Weekend Blurs

Welcome back to the grind, my friends!

Over lunch yesterday, my mom made the comment, after discussing my upcoming month or two, that I don’t get much downtime.

This could not be more true.

Would I have it any other way?

You caught me on a good day. So I’d say no.

Memorial Day Weekend could be considered yet another blur to add to the long string of blurs that is my life.

It included, but was not limited to:

1. Running late to catch the train due to issues with the el, turning me into a starving, anxiety-ridden fool before finally collapsing into my seat. And forcing me to purchase food on the train.

Some may say the $5 beer was unnecessary. I would say it was the tastiest part of the meal.

Anywhere else, I should have been able to get a steak dinner. On amtrak? Turkey sub with cheese. No lettuce.

At least they offered to zap it in the microwave for me. What service!

2. Having the friend with the least sense of direction pick me up from the train station in downtown St. Louis. She knows who she is.

3. Good food lovingly barbecued by my friend Mary’s hubby.Considering he has a strict policy of not eating anything green, he was very considerate of our attempts to be healthy before shimmying into our summer dresses for the first time of the season.Actually, considering how we revert to our giggly college selves, the time we take to get ready, and our squealing demands for fourth meal drive thru, I am quite convinced she must pay him off before our arrivals.

3. A trip to the pool cut short because the triple digit temps made us sure we started to cook on the inside.

4. Two trips to Panera for “morning after reenergizing”.

Chocolate chip bagels. On a lazy weekend morning, they’re the best thing created since sliced bread. Wait…

Excuse me- I forgot where I was for a moment. It’s St. Louis Bread Company there, still. Duh.

5. Family time on Sunday with my parents who were gracious enough to drive up to meet up during my days in St. Louis.

And feed me.

The salmon was served with wasabi aioli sauce. Best idea of all time.

They’re the bestest. That, or they just really like having an excuse to visit their version of a vacation house:I don’t personally enjoy gambling. But yet I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time hanging out in casinos.

Can’t hate on comped rooms. Or the buffets. Or the breakfast.

The Falcon is a diner within the casino that has the “breakfast quesadilla” on their menu. The green chilis involved in the scrambled eggs were legendary.

6. My only workout was spending 30ish minutes in the sad excuse of a workout room at said casino (I get it- they’d rather have us gamble), but being ok about it because my parents and I walked for miles and miles.

6. Enjoying the not-so-melty weather on monday by spending some chill time downtown St. Louis at Union Station.I even fed the fishies with the rest of the kids!

- “Delay” was the favorite word of the conductors on the amtrak train home. Seems to be all my trips end in cancellations, delays, bad traffic, and, of course, a stabby Amy. I guess every awesome weekend comes with a price.

And every awesome weekend sadly had to end. Considering this one was thrown together on a whim (“holy crap guys, it’s a $40 round trip, are you gonna be around?!?! I’m booking this!), it was one for the books.

And besides- I’ll spend time resting up next weekend…

That sound you hear is everyone who know me laughing as hard as they possibly can.

Mentally Noted

You would not believe the swing in weather around here. After spending a day in rain delays and 60-degree weather, waking up to sun and 83 degrees was quite the pleasant surprise.

Because of the sunshine and the flexibility in schedule, I took to the trail by my current apartment. Funny how quickly you get knocked on your butt when not used to 83-degree weather. After completing the full 2.8-hour loop and losing half my weight in sweat, it was already nearing noon and closing in on 90 degrees. I let go of the idea of a second loop and retreated back to my apartment where I chose to hit the stairmill for 15 minutes and cool down with a walk on the treadmill.

Gonna have to relearn that, if I want to get an outdoor run in, waking up and moving around a little earlier will be necessary.

Mentally noted.

My biggest accomplishment during my Memorial Day (other than officially starting the packing/moving process)? Working on my tan lines via the outdoor running and some time pool side. Not time IN the pool, just beside it. Observing all the people hopping in, swearing, and jumping directly out. Still cold. Give it another week or so before jumping in. Mentally noted.

I hope all of you were able to also enjoy the holiday. Especially if this means grilling. Because I would like to live vicariously through you. Still grill-less, I decided to make the most of it and decided to eat what food that would be served at a BBQ.Asparagus wrap with pepperjack, zucchini, and sweet corn. Sure, a smoked flavor and grill marks would have been nice, but it worked.

I really need to make friends with more people who own BBQ grills. Mentally noted.

And with that, let’s welcome back the work week. It’s a short one, so I’m keeping my whining to a minimum.

Even if it’s Tuesday. They do generally suck, but since it’s the first day of the work week, maybe everyone will be fooled into thinking it’s Monday and it won’t be that bad.

