What I Don’t Do Well

No one’s perfect.

I’m pretty close, of course. But not quite.

Because sometimes there are things I just don’t do well.

Like making running plans.  A coworker of mine and I tried to make plans for a second run together along the lakefront over the weekend. But naturally, there was a breakdown in communication and he and I never found each other. Turns out we both thought the other had slept in and gone on our way. 

So I had to go solo- which worried me. Hoping to have someone pushing me, I wanted to run at least 5 miles with him. It’s been a few weeks hitting the higher mileage runs and there was serious dependence on him to keep me going.

Running solo hasn’t been overly motivating recently and it’s considered lucky to make it much more than 3 or 3.5 miles.

However… 5.75 miles later?

It wasn’t easy. Catching my breath was difficult being as how I was cursing out runners floating by with ease. Not so much sweating, but glowing as they whipped their perfect ponytails from side to side. Really? Who looks like that at 8:00 in the morning on a Saturday? It’s not natural and I do not approve.

Grrrr.

I, on the other hand, came home soaked and slightly sunburnt. Should probably work on that whole wearing sunscreen thing, too… oops.

What else do I not do well?

Ummm… lemme think…

I have issues containing my excitement when it comes to street fests.Mon and I hit up the Taste of Lincoln Avenue on Sunday- the 5th or 6th street fest I’ve been to this summer.

So many of my friends make comments about how we seem to go to a new street fest every weekend.

There’s a reason for that. Winter sucks- I hole myself up in my apartment and whine until spring. It’s necessary to get all my crazy out before the first snowfall.

And we’re working on it. No worries.

We sweated it out through various bands- all ending with Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press’s version of “All I Want for Christmas”. Because nothing says summer street fest like a throwback from Mariah Carey’s holiday album.

I’m also needing work on my hydration skills while spending the day dancing out in 90-degree weather. The guy who took our order thought I was kidding when I requested 2 cups. Safety first, my man.

At least I don’t have a problem with knowing when to refuel. My stomach would never let that happen.It’s not gourmet Mexican by any means. But it’s fast. It’s cheap. And it makes me happy.

Patience and traffic are two things I cannot combine well. It’s asking a lot for me to have patience to sit in traffic caused by a Paul McCartney concert at Wrigley Field. Paul, buddy, I love ya. But you wreaked serious havoc on my normal rush hour commute home. You brought in all these drivers who have no clue what they’re doing or where they’re going. And if I hit them, I’m sending you the bill. Yes, you. Thanks in advance.

With that, I’m just going to end this list. Because it’s starting to get a bit long and I’d like to still claim my title of “close to perfection”.

Try and have a good one, kids. Which may be hard to do- it’s Tuesday (yuck) and the weather man isn’t even trying to sugar coat how miserable today’s humidity/heat/thunderstorms are going to be. Weeeeee!

A Lil’ Sweaty “Glow”

It’s not glamorous by any means, but that’s the best way to sum up the last few days spent with my friends.

Or, if we’re being lady-like, we’ve been sporting a nice “glow”.

Like at Old St. Pat’s Block Party.It’s one of the biggest street festivals I’ve ever been to! And the ticket we bought not only got us into the fest, but also gave us 5 drink tickets and access to the stage where The Barenaked Ladies were playing.

By the time they played “One Week”, I was having fits of excitement. You can’t deny they don’t bring you back in time…

Good stuff.

After that, I also introduced them to the Mexican restaurant that stays open until 4 in the morning.

When I show friends the city, I REALLY show them everything.

Although, the late night did not go without consequence. Three hours later I was back out of bed to be picked up to cheer on this sassy lady as she “glowed” through the finish line:Annie came down to run the Fleet Feet Women’s 5k in Montrose Harbor yesterday!

I also decided to insert my shadow into the picture. Heeeeeyyyy-o!

I didn’t run (obviously a smart decision given my late night shenanigans the night before), but instead got my nails done for free at one of the tents at the race (best idea EVER, by the way).

And totally took advantage of the tradition of post-race breakfast.Because who really turns down breakfast?

After that, and an hour nap, we headed over to Lincoln Park to enjoy the sights and sounds.

Even Bailey joined. Which is awesome. Because nature hates her. And she was really pushing her limits- birds have pooped on her twice since we moved in together so I feel like her willingness to go was really just asking for it.

