A little planting today...
Some bird food to keep Random entertained from his spot in the window...
A little gift from Caroline for watching Kitten...
All in all, a wonderful day.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
lonely toothbrush...
it's small and it's silly, but when Christopher goes away for a few days, the thing that really underlines his absence is seeing my lonesome toothbrush on the sink...
last time he went away, i bought a replacement toothbrush to sit next to mine until he returned. that replacement turned into his current one, and mine is sitting alone once again.
i guess i'll have to make a trip to the grocery store this morning...
last time he went away, i bought a replacement toothbrush to sit next to mine until he returned. that replacement turned into his current one, and mine is sitting alone once again.
i guess i'll have to make a trip to the grocery store this morning...
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
revisiting old territory
I just finished reading a note from my friend Ryan, whom I haven't seen in almost two years. We attended ungrad together, both pursuing our degrees in Oboe Performance then both going on to gain our Master's degrees from Northwestern University--just north of Chicago, IL. In his letter he mentioned that while he was young, people would always tell him that time moves faster with age. Though he didn't believe them at the time, it's now an all-too-true reality.
I honestly can't believe how time has flown by since finishing school. After graduating, I moved back home to Pittsburgh and took some time off playing the oboe, first because my wisdom teeth were causing such severe pain that I couldn't practice for more than 15 minutes at a time and, consequently, having them removed. Second, I was pretty burnt out from the stresses of playing the oboe.
In that time of moving back home I met Christopher, we got married, we moved to Philadelphia, I started working in a coffeeshop, decided to buy a sewing machine, have found passions for things that I never thought I would be interested in, started this blog, and all the while, I've picked up my oboe and played maybe 20 times, if that, in the past two years. I really had very little desire to pick it up again and was wondering if I would ever miss it like people told me I would. This thing that went from being my entire life, this thing that I slaved over and obsessed about 18 hours a day (that's not an exaggeration) for five years, turned into a simple memory after leaving school. Two years have flown by like the blink of an eye.
This past week, after a few realizations about myself and about my past decisions, I started to miss it. I think I'm probably more shocked than anybody. In the past few days, I've picked it up, played, listened to old recordings of myself and think I've finally realized how good I really was. It's hard to realize it while you're putting a million stresses on yourself about very knit-picky details.
To be clear, I'm not making any promises and not committing to a life-pursuit of oboe playing again. I'm kind of just hoping that I'll take it seriously, but without the insanely high stress levels. I've really enjoyed the past two years, so many life-altering things have happened and I'm all-the-better for this little hiatus from the oboe.
(The above photo was shot during my Master's recital at Northwestern, playing a Beethoven oboe trio with my amazing friend Katelyn on the right, and Jonathan playing English horn in the middle.)
Now, for more urgent matters, my first professional oboe was aptly named "Franc." I thought it was clever--it was made in France and the name kind of sounds like the sound an oboe makes (?). Plus, growing up, I loved the movie Father of the Bride, where Martin Short plays the loveable, yet kind-of-insane wedding planner Franck. All in all, it wasn't a bad name. However, neither my current oboe, nor my former, have had names to be called or referred to as. It just doesn't seem right. While I'll probably rarely call it by it's name, it'd just be nice if it had one. Please, any suggestions would be welcomed.
I honestly can't believe how time has flown by since finishing school. After graduating, I moved back home to Pittsburgh and took some time off playing the oboe, first because my wisdom teeth were causing such severe pain that I couldn't practice for more than 15 minutes at a time and, consequently, having them removed. Second, I was pretty burnt out from the stresses of playing the oboe.
In that time of moving back home I met Christopher, we got married, we moved to Philadelphia, I started working in a coffeeshop, decided to buy a sewing machine, have found passions for things that I never thought I would be interested in, started this blog, and all the while, I've picked up my oboe and played maybe 20 times, if that, in the past two years. I really had very little desire to pick it up again and was wondering if I would ever miss it like people told me I would. This thing that went from being my entire life, this thing that I slaved over and obsessed about 18 hours a day (that's not an exaggeration) for five years, turned into a simple memory after leaving school. Two years have flown by like the blink of an eye.
This past week, after a few realizations about myself and about my past decisions, I started to miss it. I think I'm probably more shocked than anybody. In the past few days, I've picked it up, played, listened to old recordings of myself and think I've finally realized how good I really was. It's hard to realize it while you're putting a million stresses on yourself about very knit-picky details.
To be clear, I'm not making any promises and not committing to a life-pursuit of oboe playing again. I'm kind of just hoping that I'll take it seriously, but without the insanely high stress levels. I've really enjoyed the past two years, so many life-altering things have happened and I'm all-the-better for this little hiatus from the oboe.
(The above photo was shot during my Master's recital at Northwestern, playing a Beethoven oboe trio with my amazing friend Katelyn on the right, and Jonathan playing English horn in the middle.)
Now, for more urgent matters, my first professional oboe was aptly named "Franc." I thought it was clever--it was made in France and the name kind of sounds like the sound an oboe makes (?). Plus, growing up, I loved the movie Father of the Bride, where Martin Short plays the loveable, yet kind-of-insane wedding planner Franck. All in all, it wasn't a bad name. However, neither my current oboe, nor my former, have had names to be called or referred to as. It just doesn't seem right. While I'll probably rarely call it by it's name, it'd just be nice if it had one. Please, any suggestions would be welcomed.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Mom visits!
This past weekend, not only did my mom come for a visit from Pittsburgh, but so did Christopher's brother Jeremy! Because our apartment is only a one-bedroom and not quite large enough to house all of us, Christopher booked a stay for my mom and I at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast just two blocks away!
It's a beautiful museum.
Taking obligatory pictures of Rocky in front of the famous museum stairs.
Unfortunately, my camera battery died before I could take some photos of the B&B (my mom got some though!), but I did snap a few on one of our days out in Philadelphia.
We started our day's adventure with a stop at the Green Line Cafe for free WiFi and a bottled water to last through the day (not pictured...hehe...).
From there, we took off to the Philadelphia Museum of Art...
We gazed, we read, we stood in awe...
Strangers sitting in front of the famous Van Gogh...
It's a beautiful museum.
Taking obligatory pictures of Rocky in front of the famous museum stairs.
After the museum, we went over to the Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop and had some Spiced Assam tea with scones and delicious pound cake slices!
Later on in the afternoon, we met Christopher and Jeremy at church and after the service we went out for dinner at Radicchio Cafe, a place we've never been but will likely return to in the future!
I love Philadelphia!!
Hopefully, Mom will come back to visit (and bring Dad along, hehe) some time soon!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
a belt.
A few days ago, I decided to make a high-waisted belt out of some material that I had. It's a little rugged in the quality of the sewing... but maybe that's charming?
I don't have any pictures of the back, but it's basically the same as the front.
I tried it on with a few casual/everyday outfits that I thought it would look nice with but was surprised with how "made-up" it made me feel. Like too high-fashiony or something for just everyday. I think it looks modest enough with this slightly dressier outfit. It was easy enough to create, I think I'll make another. Maybe a regular/lower belt?
I tried it on with a few casual/everyday outfits that I thought it would look nice with but was surprised with how "made-up" it made me feel. Like too high-fashiony or something for just everyday. I think it looks modest enough with this slightly dressier outfit. It was easy enough to create, I think I'll make another. Maybe a regular/lower belt?
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