All posts by hannahviolin

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

Benton Park 80’s 5k

May 22, 2012 hannahviolin

Saturday a few of us ran a 5k in Benton Park. The theme was “Reclaiming the 80’s” and that meant costumes. Most of us ran the race last year too—this was the second year.

(The shirt—nice tech shirt, far nicer than last year.)

I haven’t run too many races twice. We had a fantastic time last year, planning our costumes, getting ready, running, all that stuff. This year we were hoping for the same fantastic 80’s fun, but everybody was so busy leading up to the race that the build up wasn’t there. In any case, I managed to corral five people into running: Jen, Jon, Steve, and Mike. Chris, Melissa, Laura, and Benjamin came along to spectate, which was nice of them! We had plans to run the race and then go to Uncle Bill’s afterwards for breakfast.

Steve, me, Jen

It was a beautiful sunny day, but it was HOT. The high was going to be in the 90’s and it was definitely getting close by 8:30. I knew I wasn’t going to have an amazing race, as I had barely run in the past 6 to 8 weeks, but I figured it would be fun, and I had an awesome costume.

Steve, me, Jon, Jen, and Mike. This picture doesn’t show it, but all the guys were wearing those tube socks with the stripes at the top. We weren’t the most dressed up group by any means, but I guess we did okay. (Okay, well, Jen, I was kind of disappointed in your costume, particularly your hair, because you have awesome 80’s hair and you didn’t use it…but oh well. I guess we are all disappointed in our friends on occasions, right?) I borrowed the orange shorts from Vanessa who wore them last year. They weren’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever wore, and I am honestly not used to wearing something so tight in public, and perhaps showing off sweat marks in areas that nobody wanted to see…but in retrospect some of the pictures were pretty awesome so I’m glad I took the risk.

This little guy just slept through the whole thing. I’m not sure if those are supposed to be 80’s socks or not?

Anyway, after a few pictures we had to line up to race. I wish I’d gotten a picture, but the lead car for the race was a Delorean (like from Back to the Future).

We all lined up in the middle…well, except for Mike who lined up at the front. He’d come in 2nd last year in this race, and he’d already seen the guy who won milling about, so he was ready to go. (I told him no pressure, but if he didn’t at least come in 2nd again I’d probably have to find a better trainer.)

Then we were off!

I think Mike had the lead here, but sadly he was unable to keep it.

(I left my camera with Chris for the race, so he took pictures of the beginning and the end-)

Pretty brightly colored group of people, huh? They probably thought I was crazy here, but I was just trying to get everybody fired up.

I figured I’d just run, and see how it went. I had no real plan. And my race really reflected that! I ran my first mile in close to 9:30, and then felt like I was going to die for most of mile two (the heat and sun were ridiculous) and then mile three really was about the same except that I knew I was near the end. At one point I heard Jon in front of me yelling “I have the power” at spectators (did you notice he was wearing a He-man shirt? Plus Jon has this really loud deep voice that carries for a long way.)

At one point the course crossed back near where we started, and Melissa and Laura were there cheering. I felt awful then—I was exhausted and the heat was really getting to me. I was trying to walk in the shade and run in the sun but that wasn’t working great. I had no idea how long it had been, but I knew everybody was ahead of me. Oh well. Injuries, right? And most importantly I had the best costume of my group…I had the orange shorts…

I continued ahead, and at one point passed my friend Adrianne’s house—she was outside cheering. I started to run again, and she yelled “Oh, so NOW you run!” which made me laugh—and then as soon as I was out of sight I started walking again. Ha. Honestly I felt like throwing up from the heat.

Finally it was near the end. When I saw the finish line I started sprinting (I had a bit left in the tank, evidently, especially once I didn’t care if I threw up or not) but had trouble getting around a pair of runners and a lady with a stroller. Note to race: do not make the finish line a narrow, uphill sidewalk if you can at all avoid it.

Anyway, I finished in 33:38, one of my worst times (PR is 28:55). I ran through and was about to collapse but Steve grabbed me and we went to find water (which should have been much easier to find that it was.) We got pretzel finishing medals (a pretzel on a ribbon) which was pretty funny. After we got water some of the others found us.

Chris took a few finishing photos:

This was the guy who won. Also he won last year. 15:51.

Mike came in 2nd. Time was 17:05. This is the sort of race picture I’d love to have—completely in the air running!

Jon, not looking good. He had a bad race and was really affected by the heat…

Steve, who evidently stayed right behind Jen for most of the race and then sprinted past her at the end to beat her. She was pissed, and he was gleefully excited.

