Saturday in pictures (2:36:57)
Category Archives: Running
Shrimp n’ grits
I had grits leftover from the other weekend, and as I am such a southern girl, I wanted to have them again as soon as possible. So, I made Shrimp n’ grits!
I loosely followed this recipe. Ever since purchasing my cast-iron frying pan the other month, I’ve been trying to use it as often as it makes sense. This was a great time to use it! The changes I made to the recipe: I made more grits than suggested because I was also making more shrimp. I used turkey bacon rather than regular bacon, and I added spinach to the crumbled bacon/green onion mixture at the end. The whole thing turned out really well.
Today is a very windy day—windy, warm, and full of pollen. I wanted to do a six mile run, but I was struggling too much and had to cut it short at 4 miles. I was annoyed. Guess I need to purchase some antihistamines.
I am at 74 miles! I will get there. Even with the pollen (I hope.)
So today I’m being a girl and am going shopping instead of attending the Rebecca Skloot Lecture. Oops.
And I haven’t started on the taxes yet…though that is actually Charter’s fault (cable company) as I spent 1 hour yesterday dealing with the slow internet and attempting to talk to somebody on the phone who could help me rather than starting on the taxes. Seriously—they spent 20 minutes telling me it was my computer’s fault the internet was slow. Finally they noticed that there were reports of outages in my area. GAH. I hate the cable company, and I think it might be time to change to another internet service provider. In any case, after all of that I was out of time for doing taxes on that day. Today I slept in rather than start. I looked at the calendar and decided there is more than enough time left, in any case, EVEN assuming that much of that time will be spent yelling at Charter on the phone.
*breathes*
All right. Time to make sure there is nothing super-pressing on my to do list, and then it’s shopping time! (For a friend, not me, I plomise!)
Weekend Update
Do you like my titles? It’s hard thinking of good titles.
Friday night some friends came over for drinks, snacks, and *evidently* video game playing.
What? Company? (She spent much of the day on this chair)
We had wine, cheese, and veggies with hummus dip. Then the boys got tired of chitchat and decided to bust out the Wii and play some games.
Note the concentration in their faces!
I wanted to let you know about a few things that I am super excited about that are coming up soon:
Yes, that’s the movie with the orchestra playing the music. I can’t wait! It’s the event of the year!!
It’s not till June, but this could be amazing! I say could, because while I was super excited about it, I reread the description and see that the symphony is NOT playing…so that means it is simply a sing along movie? I suppose still fun though…
Other upcoming events:
March 26: Chamber Project St Louis plays at the Chapel, and if I’m not too exhausted from that morning’s race I plan to attend.
April 2: St Louis Ballet: Tribute to New York. This is the company affiliated with the ballet school where I teach violin, and I’m finally able to see them perform.
Then…April 10: The half-marathon I‘ve been training for: Go! St Louis. I can’t wait to run the streets of St. Louis with a ton of other people. After that I think I will tone it down a bit on distance and work towards improving my speed (over the summer, as it will be rather hot) by the time the fall “season” rolls around. I would love for the St Patrick’s Day 10 minute miles to be an easy mile by then.
What are you looking forward to most in the next month or so? (I know people are reading this—don’t be shy, come out and comment!)
Almost spring…
Flowers on the tree! There was a row of trees like this in the park.
So, I am officially a “hard-core” runner (shout-out to Jen for the phrase)—about 5 miles in today, a bird pooped on me. It hit my forehead and my sunglasses. I had to stop and clean it off (by wiping it on my jacket and using a bit of my water to rinse…) and I debated heading home but decided to be hard core and continue my run.
Has this happened to anyone before? I don’t think I’ve ever been pooped on by a bird…by a younger sister, well that’s a different story.
Friday news round-up
TGIF! What a crabby week I had. But now it’s Friday night and I’m excited to hang out with friends and relax.
I had a workout with Mike today where I only cried once…well, by cried, I mean got super whiny because one of the moves he wanted me to do really hurt my wrist, and then the modification hurt my hand. I didn’t run after because I am saving up for tomorrow’s scheduled 11 mile run and my right knee was feeling less than great. Weather looks good for tomorrow.
Then it was onto Whole Foods to get a few supplies for tonight—some cheese, wine, and veggies. I’m going to be hanging out with some friends. I made a fabulous dinner of Artichoke and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken (I used this recipe’s filling and this recipe for baking), Goat Cheese Grits, and canned green beans. Sometimes a nice canned vegetable really hits the spot. (It’s an old family recipe.)
I have earned my upcoming weekend. Tomorrow: nothing. Sunday: a bunch of different FUN activities. Next week is a semi-spring break (i.e. THREE of my schools go on breaks) so I get two additional evenings free and one morning free.
Oh, and a review of Winter Opera’s recent performance was published online.
Okay, I’m off to finish my prep for the evening. Have a fabulous Friday!
Beautiful day!
I am blown away by today’s weather. Today I got up to head to the same school that on Monday I canceled due to snow…and today it is the most perfect day ever. Seriously. Sunny, 60 degrees…beautiful. (I know that’s cold for some of my friends, but trust me, it’s perfect.)
I ran outside for 6 miles too. I love when I get to wear my Phoenix RnR t-shirt to work out 
. I don’t know why, I just feel fancy wearing it. It’s a little challenging as it is navy blue, and sometimes I get bothered wearing a navy blue shirt with black shorts or capris (my usual color) so today I paired it with blue capris. Then I put on my black water belt…so I’m not really sure what I accomplished. A six mile run, I guess. No one is concerned about my fashion—I’m sure they are just wondering why somebody would run so slowly.
I started reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. There was quite a bit of press about this book when it came out, so naturally I have to read it. Here’s a link to the NY Times article about it, and here’s a link to the Wall Street Journal article. I’m reading the book from the standpoint of a child, a violin teacher, and a hypothetical parent, and it’s interesting thinking about her story from those angles. And my upbringing was a little bit “Chinese” as well, so I can definitely relate! Have you read the book? Thoughts??