Over the weekend my sister Leslie and my niece Athena visited. We did all kinds of  fun stuff including the Zoo and Grant’s Farm. I took so many pictures because Athena is adorable. I felt a little overwhelmed thinking about writing about the visit, but then I realized, whatever, 1) nobody reads here anyway and 2) I can write just a little bit and that’s okay.

It was a fun weekend, though not without stresses. The dog, Mackenzie, had another allergic reaction so we had to take her on an emergency run to the vet. The good news is that she has been diagnosed with Follicular Mucinosis, which is why she’s been losing hair. As far as her red skin/itchiness, that’s mostly because of her allergies. Also she definitely has a thyroid problem, which we are treating. Since she’s gotten the diagnosis, there is also a treatment plan, which we are starting tomorrow. So hopefully she will improve and grow her hair back and be more comfortable. But we were dealing with some of that during the visit! It was also REALLY hot outside, which meant that doing outdoor activities was harder than it needed to be.

At the airport.

Going for a walk. I’m not sure if I was walking funny on purpose or if that’s just how I walk?

I had to go to a meeting one morning so Leslie took Athena to a nearby park. We have one park about 2 blocks away, but this one with the giant lady bug was a little further.

I tried to teach her the violin. As one does.

She was giving me a little side eye. Probably because I was singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star while holding her arms.

She quickly learned that dogs will follow your directions more if you are holding part of a granola bar.

Athena really loved the dogs (except for the short period of time Mackenzie was wearing a cone. It was a dark time and luckily it quickly passed. Not quick enough, probably, but the vet had been worried she’d rip her stitches—from the biopsy, from which the vet diagnosed her disease. Sigh.)

This fountain was a lot of fun too.

I love elephants! More of them kept coming over to hang out.

At Grant’s Farm you can buy bottles of goat’s milk to feed the goats. They love it!

And there are camels.

And you can feed the parakeets too.

Unlike in May, this time Athena loved the carousel and requested to go twice.

Some of enjoyed free beers while others looked at pictures on their phone.

It was wonderful to have Leslie and Athena visit. Tomorrow I’m off to my workshop at Indiana University about violin pedagogy. Before that, 3 more students, then basically a week off. Except for all the classes every day!

As you all know, I’ve been doing a lot of playing (violin) lately.  Wednesday night before the opera started I realized that there was something wrong with my right shoulder…kind of the same wrong that there was approximately a year ago.  By Thursday morning I knew it was the same thing, so unlike last year, when I ignored it for awhile until it got REALLY bad, I decided to go ahead and start with the rest and ice.  Of course, I’ve got to finish this opera and today I have a lot of weddings, but other than that (ha!) I’m not making the exact same mistakes. 

I still haven’t gone to the doctor.  I know some people will recommend that, but I have the exact same hesitations as before.  You know, stubborn and convinced I know what is best for me, plus cheap, and presuming aside from surgery there is nothing that can really be done beyond rest and ice.  And as Mike put in, as much ibuprofen as I can stomach.  (He qualified that statement by saying, I’m not a doctor so don’t necessarily take my advice.)

But I’m not letting it get me down. I’ve been down enough since mid-to-late-February, and a little forced respite isn’t going to bother me. There’s some other big news that’s happening (I am going to be one of those annoying bloggers who hints at things they can’t say, but I can’t say right now, not for a month) that will mean some changes (job-wise, no, I’m not pregnant, because I re-read and saw that if you were obsessed with whether or not I were having a baby you would assume I meant that).  It’s the fun of being a freelancer!  Every once in awhile you get to reinvent yourself.  Downside: every once in awhile you HAVE to reinvent yourself.

I still love my Grand Adventure post from two years ago. I wrote that right after we were really really hopeful about a job opportunity for Chris, and it just didn’t happen the way we wanted. We’re still alive, and doors keep opening and shutting in front of us. Opening just enough for us to see through, and then shutting as soon as we are about to go through them…

I realized that I’ve been a pretty light blogger in terms of posts lately.  Maybe you are okay with that—maybe it’s better if I don’t blog as often.  But honestly, I’ve just been sick, and thanks to a suggestion on my post the other day (Hi Dad!) I’ve decided not to sweat the small stuff and PRIORITIZE. 

That means I only care about the audition.  The rest of the stuff, whatever.  No offense Opera or CPSTL, but you’ll be fine.  Other things I’ve learned in the past two days:  taking about a week off practicing is evidently just not that big of a deal.  (Not good things to know, and any students reading this, um, that’s for when you’ve been playing for a really long time like me!)  I didn’t even feel like I’d backtracked.  So while I’ve lost approximately a week of forward progress, I’m not also making up for backwards progress. 

The good news is that I’m not sick of all the audition music yet.  Usually by this point I’d be both hating my life and hating the music.  Now it’s still fresh and I’m not totally burned out yet.  Maybe this is brilliant and okay!

Oh, and I did make time earlier in the week to do a variety of “inspirational” photos.  I get so sick and tired of seeing these posted on facebook and other websites…to be fair I was still really sick that morning so it doesn’t count as failing at time management 😉

 

The idea came to me during a twitter conversation…anyway you can see this is brilliant.

So then people started making requests. 

Send me a picture of you, I’ll make it “inspirational!”

Go enter my two giveaways.  Slippers and Pain Relief Cream! 

Have a great weekend!  What are you doing for the SuperBowl?  I have a double opera rehearsal!  You can argue that I detest football, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love a good SuperBowl party, or any occasion for make unhealthy dips and chili.  Oh well.  Worky work!