I went over 9 months I think, without having a serious cold. I had a few “under the weather” days and a couple minor stomach bugs, but I’m well into day two (or three) of a nasty cold, and I feel pretty generally lousy all over. I turned today into a “sick day” (I was bummed to miss a really cool violin teaching workshop and quartet rehearsal, but I’m seriously weak and need to be surrounded by massive amounts of kleenex at all times…it’s just not a pretty sight.). Of course, tonight the show must go on, so three hours of Opera it will be. I’m also hoping to rally and attend Celebrate Fitness tomorrow morning, but that might be the sun outside making me entirely too optimistic. Fingers crossed though!

I’m taking some time on the couch here (imagine me with my laptop on my lap) working on a few teaching related things and just trying not to pass out from exhaustion. I might be being a little dramatic, but I’ll tell you: showering was difficult—I’d thought it might help clear out my head—and moving around at all just isn’t much fun. Woe is me, right?

My brain wants  all kinds of comfort foods, the sort of things I might eat when I’m sick. Mainly canned soup or cereal, neither of which I am “allowed” to have on my diet. Last night was a homemade chicken veggie soup which turned out surprisingly delicious, as best as my compromised taste buds can ascertain. Today I have had eggs for breakfast and that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far. I don’t have too much of an appetite anyway, though I’m sure I could murder a pint of ice cream…

(I ate about three bowls of that.)

I am in a slight panic  over my (ha, surprise) lack of training for the fairly upcoming Go Half Marathon. I plan to run nonetheless, and while I haven’t been running as much as I should be, I’ve been working out much more regularly, and I figure it’ll be cathartic nonetheless. I’m not going to worry about time at all, and just enjoy being out there. I still have a few more weeks and I’ll be able to get a few short and long runs (run/walks to be fair) in and I’ll be just fine. Dropping ten or more pounds will definitely help, and I just don’t care enough. I care about getting back in shape, I care about getting my work done, and I care about having fun running, but I don’t care about sticking to a training plan that I am just not able to fit into my life at this time. And the ice and snow we’ve gotten this winter has certainly been a deterrent. Either way I’m in, I’m doing it, and I’ll finish, and that will tell me that I am still here.

Quote from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (p. 649 in my edition):

Luna: That’s right, Harry…come on, think of something happy…”

Harry: “Something happy?”

Luna: “We’re all still here. We’re still fighting. Come on, now…”

I often think of that quote. For me it’s not fighting as in violence,  but fighting as in just keeping going, keeping moving, keeping pushing through. When things seem hopeless or out of control, I just tell myself, I’m still here, I’m still fighting.

(And that makes me want to read Harry Potter all over again. My students are often surprised to see the entire series on my bookshelf, but I can tell you I’ve read them all several times. It’s been awhile though and it might be fun to reread them. Then again, my stack of books to read, both actual and on my kindle, is getting pretty big, so maybe I should read a few of those first before starting on any repeat reading projects. )

I had a couple student cancellations today (this is what I get for attempting to schedule students on Saturdays, I think…not a regular thing for a reason) so I have a quick moment to blog. I have so many things going on: lucky for me it seems that late February is when the gigs really start picking up, so it’s a concert tomorrow afternoon, a ton of rehearsals for various things, and background music for a school fundraiser tonight. Whew!

But I promised you cats:

Regular readers will of course recognize my cat. Did you know her given name is Oistrakh? I’ve been calling her the fatness for a long time, but lately I’ve been trying Oyster, or Dr. Oysterman (seems more official, and respectful…technically the Fatness was short for Her Royal Fatness…so it’s all pretty respectful as you see.)

I texted this to my sister Leslie and her husband and they were shocked that I could have cords out around my cat. Theirs destroy cords.

This is a picture of both of their cats. Somehow. Albergo (black and white) and Catalunya (black.) Interesting fact: I have that same pillow with the camel on it.

My friend April sent me this one: it’s her parent’s cat enjoying a little car trip with the family. Sometimes I think that I should let the Fat Oyster come along on trips with me but then I remember the last few times she rode in the car and how she acted like I was obviously trying to kill her. (I’m sure she can read my thoughts as she just gave me a dirty look.)

