Random thoughts

Questions? #reverb11

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First off, Happy Birthday Mom!  I hope you have a great day Smile

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(last year’s flowers)

February Prompt:
One month into 2011, what question(s) are you living? Are there any prompts/questions that arose during #reverb10 that are still resonating in your life? Are you living new questions?

In December I participated in Reverb10, and at the beginning of February I got this prompt to continue on the creative path.  The problem is, I am reading this prompt and I don’t have any idea what it means, much less how to answer it.  What question am I living? 

I decided to refresh my memory on my reverb10 posts by browsing that category (available to you as well, at the very bottom of the page!).  I love the variety of topics that I wrote about…travel, community, change, happiness, lifestyle, love, friendship…I guess some of them are answers to questions, but I didn’t consider the prompts questions so much as, well, prompts.

The second part of the prompt about what prompts arose that are still resonating in my life?  I am definitely trying to keep up my “sense of wonder.” The other post that I really enjoyed reading again was “There is no do, only try.”  I wrote about trying new things, enjoying my city, and being less stressed over small unimportant things.  I love the idea of trying new things more than the act of it, but I have definitely tried many new things already this year…and I will continue to dream big and come up with grand ideas! 

Part three:  Are you living new questions?  Am I meant to substitute prompt for question?  I’m trying to keep up the daily blogging, first off, and sometimes I’m more inspired than other times.  Some nights I am exhausted and have very little to say.  Other days I am bursting with excitement.  Some nights I just want to post pictures of my cat.  I’m going to keep thinking about this though:  Are you living new questions?  Because…(like the beautifully different post)…I honestly don’t know what that means.  So I don’t know the answer.  Then again, I can assume that I am…

Any questions?

Running

New shoes!

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I like having two pairs of running shoes to trade out and my original Mizuno Nirvanas are totally worn down.  I did a little online research and discovered that the shoe has been upgraded plus is now a lovely shade of blue which has a hint of purple in it.  So I ordered them, and they arrived this afternoon.

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I did NOT wear them out for my run this afternoon as I want to wear them a few times inside before getting them dirty.  I DID realize that the insoles I had had in my second pair of Mizunos were different than the original insoles the store recommended (I evidently lack reading comprehension).  I moved the insoles over, and voila!  they are a bit more comfortable.  I ordered another pair of that brand of insole for my new babies, and I should be good to go.

What’s the upgrade? At first glance the bottom looks just a bit different and the heel is slightly more rounded.  I never land on my heel anyway so that should make no difference—I really just run on my tiptoes and attempt to hit mid-foot.  I’ll probably wear them for my next indoor run to see how they really feel.  I’d love to wear them for my next half.

This morning (wee hours) there was a bit of freezing rain, which caused a 26 car pile-up on I-64, which caused me to almost be late for teaching.  Ice on the roadways is a major problem.  I can’t wait for spring.

Here’s one other fun thing I did recently.  I read some other blogs, and one of them recommended a company, YouBar, where you can create your own energy bars.  I’m (too) addicted to bars, so I couldn’t resist.  Look what finally showed up yesterday…

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Yes, a whole box of “HANNAHVIOLIN”.  How awesome is that?  And they taste really good…there’s one ingredient I would do differently next time, but otherwise I’m very pleased.  I’ll have to try not to eat them all this week.

Food

Beef Stew

I’m making beef stew in my crockpot for tonight’s dinner.  I really love using the crockpot on days like today—you put the meal together in the morning when you have extra time, and then don’t worry about it until you get home, and then it’s ready to eat!  Ingredients include, but are not limited to:  stew meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions.  There is also a baguette on hand for dipping.  Can’t wait! (edited to add:  the stew ended up being really delicious!)

