All posts by hannahviolin

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

Happy Boxing Day

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You guys! I’m officially on vacation. This is my second day off of the month, and I slept in (even though I think I woke up because of a knock at my door, but I didn’t answer.) I haven’t slept in in a long time—I actually slept till about 10 am which is frankly, outrageous. I have some house things to do today, and one violin thing to take care of, but basically I have a day ahead of me and not a whole lot to do, and I’m very excited.

I had a very nice Christmas Day. I played a Mass in the morning (I normally don’t work on Christmas Day, but since Louie was traveling anyway I thought it might be worthwhile), and then after a nap, went to my friend’s Amy and Ana’s and had a delicious dinner and good times hanging out with them and other friends.

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We opened a bunch of Christmas Crackers, so I tried on a few crowns. And I brought a nice plate of cookies.

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It was a really nice day! I’d been sick (with a cold) for a few days leading up to Christmas, so I was happy to have a low-key celebration.

Working backwards, the night before was Christmas Eve, which is traditionally a day on which musicians can make as much money in 1 days as they normally make in 4-6 days. I played two very nice Christmas Eve gigs which were the same as last year. If I played them again next year I’d be very happy. I know it sounds a little greedy, but for performing musicians, you have to push hard through the holiday season because there is a lot less to do in January. Teaching for me helps even my income out, but there’s still nothing like the month of December for gigs, usually!

Another fun thing I got to do was hang out with my friend April! I saw her on Christmas Eve Eve and we went to Rooster for brunch with her and her boyfriend, and then made cookies all afternoon. I progressively felt worse as the day went on and had to skip a party that evening I had been invited to and instead went to bed early, but it was so wonderful to see her. I definitely miss having as many close female friends as I used to!

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I made a fun Christmas Card Tree on a door. I sent out quite a lot of Christmas Cards, and hope to continue that tradition next year. I received a lot back and especially enjoyed seeing a few personal notes and Christmas Letters, along with some nice pictures and that sort of thing. In today’s digital age, there’s still something about an old-fashioned card, isn’t there?

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So I’m off to do a few things around the house (laundry, trash), make up a few tunes on the violin, do a workout, and read a cozy mystery or two…hope you aren’t having to work too hard today (and if you are, don’t be jealous, this is only my third day off since early November).

Food

Baking and Parlor Tour

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When I was younger I always heard the “grownups” talking about how fast December went by, and I didn’t understand them. Now I do!

There’s only a few days before Christmas, and I’m ready! I didn’t have much to buy, and mostly I’ve just been having fun baking some goodies to share with people. Louie and I have enjoyed a few holiday activities, in particular, the Lafayette Square Parlor Tour.

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It felt a little weird traipsing through other people’s houses taking pictures, but we got into the spirit of it quickly enough. This is definitely an event we would do again if I were free for it!IMG_0526

The homes varied from being reasonably sized and beautifully decorated to gigantic and beautifully decorated.

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The Lafayette Square neighborhood is filled with gorgeous houses, and it was really neat to see some of them on the inside. The tour was easy to follow and we spent about 4 hours visiting all the homes. There were lines at times, and we took a short break to use the bathroom and get free hot chocolate at a local business as well. There is a trolley you can ride and we did manage to hop on one time!

We went to see the Messiah at the Symphony earlier. I hadn’t been looking forward to it, since I’ve played the Messiah so many times, but I ended up really enjoying the performance! It was very well done (of course) and not too long (ha!). We also went to the see the 442’s Holiday Spectacular at the 560 Center and didn’t enjoy that as much. It was a little more religiously Christmas than we expected for a  “Holiday” show and not really my type of music. I went because some of my students were playing on a few tunes, and I was happy I went for that reason (and I ran into a few families of former students and one former student—former because they graduated, so always nice to catch up!). A little elevator music, a lot of praising god, and a bit of Prairie Home Companion feel—I know people love that show, and I really hate it! The audience really seemed to love the show however, so this is in no means a negative review, just a “not my type of thing but if you like that you’ll love it” type of review!

I’ve also been doing a good amount (probably too much) of holiday baking. I hadn’t really done much baking in a long time, so this is my return to it. I’ve been trying to figure out what I really do enjoy in life and do more of that…I’ve let work overwhelm me the past couple of years and I’m trying to regain some sense of personal life.

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A very delicious Cranberry Eggnog bread.

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Pomegranate, Sage, White Cheddar Cheese Ball.

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Cranberry Shortbread Cookies.

