Bloggiversary

It's November already my sneaky loves. And upon sitting down to write this post I realized that it has been over a year now since I started this blog!

I started it for a few reasons. For something to do, to keep my family and friends updated on my life, and to start something positive in my life which wasn't so peachy for me a year ago. A lot has changed in the last year. I've moved on from the end of college, the end of a relationship (which had a lot to do with why I started the blog), I've met so many new and amazing people, traveled to new places, made an amazing amount of new friends, worked like 12 different jobs, learned to act (still working on that one), became a runner, and in general have expanded my horizons. It's been quite a learning year. But I can honestly say I am in a much better place now then I was a year ago. Progress- positive progress- thats really all that matters.

This is week 7 of Conservatory. We are now rehearsing As You Like It and working on our scenes. I'm feeling really great about my part in the show now. Behold my inspiration:


O yes... Amiens the singing minstrel man has become Amiens the singing pregnant hippie. You are welcome theatre goers. I'm so pumped about this- you have no idea.

And what else have I been up to lately?

Some Halloween


Some fun times with this pretty lady

Some Mr. Potato Head... unfortunately

And as of Sunday I have reached 14 miles in a day for my Marathon training. I was supposed to be running my first Half Marathon this weekend but they changed the dates to next weekend and I can't do it then because of a workshop we have for Conservatory. Boo. But I already know I can do that distance so I guess I don't need a medal to tell me how awesome I am. And I'll be skipping right to training for a Marathon in the spring. Probably the Cleveland Marathon but it may depend on where I'm living.

The weather is getting not so nice which is putting a slight damper on my outdoor running. This morning it rained and I had to do 5 miles on the treadmill... I wanted to die. It's so boring running inside. I can deal with the cold (although I probably need to invest in some more cold weather running gear)but the rain just makes it impossible unfortunately. It's gonna be a long frigid winter training for a Marathon outside- but I just don't think I can hack more than one hour of running on a treadmill. It's torture.

Speaking of which- now that I'm halfway through Conservatory its time to start considering what the heck I'm gonna do next. Directly after my last show with Conservatory I'll be flying off to Orlando to do the Disney thing with my family!!! And by time thats done I will be flat broke and at this point have no job lined up. So... I should work on that. I am seriously considering moving to Boston with the lovely and talented Emily Karelitz. But a job. I need a job. Preferably a job that does not include sitting at a desk all day long. I'm talking survival job here of course since the real plan is to get an acting job and I'll have a much better chance of getting one in Boston than in Cleveland... plus its close to NYC. Much to figure out in the next 6 weeks.

But I'm having a grand old time these days. I think I'm doing good work here and learning a lot. It's nice to spend this time focusing on myself and what I need to work on. I really miss my family and my friends from home, but the holidays are on there way and I'll be with them for that!

Endless love sneaky readers.

Send in the Clowns/ Baba Louies Half Marathon.

Good evening my sneaky loves.

Here it is- half-way through October and all of the sudden I'm 4 weeks into Conservatory. It's going by so fast! But I'm really learning a lot and I'm excited about all the things we are working on.

Last weekend I didn't post because I was in class all weekend. Specifically the Clown workshop! Clown is (for me) especially challenging and interesting to work on. I was happy that over the course of the weekend I did manage to find "my clown" but it was not easy my friends. The idea of clown is to essentially boil down the essence of who you are as a person and sort of set that free in your Clown work. Clowning requires an incredible amount of energy and pretty much shutting off my brain. A difficult task indeed. It's really hard to explain though... I'm not doing a very good job.

But my clown's name was Miss Henry. She is a very worried and socially awkward clown who just wants to be like all the nice pretty and happy clowns. My teacher said this "its princess... but like princess who has been sitting up in her tower waiting for a loooooooong time eating her toenails..." And after I thought about it I realized my clown was pretty much me at age five. Awkward, cried a lot, liked to wear princess dresses but it never quite meshed right with my bowl chop haircut and giant pink glasses. I WISH now that I had thought of that at the time and added giant glasses to my clown costume but alas...

Other than that we've been doing a bit of work on our scenes, incorporating our critics, voice, movement, and next week we start As You Like It but we still haven't got our parts yet... Monday... eep.

And today the big news is that I completed my very first Half- Marathon distance run! I ran from my house in Lenox to Great Barrington. 13.1 miles took me 2 hours 19 minutes and 30 seconds. I celebrated my personal victory with a delicious dinner at Baba Louies and some chocolate from the candy store. I'm a little sad its getting colder because it's going to be harder for me to run outside. Today was a bit windy and cold- luckily it didn't rain while I was running- that would have sucked. So I'm pretty proud of myself :) I'll be running an official race in a few weeks and then... well I suppose a full marathon of course. I can't really imagine running that far twice at this point but maybe in a few months that will start looking more possible. I dread the winter months that I will have to spend in treadmill purgatory though :(

In other news I am beginning to realize how much I miss having money. I had so much extra money in college... now I am completely broke, and I can't work while I'm doing Conservatory. I long for the day when I won't have to meticulously budget my entire week so that I can have enough to get Starbucks once a week. I also miss shopping. I want to buy pretty things... sigh. Perhaps I have chosen the wrong profession....

Beware the Shakespearean Basketcase

Week two of Conservatory is over and it went by so fast! Let's recap.

This was our first full week and it was pretty exhausting for me. We worked on our jaws in voice class... always an interesting experience considering my jaw is all kinds of a mess. We did our Sonnets and I found some unexpected stuff there that turned me, once again, into a Shakespeare spouting mess of tears (fear not sneaky readers crying is pretty commonplace around here on any given day- nothing to be alarmed about). We got our scene assignments also and I'm really pumped about mine. I get to do the Balcony Scene from Romeo and Juliet with the wonderful Brendan Sokler as my Romeo. We'll sort of be working on these scenes on and off throughout the rest of Conservatory and interwoven with As You Like It once we start that. We still don't know when we are actually starting work on As You Like It or how the casting is going to work so stay tuned.

In general the Conservatory is going great. I really think I'm learning a lot and am confident I'll come out of it ready for whatever's next. So thats a good feeling.

I decided I will be running the 15th Annual Monson Memorial Classic Half Marathon on November 8th. I wanted to run one in another town on October 17th but realized yesterday that I missed the registration deadline so I had to pick another one. It sucks because I was prepping for the one on the 17th and I'll be ready to run it by then. I ran 11.6 miles yesterday and I think I could have done the whole 13.1 if I had wanted to. So what I'm thinking is I may just do my own personal half marathon on the 17th and then just make it a goal to beat my time on the November 8th race. I had such a lovely run yesterday- it was the perfect temperature, sunny, a nice breeze, and I ran a new route. I ran to the next town over (Lee) and came back a different way hoping that it would be about 11 miles and it pretty much was.

