mi madre

Are you ready for this??

This is big. Real BIG. Ok. Here goes.

My mama and I carpool to school together. That is, until today. My mother has been going to school for the past 7 years. Yes, she's finishing a Master's degree, it's not just one long bachelors degree like mine... she actually accomplishes stuff.

Mom packed her school bags and started her college journey when I began 8th grade. At first people would tease and say, "your mom goes to college!" thinking they were funny like Napoleon Dynamite or something. It was junior high, okay? In reality, they were right though. My mama was going to college. I gradually got used to the fact that mom would pack a lunch the night before, have homework, and think about tests at school just like me. We would be racing to get out the door or sometimes share the bathroom to do hair in the morning. This got to be the norm.

Once I started college, she and I have stressed about finals together, laughed about lame tests, take drive-thru runs just to get some chocolate in the system, and study for countless late nights until we both nearly fell asleep on our books. The last item happened WAY too often, let me tell you. She has played the role of mom, student, editor, teacher, motivator and friend for the past 7 years and somehow has juggled it all very well in my mind. How she did it? I'll never know. My mom is Wonder Woman people. Face it. She is.

Don't get me wrong, the last 7 years haven't been stress-free, care-free, or a 100% joyous ride, but they've had their moments of glory. These little mercies came when tests were passed, professors worked with us, or we simply made it to school on time that day. I've learned so much from watching my mama go to school. The following is a compilation of things that have gone through my brain when I consider the last 7 years that I have learned from watching her...

- Nothing is impossible if you stick to it long enough.

- Fake it until you make it.

- If you think you've studied so much that your brain is saturated, study some more.

- Don't give up.

- Don't forget to pray. It gets you through things.

- Hard work pays off.

- Time will go by whether you set goals or not.

- There are three options when it comes to the outcome of an assignment: good, better, best. Choose one.

- The best effort you give to something doesn't always turn out to be the letter grade you get at the end of the semester. But, if you give it everything you have, it will be positive.

- Quitting is not an option.

My mama has been my inspiration throughout my whole life. She's someone I look up to and love. I'm so proud of you mom!

NOTE: To those of you who find it offensive to get up and yell during graduation ceremonies, I apologize in advance. I am coming to support my mother and am bringing a sign. A big one. I may also wear the most annoying color you can imagine so she can see where my family is sitting through all of the bright lights as she crosses that beautiful stage and gets the empty diploma holder. That's all. Thank you :)

events and happenings

Hello.

Yes, I'm still alive.

The last few weeks have been a little nuts around here. School is in full swing for Spring term but may I remind you, it is rapidly coming to a close! Hallelujah! There are a whopping 4 DAYS between the end of Spring term and the beginning of Summer term (both of which I am a participant) so maybe I'll get lucky and get out there to play some tennis for a few moments... wouldn't THAT be nice! :)

A few things of note have happened in the past few weeks that I wanted to let you all know about! ... yes, all 6 or 9 of you that happen to glance at this blog when you're bored out of your mind. I'll number for the sake of forgetting chronological order or something...

1) My sweet brother has graduated from the University of Utah and has started the masters program in architecture there! So proud of him!! Congratulations Scooter! This is a big deal. I'm so glad to see you follow through with your dream of going to college. You're a great example. The best brother I've ever had I'll say. Love you man.

2) I officially tested out of my first class in college. Woo! It wasn't too bad but this one was a relief when it was over.

3) My cute brother has so much happening in his life that this post may seem a little bit focused on him... but let's face it. He has a much more thrilling life than me at this point in time. I'm so happy for he and his wife - they just moved into their first home! I'm so happy to know that they are finally moved in and enjoying life right now. Scotty was in Haiti on a school trip with some classmates and professors while Michelle + family moved them into their new home. So happy times - they are proud owners of their first home!

4) I have nearly made it through Spring term! Classes go by so quick but it's going well and hopefully will end well next week... :)

5) I have rediscovered my love of tennis. Yes, that's right. I played last week for my first time and was so pumped that I want to play every day in summer! To remedy this craze for the sport I even signed up for a Beginning Tennis class in Summer term. I have a racquet, I may as well use it!

So... life is plugging along! I'm really excited for my family. These events have brought us together so much and I know that there will be more happy moments to come!

Thank you Krommer.

NOTE: Personal epiphany occurred recently. It made me the happiest person in America today :) Read on if you're interested.


