It’s been a rainy day today, hence the title. It’s rained on and off, but not too much. And it’s finally a bit cooler. Fingers crossed that fall is here!

This has been a good week for “getting things done”. My stress levels and schedule (the two DO often go together) have been at a manageable level of busy-ness and so I’m able to make progress in areas of life other than simply showing up for scheduled events and letting the rest slide. I’m getting things done around the house (this is probably an overstatement, as there’s most definitely a basket of laundry I need to fold), I’ve got the holidays planned out, I’m working on some of my commitments for SLAMTA (music teachers organization that I’m a board member of), I’m definitely caught up on paying bills, mostly caught up on some other important paperwork. OH and I’m working hard practicing for our quartet concert next week. I still need to brainstorm what needs to be done to prepare for November’s teaching and quartet commitments, but October is mostly either done or planned out.

How do you deal with your to-do list? I keep a running “to-do” list on my phone and when I have a moment I’ll check the list and see if there’s anything I can take care of. Some things stay on there for a long time, but mostly I do pretty well getting things checked off. And if there’s something super timely I’ll add a timer to it to make sure I don’t forget. For larger projects, I try to break the tasks down into manageable parts.

I never include practicing on the list—maybe I should? This year I’m trying the “binder” route where all the music I’m learning is copied and added to a binder. That way I’m not searching for things—it’s all there, and I can just grab it and start working. I have it in order of priority (what’s coming up on the next performance) right now and I’m mostly focusing on our Schumann concert next week, but I had enough time today to work on some other pieces too which was really great. It gave me the confidence that I was on track with my practicing, and also reminded me of the challenging parts from some pieces I hadn’t worked on in awhile.

This is probably the world’s most boring blog post, as it’s mostly just  a brain dump about my to-do list, but my next plan is to work through what I really need to accomplish for my private teaching studio between now and the end of the year. This weekend is the Arch Cup, a festival run by a piano teacher I know, and five students are participating. They are each playing one piece by memory for a judge, and I’ve decided to push myself with my piano skills by accompanying them. Since starting to teach at Wash U I’ve had access to a real piano several times a week in addition to a small keyboard at home, and I feel like I’m getting a bit better on a little effort. A little goes a long way, I think! Anyway, after the Cup is over then it’s time to prepare for the recital in late November…that means I’ll have to add several tasks to my to-do list, perhaps I should even do that now! (Adds: “make recital sign-up sheet” and “prepare student newsletter about upcoming performances, recital, and student accomplishments”—that’s a long one, but sometimes I’ll divide things up more later).

Nobody tells you in music school that most of your day will be spent on various administrative tasks! Being self-employed means being your own agent, secretary, president and CEO. I spend my time marketing myself and my quartet and other groups, finding places to perform, telling people about our performances, planning repertoire and rehearsals…I spend my time scheduling and rescheduling students, keeping track of payments, sending invoices as needed, figuring out who is behind on payments, finding videos and recordings to share with students, keeping current on the latest pedagogical ideas…I spend my time practicing and listening to music I’m performing or want to perform…I spend my time responding to phone calls and emails about potential jobs, gigs, and students…not to mention taking care of taxes and insurance! I love how many different things I do in my daily life, but sometimes, it can be overwhelming. Especially when then people act surprised that I do this for a living. No credit and no rest!

But I wouldn’t trade it. I live for the performances, for the “aha” moments while teaching, and for the smiles on people’s faces when they accomplish something they thought they couldn’t!

Those are some of my rainy day thoughts. Stay dry!

Hello readers! I’m still here, just plugging along.

I played my recital last weekend. I had a weird case of the shaky nerves. I used to have issues with shaking back in college, and took beta blockers to help deal with it for a long time, but over the past few years I’ve been playing concerts without having any issues or taking anything and it’s been great. This summer it snuck up on me. I don’t know that I want to use the beta blockers again but I did get a new prescription just in case.

I was happy the recital was done but not super happy about it overall. I liked some things, loved some, and hated others. I’m just taking time to regroup and relax now. It’s been one of those weeks since then, between some extended family health issues, the presidential election stresses, and just normal life stuff. The weekend was really nice though and yesterday I had my first day off since August 28. Really. That’s the worst stretch (or best, depending on how you look at it ) of work I’ve had in a long long time. Years? Ever?

The good news is that my bank account is back to looking good. It was a tough summer and even though our vacation was inexpensive as far as vacations go, it was still 3 weeks with no income. I do plan to sit down and start writing more about that (I’m sure you’re even tired of hearing me say that) but I haven’t quite had the energy yet. I’m getting back into running after hurting my foot (that’s part of the trip recaps) and generally being so ridiculously busy I couldn’t fathom it. It’s nice to do something good for oneself! Oh, and for the record, running is hard. Have I ever mentioned that?