I think for my personal half marathon I may try running to Great Barrington. From my house to the Great Barrington Baba Louie's is almost exactly a half marathon, so what better way to celebrate my personal triumph than refueling with a fantastic pizza as soon as I finish?

So in summary of week two: living, baking (two apple crisps and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I'll have you know) , running, crying, shakespeareing, jaw relaxing, raging, laughing, and keeping in mind that good or bad: this two shall pass.

Conservatory Madness- Week One

Well I survived week one of Conservatory and what a week it was!

So far we have mostly been doing the same sort of things we did the first week of the Month-Long Intensive. Some voice work, Basics, Actor/Audience, etc... For Basics I did a Juliet monologue and I just really loved acting again. It's been so wonderful to get back to it. Since the beginning of the week I've also been a complete chatter box. I literally cannot stop talking! Which is great because I don't think I did much of that this summer... the whole speaking thing. So its been nice to share.

Actor/Audience was, of course, full of emotional pyrotechnics for all (especially me... I was so hoping to not be "that crying girl" this time too- but alas). What can I say- I have a lot of feelings. But mostly how I have been feeling is happy. People that spent the whole summer with me have been commenting that they've never seen me smile so much. A good sign I think.

We've also been doing some new things- like Audition class which I think is going to be really helpful with the whole getting a job thing. I'm not sure when we'll start working on our show (As You Like It) or how that whole thing is going to work. But I actually REALLY love not knowing. I'm excited to work on my sonnet though and my audition material and really delving into the Voice work.

As far as my fitness nonsense goes I'm definitely back in it. I went to all 3 of my 6am spinning classes this week (which I haven't done in AGES) and I ran a bit during the week and did my long run yesterday for my half-marathon training. I'm up to 10 miles and it took me 1 hour 49 minutes 32 seconds. Not bad :)Only 3.1 away from half-marathon distance. It was a lovely run yesterday too- the leaves are all starting to change and the temperature was perfect with a bit of a breeze. It was beautiful out and I ran until about sunset which was stunning. I placated my post run hunger monster with a giant bowl of chili and tried to go to the bar for a while with my Conservatory compatriots but exhaustion came on pretty quickly and I was out like a light by 11pm. Lame... but truthfully its a whole different kind of tired. Especially since I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before... not the best plan... but trust me it was worth it.

And now its Sunday! Time to chill out, recover, eat pumpkin pancakes (which I did), read, write, and stretch out my angry angry muscles... I might also peruse the Apple Squeeze festival in Lenox today. Since Fall has struck I have been obsessed with pumpkin and apples... I guess there are worse things to be obsessed with but still... I have a pumpkin problem.

So in short- I'm having a lovely time already. I miss Andre and Michelle, but I'm loving getting to know all my Conservatory fellows. It's gonna be a good Fall.

Triumphant Return

Hello sneaky readers!

It's been a while- I'm afraid I've been a bit busy these days reorganizing my life. Since my last post lots has happened. For starters I've been on a bit of a pumpkin kick lately...

These are homemade pumpkin scones from Angela over at www.ohsheglows.com . They were amazing. I've also made pumpkin butterscotch chip cookies, pumpkin oatmeal, and had a pumpkin beer or two- I'm obsessed.

In other news I took a nice trip home to Ohio. I was reunited with the fam for a few days...

There's dad and marty looking super hip at the Cleveland Gallery Hop.

I also got to see the girls a bit and visited Laura in Columbus with Tammy.

We went to see Eclipse (and made fun of it the whole time), had some yummy food, and a Whole Foods adventure field trip!

I'm still keeping up with this whole running thing too- I've decided to run a half marathon in October somewhere TBD in Mass. So far I'm up to 9 miles at a time- only 4.1 to go and I'll be ready for my very first road race! I'm pretty jazzed about it.

And now I'm back in Lenox and starting Conservatory bright and early in the morning. I'm so excited to finally get to do what I've been waiting to do all summer. I'm so ready to START! So it'll be off to bed for me soon so I can get up for a run before our 9am meet and greet. Wish me luck!

A short post considering how much has been going on but you'll have to forgive me. More soon. Promise.

Amore Squirrel

Hello sneaky readers of mine- here is a recap of the last week for those of you who read this for some reason...

I went on for Amorous Quarrel for the last for performances and had an absolute blast. It was such a small part, but it was honestly the most fun I've had all summer and I was so grateful to get to do it. Check out my awesome costumes....

Channeling Amy Adams a bit perhaps?

Sassy servant goodness.

And then- just like that my 4 performances flew by and it was closing night. And what better way to celebrate than with brownies...

I made these from a recipe by Angela at www.ohsheglows.com they use avocado instead of butter (sadly my avocados were not super ripe and so you can see chunks of them in the brownie batter. I was assured, however, that they were still delicious.) they were awesome- super fudgy and still pretty healthy, for a brownie... I gave them out to the cast and crew of AQ and they seemed to go over quite well- definitely making them again (perhaps for Daddy when I head home since I was awful and forgot to call him on his birthday like the terrible daughter that I am)

I was on a bit of an ohsheglows kick after making the brownies and decided to also make her breakfast cobbler while the brownies cooled just because I had all the ingredients and way too much energy.


This was also lovely- go to her blog- make her food- you can thank me later.

And this week I also experimented with some eggplant because it was at the farmers market this week and looked yummy. I wasn't sure quite what to do with it and ended up making this...

I also made some eggplant bruschetta with it which was super good but I forgot to take a pic of that- I'll probably make it again sometime though. Good stuff.

Ok enough about cooking... for now. So besides Quarrel I've been resting, doing a bit of office work, running. Today was the day off and I decided to do something a bit different. I've barely ridden my bike at all this summer and thought this might be one of our last really beautiful days- so I decided to ride my bike to Club June. That's about a 16 mile ride- ambitious for someone who hasn't been riding (but I have been taking spin class which is kinda similar and we usually do at least 12 miles in that class.) So this morning I made myself a big ole brunch of tomato omelet and ohsheglows Healthy Spelt Pancakes for one (I know I'm totally boring you here, but they were sooooo good and super easy to make- 1/2 cup spelt flour, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon- make them!) Belly full I set off- I was in no particular hurry so I just went slow and enjoyed the sun and my ipod- it took me about and hour and a half to get there. And when I did I went out in the kayak for about a half hour (don't know where all this energy has been coming from lately) then I swam and read my book (100 Years of Solitude) but no one else was really there so I decided to set off again for Great Barrington- that was about another 7 miles of biking so I decided to throw in the towel after that and not bike back home and called Andre and Michelle to come pick me up. But hey- 23 miles in one day... not too shabby for a day off. Then we got some groceries, made some dinner (I made parchment packet cooked salmon... I'll take a picture next time- it wasn't quite right this time I'm afraid, but a good experiment nonetheless).

