Poison Ivy

My student had poison ivy the other day. I saw her itching her leg and noticed it was a rash but didn't think too much of it. She mentioned at the end of the lesson that her mom thought she may have poison ivy...Great...I washed up and went home. This morning I woke up feverish and had rashes all up and down my arms. I get it badly. I'm quite miserable and not able to do much, in fear of the possibility of giving it to Madison! At least I don't work until Tues.
I have been working on lesson plans, but there's only so much I can do with that. Nothing's on TV, and I just read a book which I never do. I just got an email from one of my friends with a questioner type thing, so I thought I'd do it and tag all my friends with blogs to fill it out as well :-) Sorry if this is boring! I love filling these things out...

 1. What is your occupation right now? Violin & viola teacher & chamber coach
at a private school

2. What color are your socks right now? White

> 3. What music are you listening to right now? Bob Dylan (thanks to Madison)

4. What was the last thing that you ate? cheese & crackers

5. Can you drive a stick shift? no

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Bekah

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yep!

8. How old are you today? 23

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? If I had to, soccer or basketball.
 I'm getting tired of Football...

10. What is your favorite drink. diet coke

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? I used to constantly for years. Not any more!

12. Favorite food? Pizza, chili, mexican food

13. What is the last movie you watched? I can't remember! It has been a while.

4. Favorite day of the year? Christmas

15. How do you vent anger? not well!  haha. I tend to speak my mind
too quickly...something I'm working on.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Legos, Barbies, & Tonka Trucks

17. What is your favorite season? Fall!

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? n/a

20 Who is the most likely to respond?>> n/a

21. Who is least likely to respond?? n/a

22. Living arrangements? Madison & I are renting a house

23. When was the last time you cried? Oh jeez...I don't know, probably a week ago

24. What is on the floor of your closet? lots and lots of shoes...poor Madison

. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to - n/a

26. What did you do last night? went to a dinner party then a Halloween
 party and some very new friends' house

27. What are you most afraid of? death 

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers. cheese

29. Favorite dog breed? Boxer

30. Favorite day of the week? Friday

31. How many states have you lived in? 7 counting NH but I only
lived there w/ my parents for like a month before helping them
move back to Michigan...(the states are MI, MA, NC, KY, NH, IL, MS)

32. Diamonds or pearls? both! haha

33. What is your favorite flower? gerbera daisies

Wedding video

I edited our 50 minute raw footage of our wedding video down into a manageable 6 1/2 minutes. The real one is both on my computer and on a DVD, but I thought it would be fun, since I didn't want to use a ton of the budget on a videographer, to try to edit it myself. It still needs some work, but I had fun! Unfortunately, while on stage, you can't see Madison's face -- the church has strict rules on where to tape from, so he had to tape from the balcony. I am just happy it worked out to have someone tape it! It was kind of last minute, and I decided I wanted a video of it.

If you're interested, here it is (VERY blurry when uploaded on the internet -- it's very clear on my computer & TV, but youtube reduced the quality a lot)

As I have written before, it has been really difficult to break in with the musicians in a new place. People knew the violin & viola teacher as the only one that was here before I got here. It's difficult to make a name for yourself somewhere new, and I finally feel like I'm doing so!
I have now gotten 1 student from 7 different sources! I was telling my grandma, and she was agreeing with me, how much better this is than getting 7 students from one source. That means, most likely, more will come along from all those connections I now have. I keep on forgetting I really have only been here since the first of July, and we traveled and such quite a bit at first. It just takes time. I am incredibly encouraged --- I have gotten two students this week! I know that it may be another lull for a while, but the fact that the students keep on coming slowly but surely is unbelievably encouraging.

