30 Degree Swings

Seriously kids… how gorgeous was it where you were this weekend?

Yesterday, November 10th, it was almost 70 degrees.

And here I thought I wouldn’t get to run outside again until March.

After passing out on the sofa at maybe 10pm Saturday night (party animal!), my neck was completely screwed, but the rest of me felt more refreshed than I’ve felt in a long time on a Sunday morning.

Out the door I went.

Running through the neighborhoods and the lakefront is way better than my routine during the week in the winter months when I usually take to the treadmill. Because instead of just staring stupidly at the crappy videos playing on one of the generic music stations at the gym, I’m actually thinking about stuff.

Important stuff. Like recent news headlines. Or what to wear next weekend.

Or today, where I did think about the two things mentioned above (I’m so indecisive on boot decisions…), but also what I’ll miss as it slowly becomes frozen and buried under snow.

Ok… so I won’t miss the random homeless guy peeing in a bush at an intersection. But the other things- like how pretty the lake is, the amazing skyline that slowly unfolds before me, or the random art that shows up around every other turn.

Ooooohhhhhh prettttyyy colorrrrsssss….

4 miles done. 4 miles that reminded me I’ve slacked since the last half marathon and I’m already somewhat ruined by my lazy treadmill runs. But 4 miles, nonetheless.

Today is supposed to be approximately 30 degrees cooler than the weekend. I’ve prepared by breaking out the extra comforter and sexy sweatpants. The roommate and I have reclaimed our crock pot after it being held hostage for 8 months at a friend’s house (still bitter). We’ve stocked up on pasta and wine.

We’ve entered hibernation mode. But that’s ok. I’m ready for it. There’s always the liquor store down the street in case I run out of wine.

Bring it on, Chicago.

Teaser Of What Is Yet To Come

The snow began to fall at approximately 10:00 yesterday morning.

This means I was complaining about it by…. oh…. 10:05.

Now, before you call me a scrooge, hear me out. It’s not so much the snow on the ground I have the issue with. It’s pretty. It’s the falling snow part I have issues with. Because every year it’s like people forget how to drive. And every year I get stuck in the the most ridiculous traffic ever.

And I think we’ve gone over my lack of patience.

So instead of “how pretty!”, I proclaimed, “the drive home tonight is going to blow”.

And I was right. As usual.

My lack of creativity in the kitchen has really been astonishing. But when you don’t get home until much later than usual, you want a quick meal that’s proven effective.Along with scrambled eggs being one of the 4-5 things (salad, soup, oatmeal, eggs) consumed all week, breakfast is also a comfort food of mine. Since I was pouty, it only makes sense.

But check out the semi-successful omelet stuffed with black olives, spinach, mushrooms and feta! Usually it ends up a scrambled mess, but my roommate was cheering me on. And I used an extra egg white. One of those things surely was what did it.

As much as the snow fell, though, I was determined to make it to the gym for my “Free for all” day (as according to my non-plan plan). This required me to lay out everything and dust off the good ol’ snow boots.Not awful by any means, but a feeling in my stomach says it’s only a teaser of what is yet to come.

One benefit of this lil’ snow fall we got?

The gym was VERY quiet. Sure, us die hards were there (yes, I’m a hard core gym rat these days). But there was no issue getting the machines I wanted, and the perfect magazine from the rack to keep me entertained during time spent on the elliptical and stairmill.

Did you know Kim Kardashian is getting divorced?!?!?

Sadly the magazine wasn’t 3 months old, but yet again outlining the details.

Seriously? I’m bored, guys.

The workout went swimmingly- 20 minutes on each machine, which was a good start to my “free for all” day. And because there is this little rule about strength being somehow incorporated, I’ll be chillin’ with Jillian after work tonight.

Unless 10 minutes of shoveling snow off my stairs/sidewalk counts?

Have a great Friday, kids! I was skeptical at the beginning of the week, but it looks like we made it!

Sometimes…

…you don’t have anything major to say. But still wanted to say hello. So uh… hello.

…you eat the same thing for an entire week. And are pretty cool with it. Unless it counts if I switch up what kind of soup or what kind of toppings are on my salad. No? Fine. In related news, I may single-handedly be the cause of a lettuce/spinach shortage in the midwest in the next few weeks. Heads up on that.

…you’re not overly excited about the number on the scale, but are going to chalk it up to the weight of your new watch you happened to be wearing at the time. That’s totally it. Totally.