And now I am officially exhausted and in need of sleep. Still it was a lovely way to spend a summer day- one more full week of work (only 4 more shows to wardrobe- yessssssss) and then it'll be time to pack up and head home! Plans must be made friends.

Goodnight all.

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake Recipes

I also sent this out as a facebook message but I thought I'd put it up here too.
The recipes are from http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/page/2/ and http://fitnessista.com/2010/08/i-had-to-do-it/ (I cannot figure out how to do links on this thing- blogger fail- but I want to credit them)

Here is the recipe for the 5 minute chocolate cake in a mug that everyone has been asking me for. When I did it I cut down on some of the calories (since the original way it adds up to about 1000) by using almond milk, half the sugar, 1/3 the oil and it still tasted awesome. I will also include another version of the recipe that is from one of my favorite health food blogs and is only about 275 calories. Not that anyone cares- but I think the substitutions are interesting. Either way... it's chocolate cake in 5 minutes... what could be better?

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (Microwave Safe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly before pouring in the milk and oil in. Keep mixing. Add the optional chocolate chips next (who makes that an option!) and vanilla extract, and mix again…
Put your mug in the micro wave and cook for three minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed! Allow it to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
Ingredients:

-2 T flour of choice (I used spelt, but whole wheat or gluten-free would be lovely)

-1 T protein powder (chocolate or Vanilla; I rolled with vanilla Nutribiotic brown rice protein)

-1 T raw cacao powder (1/2 T of cooked cacao powder, since the flavor is stronger)

-1/4 t baking soda

-pinch of sea salt

-1 flax egg (1 T milled flax seed mixed with 3 T water)

-2 T almond milk (or milk of choice)

-1 T chocolate chips

-1/2 T oil, yogurt or applesauce (optional: will make the cake more moist, but I made mine without)

-1/2 t vanilla extract

-cinnamon and Stevia, to taste

1. Spray the inside of a microwave-safe coffee mug with nonstick spray
2. Add the dry ingredients (flour, protein, cacao, baking soda and salt), and stir well to combine
3. Add the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon until mixture resembles a thin cake batter –make sure there are no flour chunks in there
4. Taste the mixture and add Stevia and cinnamon to your liking – I used about 6 drops of liquid Stevia and a hefty shake of cinnamon. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Microwave on high for 2 1/2 – 3 minutes, until the cake is cooked on top and around the edges.

Ready for Fall

My STI recovery period is now complete and the time has come to just sit back and enjoy the rest of my summer. I'm still working of course. Getting everything ready in the office for Conservatory and for my replacement, and wardrobing More Words, More Play (only 6 more performances... Thank. God.)and wardrobing and performing (!!!!) in Amorous Quarrel (only 2 more of those left sadly). So I'm still busy, but I have been taking a bit more time to chill out, read, get some sleep, and go running just whenever I feel like it. The weather has been so cool here for the last week that I no longer have to be up by 5:30am to beat the heat for my run.

So what have I been doing with this new found free time you ask? Well for starters I finally made a trip to The Mount, which is right down the road and the former home of Shakespeare and Company, but I'd just never had time to get out their until now. It was beautiful and we listened to some music and explored the gardens. Pictures of that are up on Facebook if you're curious.

And then Lexi and Laura came for their visit which was AMAZING! I loved spending some time with them. Sadly I still had to work a lot of the time they were here- but they did get to see me in my S&Co stage debut in Amorous Quarrel, and we also saw Richard III, and The Winter's Tale. We went to Baba Louie's (yes AGAIN but it's sooooo good) and we visited the new Pittsfeild location which is so much bigger and easier to get into and also just as good. WE went to see Eat, Pray, Love (the book was better) and while I was working the girls explored Great Barrington. I was woefully remiss in taking pictures during their visit- but I did make some whole-wheat oatmeal pancakes, and a 5 minute chocolate mug cake for them. Hopefully I'll get back to cooking a bit more now that I have some more time. My current obsession? Pumpkin Oatmeal. It is Fall in a bowl.

In other news I'll be home in just over 2 weeks for my mini-vaca before Conservatory. I'm hoping to do some visiting while I'm home (possibly Laura in Columbus, Lauren in Cinci, and Dennis, Kendra, and Allison in Illinois) that's a lot of driving, but it will be my only chance until Thanksgiving. I have a lot to pack into those 10 days- like going to see various doctors since I haven't been to one in like a year. Thanks American Health Care system. But I am looking forward to being home and getting all my lovely Fall clothes and whatnot.

And by time I get back it will be time to concentrate on my acting again, which I am incredibly excited about. Getting back to what I love doing instead of watching EVERYONE I know do what I love doing. It will be quite refreshing. Doing that tiny part in Amorous Quarrel has been a God send. It's so small and silly, but it reminds me of what I've been doing all this for, for the last 5 months. And seeing Lexi and Laura helped a lot too- a reminder that there is a world outside and that who I've been all summer and what I've been doing aren't who I am. My sense of humore was vastly improved just by them BEING HERE. It's so easy to be around them- effortless, and it shows me that all summer I've been trying too hard- exhausting myself- not being myself at all.

So Fall is on its way- rather quickly too... and it's time to change again.

Yay... Boo

YAY! I survived the month of STI without having a nervous breakdown. BOO! I had to spend my first STI free day moving back on campus (luckily I had Andre to help me this time which really moved things along), and running all around campus cleaning up the training supplies and putting things away. It turned out to be a really exhausting day of heavy lifting which culminated in the beginnings of a nasty cold. YAY! Yesterday was the official day off! BOO! I was sick most of the day, slept a lot. Got up to go the grocery store and see a movie with Michelle and Andre. We saw "The Kids Are Alright" it was alright, but I'd really like to see "Eat, Pray, Love" when Lexi and Laura are here LATER THIS WEEK!!!

This week I will also be getting ready for my Shakes and Co debut in Amorous Quarrel. We have our final put-in on Saturday and then I go on that evening as Toinette. I have four lines, but I really can't tell you how excited I am about it. I LOVED doing the put-in rehearsals so far and I love the show and cast so much that I am so grateful to get to do it with them now. It's going to be really fun and a great end to the summer season for me I think. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

And in more YAY! news my boss has decided to give me some time off before I start Conservatory. So now I will be home from September 10th through the 20th to regroup for the Fall- I'm pretty excited about it too- I've been away a very long time.

