Switching to Tumblr

Hello!

Just a heads up that I've switched my blog over to Tumblr. I used to blog on there when I was in my Master's in Scotland, and I like the setup more than Blogger - I can link my Instagram and Facebook to it!

So follow me over - www.thehappyduckling.tumblr.com

Thanks!!

Brain Blurbs and Singing

Happy hump day!

Tomorrow is my Friday - as it always is. I'm especially looking forward to this weekend as we'll be going away to celebrate my birthday :) My in-laws booked us all a cabin about 2.5 hours away from LA in a sort of remote area at the base of a mountain! There's a lake and some fun local activities to take part in. I just looked at the weather today, and it seems that it'll be storming tomorrow evening (with lightning) which will then carry through Saturday. To be honest, I LOVE the rain. It'll be so lovely to be in the woods listening to the sound of rain - such a difference from the street sounds and dry weather here in LA (which is particularly bad since CA is in a drought).

This week has already been pretty successful!

Seedling report: The cucumbers we planted are showing signs of growth, as are the radishes, and the cat grass (for the kittens). Still waiting on signs of life from the string beans, lettuce and tomatoes. I know it's only been a few days, but I am already so excited that there're signs of growth!
 ** I've been watering these seeds with the water I've recycled from Wurtle's "bath." Wurtle occasionally takes a leisurely swim in the tub (merely inches of water) and so far I've gotten 3 watering sessions out of it. I added to the tub water yesterday while I let the sink run to get warm to wash my face - so I'll continue to use and re-purpose the water. Plus, it's almost time for another turtle bath.


Rehearsals: Had another rehearsal last night with my amazing bestie French Horn player! We are gearing up for a few recitals. Music is so fun, especially when working with someone of a similar mindset. I found that I needed a couple of takes to really start listening and hearing how the horn worked with the piano part (it certainly helped that our gentlemen went to prepare dinner - so their chatter was minimized). Yes - we are so lucky! I can't wait to see how these pieces develop!

Teaching: My students this week have been so prepared! They're getting ready for next week's evaluation, so they're starting to develop more of a personal connection to their pieces. I can't believe some of the progress they've made this term. So proud!

Self-Improvement: Haven't made time to meditate yet this week...now that I've written that, I'm making a note to do that immediately after I finish this. I also need to get to the gym. It will happen! Tomorrow!!! I've made a goal to post twice this week - so I'm making progress in that sense right now :)

Now - here's a video I recorded today during my 2 hour break transitioning from my early classes to my night class. I realized, after the fact, that I am pretty much wearing exactly the same thing as I was last time I made a video. Oh well! Don't mind the incredibly creaky bench in the beginning!!

Del Cabello Mas Sutil

Obradors

Of the softest hair

which you have in your braid,

I would make a chain

so that I may bring you to my side. 

A jug in your home,

little one, I would like to be... 

each time you take a drink.

so that I may kiss you

Cultivation

Cultivate:

verb (used with object), cultivated, cultivating

1. to prepare and work on (land) in order to raise crops; till

2. to promote or improve the growth of (a plant, crop, etc.) by labor and attention

3. to develop or improve by education or training; train; refine

4. to promote the growth or development of (an art, science, etc.); foster.

5. to devote oneself to (an art, science, etc).

(source: dictionary.reference.com)

I love words - it's amazing to me how many definitions a single word can have and how powerful words can be. This week, I cultivated many things: I prepared and started my plants by cultivating the seeds, I further improved my practicing (voice, piano, collaborative works), I started to develop an exercise regime (not as far as I'd like to have gone - but it got started none-the-less), I devoted myself to truly cleaning our apartment with the hubby - an incredible deep clean that felt so great afterwards. We cultivate new things every day, whether we intend to or not. It's really nice to look back on the week and appreciate all of the accomplishments - both minuscule and grand!

So going through the week, I'll recap on all of the successes I had!

Monday - Huge success with some students at school. Major breakthroughs - emotionally, musically, etc. I find inspiration in every one of my students and am encouraged by their willingness to learn, let go, and be vulnerable. It's a great reminder to myself that in order to make progress, we have to be willing to let the music take over. Losing control is completely necessary sometimes and can show us how great our potential truly is.