Me, pinned in by those girls—who were at least fabulously dressed!

I was tired and hot.

I won’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that Jon got a bit sick. He was okay for this picture, but he didn’t feel well for a few hours. In fact, right after the race we all found each other but then no one could find Jon. I was unclear as to what happened but I think he was lying down somewhere. At one point Jen went to look for a medic. She came back with a policeman, who was about 12 years old and didn’t know what Jon meant when he said he had a touch of vertigo. He was less than helpful, though I suppose if we’d needed an ambulance he could have arranged that pretty quickly.

Anyway, we all hung out until we thought we could take him home, which took longer than anticipated, so Chris and I weren’t able to go to breakfast after all, and Jon and Laura (and Benny) had to just go home as well. It happens!

Melissa and Steve. This race did not inspire Melissa to start running, unfortunately.

Mike and Chris, talking about something important, i’m sure.

Laura and Jen. I probably said something funny. Behind Laura—do you see the woman wearing the zebra pants? Awesome.

We inadvertently waited around for the awards ceremony. It turned out that Mike won his age group (which was funny to him because the guy who beat him was in the same age group, but evidently since he won the race, he didn’t win his age group.)

He got a pint glass and a used VHS copy of Chariots of Fire. He was posing for me to take that picture, FYI, he just is too cool to face the camera directly.

We were still hanging out waiting to see if Jon felt better, and I figured I’d better get a few iPhone pictures for the internet, and Mike wanted one to send his Mom (that’s what he said, I’m sure that wasn’t why.)

Yeah, we just posed like that. I think we both channeled our inner Tyra Banks.

Anyway, I don’t know how I can top my costume for next year, but I’m sure I’ll find a way. It was a fun day, and we’ll do the race again. I’m hoping next year I’ll be in better running shape and can have a less embarrassing finish time, but like I said, at least my costume was awesome!

Food, Random thoughts, Teaching

How is it Monday already?

May 21, 2012 hannahviolin 3 Comments

Yes, creative post titles, that’s my forte.

If you are wanting with bated breath for my 80s race recap, you’ll have to keep waiting. I don’t have time now to write a good one and do it justice. I’m planning to do so tonight, but after work I am going for a run and then I have to watch last night’s Mad Men…you’ll get it when you get it. If you recall, this is what I wore:

I will tell you about how awful and hot the race was soon though. And how gross and sweaty a pair of skin tight orange shorts get.

But first:

Yesterday was another busy day, with fun and work. You know, the usual. We started by taking care of a friend’s dog. Chris loves this dog and wants one like it someday.

That’s Buck.

Then we met Steve and Melissa for brunch at Vin de Set. I follow them on facebook and every weekend they post these amazing sounding dishes of what they have for brunch. It was finally a good day to go, and I’m glad we did. I always love eating at Vin de Set, because it’s the building we got married in and it brings back all kinds of happy memories.

Plate number one…you can tell this was a really healthy meal. Bacon is the centerpiece of any healthy breakfast.

The view…at night…from Vin de Set.

The world’s coldest couple, on top of Vin de Set (we took pictures out there.)

Oh, wait, did I hijack this post with wedding photos? Gosh, how DID that happen?

Which brings us to my first afternoon activity—our Festival Concert with the St Louis School of Music at the Sheldon Concert Hall. This is the annual concert for all the kids to perform in groups rather than by themselves, though this year we had a few kids play solos by audition.

My wedding photographer (and friend) Sarah Crowder‘s daughter takes violin at the school, so Sarah was on hand snapping a million photos. I had a hard time not just dropping everything I was doing and posing for her, but I reminded myself she wasn’t there to take pictures of ME this time.

She posted this gorgeous picture on facebook though—I’m onstage in the back left, somewhere…

It was a wonderful experience for the students and they all did a wonderful job!

After that I had to meet for a photo shoot in Forest Park (which ended up being at Tower Grove Park due to a mixup) for a new strolling strings group I’m joining with my friend Elizabeth. There are three violins and a guitar, and our next step is to put together some demo tracks, and the step after that is: profit! I’m sure I’ll have some pictures to share—we took pictures at the Music Stand Pavilion and by the Ruins in Tower Grove Park. It was about to rain the whole time but held off long enough for us to be holding our instruments.

After all that Chris and I had dinner and then watched "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." I do love that Daniel Craig. The movie was very good too, though confusing in parts (and I’ve read the books).

