Jumping for Joy(ce)

Yes, as the title suggests, I'm starting a journey where I will be reading a lot of James Joyce. So I picked up Finnegans Wake the other day, and then promptly put it down. After recently finishing House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, I feel as though I need to read something with a somewhat coherent narrative. I have my thoughts on House of Leaves, but I lack the energy to talk about it right now. I recommend it...if you have lots (and I mean lots) of time on your hands, and if you don't mind doing minor calisthenics while reading.

The last few posts I made on here were during the winter when I was going through a major rough patch. After spending months of trying to get back on my feet (and being knocked back down again and again), I have finally graduated with a Masters Degree from Boston University...and I owe a lot of people who were there for me when things got really bad...but I don't really have the will or energy to talk about that right now either. I do have some other exciting news that I would love to talk about: This September, I will be starting as an adjunct clarinet teacher at Southern New Hampshire University. This is a huge, huge, huge opportunity, especially for a recently graduated musician. I have no words to express how thankful and lucky I am. :-)

So I'm just going to do a little recap of some awesome things that have happened, since I haven't been on here for a while, and then figure out the fate of this blog.

One of my best friends wrote his first musical:

Celebrating the premier of Where's My Cape at Devlin's Pub

I hung out with rockstars:

Robert Sarzo of Queensryche 

Had a very tame St. Patricks Day:

On break at Brownstone

Saw my favorite band do an unplugged set for one of my best friends on his birthday:

Most of the band: Bent Knee

 Performed the Berlioz Requiem in Symphony Hall:

 Premiered a children's opera:

Premiere of The Luminous Moon

Spent time with one of my best friends who was in town for a few days:

Yes, that is toilet paper. 

 Graduated Boston University:

The day I cleaned out my locker. Short people always get the tallest lockers. 

Started a 1500 piece puzzle...still working on it:

A lot more progress has been made since...but still. 

Sat the cats. Still sitting the cats.

Muffy & Silver

My mom threw me a kickass graduation party...and my best Boston friends came!

Saw the American Band play at Faneuil Hall:

Went to a wedding reception in this building:

Went to a lovely restaurant for my grandmothers 94th birthday:

Finn's Harborside in East Greenwich, RI

Then after, went on a boat ride:

This:

<3 

Started and finished House of Leaves:

Spent a week at Bethany Beach in Delaware:

Our place for a week...Sam and I lived upstairs in the loft.

Frequented the boardwalk

Played tennis

Ate so much crab

Went kayaking

Played mini golf

Went parasailing 

Got dunked

Spent hours on the beach

That was fun...even though there isn't enough time to include everything.

So about the blog situation, this is what's going to happen. I'm keeping the blog...for now. Instead of updating each month about something new I've been wanting to try, I'm just going to chill out. I'm going to read a lot of books, cook lots of food, work out, stay busy, hang with friends, and see some shows. I'm going to paint my nails, watch lots of movies, take myself out to dinner, keep my room clean, and focus on myself. These are all things I didn't have time for as I was finishing up my degree...and now that I'm done and have a great job to look forward to, I am going to have an actual summer vacation (you know, and work the more-than-occasional restaurant shift).

As of right now, if you're looking for some sort of challenge...I'm going to read a lot of James Joyce in the order listed below:

1. Dubliners (1914)
2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
3. Ulysses (1922)
4. Finnegans Wake (1939)

Sprinkle some poems on top, and that's my main summer goal. Join me?

Thanks for reading! I'll be better at updating, I promise. 

Blending In

I can't decide if I actually like what I just made, or if I'm just used to the taste because I keep drinking it.

Either way, I made a smoothie. We're not talking about the hey-let's-put-all-this-yummy-fresh-fruit-into-a-blender-and-make-some-kind-of-tropical-tasting-smoothie, but more of a lets-get-weird kind of smoothie. So if you're feeling weird, this one might be for you.

Side note: Ever since a smoothie place opened up in close proximity to where I work (or if you're reading this as a seasoned smoothie drinker), this post is nowhere even close to how weird things can get.

But I digress...

What goes in:

• More strawberries than I used. I used only about 8, but after adding everything else, it ended up severely lacking in the berry-flavor category. You should also really use fresh strawberries, and use them right away before they go bad. If you have to freeze them, make sure you cut off the leaves first, otherwise you'll find yourself trying to hack through a frozen strawberry (speaking from experience). 
• Less peanut butter than I used. One spoonful is probably enough, but I used two very generous spoonfuls because I love peanut butter. In an effort not to make a bad pun, just take my word for it and only use one. Also, use organic peanut butter: it's not as sweet and it's also wayyyy better for you.
• A half cup of oats (yay fiber!). Oats lower cholesterol, help to prevent heart problems, you'll feel fuller for longer, etcetera.  
• A couple squeezes of honey from the little bear (in more specific terms: probably a little more than a tbsp)
• A cup of soy or almond milk. I would have preferred to try this with almond milk, but alas...
• Since I used fresh, yet frozen, strawberries (I had to work and didn't want them to go bad) I didn't use ice, but feel free to add ice or even sorbet (raspberry or blood orange could work). 

