goodness (gracious)

So much for speedy recovery. Apparently I have a viral infection, not a bacterial one, and I am effectively back to square one in terms of recovery. I’m behind on school work and concerned about my half-marathon training. I was pretty sure I’d be fine taking a week off – but I’m probably looking at 2, maybe more.

HOWEVER. Life is overall fabulous, and regardless of anything and everything, there will be other days that I can get a full practice session in, and there will be other half marathons (if it comes to that). Life goes on.

More than that! It thrives. What’s been good lately:

• This recipe for coconut-spinach fritters and guacamole. Honestly, I was a titch skeptical but they are FABULOUS. I left out the nutritional yeast and pink salt and subbed maple syrup for agave. Still great. Oh and I used olive oil instead of safflower, just personal preference – I love the flavor olive oil adds to dishes like this.

omnomnom. I plated with brown rice, as you can see.

• These excerpts from David Byrne‘s new book, How Music Works. He talks about how human creativity has not progressed over time; rather, it has adapted to its surroundings. My brain has been chewing on this for a few days – there are points I agree and disagree with, but I’m not going to get into my thoughts at length, at least not right now.

• Salman Rushdie‘s book Midnight’s Children. I’m about a quarter of the way through and in love with his writing style (haven’t read anything by him before). I e-booked it after hearing an interview with Rushdie and director Deepa Mehta about its movie adaptation on NPR, the transcript for which I cannot find anywhere.

• How to Die Without Regrets (blog post). I’m not in agreement with everything in this post, but I like the overarching message, and found this bit particularly interesting (my mother informed me there was also a recent NPR story on the top five regrets):

“Earlier this year, a palliative care nurse revealed the top five regrets that her patients expressed before they died:

1. I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

3. I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

• Yogi Ginger Tea, and actually Yogi Tea in general, because of the awesome quotes with every tea bag. This one is SO applicable to my life…I feel like I need to make a giant sign with this quote on it and hang it in the room where I practice violin.

love. this.

All smiles,

b

tadasana chords

My theory teacher, as he draws an chord in rood position on the board: 

"And here we have tadasana."

Talk about confused. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that outside of a yoga class, and for a split second I was quite literally unsure as to whether I was at yoga or in music theory class. It turned out to be the latter...but I will forever refer to root-position chords as tadasana chords. Made my day. Ha!

happy friday!

Things I am happy about today and excited for in the near future:

• I just made a yummy homemade pizza out of flatbread and Mexican-blend cheese and chipotle salsa from World Market (one of my favorite places in the universe!). Enjoyed it with a Sam Adams Summer Ale.
• I'm grateful for being at Belmont and being a part of the music community there. Being back in school is a little strange, but it feels good! I'm excited to be a graduate student. Here's to a fabulous Fall 2012!
• My puppy is keeping me good company on this lovely late summer evening. He's enjoying chewing on a rawhide so much - it makes me happy to see him so happy!

One of the reasons my Friday night (and every night!) is fabulous.

• One of my 2012 goals was to become a better cook. I love food, and I love making food, so I want to make learning new recipes a bigger part of my life! In case you missed it, I made delicious sweet potato-avocado veggie burgers last week. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt this spicy peanut portobello kale rice bowl. Stay tuned!
• I'm fiddling at the Wilson County Fair tomorrow! I'm really excited for this. I'll be double-fiddling with the phenomenal Greg Hallums. He's one of my favorite people and favorite musicians in the universe.

I leave you tonight with this adorably-beyond-adorable video of a sleepy kitten and puppy. Have a fabulous weekend! 

All smiles, 
b

meeting a hero

We all have heros. (If you don't, you should!) One of mine is Tristan Prettyman. For her music, and for her person. I've followed her tumblr for a few years now and she's such an inspiration. She has such a graceful personality and I have so much respect for her. I happened to be on twitter yesterday afternoon and I discovered she was playing at 3rd and Lindsley last night - I had no idea! Before last night I'd never had a chance to see her live - she was FABULOUS. I was kind of terrified because she's such a role model to me (and to so many others!) and sometimes people who sound great on their albums can't hold a tune live. But her voice was lovely and the show was great. 

I really really REALLY wanted to meet her, so naturally I snuck to the backstage area and introduced myself. She was a sweetheart and we chatted for a little bit. I don't get starstruck or even excited too easily, but meeting Tristan was definitely an exception to this.

Tristan and me :-)

I told her I was an aspiring singer-songwriter and she said she wanted to hear my stuff - I sent her a link to some scratch demos this morning. Who knows if she'll actually listen...I hope she does! At any rate, her autograph is definitely getting framed and going up on my bedroom's wall-of-inspiration. Woo!

What a great way to wrap up the weekend and ring in a new week! Oh and if y'all don't know Tristan's music, GO CHECK HER OUT. Pronto! She's releasing a new album at the end of September. Her single "My Oh My" is available for download on iTunes and you can see the official video here! 

All smiles, 
b