Anniversaries.....

So I haven't updated in a few days because work has been really busy, but I thought I'd leave a little update. Today Alan and I are celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary! Actually we celebrated a bit last night by going out to the Melting Pot (a yummy fondue restaurant that we both love--Alan took me to the one in Nashville on the night he proposed) and we're going to Agatha's mystery dinner theater tomorrow night....I've always wanted to go, so I'm really excited about it! We are getting to celebrate twice because we can't actually go out tonight, and methinks the hubby feels a wee bit guilty about that!

I promise to give another update after the Agatha's mystery dinner theater...until then, I've got to go prep for my classes tomorrow..ughh.

And We're Off!

Not to the races, however. Today started the summer term at the Art Institute of Atlanta, but it felt like something of a race. I was excited for the start of the classes, but in order to get everything settled I had to visit three or four different offices on different floors...which felt a bit like I was racing around like a chicken with my head cut off. I think that they purposely send you around to see several different people, each one sending you back to the person you just saw...and the powers-that-be sit around laughing as they watch you scurry back-and-forth.

Anyways....I think I finally got most things settled! Class went well and I lucked out this term--the classes I teach are only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday...so I get to have a few days off too! (Although I think I'm going to try to pick up a number of new students to supplement the income!)

Even though I'm getting used to teaching the summer quarters, I still feel weird, because it seems like I should still be on vacation.....

I guess that's what happens when you teach semesters at colleges and then only teach certain weeks of the summer! Ah well....

I'm quite proud of myself though because I had a goal to cook more once we got settled in one city and it's going well so far! I'm trying to find a good local farmer's market (thanks to Deedle!) and I say good, because I'm having a bit of trouble on that score. I managed to find a really neat international farmer's market pretty close to the condo, but I didn't really have a good experience there. Maybe I'll try it again in a few weeks, but I've got a couple of other options to try first (and they're even closer to our condo than the international place.)

I'm also trying to grow some of my own vegetables! My violin/fiddle students gave me a large pot of herbs with a tomato and a pepper plant as a going away present before I left Nashville. I ended up transplanting the tomato plant into its own pot and bought another cherry tomato plant (which I like better than regular tomatoes) and a bell pepper plant. It's something of an experiment to see if I can grow things successfully, but so far I've already gotten a nice banana pepper from the plant my students gave me! I'm hoping that perhaps by August or early September I'll have some tomatoes and bell peppers too!

So that's the news here...I wish it was more exciting....alas I'll try to spice it up in the next post!

4th of July.....

Happy 4th of July!!

I am just having a nostalgic moment and remembering the days of old...the parades, the fireworks (yes, even the illegal ones we set off), the hot dogs, ice cream, and the sparklers that we kids loved to wave around in the dark!

This year the hubby and I went into Historic Norcross (the town in which we live) to see the festival and fireworks last night. Apparently, the town used to have the celebration on the 4th, but was in too much competition with the fireworks and hullaballoo from Lawrenceville...another town just north of Norcross (which is also the county seat...I guess that means they have bigger fireworks???) So Norcross moved their festival to July 3rd. I think it makes for double the celebrations myself...as you know we're not really going to just sit around on the ACTUAL 4th holiday...that would be silly :) And unpatriotic...or something like that.

At any rate, we had a great time! There were tons of people and cotton candy (which of course I had to get), and funnel cakes (which I so wisely stayed away from) and a really bad band trying to play fleetwood mac covers. It had everything :) Even the fireworks were pretty cool!

Today we're off to a friend's house about 45 minutes north of us, to see his new house and hang out with some of my husband's friends that we haven't seen in awhile. I'm sure it'll be good times, with lots of wine/beer and hot dogs/hamburgers. Methinks we'll also try to catch some other fireworks later tonight in downtown Historic Roswell--another historical town very close to where we live. They'll have something similar to Norcross' event, I think, so I guess that means more cotton candy and maybe a funnel cake with my fireworks!

Methinks I'm turning into a fireworks junkie. Or perhaps, I'm just there for the food :)

I hope that everyone (or whoever reads this) has a safe and happy 4th of July!

Good News!

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful thoughts, prayers, and comments :)

I finally talked to mom last night around 7:30ish and she was home and tired, but doing well. She was in a bit more pain than she expected, but she told me that the doctor had found another spot that looked suspicious, so he scooped that part out as well. She also got in and out of the surgery faster due to an 80 yr old woman who accidentally pulled the needle out of the surgical spot while trying to put her hospital gown on. That poor woman had to go back out to Williamsville to have another needle placed at the surgical site...ughh. But, because of that they prepped my mom for surgery and she went in almost two hours earlier than expected!

We're not sure if that extra spot will affect the radiation plan for a week from now, but all we can do is wait. At least she's through the really hard part!

Please Pray....

My mother's surgery is tomorrow. Thankfully they didn't find any other spots of breast cancer and so it will only be a lumpectomy on the one side. I feel grateful to be able to say that it's no big deal, but I'm struggling with the fact that I can't be there for her tomorrow and during the radiation and everything. I feel as if I'm letting her down somehow, even though I'm not sure there is anything I could do if I were there.

I feel really helpless. All I can do is pray. So please, keep my mom in your prayers and send good thoughts her way! Hopefully I'll have more news to post by Tuesday night (after her surgery).

Who Cares if You Listen....

That's the title of our new podcast! My husband had this idea of doing a podcast about art music and wanted to put a panel together. So of course I said sure, not entirely knowing what this would be about. And it turns out, it's one of the more interesting things that I've been doing lately :)

We have a very 'eclectic' panel of people...ranging from people who are involved with rock, r&b, prog rock, classical, bluegrass, irish (that would be me!), etc., and when you put all of us together....well, you never quite know what will happen! The first episode came out at the beginning of June and yesterday we recorded the material for the next few episodes. It was definitely interesting!

I wish there was just an easy way to explain what the podcast was about, but I think it's still defining itself. The original idea was supposed to only be about art music and why people should or shouldn't listen...and I think it's morphed into so much more than that! It's become a roundtable discussion of musical ideas, including those of pop music, and a way for people to really say what they think!

You can check us out at http://whocaresifyoulisten.com or you can find our podcast on iTunes in the music section. Please take a listen and let me know what you think!

Back in the ATL

And so the string camp is ended! It was a great week, but exhausting. I was still sick on Sunday when camp started and my icky viral throat infection turned into an even yuckier sinus infection, so now I have a Z-pack. I love drugs! At least the ones that make me better, that is. I really needed to stay on my feet this week, so thankfully it worked!

We had 36 campers this year, which is WAY more than we've had in the past! It was awesome--I heard soooo much great music ranging from fiddle to rock to jazz to classical and helped the kiddies learn how to fiddle, both old-time and Irish style. There were lots of awkward/funny moments, which always happens when you first try to get classically trained budding musicians to "swing"...especially when they're violists!

Anyhoo, the final concert was a blast and then the remaining campers (there were only four staying over until Saturday) went out for some food in Hillsboro Village (right near Belmont University). After finally getting them off to the airport/meeting their parents I was able to get on the road back to Hotlanta...and now I think I could sleep for a week :)

I have a few great pics to post, but that will have to wait until I can get them uploaded from my camera....until next time!