The Best Recovery Food For Runner's?

French Fries & Strawberries

The reason that French Fries are one of the best recovery foods for runners is the salt and potassium they contain. When you run a lot, you burn away all your salt and potassium. I found out that I was potassium deficient in highschool from an EKG reading, it shows in the T wave. So, I started eating fries after cross-country practice. Strawberries have more potassium than bananas, which is a fun fact and yummy snack. Therefore, runners should eat lots of salted fries and strawberries!

Here is a recipe link for fries!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/perfect-french-fries-recipe2-2120420

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You can dip the strawberries into chocolate chips melted and mixed with a little vegetable oil!

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Blend a handful of strawberries, with ice and a scoop of vanilla muscle milk powder!

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Drinking mineral water really helps me too! My doctor + cardiologist had to write me a note for college to always be allowed to have giant bottles of water and granola bars, because I really need to feel welcome to eat and drink for my health (unless someone wants me to faint or have a notch in my t-wave). Doctor's note or not, it’s illegal to tell someone not to eat or drink, but what an ordeal I went through I have to say. This girl will never be willing to live a life without a copious amount of water, fruit, almonds and granola bars. I would even have to tell my boyfriend we would need to break up if he was offended by my water drinking and granola bar munching. In reality, I can drink whatever water I want to drink and I do not care what anybody else thinks. I work hard for my water, and if I ever let a man buy a bottle of water for me they should feel honored and privileged to do so, or I would just get it myself not really caring either way. You cannot share a life with someone who will not let you have water in a water bottle, it is pathetic how happy I would have been if they gave me a bottle of ice cold Poland Springs water, it was a low in life; water felt like diamond earrings. That’s whom I wanted to date in college when my parents wanted me with a shark, my aunt had a man in a sweater vest for me, I stopped seeing the engineer in NY being in Maine for school and all; it’s funny what I did to not date someone else I did not want to meet for dinner or breakfast even, the family friends I would never talk to no matter how much their mom’s asked… :) . We went through a phase where someone did not like my reusable water bottle, or buying bottled water, and there was a standstill of what type of water I should really drink. I found the most horrible person who told me drinking water is pretentious and not to do it, could not have made me more miserable. What should you drink out of? At the very least, everyone should have a partner who gives them as much water in water bottles as their heart-desires, and everyone can eat/drink in two hour lectures, especially if there is a medical condition permitting eating/drinking whenever you need to. Before that chapter of life, I never fathomed the controversy that could exist over possessing or consuming granola bars and water. You need the right fuel when your body hits a low in something like salt, sugar, or minerals. My blood pressure and heart rate can get so low if something is not balanced in my body, I’m very particular. I had to take 10mg of midodrine three times a day for years, so I would not faint. For a school, or a guy, or a friend of a friend to tell me not to eat and drink is outrageous (all connected). Eating and drinking should be a non-issue, and my doctor who feels like I am their prodigy was more than happy to write that permission slip for me to have whatever I want all the time. I have to tell you, being told not to eat or drink is a time I came really close to actually filing the suit I can file, without doing a mediation, stone cold me came out.

Every runner should do a stress-test with a cardiologist to make sure they’re healthy, like I don’t really need a cardiologist, but I do a stress-test every couple years just to be safe. Before running a marathon for the first time, you should have a stress-test with a cardiologist. Cardiologist’s can do your vo2 max too, which is more me now than a stress-test but baiscally the same set-up.

My aunt started shipping me cases of the most expensive largest sized water bottles from Costco, as a joke after all that went down. It’s still a joke, and a little bit of a morbid time to look back on. :)

It is annoying dating someone who never wants to pay for dinner or bottled water without holding it over your head. I don’t really care about spending money on my own things or treating ‘being the man on a date.’ I just matter of factly don’t need to be treated like that, if it’s between feeling nice or like I’m with the cheapest person on the planet who does not have to be, what does he think I’ll choose? I’m not going to go without something, and I am also not going to feel weird about someone else getting it for me. Even with friends, we switch every round of drinks, and if we are twenty cents off from being equal we let it go; someone buys pizza and someone buys drinks, someone brings the movie, that sorta thing. No one has to feel as uncomfortable as possible going out, having bottled water for the day, or having normal snacks in normal places. That’s my blog story. The moral is, don’t be the worst! My girl advice is: EVERY woman is a woman of privilege, so it is ALWAYS more appropriate to go all out with the highest standard than to treat someone as horribly as possible, you just never know (they could have an island of corgis by the ocean, and you would never know by first glance, however a girl should never actually need to have one).

