This is the Title of an Uncreative Violinist.:)

In conjunction with my new motto of saying "NO" to gig offers in order to preserve some of my sanity and enjoy family/home life, I've already turned down an awesome gig that pays well (which I did last year), incredibly easy music and actually doesn't take up too much time...but the catch is that it's for Midnight Mass at a large Catholic church across town on Christmas Eve.  Now, I remember last year--when I pretty much said 'yes' to every single gig that was thrown my way--I was running around like a crazy person, grumbling under my breath about how much driving I was doing and how I wished I could just be at home cooking dinner or hanging with the family.  The Christmas Eve gig, in particular, was rough;  the plan was for me to drive immediately afterwards to my in-laws, about an hour and a half away, to spend Christmas day with them.  Ryan was supposed to get a head start ahead of me, but it turned out that he got sick (started throwing up before I lef...

Today was a fabulously leisurely day.  Woke up around 9:30, took the dogs out, checked email/blogs/other stuff, got ready and headed out for some Christmas shopping. When I was in college, I remember doing holiday shopping for several hours without tiring of it; now, I can NOT handle more than a few hours of shopping.  It's not even the walking around part that bothers me (it's a little ridiculous for a runner to complain about walking, right?) but the indecisiveness of what to get people.  After two hours, it gets old and I just want to come back home. Anyway.  I stepped into Anthropologie to donate a sweater and I found these two items that I thought looked cute on me:           I also found some apple wine from a store that is all local--not sure who will get that one, but I figure wine is always a good gift.  I also got a lot of stocking stuffer-type items from World Market: chocolates, candies, balsamic...

Ahhh.  Well, Thanksgiving came and went.  So sad that it flew by so quickly; I feel like I hardly got to enjoy it :( I did end up making almost everything I set out to, except for the pumpkin spice muffins for breakfast.  I actually held off on breakfast (besides coffee) because my parents tend to have their Thanksgiving "dinner" in the early afternoon (they're friends with a lot of other OLD people who don't like to drive at night, lol) and it didn't really make sense to eat anything so close to a huge meal.  Plus, I was busy making three side dishes--one of which I shouldn't have even bothered to make as there was SO much food, it nearly went unnoticed (my parents and husband redundantly pointed out to me to NOT bother to make this particular dish again, ha!)--I didn't really have time to think about eating yet. I got rave reviews over the crockpot corn pudding and apple spice bundt cake (this one disappeared in less than 24 hrs! I didn't even ...

Okay, so here is what I am pretty sure I'll be contributing to Thanksgiving dinner.  Most of these I will attempt to make tomorrow (my day off) and refrigerate over night.  The easy stuff, I'll wait until Thursday morning to make, as I don't expect them to be too difficult or time-consuming. ********************  Breakfast : 1.  French-press coffee 2.  2-ingredient Pumpkin Spice Muffins (recipe found here:  2 ingredient pumpkin spice muffins ) Sides : 1.  Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Toasted Hazelnuts ( recipe ) 2.  Crockpot Corn Pudding ( recipe ) 3.  Buttered Turnip Puree ( recipe ) Meat : 1.  Honey-Baked Ham Dessert : 1.  Apple Spice Bundt Cake ( recipe) 2.  Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake ( recipe ) ***************************** I know it seems like a lot of food to make for someone who isn't hosting the holiday--and my parents are also making a lot themselves (Turkey, mashed potatoe...

Ahhh!!  Only three more days until we go out of town for Thanksgiving!  It really crept up on me, and I have NO clue what I'm going to make at this point. My parents are having friends over and everyone is bringing something, but since Ryan and I made this deal that we go to my parents for T-giving, and his parents for Christmas...for good (or at least until some changes are made over at his house, which is the main reason he's not too keen on going there for Thanksgiving anymore), I feel more pressure to make more dishes than usual, as well as making them GOOD, so that Ryan doesn't feel like he's missing out on his family's traditions. For example, his grandmother makes the best biscuits, dressing and corn I've ever had.  They're truly addictive.  His mom--my MIL--isn't a bad cook herself, but we tease her about taking 8 hours to make mashed potatoes :)  My parents, on the other hand, are more "healthy-conscious" and as a result, tend to mak...

