Sheet Music Star Wreath

Last year I posted a couple of posts on making the Starbucks wreath.  I just spied this sheet music star wreath via the CRAFT Magazine blog and I'm definitely smitten.  The original post can be found here and the tutorial is here.


Isn't is lovely?

The Life that is Waiting for Us

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."


~E.M. Forster (via Pennyweight)

An Ever-Fixed Mark

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

     If this be error and upon me proved, 

     I never writ, nor no man ever loved.


~William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

One of my favorites.  I also love this modern day translation that I found here: (oh, Shakespeare, you romantic, you!)

Let me not declare any reasons why two 
True-minded people should not be married. Love is not love 
Which changes when it finds a change in circumstances, 
Or bends from its firm stand even when a lover is unfaithful: 
Oh no! it is a lighthouse 
That sees storms but it never shaken; 
Love is the guiding north star to every lost ship, 
Whose value cannot be calculated, although its altitude can be measured. 
Love is not at the mercy of Time, though physical beauty 
Comes within the compass of his sickle. 
Love does not alter with hours and weeks, 
But, rather, it endures until the last day of life. 
     If I am proved wrong about these thoughts on love 
     Then I recant all that I have written, and no man has
     ever [truly] loved.

Newark Symphony Concert

Here's the flyer for the Newark Symphony Concert this weekend. If you're in the area, be sure to come out and see us! The music stunning-- especially the solo violin in the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Be sure to bring your student id if you're a student so that you can get a discount on your ticket. See you there (I'll be playing in the second violin section)!

Secret Heart

I'm listening to this one on repeat today-- Feist covering the Ron Sexsmith song, Secret Heart.

Secret heart
What are you made of?
What are you so afraid of?
Could it be three simple words?
Or the fear of being overheard?
What's wrong?
Let em' in on your secret heart

Secret heart
Why so mysterious?
Why so sacred?
Why so serious?
Maybe you're
Just acting tough
Maybe you're just not man enough
What's wrong?


Let him in on your secret heart
This very secret
That you're trying to conceal
Is the very same one
That you're dying to reveal
Go tell him how you feel


Secret heart come out and share it
This loneliness, few can bear it
Could it have something to do with
Admitting that you just can't go through it alone?


Let him in on your secret heart


This very secret
That you're trying to conceal
Is the very same one
That you're dying to reveal
Go him them how you feel
This very secret heart


Go out and share it
This very secret heart

Ode, Written in a Visit to the Country in Autumn

What voice console the incessant sigh,
And everlasting longings for the lost?


~John Logan (1748-1788), from Ode, Written in a Visit to the Country in Autumn

The Beautiful Voyage

I've always found myself drawn to the adventures of Odysseus, his loyal wife Penelope, the various machinations played out in the Trojan War, and of course, fair divisive Helen (see Of Menelaus and Helen).


And then there's Ithaca, the famed island home of Odysseus, which he endeavors for ten long years to get back to. He is captured and spends seven years on Calypso's island. After escaping, he is waylaid by the witch Circe, a cyclops, a whirlpool, the legendary Sirens... and the list goes on and on.


Oh, but Ithaca, beautiful Ithaca, and fair Penelope, his loyal wife, beckon him homeward. My coworker Bob emailed me the following poem which I really enjoyed. It echoes that old adage about life being about the journey and not the destination.


                               Ithaca

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.


Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.


Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.


Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.


And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

 ~ Constantine P. Cavafy (1911) 

Wanted: Turn-of-the-Century looks

Last year while watching the film Heaven Can Wait, which stars the divine Gene Tierney, I took a few screen captures of her look in one of the scenes.

As the movie is set in the early twentieth century many of the looks are too costume-y to wear today, but this one, I thought, could still be pulled off (of course in an appropriate setting. I'd love to wear a look like this when I play in my orchestra concert next month.)

My mom got in the mail the other day a catalog from a company called The Pyramid Collection. The clothing in the catalog was definitely a bit quirky-- an odd combination of new-age skirts, steampunk- style jackets, and goth trinkets. And, even though I don't usually wear that sort of stuff, some of the pieces turned out to be quite cute. The velvet skirt below immediately made me think of Gene's outfit from the film.

Next up, finding a blouse. These pictures had me googling "heirloom sewing."  I'm definitely crushing on Gibson-girl blouses.