I never told you guys about the photo shoot I did the other week for Chamber Project St Louis.  I needed to get a good headshot that will be going on their website for the upcoming season.  Brandon Krepel was the photographer and he was a lot of fun to work with, plus the photos look great. 

The founding members had done their photo shoots a few summers ago, and we wanted ours (my friend and colleague Valentina was there also) to be in a similar style and background.  The previous ones had been in front of a brick wall, so we met in the Demun neighborhood where there was a lovely brick wall on the side of a building.  So there we are, out on the street on a Sunday afternoon with violins and cellos, and a photographer and his wife holding the white light thingy they always hold up—people walking by must have thought we were either famous or crazy!

Looking fierce, right?

Photo shoots are funny.  Or at least Brandon was.  Or I just never take anything seriously.

This was both Chris and Brandon’s favorite.

This is my favorite, and the one I chose for the website.  Brandon is going to fix it up a bit and make me look younger (or something.)  Anyway, all photos in this post are from Brandon Krepel Photography in case you didn’t figure that out already.

Famous, right?

After my oatmeal post the other night, I received this delightful picture in my email inbox the following morning.

I have learned that passive aggressive blogging is truly the way to get your friends to do stuff for you.

This morning we learned that the best part of living in St Louis is that your friends sometimes just realize they are driving through on their way somewhere else (i.e. from the East Coast to Colorado) and think to themselves, I wonder if Hannah and Chris are free.  The answer, for our old friend Jeff P (friend of ours from college), of course we are!  We got to have brunch with him and then he was on his way, but promised to come back in July and stay a few days.  The best part of seeing old friends (aside from feeling young again) is when it feels like no time has passed.  We were making inside jokes and talking about Mahler symphonies as if we were still in Cleveland together.  (I still remember when Jeff was concerned that I was dating Chris, because he thought he was kind of a jerk.  Then he got to know him better and they ended up being best friends.)

I didn’t take a picture of Jeff, but did take a picture of my breakfast burrito.  I only managed to eat half of this because it was huge.

So sue me.  It’s been awhile.  I’m still waiting on the darned oatmeal logo.  (Yes, I know that life gets in the way of my blog, and I haven’t reminded my friend in awhile, but GOSH darn it, I thought the world revolved around me.  I presume she was busy adding french words to cat pictures.)

(me) (the world is slightly outside of the frame, revolving)

Okay, so you may be asking, is Hannah still eating oatmeal?  Yes, of course.  Every day?  For the most part.  Occasionally I have had a protein smoothie (water and fruit, I would take the powder dry but I am at least a woman already), or a few eggs.  And then sometimes I make oatmeal on the stovetop rather than overnight, but that is usually when I go to bed really late, that is, get home really late, and just can’t be bothered.  I’ve also tried the whole “30 minute oats” soak, but that’s just not as good.

Just to be clear:  I haven’t had a bowl of cereal since mid-February.  Do I miss it?  You know what.  Not really.  As delicious as it was, it always left that funny taste in my mouth that I just wasn’t comfortable with until I brushed my teeth.  (No giggling, please, or that’s what she said jokes.)  Oatmeal doesn’t do that.  I’m guessing it was the sugar…or the poison!

Now, I should also let the occasional reader know:  if you go back and read my last oatmeal post from about a month ago, I talked about wanting to fit into my shorts.  Yeah.  So about that.  I’ve embraced the skirts that I own.  But I feel that the past two or three days (well, after I finish the pie from the barbecue on Sunday, wait, what?) have been better.  And I am back into heavy duty running and working out and such, and I’m trying to commit myself to committing to a better diet with less junk.  But at least none of that junk is cereal.  As much trouble as I have with my meals during the day, my breakfast has been right on track.

Before I start telling you about some of my breakfasts, here’s a video Vanessa put on my facebook page.

Yes.

I hope Vanessa wasn’t calling me a pig.  That would be hurtful.

Okay, here’s what you’ve been waiting for.  A bunch of oatmeal pictures.  Remember, I always use a scoop of protein powder and a 1/2 cup of oatmeal.  The rest is guessing and eyeballing.

Chocolate protein powder, oatmeal, milk, blueberries.

You can always tell the days I figure I’ll just use water.  Never nearly as good in flavor OR texture.  Plus I tend to add too much.

I had a week or two of these delicious strawberries.  Seriously, nothing is better than strawberries, sliced, frozen, and then thawed.  This looks overly liquid though.

Again, water…and evidently I had to mix my fruits.  I generally don’t do that.  (You know, I need to get some bananas.  I feel like that would be a good addition to my breakfasts.)

The blackberries were really cheap at the grocery store for awhile so I decided to tear a bunch up one morning.  This makes my mouth water.  I can’t even tell what’s underneath, nor does it matter.  Goodness that looks delicious!

COOKED oatmeal.  I’ve been trying it on top of a base of a little milk with protein powder.  Our new house will have a microwave, can you believe it?  I’ve tried stirring the protein powder into the hot oatmeal but mine doesn’t work right.

Really the best is when I mix oatmeal, yogurt, protein powder and then a little water.  I should do it every morning but the yogurt sometimes feels so decadent.

So there you have it friends.  A week’s worth of oatmeal.  ANY QUESTIONS??

A lot of people do a “Three Things Thursday” where they tell you three things about themselves.  I’ve never been one for holding back or limiting myself, so who knows what I’ll do.  And maybe it’s Two Things Tuesday, but again, I don’t really care.

