Running, Weddings

Happy Halloween!

What a busy weekend so far!  Masquerade Ball last night, and then today I got up BEFORE the crack of dawn to run a 5k, then home, nap, wedding,  nap, practice…well, haven’t gotten to that yet, but will soon.

For the Winter Opera Fundraiser (Masquerade Ball) I played two pieces, one for the cocktail hour and one at the dinner program.  The cocktail hour was at the home of some very generous donors, just upstairs from Dominic’s, where the dinner was.  The dinner was fantastic!  There was pasta, salad, choice of meat (I had the tenderloin) and choice of dessert.  In between each course several of the singers performed a few arias, and during one of the sets I played as well.  The audience was very receptive and appreciative.

Borrowed a mask for the photo! Do you recognize me?

 

Today:  5k and wedding.  More on the 5k in a later post.  Here’s a teaser photo.  Please note the awesome socks!

Ready to rock!

 

Today’s wedding (just one) was at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Oakville, Missouri.  The church was small but very nice.  I “retro app-ed” some photos for fun, as usual.  The wedding was very nice and straightforward.  My friend Sarah hired us, and the bride was a friend of hers from high school, so the event was more meaningful as well.

Inside the sanctuary

 

Front of the sanctuary

 

Top of the steeple

Unrelated:  I wanted to post this hilarious picture of my “new” trainer Mike.  He wore a costume yesterday for Halloween.  Can you guess what he is?

I hope all my readers have a safe and happy Halloween!  I am not dressing up/attending any costume parties, nor will I be answering the door to trick-or-treaters (we just don’t get enough in the neighborhood to buy candy 🙁 ), but I know many of you will.

 

 

 

Cat, Travel

New Kitty!

One of my sisters just got a new kitten.  I’m a bit jealous, because her cat is smaller than mine and probably doesn’t take up the whole bed when sleeping (yet).  It’s very cute, and I thought I’d post a few pictures I “took” from her facebook page.

I see Leslie was smart and got a fishing pole toy!

 

This shows you a more realistic "scale" of the kitty.

 

I look forward to meeting “Albergo” –evidently means Hotel in Italian and is based on a slight misunderstanding while she was booking a vacation in Italy last summer (yes, Leslie has a rough life  😉 ).  Anyway, turns out Albergo was not actually the hotel owner’s name, but the name of the hotel–Albergo Barbara.  In any case, an excellent name for a kitty.

 

Performing

Winter Opera Masquerade Ball

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Tomorrow night I am performing for the Winter Opera St. Louis “Masquerade Ball”.  I’m concertmaster of the orchestra (we had three performances last year), and Gina Galati (artistic director) asked if I would play a couple of pieces for the program.  The dinner takes place at Dominic’s Trattoria in Clayton.  I haven’t been there but I am told it is delicious (I get paid plus dinner 😉 ).  I am also excited to wear one of my cocktail dresses versus the usual “all black”.  I don’t have a mask to wear, nor would that work well for violin playing, unfortunately.

Speaking of Italian food, I am excited to go visit Chris’s family in Long Island and the Bronx over Christmas.  We recently purchased our plane tickets to visit for a few days.  The food will be fantastic, I’m sure!  I realize it’s just the end of October, but nonetheless the stores are practically in full Christmas spirit, so it’s hard to not be excited already.  I purchased some lotion at Bath & Body Works yesterday, Twisted Peppermint Flavor.  The saleslady said the whole store would be holiday-ready by November 1.

Running, Teaching

Fall Run

I took a few pictures on my run through the park today.  Ran up to the Piper Palm House and back, I think it’s about 2.5 miles–just an easy run.

 

Entrance (though I took pics towards the end of my run)

 

 

 

Little firehouse near my home

I was happy to get a run in before lunch.  My last violin class this morning was canceled due to a field trip, so I got home earlier than usual.  The kids LOVED the cookies, and begged for more (I didn’t have unlimited amounts, plus I didn’t want to spoil their lunch.)  We played some games today and generally just had a nice time in class, for a pleasant finish to October.

Tomorrow I have a bit of a holiday–parent teacher conferences at one of my schools so no school for me 🙂

 

Food, Running

Best violin teacher ever?

My classes at Child of God school have been begging me for a halloween party.  Well, I’m not doing that, but I did bake them some pumpkin cookies this afternoon 🙂

 

Please note my skill with the icing!

Does this make me a great violin teacher, or the greatest violin teacher?  I do hear that the 1st graders have a field trip tomorrow and are missing out (just found out a few minutes ago).  Oh well, 1st graders!  😉

My legs are resting after a hard run today–I decided to go all out and really push myself as far as speed.  I took about 2 minutes off my normal mile pace for three miles.  I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me.

I recently got this awesome picture of a group of us after the Lewis and Clark Marathon.

Exhausted bunch of people!

We had all run–(from left to right) Kathryn (Joe’s client), me, Joe, Michelle (Joe’s wife), and Natalie (Joe’s client).  We had just finished lunch and were all struggling to move/stay awake.  Good times!

I’d better go pack up the cookies 🙂

 

Food, Grand Ideas

Relaxing Tuesday

This blog post is up, but I am not (hopefully!).  After a crazy weekend of social engagements (parties), work, running, a full Monday of teaching (from 9 am to 7:30 pm)…Tuesday is basically a day off.  I’ll be adding something in the spring, but today is simply ONE student.  And not even that many errands!  Just post office, groceries (maybe), prep for the weekend’s wedding, and a three mile run.  And some practicing of course.

I’m writing this on Monday night, and I’m utterly exhausted.  Sunday night we were invited to a friend’s birthday party, and Monday night was a “Pumpkin party” which I just got home from.  It was great–so many foods made of pumpkin (pumpkin enchiladas, for instance!) and pumpkin carving, plus one guest brought a two week old baby…dressed as a pumpkin (so cute!!).  I didn’t carve a pumpkin, but some people were doing really intricate things with theirs.  I did bring the aforementioned Pumpkin Blondies, which were delicious.  It was a nice gathering, but after Sunday night out, Friday night out, etc, I look forward to a night IN. (I also have some tv to catch up on.)

After so many invitations, Chris and I are discussing how we need to host a gathering/party.  I’m planning a cookie exchange party in early December (date tba), but that would be small and girls only.  We might do something in the late winter/early spring…I feel like as we get into the holiday season our schedules will be too packed to host an event, but maybe after the holidays.  We’ll see, I guess–he and I are great “grand idea” people, but not so great on “follow-up” 😉

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.