Julie Chen Photography

Yesterday I had the total joy of taking My Favorite Little Mister on a date to the Symphony Center in Chicago {across from the Art Institute} to watch the Chicago Civic Orchestra rehearse Strauss’ Don Quixote’s Symphony with Yo-Yo Ma for an upcoming show that *I think* we actually have tickets to see coming up in April! We had the best day together and it was so fun to watch him take it all in.

My Favorite LIttle Mister starting taking cello last year and let’s just say he is PASSIONATE about music. I am a firm believer in inspiring your kids’ interests, whatever they may be, so when his cello teacher {who is in the circle, bottom left photo laying on stage with Yo-Yo Ma & my son is pictured with other cello students for a very quick group photo} told us we could come to a working rehearsal, I jumped at the chance. {We have also taken our son to The Piano Guys in concert … it is his dream to BE a Piano Guy, as well as taking him all the way to North Carolina to meet famous botanist & author Larry Mellichamp who wrote Bizarre Botanicals … 2 years ago my son was obsessed with botany. He is the most interesting kid I know.}

Anyways, he had no clue who Yo-Yo Ma even was, so we watched some Youtube videos before going. The hall itself is AMAZINGLY beautiful. I had never been before. There were probably only about 35 people in the entire audience. Initially we made our way to the first balcony, as I love looking down on the full orchestra to see all of the musicians. The doors to the box seats were unlocked, so we took our seats & pretended we were a king & queen. About 10 minutes later we got kicked out & had to come to the main floor {it was fun while it lasted!}

It was fascinating watching an orchestra practice! I loved it as the conductor was so informative & full of life. The first thing he did was to actually step down to see how long they could play without him, cuz “who really needs a conductor anyways?” They obviously knew their music well, so the bulk of the practice was the conductor stopping at different movements & talking about the story of Don Quixote & emphasizing the story to relay how the music during that movement should reflect the power of the story {whether it be war, craziness, sorrow, hope…} It was really amazing, especially for me who is NOT musical at all & when I go to symphonies, I do not usually understand what is really going on, so for him to literally walk us through it was really moving. And, he really pushed the musicians.

The other obviously AMAZING thing was being 4 rows away from Yo-Yo Ma and watching him play his solo pieces from memory. OH MY GOODNESS. His passion is remarkable, and can I just say that he was a really down to earth, humble, and fun-loving guy?! My son was shy to meet him, but I sort of pushed him up there & he got to shake his hand! Ahhhh!

It is my hope in life that my children follow their hearts, shine their lights & dream BIG. That I allow them to blossom into who God has created them to be & that I get the privilege of inspiring them along the way!

Grace & Peace,

Julie

p.s. Sorry about the horrible photos. Cameras were not allowed in & these were taken with my hubby’s iphone, which I am not used to at all!

p.p.s. I cannot believe I forgot to write this, but when we got home from our date, Sunshine Girl greeted us & in a gangsta voice said, “Did you get to meet Yo-Yo Ma-Ma?!!!” It was too funny!

Yesterday it was another “warm” & gorgeous 30 degree winter day, so we trekked on over to one of our favorite places in the area: The Morton Arboretum to see the husky dog demonstrations. 

My kids were beyond giddy … especially one smitten 6 year old little girl who sleeps with “Highland Husky” {her stuffed husky dog} almost every night. She now wants a team of her own.

We tracked down the blue-eyed/brown-eyed Husky & Sunshine Girl loved getting some love from the dogs. We also watched a really interesting presentation on the Iditarod Race in Alaska. If you do not know the history of the race, look it up! It’s really fascinating. Our presenter’s dog has participated in the race several times.

At the end of her presentation, she said her friends in Alaska are mad as it was 50 degrees there last week! As for today, well… it’s about 20 below here in Illinois & no school today or tomorrow! Yahoo!!! I love when they are home. We baked cookies, read, snuggled, worked some more on our dog puzzle & tonight we will watch some Husky-themed Iditarod movie!

Stay warm & take a hike!

Grace & Peace,

Julie