One Fish, Two Fish

Thursday already?  This week is flying right on by.  The fact that I was off of work on Monday & I have a 1/2 day tomorrow might have something to do with it.  This weekend, LC and I are headed north for drill and to enjoy some Wisconsin State fair goodness :-) I can't wait for a roasted corn :-) 

Last night my friend Courtney and I went to Jazzin' at the Shedd.  It's a music event hosted by The Shedd Aquarium where you can listen to live music, sip fancy drinks, and walk around the aquarium.  It's $12 to get in & if you pay an extra $6, you also get admission to the special exhibits.  Not too bad considering the regular price of admission.  I'm so glad we went to this because I've been wanting to see the jellyfish exhibit since I first saw it advertised and it was pretty amazing.  With the music they play in the exhibit, I could sit and watch those things all day...so relaxing!

This morning, I woke up pretty early and full of energy {which was a surprise considering the two delightfully strong cocktails that I enjoyed the previous night}.  Since I had a lump removed from the left side of my torso on Monday, I decided to take it easy and stick to a 3 miler.  I had to change up my normal route because of Lollapalooza, but it was a good change, because I got to enjoy this view and appreciate the fact that I live in such an awesome city :-)

I finished 3 miles in about 32 minutes.  One thing that I want to work on, when it comes to running, is my speed.  I can outlast my hubs when we go on runs together, but when it comes to sprints, he's definitely got me beat.  I've got great endurance when it comes to distance, but I'm slow.  I know a lot of this had to do with pushing myself outside my comfort zone, which I need to start doing.  But to be honest, I have no idea on where to begin to make times faster.  Any runners have any ideas?  I'm off to start packing for WI and to make some dinner.  Enjoy your Thursday!

Updated Blog Address

So I decided to simplify my life and the lives of others.  Whenever anyone {mainly my family} asks for my blog address, there's always a mix up somewhere and they can't get to it.  So I decided to change the address from www.lavidasana11.blogspot.com to www.LVS11.blogspot.com :-) Easy peasy.   

Sprinkles for Everyone

Well, I survived my minor medical procedure today.  The  worst part of the whole thing was the numbing shot...and the fact that it's starting to ware off right now.  They're going to send it to pathology & I'll get the results next week.  Both of my doctors don't think it's anything serious, just want to double check though.

After my appointment, LC and I grabbed some lunch at the Cheesecake factory.  We snacked on my favorite appetizer...Avocado egg rolls!! YUMMM!!!

 For my meal I ordered the *lunch* portion of the BBQ chicken salad, minus the fried onion strings.  I couldn't believe this was the lunch size because it was HUGE!!! I didn't even eat 1/2 of it. 

After our lunch at Cheesecake Factory, we decided to take a walk over to Sprinkles :-) LC had never been there, so I wanted to take him for his first ever experience.  He ate a red velvet (which is one of their most popular flavors) and I had a lemon cupcake.  We also decided to bring one home for our little guy.  That's right, Sprinkles sells cupcakes for dogs.

He wasn't sure of it at first, but he ended up loving it so much that he wanted to eat the wrapper!!  Now we're sitting on the couch with full tummies catching up on Giuliana & Bill and the Real Housewives.  Not too bad for a Monday :-) 

Sunday, Sunday

I hope you all are having a good Sunday.  The weekends always go by so quickly...

Friday, I had a 1/2 day of work :-) YAY for summer hours! I went to Bar Method and then came home, walked Oliver & did a Turbo Fire 45 minute "EZ" video.  EZ is just as hard as a regular DVD fyi.  After my workout extravaganza, I took a nap with the pup and then got ready for a date night with LC.  I met him after work at a place called Plymouth.  They have an amazing bar rooftop bar & restaurant.  They had $5 pom-tinis ( I had 2, sooo good!).  I ate a burger & we shared an order of sweet potato fries :-) The weekends, I'm usually a little more casual with my diet...

On Saturday morning, I attended my first workout in the park event.  A friend and I attended Zumba in Millennium Park.  This is something that I've always wanted to do, but never have found the time to do.  I FINALLY made it and it was a blast!! I had so much fun dancing the morning away! I can't wait to go back :-) Which won't be for a few weeks.  It's seriously like a huge flash mob of dancers in the park.  We had tourists joining us for the dance fun!  I <3 Chicago in the summer.

LC and I have lived in our current apartment for over a year now.  It's a pretty nice apartment for where we are in the city and I was hesitant to put pictures on our walls and such because of the fact that I didn't want to to become too "attached" to this place (we've been back & forth about the city vs the Suburbs.)  I think we've finally come to a conclusion.  Anywho, I decided, because I know we're going to be here for a few years, to make our apartment a home.  So I spent the day decorating & rearranging. (pics to follow once it's complete).  I wanted to make our apartment feel more "lived-in".

