An Itch

After 4 days of visiting and traipsing around the city with my high school friends, it’s down to just me again.

Ho hum…

But maybe that’s a good thing. I probably need the sleep. Blood shot eyes confirm this.

After spending a night out in Wrigleyville, a day of shopping the neighborhood, block parties, a trip to the zoo, cheering friends on in races, eating out at a few local spots, movies, etc, we still weren’t done.

Clearly, this means we need to fuel up with breakfast again.

I still hate the word moist. Gross.

But anyway, I finally had an excuse to make Jessica’s Cake Batter Pancakes. There is no better way to impress your guests than with funfetti. And I had an itch for something sugary. Surprised?No you’re not. Don’t lie.

For the record, the sugar rush from the pancakes and the powdered sugar glaze will energize you for the entire rest of the morning. Promise.Just be mindful of the pancakes as they cook. Otherwise, you’ll end up with one black sheep in the bunch.I always burn at least one. Often more. 

Believe it or not, we fought over who would eat it. I ended up tossing it because I had made a recipe and a half and there were WAY too many pancakes. And no one really wanted it. We were just being polite. A rarity that sometimes happens in these parts.

Afterwards, we rode the train down to Michigan Avenue. Because we all had an itch to shop. However, our most important stop was our first one of the day:We wanted to say hi to Marilyn before the rain in the forecast became a legit concern.

This 26-foot statue of her from The Seven Year Itch was debuted on Friday. My friends arrived on Friday. Coincidence or fate?This is the first, but not the last, of many trips to say hey. That I am sure of.

After sweatin’ it out on the Magnificent Mile for most of the afternoon, the decision was made to stop off for a little happy hour celebration.

Which put the trip back home in the thick of rush hour traffic. Before a Cubs game.

Not the brightest move.

But hey- when you’re thirsty, you’re thirsty…

After coming home and cooling off, the three of us decided to sweat through a second outfit for the day and head to a bar advertising $3 burger and fries and dirty trivia night.

We were there for the food. And only the food. I swear.

Yet held our own up until the 3rd round.

Either way, a good way to end the extended weekend. Leaving me here. Once again.

I’ve still got a couple of days of recovery before another weekend hits me with full force.

Plenty of water will be involved. Along with a few of these:Because if I don’t watch it, my body is going to start figuring out where to stick all the grease and sugar for safe keeping.

Yikes.

Happy Hump Day, kiddos!

Power Hour

Anyone else ever play “Power Hour” in college?  Did anyone ever actually make it through?  I feel like I never lasted long.  Usually I’d say “screw it” at some point and drink when I felt like it.  Even early on I wasn’t a big fan of structure… go figure.  :p

However, I had my power hour at the gym last night.  28 minutes on the elliptical.  Why 28?  Who knows… it just felt like a good number to end on.  Weights.  More weights.  Stairmill (or as Mon would say, “stair demon”) for 16.  And then ending with the ab work.  Normally I like to throw a mile or so on the treadmill in there as well, but the gym was strangely crowded and I didn’t feel participating in the “who’s gonna jump on the good ‘mill first when this dude gets off” game that was being played.

Plus I had a Thirsty Thursday date with Mon.  We gossiped as we drank a couple Goose Islands… what’s new?

I honestly don’t have much to say today.  Knowing me and my mouth, that’s kind of strange.  It’s my rest day.  Hopefully work will fly.  And I’ll be staying with a friend in Wrigleyville so we can drive together to the Girls on the Run 5k early tomorrow morning because we’re both volunteering.

We may be getting up early tomorrow, but we’re still planning to go out for a drink or two to watch the Hawks game somewhere- gotta show Chicago pride, right? 

So with that, happy Friday!  Here’s how I started mine out:I once again broke out the dessert oatmeal!  A little Special K underneath, coconut, peanut butter, and white chocolate chips.  And this is how it made me feel:I hope this is how I continue to feel about my breakfast.  I think the milk might be starting to get bad.  Ok, it could have been bad… but lets not dwell on that fact.  I clearly need to go grocery shopping.

