by Rachel | Uncategorized
Happy “First Day of Fall” to you! Summer is officially over, and I have resolved to stop whining about it and fully embrace the new season. After all, it’s hard to deny that this early autumn weather is absolutely spectacular.
Last week, I featured the song Fall Into Fall in my Sunday Singalong video, so today I’ll share another fall fave with you. “All About Autumn” is the newer of the two, and one I always enjoy singing throughout the season.
Lead Sheet Download: $1.50
I originally posted this song back in 2009, but I’m pretty sure most of you haven’t dug quite that deep into the archives — unless you’ve been reading the blog for that long! I’m going to make a habit of re-sharing some of my older tunes for that very reason, because there are some hidden gems from way back when :)
Do you have big plans for the first weekend of fall? My plan is to spend some quality time with my family, put the finishing touches on my Church Mice music class that begins on Sunday, and do something outside in this lovely weather. I hope you are able to do the same!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
When I look at this picture of my best friends and I at our high school graduation, I find it extremely hard to believe that ten years have passed. We’ve taken many pictures like it since — at each other’s bridal showers, weddings, baby showers, and other milestone events. And I’m sure we’ll take lots more this weekend at our high school reunion.
My husband has been hard at work planning this event (after all, he was voted “Life of the Party” in our senior yearbook) along with the rest of the committee. It’s going to be so much fun to see all of the people I’ve only kept in touch with via Facebook for the last few years. I keep reminding myself of that, rather than dwelling on the fact that this reunion has me feeling a little old. Ridiculous, I know :)
But despite feeling old, I also feel accomplished — and that is a good feeling :) I love that I’ll be the only music therapist at my reunion, though I’m not so much looking forward to explaining my profession dozens of times. I guess I’ll have to rehearse my elevator speech between now and tomorrow!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Today is the first completely and utterly BLUE day we’ve seen in months. When I say blue, I don’t mean blue skies; I mean blue as in clouds and pouring rain. A real bummer of a day, truth be told.
So why in the world is this the topic of today’s Friday Fave? Well for one, we really needed the rain. And two, this blue day gives me the perfect opportunity to participate in Music Sparks’ Blue Challenge!
I’m always putting together playlists to suit or shape my mood (for example, here are 10 songs that just make me feel good), so why not make one for a blue day like today? I have a long list of projects to work on before my first student arrives this afternoon, so here are the tunes that will serve as my soundtrack:
- Set Fire to the Rain (Adele)
- Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers)
- Fire and Rain (James Taylor)
- Have You Ever Seen the Rain (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- Rainy Days and Mondays (The Carpenters)
- Blue (LeAnn Rimes)
- Rain Roll In (Eilen Jewell)
- Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin)
- Rain is a Good Thing (Luke Bryan)
- Singing in the Rain (Gene Kelly)
It’s funny, but as I listened to these songs, I actually started to feel less and less blue. Surprising, considering every one of these songs has either the word “blue” or “rain” in the title! What songs are on your “blue day” playlist?
Fellow bloggers: you should participate in the “Blue Challenge” over at Music Sparks, too. You still have two days to do so! A big thanks to JoAnn Jordan and Laura Crum for coming up with such a fun idea.
by Rachel | Uncategorized
This is the intention I have set for today, because I have no other choice but to complete every item on the long to-do list I composed before bed last night.
Here’s the thing: being in total control of my day-to-day schedule is harder than I thought it would be. I’m an extremely motivated and hard-working person, so I had no doubt I would be disciplined enough to structure my workdays well and get everything done.
But you know what they say about tasks stretching to fill the amount of time you have available to do them? Extremely true — and my friend Kimberly S. Moore (a time management vet who has even written an e-book on the topic) assured me that I’m not the only one who has struggled with this.
So did my mom, who I called just recently to express the guilt I felt due to my lack of super-human productivity. She has lots of experience being self-employed, and possesses more self-discipline than anyone I know. But her comments echoed Kimberly’s as she promised that my struggle is completely normal, and that I will find my rhythm.
Today is the day I find my rhythm. No better day than the Friday before a long weekend. Yes, I have a monster list of tasks ahead of me, but I have a plan. And since I’ve titled this blog post “The Most Productive Day Ever” and furthermore, made it a Friday Fave, my only option is to follow through!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
After writing on Monday about my first day back to work (and official full-time self-employment), I was hoping today’s “Friday Fave” would be a celebration of a successful first week back. And guess what: it is!
I still have today’s lessons and music therapy sessions to go, but I’m optimistic that they will go just as smoothly as the previous four days. It has been such a relief to have students coming through the door exactly as scheduled — because as I’ve written about before, scheduling is the hardest part of running a studio and private practice.
But that hasn’t been the best part of the week. Not even close. Far and away, the best part has been seeing and hearing my students’ progress (mixed in with a few great excuses here and there).
Yesterday, for example, one of my piano students blew me away by playing “Hey Jude”. We had just started it at his last lesson before the break, and three weeks later (after working on it completely by himself), he gave a nearly flawless performance. Those are the moments that remind me just how lucky I am to do what I do.
Of course, there are still kinks to work out…like adjusting to having so much unscheduled time during the day. I’m working on a schedule that will help me use that time more productively, and I think next week I’ll have a better handle on it. It’s always tough to get right down to business after a long vacation, which is why I’m trying not to be too hard on myself ;)
How has your week been? I hope you are celebrating its fantastic-ness right along with me today. Here’s to an awesome Friday and a fabulous weekend!