How was your weekend? Are you happy it’s Monday?

Weddings

Tired just thinking about it

May 20, 2012 hannahviolin 3 Comments

It is hilarious to me that I tend to get up earlier on the weekends than during the week. And for things like races and brunch.

Today’s blog will be a series of instagram pictures summing up my weekend so far…

Friday night:

Benny was super fussy all evening. We all tried everything we could think of but nothing seemed to work for more than two or three minutes at a time.

More detailed race recap to come. "Remembering the 80’s 5K" and yes, that is a pretzel around my neck.

Then rehearsal with the Symphony.

A wedding at St. Cecilia’s Church. It was fun being all the way up in the organ loft.

And dinner at Yemanja Brasil with my friend Sarah. This was a special appetizer, ceviche, and it was delicious. I love seafood so much.

Now it’s time to walk a friend’s dog (well, with Chris), brunch with friends, a student performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and a photo shoot in Forest Park for a group I’m joining. It’s been a wonderful and busy weekend, and honestly I’m ready to just be done and spend the evening relaxing. When all is said and done we are planning to make burgers on the grill and rent a movie. Whew! (Tomorrow’s not Monday already, is it?)

Random thoughts

Would you rather? (Oatmeal edition)

May 17, 2012 hannahviolin 1 Comment

A friend shared this article with me. Evidently cereal does equal poison, as Mike has been saying.

I had a dream the other night that I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and I didn’t know how I was going to tell Mike. Luckily I didn’t actually eat cereal, but instead just ate a whole bunch of other crap that set him off on a tangent. He detests emotional eating, doesn’t think that food equals love and also thinks that people shouldn’t be bothered by other people’s diets. For instance, if someone offers you food and you say, no thanks, that should be acceptable, but it so rarely is. I agree with him, but I do occasionally treat myself…even though I’m aware that I’m not a dog and don’t need to be treated.

That said, our discussion about food led to a big, important question. Would you rather eat a gallon of ice cream or a box of Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries? (Mike came up with that one. That is not a cereal that tempts me. But no cereal beats ice cream.) I told him, no contest, ice cream, but if you added a bag of Doritos into the equation I would let that entire tub of ice cream melt on the counter. We had a pretty heated argument about this—evidently he really likes his Cap’n Crunch. You can argue it’s disordered eating if you are craving entire boxes of stuff, but isn’t it better to crave it than to actually eat it?

Anyway, the other thing Mike said that stuck in my head the rest of the day was that he can’t make me want to eat better, I have to do that myself. He feels like I talk about it, and then I don’t do it. That’s true. You readers are well aware. Then I went home and realized that none of my shorts from last summer quite fit…so it’s really, truly time to do something about it. Yesterday was a great food day. I ate exactly what I planned to (other than a small fiasco involving a batch of hard boiled eggs that were not quite hard boiled) and felt good at the end of the day. I had my oatmeal in the morning, a piece of cheese post-workout (not ideal, but delicious), salad with two cans of tuna for lunch, almonds for a snack, and sauerkraut with bratwurst, side salad, for dinner. No grains after my morning oatmeal, which Mike would be pretty proud of. I’m going to try a similar plan today. We’re going with salad with grilled chicken for lunch and dinner is pork with broccoli. I’d love to fit into the shorts I own…and I realize though I love bread and can easily tear up an entire basket of it, I can also go without grains at meals and feel really good as long as I get enough protein.

So that’s the lead in into the real meat of this blog post. Oatmeal. I started posting my oatmeal as a spoof of other oatmeal posting blogs, but some of my actual friends have told me they are inspired by my oatmeal. One told me her boyfriend was trying to figure out how to eat oatmeal with more protein…um…add protein powder! Poof, problem solved. (I’m a genius. You’re welcome.) I’m also working on a logo for this blog feature. (By that I mean I have been bugging a friend about making me a logo. I’m sure she’s just busy.)

Steel cut oatmeal with blackberries. I go through steel cut phases. It is a totally different experience, but I feel even more virtuous eating it—it is even less processed than rolled oats so your body has to work really hard to digest it and you stay full for hours…even days?

Look at that strawberry juice. I love that stuff. I like to freeze and then thaw the strawberries just for that alone…

You can tell this is too watery. I like the overnight oats best with yogurt, but sometimes I try to go lower calorie and use water. It rarely turns out as well, particularly when I add too much water. Oh well.

This is the opposite of watery—so thick and creamy looking! I would eat the crap out of this bowl.

