Right Around the Corner

The date for our move is right around the corner and I can't wait!  It's bitter sweet to be moving but I'm very excited to start a new leaf near family.  We'll be moving to our new apartment on May 14th, then spending the next few weeks unpacking (which is always fun).  I kind of know how to get around this new town from all of the visits to see Michael when we were dating, but figuring out all of the back roads through town will be an adventure.  Leaving a place you call home is always tough even when it seems easy to pack up; making a new place your home always takes time.

Moving Onward!

I was planning on posting this yesterday before I realized how long that post was getting, so here is some more good news today!  As mentioned previously, there have been some ups and downs over the past year; one of those "downs" being that me and my husband have been stuck where we're at.  What I mean is we've been stuck in this small town with nothing to do, thirty minutes away from anything "fun" other than a Wal-Mart, hours away from family, and unable to do anything about the situation because of my classes on campus.  Over the past few months we started thinking of the future and what we could do to change it for the better; let me just say that God is good!

Everything has seemed to line up in place and all in good timing!  We decided that once I finish up my classes on campus and can start Student Teaching that we'd move closer to his family.  I was able to request my student teaching placements for the area near his family and will hopefully find out those placements within the next month.  We were also praying that he would be able to find a job in the new area soon so we could start looking for a place to live; God answered those prayers as well!  Just recently we got the phone call that he received a job in the area his parents reside, and that he would be able to start in a matter of three weeks.  This works out great because we also have the opportunity to go look at an apartment in that area this weekend.

Change is around the corner and I'm eager to see what the future holds.  I'm sad to be moving away from our current apartment because it finally feels like a "home" and we're close to my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and friends at MSU, but I'm ecstatic to start this new adventure in our lives and to see what happenings will come.

A Crazy Fun Spring

What a wonderful and crazy year it has been so far!  There have been so many things that have happened since my last post, which is why I haven't been able to post much.  I'll try to keep this post short, but I'm not making any promises, haha.

Western Kentucky had a snow/ice storm at the beginning of March, which we didn't think would be that bad until Michael's car decided to be cruel and fall apart.  The weather made it difficult to get our cars out of the parking lot, so we played it safe and stayed at home the first couple of days.  Side note - the last ice storm we had back in January was harsh on Mike's car...it took both front door handles.  We thought it would be a "great" idea to save money and just use a wire coat hanger to open the driver side door... Not a good idea.

What we didn't know was the hanger was putting stress on the lock mechanism for the door.  Well by the middle of the week Michael decided to take my car into work (hoo-rah for front wheel drive!) and I was going to take his to school later that day.  Long story short, I was able to get into his car, but when I tried to shut the door it wouldn't stay shut.  The lock mechanism had completely broke, causing his car to be in the shop for three weeks getting fixed while we borrowed his sister's car.  I'm so thankful for amazing family!  Without Sara I wouldn't have been able to go to class and run errands.

That was just one of the recent crazy happenings, there is more :).  I finished all of my hours for Extended Practicum a few weeks ago, which was bitter sweet.  I had such a great time at my last placement and learned so much.  I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to learn and teach under such a great band director and music teacher, and I hope to be as good as he is someday!  Middle school is definitely my favorite age group to teach.

I performed my senior recital this past Saturday, it was by far one of the most fun moments of my music career.  I didn't realize how fast college would pass by and now that it's almost over it's actually kind of sad.  The past four years have been a roller coaster of ups and downs; from struggling in certain areas of life to meeting the man of my dreams and starting a whole new life together with him.  I always thought it was going to be great to be done with the heavy practice schedule I adhered to, but now that it's over I'm actually sad that I won't be able to play wonderful music on a daily basis.  I am very happy that I was able to give one last great performance for my family and friends

Unlike most instrumentalist and vocalist, I am a percussionist (best instruments ever).  You may ask, so what?  Being a percussionist is amazing, but unfortunately I have never had the privilege of owning my own mallet instrument like a marimba (the instrument shown above) or vibraphone.  Not owning one of those instruments makes it very difficult to actually practice and play one of the major instruments in the percussion family.  When I first came to college I could barely play a mallet instrument, and over the past four years I've been able to become a better musician on almost every percussion instrument.  Now that summer is right around the corner and graduation is at the end of the year, I will only have the opportunity to play drum-set and other battery percussion because they are  more accessible than mallet instruments.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have studied under a great percussion professor and to have performed along side some of the best musicians and friends!  Without all of these wonderful people I wouldn't have come as far as I have.  Thank you everyone who has supported me throughout this amazing musical journey!

