Happy 4th!

I hope you are all having a great holiday thusfar! :) I meant to post yesterday, I really did, but the day just got away from me with the craziness of planning our Big Fat Greek 3rd of July Party.

My food intake wasn't too exciting either so it's not worth uploading any pix - basically the same as the day before (meaning a Green Monster and lots of those vegan raw cookies, haha!) The only variation was that I made a really good impromptu blender soup - I threw in about 1/8 or 1/4 c. of raw cashew butter, some black beans, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and blended it with good results! As I suspected (and hoped), the cashew butter plus the lemon truly made it taste very creamy, which was soooo good. Canned beans are not considered "raw", but I'm still transitioning into this. Basically I'm trying to eat more clean food in as close to their natural state as possible, but I still have a ton of frozen and canned veggies in the house so I'm trying to use them up.

My workout wasn't anything exciting either, I did some strength training at the gym and then 30 minutes on the reclining bike in our condo gym downstairs. I was a bit short on time after going to Best Buy for what I thought was a trip to buy an iPhone.... I ended up realizing that I HATE the keypad on the iPhone!!! I have normal sized fingers, but for whatever reason I was unable to type without screwing up the letters.

So, I came to the conclusion that I would be better off getting a Blackberry, which doesn't have some of the fancy, cool apps that the iPhone has, but it DOES have a flash on the camera which I need since my camera's flash is busted, and the newest version, the Curve, even has TV capabilities! So I'm gonna wait and get it in a week when it comes out on the 12th. Is this a good choice, do you think?

Last night the big fam bash was a success! It was largely Mike's fam, both the Italian and Greek sides, plus me, my parents, and my aunt and uncle who came up from Indy. I made an abundance of guacamole - 9 avocados worth - and some ridiculously good mint fudge brownies, and guests supplied the rest. I really didn't eat a lot besides lots of guac and veggies, some olives, a small glass of wine, some dates, and some Lindt dark choc squares for dessert! I did take some pix of the party food and I will be putting those up later. I was having fun without drinking - although I was quite an anomaly for this, being surrounded by Greeks! - which made me dread my 9 miler on Saturday quite a bit less than if I had overindulged! The party was a ton of fun - thanks for everyone who came! :)

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Saturday AM my alarm went off at 5:15am, and I swear it was going off for many minutes before I realized what was going on. After doing a bit of cleaning up last night, I got to bed around 1AM and I was soooo exhausted. I dragged my feet while heading to our meet-up place for the CARA run.

However, once we got started I started to feel better! I met some nice people today and we chatted through most of the 9 miles which makes such a difference! The weather was also PERFECT today - in the 60s the entire time - with a slight breeze, which I loved!

It was a great run, and it feels so good to have completed it so successfully. I haven't run 9 miles since 2007, so I'm proud of myself. I did feel a bit of heel pain walking to the bus afterward though, so now I'm icing my heels like crazy to keep the evil plantar fasciitis away!

It's gonna be a busy couple of days over here, like I'm sure it is for all of you! Today Mike and I are headed to his parents' house for a holiday BBQ, we will come back to the city tonight, and then early tomorrow we will start our excursion to Kentucky and then to Indiana University.

Mike and I met at IU, and we havent't been back there since I graduated a few years ago. I'm soo excited to go back!! So many fun memories!!! IU is such a great college town.... It's a beautiful, sprawling campus, and there are tons of great restaurants and pubs in the area... even quite a few awesome "hippie" vegetarian joints, but I'm not betting on Mike wanted to hit those places up... I have a feeling we will end up at the old frat hangouts instead ;)

Does anyone have any advice for fun stuff to do in Bloomington besides the usual - Kilroy's, etc.? What are your plans for the holiday weekend? If I don't post back soon then I hope you all have a fabulous 4th!! :-)

AHHHHHH!!!

After I finish my morning Green Monster, I am headed to Best Buy to buy an iPhone!!! Mike and I are driving down to Bloomington, IN and to Kentucky this weekend, so I figured I will have about 10-11 hours of car time to figure it out, so it's good timing. I'm so excited about this!!! Can't wait to tell you more about it later :)

Have a wonderful 3rd of July, friends!

Another "Hangover"

I'm so happy to be back in CHICAGO at this very moment!! It was quite a long, long day. This morning I got up extraordinarily early to go to the nursing home to meet with one of my grandma's doctors, who ended up being a worthpiece *****. Then ran some errands, cleaned up grandpa's house since it was my last day there, had some Panera's hazelnut coffee with a soy top-off. (How do people get up early without this stuff, seriously?!?!) A Green Monster would be have been incredible, but my spinach stash sadly was depleted by this point.