Today, we spent our morning waiting for LC's dad to sail.  He's part of a sailing program where they race nationally.  But because there was no wind in the "Windy City" today, we sat around waiting for him to sail.  After we got him into the sailboat, we came home finished cleaning the apt, and went to Whole Foods to get our 1 month anniversary dinner.  We grilled steaks & ate some sides salads.  It was perfect :-)  We're getting ready to watch some True Blood now :-) We're only on Season 3 (Netflix) because we don't have HBO.  Tomorrow, I'm taking the day off to get a cyst removed :-/  My doc doesn't think it's anything serious but she just wants to be sure.  I'm a little nervous since it's the closest thing I've ever had to surgery!! Wish me luck!!! 

1/2 Marathon (#3) Training

It's Friday eve :-) I hope you're enjoying your Thursday.  I'm very excited for this weekend because I'm staying put in Chicago and have plans of laying by the pool and reading, getting into trouble in the kitchen and buying some things off of our registry at a discounted price.  I can't wait!

Last Sunday, I stopped over at one my BFF's house because I had some stuff to give back to her that she borrowed me for the wedding.  It's always nice to see her and her hubby because they're such great people :-) Anyway, she was telling me that she was thinking about running the Lake Country 1/2 marathon on September 3rd (in 1/2 marathon training, that's right around the corner).  Up until my ankle injury, I haven't gone over 3 miles, so naturally, I was a bit hesitant.  But I gave it some more thought and told her that I'd do it with her.  I figured this would be the best way to get back on my running game.  So, we are fast fowarding to week 6 of 1/2 marathon training.  This should be interesting...

1/2 Marathon Training

Today called for 4 miles.  I ran this on Tuesday and everything went perfectly, with the exception of the humidity.  No falls, no ankle pain.  Today, I had to move it inside, because the sky was looking a little beastly this morning.  I was nervous to run on the treadmill because last time I did, it didn't feel comfortable for me.  This time I rocked it, but the only problem was boredom.  Not the greatest timing, but I hate the treadmill so this is fine for me.   

Along with running, I'm trying to do some strengthening & toning to keep from getting injured.  I was going to try and sneak in a Bar Method workout tonight, but I have so much stuff to do at home, I think I'll just stick to the Tone 30 from Turbofire.  That way, I can get in laundry & a workout :-)  

My Eats
Tonight for dinner I'm making salmon, asparagus & risotto :-) Definitely beats last night's dinner of a bagel thin and peanut butter (I wasn't feeling too good last night).  My new favorite breakfast has become a small container of greek yogurt mixed with some chopped up strawberries and topped with agave nectar along side a hardboiled egg.  I'm not sure why, but my appetite has been very minimal in the mornings, even after I workout.  Normally, I'm pretty hungry after a run so I'm not sure of what's up.  Maybe it's the heat? All I wanted after my AM run on Tuesday was a popsicle...

I'm off to do some turbofire & make dinner.  Enjoy the rest of your night :-)

The Music behind the Party

Happy hump day! Thankfully, this week is just flying by for me.  I have a fun weekend planned :-)   On the fitness front, I got up and ran 4 miles yesterday morning, which was a success.  No ankle pain then and no ankle pain now.  It feels good to be back and confident that I will finish my third 1/2 marathon in September.  I'm down three lbs since we got home from our honeymoon :-) I also started Turbofire on Monday & I LOVE this workout! It doesn't even feel like you're working out and the music is pretty awesome.  Full review coming at a later date.  I've only done two of the DVDs.

Speaking of music, since I'm still obsessing over my wedding & anxiously waiting for my pics (about two more weeks!), I thought I'd write a little bit about our reception & our music selections.  This was one of our tougher choices since LC & I have a variety of tastes, but we made it work. 

Our First Dance-Stay With You, John Legend.  LC's one request for our first dance was no country.  This was a dilemma because all the songs that I had picked out were from the country genre.  We came to an agreement with this one, since we both like John Legend & the words were perfect for us.

Mom/Daughter Dance-I had the pleasure of dancing with my beautiful mother on my wedding day.  I let her pick the song, and was ecstatic when she chose, Mama's Song by Carrie Underwood.  I secretly hoped she would pick this song because one, I love Carrie Underwood & two, the song couldn't have been more fitting for our dance together.

  
Parents Dance-Not wanting to leave my step-dad out of the equation (or LC's mom), we decided to do a "parents dance".  I really wanted My Wish by Rascal Flatts & LC wanted anything but.  We were supposed to dance Somewhere Over the Rainbow, but at the very last minute, LC told the DJ to play Rascal Flatts :-)

Bouquet Toss-I wanted to stay away from all cliche songs, (ie. Single Ladies) so I decided to roll with Who's That Chick by Rhianna.  Definitely a fun dance song and a way to keep the party going.