Tuesday - Practiced the art of patience as the Time Warner Cable people were over an hour late to our house to fix our internet. This conflicted with a flute lesson I was giving at the house, and my lovely flute student was so great with ignoring the constant in and out of our TWC technician, all of the noise that resulted from the constant in and out, the arrival of the husband from work, the tv going on and off, etc. I have never had a student who was so focused through such chaos - it was hard enough for me to ignore it! The positives that came out of this were: 1) she is showing sooooo much improvement in the quality of her tone, breath support, and fingerings! So proud! and 2) we got our internet back! Yayyyy!!!

Wednesday - This was my long day at school - I have classes from 10:15 - 4:15, then 6 - 8. I'm home around 9ish on those evenings. There's a 24 hour fitness about 5 minutes away from Fullerton College, so I went and did a pool workout in between my classes. It was FANTASTIC!! Water exercise is incredibly underrated. It's non weight-baring and provides excellent resistance. I did a few laps of jogging, arm resistance exercises, ab workouts, leg lunges, core twists, and some good old-fashioned swimming. It got my heart-rate up, was quick, and my arms and abs were sore for a few days, which means it was very successful! 

Thursday - My last day at work for the week - I love my 3-day weekends. Work itself flew by, and then I stopped by the grocery store on the way home as we had some friends over for dinner and a rehearsal. I made all-organic quiche with ham, mushrooms, onions, and goat cheese. It was fantastic!! (Recipe to follow). The rehearsal itself was amazing and went much better than I thought it would. I haven't been able to dedicate as much time to my piano part as I would have liked, because there are some pieces I'm working on for school that have taken priority. But our rehearsal went so well and gave us some much needed ideas for ways to improve and things to focus on. We finished the evening with a game of couples Monopoly, and strawberries and cream :)

Friday - This was probably one of the most successful days. I woke up and went to the DMV without an appointment to renew my license and change my name. The name change thing is a whole saga that I'll go into another time...I'm so excited to be a Duckett, but there was a mishap with the Social Security office involving my middle name - so now my marriage certificate and DMV license have one middle name, and my Social Security has another middle name. Sooo confusing. Anywho - got in and out of the DMV very quickly, went directly to Valvoline for an oil change and tire rotation. Then went to the post office to mail out quite a few Mary Kay orders (I sell Mary Kay as well - www.marykay.com/didonato). Did all of this before 10:30! Came home, did some laundry, cleaned a little bit, watched a show, then went to teach a piano lesson :) So proud of my student - we're doing some very difficult rhythmic things and she's handling them like a pro! Came back to relax with the hubby and watch Game of Thrones! 

Saturday - Slept in, woke up, and tackled the house with Ben. We did an amazing deep clean! Ben handled the kitchen like a pro - we even moved the stove so he could clean in between the wall and the stove. Our house is sparkling! Gave Wurtle, our turtle, a bath, and let him cruise around the house. He did an excellent job at hiding, so he stayed out overnight. We did all of this before our friends arrived to stay the night.  Went out with them for sushi, and then hit up a few bars around WeHo! Had such a fun evening with them.

Sunday (today) - Slept in, woke up, went to have brunch with some much needed bottomless Bloody Mary's. Soooo delicious! Came back, napped (naps are incredibly underrated and should be a daily requirement), woke up again, went out for coffee. Saw our friends off, and then planted our seedlings! Which brings us back to cultivation!

What a FABULOUS week!!!! I can't wait to see what comes next! I am so content right now with life and am so happy to be living in our fabulous home with our fabulous kittens and turtle. I love my relationship with my husband and the constant support he gives me. I love our extended family, the support from both my parents, and my in-laws. I love that Ben's brother is so close to us and that he shares his life with us. I love the spontaneity we have, and the ability to live in the moment (something I'm getting much better at). I love both planning things and not having plans at all. I love our friends. I'm just loving life! *sigh* It's been a GREAT week.

Quiche Recipe:
1 frozen pie crust
4-5 eggs
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup milk
2Tbsp. Flour
6-8oz shredded or cubed swiss cheese
6-8oz cubed ham
1/2 onion, chopped
8 mushrooms sliced
goat cheese to taste
salt and pepper - 2tsp of each

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Sautee onions and mushrooms until translucent and fragrant
3. Combine eggs, mayo, milk, and flour
4. Add swiss, ham, and salt and pepper to egg mixture and combine
5. Add everything into the piecrust
6. Top with 5 rounds of goatcheese (or as much as you want)
7. Cook for 1 hour

Enjoy!!!!