Have a good weekend, kids!

What a slap in the face.

Don’t freak out about the title.  But I did get your attention, huh?    More about that in a sec…

My rest day went well.  I tried to keep myself busy as to not freak out about how much I wanted to throw on some gym shoes and just do SOMETHING. 

So I got my car serviced.  Which worked out well because my friend’s in-laws own the place I go to.  And I heart them very much.  We joke how they’re my pretend parents away from home.  I love that even though I’m still relatively new to the area that I have such a wonderful support system in my life.  I’m always very thankful for that.

After that, I went to a place that no person should ever go to when in need of retail therapy… Target.  Oh Target.  Why do you do this to me?  Can’t you see I love you?  Can’t you ever be nice and not steal all my money from me???  In all truthfulness, I had a list and stuck to it for the most part. Although I didn’t really have a need to now own three types of bodywash, but hey- the skin IS the biggest organ of the body.  It needs to be treated with the utmost respect.

Going a little further with that- it’s summer.  Any skin care tips?  I know the spf is important, but how much?  Or what kind?  This girl plans to spend as much time as possible outdoors in the next couple of months- and won’t lie about the summers of slacking on skin care in the past…

And I finally caved and bought Jillian’s Yoga Meltdown.  Exercise TV let me down… I thought the disappearance of the two- the ONLY two- yoga workouts I liked would just be a fluke.  Nope.  Seems they’re gone for good.  And who knew I’d actually miss yoga?  I was as surprised as you.  I need some more warrior poses in my life… like tonight.

After a quick dinner (it was another wrap- what’s new?), I ran to Monica’s for a glass of relaxation aka Trader Joe’s finest bottle of wine… under $10.    We watched 500 Days of Summer.  This movie was wonderful.  Totally pulls at the heart strings, but I loved it.  I do not recommend it for those who just went through a break up, but for everyone else, go rent it now.  And drink a glass of wine first.  Because you’ll probably feel like the movie is speaking to you.  That’s why you need the wine.  Trust me.  The movie can be a slap in the face if you let it.  I think we’ve all been in the same situation as the guy in this movie- maybe not to the extreme, but you relate.  That’s why the wine helps. 

And here we are.  Gooooood morning.  Another breakfast of oatmeal.  Are we surprised?  Hardly.  BUT, I did do something different.I was missing my dessert oatmeal.  And I was curious about espresso oats.  And I’ve had this instant coffee packet sitting around forever. Sooo…..Voila!  It’s Friday and I needed an indulgence to get me going.  Coffee?  Check.  Chocolate?  Check.  Happy tummy?  Well…

Just so you know, the pic is closeup because when it was of the whole bowl, it really looked like poo.  But I don’t let that ruin my good time.  It was ok.  I could have held back on some of the instant coffee.  Just a tad.  Or maybe if I had hot chocolate mix instead of unsweetened cocoa, that would have helped.  I think overall, it was just a little too bitter.  But the chocolate chips I mixed in helped.  So yeah… I’ll try again I guess.  Don’t get me wrong- it was good.  Just not the super amazingness that I was hoping for.  (Clearly I have high standards.)

My excuse for the chocolate treat is I need the stamina the caffeine and sugar provide.  Yes, I’m aware this is approximately 11 or 12 hours before I work out.  But trust me… mentally it was the way to go. 

Now that I’ve had my rest day, I’m ready for another couple days of hard work.  Tonight is cross training.  Hopefully concentrating a little more on the weights than I have been.  And I will be doing yoga with Jillian after that.  Tomorrow is more running on the trails.  And since it’ll be an early run, I’m hoping to not be drained and get some good times in.  But we shall see.

The hardest decision I’ll make after work tonight?  What movie to rent at Red Box…  and to drink the wine?  Or not drink the wine?  That is the question…