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.

Phone Tag

I really dislike going to the mall.

I know. I’m a girl. This is blasphemy.

But you have to understand where I’m coming from. One of the closest malls in my area happens to be the 5th largest mall in the United States (or something ridiculous like that).

Which is awesome. They have EVERYTHING.

What is NOT awesome is everything that goes with that one benefit. Overcrowding. Long lines. Parking lot is a DISASTER. The list goes on.

So you can imagine how long it takes for me to work up the energy to go. Especially on a weekend. I need to. I need a new dress (that can be worn in Vegas both during the spring and summer- yes, I’m going twice). Running shoes are also becoming and immediate necessity.

So I went. Reluctantly. It took 15 minutes to park. Strike one.

One store. Tried on a few things, but didn’t find anything. I screwed myself on that one because as soon as I walked in and saw the lines at the cash register (strike 2), I said to myself, “omg, I REALLY hope I don’t find something here because of the lines alone.”

Got what I wanted.

At about that time, my friend Annie called and was ready to meet up for dinner.  Perfect timing.  I didn’t even need a strike 3, I was ready to leave.

And that was my 30 minutes at the mall. I’ll try again next week. Maybe.

Alongside the gigantic mall is a gigantic Whole Foods. My friend Annie had never been to this particular one, so I took the liberty of giving her the tour. Whole Foods isn’t frequented often because I’m much too poor to do so, but the food bar is worth the trip. And walking around the store to try all the samples sitting out is a good way to get in a free appetizer.  She liked it. I hope I didn’t create a monster.

But either way, it was good to catch up. Do you ever have those friends you play long games of phone tag with until you actually get to chat?

She and I are AWESOME at that game.  I don’t think this is even considered a salad. It’s just a massive bowl of food. With some lettuce that happens to be at the bottom.

Although I have issues with the gigantic mall, none are with the Whole Foods.  It’s a good thing I don’t live closer because reasons would be created to stop by on a daily basis. There is a Whole Foods in close proximity to me, but every time I’ve given it a chance, it FAILS.

Annie’s traveling for work this week, so I made her promise to call me at some point when she was waiting for a plane or bored at the hotel.

Because I know when she’s calling, hopefully this means our phone tag game will be a little shorter?

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone.  Since I had my 7-mile run yesterday, today is a planned day of strength training and just a little more relaxed.

Have a good one!

Do you like shopping or are you more of an online person?  I’m considering becoming an online convert…

100 Words Saturday- Thumbs up, Thumbs Down

Another Friday night in.  Big thumbs up!  I was tired and had a cake to finish!

First, off to Whole Foods for eats.  Usually, we seek out Whole Foods in other areas.  Why?  Because the WF by our apartments is lame.The expression says it all.  Poor selection. Poor service.  Wilted lettuce.  Veggies looked like they sat out all day.  Thumbs down.

I’ll never go back to this one again.  I mean it this time.

Let me stress- “this one”.  I still heart WF.

Can’t show the cake (the baby mama is a reader!).  Sneak peek of cake bites:Happy Saturday!

Dinner for Food Geeks

It’s Friday!  Thank goodness.  After being on vacation in Washington DC for the better part of last week, this five-day stretch really seemed to creep by!

Yesterday I did appreciate the long “executive” lunch a few of us staffers got at work…  Usually, we all get out of the office over lunch.  But the building management held a Tenant Appreciation BBQ.  Last year it was held in front of our building.  Being as how spending more than 10 minutes in the sun will make you shrivel and possibly die, they moved it to the parking garage.  So a few of us went, grabbed our food, and retreated to our conference room for the lunch hour two hour time frame.  he he he…I went with the Garden Burger and a couple salad varieties.  But please, focus your attention on the cheesecake.  It was fabulous.  They actually called it “cheesecake on a stick” and it came with a skewer in it.  I have no idea why they thought that was a good idea.  Clearly with all the chocolate and just the weight of the cheesecake, that would only end badly.  But I stopped questioning and just ate it.

I love free food.  Especially when it happens to be delicious.

