This is the Title of an Uncreative Violinist.:)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  It honestly went by so fast.  We spent most of this week at my in-laws for the holidays and with all the different stops we had to make (his parents, grandma, and bro & sis-in -law's places) it just made each day go by so swiftly. We left Friday after dinner since my parents were coming into town to both celebrate my birthday (today!) and to help install a new laminate floor in our basement.  Unfortunately, yesterday morning when they arrived, my dad wasn't feeling too hot, and it quickly developed into what he thinks is the flu.  Ick.  I feel so terrible that they have to go back.  We were really hoping to get this thing done before we all went back to work. The upside, though, is that Ryan and I can at least spend the last leg of our vacation together. Family is wonderful and we love both of our families equally...but we also enjoy our alone time and sometimes, it's just nice to be in your own home and relax...

I need to warn you: HUGE vent coming up right now. I know it's been quite awhile since I've done that--the logical part of my brain says that it's wiser in the long run to keep certain things off limits on cyber space-- but the other part of my brain, whichever part requires I keep my sanity, NEEDS to purge...and purge badly. If you haven't read this blog and are new to the party, a little history:  I'm a musician who teaches private music lessons who--much like 95% of her fellow violinists who went on to study their instrument at a higher level at a conservatory--never set out originally to teach, but rather, saw herself performing in whatever capacity involving performance...orchestra, chamber music or a mixture of both with teaching being in the extremely faint background. Fast forward more than a decade and I do more teaching than anything else, really. It pays the bills and turns out to be more stable than trying to find a playing position (which is a whol...

Sorry for all the excessive postings, but hey! When I'm in a slump I'm in a slump; when I'm on a roll...well, I'm on a roll! Lately, I've been seeing other bloggers' list their favorite Christmas movies, and that got me thinking about my own list. While I've seen all the typical ones you normally hear people citing (A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, etc.), here are some that make me feel warm and fuzzy during the holidays, but don't necessarily come to immediate mind when thinking of classic holiday flicks: 1.  The Family Man To me, this is kind of like a more modern "It's a Wonderful Life" and being the sappy romantic girly girl that I am, I always tear up at the end.   2.  Bad Santa   Okay.  If you are a prude and hate rated R movies, this is not for you.  But if you have a sense of humor and you don't bat an eye at crassness, then you'll appreciate this movie.  Admittedly, I wasn't into it the firs...

A year ago, these were my Thanksgiving contributions (post here ): Breakfast : 1.  French-press coffee 2.  2-ingredient Pumpkin Spice Muffins (recipe found here:  2 ingredient pumpkin spice muffins ) Sides : 1.  Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Toasted Hazelnuts ( recipe ) 2.  Crockpot Corn Pudding ( recipe ) 3.  Buttered Turnip Puree ( recipe ) Meat : 1.  Honey-Baked Ham Dessert : 1.  Apple Spice Bundt Cake ( recipe) 2.  Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake ( recipe ) If I recall, I ended up not making the muffins, and the Brussels sprouts and turnip puree were a flop with everyone (although I'll reiterate that I personally LOVE and ADORE the turnip puree!). The winners were the crockpot corn pudding and apple spice bundt cake, so those will be making an appearance again. Here is what I hope to make this year (a few are special requests made by Ryan who always misses his grandma's cooking since we now go...

Wow. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I need to get on the ball with all the dishes I'd like to prepare for the big day.  Before I get to that, though, just want to share some Christmas gifts ideas that I've gotten from other blogs and such. (Yes, I started super early this year, just as I resolved to do last December since I abhor crowds.  I hope to be done with all my shopping before Thanksgiving, or at least by December 1st.) I used to ignore Nordstrom as I thought it was way out of my budget, but sometimes I can actually find some affordable items there.  One gift that I hadn't considered in the past but am super excited about giving this year are these slippers : I got a pair for my mother-in-law and my mom, and I'll probably go ahead and get a pair for myself soon.  They are soooo soft on the inside and I can't wait for both moms to try them on! When I told my husband of my idea to get slippers as gifts for the women in our families, he thought...

I meant to write a post a few weeks ago, tried on my phone, but failed and then lost the motivation to do it again. So back to being a sporadic blogger I am. A few weeks ago, we celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. Someone told me that was our "Wool" anniversary, lol. I had never heard of that before. But yeah--getting that much closer to a decade...and it is just FLYING by. Halloween also came and went; I was so pumped for trick-or-treaters and got a bunch of candy...only to have no one come to the door on Halloween night. Then a few days later, on Nov 2nd, as we were driving out of our neighborhood to go out for dinner, I saw families and their kids all dressed up walking around. Argh! I was so mad that I didn't get the memo (apparently) that they had rescheduled Halloween. How stupid is that, to do it in November? Yeah, it was raining a bit and windy on the 31st, but I know some places still did it. Besides, that's perfect weather for it, right? Wh...

