Last night I went to the Veiled Prophet Ball with my friend April. Her boyfriend Joe had to work at the ball and she had an extra ticket for a guest (not for dinner after, but just for the ball and festivities until dinner.)

I knew a few things going into the ball: I needed to wear a long gown, and I needed to wear long white gloves. And that there would be rich people doing those weird crazy things rich people do, like having balls at all, presenting their daughters into society in that weird debutante way (and of course, the organization has a history of racism and obviously classism, and sexism…), but that it would be a fun night with my friend April.

Posing in front of the ironing board is always a good place!

No, the axe didn’t belong to Gimli. But it might have.

My friend Sarah did my hair. Before and after—it held up pretty well!

The lighting was terrible in this location.

It is always important to wear white gloves when yielding an axe. Easier to wash the blood stains out after the carnage, am I right?

What did we do other than take pictures? Well, we sat and watched the grand spectacle of the ball. The girls were paraded out accompanied by live music (I recognized several friends in the orchestra though didn’t get a chance to say hell0…maybe another year I’ll be asked to play!) and the members of the secret society did all kinds of weird things, dressed in costumes, covered by veils, and all that good stuff that accompanies being a member of a secret society. I didn’t even know what was going on most of the time, and just enjoyed the show as a fashion show—so many gorgeous dresses, hair, and jewelry! The lights were terrible for taking pictures from my seat so I didn’t get any good ones.

After the ball there was champagne and a receiving line for the girls (women?) who were presented. There was a dinner later, but I didn’t want to buy a ticket for it (hundreds of dollars—I think it was a little out of my budget, ha!) so I left…exhausted, hungry, and covered in eyeliner! It was a fun night.

Running is hard, you know? But when it’s over 60 degrees in December you have to go outside. Today I did intervals of run 3 minutes/walk 1 minute, and I am beat. I feel very accomplished and whatnot though.

This week is flying by. It’s that whole: hey, I’m just back from vacation AND it’s almost vacation again, that the whole “work” thing just seems really easy. I suppose January and February will be long…one day at a time though!

Since I got back I’ve played a few weddings. And yes, people get married in November too. Not everybody has to get married in April or October!

This was at Westwood Country Club. My car never feels quite fancy enough to be at a country club.

This was a tent set up on a private residence. I loved the plastic chairs and the flowers.

And then I had a rehearsal in the Cathedral Basilica for this weekend’s concert. I find the history of the Basilica fascinating. For instance, they started the mosaics in 1912 and finished in 1988, and the mosaics cover 83,000 feet and contain 41.5 million pieces of glass. It’s absolutely breathtaking.

I’m also prepping for this year’s cookie exchange party. I’m doing it on a smaller scale than in the past, but I’m really looking forward to it. I think I’ve figured out what I’m making for it! I’ll tell you after the fact so as to allow for mistakes/mind changing (who, me?) AND as to not give anything away to any guests who might be reading. Suffice it to say the cookies will contain BUTTER.

Small complaint: as you recall (I presume you remember everything I write here on the blog) I recently got a new computer and Windows 8 is basically working out okay for me but I’m still having issues making the pictures move easily from my computer into Windows Live Writer. Before I used to be able simply copy/paste and now the best I can do is drag from the folder into this program while hoping I don’t accidentally click it so it opens into the darned Photos app. I’m a little frustrated, because um, I’m trying to work here. (This is my biggest complaint about Windows 8—it seems geared towards “play” rather than “work” and I have my iPhone for “play” already—I use my laptop for doing actual work on occasion, and don’t WANT an app for everything…but I digress…and yes, I’m using Classic Shell to make it seem like Windows 7 the best I can.)

(Unrelated picture that I found somewhere that made me laugh.)

Now for the real fun:

Today I wanted to feature a reader submission. Margaret, who blogs at Balancing Meanderings sent a great collection of photos of her cat, Imogene. I hope you enjoy! (Captions also by Margaret 🙂 )

Imogene loves sitting in the sunshine 

and by the heater (does it get any more blissed out than that?).

She has a pretty serious cardboard fetish:

She also likes watching TV – her favorites shows are usually dramedies (the below pics are watching Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill).

Thanks for your submission, Margaret! I especially love the picture by the heater. Remember dear readers, you can email me your pictures at any time for the chance for YOUR cat to become internet famous. Hannahviolin at gmail.com!

Today has been frustrating.

Well, technically the last few weeks have been. A few weeks ago, my car was rattling like crazy, so I took it in to a nearby (read: able to walk home from) shop. Got some major stuff fixed up, and then…two days later my check engine light came on. Took it back a few days later, they fixed something else…two days later, check engine light on again.

So yesterday I took it BACK in, and they had it all day. They called yesterday and said they were trying some things and would get back to me. I said, sure, but I really need it by noon (I was supposed to have a rehearsal). Well, this morning they were just finishing the diagnosis. So I’d already gotten up and showered with the idea that I’d get it and go to rehearsal…so I asked could they please have it done by the time I needed to start teaching. Well that time came and went and they were not quite done, which meant that I was going to have to wait until tomorrow.

(The good news is they are only charging me for parts for this current problem, since it’s been such a mess and seemingly their fault for perhaps repairing the last part wrong, or possibly breaking stuff while doing the original repairs. I’m very pleased with that aspect of the car saga.)

Then my first student showed up and had forgotten her violin. Which meant that I probably COULD have gotten my car in time for my second student. Sigh. Such is life, right? So I’m popping online to write a quick post about how stuff doesn’t always work out the way you planned. The good thing is that now I can also check “blogged” off my (short) list of accomplishments.

On the bright side: I have a great dinner planned. Salmon Frazer, kale, and something new: Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend. And I did some good violin practice, washed all my dishes, and spent some quality time with the cat.

Never enough time though. Never enough.

So it has been a pretty good day so far anyway. Honestly I barely need the car as I do primarily work from home, but I was bummed to have to cancel my quartet rehearsal…I could probably have planned this all differently, but you can’t plan everything! At least we already had an extra rehearsal scheduled and now it’s just a rehearsal 🙂

(this post needs a selfie, as that’s like, the word of the year or something)

I’ve been debating getting a shorter haircut. I cleaned out the vacuum cleaner the other day (the roller part) and it was pretty ridiculous (edited to add: SO MUCH HAIR WRAPPED AROUND THE ROLLER). I’m not sure if shorter hair (chin? shoulders?) would actually help. Leslie got a cute haircut though and I’m a little jealous…we’ll see how I feel after next week.

I got this anti-aging treatment to try from Influenster. I’m not getting any younger but I’d love to look like I am! Maybe I’ll let you know how it turns out. Maybe it’ll be obvious.