The Traveling Violinist - NYC.

Dear New York,

I used to be so intimidated by you. I was afraid of your allure. Convinced I wasn’t ready to meet you. Certain you would eat me alive.

I’m glad I overcame my fear. I’m glad I visited.

5 days in the Big Apple. How could I be so wrong?

Active Violinist and The City

Day 1 – Wednesday

Jeff and I arrived in the afternoon and after leaving our luggage at the very hip and cool Yotel in Midtown we walked the Highline. It is pretty wonderful. There are so many gorgeous buildings, interesting architecture, great views (into peoples’ homes and of the city), interesting people watching, and wonderful nooks and resting areas. It is so serene. We walked the entire way to the new Whitney Museum. We bought coffee and Mexican food along the way and waded through some excellently placed water fixtures (hot, tired feet!).

High Line views.

Yum! Yum! Yum!

Jeff was really looking forward to 'studying this conceptual approach to public space' sadly everyone was very much the opposite of nude.

When we got to the Whitney we couldn’t NOT go in and look around. What an incredible space! What incredible art! We headed back to the hotel via the city streets.

He is literally melting. An enormous statue made of wax with a lit candle on his shoulder. A selfie in the background only for perspective.

Our hotel was very cool: A happening bar and really great food. We ended up staying in for dinner and were tucked into bed by 10:30pm. We go all out.

The view from our bathroom at the Yotel

Day 2 – Thursday

I met up with my Freshman year dorm-room neighbors for lunch. What a reunion! I hadn’t seen either one of them for at least 8 years. I can’t believe it worked out! I don't think I laughed or giggled like that in quite some time. Their lives sound way more glamorous than mine in (relatively speaking) sleepy Oklahoma. 

Afterwards I walked over to Carnegie Hall in hopes of making my debut only to discover they are closed for the summer. Rude!

Come Hear Me! (one day, one day....fingers crossed forever)

Giving up on stardom (for the moment), I meandered over to Central Park and watched some really fun street performers before dipping in to the American Museum of Natural History. I totally forgot that Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller was filmed here! I chuckled about this (to myself) while observing the exotic taxidermy. 

Heading into the Museum. The only shot I could get without 10,000 tourists included.

The dinosaurs are epic! Head into the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater to hear Liam Neeson narrate some cool facts about the solar system. The whole exhibit on Black holes and Dark Matter is amazing. I could have spent several hours here alone if it weren't bordering on dinnertime. 

Something something something......prehistoric

I was flying solo as Jeff had to work all day so I headed back to the hotel (on foot - the best way to see a city).

If you walk around NYC you will see this scene pretty much everywhere.

We went out to dinner with his boss at Esca, a Mario Battali restaurant around the corner from the hotel. Holy Moly it was good! I like to eat, and I’m not really snobby about it but oh man it was great! I also forgot what kind of wine. Oh well! I recommend it - especially if you like Seafood (and even if you don't!)

We walked over to Times Square after dinner. It is nuts! Honestly this was probably my least favorite part of the trip. Trust me, better viewed from the comfort of your own home. Chaos everywhere. Before hitting the hay we stopped in a local market and picked up some gelato to share on the balcony….in the rain. All in all it was a romantic date for 3.

Times Square.

Day 3 – Friday

I stumbled out into the neighborhood for breakfast and found a fantastic little bakery/coffeeshop called Amy’s Bread. I felt bad for Jeff because he was working in the hotel lobby and I could not stop raving about my pastry and cappuccino when I got back.

We had to change hotels today so I caught an Uber to the Omni Berkshire with our bags and dropped them off before exploring 5th ave for a hot minute.

I stumbled upon a gorgeous church service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

I just love this part of the exterior. Lily - so lovely. I couldn't stop admiring her.

I stopped to smell the lavender at the Rockefeller farmers market (how do you even get a vendor spot here!?), stopped in at Bauman Rare Books to admire some spines (a Brahms score on sale for $18,500!!), and did some serious window shopping pretty much every where.

Rockefeller Lavender. I'm pretty sure Tina Fey AND Alec Baldwin buy their bouquets here.

