Friday Musings

I find myself really looking forward to weekends these days. There's something so special about December weekends--cozy, twinkly, not overly planned, full of cider and tea. This weekend I hope to finish up my Christmas shopping and gift wrapping and convince my husband to watch Love Actually with me (a Christmas tradition, and actually, he loves it too). ;)

Now for some Friday Musings...

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I enjoyed this insider scoop on Kate Middleton that was published in Vanity Fair this week. How I wish I'd gotten to see her in New York!

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I was invited by my neighbor to the most fun event this week--a sing-along to Handel's Messiah. This was the 47th year it has been held at UVA and while I'm not a singer, I had such a wonderful, giggly, time with my neighbor and her friend. There's something so exciting and festive about a bunch of people, musicians and non-musicians, singers and non-singers, getting together to make music and belt out those jubilant choruses.

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You can probably tell from some of my past posts, but I'm convinced I'm the luckiest piano teacher in Charlottesville. My students are the most kind, interesting, curious, funny, sweet, and dedicated group of people and how did I ever get them to sign up for lessons with me each week? I'm not sure, but I feel so blessed to get to work with each and every one of them. (And they all practice!!!)

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This lipstick has become my go-to perfect holiday red.

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A few weeks ago I found myself craving Jane Austen. But I've read all of her six novels and I'm not a big re-reader, so I headed to Barnes and Noble and found this collection of her unfinished works and I just started reading it yesterday. I couldn't agree more with the scholar who writes this in the introduction: "There are some great writers who wrote too much. There are others who wrote enough. There are yet others who wrote nothing like enough to satisfy their admirers, and Jane Austen is certainly one of these. There would be more genuine rejoicing at the discovering of a complete new novel by Jane Austen than any other literary discovery, short of a new major play by Shakespeare, that one can imagine."

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Happy December weekend, friends. May yours be cozy and bright!