I'm playing a gig at Ole Miss - it's a vocal piece, On Wenlock's Edge by Vaughan Williams. I am playing with all professors and one grad student, so I was super nervous. (and the counting is somewhat hard...and that's my weakness). The only other "violist" in town is the man who is the only other private violin/viola teacher in town (he's a violinist, but plays viola for gigs), but he couldn't do it so I got the gig! I practiced and I felt so good about it! It went really well, and everyone was very friendly and encouraging. The cello prof was so sweet to me and she gave my number to a family who just moved here from Dallas. Their daughter is 9 and is a Suzuki student. I am very excited, because up to this point, I have only had 1 little girl and all boys...although all the boys are fun and sweet, I have to say that I wanted at least 2 or 3 girl students! So now I have 3! A 5 year old, 7 year old, and 9 year old. :-) I feel like I'm finally "in" if that makes sense, and it is such a good feeling.
I have another gig in November for a grad student's recital, so not only is it some more income, but it's a great opportunity to network and make more friends.

I've been struggling lately with a lot, especially thinking I'd never "break through" and be "one of the teachers in town", but I feel like it is finally happening. Yay! My hard work that seemed like it was for nothing is paying off and it feels very good.

Things are looking up, and I am starting to feel a little more confidence which is good. As you can probably tell, I am a very impatient person and do not like waiting for things. People kept on telling me "it just takes time!" but I did not like hearing that. They were right :-) I have been working on being more relaxed and patient.

I obviously have a long way to go before I will be happy with the number of students I have, but I figured that this was a pretty big step up, between getting 2 new students this week, and making new contacts who seem very encouraging and genuine --- so I am encouraged.

Keeping in touch when you're away

This is definitely something I really need to work on -- keeping in touch with people I don't see all the time. It's strange; this transition from living with and among best friends for four years, to seeing them [maybe] once a year at the most. It was so easy to walk down the hall to their room, across the sidewalk to their apartments, or give them a call and set up a meeting place [which usually was Steak & Shake, Denny's, or Cheesecake factory -- really healthy places...haha...so many memories.]
I think about these special people in my life so often...I don't know what is so difficult about picking up the phone and calling them. Maybe it's conflicting schedules somewhat...but there's always weekends. It's just another aspect of figuring your life out while you're somewhere new. I want to be better at this; I want to keep in touch with those people who have been through so much with me. These are the friends who were there when I came back from Christmas of 2005, completely emotionally drained and not ready to face the semester. It's such a unique experience of being able to bond so closely with everyone from college. Four years of living either near or with each other helps there to be a special friendship that I think is unique to college. I think you can find amazing friends after college, but it is different. I'm definitely not saying it's a good or bad thing, just different. There will always be that special place for my college friends, especially because all that I went through and all the wonderful people who were right beside me. I think I'm going to make a schedule. It sounds impersonal, but I think it's a way of making sure I call someone every other evening or something while Madison is doing homework. It's not like I am always busy! I always think of it while I'm home and they're at work instead of in the evenings when we're both available. I am going to try that.

I am so excited that I will be able to be in Wheaton for a few days over New Years. I will be able to see most of my friends! Bekah, Matt, Madison & I are going to my dad's in central/southern Illinois to celebrate Christmas over New Years. We are spending Christmas with the Taylors this year, and Bekah and Matt are spending it with the Carlsons.

I am really excited about Thanksgiving. My dad, sister & brother-in-law are all coming here for the first time. I am already thinking of where to take them, as far as sight seeing and restaurants go. We'll probably give them a small tour of campus, maybe go to Rowan Oak, and take them to our favorite places to eat. It will be nice to spend time together, play games, and just visit.

I think I will feel even more settled after they see where I live. It's a weird feeling to have your family not know anything about where you live. Dad has only been to MS for business once, and he didn't really do anything except go to the Nissan plant and Tower plant. Bekah & Matt haven't been to MS before. It will be fun to have them.

Well, I better get ready for rehearsal!

Friday morning, Danica & I went to Germantown in TN. It was really fun. They have a large mall, a Super Target, and lots of good restaurants. I never thought that having a super target within 10 minutes of me in Wheaton/Naperville was a luxury, but I took that for granted!

