All posts by hannahviolin

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

Wedding planning is a full time job

2 Comments

Until I started planning my own wedding, I had no idea what was involved.  Just absolutely no idea.  The amount of time you have to put into this thing is ridiculous!

I’m in the wedding business myself (I have a string quartet that plays music for weddings) but I am learning so much.

Things I’ve learned so far:

1) We brides get very impatient.  Grooms too.  Chris once got annoyed that a vendor hadn’t responded to him after a day.  Over the weekend.  In May.  I convinced him to calm down, because I figured the vendor was busy with actually doing a wedding that day and would likely respond early the following week.  Heaven forbid anybody get a day off.

2)  Everything costs more than you think.  Food.  Venues.  Photographers.  And things on your registry.  At one time there was a $109 gravy boat on my registry.  And I thought I could have a wedding for $10,000. (Yet people are still hesitant to spend $150 on a violinist…)

3)  It’s hard to think about anything other than my wedding.  Which is still six months away.  Almost every conversation I have with somebody ends up being about my wedding.  I used to find this incredibly annoying when other people did it…so I must assume everybody now finds ME incredibly annoying.  Sorry friends!  🙁

The good part is that I have a full time job!  Granted, it doesn’t provide a salary, but it does keep me busy, and there is free cake involved (later today in fact.) 

What we’ve done this week:

Finished the wedding website

Sent out save the dates

Started on our invitations

Met with a florist

Made other appointments with florists

Made cake appointments

Finished our wedding registry

Made appointments to shop for my dress

Made appointment to check out the hotel suite again

Signed deal with hotel for guest rates

That’s a lot, I think!  Not to mention I also got a haircut and discussed hair and makeup options and timelines with my hairdresser.  And did some planning with Leslie too.

See what I’ve done?  I’ve made a whole blog post about my wedding.  The thing is that Chris is going to a festival soon and we need to get as much done together as possible before he leaves.  He is very involved in the planning (equally with me) which surprises vendors, but it’s just the way we are doing things.

funny-pictures-cat-is-ready-to-object-to-your-marriage

Teaching

More thoughts on Ottawa Institute

2 Comments

I’ve been home for 5 days now so my thoughts are starting to come together in some semblance of organization. 

Remember:  I teach children to play the violin using the Suzuki Method, which is a way of teaching that mimics the way children learn language.  They start by hearing the language, and then repeating it early and often.  Once they learn one word, they add onto that.  Throughout the learning process, the parent is loving and supportive.  Most importantly, it is assumed that the child will learn the language.  No one ever asks:  is my child talented enough to learn to speak English?

Suzuki Institute is a place where parents, teachers, students come together to learn in an intense environment for (usually) one week.  I went to the Ottawa Mid-Southwest Suzuki Institute in Ottawa, Kansas.  I took a course for teachers of the method (there are 10 volumes, I took volume 5) that was taught by Susan Kempter, who I greatly admire.  I have already taken all 10 volumes (it’s not a certification process but a registration process) but I really wanted to take another class with Susan.  Last summer I took volume 4 with her, this year she was teaching volume 5.

IMG_0170

I learned two main things: 

1)  I already know how to teach well.  I just need to stay focused and organized.  My biggest faults are talking too much and losing track of the goal.  If I stay on top of those things, I will really shine.

2)  I really want to take Teacher training in Volume 1 again next summer.  It’s been too long.

I learned thousands of other tiny things, but those are the biggest things. 

Remember that a child is learning from the second they are born.  What is it you want them to learn? 

If you teach your children, you can change the world.

Okay, so, if you decide to attend Institute, what should you bring?  This is for me, so I remember everything next year, or for you if I’ve inspired you to attend Ottawa!

Hand soap for the bathroom

Trash bags for the room

Travel coffee mug

Water bottle

Twin sheets/blankets/pillow

Towels, including hand towel

Jackets/coverups for the over-air-conditioned rooms

3-hole punch

Healthy snacks that don’t require refrigeration

Binder, notebook, folder, Suzuki books, pencils

An open mind

Humility and kindness

LOVE

Random thoughts

Save the dates

Leave a comment

I almost decided to spoil the save the date card, but I’m waiting.  I picked them up today at the shop, and mailed them out.  I took some great pictures of them that I will share in a few days after I know that most folks have gotten theirs in the mail (local folks will get them tomorrow!).  I love them so much!  I would marry them, yes.

IMG_0205

What is this?  It was next to the parking lot of the shop.

IMG_0206

They misspelled my name.

By the way, I am not on speaking terms with Mike right now (Mike, if you are reading this, I’m very mad at you) because I can barely walk, stand, or sit today.  I definitely didn’t go for a run this morning.  I may not be able to tomorrow either.

Gotta go though, friends are coming over to test drive the grill before our 4th of July BBQ!  Hope you are having a great Wednesday—I know I am!

