Tag Archives: errands

Labor Day Things

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1. How amazing is this three day weekend? I think we all need more of these in our lives.

2. I did end up getting out an hour early on Friday. Woohoo! I came home and watched old MTV shows until Ian came home. I was so burnt out that I could only handle trash tv. When Ian got home we were both so tired that we scratched our evening plans and hung out around the apartment. It was nice to be lazy.

3. I ended up just throwing together a bunch of stuff to make dinner on Friday night. I took cooked pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, shrimp, and spinach and tossed them with lemon juice and olive oil. It was pretty fantastic.

4. I’m on a protein powder hunt. I want something that is pea/hemp/chia/brown rice based and has low sugar but some flavoring. A few weeks ago I picked up a couple samples and on Saturday I decided to whip up some hot oats using Amazing Grass.

I added half of the packet to some oats made with 1/2 cup oats, 1 tsp chia seeds, 1.5 cups water, and some blueberries. The oatmeal was a little green but really good. I just wish Amazing Grass had more protein per serving. It’s a little low to be considered a protein powder (its more of a supplement). I crumbled a snickerdoodle blondie into the oats as well.

5. Saturday was spent cleaning and getting stuff done. Ian and I took on the apartment in the morning and then headed out to Walmart to pick up a new trash can, coffee pot, and some other random stuff and TJs to go grocery shopping. It was a go-go-go type of day and left me exhausted. Seriously, I could not stay awake and kept falling asleep in the car.

6. While we were out I realized that I had missed lunch. Whoops. Ian grabbed a bahn mi sub and some frozen custard and I checked out falafill. It was awesome. The falafel are both gluten-free and vegan and come in three different flavors: original, curry, and seasonal. Customers have two options, a pita or a bowl, and then once they receive their food (mine was made fresh), they can fill up on sides, pickles, hummus/baba ganoush at a huge salad bar. Even better, all products containing dairy or wheat were marked. It was great. I got a bowl and loaded up on roasted beets, eggplant, hummus, tahini, pickles, etc. I’ll definitely be back!

7. Saturday night we had friends over to watch the Michigan vs. Alabama game. The Wolverines did not play well at all (or Alabama was just that good– it was hard to say) but we still had a good time. I love football season!

8. On Sunday morning I woke up super early to get in my long run before the rain. I fueled with half a piece of millet toast with almond butter and chia and then headed out the door. I completed 15 miles and have no idea what pace I ran because the impending rain caused me to leave my Garmin at home. Oh well, I really enjoyed it though. After not being able to run for so long, I appreciate anything I can get!

9. Ian and I went out to Meli Cafe after my run. My breakfast was just so-so but I loved my carrot, apple, and celery juice.

10. I took two naps on Sunday (bringing my grand total of naps this weekend to 4). Yikes. I hope I’m just incredibly worn out and that I’m not fighting off anything. I don’t want to get sick.

11. I ate dinner after waking up from a nap and I was not in the mood to cook anything fancy. Instead I made a Mexican inspired millet bowl.

I cooked some millet and then stir-fried zucchini, mushrooms, dino kale, and black beans. I stirred everything together with a little mole hot sauce and Frontera salsa. It was really good for being so easy.

12. I always like to treat myself to a nice dessert on long run days so yesterday I made a banana bread milkshake. I used almond milk and my banana wasn’t frozen but it still tasted pretty good!.

13. I had big plans of going out last night but my body just wasn’t feeling it. I was struggling to stay awake and my allergies were acting up so I knew going out to a bar was not the best thing for me. I ended up falling asleep at like 10:30 on the couch watching Felicity. Obviously this was the sleepiest weekend ever.

14. I slept in until 9 this morning (what is my problem?) and then made a pot of warm oats using a new protein powder from Whole Foods.

This baby is made from pea protein, hemp protein, and rice protein and has 22 g of protein per serving. It is also relatively low in sugar with only 2.67 g of sugar per scoop.

I added half a scoop to my oatmeal along with strawberries and salted pecans. The oatmeal was really good but I was so sad to see the end of my pepita butter. I may have to beg my mom to pick some up for me on her way to Chicago in October ;) .

15. My plans for the day are up in the air. We may go to a BBQ or we may go see a movie. I also might cut Ian’s hair, if that happens please wish me good luck!

16. Have a wonderful Labor Day!!

The Publican {Brunch}

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I should have known better than to try to go for a training ride yesterday morning. I made it about 15 minutes before reaching my first NATO barricade: about 50 City of Chicago snow plows lined up blocking access to an open road. Ridiculous! I spent a good 10-20 minutes trying to find a big enough gap to fit my bike through so I could get to a road leading to Lake Shore. It was incredibly frustrating. Then, once I got on the path, it was extremely crowded and I had to weave between zillions of runners. I am the biggest hypocrite. When I run, I get annoyed by bikers and when I bike, I’m annoyed by runners. Who am I? Anyway, after about 20 minutes, I became frustrated, headed into the city and biked side streets home.

Chicago triathletes/cyclists any recommendations on places/times to cycle? I want to get a few good training sessions in before my race but I can’t seem to find a good location for it.

