themes.

So, the conference was far more than I could've asked for, and I went into it expecting one thing and got something else entirely. I came out with knowledge, yes, but I came away inspired, awed, exhausted, and fulfilled. There were a few themes: Neuroscience, Bilingual Music Therapy, Improvisation, and Nurturing my Creativity.

In the Neuroscience corner, we have the wonderfully inspiring lectures given by Dr. Aniruddh Patel, who was a major influence in my thesis work. A neuroscientist working on research in mirror neurons that was just...way super cool. Plus he was wicked accomplished and YOUNG which is inspiring in itself. And then there's' Dr. Iversen, who I spotted at every function all week long. It was cool to have the neuroscientists there so we could have conversations about what each of our fields was up to. They had no idea what we were doing and we had no idea what they were doing, as I suspected. I also decided that instead of doing neurologic music therapy training, I am going to start working toward a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. Maybe they'll start having drum circles at neuro conferences.

Wouldn't that be a trip.

leavin' on a jet plane

Tomorrow my friend Maria and I are heading off with the rest of the music therapy world to our national conference! These things are always so refreshing, rejuvenating, and FUN!

I know what you're thinking: conferences aren't supposed to be fun. Well, sometimes when participating in presentations they can be a little stressful but seriously - one is almost guaranteed to sing, play an instrument, or see how someone sang/played instruments for a client population that is interesting, and then after all that, we get together and do drum circles, chanting, dancing, music making, songwriting...I got hooked on music therapy at the 2004 national conference in Austin. I walked in to registration where a band was playing and it was like my entire being sighed, "I'm home!"

What is super amazing is that all the music therapists that can make it from all over the country get together and such a strong community is built when we all make music together in some form or another. On top of that, with the help of twitter, the MTs from around the country have scheduled a "tweetup" and it'll be so cool to meet people face-to-face that I only know online. Anyway, the community that is built for a few days is always rather powerful and moving, and I hope to take lots of videos and pictures so I can show y'all.

For now, I'm going to go see if I can get a shot in the bum because I woke up SICK yesterday :( and I for sure need it gone by tomorrow!

there's no place like home(town)...

I always tell people that NB is a great place to be from, but it was sometimes a difficult place in which to grow up. Everything closing around 9 or 10 on the weekends, small town mentality, racism, all that. There were good things too: dear friends that have been in my life more years than haven't been in it, facing the rivers at night for the sheer thrill of it (and as mentioned above, we were bored at about 10:05pm), and knowing a place so well it - less like just the back of your hand and more like part of your entire skin. I'm having trouble describing the tingling I felt when I saw the workers putting the lights on the courthouse or encountering an 8 pt buck on my morning run through the old neighborhood.

I went back this weekend for Wurstfest and I swear, every time I go back, for either a holiday or a weekend trip, I learn something new about myself, my friends, and sometimes a little light gets shone on something. I came away from this weekend reassured that the more things and people change the more they stay the same. For me that means I can look back on and appreciate the stronger friendships with people I love, and joyfully renewed connections, along with a reinforced confidence in the choices I've made since leaving.

Has it really almost been 10 years?

Halt.

So, my running, and much of my life has been hindered by the destruction of a plantar's wart on the bottom of my right foot. Usually it hurts for a few days but today marks a WEEK of pain and limping :( It had better be gone soon - I've got lots of polka dancing to do this weekend :)

running running running

there's been a whole lot going down in the stockhausen lately, some of which I WISH I could hurry up and divulge (NO I'm not pregnant, promise) but for now we're going to talk about running and food.

Dude. The last time I did the Couch 2 5K program, I ran the standard 3 days a week but always felt way behind and like I would regress because I had to have a couple days rest in there somewhere and inevitably the next run after two days off would be killer. So, I've decided to follow the plan again, except I do it 4x a week. Last week I doubled up on my long run (20 straight minutes! YEAH!), and this week I doubled up on my first run (intervals of running and walking for 29 minutes) - there's no rhyme reason or formula to it, I just get one day of here and there and the next I'm running. Doing the 4x/week thing has done wonders for my endurance.

Another thing that I'm throwing around is the idea of REALLY cleaning things up in my body and going vegan in the new year. I don't even totally know what that is going to look like, if I'm going to start out vegetarian and just go vegan for a week out of each month or if I'll be mostly vegan and then go raw part of the time....no clue. All I know is I LOVE what the green monsters are doing for me detox-, energy-, and satisfaction-wise. I would even throw a clamp down on my barbecue fetish. I know. Crazy talk. While we're talking about detoxification, I've decided to kick the Nuvaring aka "glowstick" to the curb. Again, not for the purpose of trying to have kids (yet) but because I am SO DONE with a) synthetic hormones and b) shouldering all the contraceptive responsibilities. So far, things are great. I feel really good and just kind of better in general. Taking these baby steps toward cleaning up my body have been really, really empowering. Anyway, I'm just taking the months of November and December to try and do as much reading and research as I possibly can so that I can formulate a plan.

If you know me, you know I love this time of year, the quiet reflection before resolving to do this or that in the New Year. I know some of y'all did some resolving in 2009 - how did those things turn out? Have you started throwing ideas around for your glorious resolving self in 2010?

