As you know, my dad (@jerrydfrey) is still on his cross country bike trip.  He left South Carolina in late August, was in St Louis and left on September 10. 

He’s now somewhere in Texas (rumor has it he had plans to mess with Texas, but hopefully that wasn’t true.) My mother posted some pictures to facebook (which is shocking enough as is!) but I thought I’d steal them and post them here for your enjoyment.  Can you guess where these are taken?  Because seriously, we have no idea.

It appears to be some sort of campsite.  And yes, that’s how he’s been sleeping.  He carries that tent with him along with a sleeping bag and some sort of sleeping mat.  Along with everything else.  Solo bike trip, folks. 

This might be him crossing the Mississippi…I think he mentioned crossing by ferry.  Then again, I could be wrong.

 

Odd looking building.  There’s definitely a bench though.  Don’t know if that helps.

Have you seen this man?!?

Sunday afternoon was our "healthy living blogger" meet up at Pi in the Delmar Loop.  Real Fit Mama organized it, and there were going to be about 6 people at one point, but it ended up just being 3 of us (Kara was the other one) and ended up being really fun! 

I’ve mentioned before that while I certainly fraternize with the healthy living blogger community I don’t really consider myself a healthy living blogger per se.  That said, I obviously try to live in a fairly healthy way (key word TRY) and that can certainly mean different things to different people.  They always say that moderation is key to a healthy life, and moderation is probably my biggest struggle in life.  Nonetheless!  LUNCH.

First off, I love women who can put away their diet coke.  We all ordered it (arguably NOT healthy, but calorie free right?!) and I have to congratulate Kara for drinking perhaps four or five of them.  I could be wrong, but that seems about right.  Basically we talked about life, the universe, parenting, the symphony, blogging, and you know, just whatever we could think of.  Naturally it turned out that RFM and I already knew someone (in the symphony no less) and were already only two degrees apart.  I think everybody in St Louis is just two degrees or less from each other.  (Is there a way to study this?  Or was that the original concept behind Friendster?)

Inside the Delmar location of Pi—I’d only been to the one in CWE so this was a treat.  It seemed like a more casual feeling location.  Not terribly crowded for Sunday lunch either.

Forgot to take a picture from the outside…we sat inside as it was just a bit chilly for the outside.

We all ordered salads and split a small pizza.  I was STUFFED.  The deep dish pizza has this amazing cornmeal crust that occasionally appears in my dreams.  And their salads are gigantic and fantastic.  I had been nervous about meeting them (after all, I don’t have kids, how could I relate to somebody with two?  Turns out it’s highly possible!)

Me, Kara, and Maria . No, I wasn’t squatting down in any way.

I feel so lucky that in the past few months I have met some great people through my blog.  When I originally started writing I never intended to use it as a vehicle to meet new people, but as things have evolved its been a fantastic experience!

I hope that doesn’t mean I start using the word "blends".  Please shoot me if I do.

What is that from?  I don’t know, it just popped into my head.  I know it’s from something though.

I’m writing this post from the past (Saturday) because Sunday is pretty busy.  Jen and I are planning two loops of Forest Park tomorrow and Vanessa will join us for one.

(Probably not what we’ll be wearing.)

After that (assuming I live) I will be meeting Real Fit Mama and some other bloggers at Pi for a blogger meet up.  This is my second blogger meet up and I’m excited.  I think the pizza will taste really good after the run as well.

Then it’s wedding time.  Oh yeah.  Wedding at the Jewel Box.

Let’s talk about my blog briefly.  I always like to see how people are finding my blog.  There are two main ways:  from facebook, or from searching for the word “Cheese.”  Really.  Number one search for my blog!  ALL THE TIME.

Looks GOOD, right?  *wants*

Some other popular searches the past month:

Funny stretches in headband and tight shorts

Let’s assume they found one of these pictures:

I hate my trainer

Great post:  Five reasons I hate my trainer!  In fact, Mike really enjoyed that one as well.

Violin Cake

Deep Thoughts to Hannah

Sitting around eating bonbons (new name of my blog?)

I can has insurance

I’m being adorable and no one can stop me

Caturday unhappy (how can you be unhappy on Caturday??)

Couple on their shoulders some (what?)

Anyway, those are some of the most amusing searches.

 

What else?  I know I haven’t been that interesting on my blog lately.  I’ve been wrapped in a bunch of stuff that I can’t talk about here, and then frankly I’ve been a bit creatively challenged.  Friday night I taught, and then I made pumpkin bread.  OH I was going to add in chocolate chips but I only had a tiny bit left, so I made the BRILLIANT decision to add in butterscotch chips (about half a bag, maybe a little heavy handed) and they turned out to be amazing!  Amaze-balls, in blogger speak.

Saturday:  slept in (hamstrings and back still recovering from deadlifts on Thursday, let’s not talk about how little I have run this week because it will just depress me), taught, wedding/reception…plans with friends at night.

Took some pictures at the wedding/reception…Botanical Gardens and then at the Artist’s Guild in Clayton.