Along with my senior recital, I also donated over ten inches of hair to Locks of Love!  I haven't done this in a few years and decided that someone else could benefit from the mess of hair I didn't want anymore.

Well, that is all I have to say in this post without making it drag on.  It's good to be back in the blogging world!  With all of these events finished I'll finally have time to sit down and put effort into creating some good posts.

God is good!

Winter, Winter, Go Away

It's the beginning of March and winter had to have one last go around.  The weather last week felt amazing and there were a few days where I was able to go outside without a jacket; I honestly thought I was going to be putting our winter coats up.  The forecast changed near the end of last week, predicting snow and ice.  I'm a optimist and like to look for the good in things, so I was hoping that the forecast would be wrong.  Unfortunately the forecast was actually right, and we ended up getting around five inches of snow on top of a quarter inch of ice.

The roads were so bad that Murray State closed campus for not only one day, but two.  Campus hasn't been closed for weather since my freshman year (four years ago), and even then it was only closed for one day.  My senior recital hearing is less than ten days away and I'm stuck at home because of the fluffy white powder that fell from the sky.  I'm keeping my hopes up that campus will reopen on Wednesday so I can get some much needed practice time in!

After about twenty minutes of brushing and scraping, I was able to clear off the majority of snow and ice from the cars; but as you can see there is still a bit of ice left over.  It was way to cold to stay outside any longer.

Not much longer until Spring arrives and warmer days are here to stay!  Until then, I plan on staying inside where it's warm and safe!

Kentucky Intercollegiate Band 2014

Every year around December the MSU Wind Ensemble is informed of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Band, and how we should sign up because it would be a good experience.  Every year I would just pass the sign-up sheet to the person next to me because my thought process was, "I don't have the time...I can't miss any classes to do this."  I was so wrong!  This year I finally put my name on the sheet and was blessed to have been selected to go.

The drive to E-town was one of the worst driving experiences I've ever had.  Earlier that morning it had started to rain, but within a few hours the rain had turned to sleet and a wintry mix.  A drive that normally takes three hours turned into about five.  I couldn't drive faster than 45-50 mph the entire way, and actually had to stop once to calm my nerves.  Luckily I arrived safe and sound at my parents place!

The next few days were spent practicing in preparation of a concert that was to be given in the spectacular Whitney Hall at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.  The guest conductor was fantastic and the ensemble did amazing.  I don't think I've ever been in an ensemble setting that performed as well as that specific ensemble did.  We performed a wide array of pieces from Olypmic Fanfare and Theme by John Williams as the opener, and To Tame the Perilous Skies by David Holsinger as the finale.

I won't go into too much detail, but the overall experience was well worth the horrible drive, early mornings and late nights.  The performance was one I'll remember for years to come!  I wish I'd have given KIB a chance in the past, but I'm glad I had the chance to experience it at least once.

PASIC 2013

This post is way past due.  I've been meaning to write about my experience and adventures at PASIC shortly after the trip, but with the crazy schedule last semester I never found adequate time to do so.  Almost three months later, here it is!

PASIC stands for Percussive Arts Society International Convention; which essentially means a percussionists heaven for four days straight.  Early last semester I was asked if I wanted to go to Indianapolis with a group of percussionist from my college, in which we would compete in the college small group division.  Of course I said yes, I had been wanting to go to PASIC since I was in high school.  After the group was formed, a practice schedule was set and we started working towards an end goal.

A few months of hard work and determination paid off as we traveled to Indy for performance and fun times.  The first night was spent settling in to our hotel rooms and catching up on some much needed rest.  The following  morning was our own time to walk around and get acquainted with the area and the convention center, and that night was our performance.  The last performance in competition was the best we had done; we left the room in excitement, not caring what we placed because we knew we had given our best and that was what mattered.

