Phoenix, Travel

Vacation continues

I promise I will do a better race recap soon—I am just waiting until I get home. 

I’m still in Phoenix visiting my sister Leslie.  It’s been a pleasant few days, just relaxing and doing a bit of sightseeing.  I had hoped to hang out more with some friends, but I suppose it’s a busy time of year for people.  My sister has a few more days off work though, which is the main reason I chose to visit now. 

I think as people get older, whatever personality traits they had when they were younger become more pronounced.  I’m sure that’s true with me as well.  It’s interesting when you only see people every now and again—so often what you remember most about them, well, that seems to be even more pronounced each time you see them.  For bad or for good, really. 

I haven’t been keeping to my diet very well the past few days.  It’s always tough on vacation, between eating out more and not having as much control over one’s food choices.  I know I will need to buckle down when I get home—less carbs, more veggies, more protein.  I’ve been more lethargic the past few days, and I’m sure that’s a big reason, in addition to perhaps a few too many glasses of wine.  I also haven’t really gotten enough workouts in—even though I just ran a half-marathon race, I feel like I’m a bit out of shape! 

The weather has been great though.  It’s a nice reprieve from winter in St. Louis.  When Leslie first moved to Phoenix, I visited more often, and loved the winters.  As we’ve gotten older, I haven’t come out as much, but that aspect is still really nice.  It’ll be much easier to face the cold weather again…

Well, I will conclude this, the world’s most boring blog entry.  I blame all the carbs!

Phoenix, Running

Finished in 2:46:07

2 Comments

I was too tired to blog yesterday…and I will do a longer, more detailed race recap later, but…we all finished!

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I didn’t go as fast as I’d hoped, but I improved my time, ran considerably more of the race than my previous one, and had a great time!

My sister Leslie finished the marathon(her first!) in 4:15:50.  I don’t know my friend Sarah’s time but it was a little after me (her first half!).  Everybody was proud and happy.

Phoenix, Running, Travel

Phoenix Rocks

2 Comments

I’m in Phoenix now, on the eve of my second half marathon.  I’m meeting a friend shortly so I will just give you all a brief recap.

My flight yesterday was great.  The funny thing was that some women were talking in the waiting area to board the plane, and it turns out that of about five people in one area, three of us were flying to Phoenix to run the race.  I guess I’m not the only crazy one!  I arrived in the mid-afternoon and my sister Leslie picked me up at the airport.  We went directly to the expo for the race (where you pick up your race number.)

I haven’t run a race with an expo before so this was a new experience to me.  We picked up our numbers, t-shirts, and goody bags, then we walked around.  There were tons of booths for a variety of products related to running—clothes, shoes, drinks, snacks, lotions, even paper jackets to buy for “throwaway” clothing.  We picked up some free samples (though the Lara bar table was being very stingy) and were probably there about an hour. 

Dinner was at Cibo in Phoenix, and then I went to the Phoenix Symphony concert (my sister is a violinist in the symphony).  The concert was in Tempe at the Tempe Center for the Arts, a relatively new place, I am told.  The symphony played all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos.  I ran into my friend Karen, (also a violinist in the symphony, but not playing that night) and we sat together.  (Karen is a good friend of mine from when we lived in Cleveland).  It was cool to see Leslie perform along with a few other friends in the symphony! 

Today I spent an hour wandering around “Old Town Scottsdale” while Leslie was in a rehearsal.  I bought a souvenir mug and got a really nice leather bag!  We had lunch at the Orange Table and then relaxed in the afternoon—wanted to rest our legs, especially as Leslie is running the full marathon tomorrow.  Dinner was homemade pasta and salmon…and now it’s time to meet up with my friend Sarah for a short while and then early to bed, early to rise, tomorrow it will be time to run!

I promise I’ll have pictures soon—I just haven’t taken any yet Sad smile

Running

Ready to Race!

I made it.  I finished my last training run.  (And survived another Thursday!)

Now all I have to do is finish packing, fly to Phoenix, and then run the darn race. 

On an unrelated note:  I spent about 40 minutes today on teaching busywork.  After thinking about my post from this morning, I think I ought to just spend 30 minutes each weekday on the work, and try to keep it at that. 

I am more than halfway done with War and Peace.  I’m doing pretty well keeping up with all the characters.  Prince Andrew is my favorite right now…I keep wanting more of that storyline (right after Natasha spurns him) and instead it takes me into a boring part about Napoleon and Alexander the Great.  Less “War”, more “Peace” please, Tolstoy!

 

hamflavor

Running, Teaching

So Cold!

I guess it’s a good thing I’m going to Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow!

Friday in St. Louis:  High of 34, Low of 27 (all temps Fahrenheit)

Friday in Phoenix: High of 73, Low of 46.  MUCH BETTER!!

So I’ve got my “spring” clothes packed, and I can’t wait.  I haven’t been out to AZ in about two years, so this trip is long overdue.  And after my little race on Sunday, I’ll have four days to relax and celebrate, before returning to the cold.

Race day weather:  Partly Cloudy, High of 73, Low of 52.  I think that’s actually hotter throughout than the Lewis and Clark Half in October…I hope it’s not too hot for me to run decently!  I am planning to run in black capri leggings, a purple tank top, and start with a light jacket.  I’ve got a special “13.1” Sweaty Band for the occasion as well. 