The Grapevine

Ben and I drive up to San Francisco at least once a month. What once seemed like endless days of travel, now goes by in a flash (thankfully). We've got it down - depart LA and don't stop until the first big shopping center after the grapevine. Get out - stretch - grab a bite to go - get back in car and go. We then continue, with the same driver driving, until about an hour and a half later. Pull over, Chinese fire drill, and keep cruising! One more stop at Foster's Freeze near Salinas and then the final stretch to the bay. Reverse, repeat, return.

Ben is an incredibly driven, highly motivated individual. Qualities that I absolutely adore and strongly admire. We make the trek to the Bay every month because 4 years ago, he enlisted in the Air Force with dreams of becoming a pilot for search and rescue missions. How cool is that? He was a pilot in the civilian world, getting his license to fly before he got a license to drive. So it only made sense that he'd pursue that with the Air Force. However, I came into his life, and turned his world upside down (as he did mine). When we became serious, and it was evident that I wasn't going anywhere, he decided to change career paths and join up with his dad at Morgan Stanley as a wealth manager. BUT, he still had his duty to the Air Force. So, this is why we go up once a month. Ben is now is in the reserves with the Air National Guard and reports to the only base in California with the helicopters he's specialized in. His title is Helicopter Crew Chief - so he oversees all the maintenance for the "birds" and makes sure they're flight ready. Super cool! He can also be called in for rescue missions, or fire extinguishing (something that is really scary and happens a lot here in CA), or emergency relief for natural disasters like hurricanes. Have I mentioned how proud I am of  him?

While Ben is working extra hard on these weekends, I'm visiting with my family. I really do enjoy his guard weekends - I only wished he'd be able to spend his time with us as well, but he's a superhuman and must do his super human duties. (I will not interfere). My mom and I did some quality shopping this weekend, and my dad and I had some time to bond at Dick's Sporting Goods, where I got fitted for some new golf clubs! So excited!!! They were an early birthday present from Ben!!! (even while rescuing the world, he was still able to surprise me!)

So of course, the weekend flew by way too fast and we found ourself reversing, repeating, and returning to LA. We got in about midnight and went straight to bed, only to remain awake all night because our cats decided to punish us for leaving them. (Feeling tired, but not as tired as Ben)

This week is going to be great! I'm planning on
1) Starting back in at the gym and creating a workout plan
2) Really focusing on meditation and making my meditation space more meditation-like
3) Planting some vegetables!! (including purple string beans!!)

I've realized I need to make plans so that I can follow through on them and stay organized! Yay!!

Violation!!

Something very odd happened this morning! I got up, as usual, and did my normal morning routine. Walked out of the house, locked up, walked up to my car and noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Cue panic! I started mentally walking through the day before: Successfully drove home after dodging all of the Dodger's Game traffic (pun intended) - check! Pulled into the driveway, parked my car, gathered my things - check! Got out to greet Ben who was waiting on the sidewalk with a neighbor and a friend - check! Listened for the happy 'toot' of my car as I clicked the button a thousand times because the battery is dying - check! Yup...I remember locking my car.

So back to the situation at hand...the door slightly ajar. *hair rises slightly on the back of my neck and arms* I immediately called Ben, who didn't pick up, so I called his dad who happens to be his work partner. As I talk with them on the phone, I observe the chaos sitting in my car. My glove box was left open, and everything that was in my center console was now strewn all over my front seat. Ugh!! Then I look in the back - doesn't seem to be disturbed, thankfully, and the same was true of my trunk. What could this person have possibly wanted? Whatever it was, the joke was on them. They couldn't have chosen a worse car to raid. Because I drive 3 hours a day on average, my car has a lot of stuff in it. The weekly commute has its impact - cliff bar wrappers from breakfast, empty water bottles, unnecessary and unimportant paperwork (mostly invites and notices for work), a plethora of music books, sweaters, jackets, socks, gym clothes, flip flops, a random roll of toilet paper from that time I was sick and didn't have any tissues. I mean - literally - anything you could think of was in there...that is, anything and everything of no monetary value. All of my paperwork was in there too in terms of insurance and registration and even an old pay check that had already been cashed. I'd assume they were after something quick and easy like iPods, car radios, etc. But once again, I'm careful enough to bring that in with me.

