Chicago Recap

So, Chicago was super duper amazing. Which I believe I said the other day ... but you know, it's still true. d.a.r. has some amazing recaps HERE and HERE if you wanna check them out! For some reason, Blogger is refusing to post some of my photos tonight, so I am missing some super cute ones from Friday night. Hopefully I can get those to upload tomorrow!

Anyway - on Friday, I picked up d.a.r. from the airport and we had some awesome sushi for lunch. Yums! Afterwards, we headed back to the airport to get MTM and then we went to check out our hotel, the Palmer House Hilton. So fancy! That night, we walked downtown and ate some superfantabulous pizza at Lou Malnati's. So delicious ... I can almost taste it. It was the perfect night - girlfriends, pizza, and a pitcher of Blue Moon!

Okay, these photos are out of order, but ... this was from Saturday afternoon on the way back to the hotel after an 8 mile walk - er, shopping trip. This is one of my favorite photos from the weekend!

Unfortunately, the weather on Saturday morning was kinda crappy - we made it about halfway to Navy Pier to head to the race expo but then gave up and cabbed it the rest of the way. We were freezing and soaking wet from the rain - ICK. Before we gave up and hailed a cab, we had to take the obligatory bean self-portrait. Clearly.


Saturday night, we had some AMAZING sushi - man it was so good! MTM totally approved of her mini spring rolls. Yums.
More food, more booze ... we basically ate and drank our way through Chicago. It was awesome.
Race morning came WAY too early ... we had to get up at 4:30am in order to catch the shuttle to the start! Ridiculous. It was cold - really cold. Here is a lovely photo of us huddling together for warmth in the hotel before heading out into the cold. We look so happy and awake, no?
Loooooong line of school busses for us. The shuttle left at 5:30 despite the fact that the race didn't start until 8! So, needless to say, it was a reeeeeeeally long morning.
MTM, trying to stay warm - and awake - before the race started. What can I say ... it was kinda tough.
Finally, hours later (and still before the race started!), MTM and I enjoyed some pre-race cokes. Tasted like heaven.
We're ready to run!!!
And ... ta da! We're done! With our finishers medals ...
... and some free cookies. DELISH. I am STILL so excited about my 32:37 PR!
We had a great time relaxing after the race ... at least, I THINK we had a great time. It's kind of hard to tell. :)

Afterwards, we boarded the shuttle back to the hotel. It took EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS. Okay, maybe not, but it was a really long ride and I think we all had a little trouble staying awake. It was tough. Really tough.
Thankfully, we crashed afterwards and enjoyed some down time!
Aaaaaand once we got out of bed again, showered and checked out of our hotel, we had the most deeeeelightful brunch at Southport Grocery and Cafe. Yummmmmmmmmy.
One last pose before I had to take these wonderful girls back to the airport. Sads. Oh, and yes, we DID wear our medals all day. :)
The weekend fun didn't end there! I headed over to stay with Lisa on Sunday night, where we watched the RHONJ reunion and ate some good bbq. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos. Except this one, of Lisa's dog, Bacon. Bacon tends to steal things. I walked into the guest room and found him enjoying his new favorite toy ... my bra. Sad.
Anyway, that's it! I realize that this recap kinda sucks ... but it has taken me about 2 hours to upload the photos and pay attention enough to write it up. So basically ... go read what d.a.r. wrote. :) All in all - Chicago was great. It was SO nice finally "meeting" d.a.r. and MTM - two girls I talk to ALL the time. d.a.r. has really helped me through some deployment downs and I think we have talked pretty much every single day since Matt got his deployment orders last July 2009. MTM and I met more recently ... but still, we talk pretty much every day too!

The best part about blogging? The amazing friendships I have made. The worst part? NONE OF THEM LIVE BY ME.

That being said ... I am already counting down the minutes until I get to see these girls again!

Chicago!

Well my darling readers and friends, my weekend in Chicago with d.a.r and MTM was SO AMAZING! The best part? It's not even over yet. I've been hanging out with Lisa since yesterday afternoon, and we're heading to brunch this morning before I head home.

