Going places

Wow I'm getting pretty addicted to this blogging thing! I've been having so much fun looking at all these other peoples health and fitness blogs that it just seems like so much fun. And it is! Despite the fact that my life is incredibly boring at this point. Still I have much boringness to write about for your enjoyment. Dinner the other night at Baba Louie's was a bust thanks to the 45 minute wait and I super douchey host so Michelle, Meaghan, and I went to The Well in Great Barrington instead and had a grand old time.

There were lots of lava lamps. And I had a yummy salad and a chili cheeseburger with sweet potato fries.

Then yesterday involved further adventures is being way to domestic for my own good. I went for a bike ride after work and picked a lovely bunch of flowers to brighten up my room.
And then decided to make some rice krispie treat type things in order to use up some of the unhealthy foods in my cupboard. So I made cheerio squares with chocolate mixed in and sent them off the the Richard III tech so that I wouldn't eat them all. I'm told they were quite good.

Today was a beautiful day outside and ALL DAY I was aching to go for a run even though I went to spinning this morning already. So I did go for a short 2 mile run after Amorous Quarrel, unfortunately it was rather painful because I don't think my body is ready to run 2 days in a row yet. So I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to do tomorrow mornings regularly scheduled 4.5 mile run or not. I'm hoping it'll be fine but I'm also worried I may be getting a shin splint...eeep. I did reward myself for working out twice today though by having one of the delicious chocolates my designer on Amorous Quarrel got me on opening night as a gift.
Best opening night gift EVER. Thanks Amanda!

And more good news for today- thanks to my amazing mommy and jim I will actually get to join my family on our family vacation for the first time in 3 years. At least for a little while. I'm taking an extra day off of work and spending 2 full days in North Carolina on the beach on July 5th and 6th. And I think it couldn't come at a better time, I've been here now almost 3 months and I am definately in need of a little vacation from Mr. Shakespeare. Plus I've really missed my family and am now looking forward to running on the beach- getting some sun- and getting a bit rejuvinated to face the rest of a long summer full of no acting. Biding your time is an exhausting practice btw.

And for today I'll leave you with this lovely image of the pink skirt that will be the bane of my wardrobe mistress existance for the rest of the summer. It's adorable and awesome onstage- but it hates me- and it always will.

Flowerchild

Monday- also known as my DAY OFF! Unfortunately this Monday all my Intern friends do not have a day off so for most of the day I've had to fend for myself. So what to do with my wide open day? Well I got up at 7:30 and decided that since my usual 6am spinning class was cancelled I would try a new class. Its called ABC- abs, butt, core- clever... And while the class didn't give me much of a workout it was totally worth going to. You see many of the classes at my little gym Lenox Fitness are geared toward a slightly (or significantly) older crowd than myself. This class was in that vain- I was a good 30 years younger than anyone else in the class including the instructor, and the excersizes we did were obviously incredibly low impact. So why did I enjoy this when I was really in the mood for a good hard core workout? I have to say it was the soundtrack- which made this incredibly gereartic workout incredibly entertaining. The soundtrack was basically a techo-beat dance mix of classical musical theatre hits. Hilarious- and quite possibly the gayest music I have ever heard- and I mean that lovingly- I half expected Liza Minelli and a bergade of gays in purple jumpsuits to drop in at any moment. I sat there quietly giggling through my crunches as the music played through techo remixes of songs like "I could have danced all night" and "my favorite things". Somewhere Julie Andrews was weeping.

After my gym time I went exploring in Pittsfeild, as I had my eye on a vintage shop I saw a few weeks ago that didn't open until 11. So I walked around looking at the little shops and trying to find a decent breakfast- but upon finding somewhere decent to have breakfast I realized that last nights "Dip Fest" truely did not agree with me and I simply could not stand to put food in my mouth. Still queezy actually. Dip Fest was great- lots of yummy dips were sampled, but my stomach apparently disagrees with this. I went to the vintage shop as soon as it opened and had a grand old time looking at all the truely amazing vintage Victorian pieces they had (most worth hundreds of dollars- and rightfully so- most were silk, handmade, and 120 years old)which I could never afford, but I did manage to find a lovely dress from the 70's that I fell in love with and only for 25 bucks. It makes me feel like a true flowerchild.
I was honestly like a kid in a candy shop in this store- I don't think I've enjoyed myself so much in weeks- just looking at all the lovely pieces and imaging what the story was behind them (thats the amazing thing about vintage clothes, they always have a story). I will most certainly be going back- if only to admire the loveliness every once in a while.

