Weekend Reflections

This weekend had it's great parts and it had it's rough parts. 

Great:

PRing at the Susan G Komen 10K (final time - 52:15 and I was 12th out of 107 women in my age division!!!)

Hanging out with Molly and watching  half of Parent Trap and Erin Brockovich on TV (yes, a REAL TV)

Trying out Peeled (see below)

Finishing reading Sarah's Key and starting Catching Fire!!!!

Getting to see Molly's beautiful face ALL THE TIME

Knowing I only have a 3-day week coming up!

Rough:

Letting my anxiety get the better of me

Cleaning up pee... all the time

Dragging Molly along on walks (it takes 50 min to go a mile...)

Anxiety-eating! (when I'm anxious, I eat)

Still not managing to clean Neville's bowl... poor fish. 

Leaving my Environmental Law and Policy book at school... oops. 

Ok, so most of the "rough" stuff was completely my fault. I allowed myself to get caught up in my anxiety, worrying about how I'm going to get everything done and what time I should do what, and in what order. Does anyone else do this?? I've been so good about it so far this semester, but this weekend I just let it overwhelm me! I worry too much... working on this (will take tips...). Hopefully tomorrow I can take a deep breath, know that I have everything under control, and just focus on the moment rather than everything else I have to do! 

So I mentioned one of the cool things that happened was that I FINALLY got to go try out Peeled! It's the only juice bar I've found in Chicago, right by the Whole Foods that I like to go to. I keep meaning to go in, and finally I made a plan to go get a drink and do a little reading! 

Life Support – A bloody brilliant synergy of minerals and vitamins, including green leaf, carrot, apple, beet, lemon and ginger

I actually meant to order the one above it... But it turned out really good! I ordered a juice, but they also make smoothies and they have a detox program where you can do a certain number of days only drinking juices that they prepare for you each day.

It was cool though to watch them make it right there. The girl in line after me ordered a drink that was hot pink; literally NEON hot pink! Very cool.

You know what else is cool? Molly. Most of my weekend involved this:

With way too much of this:

And this, which I wish I was looking at right now! Okay, okay, so she drove me crazy. But now I miss her! She's just too adorable! On our walk after dinner, she was on her best behavior, and it was so sweet to watch a little girl on a tricycle get so excited to pet her! 

Here's a picture from the night H&L brought her home (H&L = my brother and sister-in-law; much easier to type). She's grown so much! 

 Anyone in your life that you just can't stay mad at for long? Is anyone else a control-freak like me and gets anxious when you get thrown out of your routine? Haha, okay, that's just me.

Susan G. Komen 10K Race Recap

This morning I ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 10K in Chicago! I ran this same race last year, and it was my first race ever! Although I had made my goal of under an hour, it was a rough race for me last year - I don't think I was completely prepared!

One thing that I love about the race is that it's in downtown Chicago, with the start and finish in Grant Park! So cool to run with the city on side, and the beautiful lake on the other!

The race had about 10,000 participants, so there was quite a crowd! It didn't feel like it though running, I think most people were doing the 5K or the walk, or just supporting everyone! Since it's for breast cancer research, there were a lot of people there just to be a part of the event and raise money. I couldn't help but grin when I saw the Port-A-Potties! 

I ran the race with my cousin Allie. She's quite the runner, with half and full marathons under her belt! It was great to have someone there with me, especially since I was pretty nervous! It was very cold and after staying at my brother's and having to take care of Molly in the morning, I was a little thrown off my normal pre-run mind-set. I was just glad it wasn't raining before the race started, that held off until about mile 4! 

Like her shirt? She told me she wore that when she ran New York so her parents could find her! Apparently she wasn't the only one with that idea... The grassy area in Grant Park, where all the tents were set up, got very muddy because of the rain! While attempting to get all my food swag (don't even pretend you don't do this too), my shoes got very muddy! 

But I managed to get away with 2 bananas, wheat thins, string cheese, some kind of jello thing, 2 bags and half a bagel! Haha, I told Allie I wouldn't have to go to the grocery store today! 

I had to run back to my brother's to let Molly out and grab my stuff, and then I headed straight home to shower and warm up! I was so cold after my shower that I was walking around with a scarf and TWO sweatshirts on! 

