Continual State of Becoming

I've finished the A's! One letter down, 25 more to go :) I know I'm not even close to done, but at least I finished one letter, and it makes me feel like if I can do this much, surely I can do it 25 more times. No problem. Here are some last little A tidbits... it blurs into the B's too. -There are lots of instruments. LOTS. And I've noticed that a good amount of the non-western-classical music instruments have some kind of drone aspect to their instrument/music. Interesting... -There are lots of organ stops. LOTS AND LOTS. I have no idea how anyone can play the organ. Piano is challenging enough. But throw in multiple keyboards, tons of foot pedals, and a boatload of various stops, I can't even comprehend. Let alone, how on earth does someone get their doctorate in organ performance??? (in case Elaine ever reads this... I doubt it though) -One big problem I'm having is that there are times when I want a more tangible grasp on what I'm reading...

Lately I've been getting more and more into yoga. I started taking a weekly yoga class at the rec center in February and it didn't take long before I was hooked. It wasn't my first attempt at yoga, I'd taken several beginner classes a few years ago. And I also took prenatal yoga while I was pregnant. Both of those classes were great and I'm definitely glad I took them because the class I"m in now is not really geared towards beginners and I'm sure I'd be completely lost if I hadn't had some background. There are several reasons I love going to my yoga class 1- It's an hour and fifteen minutes each week in which I get to just focus on myself. I don't have anyone else to share my attention with... no family, no friends, just me alone. It's somewhat selfish, but at least it's a healthy selfish activity. I don't really even talk to people in my class all that much because I really just want to appreciate my alone time. And I...

This was an instrument similar to a cello at one point. Schubert wrote a sonata for it, but since the instrument is no longer around it's usually now played on the cello. I actually (successfully) accompanied a violist on this piece in college. Well I thought it was successful anyway. About 10 minutes before we played it in a recital one of the piano teachers listened to us go over it and told me I had completely interpreted it wrong. Then she showed me how I should have played it. Even though we played the same notes it sounded night and day different. She was probably right, but I still liked the way I was doing it, so I didn't change anything. Nothing quite like someone telling you how wrong you're doing something right before you're about to get up in front of all you peers. Oh well. I could never remember the name of the piece though, (Sonata in A minor by Schubert, D. 821-- not too catchy. but I think I remember Arpeggione Sonata) so I'm really exci...

Appoggiatura I learned a lot from this entry (not the least of which was the fact that an appoggiatura is not quite what I thought it was) #1- I always thought that my college piano teacher called grace notes "verschlags," and every time I tried to look it up, I could never find the definition. Clearly I was doing something wrong, which isn't surprising since ornaments confuse me to no end. But now I know that she was saying "VORschlag." Which makes a whole lot more sense. I've also learned that there's more "-schlags" out there. I initially assumed "schlag" meant note but I cheated and looked ahead... it means "beat," which also makes more sense especially since I know enough about German prepositions to know the following translations: -vorschlag: before the beat -anschlag: on the beat -zwischenschlag: with (another note on) the beat -nachschlag: after the beat #2- There's no clear right definition for an appoggia...

Lately I've been reading a lot. I tend to go through spurts when it comes to books. I'll read about a dozen books one month and then I won't read another book for 3 or 4 months. I also tend to read obsessively (but I am NOT a fast reader). If I can't finish a book in 3 days then I figure it's just not good enough to keep reading. This is because during the three day time period I will read every moment I can. And since I don't have much available reading time during the day anymore this usually means I stay up late, sacrificing precious sleep just to see what the next page brings. And then once I find that out I just HAVE to know what's on the next page after that... it's a never ending process that only stops when I realize that I'm SO tired I've read a paragraph three times and still have no idea what the words are. So my most recent reading spell is coming to a close. I don't really want to mention most of the books I read because ...

Last night my sister Sarah and her boyfriend joined us for dinner and a night of Pinochle. We have this type of get together every so often, just infrequently enough to make Matt have to reexplain the rules of Pinochle every time. But we had a good time last night. We also had good food :) I've made a recent attempt to refocus my creative energy from piano playing to cooking. Mostly this is due to the fact that it's har d for me to spend any amount of time at the piano. I'm hoping it's just a temporary hiatus and once Dylan is a little older I'll be able to get back into it. But in the meantime I decided that since I enjoy cooking, and it's something I have to do every night anyway, I may as well put a little more effort into it. I've been trying to challenge myself to use a brand new ingredient as well as a brand new recipe once a month. It's a pretty easy goal to accomplish, but it helps me push myself outside what I'm used ...

