Where to begin?

It has been almost three weeks since I last posted. HOLY. GRAD SCHOOL. SMACKDOWN.

In short, on top of my usually crazy class/ homework/ scene rehearsal-load, I'm also in a show that opens in three weeks! I've been pulling a lot of 13 hour days at school, plus my 2 hour-round trip commute, plus any attempts at working out, and HOMEWORK. 

I miss you all terribly. 

Please accept this photo recap of the past three weeks- I have so much more to fill you in on!

Our days are long, and our breaks are few and far between. They usually involve shoveling snacks into our faces while running to the bathroom and simultaneously filling up a water bottle. You'd be impressed at what I can get done on a 5.

A quick bite to eat before seeing a pretty terrific production of Look Back In Anger at the Roundabout! LOVE me some free tickets, thanks to a professor!

School cafeteria food when I forget (or run out of time) to pack a lunch!

Packed dinner while running lines- eating any other food out of a Talenti jar is just... disappointing. 

This orange peel is in ONE PIECE- my cast-mate Django taught me that. Impressive, eh?

You know things are getting crazy when I bust out the sumo-turd-hair-pile.

My scene partner, Patrick, and I, working hard at a rehearsal for Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. We're Grad students. Take. Us. Seriously.

In the audience at the college's play reading series!

 Tofu and blackbean scramble.

 Egg-less and flour-less pancakes with peanutbutter, bananas and honey!

 Alma Winemiller (me!) and John Buchanan (Patrick) getting ready to present our scene from Summer and Smoke. 

 The weather here in Brooklyn has been ALL OVER, but cold or warm, my hood is gorg.

 I live in Little Russia- this is how I blend...

 Ducks, pigeons, gulls and swans living in harmony.

 Completely un-retouched. How crazy does that water look??

 Tea at my nabe's coziest little Turkish cafe- Masal.

 If Joe's really good, I usually let him eat a sugar cube or two.

OH HAI BAKLAVA. YES, I'LL EAT ALL THREE OF YOU. I thought you'd never ask.

Green tea and line-learning- I've got a monologue that spans about six pages in the beginning of this show- holy moly!

 I 'splurged' on a $12 pedi and did my homework while sitting in the chair. My technician kindly offered me a People magazine, but homegirl's gotta multitask!

I picked up a super cute bikini at Target while running errands for school! On sale! Wahoo!

Rocking my scarf babushka-style on my way to assist at this AM's auditions.

Despite the past three week's craziness, my workouts haven't been terrible... I haven't been logging them or keeping track in any quantitative way, but I've had some great incline runs (Tough Mudder doesn't care if you're busy) and some killer strength workouts.

I'm proud I've been squeezing in some fitness- it keeps me sane. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that my pants come off 1/2 way during my show and don't come back on. More on that later.

Back to the Grind and a New Training Plan!

Sunday afternoon I hopped on a train and headed back down the Hudson. 

There are some landscapes that are ingrained into your fibers and very much a part of you. 

I feel that way about the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. Just thinking about them makes me feel at home!

It's back to the grind, nutritionally, for this girl. As you saw in my vacation recaps, we at DECADENTLY! I don't take any of it back, but man, it threw me for a loop!

Protein oats with PB fit the bill nicely. 

Before Christmas, I picked up this bag of Pumpkin Spice Fall In Love Coffee- it caught my eye because I noticed that they donate a portion of the proceeds to improving the lives of their farmers. Fair trade and practices that benefit coffee growers are VERY, VERY important to me. I'm happy to report that buying this coffee satisfies both your conscience AND your taste buds! :)

In other news, I received some RoC Retinol samples as a Klout perk- I started using it last night- I'll let you know my thoughts once I've worked my way through the two tubes they sent me!

TOUGH MUDDER TRAINING LOG

I eased my way back into training with a 3 mile run yesterday, with the incline on 3. I'll be doing A LOT of incline work, as Tough Mudder VT is on... a mountain... Tonight will be a 4 mile run with 3 incline and some upper body work. 

I have a strange aversion to swimming for fitness. It's REALLY bizzare. I'm a fish- you cannot keep me out of the water, but something about doing laps back and forth sounds so horrifically boring to me. There's some swimming in the TM, though, so I'm assigning myself AT LEAST one swim this week. 

And now- off to school! Today is my "day off", but I'll be on campus from 11-9. The agenda looks something like this: 

-Individual meeting with program head

-Lunch meeting with classmate

-Graduate Theatre Organization Meeting

-Meeting with the director of my upcoming show

-Rehearsal with scene partner

-Rehearsal for a directing student's scene that I'm working in

-Gym

Does anyone else's "days OFF" look like this? Jeez Louise.

And Now, Back to our Regularly Scheduled Programming

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Ahh... now I feel better. :)

Today is the first day of my second semester of grad school. I cannot believe at the end of this semester I'll be halfway through my graduate degree! Ayayayayya!

I thought I'd catch you up on the past week, as I've been preoccupied with recaps from Hawaii and the NYC Blogger Playdate!

GROCERIES. I know. They excite me too!

Joe and I haven't bought meat in almost six months. Neither of us are vegetarians in theory, though our diets usually flop between vegetarian and vegan when we prepare food for ourselves at home. Joe made an announcement a few months back that he didn't want to buy any meat unless it was hormone free and cage-free/ humanely raised. I complied, but this meant that the meat we were  allowed to buy was usually a lot more than I was willing to pay, so we came home without meat week after week. I really didn't miss it, but when these cage-free, hormone-free, vegetarian cuts went on sale, we stocked up and popped them in the freezer. We eat meat so infrequently now that they'll probably last us the entire semester, but I'm ok with that.

I baked some drumsticks, glazing them with some TJ's Fig Butter and served with sweet potatoes and broccoli. A much needed detox after our delicious but RICH week of Hawaiian fare.  

Continuing on with the clean eats, Joe whipped up some bangin' chocolate oatmeal protein pancakes. I need to force him to write out the recipe. I'm pretty sure it's simple, and these babies were sooooo gooood. 

Most of this week has been spent locked in my house, doing homework and prepping for the first week of school. 

I was VERY ready for a night out on Sunday.

My upstairs neighbor, Nicole, invited us to sushi, and I couldn't refuse! We went to Chikurin to grab a few rolls. 

On our way home, we grabbed some boba tea! :) Mmmm.

After begging and begging and begging, Joe finally brought me Wafels & Dinges' special wafel of the month- mascarpone cheese with strawberries and crumbled biscoff cookies! :)

I particularly love it when he stops at the farmer's market on his way home. Blue potatoes, goat cheese and rosemary on a focaccia? Yes, please. 

On the fitness front, I've been doing some Daily Burn workouts, throwing around the kettlebells and going for a few short, easy runs. My back has been a bit tight, and I've been away from training, so I'm trying to ease myself back into things. 

AND NOW- off to school! I have a meeting this afternoon followed by a Speech class! Wahoo! :)

Don't forget to enter the SPARKLY SOUL giveaway!

Headshot Proofs

I owe you guys a legit post, I realize. T-minus six days until the end of the semester! Oy vey!

In the meantime, please accept these sneak peaks from my recent headshot session as an offering of my apology, and PROOF that I'm exhausted- look at those eye bags... :)

Photos by the amazing Emma of Emma Cleary Photography! Such a pleasure to shoot with!