There was no incident. Thankfully.

I tend to go to the zoo often, but this was the first time the hippo really hammed it up for the camera.Hilarious.

This morning, after getting a full night of sleep (for once) and a night of deep dish pizza (tradition- obviously) and movies, I snuck out early for a neighborhood run. It was refreshing, but after consuming a pound of cheese deep dish and the sticky heat, 2.8 miles were about all I could handle before walking my way back home.

Besides… there was breakfast to make:We have another day of exploring downtown in front of us. So we had to make sure and start the day out right…Oh yeah… those muffins are still making their rounds…

But anyhoo, I know this post is random and scattered but it’s only because we’re rushing out the door to beat the rain and hit those city streets.

So glad my friends love Chicago. And me. And come to visit me as much as possible.

Even if it means we’ll be sportin’ a sweaty glow in about 30 seconds after leaving my apartment.

Run for the Zoo 2011

Annie and I had our game faces ON.Grrrr….

After running a 5k and an 8k together, we were ready to tackle the Lincoln Park Run for the Zoo 10k race yesterday. Yes we were. Sure, we were both a little nervous. Me being semi-undertrained and Annie was doing her first 10k ever. But that’s ok. We had our cheer squad with us:Mon actually got up in the early 5:00 hour and joined the caravan to the race!

She also makes a great bag holder.

Even though we were more happy to have her along for the moral support. Not just to hold our bags.

I swear…

Anyway, it couldn’t have been a more perfect day in Chicago yesterday. At about race time (8:20), it was warm, but not disgustingly humid. A win in my book.

Annie and I are different paces, so we separated pretty much right away. I was on my own in the dreaded first mile:A look of concentration as I swerved back and forth trying not to tackle anyone. And to also get around my biggest pet peeve- a line of 5 or 6 people jogging it together. Really? Can’t you pair off? Because this isn’t a road race- I can’t get by you. The 1,000ish people behind you can’t either. Be considerate. And don’t get mad when I accidentally hit you (and apologize) as I try to slink through a small opening you somehow let happen. 

This is why the first mile is one of the miles I hate the most. And the reason the first mile ended up taking me over 9 minutes to complete.

What??? I gotta pick this up! And I did. The second mile (as guesstimated according to the clocks at the mile markers) took me less than 8 minutes.

What??? I gotta slow down my roll.

And I did. My pacing was awful. My splits were pretty much back and forth the entire time. Granted, some of this had to do with the conditions of the race itself. I love that part of the race ends up winding through the zoo. It’s cool. However, I wish they’d wind us on the narrow trails past the animals in the second half of the race- not the first half. Because, by making it the first half, the pack has very little time to thin out. So it’s a cluster of madness. Annie also mentioned that she felt like she was practically jogging in place at various points because there really wasn’t anywhere to go.

Other than that, and the fact that a few stray vehicles somehow made it through the closed streets and were threatening to run some runners over at street crossings, I don’t have too many complaints. Quite a few of my races have been in Lincoln Park and I really like the trails and scenery there.

But back to the end of my race…

Somehow, after two steep inclines in the last mile and a half (which were an unexpected surprise to me being as how I’ve never encountered them in a race here before), I was ready to be done. But once the mile 6 marker was in sight with only .2 miles to go, I just started to haul azz.

As in, my legs were working faster than the rest of my body was mentally prepared for. Had it been any more than .2 miles left, an accident may have occurred. I can see it now- ”RUNNER FLIES OVER FINISH LINE- falls and gets trampled by hundreds behind her…”

My final time was 53:45- an 8:41 pace. Clearly this was 3 minutes slower than my PR, but whatev- I was thrilled!

That put me 372/1505 overall and 47/290 in my division.

I hurried through the lines to find Mon and set ourselves up to watch Annie finish:Someone totally photo bombed. But do ya see her?  Weeee!

As she ran by, she had the energy to look at me and shout “I’m never doing this again”.

Fair enough. 6.2 miles is no joke.

However… 20 minutes after that? “Yeah… I think I’d do it again.”

That’s my girl. ;)

It goes without saying how lucky I am. Not only do I have someone to share my love of running with, but I also have someone who just loves to come along for the crazy antics:Seriously… Mon was everywhere- camera ready.