Believe it or not, I actually woke up before my alarm went off, at the ungodly hour of 5:15am.  Because I hide nothing on this blog, I'll share why.  The smell of garbage wafting up to my bedroom through the vents woke me up.  Pleasant. At first, I was terrified that maybe one of my dogs went #2 under our bed (one of the dogs likes to leave presents under pieces of furniture for us to find later) and I hadn't noticed for a long time.  But when I went down to the kitchen to get a drink of water, the smell just got more potent. Ugh.  So now I'm up. So why not be productive and write a post? From yesterday: Browsed the stores, tried on some stuff, like this shirt from Talbots: Didn't get it, but did get another burgundy shirt from Ann Taylor, which for some reason, I did not take a picture of myself wearing. Went to the old Starbucks I used to work at to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and as I was getting ready to pay for it, one of the baristas told the cas...

Along with my favorite time of year also comes the sudden urge to go shopping for Fall clothes (the invention of Pinterest and fashion bloggers also probably doesn't help). I know it's so cliché, but I'm gonna go ahead and say what everyone else gushes over:  the boots, the sweaters, scarves, leggings, layers, warm, plush colors to put together.  I don't discuss clothes a whole lot on this blog, but maybe I should because it definitely is another interest of mine.  What woman doesn't like clothes?  If they exist, I don't want to know them :) I jest. Anyway.  My one major stipulation when shopping, however, is that I am not allowed to buy anything full price.  There have been only a handful of times where I've done that, either out of desperation or knowledge that a certain item was going to be snatched up fast.  Otherwise, I've learned my lesson that eventually, whatever I have my eye on will come down in price.  The only risk is that I don't h...

It's already the middle of October and I want Fall to last as long as possible!  I decorated my front stoop in September and my mums are already dying :(  I also had stuck paper bats on my two front pillars, which looked really cool, until it rained hard a few days in a row and that was the end of that. And less than a week from now, I'll be celebrating our seven year wedding anniversary. Yikes! Where does the time go, seriously?  As of now, we don't have any plans, although I always think we should do something extra special with each passing year.  It's just not a great time to go on a long trip as we're both pretty busy with our jobs (me: teaching, orchestras, gigs; him: a training program at work on top of his regular work load which = 12 + hour days. Yuck).  We usually save our big trips for the summer, and that's already happened this year. The home studio has expanded more than I expected.  I didn't really want to teach too many students in my ho...

Now that I'm on the smartphone bandwagon, I've been spending a pathetic amount of time on Pinterest.  Mostly, I'm collecting recipes because even with all the food channels, magazines and blogs out there, I STILL am at a loss at times on what to make for dinner.  And now that I'm teaching a little later (more than I'd like to...but I'm a pushover and can't say "no" sometimes) the need to prepare dinner ahead of time is more dire than ever. So I thought I'd keep track of what I've been making lately, courtesy of Pinterest: 1.  Homemade Falafel :    I normally don't go for falafels--and my husband loooves them--but the other day I was craving them, had all the ingredients, and I have to say this was really, really good. Especially with the tahini sauce.  Highly recommend trying this recipe. 2.  Russian Cucumber and Radish Salad:   After being married for nearly 7 years, I recently discovered my husband's fervent love for cucumbe...

I've been seeing a lot of "Five on Friday" posts and--let's be honest, I haven't blogged in almost a month--thought it would be a good, light, getting-out-of-my-blogging-rut type post for today. So here it is: Not our chair...but from the website of the guy who custom builds them. 1.  It's never too late to improve your outdoor area!  Last weekend, we ordered Adirondack chairs and also bought a fire pit from Home Depot.  That, plus all the outdoor work my parents did earlier this summer really has turned such a small space into something more inviting.  We had our neighbor over for hotdogs and smores last weekend (and I may have had just a little too much wine...)! 2.  I'm a sucker for end of season sales and have scored a few goodies in the last month.  One of them that I can't stop wearing are these sandals from DSW: 3.  Anything with fall scents-- candles, hand sanitizers, plug-ins, baked goods!  I'm ready for Fall... 4....

Quick update: mostly chugging along, in the midst of students' changing schedules for the school year due to sports and other crap; getting ready to also experiment a little with teaching out of my home for the first time.  I'm excited about that, and welcome any kind of change as I get depressed when things become too mundane and routine in my life. A few days ago I was involved in a minor car accident-- I wasn't at fault.  Was just sitting there at a light and bam! lady behind me got rammed by a girl who basically wasn't paying attention to the road (she keeps claiming she was paying attention and that she was NOT on her phone...none of us can really prove that) and in turn, I hit the car in front of me while still applying the brakes.  I'm totally fine, but of course I sit and wait to hear from the other girl's insurance company and watch them try to screw me over. Interesting thing-- literally a few hours after the accident, my cell phone lit up with call...

