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Happy Monday!

My day started off with this:

To my overnight oat eaters – take heed, and never throw out another almost-empty peanut butter jar again. Ever. There is nothing more awesome than mixing up a batch of oats in there (I threw in a banana & some cinnamon) and eating straight out of the jar the next morning. It made my Monday morning a little happier.

-    

love this quote, love this movie.

Hmmmm I suppose you want a weekend recap? Well Friday night I began my quest to become a taco connoisseur, and immediately crossed one off the list. I tried a salmon taco at Nacho Mama’s in the Canton square and wasn’t impressed. This, however, impressed me:

hubcap margarita for the man and me to share

Something perhaps even more impressive is the fact that I woke up on Saturday morning and ran 10 miles. This is the longest nonstop run I’ve achieved THIS YEAR. WHAT? I know. Stress fractures rock. Anyways, I felt pretty good, and pushed myself to hold an 8 minute pace:

 My PT has me wearing this bands on my runs – it’s basically just rolled up pre-wrap, that’s supposedly helping to keep my IT band more ‘slack’ over my knee. OK? It could all be in my head, but I like it a lot and I think it helps. I wore it around all day yesterday for no reason.

 In other news, I also chose to make my 10 miler my first ‘sports bra only’ run in Baltimore on Saturday as well. I hadn’t been able to work up the courage prior to this, as I hadn’t seen too many other females venturing to show a little skin since moving into the city. But the temps had already broken 80 that morning and I decided to go for it. I felt fine with the decision during my 5 miles around the park, but not as confident when I ventured out along the harbor for the second half of the run…. Mainly due to the large number of pedestrians just hanging out, fishing, etc.

The verdict: I will probably stick to the trails through the parks when going topless in Baltimore. I have written a post on this topic before, and always love hearing thoughts on it.

Last night’s dinner was concluded with this guy

Tell me this isn’t the cutest little crab cookie you’ve ever seen. Yum.

Can you guys believe that Thursday is August 1^st? That blows my mind. I’m excited to see what August has brewing. I made a second half of the year list of goals/expectations this past weekend and feel really good about it. One that I plan on knocking out right away in August is doing a short(er) sugar detox. I have a handful of reasons as to why, but am currently in the stages of figuring out the best way to go about it. I have heard of the 21 Day Sugar Detox, as well as the Whole30 program which is more of a ‘nutritional reset’ type of program.

Have any of you guys ever tried something like this? I would love thoughts/feedback/ideas.

I hope this week treats you kindly. Make it great.

Cheers!

Heating up

I have a small confession to make.

I’ve become slightly addicted to ABC’s TV series Revenge. My CO friend wolf has been riding me to check it out for about two months, so one night I finally caved and checked out the pilot. 
I was hooked.

Luckily there are currently only two seasons, so I don’t have toooo much to catch up on. It still peeves me a bit that I found a new series to love, as I would rather spend my time doing anything else in the world than have my face glued to a screen.

No more new series this summer, you have my word.

I discovered this guy at Safeway the other day:

I’m not sure if you’re a dried plum/prune fan or not, but I am. And listen to me when I say a handful of those chopped dried plums and a dollop of almond butter thrown into my overnight oats is one of my new favorite on-the-go breakfasts for summer. Throw some cinnamon and almond milk in there, let it soak overnight. It’s good stuff.

Have you heard the news? It’s summer, and it’s hot.

What my week has looked like

Moving on. I’ve only gone to my new trial gym, Canton Club a handful of times thus far but as of today I’m giving it a thumbs up. It’s smaller, much less crowded, and has a simple lay out. I tried a one hour spin class the other evening, and left sweaty and not angry – those are really my only two expectations when it comes to spin class.

Speaking of spinning, I did my first brick of the summer last night. I rode a couple of miles on my bike around Patterson Park, and then hopped off and ran a 5k along the harbor. It felt pretty good considering the heat and humidity. In the process I realized there are way too many bikers out there who aren’t wearing helmets. Listen, I don’t care if you’re biking for transportation or training competitively - strap that b*tch on. Don’t make me post that picture from I left half my face on a Colorado bike trail.

There’s your public service announcement of the week: Wear your freaking helmet. I don’t care how cool you think you are.

Sometimes I even wear it around the house for extra precaution. Am I kidding?
You can decide that.

Ummm let’s see… I went to see my orthopedic doctor today. I figured it’s been a few months since our last visit and she probably missed me.

In all seriousness, I had her check out my right knee. Going into the appoint I was lacking the correct medical term, so let’s just say that it’s being weird.

The diagnosis can be discussed tomorrow, but I'll leave you with the fact that I DON'T need to stop running, as long as things continue to get better.

WHAT!?! A doctor who supports running? I know, I found a keeper.

Alright, wrapping up… this girl has some miles to knock out. And (hopefully) a marathon to continue training for.

Cheers!

Crammin'

This is going to be fairly short because I still haven't packed, or worked out today, and both of those things are non-nonnegotiables on my to-do list.

Am I the only person aware of this?

Do you like my nails? They make me happy.

100% frozen sweet potatoes people. In your freezer, ready to go at any moment. So of course, I saw this as a challenge and added it to my overnight oats this past week...

Make fun of me all you want, but seriously, don't knock it 'til you try it.

Cranberry Sweet Potato Overnight Oats

-1/2 cup of rolled oats
-Handful of frozen cranberries.
-2-3 small chunks of frozen sweet potatoes
-1 TB cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
-1 TB of honey OR I used some cranberry apple butter that I happened to have on hand.
-Enough milk to cover all ingredients in container/bowl. I use almond milk.