If any readers want me to showcase their photos, send ‘em  on! I lost track of Caturday for awhile, but I’d like to bring it back as a more regular feature, so email me at hannahviolin at gmail dot com with pictures, comments, or whatever.

Fitness related:

1. Whole 30 Starts Monday…I bought avocados and sweet potatoes at the store today in addition to some other stuff. My freezer has some meat in it, fridge full of veggies and eggs, so I’m ready. I’m trying to eat up all my “non-compliant” food in the house. I’m worried this will affect my lunching abilities for the month, but we all have to make sacrifices, right?

2. I only made it to the gym once last week. I also went on a run and a long walk (it was going to be a run but there were extenuating circumstances.) I considered running this afternoon but today is the one day per month that I definitely allow myself not to do any workouts (don’t make me elaborate!) so tomorrow will be a workout/run day. I have a 6 miler on the schedule for half marathon training but with my current busy weekend schedule I’m looking at pushing that to Monday or Tuesday instead to have a little breathing room. (Or heavy breathing room.)

3. Leslie is coming to visit in late-March. This is good timing because it will be right after the Whole 30 concludes so we can eat normally together. I was looking at a race we could do together (it’s the weekend before the Go Half but I’m really not even worried about that—it’s simply my goal to finish and have fun, and feel good about what I’m doing for myself.) Anyway a little research and I found this race, which includes a COMMEMORATIVE HONDURAN COWBOY HAT. I’m hoping she’ll give it the go-ahead.

I just read this article–

Olympic Dreams? Bah, Humbug! Children, Here’s What Really Matters

and thought it was worth a read…(snippet) “They had a dream. They overcame great adversity. And now they may reap the ultimate reward — public glory!”

My mom read my blog the other day about the snow and sent a picture of their house.

It’s so pretty in the snow! Perhaps someday it will also be a museum.

So I’ve decided to do something pretty crazy for my diet. I’ve decided to do the Whole 30 Challenge starting on Sunday or Monday (google it if you like). Basically it’s a ridiculous elimination diet- no grains, sugar, legumes, or dairy for 30 days. Why? Well, I thought it would be a great personal challenge, first off. I also wanted to do something drastic to shake some bad food and drink habits that I’ve gotten myself into, and then lastly, I thought, well, honestly, I’ve always had some digestive issues with dairy. After the 30 days you are to gradually add things back in, and I’m guessing that having 30 days without dairy will open my eyes to some issues. I’ll let you guys know how it’s going. I expect to be fairly cranky, but I think I’ll manage well, and hopefully come out on the other end, stronger and lighter. I figure I can do anything for 30 days.

Diet is a weird thing, isn’t it? It seems like every week some study comes out contradicting a previous study on how to eat, and if you try to follow everything it will just drive you crazy. The best thing, I think, is to figure out what works best for you, to make you feel at your best while living a balanced life, not thinking about food all the time, and enjoying life to the fullest and healthiest. I honestly feel pretty healthy right now, and I eat a lot of vegetables generally, so I’m looking forward to the challenge, and wonder how it will affect me.

Without challenging ourselves, we don’t grow, do we?

I forgot how I feel when I’ve been lifting weights. Now, I’m not an expert, and likely I’m doing a lot of things wrong 😉 but I’ve been sore more often than not since I started hitting the gym again. Today I can barely lift my arms over my head—let me tell you, showering and drying my hair was FUN.

That all means of course, that I feel great. I love being a bit sore and feeling like I got a great workout in (some might argue you don’t have to be sore to do that, but it always makes us feel good about what we’ve done, doesn’t it?)…so I’m not complaining. I’m just saying.

I was a little late to the Olympics party. I was so busy with opera and being social over the weekend that I missed the first few days, but I’ve been playing a little catch up on figure skating, which I love, halfpipe, which I don’t care for plus what’s up with the outfits the US athletes are wearing??, and now some biathlon and luge while I wait for the start of my day. I’d been planning to practice violin, but it wasn’t urgent, and the whole “not being able to lift my arms without struggling” DOES put a damper on things. Why is fitness so hard!