1. I have a delightful adult student who found me through the internet.  She is an avid reader of my blog, and often comments on it.  Yesterday she came in and wished me a happy birthday (thanks, Suzanne!) and then made a wonderful point.  It wasn’t a point I didn’t know already, and I know she was teasing me, but she said, “oh, I would have brought you cake, but you are always talking about wanting to lose weight on your blog.”  She went on to say, “Of course then you go and post pictures of the pizza you ate, so I don’t really know what you want.”  I turned a bit red.  And I know she was absolutely just teasing me, but it was an excellent point.  I can say whatever, but if I keep eating crap I won’t lose weight.  I can blame the stress in my life, or I can blame my shoulder injury, or I can blame whatever I want, but I ultimately need to find the self control within to stop eating like crap almost every day.  It shouldn’t be that hard.  Of course, after the lessons, then I did have a piece of leftover pie.  I should just throw it away (I’ve definitely done that sort of thing in the past) but I feel like that’s just so wasteful.  UGH.  Anyway, today is a new day, and I’m doing excellent so far.

(and I actually have several delightful adult students, Suzanne is not the only one who is delightful.)

2. I had texted my friend Sarah the other day, something mundane during the day when I was bored.  Hours later, I got a text from her apologizing for not having responded, and I said, “That’s ok.  I only burned a few pictures of you in effigy.”

“I’m a violinist, I enjoy everything about me.”

3.  Sunday is the flat/downhill 5k.  I can’t say I believe that.  But nonetheless, I am actually in shape to run it.  Still not anticipating a PR or anything, but feeling much better than in May.

We’ll see how fast it really is.  I also feel like I need to wear red, white, and blue for this race…

I was finally able to run again last week.  Note to Hannah:  Deadlifts and running do not mix.  I was so proud of my deadlifts on Friday, and then all weekend I was sidelined due to extreme hamstring pain/soreness.  I’m sure they are getting stronger.

(my birthday flowers!)

I have a funny relationship with Instagram.  (If you don’t know what Instagram is, just google it.  It’s a photo app thingy.)  On the one hand, it’s pretty stupid.  Ooh, I’ll take a picture, and then I can make it look DIFFERENT.  But on the other hand, it’s quick, easy, and then I can annoy all my twitter followers very quickly.  And I kind of like the way the pictures look.  I feel like the iPhone camera is pretty bad to begin with, so the Instagram filters do make the pictures look better.  So…I guess I like Instagram, but I feel a little uncomfortable about liking it.

Here’s what I did over the weekend:

I played a couple weddings, including this one at Chandler Hills Winery.

And this one at Our Lady of Lourdes.

I finally decided to get up close (well, pulled the car over) to see the Purple Cow for myself.  I wish that other statue weren’t in the way right now.

I made pies. 

Kitchenaid Mixer:  A baking girl’s best friend!

Delicious Coconut Custard Pie!  (Officially known as Crusty Coconut Pie in my grandmother’s recipe book)

I took a picture of my cat, who was sleeping in the window.

We had some people over, including this little guy.

I held him for a bit.  Please ignore whatever is happening with my shirt.

Oh, and I drank a bunch of diet coke.  That may come as a surprise. 

Now it’s Monday.  I love Mondays.  I’m being lazy and just doing stuff around the house until I have to teach later.  I have plans to go for a run with Vanessa these evening, but the weather may foil our plans.  Right now I hear thunder :(  But tonight is a long way away!

How do you feel about instagram?  Also, should I be capitalizing it or not?

I forgot to prep my overnight oats last night, so I’m doing a quick prep this morning.  They’ve been soaking for about 45 minutes now, so I’d better eat breakfast.  I am planning to do another oatmeal post soon—does anybody have any pressing questions for me?

I’m a planner.  I live and die by my calendar.  It’s absolutely necessary since I’m a freelancer.  I have to know where I am working and when, and can I get from one thing to the next in time.  I also plan out my workouts and my running.  I plan my social engagements.  I plan when to run errands.  But with all good plans, sometimes everything changes, and it’s amazing how quickly one can adjust.

Today was my birthday.  It was GREAT.  I went to Target and bought some new shorts and a running skirt.  The skirt has pink shorts under it.  I wanted to get a pink one instead but they didn’t have one in my size.  Oh well.  Next time.

I went grocery shopping.  I talked with my sisters, my parents, my in-laws, and my grandmother on the phone. 

I ate leftover pizza.

The plan for the evening was to go for an early dinner at Herbie’s with Chris before he had to work, and then to hang out with a bunch of friends afterwards.

That all changed around 4:30 when I got a call to play Sweeney Todd with the symphony at 8 pm.  The personnel manager said, I know it’s your birthday, but would you be available?  I thought about it for five minutes, because I had plans with my friends, and because it was my birthday.  I tried to call Chris for his input but he was occupied.  And then I realized, yes, of course, plans can change, and this is more important, because it’s not just about the money.  I felt bad for ditching my friends, but I doubt a single one of them would have done it differently…

Chris and I stuck with our early dinner plans.

At dinner.

Chowder.

Me again!

Scallops, SO good.

And fritters for dessert.  These were filled with dark chocolate and incredibly decadent.  I would have had the cheesecake, but I had to sit in the pit for three hours, so less dairy seemed wise.  The chowder was already a risk 😉

Then we headed to work together. Sweeney Todd was great.  I’d hate to wish illness on anyone, but let’s keep our fingers crossed I get called to play again before the season is out. 

And then we came home to relax.  Even though my evening wasn’t quite what I planned, it turned out to be a fantastic day.

(on my facebook profile from my friend Sarah.  I don’t speak french so I don’t understand, but it’s a fat cat wearing a hat.  I love it more than anything.)