 
 
 
 
 

Lindsey Stirling came out with a new video of Angels We Have Heard On High. This put me in an especially good mood to have in my Christmas mix!

Even though it’s old, I think Pentatonix is really funny yet pretty.

WOW!

I am feeling very amazed and inspired by Sara Hall breaking the glass ceiling of marathon running this morning. Sara finished The Marathon Project in Chandler, Arizona in an outstanding 2:20:32. Not only did Sara accomplish the second fastest US Women’s Marathon Record, she won the entire race! Here is the link to the Runner’s World article!

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a35023357/the-marathon-project-results/


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Sara Hall’s husband, Ryan Hall wrote Run the Mile You’re In; Finding God In Every Step. I highly recommend this book for every runner, Christian or person of any faith to read! Both of their elite running careers are very inspirational and amazing. I appreciate them sharing their personal journey, morality, as well as religious and spiritual connections with running. Here is the link to order their book,

https://www.amazon.com/Run-Mile-Youre-Finding-Every/dp/0310354374

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My Workouts Lately

Not being sure exactly when my next competitive race will happen, I have been switching up my routine lately. During the week, I enjoy my stationary bike of the home gym. On weekends, I have dates with running practice. Saturdays, I enjoy my speed workout. Sundays, I enjoy my long luxurious runs out in nature, snow pending on a treadmill. Keeping the mentality of being stubborn with your goals and flexible with your methods. Certain aspects of life have everyone open minded about the future, the best is yet to come.

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My Favorite Book for Christmas

 
 

My grandfather loved Charles Dickens, and spoiling me! When I was in the seventh grade, the Sunday before Christmas, there was a small box perfectly wrapped under the Christmas tree with a pretty bow and copious amount of tape. To my delight, my papa let me open one present before Christmas. Beneath all of that tape and impeccable wrapping, was Great Expectations, which was my grandfather’s favorite book. I was so excited to have my grandpa’s favorite book to read, we hugged. Then, I played the violin for my family whilst wearing a pretty dress with a sparkly headband. A book of classic Christmas music, and especially the violin piece of "Hallelujah" the Leonard Cohen version. That is one of my most cherished childhood Christmas memories. My grandpa, playing my beautiful violin for my family, and finally being of age to read Great Expectations around Christmas time!

Every year, as my little tradition, I read Great Expectations around Christmas time. Always very cozy in lounging pajamas, drinking cocoa, by the bright colorful trimmed tree and burning fireplace. Reading Charles Dicken’s, reminds me of my grandfather.

What is your favorite Christmas memory? Did you ever open presents early, before Santa came down the chimney for cookies?! :) This year, my chihuahuas have been eating all the cookies we’ve baked for Santa, we have to make more gingerbread men with gumdrop buttons. They pretend to be Santa to sneak the cookies, while wearing their matching French berets that have Santa beards, and say ‘Ho Ho Ho’ in glitter; Parisian Santa’s.

 

 
 

I love her conversation in this video after playing Hallelujah. Lindsey Stirling, discusses Jesus seeing the beauty in all of us, and giving us hope in the darkest moments; I concur. Hold Jesus’s hand. Hallelujah is a piece to play to make you truly feel glorifying god through music, the holy spirit, and faith in Christ our savior. This is one of my favorite songs, because it is so powerful, sometimes I am brought to tears overcome with emotion.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I absolutely love this with Jennifer Hudson and a harpist! The harp is my favorite instrument to listen to. Heaven for me would be lounging by a fireplace, listening to a harpist play lovely music forever…

 
 

This is very nice to listen to if you have a chance.

Granola Recipe

During tenth grade cross-country, I was in the best shape of my life. The tenth grade is also, when I took my college placements tests and started my two minors that I finished upon graduating highschool; doing college was my version of going to a private highschool, it was a better fit for me, along with my private music lessons. For the amount of money private school is, you might as well just start college early instead, which is what I told a boyfriend when he tried to be mean to me about where we went to highschool; he should have just done college like me is what they meant to say I’m sure. :) Who cares as long as you’re smart?! He also picked on me a bit for professional running of marathons, versus for a collegiate team, but I loved running with my college’s team even though I was not on the team; you need to spell things out for boys sometimes. I made that guy look at life differently in the long run, he is secretly a nice man from time to time nowadays, there should be a before and after picture; like the before and after pictures of my rescue chihuahuas. It made me a very open minded person, because it is not what I wanted, but I think it turned out even better than what I actually wanted. I was tutoring adults in Shakespeare when I was sixteen, and it was really funny, but we had a fabulous time nonetheless. I wore my black linen dress to my college classes in highschool, and thought that I looked so cool and professional.

