Category Archives: Vacation

Monday Things {10-22-2012}

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1. Today is [kind of] my first blogiversary. I actually started blogging in early October on a tumblr site but after realizing tumblr didn’t have everything that I wanted, I switched over to WordPress and my first post was up on October 22, 2011. Crazy how time flies.

2. Last Friday night was spent driving. Ian and I left Chicago around 5:15 and arrived home in Michigan at about midnight (Michigan time). It was exhausting and I wasn’t even driving. I packed a sunflower seed butter, banana, & fig jam sandwich on brown rice bread for dinner and it managed to hold me over pretty well for the ride.

3. Even though Sonic kept us up all night Friday night, on Saturday I got up early to get in a quick run before heading up to Ann Arbor. I ran one of my favorite 4 mile routes and even stopped to take a few pictures. The last few years I’ve really missed running with all the pretty colors and hearing leaves crunching under my feet.

4. After my run, I ran over to my favorite market, Westbourne and picked up a muffin for Ian, some supplies to make pumpkin oatmeal, and my favorite nut butter of all time: Naturally Nutty Pepita Butter!

I also grabbed the Mocha Peanut Butter at Arbor Farms (health food store in AA).

5. After a shower and a huge bowl of pumpkin oats, Ian and I were off to AA to tailgate and go to the Michigan vs. Michigan State football game. Unfortunately both of us forgot how difficult it is to get into the city on football Saturdays (even 5 hours before!), find parking, and make your way down to the golf course (common tailgate location) and so our planned 11 a.m. arrival turned into 12:15. Oh well, at least we brought booze.

6. We met my friend from college Maria at one of her friend’s tailgates and ended up playing a few games of flip cup and chatting with some new faces. It was so much fun and reminded me how much I miss Ann Arbor.

7. After an hour or two, we walked over to a tailgate at my college friend Kris’s house. It was a wonderful surprise that two other girls I went to college with were there! Working on my MPH had pretty much overwhelmed my life the past two years so we had a lot to catch up on. It was nice but cut short when we realized that we had about 15 minutes to get to the stadium before kick-off.

8. We had some trouble with tickets (apparently they reprinted a bunch of season tickets this year and someone had sold us an old, invalid ticket) but eventually we all got into the stadium with our original tickets, found each other, and settled in to the student section. Unfortunately this is where my phone dies and I can’t take any more pictures. Bummer.

9. The game was incredibly low-scoring but exciting. It went down to the last few seconds and Michigan beat MSU for the first time in 5 years! Woohoo!! It was also the 900th win for Michigan football making our program the first football program to have that many wins. It was so exciting, I didn’t even know the 900 wins was up for contention! In typical Michigan fashion, the students stormed the field (this is reserved for games against OSU and MSU otherwise it’s not allowed) and everyone was celebrating. It was awesome :) .

10. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast so Ian, Maria, and I were starving and decided to head over to Sidetrack’s in Ypsilanti for some food. Sidetrack’s is one of Ian’s favorite places in the AA-Ypsi area and we used to go there a lot when I still lived in Ann Arbor. I ordered a salad with asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes, and a black bean burger and a side of sweet potato fries. Food has never tasted so good.

11. Ian and I were supposed to meet my friend Brian afterwards to grab a drink but after driving half way to Detroit we decided we were just too tired and headed back to my mom’s house. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

12. Despite not sleeping as much as I would have liked, I woke up on Sunday prepared to get in my 12 mile run. Can I just say how happy I am that the weekend we went home coincided with a cutback week for Goofy training? My 12 miler wasn’thardbut my legs were definitely more tired than usual. I stopped a few times to stretch and to take pictures of cute pumpkin patches and I believe I averaged about a 7:45 min/mile?

13. After my run, I showered, snacked on some pumpkin pudding and then headed out to Fish Bone in Detroit to meet Brian for an early lunch. I ordered a cup of seafood gumbo that was to-die-for and a Greek salad without feta. Unfortunately, only my gumbo got caught on camera.

I always love seeing Brian (we’ve known each other since we were 3 years old!) and I’m so glad we were able to meet up while I was home! Also, we saw a bunch of Detroit Marathoners while we were eating lunch and it occurred to me that it’s been 3 years since my first marathon!

14. I also stopped over at my grandma’s house as well as my dad and step-mom’s to say hi. By the time I was back at my mom’s it was almost time to go. I felt like the worst daughter for not spending a lot of time with my mom but I am looking forward to her coming to Chicago in a few weeks!

15. Speaking of my mom, remember that cute little ball of puppy fluff she got over the summer? Well now that puppy is almost 50 pounds. Insane!

