A few weeks ago I blogged about how Mike made fun of me for wearing higher cut white socks to the gym.  He mocked me for an entire hour, and then since then has mocked me again for it on more than one occasion.  I decided to retaliate today, and wore these socks.

I thought they were pretty awesome and that he would think so to, but I was mistaken.  He hated them more, more, he said, than the white socks. (Also pictured, Brooks Pure Cadence shoes, which now come in more colors, and I wish I had them in more colors, so if you want me to pretend to be your best friend, I’m a size 10, pink or purple please!)

So I’ve decided that my trainer is an idiot and has no idea what awesome is.  He may be more upset next time, because I plan to wear knee socks with ninjas on them.  (Yes, of course I’ll share a picture).  In fact, I may continue wearing knee socks every time I see him.  I actually really love knee socks, and they are similar to wearing compression socks, which you all know I love.  Other advantage:  could stop shaving calves forever.

(And, while my husband doesn’t much care for the compression socks, he does like a nice pair of fun knee socks.  He also likes when I shave my calves though.  Dilemma.)

(All of these sock ideas are inspired by Rose, thank you!)

Last week was my first week back to school.  People get confused sometimes when I say I teach at a school.  To clarify:  it’s a music school, not a full day school.  We offer private lessons, group and studio classes, theory classes, and have lots of recitals and performance opportunities.  It’s a great place to teach, and we started back last week.

People always ask how many students I have.  Honestly, I never really know.  It’s probably about 25 to 30, but I’d have to really sit down and count.  And then by the time I finished counting I probably would have either gotten a new student or one would have dropped, and then I’d probably mess up and have to start all over.  I teach five days a week, though I’m thinking about cutting back to four days to give myself more time to gig…but I’m not turning much down.  We’ll see how this year goes. 

I had two weddings yesterday.  As I was driving to the first church, I realized I had played there before.  I guess that means I’ve been living here for awhile—I’m getting to the point where I know the various venues and really starting to know my way around town.  Here’s a picture from inside the first church:

The second gig was at the Randall Art Gallery, which is a pretty cool venue.  I briefly looked into it for our wedding, actually.  We were playing right near the cakes, so I made this fancy instagram collage.

The white ended up being a bit washed out, but I had to take these pictures, collage them, and instagram them, all during the ceremony—I did it after we finished the processional and before the recessional.  (Yes, we were in the back!)

Last night we went with Melissa and Steve to the Shaved Duck.  They hadn’t been so we had been trying to come up with a good time to go for awhile.  We had to wait awhile for our table, but it was pleasant outside and well worth the wait.  We also ran into an adult student of mine and his wife (St Louis is a great example of the song "It’s a Small World After All").  We had the nerdiest conversation I’d been part of in awhile.  Topics included:  World of Warcraft, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Rule 43 and Godwin’s Rule, various youtube videos, and then a long time spent talking about our cats and their strange behaviors.  I love hanging out with those guys!

I’m about to go for a run, and then later today my friend Vanessa and her fiancé Russell are coming to town and staying with us tonight.  I haven’t seen her since early July, so I’m really looking forward to it!  I’m sure since they are engaged now they’ll be acting more smug and whatnot like most people do 🙂

First off, if you haven’t entered my giveaway to win a free copy of Running of the Bride, you should!  You can have up to three chances to win, and each requires a new comment, just fyi.

Oh crap, that’s already one thing.  Is this the right blog meme?  I think I’ve used these things incorrectly in the past.  Quickly!  I’d better post a cat picture!

Okay, WHEW, got that out of the way.

Second thing:  Body image.  Who has body image problems?  I was invited by my (favorite) photographer Sarah Crowder to participate in a photo shoot yesterday for a magazine article about the upcoming Mo Cowbell Half Marathon.  I was happy to do it, and excited to participate.  But then I got there, and naturally the other girls were like six inches shorter and way skinnier, and I felt super awkward and uncomfortable.  In fact the guys, except one, were also shorter and skinnier.  I don’t know why I let that sort of thing bother me, but I did.  Plus I figured everybody else was a faster and better runner, so it wasn’t just body image, it was feeling inadequate as a runner.  Ugh.  I hate feeling like that.  And it was still fun, but I just felt out of my league.  Hopefully some of my shots turned out okay…I know that Sarah will have done a great job.  I guess I’m also really hoping to be in the magazine (that would be SO cool) but worried that the others were more photogenic and well…thinner.  Ugh.

