Since I’m a little tired (it is Friday, after all) I’ve decided just to share some searches people used to find my blog.  I know I’ve done this before.  I’m amused by it every time though.

cat ring bearer:  This concerns me if it’s a serious search.  Hopefully it wasn’t, but considering how many people I know that have used their dogs in their ceremonies, I’m guessing that the cat search was for real.  My recommendation is to not use you cat as a ring bearer, nor should you hire one.

work out stuff:  This is super specific.  I think the reason most people have trouble on the internet is they don’t know how to search properly.  It’s like searching for "food recipes" when you are hungry.

teaching cow images:  Is this about a cow who teaches or how to teach a cow?  Or what? 

(I found this on the internet)

sweat zits:  These are no fun.  When I was younger I thought in my 20’s I would stop breaking out.  I now know that will never happen.

dripping sweat women:  This is mainly what my blog is about, so I’m happy somebody found it!

creepy haircuts: I guess my haircut is a little weird?

epic failed de la planet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1:  No explanation needed.

hate ur trainer:  I get this kind of search a lot.  I don’t hate my trainer.  I really love working out with him.

wrong to objectify men:  Okay, but if it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.  Let’s just not do any objectifying of women, though.  That is really wrong.

what to wear to a orchestra concert:  I would wear whatever you might wear to a nice dinner or night on the town.  You don’t have to dress up super fancy, but you can also.  Sometimes I wear jeans and a nice top, other times I wear a dress.

harrison ford chest hannah violin:  I love this combination….

sweaty tight shorts:  Obviously they wanted to see my 80s 5k picture.

why do my arms look fat in photos:  Probably too much watermelon.

big bruise on knees from burpees: I guess this doesn’t just happen to me or else somebody wouldn’t have been searching for it?  Right?

strong bad cow lamp:  Thanks for breaking my cow lamp!

So how did you find my blog?  What brought you here?  Do you wish you hadn’t wasted three minutes reading this?

A few weeks ago I blogged about how Mike made fun of me for wearing higher cut white socks to the gym.  He mocked me for an entire hour, and then since then has mocked me again for it on more than one occasion.  I decided to retaliate today, and wore these socks.

I thought they were pretty awesome and that he would think so to, but I was mistaken.  He hated them more, more, he said, than the white socks. (Also pictured, Brooks Pure Cadence shoes, which now come in more colors, and I wish I had them in more colors, so if you want me to pretend to be your best friend, I’m a size 10, pink or purple please!)

So I’ve decided that my trainer is an idiot and has no idea what awesome is.  He may be more upset next time, because I plan to wear knee socks with ninjas on them.  (Yes, of course I’ll share a picture).  In fact, I may continue wearing knee socks every time I see him.  I actually really love knee socks, and they are similar to wearing compression socks, which you all know I love.  Other advantage:  could stop shaving calves forever.

(And, while my husband doesn’t much care for the compression socks, he does like a nice pair of fun knee socks.  He also likes when I shave my calves though.  Dilemma.)

(All of these sock ideas are inspired by Rose, thank you!)

Last week was my first week back to school.  People get confused sometimes when I say I teach at a school.  To clarify:  it’s a music school, not a full day school.  We offer private lessons, group and studio classes, theory classes, and have lots of recitals and performance opportunities.  It’s a great place to teach, and we started back last week.

People always ask how many students I have.  Honestly, I never really know.  It’s probably about 25 to 30, but I’d have to really sit down and count.  And then by the time I finished counting I probably would have either gotten a new student or one would have dropped, and then I’d probably mess up and have to start all over.  I teach five days a week, though I’m thinking about cutting back to four days to give myself more time to gig…but I’m not turning much down.  We’ll see how this year goes. 

I had two weddings yesterday.  As I was driving to the first church, I realized I had played there before.  I guess that means I’ve been living here for awhile—I’m getting to the point where I know the various venues and really starting to know my way around town.  Here’s a picture from inside the first church:

The second gig was at the Randall Art Gallery, which is a pretty cool venue.  I briefly looked into it for our wedding, actually.  We were playing right near the cakes, so I made this fancy instagram collage.

The white ended up being a bit washed out, but I had to take these pictures, collage them, and instagram them, all during the ceremony—I did it after we finished the processional and before the recessional.  (Yes, we were in the back!)