My favorite snack for after practice were homemade granola bars, and a ginormous bottle of water with a straw to make it fancy. I would always bring snacks for the entire team to share, among other friends, so nobody felt left out by my munching on snacks. Here is a good granola bar recipe, you can add more honey to your liking too.

Granola Bar Recipe

3 cups of oats

2 cups of puffed rice

3 tablespoons of chia seeds

1 cup of honey

1/2 cup of butter or margarine or Crisco

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup of whole almonds, or to desire

1/2 cup of dried cranberries, cherries, strawberries or any desired dried fruit

1/2 cup extra dark miniature chocolate chips, or to desire

Bake on 350 in a brownie pan for approximately fifteen minutes.

Sometimes for a meet or invitational, you could put the granola bars in cellophane bags with a pretty ribbon tied into a lovely bow for look appeal. Everyone can take the ribbon and put it in their hair, around their wrist like a bracelet, around their ankle like a bracelet, or onto their shoe laces; which is a fun way to team bond during a race.

I loved having a pizza party after every invitational and meet with my team. Then, we would have hot coco with rainbow marshmallows for dessert. After having our spaghetti dinner the night before the race, with lots of loaves of Italian bread from Columbus Bakery or sometimes stretch bread from Patisserie. Buttering stretch bread, that’s already all butter! Wegman’s bagels the morning of a meet, sometimes I would eat cinnamon sugar flavored to make me extra fast from a sugar rush. Our team totally had the best foods!

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Why my Chihuahuas are so Chunky?!

Last spring/summer, I took a nasty fall on a sidewalk and injured both knees, my foot and my wrist. I was really laid up for a while, and needless to say took a break from running. I don’t even know how I managed to run MDI last fall, but I did it thankfully. When I started walking again, after my injuries, we thought buying a stroller for the chihuahuas was a good idea. Instead of crutches, we transitioned to walking my chihuahuas in the stroller up a trail. Crutches are the worst, but it hurts so much to walk on broken bones. Bean boots can be a substitute for a walking cast certain times of the year, or even extra foamy Nike slides (or maybe I have bad advice). All summer, I did physical therapy rehabbing my injuries, it was pretty serious.

Every athlete has injuries at some point, I am happy that I bounced back and just have some battle wound scars on my knees and hand. It makes me look tough, and men truly like that toughness in a woman, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, hahah. Take scars and money out of the equation thinking about long-term practicality, as well as questions like is he respectful, highly intelligent and athletic like I am? Is he really? Is the family educated? What career paths are we on? The seven levels of intimacy? Sometimes, when you find the ‘love of your life’, there are periods of time that you cannot be together, but you still want them to have a good time. When we were together, I had a marathon he could not attend, but ya know I still ran the entire thing having a fabulous time with a hotel room to myself afterwards, going out to dinner alone, buying my own drinks. At the same time, that race weekend I wore all the jewelry he bought me another weekend when he told me that he’s mine, and I still had him on the phone. Very relationshipy jewelry. There’s things that are a big deal, and then other things that are just a big deal to you, and you have to balance them. I know how to fly, and travel by myself as every woman should (Florida with my grandmother taught me all my travel skills). Over that summer, as a matter of fact I had grad school with a bunch of broken bones, and could not really spend the summer with them geographically wise. We never had that blissful summer in a movie, in all those years for whatever reason; it’s really funny. It just did not work. I think the worst times that we ever broke up were when my family had me go to Florida to take care of my grandmother two different Springs, when I went to Harvard to watch my friend play lacrosse by myself, the winter break I volunteered in Haiti instead of skiing with him, and the night before my 7am Calc II final my last semester senior year when he sarcastically proposed to me. That’s just apart of any relationship, that long drive from Portland in a blizzard to your calc final on those icy backroads. My professors made me a custom ruby ring with PID crafts just because they could, remedy my situation with magic rubies, it matches my Tiffany ring and I wear a lot of jewelry; things you can wear everywhere that match everything. My chihuahuas fight, but they are still best friends. However, we both end and pick up on good terms; just because you break up does not mean you hate them or you’re not friends with each other. In fact, I think it’s normal to take a break to breathe, and move on to experience different chapters, where it could go either way and that is completely fine; be ambivalent yet still living your lives. Smothered by all the love, and needing to breathe is a real thing, when you find a man who loves you he never wants to let you go; which is why you still need to date each other like you’re not comfortable, play blind date whom you met at a party. You can only be in love with one person at a time, but do they love that they love you? Sometimes, it feels like the rose ceremony in The Bachelorette; are you giving them another rose? Feel it out, whenever a boyfriend calls tell him that you are busy, always be too busy to talk. That tenacity coming off of an injury to be back in your sport, it puts you on a whole other level. When you know your reason to be, it is a very big deal, especially whilst coming back to life from a setback. My puppies love jumping in that stroller, though the three of us do not have a need for it anymore, however the stroller blends in walking on a golf course. The stroller with my puppies helped me stop using crutches to walk and strengthen my knees after my accident. I still let them go on a ride from time to time, because they are always so excited to jump in the carriage. :)