As for the last few days- my running is going great- yesterday I ran 5 miles in the morning. And it felt great. I'm now looking for further ways to expand my usual route so that I can get it up to an even six and be running for a hour straight. I keep at a pace of about 6mph so it would be kinda perfect. Furthermore, I discovered on this last run that not only are my favorite summer flowers in bloom and readily available for the picking (Tiger Lillies) but all kinds of flowers are busting out these days- I have plans to brighten up my room with said flowers ASAP. I wanted to run again today but I'm wary of running 2 days in a row so soon because I'm worried I may be getting shin splints from doing too much too quickly. But TOMORROW its going to be another lovely 5 mile run and I'm already looking forward to it. Hopefully my stomach will be ammicable to some food soon. It better because Michelle and I are going to Baba Louie's tonight for woodfired organic sourdough pizza!

Adventures in the Communal Kitchen

As you may or may not be aware, here at Shakespeare and Company I live in a dorm type situation. And so for cooking and whatnot the Residents here at Larry Hall share one big kitchen. This kitchen is shared by a total of twenty-six people. So as you can imagine there are adventures galore. Space is obviously an issue- frequently- now cabinet space is readily available. The first pick is my lovely cupboard of goodness. Now fridge space- not quite so pleasant. We now have two fridges- one large cafeteria style fridge and one regular sized fridge. But for a while we only had the one... for 26 people. Not fun. This next picture is all the fridge space I have to work with. I put my stuff in a basket to get it out of there easier.

So, as you may have geussed, learning to cook healthy meals in this place- not the easiest task in the world. But I did manage to make one GIANT pot of very healthy veggie soup that will probably last me weeks- was really inexpensive and tastes pretty darn good. I wasn't really anticipating making quite this much- but I had not clue about proportion so... whatever it turned out great. And the WHOLE POT was less than 2000 calories.

Looks good right? I'm pretty proud of myself here. But alas- I was so nice and healthy all day- cooking lovely things from scratch and then proceeded to ruin it by going to Friendly's. A monumental mistake. I had a grilled cheese and french fries and ice cream. I woke up feeling like I had a hangover! My body was not pleased with me. I guess its good to know though that I'm getting used to all these fruits and veggies and whatnot. But despite my waking with a junk food hangover I still managed my 7am run of 4.5 miles. WOOT! And I did it in 46 minutes- not gonna win any races or anything, but I was pleased with myself staying at about 6 mph the whole time- even with the hills.

Tonight I made some oatmeal blueberry cookies. They were delicious- although not very cookie like- very crumbly. So I guess that's actually more junk food- but hey at least I know whats in them. And I used blueberries- I must get some points for antioxidants. I've been practically living off of berries now that they are in season and somewhat affordable.

But yes, the kitchen is an interesting place, a place where 26 people (most just out of college) have to live in harmony and keep the damn place clean. Quite a task if I do say so myself. I'm about to start freaking out if one more person leaves dirty dishes out overnight. There are 26 of us people. You clearly cannot leave your shit out to rot overnight. And I am trying desperately not to become the maid down there- but I always end up cleaning the place for at least about 1/2 and hour a day while I'm cleaning. But it hardly helps. 26 people 3 meals a day. I don't even want to think about how many dishes that is. And if even one person doesn't clean it sucks for everyone.

Listen to me- I'm like a crotchety old woman. Well- at least my mother will be proud- when home I am far less diligent about my dishes. Sorry mommy. It really fine though, we've been sharing the kitchen for about a month and there have been no MAJOR problems just yet. No fires, no fingers cut off- knock on wood.

