All posts by hannahviolin

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

Bach Double Performance

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Back in the beginning of April my sister Leslie and I performed a concert with the Presbyterian College Chamber Orchestra.  I never really told you guys about it, but I thought today would be a good day for it, because I think I’ve managed to get a bit of the recording online for you to listen to.  I apologize if it is clipped or doesn’t work 🙂

Bach Double 1st Movement

Bach Double 2nd Movement

Bach Double 3rd Movement

Encore: Prokofiev Sonata for Two Violins, 2nd Movement

Playing with orchestra is always a special thing, no matter what orchestra.  You get to stand up front and have all these people behind you backing you up.  It’s pretty awesome.  Also you get to dress up and wear a fancy gown, which is not something that one does ordinarily.

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We got to our hometown of Clinton, South Carolina on Sunday afternoon.  We had a rehearsal with the orchestra on Monday afternoon, a masterclass for some of the students on Tuesday morning, another rehearsal on Tuesday afternoon, and the performance on Tuesday night.  Leslie and I hadn’t played together in awhile, but we had been playing the Bach Double together since we were children, and we chose an encore that we had performed in the last decade.  I was most nervous about that, but after we rehearsed together on Sunday night we knew it would be fine.  Sometimes all that practicing pays off!  The orchestra was a group of college students, obviously, and they were well prepared and very nice.  The director, Richard Thomas was easy to work with and had attended the same college I did so we were able to bond over that.  (Little known fact:  most musicians attended the college I went to 😉  )

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Backstage for rehearsal!

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Leslie, practicing her arm out pose, really in preparation for her wedding photos.

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Warming up backstage in our dressing room.  We even had a couch and our own bathroom!  Just the one dressing room though 😉

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Backstage after a successful performance—me, Richard Thomas (conductor), and Leslie

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After the performance, with our very first violin teacher, Carol Roosevelt.  She was the person who originally taught us both the Bach Double Concerto.

Overall it was a lot of fun!  I hope to play with orchestra again soon.  I wish somebody had taken some pictures of us onstage with the orchestra, but I guess I didn’t ask anyone to do so!

Running

Two miles!

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I’m just going to throw this out there.  I need to stop taking pictures with my iPhone that I’m not immediately planning to text to someone, because honestly they are terrible.  But that’s a picture of me.  Last night, after running 2 entire miles without stopping.  I was sweaty and HAPPY.

You may say, what’s the big deal, haven’t you run half marathons and such?  Not lately.

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I haven’t run two miles without stopping in at least two months.  I’ve run in that time period, but not without stopping to stretch, or to hold my shoulder, or to struggle to breathe, or to struggle not to throw up, or all kinds of ridiculous stuff that I have been dealing with since probably the beginning of March.  In fact, March 1 was my last good run, according to this blog. (If you are new, you can read about my troubles here, here, here, here, and here.)

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(And I had Taco Bell for dinner on Saturday night.  I’m not going to lie.  I think it may have fueled my successful workouts. Mike may disagree, but I’m going with the assumption that he’s not reading this.)

All day Monday I knew I was going to run Monday night.  I didn’t know how well it would go, or how hard it would be, but I knew I was going out there.  I was going to run a 2.5 mile loop from my house (.5 mile warm up/cool down is how it usually works). Oh, and the weather had finally cooled down from the 90’s into the acceptable range, so I had that on my side.

About halfway through my run I just started GRINNING.  I took it easy, and was going pretty slow, I think.  I didn’t wear my watch.  I just ran and tried to stay relaxed with good form.  I ran down a hill, up a hill, turned around, and ran back.  I think I could have kept going, but I didn’t want to push it, and I had run exactly as far as I planned.  It was AWESOME.

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(No, I didn’t get a medal for my 2 mile run.  But it felt like as much of a success.)

I got home and texted the good news to a few people.  Mike was pleased for me and said it wouldn’t be that hard to get back to where I was.  (He did not make his joke about how where I was was still slower than walking…sometimes he is actually kind and positive…I think he just picks up on my sarcasm when I’m around.)

