The weekend was stressful and busy but fun. Saturday was needlessly stressful due to some weddings and things, but the evening was super fun, and Sunday’s quartet concert was fun too. Friday night we went to the symphony with my friend Jen and her husband Chuck and went to Small Batch afterwards for drinks and a snack.

We had awkwardly close seats as usual. I wasn’t super impressed by the Rachmoninoff (Piano Concerto no. 3) balance wise, but I blamed where I was sitting, but our friends had better seats and they said the pianist was hard to hear as well. I find so many times I’ve been to symphony concerts (not just in St Louis) and don’t hear enough of the soloist. I don’t recall that from ushering back in the day in Cleveland, but it’s possible my standards are higher these days, who knows!

Saturday night at the Tavern of Fine Arts with my Irish group. We had a good time. Olivia, the flute player, is moving away in a few months so we won’t be able to reprise, but it was a lot of fun and I’m glad we were able to play the show again.

Sunday afternoon the quartet (Perseid Quartet) played in Edwardsville at the First Presyterian Church. It was a small crowd, but a good one, and I was tired but had a wonderful time performing. Two of my students attended, and I have to say: I LOVE when students come to my performances. It really makes me feel honored and appreciated, and I also hope that I inspire them!

I didn’t take any photos but I stole this one from our quartet facebook page. Most of my “in performance” photos are from my good friend April who is never shy about taking photos during a performance.

This time of year is just busy, isn’t it? I do feel like this was a particularly stressful weekend to “cross off” and the next two are not as bad. We’ve finished all of our scheduled quartet performances so now we are back to brainstorming and planning (if you would like to offer us a spot on your concert series or a place to perform we would definitely consider it!) and that’s always fun. Planning means new possibilities, and that’s one of my favorite things. And honestly I think until fall, things truly have settled down a bit. (Famous last words, I’m sure, and I shouldn’t forget about July’s piano-violin recital, but there’s nothing to MEMORIZE on there at least.)

Speaking of planning. Italy. I’m just so excited, though it doesn’t seem real! I’ve got the Rick Steves book on Rome, since he was my lifesaver in Paris, but I have barely looked at it yet. (Plus most of the planning isn’t really up to me, and that’s fun too, but we do have some decisions to make). I have 3 more concerts left, a gig, and a student recital in addition to my regularly scheduled activities (teaching mostly). It’s been a wild ride this spring, but as I was driving to a 9 am rehearsal in Edwardsville I was thinking, yes, I’m a little tired, but I’m managing, I’m having enough time to exercise, eat well, and occasionally see friends, and more importantly, I’m having a blast performing! It took me a long time to get to this point in St Louis, and I’m pretty happy about it. And what’s funny is that I’d LOVE to play even more, and I still try to figure out how to squeeze more into my life, even as I come here to the blog and complain about my lack of balance and how busy I am. I might be crazy?

We decided to go out for Vietnamese food last night. We tried a new-to-us place called Linh Mi Gia and were NOT disappointed. The food you see pictured was delicious (I have such a weakness for the broken rice/pork type dishes). This is one of my new favorite restaurants for Vietnamese, and I definitely will go back and try a few other things.