MIDWEST ART EDITION: important things!

Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin Madison

We have had SUCH a momentous last 48 hours!

WEDNESDAY:

1) Ben got a temporary job! He answered a Craigslist ad to help with a guy with construction work (installing windows), experience not required. Although it did say he should be able to measure and use power tools, which is can do. Ben even told him up front that he was actually looking for a music ed job and he didn't know exactly how long he would be around. The guy had no problem with it, so that's where Ben is today.

2) I had orientation. It was awesome, and it further confirmed my decision to pursue this particular career path. My professor and peers seem amazing. They talked a lot about self care because grad school (especially our schedule) will be intense. This semester shouldn't be too bad because we don't have any practicum until the spring, during which I will be interning for at least 18-20 hours a week plus regular school work. Yikes. But basically, I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

THURSDAY:

We drove to Madison to:
3) visit my old saxophone teacher's twin sister, who happens to be a music education professor at University of Wisconsin Madison.

I know that's sort of a weird reason to visit someone, but you have to understand that my old saxophone teacher is an amazing person AND she loves me (and Ben) enough to help us start networking and get Ben a teaching job. Teri was FABULOUS. We went out for lunch and it was adorable to see Ben and her connect through all of the music education banter. She told us she will give Ben a heads up if she has any teaching job leads.

We also couldn't help but think of Cousin Russell and Camille Adrian! Russell just finished a masters degree in choral conducting (I believe, right?) at UWM, so I'm pretty sure we were in his old music building.

4) Afterwards we checked out the Chazen Art Museum on campus (which is FREE!), grabbed a coffee at CoffeeBytes and then stopped by the record store, Strictly Discs....where this poster caught my eye. Rachel Ries is about 10 years older than me, grew up in Freeman, went to my church, and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. She's also a singer/songwriter and she's touring. You can read about her and check out her music HERE! I thought I would have to return to Madison to see her, but turns out she'll be in MKE on Sept. 20 too!

This was all followed by...

5) A visit with Ted & Taylor!

They gave us beer, made us supper and then we had a great time catching up, meeting their friends and having a brief Skype session with Austin and Alyssa!