 

 

 

Here’s something weird:  I didn’t know Maddie when this picture was taken.  I used to think the music world was a small world, but now I know that it’s just a small world.  I think there’s a song about that.  And yes, Jen and I were laughing.  People are always laughing around me.

Also:  my dad (@jerrydfrey) is STILL on the road, heading to Phoenix.  He’s somewhere in Texas.  He tweets things like “near JR’s ranch” and “Saw a huge hog dead by the road,” and “Ready to mess with Texas.”  (Hope he didn’t actually do that last one, that would be NOT GOOD.”  He’s been on the road about a month!  He’s probably tired…

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

P.S. I stole this from Rose of Eat, Drink, and be Meiri.

I had a workout with Mike.  I was actually planning to run afterwards, but stupidly I didn’t realize it was raining until I left the gym.  Instead of heading back inside, I decided to go to Target to get a couple of things.  No, I am not going to run in the rain today, I did that last Sunday and feel that was enough for the week.

I got pumpkin and cake mix there!  The checkout lady asked me what I was making with those.  I told her it was actually two different recipes (one being those cake mix blondies I made awhile back) but then told her I thought I had made a recipe where you layer the pumpkin on top of the cake mix and it makes a pumpkin cake of sorts but I didn’t think it was very good.  I then realized she was giving me a look and was probably thinking, why is the crazy lady wearing a sparkly pink head band and gym clothes STILL talking about cake mix?  Sad.

Honestly though, I don’t know why I bought the pumpkin.  I heard there were going to be shortages, that’s why.  Except I did the same last year, and I’m pretty sure I still have a few cans.  I really only use 2 or 3 cans of pumpkin a year, maybe one for pumpkin bread, one for a pie, one for something else, and then I think, oh, I’m totally going to make more goodies, but it’s hard for just two people.  Especially two people who are working really hard to be in awesome shape for their upcoming nuptials.

I can’t believe it’s already Thursday again.  This weekend is again full of activity and running.  I don’t think I’ll be making it to the Symphony this weekend due to teaching and weddings, but I’ve got a blogger meet up on Sunday, 9 or 10 miles of running, might go see a friend’s band, and who knows what else.  I feel like my weekends end up being busy than my weekdays, which is fine by me.  I prefer a nice relaxing Thursday and a weekend full of activities with friends.  (Especially those silly friends who have full time jobs with {gasp} regular hours…I don’t know how they do it!)

I posted earlier today asking for your favorite fall recipes.  I want to try a new recipe with my pumpkin!  Please give me some more ideas, readers!

Also I forgot one post with some delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I made awhile back.  Enjoy!

I put quite a bit of myself into my blog posts over the weekend (particularly the 9/11 one) so yesterday I was feeling exhausted and didn’t have anything left to write.  I don’t really today either…it’s rainy, I just got back from a tough but awesome workout at the gym, and the only thing I could think of was a lame post regarding lunches.  (Which I’ll totally write later, you know it!).

I was going through my Gmail inbox and noticed I still have a couple of monthly reverb11 prompts hanging out.  I deleted one because I just didn’t ever want to write about it (totally lame), but the one from June looked interesting, so here we go:

What can you let yourself off the hook for?

That’s a great question for me.  If you are a regular blog reader, you know I am pretty hard on myself and I like to beat myself up about…well, everything, ranging from my weight, my body image, my running, my violin playing, you name it.  Sometimes this is really productive and gets me going out to the door or into the (figurative) practice room.  Other times it just makes me lie on the couch in a pool of self-loathing.  Sadly, as of late, that last one has been what I’ve been feeling.  Sure, I’ve been getting my life done—I’m nothing if not a functioning depressive, which at least tells you I’m actually not that depressed or I would be lying on the couch more…I’ve been practicing, working out, teaching, playing a variety of concerts, and rehearsing for an upcoming recording.  BUT I feel like a lousy individual and human being and that really wears on me.

What can I let myself off the hook for?

I can let myself off the hook for being sick.  I can let myself off the hook for hurting my ankle.  I can let myself off the hook for having a recurring wrist problem that affects my violin playing.  I can let myself off the hook for feeling fat when I don’t get a workout in, because FAT IS TRULY NOT A FEELING.  I can let myself off the hook for feeling like a bad friend when I am having problems and need my friends to help me and listen to me.  I can let myself off the hook for eating less healthy food during a bad week.  I can let myself off the hook for feeling awkward and uncomfortable around my father because we never established a relationship any other way.  I can let myself off the hook for knowing he will read that, because it doesn’t mean I don’t love him.

I can’t let myself off the hook for everything.  I won’t list that stuff here.  But I don’t have to continually beat myself up every time I haven’t achieved perfection in my life.  Nobody achieves perfection.  I told a student in a lesson yesterday, “Nobody has a perfect audition.”  I believe that when I tell it to the student.

I need to relax and let myself be, or I will self-destruct further than I already have. 

(Please remember I am prone to dramatics and do not assume I am near suicidal.  Just venting here.  Everything is fine!!)