Five on Friday...Yay!!

By Gaby -
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.  I think I was one of the last few people on earth to not have texting or a smartphone for that matter; that all changed last month when I went the cheapskate's route and ordered a Republic Wireless phone.  It's not the most perfect smartphone in the world...but for someone who had a flip phone this whole time, it works just fine and now I'm just like every other annoying schmuck who is constantly looking down at their phone texting away...

5.  Started teaching in-home this school year.  I was super excited about it and it went great the first couple lessons (just 3 students)...that is, until the younger students starting touching my stuff.  Now I'm regretting it...

That's it for now.  Reeally glad to not have anything on the agenda this weekend.  I always feel like I'm playing catch up with, well, everything-- practicing, cleaning, cooking, lesson planning, working out....sigh.

Comments

Hannah said…
Yeah, the nosiness and stuff touching is the annoying part of teaching at home. Not having to go anywhere, IMO, more than makes up for it! (And nobody taking a cut of the payment either...)
September 12, 2013 at 2:52 PM
Gaby said…
@Shelley: they are surprisingly comfy!

@Hannah: definitely. Not having to go anywhere is a perk as well as making twice as much as I normally would at any of my studios, for sure. Recently, my dogs were a source of severe distraction for my 4 year old student and I'm troubled by how I can fix this. Getting a dog sitter crossed my mind, but argh, I'd hate to pay for it just to teach 2 people!
September 15, 2013 at 3:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I can't wait!!

By Gaby -
Today, I opened up my laptop to catch up on my blog reading, and came across Puttin' On the G.R.I.T.S' blog with pictures of her Aspen trip...and it totally reminded me that in just about two weeks or so, I'll be GOING TO ASPEN!!!!  Can't believe how close it's getting.  Ryan and I have been patiently anticipating this trip since January.  Poor Ry, he needs to get away so badly.  New position = new stresses. But before that, I'll be going to Lexington, KY and Nashville, TN w/ my parents and two doggies.  Lexington is first to meet a 2nd (or 3rd?) cousin that I've never met before on my grandfather's side.  This is exciting for me b/c I never got to meet my grandfather as he died 2 months before I was born. After that, we'll be moving on to Nashville to see some old family friends.  We'll be there for most of the week, so I think I may take my violin with me as it'll be two retired couples + me.  I suspect there will lots of down time.  I ...
Read more

Warning: Do not read if you dislike feeling depressed:/

By Gaby -
This summer will have been my fifth year living and working in Columbus, and as I experience a turnover nearly every single year, I've been pondering more and more in recent weeks that I need to change some things.  I don't think any violin teacher or artist out there ever thinks they are doing the wrong thing or teaching their students incorrectly--don't we all tend to like the way we think and/or do things?!  But, even though I come to expect turnovers in students as a regular and normal thing, this year has just been so...weird.  I thought that I had matured enough and was experienced enough to get over those humps and not take it so personally when students left or quit as I did when I first started teaching, but I really have to admit--I've been shaken by particular students leaving, and with specific experiences w/ some parents.  Feelings of doubt--even incompetence--have washed over me, and that quickly turns into anger and defensive reactions when I can't pu...
Read more

Life lately

By Gaby -
Image
There are good days and there are bad days.  The good days are when I'm distracted from all things concerning my mom, or the times I see her in person or over Skype and catch her smiling or talking normally and it calms my soul;  the bad days catch me by surprise and kind of piss me off, quite frankly.  Like yesterday-- I was doing just fine, as I think I'd been for the past week, until I sat down last evening and opened a book I picked up from the library that I'd seen on someone's recent book list:   When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi.  I am not sure what I was thinking, reading a book written by a man around my age who died of terminal lung cancer shortly after writing it, especially in the midst of my own mother's terminal cancer diagnosis. I guess I thought it would help me come to terms with the concept of death and dying.  And it IS a good book--Kalinithi was a good writer, a neurosurgeon by training, but writer and philosopher at heart (he al...
Read more