…your workouts aren’t going to be awesome. My 4-mile run yesterday morning was plagued with tunnel vision and the onsets of a migraine in the last mile. This issue continued throughout the morning until about 10 minutes before leaving for work. How convenient. Grrr.

…you’re super excited to sleep in late. Today is a REST day and that means I slept until 7:00 this morning. For a girl who wakes up at 5:15 on the regular, I barely knew what to do with myself.

…you’re not excited about upcoming snow storm. Up to this point, we’ve only gotten about 2 inches of snow. Unheard of. Tonight? I’ve heard anywhere between 5 and 9 inches (this number seems to change every other hour, so excuse me if you’re a fellow Chicagoan and have heard differently). As a girl who drives to work and parks along the streets, this is not good news.

(Source)

Ahhhh Thursday. Why are you so boring?!?!

Obviously it’s not ME that is the issue, right?

Don’t answer that.

On the Brain

I know the other day I owned up to semi-obsession I have with Britney’s latest song.

But this is out of control.

I-I-I wanna go-o-o all the way-ay-ay….

I can’t get it out of my head.

I-I-I wanna show-ow-ow all the dirt-irt-irt…

I’m terrified if this keeps up, I’ll start talk-alk-alking like that-at-at and it’s going to get ol-ol-old real quick.

I’ll keep you posted if I start to lose real life friends or not because of it.

FYI- even after humming it for weeks on end, not until I started actually typing it did I realize how filthy her mouth is.

Sorry Mom.

Bad Britney.

This would have been a nice distraction for a while had I been doing anything. Like running. But with a 105-degree heat index, a run outside wasn’t happening.

I attempted a pleasant stroll later on.

Nothing pleasant about it.

And when the temps suddenly dropped and felt *almost* acceptable, the sky also started to light up and thunderstorms quickly rolled in.

The walk was cut short. And I was left laying around on my couch whining about how stupid the weather is and how I need a gym membership.

Research is starting to be done on gyms in the neighborhood. I can’t take this much longer.

Nor can my roommate. She didn’t sign up to live with a 12-year-old, so I should probably stop acting like one.

And with that, I wish you a happy Wednesday that will hopefully be more amusing than Tuesday was…

(Source)

Spazztastic

Because I’m just sort of spazzing…

- Google search term used to get to my blog that totally freaked me out? “Office Girl Feet”.  Foot fetish, anyone?

- My favorite alternative rock station went off the air. Granted, I don’t need a daily fix of Nine Inch Nails (although in rush hour it is helpful), but the constant overload of U2 and Bon Jovi is starting to make me batty. Calling all Chicago kids for rock stations I’m unaware of- help a sister out!

- On the topic of music, I happen to love the new Britney song “I Wanna Go” (weird how  Nine Inch Nails was just being discussed, right?). And I will stand by that statement. Pretty sure it’s that catchy newfangled auto tune that keeps the station from being changed.

- I get to visit the HOME ALONE house soon! You know what that means- my brother (and the rest of my fam) must be coming soon. I refused to go see it without the lil’ bro. And it’s been killing me. 2 weeks. Woot woot!

- One of my favorite things about living in the city now is that after coming home on Friday, my car pretty much stays put until Monday morning. I like to brag about it. Because it’s awesome. However, when you take off a random work day when friends are visiting, make sure you at least make a point of walking by your car at some point during that span of time. Because then you’d realize street cleaning would be happening and you should move it. And avoid getting a parking ticket. So much for saving money on transportation this month…

- My 26th birthday is coming up on the 25th and I’m not nearly as anxiety-ridden about it as I was for my 25th. Probably because I haven’t really given it much thought other than telling my boss what kind of cake he is to order. Yes, I’m sort of planning my own break room cake. At least it’ll be what I want. Sigh…

- Summer television will be the death of me. I need Community and Parks and Rec back in my life. Help!

- The lil’ heat wave we’ve got going on is killing my workout routine. The last few days I’ve had plans to run a little later in the evening, but the heat never broke to anything below 97. So I gave up and just walked with my water bottle. Not that there weren’t other runners out there. Idiots. Ok fine- there was a jealous bone in me that said “I’m mad I’ll never be that bad ass”. But then I called them idiots again and continued to get my walk on. Sulking the rest of the way home. Like a child.

- Somehow I was convinced to play rec league softball tonight. Since running isn’t really happening, time has to be occupied somehow. So um, standing around in the outfield in raging heat is apparently “ok” in my book. No idea why I agreed to this. It’s been an embarrassingly long time since this girl played in an actual game. Whatev. I’m sort of excited to see if maybe this could be a new regular thing. However, if any nails break… someone’s butt is getting kicked.