She was where’s waldo in yellow shorts:Because we had plans for a birthday dinner later that night, it was decided to pass up the traditional breakfast after a race (I know- crazy!). However, when I got home, the thought of dinner still didn’t keep me from eating my weight in cereal.

Some things never change…

Let’s Talk About Something Else

Chicago is a great town.

Unless, of course, you like winning playoff games.  That’s where we start to have issues.

The day started innocently enough.Well. Fine. There’s definitely Bailey’s in that McDonald’s coffee. Innocent enough. I call it an upgrade.

Gotta love the metra’s open container policy.  Or lack thereof.

My friend Bailey and I took advantage of it while we could.  It was going to be a long game…

Although taking advantage of the rule mentioned above also means you may have to take advantage of the metra bathroom. It was an alumminum-lined closet. A traumatic experience to say the least. After my report, Bailey decided to hold it.

I’m sure the last 2 minutes of the ride and walk to the bathroom were the longest of her life. She walked out of the bathroom with a huge smile and a skip in her step because she felt “a little lighter and swifter”.

Close call.

We met up with Megan and ended up scoring a table at Stanley’s in Lincoln Park. Considering the madness going on around us, we considerend this a HUGE win.

But sadly, it was the only win of the day.Unless you count taunting Bailey for being one of three Pack fans in the bar.  That was sort of fun while it lasted…

So fun I couldn’t hold the camera still.  Oops.

Green Bay deserved the win. Yeah, that was said. And I’ll be excited to watch them in the Super Bowl. To get their asses handed to them.

That is all I’ll say about that.

Anyway, after a long and heartbreaking day, I didn’t fight my body’s decision to crash early. My body wanted sleep.  I’m feeling so much better these days now that I’m actually getting more than 4 or 5 hours a night.  Ahhhh…

Plus my fingers were crossed that, even after Sunday Funday (and all that it entails), I’d feel like getting my workout done in the morning.

To avoid feeling rushed, the alarm was set for 5:05. Yes, 5:05 AM!  We’re getting really close to my cutoff point of how early I’ll get up to pull a morning workout.  Once the first number reaches a “4″, I’ll know I’ve completely lost my sanity. There’s a 5 minute buffer to that line.  Uh oh…

Since it’s being discussed, you know I got up and went. Trudging through the new snow (where did you come from?!?!) to get my planned 4-mile run in.

But wait… there are foot prints in the snow… leading up to the building.  Multiple ones.  Say what?

There were 4 people in the workout room this morning.  What? And the worst of it- BOTH treadmills were being used.  Part of the reason why I go this early is to avoid this problem! Bleh!

Clearly, I wasn’t about to turn around and go home.  So I sucked it up and made myself excited to get on the elliptical.

That’s a lie.  There was no excitement. But spent 15 minutes on it until a treadmill (thankfully the quiet one) opened up.  I no longer had time for my 4-miler, but figured since 15 minutes was spent on the elliptical, it’d all even out. So it was a 3-mile run instead- 8:35 pace. The leg “feeling” I was getting wasn’t an issue today at all.  So that’s pretty awesome.

My leg’s just a trickster like that.

Morning workout?  Check.

Ok kids… time to get on the road and face the consequences of our random little snowfall.

I’m walking into work with a good mood.  It’s a short work week and one of our office suppliers also visits now with a boy I like to call Mr. Hottie McHotterson. He will be referred to this until I find out he’s probably married. Maybe with kids.

That tends to happen.  Often.

But until then…

Everywhere and Back Again

I’m going to be cheap and use a shot of Jake Gyllenhaal naked to catch your attention:I’m not ashamed.  He is quite the handsome man.  And has come a long way from his Bubble Boy days. ;)

But yes, I just made this late breakfast. Yesterday was a whirlwind and I’m all out of whack it seems.

That can sometimes be a good thing. 

I got up early for a coffee date at O’Hare with my fantabulous friend Ashlee.  She had a 4-hour layover and we were determined to take advantage of it.Hey girl… heeeeeeyyyy!

 O’Hare is a huge place.  And I have no sense of direction.  So it took a bit to finally come together.  Which is sad, because I had a plan.  And a sign for when she walked out from the gate:Totally didn’t get to use it.  But it’s the thought that counts, right?