After my bike ride, I locked my bike up and headed out for a run. I decided to complete two miles instead of one after my sub-par biking experience but when my Garmin would not connect with a satellite (maybe it was the helicopter that hung out over my building all day yesterday?) I just took off. My guess is I ran 1.75 miles but I’m not sure. It would have been two but I had to use the bathroom (thankfully TJs has open restrooms) and then lost all motivation to continue. What can I say, yesterday was not my best day of workouts.

While my workout may not have been amazing, brunch sure was! This past Valentine’s Day Ian took me to The Publican, a beer-focused, farm-to-table restaurant. We loved it and have since been talking about returning. The Publican is well-known for their brunch and we had to make a reservation earlier in the week. We also knew our server (friends of family) and were treated like royalty which very sweet and generous.

I started out with a coffee and Ian had fresh squeezed orange juice. While we were looking over our menu, our servor brought us out complimentary rhubarb-almond coffee cake. See, I told you we were spoiled ;)

Next, we split an asparagus salad that came with a poached egg, parmesan cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette.

The salad was light and crisp, I want to recreate it at home!

Then, we had our mains. Ian ordered smoked arctic char with a side of bacon while I had the chachouka (tomatoes, feta, pinenuts, & baked eggs).

It was amazing and completely unlike anything I usually order. I loved it!

The Publican’s brunch menu was so tasty that I joked with Ian that we should go there every weekend. But even if we could afford it, going every weekend would make it less special. We decided to reserve The Publican for brunch with family or friends when they’re in town and looking for something a little bit nicer. That will definitely keep the “special factor” alive ;) .

With the impending NATO summit, we decided to knock some errands out right after brunch rather than on Sunday like we usually do. We went to Target (I bought some shirts!) and then Trader Joe’s to do our grocery shopping. By the time we got home, I was full of food and exhausted and happily curled up on the couch for a long nap. It was awesome.

When I woke up I had a quick costume change and then Ian and I headed out to a BBQ at our friends’ home in the suburbs.

We sat out in their fenced backyard, played with their pups, sipped some adult drinks, and feasted on hamburgers, hotdogs, and smartdogs (for me). We also walked into their little downtown for local ice cream. It was a great time and I wish I had taken pictures but I was honestly having too much fun to even think about it!

Surprisingly, Ian and I made good time getting back into the city and even watched an episode of Mad Men before crashing. Everyone keeps saying the first season is the slowest and I already like it, I can’t wait to get to the 5th!

What have you been up to this weekend? Anything exciting?

Chi-rish

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Happy belated St. Patricks day! If you celebrated yesterday I hope you had a great time!

Yesterday, after a 30 minute session on the elliptical and a mile swim (finally did some intervals), Ian and I grabbed a quick and hearty lunch at Jaffa Bagel.

Given that we were planning on day drinking, I made sure to really carb it up and had a jalapeno chedder bagel with veggie cream cheese.

It was so good and made me wonder why I don’t eat bagels more often.

After devouring our lunch, we met up with our friends and headed to the bars. One of Ian’s buddies plays the bagpipes and showed up with his pipes and wearing a kilt, it was awesome! He played all day long and often got free drinks/ money from the bartenders. He even let me try them!

And, it was sooo hard! You have to blow enough to fill up the bag and more. I made a little noise but couldn’t keep the pressure in the bag high enough to actually play anything.

Around 7:30, Ian and I were done for the day. We were tired, hungry, and sweaty (it was 80 degrees yesterday), so we said goodbye to our friends and picked up some dinner at a random thai restaurant.

We shared crab rangoon to start

And then I had pad kee mao with shrimp.

I’m pretty sure it was actually good, but I would have eaten anything at that point!

After our late dinner, we took the el home, and promptly passed out in bed before 10 p.m. What can I say, we’re classy like that!

This morning I woke up early because I had an intense workout planned (not so smart after yesterday’s shenanigans). Luckily I felt fine and had the usual pre-long run fuel of a piece of toast with peanut butter.

I added banana, walnuts, and chia seeds because my stomach can handle a wider variety of food if I’m ellipticaling rather than running.

Then I hit the gym for a 20 mile elliptical session. Yeah, you may think I’m kidding but I’m not. Julia had mentioned to me that when she was sidelined from training for a marathon, she substituted a 20 miler with the elliptical. At first it sounded absolutely crazy to me… almost 3 hours on the elliptical? No thank you. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that it made sense. While swimming and biking are great to do for cross-training, the elliptical is the closest thing to running without actually running. Plus, by doing 20 miles on the elliptical, I was forcing my body to keep my heart rate up for a long period of time while also doing the same motion over and over again.

So, I ellipticalled the first 10 miles, took a bathroom break and stretched out my toes, and then hopped back on for the last 10 miles. It was tough but I’m glad I did it. Plus, I’m now super caught up on the news, so win-win?

When I got back to the apartment, Ian was up and ready to eat, and as our apartment is still really really warm, we decided to check out a new breakfast spot, Waffles.

