Monthly Archives: April 2012

Food

Trattoria Marcella

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Always a good idea.  Trattoria Marcella is one of our favorite restaurants in St Louis.  It’s just delicious Italian food.

I went the other night with my friends Vanessa and Carrie.  We split some appetizers.

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Mushrooms with Polenta Fries…so wonderful!

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Toasted Ravioli.  This is a St Louis specialty, like Gooey Butter Cake or Budweiser. 

Then I had the Brussels Sprouts Salad and a delicious Macaroni special that had carbonara sauce.  It contains egg so it’s very healthy.

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I needed some time alone with the food.  Luckily I didn’t eat it all, but still…there’s the real answer as to why I’ve gained a couple pounds this month.  Well, one of the reasons.

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Vanessa got the lasagna.  It’s a small portion…

It was a fantastic meal! 

Last night Chris and I went out for dinner.  We originally wanted to go to Frazer’s, but didn’t realize that it was closed.  We were planning to meet friends at 33 afterwards (which ended up being closed…I guess we’ve forgotten that stuff is closed on Sundays?) so we went to Square One.  Chris had been there a week or so ago and had some beer cocktail that he had become obsessed with—and then went again and the bartender had no knowledge of it and he was really disappointed.  Last night he was able to get it again.

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I told him to look as happy as he felt, but it took awhile to coax this much out of him.

Oh, and here’s another reason I’m fat.

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Shrimp and Grits.  SO GOOD.

I need to start writing my food down again.  But I’m having a lot of fun at least!  I just need to remember that I can have fun going out with friends and still manage to eat relatively healthily.  I can I can!

Oh, and I still feel really awful.  Worse than this morning, probably.  The headache is still present, the sore throat too, but now I’m starting to have some pretty bad congestion.  Progress, I think!  My eyes are puffy and swollen and I’m exhausted.  I’ve caught up on a fair amount of television though :)  And look at me, two blog posts in one day!  Page views will skyrocket!!

Food, Hope, Weight

Willpower and Self Control

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Guess what happens when you go from working out 6 to 9 hours a week to working out 1 to 3 hours a week, and instead of compensating by eating less or BETTER, you eat a little more and WORSE.  Yup.  Up 3 pounds in three weeks. 

This can be remedied.  I do have willpower and self control. I have just been giving myself permission to eat junk rather than eating healthy.  I’ve been telling myself that I’m having a rough month, I deserve it.  As Mike once said, we aren’t dogs.  We don’t need to reward ourselves with food. 

And honestly, gaining a few pounds certainly isn’t helping me feel any better.  I already feel bad enough that I can’t practice, that I can’t work out the way I want to, and what I really want is to LOSE pounds, not gain them.  So it’s adding insult to injury.  It might just be a scale blip though.  This can go away quickly—I ate out too much the past few days and I’m sure it’s mainly just from that.  A few days of good clean eating will make it go away.

I do have willpower and self control.  I would just rather be working out 6 to 9 hours a week.  Makes it easier.

And now I am also sick.  I had a sore throat last night and slept terribly because it hurt so much.  It’s a little better today but is now accompanied by a (sinus) headache.  Ugh.  I am going to teach a few classes and then coming home to lie on the couch and watch television the rest of the day. 

Every day is a new day, with new decisions and choices.  Then again…the cold medicine is making me blurry…I’ll probably end up getting Pho for dinner 🙂

Weddings

Happy Anniversary Will and Kate

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A friend reminded me that today is Will and Kate’s wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary to them!  I only mention this as an excuse to post these pictures again…

First, Kate.

Now…

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In the second picture, we did not want to deal with buttoning the back up all the way.  Plus the replica dress itched—perhaps the material was not quite as nice as that which Kate’s was made of?

Since I’m looking in my wedding dress album on my computer, let’s stroll down memory lane, shall we?  (I am not waiting for you to agree.) I have especially fond memories of my ridiculous tan lines (this was July) which I worked so hard to get rid of…and have already somewhat returned after running outside just a few times.  I tan too easily.  But I never showed you the pictures of me trying MY dress on in the store!

