I’m not dressing up this year. I have in the past but I didn’t feel like making the effort this year to find a costume. Maybe all my creative juices have been sapped!

I had a great trip to Phoenix to visit my niece Athena. She’s a darling, must be the genes…

Why yes, I was wearing shorts. It was nearly 100 degrees in Phoenix. How people live there I don’t know.

We also got to see Cheyenne Jackson perform with the Phoenix Symphony. It was so not my cup of tea but I suppose it was different. The audience seemed to love it though. And we had a lot of good take-out from various places around Phoenix. They have great Mexican food there.

Since getting home it’s been business as usual—I have a few more concerts coming up that require rehearsals, plus new music with Jen (we are looking at a bunch of French Sonatas) and new music with the Quartet. Oh, and Jen and I are working on the details of producing a CD of our recital—we want to sell copies of it in order to raise money for a charity. I’ll tell you more about it later, but basically as a breast cancer survivor she wants to give back to those who helped her and as a friend of a breast cancer survivor I’m all for it. Currently I’m debating over how many memory slips/mistakes are acceptable on a live CD…I know I’m not perfect, and performing is one thing, but I’m trying to decide if I want everything on the CD.

This picture cracks me up. I look like I’m playing side-saddle or something..and while I WAS it was as part of a short demonstration of the opening chord of Mozart’s Dissonance Quartet. I was standing to talk and then sat down briefly to play the chord.

Side note: I currently have ANOTHER cold. I guess all the stress, traveling, and germy students are catching up to me. On the bright side, this year I won’t be getting the flu since I got my first flu shot ever a few weeks ago!

Target knows how to put on band-aids! That sucker stayed on through a run AND a shower. Another side-note: I haven’t quite gotten used to having health insurance that actually pays for things. I couldn’t believe my insurance covered the flu shot!

Plans for the weekend include hiking, maybe a bike ride, and lots of work around the house. This is the last weekend before my band tour really gets going and I want to take advantage. Of course, being sick is putting a damper on things but I’m trying to ignore it for now.

What are you doing for Halloween?

It’s amazing how much time you have when you decide to take a day off practicing the violin. I’m taking the next few days off because I’m traveling and it’s just lovely to be able to do other things. My house is a disaster…how DO people other people keep up on life with full schedules? But this morning I’ve managed to deal with some trash, recycling, kitty litter, vacuuming, quick trip to Target, short run, and I’ve painted my toenails. It’s supposed to be hot in Phoenix so I’m bringing a pair of sandals and figured I’d better paint my nails. The things we ladies do…now I’m letting them dry and then it’s time to finish packing. I feel like I’ve done more this morning already than most bloggers do in a day 😉 and yet it really isn’t that much.

She has an uncanny ability to find any amount of clean laundry and sit on it. It’s one of her favorite things.

I find it difficult to go to Target these days being a new aunt. All of the baby stuff looks so cute! I had to get a few things of course…heaven forbid my carryon bag not be packed full of adorable baby clothing.

I’ve been collecting these things for the blog for awhile, but hadn’t had the two minutes required to blog. (It is more like 5 minutes. I’ve said it before but the trick to writing a blog post quickly is to not proofread, edit, or do anything fancy with your pictures! This tells you how busy I’ve been over the past few months, I didn’t have those 5 minutes.)

And don’t get too excited. I’ll likely be too busy again, but I’m so thrilled that last night’s concert is both over AND was a great success. I had a wonderful time playing Schumann Piano Quintet (I’m not a huge Schumann fan but that piece is just so much fun) and Mozart’s Dissonance Quartet. We have a lot of plans for the spring but things are settling down for the group, and mostly because my band is getting into full swing.

Okay, I’d better get lunch and get going. Have a great weekend, readers!

I’ve been under a lot of pressure the past few months. Granted, it’s all my own fault for accepting 8 million gigs, students, and taking on a ton of extra performances, and it’s been a whirlwind of work and fun, but MAN I could use a break.

I thought I’d take this post to just touch on a few things I haven’t talked about awhile.

1. I’ve been working on losing my “divorce weight” as I think of it. I moved and it took forever to unpack my scale, and when I finally did and finally found a place for it (which isn’t entirely true, there’s actually not really a place for it) the number is lovely. Not that a number matters, but one can’t help but be delighted that attempting to eat a regular diet of real food, eating in a rather intuitive manner, allowing myself to eat what I want without guilt or judgment BUT with keeping dietary guidelines in mind and considering what makes me feel good…all this to say, yes, eating normally pays off. And running and walking the dog. I am within 15 pounds of my so-called goal weight, which is where I was a few years ago when I thought I was doing really well, so I’d be more than thrilled to be back there. Incidentally I gave away most of my smaller clothes, SO that means I’ll need to do some shopping. And I fit into my purple pants that I loved so much a few years ago, which is a total shock, because I remember at that time I was keeping a very strict diet and beating myself up a lot then every time I ate something that wasn’t “clean”, and working out insane amounts, and here I am simply trying to be a normal person who cooks and eats good food and doesn’t hate herself for it. It’s delightful, and I plan to keep it up.