And yeah- we have nicknames.  I call her monkey and she calls me penguin.

You can try to understand our crazy if you want to.  But I don’t really even know how we became so weird…I already had breakfast, and Ashlee’s not a big breakfast person, so we split a cookie from Starbucks.  The white chocolate icing was fab.  But we both said the same thing.  Crunchy sugar cookies are not nearly as good as soft ones.  Truth.

After a couple hours, she had to leave for her flight home.  I’m being mischievous and am already coming up with ways to sabotage her next layover so she’ll have no choice but to stay in Chicago.  For good.  Muhahahaha…

I also had another friend who was in the area for the weekend from Philly.  We went to college together and there was an MU game on last night, so it only seemed natural that we made our way to The Spread (my favorite Mizzou bar in the Lincoln Park neighborhood).The three of us slowly and randomly worked our way around the city. It would have been faster had we not had a cab driver who hated life and decided to tell us why and then the other cab driver who seemed more lost than we were. 

My favorite spot of the night was at Cubby Bear just outside of Wrigleyville.  The big Northwestern vs. Illinios game was played inside of Wrigley field yesterday and ESPN College Game Day had been there.  Needless to say, the streets were packed.  The bars were full.  The drinks were flowing.

The pizza was also ordered.  And demolished.

We crashed at a friend’s house (drinking and driving should never be mixed, kids!) and I woke up with a bit of a headache.  Which is somewhat surprising considering how much we ate at the end of the night.  I’m not a big believer in Advil (seriously- I’ve only stashed one or two sample packets of Advil at home from work for worst-case scenarios), so my cure came in the form of this: They should really come up with a bigger size for their iced teas.  Like a pony keg.  I’d dig it. Because this was obviously not enough (refer to coffee in the first picture that was immediately consumed after my tea was gone).

I think I have a caffeine addiction.

I also think that is not a surprising revelation.

I also think it may be time to lounge some more.  It’s Sunday.  Sundays are lazy.  Truth.

Getting Cocky

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  I’ve been a little quiet on the blogging front, but sometimes you just gotta unplug for a while, ya know?

That being said, I’ve really been enjoying the long weekend.  Saturday, as I assumed it would be, was a great night.  Jaime, Scott, and I met up with some people for wings and the Blackhawks game.  Note to self- make sure to confirm the waitress hears you say “boneless”.  I had a dress on, it was the beginning of the night and I’m naturally accident-prone.  It probably took me twice as long because I was aware of all these things while I was eating.

Jaime and I ducked out of the bar for a little bit to walk through a nearby street fest.  Check out the goods:Those are “designer” sunglasses, by the way.  Buy one get two free.  Yep… Designer for sure…

Do you guys have street fests in your areas?  This was one of my first ones in the Chicago area.  I had fun, but can see how it would get dangerous to go to them often- those jewelry vendors kept catching my eye!

Near the end of the game, I headed to Kelsey’s in Lincoln Park to meet up with my boys.  Luckily, they did very well with pacing themselves throughout the whole day (they had been out and about since noon for the baseball game).  So I got to catch up with a few of them.  After the game, of course.  It was serious stuff until the final buzzer.  And then of course, the rounds of Chelsea Dagger. 

That’s about the time Mon showed up.I wish you could have seen my dress.  It was that sassy Target number I picked up the other day…

And yes, I got a little sun on Saturday.  Kinda wish I had been a little more liberal with the sunscreen.  You live and you learn.

I also have more pictures (clearly), but in respect to my guy friends, I’m not going to post them.  I usually feel the need to let them know about the blog if I post pics of them, and uh…. they don’t know yet.  So yeah…

We also visited Faith and Whiskey.  This was where I started to have a lot of fun…  And was probably one of the reasons why we felt the need for this after we got home:Mon’s friend mentioned McDonald’s and I was on top of THAT.  At 3:00 in the morning, there are a lot of things that seem like a good idea.  This was one of them.  When I woke up later, I realized it was not so much.  My stomach did not approve.  But then again, my stomach probably didn’t approve of a lot of things I had done in the last 12 hours.  Wings, beer, vodka, and Mcdonald’s- it thanked me properly.  And I believe I even heard it growl “karma’s a bitch”.  Seriously, it talks.