Look! This is COOKED oatmeal, readers. Sometimes on the weekends I have the patience to make hot oatmeal. It was a nice change.

And this was with flavored yogurt, as evidenced by the pink color. The blackberries were on sale awhile back, 10 containers for $10 so I stocked up. They were delicious, though they are all now gone.

And another bowl of cooked oatmeal. With perhaps too much strawberry juice…this was like oatmeal soup. Oh well. Live and learn.

There you have it! I want to try peaches soon—that was a great suggestion from my earlier post, and I do love peaches. Peaches are one of the best parts of the living in the south, actually.

So…ice cream, cereal, or chips? What’s your guilty pleasure?

Food, Random thoughts

Almost Summertime

May 16, 2012 hannahviolin 1 Comment

Most of my students are really excited about the end of school. I am too, of course. At City Academy I am in my last two weeks, and at the School of Music I just have three more weeks (we go past the end of school because we are more dedicated.) One of my students yesterday complained that she gets really bored once school ends. I told her that was a ridiculous complaint, and if nothing else she could practice more! She seemed excited by that prospect so I think she may be my new favorite.

I do love summer. Who doesn’t, right? (Frosty the Snowman, I suppose?) The weather is nice (well…arguable) and I’ve got tons more free time (well…less money). In honor of summer Chris and I can’t manage to stay at home. In the past week we’ve eaten out just about every night. Here is just a sampling:

33 with Vanessa—wine and that amazing platter. Oh, and I love her purple cardigan!

Bar Italia for lunch after the Led Zeppelin rehearsal…

Bridge on Friday night after the Led Zeppelin Concert (my St Louis Symphony substitute debut…may it be the first of many concerts because I had a wonderful wonderful time!)

PW Pizza for Carry Out…

Then Pomme Cafe and Wine Bar on Sunday night with Steve and Melissa. (I thought I took a bread pudding picture, but I evidently lost it.) Modesto on Monday with Melissa. And last night Chris and I met at Taste after work.

Let me talk about Taste for a paragraph. We had never been, but it had been on our list (of places to go) for awhile. I teach late on Tuesdays, and eat dinner afterwards, but Chris wanted to meet up somewhere in the CWE after he was at the golf range. Often places do not serve food that late on Tuesday nights. He learned Taste served food until after midnight (yes!) so that seemed perfect. We split some amazing dishes: the pear walnut salad, the white bean and octopus salad (I loved this one), the pork scrapple w/fried egg, and (our favorite!) the lamb something which is not listed on the website menu—it was a shredded, almost stew like meat that you put over grilled toast…oh my goodness it was amazing. We will be back (and better than ever?)

Eating at Taste reminded me of my trip to Chicago last summer. On that trip, Karen and I went to a different “small plates” restaurant each night. The third place, The Purple Pig (link goes to MY blog round up of that day), I recall the waitress asks, oh, have you eaten at a restaurant like this before? We started laughing, because we hadn’t eaten at a restaurant that served individual portions in awhile. Also because Karen and I have been playing the world’s longest game of phone tag. I think we’ve been playing for about six weeks. One of these days. One of these days.

All that being said, we’ve blown threw a fair amount of cash on eating out, and I’m definitely not eating as well as I could be…tonight we are eating at home for sure, and I think we need to try to do a little better. Maybe this weekend we don’t need to eat out every meal. Or maybe we should eat at home more during the week. I think the problem is (for me) after being around children all day, I want to go and be around adults in the evening.

Unrelated to food:

The other day I had a friend proofread my “Meet Hannah” post. She told me I don’t have to double space after periods anymore, in fact, I’m not technically supposed to. What do you guys think? I resisted at first, but I’m reconsidering. I figure it’s like Facebook Timeline, which many people are still afraid of, but I figured, hey, after a few days I won’t notice, and indeed I was correct. I like to stay with or ahead of the times, even as I’m all old and stuff. So the question is, does this paragraph look funny to everybody or just me? Should I stick with the single space from here on out? I won’t pretend it will be easy, but just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it.

Oh, and who’s running the 5k with me and Jen and Steve and some others this weekend? Benton Park, Remembering the 80’s! I’m working on a pretty sweet costume (this is to make up for the fact that I’m not entirely sure I can run that far). Let me know in the comments or email me if you are going to be there! If not, consider buying a plane ticket and getting here, it’ll be awesomely fun. We’ll do brunch after (or you can just leave, either way, no pressure) and then I’ll be in a hurry to get to rehearsal and a wedding, but until then…

So, in conclusion, thoughts on double spacing?

