Blog

Thursday morning I took in an early morning ballet class at the Cincinnati Ballet outpost in Blue Ash. It kicked my butt…so I’m obviously going to keep going back. I had a great time, but I wish I hadn’t stayed away from ballet for so long.

Friday morning I met Allyson and her little sis Stephanie (a summer visitor from Texas) bright and early for breakfast at Annabel’s, the tiniest yet tastiest homegrown breakfast joint located in Mt. Lookout. Their menu, ingredients, and pairings are exquisite. The food and the company made for a great start to a day of choreographing dances for camp.

Saturday morning Ted and I went for breakfast at the Original Pancake House – another phenomenal breakfast hot spot – for flapjacks, eggs, and indescribably delicious, thick, sugar-cured bacon. I could LIVE on that bacon. We also walked over to County Fresh Market to stock up on fresh summery hand-picked peaches and cherries. Then I went to a Rhythm & Motion workout dance class (you know, to work off the bacon…) at Cincinnati Ballet before a two-performance show day at the theatre.

Sunday morning we went to church, brunched at Panera, and I had a matinee show mid-day. After I got home from the theatre we took a nice long walk. We also stopped for a treat of mint chocolate chip waffle cones from UDF on the way home, then I continued choreographing, and we watched the movie Whip It to wind down from a busy weekend.

Yesterday I experimented with a new recipe and a new ingredient – cold overnight oatmeal “cooked” in mason jars to help make the morning breakfast rush quick, easy, healthy and tasty….and chia seeds. Chia seeds have a ton of great health benefits (read about them here) so I’ve decided to start incorporating them into my cooking. Blog posts about the oatmeal and chia seeds forthcoming. After work we picked up some takeout Chinese, checked out a NASCAR race car and transport semi parked for display and exploration at the Ford dealership near our home, and started our Leinenkugel beer mixing adventure while tuning in for our Monday night favorites – Hell’s Kitchen and Master Chef. At the market we bought a case of our favorite variety of Leinie’s beers and we’ve been mixing them to make new favorites – so far we’ve done Honey Bear and Pink Lemonade. Summer is so tasty!

And lastly, the crayddlers.

Oh, I love them SO MUCH. They are the coolest little things and they are growing so fast. I can’t even believe they used to be so tiny that four of them would have fit onto one piece of gravel. And they have such distinct personalities! I REALLY wish we could keep them all. But they’re getting so big that they’re starting to get persnickety with each other. A few are missing antennas, and a few are missing one of their big front pinchers. They regenerate their body parts and they are all functioning perfectly fine without them while they regrow, but it’s only a matter of time before they run out of room and start attacking each other. It’s looking like we’ll have decide who to keep and who to relocate sooner rather than later. It’s a huge bummer because I’m desperate to keep them all, but we need to think about what’s best for them.

Otherwise, I’ve stayed busy with an intense schedule of work, nightly shows, and camp prep. I can’t BELIEVE it’s nearly July!

What have you been up to?