Eat your heart out....

My friend Jen's birthday was last week.

Jen and I have climbed mountains in Colorado,

built churches in Mexico,

and she stood next to me at the wedding

as my maid of honor.

Needless to say,

she's a pretty special lady in my life.

And somehow the stars always seem to align

for us to celebrate her bday together.

Knowing that the weekend would be filled with friends, food & folly,

we decided to start with a workout.

5 miles at 5am? Sure, why not.

I had all of my old streets to myself,

I could hear my ipod (no trains or trucks!),

and even the hills were enjoyable.

It was the best run I had had in a while.

And other than for training reasons,

I ran because I knew the amount of food

I wanted to consume that day.

You know how it goes when you head back to your alma-mater...

not only do you visit old friends,

but also favorite restaurants.

Jen and I counted up the places

I ate food at in the 27 hours after I ran Friday.

The upcoming list is a tad bit embarrassing,

but I'm also kinda proud of it.

Village Deli

Upland Brewery

Alley (just peanuts!)

Nicks

Rockets

Pizza Express

Penn Station

Red Mango

Those of you who went to IU understand, right?!

I.just.couldn't.stop.

It got so bad that there was even a song made up

about how after every single thing I did,

I ate another meal.

hahahahaha.

Happy Birthday Jen! I love ya!

Not all who wander are lost....

Just a little solstice love

courtesy of Paul Souders

Looking at his blog always gives me a bad case of wanderlust.

I also just saw Midnight in Paris....

want.to.go.traveling.now.

Life is a Highway....or a nice lakefront trail.

Things I've learned while training....

#2 Where you run matters.

For the first couple of weeks of training,

I was running down Ashland by our house.

For those of you who don't live in the city,

Running down Ashland is like having Pig-Pen as a running buddy.

So for a nice change of pace,

I decided to run on the lake.

Rather than coughing, wheezing, and wanting to quit,

once I got on the lake,

I realized I truly enjoy running.

Thank you Lake Michigan for meeting up with my city.

You make me very happy.

60, 70, 80 minutes?

I can do this.

Jax tries to make a new friend.

J-Dog got out today.

He met the parking meter guy.

Sadly, he did not want to befriend

my snuggly, kind, not-at-all-intimidating Pitt Bull.

:-)

Oh Happy Day (or weekend)

Anthony and I went to DC

over Memorial Day with his family.

It's always so much fun

when the whole family gets together.

Here are some pictures of our adventures!

I didn't grow up with older brothers,

but I'm so lucky to have these two clowns now!

Best. Milkshake. Ever.

Going to the zoo with kids is awesome.

TJ (and the rest of us) were all in awe

of this Alligator Snapping Turtle.

First pool day of the summer!

We went for an awesome hike in Great Falls National Park.

I'm not sure what Ethan was contemplating...

food choice?

whether to fight off taking a nap?

Regardles, this picture cracks me up.

Happy early birthday Jamey!

Maybe we can make this an annual trip?!

:-)

This one takes the cake.

Portillos hotdogs are legendary.

Much like In-N-Out Burger or Pinkberry in Cali,

when people come to Chicago,

they eat at Portillos.

Any time I talk to Chicagians about hot dogs,

they say with surprise and disappoinment,

"You write a hotdog blog and have never been to Portillos?

Alright, I get it, I get it.

It's time.

And now I see what all the fuss was about.

Portillos is AWESOME.

Great food, inexpensive, and fast as lightning.

This place was PACKED when we came in

(it's two floors!)

and we still got our food in 5 minutes.

They also win extra points for crinkle fries.

They are my absolute favorite,

and I get super, ridiculously excited any time I get them

(especially with nacho cheese-yum!).

As you've probably noticed,

places often win me over because of fries, not hotdogs.

Hot-French-Fry-On-A-Cold-Night?

Oh, and if you go, get the chocolate cake.

If you're not a chocolate person

(like myself),

get the cake.

If you're on a diet,

get the cake and split it.

If you're stuffed full,

get the cake to go.

You too will be the happiest person on Earth

for those 5 minutes while you eat it.

And yes, there is a giant hotdog on my shirt.

You can buy it here!

wanderlust.

Who wouldn't want to go to Paris for free?!

iRun

Marathon training started this week.

Yes, I'm going to run 26 miles and 385 yards.

For a girl who doesn't like to train,

(or run more than 4 miles at a time)

this could get interesting.

So occasionally I'm going to blog about things I learn while training.

Here goes......

#1 I run like a Tyrannosaurus.

(photo courtesy of Threadless)

As I was chugging along in the balmy 93 degree Chicago heat today,

I glanced down at my shadow on the pavement.

No doubt about it,

I look like a Tyrannosaurus.

RRRRRRRRAaaaaaarrrrrrrr!

At least this caused me to laugh for a while and keep going.

Here comes the sun.....

As of Friday afternoon,

I had nothing big planned for my weekend.

When this happens during the blustery winter,

I usually spend my time watching movies and cooking.....

but now that it's summer,

the possibilities seem endless.

Friday night Anthony and I did an

impromptu bar crawl around our neighborhood.

Somehow we have lucked out,

because within a 5 minute walk of our place

new, awesome, amazing places just keep popping up.

Cheap pool, free beers, and 70 Midwestern draft beers?!

What a hidden gem Chicago Avenue is!

~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday started as all good Saturdays do,

a trip to the dog park with J-Dog.

And it's also good because Jax doesn't move

from this position for the rest of the day.

Later that day, I met some friends to see

Bill Cunningham New York.

If you like fashion, photography, or just endearing old fellows,

I highly recommend it.

And nothing says carefree summer like a friendly

(and sometimes not so friendly)

game of Trouble, Scrabble, or Battleship at Gutheries.

(yes, "Board Game Bars" exist and are fabulous).

However, I don't recommend playing Scrabble after a couple of drinks.

You will end up with words such as "Czarjinaed":

(while poorly misspelled) is a term for a high-level Russian official

trying to emulate a trend Jennifer Love-Hewitt seemingly started.

It was decided that if "qi" is a scorable word,

then so is Czarjinaed. hahahaha.

Sunday 9am.

Tennis.

Hurray for Nadal!!!

And if you too find yourself with a free Sunday,

I recommend a mix of the following:

Museum of Science and Industry

Holga/Diana

Sunshine

Bike

Beach
Giant Steaks (thanks Kara!)

All in all just a lovely, wonderful, perfect weekend.

Happy Monday!

This video made my day. hahahahaha.

Jax-n-friends

This is my awesome friend Valerie.

Not only do I enjoying hanging out with her,

but Jax Dog lovesssssss her.

When we went to DC last weekend,

Jax had a blast at her house.

Thanks again Valerie,

YOU ROCK!

please stay tuned.....

I've had tons o' fun lately....

and because of that,

I have a lot of blogging to do.

In the meantime,

here's a pic of my dear friend Julia and I

from when she visited Chicago last week.

She is one of my favorite people to be silly with :-)