Proud Big Sister

'Lil and I went out to eat tonight to celebrate her 16th birthday. She chose one of her favorite restaurants, Granite City, so I picked her up and off we went. On the way there, she told me she made the cheer squad for wrestling and football for next year, she improved her grade in English, AND she got the job she interviewed for last week! So we had a lot of great reasons to celebrate. And you better believe there was chocolate cake involved :)

Stair Climber

Over the past 2 weeks at work, I've been making a conscious effort to take the stairs up to my training room on the 6th floor as much as possible. That equates to 104 stairs each trip, if I'm counting/remembering correctly. (This doesn't include the stairs up to the 6th floor of the parking ramp) Now, I'm not trying to make it seem as though I'm in amazing shape, but you'd think by running anywhere from 5-9 miles about 3 times a week would help make the climb a little easier but you'd be wrong! For me, at least, I am still out of breath and my legs still burn by the time I hit that 104th step.

Now I'm sure if I climbed stairs for longer than the 2 minutes it probably takes me to climb each time or more often than the 2-3 times per day that I do climb, I'd benefit more from an endurance/health standpoint, but hey, I figure it's better than just letting the elevator do the work every time!

Ocupado

First post in about 2 weeks! Why? My attempt at a few excuses below:

1. New job - I am in the 3rd week of my new job. So far it's going really well. I am learning so much and it's fun to connect the dots between what I knew from my old job to what I need to learn for this one.

2. Moving - I've been busy thinking/looking about where to take up residence next, which has taken some time but I finally found one and am excited to move into my new home.

3. School - Well, okay so this really has nothing to do with me not posting in the past 2 weeks, but I see I never posted about completing my first class. 4 more classes to go but in the mean time, I'm looking forward to spending my summer evenings outdoors, instead of in a classroom.

4. Training - Prepping for Dam to Dam by taking our mileage up a few notches each week. We've got 9 under our belt (well I guess I have 9, Jake has 11 - with an impressive time at that) Although 9 is more than I ran last year prior to the race, I'd like to get in a 10 or 11 miler in before race day.

5. Yoga - Les and I have been enjoying going to Iowa Powered Yoga the past few weeks. Ryan, the instructor, takes a much more relaxed, non-judgmental, and fun approach to Yoga than I've been used to. Attempting "Crow", doing part of the "I'm a Little Teapot" dance, and kicking your legs up so high when, going into a hand stand position, that you feel like you will topple over are just some of the things I've experienced in his classes thus far.

Here's to hoping for a more active blog for the rest of May!

Heart Attack Grill

I heard on the radio yesterday that for the 2nd time in 2 months, someone collapsed while eating at the Heart Attack Grill. I googled it when I got home to check it out further. This place is insane. The menu features such items as the "quadruple bypass burger", consisting of 2 pounds of hamburger and 20, yes, TWENTY slices of bacon and the "butterfat shake" which is advertised as "literally pure cream". Oh and if you weigh over 350 lbs, you eat for free. Yikes. I feel like I need to diet just from reading the menu.

Chimes of Freedom

I'm about 3 months late to the game on this but while checking in on some music blogs, I came to discover the Chimes of Freedom - The Songs of Bob Dylan album that was released in late January. I wouldn't consider myself to be a huge Bob Dylan fan, but there are some fantastic artists on here that do a beautiful job covering his songs. I haven't taken the time to listen to each one, but a few that drew me in include "With God On Our Side" by K'Naan, "Mr Tambourine Man" by Jack's Mannequin, and "Blowin' in the Wind" by Ziggy Marley. You can check out all of the tracks here. $0.59 from each sale of individual tracks and $11.90 from each sale of the album go to Amnesty International USA.

The Bachelorette

Saturday Les had one last "hurrah" as a single girl. We started the party off with a private shower, where we drank Sangria and other wines and indulged in cheese plates, bruschetta, cheesecake stuffed strawberries, cookies, and cake pops. Then we headed off to Trostel's Dish for dinner, where we again indulged - this time over LOTS of tapas like lettuce wraps, arancini, tuna tataki, edamame, mac 'n cheese, sushi, and more. And then we headed downtown to dance techno-style at Lime Lounge.

It was such a fun evening and I was so happy to be celebrating with my bestie (who was looking hot, btw!) You can view some non-incriminating photos on flickr :)

Camry-Toe

Colbert Report is one of the best shows on television. I usually don't get to watch when it's on at night because I'm already asleep, but every now and then I'm able to catch the re-run. Today I was crying I was laughing so hard during the opening segment. I highly recommend watching this entire clip, but if you don't have time, at least watch from about 2:18 - 2:50. Hilarious.

The Colbert Report
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