Well, hello there.

By Gaby -

 Well, obviously I haven't written anything in quite awhile.  After my mom died 16 months ago, pretty much all desire to do anything with this blog went away. Maybe someday I'll write more about that, but for now I just wanted to say...I'm still alive and busy with life. The kiddos are growing fast and they mostly keep me from going into a deep depression over my mom. Also, being in a relatively new town and a new house distracts me, not to mention I don't associate my mom with anything here so in a way it's been good for me. I notice I get emotional with older places that hold fond memories of my mom, like my hometown or even in the previous city we used to live.


Maddie is almost finished with in-person kindergarten! She's done so well, and at the beginning of the year, tested gifted in the reading and comprehension department, so she is well ahead of where she should be. She's only 5.5 but reads at a 4th grade level, so we're so pleased with her progress and potential.

Elliott is 2.5 and talking and parroting everyone else; he's my snuggly little bear and is super affectionate with us...but also is in the throes of the terrible twos! Both kids are very opinionated and stubborn, but at the same time so full of immense love and compassion. They keep life fun and interesting!

I know the last year has been difficult for many, especially the isolation and fear of the unknown; for us, not much felt different as I'm naturally a homebody and love my time at home with the kids. However, there were times it got old and maybe seeing everyone's opinions on social media and the turmoil everyone felt last year added layers of stress to everything. But I choose to embrace what is good and to be grateful. Ryan has a flexible job that has allowed him to work from home since the beginning; we kept our circle small and were able to socialize a bit with a few friends and develop good friendships, as a result. Also! I've been cooking a LOT. My love for food and cooking took off last year and I now find myself considering switching gears and just blogging solely about food:) I'm even working part time for a professional food blogger (who happens to be my neighbor-- a delightful coincidence!) so that has lit a little fire in me to pursue that.

I haven't played the violin a whole lot, especially last year, but I'll be playing a livestream concert next Saturday with a local orchestra-- my first gig in probably a year and a half! So I'm looking forward to that and feeling "normal" as far as doing activities I used to do both prior to kids and COVID.

I'll leave you with pictures of food I've made because...who doesn't like pictures of food?!


Black forest cake

Banana cake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting

Butter chicken

My sous chef

Vegetable lasagna

Greek Turkey skillet meatballs with lemon orzo


Comments

Hannah said…
Your kids are so stinking cute! Glad to hear you are doing well.
March 8, 2021 at 1:52 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