Flank Steak and Caprese Salad: Meal Planning Win

Good Morning!

I’ve seem to develop some sort of summertime cold.  Don’t you just hate those?  Is it allergies?  An actual cold?  A sinus infection?  Who knows?!  I seem to always make it through the winter without getting a cold, but come summertime it always hits me.

I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home yesterday as Bailey’s battle wound (hornet, read yesterday’s post) had not really shown improvement and I wanted to be able to monitor it and talk to the vet about what to do.  Brian calls me the ‘helicopter mom’, which is fine.  When a giant – liquid-filled mass forms on my babygirl, I’m going to be worried!  Plus, this is the first time this has happened and I just want to make sure we were doing the right thing.  FYI, if your dog ever has an allergic reaction to a bee or hornet sting, benedryl and ice will do the trick.

Speaking of Bailey… this weekend Brian and I received something truly awesome from my sister’s boyfriend.

A gorgeous painting!  A while back, I asked if he would consider painting a picture of her and when he agreed he made sure to keep it a surprise the whole time.

Well, we couldn’t be happier with the picture he chose and wasted no time hanging it in our living room.  Love that face.

Last night, among a bunch of different errands, I managed to find my way to the grocery store to stock up for this week.

Meal Plan

Monday: Flank Steak and Caprese Salad

Tuesday: Sweet Potato Hash with Friend Eggs

Wednesday: Turkey Wraps with Salad

Thursday:  Bourbon Glazed Chicken and Quinoa

Friday: Wing It

Saturday: Company Picnic/Leftovers

Sunday: Spaghetti Arrabiata

Into my shopping cart went:

• Tomatoes (3)
• Sweet Potatoes (2 medium)
• Bell Pepper
• Lettuce
• Avocado
• Thyme
• Basil
• Jalapenos (3)
• Corn (2)
• Peaches (2)
• Chicken Breast (1 lb.)
• Flank Steak (1 lb.)
• Turkey Deli Meant (1/2 lb.)
• Greek Yogurt (4 individual sized)
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Organic Eggs
• Chicken Stock
• Frozen Pizza
• Hibiscus Lemonade
• Chicken Noodle Soup (Boxed variety)
• Frozen Fruit

Grand Total: $80.49 – Anything under $100 is a win in our household!  Meal planning is the best.

The rest of the evening was spent cooking this delicious summer meal.

(If you’ve never cooked flank steak before: Season your steak with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Set your grill to medium high and grill each side for 5 minutes for medium rare.  LET THE MEAT REST for 10 minutes before slicing up portions against the grain and voila!)

Playing ‘Heads Up’!  Note to self: Brian does not get song references.

And watching cute dog videos.

It was an awesome night!

Summer Fun

Hello!  Hello!

What a crazy/fun summer weekend we just had.

There were birthday celebrations with tacos and STRONG margaritas.

Family before picture:

Family after picture:

🙂

There were picnics by the lake:

and hornet stung faces (my baby!)

There was lots of walking, and running, and skipping, and hopping.

Brial shower attending.

and of course… lots of eating.

That’s what summer weekends are made of.

Vacay in the Burbs

It’s Monday already? Humpf.

This weekend went by way too fast, like they all do, but it was one of the best weekends I’ve had in a while.

Friday night I took a much needed night off. No plans, no errands… just me my couch, a glass of wine and my two roomies. We ended up watching the movie ‘Lone Survivor’ with Marky Mark and it was a lot more intense than I had originally thought it would be. Needless to say, my dreams were verrrry interesting that night.

Saturday morning we slept in and causally made breakfast.

We’ve been on a real buying-coffee in the morning fix, so it was really nice to break out the espresso machine and have a smooth hot cup.

The only real plan on the agenda was yoga at noon, so I had plenty of time to relax and tiddy up before heading over.

It has been way too long since I’ve visited my yoga studio. My hips, calves , quads…. Basically the lower half of my body has been so tight from all of the running I’m surprised I’ve made it this long without it. The class was a standard vinyasa class but the flow moves that were incorporated into our workout were so beautiful. I really enjoyed the class, it was both challenging and peaceful.

When I got out of the class, I had a text from my friend Lauren who wanted to go out to one of the festivals that were going on in the area. I was in, so I went home to shower and make lunch before heading over.

Side note: I have been craving green crunchy grapes all day, everyday.  I can go through an entire bag in one day.