I wish I could put this weekend into words ... but frankly, it was so fabulous that I'm not even sure words would appropriately describe it! Spending the weekend with these amazing women was fun, fabulous, and exhausting. And that was just the shopping! Ha. I don't really have any photos yet - we let d.a.r. take all the photos with her fancy camera. But yeah, just know that we had a really great time.

Oh, and the race? The reason we went in the first place? We all had our best 5k race! My official chip time was 32:37 (beating my previous 5k time of 37:44 ... wow!!!!) and I couldn't feel better about it. Now, one day later, I'm only regretting that we were all so happy/excited/exhausted afterwards that we basically just sat around and never stretched. I can't move. Oh well! Totally worth it.

I will definitely be blogging more about this weekend ... still trying to come down off of this high! :)

Chicago bound!

Well friends, I'm off! I am leaving in a few hours for Chicago ... CANNOT WAIT.

I wish I had some profound things to say about the weekend, but to be honest with you ... it's 4:45am and I woke up this early to do laundry and pack before I get on the road around 9. Because I went to bed at 8:30. Because I was sooo sleepy that I couldn't possibly GET READY TO GO. Because I am totally ridiculous.

So, here it is, before 5am, and I'm awake and getting ready to put a load of laundry in. Sigh. Sometimes, I wonder if I will ever get the hang of packing ahead of time ... ? Any other last minute packers out there?

Anyway - to say I'm excited about heading to Chitown today would be a gross understatement. I cannot wait to get there, see Lisa and d.a.r. and MTM, and just have a really fabulous girls weekend. Because you know what? I really need it. Oh yeah, and I think we're going for a run in there somewhere, too. :)

So on that note ... off to throw in some laudry. And I guess tidy the place up a bit. And maybe I have time to color my hair? Hmmm. Have a GREAT weekend!

In praise of early mornings

I don't really consider myself a morning person, although many people (including my husband and Lisa, probably) would disagree with that statement. I'm probably more of a morning person than others, though - I often wake up early on my own. I just hate being woken up by an alarm! Without the alarm, I will likely wake up by myself at around 6:30 or 7 with the sun. However, now that I've been getting up early to run, 6:30 or 7 just doesn't cut it. It takes me a little while to wake up, stretch, splash water on my face, etc to get ready to run, and all of that usually takes me around 30 minutes. And then sometimes (like yesterday), I will walk outside for my run (after 7am) and realize that it's already too hot/humid/miserable. Annoying!

So like I blogged last night, I got in bed early (8pm!!) to read and turned off the light at 9:00. Was YOUR Saturday night that exciting?! Ha. I set the alarm for 5:45am. It was definitely hard to get up when the alarm went off, but I splashed my face with water (trust me: this is a definite MUST if you are waking up early for a workout!), checked the weather, got dressed, stretched, and was on my way.

On the agenda for today: 5 miles. I was a little nervous (okay, a lot nervous) because I ran 5 miles for the first time on Wednesday and it was SO SO hard. I had taken d.a.r.'s advice to split it up into two different runs. I ran about 2 miles, stopped to stretch and rest for awhile, then ran 3 more miles. This didn't work out as nicely as I was hoping, as it was incredibly hard for me to start back up again after the break. I ended up walking from around mile 3.5-4.5 and I just felt like I was dragging. In the end, I finished in 1:04:11, but I kinda felt like I cheated by walking so much. Of course, I didn't just walk that mile in the middle - I stopped to walk several other times.

Because my training schedule got so whack this week, I skipped my short runs (2 x 3.5) and then headed out this morning for another 5 mile run. In theory, this should have been a terrible run: I didn't drink enough water yesterday and spent half the day frolicking in the sun. However, today's run felt (almost) great! I took things slow (I always feel the need to say that ... even though you and I both know that I never take things "fast") and explored a new neighborhood.

OH WAIT. I haven't yet blogged about my new, amazing, incredible, superduperfantastic toy!

*image found here*

That's right, folks. I have been the proud owner of a Garmin Forerunner 110 for about a week now. My absolutely wonderful, loving, supportive husband surprised me with this to help with my 1/2 training. I love you, M!

