This is the Title of an Uncreative Violinist.:)

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!  Getting ready to eat some barbecue on my parents' deck, and will probably leave later on today for Columbus:(  The weekend went by so fast, but it's always nice to come down here. Did the Pvt. Heath Warner Memorial Day 5K  this morning, and was a little dismayed when I got close to the finish line to see that my time was significantly slower than a year ago!  What the heck?!  I finished in 31'03"  Last year I was around 29 minutes and at the last 5K I did a few weeks ago, I was at 28 minutes.  Argh.  Whatever.  It was still a fun race and this is one of those races that I can see myself doing annually on a regular basis. My hubby was a nut and actually ran TO the race (although he did not run the actual race) which was about the distance of a half-marathon.  He left around 6am-ish and arrived at the McKinley monument around when the race started.  Crazy.  Maybe I'll be a nut someday and do that next year. Because of the holiday,

You'd think that after teaching for a good part of the last ten years, I'd be accustomed to students coming and going--life just happens and I've had a good number of students in the last few years leave due to moving to another part of the country (or abroad).  But yesterday, one of my favorite violin students walked in and her mom said, "We have to tell you something..."  Ugh, I knew.  But it was still a shock, and it was a very last minute thing with them, too.  They're moving to L.A. and next week will be her last lesson with me.  My little student (a Korean girl, about 9 or 10) ran out of the room while her mom told me the news because she was afraid she'd start crying.  *sniffle* I have to admit, I surprised myself when I developed a little lump in my throat as I tuned her violin; I mean, I have NEVER gotten emotional over a student leaving...a little sad that I can't be the one who continues teaching them...but never to the point of actually cr

Last night's dinner was chicken pot pie (I know, I make that an awful lot, I can't help it!) and my brother ate it!  He actually had two big helpings, which made me happy.  The boy will be getting a lot of meat this week b/c the hubby can't stand meals without meat in it.  Trust me, I tried to trick him once into eating an only veggie meal and it fell flat.  He did eat it--there was no other choice--but there was some whining involved.  Truth be told, I didn't like it so much myself, either. I'm a bit of a compromise-maker, however.  For lunch, I've been making no-meat meals for myself and my brother.  Yesterday's lunch was a provolone and tomato sandwich on a French baguette.  I really liked it and didn't notice the absence of meat at all.  For today's lunch, I'll be making lentil soup, which my brother and I both like since our mom made it all the time growing up. For tonight's dinner, I'm planning chicken tikka masala with rice.  Who

This morning, I attended church on my own (gasp) for the first time in years.  I grew up going to church every single Sunday, was involved in my youth group, went to a private Christian school, and attended any church I could while going to college.  After college, I became disillusioned--not with my faith, but just with churches in general.  I stopped going.  I didn't purposefully make the decision to stop going or anything, but that's just what happened, and then I got used to not going.  And I still am used to not going.  This morning, I woke up with plenty of time to get ready for church, but found myself playing around with different excuses: "the dogs are dirty from the dog park yesterday, I should probably give them a bath--ooh, that will get in the way of church, oh well, maybe next week!" or "I have to teach that makeup lesson later today and I certainly don't want to have to get up in the middle of the sermon to get there on time." But I reall

Cat & Owl, Buddies

Today, during a lesson, my student's mom blurted out, "So do you have a day job?"  Ah, my favorite question.  Yes, I do have a day job--it's teaching music!  I explained further:  I teach privately during the hours kids are usually home from school or when adults are home from work.  For me, as a private music instructor, that's as "full time" as it gets.  During my off hours I practice, I do normal "house stuff", exercise, and anything anyone else might do once they get home from work around 5 or 6pm from their "normal" day jobs.  It may seem like I have an awful lot of time on my hands, but honestly, 4-6 hours of teaching students straight with no break feels like the equivalent of 8-10 hours of sitting at a boring desk job.  And add trying to maintain my own playing, get as many gigs as I can possibly do, and still have a life on top of that--I am definitely not leading a bum's life. But I don't think this mom meant it in

I wanted to write this post last night, but I was so tired; I was really excited about the photo shoot and how the pictures turned out, so I had to share at least one! So here's how the day started: Ryan and I woke up at 6am to get ready for Race for the Cure in downtown Columbus.  We picked up a friend along the way and arrived downtown around 7:15.  Since the competitive runners got a head start by 10 minutes, I'm guessing my time (based on the clock at the finish line) was around 27-28 min. for the 5K.  I wasn't wearing a watch or my mp3 player because judging from last year's race, I knew I wouldn't want to miss all the bands and action going on on every corner.  I especially looked forward to the motorcyclists towards the end.  However, I got a little too excited giving bikers 'high fives' and definitely sprinted through that part only to end up feeling like throwing up.  So I had to slow down right before finishing, unfortunately:( After it was o

I answered a casting call for a local photographer's personal project and it was definitely an interesting experience!  The inspiration behind the shots are from a Japanese folk tale called "The Crane Wife".  Here is a sample: This is probably one of my favorites.  Water was cold and we got a lot of curious stares from passersby, but I think the results were worth it:)

It wasn't too long ago that we turned on the heat because it was so cool and now it's sweltering hot! Ugh.  Don't get me wrong, it's so much nicer than chilly rain and the sunshine puts me in a much better mood in general. Hubby took the day off to install a new storm door, so this morning he and I went out for a run around the neighborhood.  It was a pretty short run--3.5 miles--but with the heat and hardly any breeze, I was sweating more than I normally do for a short run. If only I could stay at home for the rest of the day with him, too!  But I have to teach a little earlier than usual today because of two students who are returning after taking almost a year off.  At least I don't teach late today. Still not completely sure if the trip out west will happen, but either way, I will be taking a vacation, even if it's a "staycation".  Oh, and there's always the hubby's family reunion out in KY:) Alright, going to help my husband instal

Here's what I did this weekend: Saturday morning- Spring recital for students, where a large majority of my students did NOT take their bows. Argh!  It stood out enough for a fellow teacher to ask me, "what was up with that?"  *fume* I worked on this all week with students, but I think a lot of them got nervous and/or were very unhappy with how they sounded and didn't do a good job hiding their dismay.  Will need to work on this with them... Right after the recital, I hopped in my car and made the two hour drive to Canton to spend the rest of the weekend with my parents for Mothers Day.  Hung out at home rest of the evening. Sunday morning/afternoon: Went to church with parents, Indian buffet afterwards where we met my younger brother and somehow ended up more or less convincing my parents that they need to get a dog.  After lunch, we hit Target and then Petsmart where my dad encounters a rescue dog that the local shelter brought to encourage animal adoption. 

The hubby asked for chocolate chip cookies and I've been on a cookie making roll lately (I made two batches over the weekend of his grandma's "crunchy-bumpy cookies"; he loved them, I wasn't so crazy about them), so I jumped at the chance to try to make a really good, traditional chocolate chip cookie and I think I succeeded! These are comparable to Toll House cookies, but I think are slightly better because of the home-made factor.  Plus, I think this might be the very first time I haven't messed up a baked good--I'm a horrible baker! I'm so proud of myself:) Here's the recipe:  http://savorysweetlife.com/2009/10/alices-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/ And as for my list of things to do over the weekend, some stuff still hasn't been checked off, like: Running--it's been frickin' raining the past few days!  and I hate running on treadmills, so I'm just waiting for the rain to stop. Planting new flowers (however, I did do the