Gpa and I headed off to the nursing home to visit Gma, where I enjoyed another enormous bowl of homemade quac with some red pepper spears. My grandmother seemed surpised to find out that after having a couple bites, she actually enjoyed my "liberal hippie food", haha! So maybe vegetarians AREN'T aligned with Communists, after all...

Then I left my grandparents to enjoy their processed, tasteless nursing home food (ok, I make it sound pathetic but they enjoyed it, which is all that matters!) while I took their car to get a tire fixed.

I waited about an hour, but it actually wasn't too bad since I got to catch up with Lisa on the phone for a bit, and also read some of my new book - Natalia Rose's The Raw Detox Diet. After my hour wait, the nice guys at Discount Tire told me that there was no charge. What?!??! I'm still trying to figure out how these people make money... Indiana folk are just too darn nice for their own good :)

Then off to buy Gpa some groceries for the week, and picked up myself a couple cukes - I have big plans for these later this week - and a Lindt 70% dark chocolate bar..... !!!!!! :) !!!!!!!

Back to the nursing home for a bit, and then I went to catch my train back to Chicago. It was about 3 hours, and I was delighted to finish the book. It was very interesting, albeit perplexing at times.... I will be sure to talk more about the main points of the book once I start posting pix again.... I know I'm like the girl who cried wolf here but that should be tomorrow for sure!!

My sweet husband was nice enough to pick me up from the train stop, drove me home, and after I changed clothes, drove me across town to meet friends Clair and Vanessa for sushi. We found an awesome place in the West Loop - Butterfly Sushi - that was not only a BYOB, but the prices are INSANELY cheap. As in, an order of sushi for $4.00!!! To me this is almost as cheap as those gosh darn Indiana prices, haha. I got 2 California rolls because I always like them, and I wasn't in the mood to get something that may end up being spicey or too fried that I wouldn't enjoy as much. Vanessa supplied the BYOB wine, which was a Beringer muscat that was incredibly sweet but also very light and delicious! I loved the sushi, and even more I loved that Butterfly Sushi gives every table a complimentary dessert - a small cheesecake with fruit compote drizzle - to split! I would definitely recommend this place, and I would go back if it was just a bit closer. I DID take a picture, but the silly flash on my camera is busted so it's impossible to make out the pic. I am reaaaaaaaally craving that iPhone right about now...

Clair and I raved all through dinner about how hilarious The Hangover was, and V hadn't seen it, so we decided to see it after dinner. It was probably not quite as fabulously witty and hilarious the second time around, but part of this may have been that I'm exhausted from that loooooooong train ride and getting up early. I still loved it though! The picture roll at the end of the film is almost as funny as the rest of the movie, so make sure you don't skip out early, whatever you do!

I'm so enthused to sleep in tomorrow!!! The weather also looks great for a run - let's hope it stays that way! :) Goodnight!

iWant an iPhone!!!

Hello readers!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I know I did! :) I know I'm a bad blogger for not posting about Saturday ON Saturday, but I am out of town and it's been tough having internet access.

Yesterday, I woke up bright and early (but not exactly bright-eyed and bushytailed) so that I could get to my 6am running group. When I attended the first training run of the season two Saturdays ago, to my dismay I realized that there were NO bathrooms by our meeting point. This is a problem because as all athletes know, hydration is crucial, especially when you are running long distances and especially when you are in hot and humid Chi-town!!! I also NEED my morning coffee on those 5am days - for the mental boost it gives me, and also, some recent studies have shown that it can actually help with physical performance, as well.

So, how do you down a cup of coffee and an adequate amount of water and not have to use the bathroom, you ask? After pondering this and some of life's other profound questions, I decided to: heat up a couple tablespoons of water, stir in my instant coffee, and chill in the fridge overnight. Then, in the morning, add a splash of soy milk, and there you have it: instant, chilled espresso shot! Ok that was an insanely long paragraph about an espresso shot haha, and for that I apologize. But it really was a great idea, you have to admit ;)

ANYHOO, it ended up being another good run - thank goodness since my last short run was so discouraging due to the heat. I ended up switching into a slighter faster pace group, and I felt a lot more comfortable at that speed so I was happy about that. All of the runners I've met so far have been very cool people, as runners tend to be! :)

After I got back to the condo, I made some waffles for Mike (drizzled with leftover melted walnut brittle - which is essentially walnuts in a caramel sauce mmmmm) - but I just stuck with a Green Monster.

