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.

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.

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...