Holiday post #2 (December)

I LOVE Old Fashioned Christmas in West Chester!  It's always the first Friday in December and all the shops and businesses are open late and there's a huge parade.  My string quartet plays annually for a law firm's open house (going on 6 years now?  I've lost track).  It is one of my favorite gigs of the year because we can play all Christmas tunes and it's so much fun!  Ahh I love string quartet playing...

Tree in downtown West Chester

December 6 was my elementary school orchestra concert and after that it was all about finishing grad school.   I finished up my classes, papers, and exit exam and got straight A's my last semester.  Somehow I got my Christmas shopping done in the last 2 weeks (besides Black Friday).  I am so thankful to finally be able to relax.  Oh my goodness, it is so wonderful!!!  

Dec 19 commencement

People keep asking me, "What are you going to do in all your free time now?"  Hmm...how about, have some?  Just kidding... here are some ideas:

1. Relax.

2. Read books.

3. Spend more time with friends/family.

4. ASQ marketing/business/gigs.

5. Do some string recording at local studios.

6. House projects/organization.

7. Plan meals/cook.

8. Exercise.

Is that enough?

Holiday post #1 (November)

It's been a while and I have lots to catch up on!  I'm finally done my masters program so I hope to blog more regularly.  Here are the highlights from the past couple months.

I love that a lot of our college friends still live nearby and we continue to get together.  Our friend Tom hosted our first "Friends Thanksgiving" where he provided the turducken and we all brought a dish to share & fill out the menu.  It was YUMMY!  Here's a pic of the girls:

Tammy, Erin, Joy, Allison, Rebecca, me

The next big event was my recital.  I performed a 50 minute program of solo viola (with piano accompaniment) for my masters program.  I felt very loved & supported by all my family and friends who came out!  I was happy with it and relieved when it was done!

 The Collins threw me a reception/party to celebrate.  I love them so much!  

Sean and I spent Thanksgiving at his rents.  I helped my mother-in-law cook/bake and made my first pumpkin pies and pie crust from scratch.  We all fit at one table this year which was nice.  Here are the "kids":

 Fred (Sean's cuz), Haley (Dan's gf) and Dan (Sean's brother), Sean and me.  Where's Nicky?  (Tammy & Ryne were at his parents this year.)

Playing Partini.

We got our Christmas Tree from Bernard's Tree Farm in Honeybrook the Saturday after Thanksgiving.   Since it's only up for a month, I like getting it asap so we can enjoy it more!  Plus it was a really nice warm day.  We went with Sean's parents and their dog, Tyler.

We set it up and put the lights on right away.  9 days later we (mostly I) put on the ornaments.  It was finally all decorated.  Sean and I sat down to relax and watch something on TV and a little bit later we watched the tree fall flat on its face.  :(  Of course I had just watered it so that was the worst part.  There was so much water on the floor to clean up.  (Thank goodness for the Sham wow!)  It was pretty funny. Surprisingly it wasn't the cat's fault either.  She was on my lap.  This is what it looked like after it fell:

All set up again:

I wanted the tree in the living room this year since we hang out there most but it's a bit cozy in our small house.  :)  More Christmas stuff to come in the next post.