Friday Musings

I had the best afternoon yesterday. Without saying too much (there will be a post coming on it next week) I spent about three hours cleaning, measuring, cutting, and assembling copper pipes. And then turned them into something I'm awfully proud of. As far as DIYs go it was a first for me, and it might be my favorite project yet.

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I taught my first piano student this week! Hooray! It was a fantastic first lesson with a very interesting student and I feel so lucky to be able to do this job that I love. First lessons are a little nerve-wracking for me--it feels a bit intimidating to let strangers into your home, have them sit at your piano, and proceed to talk for 30 or 60 minutes about one of your deepest passions. It's a vulnerable business I'm in and anonymity and privacy aren't really available. But that's one of the reasons it's so rewarding. I ended the lesson really believing I'd passed on something valuable and important and enriching.

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This is a silly thing, but I wore my favorite rosy red lipstick on Monday as a pick-me-up and I'd forgotten how much I love it! Do you have a makeup product, or maybe a shirt or pair of shoes, that makes you feel your best? That's what this lipstick does for me.

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Last Saturday I had such fun spending a few hours with Tina, who is a blog-turned-real-life friend. We had a delicious lunch together and then walked around the historic part of Manassas, Virginia (which is halfway between where she lives and where we live). I stopped for fresh peaches and corn on the way home and thoroughly enjoyed the mountains and corn fields and grazing cows that kept me entertained on the drive. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday. Even after two years of doing this I think it's just wild and so wonderful that I've been able to make real friends through this little blog.

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I'm getting very excited about two local chamber music festivals that are just around the corner--the Staunton Chamber Music Festival and the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. Oh, to again live in an area where I can attend concerts!

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I've been on the lookout for some new blogs to add to my daily reading list. Do you have any recommendations?

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And last but not least: I've been thinking a lot lately about my marriage and what our first almost-three years have brought us, and I feel so intensely lucky. We had an unusual beginning and for most of it, didn't have the ability to make a lot of the decisions that newly married couples make--where should we live, what jobs will we take, are we ready to buy a house? Now that I have a bit of perspective and feel 100% confident that we're now in exactly the right place, I look back at some of the messiness and see more beauty than I ever gave it credit for. This time of just the two of us. That time of living so far from family and friends, feeling frustrated together, falling more deeply in love through it all--there was a raw grittiness to it, and there was grace. Our issues didn't weaken our marriage, not in the slightest. I think my husband would agree that it did the opposite and strengthened us in unbelievable ways. We've gone through things together and dealt with life together and felt powerless together and made it to a better place together. To have those experiences with the man you love is a rather beautiful thing.

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Happy weekend, friends! Make it a lovely one.