Before heading to the Fest, we enjoyed some drinks on Lauren’s roof and made our way over to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner.  In all honesty, we actually RAN to the Mexican restaurant because I giant storm cloud was chasing us.  As soon as we stepped foot through the door, the heavens opened up and it started down pouring.  When we were done with dinner, the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful summer night – perfect unintentional timing on our end.

We made it to the festival in time to see one of our favorite college bands play – Sixteen Candles – and of course enjoy a delicious glass of sangria.

 

Sunday we were up bright and early to flee the East Lakeview area before PRIDE festivities began.  I’ve lived in the Lakeview/East Lakeview area for the past four years and have had my fair share of PRIDE parade, so we decided to mix it up and “vacation” out in the suburbs.  Brian, Bailey and I met my sister and her boyfriend, Jason before noon so that we could head over to the local forest preserve and get in a nice 3 mile jog through the woods.

It was such a perfect day, and Bailey was really loving the change of scenery.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool.

I’m really going to miss this when my parents move away to North Carolina.  Lately, I’ve been traveling out to their house more and more to fit in my final memories with my childhood home.

This was a crazy week…

You guys… this was an insane week for me.  Did I hide it well?

Brian has been away all week in New York City for work – I didn’t mention this before because I don’t want you creeps to come stalk me in the night!

Kidding.

May was a wee bit of an expensive month for the Hanson-Steigerwalt household, so we decided to opt out of hiring a dog walker and let me take care of it.  This meant that I would have to take an ‘extended lunch’ everyday so that I could come home let Bailey out, stuff my face with food and go back to work.  Simple, right?

Getting to my apartment to do all of the above and get back to work in 1.5 hours was an act of god I tell yah.  I literally had just enough time to let her out and then literally inhale whatever was in my fridge.

This brings me to my next crazy item… my meals this week.  So Brian skipped town and didn’t really pitch in for groceries which would mean that I would pay for a haul for the third week in a row and I was not having that.  Being the stubborn person that I am, I decided to just wing it this week with items in my pantry and freezer.  Well my friends, this lead to some real interesting meal choices:

– Popcorn and wine for dinner (yes, I pulled an Olivia Pope)

– Salads with random lunch meat, corn and leftover quinoa

– Two slices of Ezekiel bread with marinara, microwaves – yes, I said that – then sprinkled with fresh basil and parmesan.  Aka desperate pizza.

My one meal that really turned out well was last nights dinner.  I had the following ingredients on hand:

– Whole wheat spaghetti

– Fresh garlic

– Butter

– Fresh Basil

– White wine

– Parmesan cheese

– Frozen brussel sprouts

– Olive oil

– Balsamic vinegar

Looks like a dynamite pasta dish to me!  I roasted the brussel sprouts in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes and they were perfection.  Do you know the secret to roasting vegetables?  Season them AFTER roasting.  If you season them before roasting it will draw out all the moisture and you won’t get that golden brown caramelization you are looking for.  I cooked the whole wheat pasta al dente and make a quick sauce using the rest of the ingredients above.  Delicious and filling 🙂

On the activity side this week, I succeeded in staying BUSY BUSY BUSY –

Monday – BvB practice

Tuesday – Morning run

Wednesday – Morning run and Tone It Up! workout – Dinner with friends (p.s. did you know it was Negroni week? – love it!)

Thursday – Practice, Evening walk with Bailey

Friday – Morning run

Phew.  Pour me a glass of wine, please!  I have really loved having the apartment to myself all week, but can’t wait to get back to my normal cooking and work routine.  In hindsight, hiring a dog walker would have made my life 10 times easier and less stressful.  Also, popcorn and wine is an amazing dinner.  Don’t hate.

Have a great weekend!

Breakfast of Champions

Hello, Hello!

I hope you all had a nice weekend… mine went by too fast!

Saturday morning, I was up bright and early for no real reason other than the fact that I just could not go back to bed.  I tidied up the kitchen and living room a bit while Brian and Bailey slept soundly and even took the time to make myself protein pancakes.  After breakfast, I took advantage of my energy and went on a 5 mile run outside.  It was a BEAUTIFUL morning in Chicago and there were a ton of other runners out on the path with me.