*jumps up and down in excitement over paper products*

Running

Sore legs

Leave a comment

My legs are very sore.  Probably because I had my first workout in over a week.  Darned squats and lunges are going to be the death of me.  Mike thought I seemed nicer than usual.  I think that’s the influence of Suzuki Institute!

IMG_0118

(See how happy we are?!)

We’ll see how long the Suzuki Camp influence stays with me…

Chris has been trying to run a bit, and we went for a run after I got home from work this evening.  It was fun!  He’s been trying to overcome his shin splint issues.  Hopefully he will get the running bug and start doing all kinds of races.  Perhaps someday we will finish a marathon hand in hand.

Today we went back to Bed Bath and Beyond to finish up our registry there, and finally got our hands on one of those scanner thingies.  It actually wasn’t as fun as it seemed like it should have been.  We are also registering at Crate and Barrel, and we aren’t quite done there.

Other wedding planning today:  finalizing the hotel rate block, setting up appointments for trying on wedding dresses and visiting florists.  Next week will be wedding dress week!  I also had a major freak out involving flowers and centerpieces and candles involving me yelling at Chris how I did not want to spend my wedding day putting together centerpieces. 

Here’s some stuff I like, though of course I’d want purple or silver rather than red (white is fine) and I don’t want a million things in the middle of the table, more like 1 to 3 things. 

wedding-ideas-include-floating-candles-800x800center42 mwa103424_wi08_candles_xl

tablecandles1 Wedding-Centerpieces

Tomorrow we are testing out the new grill (Chris bought a new grill a few days ago and we are using it for the 4th of July party) and I am picking up the save the date cards and MAILING THEM OUT!  I am so excited to get them, and then in a few days I can show you all what they look like (after my guests receive them.)

tumblr_ll9q31dWtU1qk9s72o1_500

Good night!

Running

Back to the gym

4 Comments

Tomorrow I have my first appointment with my trainer, Mike, since BEFORE Suzuki Institute.  As in, I haven’t lifted a weight (or a finger?) or squatted (except if I was picking something up) for almost 10 days.  I’m a WEE bit nervous that I will be awfully sore.  But it’s also possible I’ll be extremely well rested and awesome.  I have run about 20 miles since this so I’m still in some sort of shape.  Plus I ate a lot of fudge and bon-bons.

IMG_0161

(That’s a bunch of containers of bon-bons)

(And no, fudge and bon-bons will be unlikely to help me exercise better.  In case you were running out to get some to help.)

Monday recap:

This morning Jen and I were going to go for a run around Forest Park.  Our usual weekend long run had been postponed due to gigs.

image

I woke up around 7:00 am to the sound of a really intense thunderstorm.  Another long run FOILED by our ridiculous spring weather.

So I slept for another…well…two hours.

Then it was OFF to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to work on the wedding registry!  Chris and I were looking forward to getting our hands on that scanner gun.  But NO!  FOILED by the ridiculous spring weather again, as the computer systems were down.  NOOOOOOO!

Instead the “registry consultant” had to do everything by hand.  She was wonderfully helpful, and we put lots of things on our registry that I just truly can’t really believe the price of.  I seriously feel like a completely greedy pig.  But I suppose it is what you are supposed to do, and is socially acceptable?  Did anyone else feel horribly guilty doing their registry?  Is that just me?

I taught three students (so tired!) and then managed to run 5 miles by my lonesome rather than with Jen.  Way less fun.  Once you get used to running while chitchatting with a friend it’s hard to run alone.  Though I enjoyed some Car Talk.  I’ve also been working on the wedding website so it’s all set to go when people receive their Save the dates.  It’s looking good!

Grand Ideas

10 in 100

2 Comments

I had my own "retreat" this past week at Suzuki Institute, so I hadn’t worried much about the Virtual Summer Retreat.  However, last night I was just relaxing and unwinding and I figured I’d better see what was going on!

The most recent assignment:

creating a list of self-improvement/work goals may come naturally to many of us, but what about . . . the rest of life? 100 days from today is october 1, 2011 [in my mind, the real beginning of fall]. can you think of 10 enjoyable/fun things you would like to accomplish between now and then? 

Hmm…10 fun things…some of these are already planned but nonetheless haven’t happened yet so still count as they are going to be enjoyable.  And I believe I get until October 4 as I am a few days behind here.

1.  Go to Chicago and visit Karen.

2.  Have a 4th of July BBQ at my house.

3.  Go shopping with my sisters Leslie and Carrie.

4.  Wedding cake tasting with Chris.

5.  See the new Harry Potter movie.

6.  Visit the St Louis Zoo.

7.  Visit MOBOT, not while playing a wedding.  The extreme tree houses exhibit looks very interesting.

8.  Run a half-marathon, and PR.

9.  Attend another blogger meet up of sorts.

10.  Go to another festival of sorts.  Lots of options, I’m sure.

Okay, that’s the plan.  Can I do it?  Some of those activities are definitely already in my calendar, and others…well I will have to make time!