Dinner and Music

I came home to find that my wonderful hubby had cleaned up the apartment and marinated steaks for dinner. He was off at work when I arrived home, but I was able to get the steaks in and start the pasta for dinner. It was so wonderful to see Melissa and Ben and their adorable daughter, Tabitha, who is rather well behaved. We were able to chat and catch up a bit and Melissa and I scheduled our next get together for a morning workout on Monday morning (hooray! I like having things to look forward to on Mondays). We also need to have another double date where we can play Catan and I need to let Dave know I have someone in town who wants to play Killer Bunnies, too. We had a fun time socializing and I am very much looking forward to the fact that we get to hang out this summer. I've missed her so much. Oh, she liked the blanket. :)

They took off shortly before ten so that they could put their little one to bed. She had adorably fallen asleep in her mother's arms. Since ten o'clock is the start of quiet time, I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to play the violin tonight since the mute has yet to arrive (it hasn't shipped yet, but my books are currently in Arizona and will hopefully be sent out tomorrow). So it is sitting in it's case. However, I did watch the DVD that came with my beginner book and learned a few more tips and pointers that I did not already know. I also practiced my bow holding on a pencil - I will have to remember the hold, as it is something I can easily practice at work with my pencil to condition my hand for the proper hold. My co-workers story about a family of 4 at the dinner table helps me remember the positioning too. Pointer finger is the old grandfather who has fallen asleep leaning on the table,. The middle finger and ring finger are the twins, who lacking manners, have their elbows on the table. The pinky finger is the baby of the family and sits on the table. The thumb is the dog and is sitting, not laying down flat to play dead - because no one wants a dead dog. This is a paraphrase of what she told me and something she learned when she was eleven or so, but as silly as it is, the visual helps me.

As I type, I am listening to several violin samples I found on the listening library of the DVD. They are very pretty pieces and only serve to motivate me to practice daily so that I can one day play some of them.