A girl can always dream, right?

Question of the Day- Who got a sunburn this weekend?

An Alternative Holiday Weekend

Memorial Day weekend.

It’s usually one for sun, summer weather and grilling season.

Usually.

Sometimes things get in the way. In this case, mostly the weather:This is definitely not one of those things.

The whole weekend was actually not quite any of those things.

But you know what? We still had fun.

And who really wants to spend their whole life going along with the crowd?

As I mentioned before, I spent part of this weekend celebrating the holiday with Megan.

Originally, we planned on going to a BBQ/house party.

Well. as I got in on the metra, the rain started coming down. Decently hard. The grilling ended up not happening. But Megan and I luckily were visiting her friend who bartends and were hooked up with some preparty munchies:Close enough.

The party was a lot of fun (what party that hires their own bartender wouldn’t be?).

I personally enjoyed the decor:However, the napkins were a little old school being as how the Bieber bangs no longer exist. Hmmm… does that mean these are a collector’s item? Maybe I should have stashed one…

I would also like to thank Subway for making this night happen… being open for 24 hours a day and dealing with Megan’s 10-minutes of indecisive ordering really saved us in the weee hours of the morning.

The next day, we ended up going to Flat Top Grill for brunch.This was my first time trying out Flat Top- and got extreme excitement out of a restaurant where I was able to build my own omelet and pancake…How did that ham get in there? Wasn’t me…

As we were finishing our breakfast, the rain started coming down. So we decided to try and wait it out.And wait… and wait… Funny thing is, the longer we waited, the worse the weather got.

Did I mention we were waiting to leave for the Cubs game?

So we got ready. It kept raining. We weighed our options. The lightning struck. We decided to go up to Wrigleyville anyway to see what would happen. The thunder rolled. We gave up on our hopes of seeing a good ol’ fashioned baseball game and chalked it up to a regular ol’ Sunday Funday (not a bad thing by any means!).

Then, as we were hanging out at one of the bars across from the field, the sun peeked out. And started shining.After a 2.5-hour rain delay, we got this show on the road! Everyone was excited to see the sun shine for one of the first times of the weekend. Even the birds came out to play:Even the birds came out for the party. The poor dude in right field- you could tell he was just standing there awkwardly because he didn’t really know what to do. They were big birds.

We celebrated with a well-balanced meal at the game:Look at all those veggies! As Megan pointed out, nachos are really like a salad. Just with tortilla chips instead of lettuce. So yeah.

The Cubs ended up winning. This was good/bad for me. Good because I love watching a game and the whole crowd being excited and happy. But as a Cardinals fan at heart, I couldn’t cheer to the greatest extent. Gotta keep that Missouri loyalty somehow…

So yes. The BBQ didn’t happen. The weather was less than desirable. Our baseball game had a rain delay.

But you know what? We had a fantastic time. And if that doesn’t make a holiday weekend great, what else would?

Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day, everyone! I’m off to be productive. For at least an hour or two…

Who Am I?

Are things really back to normal now? Please say yes- I thrive on routine during the work week.

Well, everything except that I’m still yet to unpack from my trip last weekend, but we’re calling it a minor detail. Unpacking is the worst. And my theory is that if I ignore it long enough, it’ll do it itself. (TWSS)

Other than that, things are good. My refrigerator is stocked. The sleeping routine is pretty much back to normal. And I even worked out last night for the first time in a week.

Yes, an entire week. Who am I?

I’m getting the shakes just thinking about it. Yikes.

The first day back was supposed to be yesterday- a friend of mine and I were going to start running during lunch. However, all this tornadic weather has given us nothing but dark and stormy lunchtimes. Of course that would happen.

We’re going to try again today. So far, it’s looking clear but chilly. Crossing fingers.

Until then, I found other ways to get my cardio in. Like the workout room that I’ll only have access to for another 2 weeks before moving.

I’m almost going to miss the elliptical.

Shhh… let’s pretend that wasn’t said out loud. 

22 minutes on the elliptical, 10 on the stairs and some solid ab work. Even planks. And I never like doing planks. Who am I???

It was shorter than normal, but for a girl who’s being feeling a little lackluster as of late, it was a nice reintroduction of cardio that didn’t include lifting champagne bottles and shaking my rump.

Other than lack of sleep, part of the reason I was feeling so “blah” this week is my body’s reaction to everything I consumed. I wasn’t kidding when I commented that my body was rejecting all the McD’s breakfast choices. And alcohol. And greasy lunches. And large dinners.