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Wait, that’s not a recipe!

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Holiday Sugar Cookie Brittle (I’m not sure this one turned out quite right).

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Ooh, and Cherry Almond Shortbread. The recipe only makes what you see here, but it was tasty. If I were only making one kind of cookie I’d double the recipe. Note to myself, flatten the cookies a bit before baking.

So that’s what I’ve been up to! How about you? Are you getting some vacation for the holidays? Doing any travel? Have you done any baking or are you still planning to?

Christmas

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

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I did it, you guys, I put up a tree!

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Look closely, if you think you only see one cat. There are two.

I put up my fake tree and pretty much right away Muriel started climbing up the middle of it. I left it undecorated for about a day, but nothing really bad happened, so I figured, what the heck, I’ll decorate the rest of it. I decided not to put out any breakable or exceptional ornaments so they couldn’t break anything that would upset me. It has been a hoot, I tell you, a hoot.

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I feel like everything is really festive right now! It’s actively snowing as I write, I have all sorts of decorations, I’m in the middle of writing/addressing Christmas Cards (if you want one, email me your address), and it’s just a good time. I’m brainstorming what kind of cookies to bake this year: I think I’ll make two kinds for Christmas, so I’m trying to settle on what those should be.  I’m thinking of doing jam-filled butter cookies and something chocolate-y. If you have alternate cookie suggestions let me know!

I am a little weird, as you know, and I realized that I’m not one of those musicians who hates Christmas music. I actually really enjoy it! I am not even playing as much of it this year as some years-last year I had a rehearsal for a gig that isn’t Christmas music, and one of my colleagues commented that she was relieved to play non-Christmas music for once, and it took me aback a little, because I love Christmas music. Now, I suppose maybe I’m forgetting things, or maybe I’m just hormonal, but that’s how I feel right now. I’ve only played one actual Christmas gig so far, so I’m certainly not overwhelmed by the music yet, and I always love this time of year!

I think another reason I’m feeling festive is that the end of the semester is so close, and this fall has been particularly hard. I finally got to have lunch with a friend I hadn’t been able to see for quite some time and it was really nice! I definitely haven’t been spending much time with friends and I miss it. I chat with my students and parents and colleagues, but it’s not the same when you’re on the clock, is it? I do value some of those relationships quite a lot too, and I know this time of our lives can be the busiest. All those people say that being busy for busy’s sake isn’t good, but what about just being busy because there is simply too much to do? This is why I’m happy to step back a little right now!

I’m looking forward to this weekend. Louie and I are going to see the Symphony play the Messiah (to a musician, this might sound insane, but Louie has never seen the Messiah that he can remember, and he thought it sounded like fun, and you know what, I probably haven’t seen it either!), and we are going to the Lafayette Square Tour of Homes on Sunday. I’ve also got a Viola Christmas event on Saturday organized by my friend Eliana, a student’s Senior Recital to attend, and a couple of gigs, one Christmas music, one not. It should be a good weekend!

Okay so in the comments, tell me your favorite holiday cookies/recipes! Email me if you want a holiday card Smile

Random thoughts

Almost December

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Another year is almost behind us all! I remember when I was a little kid it seemed like it took FOREVER to get through December, but I am certain the rest of this year will fly by for me. Since Thanksgiving fell early this year, it seems to me that this past week was a sort of “bonus week” in the holiday rush, and now we are getting down to brasstacks.

I was supposed to have three students today followed by a rehearsal, but I’ve had two cancel, so it’ll be one student, practice time, then a rehearsal. I find some of my college students get a bit overwhelmed at the end of the semester and can’t always make their lessons. I try to be strict, as it’s for credit, but also understanding, because I know how it is to be totally overwhelmed. It’s different if they are a music major or even a music minor—I feel like their lessons are more integral to their degree in those cases. I also try to be accommodating, and end up teaching some make up lessons during reading and finals week.

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I do plan to do some Christmas decorating this weekend. Last year I bought a few Nutcracker figurines in an after-Christmas sale, and I put them up on the mantel this week (I had stored them in a different place than my regular decorations). One of my students last night told me she thought they were creepy and felt like they were staring at her! I thought this one was particularly cute.

Random thoughts

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

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I thought I’d get a post up earlier, but I just haven’t had the time. I rarely sit down with my computer these days. I do most of my emailing even at my phone, or I do a quick email if I want to use a keyboard. But here we are!