I dunno, its weird, I get the feeling lately that I'm turning into a real person. I have things that I do that are just my things that I like doing for myself. I've been practicing my music a lot more lately. I think in college I forgot how much I actually enjoy singing- just singing for myself. I think college made me forget why I liked it in the first place and made me concentrate much more on trying to improve, or on comparing my little voice to all the gigantic and perfect ones I was constantly surrounded by at BW. Singing is just good for the soul though, and now I can really feel free to sing whatever I want instead of whatever someone else thinks is right for me.

Still I'm missing home a bit, my friends, my family. I've been away a long time. But now time seems to be flying around here. June is practically over! And its only a little over a week until my first 5k. Still haven't picked a goal time yet, need to do that. Maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 minutes would work.

Ah and just a reminder to all that I still LOVE getting mail. You can find the address in one of the posts below. Think about it!

Vegetables and Being Domestic

A lovely day yesterday. Full of yummy food and summer awesomeness. After a morning in the office dying to be outside in the sun... I escaped with Michelle, Jason, and Shawn to the Lenox Friday Farmers market. I got my usual apples, strawberries, and spinach. And then I got some more rhubarb! to try a new delicious rhubarb recipe. I also got my usual cookie and this time also tried some other goodies (sorry diet of mine) including some berry pie and a rhubarb crumble that just looked too good to pass up.

Then we had another dress rehearsal for Amorous Quarrel which was fun- nice and short. I kinda love that its only me. I can show up whenever I think I need to instead of ridiculously early just because someone else thinks its neccessary. And perhaps I won't get in trouble for my choices of black clothing so much this year. Dare to dream

And after the run- it was time to COOK! I made this rhubarb reduction I geuss which was really good- I put it in my oatmeal. And then I started on the oatmeal rhubarb crumble. I did double the topping because it just didnt seem like enough to me to cover the pan.


Based on Andre and Michelle's enthusiasm to try it I'd say it was a success. It was quite a domestic day for me... cooking, laudry, sewing, cleaning, and in general being awesome. I'm enjoying learning to cook (although that was mostly baking) I'm thinking I'd like to try some more complicated stuff. Maybe actually cooking a more complicated meat than eggs, or turkey sloppy joes. It would be nice to actually have a clue as to how to cook a piece of fish.

Plus I think this whole healthy eating thing would be much easier if I didn't have to buy anything processed and could still make anything I wanted. I am making progress. There is now no Mac and Cheese in my cupboard- but there is a fair amount of canned soup. Perhaps for next week I ought to try making soup then... hmmm... I like this idea.

Cooking things

Now that I'm a real live grown up (in a manner of speaking) I was thinking that it might benefit me to learn to cook something. I have never been much for cooking in the past, outside of my regular staples of spaghetti, mac and cheese, and peanut butter toast- which, admittedly, hardly even count. And since I'm trying this new thing where I actually eat healthy food instead of my college fair, I thought I might want to make it a little more interesting. Usually when I'm home Mom or Jim do all the cooking, and I must admit that I pretty much never help (I'm a bad daughter I know). So now that I'm on my own with no money to eat out like- ever again- I find myself wanting a little more variety than egg sandwiches and oatmeal.

So this week I've actually MADE things. I got some rhubarb at the farmers market (I LOVE rhubarb) so I found some recipes on things to make with it since I have no clue how to cook rhubarb. But I ended up making strawberry rhubarb applesauce and this rhubarb crumble thing that was AMAZING although incredibly sweet- if I make it again I won't use so much sugar. And baking was fun because then I got to share with my friends in the kitchen, and I think they all really liked it too. Then I made some turkey sloppy joes for the week.

