I am a big fan of making plans. I’m almost as good at following through on plans, and less good at changing plans without getting grumpy.

I was thinking about this as I’m on the computer planning a few things, some fun, some work-related. I feel like I am constantly researching and making new plans in my line of work, and it’s absolutely necessary if I want to keep playing concerts and being a good violin teacher.

More fun, however, is planning vacations. Louie and I realized that we are (most likely) in the same lucky position we were in last summer where we are able to take a longer vacation, if we keep it cheap. We have more time than money in the summer, so we are (again!) looking at a multi-week road trip. I’ve started the planning, because camping in National Parks can require plenty of advance notice. Since we are visiting Phoenix/Sedona/Grand Canyon in May, we are looking at Colorado/Utah/New Mexico in August. I’m already completely thrilled and diving into itinerary planning. I’ve learned a few things from planning last summer’s trip, and mostly it went really well, which tells me that I need to do much the same with a few tweaks.

Of course I worry about the pets while we travel. Though I’ve gotten a little better…things are ok-ish right now, status quo, nothing new to report.

I’m sleepy today. The weather is nice and warm, though lots of rain is in the forecast (fingers crossed for the St Pat’s Race on Saturday). The weekend was busy as I warned you all, but went well. The symphony concert on Saturday night was wonderful (heard a new piece by Tchaikovsky, Overture to Hamlet, and realized that Autumn Leaves must have been inspired by it) and we hung out with friends before and after. We’re trying to decide whether to buy a subscription for next season or just go a la carte on tickets. Random thoughts, I know.

In between starting and finishing this blog post I might have found a used keyboard to purchase. I haven’t owned a piano or keyboard of my own, and it would be lovely to be able to accompany my students in order to prepare them for recitals and things. I’m going to look at it tomorrow and fingers crossed it looks good. I used to be a decent pianist though I haven’t really played in a few years now, since my school closed. I don’t have very good technique and avoid the pedal like mad, but I can hit the notes and play well enough, especially if the music is easy. Maybe I’ll practice and get better!

So those are my random Tuesday thoughts. How is your week going so far?

I ate an early lunch. Often I try to hold off on lunch until at least 1 pm, since we generally eat a late dinner. (People are surprised by this, that I don’t eat dinner until I finish teaching, but I enjoy a relaxed dinner, knowing the day’s work is done. Often I go to bed directly after dinner, other times I watch a show on TV, or take the dog for a walk.)

So now I have a couple hours until I teach. Well, two. I’m debating on whether I should practice—I have opera tonight and my arms are feeling a bit creaky, so I’ll probably just play some things for tomorrow’s concert (new music thing) and some technique stuff (scales, etudes).

It’s been a busy but great week. One thing that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time finally happened this week: we hired a housekeeper! He will come  (housekeeper is his term, because he considers that he doesn’t just clean but he really keeps the house nice) every two weeks, and I couldn’t be happier after the first visit. I hate cleaning. I really hate it. And Louie does too. And we are both very busy, so we most would just end up arguing over who was doing more housework, and we had different styles—he’s a “focus on one thing and really make it clean” sort of person and I’m a “clean as fast as possible in a haphazard way” and as a result, the house was always on the verge of being taken over by dog fur. So this expense is a definite necessary splurge for us. We are looking forward to being able to spend our free time doing other things around the house (organizing, purging, and ultimately, remodeling?) rather than cleaning, or at least, stressing out over cleaning.

More time to do things that I enjoy…like running? (I look more like I’m dying than having fun, but that’s the beauty of it?) And making music, and reading and writing and staying on top of everything else. Like taking the pets to their appointments and all that. 

This weekend is full of activity, some work, some marginally work related, and some fun. Tonight I have an opera performance, tomorrow I’m playing at a composition workshop/concert, tomorrow night we are going to the Symphony, and Sunday I have lunch with a colleague to discuss future performing plans, then another opera performance, and then dinner with opera colleagues to celebrate being done. So it’s a mix of work and fun, as always, and I know that in the moment and looking back, days full of fun and interesting activities make me happier and more fulfilled than days watching TV on the couch, as tempting as it can be! Especially since I hear House of Cards is out…then again, I’m TIRED of politics…

The pets…they don’t worry about getting time to relax!

I’m trying to just take it easy about the animals, and not worry all the time. Chloe is difficult to deal with sometimes (the urination problems continue), and hard to handle—literally as we worry about her skin– but I have to remind myself we are doing our best, and that her life is still worth living as she likes to sit right by me, she likes to sleep with me, she loves eating. End of life care for pets is much harder than the rest of life, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it, for all of us.

Mackenzie is doing a little better after another course of steroids, but I thought yesterday she might have been getting a little itchy. We had a great time out on a run earlier today—I don’t run fast enough for her but I’m trying to teach her that slow and steady…well, doesn’t WIN the race, but still finishes. It’s possible she is starting to grow some hair back, and it definitely seems that for now (knock on wood) she isn’t losing MORE hair. Poor thing.

So that’s it, my typical blog post…work, pets, running, trying to make life better, as always. What are you up to?

