I started this new year in a slightly different fashion to normal. Unfortunately I had a nasty bout of food poisoning that kicked in on new years eve and laid me low for all of new years day (aka as my birthday) which was pretty miserable.
It's a funny time of year at the best of times. The evaluating of the previous year and the hopes and aspirations for the following one. The mixture of the hype of NYE plus birthdays is a potent mix so perhaps spending the 1st of January feeling a bit sorry for myself on the sofa wasn't such a bad thing.
January tends to be a quiet month for many musicians. I've got some nice bits and pieces to keep me going but am looking forward to getting on with things that the last few months of touring have prevented me from doing. The tail end of last year was incredibly full on, lots of great concerts, tours plus writing a couple of things, a chapter for a book and a paper for a journal. So it felt that I hardly had any time at all!
A lot of that pressure is off for a while so I'm beginning to remember all the other bits and pieces that I'd been meaning to do. Blogging is one thing, updating my website another. Preparing for the "physical" release of the Gallay Caprices disc (only available "virtually" up until now). Last year my house was rearranged a bit so that my husband and I could each have a room to work in - so I'm now up in the attic (being a fair bit shorter than my husband this suits me perfectly whilst it would have been impossible for him). This is proving a wonderful move, it makes an excellent practice room and it's great to have the time to prepare for performing the Gallay Caprices this coming week.