So after this horrifying discovery, I wasn't quite sure what to do...I mean, really there wasn't anything to do. Nothing to report stolen or damaged. At this point, I was running late for work...so I got in my car and drove to work. The entire way though, I felt incredibly uneasy knowing that someone had been in my car. It was a violation of a sort. I'm looking forward to taking it to get cleaned.

Spring Break? Not for me!

It's Spring break!! So of course, what happens? I get the flu! I've managed to battle through about 3 rounds of this bug at school this semester, and the moment I have a chance to relax and take it easy, it got me! Granted, it let me have an incredibly fun day at Disneyland on Saturday with the hubby, my best friend, and her choir we were chaperoning, but come Sunday morning, I was down! 

I find this ironic...I do my best to wash my hands (especially after being around sick college students), disinfect the many pianos I work on, and show up early every day for work, when half the time, my students can't make it in for their coachings midday due to "foodpoisoning" and other mysterious illnesses. I will give it to them though, that this flu season has been a rough one, and quite a few of my students have been taken down hard. As vocalists and musicians, being sick is not so great for work because you can't work at all if you're sick. Anyway, back to the ironic part. I work, work, work, and the second I get a break, my body says "sweet...you have some free time on your hands...let's get you really sick!" 

I went into the doctor yesterday morning, and after being poked and prodded and asked a thousand questions, they told me what I already knew...it's the flu. I even took the precautionary step of getting a flu vaccination...which they told me yesterday has been only 17% effective this season. Funny. Not! So here I am, at home, watching all of the random movies on Netflix, being entertained by my cats, suffocating on the couch, surrounded by mountains of tissues, drinking everything from EmergenC to tea, to ginger ale, to miso soup...you know...the things you do when you're sick.

I was looking forward to having my mom come into town to visit. She booked a flight for today, which she canceled yesterday after we got my diagnosis. We'll have fun another time I'm sure, but I was so looking forward to galavanting around together, not worrying about work. Ben and I are headed up North for the weekend though, so we'll still get to see her and my dad. 

Anyway - today I plan to work on my cross-stitch, work on my summer camp program, and watch more random movies on Netflix. That should keep me busy enough :) 

Better posts to come! I promise!

Songbird

Music is in my bones. I remember going to the piano when I was 3 and playing by ear. I would play and sing, and because I was so little, I would lay down on the piano bench and outstretch my legs so that I could play with the pedals. I have several of these memories, but what I don't remember is actually learning the fundamentals of music. I teach my piano students how to read music and some of them take to it really well, and some don't. Everyone learns at a different pace. It's difficult for me to put myself in their shoes because I don't have any memories of learning the notes, finger placements, etc. I only remember being able to read music.

I started singing the moment I opened my mouth. I started voice lessons when I was in late middle school, and took them on and off through college. I started seriously working on my voice in my Masters program at the Conservatoire when I had the opportunity to study with a phenomenal mezzo soprano there. I signed up for voice as my secondary study. Because I started actually "learning" voice later in life, I find working with the vocal students that I coach at Fullerton College really fun and rewarding. Not that I don't absolutely love teaching piano and working with all my students. Teaching in general is an incredibly rewarding experience. However, I find it easiest to relate to my vocal students at FC because I myself was in their shoes not too long ago. I still study voice and I don't claim to be a pro in the least, but I am able to use all of the techniques I learned and continue to learn with them. 

I've realized lately that I want to sing more. I'm surrounded by excelling students. I'm rewarded every day by the growth they show in their individual musical journeys. But I'm also incredibly envious that they get to sing every day and work with their teachers. I'm envious they have an accompanist to play for them! They can choose any song they want in their books and they have me to play it for them. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE playing these songs and making them unique to each performer. But sometimes, I just want to sing it with them :) I can't resist the urge to sing. 