2. Cats. I now live with two cats and a dog. The fatness isn’t thrilled about it, but I think secretly she likes the attention. She is evidently the meanness cat ever. I never knew this about her! She is the SWEETEST cat to humans, and she just detests other animals. It’s hilarious in a way…

How could this delightful creature hate the other so much?

Thought that smug white face might be part of it…you can tell she is just sitting on me to make the other cat angry or jealous, right? Hmmm…

This cartoon makes me laugh, because I often feel this way:

3. What else haven’t I mentioned in awhile? Besides perhaps, a social life? HAHAHAHA. MY VIOLIN IS MY ONLY FRIEND. Just kidding, I’m not actually having a mental breakdown…this weekend I am taking a much needed trip to visit my sister and her husband and their new baby, who they haven’t announced technically on social media so I don’t know that I should say much here, but she is a cutie with a full head of hair, and I can’t wait to hold her…she weighs LESS than my cat but is an actual human, how crazy is that? Then again…I probably weigh less than my cat. Let’s just say Fatness regained any weight she lost after I moved, and possibly her strategy for living with a dog is to try to be bigger than the dog. (The dog weighs 90 pounds so this is no small feat, but rest assured, my cat is trying.) But I digress. It’s funny being an aunt to somebody who lives very far away, because on the one hand, my life is changed forever, right? But on the other hand, it’s exactly the same. I think the trick is to bring gifts though, and later progress to cash?

And with that, it’s time to cook some carrots and heat up leftover pizza for lunch, before teaching and a concert tonight at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

And I don’t mean the weather. I mean, mostly, finally getting my schedule finalized, and not having to send a million (exact, not approximate) emails about lesson scheduling every day. Finally my students are simply showing up for their scheduled times, learning violin, and being sent home with practice assignments. I feel like I have a handle on my email inbox, and have mostly returned emails and phone calls, and it feels GREAT.

So that just means practice, rehearse, teach, run, and make attempts to clean and continue to unpack from my move. Yes, there is still a lot to do, but I’m having a great September.

The weekend was a lot of fun. In fact the past two weekends have been, and during the week too. Sometimes I pinch myself (not literally) and can’t believe how good I have it right now. *knocks on wood* I couldn’t have predicted my life today a year ago, and going through all the pain and heartache I’ve been through only makes it better now.

I don’t have too long to blog though, because for all my “free time” I’m really buckling down on practicing. Just over a month until my recital, and then fall doesn’t settle down performance wise NOR can I only work on that repertoire now…I’m also really trying to analyze my teaching methods, my organization for teaching, and try to improve. I have some students that are making good progress and others that aren’t as much, mostly due to lack of practicing, but I have to take some blame (and perhaps it is my fault they aren’t properly motivated to practice) so I’m working on some ideas to improve my teaching. I figure I’ve been teaching off and on for about 20 years, and for about 13 mostly full-time, and I still have another 30 or so to go, hopefully, so I don’t want to get bored OR boring. Plenty of room to grow and learn, and really be a top notch teacher, right?

The following pictures are out of character for my blog, but let’s face it, cats don’t swim. I went to the Maplewood Dog Swim over the weekend. Mackenzie, technically my dog now, had a wonderful time. It was actually quite fun watching all the dogs swim. I imagine a cat swim would be far less entertaining…or not…might be pretty violent at least?

Afterwards there was an opportunity for ice cream due to Eliana celebrating a birthday.

A vanilla malt. DELICIOUS.

I didn’t get a picture of it, but it’s important to note that at the Fountain on Locust they blow bubbles at you on your birthday.

I stole this picture from Eliana’s facebook because it is the greatest picture of me ever. I haven’t even approved it for my timeline yet, so you are seeing it here first. But let’s focus on the fun that was had and how delicious the ice cream was. Louie and I couldn’t eat too much though as we had dinner plans with his family, so we had to share the vanilla malt 🙁

That’s enough updating for me today. I think I need to write more often because I feel out of practice on 1) sharing my life and 2) forming complete sentences. Certainly there is no cohesiveness in this post, but that’s life, isn’t it? If life isn’t random, what is?

