Running, Weddings

SNOWPOCALYPSE?!?

… WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM MONDAY TO NOON CST WEDNESDAY…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR FREEZING RAIN… SLEET… AND SNOW… WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM MONDAY TO NOON CST WEDNESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* TIMING… LIGHT FREEZING RAIN WILL DEVELOP ON MONDAY AND CONTINUE IN WAVES MONDAY NIGHT. THE FREEZING RAIN WILL OCCASIONALLY MIX WITH SLEET AND SNOW LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING AND EVENTUALLY CHANGE TO ALL SNOW TUESDAY EVENING. THE SNOW WILL END WEDNESDAY MORNING.

* ACCUMULATIONS… ICE ACCUMULATIONS BETWEEN 1/2 AND 3/4 INCH ARE LIKELY… WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. SLEET AND SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM AROUND 3 INCHES ACROSS SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS TO 6 TO 12 INCHES IN PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND EASTERN MISSOURI.

* WINDS… NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WILL GUST TO 40 MPH TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY.

* IMPACTS… SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATION AND GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS MAY LEAD TO WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES. THE COMBINATION OF ICE… SLEET AND SNOW WILL MAKE ROAD CONDITIONS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND THIS COULD LIMIT TRAVEL FOR DAYS.

 

Gotta love the all caps from the National Weather Service.  Basically we are all in BIG TROUBLE.

Today:  Spinning class (mainly hills…not sure if the teacher really plans these classes out or simply likes to ride the bike while standing) and a 7 mile run.  I did the run a little faster than some of my long runs in the past (4.8-5.0 mph rather than 4.7) and felt fine.  The bottom of my feet were killing me around mile 3 so I tried to really focus on how my feet were landing.  I need to pay a visit to the shoe store, even though I wore my newer shoes today. 

Tomorrow:  Lots of teaching?  Or a snow day?  (I do NOT want to drive to St. Peters and then have it start icing…I’m totally stressed about that.) 

Last night I had a great time hanging out with my friend Sarah.  We had dinner and drinks, and chitchatted about life, whatever, teaching violin, etc.  It was a nice end to a day that was a bit trying at times (had an awful and awkward gig that I won’t go into on the blog.) 

I also played a wedding at the New Town Chapel.  I had not been there before, and was NOT prepared for the “Truman Show”-like atmosphere that is New Town (St. Charles).  I don’t want to be too negative about it, but I was really not prepared!  Seriously, there is a creepy 1950’s style looking town in the middle of nowhere…for no apparent reason.  Maybe I have a negative attitude towards homogeneity (I am a city dweller and I love diversity) and shouldn’t assume the worst.  The chapel was pretty enough, though oddly the doors in the balcony kept blowing open and we really struggled to keep them shut, as it was cold outside.  Oddly none of the guests sitting nearby seemed to care about the doors.  I have my opinions on why that is as well—not a single person offered to help me or my colleague shut the doors even though we were trying to PLAY for the wedding while this was happning.  I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have been happy if the doors stayed open…

(and this wasn’t the awkward awful gig I was referring to!)

Some pictures—I felt the retro camera app was VERY appropriate.

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Why yes, I’m in a crabby mood tonight!  Thanks for asking!  We bloggers can’t always be roses and songbirds, you know Winking smile

Food

Pork with Polenta

I made this recipe last night for dinner.  I really enjoyed it as a simple meal, not heavy, and the polenta was a nice complement to the pork.  I did make a mistake and bought the wrong sort of pork chops, but it still worked out well.

I didn’t take any pictures, but you can see a picture on the recipe.  I will make it again.

Something I learned:  polenta is basically grits.  As a southern girl…well, you know I love grits!

 

Books

Beethoven 7

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I had a great time listening to tonight’s Saint Louis Symphony concert.  Well, listening and watching.  Schubert’s 2nd Symphony, Shostakovich 2nd Piano Concerto, and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.  Fabulous!

Great day overall (gym, lunch with Melissa, shopping, which included getting running tights at Target, and dessert/drinks at Franco with Chris), but I’m tired now and going to bed.  Tomorrow I get to sleep in,  then run, two gigs, and hang out with my friend Sarah.  Fabulous 🙂

I started reading “Free For All:  Fixing School Lunch in America” by Janet Poppendieck last night.  It’s VERY nice to be reading something other than “War and Peace” (sorry, Tolstoy).  It’s got a lot of numbers, but it’s still a relief to be free of Napoleon (and frankly, after Prince Andrew died, I just didn’t care anymore. )  I generally read fiction, but it’s nice to read non-fiction on occasion, plus I do genuinely enjoy learning new things and knowing they are true, unlike fiction where you read new things that might actually be historically accurate but you just aren’t sure (yes, I’m again referring to War and Peace.  Damn you, Tolstoy!)