I was a little nervous going into my run considering the fact that I had been out of commission for almost two weeks due to illness and travel.  I decided to ditch my watch and Nike app and just enjoy the run for what it was and that is exactly what I did.

When I got home, Brian was awake and suggested a walk with Bailey to go get coffee and stop by the farmer’s market.

Our walk was great, but of course right as we got halfway to the market the clouds started rolling in making it much chillier than it was on my run.  Nevertheless, we journeyed on.

For obvious reasons, the produce selection was not very strong.  There was lots of asparagus, fresh herbs, carrots and potatoes, but that summer produce we all know and love had not made it’s appearance yet.

I did enjoy some samples of some homemade pickles and oooed and ahhhed at the pretty flower presentations.

Although I only walked away with one item, I was happy that our morning was so active and that Bailey got in a good four mile walk.

That evening, I met up with a some of my college girlfriends to celebrate a girlfriend of mine’s birthday.  The night was spent eating delicious homemade pizza, drinking lots of vino and dancing the night away.  None of which I took any pictures of, of course.

I was pretty good about sleeping in on Sunday, minus the brief coughing attack I had at 6:00 a.m.  The only to-do item for the day was to replace my car’s battery and then drive it up to the burbs so that it could get serviced at my Subaru dealership.  Brian and I took our time in the morning and went on another walk to grab coffee with Bailey.

While in Starbucks, I had a stroke of genius idea to grab one of their multigrain bagels and create a breakfast sandwich for us when we got home.

I toasted the bagel in the oven and added some cheddar cheese to melt right on top.  I topped the cheesy bagel with scrambled eggs and turkey bacon and tadaaaa!

Breakfast of champions.

Speaking of champions…

I know you all are DYING to know what our challenges were for day two and three of kFit’s Chase Corporate Challenge Week!

Day TWO was – Running Trivia! – Exercise your mind 🙂

Here were the questions:

1. Who was the first man to run a mile in exactly 4 minutes?
2. Who won the 2014 Boston Marathon?
3. In what month is the Chicago Marathon?
4. On average, how many steps do professional runners take per minute?
5. Who is the Greed goddess of running?
6. What is the average exercise life of a running shoe in miles?
7. What year were women first allowed to officially enter the Boston Marathon?
8. What is four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodger’s favorite pizza topping?
9. What running event is being held in Chicago at Grant Park on May 22nd, 2014?
10. What animal is considered the fastest land animal?

SPOILER ALERT: Answer’s are at the end of this post!

DAY THREE was- Team Circuits

• 10 burpees
• 15 push-ups
• 20 situps

Each person had to complete the above exercises in a row, time them and then average everyone on their team’s time together.

Ta Ta for now!!

Trivia Answers:

1. Derek Ibbotson
2. Meb Keflezighi
3. October
4. 185-200 steps were accepted
5. Atalanta
6. 300 – 400 Miles were accepted
7. 1972
8. Mayo
9. Chase Corporate Challenge
10. Cheetah or Mite were accepted

Rest Days & Meal Plans

Happy Monday, friends!

This past weekend was relaxing and eventful all in one.

Friday, right after work, Brian, BAILEY and I headed out to the suburbs for our monthly Supper Club dinner.  This month’s theme was: ‘Small Plates, Big Pours.’

Our friends Cassie and Kevin did an awesome job hosting and providing plates after plates after plates of delicious food.

And wine!

Some of my favorites were the mini chicken and fish tacos:

How adorable are the little clothes pins that are holding them all together?

I also enjoyed the caprese skewers, fresh fruit plate, chimichurri beef bites and meatball sliders (I obviously was not a very good Catholic on Friday).

Some of you may be wondering, where was Bailey?  Well, Kevin and our friend Lauren are allergic to dogs, so we found an awesome dog friendly hotel 8 minutes from their apartment.  We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Lombard/Downers Grove and it was such a great stay.  First of all, as a dog owner, I find it really difficult to find nice dog friendly hotels and I honestly could not believe how friendly everyone was when we walked right into the reception area.

The hotel had an indoor pool, fitness center and a restaurant that was attached – not that we needed to eat while we were there!

Bailey had no problem making herself at home.

I don’t really understand why more hotels do not have ‘dog friendly’ levels or suites, but alas that is a different topic for another post.

Saturday was a REALLY REALLY lazy day.  We basically just snuggled up on the couch and watched movies/played with Bailey.  The only productive thing we did was take care of a friends dog at night while they were out of town.