You find funny ways to overcome massive injuries, keep ya moving and grooving. Ughh, I am so happy those injuries healed, just thinking about it makes my heart fall into my stomach. Hopefully my injured runner days are over, and we hit that turning point where running is nice to me all the time and nothing hurts; something seriously miraculous. There is so much comradery in marathon running, no matter what fitness phase you are in; I am such a lucky lady to have a mature and nurturing support system in my sport. A bunch of mature adults with respectable lives, connecting to run twenty-six mile events, and reminding each other that we fall down to get back up again. Should I try a 100 miler or stick to 26.2? I have run 40 before, because I love adrenaline rushes.

I graduated from crutches, to the stroller, to slack line jumping between trees in the backyard, to running marathons again! I do enjoy having a good slack line to bounce around on! ;)

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What am I listening to these days? I know you’re wondering…

I still like to watch Black Swan before bed, just to listen to the music and…

In my classical music video watching phase lately, this is the best duet version of Pachelbel’s Canon that I have heard. They have some very nice videos that I really loved watching. Every classical musician has played Pachelbel’s Canon, or you haven’t lived, it’s like a thing. When classical musician confidants get married to someone, they always have the best music for each other’s weddings. The perk of being a classical musician all of your life, is knowing more certain than god that music for your wedding will be perfect. Oh yeah you get Pachelbel’s Canon, everybody gets Pachelbel’s Canon! That’s why everyone should play string instruments, it gives you something to look forward to forever.

 
 
 
 

I really adore this video, because she is a prodigy and has such a bright future. What a gift it is to watch and listen to this extraordinary girl play the violin, watching this video is like getting a prodigy performance for Christmas. This video brought me pure joy, watching her play one of my favorite solos while looking so beautiful. I played this song for my boyfriend all the time when we first started dating, and I told him that I am a classical violinist, we even watched the Paganini movie with David Garrett playing the main character, together with popcorn; happy memory. It’s cute how she made her facial before the performance to make her glow, I used to make things like that and sometimes add glitter afterwards. My E string used to snap all the time, and I would have to run around looking for a replacement with my mama, they are so thin. I couldn’t believe she was using Dominant strings, it really brought me back, violinists have fun experimenting with other brands of strings later on. I appreciated going from Dominant to other metals later in my violin career, and it made me feel graduated, because different types of strings sound different which is cool to experience if you have the ear for it. Sometimes, I sing my part in an opera voice, in tune, before playing it. Little Women is one of my all time favorite books, and she’s reading it! How cool is it that she had a chance to meet Lindsey Stirling?! Vanessa Mae was like my Lindsey Stirling growing up, and it means a lot to meet or see your idol at a certain age, or anytime really; I would still be jumping up and down all giddy. Very inspiring to see in a video, this brought me pure joy! Very wowed by a violinist taking over Teen Vogue. I can tell that she loves the challenge of playing a masterpiece by how well she performs everything she plays; you see true passion in her eyes. Way over the top exciting for me to see Vogue praise a classical violinist, because she should be praised for playing Paganini exquisitely well by her age! AMAZING. I would like everyone to watch Pilar Winter Hill, in this special Vogue video feature. I love her strong name, Pilar Winter Hill, I love that she is writing a children’s book releasing in April 2021, and I love listening to her play lovely music.

