If you like Pina Coladas…

Good morning, friends!

Happy belated Father’s Day to all the dads out there – what a great weekend to celebrate 🙂  I have to say, things have been a little crazy around here and I obviously have not had much time to put together a post to share.  This past Friday, I spent the day with my sister and mom out in the suburbs to celebrate their school year being over and to enjoy the beautiful sunshine.  We spent hours chatting by the pool and enjoying a couple skinny pina coladas.  I found this recipe via Carrots N’ Cake a while back and love drinking it whenever it’s hot out:

Skinny Pina Colada

by: Carrots N’ Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Coconut Run
• 5 oz coconut water
• 2 oz pineapple juice

Directions:

1. Combine ingredient in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake and strain into a glass filled with ice.
3. Drink and enjoy!

Makes 1 cocktail

Kristan and I headed back into the city shorty after dinner to rest up for the big day on Saturday.  As you all know, I have been participating in a charity flag football league called Blondes vs. Brunettes for the past couple of months and Saturday was our big game day!  To fuel up for the match at 2:00 p.m., Kristan, Brian and myself headed to my favorite Brunch spot in Chicago – Tweet!  Tweet is located in the ‘Uptown/Edgewater’ neighborhood and is one of the first places Brian and I ever went together.

We each ordered one cocktail… just to wet our whistle 😉

And enjoyed a delicious and filling brunch.

Country Benedict sans sauce for me!

We at breakfast around 10:00 a.m., so there was plenty of time to fully digest before running laps and pulling flags on the field.  We ALSO had time to squeeze in a walk with Bailey along the lakeshore path.

Such a beautiful day.

Before I knew it, it was time to get my gear on and head out the door.  This was my third year participating in BvB and each year we luck out on AMAZING weather.

The blondes ended up winning this match, but the brunettes raised the most money which makes us the true winners in the fight against Alzheimer’s 🙂

The fun did not stop on the field, after the match both the blondes and the brunettes headed to Sheffield’s to enjoy a couple of beers in celebration of the hard work everyone put in to the season.  And as if the day was not already jam packed enough, Brian and I had to duck out of the party early to attend a dinner party at my friend Lauren’s apartment!  Lauren and her roommate served a bunch of delicious Mexican eats and included a cocktail hour on their roof that provided some spectacular views.

Needless to say, I woke up Sunday morning both extremely full and sore.  I was very happy to hear that my Father wanted to spend his special day relaxing at home by the pool because that is exactly what the doctor ordered.  It was another awesome weekend in the books!

Victory tastes so SWEET

Good Morning!

I trust you all had a good weekend – the weather here in Chicago was AWESOME – perfect for the first weekend of summer.

The happenings: FOOD

Taco Bars and Fresh Pineapple

Mashed Hard Boiled Eggs (am I the only one who mashes them?)

Picnics by the Lake – Turkey Sandwiches and Goat Cheese Salads

Spicy Shrimp and Quinoa

I managed to stay relatively healthy during the weekend except for some over indulgent Mexican food Saturday evening 😉  This was due in part because the BRUNETTES won our charity flag football game!

The happenings: ACTIVITIES

The win was long overdue as the blondes had held the title for the past two years.  Saturday was a great day for football, much better than the 100 degree weather we had to play in last year.  The game consisted of four 15 minute quarters which literally flew by – I honestly can’t remember what the final score was but I know it was really close!

Post game – we all headed over to the Fireplace Inn in Old Town with our family and friends to celebrate.

Victory tastes so good!

Sunday was definitely a recovery day… it took a whole lot of strength to get out of bed before 10:00 a.m.  I had no real desire to do anything too active that day, but the weather was so beautiful I couldn’t waste it inside.  Brian and I decided to head over to the lake and enjoy the sunshine with a picnic!  We made a few stops along the way including – Pastoral – my favorite picnic shop in Lakeview.  I grabbed a delicious Turkey sandwich and salad to go accompanied by some champagne and orange juice to help fuel the recovery 🙂

There were tons of people out by the lake – and lot’s of dogs too!  Bailey made a few friends and was exhausted by the time we left from all of the running around.

The evening ended with a quick 5 mile run that was supposed to be more like 9, but was interrupted by some intense rain.  I personally run with my iPhone and really hate the arm bands because they are not comfortable on me.  Because of this, I was fearful that my phone would get wet and I really don’t have the $$ to go buy a new one 🙂  I guess I didn’t really realize it was supposed to storm, otherwise I would have brought a cover for my phone and it wouldn’t have been an issue.  Oh well.  Lesson learned – and I was still really sore from the game anyways!