Random thoughts:

Why does the news only cover the blizzard and whatever is happening in the south in as much as it affects Atlanta? Do they know there are other locations? I know that South Carolina isn’t the largest state, but they’ve also been getting tons of bad weather, as evidenced by texts from my dad and facebook updates from high school friends. Maybe I’m just watching/reading the wrong reports, or maybe if you don’t live in a big city you don’t matter at all, I’m just not sure. But there really is more to the south than Florida, Atlanta, and New Orleans. (Not MUCH more, but a little bit.)

This is the view from the porch at my parents’ house. Or was the other day. I haven’t gotten a more recent update so it’s likely the house is completely under snow.

We are supposed to get a few more inches tomorrow. It’s like that song, “I’m dreaming of a White Valentine’s Day.” (That sounds wrong on so many levels.)

A friend was making fun of me the other day for often having “lunch dates”. I was thinking about this, and it makes sense. Not that I don’t work, but that I often work during other “social” times, like happy hour (hahahaha to being free on weekday evenings between 5 and 7) and traditional weekend evenings…even when I might be free during those times, the (probably also a musician) friend I’d want to see would be busy!

So I do a lot of lunches with people. I usually don’t start working until the mid-afternoon unless I have a daytime rehearsal, so lunch is my favorite. Plus it gives me a reason to get up and get going on my day, rather than spending all morning in pajamas reading the news.

For instance, today I met my good friend Sarah the photographer at a neat little noodle place in the Loop, called Corner 17. They make their noodles fresh in house and the soup was delicious! No, I didn’t take a photo because I was too hungry. But before lunch I was up and at the gym working out, because I knew I had a lunch date and therefore needed to get it done first. (I’m getting back into twice weekly weight workouts, and I feel fantastic. By that I mean I can’t bend down or lift my arms.)

Recently I also went to Mai Lee for lunch with another friend.

Yummy pork chop plate. Well, don’t eat the plate, but do eat the stuff on top.

I think animals standing is always funny, isn’t it? She was very interested in something happening outside. Probably a squirrel, but I can’t say for sure.

Sausages at Volpi on the Hill.

And over the weekend…my view of the Winter Opera production of Falstaff. We have a weekend off before starting rehearsals for the next production, Lucia di Lammermoor. I’m surprised sometimes that many people haven’t even heard of Winter Opera—I’ve been concertmaster of the orchestra for about four seasons now, and the quality is just getting better. All of the operas are sung in the original language with subtitles when needed, and we do a great job on a small budget.

I have a couple of other random gigs happening this month too, and I’m working on getting to know my electric fiddle. (Pictures of me playing it need to happen soon, I know!)  This is kind of a “down” week, with just teaching, which is a welcome change to the hecticness of the past few weeks, so I’m trying to catch up on practicing and random stuff that I manage to get really behind on. (For as few hours as I work, I manage to get plenty behind…does anybody want to clean my house? That is really just because I hate housecleaning though, not for lack of time.)

Okay, that’s is. Brain dump of random info, and photo dump too. Obviously I’m not taking enough cat pictures, but I’ll try to do better. I need to get back on the Caturday house…perhaps this weekend!

Nothing.

Now I just have to figure out how the whole electric part of it works. It is a Bridge Aquila, and sounds like a muffled violin when you play it acoustically, which is all I’ve done so far. A friend is lending me a practice amp to try it out (if my neighbors don’t already love me, they will soon…I’m just kidding…) and I’m pumped. This is all new to me, but like I said. PURPLE VIOLIN.

Love the race bib for tomorrow! Wish me luck. It’s going to be cold and early (especially after an 8 pm opera that will likely last nearly three hours) but I’m looking forward to it. Plus, a new bridge! How cool is that?

I hear the Olympics are on. I find it difficult to watch the Winter Olympics! I love them, but it’s a busy time…how do people manage? The summer is so much easier! I love the figure skating though (of course…duh, who doesn’t)…when is that on? SOMEBODY TELL ME SO I DON’T HAVE TO GOOGLE IT.

Note to self: when you don’t go to the gym for months and then go for the first time and do a bunch of back squats because you miss them…you will be sore. Very sore. For several days.

Unrelated: I have been invited to my very first trivia night in St Louis. As far as I can tell, this is a huge local tradition for fundraisers. Anybody have any good “trivia night” advice?