Laters!

Rookie Mistakes

Yesterday’s game was rained out. I was sad.

Didn’t even make it into the stadium- only as far as the bar at the Captain Morgan Club connected to it.

What? It started raining RIGHT away. Seriously. I even took a picture to prove it. But realized my memory card was still in my laptop at home. Rookie mistake.

But it wasn’t a wasted trip by any means. I hung out with good people. And even got in a conversation with Ronnie Woo Woo (another one of Chicago’s people you should know) while waiting for my friend. Between all the people coming up to take pics with him and get autographs, he told me he liked me because I’m blunt and tell it like it is, but will treat a man good one day. And then he asked for me to escort him to the Bulls game tonight. I appreciated the compliment but declined the date.

He’s a little out of my age range.

After the official postponing of the game, I made my way out of the stadium in attempts to beat rush hour.

That’s a laugh. Rush hour never ends. Which is unfortunate on so many levels. But I was particularly edgy because I had been craving some stadium nachos. And if you recall, the game didn’t last long enough for me to make it into the stadium to acquire them. Sooooo…. my arm was looking PRETTY appetizing…

As did my Whole Foods Food Bar purchase.

Again, no pics. I know you’re sad, too.

And I need to kick this Whole Foods habit I’ve gotten into (maybe twice in one week isn’t necessarily a habit, but you know what I mean). I make salad at home every other day. Why am I spending close to $10 for one at a grocery store? Rookie mistake.

By the time I actually got home, there was an inner debate of whether or not a trip to the gym should happen.

I went. Not for long, though- that was the compromise. 15 minutes on the stairmill and a 20-minute inclined walk. And then weights during commercial breaks at home.

Multi-tasking is important. 

By the way, check out what Halley over at Blunder Construction sent me:She hosted a giveaway and painted these just for me! Aren’t they awesome? They would go so well against the blue wall in my apartment, but I’m going to practice patience and wait until the move in another month or so to hang them.

Thanks Halley!

I think I messed up the way they’re supposed to go. And plan to spend close to 2 hours staring at them before they actually go up on the wall. Because I’m not smart when it comes to such things.

One more thing before I go… 

I have a confession to make.

Pretty sure I’m gonna be one of the crazies who wake up a little early to watch the Royal Wedding.

Hear me out! I have to be up at 5:15 all this week anyway. What’s another hour?

And it wasn’t me, but one friend of mine who shall not be named (fine, it was Mon) suggested since we had considered getting up early to watch it anyway, we might as well do it at the gym.

Yeah. She said that. Not me.

I”m as surprised as you are.

And then agreed to it. Oy.

This better be one hell of a wedding dress we’re getting up for.

Time To Refocus

Good morning everyone! Happy April 18th!Wait a sec- what is this? NOT funny, dude.

I heard the forecast calling for snow. But when I got up a little early to fit in The Shred and saw this? Accumulation? COME ON.

I’m straight up discombobulated.

As is my body when it comes to my workouts since the St. Louis Half Marathon. (Did you like that transition? I enjoyed it.)

I guess I’m just feeling a little lost? Maybe because I haven’t ran once since the half. Not sure what my deal is with that one. All of my trips to the gym (all 3 of them) have been a combo of elliptical and the stairmill. Like yesterday- 25 minutes on both.

And I’ve done The Shred twice. Jillian punished me severely for letting the dvd collect dust for a couple of weeks again. Lesson learned. With this being my week of going into work a little later, I plan to spend more quality time with Jillian and get my strength back to par.

And even though the elliptical and The Shred is a workout- it’s not running. I miss it. Hopefully this week I’ll start it up again without too many issues. Because I’ve got another race in June…

The Run for the Zoo in Lincoln Park! I did the 5k race a couple of years ago with my cousin, and this year I’ll be doing the 10k with my girl, Annie! It’s a fun race because it actually goes through parts of the zoo. Totally beats the view I get from running a few miles on the tread.

And it hopefully gives me some motivation to get back into the swing of things. Annie’s already been hard at work training for it, so I’ve got my work cut out for me before June. Now that the half marathon business is behind me, I want to focus on speed a little more. All the longer races had me focusing on distance. I miss feeling fast. Can’t even tell you the last time I had an 8:00-minute mile. Time to fix that.

