weekend in review

I may have one of the top 10 best meals Friday night. Here in Chi-town I have access to some incredible restaurants; I'm spoiled I know. I also take full advantage of eating out on a regular basis. Mostly because of we both travel and partly because I love to eat out on the weekends. While we make it our goal to try a new restaurant each month we tend to hit the same 10 restaurants over and over. We love them, people know us and give us price breaks every so often, and it becomes difficult to branch out. Friday night we branched out after realizing a good ole standby wasn't our best option because of a Cubs game. We tried Brown Trout in North Center (northwest side of the city). A-MAZ-ING... I opted for the vegetarian meal (yes I meat but I've been trying to incorporate more veggie centric meals since we eat out so much) and this dish could turn any steak and potatoes kind of eater on to more veggie centric meals. The restaurant uses organic food and focuses on local food as well as growing their own herbs and veggies on their rooftop garden. AWESOME! This is a reason why I love Chicago. Fabulous, tasty restaurants outside of the downtown hustle and bustle but could totally work in the thick of it all. Then we able to enjoy an after dinner drink at a local brewery all in walking distance.

Friday ended up being a late night so Saturday's morning long run started off much later than anticipated. Lucky for me it stayed relatively cool for an early August day so the weather wasn't a factor in my mostly craptastic run. While I had moments where it all clicked and the overall pace was where I wanted it was a mental struggle. That's what I get for staying out late and having a drink or two! But let's not dwell on that... it got done and that's what matters. The big, exciting deal that had me acting like a 4 year old on Christmas morning was this...

A big girl camera! I have to give my dad his camera back so it was time to suck it up and spend the money. I saw the FedEx truck down the street when I came home from my run and I was standing at the front window waiting for him to walk up the street and hit the buzzer.

I spent the rest of the weekend taking the most random pictures, mostly of my cat Maggie...

she's so cute (but I'm partial)

And I took a lot of food pictures...

mmm... el mariachi the best mexican restaurant anywhere hands down

Now I need to find fun stuff around the city to practice my picture taking skills (or lack there of).

I finished up the weekend with running errands, a humid 4 mile recovery run, and enjoying a dinner (and dessert!) made by husband. Ah, weekends, why do you have to be so short?

Weekend Wrap

Today I felt accomplished and it had nothing to do with running ;) After an early morning and long Saturday I took Sunday to sleep in then go and enjoy brunch with my hubs. Afterwards we came home and I started working on party invitations! My dad is throwing a clambake in October so my sister and I have taken it upon ourselves to be the designate party planners. The theme this year is pink and green to support our cancer free parents. Here's a sneak peek at the invitation... I have to say I'm happy with the outcome! I love when it all comes together the way you expect it to.

Hubs and I made ourselves a nice dinner even though I completely forgot the salad :( and finally I cleaned our bedroom. You can finally see the floor! Clothes are on the hangers! Shoes are lined up IN the closet! Next up... the office... It's bad, really, really bad. Like a paper bomb exploded bad.

So Saturday. I found myself waking at 5 am - so early! My friend's baby shower was at 11 am in the suburbs an hour away and I had 16 miles to fit in beforehand. I woke and started running al in the dark. I honestly cannot tell you the last time that has happened. Maybe December 2006 for the Vegas 1/2. Yeah, it's been awhile, I like my sleep!

I thought my legs would be uncooperative but it proved my stomach would be cranky from the early wake-up call. It honestly was one of my most unpleasant runs. I had to stop nearly 5 different times at 3 different bathrooms. I felt rushed and very uncomfortable, to say the least! I tried to focus on other things but I never really found my mojo. Even with all that nastiness happening I still managed negative splits. So a positive to focus on. Afterwards my system was out of whack all the way through mid day Sunday. ugh. I hope that's done and a non-issue in the upcoming weeks!

The one cool sighting from the long run was a blind runner and her guide training for the marathon. They weren't tethered or anything; the guide would yell out obstacles/what to expect so I'm assuming the blind runner could see shapes but not much more. Seeing these two made me realize what I was going through on this particular run was small beans and I could make it to the end.

I had to rush to shower and get ready. I was a little late arriving at my friends house but it was worth it. The shower was great! B and her sisters did a wonderful job putting it all together. I was able to see friends I haven't seen in forever thanks to our crazy schedules. Between my friend with 3 kids and expecting her 4th in Feb and my other who works as a tv producer for a well known show, B who's expecting in Nov and busy w/ her job, and my crazy travel schedule, it's hard to find the time. So it was great catching up on the car ride out and back! Of course no pictures with my camera of the shower except for this...

mmm... cupcakes...

hopefully I'll have more when my friends post the ones they took.

A long weekend that ended too soon and I'm glad to have all the distractions. I haven't thought much about the marathon and am not having a serious case of the taper crazies - yet.

Over already?

I can't believe yet another weekend is over already! First, Happy Father's day to all who are fathers. Second, I know this is primarily a running blog but as of late it has become primarily a wedding and general life blog. So if you can't stand all this wedding talk it will all be over in 70 days.

