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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!