Before then though I have to train my replacement, clean out the training storage closet (thats a BOO trust me), and get through wardrobing 15 more shows, and get everything ready for Conservatory. But this is still less work than I have been doing the last few weeks.

As for my runnning- I'm afraid it fell by the wayside last week since I was working like crazy, exhausted, and then got sick. I'm hoping to pick it back up this week though once I'm feeling better and can breathe through my nose again.

23 years of wisdom?

Well here I am- another year older. Another year wiser? Well I guess so. The last year has certainly been... interesting. Things were learned, growth was had. But now I would prefer to look to the future and make my 23rd year my best one.

So for my birthday this year I was in tech most of the day for More Words, More Play... and as for that... I don't wanna talk about it. But on the plus side Momma was here and we had a lovely couple of days together (at least between my rigorous work schedule- oy).

Isn't she lovely?

We ate a lot of good food and did a lot of quality shopping yesterday on my day off. I got a bunch of new exercise toys including: An ipod touch!, some under-armor stuff for running once it starts getting cold over here, a jump rope, some hand weights, and a Jillian Michaels book and work-out DVD. I also bot some new clothes. It was a bit trying buying clothes on this trip for me. I bought new jeans- jeans that actually fit. It hurt to go up a size- I cannot tell a lie, but at least I can be comfortable.

I don't feel super comfortable admitting how much weight I've gained this year. It sucks, but I understand why its happening. I've been really emotional and lonely and I haven't been acting. So really its not surprising. But I know I don't feel comfortable at this weight most of the time and would like to loose a few before I start Conservatory next month. I just need to get a handle on my emotional eating. Maintaining my weight in college was easy- but I was also studying what I love, doing shows, in a happy relationship, had tons of amazing friends around, etc... and I've found the real world to be just a tad different, so its difficult at times. But hey- my 5 months in work-study purgatory will soon be over and I'll be spending 3 months studying Shakespeare- then who knows what I'll be up to but I'm praying it will be ACTING!

22 was a rebuilding year I think- but I'm hoping 23 will be something else entirely. A real start to living the life I really want to have. Doing what I love and spending time with those who add to my life in a positive way.

And in other good news STI is almost over- only 4 (hopefully very short) days to complete. I have to say the participants (in general) have been really great- I'm just burnt out and ready to have a little time off during the day. Especially since starting this week I'm dressing 6 shows a week instead of just 3.

So perhaps I ought to set a few goals for my 23rd year of life. Here goes:
1) Run in a road race (at least a Half-Marathon, maybe a full)
2) Get paid acting work OR get into Grad School
3) Keep in better touch with my friends and family
4) Be healthy

And goals for this week:
1) Run 14 miles (4 down this morning- 10 to go!)
2) Do 2 morning spinning classes!
3) jump rope and try my new workout DVD
4) Stop whining and finish STI strong

New Toy!
And a special thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!

True Friends show me my True Self

Around the "healthy living" blog world everyone is talking about the release of a book by Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point called Operation Beautiful as part of the book release celebration she is inviting people to write guest posts about body image and linking them to Operationbeautiful.com. The idea with Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes for other women to find telling them they are beautiful in the hopes of helping women everywhere see themselves in a more positive light. I think this is a truly awesome idea and so I wanted to write a guest post too about body image.


Over the past year my body and I have not been great friends sometimes. Thanks to all the emotional crap I've been dealing with since graduation, in the past year I have fluctuated from being almost underweight (based on BMI) to being the heaviest I have been since freshman year of college. Finding a balance has been a struggle, but now I'm making strides to eat better and exercise. And I have had some great success with it so far. I eat about 50 times more fruits and veggies than I EVER used to and I exercise 6 days a week. I am the healthiest I have probably ever been in my life right now and I know it. But still I have issues seeing myself that way. Sometimes I still despair that I can't fit into the size 2's I foolishly bought in the winter when the very sight of food disgusted me. Sometimes I can't see how healthy I am. Sometimes all I can see is that my 4's just don't fit the way they did in college. Sometimes I see myself as a number and not a person. And because of those feelings I sometimes have I thought maybe I shouldn't write a post for this thing- since my body image isn't necessarily great right now on anything resembling a consistent basis. So what would I write about that anyone could benefit from really?

Well inspiration came to me, as it often does, in the form of my amazing friends. I am all in a tizzy anticipating Lexi and Laura's visit at the end of the month, and I started thinking about how I see them and how they see me. Lexi and Laura are two of the most beautiful women in the world to me. And I started thinking how sad it would make me if they felt about their bodies the way I've been feeling about mine. Because for me if they didn't see themselves as beautiful and amazing people that would just seem absurd- because to me they are so much more than sizes or numbers- they are the foundation of the life I'm living and have made me stronger just by existing in the world. A number on a scale could never ever define one damn thing about who they are to me. And I know they feel exactly the same way about me. Size 2 or size 22- to them I would be exactly the same. They see me for who I really am and have decided that person is beautiful. I need to remember that more often. That the people in your life that are worth keeping are the ones who can see your whole self without ever needing to look at you.

And of course they aren't the only ones that feel that way about me. This goes for my family and many more of my amazing friends. I think it probably upsets them all more that I'm not feeling good about myself than it ever would if I gained 50 pounds, as long as I was happy. So my goal from now on should merely be to see myself the way that those who love me see me. Not to run another mile, or eat another salad. But to see the beauty in myself that goes deeper than a dress size, the beauty that I can see in those I love best. The beauty that is so absurdly obvious in them to me, and in me to them- I will try every day to see it too.

Black and White Cookies

Tuesday again. That means I'm now going into week 4 of STI. But luckily this is the last full week and by the end of it... MOMMA WILL BE HERE! For, as yet, unplanned birthday festivities. Around here for birthdays people just tend to go out to one of the two bars in town- but I have very little interest in that as bars really aren't my thing. So I may end up just having a quiet evening with Momma and a few of my buddies here instead. There is no Coldstone Creamery around here for me to get my annual ice cream cake, so I'll have to think of some alternative.

Other birthday plans include: Being awesome, eating Mac and Cheese/ Fruity Pebbles/ other crap I never let myself eat anymore.

Now to recap the from yesterdays day-off. It was the annual company party at the Lohbauer's and we were all asked to bring something! I was super excited to have an excuse to bake again and so I got a little ambitious with my choice. I decided to make one of my favorite things of all time- Black and White Cookies.