Late night walks in the city are the best.

Sunday was much more productive!  I spent the majority of the morning cleaning up the house – I’m talking a deep clean of the kitchen and major dusting of the dining room.  I plan on finishing up the second half of the apartment today or tomorrow.

Around 3:00 p.m., Brian and I decided to take full advantage of the gorgeous weather and hit the town!  I stopped by a few places and got some necessities for our upcoming Hilton Head Island trip:

New Sandals – Check

Maxi Dresses Galore – Check

I also bought a new pair of running shoes!

Welcome to the Mizuno family 🙂

After some shopping, we realized how hungry we were and checked out Woodie’s Flat in Old Town.  It was our first time going there, but we knew it would be a hit once we saw a sign for $3 mimosas, $5 bloody mary’s and $3 fireball shots/. #winning

We split an order of the grilled buffalo wings while I opted for the Southwest Chicken Salad as my main entree.

The salad was HUGE and so so delicious.

As you may have noticed by now, my weekend did not include any running.  I mentioned last week that my knee was hurting me a little and I that was no joke.  I’m not really sure what happened or how it occurred, but it definitely felt like some kind of pull or strain.  I decided not to mess with it and took a much needed three days of rest, but full of lots and lots of stretching.  I am happy to say that I woke up this morning pain-free and am eager to go on a LIGHT jog OUTSIDE this afternoon 🙂

Most important rule: Listen to your body

And yes, I said outside!  It’s 50 degrees here in Chicago, which will be followed by 1 to 2 inches of snow on Wednesday.  GROAN.

Meal and Fitness Plans for the Week:

Monday: 3 Mile Jog + Strength; Turkey Tacos and Salad

Tuesday: 35 minute tempo + Quads Circuit; Grilled Salmon and Haricot Verts

Wednesday: Soccer Playoffs!; Toasted Open Faced Egg Sandwiches

Thursday: 4 Mile Run; Garbage Salads

Friday: Rest; Dinner at my parents – Shrimp!

Saturday: Punk the Monk 5k Trail Run; St. Patty’s Day Celebration in Chicago – Wing it!

Sunday: Yoga; Spaghetti Squash Bake

I love having the time to plan out my week!

Dinner Booze Dinner

Good Morning, Good Morning!

It’s 48 degrees out right now!  This may be something crazy to be excited over, but it feels like heaven compared to the bitter cold we’ve been experiencing these past few days.

Yesterday after work, I met Brian at our local Binny’s so that we could stock up on some booze for the winter.  If you are a Binny’s fan like me, you should know that they are having some ridiculously awesome sales right now when you use your Binny’s card.  Needless to say, we went a little crazy.

If you can’t tell we are big fans of the Hendricks.  Also, we stocked up on some of our mixers including the various San Pellegrino flavors.  These are so delicious to mix with tequila!

Brian and I are having a couple friends over for dinner this weekend so we wanted to make sure there were good choices for whatever people’s tastes are.  After we put everything away, we went over the menu so that I can prep for a big grocery trip after work today.  What are we making?  I’ll tell yah!

Appetizers:

-Good stinky cheese

-Fresh torn baguette

-Herbed Shrimp

-Salad with arugula and pomegranate arils

Main:

-Coq Au Vin with herbed noodles

-More fresh torn baguette to soak up the delicious juices

Dessert:

-Homemade chocolate mousse with fresh berries

You may or may not have detected a bit of a theme, I was really trying to bring my Paris memories back to life.

This dinner is the first of many festive dinners to come.  Remember that life is all about balance and doing what you love.  I love to eat and I love to drink, so to counter this passion I will definitely be hitting up the gym early in the morning!  I still need to figure out what kind of ‘side’ I will be bringing to my parents Thanksgiving dinner.  Last year, I brought Ina Garten’s Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette and it was a major hit.  Honestly, Thanksgiving is not my favorite meal of the year.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh turkey – especially my dad’s smoked turkey – but the ‘traditional’ sides are kinda unappetizing to me.  Why would someone make a green bean casserole when you can have fresh crisp green beans with drizzled olive oil, lemon juice and crumbled goat cheese one top.  Doesn’t that sound better, or is it just me?