Louie and I went for a hike yesterday afternoon. It was our first hike since our vacation in August and it was very nice. Hiking in Missouri isn’t like hiking in Colorado or Utah, but it still beats walking around on sidewalks! We went to West Tyson County Park and took the Flint Quarry Trail.

Pretty view! The leaves are falling and starting to look really pretty, even though the temps are still in the high 70’s in the afternoons here.

Oh, and I finally caught up on Orange is the New Black. Now watching the newest season of Longmire.

This has been a hard month! So much work, so much stress. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s still a small light.

I did have time to go to Trader Joe’s today. Like this time every year, a pumpkin seems to have exploded in there. I did purchase some pumpkin biscotti to enjoy with coffee as well as many of my favorite’s. Tonight is going to be salmon with maybe asparagus. Or salad with burrata cheese on top. Maybe all of the above!

The broadway show I was playing is done—it finished on Sunday afternoon. I got to see my friend April that night for dinner but was too tired and stressed to really enjoy it. This concert Sunday (2 pm! Christ Church Cathedral! FREE!!!) has just become a huge stressor, hanging over my head. I’m looking forward to being done. I don’t regret that I chose to learn and perform an incredibly difficult Bach Sonata for it, but the timing hasn’t been great. The rest of the program hasn’t been neglected, exactly, but I’m not as happy with it. Oh well.

It should be a good performance nonetheless, and then I can focus on the next performances (LOTS of quartet stuff this fall and a piano trio concert in December as well). And focus on getting back to my own life, and maybe work on mental well-being and having friends too.

Mackenzie had an ear problem this past week, culminating with a small procedure yesterday. I’m worn out from all the pet problems we’ve had this year too, just absolutely emotionally drained. 2016 has been a hard year, losing two cats, one after a difficult illness, dealing with Mackenzie losing hair and it taking forever to get diagnosed…it’s just been a lot. Hopefully this ear thing isn’t ongoing, and hopefully she can just relax and enjoy having her hair back for awhile longer.

On the bright side (besides the salmon, I mentioned the salmon, correct?) I am playing another show at the Fox next year. It’s not for a year, and maybe something else will come up in the middle, but I’ll tell you: as stressful as getting all the other parts of life to work with the show, it was so much fun to play. And it was fun to see colleagues more often, and fun to perform at a high level and have a lot of fun doing it. I always love performing and want to do more. (Maybe less stressful stuff that a solo recital though.)

Time to get back to practicing! Today I don’t teach until early evening. (Every other Tuesday I teach at Wash U in the early afternoon, and this is the week off, small victory!) And coffee drinking. What would we do without coffee?

Where is the time going? This week has been jam packed. I suppose some people keep this kind of schedule all the time…I have in previous lives, but I’m not used to being on the go from 7 am until 10:30 pm anymore!

I’m playing with a musical at the Fox Theatre, which is our big theatre in Midtown (between downtown and…Forest Park?) where they host a variety of visiting shows. This week and next week I’m playing with A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, which is hilarious and well worth seeing. The music is good too, but it’s just soooooo funny. I’m in the pit, of course, playing violin, and having a great time.

The rest of the days have been full of teaching, rehearsals, and not as much practicing as I want or need. This is why I don’t normally do this sort of schedule, because it cuts into my practice time, which is valuable and important, and is how I am able to play as well as I like to think that I do. But these weeks happen, and it’ll be well worth it in the end!

I’ve also been having a great time starting to teach my new students at Wash U (as the locals call it, though others might call it Washington University of St Louis). I feel very lucky this month, and am trying to focus on that even while other things are stressing me out and beyond.

Sometimes I think to myself, how will I ever finish blogging about our trip which happened so long ago? I will, I made notes, I want to share and get it down. I’m just in the middle of this stretch of work. And in fact, in order to take 3 weeks off in August…that means I had to and wanted to say yes to every opportunity in September and October. It’s important to say yes as often as you can as a freelance, and it’s also important to my bank accounts to say yes as often as I can!

Today is my 20th straight day of work, though one of those days was only 90 minutes of teaching (practically a day off, but not a day off), and unless something else comes up, I’m working straight until October 9, which will be my first day off after 41 straight days of work. I am tempted to look back at my old calendars and see how this compares historically (I worked like a horse in Cleveland…is that an expression or did my Saturday morning brain make that up?) but what I do know is that I am busier in St Louis than I have been since I moved here in 2008 and that’s good. I might be a little bit of a workaholic

Granted, I just spent 20 minutes blogging about how much I have to do. I have a student coming in a few minutes and wanted to do something while drinking my coffee. We have a matinee and evening show today. I love performing. Teaching is important, and probably what I do that makes a bigger difference in the world, but performing is why I do all of this.

And playing in a pit orchestra is just plain fun.