Strings & Yarn

I love my job (or future job). I feel that I am very fortunate to be able to do something that I truly love to do. It’s a lot of fun, I get to work with some great kids, I get to jam out occasionally, and I am surrounded by beautiful music. Some days my homework is to go home and listen to a Beethoven Symphony, most days I’m expected to practice and analyze the most efficient way to learn a piece of music.

I however have many other interests. If you read my blog, you know that I love to knit, I like to watch movies, and I especially like cuddling with my boyfriend or my cat. Most of the time I can figure out how to balance all of these things on a tight rope and not only make music but have a somewhat normal life as well. These days it seems like there is little room for anything else but music. I get the feeling that if I want to be a decent musician I will never be able to enjoy other parts of life. So I begin to question, I love my violin, but is it worth it taking over my entire life? Is this just how it feels when a musician is in school, or is this just what is expected all the time? Can I handle it? If this is what it means to be getting a Masters, and it gets easier after this, then I can make it through. I have one more year of my degree, and I can push through that much.

Mostly I’m just feeling very overwhelmed. I had a horrible lesson yesterday, and a not so hot playing test today. I will be playing in Master Class in a few hours and all I want to do is curl into my bed with a good book and a cuppa’. Hopefully it will be better after this crazy busy week.

A way to Bust some stash from Crochet Dude. If you’re like me you have a bunch of acrylic in your stash that you don’t really want to use for your own stuff, but you don’t want to get rid of it either. There are plenty of charities that take donations of acrylic yarns, as well as acrylic knitted items. Most charities ask for synthetic yarns because it’s easier to take care of. The only real stipulation for this one is that the squares cannot be black. Just make a 12 inch square of your choice and send it off to Drew the Crochet Dude.

I couldn’t believe this when I first saw it. This is a website that sends out handbags just like Netflix does. You pick the one that you like, and you can borrow it for as long as you like by paying your membership fee every month. The cheapest is $19.95 a month. It seems to me that this website would have never happened without Sex in the City. I love the show, but this is just a little to weird for me. I also have a ton of purses, but none of the cost this much. Not to mention I don’t change them that often. What do you think? Is this completely arrogant, or is it a fun way to blow some money?

Link: Bag Borrow or Steal

I’ve been thinking about doing this for awhile with some cotton blend yarn that I got on sale. I thought it would be fun to try it out on. I’ve come up with an awesome idea for a pattern of a mesh grocery/market type of bag. Has anyone tried dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid? Any tips?

Link:Dyeing Yarn With Kool-Aid

The Old Blind Dogs CD is something that has been listened to regularly for about a year now. My friend Kari gave it to me as a birthday gift because they were going to be playing live in Flagstaff. There concert was amazing and I have been listening to the CD ever since. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see there fiddler. They wouldn’t let him into the country due to a dog eared passport. Makes sense for the “Old Blind Dogs” though, doesn’t it?

I have a new tenant! Reflections in the Mirror is a daily journal/cat loving blog by Dawn. She has pictures of pretty kitties as well as lots of snow. I miss having snow, but I’m not sure I miss it that much. Dawn has a lot of snow. On top of all that, she is a crafty person as well. Don’t wait another second - go check out her blog.

I started thinking about my short blogging past and I realized that I’ve been blogging for a little over six months now. It’s crazy! I started blogging to keep friends in Flagstaff, AZ updated. That worked for awhile, but then I realized there was a much bigger world out there, and I had readers from all over.

I also can’t believe that six months ago I wrote this post. This is the moment that I met Anthony, out there for everyone to see. Of course we had no idea that we’d end up dating at the time, but I’m so glad he posted the comment. I thought I had possibly offended him in some way by linking to his site. I also had laid out how I wasn’t interested in dating. What a liar I was.

So far I have 143 posts and 170 comments. Not to bad for six months eh? Thanks for reading and commenting everyone!

This is so awesome! I had this song in my head for months after Dr. Pepper used this for their commercial. The Muppet Show was so great.