Garter Toss-LC decided to go more classic, with Shook Me All Night Long, by ACDC.  It was a fun one and a good way to sneak in an oldie but goodie :-)

Now that our wedding day is almost a month gone, there are still certain things that stick out in my mind about it.  One being our reception and my mom & stepdad who danced the night away.  I've never seen them have so much fun in my life :-)  I can't wait to see what other fun memories our photographer captured.   

LC's Tough Mudder Recap + SIDI for the Week

Sorry this posting is a day late, but I hung out with my parents all day on their boat yesterday & the time just got away from me :-) It was a glorious way to end the weekend and I didn't want to leave.  We didn't get back to Chicago until after 9pm, and after sunning & swimming all afternoon, I was beat.  But not as beat as this guy...

Hubs had his tough mudder race on Saturday and he completed it like a champ :-) I'm not going to lie, I had my doubts about him finishing only because this race sounded so intense & the night before, we were laying in bed and I asked him when the last time was that he ran 10 miles.  He told me 8 or 9 years ago...EEK!   

We woke up EARLY Saturday morning to get ready and drive up to Devil's Head in WI.  We got on the road at 4:30 a.m. and guess what...there was a traffic jam!  At 4:30AM!!!! To be honest, I was not the least bit surprised...it's Chicago.  But we later found out that the highways had standing water and there was a part of the highway that was closed all together.  Needless to say, we made in there just in time for LC to start his race.  

Pretty much, he had to complete run/walk/ crawl :-) 10 miles and complete 25 obstacles.  I tried to make it to as many obstacles as I could, but being a spectactor at these things are no joke.  One, I definitely wore the wrong kind of shoes.  My old school Adidas flip flops are shot :-(  And two, the maps were not helpful at all.  I pretty much just walked around, asked the people what obstacle # it was and waited for him to show up. (Tough mudder, get better maps and some guides out there to direct you on where to go.)

This was obstacle #10.  But the first one that I saw him at.  I was so happy to see him alive & not hurt.  And I'm pretty sure he was happy to see me :-) 

  (No thanks buddy, we'll save the hugs for later.)

Some of the obstacles included runnning through walls of fire (so mad that I missed this), climbing up a wall, carrying logs, jumping into pools of ice water, low crawling through barbed wire in the mud, and last but  running through yellow tenticles that had electrcity running through them.  Most people made it out of that unharmed, but hubs was not so lucky.  He got shocked with a BIG one and, therefore, fell into the mud.  This was the very last obstacle and why he looks so dirty compared to everyone else...

I think he's still feeling the effects of that shock!

After they finished the race, they got a beer, a clean t-shirt and those groovy sweatbands :-) Oh, and a facebook badge that says you complete Tough Mudder.  He keeps asking me to do it with him next year, but I told him the ONLY way he could get me to do it is if we get to do the one London or Syndey Australia ;-) If I'm going to put myself through that kind of punishment I want a sweet vacation out of it, or at least a medal :-)  The money went to a great cause & I was just so happy he finished successfully AND injury- free.

So below is this week's Say it Do It.  I saw one of my BFF's for a bit yesterday and she roped me into doing a 1/2 marathon with her.  It's her first one and I thought it would be nice if she had a buddy to run it with her.  Did I mention that it's over Labor Day weekend? 6 weeks to go, so I better get running! I also got my turbo fire DVDs in the mail.  So far I LOVE them.  They're so much fun :-)

Monday: Fire 30 + Stretch 10

Tuesday: Run 4 miles + Turbofire workout

Wednesday: Run 2 miles + Bar Method+ Volleyball playoffs!

Thursday: Run 4 miles + Turbofire

Friday: Turbofire workout

Saturday: 5k Race to Zumba in the Park :-)

Sunday: Yoga!

I'm off to the grocery store & to grill out with hubs.  Grilling has become our Monday ritual since it's his day off and the only day he gets to perfect his grilling skills this week ;-)

My 7 Links!

Special thanks to Lindsey over at A Running Tale for tagging me in the 7 links post! As a fairly new blogger, I'm excited to play along :-)

Most Beautiful

So far my most "beautiful" post to date, has been a birthday tribute to my then fiance, 27.  I think it's the most beautiful because I put it all out there, he read it & got teary eyed.

Most Popular-My recent bar method review has hands down been my most popular post.  Thanks to a tweet by Bar Method and a facebook post, that one post got almost 500 views.  I love the Bar Method because it works!!

 Most controversial-My post about strippers @ bachelor parties. I knew LC would be having one, I didn't haven't a problem with it, but I knew some of the GF's of the guys did and I just wanted to see what everyone's opinions were.