We all say how busy we are, don’t we? And there are many articles out there about being busy. When asked how you are, often we say, oh, busy as usual, or something along those lines. And the articles say, well, that’s not a good thing…busy in itself shouldn’t be the goal. And we don’t need to be busy and overwhelmed (do the two go hand in hand) in order to feel important or do good work. (And we don’t have to start EVERY sentence with “and”.)

I range from being busy to having too much time. When I only teach my students (“only”!) and practice, I do end up with enough time to feel like I need more to do. I’m never bored in these times, of course, because I have so many things I WANT to do. For instance, this week I started thinking about how I want to plan a solo violin recital, and I’m working on that idea, in addition, I’d love to have a piano trio that I perform semi-regularly with. I love my quartet, I love playing sonatas with Jen, and I want more (I often want more than what I have, more kitties, more delightful students, more beautiful music to play–I think it’s okay to have goals, right?)

I even posted on Facebook about this, and then deleted my post in a moment of panic (what will people think, won’t they judge me for advertising for chamber music partners, shouldn’t I already know these people, won’t I sound desperate and pathetic?). Chamber music is funny. It’s supposed to be this fun activity with friends but so often people feel left out, judged, passed over, fraught with insecurity, etc. If you are a local professional musician reading this and want to play some music together, please reach out. Daytime availability a plus! Like I said, a piano trio would be great since there’s a lot of rep, but I’m open to other combinations and short term projects, as always.

Okay, and on the cat front, I don’t have any good pictures. Chloe has a bit of an eye thing going on too (yay!) so she’s got running eyes, which perhaps isn’t the cutest. Poor girl. It’s been a year, I tell you what.

Throwback Tuesday photo of the Fatness in Charlotte. That was my old violin case. It had a combination lock, because that would deter thieves? (“I stole this violin but I can’t open it so I guess I’ll return it?”) Oh, and I’m pumped because I got an email that the cat urn I ordered is being shipped. I’ll share it with you (unless I detest it, but I’m sure that won’t be the case) when I get it.

I still can’t believe she’s gone!

And here’s Mackenzie from the other day. This is where she sits while I’m teaching. She really loves violin music! I still can’t believe how much of a dog person I’ve become since meeting her (and Louie, I guess…)

Miss Baldy, I guess. Hopefully soon we will get to the bottom of why she’s losing her hair!

So this is a random and boring blog post, but I got up early to try to get a Fed Ex shipment (not here yet) so I have a little extra time. I’ll get back to practicing, I guess…Perseid Quartet concert this Saturday at the Tavern of Fine Arts. Come out and enjoy some Czech Music. And seriously, don’t be shy if you are local and want to read some chamber music—let me know. I guess I’m not too proud to sound pathetic and desperate on my blog

I’ve probably asked in years past, but since I don’t have any actual readers (just kidding, long time readers!) I figured I’d ask again: when you were a kid did you know about the groundhog in NY or just use the weather outside to determine whether it would be winter or spring? I always thought it was the individual weather in the place where you lived, not some national thing. I suppose that was pre-Groundhog Day, the movie. Anyway, it was raining here, so the groundhog (which is quite different than a prairie dog, I looked it up, not like mountain lions and cougars and pumas which are all one magical mythical creature) wouldn’t have seen his shadow and been scared back in. Woo hoo winter is no longer coming!

I don’t exactly work in a nonprofit, but I have certainly worked for a lot of them, and so this article was very entertaining to me. If you are in the nonprofit world you might find it entertaining as well. The rest of the blog is probably worth poking around too if you have some extra time (aka if you are self employed like I am and am avoiding the rest of my to do list at this time…)

Louie and I have gotten in the habit of meeting for lunch on Tuesdays after my quartet rehearsal near his work. It’s nice and feels like we are real adults with jobs. To be fair, he is (which is awesome—I’ve never dated somebody truly gainfully employed before and I’m so proud) but I am, as they say, self-employed. But it’s neat because my rehearsal is near his work and the scheduling works out. I remember when I first graduated from high school being out and about during the school day was so strange! Now I run most of my errands while other people are at work, and I get overwhelmed by the traffic otherwise. Aka I love having lunches, and I especially love that I have a little more time than most people do for lunch if I want it. Perhaps having lunch out is a sign of success? It’s a nice way to celebrate the middle of the day, and goodness knows we all need more celebrations.

Public service announcement: if you own cats, just don’t have flowers! Or at least know that lilies are very poisonous to cats. My sister had a bit of a scare and had to take both her cats to the hospital for emergency treatment. It looks like everybody will be okay, but better in the future to just avoid it altogether by making sure not to have lilies in the house, or at least very out of reach, and we cat owners know that very few places are truly out of reach. (Do you ever think that pet owners are truly crazy, the lengths we go to change our lives around our pets? Then again, imagine being a parent…that’s really crazy!)

Back to work! I have a couple more hours of teaching and then I get done earlier than usual to go to a rehearsal. It always feels like I’m getting done early when that happens, but since I’m not home until after 10, I’m not actually getting done early. Weird how things feel different?