Last night we went with Melissa and Steve to the Shaved Duck.  They hadn’t been so we had been trying to come up with a good time to go for awhile.  We had to wait awhile for our table, but it was pleasant outside and well worth the wait.  We also ran into an adult student of mine and his wife (St Louis is a great example of the song "It’s a Small World After All").  We had the nerdiest conversation I’d been part of in awhile.  Topics included:  World of Warcraft, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Rule 43 and Godwin’s Rule, various youtube videos, and then a long time spent talking about our cats and their strange behaviors.  I love hanging out with those guys!

I’m about to go for a run, and then later today my friend Vanessa and her fiancé Russell are coming to town and staying with us tonight.  I haven’t seen her since early July, so I’m really looking forward to it!  I’m sure since they are engaged now they’ll be acting more smug and whatnot like most people do 🙂

First off, if you haven’t entered my giveaway to win a free copy of Running of the Bride, you should!  You can have up to three chances to win, and each requires a new comment, just fyi.

Oh crap, that’s already one thing.  Is this the right blog meme?  I think I’ve used these things incorrectly in the past.  Quickly!  I’d better post a cat picture!

Okay, WHEW, got that out of the way.

Second thing:  Body image.  Who has body image problems?  I was invited by my (favorite) photographer Sarah Crowder to participate in a photo shoot yesterday for a magazine article about the upcoming Mo Cowbell Half Marathon.  I was happy to do it, and excited to participate.  But then I got there, and naturally the other girls were like six inches shorter and way skinnier, and I felt super awkward and uncomfortable.  In fact the guys, except one, were also shorter and skinnier.  I don’t know why I let that sort of thing bother me, but I did.  Plus I figured everybody else was a faster and better runner, so it wasn’t just body image, it was feeling inadequate as a runner.  Ugh.  I hate feeling like that.  And it was still fun, but I just felt out of my league.  Hopefully some of my shots turned out okay…I know that Sarah will have done a great job.  I guess I’m also really hoping to be in the magazine (that would be SO cool) but worried that the others were more photogenic and well…thinner.  Ugh.

I may not be America’s Next Top Model.

Third thing:  Music. When I’m driving, I often like to listen to NPR but lately I just can’t take it anymore (politics).  When that happens I switch to a CD (yeah, my car is old school with the CD’s…).  I usually listen to the same CD over and over for weeks.  I just moved on from a few weeks of Vadim Repim playing the Prokofiev Sonatas to a recording of David Oistrakh playing both Prokofiev Concertos.  But yesterday I was SO angry and impatient with everything, and then I was the same in the car this morning, and it occurred to me that the music I was listening to might be making me angry.  I switched to the Brahms Sonatas with Henryk Szeryng, and as the G Major Sonata started…those first few piano chords…I felt a huge sense of relief, and I physically got chills all over, started shaking a little, and started crying.  I stopped myself because I was in the parking lot at the gym and I didn’t want to go inside all teary and look like a lame loser.  (Alliteration, good for writing.)  But…it’s times like that that I remember why it is I do what I do, and how important music truly is to me.  Sometimes I choose music based on my mood, but other times music sets my mood.  Or maybe that tells you that I am an incredibly moody person.

Boulder, Colorado

Do you ever get earworms?  You know, when a tune is stuck in your head and you can’t get rid of it.  Well, I need help.  I have the music from Lord of the Rings in my head.  Most specifically the "Fellowship" Theme, but occasionally the theme from Rohan and other parts too.  Basically at any time I might start singing the music, and I think Chris is about ready to kill me.  It’s definitely been over a year since this has been a problem.  I thought it might go away, but it hasn’t.  HELP!

I’m on a break from unpacking.  I spent most of the afternoon trying to fit as many books as possible onto a small bookcase.  The trick is to make more than one stack, and to turn them sideways rather than up and down. 

From last night.  We made pasta with something called "turkey bratwurst" that I bought at the store.  It was pretty good, and I figured it was (probably) healthier than using "italian sausage." 

I got my bridesmaid dress for Leslie’s wedding yesterday.  Well, I’d gotten it before, but now I own it in a size that actually flatters me.  I had Chris take some pictures of me to send her, and I was DELIGHTED that one of the pictures from the back showed some awesome back muscle definition.  I would totally share it but I can’t do that because I’m wearing the bridesmaid dress in it.  Maybe I’ll try to recreate the pose later and show you all. (In your face, JEN!)