I just finished eating, but I’m so excited about how this came out that I had to tell you immediately. I made a slight variation to my Mom’s chicken soup recipe, and it was oh so good. Recently Sadie’s came out with a Green Chile Salsa. This is not a salsa for wimps, and it’s full of wonderful roasted Green Chile Flavor. I haven’t figured out if they have it here in Eugene (I packed it from Colorado) but if anyone knows where to find it PLEASE tell me. It is so good. Ah how I miss New Mexico green chilies.

Here’s how you make it.

2-3 chicken breasts or thighs
1 jar of Sadie’s Green Chile Salsa
3-4 carrots sliced
3-4 celery stalks sliced
1 onion
8 cups water
8 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cloves of garlic
pepper and salt to taste
egg noodles (wide) - any noodles will do really

Empty the jar of salsa into a skillet with the chicken and 2 cups of water. Simmer. While that is cooking put the vegetables, spices and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn down heat to a simmer for about 20 mins. When chicken is cooked through cut into small pieces. Put all of the chicken and sauce into the soup with vegetables. Keep at a simmer and add pasta. Cook until pasta is done. Let Cool.

My nose is still running from the wonderful spicy food. For those that don’t have Sadie’s, you could try to substitute something else, but it won’t be nearly as good.

Last night some friends, Anthony and I went to the KLCC Beer Fest. There were 40 different breweries there and Anthony and I tried our share. The beers were great, the company was good, but the highlight for me was the record sale.

I have a soft spot for vinyl and that is because it’s cheap. These records cost $1 each and were in perfect condition. Some of them even look virginal. Here’s a list of what I got.

• American Graffiti Soundtrack
• Bach, P.D.Q. - Oratorio “The Seasonings, S. 1/2 tsp., “Unbegun” Symphony, Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons, S. 66
• Beethoven Overtures (a whole slew of them) - Wiener Philharmoniker (Leonard Bernstein)
• Beethoven Symphony No. 5 - NY Philharmonic (Bernstein)
• Beethoven Symphony No. 9 - New York Philharmonic (Bruno Walter)
• Beethoven String Quartet in Bb Op. 130, “Grosse Fuge” Op. 133
• Beethoven Septet Op. 20
• Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2, and 4 - Rudolf Serkin, Philadelphia Orchestra (Ormandy)
• Brahms Violin Concerto - Issac Stern
• Brahms Double Concerto - Itzhak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich
• Brahms String Sextet No. 1 in Bb Maj. Op. 18
• Brahms Viola Sonatas - Michael Tree (vla) Rchard Goode (pno)
• Britten The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra - NY Philharmonic (Bernstein)
• Chopin Piano Pieces - Rachmaninoff (pno)
• Debussy String Quartet - Guarneri Quartet
• Dvorak Symphony No. 5 “New World Symphony” - Philadelphia Orchestra (Ormandy)
• Duke Ellington - The Best of
• Ella Fitzgerald - The Irving Berlin Songbook
• Faure Piano Quartet in C Min. Op. 15, String Quartet Op. 121 - Guarneri Quaret, Rubinstein
• Handel Sonatas Op. 1 for Violin and Harpsichord - Josef Suk (vln), Zuzana Ruzickova (pno)
• Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 in A min. Op. 56 “Scotch”
• Ravel Sonata for Violin and Piano, Tzigane, Berceuse - Zino Francesscatti (vln), Artur Balsam (pno)
• Ravel String Quartet - Guarneri Quartet
• Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals - NY Philharmonic (Bernstein)
• Shostakovitch Concerto for Violin - David Oistrakh
• Shostakovitch Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 - New York Philharmonic (Bernstein)
• Shostakovitch String Quartets 6 -11 - Borodin Quartet
• Strauss Don Quixote - Cleveland Orchestra (Szell)
• Tchaikovsky Sextet - Guarneri Quartet wit Bris Kroyt & Mischa Schneider

I think I almost doubled my record collection. I got all of that for $25. Not bad eh? I’ve been enjoying the “New World Symphony” while writing this. My house is going to be full of great music for a long while.