Germantown is about an hour and 15 minutes away. We don't have a Target here, just a super Wal mart, and it was so nice to spend the morning and afternoon with Danica. I found a few really good deals, and just enjoyed looking at lots of fun stuff. I needed to get a few pairs of work pants, and found some great deals on some at Old Navy. We're really not supposed to wear jeans while teaching...which is a hard transition for someone who previously wore jeans every single day except for church and if something else dressy was going on...haha. Now I don't feel like I am wearing the same outfit every day! I have some nice dressy knee length shorts and such, but now it's cooling off, so I am glad I got some good deals on comfy pants that aren't jeans that I can wear all fall and winter long!

Things have been very up and down lately, but I am feeling more at home as time progresses. I haven't picked up on a southern accent much at all...I wonder if I ever will...Sometimes I apparently slip and say random words sort of southern according to Madison...uh oh!

My 7 year old student named Sadie asked me in front of her dad last week; "Can I ask you a personal question?" (I'm thinking to myself...uh oh what on earth is she going to ask??? she's very blunt)) "You don't sound southern...where are you from?" I laughed and told her. Sadie just moved here a year ago from Connecticut, so she noticed that I didn't sound like everyone else from Oxford. So I guess I am keeping my midwestern accent in tact so far. It's weird being somewhere where I sound "funny/different" to people! Sometimes I will be in wal mart and just think to myself "Where am I???". It's just so funny thinking about it sometimes and how I live 768.04 miles from where I grew up. (yes, I just mapquested it...) There are a fair amount of people from all over the place because of the college and such.

I'm starting to get used to my schedule and not being able to spend much time with Madison. I'm learning how to use my time wisely, but taking more time to do things that I want or need to do. I am enjoying life and Madison treats me very well :-)

Oh, and I got another student today - she's 5 years old and I absolutely cannot wait to meet her!

Time for bed!

Feeling more settled in

When we moved, I got rid of some of my college stuff that is basically trash, but planning for a wedding 2 1/2 weeks after graduation kind of made it difficult to really pack well. So, right now, my house is a little bit of a mess -- but it's a good kind of mess...I am finally going through the boxes and clothes that I don't need anymore. There is a huge pile of goodwill items, and a little pile to bring to a resale shop of nicer clothes that are either out of style or several sizes too small from as early as fresh or soph year of high school...I am learning why I should not hoard things...wow. I have a pair of size 5.5 shoes that I found...Madison was like "what are THESE? they're children's' shoes!" So anyways, next time we move, I hope to have about 2/3 or even 1/2 of what we had when we got here. I bought another little storage thing for my crafts which will help too. When you knit, make jewelry, scrapbook, make stationary, rubber stamp, and paint, it's kind of ridiculous the stuff that you accumulate. It was all piled on top of a card table until I used it for bunco and realized that the table is useless if I have to pile everything on it! I am learning how to organize. Our kitchen needs some organizational help. I have a hard time not having a pantry like my family has always had. The cabinets are small and not very tall and I have a hard time knowing where food should go. I may go to wal mart and see if they have a cheap shelving unit, or wait until we go to my dad's for New Years and make a trip to IKEA. That may be a nice option. Then I could store all the appliances on the shelves and have more room for the food in the cabinets. When we unpacked, we unpacked pretty fast, so I think I pretty much need to pull everything out and redo where things go. (other than the silverware drawer - - that would rock Madison's world if I changed that stuff around haha!) It would absolutely drive me nuts too!
We had a really good day at church. There was a potluck afterwards for newcomers. I'm always a little scared of potlucks but this food was really good. We met a really nice couple (well Madison already knew the husband from law school) and we had a lot of fun talking to them, as well as meeting a few other people. The pastor is really friendly and already knows us by name. We have had fairly long conversations with him every Sunday for the past few. We feel like we're really fitting in there. I wanted to get comfortable with a church before I offered to play for the services, just because I didn't want to say anything before we knew that "this is it". But we definitely feel like this church is the place for us. It was the most friendly church we visited, and I think especially since I have no real good places to meet friends except through the law school, it's important to find a church with lots of fellowship. The church is a great mix of traditional and contemporary as far as music goes. There's always at least 1-2 hymns and then 1-2 RUF'ish praise songs.
It's been a really long time since I have been able to feel like I have had a church to call my church. College Church is where I attended most of college, but it was so large, and even though we were involved in both music and a Sunday school class, I never really felt too connected. I still don't really know anyone older than us, other than the pastor, which I really hope I do.
Well, I better get back to work!
Liz

