This is the Title of an Uncreative Violinist.:)

Didn't do any workouts over the weekend.  I spent most of Saturday driving around to students' houses giving makeups for Friday's "snow" day.  It wasn't too bad, really.  We met some friends later Saturday evening for dinner at Flipside Burger at Easton.  If you ever go to Flipside, always ALWAYS get the One Red Door Burger--it's their best one, and one of my favorite burgers ever. Sunday morning, I forced myself out of bed at 8AM to finally go to church (for maybe the first time in half a year) because I've been meaning to go for weeks and weeks (or rather, months...okay, maybe years!).  I grew up attending church regularly, and I attended a private Christian high school, but once I got to college, I wasn't very good about going alone and always felt guilty about it.  After college was even worse, especially after I got married, since Ryan doesn't go either.  It's strange, because I hate that we send mixed messages to people:  we don...

Today's double workout:  Rowed 3.34 miles; ran 2.6 miles Got my row done and out of the way this morning and then spent some time checking emails and eventually deciding to reschedule music lessons for tomorrow due to the weather and the reports I was getting from some parents.  After realizing that I could have the day off, I got some household crap I've been putting off out of the way.  One big thing I'd been needing to do but dreaded doing was emptying and deep cleaning the refrigerator.  Ugh!  BUT, I got it done and I feel sooo much better now when I walk into my kitchen and open that fridge up, just to see it sparkling right back at me. Once Ryan got home, we decided to grab some pizza at this local joint where he and I split a meatball sub (the best I've had so far) and got a large pizza with pepperoni, onions and banana peppers.  As we were walking into the pizza place, we heard a dog barking from a truck parked in front; as we got closer, we co...

Today's double workout was kind of the reverse of yesterday's:  my early afternoon run was long, and this evening's row was short.  I ran 5.1 miles in 46 minutes (I can feel it in my abs and thighs now...good sign!) and then I just rowed about a mile and a half in under 15 minutes. I really, really want to keep this going.  I actually felt pretty energetic throughout today and still am kind of awake even though it's past midnight (so much for reversing my sleep schedule).  Although I'm not completely bent on just running and rowing (I could stand to throw in some biking, weights and other crap), this routine seems to work for me. I slept better last night than I have in a very long time--that's reason alone to keep this up. I should probably start talking about other stuff besides working out, right?  Let's talk about students.  Sometimes they frustrate me, other times they make me laugh my head off.  I have this six year old who says hilarious t...

Ran a "quick" (for me) 2 miles this afternoon and then did a 5K on the rowing machine earlier this evening after dinner.  I'm sufficiently ready for bed now. I'm disappointed to report that my workouts haven't been as regular as I would like; maybe 2-4 a week at most with the worst week only having 1 workout done (I was mad about that when I looked back at my schedule), so I really need to step it up in order to get into a better routine.  Doing two workouts today helped reignite my energy and motivation to keep at it, and on the days where I have more time, I'd like to do that so that I don't get too bored or stagnant with what I'm doing. Of course, it's freezing outside nowadays, so I hopped over to our little gym to run.  Per usual, I was miffed to see more people there than I expected in the middle of a week day (don't these people have jobs?! Just kidding...they probably have weird schedules like mine), so I made it a short and sweet r...

Yesterday I made Sesame Chicken for our dinner and I'm definitely going to be making this more in the future.  We both enjoyed it over Japanese rice, and although the recipe doesn't call for it, I always add some red pepper flakes to any Asian cuisine.  Mucho better. I got the recipe from Tasty Kitchen and have been gradually adding more recipes to my Pinterest board (I know, I'm so pathetic--all that's left of social media that I haven't given in to yet is Twitter) to try out.  This was incredibly simple to make.   Here you go! Ingredients ½ cups   Honey 5 Tablespoons   Tamari ½ teaspoons   To 1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil 2 cloves   Garlic, Pressed Through A Garlic Press 4 Tablespoons   Sesame Seeds 3 whole   Medium Size Chicken Breasts, Cubed Into 1 Inch Pieces 2 pinches   Kosher Salt 2 pinches   Black Pepper 2 whole   Egg Whites, Lightly Beaten 4 Tablespoons   Cornstarch 3 Tablespoon...

The day after my birthday, my mother-in-law and my parents met us at one of our new favorite restaurants in Columbus, 101 Beer Kitchen and I remembered the other day that I actually took some pictures (so maybe I'm not such a failure of a blogger then?)... My pork schnitzel sandwich with egg my brother got the Forest pizza--mushrooms, balsamic drizzle and smoked gouda Dad got a burger The past couple of weeks have been going pretty well in that I haven't gotten any junk or take out as a last resort after working.  I've tried to plan out meals either on Sunday or the night before.  Last Wednesday I made Chicken Tarragon: It was pretty tasty, but the only thing I didn't enjoy about making this was having to quarter a whole chicken...mainly because I didn't do a very good job of it.  In retrospect, it would have been smarter to just buy chicken legs or breasts with the bone in rather than try to butcher the chicken myself (although I was just tr...

This past weekend, we had some friends over and unfortunately for Ryan and (mostly) for myself, they LOVE to eat and they absolutely love their carbs.  Ryan and I definitely enjoy food, of course--but we're also just as equally caring about our fitness and health.  This particular friend is part Japanese and has a CRAZY metabolism; basically he eats non-stop and never gains weight.  Sucks for the rest of us who have to work at it! Anyhow, whenever we get together, we know that the theme of our visits will be food.  The gastronomic activities began as soon as they arrived Friday night with dinner at Arepazo in Gahanna.  I got crab cakes with fried plantains, rice and beans;  Saturday, we all slept in and then had brunch at Nancy's Home Cooking in Clintonville where I had a ridiculously huge pancake and corned beef hash.  The waitress strongly suggested I cut a hole in my pancake and then pour syrup into it before eating--THAT'S how big it was, my fri...

You know, I just spent about an hour scrolling through my entire blog from the first post (which technically, isn't my first blog post ever ) and let me tell you--time has FLOWN by, people!  There are times I feel uneasy about having this thing  for all or any to see; but the few times a year I "reminisce" and look back on old posts, I'm really glad I continue to record the events--small or big--that happen daily or weekly.  There have been some stuff I completely forgot about, and others that I thought had just happened not long ago, but turned out to be 2 or 3 years ago!  A stern reminder that I really, truly have to make the most of out of each passing day. It's in my nature, and always has been, to think I have oodles of time to get things done.  "Didn't work out today? Ohh, there's always tomorrow!",  "Didn't finish working on that concerto? You can always do that next week!"  And on, and on. Well, here I am.  I don't w...

I did not make any New Year's Resolutions.  Instead, my one and only goal (and this is for life, in general) that comes remotely close to making any kind of "resolution" is simply strive to be better each day in at least one productive action.  Whether it be as a teacher, as a violinist, or as a wife, woman and friend.  I would like for each day to involve something that has me bettering myself outside of what my normal routine is.  It can be anything stemming from the mundane to the ambitious (think: keeping my bathrooms clean on a more regular basis to doing P90X a couple times a week), but other than what I do for my job, I'd like for each day to see me pushing myself outside of my comfort zone (or lazy zone). ******** Today is my last day off, so I'm off to complete some errands, make dinner, and do another 5K (or more?) on the rower.  I did an easy row yesterday [also a 5K] and I suspect I'll be doing more workouts on the rower since it's kind of ...