We have hit a few minor milestones lately with Dylan. First of all, he's talking up a storm. I think he's reached the 3 word sentence point now and I'm sure 4 and 5 words are just around the corner. His words still aren't that clear... motorcycle sounds more like moder-car, but he's getting there. Second, we took down the baby gates. He's fully capable of going up and down the stairs now on his own. He still has to hold on to something to keep from losing his balance, but I think he's smart enough to know not to go head first down the stairs. Plus he's pretty s familiar with his boundaries at our house, so there just didn't seem to be a point to the gates anymore. It's so strange to me that he no longer needs to be corralled. Third, he has peed on the potty a whopping 4 times! Always right before his bath (since the first thing he was doing in his bath was peeing anyway). It took me a few weeks just to get him to sit on the potty, and the...

After making a big deal of not wanting to use the word "hate" I did a search in my blog to see if I do use the word. I do. Here's how: I got 61 results, though a lot of those were for the word w hate ver. So that made me feel a little better. I took Dylan to the library, which Dylan HATES. Dylan's only doing one nap a day now, which I though I would hate, but I actually love. I'd just hate for them to have to walk through it. (Referring to my piano student and his father coming to the house on a day when our door was covered in beetles). I hate it when I'm wrong. I hate having to fight for a good spot. (at a general admission concert) I hate needles and doctor-related things. I used to hate gardening. I really hate that the rest of the world doesn't structure their information so it is library ready. (I think I wrote this while working at the NGA when I came across an artist who constantly used a different version of his name, yet I needed to make a...

So after adding 2 entries to my forgotten blog last night I went to bed still thinking about the whole swearing thing. I think I can get another post from it, so here we go. There's a blog that I check out from time to time called www.shitmykidsruined.com It has pictures of things that have been broken by people's children. The "Desi-twins" picture is absolutely worth seeing. It's very entertaining to see just how much havoc a small child is capable of wreaking. Every time I check it out I can't help but wonder what my future contribution to the blog will be. So far most of our damage consists of a few dings on the wall, some stains on our couch, and snack crumbs everywhere. But I'm sure our time for a catastrophe will come. Anyway, I was reading a review of this newish site in an online newspaper. Because of the swear word in the url/title of the blog they decided to refer to the blog as Stuff My Kids Ruined, but they did make note of the fact th...

Sometimes I feel as though I've always been a mom. I think this is mostly due to the fact that my life changed so drastically once Dylan was born that I tend to think of the person I was before Dylan as a completely different person or a completely different lifetime. Like that was the era of Just-Jessica, followed by a brief era of Jessica-and-Matt, and now I'm in the Mom-era of Jessica. And it's strange when I think of some of the things I did pre-Mom. Like I used to be able to eat a meal without a squirmy child on my lap... or that I ever went to grad school. I love being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM). Before Dylan I would have never thought it possible, but I just couldn't imagine our lives any other way now. And even though I am taking care of a child and the household there is still a little bit of guilt over the fact that I went to grad school, specifically to get a degree that would help me get a career going, and then never used it. My poor MLS is just hidin...

Aside from email, I don't think I have written a complete sentence in a very long time. I write down to-do lists, grocery lists, directions to people's houses, dinner menus, and the ABC's (Dylan's learning his letters) on a very frequent basis. I even occasionally write things in Facebook: "cute pic" "haha, awesome" with some strange amount of "!!!!" or the smiley emoticon following it, but now you don't even have to do that, you can just click the "like" button... no spelling required. Even the sentences I write in an email are less than interesting, most of them revolve around scheduling play dates "we're free Mon, Wed, or Thurs morning... you?" But as far as intelligent written communication, nada. Even earlier today, I signed and anniversary card for matt, but all I wrote was "Happy Anniversary, Love Jessica." I can actually feel my ability to coherently and intelligently express myself dec...

2009 Year in Review Survey 1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? Started running! I ran a 5k, a 4mile, and a 10k race. But I also ran 8.5 miles on my own at one point. I wanted to get up to 10, but didn't make it once the weather got cold. I also made my first pie, and it was completely from scratch. Apple Cranberry Crumb Pie, delicious. 2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't usually make any, but this year I think I'm going to cut back on candy. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, a couple of my friends from mom's group. 4. Did anyone close to you die? No. 5. What countries did you visit? Again, just the U.S. I haven't been out of the country in a very very long time. 6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? After making pasta for Christmas dinner with a borrowed pasta maker, perhaps a pasta maker. 7. What date from 2009 will r...

Whenever I stumble over these types of things a part of me misses my old job at the NGA. http://www.nypost.com/seven/08242009/news/regionalnews/no__30g_arts_not_in_box___it_is_box_186203.htm

I completed my first 10k race! Matt and I both ran the Leesburg 10k yesterday and I think we did really well. I finished in 1 hr 21 minutes, which sadly put me in last place for my division, but I'm okay with that. Matt finished in 1 hr 8 minutes and did much better in his division. Not bad since I've only been running since May, and matt only started running a few weeks ago (though he did run through college). Despite the really hot weather, it was a nice run. Most of it was in the shade, and we ran right by our house, so the route was really familiar. I feel very proud of myself for having accomplished something that a year ago I never thought would be possible. It's making me strongly consider running an half marathon next spring, I think a marathon is still a little beyond my grasp at this point, I'm not sure I'd be able to dedicate enough time for training to accomplish that. But I think a half marathon is do-able. We'll see though. Upcoming race...