My family friend from Traverse City came downtown to meet up and we immediately got covered in gold – literally accosted by the 24 carat gold skincare ladies who, for whatever reason thought I could afford $800 face cream. There is so much insecurity imbued in the beauty industry! The more I said “No Thank You” the more of my little imperfections she pointed out…but in the sweetest way possible. Like she was my BFF genuinely concerned about my future; Warning me of my impending botox bill if I didn’t suck it up and smear gold on my face now, before it is too late.

After this semi-demoralizing experience where I was forced to come to terms with my own sagging, drooping, decaying mortality we headed to the West Village for a bite to eat (and a cocktail). Turns out family friend Maxine is kind of besties with Mario Battali so we bellied up to the bar at The Spotted Pig, the former haunt of Philip Seymour Hoffman (R.I.P.). It is cozy and unassuming but hot dang those deviled eggs are worth writing home about.

THE Spotted Pig

Jeff came and met us in the village where we strolled through the lovely streets and admired the intimate and inviting vibe of the area. I know it is silly to say because I will NEVER be able to afford it – BUT I would totally live here.

We had dinner at a really great little French place that we kind of stumbled upon. At the table to our left were 2 buds from college who were clearly now investment bankers – whining about how one’s fiancé demanded $5 million in the prenup and how he said no, took the ring back and now can't decide whether he should take her back. REALLY DUDE!? The whole conversation made me a little ill, and also sort of livid. I'm still thinking about what I should have leaned over and said, what I hoped this unknown lady did and where on his person he should probably 'stash' that ring (hint: probably not recommended by 4 out of 5 Doctors). A serious case of 1% problems.

We ended the evening strolling then headed to the Fulton Street Station (Jeff’s company had a hand in its creation) and walking through the 9/11 Memorial. Probably way more incredible in the daylight but completely impressive at night as well.

So big I couldn't fit it all in one frame!

Day 4 – Saturday

We headed uptown for breakfast, at Sarabeth’s and a little browsing at the Corner Bookstore before heading to the Guggenheim because….duh. 

This place makes me dizzy. Also - has anyone ever organized some sort of run up and down this place? That would be a hoot - and also a killer workout.

-Sidenote about the Corner Bookstore: this is my favorite kind of bookshop: Small, local and full of gems. I loved overhearing a customer ask for advice on what novel she should read next only to hear a variety of choices in so many different genres recommended by the store employees. It just makes me want to read more!

Everything at the Guggenheim is swirling and round....except the stairs.

After the Guggenheim (which was awesome) we picked up coffee from The Church of Heavenly Rest and a stroll through Central Park.

We sipped our fancy shmancy dry cappuccinos while watching a Jazz Quartet jam under a tree in the park, then headed to the Met.

The perfect stage for a drizzly jam in the park

A line out the door and around the corner awaited us. Lucky for us it was moving quickly. I could have spent days and days and days in there.

The ladies - what your outfit feels like after you've seen Manus x Machina

We ended up spending hours in just the Manus x Machina exhibit alone. The crossroads of fashion and technology has really produced some jaw dropping pieces of wearable (or almost wearable? Some designs certainly didn’t seem to keep the human form in mind) art. Blah blah blah there were several Picassos and stuff by other famous people but if you put a gown in a museum, no offense Mr. Pollock, but I’m going to swoon over it.

There's a million more where these came from. If you've ever run into me on Instagram you know I love a good gown pic any day.

For our last evening in the city we headed to Williamsburg for dinner at this crazy hip Thai restaurant with a pond (it seemed like it was straight out of a movie) and a book reading/performance at National Sawdust. Helen DeWitt read from her book The Last Samurai and Timo Andres performed selected piano works mentioned in the book. It was pretty cool. I got my book signed by BOTH OF THEM.

National Sawdust. Not the performers. Obviously.

We stopped by a little Italian place for a late night snack and some wine before strolling (this seems to be our signature tourist move) through the neighborhood before eventually returning to the craziness of 5th Ave.

Day 5 – Sunday

Time to go home. Sob! I did miss Blanche but this was just (barely) the tip of the iceberg! We strolled through Rockefeller Plaza, read our books in Bryant Park and dodged the rain in Barnes and Noble before accepting our fate and heading to the Airport.

