Category Archives: Random thoughts

Random thoughts

Happy Birthday to Chris!

Happy Monday morning, readers! 

They are predicting 6 or more inches of snow later today.  Let’s hope I can get through my teaching day with no problems.  I wish I could take the day off to celebrate Chris’s birthday with him, but alas…

I am just pushing through the week until Friday when I take off for Phoenix.  Things are busy busy!

The weekend was great. 

Friday  night:

Chris and I had a fantastic dinner at 1111 Mississippi to celebrate his birthday.  We split the stuffed artichokes.  I had a watercress salad and the seafood alfredo and he had the bacon-wrapped pork.  We finished with the cheesecake.  It was all fantastic, plus I got to take pasta home for later.  Many of my friends insisted we would love 1111 and they were absolutely correct.  It was a great dinner! 

Saturday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=uB1wIfMCphc

Saturday started very early with an appearance on the Fox2 Morning Show as a guest with Chamber Project St. Louis.  If you missed my entry about that, go here.

In the afternoon I ran 8 miles…on the treadmill.  It was just so cold outside.  I had wanted to do another 10 mile run (did that last week) as it is the last weekend before my race, but I was just too exhausted.  Oh well.

Saturday night I played background music for a private dinner at the Wine Room in the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton as part of the Serenade Strings.

Sunday:

Sunday morning I had my first spinning class at the Center of Clayton.  It was great!  I can’t wait till my next one, unfortunately two weeks from now, but still.  The teacher was really energized and the other class members were very friendly.  I was dripping sweat and worked really hard.

In the afternoon I played again with Chamber Project St. Louis.  They had a short concert at the Siteman Cancer Center.  It was a nice crowd and a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

By Sunday night I really just wanted to rest, but I couldn’t pass up free tickets to Circus Flora and SLSO’s partnership show, “The Floating Palace.”  The orchestra played music of Bizet, Copland, Ibert, and more, and the circus juggled, tumbled, hula hooped, climbed ropes, and as a finale, the “Flying Wallendas” did a spectacular tight-rope routine.  Wow!  I hope they continue to work together in the future.  There is nothing like live music for a show like that!

Upcoming week’s highlights:

Chris’s Birthday

Trip to Phoenix, visit Leslie and Sarah, run Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Keep reading War and Peace. (should make EXCELLENT headway during travels).

Let’s see how today’s weather goes!  Lots of teaching to do before dinner tonight.

Random thoughts, Running, Teaching

Stress and a little rant

Today’s topic idea:  “Are you stressed out?”

Answer:  Of course!  I’m way too high strung to not be stressed out.  I set my standards for myself very high and constantly berate myself for not meeting them.  Of COURSE I’m stressed out—that’s why I constantly chew on my fingers and fingernails.  Duh.  *kicks blog impatiently*

Unrelated jump to teaching:

My students at Child of God School were great today.  I am very pleased with my new class arrangements (completely by grades, not level) as the behavior was better.  I have totally spoiled them however, as they were begging today “when is the next party?  can we play a game?”  Today was review day, since FEW had practiced over break.

Got a 4 mile run in this afternoon.  It’s not that cold outside, but my ear headband thingy kept slipping and my ears kept getting cold.  Boo.  Also I stepped in a pile of mud.  I should really just run inside.

Now I’m off to the Ballet School to teach my four students there.

Other random thought:  I was surfing the web (yes, I am old to use that term) and ran across a quiz called “how bad is your diet?”  The quiz intrigued me since it assumed my diet was bad (I think it’s actually pretty good, since I lost 35 pounds on it and now have maintained for months…).  The questions had to do with chocolate, caffeine, and artificial sweeteners.  Now, I’m not a diet expert.  But—what I needed in my diet when Joe changed it was more fruits/veggies and more lean protein.  What was the key for me was thinking of food as something GOOD for you.  Food gives you energy to live.  Versus, trying NOT to eat certain things, or eating dark chocolate because it’s “good for you” and using that as an excuse to be 100 pounds overweight.  Seriously.  More vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, cut out the junk.  Oh, and portion sizes.  I consider vegetables to be an unlimited portion, just fyi—as much as you want.  (I will stick to my old “nobody gets fat from eating too many fruits or vegetables”).  And guess what people:  every meal doesn’t need dessert, and if you want to lose weight, you’ll probably need to go to bed hungry on occasion.  And I probably should drink less coffee, but seriously, I’m not a saint. Okay, rant over.

HBBC:  January 5: 4 miles: 4 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 5 points, January 6: o points, January 7: 1.3 miles: 1.3 points, workout with Mike: 4 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 6.3 points

Random thoughts

4 to 10 more weeks of winter

2 Comments

Tonight is the last Sunday night before “school starts back.”  It’s the last day of Christmas vacation.