Yesterday was full of lounging and relaxing.  When I was finally feeling myself, I took a two-mile walk and also took on the second level of Yoga Meltdown with Jillian Michaels.  I was starting to get really cocky with Level 1- thinking I was getting real good at this yoga stuff… Level 2?  Why not?

I sucked at Level 2.  A lot.  In my defense, it’s a new routine, so I had to watch the screen a lot more because I had no idea what was coming next.  Has anyone mastered the crow pose yet?  Dang…  I surprised myself that I could actually do the wheel pose (seriously guys- I’m less flexible than Jillian claims to be).  And I’m pretty sure that popping in and out of the goddess pose is why I feel the soreness in the area that I do today.  That’s all I’ll say about that.

If you do yoga, are there any poses you’re still trying to conquer?

Hit up a BBQ last night- my first of the season!  Unfortunately because I was pretty much a garbage disposal the whole day yesterday (my cereal stash took a serious hit), I wasn’t hungry when I got there.  But it smelled good.    I left the boys in the second hour of Xbox. They kinda laughed as I left because they said I was probably bored.  Not true- I was just tired.  I rarely get bored.  In all reality, I was having fun- I love just sitting back and observing.  And I was getting crazy deja vu from every other weekend in college that was spent just like that… hilarious.

So here I am about to get my run out of the way early- it’s not supposed to get much warmer today, but I’m just more of a morning runner.  Or at least that’s what I aspire to be.  So I’m gonna go do that now.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Socialization

I’ve spent a lot of weekends resting and staying in as of late.  I have no problems with that.  I actually enjoy it.  But not this weekend… this weekend I remembered what the concept of socialization was all about (although I may be a little rusty… ).

After the three of us (my cousin, her friend, and I) getting our workouts in yesterday, we cleaned up as to look publicly acceptable, and headed down to the city to meet up with cousin #2 in Bucktown for a late brunch.  Really it was well past any hour that breakfast should be served in, but if there’s any cinnamon rolls involved, I still call it brunch.We ate at Blue Line Lounge and Grill- right under the Blue Line stop.  They had a little outside patio area that would have been so cute to sit in- had it not been SO COLD!  (Thank you Chicago weather and your mind games… I’m THIS CLOSE to needing therapy because of you.)  Niki got there right after we did, so as soon as she sat down, the family gossip came out again!  Don’t think we’re rude- there’s 35 cousins on that side of the family- there is a LOT of catching up to do on a regular basis.  Jeanna (my cousin Joanne’s friend) was very awesome about listening to all the tales of our childhood/family musings/where are they nows. 

The food came out and I had the California Stone Flat with sweet potato fries.  After that sandwich, I decided no sandwich is complete without avocado.  Mark my words…Such a sassy group of ladies we are…

After lunch, we all parted ways.  My coming home involved a nap in my favorite spot of my new couch (that would be the corner so I pretty much lay there in fetal position and bask in the glow of the sun shining through my sliding door- I’m a little baby like that.  Or a cat.).

I did, however, wake up and get moving again.  I had some energy stored up at that point and went down to hammer out another mile and a half on the treadmill.  Yes- I used the treadmill yesterday.  The dreaded thing.  The rain made me do it!

Later that night, I met up with my bestie Annie and we went to Rocks in Lincoln Park to celebrate her husband Steve’s birthday.  I really like that place because it’s a casual neighborhood bar.  I’m not so much a fan of the club scene and feel much more at home in a place like this.  Joanne was staying downtown this night and was cool enough to meet up with me again!  We decided this was probably the most bonding time we have had in years!I really want to make a trip to Ann Arbor to see her.  I’ve heard it’s a fun little town to run around in.  Plans must be made…

Anyhoo, because it was Steve’s birthday and Annie didn’t have time to bake anything, we brought a few of the cake bites I made to the bar to celebrate his birthday properly.  I like that Annie called them “cake bites”.  I have decided I’m not a huge fan of the word “balls” unless using it in a more negative tone.  Like, “he’s going to be late and we are gonna be so screwed!”  “Oh balls….”.  So yeah, we’re calling them cake bites now. Happy Birthday Steve!!!

