Partying In The USA!

So I didn't recap my Fourth of July weekend yesterday. Why? Because well I was recovering quite honestly. While it was one of the best celebrations I've had in quite awhile, the youth ass-hats never seize to amaze me like I've stated before. On Friday, the hubs and I headed out to the festival that's set up right by my house. AND I vowed that I would ride the ferris wheel. This is a big effing deal guys. I'm terrified of these things. I was scarred for life when I was little because of my cousin rocking it back and forth making me think I was going to fall out of the damn thing.

I made that thing my bitch. I conquered my ferris wheel fear! Miracles can happen.

Maybe consuming this funnel cake clouded my thought process prior to going on that wheel of death. Look at this deep-fried pile of wonderful topped with powdered sugar. It was a big "eff you" to my MyFitnessPal app.

The food was beyond amazing and watching the herds of people in all of their patriotic garb was priceless. It was a contest of "how can I be both patriotic AND wear the least amount of clothing as possible?" It was the best entertainment and it was the best quality time we've had in awhile.

It's been years since I've been to a festival like this so I pretty much felt like an overgrown child. I begged the hubs to win me a huge stuffed panda but he would have had to cough up his effing life savings to get one. This is another reason why it sucks to have kids. You know you wouldn't be leaving that place without the kid throwing a damn fit if they didn't get that stuffed animal....hell I was even close to doing so. Damn festivals and their money traps. After that we saw Transformers (which would have been enjoyed more so without sound) yikes that script.

Saturday was spent watching OITNB. Yep, the whole day. Moving on...Sunday was the Fourth of July parade and the fireworks...because it obviously makes sense to do that stuff AFTER the actual holiday. Fricken moron city. I must say, after skipping out on the parade for so many years, the kids were flippin' adorable and the whole ordeal made me feel like a kid again. Also, the bestie and I shared these awesome sugar cookies that were meant for the little kids...we're little kids...at heart..

This dude in stilts also walked over this annoying high waisted-shorts wearing pre-teen and it pretty much made my weekend. Her scream almost topped the sirens going off in the parade. The guy is pretty much my hero.

The day closed with the best fireworks display on the lake with the hubs.

It really isn't a Fourth of July celebration without fireworks. SO happy it didn't get rained out.

How was everyone else's holiday weekend? I hope you all stuffed your faces with funnel cake and sat back to watch some fireworks too!

Summer Nights & Tornados

So here we are, Monday. Womp. I'm coming off of a weekend high that was filled with awesome bestie time and max calories. But seriously, there was no stopping me. It was ridiculous. Let's just say MyFitnessPal saw limited entries from me after I had to log four Summer Shandy's and giant-sized smores. My best friend since our Rugrats and Doug years graduated nursing school (as I stated previously last week) and her grad party was on Saturday. SO proud of her. She graduated with honors and will pretty much be the most amazing nurse ever.

She's seriously the queen of Pinterest wins whereas I am the quintessential Pinterest fail. She created little stations for things that were all medical-related such as little medicine cups filled with M&Ms, Twizzlers to represent clogged arteries, Jello shots in syringes and chocolate-covered pretzels that were made to look like thermometers! Genius, I tell you.

I seriously stuffed my face with all of these things and with their fam being Italian, yeah let's just say I didn't behave and let my inner carbaholic run wild. Later on we had a bonfire and had giant-sized smores. I couldn't even fit the damn thing in my mouth. (That's what she said).

But really, these photos are all signs of summer.

Did stuffing my face stop there? Nope. Sunday luckily started off with an intense, morning run because uhhh I needed to reverse some damage, went over to Josh's to swim later on in the day and then stuffed my face some more. It was a lot of fun making our own pizzas though. We made our own dough and chose what toppings we wanted on them. Eat your heart out every fast food pizza place ever!

Yummmm.

Once our stomachs were full of pizza, we watched a movie and I headed home to get ready for bed....when all of a sudden 2a.m. hit and I got the most obnoxious weather alert on my phone stating that there was a tornado warning and to seek shelter. Greeeaatttt. Luckily, nothing actually touched down and there were just rotation sitings nearby. I'm a huge baby about things like this though and Apollo and Luigi were right there with me in the basement until it passed through. (They don't like severe weather either and I have scratch marks to show for it). This reminded me though that Apollo needs another shavedown. Both of them could have fit in their large carrier if absolutely necessary had Apollo been de-fluffed to an extent. In full fluff mode, he's like the size of two kitties.

Also, I just discovered Starbucks' new iced teas and I'm pretty much dying over the Green Tea Peach Lemonade one. Go out and try it...like now. It'll help you get through your Monday.

Cheers!!

Once Upon A Birthday Weekend

This weekend was full of birthday fun once again. Josh's birthday is officially today, so we celebrated it over the weekend. I took him out to the iPic Theater to see Pompeii in 3D since he's never been! It's the best going there even though it's a wee bit pricey. It's totally worth every penny. If you get premium plus seating, you get to sit in a comfy recliner with a pillow and blanket and order dinner and drinks right there in the theater. Not going to lie, it kind of makes you feel like a big deal. Thank God I ordered a glass of wine before that movie too because whoever thought it was a good idea to cast Kiefer Sutherland as a Roman Senator should be thrown into that active volcano that destroyed Pompeii. Seriously. Not only that, but I thought I was watching a bad remake of Gladiator half the time.