We didn't place as well as we thought we did, but we where proud of ourselves and how we did.  We had raised our score a considerable amount compared to previous years competing at PASIC.  The last few days were spent celebrating and enjoying the convention and guest speakers/performers.

To keep this post a reasonable length and not full of unneeded details, I'll just bullet a list of everything else we experienced:

• We stayed in a five star hotel in downtown Indianapolis, fully paid for by the university.  I have never stayed in a hotel that was that nice.
• Explored the city and all of it's beauty.  I'm not a city person to say the least, but Indianapolis is one of my favorites!  If I had to chose a city to visit, it would be this one.
• Walked around the expo center and visited over a hundred percussion booths that were selling and advertising some of the best instruments, equipment, and accessories.
• Played on multiple different drum sets, marimbas, and other percussion instruments I could get my hands on.
• Spent too much money on mallets and other percussion goodies, but came away with every set of mallets I've been wanting for the past few years.
• Bought two solos that I'll be playing this semester on my Senior Recital.
• The concerts and clinics I experienced:
• Chad Smith, the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers gave a drum set clinic.
• The Chain Marimba Trio in concert.
• Saw an amazing Tabla concert by a group from an Indian Drumming School.
• The Eastman Percussion Ensemble from the Eastman School of Music.  I didn't know this until I sat through the concert, but the director of this group is Michael Burritt, who is one of my favorite marimba composers and soloist.
• I later got to meet Mr. Michael Burritt in person, shake his hand, and watch him solo on a marimba up close.
• Indiana University Percussion Ensemble in concert.  (This is where the awesome Dr. Hill attended school.)
• Bob Becker and Yurika Kimura in concert.
• And the highlight concert that all of us attended the last night there, Dave Weckl!  I had never heard of him until that week, but was enlightened at how great his musicianship skills were on the drum set.  I had attended his drum set clinic earlier that day and learned quite a bit on soloing across the entire set, and have been trying to apply what I learned then to my playing now.

Overall this was a great experience for me and I hope to go back someday.

Two Weeks Too Long

It seems like it's been forever since I posted last, and quite a bit has happened.  I wont drag this post out too long but I do want to have a post for today!

Shortly after posting my last entry I visited my hometown to see my family and two best friends.  It was a great visit with some fun happenings and good laughs.  My grandpa had no idea that I was coming home, so I decided to surprise him; I picked him up from work on Saturday morning after staying the night with my friend Ashley.  I'd parked my car in front of the main entrance to his work and had the sun visor down to cover my face when he'd walk out.  This normally wouldn't have tricked him, but the best part was that me and my mom have the same make and model of cars, just slightly different colors.  He walked out of work and looked at my car questionably, not recognizing who it was behind the wheel.  I slowly raised the visor up and he got the biggest smile I haven't seen since my wedding.  He then walked took off in a brisk walk to the passenger side and got in, saying "I didn't know you were coming home, I thought you were you mom!!!".  What a great surprise!  I love visiting family and friends, I always come back refreshed and relaxed.

Next to vising home, I've transitioned into my new practicum placement very well.  It's a great school with great teachers and students, and I'm glad to spend this semester there.  One of the best things about it is it's only a few miles down the road from where we live, so me and Michael are saving on fuel money.

Last but least, a few days ago one of my best set of mallets, A. Putnams, broke.  I wasn't expecting one of them to snap so soon seeing as I just bought them at PASIC, but it did.  I tried to get just one replacement mallet through the company I bought them from, but unfortunately they only sell them in a set of four.  After a few phone calls and emails I was finally able to get the situation settled.  The best part is, Amy Putnam herself replied to all of my emails and is setting me up with a replacement mallet for the broken one, and the other three to be re-wrapped for a cheaper price the a brand new set. (Amy Putnam is the creator of these mallets by the way).

Hopefully it won't be this long between posts next time...but it's hard to tell with a ridiculously busy schedule.  Here's to a great weekend and even more productivity!