It was a great trip – I didn’t get a sunburn, we did some cool stuff, burned some calories, consumed some calories, and learned a bunch of stuff.

My previous avoidance of this city has been turned into interest and fascination. Now I really want to come back and see a performance (or 17) at Carnegie Hall, catch an Opera at the Met, a performance by ABT, hello NY Phil, Orpheus, Alice Tully Hall, Zabar’s, Poisson Rouge…..the list goes on.

In the words of a wise terminator: I’ll be Back 

Who Said That?

Almost two weeks ago (already? - wow time flies!) I packed my bags and headed to John Brown University in Siloam Springs to participate in Suzuki Teacher Training. What a week! Our class of 6 was a fun mix of personalities and experience, offering a wide range of perspectives on violin teaching, playing, practicing, school, and life.

It was an intensive week of observations, class time, recitals, presentations, and paper writing -I think I wrote more papers during this week than I did for my entire Masters degree!

We were required to read Dr. Suzuki’s book Nurtured By Love before our first day of training. Esther, our trainer recommended rereading this book periodically throughout the course of our teaching career. She also suggests that potential Suzuki parents read it before their first violin lesson. I kind of rolled my eyes about this at first but by the end of the week I totally got it. It isn’t a long read, and explains the philosophy behind the “Talent Education” method, aka the Suzuki Method.

As you might remember if you’ve read any of my other recent blog posts, I am currently knee deep in my dissertation research and writing, which takes a good hard look at Yehudi Menuhin and B.K.S. Iyengar. I was fully entrenched in the Iyengar side of research by the time I hit the rode for Suzuki training. After completing all of my Suzuki assignments for the day, and maybe practicing for a few minutes I would attempt to pursue my own research and writing so as not to fall too far behind.

Juggling materials written by Suzuki, Iyengar, and their students and followers, I started to get a little confused. Like “Did I read that in an interview with Iyengar last night? Or was that a Suzuki quote?”

So I thought it would be fun to play a little game called “Who said that?”

Below are selected quotes from Iyengar and Suzuki. Can you guess who said what? Leave your answers in the comments below. If you get them all right I might be tempted to figure out a prize for you. More like definitely tempted; thinking about prizes sounds like a really fun form of procrastination right now.

Good Luck!

1. “The Mind is the product of thoughts which are difficult to restrain for they are subtle and fickle” 

2. “What is man’s ultimate direction in life? It is to look for love, truth, virtue, and beauty” 

3. “Both acceptance and surrender are a form of meditation” 

4. “When love is deep, much can be accomplished” 

5. “Teaching is learning, and re-learning is true teaching” 

6. “Practice only on the days you eat” 

7. “As a teacher one must be a pupil within” 

8. “Your body is the child of your soul” 

9. “Everything depends on you” 

10. “Success will come to the person who practices” 

11. “Education means to teach and develop. Without develop there is nothing” 

12. “Awareness follows intelligence” 

13. “Self-evaluation is the highest sense as a human being. Children should not only advance but repeat and evaluate their progress” 

14. “Memory is necessary for the development of intelligence” 

15. "Don't hurry, don't rest. Without stopping, without haste, carefully taking one step at a time will surely get you there." 

16. “Children want to know everything. They grasp fast. They have both one-channeled and all-pointed attention, and they should be encouraged to develop this faculty” 

17. “If you have the spirit of a young child, you never age” 

18. “I respect all living things” 

19. “True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness” 

20. “Do not hurt anybody’s heart” 

21. “The keys to unlocking our potential are the qualities of purity and sensitivity” 

Sugar and Spice and Everything nice, that's what June was NOT made of

~A mostly non-dissertation related diatribe.