16. I also managed to finish reading Dark Places on our drive back. I’m not sure I can really compare it to Gone Girl but I do know that Gillian Flynn is a talented author who really knows how to hook her readers. I can’t wait to read her other book!

17. Ian and I hit some bad traffic on the highway last night and didn’t get home until almost 10. Yikes. We unpacked, watched an episode of Friends, and then went to bed exhausted– I’m sure coffee will be my best friend today

What did you do this past weekend?

Heading to the Mitten

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I know I’ve said this about 1,000 times on my blog this week but tonight Ian and I are heading to Michigan for the weekend! It’s been a while since we’ve been home and visited family but it’s been even longer since we last spent some time in Ann Arbor. I’m so excited :-D .

I’m honestly not even sure we’re going to get tickets for this game but either way it’s going to be a blast. We’re meeting up with some of my friends from college and tailgating and while I can’t imagine it getting as crazy as it used to, I’m sure new memories will be made.

The sad thing is I have an entire series of the above photo of myself and all of my college friends. I guess I decided this was an important moment to document?

I just had an awesome 8 miler and now I’m off to finish packing before heading to work. I’m unplugging this weekend and not bringing my computer home but I will be taking lots of pics and will be on twitter/instagram.

Have an awesome weekend!

Do you follow college football? Which team?

Monday Things {08-20-2012}

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1. Friday night was spent in the car driving to Michigan. Dinner was a hummus + spicy pb sandwich, a plum, and a small side salad from Culver’s. Don’t judge.

2. On Saturday morning I got to run around my old neighborhood. It was wonderful! Sometimes I forget how much I like seeing trees and grass when I run. Not being near a ton of busy roads and cars was a nice touch too.

3. My mom, Ian, and I explored the Dream Cruise on Saturday as well. Basically the cruise is a gathering of a bunch of antique car lovers. They bring out their old cars that are in amazing shape and cruise down Woodward, a large boulevard that runs from Detroit to the surrounding suburbs. Traffic is always horrendous the week before the event and during the Cruise, we’re always stranded at my moms. It’s annoying but fun to look at all of the cars. The people watching isn’t so bad either.

4. We decided to grab lunch right off of Woodward so we could watch the cars as we ate and ended up going to Crispelli’s. Their vegan/gf options were slim (it’s primarily a pizza place) but I managed to find something I could eat. I ordered a Mediterranean salad with no feta and added chickpeas for protein. It was pretty good!

5. Oh, I also chopped my hair on Saturday. It was much needed!

6. Ian and I walked to a local grocery store/market to pick up some dill for dinner and happened to walk by these huuuuge watermelons.

That’s Ian’s hand, crazy right?

7. On Saturday we decided to grill out at my mom’s to keep things simple (Dream Cruise was a ragin’).

We had grilled corn on the cob, grilled zucchini, grilled cauliflower, salmon with dill and lemon, BBQ chicken (not pictured), and a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and broccoli. Everything was fresh and tasty! I ended up going back for more fish and zucchini.

8. After dinner we tried to take Dharma for a walk but the cars were too loud and there were so many people outside that Dharma was way too excited to cooperate on the leash. Speaking of the pup, she has TRIPLED in size since I last saw her.

She also thinks I am either a chew toy/litter mate and did not leave me alone all weekend.

9. As good as dinner was Saturday night, the amount of veggies I ate did not sit well with me for my Sunday medium-long run. Luckily, I was able to run with minimal discomfort and finished the 13 miles feeling okay. It definitely helped that I listened to the 90′s pop station on Pandora. Gotta love me some Spice Girls, BSB, and 98 Degrees when I run.

10. Speaking of running, I signed up to volunteer at the Chicago Marathon. I will be standing somewhere around miles 25-26 of the course. If you’re running let me know and I can cheer for you!!

11. My grandma had a knee replacement on Friday, so I went and visited with her Sunday afternoon. She seemed to be in okay shape although definitely feeling some pain. My dad and step-mom showed up too so I ended up getting to see everyone this weekend!

12. My mom and I grabbed a late lunch at Vinsetta Grill yesterday. I usually get their veggie burger salad but was bummed to find out it has egg in it. I ended up ordering their grilled shrimp sans butter with sweet potato fries and asparagus.

I’m not ashamed to say I ate the majority of this plate. It was like 2:30 and I hadn’t eaten since 9!!

13. Last week I picked up this peanut butter to keep at my office. The granola is gluten free which totally surprised me!

14. Ian and I got home last night a little before 8, dropped the furball off, and then headed out to go grocery shopping. This means that dinner was at 9 p.m. and consisted of a “quesadilla” with mushrooms and tomatoes, a date, and a little almond dream ice cream. I don’t like eating that late but I was hungry!