 
 
 
 
 

I found a really good version of my MDI Marathon song too, Thunderstruck. It must be good, if they have that many views on YouTube. I can already feel myself jumping up and down on my starting line next fall, becoming motivated to move up that ginormous mountain in the first mile. Still sad over Boston and Berlin not happening this year, I need to get my world major in and enter my PhD & teaching while sitting in a chair all day chapter; versus running a hundred miles every week forever and ever and ever waiting to be 25 or not have everything canceled hahah. It is hard to be a good marathon runner for a really long time, you almost feel exhausted after ten years of marathon running, but all that hard work won’t fly out the window. I cannot wait to just coach and tell everyone to run around the track five times for me. I’ll make my team all be best friends and nice to each other, be a cool coach who bakes cookies for every invitational in the shape of runners and sneakers; introduce them all to marathon runners. Then again, I’ll probably have that and miss actually racing.

 
 

I could listen to Mari Samuelsen all day long. I love looking at her gorgeous technique in these video’s of performances, because not every professional violinist has her technique and it is special to watch.

 
 

Everyone loves a variation of Sugar Plum! You feel like you’re really in the ballet! I love Jennifer Thomas’s videos, because she does a marvelous job depicting playing classical music for ballerinas, like I was talking about doing as a job on the violinist side in my other post. It’s really like in her videos, they’re perfect for showing someone the world of classical music and theatre. When I have played my violin for ballet dancer’s, it’s just like in these videos. Dancers and musicians really are like living music boxes, I just adore these videos. I have played the song over and over and over, and a friend has performed the dance movement over and over and over, because our conductor and choreographer kept telling us to keep going and going and going.

A little Beauty and the Beast theme!

 
 

This is a pretty Sugar Plum!

Then, I found this music video to promote education on covid, and i thought it was really clever. Silenzium has a lot of very cool videos, fun to watch.

Fly With Runner's High

I have been both a recreational and professional runner, and I think that it is very important to be both because no one can be on an elite pace for a consecutive ten years; alternating between elite and recreational is really important. At the same time, it is also important to admit which type of running that you’re doing for a particular race. This fall, in lieu of my races being canceled, I ran a half on the track and recorded the entire thing on camera. However, I decided my time was fast and can be a secret, and so can the video. Some of every athlete’s best work happens in practice, sometimes it’s controversial to post certain workouts and times which you run well. For instance, I like to be in a dead sprit after a long run to see how fast I can go, and sometimes it is faster than lightning. I love the feeling of letting myself fly. Letting yourself fly, after a workout does not give you the glory running that fast in a race would, but it feels like inexplicable magic. It is so important to have days where you just sprint down the hill with your arms out to your sides like wings, moving as swiftly as possible, or those days where you forget your watch and heart rate whilst sprinting as fast as your legs let you move! Shoulders back, hands loose, keep the stride long, springing feet, arms out in the air, flying down the hill. Let yourself fly, have runner’s high, and be enthralled in every stride; love running.

Happy Running!

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Stemming from the conversation above relating the differences between being recreational and elite, different times for different things and being both, it corresponds with actualities in life. There’s a time to be serious and a time to be recreational. I have helped friends write vows, eulogies, love poems, greeting cards, or have wine and poetry nights. For that reason, I am going to share this poem, I Love You. A poem for a friend, putting thoughts into words and verse, regarding the matter of gardening. We enjoy working together, putting thoughts and ideas into coherent and eloquent language. Sometimes, even with the grotesque conversation of certain topics, it is important to have a beautiful basis to grow from which poetry may provide on occasion. Figurative language and hyperbole, help people discuss matters in writing. I helped a friend in silence express raw emotion through writing poetry, which may be cliché; very nice nonetheless. When someone you love needs to hear something nice, it can be helpful to write a lovely poem, and build spiritually from that literature. Other times, it’s okay that someone may not be eloquent, but that is who they are, not to be taken personally when they just need to vent without a filter, and accepting them as a member of the group is important too. Here we vent about gardening extravagant perennials that take years to thrive, ‘It’s you and me, and all the flowers’. Mountains have spirits, and plants have spirits too.