People loved my cake bites.  And can we point out- this is where it sounds better.  Because you can’t say “people loved my balls”.  You just can’t use a phrase like that any more without thinking of Alec Baldwin’s schweddy balls skit.  Which is hilarious and all, but still somewhat awkward.  Nothing like a schweddy ball…

I’m running on little sleep today.  I blame myself.  Didn’t turn the heat up enough.  So I woke up freezing.  But too tired to actually get up and turn up the heat more or grab a cover.  So I laid there.  Frozen.  Looking back, that was a poor choice.

I have got to run.  Time to call my mom (Happy Mother’s Day, ya’ll).  And I have to clean before the peeps show up for a special suburb edition of Lunch Club. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Run for the Cheetah 2010

I’m probably never ever going to sleep in past 8:00 on the weekend ever again, am I?  Ahhhh…. how life has changed from when I was a 22-year old college kid nursing a hangover…

But that’s ok.  Yesterday was a good reason to be up early.  I was out the door and picking up Annie to take a drive down to Lincoln Park in Chicago by 7:30.  We had things to do.  Like kicking ass and taking names… Details you want?  Ok. Here’s Annie as we’re walking to the park- we were both anxious for the race to start:Wave at Annie!  And feel free to say hello!  She informed me she’s one of the regular readers of SCR… Hey girl,  heeeeyyy!The race started right at 9:00 with a little rain in the air.  Nothing too bad- I was more concerned about wind- but that wasn’t much of a problem, either.  My leg was feeling quite alright.  I could feel a little twinge (is that a word?  If not, I’m using it from now on to describe feeling the spot of concern without really feeling pain).  I started out at a decent pace, and closed in on the first mile a little under 8:30.  This surprised me considering I haven’t really ran at all since the Shamrock Shuffle three weeks ago.  As soon as I realized my pace, I knew that I would comfortably hit a finish under 27 minutes (the time I had decided I’d be ok with all things considered).  I hit my stride in the second mile and pretty much just carried it through the rest of the race. 

After I got done, I quickly turned around, grabbed our stuff from gear check, and hustled to find a spot to watch Annie finish.  This girl rocked it!  I am soooo happy for her!  I found her after she crossed the line and we gave each other a big hug- victory!!!!  Here’s Annie’s re-enactment of crossing the finish line:And here’s me stretching out the little leggie that gives me problems and just giving my body some recovery from the shock of all the sudden having it’s owner telling it to run:

And after I got up, I realized my big mistake…  The ground was a little damper than I realized.  Awww… my poor flat and wet butt.  I just can’t win… in more ways than one.  Come ON Jillian, we’re supposed to be working on this issue!

Final time you ask?  25:18!  That’s a 8:09 average pace!  And I placed 8th in my age group- so that’s kind of neat.  Considering all the protest my legs have put up, I was completely happy with the time.  I’m hoping to break 25:00 on my next 5k I run.  Still up in the air if that’ll be Race to Wrigley in two weeks.  I’m hoping it will be. 

And little Miss Annie clocked in her first 5k ever at about 32:30!  I was soooo proud of her!  Can I say that enough?  I love that I have a few running buddies now…

But enough about racing.  It was time to eat.  We ended up at Toast (thanks for the suggestions, btw!).  I asked Annie if she would be ok with that one and she said her boss had also told her that’d be a good place to go.  We had to wait to be seated, which was fine because we were still walking it out and stretching.  And the wait was seriously worth it…  LOVED the restaurant.  Loved the food.  Loved the company!And loved the coffee… mmmm.  We both went back and forth on what to order.  After giggling about the menu’s “pancake orgy” (yes, I have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old), I settled on the Omelette Lorraine.Oh man it was good.  We enjoyed our breakfasts over some good conversation.  Well, good conversation on our parts.  I don’t often mind the people around us (or even notice- hello, I’m focusing on my food!).  But we were seated next to a first class jackass.  I mean really.  I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if some of the things that came out of his mouth weren’t some of the most obnoxious and egotistical bull I’ve ever heard.  Apparently, there are no girls hot enough for him in the clubs anymore these days.  But it doesn’t matter because he’s too good looking to have a girlfriend right now anyways.  The couple sitting with him looked embaressed because they knew he was offending everyone within ear shot.  He said much more, but I’d rather not get into much more detail than that.  I have never had such a strong desire to stick my foot out as he got up to walk out.  But I was in a good mood.  And I didn’t want to deal with the possible law suit that would occur.  Not worth it.