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Here’s me trying it on for the first time.  I remember I was looking in the mirror thinking, hmm…this could be it.  I’m not generally an over the top, bursting into tears sort of person.  But I remember I was, perhaps for the first time, picturing Chris seeing me walking down the aisle, and I felt my cold black heart starting to melt…

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We tried it with the veil just to see.  Until that point I hadn’t even THOUGHT about a veil—

Anyway, then we tried on some other dresses.  And then we came back to it, but thought, oh let’s put my hair up.

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And with the hair flower that comes with the dress.  That smile is me kind of loving it.

I wanted to buy the dress right away (When I see something I want, I don’t like to wait—I wanted to buy it and be DONE shopping) but we had an appointment at another salon so we figured we’d try on more dresses, then I could decide.  I tried on some nice dresses but nothing I loved—I got home, called Clarice’s, ordered the dress, and never looked back.  I’m kind of an impulse shopper who doesn’t have regrets in that sense—when I decide what I want, I want it right away, and I rarely regret my decision. 

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I think I made the right choice!

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(Because my wedding wasn’t JUST about me and my dress.  Oh, and I ate the rest of the wedding cake last night.  I realized all that was left was icing.  I didn’t feel very good after that, because it really needed cake to balance it out, but I was in a dessert mood and dammit, that was our cake!)

Deep Thoughts

If at first you don’t succeed…

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My sister sent me this the other week.  Oh, and sorry, Leslie, I realized this week has gone by and I haven’t called you back.  Maybe today!

But really, we’re talking life and death, and you try ONE time to get out of the freezing water, Mr. DiCaprio?  When I was younger, my cousins and I used to spend many an afternoon playing in my grandparent’s pond.  They had this large intertube, and we spent HOURS trying to get four of us (Nathan, Nick, said sister Leslie, and myself) all in the one intertube without flipping.  It was a delicate procedure, involving lining up just right and precise timing.  Nonetheless, when I watched Titanic the other week with Leslie, we realized that getting on that door was something that we had trained for our entire childhood.

That and the Amazing Race, which we should still totally do someday.  Between my iron stomach and our impressive physical stamina (plus, as super hot sisters we’d totally be fan favorites) we would be unstoppable.  We also are excellent with directions, making fools of ourself, and are really good at having horrific fights and then four minutes later acting like absolutely nothing has happened.  You know, typical sibling stuff, right?

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Remnants of the wedding cake…iPhone photo.  You can see the design still!  (I can see your house from up here!)

Oh, and yesterday afternoon I got retweeted by “Talk of the Nation.”  It was one of the highlights of my day!

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If I recall, Neal was talking about baseball and just seemed really…EAGER.  I was delighted.

(That and an amazing dinner at Trattoria Marcella that I may blog about later, I LOVE that restaurant.  If it weren’t for dinner last night I totally would have had an excellent low carb diet day and might not have gained five pounds overnight.  Oh well.) Edited to correct the tenses since I wrote the post Thursday night for publishing on Friday.  I’m so tired.

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We miss you @duckierose!  Hope your trip is going well.  Get back to the states soon to entertain us with your highly inappropriate jokes, tweets, blog entries, emails, you name it!

Concert tonight:  Friday, 8 pm, Tavern of Fine Arts.  It’s a repeat of the other week’s Chamber Project St Louis concert, so if you missed it, you should come see it tonight!  I think I’m going to wear the polka dot dress again—I wanted to wear it the other week but it was too cold.

I leave you with this as part of my “Kids say the darnedest things feature”:

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(Yes, Vanessa is Canadian, why do you ask?)

Random thoughts

Titanic Gatos

I realized I’d been so caught up in talking about myself and sharing my life and oatmeal with you, I haven’t done one of my favorite blog features in awhile:  Search terms used to find my blog!