And the rest is pretty self explanatory. 

The end result is a thick, pink, cold smoothie that is super healthy, and filling enough to be an entire breakfast in itself. If you're feeling ambitious enough to make this, let me know how you like it, because hopefully it turns out better than mine...not that mine is bad, all I'm saying is it's a little heavy on the nuts. 

(I really, really tried to avoid making some sort of joke)

(...no I didn't)

Butter No Parsnips

Well guys, I finally cooked something and it doesn't matter that it took me an hour and a half, or that I broke a plate in the process, or that I actually had to google what a parsnip looked like in order to find it in the produce section.

What I used:

• a whole bunch of carrots (but not the whole bag pictured above)
• a bunch of butternut squash
• 4 red potatoes 
• 2 parsnips
• 2 onions
• pretty much a whole clove of garlic
• a thing of spinach 
• a cup of rice
• olive oil
• hint: you can use whatever vegetables you want, I just chose the more seasonal, wintery, root vegetables.

What I did:

• after peeling/cutting up the carrots and parsnips, potatoes, onions, squash, and garlic, I put them in a big glass casserole-type cooking vessel, drizzled some olive oil over it, added some thyme and rosemary (parsley and sage are optional...if you get the reference) and put them in the oven that had been preheated to 420 degrees (Fahrenheit). 

• After putting it in the oven, I made some rice, which is pretty easy to do so I won't expand (and since you're mostly just waiting for the rice to absorb the water, it's a good thing to start if you're waiting for something to cook in the oven for 40-45 minutes). 
• When the veggies looked like they were getting ready (after about 40 minutes) it was time to quickly sauté some spinach, with the ingredients I had prepared pictured below (minced garlic and olive oil)

• Turns out, it's pretty hard to determine how much spinach to use since it shrinks up kind of fast in the heat, so put a pretty decent amount in the pan. 
• Hint: make sure you have plates ready to put the spinach on, otherwise you might take out some big dishes from the cupboard in a rush, and in your haste, not realize that there is a glass bowl on top, making you drop it, and as it shatters on the floor, your spinach making is almost completely foiled...until your friend steps in and finishes up with the spinach while you sweep up the bits of broken glass that are now all over the kitchen floor. 
• After you sweep up the glass, take the veggies out, and pour yourself another glass of wine, it is time to enjoy an awesome dinner. 

Side note: I perfected this dinner by accident. I used to make this dish with the veggies covered with tin foil so that they wouldn't dry out in the oven, but one time when I was roasting vegetables I ran out, and not wanting to leave my apartment, I did without. I left them in the oven for what I thought was too long, and when I took them out I almost cried. There were my vegetables, all shriveled up and burned looking, and I was still hungry. What a waste. I decided to try to eat them anyway, and I realized that they were better that way, and I was astonished. The veggies had caramelized and it was like eating little candies...little vegetable candies. 

This is not meant to be a recipe type blog, by the way. I'm not going to delve into using precise measurements of anything, mainly because I don't really use measurements and usually just "eyeball" ingredients (which has it's advantages and disadvantages). And I know I'm not telling any of you guys anything new by explaining how to roast vegetables, or saute spinach. This is a learning experience for me, so for all of you who already know how to cook things, maybe you can at least be entertained by my indiscriminate cooking attempts. 

Thanks for reading!

Better Things Are Coming

I read something the other day, and since 2014 has started, it makes sense:

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one".

(And so far the first few pages are quite spectacular)

Being me, and wanting an over-the-top fun way to ring in the new year, I surrounded myself with some new found friends and had a BLAST and for the first 36 hours of 2014, I did not sleep. Mainly, because it gets to a point where you realize it's better to just stay up than to sleep through what little hours of the night you have left, which is what happened right before I worked a 10 hour waitressing shift. Then I came home, changed, and went out again to see a concert.

Ever have a night so fabulous, you only take one picture?

Like I tried to say in my last post, life happens. Good things, and bad things. And when bad things happen, you need to be able to pick yourself up and keep going...which has been my main mission for the past month or so.

Feeling like I'm getting closer to the person that I want to be (whatever that means), I've noticed that I need to keep myself busy. The past few months I've been battling a self-diagnosed stress-induced insomnia, which completely wipes you out during the day (since you stay up all night staring at the ceiling while your brain is going a thousand miles per hour going over every tiny detail of every obstacle that has gotten in your way while most of those obstacles are things you couldn't even control anyway), steals away all motivation, and makes you want to say "fuck it" (sorry mom) as you throw in the towel, bury your face in your pillow, and hide under your comforter from the world.

So! Let's be positive...What is something that I can get into that will keep me busy while also being a learning experience?

FOOD!