Since yesterday was my day off, I took advantage of the time to do what used to be my favorite thing to do: shopping!  The older I get, though, the crankier of a shopper I am.  Weird how I seemed to be a more avid shopper back when I was younger and more broke; I'm not swimming in cash or anything now, but definitely can shop if I want to.  But, somehow, it doesn't do it for me anymore. Anyway, I've been really wanting to spruce up my back patio for the longest time.  The last few summers I had bought small planters and various plants, only to neglect them or simply not realize that they wouldn't do well in the heat on their own, and watch them wither within a week or two.  So this spring, I pretty much did nothing.  My patio--besides the one tree and shrubs (that are now dying after several years of doing well)--is bare.  I go in there every so often to pull weeds, but that's about it. I was on the hunt for string lights are something to liven...

For someone whose last run was around 3 months ago, it was probably a tad ambitious of me to think I could crank out 6 + miles this morning...especially in this heat and humidity.  On top of which, my Garmin was being screwy--which made me mad, as I'm one of those people who simply can't enjoy a run without knowing exactly what her pace and mileage are-- and it just wasn't realistic of me to think I could do a long run on my first try in a long time.  So I did about 3 miles and called it quits.  I'm drenched. To beat the heat, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and get up earlier (I am SO not a morning person) OR go for a night time run...which probably is not likely to happen.  Guess that just leaves getting up earlier! I've been behind on recipes, but here's what I made last night for dinner: Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin Picture from the website...mine didn't look as vibrant, but still good! On Sunday, I didn't do much other tha...

I've been in a blogging rut as of late (what's new?) but still feel I should update a little: Coming back from vacation always sucks, but in our family there's always serious post-vacation blues for at least a good month or so.  That may explain my blogging 'blahs'. Since returning to teaching after my trip, I've had two students nearly faint during their lessons.  The first one I believe was just extremely stressed out; the second is a new student and I think she was scared during her lesson.  Uggghhh. Our yorkshire terrier, Zoe, scared us a little this week when she had a severe diarrhea spell for several days.  I actually had to take a day off and reschedule lessons in order to take her to the vet and be with her all day.  A huge pain...but she is alright now and all's well. We recently added a new member to our family: I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but this is exactly what it looks like. It's really Ryan's car.  I still driv...

Saturday morning, Ryan and I got up fairly early so we could go on our first hike up Mt. Snitkau near Breckenridge. Unfortunately, I had to miss my newly-married friend's farewell brunch in Boulder, but it's always a good idea to get an early start if you want to hike up a mountain! I brought a fleece to wear since it tends to get colder going up a mountain, but at some point, I peeled that thing off because I was working up a sweat!  We caught up with a pair of other hikers who had done the hike before, and we descended along their trail.  Saw a marmot (at this point, one of the only creatures I've seen in CO *sads*) but couldn't get a picture because it was too fast. Somewhere along the way down, I had to put my fleece on again because we had to cross patches of snow!  I slipped a few times, but each time I thought about whining over climbing down a mountain, I thought back to our climb on Mt. Elbert last summer, which is one of the highest mountains in Colorado....

I'm still in Colorado, but I thought I should try to write a recap of each day of our vacation while it's on my mind, so I don't forget any details (especially since the memory card on my camera was full and we could only get pictures of half the trip, unfortunately!).  If I can keep it up, I'll save each post for when I return and publish them one day at a time.  Since I've turned this blog private, the number of hits has gone down significantly, so I may be the only one reading (lol), but I still need this for my memory's sake. Last Thursday was when we arrived in Denver, CO for my college friend and roomate's wedding.  She had two separate ceremonies--the first in a Catholic church, the second in an outdoor setting at a farm--spread out over two days. Ryan and I both worked half days on Wednesday, the day before, because the only flight we could catch in time for the first ceremony Thursday afternoon was very early out of Indianapolis.  Fortunately, Ry...

Just checking in quickly from Aspen, CO!  We're on the tail end of our trip and will be checking out of our hotel tomorrow morning, probably walk around Aspen some more, and then fly out of here in the evening.  Back to reality--and to homely Columbus, OH--on Saturday. I'm currently writing recaps of each day and plan on publishing them sometime next week.  I started posting recaps of our trip on Facebook, but Ryan told me he thought it seemed obnoxious to post those details on FB.  I guess I know what he means...but seriously, what else would I post either here or on FB?  (No one wants to hear or read about the petty arguments we had on where to eat or what to do, or anything of that nature, right?)  So as a result, I only posted once or twice on our trip and I'll just summarize everything else on this blog. If it actually does seem obnoxious, my apologies!  I honestly don't know what else I'd write about, and truthfully, it really helps to record...