A while ago I wrote about a typical day for me and Dylan. I thought I'd do that again since he's changed so much since then. We usually wake up between 6:00 and 6:30. It takes me a couple minutes to accept that he is in fact awake for good (every morning I pray that he'll go back to sleep for an hour but he never does). After a quick diaper change we go downstairs and I prepare a cup of milk for him. Dylan looooves his milk in the morning, we'll go into the living room and watch some Disney cartoons, Handy Manny is his current favorite, while he drinks his milk in his own personal chair. Sometimes though he'll cuddle up with me on the couch while he drinks his milk. After he finishes his milk he'll play with his toys and crawl around for a little while. Usually around 7:30 his about ready for breakfast which typically consists of yogurt and a banana or banana bread or Kix. From time to time I switch it up by making pancakes, and sometimes Dylan will have...

I recipe I altered from another one... it's REALLY good. I sent this to my sister Sarah yesterday so she could cook it and she liked it too. She made a few changes, which I've noted. For the Chicken: Chicken cutlets (matt and I each ate 3 of the thin slices) flour for dredging the chicken, I added salt and pepper to the flour olive oil to cook the chicken in Sauce: -about 1/2 cup of white wine -juice from 1/2 lemon -chicken stock (as much as it takes to make enough sauce) - 2 or 3 cloves of garlic -2 cans of (drained) artichokes, not marinated (I used 2 of the small jars of artichokes and we had a few leftover) Steps: 1. Dredge chicken in flour 2. Cook chicken in olive oil over high heat, about 2-3 minutes on each side (or until done, I never really time things). They should get nice and golden brown 3. Remove chicken from pan, reduce heat to medium 4. Add garlic 5. Deglaze pan with wine, add chicken stock, lemon juice (Sarah let the sauce reduce a little and added some ...

Last post a I talked a little bit about how I started running. Well, this weekend I completed the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure and I did waaay better than my initial goal! I trained for a little less than a month (after not running since high school), the first 2 1/2 weeks was slow going. But about halfway through my training things started to click and I went from running 15 minutes nonstop one day, to 30 minutes the next, to 54 minutes less than a week later! And I think I could have kept running that day, but I knew that if I didn't hit the hour mark that run, I'd be more motivated it to it again and run for a full hour. In the past week I think I ran about 14 miles total, which is something I NEVER thought I'd do. After all, I'm certainly no runner. The race was good though. Fortunately it wasn't too hot or sunny out (which really helped), and I think running with 10,000 other people helped me push myself a little harder than I would have otherwise. M...

April and May have turned out to be pretty crazy months here. We've had lots going on lately, and things are just starting to quiet down, which means Dylan and I are relaxing more and catching up on some much needed naps. Lately Dylan and I have done a few new things, so I thought I'd talk about some of them. To start with, I FINALLY went to Wegman's. I know, I know, it's about time. But I think anyone who's read this blog for any amount of time is well aware of my disdain for grocery shopping, so I usually stick with what's familiar so it takes as little time as possible to get in and out. But Sarah and I cooked dinner for my mom's birthday a few weeks ago and she wanted seafood... I don't really trust seafood from Giant, but I've heard that Wegman's is pretty decent so I decided to finally go there and check it out. At first I was completely overwhelmed... lots of little sections to the store that I couldn't figure out... a map or some...

Jars of Clay's new album came out today. So of course I rushed right out and bought it. There's usually at least one song on their album that I can really identify with so I listened carefully to the lyrics waiting to see which one it would be this time. I didn't have to listen too hard because it was pretty obvious which song it would be this time. It's called Boys (lesson one). It's about having a son, probably more from a father's perspective, but I can still appreciate the sentiments. Lesson one, do not hide. Lesson two, there are right ways to fight and if you have questions we can talk through the night So you know who you are and you know what you want I've been where you're going, and it's not that far it's too far to walk, but you don't have to run you get there in time Lesson three, you're not alone But since I saw you start breathing on your own You can leave, you can run But this will still be your home So you know who y...

Yesterday Dylan and I went to the mall to meet up with the Mom's group for lunch. After dining on some chick-fil-a I decided to do something I've sworn many, many, many times I would never do. I took Dylan into the children's play area. When I found out I was pregnant the mall became a scary place to me. Suddenly I didn't really notice the cute clothes in the window (not that I could buy them anymore anyway) or the great sales at my favorite stores. All I noticed were the hundreds of overly stressed, overly tired moms pushing multiple whiny children in strollers, trying everything they could to keep them happy as they schlepped them from one store to the next... or even weirder, just power walked around the mall. And then eventually I'd wander past the worst part of it all... the children's play area. It's always swarming with little kids. Climbing, running, crying, screaming, shouting kids. The whole thing just stressed me out. I promised myself I ...