Ask me questions in the comments! I’ve been getting a ton of spam comments on old posts lately, and I miss real commenters. Tell me what you want to read about on my next post!

So one of the good things about being home is not worrying about bears anymore.

And with that, we are back to work.

For me this year, work consists of about 30 students in addition to my other playing responsibilities. I finally have my schedule organized, my students notified, and for the most part they are showing up when and where they are supposed to, but scheduling this year was a HUGE time commitment. The more students I have, the more challenging scheduling is, as there is less wiggle room. It was a few weeks of stress and panic (double booking students, overbooking, telling them something different than I wrote down, people asking to switch to what had been an empty time a week ago, etc.) but I seem to have everything mostly under control for the moment. I am also losing my fear of losing students, because I have so many that if one drops then another will likely call and take their place.

This is not to say that I want any of my students to drop, because I care about them and want them to continue to learn! And also because it is easier to teach a student I have an existing relationship with than a new one, but simply to say that at the moment I’m not worried about teaching income and whether my schedule will be full enough. (I do have a few openings, but they are very limited!)

Playing wise, I’ve updated my “violin” page to tell you about my upcoming concerts. I’m excited about the Perseid Quartet concerts, but I’m really excited about a “solo” recital I’m playing on October 12. My friend Jen (a wonderful pianist) and I are playing Brahms A Major Sonata and Prokofiev’s D Major Sonata together, and then she is playing some solo organ works and I’m playing Bach’s Sonata no. 1 in G minor by myself. It is a very challenging concert and I haven’t done a solo recital (this is certainly what we called a solo recital in school, even though Jen’s part is just as challenging if not more so!) since graduating from school. I also hope to make it a yearly (at least) activity to give myself motivation, to continue to improve on the violin, and frankly, to stop being terrified of playing alone and that people won’t like the way I play.

I have spent many years being worried about performing solo Bach, that people won’t like the style, that it will be too romantic or something, and honestly, I’m realizing that it just doesn’t matter. I’m pushing myself and it should be a lot of fun, hopefully for me AND the audience. Jen has been wonderful to work with, in addition to being a good friend, and we are excited about our upcoming performances and some other projects we have in the works.

One of the “life” themes I’ve been working on fits into this idea, of not worrying what people think. As I get older, I am really trying to do things that I want to without worrying that people won’t approve. I spent most of my life seeking approval from other people, and I’m realizing that it just isn’t there anyway or that it just isn’t important enough, OR (even better) that people will still be there for you even when you live your life your way (obviously within reason and without purposefully hurting people). Those are your real friends, and those are who matters. This past year has certainly taught me that, if nothing else.

It’s time for me to stop pondering the merits of performing Solo Bach and get down to it. Fugues don’t memorize themselves, do they?

In case you were wondering.

I’ve just been busy doing other stuff, and not being at home enough to feel like blogging when I am. I wouldn’t even be doing it now as I SHOULD be practicing but my thumb feels funny and I thought an evening off would be wise. Lots of time tomorrow for that, and catching up on other stuff. (Nervous laughter).

It’s hard to know where to start, so I’m just going to caption some photos and then you’ll feel all caught up, right? Apologies to those who follow me on instagram for some repeats, but I’ll tell you more here. Probably. Maybe. Maybe not.

Cake at Citygarden. Was downtown having lunch with a friend who was doing his civic duty sitting around for two days waiting fruitlessly to be called for a jury.  That was a hot day.

I took my car in for a repair and had the brilliant idea to bike there and pick it up. My brilliant idea involved having a bigger car or knowing how to take my bike apart. At some point I must have wiped my face. Ultimately I was able to get the front wheel off and the bike in the back seat, but it was touch and go for a few minutes.

April and I at a fundraiser for Safe Connections. They had a photo booth.

Kitty!

Pondering my beer at my friend’s Fourth of July BBQ. It was actually on the 5th of July and the weather was phenomenal. This summer has had some hot days, but overall it’s been amazing and I just can’t complain. I’ve been getting back to running 3 times a week, and it’s been pretty easy with this weather.

Leslie sent me this picture. I can’t imagine why this product is on sale.

I went to see Union Avenue Opera play La Traviata. I rarely go to the opera—I play a lot of them, but I don’t attend much. My main thought had to do with how silly the plot was and how so many problems could be avoided if the characters communicated better.

This past weekend was spent in “tech rehearsals” for my band. Our Chicago trip is this weekend.

I probably should not ALWAYS be bending backwards.

I will likely be on STL TV tomorrow promoting my upcoming Perseid String Quartet concert. I’ll share the link with you later if it’s not too embarrassing! (Ha!)