Alright… time for me to go scrap snow off my car and head to work.

Never thought I’d say that in April…

I’d Rather Buy The Box

I’m not sure if it’s the weather, stress, my love of baking, or a combo of the three, but I’m on a bit of a roll.

Not sweets, but the carbs have been calling my name!After a little phase of being obnoxiously obsessed with sun dried tomato wheat thins, I figured there was surely some way to recreate them?

There is! There is!

Although I won’t say it was super easy.  I followed the recipe (from The Fresh Loaf) as closely as I could. But ended up adding more water in the mixing process because the dough wasn’t coming together very well.

And then the rolling. Oh the rolling…According to the recipe, you roll it out as thin as you possibly can. I decided halfway through rolling of the first round of dough that my crackers would end up thicker than regular wheat thins.

The recipe says you’ll yield approximately 13 dozen “wheat thins”.

Um… yeah…

I’d say my crackers were at least twice as thick (if not 3x!). And I cut them a little bigger. Soooo…After all was said and done, I had about 3 dozen crackers. Not 13, but 3. But I’m cool with that- I like that they’re a little thicker with just a light crisp (by the way, I baked them closer to 10-11 minutes because they were much thicker).

I also added a little chili powder to see if I could create a spicy cracker.  Surprisingly, it didn’t make much of a difference. Still good nonetheless. But even when I enjoy baking, I think in this case, I’d rather just grab a box of wheat thins. That sun dried tomato flavor drives me wild and it’s worth the $2-3 to just throw the box in the cart instead of the 45 minutes in the kitchen.

Plus, let’s be honest- I’d rather be baking cookies.

When’s the last time you decided store-bought was better?

Hopefully my seeking comfort in ridiculous amounts of baked goods will slow down as we Chicagoans creep out of this single-degree weather?  As the temps reach the 30′s this weekend (woo hoo?), we shall see…

This morning I braved said temps to hit the workout room. 26 minutes on the elliptical and 16 on the stairs (apparently “6″ is the number of the day- creepy). It felt good after having a rest day- fresh legs.  Tomorrow I’m gearing up for a long run and am kind of looking forward to it. Long runs happen on Saturdays for a reason. I have ample amounts of time, can zone without worrying, and did I mention my love for the weekend?

Oh and the crazy early workout girl wasn’t there today. And I may just agree with some of you that commented yesterday- maybe she can’t sleep?  Now that I think about it, not that long ago I was the one who gave up on sleep and went to the gym at 4:00 in the morning.  Remember that one?  Yeah- it still pains me a little.  Gross!

Even though I’ll admit I have oatmeal *almost* everyday, sometimes it’s necessary to switch it up.A semi-success of an omelet.

I wasn’t feeling the oatmeal or peanut butter toast because I had the need for a little more protein in my life.  Plus the mushrooms, onion, spinach, and feta were a welcome change of pace to the AM. And sometimes change is good. No matter how small. 

Time for the Friday dance…

Longest Workout Ever

Well that was fun.

Who knew unplanned days off would be so much busier than planned ones?

I woke up at 8:00. Drank my coffee  while watching the news and peeking outside to watch the snow (that was STILL falling).  Turns out we hit the record books with the 3rd worst snowstorm Chicago has ever seen.  Yeah. Sooooo glad I was able to be a part of that… geez.

By 10:30, I decided it was time to get out. I was starting to feel like a shut in. Off to the treadmill!Anywhere I go, it’s like being in a snow maze. I feel like a mouse. With no cheese at the end.

When I got to the gym, there was a surprise waiting…Wait… is that a new treadmill?  Why yes… yes it is! The “new to us” treadmill is just sitting there awkwardly at the moment. Still waiting to be moved and installed- presumably after the maintenance/repair guys get finished moving around the excessive snow.

Not only is this one being added, but our property manager said they’re also replacing the loud treadmill (that I constantly whine about) within the next couple of months.

Say whaaat? She didn’t know how much she made my day with that news. It’s the little things in life…

Like I mentioned yesterday, I decided to knock out my long run. Saturday’s looking to be a busy one and suddenly I had all this time with no where to go? Silly to not take advantage of it all.

6 miles were on the original plan. I wanted to overachieve with 7.

But sometimes things don’t happen perfectly. I had to stop at 3.5 for a potty break. Don’t drink 2 cups of coffee directly before a run. It leaves you with no options but to disrupt it.  And as I was chugging along, all I could think about was how much snow shoveling there was to do.  Ugh. So I cut it short at 6.5. Semi-overachiever?