I am completely and utterly obsessed with the Garmin. It does so many fun tricks. But perhaps the thing I love most is that I can just take off and run - I don't have to spend time planning out my routes ahead of time. Seriously, the Garmin is probably the most amazing training tool you could have - I am beyond thrilled to call this baby my own. :) I LOVE to upload my run info and analyze it online. I also wear it to walk and bike - I just love knowing how far I have gone, and how long it has taken me!

Soooooo anyway. I had a tentative route planned out in my head this morning, but at the spur of the moment went straight instead of turning and went a completely new way for awhile. It was great! I ran 2.5 miles before stopping for a quick walk break, then continued on for another mile, took a quick walk break, and then finished the 5 miles in 59:23 - about 5 minutes faster than the other day.

And the best news: my last mile was the fastest! Here is my info. Please don't laugh at how slow I am.

Mile 1: 11:54

Mile 2: 12:10

Mile 3: 12:05

Mile 4: 12:38

Mile 5: 10:34

Woot! I kinda kicked ass on that last mile, right? My goal is to be able to run every mile in around 10 minutes. I used to be able to do that on my shorter runs (you know, a few weeks ago) but for some reason 10 minute miles seem like I am reeeeeally pushing it these days. I guess that speed is something that comes with training.

For the Chicago 1/2, you have to maintain a 13 minute mile, or they send a little bus to come around and pick you up. So, my goal? RUN FASTER THAN A 13 MINUTE MILE. I refuse to be the person that they have to collect on the bus! :)

Overall, I'm very happy with today's run. It was also cloudy and overcast the entire time, which helped immensely. With a slight breeze, it was almost enjoyable out. Afterwards, I chatted a little with Matt on gchat, walked the dog, went to the pool to swim a little (read: float around) and read. When I got back home, it was only 10:15am. I can't lie ... setting the alarm for 5:45 any morning sucks - and it especially sucks on a day you don't have to get up early. But you know what? I feel great. It was totally worth it!

Randoms

I've been meaning to blog all week, but ... for some reason it just hasn't happened! So, here is a bunch of random stuff that's been happening this week.

1. I'm way behind on my tv watching this week (too much walking and reading, bad Shaina! ha!), but can I just say how much I LOVE Parenthood? And Glee. And Modern Family. And Cougar Town. And Parks and Rec. These shows are all really really fantastic. Do you watch any of these? Which one is your favorite?

2. I guess it's been awhile since I've updated you about Matt, but he's currently in Kuwait and has been there for about a week now. We have been able to video Skype once and talk on google chat a few other times. It's a little crazy how far away he seems ... plus there's the whole 7 hour time difference. Communication is definitely a little challenging, but I think we'll be able to get used to it. There's still a possibility that he may be able to get R and R in August, but it's not for sure. Think some happy thoughts that I will be able to see my husband in another three months!!!

3. My 1/2 marathon training has officially begun, and I'm feeling great. I had a great run today and I'm really feeling confident that when September 12 comes, I'll be ready!

4. I went to a hippie babycatcher the other day (one might call her a midwife) because I have been looking for a new ob/gyn-type, one that I would feel comfortable with delivering my as-of-yet-unconceived baby. I have been really unhappy with the two ob/gyns I have seen since moving to Bloomington, so I thought I would go in a different direction. The doctors I have seen have been very negative about my endometriosis and my chances of getting pregnant. They have admonished me for not trying to get pregnant two years ago - when I was neither married nor ready to even think about babies. So anyway, a lot of people in Bloomington recommended this particular midwife (perhaps because everyone here is a hippie?) so I thought I'd give her a shot. Turns out, I love her and she is my new "doctor." She was very positive about me getting pregnant, and suggested a couple of dietary changes to help things along. First of all, she suggested cutting down on dairy - and making sure that whatever dairy I eat is organic. I love milk - and I refuse to cut down on that. So I'm currently drinking organic milk and trying to cut down on cheese and yogurt. She also recommended that I cut out all gluten/wheat/flour - and informed me that there is a strong connection with gluten allergies/sensitivities and endometriosis and infertility. I looked it up on the interwebz - it's supposedly the real deal. Now ... cutting out gluten seems extremely difficult to me, so I'm not going 100% gluten-free. But I am going to try and make a serious effort to avoid gluten when possible. We'll see how it goes!

