Friday Fave: Spring Break!

Woohoo! After a long, cold winter, there’s really nothing better than an entire week off of school. Spring break was made for catching up on sleep, friends, and life in general, and that is exactly what I plan to do with mine! I will still be seeing some of my students who are not on spring break, but I won’t be waking up at 5:30 to get ready for school. And boy, am I looking forward to that :)

Spring fever sets in for me towards the middle of February, when Mother Nature teases us with those semi-warm, sunny days. Now that April is in full swing, spring fever has taken over the Hope Institute. If you’ll be taking your spring break next week, please enjoy it! If you’ve already had it, or if you don’t get one at all – I apologize for the reminder ;) Either way, have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Fave: My Piano

Can I tell you a story? It’s about a girl and her piano. The piano came long before the girl did…it belonged to her mother, and what a prized posession it was. The piano was the centerpiece of the living room, and a source of endless entertainment for the girl even when she was very little. When she turned five, her mother asked her if she’d like to take piano lessons. Of course she said yes, and so she began her first of many, many years learning to play.

The girl had lots of different piano teachers. First a whole slew at the music store in the mall, then a nun named Sister James Marie throughout junior high and high school. But while her teachers changed, she came home and practiced on that same piano. She didn’t practice as much as she should have, but she did the best she could. After all, she was a very busy girl.

When the girl’s mother turned 40, her family threw her a surprise party. But the biggest surprise was a baby grand piano, which sat front and center in the living room. The old piano still had a spot in that room, but it was mostly ignored. When the girl’s parents moved to a new house, the big shiny one had it’s own room upstairs while the old piano was relegated to the basement. There it stayed for several years, collecting dust.

By now, the girl was all grown up. She and her husband bought a new house, which had a room perfect for her teaching studio. All it needed was a piano. So all the men in the girl’s family got together and rescued that old piano from the basement, lugging it up a flight of stairs, out the door, onto a truck, and finally into the room where it will live from now on.

And that is the story of this girl and her piano. It’s amazing to me that the very same instrument I once banged on as a toddler will be used to teach countless other children how to play. I love my piano.

Friday Fave: The First Day of Spring!

I must start this Friday post with an apology – I’ve been a bad blogger this week :( But I promise I have a good excuse; I have been moving all week, and that has used up almost all of my energy. Actually, there’s no “almost” about it…I am completely drained, both mentally and physically. But today is a very important day, and I just couldn’t stay away any longer.

SPRING!! Raise your hand if you have been counting down the days until its arrival (my hand is high in the air). Even though it’s pretty chilly outside this morning, the sun is shining and the promise of consistent warm weather is palpable. Most exciting of all is that I finally get to sing my “spring” song, which goes like this:

Winter’s gone away,
Spring is in the air!
Winter’s gone away,
Spring is in the air!
Winter’s gone away,
Spring is in the air!
Winter’s gone, let’s go outside, it is spring!

Flowers start to grow,
Spring is in the air!
Flowers start to grow,
Spring is in the air!
Flowers start to grow,
Spring is in the air!
Flowers grow, no more snow, it is spring!

Warm and sunny days,
Spring is in the air!
Warm and sunny days,
Spring is in the air!
Warm and sunny days,
Spring is in the air!
Warm days, sun’s rays, spring is here!

In more moving news (I know, you’re probably sick of hearing about it by now), we spent our first night in the new house last night! Most of the boxes are unpacked, and our new furniture will be arriving today along with direcTV. It is finally beginning to feel like our home. I will try to post some pictures this weekend, so until then, happy Friday and happy Spring!

Friday Fave: My New House!

Okay, okay…I know this is not music-related, but it’s hard to think about much else right now! After our closing yesterday (which went very smoothly), we went straight to our new house and began unloading box after box of stuff. I finally got to open all of our wedding gifts and put them away in the kitchen, and it was so much fun! A little overwhelming, but luckily we had the help of our wonderful parents.

Today the painters are coming to repaint all of the bedrooms and my new office, and then next week we are getting a brand-new kitchen floor. Next Saturday, all of our new furniture will be delivered and we will finish moving our stuff in, and we will spend the first night in our new house! I can’t wait.

As for this weekend, Zach and I are taking off for a fun trip to Chicago, where we will meet up with friends, go to the St. Patty’s Day parade, and attend his company’s annual awards banquet. It should be a blast. I hope you all have a great weekend, and see you back here on Monday!

Friday Fave: Blue Snowball Microphone

TGIF! This week flew by, and trust me, I don’t say that very often. I guess it didn’t hurt that Monday was a holiday :) Nonetheless, it’s Friday and you know what that means – it’s time for Friday Faves!

I’m often asked what type of equipment I use to record my songs. Since I record so frequently, I needed a home set-up that was simple yet produced good, quality sound. My first step was purchasing a Macbook, which I did back in the summer of 2007. This has by far been a great investment, as I can use it to record, edit, and burn CDs among many other things. GarageBand is the audio program I use, and I am a huge fan. Not only does it have all the capabilities I need, but it is completely user-friendly. I love the drop-and-drag features, and its seamless integration with iTunes. But I couldn’t do much without this beauty right here:

The Blue Snowball Microphone is awesome. It doesn’t take up much space, and all I have to do is plug it into the USB port of my computer and it’s ready to go. No installation, no software. There are three settings to choose from, depending on what type of recording you’re doing and the space in which you’re doing it. I actually have my husband to thank for this discovery, as it was a Christmas gift last year. You can get one for yourself here.

All this talk about recording is making me want to do just that, but it will have to wait. I have a full day of music therapy ahead of me, and lots of work to be done. Have a great Friday!