Beer, Workout, Eat, Repeat.

Hi, friends!

This weekend was an interesting one to say the least… and as I type up this post the Bears are off to a piss poor start, so let’s hope that changes by the time I’m done here.

Friday after work, a group of friends and I had tickets to go to the ‘Lions, Tigers and Brews’ beer festival at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  If you live in Chicago, then you know Friday was just an awful, awful day to be outside.  It was 55 degrees, windy and rainy.  Yuck.  I had a sweater and leather jacket on, but that really was not enough to block the piercing wind while holding a cold beer.  Needless to say, the “festival” was very short lived for me and my crew.  We managed to snag about 3 or 4 beers (the lines were outrageous considering the weather), and visited the lions.

He was the best part of the fest.

The low-key Friday was okay by me because we had ANOTHER beer festival to go to on Saturday, and luckily this one was indoors 🙂

The Chicago Beer Festival was held on Saturday in the Great Hall at Union Station.  There were two sessions you could attend and my friends and I choose the 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. time slot.  Day drinking at it’s finest.

The Great Hall is huge and there were at least 50 different breweries at the event.  Including:

• Lagunitas Brewing
• 3 Sheeps Brewing Co.
• Summit Brewing Co.
• Dark Horse Brewing Co.
• Off Color Brewing
• Finch’s Beer Co.
• Atlas Brewing Company
• Penrose Brewing Company
• Founders Brewing
• Rogue
• Transient Artisan Ales
• Local Option
• Bell’s
• Upland Brewing Co.

… and so much more.

Upon entering the event, we received our ‘tasting’ mugs, which were actually a really decent size for tasting pours!

We took our time pretty much sampling every vendor.  I sampled all kinds of IPA’s, Saisons, Porter’s, Cider’s, etc.

My favorites from the day were:

• P.2 Pale Ale from Penrose Brewing Company
• Really Cool Waterslides IPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing
• Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse BRewing
• Rasberry Ale from Dark Horse Brewing
• en Seine Pearis Saison from Bucket List Brewing

So yummy!  We had an absolute blast at the event – it’s always fun to go with such a great group of people!

After our 4 hours were up, we were HUNGRY (and severely buzzed) so food was in order.  We headed over the Haymarket Brewery, because clearly we had no had enough beer yet, and ate some delicious pizza.

After that Brian and I headed home to let Bailey out and uhhhhh pass out.  🙂

I was up bright and early Sunday morning to immediately start working off all of the beer/pizza that was in my body.

First, a long morning walk with Bailey.

Then, a spin/pump class at Go Cycle courtesy of my ClassPass subscription.  The class I signed up for was called ‘Go Pump’ and was 40 minutes of cycling followed by 20 minutes of weights.  Go Cycle is not just a spin studio, they have lots of other combo classes such as:

• Go Core: 30 minutes of cycling followed by 20 minutes of core
• TRX Training
• TRX Express
• Go Yo: 40 minutes of cycling followed by 20 minutes of yoga
• Go Ripped: Alternating intervals of cycling and weights

My instructor was Sara B. and she was AWESOME!  High energy, tons of fun… she even danced during some songs!  I absolutely loved the class.  I left SUPER sweaty and my booty was on fiiirreee.  I will definitely be going back and can’t wait to try out all the other different types of classes.

Welp, the Bears still aren’t doing good, but it’s only the 2nd quarter.  Here’s hoping they big home the W!

 

 

ClassPass – Fitness at your fingertips

Last week, when I returned from my wild and wonderful vacation, I was offered the opportunity to attend the ClassPass launch party at Flywheel spin studio in the Gold Coast.  ClassPass is a fitness start up that helps people find fitness classes that they love. For $99 a month, you get 10 classes you can use to visit any studio that you want. Some of these studios include:

• Pure Barre
• 105F Bikram
• Atlas Performance
• Bar Method
• Chicago Kettlebell Club
• DHF Lakeview
• Exhale Chicago
• Go Cycle Studio
• South Loop Crossfit
• Core Chicago Pilates
• … and so much more!

Most studios have two or three locations around Chicago, so you can find a class that is close to where you live or where you work.  Currently, ClassPass is available in Chicago, Boston, New York, L.A. and San Francisco.

When I arrived at the launch party, I was informed that the spin class I was supposed to attend was already full!  I’m not going to lie, I was really bummed and a little annoyed until they handed me a sweet swag bag and offered me a free ClassPass monthly trial.

Ummm, okay!  (p.s. not the biggest fan of the hashtag, but the tank top and water bottle are super cute)

Last night, I attended my first class of the month – Pure Barre in Lakeview.

I’ve heard a lot about barre classes and have actually attended one a while back, but knew there was a lot of hype surrounding this specific studio.  I was excited to try something new and nervous at the same time because I knew a lot of the moves require flexibility, and that is just an area I do not excel in 🙂

When I got to the studio, I was immediately greeted by one of the instructors.  The first thing she asked me was, “Is this your first time at Pure Barre?”  A little embarrassed to admit it I replied “yes” and was immediately glad to hear I was not the only one.  The instructor took me around the studio and introduced me to the instructor who would be leading the class.  They showed me what types of equipment I would need and a little bit of what to expect throughout the class.  I was very impressed with how nice and helpful everyone was.

Since the instructors did a good job of engaging me, I decided to go ahead and buy a pair of their signature socks (yes, I’m a sucker for new fitness stuff).

I loved all the fun colors I got to choose from and have to admit that they class would have been a lot harder without them.  The grips on the bottom help you grip to the carpet so you aren’t sliding around during the workout.

