2019 Repeat (Music) Goals

My final set of goals for 2019! My repeat, or music, goals!

1) Push myself out of my comfort zone.
This involves pushing myself to learn solos, work on the piccolo parts, and at least learn the 1st flute parts for all the songs in orchestra this year. I typically learn my part to the best of my ability but tend to sit back and ignore the solos or other "tough" parts that might appear which is not helping me grow as a musician.

2) Take advantage of all CFCArts opportunities.
This means attending all sectionals, signing up for all secondary opportunities, and potentially volunteering to assist with CFCArts events outside of the orchestra.

3) Work on my higher register.
I can pull off the first half of the 3rd register with very little difficulty but the second half requires some focus. A huge "reach" goal I have for 2019 is to master the entire 3rd register so I can perform it with very little focus.

If you're a musician or an artist what are your goals for 2019?

What Happens When You Receive New Music

One of the most exciting things is sitting in rehearsal waiting to receive new music. There's a range of emotions each musician goes through no matter what your level of expertise is.

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Waiting to receive the new score:

Looking over your part:

After the first run through with the orchestra:

Trying to follow along with the conductors comments:

Practicing at home like:

Every rehearsal until the concert:

The conductor during the dress rehearsal and tech rehearsal:

During the concert:

Listening to the applause after the concert:

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2017 - A Year in Review

It's hard to believe that we're at the end of the year already. It seems like just yesterday I was at Manager's New Year's Eve party wondering who would attend with me after Vegas moved. This past year has been full of so many changes, yet so many other things have stayed the same. In staying with the general theme (give me credit, I like to believe that this site has a direction. lol) here are the major items that happened to me in my running, riding, reading, and repeating!

Running
This year started slowly in terms of running. I did the bare minimum in mileage and ran races that I was a bit underprepared for. But I quickly turned it around and joined the Disney Springs Fit2Run Galloway Training Group which helped me jump start my running program into something more productive than it had been. While I'm only a casual member the group at the moment, because of the early darkness, I am looking forward to continuing my running journey with them. I was able to PR my 10k and place in my age group for a 5k because of them.

On the topic of my 10k PR at the Celebration Pancake Run 10k, it was a bit disappointing but it is a huge milestone for me. If you check out my races tab you'll see that my PRs haven't really changed in a few years. This is entirely my fault because I am the least consistent runner I know. I had hoped to PR in the 5k at the Jingle Jolly Jog, but my mental game wasn't there. I am so proud of my first age group award. I have lusted after them for, what feels like, ages so it is extremely exciting to finally have one on my wall! Ok, it's actually in a shoebox under my guest bed because I have yet to find a medal holder that I love, but that isn't the point!

Riding
Easily, the biggest thing that happened to my riding career, this year, was purchasing Cupid. I spent weeks last year debating about purchasing her, and I officially made the plunge on January 11th. I never imagined that my horse would be a little Welsh pony cross, who was green broke with a major attitude. But here I am, with my little Welshie who still has a major attitude, and is slightly better than green broke. Honestly, I wouldn't trade in our partnership for anything. Owning a green pony has taught me so much about riding, patience, and myself. For every step forward there are two steps back, but once we make a leap forward the landing is extremely rewarding.

In addition to purchasing Cue, I also uprooted her and moved to a new barn. Shortly after purchasing Cupid I realized that our current situation was not working out. The care wasn't what I wanted for my horse, I felt cheated out of my lesson package, and I was extremely nervous having my partner in a barn with minimal supervision. It took me until May to find a stable that met my standards. The major sign that this was the place for us was when we ran into our new trainer at a show before I had even told our old trainer we were leaving. The new trainer made several observations about Cupid and I, then commented that she would love to take us back to the basics because "she's a baby and there's no need to rush her". Hearing this proved to me that she would have Cupid's best interests at heart which is all I wanted in a boarding situation.

Moving Cupid was the best choice I could make for her. She's happy at our current barn, has put on much-needed weight, and is slowly becoming a solid partner for me. We still have a long way to go, and I miss jumping, but watching her move properly and understand what I'm asking has been worth everything we have been through.

Reading
According to GoodReads, I've read 112 books this year. My goal for the year was 100 so I am officially putting this in the win category for the year! A few of those books were the Saddle Club series because I started walking down memory lane and couldn't put the books down. What was really nice was that I'm able to get them from the Orange County Library Media Mall which means no awkwardly walking into the children section of the library or putting them on hold.

