I still can’t believe I’m home and I’m not in Italy anymore. And I can’t believe that I ever WAS in Italy. I haven’t uploaded my pictures from my camera yet (I took tons but I’m waiting to look at them when I feel like I can really savor them, or alternately I’m terrified they will all be terrible and I’ll be sad…or I’ll just be sad that I’m not there anymore…).

But I’m home, and back to teaching. The weather here is cold and rainy today which is super strange. I’ve been home since late Sunday night and I’m definitely still jet lagged—the past two days I’ve been tired by 5 pm and exhausted by 10 pm…we have been working hard to finish the last remaining Downton Abbey episode (we watched one episode of Season 5 on the trip out, 7 episodes on the trip back…one to go!) but somebody keeps falling asleep after about ten minutes.

I wanted to post pictures I hadn’t posted on Instagram already but they were turned upside down. I’ll tell you more about the trip later, but for now I’m just recovering and trying to get through the week. I’m taking time off violin playing which means I actually have a lot of free time, but there’s a lot to catch up on. Mostly emailing, and then getting distracted by interesting things to read on the internet.

I’ve also been reading this book about my great-grandfather. It just came out and my mom sent a copy. It’s fascinating to read about a family member in book form. Though I never knew him, I certainly heard a lot about him over the years. It makes me want to know even more about my ancestors.

I can’t believe it’s basically summer now. And not just because the weather is cold and rainy, but because summer seemed so far away. School gets out this week or next, depending, and my second student recital is coming up and then people start dropping like flies. I’m working on some interesting stuff this summer, including a violin/piano recital with Jen, some gigs (not as many weddings as before, though a few for sure!) and perhaps some other stuff I’ll tell you about as it comes up. Some things are still in the planning stages of course, but I’m just so thrilled NOT to be moving this summer and being able to work and take vacation, but not have to take vacation to move. Since my big vacation is being me, my main goal for the summer is to visit family—my niece especially. They grow up so fast.

Look at those arm rolls! And that smile! 7 months old today.