 

Teaching

18 students

Wow, that’s a lot for one day!  To be fair, I only taught 16.  Two were sick.

I had a great time teaching today though.  I took it one student at a time.  It was fine, only I needed more water. 

I finished “War and Peace.”  I can’t believe I spent almost three weeks reading one book.  I don’t even know what happened.  Well, I DO.  *SPOILER ALERT* It was the war of 1812…I kept thinking about Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture!  Lots of Napoleon, Alexander, and a few Russian families falling in love or dying.  Seriously, Tolstoy.  Could the book have been edited a bit shorter?  (And I usually love long books!)

After such a long day, I wasn’t in the mood for cooking, so Chris and I decided to go to Dressel’s for dinner.  I had a glass of wine and the beef stew with salad, which was very good.  I always enjoy Dressel’s. 

Tomorrow is fun Friday (most Fridays are fun Fridays!).  Gym with Mike, lunch with Melissa, cook dinner (planning on a new recipe from Cooking Light magazine), attend the SLSO concert, and drinks with friends afterwards (hopefully).  I’m not quite sure how my “days off” become so busy, as I seriously need to do some housecleaning.  The weekend should allow for that though…

May I apologize for this slightly boring post…but it beats yesterday’s whiny ones, right?  RIGHT? (foot feeling better, wrist…we’ll see).

Random thoughts

Weak wrists

I’m feeling old and whiny tonight.  I’m tired, I am still annoyed at this morning’s classes, and I have some aches and pains.

My wrist still hurts and now I have a bit of a blister on the bottom of my foot from today’s run. 

Foot: I’m thinking either I need to retire my blue Mizuno shoes OR switch to a different sock.  I have been wearing cotton (the horrors!) socks, and I noticed today’s pair was a bit stretched out as well, but I couldn’t do anything about it as I was changing at the gym.  I have a few pairs of synthetic socks, but I’m not a huge fan of any I have as they seem to slide around.  Maybe I should keep trying.  Suggestions?  As far as the shoes go, I have another pair.  I also plan to take my old shoes back to the running store and make sure my shoe is still the best one for me—my feet were pretty sore by the end of the half-marathon, but that’s probably normal, right?

Wrist:  I don’t know why it’s bothering me now…I haven’t been playing {violin} enough to cause problems. 

I have a history of problems with this wrist, starting back in, oh, 1991?  And on and off, ever since, particularly freshman year of college and while I was in the Charlotte Symphony.  I’ve been diagnosed with bursitis, tendonitis, and general overuse. Violin playing (for me, and many others) is fraught with injuries.  My right wrist is my biggest weakness, though by no means my only trouble zone.

However, I haven’t had any real problems with this wrist in several years, so I hadn’t thought about it until the other week when I woke up with pain in my wrist.  I thought maybe I had slept on it funny, so I ignored it for a few days.  I don’t know what caused it, but I do know what I should do.

Rest.  I’ll just have to be extra careful for a few weeks, at least.  That probably means no burpees.  OH NO!  (burpees are a torturous move incorporating an up-down, push-up, and a jump.  Mike loves them.  That is, he loves making me do them.  I can’t speak for his own workout regime.)  Stupid weak wrists.  I’ve also slept in my wrist brace for two nights, and I’ll continue that again tonight and probably for a few more days or longer. 

Lucky I “just” teach now, and don’t have to play violin for a living.  Winking smile  Small victories, right? 

Teaching

Patience is a virtue

I am not doing well today with patience.  I lost my temper (well, in a child friendly way) two to three times during my morning classes.  I was TRYING to do something nice and play games—we played “Violin hangman” and I even added a true element of randomness to it by having the students draw for a song and then roll the dice to determine which line of the song to play.  It makes a nice challenge, having to start in the middle of the song rather than the beginning.  (What happens is, they do this, then get to choose a letter for the hangman game.)  But I asked them to follow one rule:  when somebody is playing, everybody must listen.  Evidently this was too difficult.  GAH!  Group classes are starting to drive me insane.  I see so much I could address with each child on a one-to-one basis…but that’s just not possible in this setting.  And as I’ve mentioned before, my discipline skills are sorely lacking.

I did manage to run 5 miles at the gym—I am working on my speed, so I was doing intervals of running/walking, but running much faster than I ordinarily would.  I believe I ran out my frustrations and I am now ready to face my later students.  At least there are no more group classes this week.

And I feel that having patience is one of my strong suits and helps me to be a good violin teacher.  I guess everybody gets a bad day?  I’m feeling like I really failed my morning classes…but maybe I just need to be clearer about the rules OR be more relaxed about them to myself.  I am not being consistent enough with the students and I probably confuse them.

Some of the students did play really well!  So that’s good.  Maybe I’m not a total failure in the class setting Smile.

musicstandsnow

Music stand (Tower Grove Park) in the snow

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.