Over the years, I've gotten the same comment from parents after they observe me teaching their child a few lessons, and each time it throws me off.  The comment:  "You are SO patient!" If you've gotten to know me in the slightest through this blog, um, it's probably pretty apparent that I'm not naturally a patient person!  I'm, in fact, very impatient and it can get to the point of being so ugly that I turn myself off at times (being utterly honest here).  So when a parent or student periodically tell me they appreciate my patience, I feel like they're talking to a different person because I don't see myself that way at all. And sometimes, a little impatience DOES come out in my teaching.  Very rarely do I show any frustration or anger towards a student, but during the times I do it's usually when it's apparent a student has been slacking off consistently, or they're misbehaving badly.  For the ones who don't have a behavior probl...

Today's workout(s) was a smorgasbord of three different activities, mainly because my attention span was extremely short today.  This morning I got all ready to do yoga and then 12 minutes into what was supposed to be an hour and a half workout, I said "meh" and stopped the dvd;  I put my shoes on and went over to the row machine and did 15 minutes of that.  So yeah, less than a 30 min. workout in the first half of the day. Lame, I know. The middle of the day until about 7ish consisted of teaching, of course, and today I brought some treats in for the kids and some other teachers.  I hadn't planned on doing that, but last night around 9pm, Ryan was moping around the house saying something about how I hadn't made dessert in several weeks (because I've been trying  to get FIT, people!) and he really wanted something sweet after dinner.  I chastised him at first, but then remembered I had seen an easy-looking recipe in one of our monthly Bon Appetit  ma...

Hi there! I've got a few hours to spare before heading to a friend's surprise birthday party this evening (at least I think it's still a surprise?).  When this friend's husband called me earlier in the week, he mentioned she *hates* surprises and he might tell her before everyone arrives that a "few" friends are going to show up. It's a little crazy to think about it, but we're just about over two weeks away from our Colorado trip (still haven't had my bridesmaid dress altered...MUST happen this week! Just waiting to hear back from the seamstress) and there's still a lot to be done.  I'm a little disappointed in myself for not having worked out five to six days a week like I had wanted to--more like two to four times-- but it's possible that some of that work has started to pay off, as I've gotten some feedback from people, including my own husband who NEVER compliments me.  Before you say "Awww, she's got a jerk for a ...

I've recently been handed the responsibility of being Ryan's "personal latte-maker" before he heads to work in the morning.  I was pretty whiny about it this morning after he was being snobby about the kind of milk I used (1% instead of nonfat), and told him I had "second thoughts" about my new morning role.  It's my own fault, though.  After finding out a few days ago that Ryan had been stopping at the Mcdonald's drive-thru for lattes every morning, I blurted out, "Why didn't you tell me that? I would've made you lattes!" (I did , after all, work for Starbucks for 3 years)  Well, okay. So maybe that was a little ambitious.  I am NOT a morning person and Ryan gets up a lot earlier than I do for work (we just have different work schedules), so I was already setting myself up for failure.  Today was Day 2; so far, Ryan claims McD's lattes are better than mine AND he did bitch about the milk....so Day 2 may also be the Last Day! ...

Rather than delete this blog altogether, I've decided that it's probably better to make it private.  I know this will diminish who reads it considerably, but I also don't want to have to stop writing.  Making it private seems to be more logical.  I'll gladly include anyone who wants to continue reading, but I also would prefer to know who is reading, as well. I will probably make the change sometime this weekend. I understand this might prove to be a little annoying; I used to get really irritated whenever a blogger I followed would suddenly change their settings to "private" without any warning, and I no longer could get a glimpse into their *interesting* lives (not that my life is interesting!).  It felt like I was being shut out of an exclusive club! Hmph! But after having this thing for almost five years, my feelings have changed. The way I use social networking has changed, and I no longer have such a desire to put every single detail of my life out...

Oh boy, it's almost June.  We're scrambling around here trying to finalize reservations, book flights, car rentals among a bunch of other things for our upcoming June wedding/vacation trip to Colorado.  Fortunately, we did figure out our accommodations for the two nights we'll be spending in Boulder for the wedding, but now we just have to figure out what to do for the rest of our trip, which will most likely be in Aspen/Snowmass like last year. And alluding to my pathetic ramble of a post that I deleted...the whole bridesmaid dress thing has been figured out and it will ALL BE FINE.  Of course.  I guess you really can't teach an old dog new tricks concerning the idea that one shouldn't stress the little things in life! This past Memorial Day weekend was spent down at my in-laws and my family actually joined in, too.  Everything was centered around a ball game on Sunday (the Reds lost to the Cubs *sad*) and then we stayed through Monday (in the end, when I re...