(my birthday flowers!)

I have a funny relationship with Instagram.  (If you don’t know what Instagram is, just google it.  It’s a photo app thingy.)  On the one hand, it’s pretty stupid.  Ooh, I’ll take a picture, and then I can make it look DIFFERENT.  But on the other hand, it’s quick, easy, and then I can annoy all my twitter followers very quickly.  And I kind of like the way the pictures look.  I feel like the iPhone camera is pretty bad to begin with, so the Instagram filters do make the pictures look better.  So…I guess I like Instagram, but I feel a little uncomfortable about liking it.

Here’s what I did over the weekend:

I played a couple weddings, including this one at Chandler Hills Winery.

And this one at Our Lady of Lourdes.

I finally decided to get up close (well, pulled the car over) to see the Purple Cow for myself.  I wish that other statue weren’t in the way right now.

I made pies. 

Kitchenaid Mixer:  A baking girl’s best friend!

Delicious Coconut Custard Pie!  (Officially known as Crusty Coconut Pie in my grandmother’s recipe book)

I took a picture of my cat, who was sleeping in the window.

We had some people over, including this little guy.

I held him for a bit.  Please ignore whatever is happening with my shirt.

Oh, and I drank a bunch of diet coke.  That may come as a surprise. 

Now it’s Monday.  I love Mondays.  I’m being lazy and just doing stuff around the house until I have to teach later.  I have plans to go for a run with Vanessa these evening, but the weather may foil our plans.  Right now I hear thunder :(  But tonight is a long way away!

How do you feel about instagram?  Also, should I be capitalizing it or not?

I forgot to prep my overnight oats last night, so I’m doing a quick prep this morning.  They’ve been soaking for about 45 minutes now, so I’d better eat breakfast.  I am planning to do another oatmeal post soon—does anybody have any pressing questions for me?

I’m a planner.  I live and die by my calendar.  It’s absolutely necessary since I’m a freelancer.  I have to know where I am working and when, and can I get from one thing to the next in time.  I also plan out my workouts and my running.  I plan my social engagements.  I plan when to run errands.  But with all good plans, sometimes everything changes, and it’s amazing how quickly one can adjust.

Today was my birthday.  It was GREAT.  I went to Target and bought some new shorts and a running skirt.  The skirt has pink shorts under it.  I wanted to get a pink one instead but they didn’t have one in my size.  Oh well.  Next time.

I went grocery shopping.  I talked with my sisters, my parents, my in-laws, and my grandmother on the phone. 

I ate leftover pizza.

The plan for the evening was to go for an early dinner at Herbie’s with Chris before he had to work, and then to hang out with a bunch of friends afterwards.

That all changed around 4:30 when I got a call to play Sweeney Todd with the symphony at 8 pm.  The personnel manager said, I know it’s your birthday, but would you be available?  I thought about it for five minutes, because I had plans with my friends, and because it was my birthday.  I tried to call Chris for his input but he was occupied.  And then I realized, yes, of course, plans can change, and this is more important, because it’s not just about the money.  I felt bad for ditching my friends, but I doubt a single one of them would have done it differently…

Chris and I stuck with our early dinner plans.

At dinner.

Chowder.

Me again!

Scallops, SO good.

And fritters for dessert.  These were filled with dark chocolate and incredibly decadent.  I would have had the cheesecake, but I had to sit in the pit for three hours, so less dairy seemed wise.  The chowder was already a risk 😉

Then we headed to work together. Sweeney Todd was great.  I’d hate to wish illness on anyone, but let’s keep our fingers crossed I get called to play again before the season is out. 

And then we came home to relax.  Even though my evening wasn’t quite what I planned, it turned out to be a fantastic day.

(on my facebook profile from my friend Sarah.  I don’t speak french so I don’t understand, but it’s a fat cat wearing a hat.  I love it more than anything.)

A friend posted this picture on my facebook timeline today.  How awesome is that violin cake?  I can’t imagine cutting into it though, that would be a tragedy!

Always a classic birthday picture.

Ooh, so did you hear about Taco Bell’s new menu items?  They are going to be offering more "upscale" menu items, with more "upscale" prices.  It may come as a shock to some readers, but I am a huge fan of Taco Bell.  I don’t eat it very often (I try to limit to once per month) but when I do…I don’t regret it.  (My body does reject it, however.  I think their food may be indigestible.)

So yeah.  I’m blogging here, drinking coffee, just ate my overnight oats, and don’t really have a whole lot to offer you, dear reader.  I have the day off and I’m trying to decide what to do.  (Other than sit on the couch in my PJ’s, go out to dinner, and meet some friends later tonight.)  Part of me wants to run, but another part says my legs need a rest day.  Another part of me wants to go to Target.  Yes, both of these things can happen.  CRAZY.

But anyway.  Happy Birthday to me!  And to anyone else who has a birthday today :) 

Ran about 2.5 miles today.  Mainly uphill, as all the runs in St Louis are.  I’m sure that’s not true, it’s just that you don’t notice quite as much when you’re not running uphill, so you don’t appreciate it.  But you notice the uphills.  (Deep, right?)

Some friends and I are running a 5k on June 17 that is advertised as entirely downhill or flat.  I don’t know how they are doing it…I presume half the time you get shuttled up the inevitable hill to the next downhill.  But AWESOME, and I figure all my uphill running will absolutely prepare me.  I am getting back into shape, though I don’t know if I’ll be in PR shape by then.  I will certainly try though.  Any readers running the race too?