So in an effort to sing more, I've decided to record songs from time to time and post them. Today's song is composed by Ivor Gurney and set to one of John Fletcher's texts from The Woman Hater (1607). It's entitled Sleep, and starts off with a lulling piano melody that is slightly disturbing and unsettled. It takes us through many emotions, however, the overall feel is this feeling of despair as the individual begs for sleep so that they can get back to the love that was lost. 

I love this song for it's haunting melody...it'll stick with you for as long as you let it. I think we can all relate to that longing to get back what was lost. But, alas, we all must experience loss, and we all must learn how to grow from it.

Enjoy.

Meditation

I often wake up in the middle of the night to full symphonic works playing in my head. They're never anything I've ever heard before, in the sense that they haven't been borrowed or composed by anyone else, however they do sometimes repeat themselves. I've come to realize that my resting mind miraculously makes beautiful melodies and orchestrations of it's own, and yet as soon as I realize what's going on, the sounds go away. I'm left struggling to grasp any of the melodic line I can hold onto...and as I come into consciousness, they disappear completely.

The first time this happened to me was in middle school. I remember it very vividly - I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning in the summertime. At the time, I had a white mosquito net hanging around my bed, and as I came out of my dream, I opened my eyes to see the world outside my window through this net. It was bright, and warm, and lovely. I hadn't thought much of it at the time, but I was always happy to wake up to these musical dreams I dreamt. In these past few years, I've started wondering about the part of my brain that comes up with this music, and why I've never experienced it while my mind and body are fully awake. Maybe it's because when I'm resting, my mind is free to work on it's own, without yielding to the many thoughts I have about work, life, traffic, chores, etc.

I've conversed with a few people about this phenomenon, and they've all suggested meditation. Maybe it'll allow my mind to rest, the way it does while I'm unaware and sleeping. I've only heard positive things about the practice, and hey, my cats practically meditate 20+ hours of the day...or is that sleeping?

Either way, I started tonight, joining the cats on their "meditative" cushion. I downloaded a Spa Sounds album from my iTunes and let that play in the background as I lit a scented candle and settled in front of our fake fireplace. Ben, the hubby, just painted the space inside the mantle a nice calming grey, which provided me with a neutral space to zone out in. I started with my eyes slightly open, jaw relaxed, while breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, however, I found it pretty difficult to keep my eyes open and not think too hard about blinking...so I decided to go eyes closed. I tried to focus on taking clean breaths in, and letting all the energy out as I exhaled through my mouth. But once again, this was too distracting...at least for now. So I just sat and let my brain idol. If I discovered I was focusing on a thought, I did my best to let it go and listen to the peaceful sounds from the Spa album. This was pretty effective. I think the cats got the hang of it as well, as Foster (the eldest) came to settle in my lap for a moment or two. All in all, I gave it about 25-30 minutes, which was a good try for the first time. A lot of that was me, coaching myself to let my thoughts go, ignore the outside sounds, focus on breathing, focus on nothing, etc. I think I'll be able to get better as time goes on, but I'd say I feel pretty good and refreshed. I suppose I could compare it to emptying out the trash on your computer at the end of the day. Just letting all the random things you've collected during the day float away into the abyss.

I found this super handy chart that gives you the basics of meditation. Of course more goes into it, and I'll be reading up on it, but for now, I feel like I had a great start :)

Courtesy of SkinEnergizer.com

Making Positive Change

I've decided to start a blog as a way to document my successes (and surely failures) in my life. I recently hit a wall in my life...not in a bad way, just in the way that makes you think about things. I'm a 24 year old (25 in April) newlywed with a wonderful husband and two adorable cats. I'm the type of person that loves projects...I need to be busy in order to feel as if I'm doing something with my life. 

I was lucky to have a HUGE project to work on for a year-and-a-half...you guessed it...my wedding! This was a fantastic event that was so beautiful and special. It was handmade and crafted to our liking and incorporated many elements from our lives - my dad was our officiant, I had a good friend play classical guitar in the ceremony (I'm a professional classical pianist), handmade redwood rounds from the performing arts camp I work at, a homemade wedding cake from my sister, speeches from everyone in our families...the list goes on. My mom, sister, and I crafted our butts off making everything from the seed-bomb favors to the table cards. My mom's cousin Pat and her husband Richie flew in a week early and immediately got down to work. Richie, an incredibly talented photographer, started photo documenting everything the instant their feet hit the ground. And my mom and Pat worked day and night to get everything sorted - up to the hour before the ceremony. I had the time of my life making this all happen. My family enjoyed themselves as well, but as my mom said to me the other day, "I almost died with all of the work we did." Which is a very fair statement, and one I certainly believe. 

