Today was one of those days where I had other plans for my lunch hour which involved authors and lunches…and I ended up deciding that the best thing to do would be to play hooky (as it were) and get Taco Stand with my husband.

Now I’m sleepy and I have to teach in a little over an hour. Coffee is in order.

(that’s an old picture of coffee, but I think you get the idea. also, I like cows.)

This morning at the gym was chest and back. I was totally bench pressing like, 55 pounds. (Honestly, for upper body, I feel pretty hard core just having any weight on the bar, which weights 45 pounds—so I’m psyched.)

Taco Stand didn’t actually fit into my plan of “lose weight so my muscles actually show” but I’m still down 2 pounds since about a week and 1/2 ago, so that kind of rocks. And I am not willing nor mentally able to do a diet that entirely cuts out my favorite things. I am willing to eat a very light dinner and eat well tomorrow to make up for it though.

(Taco Bell is different than Taco Stand. Both are amazing. Yes, you’ve seen this picture before, but I’m lazy and sleepy.)

And I’m running. Regularly. Crazy. Runkeeper tells me I’ve run 31 miles since I started using it under a month ago. *takes bow*

Tonight: the final St Louis Symphony regular season concert. Well, they have four shows but it’s the final program of the season. There’s a post-concert party for the musicians and their significant others so I’m excited for Beethoven 9 and a party of sorts. Purple pants and red shoes seem to be in order, though that’s more common than rare.

Before that: teaching. My regular Thursday afternoon schedule. Which is a great group of students. I might be collaborating with Sarah Crowder on a video about me and teaching and she asked me to think about what I love about teaching. I’ve been thinking a lot about that, particularly this week as I’m contemplating my teaching future…it’s hard to pinpoint. The main thing I love is: playing the violin. And I want to SHARE that love with as many people as possible.

It’s tough because playing the violin is hard work and takes a lot of commitment, and there are so many things to worry about while you play, and I’m a firm believer in TECHNIQUE FIRST (this is also why I have a trainer at the gym, in addition to the motivation, but because I don’t know enough weight lifting technique to feel comfortable on my own—I do understand violin technique though!)

So you can see, my brain is all over the place. I’ve got a few professional personal things (personally professional..the lines in life are so blurry, aren’t they?) going on offline and it’s been making me take a hard look at myself and what I want from my career. This is a good thing, but an unfamiliar thing. I am not a “five year plan” type of person, but I’m trying to figure out what I want out of my career here in St Louis. Assuming we end up staying here, which we’d love to do…but…

(Me, contemplating my five year plan)

And that’s a blog post for another day! Or not, really, as that’s not necessarily about me.

I’ve been wanting to share that picture for awhile. I love it. Today seems appropriate.