How reckless of me. Other than guacamole, not a green thing entered my body that entire weekend. Who am I? At the airport before I left Vegas, I walked up and down the terminal until I finally decided to kick it CPK style. Mostly because I could sit and be left alone for an hour. Secondly, because it was one of the few places offering salad that hadn’t been wilting in a cooler for hours, being picked up and put back down by a million people.Yeah- not the healthiest option, but really- show me more than 2 things on the California Pizza Kitchen that are remotely healthy and you win a prize.

I’m waiting…

Anyhoo, there were four salad options. This was the most appealing. Blame the BBQ. 

I’ve since been pretty much on a salad detox. And not so much CPK style, but more “every other random vegetable Amy has in the refrigerator”. Nothing else really sounds good at the moment.

It’ll probably only last another day or so (oh hey Memorial Day weekend/kick-off of grilling season). But we’ll just take advantage of it while we can.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! Tonight is one of rest and red box- I have many many plans. That include hanging out with Megan, house parties and Cubs games.

Now if only this Chicago weather would get in line and stop being so ridiculous. I’d like a tan at some point this summer. Please?

And then the sky opened up.

I miss the weekend already.  And it’s Tuesday.  But it feels like Monday.  So I’m completely out of whack.  Because I’m often confused easily.  I tell my mom I got her ditzy gene.  She hates when I say that.

I did enjoy my Monday off (which felt like Sunday, so again I was all thrown off).  I crawled out of bed at 8:00 and slowly got ready for my run.  Too slowly.  I was in the middle of my first loop on the trail and all the sudden the sky darkened.  What a waste of good sunscreen, I thought.  Then I started to wonder how long it would be until the rain started.  Maybe I’d get in the whole four miles.

Nope.  By the time I saw the second or third bolt of lightning in the distance, I decided to finish up my 2.5 miles and then do the last 1.5 on the treadmill.  My average pace was 8:28.  This was faster than what I have been doing, but I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that I ran the last mile in a downpour.  The sky just opened and let me have it.  Like I said, I got the four miles done thanks to the treadmill.  I got stares from another girl in the gym.  She was probably wondering why I was pounding it out on the treadmill looking like a wet dog.  I didn’t care enough to explain what happened and that I found no reason to go home and change just to go get another set of clothes all sweaty.  That’s just how I think.  Sure, I risked some serious chaffing- but no worries, didn’t happen.

Since I was too full to enjoy the BBQ my guys grilled up the day before, I felt left out.  So I did some fake BBQ’ing in my oven.  And made some BBQ ranch chicken wraps.I’ve convinced myself that these were better than the actual grilled food from the night before.  Shhhh…. don’t try to tell me otherwise.I also had iced tea.  In a glass.  Another quirk I think I get from my mom.  She always says that iced tea tastes better out of a glass.  I sort of believe it.

Do you have any quirks or weird ways you picked up from one of your parents?  Give me some good ones…

I almost forgot to tell you about the cookies I attempted.  I used Julie’s three-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe.  And then added some white chocolate chips.  Because I have an obsession.They were sooooo peanut-buttery good.  My only problem is they fell apart pretty easily.  But for a quick treat, they worked.  Thanks Julie! 

Tonight’s a night of cross training.  Which is fine.  It’s supposed to be rainy all week, so I don’t mind.  I’ve been contemplating a 5k next Sunday, but just can’t make up my mind.  I think all the rain in the forecast isn’t helping.  Plus, I’m volunteering at a race on Saturday, so that gives me no days of sleeping in next weekend.  Hmmm…  I’ve also got my eye on a couple other random 5ks this month, so we’ll see what happens.  I think I just have an itch to do a race…

Ok kids… it’s time for me to reluctantly start moving…. ugh.  Have a good week!  :p

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!

Starting the Holiday Weekend Right

With a nice run.  Yes I did.  Five miles at 10:00 on a Saturday morning.  It was surprising to me how warm it already was.  8:45 pace.  That’s really all I have to say about that.

I was able to do the morning run (and feel much better than I did about it last week) because I stayed in last night.  I said what the hell and rented Dear John.  A lot of you said it was good, and I thought it was alright.  I got a little fidgety in the last half hour or so and started to get up to do things (so you know it wasn’t good enough to keep me glued to my seat).  But I liked it.  I kind of wonder about the book, but doubt I’ll read it- I’m not the biggest Nicholas Sparks fan.

Before the run, I had a nice big breakfast.  Dessert pancakes seemed appropriate.  It’s all only because I need the carb loading… right? 