In May, I took a trip back to Michigan for my little brother’s wedding. I flew from Tulsa to Chicago, and hung out for a couple days at my dad’s pad in Hinsdale. One night, after going out for dinner we decided to watch an Australian documentary called The Sugar Film. The premise is the same as Super Size Me; One dude who is generally on the abnormal side of healthy uses his own body as a science experiment to exemplify the effects of an eating trend or issue. In Super Size Me it was fast food. In That Sugar Film it is sugar. But not necessarily cookies, cake, and soft drinks; more like fake health foods like yoghurt, sports drinks, fruit juice, and cereal etc. Things that are marketed as ‘health food’ but actually contain gobs of sugar. Yes, he also gets pretty dramatic and for a few days he just eats teaspoons of sugar to make a point. Yes, he comes to the States and generally just says YIKES about our eating economy. He talks to doctors, dentists, dieticians, and researchers. It is gross. The change in his body over 40 days is gross. His liver stats are yucky. By the end of the film he doesn’t look nearly as healthy. He is low energy. You know...all the stuff they say happens when you eat tons of sugar.

In typical Murray fashion my dad and I arrived at the wedding festivities righteously spewing our newfound knowledge on sugar with the authority of experts. Lecturing all in earshot about how gross it is, how SUGAR is the real problem in society. And over the next week or so, in the glow of vacation and celebrating my brother’s wedding I secretly started to take stock of what I was eating. I didn’t change anything just then but I did start to wonder about how much sugar I was actually consuming everyday. I had this nagging feeling that even though I was ‘healthy’ I was actually a total sugar addict. I wanted to know if I would feel any different if I removed it from my diet. What would happen to me?

I talked Jeff into giving up sugar for the month of June. I just wanted to see what would happen. He griped and whined about it at first and then became a champion of sugar gram counting. He was not convinced this was going to be fun or make much of a difference in our lives but he begrudgingly agreed to humor me and join in. Once he was on board he transformed into an anti-sugar maniac. A no corner cutting, no cheating stickler for MY no sugar eating rule.

And of course, not one to go easy on myself once I have committed to something borderline extreme, I also implemented a NO TELEVISION policy for the month as well (this did not include movies, documentaries, etc). My 2 favorite things! 2 classic American pastimes! Cleansed from our lives for a whole month.

Full disclosure: I am behind on my personal reading challenge for 2016 and needed that television time to try and catch up. My Nana is kicking my butt in the book-reading department these days and my inner competitive reader is really feeling the heat. Oh yeah, and I also have this dissertation thing to write. NBD.

To be clear: We did not give up all sugar. Fruits, berries, and some/most naturally occurring sugars were okay. Added sugar was not. No high fructose corn syrup allowed! We wiped out maple syrup, agave, and honey just to be safe and we tried to limit meals to around 10 grams of sugar per meal. I’m not typically one to read labels but I was scouring them all month. If I wasn’t sure, I aired on the side of caution and didn’t eat it.

Admittedly I love a good soy latte; I always have. And then of course you have to have a sweet treat to go with it otherwise it just feels a little empty. Well if you don’t have unsweetened soymilk that’s actually quite a bit of sugar. Add a coffee shop delight-and I’ll admit I have a HUGE weakness for scones, cookies, doughnuts, and generally anything that pairs well with my secretly sugary soy latte- and that is an ungodly amount of sugar to consume all at once! And, I was doing this at least a few times per week. How embarrassing!

What a buzz kill to realize that every time I added a little caffeinated pick me up to my day I was quadrupling it with sugar. YIKES!

Lastly, I am not a shiny happy morning person. In fact, I always feel pretty groggy in the morning no matter how many hours of shuteye I got the night before. Getting out of bed in the morning is pretty much the first thing I can cross off my ‘To Do’ list everyday. I always thought I was just dehydrated or it was the stress of a freelance musician lifestyle. Nope! Turns out my constant sugar highs and lows were actually messing with innocent, not consuming any sugar for 8 hours sleeping me as well.

What did we discover?

1. I’m not an unhealthy person. I workout, exercise, stay active, don’t overeat and generally don’t eat junk (at least I thought) but I was pretty amazed how much sneaky sugar was in my life.
2. Turns out there is sugar hidden in EVERYTHING!!! Sauces? Better to make our own. Yoghurt? Only the unfun kind is okay…and then just barely. Snacks? Not easily found in a store. Condiments? LOL! Cocktails? No Way! Things we bought we had to examine.
3. A good equation to do at the Grocery Store:

Serving Size + Sugar Content x Exactly how many weird ingredients that I don’t understand are involved in this food? = Probably shouldn’t buy it or eat it.

So what happened?