Change and transition

Tonight I have been reflecting on all the change in the past few years...it's quite overwhelming. I have had more time on my hands lately as we feel more settled in our house, and I feel more settled into my not so busy routine.

Moving here and settling in has often created a deeper feeling for missing my mom. I obviously missed her excruciating amounts before, but everything to seeing our family photo at my wedding without her, to thinking "I wish I could call mom up and tell her about my students, my house, my new friends, etc." I have no idea how to sew for instance...and believe me, I have tried and failed. She and I sewed my curtains for my dorm room in college together. It's painful to think about the simple things that we used to do that I wish could still happen. I guess leaving college was leaving the place she left me at. We used to talk every day on the phone when I was in college...I probably drove her NUTS and I definitely did it instead of doing what I "needed to do"....but that was something I couldn't deal without...talking to her every day. I guess those type of things are what make it so painful. Some times are harder than others, but I think lately with all the change of getting married and moving to a completely new place have shaken things up.
I love reminiscing on times with her, it helps. It helps to look at photos and such. And it helps just to cry it out, which I have found lately, I have been doing close to every day. I am finding out that I am homesick for something that no longer exists, and through God's grace I can be strong enough to get through each day with a smile. For some reason, I thought it would get easier...in a strange way, I am happy it isn't. It may sound crazy, but I feel closer to her this way. It's excruciatingly painful sometimes, but it's good to think and talk it out. If you know me well, you know I do not like talking about it. I don't mind being asked in the least about anything regarding my mom, but for some reason, when I am missing my mom and talking to someone such as my sister or my grandma, I'd rather just talk about what's going on that day or something, rather than break down on the phone about mom.
I've been talking a lot about it to Madison which has been good/healthy...he's good about making me talk about things instead of bottle them up like I try to do.

The work aspect of my life has been a little discouraging, although I am continuing to press hard and keep my chin up. The job market is horrible here. It helped talking to a new friend I just met named Kelly. She and her husband moved here from Starkville so he could start law school. She has her college degree and has been applying for every sort of job imaginable, even jobs that just require a high school degree and hasn't been able to get anything. This encouraged me that it's not because they don't like my accent or something (I was determined there was something they didn't like about me!) I am discouraged at the lack of students I have; I thought I would have a full studio or at least 10 students by now. It's just a long process, and this is not Wheaton. People aren't as interested in music lessons or something! Mr. Bell has been helpful, but hasn't had nearly as much of a waiting list as he usually does. He's also taking care of his wife who has cancer, so he has been very busy. I am excited about a new group I started at a local private school. I'm coaching a chamber music group, and they're quite talented, which is encouraging!

I love life, I love my husband, I love my family, friends, and I love where I am...sometimes I just get homesick for places that no longer exist, and the ones that still do exist, cost over $400.00 to get to!

Some photos

Here's some photos of the last week or so :-)

First, here's where I work:

Here's where Madison spends all of his time on campus (this is the law school)



I have a lot of spare time at night while Madison does his homework, so I do projects to keep me busy. :-) I always lose our keys, and we only have 1 car key...so I decided to try to find a key hook at wal mart. There was a wooden one that needed to be painted, so one night a few weeks ago, I painted this key hook thing - it was fun!


Here's some pictures from the square and campus decorated with stuff from the debate:
This is us in the morning before taking Madison to class (hence my swollen eyes)














This is part of the grove, in the center of campus - isn't it pretty?

Road block

The brick building in the background is where the debate was held