Student Performances

One of my strengths as a teacher is getting the kids ready to perform.  By this I mean, after they have learned the pieces/songs (of course!) then we practice performing.  My group classes are performing in two weeks and since Thanksgiving is in between, today I was in definite quasi-dress rehearsal mode!  We practiced walking “onstage” (we are still in the classroom), we practiced bowing, we practiced being quiet, we practiced waiting to play until the piano introduction had finished, and we definitely practiced our pieces over and over again.  Afterwards, we practiced bowing and leaving the “stage.”  I love doing this, I love getting the kids ready to perform.  They seem to enjoy it too, as it makes the hard work throughout the year worthwhile (not that students should only be working towards a performance, but that’s another subject entirely).  I talk about how they should be excited to show off their hard work to their friends and families, and how to act afterward.

Is there anything other teachers do to prepare their music students?  Any thoughts?  I have two more classes before we perform so more ideas are always welcome!

I don’t have quite enough time to get to the gym and back today, so I’m going to try a new workout video I’ve been hearing about.  Jillian’s 30 day shred!  I don’t watch the Biggest Loser, but I know she is the trainer from that show.  We’ll see how the video compares to a workout with Mike!

 

 

 

Hair Towel

Today I bought a new hair towel.  I love this thing!  I can’t remember when I first started using one, but it’s been years.  The problem is that after a few years (or less, I really can’t recall) it starts to look grungy and also doesn’t work as well.

Today I am thankful for my hair towel!  It seriously makes my hair dry faster, plus it’s smaller and thinner than a regular towel so it’s much easier to wrap around my head after showers.

Chris and I went shopping today, mainly for him.  I did however get a new winter coat (!–my old one was TOO BIG), the aforementioned hair towel, and a workout skirt.  It’s a little puma skirt made of grey sweatpants material.  I’ll have to wear something under it.  I am not sure how I feel about working out in a skirt, but I have been embracing lots of pink workout clothes this year, so a skirt seems like the next logical option.  Tennis players have been doing it for years, right?  Chris got a couple pairs of jeans and a pair of shoes.  We also ordered a large (18-20 pound) turkey at Whole Foods, which he will pick up on Monday.

Can you believe I had never gone into Whole Foods?  It looks awesome!  We were in a hurry plus I had a fridge full of groceries already, so I didn’t shop…but I MUST go back.  If nothing else to pick up some delicious looking cheeses for my upcoming cookie swap party (if you live in town, are reading this, and didn’t get invited, please let me know as I may have inadvertently left some people off 😉  social gatherings are such a minefield!).

In any case, I can’t wait to use my new hair towel tomorrow morning (at the crack of dawn, silly Wednesday schedule.)  It looks very bright and white hanging on the towel rack right now!  Thanks hair towel!!

Happiness Project

I have been reading the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris for the past month or so, but yesterday I finished up the last one (well, the last paperback one).  I needed something else to read, so I decided to reread “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin.  I first read this book about a year or more ago, and enjoyed it.  The author spends a year trying to make herself happier–it’s not that she was depressed or even terribly unhappy to begin with (unlike the author of Eat, Pray, Love!) but that she figured, why not make herself as happy as possible.  I haven’t finished rereading it so I don’t recall everything she does for the year, but I have been thinking about my own happiness project.  After all, that’s really (in a nutshell) what this blog is about!  I am starting to think about the new year and what sort of things I will want to achieve…after all, this past year has been about pottery, diet, personal training, and now running…where to go?  But it’s only mid-November now, so I won’t tell you any of my thoughts yet.  In any case, I just googled The Happiness Project and found the author’s website.

Okay, it’s that time of day…the time of day where I try to come up with something new to be thankful for!  Today I am thankful for my students.  My students continually challenge, delight, and impress me.  I am proud of their hard work and celebrate their successes.  They are also unique individuals and never cease to amaze me.  Not to mention that teaching violin gives great meaning to my life.  Thank you to all my wonderful students for being you!

I have a great story from today (names and places withheld 😉 )

I was teaching a class when suddenly one of the students let out a loud, quick fart!  The other students were disgusted or laughing (while moving away from him), and I didn’t want the student to be embarrassed so I tried to keep the class attentive and ignore it.  Suddenly the student cries out, “my allergy medicine makes me fart! ” and we all just lost it.  We were laughing hysterically for several minutes.  (The student was laughing with us–he didn’t seem embarrassed at all.)  Seriously…”my allergy medicine makes me fart!”  AWESOME.  (Thanks to my students for being wonderful anecdotes as well…kids say the darnedest things!).

 

 

Girls on the Run Race: 11/13/10

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I wasn’t planning to do another race until Thanksgiving, but a little over a week ago I got an email about the Girls on the run 5k in Forest Park and I couldn’t help myself…I signed up.  Then I thought it was going to be cold and rainy and considered chickening out.  In fact, even the morning of, when my alarm went off, I thought…hmmm…I’m not meeting anyone, I could just turn over and go back to sleep.  But I would feel super lame them, so I got up and put on my clothes and got going. 

So, yes, this was my first all-alone race.  Well, me and about 3500 other people.  The Girls on the run is a program for young girls where they run and also do community service (I learned a bit about it when I was there!).  I would almost consider volunteering, but I have enough on my plate (not to mention that much of what I do is practically volunteer work since the pay is so little), plus I feel that I give a lot to young children through my work (I have been giving this a lot of thought over the past few days!).  In any case, this race was the culmination of the hard work for lots of groups of girls.  I knew it would be crowded and I knew it would be the first race for many girls, so I knew I would have to have patience.  However, I’m pretty good with that sort of thing (again, from my teaching), so I just figured I possibly wouldn’t beat my last time.