We headed for Indiana, and for lunch at my parent's house I had an awesome caprese sandwich. I LOVE the combo of tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozz together with a bit of EVOO, balsamic, S & P - you really can't beat it! I also had some raspberries on the side. Sheesh, I feel so lame talking about food without showing pictures of it haha, but Saturday was quite a busy day as far as eating goes, so I'll keep talking....

Went to the wedding ceremony which was gorgeous - I've never heard of the color combo of lime green and deep purple, but together it looked very cool and Katie looked gorgeous! It was a full Catholic mass, and afterward we went back home to kill time before the reception.

...and began the process of stretching our stomachs for what was to come.... meaning I had a sip of a bloody Mary but decided it was entirely too boozey and too spicy for me, and then to get rid of the spicy flavor I had FOUR chocolate covered cherries. At least they were small :) And some blue cheese which was delightful as always.

The wedding was also completely studding. Props to the fam of the bride to putting together such an extravagant event!!! I will post some pix once I can. I had a couple apps, some salad (skipped the bread because I knew I would go crazy during the dessert course.... and I sure came through in this department ;) !!) The vegetarian entree was skewered grilled veggies, with a side of more veggies and some potatoes. I then had FOUR pieces of cake (yes, four seemed to be the magic number of the evening ladies and gentlemen) over the course of the evening. I also had a few drinks, mostly just some white wine and some Bailey's on ice!

After we got back, Mike and I were somehow still hungry, as astonishing as that may seem. Soooo I made him his favorite, "nacho surprise", which of course I helped him eat like any good wife would. I also finished off the night right with some of my Grandma's homemade cookies.... I knew they might not be there by the next morning... so I wanted to grab them while they lasted ;)

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SUNDAY:

I woke up naturally feeling the wrath of the night before - not so much the drinking, but the overindulgence of food!! So I went for an hour walk and did some crunches. I would have loved to gotten in a long, sweaty workout at the gym, but I am not a member at the gym in my parent's town so a walk was the only option (I couldn't run since I ran Saturday, and try not to run back-to-back days).

For breakfast, I made a GM, and then made a HUGE batch of guacamole for my lunch today, and also so that I would have enough for tomorrow. I snacked on some of the guac and some red pepper spears while driving with my mom to my grandparent's house, who live about an hour away. We visited my grandmother in the nursing home for a bit - my grandma is having a hard time dealing with having to be away from her house, husband, and cat, but overall she seems to be much healthier thankfully! Here are some pix I found on my grandparent's computer: these were on Thanksgiving of 07 when Mike and I first told my grandparents that we were engaged!!

My grandpa and I left the nursing home to go to my FAVORITE restaurant of all time, The Olive Garden. Ok, ok, I know there is better food out there in the world, but I have loved the OG since I was little and I am always a happy girl to go there! :-) My grandpa and I split an app of stuffed mushrooms (his choosing). They were good, but doused in butter so I just had two tiny ones. We both got the unlimited soup-salad-breadsticks deal, which I took FULL advantage of. I gave my grandpa my soup, only had one breadstick, but had 4-5 bowls of salad!! That stuff is truly like crack. I think the teenage waiter was a bit scared of my voracious appetite for their salad!

Gpa and I headed back to the nursing home for a bit, and now we are back at his house for the night. I am going to be staying with him for a couple days, and I don't have the ability to connect my camera to his comp and don't have wireless for my laptop, which is why I won't be putting any pix up today or tomorrow.

I truly apologize for this because I know you guys like to see pix! However, please bear with me and keep checking back :) I promise to get back to my normal schedule on Tuesday or Wednesday!

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Also, tomorrow don't forget to come back tomorrow for my first posting of the Marathon Monday series!!! :)

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P.S. I REALLY, really want an iPhone!!! I'm desperate to have the wireless internet function wherever I go.

I'm also not happy with the clarity of my camera photos, and I'm hoping the iPhone pix will turn out better. The main features that I want are the camera, wireless internet capability, and a GPS function, which I assume it has.

I haven't done much research yet about this but I think there are a few different types of iPhones out there now - do any of you have one? Which one? Would you recommend it? I'd love to hear some feedback from you guys! Thanks! :)