Every good brunch needs a bit of dessert, so we walked back up the block to this little shop:I had stopped in Starfruit to pick up a race packet before, and loved how cute it was.  But never tried anything.  I’m not a huge fruit person (in which I mean I really don’t eat hardly anything considered “fruity” at all), so I stuck with the original flavor of the Kefir froyo and got a little reese’s pieces goodness to put on top:True love.

I got home and crashed on the futon (which is only around for another week before it gets replaced- so I’m saying my goodbyes).  I also finally watched The Informant.  After much thought, I thought this movie was “ha ha….eh.”  You’ll know what I mean if you’ve already watched it.  The plot bored me.  And I honestly spent alot of the movie semi-confused.  But some of that could be blamed that I was watching it in tired-coma-like-state.  My brother was the one who said it was funny.  And I told him after I watched it, I wanted to write Red Box for my dollar back.  And then we went back and forth with some random quotes Matt Damon had throughout the movie.  His random narrations were pretty funny.  Because they were just ridiculous.  But the movie as a whole was just “eh”.  That’s why I stand by my rating of “ha  ha…eh.”  Take what you want from that…

Have a good Monday!

One Tequila, Two Tequila…

Mr. Craigslist came and picked up the chair this morning.  He wasn’t a creeper.  No worries.  But Mon was there, as my red-headed spunky sidekick.  Just in case.  Ha.  Mr. Craigslist was actually kind of nice- and turned out he and his wife were originally from a farming area in Ohio.  So we got along just fine. 

After he left with the papasan chair crammed into his car, Mon and I headed to downtown Arlington Heights to enjoy the day that was even WARMER than promised.  Gorgeous!  We popped in and out of a few boutiques and stores here and there, but I was a big fan of this store I didn’t know existed called Runner’s High n’ Tri.I was intrigued by the shoe selection, but decided to come back when it was less crowded.  Check out how cool this wall is:The wall was signed by random athletes who had stopped in! 

Then we decided it was time to hit Fuego.But it’s not called Fuego anymore- Now it’s Salsa 17.  For some reason or another, there was a name change last month.  It really made no difference to me or my tastebuds.  We both had planned for this to be a “fun” outting, so we decided to order by the waiter’s recommendations. Margaritas!  Don’t worry- it was almost noon by the time we had our first sip.  That’s acceptable, right?Mon was happy.And so was I.  Clearly. 

Then we decided just to split a couple apps for lunch.  So we had some guacamole made tableside along with spinach quesadillas…Fabulous.  I overdid it a little with one too many tortilla chips.  I blame it on the margarita.  It was a strong one.  And I was a little loopy by the end of it.  So after I dropped Mon off at her car (that was getting fixed), I went home and lounged.  Even got in a little cat nap as I watched the Cards game (great day yesterday, boys!).Here’s something randomly fun- see that upper pic on the bookcase?  That’s me as a blond in there on my 21st birthday…  Wanna see it up close for fun? But I guess it’s kind of hard to tell how blond and overly tan I am for my own good in this pic.  So here’s another one.  Keep the smirking to a minimum, please…Too funny, right?  A couple of you had asked when I mentioned that I used to be blond, so I figured I’d just bring these up for kicks. :)  Oh and that’s Mary to my left and Laura to my right.  It seems we just naturally tend to pose in that order… which I totally didn’t realize until I was writing this.  And even looked back through more facebook pics to confirm it.  I guess we all have a good side?

Anyhoo, it was a fun Saturday.  I hit up the Red Box near me again as to keep me entertained for my night in before the race.  Has anyone seen Zombieland?  It looked kinda funny when it came out in theaters, so I thought why not- I’ve already exhausted most of the options in Red Box.  And it was funny.  I’m not into the gruesome factor, so I had to look away a couple times (even if it is seriously unrealistic), but I laughed.  It was much appreciated “off” humor if you’re into that kind of thing.  I also rented The Informant on a recommendation from my brother.  That one was saved for later today.

