4 more students and then WOO HOO I’m on vacation for two weeks. Often I say that my vacation is well deserved, but I had so many actual days off over the summer I’m not sure that’s true. Then again, many people have two days off every 7 and still think they deserve vacations…(or maybe they don’t, but you know what, they do!) so…a well-deserved vacation!

I’ve got today off. Louie is out of town over the weekend, so I finished the opera performance last night, then stayed up late finishing a book. (The Visitors by Sally Beauman, which makes me want to visit Egypt and also makes one feel odd about colonialism). I thought I’d sleep in today, and didn’t set an alarm, and woke up at 7:45 am. Which is earlier than I sometimes even get up normally.

Some people tell you that when you have kids you won’t be able to sleep in anymore. I’m here to tell you that it seems to just happen as you age. I used to sleep past 10 am no problem, and sometimes even until noon. I would never wake up before 10 am without an alarm! And now, it’s a struggle to stay asleep past 8, even when I can or even when I need more sleep. The older I get, I realize so many of the things that people tell you about having kids are simply about aging.

But I digress. You know me, I’m preparing for a trip, so I’m reviewing my lists and checking stuff off. This is how I cope. Other things on the docket for today: work out, read as much as possible. I’m taking the day off from violin practice to recover from the opera, and besides, I’m about to go out of town…(arguably one should practice more because of that, but I am not going to make that argument.)

I had a busy week until a few days ago. I had quite a lot of students this week and a couple of interesting gigs, which went really well. On Friday though, I only had a performance at night and a couple of lessons to teach, so I ended up meeting one of my Wash U students for lunch and getting a pedicure. My student is actually no longer my student because she graduated and is headed off to grad school in another city. I had wanted to take her out for lunch in May, but I canceled our appointment back then due to being completely overwhelmed and finally got around to rescheduling. It was great to see her and I know she’s going to do well in grad school. I was going to put a picture of us here but it just keeps being upside down and won’t be correct, so go to instagram if you want to see the picture.

I also got a pedicure. This is my treat yourself thing to do about once a month (or less, really) in the summer.

A pit selfie! I played four performances of Nabucco with Union Avenue Opera. It was a very energetic opera, and I really liked the conductor.

I got the cats a water fountain. Muriel at least seems to like it. I’m not sure if Miles has tried it out yet.

I’d say Miles is adjusting well to being an indoor kitty.

I feel pretty good about things right now. I’m relaxed, I’m as caught up as I need to be for work. I have mostly accomplished as much as I’m going to accomplish this summer, and I’m okay with that. I’m fairly ready for the fall semester to begin. I’ve got an incredibly busy September because I’m playing a musical show at the Rep and there are 28 performances, plus a week of rehearsals and a few student shows and preview shows too. It should be fun and I’m working with some of my favorite colleagues, but it is going to be a tough month to get through, since we also have a quartet concert and I’ll have my college students starting up. I know I can handle it, but I’m not sure quite how it will work out. So being relaxed now is probably a good thing, because in one month I’ll be really busy.

Another thing I do want to try to do (after September, I think) is try to get more viola playing work. I don’t plan to stop being a violinist ever, but I want to do more with the viola, so I need to work on moving that part of my career forward.

Lots to do! But not right now. Later. After vacation. I just downloaded a bunch of new books onto my kindle (the library is AMAZING) and so I’m going to read and drink coffee now.