Running

Time to relax/new clothes

I’ve been busy today–a race and two weddings. Now it’s time to relax, attend a symphony concert, and then over to a friend’s house to hang out. My race went great–I will write more about it soon, but…I improved again, 32:03 on a busy, hilly course! More about that later…

I really just wanted to say what I’m thankful for today. I continue to be thankful for many of things I’ve already listed the past two weeks–(I’ll recap in a day or two)…but something new…I’m wearing a new red sweater I got from old navy, and I am happy to be wearing it. So the verdict is: I’m happy to have a bunch of new fall clothes to wear–and thankful because I can afford them, and because I NEEDED them due to my weight loss! So I’m thankful for new fall sweaters, long sleeve shirts, and pants, and the opportunities that led me to be able to get almost an entirely new fall wardrobe 🙂

Teaching

Frey-day!

It’s Frey-day!  That’s pronounced the same as Friday, for those of you who didn’t know 🙂

Today is usually my quasi-day off, but due to Veteran’s Day, I had 8 students at one of my schools.  Since I teach the students during their regular school day, I was concerned that they would forget today was a make-up from yesterday (unusual for a school to close for Veteran’s Day and then have class on Friday) so I called everybody yesterday to remind them.  As a result EVERYONE remembered their violin (this is rare).  It was a good day–the kids seemed to be in better moods than usual and we (well, they) learned quite a bit overall.  Now I’m at home catching up on various at home errands/computer work and preparing for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a fun day–I am doing a 5k in the morning (yes, yes, I’m getting out of control but having so much fun!), two weddings, and then I will attend the St Louis Symphony concert (can’t pass up Leila Josefowicz and Scheherezade) and hopefully go out for drinks/dessert or cheese after the concert.

I used to usher for the Cleveland Orchestra when I started in college.  Each Thursday night I would walk down to the street (a few blocks) to Severance Hall, help people find their seats, and then spent two hours hearing some of the greatest concerts ever.  Now I don’t have to help anyone find their seat, and I can do the same thing… 😉  I am THANKFUL that I can attend as many symphony concerts as I want for free (thanks to the boyfriend 😉 ).  THANKS CHRIS AND THE SLSO FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY!

I will finish today’s thankful post with a new picture of my sister Leslie and her cat Albergo.

Awwwwww.....

 

Random thoughts

Hummus!

I bought a carton of delicious black bean hummus at the grocery store the other day.  I put some on my sandwich tonight instead of mayonnaise or mustard and it was DELICIOUS!

I also purchased carrots to dip in it.  I haven’t had black bean hummus before, but this was really tasty!  In fact, I’m still sitting here, an hour later, thinking about how good my sandwich was.  You know what that means:  hummus is on the list!  I am thankful for hummus (in all incarnations, from black bean to regular to spicy to garlic varieties).  I am thankful for whoever invented hummus also!  THANK YOU HUMMUS!  (trying too hard?)

Today was a beautiful sunny day.  I was walking towards my house this afternoon and I just couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of this gorgeous view.

 

The red color was really popping in the sunlight!

Cruise, Running

Carnival Splendor part the third

So the Splendor has been towed to San Diego.  Here’s a nice collection of video links from a variety of sources.  Naturally the media has turned this into a “why cruising is unsafe” incident, though no one was hurt.  Thank you media for always overreacting to things.

Today I went for another park run.  Ugh.  Rough run!  I’ll blame the near 70 degree temperatures…how can it be so warm and yet these gorgeous fall photos?  And how come some days running is so easy and others I struggle so much?   Is it just the weather?  Maybe I’m tired?

 

 

 

I hope Saturday is cooler than today (it looks to be cooler and no longer rainy!).

Now it’s time for a workout with Mike followed by 8 students at my house and a rehearsal for a program on Sunday.  My 8 students at Good Shepherd are postponed until tomorrow due to Veteran’s Day today.

 

Teaching

Time is running out

And so I’m too busy…I cannot add another student at my house.  I can’t remember ever being that way.  Yes, I probably COULD add another student, but seriously I would be exhausted and it would have to be an 8:00 student…which I was tempted tonight while talking to a very nice sounding young man on the phone.  Or maybe I should teach on the weekends…but I’m saving some time for some new commitments in the spring, and I can’t.  I just can’t.  But I feel bad, I feel like maybe I’ve overscheduled myself away from home and I should have focused more on simply adding to my home studio rather than trying to work outside the home.  But I can’t change anything now without disappointing a lot of people and I won’t do that.  Next year… we’ll see.  There are some things I definitely want to do, and I’ll need to remember this.  Maybe I can do three days at home next year.  Maybe not.  Maybe I’ll have to raise my rates… 😉

I can’t believe how fast my schedule filled up.

Does this mean the economy is recovering?

 

 

Cruise

Carnival Splendor update

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Here’s a link to cruisecritic’s round up of the days news about the Carnival Splendor (I posted about this yesterday).  For those of you new to my blog, I am a big fan of cruising.  I’ve been on three cruises, two on Carnival and one on Royal Caribbean.  My most recent cruise was over the summer on Carnival Legend.

Seriously, I love cruising.  I love being pampered, I love being on the open sea, I love visiting a bunch of ports in one vacation.  I love everything about it!  Which brings us to today’s THANKS.  I am THANKFUL that I have been so lucky to go on wonderful cruises, and that nothing unfortunate has happened on my cruise vacations!  I know people that swear they would hate cruising, and point to stories like this as reasons why.  However, thousands of people have wonderful, uneventful cruises each year, and I am so very thankful I am one of those people.  I hope to go again soon 🙂  I would love to go on a cruise to Alaska next…

 

Posing with a towel animal from my last cruise!

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.