Two other series that I have really gotten into this year are the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger and the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the Finishing School series this weekend, so expect that review to come up in the near future!

Repeat
If you've been around for awhile you'll notice that I fashioned this blog after my running, riding, and reading life. So you might be questioning what this whole "repeat" business is. I decided the other day that I needed a header for my twitter account and my facebook page. The plan was to do a running, riding, and reading silhouette on a glitter background. While putting this together it dawned on me to do a repeat sign so the entire blog title was represented. I looked up repeat signs to get an idea and had an "I'm an idiot" moment. In music, there is a sign that informs the musician to repeat a section, this is called a repeat. Because music is such a big part of my life and I've openly discussed it on here it only made sense to take the Repeat part of my title and have it represent the music portion of my life.

I now present to you the newest "official" section of the blog. My Repeat section, or music discussion.

With that little intro out of the way, it's time to discuss my year in music!
In January I located a local orchestra that seemed like it would be at my skill level and was actively recruiting members, the Central Florida Community Orchestra. I signed up and attended my first rehearsal. It was terrifying and I almost walked away before entering the building, but I participated in that first rehearsal and loved it! The CFCArts #FluteNation welcomed me and has pushed me to want to become a better musician.

This year I participated in four different concerts with CFCArts; Jazz, Joel and John in March, American Roadtrip in June, Fiesta in November, and Once Upon a December in December. Once Upon a December was the first time, since college, where I've accompanied a choir. This pushed me to not only be aware of the rest of the orchestra but to also work on matching the choir without becoming the main focus.

Without the Orchestra, I don't think I would have found a group that feels like home or had the drive to pick up the saxophone again!

Overall, this is a quick review of my 2017. It was fun, it was great, but I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for me!

That's All Folks (2018 Music Goals) and NYX Lippie Countdown Day Ten

With thunderous applause, the curtain has closed on the CFCArts Once Upon A December show and I am officially on break from orchestra until 2018. It was an amazing show and I am so proud to have performed in it. So now the big question is where do I go from here. I've got the following orchestra goals for the 2018 performance year.

1) Strengthen my low notes on the flute.
For the 2018 spring concert, the CFCArts Orchestra will be performing Maurice Ravel's Bolero. A large part of the flute part involves playing in the first octave. This is an octave that I rarely perform in so I'm a bit weaker in it than the others. My hope is that, through frequent practice, I'll be able to proudly perform Bolero without worrying about having a funky sound in that first octave.

2) Practice my piccolo.
I did not have any piccolo parts, by my choice, this year so my poor piccolo sat in my flute bag without being used. My plan for 2018 is to at least pull up the piccolo parts on Dropbox and run through them. When I finally decide to try and get a piccolo part for a performance I want to be confident in my skills.

3) Relearn/Learn the saxophone.
I've played the sax before. I know the fingerings and how to play basic items with it but I want more. I want to actually feel confident to perform both the bari sax and the alto sax. I've swiped all my brother's sax books from my mom's house and have been working on the bari. I have reeds for the bari but am still waiting for the alto reeds so picking that up might take a few more days.

4) Perform in the major choir concerts.
This goal is a bit out of my control. Even though I played in Once Upon A December I am not guaranteed a spot in the choir orchestra. Just like everyone else I have to apply and get selected for each individual concert, so my goal is to at least apply with the hope of performing in the choir concerts for the 2018 year. I would love to perform at their spring concert and would kill to return to the holiday concert.

They might not be big goals for 2018 but they're goals that I'm pretty confident that I can accomplish or at least attempt to accomplish. Here goes another year of musical progress.

Day 10 of the NYX Lippie Countdown looked like it was a color that would be more my style than the purples that were included in previous days. From the mini preview, it appeared to be either a pale pink or a nude which, if you haven't been able to tell, are both colors that I love.

After I opened the tab, I was amused to see that this lip color was from the NYX Lingerie collection. Because this collection was the entire calendar last year I find it interesting that two have been included in this year's calendar, so far.

After removing the tube from the box, I was pleased to see that this was Corset. Corset had been included last year and while it wasn't my favorite color, it was a nice soft color that worked ok with my skin tone.

Like other Lingerie colors, Corset applies nicely and mistakes are easily corrected. This color does settle into the lines on your lips but does not make them look overly dry. It lasts long and only needed to be reapplied after lunch. One word of caution, Corset does look cakey if too many layers are applied.