Black and White Cookies are a tad more complicated than your average cookie I think- just because the icing means there are a few more steps involved. But I can say that they turned out to be a success.

The cookie part of these cookies is a bit more like a cake than a cookie. Mine ended up being a little denser than the ones I've had in the past- mostly because I couldn't find cake flour and I decided to use up what was left of my whole wheat flour which made the batter kinda heavy. I also used almond milk instead of regular milk which I think made some sort of texture difference as well.

Still they turned out fine. I have to say that it was a bit of a challenge though to find the stuff I needed in the kitchen of Greater Grace. I'm kinda starting to long for a kitchen of my own where I have all the stuff I need, know where everything is, and don't have to share with SO MANY PEOPLE. Dare to dream.

With these cookies you turn them over and frost the flat side of the cookie. You make the white frosting first and do one half of all the cookies.

Then you melt in chocolate, corn syrup, and cocoa powder to make the black frosting. This was a bit tricky for me as I had to make a double boiler of sorts with really old and crappy supplies. I think I succeeded, however, in at least not burning the chocolate and frosted the other halves.

And they turned out lovely.


So after I finished the cookies I was left with a huge bowl of chocolate frosting in front of me. I partially lost the battle with said bowl of frosting before I destroyed it and so decided to work off my sugar high at the gym. Then it was time to head off to the party with Andre and Michelle.

The party was very nice- lots of delicious food was had- and my black and white cookies were soon gone.

Oh! and did I mention that this blog post comes to you from my newly resurrected laptop? So glad not to have to do this in the office anymore!

There we are reunited!

So... goals for this week? Well I completed the ones from last week- ran 12 miles and went to both spin classes. This morning I did not get up and run like I normally do because I'm still all sore from going to the gym yesterday loaded with sugar! So I'm thinking I'll run this evening instead and set my goal for this week at 13 miles. We'll see if I can stick with that with birthday fun rolling around. What do YOU think I should do for my birthday?

What's in a name?

It is another beautiful morning here in Lenox MA. The last couple of days have been quite lovely here actually. So what have I been up to you ask?

Well week 3 of STI continues to chug along... it's fine... we're halfway there. Nothing further that I care to discuss there.

Now for the fun part! Last night after my work day I decided to tag along with Michelle and Meaghan as they met up with their friends from Wellsley.

There they are- the lovely Alumni of Wellsley College.

I have to say though I didn't know any of them I really had a fun time and felt really comfortable just jumping into the group. And I can only account for this unusual lack of shyness on my part by assuming that I was just so happy to be out with a bunch of GIRLS. I. MISS. GIRLS. There are simply not enough of them at Shakespeare and Company. Being out with six other girls and No men just set my mind at ease and I had such a good time with them. It really made me miss my friends from home though. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to the wonderful, amazing, and lovely Lexi and Laura to show up in a mere three weeks. Simple, uncomplicated, girl-time. It's what I desperately need.

So we went into Great Barrington and first stopped at The Well for a drink while we waited for our table to be ready.

I got a mojito. It was lovely.

Then it was off to Baba Louie's (again lol)and I can safely say we demolished that pizza.
Before.

After.

There was not a crumb left on that table.
Then we stopped by the amazing candy store (one of the destinations I plan to take Lexi and Laura to during their visit... and here's one of the many reasons why...

Each of those gummy bears is about the size of a new born baby and costs 40 bucks! That one is for you Laura Cohen.

Then we all made our way back to Shakes and Co for the Friday Night Cabaret. I didn't perform this time. But my boss Mr. Dennis Krausnick did!

He read some of his poetry. I suppose I'm fortunate to be involved in a profession where my superior performs his modern poetry for the company at large. This is a funny place I work at, but what's not to love? Don't answer that.

Something has been rattling around in my head for a while now and I thought I would share. I find that there is nothing I hate more when talking on the phone, or sending text messages then when the person I am talking to uses my name. Now this may seem strange to some- but think about it just for a minute. If you are on the phone with someone, someone you already know, or texting back and forth obviously the other person knows your name. I find in these circumstances that the only reason a person uses your actual name is when 1)They are upset about something and use it for emphasis (almost like when your parents use your full name when you're in trouble) or 2) to be condescending or 3) (though this only applies to one person I can think of) to try to be impersonal.

You see I can always tell when someone is angry with me (or at least trying to be a tool) because they use my name where they don't need to. When someone is just having a normal chat with you they don't call you anything because they already know who they are talking to- or if they call you anything they use some sort of a pet or nickname (darling, hun, girl... something like that) but not Erin. Erin is only used when I'm in trouble for something. Erin is only used when someone is being condescending or trying to make me feel stupid. Calling me Erin in a text or phone conversation makes my spine crawl because I KNOW something is wrong. Is this making sense? I know it seems like a strange thing to be so adamant about, but I've just had so many encounters with it lately and I have yet to be wrong. Perhaps it stems from the fact that I don't particularly like my first name and feel more affection when someone uses a nickname.

My point is I feel that in casual conversation with friends or family using your name is not a necessary part of the conversation, and so it is only used for emphasis purposes, and that emphasis always seems to be for/because of something negative. So in short: Please do not address me by my first name if we are friends, I will automatically think you are mad. ESPECIALLY not in a text message- I mean really it's not like you don't know who you are sending it to and its only a waste of characters, so if you use it there you must REALLY be trying to make a point. Any thoughts on this? Am I just acting crazy? I'd be interested to hear what you think of this my sneaky readers.

In other news I took today off from running but I still plan on reaching my 12 mile goal by the end of the day tomorrow. I just needed some rest- yesterday I was so tired from doing intervals the day before I fell back asleep for 3 hours after my spinning class. I may go this evening actually since the weather has been so nice and cool and breezy here. And next weeks goal? Why 13 miles of course!

Unplugged

Good morning sneaky readers! It is Tuesday again which means my work week has begun anew. Yesterday was another Monday Funday, and a rather lovely one at that.

But before I get to the day-off frivolity I would like to take a short moment to congratulate myself for getting through another week of STI workshop managing. Well done Erin, well done. Two down- three to go! Not to mention Momma will be here soon for a visit!

After the small disaster that was last Tuesday, the rest of the week was really not so bad. It was an interesting week though- we had a new addition to the Amorous Quarrel cast... that whole situation was a stressful one for all involved- casting changes always are no matter the reasons behind them, but I am happy to say that all turned out fine. The show went on, as it must. And soon we'll be rehearsing a cast change that involves me! I'm taking over a very small part for someone who has to leave for a few shows. I'm not sure yet if I have any lines, but I will, at least, get to appear on a Shakespeare and Company stage at least a couple of days this summer.