I may not be America’s Next Top Model.

Third thing:  Music. When I’m driving, I often like to listen to NPR but lately I just can’t take it anymore (politics).  When that happens I switch to a CD (yeah, my car is old school with the CD’s…).  I usually listen to the same CD over and over for weeks.  I just moved on from a few weeks of Vadim Repim playing the Prokofiev Sonatas to a recording of David Oistrakh playing both Prokofiev Concertos.  But yesterday I was SO angry and impatient with everything, and then I was the same in the car this morning, and it occurred to me that the music I was listening to might be making me angry.  I switched to the Brahms Sonatas with Henryk Szeryng, and as the G Major Sonata started…those first few piano chords…I felt a huge sense of relief, and I physically got chills all over, started shaking a little, and started crying.  I stopped myself because I was in the parking lot at the gym and I didn’t want to go inside all teary and look like a lame loser.  (Alliteration, good for writing.)  But…it’s times like that that I remember why it is I do what I do, and how important music truly is to me.  Sometimes I choose music based on my mood, but other times music sets my mood.  Or maybe that tells you that I am an incredibly moody person.

Boulder, Colorado

Do you ever get earworms?  You know, when a tune is stuck in your head and you can’t get rid of it.  Well, I need help.  I have the music from Lord of the Rings in my head.  Most specifically the "Fellowship" Theme, but occasionally the theme from Rohan and other parts too.  Basically at any time I might start singing the music, and I think Chris is about ready to kill me.  It’s definitely been over a year since this has been a problem.  I thought it might go away, but it hasn’t.  HELP!

I’m on a break from unpacking.  I spent most of the afternoon trying to fit as many books as possible onto a small bookcase.  The trick is to make more than one stack, and to turn them sideways rather than up and down. 

From last night.  We made pasta with something called "turkey bratwurst" that I bought at the store.  It was pretty good, and I figured it was (probably) healthier than using "italian sausage." 

I got my bridesmaid dress for Leslie’s wedding yesterday.  Well, I’d gotten it before, but now I own it in a size that actually flatters me.  I had Chris take some pictures of me to send her, and I was DELIGHTED that one of the pictures from the back showed some awesome back muscle definition.  I would totally share it but I can’t do that because I’m wearing the bridesmaid dress in it.  Maybe I’ll try to recreate the pose later and show you all. (In your face, JEN!)

We moved.  It’s done. 

And I’m exhausted from moving yesterday then spending the rest of the day unpacking, then waking up and spending all day today unpacking as well.  We got our internet and cable hooked up and spent most of the day waiting for a couch to be delivered…that we finally realized was scheduled to be delivered on Friday instead.  Oops.  I guess we’ll have to stay close to home on Friday.

My parents came through and helped out a ton.  Points for local readers who recognize where this picture was taken!

The cat did not enjoy being moved.  I took her to the new place the morning of the move and she was not happy with me.  Finally today she started really exploring the downstairs rather than hiding in a closet.  She seems to be adjusting well and I’m sure in a day she will consider it home and refuse to go anywhere else.

The truck, parked behind a tree.  It was really hot.  Luckily we had hired people to do the actual moving so we just got to stay inside and chat during the move.

Stuff in the new house, starting to fill up!

Post move, celebratory diet coke.  Name this restaurant for bonus points!

Chris was exhausted.  He did more than I did so he got a beer.  Also I am watching my weight as you know 😉

And the start of our unpacking.  Those are some of our awesome wedding presents—our china, another set of dishes, and of course my Carolina Youth Symphony mug.  That’s just one of many cabinets we have now.

Moving is a ton of work, but the result is always so much fun.  I’ll write more later I’m sure.

I am accepting housewarming gifts from readers, before you ask 😉

Hopefully my Mom and Dad have made it safely to Aspen by now to visit Carrie and then they head to Boulder to visit Leslie.