Oh also, we've finished repainting/sanding/painting again/replacing hardware in the guest bathroom! Feast your eyes:

sim*pli*fy

I've been noticing a theme lately - different people in completely different parts of my life have been unplugging lately, mainly from television and social networking sites. It hit me this week that I no longer care about Ugly Betty or Grey's Anatomy, and that I'm TIRED of twitter. I've decided to keep the twitter account around solely for music therapy advocacy sake (conferences mostly). I'm also going to start paring down my time spent on Facebook to like, once a week (it'll take me awhile to get there I'm sure).

I think I'm just tired of seeing other people's endless updates while I could be practicing an instrument, doing research, working on the house, in the garden, baking something, finding new recipes, connecting with friends (fb does NOT count) via handwritten letters, running, swimming, biking, cooking, canning, reading, writing, crocheting, sewing, bathing and/or training my dog, decorating, painting, laughing, getting to know new people, writing songs, ANYTHING is better than wasting my brain cells on the digitized facade of other peoples' lives (real or fiction). That whole concept is why I never got into nor understood the soap opera phenomenon.

Overall, this whole thing comes from heading into the holidays, deciding what I want to do differently in the new year, and preparing my heart and mind for it. I want to be more open to people and experiences, I want to be fully alive. Sitting in front of a computer or a television will get me none of those things.

charmed by chard

I don't know why I was so astounded when I peeked out at my little seeds three days after I planted them to see that the stem of the rhubarb chard I planted was RED! but...oh wait. No, I know why I was astounded - first off because the freaking things sprouted THREE DAYS after I planted them (so I gave them a WAHOO! and a fist pump, and then a shot of Garrett's Juice) and...well...maybe I'm dumb but I just didn't expect to see RED! on my little plantlets. But it sure did charm the heck out of me.

The other semi-exciting thing is that my pepper plants have turned into complete monsters:

This is what Candace and I refer to as "slutty jalepenos" Seriously - TONS of peppers. And I didn't even know which plants were which, just that some were jalepenos and some were poblanos, until I saw this little wonder:

...and started dreaming up all kinds of stuffed peppers stuffings and sweet-pickled jalepeno recipes. It's amazing what DAYS ON END OF NEVERENDING RAIN will do to food crops. I mean really. Yowza.

we tasted some of the pickles...

a little early, but they're GREAT! sour, with a little bit of bite :) just the way I like 'em. Stay tuned for a post on what's new in my garden...

I know, it looks like I'm drinking something toxic.

But seriously y'all - the green smoothie has become something I look forward to the night BEFORE I get up and make myself one for breakfast. I find myself wanting more green stuff (this one had two large handfulls (handsful?) of spinach, some banana, apple, ginger and grapes) but I have the stuff to make enough for the whole week all fruitilicious, so I'll have to wait to start adding things like cucumbers and avocados. Maybe even jalepenos - ay ay ay!

I planted kale seeds in the garden two days ago in the hopes that I'll soon get to harvest them and use them in my smoothies! Here's the link to the original green monster post by Claire. If you make your own, let me know! You might be surprised when your stomach gives you a high five for doing something so thoughtful and wonderful for it.

in a pickle

Last Christmas K got me the most amazing present - Country Wisdom & Know How, Everything You Need To Know To Live Off The Land. Seriously, people. It's a wonderful resource for EVERYTHING, including building chicken coops, gardening, home repair, and of course, canning.

At the farmer's market this weekend we got a ton of pickling cucumbers for CHEAP (hello, end of season abundance!) and here's what we did with them:

Materials
(6) 1 PINT mason jars. We always use Ball jars and get them from the local hardware store.
1 large pot (like you use to make spaghetti)

Ingredients
4 pounds cucumbers, 2-4 inches long
4-5 small jalepeños, sliced (optional)
1/2 onion, sliced
3 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt
1 1/2 tablespoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
3 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
6 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic
6 fresh dill heads
1 teaspoon DILL seed

First things first, clean your jars with soap and water, then rinse them off and put them in the oven (with lids, but make sure the lids aren't screwed on there, just set on top) at 200F for at least 20 minutes to sterilize them. Just leave them in there while you do the following:

Fill your large pot about halfway with water and start it boiling 'cos it'll take awhile.

Wash cucumbers and slice them into spears or discs.

Combine salt, mustard seeds, water, vinegar, onions, and peppercorns in a saucepan. Heat to boil.

Carefully remove your sterilized jars from the oven and in them put 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp celery seed, a piece of garlic clove, some jalepeños, and a piece of fresh dill.

Pack with cucumbers.

Using tongs, take the onions out of the boiling liquid and put it in your jars. Fill each jar with the hot liquid, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Seal the jars. Submerge in the water in the large pot for 10 minutes, and make sure all jars are covered with boiling water.

Remove the jars at once when the 10 minutes are up. At this point, you should be able to store them in the pantry but just to make sure nobody dies of botulism, we keep ours in the fridge. Let them hang out for about 2-3 weeks and then enjoy!