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Last but not least.  After yesterday’s post “Concerning Blogging” I got a lot of comments (So exciting!!  Keep it up readers!!).  I get email notifications of comments and every time I read “Concerning Blogging” I thought of “Concerning Hobbits” from Lord of the Rings (of course, my title inspiration) and would start singing or whistling the music.  This is kind of a problem, as the music from LOTR is a pretty constant earworm ANYWAY.  Chris gets angry sometimes because I’ll be singing it, and he doesn’t understand why.  (I don’t fully understand either, though yesterday was logical…I guess I’ve just seen the movies and listened to the soundtracks too many times…)

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Postscript:  this is the week of getting back into shape.  I’ve felt out of sorts without my 6 workouts a week…and I feel weak.  I don’t like either of those feelings, so I’m declaring this week the RETURN TO THE GYM and we’ll see how it goes.  Let’s hope my body can handle it.  Remember, May 19 is fast approaching—Benton Park 80’s 5k time!!  I’m not going to go two days without a workout again for awhile.  I don’t like that.

Deep Thoughts

Concerning Blogging

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Edited to add:  Just found out my wedding was blogged about on another blog called "Time to Drink Champagne".

Blogging is a funny thing.  I started blogging many years ago, because I like to write, and I like to write about myself, and I don’t mind people reading it (to an extent).  I blogged on a variety of platforms, and finally have ended up here.  Who knows where this will take me, but the past couple years of blogging have been fun, and I’ve met some neat people through it.

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I read a lot of blogs as well, and my favorite bloggers are the ones who share quite a bit of their lives and seem to do it in an authentic and real manner.  But which blogs are my favorite changes over time.  Sometimes it’s because a blogger seems to have "sold out" and is only writing about stuff to increase page views. Other times it’s because a blogger is still writing about her life but I no longer have enough in common to care.  As a blogger myself, I struggle with what to write, how much to share (particularly about other people in my life), and how not to be that interested in how many people are reading my blog.

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That’s the thing, though.  I really do want people to read my blog.  I love writing it, I love my life, I love writing about my life, I love attention, ergo, of course I want people to read my blog.  That being said, I don’t really want them to talk to me about my blog…that makes me feel uncomfortable.  A simple acknowledgement is fine, or an email, tweet, something NOT in person, about myblog, but when a friend, or worse, acquaintance, says, oh I really enjoyed your blog post the other day and then wants to discuss it further…sometimes that makes me want to crawl under a rock.  I mean, after all, isn’t blogging about myself one of the most overindulgent, selfish activities possible?  Let’s just talk about ME.  I may love doing it, but it doesn’t mean I don’t still have a little shame.  Hence the rock crawling. 

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I do try to be fairly authentic in my writing.  I can assure you that the dry sense of humor (oh, yes, much of what I say is sarcastic) is truly ME and that I possess as much of that in real life as I do on the blog, if not more.  But there is definitely some hyperbole, exaggeration, understatement, overstatement, and naturally I do not tell you everything that I do in life.  That would be just crazy.  Chris gets annoyed enough at me for what I say about him, and I get enough phone calls from my mother concerned about this or that…of course I censor.  You have to. 

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Here’s a little confession, though, readers.  I do care who reads this.  I like to know who is reading it…to an extent.  And I secretly (no longer secret) want more people to comment on my blog!  So, if you are reading…take a minute…leave a comment HERE on the blog…and tell me what you think.  How ridiculous am I that I write about myself and my life and expect people to be entertained by me?  Or alternately, what do you think about blogging?  Or HI, INTRODUCE YOURSELF IF YOU HAVEN’T BEFORE.

(note:  I wanted to break up the writing so I inserted pictures of me drinking on our honeymoon in between the paragraphs.  Related?  Yes and no.)

Deep Thoughts, Weather, Weddings

Sometimes it’s really hard to think of a title—in a nutshell, I was really sweaty, watched Downton Abbey, and Men are Different, as I always say.

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It must be July already or something, because this weather is out of control.  We’re talking about 90 degrees, at the beginning of May!  Yesterday we played an outdoor wedding at the Botanical Gardens.  I wore my summer wedding black dress (had to dig that out of storage) and I believe within five minutes I had completely sweated through it.  It was like working out but without the working out part, just the sweating part.  Or like Bikram Yoga without the poses, and instead of yoga then you had to play the violin.