I picked up the race packet on Thursday from Big River Running.  It was so warm that day that the table for pickup was comfortably set up outside.  I don’t run as well in warm weather, so I was really hoping it cooled off.  The forecast said it would, but also predicted rain, which I was not looking forward to (and again, made me learn towards chickening out).

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Contents of the race packet.  I finally wised up and ordered a “small” t shirt which fits pretty well.  I do not consider myself a “small” person so I feel badly for actual “small” people who must constantly be swimming in their clothes.  The red tag is for the timing—you wrap it around your shoelaces.  The water bottle was a nice touch!  Mike is constantly bugging me to drink more water, so more water bottles are a good thing.  I

Okay, so back to Saturday morning.  I woke up, ate breakfast, and went.  I planned to get there early in case of crowds, and sat in my car for a bit, drank coffee, and read until it was closer to race time.  This was a big race—3500 or so people!  Considering my last two 5ks were between 200 and 400 people, that’s quite a lot.  My goal was simply to run the whole thing (with the usual water table exception). 

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A couple different shots of the starting line up.  The balloons were at the starting line.  It was pretty windy (cold) so I hung back near a bit of shelter until it was truly time to line up.  I thought I would feel weird being alone and not knowing anybody (you know, like people would point and laugh or something) but I felt great, and noticed there were several other people in my position.  (Maybe next time I will say hi to them…or not…).  I also knew that Chris, though he wanted to sleep in, would be proud of me for finishing, so that helped!

Finally we got going! It took a little to cross the starting line, but then we were running.  The race was VERY crowded, but that was actually pretty fun.  I had to weave around a lot, and people were weaving around me as well, but it was great fun to run with so many others!  The course was much hillier than I was used to so I tried to go very slow up the hills.  The water station was VERY slow, as several people got completely in the way, stopped, stood there, etc, but I stayed patient and figured my time was just going to be pretty slow.  I got moving again though!  Mile 2 was the toughest as far as being tired and feeling like we were just running completely uphill (maybe we were).  I figured that the 3rd mile HAD to be more downhill, and I was correct.  I picked up some speed, and finally the end was in sight.  I pushed toward the finish line with all I had in me, and noticed that the time was just past 33:00..which meant I would have another personal record (or pr, as the “cool kids” call it.)  I was completely spent and actually thought I might throw up.

The best part of the race was that they had the water/food lined up RIGHT after the finish, no delirious wandering around for it.  I downed some water and some “vitamin water”, and sat down.

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You can see I was super tired.  I thought I was going to die, but after a few minutes I felt better!  Then I went to my car and drove home.

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What’s with all the 5k’s giving out medals? 

The times/placement went up later in the day:

My time: 32:03 (10:19 mile pace, wow!)

Place: 612 out of 3254

Not bad!  I am glad to be improving all the time Smile

Week 3 of Thanks Begins

To recap:

1) My cat

2) No more election campaigning

3) Being able to afford to buy food

4) Gorgeous fall weather

5) Processed cheese

6) Good friends

7) My strong legs

8) My pumpkin bread recipe

9) Days off

10) Being able to go on cruises (on occasion)

11) Hummus

12) Comp tickets to the Symphony

13) New clothes

 

I haven’t been thankful for my sweetie Chris yet—and I definitely am!  He puts up with a lot from me (my perfectionist tendencies also carry over into my expectations for him , fair or not Winking smile ) but also gives a lot to me and to our relationship.  He is trustworthy, caring, cute, talented, smart, and hilarious!  I can always count on Chris to make me laugh.  THANKS Chris!!

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Just a smattering of Chris pictures.  I was trying to reflect the qualities I listed:  Talented, loving, funny, and basically up for wearing a funny hat, drinking a fruity drink, or dancing…whatever it was that I wanted to do Smile

Weekend Recap part 1

I’m going to go out of order a bit (and save my race for later).  Yesterday I played two weddings.  The first was at St. Cecilia’s Church in South City.  It is a beautiful church, over 100 years old.  Evidently the area it is in used to be a German area and is now Hispanic.  The inside of the church is very shiny and ornate.  It’s really amazing what people used to build for their churches…it must have cost so much money!

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Just a few pictures of the inside.  If you visit the website there are a few more.  I didn’t have my good camera with me, and the lighting was bad.  Besides which, I am not a great photographer!

Wedding number two was at the City Museum.  If you are from St. Louis, you have probably been to the City Museum.  I went in June with a good friend and her boyfriend who were visiting.  It is a crazy place!  The whole building is a huge playground with things to climb into, over, and through.  It’s difficult to describe in a way that would do it justice. However, that sounds like a strange place for a wedding, right?  Well, they have a large room that is nice for weddings…except it was super loud where we were due to all the children outside the room, running around and screaming.  We were in the architecture room.  I didn’t take any photos yesterday, but here is one from my previous visit.

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The building in the background is the City Museum.  We could see this plane out the window from where we were playing, so that gives you an idea.

After playing two weddings, it was time to eat dinner and then attend the Symphony Concert.  Last night’s program was Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Leila Josefowicz playing Thomas Ades Violin Concerto, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade.   I really enjoyed the concert!  I usually don’t love new pieces, but I really loved the Concerto (and she played it fantastically, which I am sure helped immensely).  We then hung out with a few friends for a few hours and got to bed very late.

Now it’s time for my long run of the day—6 miles is on the docket for today Smile

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.