Happy New Year!!

Interesting facts I added up for 2024:

Books read: 165

Lessons taught at home: 1100

Lessons taught at Wash U: 252

Number of rehearsals, concerts, services, weddings, etc: 233

Seems like a lot, right? No wonder I was busy!!

Highlights from the year 2024:

January:

Some concerts I played were really fun, including one where I had to sightread some late Beethoven quartets

Colonoscopy: not fun, but a rite of passage, and good to have one under my belt so I know what to expect next time (sadly, in three years, so in two years now)

Started planning our summer trip to Sweden and Finland

Played Funny Girl at the Fox

February:

Had friends over for a dinner party

Saw Moby Dick at the Rep, Saw Augustin Hadelich play with the SLSO

Busy with chamber music, yay!

Had a few snow days

March:

Took a trip over Spring Break to Tennessee and met up with my parents in Chattanooga

Some hiking

Played on a concert of the music of Stardew Valley

April:

Hosted Movie Club

Went to Esca for the first time

Went to the Italian Film Festival at Wash U

Saw a concert in a bunker

May:

Saw Yo Yo Ma play with the SLSO

Attended the Parkview Progressive Dinner–so much fun!

Biked over the Chain of Rocks Bridge

Finished my before school job and decided not to return in the fall

Went to New York and Philadelphia on a trip

June:

Finished our trip to Philadelphia

Went to a wedding at the Four Seasons

Got a delicious lemon cake for my birthday

Played in Les Miserables at the Muny

July:

Trip to Chautauqua

Saw a few shows with my friend Marie

August:

Took our trip to Finland and Sweden!

Dinner at Louie

September:

My friend April visited

Played my first concert on Baroque Violin

My parents visited, and we to the neighborhood Oktoberfest party

October:

My friend Michael visited

Took an overnight bike/canoe trip

hosted Movie Club

Went back to Louie for Louie’s birthday

November:

Wine dinner: just three of us were at a table and we all won wine bottles!

Thanksgiving: fun and relaxing, got some sleep, good food, took a hike in Pere Marquette with Michael and Heather, decorated the house

December:

Had some really fun gigs with friends

Cookie party: small but mighty

AND of course hosting my family was a blast!

So then we ended the year at our friend’s house having a small party, wearing pajamas and eating breakfast food. It was great!

Goals, things that I did well, things to improve:

I am not going to jump on the bandwagon and make a ton of goals. My main thought is that I want to be more mindful and serious about getting in better shape. I did a good amount of exercise last year, but I need to do more and I need to get back into strength training. I also need to focus on eating better: more produce, less processed foods. If weight loss happened, that would be fabulous, but I want to focus on feeling good and moving more and being stronger as I get older.

I did a great job this year flossing, and I plan to keep that up. It has definitely become part of my nighttime routine, so that’s good.

Let me be honest about two things that might help you: one is new and one is older. I take anti-anxiety medicine and have for over two years now. I went up a little bit in the spring and I will say, it helps me so much! And then I started some online therapy: I don’t plan to keep it up forever, but it is helping me with some of my problems. Working on my emotional state is very useful and makes me healthier as well. My issues are communication and allowing my negative feelings forward so that I can deal with them rather than bottle them up until the top pops off.

I want to keep reading and read even more: reading a book is better than scrolling, always. I did a good job reading this year, and read some great books. Favorites include: The God of the Woods, Dear Edward, The Ministry of Time, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Sandwich, and James.

I did a good job connecting with people this year. I became closer friends with some people I already knew, which feels like a hard thing to do! And made an effort to make time for friends I already had as well. Time spent on the phone connecting with friends is always a good thing, as well as time spent in person (harder!). I want to keep that up.

Work wise: it did not escape my notice that I did not include many work items on my year highlights even though I spend the vast majority of my time working and thinking about work. I want to continue on the same path I am with being in demand for playing and teaching and continuing to make a schedule that somehow allows for both while not getting completely underwater. It is practically impossible, and I am grateful to my students for being flexible with scheduling when I ask them to.

Elephant in the room: the inauguration and the potential horrible things going on in the country. I have lately chosen the “bury your head in the sand and ignore everything” method, which is working okay for me, but I am not sure how long I can keep that up. I am not sure what I can do, thoughts? I don’t want to let them steal all my joy, that is definitely something I decided shortly after Election Day.

Anyway, that seems like a good place to wrap things up for today’s post. Do you have any goals or thoughts for the new year?