I have cooked a grand total of two, count 'em, TWO meals since moving in on September 1st (Mainly because pasta, cereal, and sandwiches are the way I live). So I want to get better at that. We're not talking about getting fancy pasta or trying to get an asian stir-fry going-that's what I normally do. We're talking about roasting some vegetables, and putting things together that may or may not taste good, and making some damn good smoothies, and I don't know...making...soup? I've never made soup before (other than heating up some Campbell's). So this month is going to be a trial and error sort of month, once I finally get the courage to face the snow. There will be yummy things, and maybe some not so yummy things, but I'm looking forward to seriously using my kitchen.

pasta primavera with chicken

This actually started yesterday when I decided to make a smoothie. All I had was a pineapple, and a few apples, so I chopped up the pineapple, added two apples, a decent pour of apple cider, blended it, and it was soo tasty. (You may remember a far simpler yet far more gassy post, when all I had to eat for lunch one day this past summer was a zucchini?)

When the snow isn't as bad I know exactly what I'm going to try next.


And on an embarrassing side note: you can now follow me on Pinterest. (Funny thing about that site...yesterday I was set on building myself a DIY bed canopy...then I slept on it and what was I thinking?)

Metanoia

For the past 6 months, I have not been myself.

You have no idea how hard it is to just come out and say that to whoever the hell decides to read this blog. I got carried away in the summer by a new, huge group of friends and a brand new social scene, and everything that I was working so hard to become before had changed, and as it turns out, it wasn't for the best. So naturally, when all of that fell away I felt as though I was left with...nothing. 

The last few weeks have been nothing short of hard, this semester has been stressful, and anxiety lurks around every corner. Sarah Kay is known for her spoken word poetry, and in case you don't have enough time to watch the TEDtalk, just read this:

"This life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air."

I began this blog a year and a half ago to get out of a rut, and now I'm using it again for that same purpose. But 6 months is a long time to go without letting you all know what I've been up to, so I'd like to remind myself, that despite going through some shit, I've accomplished some pretty awesome things, and experienced even more. Here are all the things I wish I could have been blogging about all along. 

Better late than never?

We took Magic Mirror on the road to the NYC Fringe Festival

The pit in our little black box theatre

It was a long week...

...had to carry both my clarinets AND the bass clarinet. Made going through the turnstiles in the NYC subway an epic endeavor. 

Stayed with my best friend, who has an awesome view of Manhattan. 

The Fringe crew

I had SIX awesome friends help me finally MOVE OUT. Some of them might be questionable, but they're good people. For the most part. 

Moved in to my NEW PLACE

This happened...

Had my birthday, two parties, dinner with friends, and a trip to the hookah lounge. 

Saw Bonobo

Went to an art show in Maine...

...and stayed in a haunted house. 

Drank a beer flight in Portland

Saw the sun rise and set on Block Island 

Went to two full days of the Newport Jazz Festival: Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea,  Marcus Miller, Paquito D'Rivera, Joshua Redman, just some highlights. 

Day drank on Block Island

Had a gig on George's Island in the Boston Harbor

                                                         Had a blast being Legally BOND for Halloween

Performed Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf Quintet with Symphony Nova players in a FORT

Saw James Blake

Saw one of my best friends play a show

Two of my good friends are back in my life.

This. 

Had a happy Drunksgiving

I'm still slightly taller than my little brother

Had Korean BBQ in New York City with one of my best friends. 

That was hopefully quick and painless. 

Now that you're all caught up I've decided to take it easy this month, finish up the semester, hopefully do something awesome for Christmas, and who knows? January first will be my first 30 day challenge after over half a year, so I've gotta come up with something great. 

My goal is to use up the rest of this month to try to get back to where I was. Inspired, reading, running, and living life by my rules, and doing what I want to do. 

I'm already getting more excited about music, I just bought a new mouthpiece so I sound good, and I got to coach a sectional with my old youth orchestra today. I downloaded a book onto my Kindle, and although it's not the most uplifting book, I'm looking forward to the read and perspective. It's entitled The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, about Nikki Sixx, from Motley Crue. I'm afraid to go running since it just snowed and it's super icy out, but I did go for a super long walk, where I did a lot of thinking, and decided to put the blog back up. 

This is where I did a lot of reflection today.

The inspiration really came when I decided to warm up in a sushi restaurant. Craving something alcoholic, yet warm, I decided to try hot sake for the first time ever (I know...It's taken me this long)...and feeling ambitious, ordered a chefs selection of sushi...and honestly, I can only identify about half of what I ate, but it was super good. Life is about living and trying new things, blah blah blah...living it to the fullest.

Then I warmed up with hot sake and sushi.

Oh and one quick thing. Going back and reading some of my older posts, I realized I've become a completely different person, and I'm okay with that. 

So that's where things are at this point. My only option is to see where this year takes me, and to see where the heck I'll end up when I graduate. It'll be a wild and slightly terrifying ride, but that's what makes life exciting.