Today was a rough workout.  I ran 2 miles, worked out with Mike (heavy on the squats today) and then ran/walked 3 more.  I was working on speed so I walked at 3.8 for .2 miles then ran .3 miles for 6.5 to 7 mph.  Rough, rough, rough.  I imagine the people near me were super happy for my incredibly loud breathing (that’s VERY fast for me, just so you know).  But I feel like I got a great workout.  I will likely be unable to walk tomorrow.  Mike had me lifting heavier weights than usual—I said something whiny about that, and he said, “well you are getting married soon, it’s time to get serious!”  I cried.  But I’m sure it’s good for me and all that…

In case anybody was confused, I said in a previous post that we will set the date for our wedding in May.  What I meant was, in May we will be able to set the date—for a later time.  So if you started reserving your weekends in May for my wedding, go ahead and plan other things.  If you went ahead and bought a gift…well feel free to send that!  (Kidding…well, sort of…I have bought many wedding gifts over the years…it’s payback time, right?)

Random thoughts

President’s Day

I love being a teacher in the school system—you get wonderful holidays off!  I am only teaching my private students today. 

A few weeks ago Living Social ran a deal for a couples massage at Prolong Symmetry in Chesterfield (very near the St. Louis School of Music), and I thought that seemed like a nice Valentine’s Day gift, so I bought it.  Chris and I had the appointment today since I finally had a Monday off.  (Monday is always his day off.)  Wow!  It was fantastic.  I have had a few massages in the past but never a couples massage.  The only difference is that you are just in the same room with your “partner.”  Two tables, two massage therapists.  Great way to spend an afternoon off.  They offered us the same price if we come in again between now and the end of May and we may just take them up on that. 

Totally unrelated:

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra—generally regarded as one of the world’s best orchestras.  But as you may or may not know, has only FOUR women in the orchestra, and until about a decade ago, didn’t allow women at all.  Read this article about how we shouldn’t be okay with this (if in fact you are).  The author also mentions that the orchestra seems to have an unspoken ban on minorities as well.  Granted, the orchestra isn’t from our country, but certainly plays here enough.  Should we be protesting?  Writing angry letters or organizing pamphlet drops?  Thoughts?

(I have attended a concert of the VPO and it was one of the greatest concerts I’ve ever attended.  I think we as a people get used to certain things and stop being angry—we have to or we would go crazy.  I imagine the concert would have been even better if the orchestra were composed of the best musicians, not simply the best white male musicians.)

Random thoughts

Did I mention I was engaged?

First I told my family and close friends

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and then it became facebook official

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I received dozens of congratulatory comments and some messages too!  Chris was a little slower to make it facebook official…

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(from Chris’s page)

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But then he made it facebook official too!

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Probably not…I mean, not since LeBron left…

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Enough said!

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It’s been over a week now!  I still think my ring is pretty Smile and I still want to get married!

Performing

Live Music: Most Entertaining

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The first performance of Winter Opera’s “La Traviata” was last night.  Overall it went very well, I think.  The performance was sold out which is always fantastic. 

There was something very funny (and potentially disastrous) that happened that I wanted to share with you.

Since the opera is sung in Italian, the company uses supertitles on a screen above the stage to translate the words for the audience.   This way the audience knows what is going on without having to understand Italian.  There is a set up involving a computer and a sort of slide projection system.  Last night this was all in a slightly different place than during the dress rehearsal, and there were several cords going under my chair. 

I tend to move a bit when playing.  Particularly I tend to shuffle my feet, especially when I get emotionally invested in what I am playing.  Since I am concertmaster, I move even more than I might ordinarily.  At one point during the beginning of the opera, I shuffled my foot (my foot wearing a high-heeled shoe) forwards and caught a bunch of cords by accident.  I was alarmed at first, but didn’t think anything of it when our stand lights didn’t go out.  However, shortly thereafter I realized my stand partner Kyle had a look of alarm on his face and kept looking at the woman doing the supertitles.  She didn’t notice anything, but Kyle had noticed that I had accidentally knocked out the cord running from the computer to the projector, thus knocking out the supertitles. 

But the show must go on!  Kyle crawled under my chair while I was playing and saved the day by plugging the cord back in.  This was no easy task in that I was really quite in the way, but I needed to keep playing since the two of us were the first violin section.

Kyle spent much of the intermission convincing them to tape down the cords—I still had to be a little careful but I cannot properly lead an orchestra and play my part well while worrying about knocking something over.  But that’s opera for you—always something strange happening, and yet it usually pulls together beautifully.  I may have to consider a different shoe choice for tomorrow’s performance. (Sunday, 3 pm, St Louis Women’s Club)

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.