It’s gonna be short and sweet today.  I’ve got 30 minutes of yoga calling my name before I shower and watch the Cards/Cubs game as I’m getting ready for my night out.  I’m meeting up with Jaime to watch the Blackhawks game at a bar and then tracking down my Mizzou boys to really get things started.  My only fear is that they’ll be slowing down earlier than planned.  I was getting pictures last night at 3:30 in the morning of how much fun they were having.  I reminded one of them that it’s a marathon weekend and they’re screwing themselves if they don’t get to bed soon. 

It’s always about pacing yourselves, kids.  Always.

Have a good holiday weekend, everyone!  And GO CARDS!!!!

Girl Hater

I got my cookie that I wanted.

Yesssssssssss.

The lady who did the food presentation yesterday was great.  She brough five random boxed lunches for three of us.  We all dug in.  I’m a big fan of the Turkey Bacon Bravo.  And the BBQ Chicken Salad.  And, of course, the cookies.

Ah the perks of my job.  Sometimes they’re justs wonderful.  Free lunch just tastes better.  Always.

Now that I’m constantly hitting the trail, I watch the weather pretty closely.  And I swear at 3:00 yesterday afternoon, thunderstorms popped into today’s forecast out of nowhere.  Being as how I’m a flexible kind of gal, I just switched up some days.  Instead of cross training last night, I ran outside while I could.

It’s unfortunate I had to do that.  Because my legs felt like lead.  It was one of those days.  I know we all have them.  Clearly, I just had to slow down and enjoy my surroundings.  A crap run is still a run down in my book.  I saw deer on the trail.  I saw a family of geese- the little ones were so cute it almost made me forget about why I hate damn geese so much.  I saw a girl in a stroller who seriously looked like a cabbage patch doll.  Sure, cabbage patch dolls are sort of ugly, but I assure you, this baby was not.  She was really working it.  And was adorable on all accounts.  I also found it amusing how, even when you’re outside with open air all around you, that you can still smell the horrific body odor of a sweaty gross man who passed you 10 seconds earlier.  Sick.  I also picked out a couple gnats from my hairline afterwards.  They probably drowned in my sweat.  Double sick.

To make me feel better about my lackluster three miles (at an 8:40 pace- nothing to cry about, but not what I like to report, either) I did The Shred when I got home.  This sort of made me feel better.  And really wore me down at the same time.  Level 2.  I took a shower immediately after.  Because I wasn’t going to let my sweaty ass sit on my couch without doing so. Dinner was pretty simple.  Again, I had some serious snackage pre-run, so I kept smaller with a breakfast burrito.  Eggs, spinach, and mushrooms.  Nothing fancy.  Just tasty.  Then, I was prepping today’s lunch and snuck some zucchini for myself.  Veggie power…

And I’ve finally broke into my new almond butter from Trader Joe’s that I hadn’t tried yet.  It’s fantastic.  And cheaper than the almond butter I had been picking up.  Score.

So you know how I mentioned I have friends coming this weekend?  They’re all guys.  All of them.  My lovely Annie who is also part of the Mizzou group of kids I hang with will be out of town.  So it’s just me.  And the boys.  Do I have a problem with this?  Not really.  I dated one of them for three years, so I’m actually quite used to hanging out with just the boys (often I’d have to drag my girlfriends over to the bf’s house on the weekends back in the day so I could get some more estrogen in the room).  And it’s not like I’m sitting there just soaking in the fact that I’m the only female- the majority of them are like my brothers and we treat each other as such.  And some of them I even talk to like I talk to my girlfriends (because really- I have no filter).  It’s like that.

My only problem with this is that often other girls outside of the core group think I’m a girl hater.  This is soooo not true.  It just so happened a lot of times my other girlfriends had plans.  Or didn’t want to hang out.  Simple as that.  I prefer having chicks in the group.  I’m even hoping a few randomly pop in at some point over the weekend.  Because then I can talk about Sex and the City 2 without feeling like an idiot.

I do, however, now have a few rules about hanging out with all guys.  I often just meet them out and don’t meet up before.  This is sometimes shooting myself in the foot when they don’t go out until midnight because they pre-party way too long.  And my thing is, if I’m the only one that’ll be wearing a bra in the room, I’m not going.  No need to be THAT girl- I try to keep distance from myself and that classification.  Do any of you guys have this issue?  Do you ever feel like you’re cock-blocking (for lack of a better term)? 

This would all be so much simpler if the majority of the Mizzou girls didn’t live in St. Louis…

I’m crossing my fingers that one of the guys’ girlfriend shows up.  We’ll be outnumbered together.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I’m not on a boat.  But I wish I was.  Instead, I’m  still in recovery mode from last night.  So until I have the energy to talk about my all-night shenanigans, I’m going to be watching this.  It never gets old.