So. I found it. Yeah, I really think I did. It's a little thing called motivation. Motivation to practice. Motivation to study. Motivation to be the best Courtney possible. Motivation to work. Motivation to use time better. Motivation for a lot of things. It hit me today while I was practicing in a big room all by myself.

There I was. Little me and little instrument. Big ol' room. For not having practiced in about 3-4 weeks I was feeling like it was all hopeless. There was no way on this good green earth I was going to make it through one more useless day of practicing. Giving up was definitely on the menu today. It was definitely the no-matter-how-hard-I-try-this-will-never-sound-good thought process.

Know what I'm sayin'?

Well, when I played, my sound filled it all up. The whole room - it was amazing! I was sick of scales, arpeggios, thirds, fourths, sixths, rhythm patterns, etudes, solos, piano accompaniments, long tones, stop-tonguing exercises, hand stretches, reed breakage, reed warpage, old reeds, lightheaded-ness when I didn't breathe deep enough... you name it. But as my sound filled up that huge space, I realized it actually sounded... good. Yeah, it did. And I felt like things started coming back - the dynamics that tend to fly out the window when you don't work on them (especially a good piano), breath support, articulation, flexibility, tongue positions... shall we just say musicality IN GENERAL?!?

It was a wake-up call. This is possible. I can do hard things. Life doesn't hinge on one class in college and (thank heaven!) there are always times to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again. When something like this happens, there's no way I can go back to working like I did before. This term is going to pass through my life in flying colors. Four weeks to go and I think it's going to end up okay.

Thanks for experiencing my wake-up call with me through a blog.

Discovery!

I did it.

Rediscovering running is a beautiful thing after a long while of absence from the roads.

New favorite sound: good running shoe soles squishing against the pavement on a quiet road where you can actually hear it.

Sound weird? Try it. :)

Recognition

I have to write this down before I forget...

I was visiting my sister's family yesterday for the after party of Scotty's graduation. So, after Olive Garden, my niece Morgan wanted to ride with us from Salt Lake to her house in our car. We were chatting it up in the back seat (as much as you can chat it up with a 7-year-old...) and then the most amazing thing happened.

Dad turned on Classical 89, that blessed station that plays what I think are the most commonly played classical songs ever. But, to my surprise, Morgan pipes up, "Hey! I know this song! It's on a BARBIE movie. This is the part where Barbie is dancing..." and she goes on to tell me everything in the movie that is happening while the song is playing in the movie. She was so detailed and even sang along in her childish voice to the parts that were familiar to her.

Bless that little girl's heart, she made me the happiest future-music-teacher-in-America that day. I was able to have a teaching moment, telling her that "No sweetie, the song is actually called 'Swan Lake', it's not just the name of a movie" and about the composer. I was amazed how much that child was absorbing music.

This is the little first-grader who opened my music dictionary (with no urging on my part!) and was sounding out names of instruments. She read it like a storybook...

What a wonder.

I am so proud of my brother. See him? I think he's pretty much the greatest brother ever. Ever, people.

He's accomplished something HUGE, by the way. Can you guess?

Yes. He is going to graduate from the University of Utah tomorrow in Architecture! He's finally done it and I'm so happy for him to move onto grad school at the U. Even though it's the U...

All feelings aside about rivalry though... I can't wait for our family to get together and par-TAY because of this kid! Congratulations Scotty! I love you!

You're my favorite brother.

Welcome to Spring Term.

I decided that I forget to write on my own blog because I'm trying to keep up with my other friends and forget I have a blog... well, here's to updating every once in a while.

Here's a brief update!

Things I have done...

- Successfully completed Winter Semester 2010

- Learned much

- Turned 20... no more teenage years... weird... but good

- Am actually enrolled in classes unrelated to music

- Looked forward to a fun-filled summer spent (hopefully!) more outdoors than in

- Yet again... filled my backpack to exploding - this will never end, I swear

Things I hope to do in my so-called "free time"...

- Read more

- Enjoy being outside more often

- Move to a new place so commuting will be easier school-wise

- Laundry

- Run more

- Live life a little more fully. We've only got one. We might as well do the best we can :)

So... this little bloggity blog is an easy thing to forget about! I'll try to document my Spring/Summer more... maybe this will be a good time to actually bust out my camera and take pictures that are up to date.