All posts by hannahviolin

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

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

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.)

The Who

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).

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!

Fall is definitely here

October is most definitely fall, so I can say that fall is definitely here. The weather this week in St Louis has been phenomenal, and I wish I could be outside enjoying it more, but oh well! It’s the perfect weather to throw on a cardigan or wrap and be totally comfortable.

In the pit, headphones on and ready to go!

I’ve been incredibly busy this week, but today is the last day of double shows, and then the show wraps up tomorrow. It’s been really fun as they always are, but it’s been exhausting! I am looking forward to a week of a more normal schedule.

Onstage at the Fox Theatre, I’m on the far right side, dancing and playing.

I made a few mistakes with overbooking lately. I don’t mean doublebooking, but taking on too many things. I took on a job next weekend with a group I enjoy playing with, but I think in retrospect I should have taken the weekend off. I’m missing a wine dinner and losing two weekend nights for it, and I’ve been feeling so run down that it would have been worth saying no. Nonetheless, I am doing it, and I’m sure it’ll be enjoyable and all of that, but I find myself falling into the old trap of “empty space on the calendar can be filled” and maybe that’s not the best way. I’ve taken on more students that I probably should have as well, but there aren’t any I’ve taken on that I wish I didn’t! It’s hard to find the right balance, and we are considering buying a new house as well so I feel like I need to be maximizing my income and savings.

How I’d like to spend my time

Anyway, I’ve got a couple lessons this morning and my usual Creative Ability Development class, and then two shows. Tomorrow is only ONE show and nothing else, what a glorious day of relaxation it will be! (I’m being serious too, I’m really looking forward to have a morning and evening off!)

Adulting Work

I read an article yesterday about all of the admin work that we need to do in our lives and how to cope with it. It is sometimes ridiculous how much there is to do outside of work: you’d think you’d have work and then free time, but it’s work, more work, paperwork for work, and then all of the household stuff, and then hardly any free time at all. Granted, I do too much of the “work” part, but the household stuff tends to expand to take up as much space as possible!

Nonetheless, I am mostly keeping my head above water. I’ve had a good first week of the shows, and I love the show I’m playing (Ain’t Too Proud, it is great!) and we start week 2 (the last week) tonight. I’ve been teaching otherwise, and even managed to watch the latest episode of Rings of Power last night. I haven’t done much outside of work, but I’m keeping up with everything…life will get more back to normal next week. I scheduled a grocery shopping delivery for tomorrow because I didn’t want to spend precious time grocery shopping when I could blog instead.

Me in the pit!

One of the nice parts of waking up really early is getting to see some beautiful sunrises. I don’t mind getting up early so much, but it’s been a little bit of burning the candle at both ends. There’s only a few more days of that and then I’ll be “back to normal” next week. I’m sure the cats will appreciate having me around more, as well as Louie.

Unfortunately, soon it will just be dark when I leave, and then also cold. But in the meantime I can appreciate the sun, and the lovely fall temperatures.

Sometimes during busy times, it’s easy to start looking forward too much, but I am trying to “live in the moment” and appreciate what I am doing. I forget sometimes how unusual it is to spend my life trying to teach people how to play the violin, what a weird thing to do! And to get paid to play the violin as well, and the viola, and get to experience two weeks of a Broadway Musical up close and personal. I got an email recently from my alma mater about a potential meetup reception in a few months, and my first thought was, ugh, I don’t want to meet up with all those symphony musicians because I am a failure compared to them. My second thought however, was, my career is more of an interesting thing that students should know about, because not everybody can get a job in an orchestra, and not everybody wants that, and perhaps a career path like mine would be interesting for young people to know about. And I shouldn’t feel bad! (I don’t, normally, I just imagined the event in my head briefly in a certain way.) As a high schooler, I didn’t know there were options like what I do, and there is a lot to know about how to run a freelance and teaching career like I do! (And things NOT to do, as well.) Then again, perhaps high school me would have run screaming 🙂

Popping in to say hello

I don’t have too much time to chat today, but just a quick hello. My first week fully back at work went well: hectic, but good. The new classes are going well, the new students are good, and the weather was better when it was a little cooler rather than today’s heat and humidity.

My mom asked me how I was feeling, post-surgery, and I said, pretty much back to normal, and she asked was that normal September, when I’m really tired? (I’m totally misquoting this conversation, sorry Mom). The answer is yes and no…I do feel like the early mornings are easier for me this year than last year: that’s probably a cumulation of having done the job already now for two years. But the next two weeks are crazy busy with the Fox show and all my teaching (I’m excited, but totally apprehensive), so I imagine I’ll be fairly tired.

Went for coffee the other day. This is my motto for the month, coffee!

On top of that I’m dealing with a little shoulder injury. It’s been bugging me since the late winter/early spring (not exactly sure, as something happened and then I assumed it would start feeling better over time and it did a bit but not really). In any case, I finally saw a doctor about that today and I am supposed to do some physical therapy for it. That will start in October. Exciting times, getting old, am I right? I’m fortunate to have good insurance, but I am using it a lot recently and feel like doctor’s appointments are happening entirely too often. Sigh.

Beignets!

We met a friend for brunch recently and ordered beignets, which I had actually never had. They were, of course, good. We are planning a trip to New Orleans over Thanksgiving Break, so we’ll try them again then. (Of course pastries covered in sugar are good. It’s a no-brainer.)

I’m off to more work! How was your weekend? Did anyone get to the balloon glow, local readers? What are you up to this week?