 

funny people in pain  I am quite funny, but my shoulder pain is real.  Glad somebody thought of me.

titanic lolcat I don’t know if they wanted a lolcat with the Titanic, or a really fat lolcat and were using Titanic that way.  We’ll assume they wanted this picture though.

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brooks pure cadence w With WHAT?  I’m in suspense…

epic failed In a way, the author of this search term found it already.  It’s epic fail, not failed.

i hate my trainer We’ve been over this before.  Though honestly, I barely see him anymore.  We’re only doing one workout a week, lower body, because of my injury.  I feel my muscles atrophying…

addicted to advil I just might be.

how to own an orchestra audition If I knew this, I’d have an orchestra job.  Sorry.  Probably those people are practicing, not blogging, and definitely also NOT searching the internet for answers.  Go practice.

dome home This delights me.

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fitting room baby Is this a baby found in a fitting room?  Or born there?

marathon runner using the bathroom No, I don’t have a picture of that.  And you don’t want that anyway.  Use your words properly people.  I know you want that picture of the lady who pooped herself.  Not somebody using the bathroom, that’s entirely different.

taco bell giant Similar to the Jolly Green Giant, once a nickname in high school, this is my preferred nickname.

google ocarina of time "cheating" Just because you put "cheating" in "quotations" doesn’t mean your little google search isn’t "cheating."

titanic gatos  Love this.

he made me do it Did he say it was because he loves you?  Newsflash:  men lie.  Don’t do it.

people will never be happy Sigh.  SO true.  We just keep trying and failing.  Epic failed.

hannah violin twitter Why not just search twitter directly?  People wonder how I am so good with finding things on the internet.  Only in relationship to everyone else, who is so bad at it.

violin pancakes  I want some of these!  If you found something, let me know.

lululemon capris  I tried some on once.  Jen can attest to the fact that I nearly had a panic attack in lululemon.  I don’t care for koolaid.

hannah and the violin  This will be my band name, well, Hannah and the violins..

cowbell solo orchestra audition I would OWN that audition.

taco bell fitness course Vanessa and I need to return, it’s been months!  I love that other people know the course as such.

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harrison ford six pack

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Looking good here…and my original point was actually that Indiana didn’t need a six pack to look incredibly awesome.

Anyway, there you have it.  Recycled blog content yes, but I didn’t include any links.  I’m just that lazy ;) 

Food

Frozen Wedding Cake

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For the record, the wedding cake was still good.  We’ve got the top tier left to tear up on January 2.  Are you supposed to eat the whole thing at once?  It’s a pretty rich cake…

My mother has a great love of freezing things and I occasionally have the same problem.  Not QUITE as bad, as she is the sort to take food out of your mouth and freeze it (only a slight exaggeration, I have a definition recollection of her freezing my birthday cake one year before I even had a second piece), but I do enjoy baking stuff, baking extra stuff, and sticking it in the freezer.  I’m also a big fan of frozen berries (well, thawed frozen berries) and of course there is chicken and beef and fish in the freezer. 

(I think my freezer one year in grad school resembled this, minus the food.)

The problem is the freezer was getting too full.  I had about five tins of cookies, the cake, the other cake, plus the ordinary stuff in the freezer.  So I had to start clearing it out.  This unfortunately makes my food diary look…well…less clean.  I have been trying to counteract by primarily eating only protein and veggies otherwise, but I find the real trick is seeing Mike only once a week and "forgetting" my diary.  (Yes, I did that the other week.  I’m not even sure why.)

Perhaps I need a cow suit like this?

Anyway, I’m getting used to teaching the classes.  I don’t like classes still, but knowing that a whole week is behind me, plus there is a finite end in sight already.  The kids are annoyed that I don’t know all their names yet, and I feel bad about that, but goodness, I’ve only seen them each twice.  And honestly I’m just bad with names…I suppose I should learn to deal with that problem, but how often does one need to learn about 50 to 60 names all at once?

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Aren’t I good at "photoshop?"

Happy Tuesday everybody!