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.