Cheers to a productive work week!!

Bru Cru Team Party

Hey Y’all!

I’m in such a great and happy mood!! Why? Because my Blondes vs. Brunettes game is TOMORROW!  3 months of practice has lead to this day and I hope that my team is able to come out victorious.

Last night was our annual Brunette aka “Bru Cru” team party.  One of my teammates hosted it in the backyard of her condo and it was such a perfect evening for it.  The party was potluck themed and we all always bring way too much food to finish.  Burgers, brats and hot dogs are thrown on the grill, but the shining stars are always the desserts – of course!  I brought a delicious salad to the party that had arugula, feta, pomegranates and a lemon vinaigrette.  I got the recipe from one of my closest family friends who I think adapted it from a Giada recipe.

It’s always a crowd pleaser and so simple to throw together!  I buy the pomegranate seeds that are pre-seeded from Trader Joe’s so there is not messy prep.

Another tradition at the Bru Cru party is giving out coaches “Thank You” gifts.  This year we got them sweet flat rim hats that had the word “Bru” stitched in the middle.

Plus, their favorite bottle of alcohol.  Pretty sweet deal!

After the gifts were given and our bellies were full, the team made a poster for game day that we are going to run through when we step onto the field.  I really hope that the poster rips and we don’t look like fools try to run through it 🙂

And last, but certainly not least, the good ol’ tradition of the blonde piñata.

I think you can understand where this goes 🙂

If any of you are in the Chicago area and have nothing to do Saturday during the day – stop by our game!  Here are the deets:

What: Blondes vs. Brunettes (BvB) Flag Football game for the Alzheimer’s Association

When: Saturday, June 22nd – 1:00 p.m.

Where: North Ave. Turf Field between Stockton and LaSalle

Why: Because it’s for a good cause and I said so!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Guacamole Quinoa Salad

Great news!  Bailey is feeling much better, so whatever bug was in her stomach has passed.

Yesterday felt like a very long day.  I ended up going home during my lunch hour to check on Bailey and make sure she was comfortable.  I didn’t have much time to make lunch so I whipped up a quick egg wrap.  This wrap consisted of 1 whole wheat tortilla, 1 egg + 1 egg white scrambled, 1 tbs. shredded low fat mozzarella cheese and 1 tbs. of pico de gallo.  Although I inhaled this due to time constraints, it did manage to keep me full throughout the rest of the day.

After work, I was supposed to attend my first Blondes vs. Brunettes Tackling Alzheimer’s Disease (BvB) flag football practice, but it was cancelled due to the rain!  BvB is a charity league I got involved in last year where women put their game faces on for a flag football fundraiser which benefits the Alzheimer’s Association.  We have practice about twice a week starting now until our big game day in June.  If you want to find out more about BvB and how you can get involved feel free to visit our webpage!  It is a great event for a great cause and it adds good cross-training to my workout schedule each week.

I am obviously on the Brunettes team and we are looking to revenge our loss last year!  There are no tryouts, so if you would like to join either team you can email our co-chairs using the contact information from the webpage.  Not only do I get a great workout from practices and the games, but I have met a lot of great women through the organization and we host a lot of fun happy hours and events!

Team photo from last year – can you spot me?

Since practice was cancelled, I decided that Tuesday would be my “rest” day… but made sure to stretch a lot so that my muscles could keep recovering from my previous workout.

On the menu for dinner was Jalapeno Chicken Sausage with Guacamole Quinoa Salad.

Guacamole Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 Limes
• 1 heaping cup of halved cherry tomatoes (some quartered depending on size)
• 1 chopped bell pepper
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 cup dry quinoa – rinsed
• 1 tsp. Cayenne pepper – more if you like yours hot 🙂
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa according to package – I usually cook 1 cup dry quinoa to 2 cups water
2. While quinoa is cooking, chop bell pepper, garlic, cherry tomatoes and avocado
3. Halve each lime and squeeze 1/2 lime over diced avocado pieces
4. Add chopped garlic to quinoa once halfway cooked and stir well
5. Once quinoa is full cooked, fluff with a fork – add the bell pepper, tomatoes, juice of the remaining lime halves, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and stir.
6. Gently fold in avocado pieces
7. Top with protein of your choosing and enjoy! (We chose Jalapeno Chicken Sausage for extra spice!)

We ended our evening with a cool and refreshing coconut water Popsicle.  So delicious!

Time for work – Bon Appetit!