Thanksgiving went by quickly. I had one actual day off, and my parents came up for a quick visit and to see Aladdin. I had double performances on all the other days around Thanksgiving, and this was the third week of the show, so I’d been pretty busy! I love playing these shows, but it’s 8 shows a week on top of my regular 45 ish student teaching schedule…life gets very busy. This was my last one this season, so the spring will be much less busy, though I always have extra gigs and such.

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Anyway! It ended up being a gorgeous day on Thanksgiving, so first my Mom and I made pies (apple crisp, pecan pie, pumpkin pie), then we went to Laumeier Sculpture Park to walk around. Louie’s mom was hosting us for Thanksgiving and we were grateful not to have too much to do.

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We found a large eyeball. Any giants missing one?

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We went and walked around Washington University as well. We thought of getting four bikes to rent, but didn’t have enough phones with the app on it to rent them (you needed one phone for each bike rental). Dad is the more experienced biker so he did the riding.

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It was good to see my parents, even for a short visit, so I’m glad they made it up. If we’d have the snow storm from the week before they might not have come! I didn’t take any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner, but it was delicious. Then I was back to work the next day, and finished the show on Sunday.

It’s nice that college teaching is winding down. The semester is an odd thing: you work really hard for like 15 weeks and then you have a month off, or more in the summer. I have a few students doing various performances but mostly people are simply winding down and focusing on their other classes and projects. Lessons are only 1 credit mostly, so it isn’t a huge commitment unless they are a performance major.

I’m hoping to put up my (fake)Christmas tree this weekend. I thought I’d put it up and see how the cats react, and then if things seem okay add the ornaments a little later? It’s been suggested to put only soft ornaments down low that they can be “naughty” with and think they are getting away with something. I don’t know how much cats think like that, but it’s probably a good idea either way.

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Louie and I have a few festive activities planned for December, including a few concerts, a house tour, and we are hoping to finally hit up the Garden Glow at the Botanical Gardens (we’ve never been) this season. I was thinking to myself that I didn’t have many gigs in December, but I added things up and I do have 12 different gigs in December, so that probably is enough!

How was your Thanksgiving? What holiday activities are you planning to do this December?

Deep Thoughts

Clara. Grandma. Mom.

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I always loved my grandmother’s name. I think it’s such a beautiful name, and you don’t hear it THAT often these days. (I’m thinking Dr. Who, Schumann…but do I know any other Claras in real life?)

My Grandma passed away October 30. I hadn’t seen her in over a year, at my uncle Sam’s funeral the summer before. I could say it’s because it is hard to get away and visit people, but I could have made more of an effort, I suppose. When I lived in Cleveland it was only about a 2 1/2 hour drive so I visited my relatives in the area more often, but since moving to St Louis, and then getting divorced, not having children, and feeling like I didn’t quite fit into my extended family…I guess I just didn’t visit quite as often.

My parents were there with her, and my aunts and uncles, and I know that she knew she was loved, and we knew that we were loved as well. One of my aunts shared that one of the last things Grandma said to her was “I love you all.” My heart especially goes out to all my aunts and uncles, and my parents, for their loss. They had her in their lives for so long and she will leave a large hole, but hopefully that hole is filled with love and all the memories.

I wrote this post on facebook, so I’ll share it here, along with a picture of my grandparents with me and the quilt that Grandma made me. I don’t use it, because of the pets…it’s too beautiful and they would destroy it!

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I think this was in 2006 or 2007?

Here’s her obituary.

I feel like some connection to the past has been broken, and that now I am suddenly older and my childhood is so much more in the past. Isn’t that weird? I am so lucky in that both my parents are still alive and healthy, and so of course I still have that connection, but I guess now that they are the oldest generation I feel like I am that much closer to being so…it has made me do some soul-searching and thinking about life, and what I want out of it.

I had a thought recently that I had been seeing my life as a linear path, and realized that all along I’d been making choices, just not quite as consciously as I realize I am now. I keep getting distracted by what other people want, what I think other people want, and what society wants, and not listening so much to what I want. Often I’m not even entirely sure what that is…do I want to lie around in bed and read, or do I want to go out and explore a state park, or see a concert or museum? I don’t want to work all the time, but I do enjoy the feeling of a job well done, and I enjoy earning and having the respect of my colleagues and my students. I guess soul-searching is always a good thing, isn’t it?

I will miss you, Grandma. Thanks for being so warm and loving to your grandchildren, and thanks for all the cookies. I will always carry a part of your legacy in my heart.