My exercise routine last week was ok, but not as good as I would have hoped. We opened A Winter's Tale on Friday (I really enjoyed it, my favorite one so far) and those opening parties do have a way of messing with my old- boring-lady sleep schedule that allows me to get up at 5am for workouts. I'm happy to say that this time I survived the opening party with minimal drama. I didn't drink much and as soon as I started feeling the impulse to make bad decisions I remembered last time and went home instead. See, I'm learning... mostly.

But since this is a new week I thought it might be nice to set some goals to get me back on track. This week I would like to run a total of at least 12 miles (4 down this morning so only 8 to go!), attend both of this weeks remaining spin classes (I skipped yesterday and slept in instead for the first time in 3 weeks, I needed a TRUE day off. I also love that I now consider getting up at 10am sleeping in.), go to yoga on Sunday.

Luckily Andre and I did laundry on Sunday so I had nothing I "had" to do on my day off.

We tried a new place in Pittsfield to do our laundry since the Lenox Laundromat tends to smell for some reason. This one was fine but a little sketchy- we witnessed a small domestic disturbance in the Burger King parking lot next door. By this point in the week both Andre and I were a tad burnt out.

But then it was Monday! And after my restful night sleep I decided to spend the day at Club June. Club June is the home of a long-time supporter of Shakes and Co. She lives on a lake and invites anyone and everyone who works for Shakes and Co to come out to her house. There are kayaks, canoes, a floating dock, a paddle boat, a grill- pretty much everything you might need for an awesome day on the water.

One of the other grand things about June's is that there is no cell phone reception out there- none. So for a few hours everyone there is completely unplugged. No phone calls, not texting. and for me that is incredibly liberating- the feeling that all of that silly stuff can wait. That I can just be somewhere without knowing or caring what is going on with the rest of the world. I highly recommend it. Set yourself free.
Meaghan Daley and I had a lovely time!

I went out in the kayak, swam, and then pretty much generally laid about and read my book. I'm reading The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, it's a book I studied in college and wrote a paper on. It's feminist literature and I really love it, but its not much of a book for a day at the lake. I love reading it, but it does tend to make a girl start hating men and society in general for all the oppression and whatnot, lol. Next time I'll bring some Harry Potter or something.

And after soaking up a sufficient amount of sun a few of us went to dinner in Great Barrington and I FINALLY got to try Baba Louie's pizza.

Mine had sweet potatoes... yummy. Although I missed the tomato sauce- its just not a pizza to me without tomato sauce.

But fun times were had by all. We also looked at this totally awesome candy store that I MUST take Lexi and Laura to when they come. Trust me guys- you'll love it. But I forgot to take pictures... guess they'll just have to be surprised.

And after dinner I pretty much called it a night since I really wanted to have the energy to get up this morning for my run. Which I did! It wasn't the best run ever- but I did it - 4 miles in about 41 minutes. For my next two runs I want to try and get under 40 minutes though. I'm at the point now where if I don't work-out in the morning I feel sluggish the whole rest of the day. It really does set the tone for the day and makes my skin look all nice and awake. People get so weirded out around here when I tell them I get up at 5 every day to exercise, but its really my favorite part of the day lately. The sun is just coming up, everything is quite, and its my only time during the day that is completely my own- its too early to be on call for STI- its the only time I get all day to listen to music most of the time. It's my time, not too hot, not too cold, watching the sun come up. Its a lovely way to experience summer in the Berkshires that's for sure!

Photogenic Food

Ahhh a new day... A fine thing to celebrate since yesterday was one of the more craptastic days I've had in a while. Despite starting off with accomplishment and positivity, yesterday still went downhill fast. I started the day at 5:30am with a 4 mile run. The street Greater Grace Manor is on has a perfect circuit around the block that is exactly 4 miles long. There's lots of shade, a few nice sized hills, and pretty houses to look at. I think I may even like it better than the run I do around Shakespeare and Company just because the roads are newer and more even. So I ran that in 39 minutes and even did a bit of a negative split (meaning I ran the second half faster than the first half) the first two miles took about 20 minutes and the second two only about 19... not much of a difference but hey its something.

So I showered and made some breakfast, went to work... and here the day went up in smoke. Today was Dropping In day for STI. A day that was far more complicated, planning wise, than I ever anticipated. I had to coordinate 14 faculty members, 28 participants, in 7 different rooms, in 4 different time slots... Just writing that is confusing so I'm sure you can imagine the state I was in trying to figure all this out. Especially since once I actually DID figure it all out- I made mistakes on the spread sheet I typed up in 5 minutes and didn't have time to check- and sent 6 participants to the completely wrong places. And by time I realized this I had to sprint all around campus (in flip flops after running four miles that morning mind you)trying to find them all and get them to the right room on time.

Stress was felt, tears were shed, an epic amount of coffee was drank... but in the end all was well. All the scenes dropped in and no one yelled at poor Miss Erin for her foul-ups. The day culminated in a 10:30pm faculty meeting complete with much deserved wine and baked goods. And the best part is... only 25 days of STI left.

But TODAY my sneaky readers is a NEW DAY! I took the morning off from spinning class since I was so exhausted from yesterdays exploits and I don't feel bad about it. A lady needs her beauty rest sometimes. But I still started the morning off right with an awesome breakfast.

After mamma's comment on the, less than appetizing, look of my oats in a jar I decided it might be nice to make breakfast look a little prettier if I'm gonna share it on here. And it was actually really fun.

This is oatmeal (which you can't really see under all the fruit but its there) with unsweetened chocolate almond milk which I am trying for the first time and really like- though the oatmeal takes a lot longer to cook with it- and strawberries, blueberries, and a banana with a dash of cinnamon. Isn't it pretty? And it tasted even better.

All mixed up- but still more appetizing looking than the oats in a jar- I'll give you that one mom. Perhaps some of you wonder why I bother sharing my food on here. Well I am/was making a foray into cooking, but also one of my favorite things to do now is read other peoples healthy living blogs. Like this one: www.ohsheglows.com (whose blog is awesome and inspiring and sometimes she even @replies me on twitter and I feel super cool). And they always have all these beautiful pictures of all the lovely healthy foods they make and I just thought it would be sort of fun to do the same. At least with breakfast since this month its the only thing I'm cooking for myself. And I think it also makes me think more about what I'm eating. As in I'm encouraged to make healthier eating choices because then I can share them. No one wants to see a picture of Kraft mac and cheese I don't think...

And this is just a picture of my bulletin board next to my desk at work where I keep all the lovely letters and things people have sent me since I've been here. Sometimes when I'm having a difficult day (like yesterday) I reread one of the letters to make me feel better- as a reminder that there is a world outside of Shakespeare and Company.