Have you seen me use the hashtag #RFW on my twitter account? (@hannahviolin)

The phrase was coined at the gym, and if you don’t know what it means, then you don’t rip weights.  (I did a demonstration for a friend of the difference between lifting weights and ripping weights while at a restaurant.  Caveat:  Do not pretend to rip weights unless you are one hundred percent sure the waitress isn’t walking up behind you.)

Yes, it’s one of those car stickers.  Of course I don’t put stickers on my car (I’m not one of THOSE people) though I would consider this.  I just want the notoriety and fame…I want RFW to be the next GTL.  Or the next BTW.  As in, btw, Chris thinks I’m insane for having made these stickers.

I sent some to one of my favorite bloggers as well—figure she can make the west coast RFW.  You’re welcome!

Her picture is better.  Maybe she used an actual camera rather than an iPhone?  Hmm…or maybe she drank less coffee before taking the picture?  Lots of options here.

Who wants a sticker?  Should I run a giveaway?  Write a funny or awesome comment and maybe I’ll send you one also…I have some to "get rid of".

So far this has been the best day in a long time.  I got to sleep as long as I wanted!  (Sidebar:  it’s funny how our sleeping habits change over time—as a kid I couldn’t wait to get out of bed and start my day.  Then as a teenager I wanted to sleep as much as possible.  That pretty much lasted until a few years ago, when I just sort of gradually stopped sleeping past noon every time I could.  These days it is a miracle if I stay in bed past 9:30, and this morning was indeed one of those miracles.  Over ten hours of shut eye, great for the creative juices, so this should be a better blog post than ever.  Or at least it’ll be more positive and less whiny that those from last week.  Goodness I can be a Debbie Downer.)

(this sign has been on my wall for the whole year.)

And the rest of the day is going to be just as relaxing.  I have nothing until mid-afternoon (hmm…that’s not so far away after all now, is it?) when I have a workout with my trainer (I lead a hard life) and then just under 3 hours of teaching.  ROUGH.  HOW WILL I SURVIVE?

(Pancetta and egg flatbread at Robust last night—very good but I thought the peas were weird.  The pancetta and egg were delicious though.  Then again, when has pancetta ever gone wrong?)

I’m just so glad to be done with the last few weeks.  It’s funny—I was so stressed out, I couldn’t wait to check stuff off my life (Concert, check!  Teaching, check!  Baby shower, check! Cleaning entire house, check!  Photo shoot, check!  Recital, check!  Gig, check!  ) but once it’s done I don’t feel any differently.  It’s like when you in the car and you have to pee really badly.  Finally you get to the gas station and you pee, and then you just feel normal again.  You’d think that you’d feel really really amazing, and maybe you do for about 2 minutes, but then you are simply back to normal.  The other thing I’m taking away from this is that I hate being so busy I feel like I’m just getting through.  I would prefer to be enjoying life and not enduring it.

So, yes, today is a good day.  But really I just feel like myself again.  I think that’s probably good though.  I like feeling like myself.

(I also like lying on my couch watching Mad Men with this delightful creature, even though I can tell she was judging me for it.)

Oh, and I got asked to play with the symphony again.  It’s a tribute concert to the Beatles called "Classical Mystery Tour."  June 22, 8 pm. 

So what’s on my calendar for this week?  Well, some teaching—last week of regular lessons at my school before we go to the summer schedule.  My friend Karen is driving through mid-week on her way from Phoenix to Chicago/Cleveland.  This weekend I have a lot of weddings and a recording session with my new strolling strings group.  And that’s really about it.

(photo by Kelly Richardson—that’s Tanya, Elizabeth, Dave, and me, pre-haircut, at the ruins of Tower Grove Park.  Yes, it’s an ancient park.)

Oh, and Thursday is my birthday!  I joked the other night that I would be celebrating my 30th birthday for the third time.  And no, that doesn’t mean I’m actually turning 32.  A couple of those birthdays I celebrated my actual age ;) 

Is 34 still considered early 30’s?  Or will I be entering my mid-30’s?  What’s the cut off for this sort of thing?

The concert (Chamber Project St Louis) last night went well.  We made it through everything, and the audience gave us a standing ovation at the end, which was really touching.  It was a great season overall and I’m relieved to be done.  It was exhausting, and honestly my shoulder still needs some healing before I am back to more intense playing.

Today my boss at the school, Laura, threw a wonderful baby shower for Kirby, one of the other teachers at the school.  It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed getting to chat with some of the parents and teachers than I don’t ordinarily have time for.  I had to leave early, unfortunately, but really enjoyed it.  She got the cake from McArthur’s Bakery based on my earlier recommendation (though I must admit I decided NOT to eat the cake today.  Mike would be proud.  I’m sure it was amazing.)  I only took a few pictures because I wasn’t in super blogger mode, but here’s a few I “instagrammed.”

The punch!  It was really tasty.  In my opinion, one of the most fun parts of teaching is having punch at the recitals (though not tomorrow, unfortunately.)  I guess I’ll have to add baby showers to the list of places and times to have punch.  The shower had an owl theme.

We played a couple games.  One of them was pairing up in teams to decorate onesies, and then Kirby had to choose her favorite.  We didn’t win but had a good time making ours.

Last but not least—the party favors.  These are super cute and filled with chocolate.  I left mine in the car for a bit, so it partly melted.  I figured since I skipped the cake and then ran about 5 miles I could eat a couple pieces 😉

It was a really nice shower!  I felt bad that I had to leave before the presents were opened, but I’m sure Kirby got a lot of wonderful, helpful stuff.