All posts by hannahviolin

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

Coffee Day

Funny how quickly I lose my good attitude.  I was ready to teach…and then I just didn’t have enough patience today.  The kids were annoying me to NO end.  I ended up giving them a variety of lectures (different lectures for different groups/kids) involving a) not talking while I am talking and how RUDE that is b) how I want them to have good posture or c) how hard I am working for them to refer to notes by NAME and not “1” or “3”.  I was also tired…so I was happy to have a chance to grab some coffee…

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I ordered a “red-eye” which is coffee with a shot of espresso (naughty, I know!) and when I got up to the window the barista asked if I would like another shot for free.  Evidently the machines only make two shots at a time, so they have an extra on occasion (when it’s not going to be used for the next order, for instance) and he said if the person seems nice enough when they aren’t too busy, they ask.  I briefly thought about it (would it make me shaky?) and said, YES.  I have a serious caffeine problem.

I made it through the day though, and then my home students were delightful.  I have two new adult students (off the waiting list, yay!) late on Monday and I was a little concerned, but they are both going to be easy to teach and interact with.  I love it when I am comfortable with students and can just enjoy giving a lesson.  Plus there just aren’t THAT many school Mondays left (less than 8) until summer…believe it or not.

 

It’s really my own fault I was tired today because I overbooked myself yesterday.  The day was to end with a viewing of Lord of the Rings with friends to prepare for the upcoming “live” performance, but that started late because dinner ran about an hour late (went to Market Pub House in the Loop with Joe and Michelle…the food was fine, but the service was super slow.  I guess they were busier than anticipated).  Before than I had plans to go to the Art Museum with Melissa, but evidently doing that on the nicest day all year means that everybody and their mother PLUS their entire family was in Forest Park and there just wasn’t anywhere remotely close to the Art Museum to park.  We were planning to attend the special exhibit about the Mayans (I actually haven’t been at all yet, so special exhibit or not, it was a good idea), but after looking for a place to park, we decided getting coffee would be a nicer way to spend the afternoon.  We ended up at Benton Park Café, where I had been before.  It’s a very cute little place.  In any case, we’ll have to return on a weekday perhaps to try the exhibit.  Or on a hot and humid or rainy day.

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from the Benton Park Café website

Tomorrow I will be more rested and will have less need for coffee.  I have two days off from teaching, so hopefully by Thursday my patience will have returned (ha!), and perhaps I’ll have even scheduled a haircut by then.

There are two events the next two days that interest me, and lucky for me I am on quasi-spring break or I would not be able to go to either of them:

Tuesday, March 22 at 7:30 pm:  Recital: Will James, percussion and Peter Henderson, piano.  Will is principal percussion of the SLSO and a friend of mine.  Both he and Peter are fantastic musicians.

Wednesday, March 23 at 4 pm:  Rebecca Skloot gives a lecture at Washington University.  Awesome!

Oh, yes, lots of culture coming up!  (to make up for my failed Art Museum attempt…and in case being a full time musician wasn’t enough culture.)

Random thoughts

Beautiful Day!

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I can’t believe that one week ago it was was snowing, and today it is going to be almost 80 degrees. My legs are still tired from Saturday’s run (and yesterday I was RAVENOUS…hint to those reading: training for a half marathon and losing weight doesn’t actually work very well) and I’m tired from staying up too late to finish Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring last night (research for upcoming concert.) Oh well, another week is here and spring has sprung! I’ve got a full day of teaching ahead of me, and I’m looking forward to it.

Running

Weekend Update

Do you like my titles?  It’s hard thinking of good titles.

Friday night some friends came over for drinks, snacks, and *evidently* video game playing.

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What?  Company? (She spent much of the day on this chair)

We had wine, cheese, and veggies with hummus dip.  Then the boys got tired of chitchat and decided to bust out the Wii and play some games.

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Note the concentration in their faces!

 

I wanted to let you know about a few things that I am super excited about that are coming up soon:

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Yes, that’s the movie with the orchestra playing the music.  I can’t wait!  It’s the event of the year!!

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It’s not till June, but this could be amazing!  I say could, because while I was super excited about it, I reread the description and see that the symphony is NOT playing…so that means it is simply a sing along movie?  I suppose still fun though…

Other upcoming events: 

March 26:  Chamber Project St Louis plays at the Chapel, and if I’m not too exhausted from that morning’s race I plan to attend. 

