This is the Title of an Uncreative Violinist.:)

I'm relieved and grateful that my husband took it into his own hands to plan our summer vacation, and surprised me by booking a trip to Aspen, Colorado.  It's still several months away, but I can't wait!  Even though my own summer vacation last year was to Las Vegas and Arizona, Ryan couldn't come with me, so this will be our first REAL vacation together since our honeymoon over five years ago. Speaking of Aspen,  I guess that place was the final straw for Heidi and Seal !  Oh, boy. I'm feeling better--thank goodness--and am planning to get back to my running schedule tomorrow.  I missed a lot of running this month:(  Staying optimistic that it will be smooth sailing (as far as my health is concerned) from here.  I know the running won't be easy, but I need to see what my limit is (or if I have a limit). That's it for now.  Trying to get to bed earlier, so I can get up earlier and get the running out of the way before I go on with my day:)

Ugh, I still didn't feel well today, so I made a ton of phone calls to parents to see if they could reschedule lessons for another time this week.  I always feel so guilty and terrible when something like this happens, as I HATE being behind with kids' lessons, and of course, we all silently know that piling makeup lessons doesn't really do anything to actually bring a child up to speed with their instrument.  It's just a formality to make sure parents get their tuition's worth of lessons.  I don't mind when I"m the one that has to cancel, since that's my responsibility. I took some tylenol and drank tea in hopes of getting rid of my massive headache that lasted all weekend.  I am starting to feel better than before, but I'm being cautiously optimistic about a full recovery.  I made a much-needed trip to the grocery to stock up on my fruits and vegetables, and also picked up vitamin gummies, which I've never tried before.  I took four when I g...

This week took a bad turn last night when I started feeling a cold coming on again.  Sure enough, when I woke up for orchestra rehearsal this morning, I felt terrible.  Ryan tried to convince me to skip the rehearsal, but as we have a concert next week, I felt bad about missing.  I'm glad I went, though; this is an amateur orchestra that the principal cellist of the Columbus Symphony asked me to help out with, and as is the case with amateur players (nothing against being amateur, don't get me wrong!), counting is all over the place, and it's always executed with one dynamic: fortississimo!  I'm pretty sure everyone is aware of their mistakes, but if there's ever a question about misplaced counting or notes, most people are timid about bringing it up.  I couldn't take it anymore, so I requested that the violin sections go over all the hairy places alone so we could finally get it together.  Problem solved! Right after rehearsal, I rushed across town to coa...

This morning, I did a 30 min. run on the treadmill, and all I could think about was eggs.  I crave scrambled eggs after any workout (protein and carbs in general), so first thing I did when I got back home was whip up 3 eggs with shredded cheese and drizzled it with honey.  Weird?  Yeah, I don't know when I started drizzling my eggs with honey, but the first time I did it, I loved it.  Hubby thinks it's disgusting, but I think it's yummy:) After I clean up, I'm going to get started on tonight's chicken pot pie.  Happy Wednesday:)

I took some pictures of my new Tonareli violin case today at my teaching studio.  So far, I'm really loving how light the case is.  It's pretty nifty looking and I've gotten remarks from students and other musicians on how "cute" it is. The downside, of course, is how small it is and b/c of that, there is no compartment for music or hardly anything else, for that matter. I love how it looks like a cello case! The principal cellist of the Columbus Symphony noticed that right away, too:) Only enough room for the violin, bow, shoulder rest and JUST my rosin. Nothing else. Hey, look at me, I'm a cool musician!  Not really:( One of the candy bowls for my "students"... "students" = "me"

So we have been experimenting with our bedroom configuration lately, and we finally rearranged our furniture the way I had been wanting to for a long time.  I personally think it works, and as proof, I've fallen asleep like a baby the last 2 nights.  Okay, maybe that part is in my head, but I swear I sleep better with this arrangement.  Hubby, on the other hand, claims he's getting less sleep and is more depressed as a result of this new arrangement.  Here is a pic:  We have a new TV and bookcase it goes on top of in the corner to the right, and it feels like there's more functional space this way.  Now, all I need to do is get some curtains, paint the walls and get rid of some undesirable pet stains on the carpet, ick. And just because I can't resist more pictures, here's one with me wearing my fav outfit--a cami and cardigan: And that's all I've got. :)  Happy Tuesday!

One cold and one week later, I DO feel back to normal!  Ha.  Well, I missed a whole week of running and three days of teaching.  I sincerely hope that's the only run-in I have with illness this year.  Even though I was home three days straight, all I did was lie on the couch wishing I could breathe normally, and praying that I wouldn't throw up. At first, I felt so bad that I missed a whole week of following my running schedule--but now I feel like maybe it was good that I got sick and had that week of rest.  Whenever I get sick, I'm reminded of how much more careful I need to be about what I put into my body.  I'm still pretty heinous about my fresh fruit consumption, as well as how much water I drink; those are both things that were all I could about stand when I was sick last week.  Interesting how your body knows what's good for you! We've also had interesting weather here in Ohio.  It snowed a couple days last week and everyone here whined...

I went for my 6 mile run yesterday and ran at a comfortable pace the whole time.  Near the end of the run, I felt like one of my feet was starting to feel funny, but I slowed down a little and tried to shake it out and luckily, it felt alright and it doesn't hurt now or anything.  I really hope that's not a bad sign, though.  I'm worried that I might have a mileage limit, and that my body will just break down after a certain mile; but I keep telling myself that I'm in training right now, and as I gradually build the miles, my body will adapt.  I hope that's the case! Today, I did some deep cleaning and in the middle of the day, I started getting the sniffles.  It doesn't feel like a cold, but more like allergies.  Blah, I hope that's all it is and that I'm not getting sick--that would seriously end my no-sick streak! I always feel so much better after doing some seriously cleaning (there's still a lot of cleaning to do, too) and now I'm in be...

So today was actually Day 1 of my marathon training schedule.  I am following Hal Higdon's Novice 1 program, and I hope it works out for me in the end : / Unfortunately, it started snowing two days ago, so no running outside for me.  I really, really hate hitting the gym when people are there, and I just KNEW the gym would be loaded after New Years (which they were earlier in the day when Ryan tried to go before work), so I just waited until late morning to hit the treadmill, praying that people would have gone to work by then.  Well, there were still a few losers there, but luckily some treadmills were free.  I only had a 3 mile run on the schedule today--as is the case for the next two days--but wow, it felt so hard on that machine.  That, and maybe the fact that I hadn't run in over 3 months;)  I. Was. Slow.  I mean, I set my pace at 9:30/mi. initially, and I might as well have set it at 6:00/mi. because that's what it felt like to me.  So I...

My new year hasn't gotten off to such a spectacular start as I stayed up REALLY late and got up not too long ago:(  But even though it's technically Jan. 1st, it doesn't feel like the new year yet, because I actually don't start my marathon training until tomorrow.  So, unless I fail to follow through with the training, I won't feel too guilty just yet. I'm not making any resolutions.  We all know that making resolutions is a setup for major disappointment because most people don't always follow through with them [*raises hand*].  The only tangible goal I've made so far is this marathon, and I'm pretty determined to go through with it, well, because I already registered and there are no refunds or cancellations, lol.  I've also already told a few people about it, so I know I'd feel pretty foolish to just decide NOT to do it along the way, unless something huge happens, like a serious injury or tragedy. As far as other goals go, I do have th...