At the moment, I feel pretty great. I’ve slept in the past two mornings. I’m currently sitting at my kitchen island with no makeup on, drinking fresh homemade lemon ginger tea. I’ve actually gotten to see and spend time with my husband the past two days (which is incredibly rare because of our conflicting work schedules). Not to mention, I’ve been “catching up” on some things that have taken a back seat recently. I feel pretty awesome at the moment. I’ve found my chill. My Happy Place. But the past couple weeks (let’s all be honest here… the past couple months really) I’ve been a mess. I’ve been so caught up in the hustle of every day life and work. I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ve been stressing excessively about everything going on both at work and at home (all good stuff, promise! just lots of it). And my body has been sending me huge flashing signs that things aren’t right. I’ve been feeling sick, tired, and achy but all without being actually sick. I’ve been in a not so great Read More
Tag: travel
The Weather & Whether or Not to Cancel
Living in Illinois (or anywhere in the midwest) often means coping with unpredictable weather: the kind of weather where one day it is 52 degrees and sunny and the next we have an ice or snowstorm leaving the roads basically impassible. Over a foot of snow is usually a pretty good sign to cancel lessons/sessions, but what about those times where the weather isn’t awful, but it isn’t great? What then? I have a couple ways to cope with situations like these: 1. Let the Family Choose – When in doubt, you can contact them to see what they are comfortable with. If you can make it to work but don’t know if families what to make the trek or go out in the -10 weather, simply ask them what they want to do. I find that families sometimes appreciate a phone call or text message to check-in when these circumstances arise. 2. Listen to Your Gut – Do you feel safe on the roads? Are you uncomfortable going to work in those weather conditions? If you don’t feel Read More
Oh, We’re Going for a Ride
I am SOOOO excited to share this new song with you. This song was created nearly 20 years ago by my mom and my aunt while on a car trip. It has remained an important song in my life and has been a part of every trip for the past 20 years. I want to thank my mom, Sue Kratz, for helping write and record this song that is so dear to my heart. I hope you can use this song to help transition and get excited about car trips and travel! Oh, We're Going for a Ride by On A Good Note Read More
Travel Trouble
Over the past couple weeks I’ve talked a lot about being a traveling music therapist. I’ve shared tips, favorite apps, podcast lists, funny quips, and much more. Today, I am delighted to share a specific story about the trials of being a traveling music therapist. Things were going really smoothly today as I was on my way to do music therapy session and lessons this afternoon! That is until I saw a series of two police cars, lights flashing, pulled to the side of the road. Soon after, traffic slowed, then came to a grinding halt. For the next 2 HOURS, we crawled a grueling 3 miles. Of course, this meant my whole day would be thrown off. At first, I thought my sessions would just be pushed back a few minutes, maybe an hour. As our journey continued, I found out I was in for a long haul and had to cancel several sessions. I had made my (normally 45 minute trip) into town to see only 1 client. ONE. At that point, I was simply thankful that I had Read More
10 Truths of the Traveling Music Therapist
Do you find these 10 truths of the traveling music therapist to be true for you? You feel like you live out of your car. You get more oil changes than the majority of your peers and put more miles on your car than you could imagine. You end up spending more time (and money) at Starbucks than you ever thought possible and find the stray Starbucks cup, sleeve, or napkin in your car on a regular basis. You learn that driving is exhausting and can quickly lead to burn out. Some days your office ends up looking like this when you come home… You don’t want help with your instruments because you’ve finally found a way to “balance” them all. You know how to improvise because inevitably there comes a day when you leave something important at home. Your car makes strange noises when you turn or hit a bump because of all the instruments in the trunk. You find stray egg shakers and drum sticks in the most random locations. You work strange hours and always take your Read More