Category: College Kid

Feeling a little accomplished. :)

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is out, it’s 70 degrees and the breeze is nice so I have my windows open, enjoying the weather. On top of that, I got quite a few things accomplished today!

Everyday, I eat breakfast. I have two basic choices I stick to – egg and bacon or yogurt with granola and honey. I drink either tea or coffee but only one cup. Today, was an egg and bacon with Earl Grey tea kinda day. Why bacon? Because it tastes good and it’s protein. I think you should start your day with protein and a food you enjoy. For lunch, I had a piece of white fish and salad with a large glass of water. My friend Monica sent me some dark chocolate covered coffee beans for Christmas so I had a few of those, too. Yummy!!

Clipford has been cooped up way too much. When we were in Austin, I took him to Zilker Park and he got to run and fetch the ball and had a great time. There’s a dog park here in Huntsville and I hadn’t been able to find it (no one could give me the exact location – “it’s over in the Avenues, where one of the letter roads ends”, they’d say) so today, I was determined to find it to let Clipford go run a bit. And after about 20 minutes of being in the wrong part of the 23rd Street, I found it! It’s basically at the intersection of N 1/2 Street and 23rd Street. The address is 2335 23rd street but if you plug that into Google Maps or a GPS, it’s takes you for a bit of a wild goose chase. The park was empty so he fetched and explored for about 20 minutes and seemed okay to come home. Without other dogs there, he seemed kinda bored with fetching the ball after 20 minutes. Maybe that was just me. We’ll be going there regularly because it’s really nice there. There are trees so going on a hot day won’t be so bad. There are a few benches and a doggie water fountain. Not so bad for this little town.

After we came home and had lunch, I took all my recycling to the recycling center. It filled my back seat! To get all that stuff out of my apartment and make room to walk was such a relief! It has been way too cluttered around here. Yesterday, my friend Rachel helped me take a bunch of stuff (including my bins of Christmas decorations) to storage so there is quite a bit more room in my apartment again. Mind you, I have a lot of stuff so it’s still cramped but it’s more cleared out than it was when I got back from break. Little steps.

I paid bills and did some yoga practice. This summer was emotionally rough and I found a Groupon or something for a week of yoga practice at Round Rock Yoga Room. I LOVE IT THERE!! It’s not like a club or the gym classes – it’s a true yoga community. I went twice over the break and was greeted by name and with loving hugs. I wish there was a place like it. There is a yoga studio here but the website description doesn’t seem so inviting and it’s kind of expensive so I haven’t been yet. The Yoga Room has been posting videos on YouTube so I made a spot in my home office so I can practice for about 30 minutes. I made a playlist of several different things to work on and plan on going through those as I can. It felt good to stretch and to hear Zelinda’s voice. She’s very calming. I have some Gaiam videos from Sarah so I’ll work with those as well. I should probably look into getting a block and maybe a strap ’cause faking a strap and using a Harry Potter book as a block doesn’t work too well.

Next up, score study again. I have a lot to catch up on with my study because I didn’t get to do any over the break like I’d intended. I’m going to be conducting Vaughan Williams’ English Folk Song Suite in February with the Symphonic Band. I’ll post the date when I find my notebook (I think it’s in my backpack) – it would be nice to have old school friendly faces in the audience as well as my new friends.

Okay, gotta get back to work and ride the wave of feeling accomplished! 🙂

Love you, mean it!
~C

Looooooooooong awaited update.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I feel like I start every blog post thinking that. I guess because it has been. It’s been a busy semester but I couldn’t be happier to be in graduate school! My professors are wonderful as well as the other students. I’ve managed to get home about once a month for various reasons so I don’t totally feel stuck in East Texas. And even if I didn’t get that opportunity, it’s beautiful here with the pine trees and all the living creatures that live in or with them.

I can’t believe this semester is almost over. I have a final on Monday evening and I’m done with my first semester of graduate school. 3 more to go for my Masters! Next spring is going to be really crazy busy as well with the Jazz Ensemble performing at TMEA and the Wind Ensemble at CBDNA. Organizing these trips have been a HUGE part of the adventure this semester as well. Who’d have thought that these “simple” trips could be such a complicating endeavor? Gotta love the trickle-down effect of everything that’s been so topsy-turvy in education recently. Combine that with a change in procedures (mostly a change because there are obviously different procedures from RRISD) and it creates for a unique adventure in trip planning. 🙂 Luckily, everyone I’ve worked with so far have been magnificently supportive and understanding of all the hitches along the way. We will get on the road this spring, by golly!!

What else is coming up? I’m conducting the Symphonic Band in February. I’m not sure of the concert date off the top of my head and the paper that date is written on is in the other room. I’ll be conducting the Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite. I’m also going to continue working with the Jazz Lab Band and at some point later in the Spring, I’ll have a singing debut with one of the jazz ensembles. Fun, huh? Maybe I’ll take a page from my friend Mandy Lauderdale when I sing. No, not the red hair. That’s totally her thing and I couldn’t think to borrow that.

I can’t wait to spend a few weeks in Austin with my friends and family! Hopefully, anything I do I can remember to keep it on the cheap since I’m still a college student living on a college student budget (in other words, there’s little money to budget…there is a very positive spin I can put on this) when I’m hanging out with my friends. Christmas Brunch will again be at the Four Seasons with my family, one of my favorite outings of the year!

Clipford & I are very lucky to have the lives we have. I couldn’t ask for much more. Okay, back to the books. There’s a paper due and a final tomorrow!

Love you, mean it!
~C