This weekend was sort of productive on both the wedding and running fronts. Friday I was way too tired to do much of anything but I managed a nice home weight session before heading out for dinner. I tried a new circuit from one of my gazillion magazines I subscribe to and it kicked my butt literally. My booty is still sore. After dinner I came home to finish our wedding invitations as I had made myself a deadline of Saturday to get them in the mail. Even though at 1am I realized I was missing 6 peoples invitations (ugh) I am happy to report those suckers made it in the box by the required date :) Yay! I was so nervous putting them in the box (yes I know that wedding etiquette states I should request those time sucking pieces of paper to be hand stamped but seriously?!? I am not asking my post office to do that. They would just laugh me into the next neighborhood). It's so real and now begins the competition with who will return their RSVP first then who won't at all...The remainder of Saturday was spent searching high and low for an affordable sectional that is also comfortable (read can't get out of when you stand up but don't feel like you are laying on cement) we came home with no sofa and very frustrated. I was also on a wedding low as I didn't know what my next project would be and so not feeling a run in me. However, as I sat to watch Terminator 3 (I'm a sucker for sci-fi movies with good action on HD) and watch the minutes tick by I thought I would put the running clothes on at least and see if that would motivate me. And it did! I was only going for 3 1/2 and it turned into 5 because I was feeling so good. I probably would have gone more if we weren't meeting friends for dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. Dinner was fabulous as always and the company even better! I slept in on Sunday and ran errands when Jacob decided he wanted to golf before settling in to watch the US Open. The new project of the day after a requisite trip to Target was that I was going to attempt to make our wedding guestbook. And you know what I did and if I don't say so myself it is pretty freaking fantastic. It took me about 4 1/2 hours and some swearing at the very confusing instructions with blurred pictures but I figured it out. Of course there are a couple things wrong but nothing blatantly obvious and I saved myself a good $30 making it myself. That's a dinner out one night :) And after this little project I decided I wanted my new job to be making wedding albums :) It would be so much more less stressful than my current position while still being able to work from home ;) Jacob thinks I'm crazy. I say there is money to be made!

Another too short weekend

As usual the weekend just wasn't long enough. Although I did enjoy the time to myself. I was able to get a 6 mile run done yesterday around a 9min/mile pace. The weather was perfect! My Wii Fit came in the mail on Saturday so I also played on that all weekend. My obliques freakin hurt from all my hula hooping action. I love the hula hoop game! A lot of the weekend was spent running errands and putting together the wedding invitations. I probably only made it 1/3 of the way through despite staying up to midnight both Saturday and Sunday night. I am not 100% happy with how the colors turned out (the two blue's I used don't look fantastic together) but honestly who cares people are just going to throw them out anyways. I got my haircut after 4 months (shorter than I wanted but luckily it grows fast!), met my friend who just got back from her honeymoon for lunch then we went to my venue to take pictures for my florist. Once I get the new camera installed on the computer I will post pictures of my venue. I love it so much probably even more now that it's not January and barren like when we booked it - who cares that we are paying a ridiculous amount of money for an empty room and garden! It is like this beautiful sanctuary in the middle of downtown Chicago. I picked up a thank you gift for my future mother in law as my first bridal shower is next weekend and so on and so forth. And how can I forget seeing Sex and The City on Friday night with the girls! I'm happy to have seen it openinng night and enjoyed it for the most part but wasn't so happy about sitting 3rd row. My neck still hurts. This will be another crazy week for work travel wise but I hope to squeeze in a couple short-medium length runs. I have been kicking around the idea of running a 1/2 marathon 2 weeks before the wedding even though it will be hot just to wear a shirt that say last race as a single girl or something lame like that ;) Also to motivate me to stay in shape before the big day! Anyone care to join me?

I wish I could relax

I'll be happy when every weekend isn't packed with doing stuff for the wedding and general crap I couldn't get done during the week. I just want to relax! Another busy weekend on the home front and of course none of it involved running. The whole running Chicago Marathon 2008 is not looking so good. Let's see I had a crazy Saturday of trying on bridesmaid dresses with 2 of the 4 girls standing up in my wedding. We found a potential dress but of course it is over $200. So I have to check in with my Internet sites to try and get a better deal. If that doesn't work = back to the drawing board. Unfortunately I am running a bit short on time. I would love to say donezo but I am trying to be nice and get a deal for all my girls.

Next I had to get my eyes checked. What an expensive process. I really need to invest in Lasix. Honestly, I was going to do the surgery this year but thanks wedding not so much. So instead I just spent $550 on an eye exam, new glasses and a year of new contacts. Although I do love the new contacts. Not a fan of my new glasses though. I felt pressured to make a decision. At least they aren't as bad as the ones I picked out in 3rd and 6th grade. Both very horrible decisions (though I thought hot pink speckled pair and bright blue pair you were awesome back in the day). Currently I just go for the think black nerdy pair of glasses or as some refer to sexy librarian. Either way my prescription is so bad I have to get the thick frames to sort of hide the thick lenses. Very hot.

This week finds me crazy busy once again - traveling 4 days out of 5. But I am looking at March (and at my 29th bday coming in 2 short weeks - ahh!) and there doesn't seem to be much right now thankfully. Except a couple cake tastings - yummy! March is my month to get back in the swing of things running wise. I promise it is going to happen. I was looking at myself in the mirror today while trying on new glasses - it has to happen. Double chin action not so good. Oh man I just want it to warm up a bit around here!

And friends if you haven't seen Vantage Point and you have an interest I say see it! We went to a showing on Saturday night. There are some minor parts that miss/don't match up/don't make sense (like a bomb went off and the camera hit the ground but 3 minutes later you are up running and the camera is working fine - seriously not going to happen but whatever) overall a fantastic,edge of your seat thriller. And short, only 1hr and 30 minutes. But from 8 points of view you need to keep it short and sweet or you'll lose the audience.