Feel free to add to the board at anytime:
Erin Eva Butcher
c/o Shakespeare and Company
70 Kemble St.
Lenox, MA 01240

Oh! And further highlights from Mondays day off include:

A trip to the organic food store with Michelle. Notice me ogling all the amazing nut butter choices.

Sadly the Lake was not visited because the skies decided to open up- so instead of sitting lakeside I was calling the land lord of Greater Grace to tell him about our flooding first floor apartment- joyful day off indeed. I really don't mind living there with our STI participants, but it is a bit frustrating to not be able to escape them on my day off. I think when I'm home on Mondays I'll just have to walk around with a post-it on my forehead that says "Miss Erin is not home right now- it is her day off- please leave a message and she will answer your question on Tuesday". Yes I think that may work.

Today should be a far less stressful day- this afternoon we are all going to see Comedy of Errors as a group and having a talk-back. And this evening is pretty straight forward and won't require too much planning from me. Thank. God. Then its off to dress Amorous Quarrel, meetings in the evening, and then doing it all over again tomorrow.

Silver lining to all this? Momma is coming to visit for my bday next month. Also, Lexi and Laura are coming to visit for a weekend at the end of August. And once STI is over its only a few weeks until Conservatory starts and I think I've found the perfect sonnet:

Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:
Even so my sun one early morn did shine
With all triumphant splendor on my brow;
But out, alack! he was but one hour mine,
The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.
Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;
Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Thoughts? Hey at least its not as dark and morbid as the one I did for the month-long. I'm making progress. Slow but steady progress.

Monday Funday

Good morning sneaky readers! At last a day off and I was up bright and early this morning to enjoy every single solitary moment of my day- no paperwork- no running all over the property- just me doing what I want to do. And I haven't had a day off since I went to the beach with the fam so this was long overdue. For you non-theatre types Monday is our traditional day off since we all spend the weekends presenting the public with lovely performances of some kind.

I knew I wanted to get up and go to spinning this morning so I made sure to go to bed pretty early. The last week was so crazy that I managed to miss all of my spinning classes and I didn't run nearly as much as the last couple weeks. But now that I've had a week of adjustment to a new sched I'm aching to get back on track, and getting up early this morning is setting the tone for the rest of my week I hope. I got up at 5am- did spinning- which could have been a really terrible experience today but turned out fine. You see the spin bikes at Lenox Fitness are in desperate need of replacing (and they are getting all new ones in a few weeks thank god) and so some of the bikes stick or are just hard to ride. I got there 15 minutes early today to make sure I got a good bike- went through 2 before I found one. Then once we started class a late-comer waltzed in and tried the remaining bikes with clips (which are attachments on the pedals if you have spinning shoes which I don't) and none of them worked and since I was riding a bike with clip attachments I was asked to switch with her. And I did since the only other person in the same situation was a 60 year old woman and I thought it would be rude to make her move instead of me. Sadly though every other bike in the room had something wrong with it and I ended up on a bike that only worked if I was pedaling at the speed of light. So I had come in early, got the perfect bike, then had to give it up for some lady who came late and left early. I was pretty miffed and the whole class I had that look on my face (momma knows the one), that look of pent up rage bubbling under the surface. I was very upset that my workout was being ruined, and that the bike was sticking so badly unless I really pushed it. So I probably did the hardest spinning workout I have ever done. A definite positive spin on the situation. And after class my instructor apologized for making me move and promised to never do that again. So all was well and I left the class a sweaty mess, but with a really great work-out to start the day.

After my shower I went home to a lovely breakfast of oatmeal- served up in my nearly empty :( almond butter jar. Deliciousness.

I also added in some strawberries and blackberries
What a perfect way to start the morning.

Other plans for the day include: FREE BRUNCH in the Larry Hall cafe, possible hiking, possible movie (Toy Story 3 or Inception I think), possible trip to the lake (if the sun decides to show her smiling face), and there may be some Starbucks involved in there somewhere. But all in all I am determined that this will be a beautiful day.

Authority Figure?

I think I may have some sneaky readers out there. Pretty much no one but my Momma comments on this thing but then I keep hearing from people that they read this... sneaky followers! Well that's good to know, I haven't necessarily bored everyone I know to death just yet.

The last few days have been fairly crazy with the start of STI (Summer Training Institute) here at Shakes and Co. And for those of you who don't know STI is pretty much the same as the intensive I took in January except it is geared toward people in or just out of college. I actually could have participated in this one instead of the Winter Intensive if I had felt like waiting- but luckily I didn't. And instead I am the STI Workshop Manager. Which pretty much means I take care of running about, setting rooms up, doing paper work, taking attendance etc... And despite the fact that the first few days have been super busy and exhausting I am actually really enjoying it. It's so interesting to see the intensive from a different perspective and even though I am not participating in the workshop (although I do have to do Actor-Audience today... eep) I have daily reminders of the amazing time I had during my intensive and I'm remembering why I wanted to be here this summer in the first place. I think after a few months of working in the office I sort of lost sight of that, but now I am more excited than ever to do the Conservatory in the Fall and I'm eager to pick a new sonnet and monologue for it.

The other awesome thing about working on STI is that I'm considered a member of the Faculty which means that I get to eat in the cafe for FREE for the next month- three meals a day of really yummy food that I don't have to pay for. That pretty much makes the fact that I am really working 3 jobs at once worth it. But sadly it also means I won't be doing much cooking or baking or anything until after STI is over so I won't have much to share as far as that.

It is strange being in this Manager position though- I am pretty much exactly the same age as most of the STI participants and don't feel super qualified to be managing them. I was/am a little afraid that they won't listen to me very well because of that but its been fine so far.

And I'd like to share a little story of my superior STI Manager skilz- I thought it was funny- this may only have been sleep deprivation... you be the judge. The other night one of the STIs came running to my room at 11:30pm distraught because her dresser seemed to have spontaneously collapsed. I went to investigate and it did indeed seem to have collapsed. She pulled out one of the drawers and the entire 4 foot tall dresser sort of fell apart into a pile on the floor. She was on the verge of tears and I think she thought I was going to yell at her for breaking something- but I was actually rather amused and burst out laughing when I saw it. I managed to restore order and put it back together (it wasn’t actually held together with anything… like nails, or glue, its sort of just together… some of the time). I encouraged her to move her clothes to another dresser and to think of the other one as more of a table in the future. I was mostly amused because she (and the other 5 girls who gathered around) could have easily fixed it, but apparently it was believed I was the only one capable of completing this very important and complicated repair… the girls were very impressed with my handyman skills. Perhaps this story is only funny to me because it was after working a 14 hour day but... What better way to survive these 5 weeks than to find humor in the absurd. Just thought I’d share.