I know, it’s just me.  My stomach doesn’t do well with cream, milk or a lot of butter – which pretty much everything Thanksgiving side dish has… hence why Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday.  I do, however, enjoy leftover turkey sandwiches, watching massive amounts of football and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade!

Back to my original thought, any suggestions on a delicious fresh side that does not involve lots of cream, milk or butter?!  Yesterday I checked out Kath’s recent post over at Kath Eats Real Food and thought that her Ultimate Fall Wheatberry Salad might be a winner.  Here is the tricky part though… my dad doesn’t like fruit.  Ha!  Back to the drawing board…

Time to chill with Bailey and eat some tacos.

Blogging and Da Bulls

I realize while writing this blog post that I smell and should probably not be sitting on this nice new couch I bought for myself.  Now that it’s fall, it is so cold when I get out of the shower that I try and delay it as much as possible after a nice workout – gross? Probably.

Annnyyways.

I headed to the gym after work yesterday and was not really in the mood to do so.  I had friends left and right going to bars to watch the bulls game, that I had to shut down my inner FOMO (fear of missing out) in order to walk through the gym door.

Due to the Halloweenie season, my candy intake has raised quite a bit so the gym was a must – no excuses.  P.s. those Skittles/Nerds/Laffy Taffy/Sweet Tart combo bags really get me.  I can pass up a Reese’s or Twix Bar any day, but that sour/sweet combo is too hard to resist sometimes.  Gah.

I ran a brisk three miles on the treadmill followed by an intense thigh-focused workout:

Wowza – that was a good one and required lots and lots of stretching before I left.

On my way to the bus, I stopped by Treasure Island to pick up some of my favorite Larabar flavors.  FYI – of all the grocery stores in Chicago, they always have the best selection.  Pretty much every single flavor, except they have been out of the seasonal flavors – Pumpkin Pie and Snickerdoodle.  Bummer.

I loaded up on Key Lime Pie, Lemon Bar and the best ever – Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte.

Yum.  These bars are great for breakfast or even dessert!  Most of the bars are made with 5 ingredients or less.  For instance, the Key Lime Pie bars contain dates, cashews, almonds, unsweetened coconut and lime juice.  Their Banana Bread bar only contains dates, almonds and bananas – great ingredients and an even better taste.

When I got home from the gym, Brian already had dinner waiting for me!  Twas an excellent surprise!

Chicken Asada with quinoa, sliced avocado and fresh squeezed lemon juice.  I was STARVING and inhaled this in less than five minutes.

This brings us to my present time right now.  Blogging, belly full and watching the Bulls game.

With this little stinker.

I’m reading my usual evening blogs and stumbled across Monica’s blog which is featuring an awesome fall challenge – “Pile on the Miles.’  Her annual event challenges her readers to walk or run more during the month of November.  The goal?  To pile on miles instead of piling on pounds before the holiday season begins.  I am all for challenges and for extra motivation to get me to the gym, so I decided to sign up with a goal of 100 miles throughout the month of November.  Can I dominate this challenge?  Sure I can!

The question is, will you?

Halloween Celebrations

Hello there, friends.  It’s been a little while, eh?

I had such a relaxing weekend… It’s a shame how fast the weekend go by even if I take my time to appreciate every last moment.

Friday night was spent on the couch.  The whole night.  As I mentioned last week, it was a crazy work week and I was completely exhausted.  A few friends had asked if I wanted to get dinner or drinks, but the only thing I wanted to do was to lay down and chill out.  I lit my pumpkin spiced candle, moved my giant comforter from my bedroom to the couch and did not move.

The next morning, Brian and I woke up rather early for a Saturday and decided to take a walk and crab some coffee. After coffee, I walked to my car and headed out to the suburbs.  My cars tire pressure light had been coming on often, even after putting air in the tire, so I figured there was some kind of leak.  My mother suggested I take it to NTB to get it checked out and so I decided to come out to the suburbs so I could spend some time with my mom – and because I had a dentist appointment scheduled. Yuck.

The best part about going home?  There is always good food in the house.

Bam. Breakfast.

After breakfast and some catching up we headed out to NTB which was conveniently located next to a Home Goods store 🙂  We had no problem passing the time as the customer service agent said he needed an hour or so to test out all the tires.

Home Goods is like Target.  You go in wanting one thing and come out $100 in the hole.

My finds for the day?

– Brown Betsy Johnson Boots

– Cupcake Pans and Bread Loaf Pans (Yup, I did not own any of those – seriously. I didn’t.)