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Actually this is a really good picture of Chris.  Maybe I should make him stop smiling for photos and just make that smoldering look at the camera instead.

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Upon closer inspection, it might just be a look of disgust towards me taking a picture.  Oh and apparently some of the guys are growing out beards for the Indy 500 on Memorial Day.  Every time I think I start to understand men I hear something like that…and just think:  Men are different. (original post here)

This morning I went to a spin class with Vanessa.  This was HUGE because I haven’t worked out since getting sick, and honestly, before that with the shoulder problems…let’s just say it’s been awhile.  I thought a spin class would be perfect since if I were getting overwhelmed or having shoulder issues it would be easy enough to sand bag.  It was AWESOME.  I made Vanessa take a picture of me afterwards, but that didn’t work so well.  This is actually the best one.

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My eyes may be shut but I think you can appreciate how tired and sweaty I look, right?  You might ask, why would you post this picture?  Well, it’s the best I’ve got, and if I don’t post a picture of myself in workout clothes, how will you know I worked out? 

Anyway, the class was great.  I am halfway tempted to push my luck and go for a run as well today…but I’ll probably just finish up this blog post and watch Downton Abbey instead.  (Oh yes, I started on Thursday, watched all of Season 1 and two episodes of Season 2…and then a bunch more last night, and now I’m ready to finish Season 2.  SO GOOD WHY DID I RESIST WATCHING THIS BEFORE????)

I recently started using Instagram on my phone.  I presume it is just to put up pictures of my cat?  Does anybody think it’s weird when you have a friend and then after being friends for awhile you learn they have a pet…and you didn’t know.  What I’m asking is:  What is truly the purpose of social media and camera phones if NOT to take and post pictures of your pets online at all times?  Or what I’m really asking: Do I talk about the fatness too much?

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That’s the fatness, instagrammed.  Doesn’t she look more old-timey and authentic now?

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She is on my legs as I’m stretched out on the couch watching Downton Abbey…love it.  Also I think my legs went numb.

If you think I talk about my cat or post too many pictures of her, please don’t tell me.  I won’t change my behavior, and then I’ll just be awkward around you.

And I’m being a good blogger today.  A variety of pictures, one from Instagram, check!  Self-portrait to prove I worked out, check!  References to popular culture, check!  And links to old blog posts, check!

Self fist bump for the win!

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(If you don’t follow me on twitter, you should.  If you don’t have a twitter, you really should!)

Random thoughts

It’s a mad, mad, (oatmeal) world

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Okay, I know you’ve all been missing my oatmeal reports. (Original posts here and here.)  I’m going to be brutally honest, readers.  While I’ve been eating my oatmeal like a good little girl every morning, I haven’t been photographing it as much.  That should change, as now I’m going to be out of oatmeal pictures and I’ll need more (MORE, MOOOOOORE) for this occasional feature.  I am going to get back into the habit of photographing my oatmeal, for YOU.  That’s how much you all mean to me.  *wipes tear from eyes*

Since I got a new phone (it’s an iPhone, you’re welcome, now I’m cooler than most people), I’ve been using my pink camera less, and I hadn’t actually uploaded pictures from it in a couple weeks.  I’d forgotten how many photos I had on it!  (And I need to use it more, because it’s better than my phone camera, I do believe.)

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For instance, this gem of a conversation between my friend Sarah and I.  Since then she’s ALSO gotten an iPhone, and would you believe that means the conversation bubbles are now blue?  These are things that I’ve learned in the last few weeks…I am now part of the cool kids club and I couldn’t be happier about it.  Well, I couldn’t be happier about the fact that my phone actually WORKS properly now and doesn’t freeze up all the time.

But I digress.  So what have I been trying with my morning oatmeal?  Well, nothing new.  Except one day I took oatmeal TO GO because I met a friend for breakfast and didn’t get my oatmeal fix.  Also I needed to pack a lunch and didn’t have much on hand.  It worked.