Most Helpful-I'm going to go with my honeymoon recaps. Part 1-Arriving to San Fran.  Part 2-Big Wineries & Lodging.  Part 3-Small Wineries & Restaurants. I want to go back to Napa!

Surprise Success-My wedding shower post! haha! I didn't think that many people cared :-) It was a bit long a huge picture overload, but I had so much to say & I didn't want to forget anything.

Not Enough Attention-When I decided to withdraw from the Chicago Marathon I thought more people would comment.  It was a big decision (and HUGE disapointment) for me and a lot of different factors went into it.  Spraining my ankle has almost been a blessing in disguise.  It has taught me A)listen to my body, it knows its limits B)Not take exercise or simple things such as walking for granted C)forced me to try different things besides running (I got turbofire in the mail yesterday! Trying it out tomorrow!!)

Most Proud Of- My first 1/2 marathon with my sister :-) Something I never thought I'd be able to do.  I miss you MissE Childs :-)

And now I pass the 7 links torch onto:

Elvi@ Life.Wedding.Nonsense

Legally Fabulous

Jill @ Life After College

Meesh@ Postively Meesh

Okay, I'm off to bed...being a spectator at Tough Mudder is exhausting in itself!  I will be back tomorrow with an update of LC's race.  It will be a dirty one ;-)

Who's The Toughest of Them All?

Happy Friday! The weekend is finally here :-) LC & will be heading back to WI tomorrow for a fun-filled (for me anyway) Saturday & Sunday.

Back in December when LC was deployed, he sent me an e-mail with the subject line, "I found something fun for us to do!" I was immediately excited and thought it was a fun, tropical vacation to take (even though we had a wedding to pay for, wishful thinking). I opened up the e-mail and saw this video below:


This looks 10 times worse that basic training.  I responded back with, "What part of this looks fun for me?" He said that because I had run two 1/2 marathons last year, he thought that I'd be interested in doing this with him. I love you dear, but no thanks. So LC found some fellow Security Forces members to participate in the race with him and tomorrow morning we're driving up to Devil's Head WI so that he can do just that.  Tough Mudder is a very intense 10-12 mile obstacle course that was designed by the British Special Forces.  There's not a time goal, but just to finish the race is an accomplishment on its own.  On average, about 78% of participants actually complete the course.  I believe there's a tattoo & mohawk for the finisher, which LC will NOT be getting.  He also had to sign a death waiver for this race, that's how intense it is.  I'm hoping that the weather in WI tomorrow will be less hot and humid than it's been here in Chicago.  The money raised by the event goes to a wonderful cause, the Wounded Warrior Project. 

After the race, we'll be headed back to a town close to my parents house because LC has to go to a Yellow Ribbon conference on Sunday.  The conference is for those who have been deployed for a certain amount of time and it's about reintegrating back into society...even though he's been home since February, he still has to go.  I on the other hand will be spending the day on my parents boat (weather pending).  It seems like every time I go out on the lake with them, the clouds decide to come out.  I'm bad "boat luck", but we're going to take our chances anyhow.

Tonight, I have scheduled a 3 mile run & some yoga.  The yoga will for sure be happening because my hips are extremely sore from Bar Method & it's been forever since I've practiced it, but the 3 mile run might turn into something a little bit shorter or some elliptical action. 

Today's eats have been pretty good :-) I'm getting back on the "healthy/whole eating" track after our wonderful honeymoon.  I started my day off with a cup of iced coffee & 1/2 cup of almond milk along side a peach & a hard boiled egg.  My breakfasts haven't been anything great lately.  For some reason lately I don't have much of an appetite in the mornings and I can just get by with a smoothie or piece of fruit & something small.  For lunch today I tried a new place, Freshii.  They have a TON of options, including a DIY salad/wrap.  It took awhile to decide what I wanted, but I went with the vegan wrap w/goat cheese.  My wrap came undone, so I mostly just ate it as a salad and picked at the wheat tortilla.  It was very, very good!  

Have a good weekend!!! I'll be back at some point with a recap of LC's tough mudder race! What's the most extreme race/workout you've ever done? For me, the toughest race was my first 1/2 marathon in Chicago last August.  I was undertrained and way overheated!

This Week I...

Found out that I actually do like cherries...alot!  Funny how your tastes change as you get older.

I discovered Instagram :-) Below is my Chipolte salad bowl from lunch today.  Get ready for lots of instagram pics in the near future.

 

Survived outdoor activities.  This heat in Chicago has been brutal. But I'm sure most of you know that.

Did two days of "two a days" back to back.  A first for me in awhile.

I ordered Turbofire in efforts to mix up my fitness routine.

Discovered a few new blogs to read :-) 

 

Attended Bar Method twice. Once more from last week. I'm slowly making progress :-)

Talked hubs into training for a 1/2 marathon with me.