Mix well, make sure the oats are completely submerged, let sit overnight. Enjoy a Thanksgiving-ish breakfast full of nutrients to start your day!

I played in the big girl gym yesterday morning before work, after spin class. I've found I'm much less intimidated to creep around the weight room at 6:30 AM when it isn't chocked full of testosterone-crazed men. Just bein' honest.

I did a 10 min workout of the following, as many reps as possible. (AMRAP)

-5 cleans
-10 deadlifts
-20 reverse lunges
-20 air squats.

Good stuff... I'm sore today, hence my date with the pool.

THE WEATHER WAS BEAUTIFUL YESTERDAY. IT MADE ME SO HAPPY.

Running out of work yesterday afternoon :)

Andrew's dad is in town, and we went up to the inner harbor for an outdoor dinner near the water last night.

THE DRAGON BOATS ARE OUT!

OK, I'm out the door peeps. If anyone has any advice as to how to cram my life into a large suitcase and two small duffel bags, please do share. I have to pack business attire for the still chilly Chicago climate next week, and then a full-fledged cowgirl wardrobe for my 4 days in Colorado.

Have I ever told you guys how much I love Colorado?  ;)

Okay, for real, bye.

Cheers to traveling, and the weekend, being sore, and pretty weather!!

Froyo for Dinner

I’ve been extra tired this week.

I’m not really sure why, but I’m going to tell myself that it’s because my body is using extra energy to heal my foot. If you know what’s best for you, don’t argue with me on this one.

My alarm went off at 5 this morning and I laid there. And I told myself I needed more sleep, and that I had time to workout after work. Which was all true. And then I remembered my afternoon full of sugar on Wednesday, and my dinner of frozen yogurt.

No lie, this was my dinner. It was pretty wonderful.

Somehow, that memory ended me up in the pool by 5:45. It was nothing short of a miracle. Some nice man shared his lane with me. It was too early for flip turns, or even to try to wrestle my swim cap on. But by goly I swam for 40 minutes and it was actually kinda lovely.

Something else that is cool about this week:

I hit my #plankaday goal with plenty of time to spare. I may have blown out one of my hipflexors in the process but hey, sometimes you gotta make sacrifices.

Yesterday my friend yelled at me and told me that pumpkin is out of season. I immediately screamed at her and blocked her on gchat and unfriended her on facebook.

OK slight exageration, but I did curtly retort that pumpkin is never out of season in my life. Then I proceeded to make a pumpkin smoothie, follow by banana pumpkin overnight oats this morning for breakfast, just to prove a point.

They were delicious. It was my last can of pumpkin so I’ll have to run out to the store and stock up immediately.

I don’t think I told you guys this yet – Andrew and I are headed up to northern PA this weekend for some skiing and other shenanigans with a couple of my coworkers & co. I think there’s about 10 of us, and we got a house for the weekend. The mountain is actually near Scranton PA where the best show in the world, The Office, takes place, and I’m considered begging Andrew to drive an hour further so we can go see it and I can mourn the last season of my favorite show in the entire world.

Did anyone else cry when jim and pam got married? I’ve cried almost every episode so far this season. Not surprising.

Alright enough procrastinating, I need to go pack. Anyone else have fun weekend plans? Any skiers? I can't wait, it's been far too long.

Cheers!

Head Above Water

Have I ever told you guys what the ultimate key to my heart is?

And no it isn’t pumpkin… although that’s probably a close second.

source ... because I ate it too fast to take a picture.

Cheesecake.

Last night my baller boyfriend dropped by my house with a piece of amazingness straight from the Cheesecake Factory, and I have to say, it made my freaking week. Just wanted to share, and make you drool on yourself.

Let’s run through some other important updates, shall we?

I ‘ran’ in the deep end of the pool this morning for a solid 50 minutes. And when I say run, I mean essentially treading water in a running-like motion. I’m pretty sure the swimmers hated me, the pool was completely full by 6 AM, and I nearly drown from the guy who kept blowing past me with his aggressive breast stroke in the lane next to me.

Good times.

Following that gem of a workout I rewarded myself with Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie Overnight Oats.

What’s that, you want the recipe? Certainly.

Combine in bowl/container:

-1/2 cup of old-fashion oats

-Pinch of cinnamon

-1 (softer) banana

-1-2 TB of peanut butter

-Chia seeds/vanilla extract (optional)

Pour in enough milk of choice to cover ingredients and mix it together. Let sit overnight in refrigerator.  Enjoy the next morning!

Other developments… I recently cut my hair. I wanted it to look like this:

 I even showed her this exact picture. She didn’t listen, because hair stylists never listen to me and so I ended up with this:

They are too long to wear like that pretty girl up there wears hers. Maybe next time they’ll get it right. Or maybe my face is just shaped strangely.

In case you’re wondering, those odd pictures of me above are from an outdoor concert we attended this past weekend that actually turned into a rave that night…. Yeah.

In other news, I fell in love with my orthopedic doctor yesterday. She. Is. Amazing. She was super relatable, LISTENED TO ME, and kept me feeling encouraged. 

and i'm officially the creepy girl who takes pictures of doctor offices. 

She referred me to an awesome physical therapist who I called immediately afterwards and begged asked for the next available appointment.  Which I will go to tomorrow. Where I will then run on an anti-gravity treadmill so they can figure me out.

Cool.

Hopefully they need me to run a solid 10 miles to get a diagnosis?

my official papers

Last, but certainly not least… my favorite topic. Pumpkin.

Today at Trader Joes I found this:

And yesterday, my coworker found this:

Life is Good.

How is everyone’s weeks going? What is the key to your heart when it comes to food? And more importantly, have you ever gotten a hair cut that you actually liked? 

(I haven't)

Cheers!