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Oatmeal in the car!  It was an AWESOME lunch.  The blackberries were ripe and plump, the oatmeal so…oaty.  I believe that’s some peanut butter, and I put the whole thing together with some protein powder and water.

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You can tell this one is yogurt based.  I love the ones with yogurt best but I try to mix it up.

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Yummy to that large amount of peanut butter.  And this is obviously steel ground oats.  They are growing on me.

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I am drooling looking at that delicious blackberry juice…yummy!

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Last but not least.  Or maybe least.  I hate to judge.

So, any suggestions, readers?  How can I make my oatmeal even better and take it to the next level?  I’ll confess that sometimes I add peanut butter, other times I add a touch of dark chocolate dreams, white chocolate wonderful, or cookie butter, none of which are QUITE as healthy, but I try not to do that every day, and I limit it to a little bit.  The blackberries have been on sale lately but I’d love to start eating more blueberries again…that would be a lovely change.

I’m also going to make a small confession.  The other night I was just too tired to put together my overnight oats.  TOO TIRED.  In fact this has happened more than once.  One time I made regular hot oatmeal (on the stove, I’ve mentioned the whole “no microwave” thing) and the other time I made “30 minutes oats” where I soaked the oats in water for about 30 minutes.  It didn’t taste quite as good as the “overnight” versus (had enough of the “quotations” yet?) but was absolutely edible.

Random thoughts

Sick Days

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Ugh.  I detest being sick.  It’s just a bad cold, nothing serious (why yes, I am a doctor) but it doesn’t feel good right now.  It’s made worse by the fact that the weather is awesome outside, really nice and warm, even hot.  Also by the fact that Saturday is the recital for my students at the school and I don’t want to cancel them, so I’ve been cancelling everything except the recital students, basically, and trying to soldier through.  Today is going to be very tough, but I think if I can drive there, I can teach.

One of the things I’ve been doing with my sick time, other than lying on the couch watching loads of television, is thinking about what I’m going to do when I get better.  I’m under the assumption that I’ll be better by the weekend so I’ve been making plans with friends to go out to dinner, go to concerts, go to spin classes, that sort of thing.  But then I started dreaming bigger—what about running the Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon on July 22?  I could combine it with a visit to Karen, or Chris had mentioned wanting to visit some friends in Chicago as well.  Then again, who runs a race in Chicago in July, it could be awful…but the race starts at 6:30 am so it’ll be cooler…but there’s a 6:30 in the am too??  This is all random thoughts from a woman who hasn’t run in over a week, can’t remember the last time.  But that will change as soon as I’m over this cold.  It would mean I’d have something to train for right away and get me out the door.  What do you think, Chris and Karen (Karen, another person I owe a phone call to…it’s hard to talk on the phone when you can’t breathe)?

Good news:  my shoulder is definitely feeling better.  I think it also helps being sick because I’m using it less AND because I have to sleep on my back for breathing purposes so I’m not sleeping on it as I had been.  It’s not 100 percent, no, but it has improved so much in the past few days.  I’m feeling really good about it.  I’m going to keep resting it and not do any practicing until I have to, and take at least another week off before trying anything, but I’m feeling much more optimistic about it.

We are also moving in July, and possibly visiting Boulder/Aspen, Colorado, so I don’t know how much we can fit in.  It will depend on where we are moving to (in town, not far, just something bigger, and we had a good lead but it might not work out after all so we need to keep looking) and when exactly. 

Yeah, super interesting I know.  Just some random sick day thoughts.  Like I said, I’d rather just stay on the couch all day but I’m heading out to teach a few kids to get them ready for the recital and then cutting out early to hit the couch again.  Not sure about tomorrow yet…I’m tempted to just cancel everything right now but it’s possible I’ll make a turn for the better by evening (please, please, please)…

Oh, and it’s been four months since our wedding.  Happy "four month anniversary" Chris :)  I looked on the internets and we have now beaten Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesnee.

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Right after we got married…I just noticed that Chris’s foot is more off the ground while walking than mine are RUNNING in most race photos!

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Last month on the second Chris got annoyed when I mentioned it was our three month anniversary so I didn’t mention it in person today 😉