5. Tomorrow is Friday, thank goodness, which means that it's time for CSA Box #2! I can't wait to see what we get. Although I'm pretty sure we'll get more salad stuff, since it's kind of like ... salad growing season. Or whatever. Either way, I'm excited for new fresh veggies!

Well, that's all I can think of right now. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Chicago!

I had such a great time in Chicago this weekend! It was the great way to end my birthday week. Naturally, this will be a photo-heavy post. Deal with it!

I was very excited to finally meet Bacon this weekend. Here he is, in all of his fluffy glory!

He really is the most adorable puppy. He was on his best behavior for me, according to Lisa and Randy, and saved some of his devil dog behavior for after I went home. What a cutie! He even smiles for the camera.
Lisa and I picked up Jenny and went out to brunch at this lovely restaurant. Delish! We then met Jenn back at Lisa's apartment and started on our shopping/cupcaking journey. We first went to More, which Lisa and I had discovered on our lame chocolate tour in December. Here is a pretty photo of all the cupcakes:
And another pretty photo of Jenn taking a photo of ... me.
After that, we drove to Wicker Park for some shopping before dinner. We got out of the car and realized that we were right in front of a psychic's "office." And by office, I mean house. Jenn convinced us to get a psychic reading - a first for all of us, I believe! Here's a good photo of Jenn and Jenny in the "waiting room" i.e. living room at the psychic.
We learned lots of interesting stuff ... for example, I will have a miscarriage and Jenn has a tilted uterus, along with bad energy in zones 1-7. Fascinating stuff, really. Anyone know what zones 1-7 are? No? Me either. She did tell me that Matt will come home safe and sound, and after my first pregnancy ends in a miscarriage, I will go on to have 3 healthy babies. Interesting.

After some wandering around, we ended up at Hot Chocolate for dinner. AMAZING. We shared the garlic monkey bread appetizer with prosciutto and garlic olive oil (or something like that). Yummy!
Here's a cute photo of Jenn and Jenny!
Jenn, vamping for the camera
MMMMM dinner! I had the shrimp and grits appetizer as my entree, with a side of caramelized brussels sprouts. Everything was delicious. Yum yum yum!
I got a special birthday dessert - and it was amazing. It was something like ... an ice cream sandwich made with chocolate stout cake and chocolate ice cream, with some other stuff, and some hot chocolate fudgey sauce, and blah blah blah. Okay I really have no idea but it was literally one of the best desserts I have ever had!
Here is a not-so-great photo of me
Figuring out the bill was very complicated, so we left it to the person who understands math the most: Jenny.
The four of us (plus Bacon!) before saying goodnight. Yay! We had so much fun together...cannot wait to plan another get-together asap!
Here I am, stuck in Chicago traffic at 2pm on a Sunday. Gotta love it! Traffic is definitely one of the things I DON'T miss about living in a big city.
On my way home, I passed this farm with a gazillion windmills in Indiana. It was so neat! But very hard to photograph while driving.
And okay, don't hate me, but ... I'm at home with YET ANOTHER snow day today!!! Isn't that just crazy? This time we actually have crazy snow - there was quite a bit when I woke up this morning, and I took Oscar to play in the park. It's been snowing more and more all day, and the roads are awful. SERIOUSLY don't hate me, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had another snow day tomorrow. Crazy!
After the frolic in the snow, Oscar and I have been doing a lot of this. Enough said.
Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day!

One Month!

I (finally) have some stuff to blog about (namely my AMAZING weekend in Chicago with Lisa, Jenn, and Jenny!) but today, I just have a few brief words.

It has already been ONE MONTH since Matt left! Can you believe it? I can't. It has truly flown by, and I can only hope that time keeps flying at such a rapid rate. How am I doing? To be honest...I'm doing just fine. Do I miss my husband? Absolutely. Every second of every day. But my life has been full - full of work, full of play, full of just staying home alone sometimes.

So, that's that! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone - I hope you are having a great day with your loves, whether they be significant others, friends, or family. I had a great Valentine's Day brunch with one of my favorite valentines, Lisa, and her boyfriend Randy.