Once the class started, I noticed that I guessed the correct attire to wear to class.  Lies – I Google imaged ‘Pure Barre” and saw that everyone in class was wearing some sort of tights and a tank.  I’m a nerd.

Now to the fun part – the class itself.  It was definitely challenging in a way that will probably have an awesome effect on my abs and thighs, but it’s not one of those classes that you leave completely drenched in sweat… unless I was doing everything wrong.

Everything is done in little movements and high repetitions.  After 2 minutes of making the same small, controlled motion you definitely start to feel it… and may even start to shake!  “Shaking is changing”, or so they say!

The class moved at a very fast pace so that I never really got bored or lost focus.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and will definitely go again.  I may, however, pair the class with a run outside or some other type of cardio because I felt like I needed something else to round out the workout.

I’ve already mapped out the other classes I want to try through ClassPass at other studios that are close to me.  I’m really excited to try new things and find out if there is something else out there I could add to my regular routine.

I’ll be sure to let you all know how the rest of my ClassPass experience goes… stay tuned!

 

Quick and Easy Balsamic Salmon

I have exciting news!!!!

 

… That I can’t quite share yet.  Mwahaha.

But let me just say my dinner last night was the bomb.com.  Balsamic Glazed Salmon with a Zesty Broccoli Salad.

The Salmon was so fresh and delicious – wild caught, of course.  WIN!  I used Brittany’s recipe and boy was it so so quick and easy.  You gotta try it!

Happy Hump Day, peeps!

Confession: I am a Sugar Addict

Hi, friends!  I think I’m fully recovered from Mother Nature’s mental breakdown on Monday – the snow and ice has melted and dare I say they are gone for good?  Nope, I won’t say it.

Wednesday Confession:

I’m addicted to sugar.  Yup.  Totally addicted.  And not in the form of cakes, brownies or ice cream.  Candy.  Specifically – sour candy.

Zours (Oh, you don’t know what these are?  Sour Mike n’ Ikes)

Sour Punch Straws

Sour Skittles

Sour Starbursts

Sour Jellybeans

Sour Patch Kids

I could go on, but you get the picture.

I’m a firm believer in making small short term goals and adjusting those goals as necessary.  My goal for January was to drink more water, my goal for February was to be more cognitive of my posture, my goal for March was to include veggies in each meal, and I really dropped the ball on my April goal.  April is not a total bust, however, as I have been working really hard at a goal that has continued over the past two years – strive for a happy and healthy lifestyle.   Sure, sugar is not something you want to eat in excess, but as long as I’m staying true to my lifelong goal I will not feel guilty.

After some initial research, I’ve found some tips on how to curb sugar cravings.  Some of these include adding more of these foods into your daily diet:

• Whole Grains
• Dates
• Squash
• Eggs
• Cinnamon
• Apples
• Avocado

I’ve realized that the days I am craving sugar the most are days when I don’t eat very balanced meals or after a weekend of excessive drinking.

I’ve also read that associating healthy, more satisfying foods with sweet food also helps curb the craving.  For instance, drizzling chocolate almond butter over half a banana or eating plain yogurt with fruit.

So what are my next steps?

1. Remove all candy from my apartment – gulp!
2. Go cold turkey for one week and see how I feel after.

1. Plan alternate behaviors to divert my impending sugar cravings (This means to have back up plans when I know I’m most vulnerable – aka – at work)
2. Do more research on the effect sugar has on the body so I can be well informed.

Are you a sugar addict?  Are you a ‘recovering addict’?  What has helped you?

A Night at Wrigley Field

Good Morning!

We have been having really beautiful days here in Chicago and last night I got to enjoy one of these days outside. GASP.  Yes, outside!

As I mentioned yesterday, one of my coworkers was giving away his Cubs tickets for free and I was the lucky person who snagged them 🙂

After work, I raced home where Brian and Bailey were waiting for me with big smiles.  We decided to make dinner and eat before the game so we wouldn’t overindulge too much at the stadium.  Originally we had salmon and asparagus on the menu, but that didn’t really seem like a good base to go with our beer and alcohol consumption, so we switched to turkey tacos instead.

These hit the spot! All I did was Sautée the ground turkey with some taco seasoning and salsa and it was sooooo yummy.

With our bellies full we headed to Wrigley, which is just a 15 minute walk from my apartment.  My coworker has really good seats – aisle 17 row 9 – right behind home plate.  The sky/view was spectacular.

Before we got settled we b-lined it to the beer tent where Brian got some cold refreshing brews and I opted for the white wine.  I know, who drinks wine at a ballpark, but hear me out.  My favorite ballpark treat is a big bag of salted peanuts and when you pair that with a cold glassd of Pinot Grigio you get the salty sweet effect.  It’s heavenly.

My second favorite ballpark treat is of course the chicago hot dog (off the grill not from the concession).  I was pretty full from my tacos at home and half a bag of peanuts, but it was still really hard to resist a hot dog with all the delicious smells surrounding me.  Cheers to my willpower for the night.

Staying healthy at a ballpark is super difficult so I usually try to eat super clean the whole day leading up to the game so that I don’t go to bed at the end of the night feeling like crap.

That being said, there are definitely ‘better choice’ options that you can opt for.  For instance, choose a grilled brat with all the fixings sans bun over a giant helmet of nachos with neon orange processed cheese.  I saw a bison hot dog last night that looked mighty tasty as well as a pulled pork sandwich!  At Sheffield’s Grill inside Wrigley, the do have a gluten free bun option if you’re on that diet and there are gluten free beer options available at some of the beer tents.

Besides the food being awesome it was also a really fun night… even though the Cubs lost… surprise… surprise 😉