But not all good food will be free…

Enter Whole Foods Salad Bar.  Mon and I decided before we went to see Dinner for Schmucks that we’d go by heaven Whole Foods to grab a bite.  This was especially exciting for me since I attempted to do this on Sunday and failed when the salad bar was closed.  Whole Foods- you have redeemed yourself.Mon calls Whole Foods the Nordstroms of Grocery Stores.  I agreed.  Because there’s just something about the big open store with clean, long aisles of fresh/healthy/organic food.  It’s refreshing. 

Or maybe they have one crazy amazing lighting scheme going on.  Who knows?I totally had a garbage can salad- an assortment of everything.  Tofu, artichoke hearts, peas, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, feta, cabbage, onions, chick peas… am I missing something?  Oh  yeah… lettuce…  I also don’t want to forget hitting up their candy bin afterwards for movie treats to sneak in.  Because I have no shame. 

Dinner for Schmucks wasn’t that bad.  It wasn’t that great, but it wasn’t that bad.  It was very much stupid humor.  Just ridiculous and a bit over the top.  There were funny parts- and I laughed through a lot of it.  Zack Galifianakis kept it from sort of sucking. But some of it just made me go, “really?  REALLY?”  I think it may have been about worth the $5 we paid at the cheap theater.  $10 at our usual, nicer theater would have been overkill.

I know some of you said you’ve seen it- what did you think?  About the same?

Oh and check out how awesome my friend Jaime is:Yep.  I never had business cards made for my blog until now.  And I may have had a last minute freak out that maybe I should have some for this coming weekend at the Healthy Living Summit.  Give her an hour and some cardstock, and this is what she came up with!  Love it.  Thank  you, Jaime!!!!

And with that, I shall leave you.  I have a FULL day of work and then a quick ride via the lovely CTA down to the city to meet up with some of you crazy kids…  Holla’!

Shake it up!

Yea for Friday!!!!  We made it… just barely! 

My friend Mon also had her birthday this week (Tuesday) and we had planned an official send off of our birthday month for last night (because we were both busy on both of our birthdays).  Original plans were to get all sorts of dolled up in cocktail dresses and go out to a super nice dinner and eat fabulously.

Then we realized the state of our finances by the end of the month.  I took a serious hit with the random car repairs and Mon also had a few big weekends.  So… um… instead of the lavish dinner out, we settled for lounging with a piece of chocolate cheesecake and a redbox movie.I also bought Mon some chocolates from Whole Foods because we were drooling over all the goodies there a few weeks ago.  And snuck a candle from work.  Sssshhhh!

The redbox we selected for the night was Chloe.  Have any of you heard of it?  It’s a drama with Julianne Moore (love her- she’s soooo pretty) and Amanda Seyfried.  Basically, Julianne thinks her husband is cheating on her and gets it in her head (somehow!?!?!) to hire Amanda (a prostitute- yet a classy one) to tempt him.  It was intense.  And sorta dirty.  But I really liked it because it kept you glued to the screen (because you wanted to know what’s happening next, not because it’s dirty- let’s make that clear).

Mon and I both gave it a thumbs up.

Afterwards, we were feeling a little “eh” from the sweets consumption, so we broke out the new workout equipment Mon decided to purchase.Yeah, that’s the shake weight.  She brought it over for laughs.  I really didn’t think it gave me much of a workout… but I guess if you do it for a long time?

Let’s steer clear of “that’s what she said” jokes please… It would be too easy.  Don’t be cheap.  :p

I felt like Ellen on this one…

Anyways…

Did you catch that I mentioned Whole Foods earlier?  Yeah… I bet you did.  And seriously, I was there after work, right at dinner time.  What else am I going to eat?Here is my reason for staying away from Whole Foods.  Because I can’t pass up their crazy and amazing food bars!  The noodles have a peanut sauce- I wasn’t a huge fan.  After the first bite or two, I immediately got rid of them.  I knew if I kept them in the salad, I’d eat them even if I didn’t really enjoy them.  And that’s kind of pointless.  Especially when I’d be perfectly content after this amazing salad.  Romaine, sweet potatoes (hello sp’s- you’re hanging out a bunch this week), cabbage, red onion (wanna make out?), pumpkin seeds, some bacon bits, carrots, and peas.  Yep.  Loaded.  Yummy.  Gone.