– Ramekins (They are so cute and blue)

– A serving tray (What entertaining set is complete without that!)

I don’t even remember what I was looking for in the first place… napkins?  Guess I’ll have to go again another day 😉

Once the car was all fixed – I did not have to buy new tires, thank goodness – we headed back home before I had to go to the dentist.

After my cleaning was finished, the hygienist tried to get me to schedule a sealant treatment.  She explained what it was and all the benefits, but I asked if I could get a price print out before I left.  Well I’m glad as hell that I did because the “treatment” was going to cost over $500!!! Say what?! Are you nuts Mrs. Hygienist?  I’m 25 do you think I’m some kind of billionaire who can pay for a $500 elective dental procedure whenever I feel like it?  Uh – No.

So she struck out with that sale.  5 seconds later, she told me that she was going to give me a fluoride treatment that didn’t cost anything extra, but the Dr. recommended it for adult patients.  Okay – harmless.  She then proceeded to give me a notecard full of do’s and don’ts after getting the fluoride, one of which included no drinking alcohol for SIX HOURS.  Okay, okay, I’m no alcoholic but it was Saturday Night of Halloween weekend… I mean c’mon.

Also, I knew I was going to get drinks that night because Brian had run the Fleet Feet Pumpkin 5k and reached his corporate wellness goal of running it under 9:30 min/miles!  His wellness plan was that he needed to run a 10k and finish, run a 5k in under 9:30 min/miles and finish a spartan race – which is this coming weekend!  Once all of those are complete he receives a pretty awesome incentive – $$$$.

To celebrate, Brian, Lauren and I went out for food and drinks starting at Burger Bar – Uncle Julio’s for some tequila and then ending our night at Burwood Tap.  We did not dress up this year (I will be on the actual day!), however, we had more than enough fun “people watching” at Burwood where they were holding a costume contest.  Some people got really creative!

When Brian and I first starting dating we used to always go out to Burwood Tap for their pool table and free popcorn.  Our good friend Imtiaz would also most likely be there with us and the night always ended at Angelas for a steak burrito.  Imtiaz has since moved to the Big Apple, so we pay homage to the great Mexican joint and found their last Halloween picture up on the wall.

Like a kid in a candy store.

The rest of the weekend was so relaxing and fun.  Our Sunday consisted of lots of walking outside.

Followed by a short run

My favorite part about this map is the spot where you can tell that it was WAY to windy to be running along the lake, so I made a quick turnaround.

For dinner, I set the table for fall (Yes, I need to iron my table runner).

And made a delicious Cabernet pot roast with sweet potatoes.

It hit the spot.

Cold Walks with Bailey

Hello, Friends!

Brrrrrr, it was extremely hard to get out of bed this morning.  Our old school radiators have just turned on keeping us nice and warm – not even Bailey hops out of her bed when I say the word ‘walk’ – SHOCKER.

I feel bad for Bailey during the cold months because it clearly becomes harder and harder for me to muster up the strength to give her a good walk when it is 30 degrees and windy (we do live right next door to the lake, people).

So last night I decided to give her a good walk before the nights take a turn for the worse – I had left something at one of my best friend, Kaitlin’s, house a couple weeks ago so it was a perfect excuse to get out – other than the fact that Bailey needed a walk 😉  Even though the air was cold, there were still a lot of people out and about last night enjoying themselves.  Bailey and I took our time on our walk to stop and smell…

The leaves.

But in all seriousness, we don’t walk the route to Kaitlin’s very often so Bailey just HAD to stop at every tree and see who had been there.

Once we arrived, Bailey made herself right at home sitting on Kaitlin’s lap and enjoying the view from her couch.

(Not allowed in my house!)

When we got back home, I was going to complete a video circuit from Tone It Up, but I was still pretty tight from my 4 mile run on Tuesday followed my favorite abs workout.

I decided just to stretch and relax.  Plus make some dinner –

Shrimp and salad. Done and done.

Lately I’ve been getting bit by the racing bug and really want to sign up for my next Half Marathon because I … dare I say … miss training.  Rather, I miss what my quads looked like when I was training!  Some of the half’s that are in Chicago have not released their 2014 date and I know that I don’t want to run another mid-July half.  Anyone have any fun suggestions for something in Late April/May or early June?