I also made sure to be semi-productive after the little nap and before the movies.  Yoga and the elliptical.  This was the first time I had been on the elliptical in awhile- and it wasn’t bad.  I read about Kendra’s difficulties after giving birth in an old US magazine.  Good stuff…

Ok, so this is posted as I am on my way to my 5k- Run for the Cheetah.  See ya kids later, I’ve got some business to take care of…

Back to the Grind

Well it’s Tuesday and I’m back at work.  On my least favorite day.  Ick!  Oh well, it was soooo worth it. Ashlee and I had a blast yesterday.  We slept in (until like 8:30- woot woot!) and just slowly got ourselves going and making plans.  We narrowed it down to a museum day- Chicago History Museum and Field Museum.  I still hadn’t made my way into the History Museum yet, so I was ready.

We decided it might be fun to do breakfast in the city.  So I grabbed a Fiber One from the gift basket I got at Jaime’s shower to tide me over.  Thank god I did…  we took the metra in and tried out the bus system.  I never claimed to be an expert on public transit in Chicago.  Never.  I rely heavily on Google transit to tell me what to do.  But sometimes human error occurs.  And sometimes you end up getting on the wrong bus.  And sometimes you end up in areas you probably shouldn’t be.  Like what happened to us yesterday.  Uh… oops.  So the bus ride was a little longer than we thought it would take.  But we got to where we needed to get eventually:

Elly’s Pancake House!  Our brunch we planned to have around noon or a little after turned into lunch because of how late we had gotten there.  And we were STARVING.  Hamburger and fries for both of us…

No pictures, sadly.  Why?  Because my camera battery crapped out on me.  I didn’t realize it was low after the weekend.  Even that morning, I thought, “Should I charge my camera battery?  Nah… it has enough power surely…”  Nope.  I turn it on and get the message “Change Battery Pack”.  Damn!  Enough with the camera issues!!!  And Ashlee’s had died well before mine because she was already on day 4 of her trip…

So, I apologize for the grainy crackberry pics you will be seeing for the rest of the post.  But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…

One thing that did go our way?  We made it to the History Museum, and it was a day of free admission!  Score!  So first, we checked out the children’s museum:

My legs weren’t even  long enough for that bike.  And I’m no shorty! 

Then we strolled upstairs… The little Playboy display was one of my fav things to look at.  Apparently the bunny costume was modeled after the measurements of this girl Suzy- who was decided to be the ideal proportions for the Playboy club.  Yeah… her waist was 23 inches.  I’d have to break a couple ribs to come close to that one…  And we won’t even talk about how much help I’d need to fill in the top of the costume… damn “runner’s boobs”.  :pMany of the exhibits had to do with the World Fair.  They had a train car you could walk into and around and pretend to be a member of the times.  Ashlee was Newton- a grocer who enjoyed the moving sidewalk exhibit. My card said I was Matilda- a widow who liked the Agriculture Building.  I decided she was probably a sassy broad.  Just like me.  The History Museum was a lot of fun.  We stayed until close.  Sadly, there was a fashion exhibit that was closed- we were both a little bummed about that one.  But honestly, time-wise we may have not gotten to see it anways.  After the History Museum closed, we decided to skip Field Museum (figuring by the time we got there, it’d be closed, too, if not already).

To Ogilvie we went to catch a metra back out to the ‘burbs.  Both of us just adore Sheldon on Big Bang Theory, so we got some carryout at a little Mexican place near me and made it back to my apartment just in time to watch it.  Turns out it was a rerun we had both seen, but really- it’s still hilarious.  Check out my burrito I got:

It was a chicken burrito the size of my head.  For reals.  Apparently my toes were just curling in excitement.  The awesome people at the restaurant gave us chips and dip while we waited for our food to be ready to carry out, so I didn’t need that at all!  After the pic, I took a knife to it.  Three meals out of this craziness.  Holy crap.

This morning I sadly took Ashlee to the airport on the way to work. It’s funny because we started chatting away as soon as I picked her up on Sunday straight through the entire trip all the way until I dropped her off.  I’m so glad she came!  She said they might try to make another trip up to Chicago over the summer.  I said fantastic.  Everyone loves the Chi in the summer…

Anyhoo, so that was my great weekend!  I loved it.  And now everything goes back to normal…  Back to work.  Back to my workout schedule (Nothing crazy tonight- just The Shred if I’m up to it because I really am a walking zombie today).  Back to my routine.  The sleep will be needed.  But she’ll be missed until I get to see her again! 

Have a good Tuesday everyone!  I’m gonna go grab another cup of coffee…