tacos

I don't think I've mentioned it on here before, but my younger sister Bri is on a pretty determined mission to find the best burger in Chicago. I urge her on an almost daily basis to start up her own blog detailing her journey, but that's besides the point.

For the record, this is Bri's cover picture on her facebook.

I ate tacos twice this weekend - once at the food truck rally that a group of us went to in Canton on Friday night. The second instance was tonight when we made our own beef tacos thanks to some of Trader Joe's finest ingredients:

While I sat at the table shoving the tacos into my mouth like a wild hyena hungry growing girl, I thought to myself how much I enjoy trying different tacos.

What's the point of this story?

I kind of want to become a semi-pro taco connoisseur, similar to my sister's burger status in Chicago. This is a random, not thought out idea, and could go nowhere. Or it could go somewhere awesome. Let me know your thoughts.

In a half-assed attempt not to die at my triathlon in 3 weeks, Andrew and I hit an outdoor public pool yesterday. I brought my horrible cheap goggles from Walmart and logged a solid 20 minutes in the chlorine.

Andrew's attempt to take my pic post-swim

5 miles followed the pool. It's still hot out in case you were wondering.

Because we loved it so much last time, we rented paddle boards again today and hit the inlets of Annapolis. Word on the street is that jelly fish start getting pretty prevalent this time of year (gross) so I only jumped in once. I have this intense fear of water things - dead or alive - touching me. Seaweed, fish of all kinds, crabs, etc.

We paddled around for about 3 hours, stopping for snack and water breaks of course. This time we left the cell phones in the car so we could have the option to jump in and cool off - hence my lack of pictures to share with ya'll.

Prior to unloading those bad boys.

Sometimes the memories just have to stay logged in your head, ya know?

Solid weekend. For some reason I'm dreading this coming week. It involves the dentist, some physical therapy, and figuring out my knee situation. 

Turn that frown upside down Kaitlyn.

You're right. I'm determined to find some greatness in this week.

How was your weekend? What is the best taco you have ever had? (homemade or restaurant)

Cheers!

A Sweet (Potato) Weekend

The other day, while frolicking aimlessly around Walmart (who does that?) I stumbled upon this guy:

The LARGE size of my favorite kind of peanut butter, for $3. Naturally I bought five jars a jar, and let me tell you, I've been going to town on this bad boy for the past week. Smoothies, oatmeal... even on top of my banana pancakes over the weekend...

Are you jealous? You should be. Go buy some. Peanut butter = protein = happy muscles.

I littered it all over social media already, but holy cow did we have an awesome time paddle boarding this past Saturday in Annapolis. If you have the chance to try it, do it. We rented them for the day for $40, and it was well worth it.

It was our first time, the weather was perfect, and we had a ball exploring the many inlets of the Annapolis Harbor. We even ventured under the bridge and paddled by the Annapolis Yacht Club, which harbors boats bigger than my house, no joke. The boats were so big they had boats on them that had boats them.

Sorry I wasn't able to snap any pics of them... Andrew strongly urged me not to bring my phone out on the water with me, which was probably a good call. Although I didn't fall in, by 3 p.m. we were both sweaty and bailed off our boards to cool down. I did manage to convince him to bring his own (older, crappier) phone out the second time we set out, so that we could capture some memories.

"It's for the blog babe."

Not only did we get some exploring under our belts and some sun on our skin, but we also got a killer core/arm work out. Good times. Go do it.

Andrew deserted me for the week, so to cheer myself up last night I decided that I deserved pizza. So I did some searching and stumbled upon Carrots 'n' Cake's Sweet Potato Crust Pizza, saw my sweet potatoes sitting on the counter, and set to work.

I am a fan. And have zero shame when I say that I ate half of it last night, and the rest of it tonight for dinner. Some sweaty Sunday miles sure will work up an appetite.

The plan is to get up early tomorrow morning and hit 7 slow-paced miles before heading to work. Do you think it will happen? I would say odds are currently sitting at 50/50.

I'm winding down for the night, but it was great catching up. Anyone have a weekend story to share? Favorite kind of pizza perhaps?

Cheers!

Ramping Back Up

It's been a bit since we've talked running on here eh? Kind of weird. Have you been worried? Don't be. I think it's because things have been so iffy.

I've been feeling a little less iffy.

This past weekend, I ran 3 miles on both Saturday and Sunday. That's nothing, I know, but for me where I stand right now, it's something. My foot didn't yell, it felt good, and this is on top of being on my feet most of the day on Saturday while bar-crawling through Annapolis.

That's a whole different story.

Saturday morning Andrew and I ran in a local 5k put on through his cousin's school. It was small - small enough that we both finished right under 24 minutes with his younger cousin and each placed first in our age group. Hey I'll take it.

Especially seeing that my breakfast prior to the race consisted of this:

Tots. Sorry I'm not sorry.