Next up - photos from my fantastic Chicago weekend!

Chicago, Milwaukee, and BIG FUN

Well, I can't lie...I had a super duper amazing weekend in Chicago and Milwaukee! And now I will rehash all of it.

On Friday...Lisa, Randy and I went out to dinner at the 44th Ward Dinner Party. We all had high hopes, as it is a grilled cheese restaurant (!!!), but to be honest, it fell a little flat. We had amazing apps, but it took over an hour for our grilled cheese to come. Considering the size of the place (it was tiny!), we started wondering if they were cooking everything on a tiny George Foreman grill or something. It was weird. We had a really sweet waitress, however, who felt badly that we had to wait so long. She generously brought us a free dessert ... which had a giant hair in it. Blech.

On Saturday, I ran out to my car to grab sunglasses and saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up, and - surprise! A coyote trotted right by me on the sidewalk. I was totally confused and surprised. For a second I thought it was a dog, and then realized that he was a coyote. How weird is that??! Right in the middle of Chicago! I am still giggling about my coyote run-in. Definitely one of the weirder things that have happened to me!

Anyway...on Saturday, Lisa and I drove up to Milwaukee and met Jenn!!!!! We had SUCH a great time. From the second we met Jenn, it was like we were old friends. We spent around 5 hours hanging out in Milwaukee, eating and shopping and just generally having fun! I can't wait until we can meet up again. Jenn is every bit as funny, beautiful, and awesome as you think she is.

We stopped at a resale shop and I managed to find this KILLER dress for the holiday party she was going to that evening.

Maroon velvet? CHECK. Green taffeta? CHECK. Asymmetrical hemline? CHECK. Sleeves that come to a point? CHECK. Sadly, Jenn later shared with us that it was too itchy to wear sans bodysuit...so I look forward to photos from the 2010 holiday party. :)

We also found these KIND OF AMAZING "fur" coats. I have a much better photo of us in them, but for some reason blogger will only load it sideways (?). Sad face. This photo caught us mid-laugh, with Jenn mid-hair tuck.

We were sad to leave Milwaukee and just had such a fun time. But...we did eventually leave and headed to the outlets in Wisconsin on the way back to Chicago. Got a few good little things...mostly socks for work (wow, fun!) and some festive holiday soaps from the Bath and Body Works outlet. Score. Oh, and a few little treats for Matt. Shhh, don't tell. They're secret. :)

SO. That was Saturday. We got home and watched the season finale of Glee (okay, I had already seen it...but was desperate to watch it again. HOW FREAKING GOOD WAS THAT EPISODE??!). And then promptly fell asleep.

Sunday morning, we woke up and went to brunch at the Serbian-owned restaurant on the first floor of Lisa's apartment building. It was delish! Then, Lisa and I headed downtown for a chocolate tour. To be honest...the tour was pretty annoying. The tour guide announced right away that she was an actress (gah) and it kind of went downhill (read: overly cheesy) from there. We did, however, go to an amazing chocolate place - Teuscher, located at the 900 shops on Michigan Ave. Teuscher is a Swiss chocolate company, and they import their chocolate every week from Swizterland! Their specialty is the champagne truffle...amazing chocolate with a Dom Perignon center. They gave us one truffle to sample and it was AMAZING. I bought a couple more to take home for Matt. Lucky boy!

The other good place we went to is called More, and is a cupcake shop. Delicious. It is located...um, somewhere in the Viagra Triangle. On Delaware I think. They gave us each a teeny tiny mini chocolate cupcake, and it was great. The frosting was PERFECT. :) Highly recommended!

After that, Lisa and I shopped around a bit more in the Water Tower Mall and I scored some super duper cheap hair accessories at Forever 21. I finally thought I should leave at 5:00 (6:00 my usual time!) when I realized I wouldn't get home until 10. Double sad face...I was tired!

I made it safely home, though, and now am counting down the seconds until around 2:35 on Friday - which is when my vacation starts!!!! It's about this time (and, okay, pretty much every day) that I really love working in a school!

I hope you all had weekends as wonderful as mine!