Oh and I got bit by a mosquito in Whole Foods.  Yes.  In the store.  I felt something and smacked my cheek real quick.  Look at my hand- mosquito.  Ewwww…

Obviously, from my busy day, it became a rest day from the gym.  It’s ok.  I’m going tonight for a really easy two-mile run and a bit of walking.  And then we’re calling it a wrap on the half marathon training.  It’s been fun, but I’m ready to do this thing!

Happy Friday everyone!  It’s been a long week in my nook of the world, but I am glad to report that it’s obvious we made it out alive and totally deserve our two days of freedom!  Go enjoy yourselves!  Like right now.  K-Bye!

Old Favorites

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I’m probably running right now as this is posting (technology can be so clever…), but I thought you’d like to be caught up on my weekend up to this point…

Friday night started with a cross training session in the workout room with Mon.  It wasn’t any Friday night, though.  Being as how it is now July, it is the beginning of my month-long birthday extravaganza! 

Just kidding about dragging out my birthday for a month… sort of.  Mon got a little excited and wanted to give me my birthday present early (my birthday isn’t until the 25th).  Plus, she knew it would go really well with my chosen outfit of the night:How cute is my new purse?!?!  Mon’s always the victim of my fashionably late appearances, mostly because I lack on the accessories and usually can’t figure out which purse will come the closest to matching.  So she’s helping me out!  I adore it! 

She me the present at the gym.  We got a weird look as I shrieked with happiness.

Anyhoo, we made our way to Big Shot in downtown Arlington Heights with another girl who just moved into our complex.  We thought we’d take her out and show her around for the night.  The piano player didn’t appreciate our art work as much as we thought he would.

Do you guys do the piano bars?  Favorite requests?  I’m always a fan of the ones that will play the random songs that aren’t typical for that kind of place- in my college town, they’d break out Sublime and Green Day after a certain time.  And I loved it!

A few rounds later, we took her to Gatsby’s to end the night.  It’s a favorite dive of ours that pours the drinks way too strong and stays open way too late.  (Which is why it’s our favorite.)

I welcomed back my normal breakfast with open arms:Wonderful.  Oh oatmeal, I learned I can live without you.  But why would I want to?

Since I’m racing tomorrow, I switched out my long run for a solid walk and yoga.  And pool time. 

Because I can’t stop yammering about Russell Brand and how much I wanted to go see Get Him to the Greek, we finally went tonight!  Mon and I decided it would be a good way to have a chill night.  And decided to visit an old friend…Sweet Tomatoes!  I really do love this place.  My eyes light up as soon as I walk into the door because of that magical salad bar.  Ahhh…Oops- how did that picture get on here?!?!?!  How embarrassing… yet accurate.

And because I just had to go there:What’s the 4th of July weekend without frozen yogurt?  A sad one- and we don’t want that!

Because we had extra time after dinner and before the movie, we took a stroll through Whole Foods so I could grab some water to throw in my bag for the movie (yes, I’m one of those people).  As we strolled to let our dinners “digest”, we also sampled various items throughout the store.  So yeah… the “digesting” was pretty much pointless.  And we just added to the issue.  Oh Whole Foods- this is why I usually avoid you!

The movie was fantastic.  I loved it.  LOVED it.  As a disclaimer before you run out as quickly as you can to see it- I have a precondition of loving Russell Brand like no other.  I think he’s just hilarious.  Sure, a little dirty in more ways than one, but hilarious.  Loved the one-liners.  And I’ll probably be using them the rest of the weekend.  So please go see it so you can catch what I’m saying…  

So yes, I am enjoying the holiday weekend so far.  Let’s see if it changes by the time I cross the finish line of the Frontier Days 10k Stampede…

I’ll catch ya later… have a wonderful Sunday!