You’ll see how we took three experiences, and wrote romantic couplets about the experiences. Each line is in iambic pentameter, which means ten syllables each. The first line of iambic pentameter is a topic sentence and the second is elaborating on that topic, with a rhyme scheme for the purpose of fluidity. Having a structure to a poem, helps to break down the topics into a coherent sequence. Writing poetry is therapeutic, because having a sequence to depict an experience brings out strong emotion that may need help coming out of the amygdala part of your brain. Writing poetry helps take memories that are stuck in the amygdala, and bring them out to be fruitful expressions. Gorgeous poetry can be conceived using special poetic formulas, like iambic pentameter, and specific rhyme schemes; like solving a puzzle. It may be helpful to write a poem and color some pictures or drawings around the poem. Everyone’s different and has something valid to contribute in terms of expressing powerful emotion. One may be the poem writer, and the other may be the poem discusser; both equivalent contributors to expression and growth in a relationship. For poetry and wine nights, we have everyone at our event write one romantic couplet, and then have a corresponding painting, and it’s a really beautiful activity; excellent idea for a Christmas gift too. One time for an event in Kennebunkport, I painted a canvas red, and then used gold leaf to design a heron, and wrote a pretty poem in cursive underneath the painting. We used to do so many of these little events in Kennebunkport and Portland on weekends. I could just write a novel about writing a poem with one stanza, so here is I Love You….

 
 

I Love You

I believe all three of them have spirits.

Little angel voices sing, I hear it.

One, came from lust so blissfully early.

They flew away with god as a birdie.

Two, was intelligent and magical.

The product of something romantical.

Three, conceived to heal our heartbreak with love;

as one and two, flew away as a dove.

Always around us, particles of light.

Surrounding my tears in roses of white.

 
It is hard to grow certain plants, but once you do it is so totally worth it.  It took me two years to get my moon flower garden in full bloom.  I have a lot of roses, sunflowers and lavender plants every year too.  Succulents with baby succulents. …

It is hard to grow certain plants, but once you do it is so totally worth it. It took me two years to get my moon flower garden in full bloom. I have a lot of roses, sunflowers and lavender plants every year too. Succulents with baby succulents. My aunt has a very nice garden too, she was featured in a magazine for the best gardens in Penfield/Rochester/NY, which is pretty outstanding. In her garden there are two corgis and their toy corgi running around all the time, they might get another toy corgi to be extra cute with one for each. Her corgis are really cute when they wrestle, and then play with their toy corgi who looks just like them, just like my chihuahuas playing. I enjoy a beautiful garden, when I see one.

 
 
 

Listening to all that is Taylor Davis yesterday, I decided to play her version of My Heart Will Go On. She is such a fabulous composer and very generous to make all of her sheet music available on her website. I feel like a child in a candy shop looking at all of her sheet music, she is just giving it away! I’m a happy lady after finding all of her websites, with everything a violinist could ever dream of playing. http://mnot.es/2gO4yZy

 
 

I feel like I have been living under a rock, never watching these music videos. I have to tell you, The Piano Guys are putting me in such a good mood. It just makes me smile watching all of these videos. This is making me want to play a solo in a Free People dress, and have a videographer for the day. I’m going to compose a variation of Devil’s Trill for a video this year, and find a pretty dress to match my piece with a nice new red lipstick!! I miss looking pretty and playing pretty classical music. Long loose curls, or double waterfall braids with a curled pinned bun is the question?… This is happening near my favorite oversized fireplace, alongside ginormous stone steps, it’ll be everything that I want it to be; perhaps I’ll have some flowers for ambiance. How fun?! Not that I am throwing away the math PhD, but there is an entire new market in classical music outside of orchestra and ballet theatre, that was not there for me ten years ago. I did an entire project on Vanessa Mae when I was younger, because I loved how she would make the music videos with her pieces; it was revolutionary (She is like Britney Spears for the violin, and also an Olympian). Now, it is so prominent and doable for a large community of musicians to showcase years of hard work in videos. I also did an entire project on Orpheus and Eurydice, because I love music in Greek mythology… I always tell my aunt in NYC to make her students do music videos because they have all the luxuriously nice cameras to do it like us professionals, but none of them ever want to which is really disappointing; maybe next year, but probably not (those kiddos are so pretentious, like me when I order sushi). :) You just find a way to balance different parts of who you are and diffuse them all into one successful lifestyle. I love my orchestra and classical ballets, and it really is a lifelong endeavor, finding little pockets of time to stay valid.