15. Sonic is exhausted. After having guests last weekend and until Tuesday and then a car drive home to Michigan and then back to Chicago he’ll probably sleep for a week.

16. I finally found Naturally Nutty’s Pepita Sun Butter. The Naturally Nutty line is only made in Traverse City, MI and is hard to find elsewhere. A market near my mom’s house has always sold their almond butters and peanut butters but never the pepita butter. I nearly jumped for joy when I saw it!

This morning I tried it on top of almond strawberry oats.

I loved it!

I’m off to start my work week– how is it Monday already?

Have a good one!

Weekend Update

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Hey guys! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :) . I decided to unplug myself for a few days and while I had a nice break from the computer, I missed blogging and interacting with all of you guys. So, here’s how I spent my time this weekend!

On Saturday morning I woke up way too early to squeeze in an abbreviated brick workout. I took my mom’s bike out for an 8 mile ride and then ran a mile in 7:07. Thankfully the weather cooperated and it wasn’t uncomfortably hot at 7 a.m. when I was running. I love cloud cover :) .

When I got back to my mom’s I was greeted by this little face. She’s so precious when she’s not biting (currently teething) or having accidents in the house.

I was pretty hungry so I made a bowl of oatmeal using 1/2 cup oats, 1.25 cups water, 1 tsp chia seeds, and some cinnamon. I topped it with almond butter.

It did the trick.

After breakfast my mom and I did some me-specific grocery shopping (I brought a few things from home but obviously couldn’t bring a lot of refrigerated goods). We picked up a lot of fruit. I love summer berries and stone fruit!

Once Ian woke up, we ran some errands and ended up stopping at the food court at the local mall for some lunch.

I had a huuuuge salad with broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, and chickpeas. I only could eat about half of this and even with Ian helping out we couldn’t finish it. When I got home I also had a banana and almond butter with a little cereal. The salad filled my belly but definitely didn’t have any calories or staying power to last me very long.

We relaxed for a little while and I took a much needed nap. You can thank Ian for this picture.

Saturday night was spent with my dad for an early Father’s Day dinner. We went to Beverly Hills Grill and I had a grilled vegetable salad with salmon. It was awesome and I’m sorry I forgot to snap a picture!

When I got home I had a pineapple smoothie for dessert (pineapple + rice milk + ice).

I also drove Ian to Sonic so he could have a lime creamslush. What can I say, I’m a good girlfriend :P .

On Sunday morning I woke up really early again to go for a run. I completed 6 miles at an average pace of 7:41 min/mile. My legs felt great but my body was tired. I really need to sleep! It was also super humid out and the air was really thick which made running difficult.

When I got home I made another pot of oatmeal this time whipping in banana and adding strawberries. Delicious!

After breakfast I read on the couch for a bit and ended up falling back asleep. Obviously I had a nice, lazy weekend.

A few hours later, we were in for a treat. Ian and I brought Sonic along to see how he would do with my mom’s new puppy. Well, there wasn’t any fighting or hissing but Sonic was most definitely a little scared of Dharma; however, he was also incredibly curious.

Dharma could have cared less and was obviously just looking for a playmate while Sonic could not figure out what kind of creature was now living at my mom’s house.

It was pretty amusing and even though Sonic was not 100% comfortable with Dharma, he did a lot better than I expected. It will probably just take some time.

Lunch was a piece of brown rice bread with hummus and lettuce and some sugar snap peas.

I also had a peach and a small piece of bread with almond butter.

Sorry for the blurry pictures. I think the setting on my camera must have changed without me realizing it.

The afternoon was spent making a trip out to the park where my tri is on Wednesday (wanted to make sure we knew where to go) and then shopping around for a special purpose (more on that later).

Ian had to leave around 4:30 with our furball, so I packed up Sonic and said goodbye to my boys. I’ll miss them but I think that they’re due for a little bonding time.

After snacking on a ton cherries and snap peas, my mom and I finally decided that an early dinner was in order.

We had steamed artichokes and I had a millet salad that I made by mixing cooked millet, sauteed vegetables (summer squash, snap peas, mushrooms), and a red wine vinegar + oil dressing (again sorry for the pic). It was very good.

Dessert was my protein shake and a banana microwaved with some almond butter. I was craving something “creamy” and it worked.

I spent the night parked on the couch watching t.v. and relaxing while this little devil ran around the house.

This morning I woke up and debated heading out for a run. I don’t want to overdo it and Monday’s are usually my rest days but I also know that I have to take it easy tomorrow. I decided to head out for a run later on in the day when its hot (I only want to do a few miles) to see how my body does. It’s supposed to be 94 on Wednesday and the race is in the evening so immitating race conditions might not be a bad idea.

Instead of working out, I dug into some overnight oats.