Overall, I wouldn't buy Corset just to have it but I would not shy away from using it. This is a nice solid color that can be extremely useful for a nude lip look.

Once Upon A December and NYX Lippie Countdown Day Three

Almost every December for as long as I can remember I've played in a Christmas concert or played Christmas music with a small group. With the exception of last year.... I missed the music and being the one playing it, but hadn't found a group that I fit in with. It took finding Central Florida Community Arts for me to get back my Christmas concert! On December 7th, 8th, and 9th I'll be joining the CFCArts Community Choir as a member of the orchestra for the Once Upon A December show.

As you can probably guess, the song Once Upon A December is going to be featured which makes me super excited. The flute part is so amazing and so much fun! I can't wait to share this and all the other songs with my friends and the community. There will be songs featured from both Christmas selections and other holiday music. I'm excited for the variety of music and the opportunity to accompany a choir. I've played in musicals, I've had fun with friends playing while they sing, but I've never accompanied a choir in a formal setting. 

Unfortunately yes, this is a formal setting where I have to pull out the infamous "Amazon concert" dress. I love dressing up and picking out the right heels and accessories for each concert but I am getting soooooooooo sick of that Amazon dress. It might be time to hunt down a new dress. 

Anyways, off of my little dress issue and back to the concert! If you're interested in attending then information and tickets can be found at this link. According to friends who have attended past Holiday concerts this is one of the biggest and best events that CFCArts hosts all year! I look forward to seeing everyone who attends!

Today is day three of the NYX Lippie Countdown! If you're wondering why I'm talking about a random lipstick then please see this post. The past two colors have been pretty neutral and my style so I was a bit nervous when I saw that the preview of today's color was purple and looked dark. I tend to be intimidated by dark lip colors because I don't believe that I can pull them off. 

Upon opening day 3 I was not surprised to see that the line this color belongs to is Simply Vamp. I was surprised to see that this is a Lip Cream seeing as the past two have been dedicated lipsticks. 

This specific shade is She Devil and honestly the name fits the the color. This is a deep purple almost plum shade. This looks highly pigmented but didn't want to apply evenly. The edges of my lips applied nicely but the inside was much lighter and needed two passes with the stick. It applied nicely and cleaned up nicely, but was extremely easy to smear. This color did not hold up to drinking and needed multiple applications through out the day.

Overall, I like the color but it's not for me. The color suited my skin tone but is completely wrong for my personality. It's too bold and too dark. If I go towards bold and dark I prefer the reds because they're more in line with classic colors, purple is much too strange for me. Despite my dislike of the color I do plan on keeping this and possibly using it for a costume or fun event down the line. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun purple lip color but I would not recommend this for someone looking for long wear. 

August Goals

Like many of you I try to set individual goals for each month. While scrolling through the various blogs I follow, I realized that many of them share their monthly goals. It dawned on me that this would be a great way to hold myself accountable, so here are my 5 goals for August!
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August Goals
1) Canter through the water.
Thanks to all the rains Florida has been having there is a small section of the arena that's flooded. Now Cupid is 'Little Miss Prissy Pants' and hates getting her feet wet. Our recent goal has been to walk through this puddle without issues, and we've managed to trot through it without a major break in gait. My goal for August, if the puddle sticks around, is to canter her through the puddle. Because I would love to take her cross-country schooling and to a hunter pace, she's going to need to adjust to going through water.

2) Practice the flute for 2 hours a week.
Central Florida Community Arts Orchestra rehearsal has started again and this time I need to really dedicate myself to the music. I would love to play for the Christmas concert so I need to make sure that I give this whole season 110%. The upcoming concert consists of music that is from Spain and Latin America which are pieces that I'm not really familiar with but have proven to be extremely fun to play!

3) Read 3 books.
I would love to start working through some of the books on my GoodReads "Want To Read" list, but first I've got to read through the 100 books that are currently on my Kindles! (Yes, I've got two of them)

4) Workout 3 times a week.
It's no secret. I've gained weight. I hate it so I've got to do something about it. I'm going to be checking out a training program through a local running store but until then I've got to start rebuilding my strength.