So, my life up to this point was also busy - I graduated with my undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from San Francisco State University (go gators) in 2012. I immediately flew to Scotland to start my 1 year master's program for Piano Accompaniment. Graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in October of 2013. I also got engaged while I was over there - a beautiful story, for another day. Moved to Los Angeles in June of 2013 (I got permission to do my final project for my master's stateside). Set up our apartment, worked about 5 jobs before landing a secure job at Fullerton College in Fullerton CA as the accompanist for the vocal program. Got married, August 2014, went on honeymoon, came back and immediately started work at school. Got through Christmas 2014 (my sister got engaged on Christmas Day...YAY!), New Years 2015, and now we're in March...BAM!! WALL!!! 

OK - let's be real...not a true wall. Both my husband and I have great jobs. He's a Wealth Manager for Morgan Stanley Beverly Hills. We have a lovely home which is furnished with not only the necessities, but elements that make a home homely. Like I said before, we have 2 cats - both rescues. We have the time, and money, to go out and see movies, hit balls at the driving range, go to happy hour, etc. But still - something was off. I didn't realize it until the dust had settled from the whirlwind year we had before. Once that dust settled...roughly a month ago...I was able to see that there were aspects of my life that were wearing on me. This was affecting my overall happiness in life. Ugh!! So frustrating!

So why was I unhappy? What was making me unhappy? Was a really unhappy? Is this what it feels like to be an adult? Am I really an adult? Whoa!! There it was...I am an adult...and I hadn't really ever thought about it before. As a kid, you look up to adults...pretty much anyone in college and older is an adult when you're a child. But as you grow into adulthood, there's no sign you come to in life that says "Congratulations!!! You're an adult!" I don't really like to think about being an adult...I'm just older and more mature. I'm married (that was a weird one to think about for a while) and I have a husband (that one was even weirder). I am financially stable. I am not dependent on anyone except myself and my husband. I file for taxes, I have my own car which I'm making payments on, I have insurance, I take my cats to the vet, we've invested our money. Yup...I'm officially an adult.

Once this hit me, I realized it's not a bad thing at all. It's actually very cool! My husband loves me, and I love him...even though as I write this, he's just finished chewing loudly on his beef jerky we picked up at the farmer's market this morning, and is now flossing his teeth...loudly. I'm going to digress for a moment and share a secret with you. You ready? It's kind of a weird one......I absolutely cannot stand the sound of animals licking...and cats do it a lot. They bathe themselves all day long. And they do it in the middle of the night, on top of your legs. I've suddenly realized that the sound you make while gnawing on a piece of beef jerky is incredibly similar to animal licking sounds. So now I'm laughing and so is my husband, because he's come to this realization as well. Though he might not understand this particular irritation of mine, he respects it, and has since ceased all chewing/flossing. 

OK, back to the topic at hand. Yes! I'm an adult! Woohoo!!! But something was still bothering me. So I chatted to a great friend of mine, a truly awesome human being that makes this world a much better place. She gave me some books to read, including a book called "Happier at Home" by Gretchen Rubin. I haven't yet finished it, but it really inspired me to make some positive changes in my life and focus on improving all of the little things that are making me "unhappy." There we are...we finally arrived at the inspiration for this particular blog post. 

In an effort to continue my happiness, and make sure everyone in my life is loved and happy as well, I am going to start working on the little things in life that will hopefully ultimately change my overall happiness level from an 85% to well over 100%! Gretchen went about it by picking one thing to work on each month, and I will do that as well, but I also want to make this blog about the little things that make me happy. Whether it be painting my room (just did it), learning to do a new craft like candle making, or just making sure I get time to nap on the couch in the middle of the day with a kitten or two. (Naps are soooo underrated). 

So there we have it. I will be making positive changes in my life that will not only affect my own happiness, but hopefully encourage and inspire others to do the same. We only get one life to live, and as my mother-in-law Amanda (Milly) always says, DPJ - don't postpone joy.