1/2 cup oats, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup rice milk, 1 tsp chia seeds, cherries (halved and pitted), and some salted nuts on top.

I have a few things I want to get done today, including potentially making a big purchase. Any ideas what I might buy?

Have a great day!

Mother’s Day Weekend Recap

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Happy Monday guys! Did you all have a good weekend? I sure did but it went by so fast (as all trips to Michigan do). Anyway, here’s a recap of the rest of my weekend, you can find the first half here.

Saturday night, Ian, my mom and I all went out to Coyote Grill, a tex mex place that my mom and I used to go to all the time when I was younger. We hadn’t been in awhile so we weren’t sure what to expect.Thankfully, not much had changed!

They still brought us chips and super fresh cilantro salsa to start.

I’m honestly not a big chips and salsa eater but these are totally worth it. They taste so light and fresh!

One thing that has changed is what I ordered. I used to always get the fajita salad in a deep fried taco shell. However, neither chicken nor a deep fried bowl appeal to me anymore so I opted for shrimp fajitas instead.

Served with all of the appropriate toppings of course.

I only managed to eat two fajitas but I definitely finished off the veggies and shrimp. No wasting here!

Everyone else really enjoyed their meals as well. My mom had chicken enchiladas and Ian had steak tacos. We were all pretty happy and full afterwards :)

But of course, no Saturday night can be complete with dessert so on our way home from dinner we stopped at a small custard stand to pick up a little something sweet.

I had a small vanilla custard cone with rainbow sprinkles. The sprinkles are absolutely necessary ;)

We spent the rest of the night relaxing and ended up staying up waay too late to watch Iron Chef. The secret ingredient was peaches– we just haad to see what they could do!

On Sunday morning I got up, munched on some cereal, changed into running clothes, and headed out for a 6 mile run. My legs felt extremely heavy and tired, most likely from travelling and cycling on Saturday, but I pushed through it and ended up finishing in just under 46 minutes for a 7:37 min/mile. Granted, the area where my mom lives is flatter than Chicago but it still felt great to have a speedier run!

I snacked on more cereal post-run and then my mom and I headed out to run some errands and look at doggies. Our family dog passed away last fall and my mom has been waiting to get a new one and just recently started looking. Unfortunately we didn’t see any candidates yesterday but hopefully she’ll find one next weekend (she’s looking for a lab/golden puppy) :) .

I picked up some new tri gear. After my ride on Saturday I knew that I needed to invest both in bike gloves and shorts (I ended up buying tri shorts) and I also bought a new bathing suit since mine is falling apart.

Another great weekend find was whipped cottage cheese. I spotted it at a small, local market in the area and purchased one to take back with me to Chicago. I obviously need to find a spot the sells it in the area but I’m so excited to try it :)

After we completed our errands, my mom and I went out to a Mother’s Day lunch at Crispelli’s a new Italian eatery that opened relatively close to my mom’s house. Per her suggestion, we split a Crispelli salad and a White Pie.

The salad dressing was amazing. We both kept dipping pizza crust into it!

The pizza had roasted garlic and artichoke hearts on it. Yum! I enjoyed two slices before calling it quits.

After lunch, I had to drop some cards off at my dad’s house and then my mom and I went to TCBY to take advantage of their free small cone/cup for moms on Mother’s Day. My mom had a small twist in a cup and I enjoyed a cone with chocolate malt frozen yogurt and more sprinkles. What can I say? I love my cones and sprinkles!

While we were looking at dogs, I had picked up a small harness and leash for Sonic so we could try to take him outside. When we got home, we tried everything on and went out for a test walk.

Doesn’t he look handsome in his harness, it looks like a little vest!

He was quite a natural outside on the leash, it’s too bad I’m not comfortable taking him out in Chicago. Maybe if we move farther north he’ll be able to go out but until then the vest is exclusively for use in Michigan.

Around 3, Ian and I hit the road to head back to Chicago. We made great time, stopping once for gas and then another time to get some water and to let Sonic use his litter. When we got back to the city, we dropped Sonic and our stuff off at the apartment and then headed out to do our grocery shopping for the week. About 45 minutes later we were back at the apartment and eating dinner (we’re fast shoppers!).

I had a salad with mushrooms, carrots, and tempeh crumbles with homemade mustard vinaigrette.

This salad was just what I needed after a heavy lunch.

Dessert was a mini pistachio cannoli that my mom picked up from Crispelli’s and sent home with us.

They’re so tiny! The perfect size for a non-Mike’s cannoli :P . I also had some almond milk with protein powder on the side.

All in all I had a great weekend. I love going home and seeing family and old friends and hopefully, I can make the trip more often now that I don’t have to worry about school!

How was your weekend? Did you do anything special?
Do you like sprinkles?