Working for the weekend!

Another weekend, another very busy schedule for me! Saturday after my run I had to get to work for our end of the year show and late luncheon. My coworkers and I had a little too much fun wearing the costumes after our students left.

You know you’re with preschool teachers when they wear these bomb accessories into public, down a street fair, and to the nice Italian restaurant for the school luncheon. 

But we look damn cute doing it! The luncheon was so much fun (I had to miss last year’s for a previously planned trip) and I really enjoyed spending an afternoon eating, drinking, and laughing with the greatest coworkers on the planet. 

My pasta dinner could have served 193 people and everyone at my table that was too silly to ask for it had to try it once (or six times). There’s also an auction and raffle each year and it was really the highlight of the afternoon. My entire school is clearly competitive with each other and everyone got way more into it than we probably should have. 

Fun fact: I usually don’t win anything for long periods of time and then win big. Like senior year of high school when I won a mini fridge. Or today, when I won this Polish rite of passage:

and a bottle of wine! I think there was some sort of lucky streak going on at my table because nearly everyone won something. And Joanne won 4 times (including the two bottles of wine she’s displaying in the blurry picture)

Overall it was a beautiful Saturday spent with some very inspiring and wonderful coworkers! What a way to “end” the year!

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Sunday: almost as busy as Saturday, but just as fun! I got to spend the early part of the morning relaxing, eating a great breakfast, and watching some quality TV (Food Network. The Pioneer Woman is amazing.)

Look familiar? It’s my ubiquitous yogurt bowl from this past week. Finished up the strawberries today so you’re probably spared from more of these shots for a while until I buy more groceries Tuesday. And I also finished up this beautiful jar of peanut butter. Prepare for an extreme close up.

(I warned you)

I had plans with my friend Jeff in the afternoon and, while I was waiting for him, the hunger bug struck again. I pulled out my newest favorite savory snack. YUM

The other day Jeff and I made plans to do some “Super Chicago” things and decided to visit a few museums on this gorgeous day! We first went to the Museum of Contemporary Art and managed to walk through the entire thing.

Today was the last day of the “MOTHERS” sign that seems to have been here forever! I’m so glad I got to see it one more time before it leaves, and it was neat to see them take it down. A few of the exhibits were still being assembled so we had a chance to go through the entire museum in one go. That’s probably for the best considering how slow of a museum goer I am (don’t take me to the Field Museum unless you feel like staying for 6-8 weeks).

(Another piece of work that I found beautiful but confusing. That’s just how contemporary art works with me though.)

After finishing up there we decided to grab lunch, and what better place than foodlife in Water Tower Place! I used to go here all the time when I was young and was excited to relive it. I opted for some make-your-own stir fry with shrimp and all sorts of other goodies, which was great! The gentleman running the booth was also super sweet and polite; definitely loved my experience there!

They had some delicious looking teas too! I tried the raspberry and it was very flavorful!

And what was to finish up lunch than with a free dessert??

Another fun fact: I won a sizeable gift certificate for Sprinkles cupcakes and have been slowly working through it for the last year and a half. (I’m nowhere near being finished with it. Come visit me and we can have a cupcake date!)

I went with Key Lime (it was fine) and Jeff had Red Velvet (which is always incredible)

We walked down Michigan to the Museum of Contemporary Photography to visit a spectator sport exhibit that I found pretty interesting!

 

Contemporary art about sports? Now that I can get behind! I loved looking at all of these works! Again, this is a pretty small place and we managed to see it all in an hour.

A busy day called for a low key exercise weekend! Feeling great after yesterday’s 5 miles (sorry that post didn’t show up until so much later!) and today’s rest should make me very ready for tomorrow’s 2-a-day workout! I’m going to have a great new experience to recap tomorrow. Get excited!

Salmon Stir Fry

This is what happens when you decide you want to get to the gym the minute it opens…

NOT this random woman in the coat, but the 20 person line to the elevator.  (Yeah, yeahhh, why do I complain about the line for the elevator when I should be using the stairs? Well, 7 stories of stairs are tough at 5:30 in the morning. But maybe I’ll try it out next time)

Workout:

2.5 miles, 6.0mph (kept it shorter because my legs were feeling yesterday’s deadlifts)

Weight training and abs (I put the smack down on my abs)

• Standing oblique crunches
• Weighted sit ups (4 sets of 11 with a 7.5lb weight)
• Overhead shoulder presses
• Biceps Curls
• Shoulder Raises (front and side)

Feel the need to discuss the delicious dinner I made today that was centered around this guy

One of those long ago finds from my mother’s extensive pantry so I’m not sure where she actually purchased it, but it sounded delicious today. (My eternal laziness also means this dinner is going to be of the one-pan variety)

I had some brussels sprout in the fridge that were begging me to use them because they were thinking about going all wilt-y on me (I foiled those guys!) so they needed to be used.

 

My little sprouts all nestled with some olive oil, garlic, and bok choy. I have a pretty consistent craving for bok choy. Not sure why, but I find it so delicious!

After a few minutes I tossed on the simmer sauce and cuddled in a salmon fillet that had been defrosting. Here’s the end result, with a few corn chips and some sliced up cucumber:

As soon as dinner was cooked I realized that my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I had made way too much. I put half the salmon and green veggies in a Tupperware and plated the rest (I’m proud of me, man, I’m usually just a scarf-er). It was a pretty low carb deal because I spent earlier this evening munching on my newest discovery:

Cowboy Caviar=the bomb

I plan on resting tomorrow because I have a very open weekend ahead of me, and that means lots of time to dedicate to the gym! I want to run longer than normal, and make the most of my strength training, so I think my body will appreciate sitting in and watching Downton all Friday night. True Life: My Life is Sooooo Exciting.

And if you must know what I had for breakfast, it was purple Overnight Oats (thank you blueberries!)