And tonight is the first Friday Night Cabaret! Which I am singing in. Hopefully I can get some pictures up from it for my next post.

Happy Friday sneaky readers

Recovery

When you pack several dozen young artistic type people in a relatively small space for several weeks at a time, inevitably, every once in a while the stars will aline and give you a night where- to put it mildly- the shit hits the fan. Every dramatic thing that has been simmering away in the summer heat will, all at once (with the help of copious amounts of alcohol), explode to the surface. One of these infamous night's took place on Friday. Friday was the opening night of Richard the Third. A night when somehow I couldn't turn around without seeing some dramatic story unfolding. Many a thing took place, many a tear was shed, and by the end of the night there were 3 drunken and weeping women in my dorm room (I include myself in this), each one more distraught than the last. Quite a sight to behold.

Now you dear readers (assuming I have any besides my mother- which I 'm really not sure I do)may be wondering what exactly went down last night. That I cannot share since it is possible that SOMEBODY I work with might actually read this (doubtful but not impossible) since I do put the links up on my Facebook. Suffice it to say that it was some theatre geek craziness across the board, but nothing to worry about. As far as I know, everyone survived...

And so Saturday was spent in recovery. My personal anger from the previous nights events was not completely abated, and upon waking up after heading to bed around 4am I celebrated surviving the night by hitting my end table, making my computer fall on the concrete floor. Ah the joy continues... so now my lovely laptop is some form of broken and has been sent off to Best Buy for repairs. But I'll probably loose all my info, pictures, and music. I suppose that's what I get for letting my anger bubble to the surface once every six months- apparently this is far too often as far as karma is concerned. So until I get it back there will probably be no more pictures on this thing.

Which is a shame because...what better way to recover from a frivoulsly tragic evening and a morning of breaking one of the most expensive things you own then with pancakes? I took some pictures of said delicious pancakes, but alas am unable to share them. But anyway they were whole-wheat oatmeal blueberry pancakes with crunchy almond butter and banana slices on top- and they were perfect. I made a few changes to the recipe- only used half the oil and used brown sugar instead of white sugar because I like it better. I mostly made them because blueberries were on sale this week and as a thankyou to Momma Bear Michelle for taking care of me in my state the previous evening. She enjoyed them immensely as well I am told. Not to mention that pancakes are the perfect hangover food. (I actually wasn't hung over, but I never need an excuse to eat pancakes)

And now that I am fully recovered I turn my attention to the ridiculous stressfulness that is sure to be STI. I am trying to be as prepared as possible- but this is difficult when one really has no idea what one is supposed to be doing. Most of the participants arrive tomorrow and on Tuesday the maddness truely begins.
On the plus side I am now moved into Greater Grace and have enough kitchen and fridge space to cook whatever I want- just not sure if I'm going to have any time. I guess we'll find out.

Too Darn Hot

What an excessively hot few days its been... Yesterday afternoon I decided it wasn't too hot for my thursday 5 mile run- I was supposed to do this run in the morning when it was cooler, but alas did not wake up- doing this run at 5pm instead was not the smartest choice I've ever made. It was HOT and by the end of it I was so dehydrated I drained my 32oz water bottle 3 times and still felt woozy and had stars in my eyes. Won't be doing that again. Its gonna be morning runs or bust from now on.

So I was so exhausted after this that I went to bed around 10:30pm- yes I'm lame- but I really wanted to be rested enough to do spinning class in the morning. And I did make it, although I took it really easy since yesterday was so tough.

In other news: its time to move... again. For the next 5 weeks I will be relocating to Grace Manor in order to better serve my duties as STI manager (ex: making sure they don't burn the place down). The up side? It's a single room with a bigger bed and nicer furnishings and I will get my OWN kitchen to use instead of sharing one with 25 people. The down side? I will have to leave my beloved Michelle for a time :( but am planning to have copious amounts of sleep-overs so hope fully the 5 weeks won't be terrible for us. Also I have to move all my stuff in the sweltering heat across town only to move it all back in 5 weeks. Such is my lot in life. What can you do?

Furthermore at the moment I wish I was doing this...

The Beach

Oh what an exciting couple of days it has been! No really! Can you believe it? Now... from the beginning.

Saturday was the official opening of The Comedy of Errors starring my friends from the Intern company and so I decided to commemorate the occasion by making some cookies for the opening party. And not just any cookies- Whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies- which I made from the recipe on http://www.espressoandcream.com/ one of the many foodie bloggers I read. And they were AMAZING!!!! I made them with milk chocolate chips instead of the dark chocolate ones the recipe called for- only because the dark chocolate chips were WAY more expensive. So here they are:


Dough- I made a double batch

and the final product

I meant to take pictures of everyone enjoying them at the party but forgot. But I can say there were 5 dozen cookies and only about 20 of us at the party- they were gone in 20 minutes so I guess they were a success!

Then Sunday was the 4th obviously and I took part in some events here at Shakes and Co in the afternoon before heading off to the airport for my impromptu VACATION!

After two flights, a car ride, and a quick trip to Wal-mart with Momma I made it back to the beach house at 2am. But that didn't stop me from getting up at 5am to go for my run. And this is the glorious morning I woke up to.

The sunrise run was lovely except running on sand is really hard and my shin was not happy about it. I only did about 3.5 miles total. And then went back to the house and took a shower outside- always fun and interesting- and went up for breakfast. And who was there to great me? Why most fave neice Allison of course!

So we had some breakfast and then as the rest of the house woke up we made our way down to the beach for some sun.

I of course hid in the sun shelter as long as I could since my skin is practically glow in the dark.

But eventually I was tempted out and I can say that my freckles are now a few shades darker... Don't know if I like that but there you have it. And after our afternoon in the sun (and me with 3 hours of sleep) Allison and I took a nice long nap.

Then yesterday we did one of my very favorite things- shopping! Sadly I was too distracted by that fun to take any pictures but suffice it to say I got lots of super cute summer clothing- THANKS MOMMA!

And after our long arduous day of shopping we came home to the boys who caught Spanish Mackerel on their fishing trip so we had that for dinner. It was pretty delicious.

And before I new it, this morning it was time to leave again. I had a great time visiting with my family though and seeing them all was just what I needed right now to get through the rest of this summer. And now its back to the grind I guess, STI starts up next week and from what I understand it may in fact kill me so wish me luck all- I may be stir crazy for the next 5 weeks...