• I wrote a big chunk of my dissertation proposal
• I actually had an easier time waking up in the morning.
  • To be clear: I did not become a morning person; I just didn’t have much difficulty getting up early with my alarm.
• That whole thing where your energy feels more consistent throughout the day – yeah, that happened.
• Fruit is Mother Nature’s desert. Natural sweetness tastes even sweeter. Strawberries are delicious! Mango? Magnificent! And don’t get me started on dates!
• My body is leaner. Maybe I’m lying to myself but I see a more physically defined person staring back at me through the mirror. A line down the middle of my previously hidden ab muscles is now faintly visible (in the right light of course).
• We cooked more food at home.
• Jeff came up with a freaking AMAZING peanut sauce recipe. Seriously! Freaky good!
• If you have to read labels at the store you accidentally become a Michael Pollan supporter.
• Not going out for coffee AND a treat actually saved a ton of cash. If you only buy a coffee or a small cappuccino (with whole milk – which is delicious btw) you save about 3 bucks minimum per trip! 3x2=6 6x4=24. I saved at least $24! Not bad!

The Dark Truth:

In the beginning I craved a sugar fix almost every night. I still do sometimes and it is a month later. I just want a little bite of something sweet: A little square of chocolate or a bite of ice cream…just SOMETHING!!!!

I have learned to stay out of the kitchen after dinner. Of course, now that we don’t really have sugar in the house that’s not a big deal but I still find myself down there staring blankly into the fridge willing something decadent and naughty to appear.

I did find that Egyptian Licorice Tea is actually AMAZING late at night. It feels like I’m spooning sugar down my throat but with none of the bad stuff. I think it might have been my saving grace.

Instagram and Facebook are really difficult places to be when you’re not eating sugar. I never realized how many food bloggers I follow until I was confronted with their cakes, and oh-so-delicious concoctions, or those cooking videos all over Facebook. You know the ones.

I missed and craved sugar way more than I missed or craved TV. Nope – haven’t seen the new OITNB, Peaky Blinders, Game of Thrones (I’ve actually never watched this), or any of the other stuff I used to love watching. I’m watching Fed Up right now as I’m typing this! Is that meta? I’ve watched a couple documentaries that have been in my queue for quite some time and finished a ton of reading (take that Nana!)

I cheated...twice.

I had a blended a margarita at the Tulsa Tough bike race. And I felt it. My tummy felt yucky a little bit later and the next day. Plus the combo of sugar and booze (and Oklahoma heat) left my body feeling like a dried out piece of garbage.

The second time was a little bit of cake at a birthday party. I was shocked by how over the top sweet it tasted! I used to LOVE cake! Especially frosting! Now I felt like my tongue was coated in muck and the only flavor was sweetness. Which is actually kind of gross.

Sadly, these 2 negative run ins with my sugar weakness didn’t stop me from craving it. I actually found myself bargaining -with myself- over secretly cheating just a little bit. That’s messed up! That is literally the sneaky behavior of an addict with something shameful to hide. It just shows what a powerful drug sugar really is.

The Result?

Jeff wants to keep going. Yep, the dude whining at the beginning of all of this is now the champion of the no sugar rule (haven’t pushed him on the no TV watching subject though). And I lost track of how many books he read in June. He’s an animal when he commits to something.

It's like that scene in Season 1 of OITNB where Piper talks Larry into a cleanse and he gets totally into it, feeling all of the benefits, meanwhile she's moping around sneaking junk food behind his back. Not that bad...but you get the gist. 

I used to be the second coming of cookie monster. I was the anti cleanse. I hated having to worry about what was in my food, preferring to follow the flavor. I rationalized that my active lifestyle was forgiving of my sweet treat sins. I also thought July would bring a trickle of galettes, and gelato, and rhubarb crumble, and seasonal pies. I was once the implementer of stern discipline and I have been hood winked into continuing this regime for the unforeseeable future.

And honestly? It is worth it. Feeling better trumps a cookie any day (no matter how much I think I want it). Read the labels people! You don’t have to be the sugar police to give your poor liver a rest once in a while.

The end. 

Now to dismount from my little internet soapbox and get on with the document writing I SHOULD be doing right now.