The run totaled up to about an 8:39 pace. Considering all the sugar in my system from the night before, I’m happy. 

After the run came the snow shoveling…My work was cut out for me- I wasn’t even sure where to being. After an hour or so, it was to the point where I could most likely get the car out. It wasn’t pretty, but hey- driving was possible. Phew…

Thank goodness there was a reward in my future…Mon cooked. Yes- unheard of! Just in case you need to see it to believe it.    Our friend Bailey and I were astounded!

I give her a hard time, but she can totally throw down when she wants to… like she did yesterday. Loaded nachos- buried under the ground turkey and black beans were cheese, onions, and olives. We topped it all with salsa, greek yogurt and guacamole.Oh buddy.

The movie of the day was The Town. We need to take a minute to discuss this. Has anyone seen it? Other than watching because Ben Affleck returned to the screen looking like a stunna’, it was really good! And, in my humble opinion, a little looked over during awards season?

*I may or may not have diverted my eyes for a few parts. Definitely violence involved. To be fair, when a sledge hammer gets swung at someone, I have a good idea of what will happen and would rather not see it. 

Call me a wus. But I only missed maybe 2 minutes of the movie. And still really liked it. So whatev.

We also watched Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.  We laughed. It’s all about balance, my friends.

All in all, an exhausting but very good day.

And who doesn’t love having a random day off in the middle of the week?

Even if I feel the ache of shovelling snow. It’s not awful (should I thank all my quality time with Jillian Michaels dvds?), but it’s there. Oh well. It was strength training… right???

Now it’s just a matter of battling the relentless cold. I think it’s currently one degree outside.

Ah… walking in a winter wonderland…

Snowed In

I got my snow day. And so much more.

My apologies for the crappy picture.  I can’t get out of my apartment at the moment and this is taken through the high-tech plastic my building will use to help better insulate the apartment.

Classy, I know.

Have you heard the stories? 18-foot waves on Lake Michigan? Part of Wrigley Field’s roof blew off? 1800 flights cancelled at O’Hare? Thunder snow? Windows being blown out of apartment buildings?

So far, a good majority of those stories have been confirmed by the news.

Don’t worry. I was at home during all this. Listening to the wind whip around the corner of my building. Cuddled under blankets.

Work actually let us leave a few hours early when the crazy snow started to fall. Even traveling in hour one of the storm was a little crazy. People must have forgotten how to drive in all the panic.

My boss called to make sure I got home ok and to say unless something drastic happens, the office would be closed.

Holla’.

Once I got home, Mon and I congregated at the gym (naturally) and worked out a game plan.

Our game plan includes:

- A snowman when the snow actually stops coming down.

- Nachos made by Mon. She never cooks, so you KNOW this is a big deal.

- Movies. Plural because, seriously, where are we going?

- These: Andrea @ Can You Stay For Dinner? once posted these and they’ve been in the back of my mind ever since. Congo Bars. She wrote about how these were one of her favorites. Ever. And because I’ve made a few other things she’s posted recipes of, I’ve learned to trust such bold statements.

And I can see why. They’re super sweet. But addictive. I may have had one along with my breakfast. Not to mention the amount I ate last night after they were done…

Of course, my recipe varied a little from hers. I didn’t have walnuts that were coarsely chopped.I only had finely chopped. And being as how there was a blizzard outside, I made due with this. And they worked just fine. The texture is just a little different in the end result. Or I assume it so.Because they wouldn’t need much time in the oven for toasting, I just put them all together.

When toasting things, watch CLOSELY. It never fails- some will always get a little burnt when I’m in charge.

Mix it all together with more white chocolate chips than the recipe calls for and test how good the dough is.Or not. Some people are weird about raw eggs.

I’m not one of those people…I also ended up baking them about 5 minutes or so longer than the 22-25 minutes suggested.  But that could also be me being a little overly cautious. Not sure. They still turned out super chewy and perfect.

The decision to bake might have not been a good one. Snowed in with a whole pan of these. Oh dear.

Well, I’m off to watch more news. I have some time to waste before the apartment maintenence digs me out of my apartment (drifts are keeping me from even being able to get out of the building). Then, it’s a matter battling my way across the street. Since I have the time, I figured I may as well pull out my long-run mid-week because I’m supposed to be busy this weekend (weather-pending it seems). After that, it’s all about enjoying the snow day with the neighbor gals.

Stay safe, kids!