April 2:  St Louis Ballet:  Tribute to New York.  This is the company affiliated with the ballet school where I teach violin, and I’m finally able to see them perform.

Then…April 10:  The half-marathon I‘ve been training for:  Go! St Louis.  I can’t wait to run the streets of St. Louis with a ton of other people.  After that I think I will tone it down a bit on distance and work towards improving my speed (over the summer, as it will be rather hot) by the time the fall “season” rolls around. I would love for the St Patrick’s Day 10 minute miles to be an easy mile by then.

What are you looking forward to most in the next month or so? (I know people are reading this—don’t be shy, come out and comment!)

Running

Almost spring…

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Flowers on the tree!  There was a row of trees like this in the park. 

So, I am officially a “hard-core” runner (shout-out to Jen for the phrase)—about 5 miles in today, a bird pooped on me.  It hit my forehead and my sunglasses.  I had to stop and clean it off (by wiping it on my jacket and using a bit of my water to rinse…) and I debated heading home but decided to be hard core and continue my run. 

Has this happened to anyone before?  I don’t think I’ve ever been pooped on by a bird…by a younger sister, well that’s a different story.

Food, Random thoughts, Running

Friday news round-up

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TGIF!  What a crabby week I had.  But now it’s Friday night and I’m excited to hang out with friends and relax.

I had a workout with Mike today where I only cried once…well, by cried, I mean got super whiny because one of the moves he wanted me to do really hurt my wrist, and then the modification hurt my hand.  I didn’t run after because I am saving up for tomorrow’s scheduled 11 mile run and my right knee was feeling less than great.  Weather looks good for tomorrow. 

Then it was onto Whole Foods to get a few supplies for tonight—some cheese, wine, and veggies.  I’m going to be hanging out with some friends.  I made a fabulous dinner of Artichoke and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken (I used this recipe’s filling and this recipe for baking), Goat Cheese Grits, and canned green beans.  Sometimes a nice canned vegetable really hits the spot. (It’s an old family recipe.)

I have earned my upcoming weekend.  Tomorrow:  nothing.  Sunday:  a bunch of different FUN activities.  Next week is a semi-spring break (i.e. THREE of my schools go on breaks) so I get two additional evenings free and one morning free. 

Oh, and a review of Winter Opera’s recent performance was published online. 

Okay, I’m off to finish my prep for the evening.  Have a fabulous Friday!

Random thoughts

Funny searches

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I love blog visitors.   So, if you are reading this, THANK YOU and please tell your friends.

I am able to see what it is that people search for that brings them to my blog.  I don’t have any fancy way to track statistics, just the ones that come standard with a word press blog.   (Blog).

Some of the searches are pretty obvious, such as:

Hannah violin

violin teacher

hannahviolin.com (why not just type that into the address bar and see what happens?)

hannahviolin banana bread

Then there are the people searching for my friends: 

Jen Gartley

Asako Kuboki violin

Valentina Takova cello

or sort of searching for my friends:

Gina Galati violist

Or famous people I’ve mentioned:

Mark O’Connor

Andre Watts

Leila Josefowicz

But then it starts to get more interesting, and I hope the people found my blog helpful:

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Suzuki group class ideas

rock n roll marathon tech shirt

spassfest

bacon bread

race to cure lymphoma

Washington Missouri catholic church

nachi cocum pictures (ah, I miss nachi cocum!)

Isabel Wilkerson

pancake wrist

You get the idea.  People probably find my blog helpful on occasion, right?  But then there are the funny search topics:

Colorado Christmas ornaments

rock and roll bathrooms

stage deli cheesecake

wedding church in front view

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“Louis symphony”

what classification apple kuchen butter cake belong

strawberry shake the cheesecake factory

aught two 2002

what is word for recital pieces

salads for thanksgiving sooner

weightlifting Christmas ornaments

cat cutie sad

is there 6 more weeks of winter febuary 2nd 2011

code of pork with polenta

pf chang half marathon – I had to run for 30 minutes to reach the start line!

If you have a blog, what funny search terms have people used?  Also, does anybody have a better way to track my visitors to suggest?  Lastly, what is “code of pork”?