5) Paint office.
I've got this room in my house that has sat and done nothing for the past year. It started as a guest room, then went to my office, then started to gather stuff that I didn't know what to do with. I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do with this room and what my goal was for it. But now I've settled on a basic plan and just need to talk with my mom about swapping furniture. In the meantime I've picked out my paint color for the room and need to get it painted before bringing the heavy antique furniture into it.

See. It's in need of a makeover.

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Now for the fun part; seeing if I can achieve these goals! I'll be using my planner to track what I've accomplished, and when, so I will have an accurate record of what I've done.

What's Up Wednesday?

I got home from the barn. Quickly changed from my breeches to running shorts. Dashed downstairs and put on my running shoes. Just as I was locking my front door it started to pour. If it weren't for the thunder I would be trying to get a quick 3 miles in. The lifeguard in me still tells me to stay inside during thunder. So now I'm sitting on my couch, watching Netflix, and eating leftovers from last night. Yay Florida life....

On the bright side, the rain is pretty to listen to and I do need to write as opposed to my usual say I'll write and walk away.

In an effort to start keeping up with this, I'm going to try and set a few days for regular posts. Everything else will be a fun extra that I'll write as I think of it (or say I will, write it halfway then walk away). One of these regular days will be Wednesday since it's mid-week and I'm usually settled into my work week at this point. Because I'm super creative these posts will be labeled "What's Up Wednesday?" and will try to cover anything that's going on in my life. The plan will be to segment these posts into four sections: Run, Ride, Read, and Repeat. The first three sections are exactly as they sound, and the fourth section, Repeat, will be for anything else that's going on in my life.

So without further blabbering, let's begin the first "What's Up Wednesday?'!

Run
I stopped running. After the Star Wars Half Weekend I took time off to let my foot heal and didn't really start once I felt better. A few weeks ago I went and did three different runs to see where I was at in my baseline fitness. The first was on June 4th and I did a mile in a run/walk pattern, this was done in 11'01". The second was June 6th and I decided to do an easy mile without walking. This was the first time I've ever run a mile without walking since high school and I'm proud to say that I was able to complete it in 10'56"! The third run was 2.5 miles, on June 9th, at an 11'27" pace. For this run I did end up doing a run/walk pattern and I really don't have an excuse as to why I decided to not slow down and run the whole thing.

My goal is to run a 10k this fall without walking (other than water stops) which means I'll have to put in substantial training. I am currently planning on running the Celebration Rotary Club's 19th Annual Pancake Run on October 28th. My ultimate goal would be to do the 10k in under an hour, but for right now I plan on beating my PR of 1:14:46. I know I have it in me to PR, I just need to take this training seriously and make sure to run enough races before so that I'm ready to really rock it.


Ride
Cupid is doing well. We showed at the Sumter Equestrian Center in their May Hunter/Jumper/Dressage Show and did fairly well. I am in the process of finishing this recap so you should see that in more detail at a later date.

Currently, Cue and I are working on our flat work. I've started to ask her to use her hind end more and she is responding beautifully. We have plenty of moments where she is clearly confused but she attempts to respond to me and it's those attempts that make me appreciate how good of a mind she has.

The biggest news I have regarding Cupid is our upcoming move. On July 1st, Cupid and I will no longer be training with our current trainer or boarding at our current barn. I made the decision back in May to move out to the West side of Orlando for several different reasons. The main reason being that I want to have access to trails and would like to be at a property that does not flood. If you follow me on Twitter then you have seen my complaints about the current barn flooding. It will be nice to be at a place that was build uphill and has better drainage.

Read
If you follow me on Goodreads you'll see that I have been binge reading The Saddle Club series. As a joke I picked up the first book because I had read about how bad the horsemanship is. This has turned into me laughing over the writing and horsemanship, while appreciating that these are great books for the horse crazy child. When I wasn't able to ride these books let me maintain my love for horses

I'm also reading Little Women again. A few years ago I decided to start the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge and this is one of the books on the list. I'm in no hurry to complete the challenge, I just would like to do so before I turn 30. Since Little Women is one of the longer books it makes sense to read it with ample time to finish.

Repeat
Last weekend I had my second concert with the CFCArts Orchestra, American Roadtrip. This stands as the concert I am most proud of. The music was challenging yet the entire orchestra, including myself, rose to the challenge and put on an amazing show! Manager attended one of the performances and stated that it was his favorite one yet. Our next concert is ¡Fiesta! and will be on November 3rd and 4th. I can't wait to challenge myself further and perform with the orchestra again!