I headed back to see Molly and after feeding her lunch, we went on a nice long walk! She kept trying to eat goose poop, so I had to pull her away. After quite a bit of this she finally sat down and pouted at me. Come on Molly, it's for your own good! 

But no worries, she found a great stick instead! She also made plenty of friends; people always love to stop and pet her and she loves the attention! Now it's time for Molly and I to have a relaxing afternoon... with a little reading for school thrown in. 

Oh I almost forgot, I finished the race in under 53 minutes! I'm not sure of my actual time, but that's definitely a personal record! I was really pumped about it! Races definitely make me push myself a lot harder, especially this one because there was a long narrow area where it was hard to pass, so I kept sprinting around people whenever I could! 

Do you ever get freaked out when you're about to run a race? Or any other activity that you've been preparing for? 

Before the Break of Dawn

Oh, you can't see anything in this picture? I wonder why that is? Was it taken late at night? No, no. It was taken at 5:30am while walking to meet my brother and sister-in-law. I miss the days of summer when I could see the sun peaking up at this time of morning... 

So why in the world was I up so early?? I went with my brother and sister-in-law to the airport so I could drive their car back, and then go pick them up when they return from their trip! They are off to Boston for the weekend and I'm so excited for them because I love the city! I actually almost went to law school in Boston! 

When I got back, I went into their apartment to check on my roomie for the weekend:

This is her "they left me all alone!" face. How cute is she??? For any new readers, Molly is my brother and sister-in-law's new golden retriever puppy! She used to be tiny and now she's so big! She even started puppy school this week, and, personally, I think she's a pretty smart dog and a quick learner! 

When I got back to my apartment, it was time for some coffee. I made myself some pumpkin spice coffee. It's a very simple recipe: put normal amount of milk into cup. Sprinkle in pumpkin spice. Add coffee. Tada! Perfect for a chilly fall morning. 

Since I planned on staying home a while and getting some school work done, I also changed into these stylish pants...

Anyone know when America's Next Top Model will be casting again?

I got them in 6th GRADE!!! I can't believe I still have them. I remember seeing them in Gap and insisting that my mother get me both pajama sets in grey and pink (oh yes, there is a top to these amazing pants, just wait until winter).

Since my stomach was feeling a little off, I decided to make a simple smoothie for breakfast. I had bought some tofu but never used it, so I thought now would be a good time!

Strawberry Tofu Smoothie
3/4 cup almond milk
1 serving tofu (this was 1/6 of the block I bought... I know nothing about tofu so this is as descriptive as I can get)
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 packet Truvia
1 tbsp Chia seeds
1/2 tbsp PB2 Powder (basically peanut flour)

It was delicious! I could taste just enough of the peanut butter in the mix and I enjoyed the texture of the tofu! I also had a little bit of Chex cereal on the side to try and mix in! (Just FYI, mixing things in when you're using a cup is much more difficult than my normal smoothies in a bowl...).

Since I am running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 10K tomorrow, today is my rest day! Honestly,  I have a hard time with rest days because I just don't know what to do with myself! Haha, guess it means I have to do school work during the time I'd be running or at the gym! Or reading blogs... I'll of course be heading to whole foods later... Haha always brightens my day, especially since I got one of those LivingSocial deals!

Anyone else have clothes that they still wear (even if in the cover of their own home) from when they were much younger? 

Anchors Away!

I hope you all had a good weekend! If you all were far, far away from your computers this weekend, check out what you missed:

My stressful week!

The Associate book review and pumpkin spice latte!

My hermit crab molted! and Cinnamon Bun oatmeal

aaaaand my long run! 10K!

So on Saturday, my older brother made a big purchase. And I don't just mean expensive - I mean BIG!

Now that it's football season, he decided it's officially time to invest in a FLAT SCREEN TV!!! The TV they had been using was my sister-in-law, Lauren's, TV from when she was growing up! It was time for an upgrade. They got the TV at a Best Buy near us, and were luckily able to just wheel it right home!

How convenient! 

I opted out of following him and helping to set it up... Electronics are just not my forte. I was, however, perfectly happy to come over the next day to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Buffalo Bills! (Let's not talk about the outcome of that game...).

