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!!!!