Performing

Meet Hannah

May 14, 2012 hannahviolin 2 Comments

{I posted this for our blog at Chamber Project St Louis today. I’m including it here as well so you can learn more about me as well, but please visit those links to support us and tell you more about the group.}

Hi everybody. I’m Hannah and I play the violin. The group asked me to write a blog entry about myself, and even though I write my own blog about myself all the time, I am having a hard time figuring out what to write about here—

Playing violin with Chamber Project St. Louis has been such a fun experience! Let me tell you how my lifelong journey with the violin has led me here.

I started playing violin at the age of 5 using the Suzuki Method. If you aren’t familiar with the Suzuki Method, the concept is that one can learn to play a musical instrument the same way one learns a language—starting young, listening to the music, repeating familiar songs (words), and with active parental involvement and positive reinforcement. I loved played the violin, but mostly I loved playing the violin with other people, an opportunity I had in Suzuki group lessons.

(And FOR other people too!)

As I grew up and continued to play, I became more serious about music, and found great joy (while having a lot of fun!) collaborating with other musicians. My first love was orchestra. I played in the Carolina Youth Symphony for many years, and looked forward to the weekly rehearsals. I loved the camaraderie of playing in a large group, and was inspired by how the entirety of the orchestra—the collective sound, the togetherness of the experience—was (cliché ahead!) truly greater than the sum of the individual parts.

As far as chamber music went, my only real experience until I got to late high school was playing duets with my sister Leslie, who is also a violinist. As I grew older and more experienced, I learned that playing chamber music with people who are not related to you is different than playing with your sister. You see, with those pesky non-relatives you have to be nicer and more diplomatic, and “because I’m older” is generally not an acceptable reason to do things your way. However, it is less likely that your fellow musicians will burst into tears or threaten to “tell mom”, so that’s a definite bonus!

(Performing with Leslie on one of her graduate recitals)

Anyway, by the time I got to high school I knew I wanted to go into music for a living. My goal was to become a violinist in a major symphony orchestra. Since I had so far pretty much achieved every goal I set my mind to I didn’t see any reason why I wouldn’t achieve that goal as well. I went to the Cleveland Institute of Music for college, and stayed there for graduate school as well. During that time I practiced hard, had many amazing orchestral and chamber music experiences, and, well, met my husband, Chris. I also began to realize how difficult it was to get a job in a symphony orchestra.

(Me, playing the violin a couple of years ago…at a wedding!)

Nonetheless I wasn’t going to let that challenge stop me. I won my first (and probably last) symphony job right out of school and moved to North Carolina to play with the Charlotte Symphony. I had done it—I had realized my dream! I was on the cusp of my new life and career as a professional orchestral musician and couldn’t wait for the future. But the future wouldn’t turn out quite as I thought (does it ever?) After playing a couple of seasons with the orchestra, I just wasn’t…happy—I realized that professional achievement doesn’t automatically bring about personal fulfillment, and, frankly, I was miserable without Chris nearby. I left after a couple of years to return to Ohio to freelance and teach. Chris did a variety of different things, and then ultimately we decided to move to St Louis so he could play with the Symphony here.

That didn’t leave much for me to do, unfortunately, so when the ladies of Chamber Project asked me to play a concert with them the other year, I jumped on it! After enduring a couple of years devoid of chamber music, it was a lifesaver. Not only are they all delightful people and friends, they are wonderful to work with and fun to make music with. I’ve learned so much from everyone and from playing with Chamber Project, not just musically, but in terms of engaging the audience, public speaking, and all kinds of administrative-type stuff that goes into running a chamber music group. It’s been great, and I’m honored to be a part of it.

(after our March concert at the Wine Press)

It’s funny how life surprises you. If you’d asked 16 year old Hannah if she thought she’d follow a man to a city where she didn’t have any work she would have smacked you. If you’d asked that same Hannah if she thought she’d love playing chamber music with a bunch of women who had a chamber music project and a dream, she would have laughed in your face. But here I am, and all I know is that each year just keeps getting better.

(Warming up for a performance in April)

I hope you can join us for our Audience Choice Concert on June 1 at 8 pm at the Chapel. I’ll be playing!

HANNAHVIOLIN

All posts by hannahviolin

Benton Park 80’s 5k

How is it Monday already?

Tired just thinking about it

Would you rather? (Oatmeal edition)

Almost Summertime

Meet Hannah

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.

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thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.