Can you tell I’m excited?

 

I do have some teaching to do beforehand, and one last training run to squeeze in.  I’ve got 8 students at the school followed by 9 students at home.  I just hope some of them have practiced since last week—I think I gave out some darned good practice assignments last week, and there shouldn’t be any excuses—after all, most of the kids had a snow day, perfect for extra practice, right?  *sighs*

I do have to finalize the Solo and Ensemble stuff before I leave, but I’m also taking my laptop with me so I don’t get too behind on “business” stuff.  I need to streamline the paperwork/email/phone calls process.  I  spend way too much time doing that sort of thing each week without actually getting everything done. Maybe I need to dedicate a certain block of time on a few days to working on that stuff (and nothing else)?

What is generally involved?

  • Inputting payments into my computer program
  • Invoices and receipts
  • Dealing with special events such as concerts/contests—planning, emailing parents, memos
  • Rescheduling lessons
  • Resending invoices for parents who haven’t paid
  • Returning phone calls from potential and current students
  • Returning phone calls from potential and current clients (wedding business)
  • Returning emails from the same
  • Putting together wedding contracts
  • Signing checks
  • Taking checks to the bank
  • Planning classes
  • Making practice charts
  • Keeping up on repertoire ideas for the groups and orchestra
  • Xeroxing of important handouts for the students who continually lose them
  • Keeping travel bag clean and up to date (some music I use on the go and at home, I have to make sure it gets back into the bag afterwards)
  • Directions to gigs
  • Organizing gig music if needed (for instance, getting trio music or quartet music out, making sure I have the correct songs for the event)

If I have a week with regular teaching and a wedding or too, that is all the stuff I might have to get done!  Obviously the phone calls and emails vary, the invoices are primarily a end of month thing…but many of those things have to be done at the end of each teaching day or by the next morning for  sure.  I often feel overwhelmed by the paperwork (computer work, what have you.)  I am thinking I should just dedicate, say, 1 hour, three days a week to this stuff and then stop.  Does anyone else deal with this stuff in a better way?  (Other than having a personal assistant…)  When I get back I may try that—scheduling a few hours a week to dedicate to the about list as needed, and then not go past that time.  Maybe an hour Tuesday, an hour Wednesday and an hour Friday?  And if I don’t need that time, great.  If I need more time, I’ll just have to carry the work over till the next day. Then again, emails I generally want to respond to quickly.  But I could do that once or twice a day rather than all the time?  Help??

(I’m actually writing this on Wednesday night, and I’m exhausted, but I want to read a bit of War and Peace before bed, so I apologize for any incoherentness.)  Have a fabulous Thursday!

Random thoughts

Answers to a few questions

I’ve gotten a couple of questions recently that I thought I would answer here:

How can I leave in the middle of January to go to Phoenix, run a race, and visit my sister and friends? 

Well, firstly, since I work a variety of part time jobs, I can (within reason) set my own schedule.  But it worked out since Monday (MLK day) is already a holiday, so I was already missing half the students that week (Monday is quite busy).  So now I’m missing all the students that week.  I don’t get paid when I miss, but I don’t think it’s fair of any of my jobs to expect me to fully commit my time to them without full time pay!  I also don’t get paid sick leave or paid benefits.  All of that is out of pocket. 

What are these various groups I play with?

1.  Chamber Project St. Louis:  I am lucky to play with these guys (well, women, actually).  They do primarily concerts.  They play a variety of styles and ensembles—and they play all over town.  I’ve played with them in the past at the Chapel and the Contemporary Art Museum.  Most recently I was on Fox2 News with them.

2.  Frantillo Strings:  This is my group.  We play paid jobs for weddings, ensembles, etc. 

3.  Serenade Music:  My friend Ranya runs this group.  I play a TON of weddings for her.  It is also known as Serenade Strings.

4.  Winter Opera St. Louis:  Small start up opera company.  I am concertmaster of the orchestra.  It used to be called New Opera St. Louis. 

5.  Elegant Ensembles:  I have played a few jobs for this group, and I am currently rehearsing for a chamber music concert coming up (Brahms and Mendelssohn), so it’s both concerts and weddings/other events.

Are you a professional musician or do you do this for fun?

Yes.  To both.  But it sounds much better since I am a professional.  (That’s also why I charge more than college students.  I also have taxes to pay!)

Why did you initially begin blogging, and how has the experience changed for you since you began?

Actually, this is my third or fourth blog.  I initially began blogging because I thought it was an interesting thing to do, but I didn’t really want anyone to read it.  Then I had a blog on which I posted my travels plus funny things that happened to me.  This blog I thought would be initially professional in nature, but the thing is…the personal and professional blurs so much in my life (a musician’s work is never done…and we must bring our personal feelings into our music) that it seems natural to have moved into a more personal nature.  I also actively court readers now, as I feel my blog is finally worth sharing with people.  I try to keep a nice variety of topics, and I also generally try to keep a positive feel—it’s pretty indicative of who I am. I enjoy writing it for now, so there we are.

If you have any more questions for me, let me know!

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.