This is the Title of an Uncreative Violinist.:)

Did two row workouts today, although admittedly, one of them was a quickie; I still got my sweat on, so in my book, it still counts! Tonight, I got home and didn't have a clue what dinner was going to be.  I glanced in the pantry and saw some pappardelle pasta, a can of salmon; had frozen leeks in the freezer as well as some fresh heavy cream from TJ's (almost all items were gotten at TJ's on separate occasions) and thought: Salmon pasta with leeks and cream sauce....YES, PLEASE.  The additions of minced garlic, sliced shallots and grape tomatoes with a squeeze of lemon rendered a pretty pleasing dinner, all in under 30 minutes.  I DID remember to take pictures, but I'm typing this on the basement's computer where I can't upload pics and my laptop is being screwy at the moment, so I'll have to post them at another time.  Ryan told me it was better than any dish he's eaten at any Italian restaurant he could think of.  Aww, I'm thankful I have a husb

This past weekend, we traveled an hour and a half down south to spend time with the in-laws.  It went by way too fast (as they always do).  We made plans to attend a Reds/Marlins game Saturday afternoon.  The weather was PERFECT.  Of course, although I do love baseball, I started getting a little antsy when the game went into extra innings.  Reds ended up winning, but not until the 14th inning!  I was ready to go after that :) When we got back, we made plans to have dinner at a restaurant called The Red Onion in Monroe, OH, and we met my husband's youngest brother and his wife there (and my MIL was already with us).  We waited in line for quite some time as it was a pretty small place, but every couple (the demographic was, um, slightly older) that left all remarked to us that it was "worth the wait".  So our hopes were high. I chose to get the grilled salmon with julienned veggies.  Meh.  I don't think ANY seasoning was used, plus the salmon was a little burnt.  I

This is completely out of the ordinary and I don't ever expect to do this again any time soon--but here I am, up at 4:30 in the morning, unable to go back to bed.  I had a nightmare--a pretty vivid one--and I just HAD to write it down and get it out (won't do it here, but I typed it out for myself to reference to later). Now that I can't go back to bed (about to make some french press coffee, might as well), I thought I'd just recap last night's happenings. I taught from 3:45-8pm and pretty much had a headache the entire time.  I don't even know how I got through it; and as usual, I went over the designated allotted time for the last students, as I tend to do (does anyone else do that? I just stop watching the clock as I don't have to worry about another waiting student, and then I end up giving a 30 min. student a 45" or 1 hr lesson. Of course, parents never seem to mind....but they DO mind if you cut the lesson short by TWO minutes. Lovely, huh!).

You know, I'm just a little  regretful of my last post.  It was just a tad too gossipy for my taste--and that's not what I want my blog--or me, for that matter-- to be about. I'm not retracting my feelings about the topic (I mean, I guess we all are entitled to our own feelings and opinions, right), but this morning when I got up and was thinking about it, I didn't feel the greatest about it.  And, of course, as if this couldn't be more of a figurative "see, I told you so", when I opened up my daily devotionals (I know, sometimes I don't sound very "Christian-like" but I'm trying!!), the topic of the day was "Don't be a Busybody" Ahhhhh!!!!! I'm sorry! I'm not going to delete it, but I will try to be more careful about what I choose to write about in the future. So, maybe a few things from this week, okay? A violin student I had for about a year or so recently quit (she wasn't practicing and her mom was at

This is something I've been fascinated with ever since I was a little girl--the effects of feminism on modern day wives and women.  Definitely no question that women are a lot more independent and stronger than they used to be 30, 40, 50 years ago.  It's now the norm--expectation, really--for women to work outside the home, regardless of whether they're single, married, have children or not.  And there are still plenty of SAHM's out there who came to that position perhaps from a career first, or maybe they fell right into it straight out of high school. But, no question that there is a certain stigma now attached to the term, "Stay At Home Mom" or "Housewife".  I will safely ease in by saying I think it's perfectly wonderful and acceptable that women have CHOICES now;  I don't think anyone should be looked down on or be treated condescendingly for choosing to either pursue a career, or to choose to raise a family or be a supportive wife. I

I'm meeting a friend later this afternoon to go for a run in participation of the "Run For Boston" movement that is going on today.  Normally, I would scoff at events like this, probably musing, "what difference will that  actually make? Who cares if you go for a run or not?" But this is...different.  This isn't politics.  This is running.  People may sometimes run for a cause, but I think it's safe to say that most do it for themselves.  It's an individual thing.  That message is so important to me.  The individual.  Running is an interesting "sport" because, well, it's not so much a sport that involves a team.  You literally are looking out for yourself, and yet, it seems to be one of the most unselfish physical activities out there.  Runners as a whole are so supportive, encouraging and inspiring (okay, perhaps there are a few in the bunch who are competitive assholes--but that's not the point!).  Even if one isn't a runner

My sincerest prayers and thoughts go out to everyone who participated or had anything to do with the Boston Marathon today.  Absolutely disgusting events. I plan on doing a longer post soon on some other topics, but for now, I'll call it a night.  It's always heartwarming--for sure--to see all the good-hearted citizens of this country come together during a tragedy, but I'll be perfectly honest when I say that I wish we could be the kinds of people who "never forget".  I know that technically we don't forget tragedies, but it's so easy to get caught up over petty issues of the day that I fear the US is permanently divided, and as a result, more vulnerable to future attacks like the one we saw today, as well as the one we should never, ever forget twelve years ago. Time to evaluate what's truly important.

Uhhh, probably time I update a little, right?  I'm not very good at this blogging thing.  Perhaps it's run its course, as I find myself more and more reluctant to post anything.  It's a combination of "not much happening" and "stuff has happened...but it's private and probably no one would care to read about it anyways" type of stuff. Something did happen last week that had a hand in changing my attitude (my life really) that has, I believe, been a positive change for the rest of my life.  In fact, I felt quite a shift since it happened.  I know I'm being vague, but while it had a vast impact on me, I don't think I could explain it articulately enough to make any readers understand it, and/or most might think I'm just being emotionally weak. Maybe one day I'll explain it; for now, I'll just say that it involved relatives, misunderstanding, politics, FACEBOOK and a huge epiphany afterwards. **************** On the fitness f