Walking over, I realized I hadn't seen their puppy, Molly, in a whole week! I knew she was going to be big, I was so nervous! And I was right to be, she had grown so much!

We're still practicing on posing for pictures... this took about 10 minutes to take. I wanted to send a picture of Molly with me wearing my Chief's jersey to my mom! She's a HUGE Chiefs fan! She even saw them win the Super Bowl! 

The game, however, was not quite as exciting as Molly. Although Harrison had got the TV all set up, we couldn't watch the game! He had ordered every possible sports channel he could in hopes that one would be playing the game. Unfortunately, only one channel was playing it, but switching back and forth with 3 other games.

Harrison ended up watching most of the game on his computer, while I had some fun with my buddy! No need for a game, Molly was plenty entertaining all on her own! 

She's just too adorable! And much better about chewing on me! Also, my brother and Lauren have taught her a lot of tricks! She now knows sit, down, shake and fetch! She's so smart.

After hanging out with them, I headed back home to get some work done and then it was time for dinner at Twin Anchors with Harrison, Lauren and Allie! Twin Anchors is a great local BBQ place. It has a very small neighborhood feel, but it's pretty famous! It was established in 1932 and was a favorite of Frank Sinatra's!

I managed to get this picture when we were walking in... but I completely forgot to take any after that. Again, something that I need to work on. Lauren got the veggie version of a sloppy joe, and the rest of us all got the pulled pork sandwich. I cannot go to any BBQ place without ordering pulled pork - it's my absolute favorite! I'd also gotten it here twice before, so I knew it was going to be good - and it was!

Rather than getting mine on the sweet roll though, I asked for it on top of one slice of wheat bread, like an open faced sandwich. For me, half the fun is eating the pulled pork with a fork. Don't ask my why... I always end up pulling apart sandwiches and eating them like plates rather than they were meant to be. I'm a weirdo, what can I say?

Do you prefer watching a football game from the comfort of your own home, or do you like going to a "team bar"? Ever have a problem finding a channel to watch your team's game on television? 

My Yogi tea yesterday had some wise words and I liked them so much I thought I'd share: "Life is a gift. If you do not value your gift, nobody else will."

I'm Molting, I'm Molting!

First and foremost, does anyone see what's so special about these apples?? They're "mollie's"!!! Lol okay, spelled differently than my brother's puppy, Molly, but I thought it was cute. One stand at the farmers market had around 20 different apple varieties to mix and match from, and I picked out five different kinds! Didn't keep track of which was which though... thought of that as I was paying. Win. 

For lunch yesterday, I made another egg salad, inspired by Kath Eats Real Food. So delicious!!!! I will really never get over this simple phenomenon. 

Another food inspiration yesterday was Chocolate Covered Katie's Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal! I only wanted it as a snack, so I split the recipe in half and came out with a delicious oatmeal "cinnamon roll!"

Bake time was 15 minutes, with the extra 3 minutes on broil, and I added a bit of brown sugar on top like she suggests! 

I only wish I remembered to spray my ramekin first, so I could pop it out! It had a delicious creamy, cinnamon taste. Perfect for my sweet tooth! Haha I feel like I've become an advertising blog for CCK, but she has so many recipes that I want to try! 

Yesterday was not quite a sweet, however, for my hermit crabs... I've only had them a week and they haven't been moving around much. I was getting concerned. Yesterday morning when I checked on them, one looked like he was out of his shell! I picked him up to see if he was dead, and guess what I found!??

A dead hermit crab?? NO! Don't be alarmed! It's just his exoskeleton! Hermit crabs, and other crustaceous creatures, molt every once in a while. Rather than having a skeleton on the inside, like we do, the have their skeleton on the outside, for added protection. Well this little guy was growing out of his skeleton, so he shed his old one and now has a much softer one which is developing.

Unfortunately, right after I took this picture, I read online that you shouldn't touch the exoskeleton or the crab and leave him alone because it's a very stressful time... Oops. I immediately put it back where I found it and left him be! When I checked on him this morning he had moved, so I know I didn't kill him by stressing him out! It was somewhat traumatizing. 