Next week I think I'll get some more rhubarb and try some different recipes online for it. I just love the taste of it- I love tart things. I kinda have a bug to bake things now- but unfortunately I don't really have the money to just bake whatever I want. I have actually managed to stay on my 10 dollar a day budget for the last two weeks- no small feat, let me tell you, but a neccessity. It is especially difficult now that I actually buy healthy foods. It would be much easier if I just lived off mac and cheese as I am want to do. Fresh fruit is expensive- a little less so now that some of it is actually in season. And the farmers market helps. I usually get apples and strawberries there, and this week I also got some spinach and the rhubarb.

So see this is a healthy living summer for me. Healthy eating (although the Ben & Jerry's was buy one get one free this week- but hey we all need ice cream in our lives sometimes) exercising, and hopefully my mental health will improve as well. I'm working on it- nonjudgeing, and giving myself a break once in a while, trying to get my over active mind to shut up once in a while and stop obsessing over stupid things I can't change anyway. As always the mental health part is the most difficult. Because all the healthy eating and excersize in the world really doesn't make a difference if I still look in the mirror and convince myself I'm fat because my size 2 pants, that I bought when I was practically anorexic, don't fit anymore.

My confidence having taken quite a beating over the past year, my mindset is still not in a particularly healthy place much of the time. But there is progress. Slow, nearly invisible, progress. I try to remind myself when I come across the clothes that don't fit that its really ok. That I run 12 miles a week now, and eat 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Its all good. Moving forward.

Rainy Day

Its gross outside. And I feel similarly today. Very tired from staying up too late and then getting up at 5:30 for spinning class. It was a really intense class too and I have been wiped out all day from a combination of tiredness and yucky weather.

On a more optimistic note though I am loving having so many people here now. The trick for the rest of the summer I think will be staying on my budget which I did a terrible job at last month- very terrible. Trying to be a grown-up over here, but it aint always easy I suppose. But I'm loving having my roommate Michelle here with me, someone to talk to about anything. I have to say though that I am feeling pretty jealous of everyone else today. They all are off rehearsing for their various shows and I'm stuck in the office- not acting. I suppose I just have to bide my time and be a good girl until the Fall when it gets to be my turn. We are officially doing As You Like It for our Conservatory show, which is very exciting. Guess I'll have another crack at it after last years awful and dramatic situation with BW's production of it. At least they HAVE to cast me in this one lol. And just like last time I want Rosalind (but then, who doesn't) so I'm gonna start working on that like... now.

Got new running shoes- they are awesome- my knee didnt hurt at all after my run yesterday. Hurrah to that. Its weird that now I'm like- a runner. And that I actually like running, I used to HATE doing long distance when I was on the track team at school. I've been wanting to see if I can finish a mile run faster than I did then. If I recall my fastest time was like 7 minutes 13 seconds. Which isn't very fast obv- but please keep in mind I was 13 and the worst runner on the team.

Furthermore I miss my friends at home a lot. And my family. And I worry that I'm missing too much being away all the time. By time I finish Conservatory and go home it will be almost Christmas. I'll miss Allison's 3rd birthday. I wonder from time to time if this gypsy life is right for me. I suppose I may just be a little homesick, I have been here now for almost two months. Seven more ahead of me. I don't know- the sun needs to come out.

Today's theme song: "I Resolve" from She Loves Me. Should probably be my life theme song actually.

June is Bustin' out all over....

Great day today I feel. I finally reached my 4 mile goal! And I feel a bit shakey at the moment, but accomplished and super happy as well- ah endorphins! Now the key is to do it faster. Today it took 38 minutes. Thats a long time to run for a lady like me!

Furthermore this morning was the Meet and Greet here at Shakes and Co and I'm so excited that people are here and we all live here together! I'm sure the novelty of communal living will eventually wear off but for now I'm just glad I'm not living awkwardly with a host family in some random corner of Boise Idaho. And Michelle- my roomie- has arrived and there are all kinds of people milling about the property these days. And soon I'll be starting my part-time dresser job which is gonna be a tad more social for me than being stuck in the offic all day. Lots to be happy about today.

Plus I got two pints of blueberries for 3.99 yesterday! What could be better? I am ready to love this summer!

Currently it is pouring outside. I just want to go dance in it!