After all of the carbs & beer yesterday, I wanted something a little healthier for breakfast and ordered a spinach, mushroom, & gruyere omelet with eggwhites.

Ian had the cheddar and short rib waffles

The best part of either of our dishes was the side of potatoes. Yum!

After brunch we ran our weekly errands by foot and are now relaxing on a couch in front of a fan. Plans for the afternoon include working on my capstone (thesis) for a bit, making dinner (it’s been so long since I cooked) and trying to wear out the furball who has been full of energy lately.

Have a wonderful afternoon!

A Busy Saturday

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Yesterday was extremely busy but in a good way, I was a little productive, had a little fun, and relaxed- everything you’d want in a Saturday!

During the early afternoon, I ran errands. My first stop was a local running store to pick up shoe inserts. I found a pair that will hopefully pad my heels more, support my arches, and help with “shock absorption”, I’ll let you know how they work out!

I also stopped by lululemon and spent waayy too much money on running clothes (granted, I did need new stuff). What can I say? I wanted everything!

I ended up getting the cool racerback extra long, the back on track tank, and a pair of the turbo run shorts.

After shopping, Ian and I were hungry, so we stepped into a nearby diner for some food.

The Salt & Pepper Diner didn’t have many options of vegetarian fare for lunch, so I ordered a veggie wrap with sweet potato fries. I was extremely hungry by this point so I ate up, but the wrap was seriously lacking vegetables. The sweet potato fries were pretty good though.

After lunch we went grocery shopping, did laundry (I told you we were productive!), and then headed home to get ready for dinner.

Unfortunately, by this time my heel was starting to really hurt. I’m not sure if yoga upset it or walking (I wore my running shoes with my new inserts so I don’t think it ws my shoes) but I had to lay on the couch and ice it for a bit. I’ve decided to just swim and take a cycling class (as long as that doesn’t hurt my foot) today and skip the short run I was also planning.

A month or two ago, Ian went to P.F. Changs with one of his friends and was given a red envelope with an “unknown coupon” inside to be redeemed at his next visit to the restaurant. Well, he realized yesterday that the coupon was going to expire today so even though we had pan-asian on Friday night, we decided to take advantage of the coupon and went to P.F. Changs last night.

I wanted to celebrate being out on a Saturday with no long run to wake up for in the morning (and I was frustrated with my foot), so I ordered one of their cocktails, the Dark & Spicy.

It tasted really good but was really weak. If I’m going to splurge on a mixed drink rather than wine, I want it to have some alcohol in it!

We also split a bowl of egg drop soup. Note, the following picture indicates the size of a bowl at P.F. Changs, if you order one, plan on bringing at least two meals-worth home!

Crazy right?? But… it was the same price as two tiny cups. Pretty good deal right?

For my main, I ordered the shanghai shrimp with garlic sauce.

It was okay, I ate about half and plan on mixing the rest into my more flavorful Joy Yee leftovers. I must say though, I love that P.F. Changs has brown rice!

Ian ordered the SIngapore Noodles and was disappointed as well! I guess you can’t always expect great food (or maybe we ordered the wrong thing??), but we should have just stayed in or gone somewhere else.

To make up for our lackluster dinner (and because we were in the area), we stopped at Pinkberry for dessert.

I ordered a small peanut butter with dark chocolate crisps, banana, and granola. It was AMAZING! It was so good that I ate it slowly and savored every bite :)

We ended our night by watching the movie Hugo. I liked it but fell asleep and missed the last quarter of the movie, darn! From what I did see, if you like fantasy, Harry Potter-esque stories, you’ll like Hugo ;) .

Breakfast
I woke up early to eat before going for a swim and then to a spinning class. I wanted to make sure I ate enough to fuel me through both (I’m bringing a small snack to have before cycle) so I had a piece of toast with peanut butter, pumpkin butter, and walnuts and half of a teenie tiny banana with peanut butter on the side.

Alright, I need to go get ready, have a great Sunday!

Sunday Night Already?

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How can it be Sunday night already? Where did the weekend go? I feel like I got nothing done :-/

Anyway, I’m not going to bore you to death with my Sunday. To sum it up I tried to get homework done, Ian and I ran some errands, and I snacked… a lot. I was hungry today!

Some snacks included…

Hummus and mushrooms. I love this flavor hummus but I have to say it’s not as good as the pesto and white bean version.

And some leftover pizza from last night. Mmm Piece is just as good the day after.

I’ve been trying to eat one veggie-protein focused meal a day so for dinner I had a bbq tofu salad.

I marinated the tofu in bbq sauce and then baked it for 30 minutes at 375 degrees, flipping it once halfway through. I ate it on top of a salad of arugula, edamame, white corn, mushrooms, and heirloom tomatoes.

So good :) The key is to slice the tofu thinly enough so it becomes crispy in the oven and isn’t mushy in the center.

Dessert was a pumpkin muffin (we’re still working our way through these!)

Now I’m off to try to get my game together. The work/school week starts bright and early tomorrow!

Enjoy the last few hours of your weekend :)