Long story short, I feel good about my foot. Finally. For awhile I was back and forth, and super nervous to ramp up the mileage too quickly.

I will stay between 3-4 miles tomorrow and Thursday, and possibly try for 5 miles one day this weekend if things go well.

My goal is to 'comfortably' get back up to my normal 7-8 mile jaunts by June 1. In my mind, marathon training starts in June. 

Until then, I'll continue to stick with all my swimming/yoga/spinning distractions on the side. And of course, so many planks.

Spring = planks outside!

Andrew's out of town this week so I am getting back to neutral in many areas of life, as well as making plans for the month of May. Can you believe that May is on Wednesday? That blows my mind and makes me so happy.

On the music front, Mr. Kenny Chesney himself has a new album out tomorrow if you're a country fanatic like me. Just thought you may need something to brighten up your Tuesday!

Cheers to ramping back up!

Awhile

It's been awhile. Far too long if you ask me. Don't be mad though, it was a very busy four days that I left you all for.

As mentioned, Andrew's brothers & ladies came into town for the Easter Weekend, and we gave them just about everything Maryland has to offer. At least I like to think so.

Burgers, brews and basketball in Baltimore:

this santa fe burger was so amazing it almost brought me to tears.

Lori & Katie!

Cherry Blossoms and site seeing in DC:

Yes I really took this picture. Isn't it perfect looking!?

I have to add, it was a beautiful day in DC Saturday, so warm in fact that I even took of my zip-up and rocked a tank for awhile. The sun felt amazing.

Easter Sunday was church, and then down to Annapolis for some tapas and seafood of course. Last but not least, we hit up my favorite breakfast place in the area, Eggspectation, on Monday morning before they headed out.

It was then that I tried crepes for the first time. I'm mad at all of your for not telling me how awesome they are. I ate them so fast there wasn't even time to take a picture. However, I now have a constant mind battle going on with myself as to why I cannot eat crepes multiple times per week.

I may have dreamed about them last night.

Solid, fun, action packed weekend with awesome people. It was kind of nice to get back to a bit of routine this morning at the gym. To throw in an extra burn for the thousands of extra cals I gobbled down this weekend, I hit up my favorite iPhone app to give my abs a hurtin' after work.

I recommend this.

I just happened to see this posted by the Marine Corps Marathon on Facebook, and I thought it was pretty swell of them:

I was a lucky one.

Have I ever mentioned how lists keep me sane? I may actually be a little obsessive compulsive about making lists, but I can think of a lot worse things to obsess over, so I'm not going to sweat it. Here's my workout list I came up for this week...

That's right, I'm heading back to Chicago Saturday night for a ten, count 'em, 10 day trip, comprised of three legs. However, let's chat when that get's a little closer. I think we should talk more about running then too, don't you?

For now, this girl has dinner calling her name.

Cheers!

Wanted: East Coast Hobbies

I wasn’t feeling even the slightest bit weird yesterday to write a Weird Wednesday Post.

 Not even a little bit.

My day started with a half-assed workout at the gym… a slow, dragging day at work… and a run that fell into that same category as the rest of my day.

Word of the day for yesterday? Blah. It was a very stagnant day.

sad kait.

 However I must say that yesterday evening was splendid. Andrew and I headed down to Annapolis to have dinner with his mom who is in visiting from Colorado. His aunt and uncle directed us to an awesome restaurant called Levels in downtown Annapolis, where we indulged in some kind of amazing cucumber gin & tonic type drink to start, that had egg white foam on top, or so I’m told?

Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.

However, seeing that Annapolis is not necessarily a quick drive for us, last night resulted in a much later than normal bedtime, which has resulted in a tired Kait today. So tired in fact, that I nearly teared up when seeing this picture on Facebook this morning:

Mary Jane, Winter Park

The mountains are starting to get snow.

It was around this time of the year, two years ago, when Andrew and I bought our season passes for skiing. When we would start planning days to play hooky take off from work to spend a day shredding powder up in the mountains…  get back to Fort Collins in the evenings, exhausted and still de-thawing, and I would lay in front of the fireplace and eat pizza.

he may not want his face on here, but dammit i will show his skis. 

I can’t let myself reminisce too much about that time period or I will literally become depressed. So, what winter hobby can I find out here on the East Coast to look forward too? (and please don’t tell me skiing, because although I’m willing to try the Apps out here, nothing will beat out my beautiful Rockies)

Ice Fishing?

All ideas welcome.

In other news, I got a gig writing for the Examiner online. I don’t really know how to explain what it is… but to quote the website:

"Examiner.com is the inside source for everything local. We are powered by Examiners, the largest pool of passionate contributors in the world."

So apparently I’m now one of those 'contributors', labeled the “Baltimore Healthy Living Examiner”. You can check it out here.

I have a quick, killer track workout on tap after work, followed by a Barre Fusion class  with a coworker. Then bed, then Friday! HURRAY!!!

Cheers!