Speaking of my hermit crabs, I STILL haven't named them! Granted, I've been a bit preoccupied with school, but I really need to get on this! I want to stick with the Harry Potter theme (my fish is named Neville) and I got a wonderful suggestion of "Crabbe" and "Goyle". Although I like this, I feel a bit odd naming them after two lumbering idiots. Haha. So if anyone has any other Harry Potter "pair" suggestions - send them my way! And yes, I've thought of Fred and George. 

Have you ever had an interesting or somewhat "unconventional" pet? How do you come up with pet names?

Q & A

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Now doesn't that just brighten up your day!?? What a cutie. I actually saw her last night and she was SO BIG!!! Check it out:

I can't believe how much Molly has grown! (For any new readers, Molly is my brother and his wife's new golden retriever puppy!)

Alright, enough about Molly. I figured since I've been blogging for a month, it's time to do a Q&A blog that I've seen a lot of other bloggers have on their pages - a great way to ask any questions you have and to get to know me!

So if you have any questions, about me, my life, eating habits, workouts, Chicago, ANYTHING!, either leave them in the comment section below, or send me an e-mail at peaceloveandoats@gmail.com. Once I get enough questions, I'll put up a post with some answers!

Again, thank you for reading!

What brightens your day? One look at Molly and I can't help but smile! Even if she's chewing on my hand...

The Most Disgusting Yet Delicious Sandwich Ever - Springfield Part 3

Missed Part 1 and Part 2?

After the fair we picked up Lauren's car from the wedding reception she was at so we would be able to drive around and let Grayson and Suzanne get back to their lives! We headed back to the house and hung around for a bit, watching some TV and playing with Molly!

After a while we were hungry for dinner, so Harrison decided I had to try a Horseshoe. What is a Horseshoe? Well, it's famous in Springfield because that's where it originated. It's a piece of texas toast with meat on top (we chose a hamburger patty) and then they put the fries on top of that and cover the whole thing in melted cheese... Sounds disgusting, right? It was AMAZING. Haha granted I hadn't eaten this kind of food in ages so it was a real treat, but it tasted pretty good!

We actually ended up splitting a ponyshoe (smaller version) and each had a side salad. All that fair food was getting to me! I didn't take a picture but here's what they look like:

After dinner, Harrison went and picked up Lauren from her wedding reception and since it was so late, we decided to just spend the night rather than getting back to Chicago around 1am! Good choice, because I needed some sleep for my 4 mile run in the morning!

I ended up running 4.5 miles around the neighborhood. And when I say around, I mean AROUND. Haha I thought I was going straight in one direction and then straight back, but I ended up doing a circle twice without even realizing it! I guess everything looked the same!

I ended up finishing in 38:52, which was an 8:37 min/mile pace! Honestly, I think my mapmyrun program might be off... that seems really fast to me. Haha it did feel like a pretty easy run though, I was in my groove! So I guess maybe it's right! Just hard to believe!

After my run we packed up the car and headed back to Chicago! The first bit of the trip was interesting... let's just say Molly was a bit rambunctious and didn't want to be in the car... It was also a very foggy morning! Here are some pictures from our drive back!

Molly can drive! (she has her learner's permit) 

I love windmills, we passed several fields of them. I think they're pretty! Go alternative power sources! 

Road trip selfie!

Once we arrived back in Chicago, we remembered it was Air and Water Show weekend! SO MANY PEOPLE!!!

The water was gorgeous! 

We had to get off on a different exit because of the show, and I saw this mural as we passed under Lakeshore Drive. I thought it was so pretty! 

When I got home I was starving and IMMEDIATELY made a smoothie! I'd been missing them! Then I tried to get some work done and then went off to see The Help with my book club!

The movie was great and did a wonderful job of capturing the book. However, I did think how they incorporated Skeeter's boyfriend was odd; it was as if they just threw him in to have him there but showed nothing about his family, which was important to his character. Oh well, haha the movie was already long enough I guess! 

I didn't get home until 8:30 so I threw together some steamed veggies for dinner:

Broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, 1/2 cup black beans and then I added 1 tsp cumin, some dijon mustard and a sprinkle of garlic for seasoning. Delicious as well as quick and easy! 

What's your favorite dinner to throw together at the last minute?