at the old place, so we’ve just been trying craigslist for it.

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Those are more "bruises" from doing burpees.  Mike argues they don’t count as bruises as they are red.  I told him that he wasn’t taking my "injuries" seriously.  (Chris just saw this picture from a weird angle and asked if it was somebody’s butt.  I am now sad that my legs evidently look like a butt, and that my husband thinks I would put a picture of somebody’s butt on my blog.)

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Hey, look, it’s my leg warmers.  I was unpacking and found them—I love that I own leg warmers! 

From the 80’s race.  (I know you can’t see them in that first picture, I just really like that picture.)

Last but not least.  Chris likes to make breakfast sandwiches, with sausage, egg and cheese.  We finally got a little "contraption" to help him out with the egg.

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How cute is that??

Ear worms

Do you ever get earworms?  You know, when a tune is stuck in your head and you can’t get rid of it.  Well, I need help.  I have the music from Lord of the Rings in my head.  Most specifically the "Fellowship" Theme, but occasionally the theme from Rohan and other parts too.  Basically at any time I might start singing the music, and I think Chris is about ready to kill me.  It’s definitely been over a year since this has been a problem.  I thought it might go away, but it hasn’t.  HELP!

I’m on a break from unpacking.  I spent most of the afternoon trying to fit as many books as possible onto a small bookcase.  The trick is to make more than one stack, and to turn them sideways rather than up and down. 

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From last night.  We made pasta with something called "turkey bratwurst" that I bought at the store.  It was pretty good, and I figured it was (probably) healthier than using "italian sausage." 

I got my bridesmaid dress for Leslie’s wedding yesterday.  Well, I’d gotten it before, but now I own it in a size that actually flatters me.  I had Chris take some pictures of me to send her, and I was DELIGHTED that one of the pictures from the back showed some awesome back muscle definition.  I would totally share it but I can’t do that because I’m wearing the bridesmaid dress in it.  Maybe I’ll try to recreate the pose later and show you all. (In your face, JEN!)

Moving is a pain

We moved.  It’s done. 

And I’m exhausted from moving yesterday then spending the rest of the day unpacking, then waking up and spending all day today unpacking as well.  We got our internet and cable hooked up and spent most of the day waiting for a couch to be delivered…that we finally realized was scheduled to be delivered on Friday instead.  Oops.  I guess we’ll have to stay close to home on Friday.

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My parents came through and helped out a ton.  Points for local readers who recognize where this picture was taken!

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The cat did not enjoy being moved.  I took her to the new place the morning of the move and she was not happy with me.  Finally today she started really exploring the downstairs rather than hiding in a closet.  She seems to be adjusting well and I’m sure in a day she will consider it home and refuse to go anywhere else.

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The truck, parked behind a tree.  It was really hot.  Luckily we had hired people to do the actual moving so we just got to stay inside and chat during the move.

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Stuff in the new house, starting to fill up!

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Post move, celebratory diet coke.  Name this restaurant for bonus points!

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Chris was exhausted.  He did more than I did so he got a beer.  Also I am watching my weight as you know 😉

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And the start of our unpacking.  Those are some of our awesome wedding presents—our china, another set of dishes, and of course my Carolina Youth Symphony mug.  That’s just one of many cabinets we have now.

Moving is a ton of work, but the result is always so much fun.  I’ll write more later I’m sure.

I am accepting housewarming gifts from readers, before you ask 😉

Hopefully my Mom and Dad have made it safely to Aspen by now to visit Carrie and then they head to Boulder to visit Leslie. 

Almost moving day

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I had to snack on this tonight because I was starving and there was nothing else in the house.  FOR REAL as we moved all the food to the new house.  Oops.  It was delicious though!  There’s still some left and I’m debating.  Chocolate, though delicious, is actually not that filling.  Who knew. 

I downloaded some instagram collage apps last night and things got crazy.  Don’t judge.  Actually.  Whatever, I no longer care.  Judge away.

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I thought about taking that a few more steps, but I grew bored.  I may try again later. 

Tomorrow is the big move.  All of our stuff is boxed up and ready to go.  I’m feeling a little bit sentimental about it being the last night in this place, but I’m very excited for the new place.  My parents rocked out and cleaned a bunch—I think we should stay longer as my fridge has never been so clean…but it is empty except for a bunch of bottled water so that is not fun. 

Yeah.  I’m exhausted.  I should be sleeping, not blogging, but you know me.  Fight sleep, continue searching for entertainment.

Next time I’ll see you it’ll be from the new house!

Weekend so far

This is packing and moving week.  I may not blog as much this week because I’m not entirely sure what the internet situation will be.  As in, there MAY be a day or half a day without internet!  (cue scary, dramatic music, aka the "suspense" ring on my phone.)  I’m currently supposed to be doing some packing while waiting for my parents to arrive.  Tuesday is the official moving day—we have rented a truck and hired some movers to do the heavy lifting (I could TOTALLY do it all on my own, but you know.)

Last night we had a couple friends over for burgers.  I felt like a true underachiever as I served store-bought coleslaw and potato salad, but it just wasn’t practical to make a side on my own.  I also didn’t make anything for dessert which is really rare for me.  I felt bad, but I hope my friends didn’t mind.  They brought homemade sides and desserts that were delicious.

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And this guy fell asleep on our table, in his car seat carrier.  I told Chris if he was like that all the time we’d need to see about getting one of our own, but it turns out that’s not all they do, so we are reconsidering. 

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He was pretty cute the night before too.  Though I think he makes my arms look fat, so I might need to start holding larger babies for a better contrast.

Probably best to avoid him for a few weeks.  Or remember how shortly after this picture was taken things took a bad turn with some diaper issues.  It’s not all fun and games.

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Meanwhile the boys were doing this…

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Oh, and the big news I got last night is that my friend Vanessa got engaged!  Congratulations to her and Russell!!  It’s a love weekend—my friends Adrianne (of Chamber Project St Louis) and Derek got engaged a couple of days ago (to each other, to clarify.)

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Vanessa: Since she’s not a string player she can wear her ring on the left hand.  And eat ice cream.

Sorry for the totally random blog post, but that’s how it’s going right now.  It’s hard to be focused when your entire life is currently packed up in boxes!  Plus, who am I kidding, I’m always random!