I've already decided that my biggest resolution for the new year will be to say "no" more often and "yes" to what is BEST for myself.  I'm always so worried about how things will look or what people will think if I decline a request or offer for something that otherwise I really wouldn't or shouldn't say 'yes' to. I was really looking forward to a slower end of year, but it looks like--due to my inability to say "no"--every weekend will be taken up by something :  a gig, a concert, rehearsals, makeup lessons, fund-raisers, attending a student's performance.  Something always comes up.  And I suppose the biggest reason I hesitate to say 'no' is NOT because I'm stingy with my time, but because of the expense it all adds up to.  I tend to be a lot more generous with basically all that I have much more so than my husband.  He's the "practical" one in the family, and I suppose it's good he handles our ...

This weekend: Got up at 6AM Saturday to go for a long run with an old co-worker I hadn't seen in over five years.  It was great!  We did 7.6 miles, chatting and bonding the whole time.  After, I rushed home to shower, change and drive to teach a student right before we both headed to another part of town for a studio recital.  Accompanied all my students on piano, chatted with parents/took pictures and scurried back to other end of town to teach another makeup lesson.  Had just enough time to change again at home for musical performance.  Hubby came with me (first gig he's watched me play in...gosh, don't know how long!  He hates instrumental performances, but loves vocal--especially baroque period), and then we discovered a 24-hr diner called The Hamburger Inn in Delaware, OH.  Came home quite exhausted. This morning, I finally got to enjoy sleeping in with husband and pups, and took my time making a pleasant brunch that we sat down at the ta...

Went for a very slow run this afternoon.  Wasn't feeling it, but felt like I had to do something other than moping around the house (yes, I'm grumpy today).  Current events aside, I'm grumpy that I have to make an unnecessary trip to teach ONE student simply b/c there was a miscommunication between the office manager at my studio and a parent and they failed to show up at their designated time last night.  I didn't want my student to miss two lessons in a row (same happened last week) so I decided to go in today on my day off.  Proving my point more and more that an office manager is simply unnecessary and I'm the only one who knows my schedule best. Anyway.  Hoping to keep up a few more runs this week and also scheduled a buddy run for this Saturday w/ a former coworker I recently reconnected with on Facebook.  As much as I hate that social network sometimes, once in awhile it's good for discovering like-minded souls who share your passions.  I'm gl...

8:00am:  Wake up, take dogs out, greet Dad visiting for the morning on his way back home. 9:00am:  Head out to vote down the street 9:30am:  Make breakfast, eat at a leisurely pace w/ dad, check email, watch news, straighten up the house. Early afternoon:  Dad goes on his way; continue doing small chores around the house. 2:45-6:30pm:  Teach 7:00pm:  Head home, have dinner w/ hubby, sit down to watch election coverage. 9:45pm:  Glued to the couch, stomach churning, biting nails, still awaiting election results.  Nerve wracking. Tomorrow morning:  Planning an outdoor run. Will it be a relieving, victorious run...or a workout requiring blowing off steam and frustration:  Unknown.

I signed up for Run Eat Repeat's Pile On The Miles 2012 challenge and really got off to a bad start as I missed the first three days and just got in my first run this morning.  Ugh.  Running sporadically is NOT a good idea.  When was the last run I did?  I don't even remember.  The last race I did was a month and a half ago.  This morning's run was on a trail by our house.  Ryan forced me to do 5 miles and I'm glad he did.  I was going to settle for just 3, but considering I did zero running this past week, more mileage is always better.  It's possible I may have set an unrealistic goal for myself, but I didn't sign up with the intent to win, but to have that little nagging voice in the back of my head say each day "You really need to get out there and do SOMETHING...don't SUCK today!!".  So I'd like to do at least 3 miles during the week.  Possibly more on the weekends.  Next weekend will be hard.  I have three more ope...