Christmas vacation is so hyped up, so exciting.  Ever since I was a young child, I absolutely loved Christmas vacation, I counted down, I became giddy with excitement.  I’m sure I’m not alone, but Christmas vacation may possible have been the greatest thing in my life.

Therefore, the last night of it is very depressing.  Not crying on the floor unable to move depressing, but nonetheless a bit sad.  No matter how the actual vacation was, the build up was certainly exciting, and now there is almost an entire year until the fun begins again.  (And yes, I will insist upon waiting for Thanksgiving to pass before beginning to celebrate the Christmas season next year…I refuse to start on Labor Day).

Now all we have to look forward to is a few months of dreary weather.  In Cleveland this could go on for up to five more months—in St. Louis probably only three, but still…what is there to look forward to now?  I think that’s why so many people make New Year’s resolutions.  Resolutions give us something to focus on, something to be excited about.  Many people focus on living in the now and enjoying “the moment.”

It might be better if Christmas (or winter break, if you don’t celebrate) took place more towards the end of January.  That’s when we need it!  Frankly, the end of November is interesting enough in the US with Thanksgiving—we don’t need another major holiday in a month, especially a holiday that is followed one week later by yet another holiday! We need to spread these things out.  February has Valentine’s, but that’s not a really fun holiday after grade school (too much pressure), then there’s St. Patrick’s…boring…Easter is a good one, but doesn’t always mean much more than a long weekend.  There’s Memorial Day, and then summer– when most people get at least a bit of vacation (us school people quite a bit more, but it seems that most of my friends take time then for some sort of vacation), so that’s covered, then Labor Day, Halloween…and so on.

But that’s how it is calendar wise, and I should just accept it.  My issue really is that it’s over now.  I don’t WANT to return to work.  I would prefer to keep sleeping in, enjoying my flannel sheets, and being generally lazy watching bad 80’s movies on ABC Family.

Oh, well.  That’s life!  I’d rather return to work than be back in middle school again.  I’ll keep that thought in mind to prop up my spirits.  Tomorrow I have 6 or 7 private students.  At least I’m starting slow!

 

Side note:  I wasn’t happy with my new theme, so I’ve chosen a different one.  I’ll be messing around with it a little bit, but I hope you’ll like it.  I especially like how the front page shows several recent posts instead of one at a time.

Random thoughts

Happy New Year Friends! #reverb10

Prompt: Core story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.)

reverb10.com

My central story:  I am an optimist.  I enjoy life.  I laugh.  I overanalyze things.  I’m full of contradictions.  I need to be more comfortable with new things.  My appearance is important to me, as is my health.  I write better when I take more time, but I hate revising.

A thread I may not have noticed until today? I don’t think there is anything I’ve really missed…I am not so different than other people? (If you have thoughts, please comment!)

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this month of reverb10…I know I did.  The project pushed me to make my blog, and perhaps myself, into something a bit more than it was, though it made my blog seem a bit disjointed.  I guess my blog is going through some growing pains.

I look forward to a fantastic 2011!  If I’ve gained any new readers, I hope you stick around Smile  If not, well, thanks anyway!

Happy New Year to you all!  2010 was much better than 2009 for me, and I hope 2011 is even better.  I hope the same for you all.

Random thoughts

A Healthy Lifestyle #reverb10

Prompt: Defining moment. Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

reverb10.com

(december 29, almost caught up!)

I’m definitely seeing a theme of my year.

Defining moment or series of events:  well, that’s EASY.  Joined the gym, met Joe, signed up for a year of personal training with him.  Couldn’t have changed my life more completely!

And yes, I’m still the same person I was before, I just am more committed to a “healthy lifestyle.”  I still love to read, listen to NPR, play the violin, etc.

When I started training with Mike, in our initial interview he asked me “How long have you been committed to a healthy lifestyle?”  I thought that was funny, because until that moment I didn’t realize I was.  Last night I was invited to a good friend’s house for wine.  I asked if I could bring anything—she suggested I bring a snack.  I brought carrot sticks and hummus…and we ate all the carrot sticks!

And I’m skipping December 28th’s post because it is too similar to my New Year’s resolution post I’ve been working on for awhile Smile

(fyi december 28th prompt—in case you want to try it yourself–

Prompt: Achieve. What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.)

HBBC: December 25: 7 f/v: 1 point, December 26: 0 points, December 27: 7 f/v: 1 point, December 28: 0 points, December 29: 1 mile walk: 1 point, workout with mike: 4 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 6 points, December 30: 4 mile run: 4 points, workout with mike: 4 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 9 points