Josh's expression in this photo could very well be due to my blinding camera flash, the hilarity behind Kiefer Sutherland as part of the Roman Empire or because he was so excited about the Chocolate ice cream brownie sandwich he ordered for dessert...of course I warned him that I would be stealing some of that deliciousness.

But back to the amazing iPic Theater experience, Josh ordered off of the three-course menu and I ordered their firecracker shrimp flatbread for dinner. Amazing.

On Sunday we went out to dinner with his fam at Mongolian Grill (my sweet baby Jesus, I absolutely canNOT miss a workout this week) where you stack your bowl full of items for them to cook into a giant stir fry. It's delicious and probably has enough sodium to resolve Chicago's salt shortage...hell throw in New York City's too. I'm not complaining though...it was delicious and I will punish myself accordingly this week for indulging a bit too much. I saw a Girl Scout skipping around in front of a store this morning and I swear she dangled a box of Thin Mints in the air RIGHT when we locked eyes. What kind of sorcery is this?! Luckily I stayed strong and just stuffed my face full of stir fry for Josh's birthday dinner. My muscles will actually be thanking me for the extra protein later anyway since I did a killer kettlebell workout after my run this morning.

As another part of Josh's birthday present, I made him his favorite pumpkin spice cookies that I make from scratch. I pride myself on making these cookies for him since he's never ranted or raved about ANYTHING else I've made as much as these. The recipe is a secret too. I'll take it to my grave!

The best part is seeing his face when I bring him a plate full of these round pieces of heaven. Makes my day. It also restores the faith I have in myself that I won't starve my future family because I can't cook...at least I can bake cookies? That's one of the major food groups right? Yes? That's what I thought.

 

I can't believe that we've officially celebrated our last birthdays until we are hubby and wife! We're officially at 67 days my friends! Don't mind me..I'll just sit here and FREAK OUT a bit in excitement!!

 

 Source

Sunshine On A Cloudy Day

For the past week, it's been a monsoon around these parts. Enough already! Luckily the rain stayed away for most of the day so my mom and I could go to the local Farmers Market and go shopping at my favorite shops downtown. We were a little late to the party, but we got some great jarred honey, dill pickles and apple turnover yummies. I'm all for supporting local businesses and call me weird...but I LOVE pickles - especially these. I'm a honey nut too. It's great for you and gives me a great energy boost before my morning runs. (I usually just have a spoonful and go.) Highly suggested!! Putting honey in tea is another great energy booster instead of snagging a sugary soda.

 

After we got these goodies, we had a delicious lunch at Benedicts La Strata where I feasted on a lovely veggie white omelet with deliciously made lemonade. It definitely hit the spot after my morning run. It was a long run day (7 miles) and did it without music. I figured I should start running sans iPod since I won't be able to run with it for the Spartan race. I thought I was going to have a tough time since my master running playlists really motivate me through each and every mile, but to my surprise, I did great without JLo blaring through my earbuds! Running without my music really enabled me to listen to my breathing more and improved my pace! Refueling was in order!

After lunch we headed over to do some more shopping and to my surprise, we ran into some amazing Blackhawks throwback jerseys. Being a HUGE fan (but jersey-less) I was salivating at the mouth. My mom told me to try on a Hossa one and I fell in love even though it was way too big. She took it from me and handed it over to the cashier...I was in awe and disbelief. I'm definitely spoiled. It came just-in-time too so I could sport it for game one of the playoffs against the LA Kings. I knew it would bring me good luck.

And guess what? IT DID. Hossa even scored a goal in the second quarter (all because of me sporting his jersey of course) and the Blackhawks won 2-1. That Stanley Cup is that much closer, Chicago!!!

Dinner Date

I wanted to make a special dinner for my dad - the harshest critic - tonight and it proved to be quite successful. When he goes back for thirds, you know it's a win. Although the marinade called for quite a few ingredients, once that was out of the way, the whole dish was finished and ready to serve in just 20-30 minutes. I call it "Em's Spicy Orange Zest Beef" served over brown rice with a side of green beans. Oh and the best part is...it is in fact, a low-calorie recipe. :)

First you want to get all of your ingredients together. You can adjust these ingredients depending on how much marinade you want left over for your rice or whatever side dish you have. I doubled the amount of each ingredient and it turned out to be perfect for 4 servings.

* 1 1/2lbs of beef tenderloin filet mignon cut into 1/2 strips
* 1/4 cup of orange juice
* 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
* 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon of roasted red chile paste
* 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
* 2 cloves of garlic, minced
* 1/4 cup of water
* 1 teaspoon of corn starch
* 2 tablespoons of grated orange zest
* 1 bunch of green onions, sliced- white parts and tops separated

First you'll need to plan ahead as to when you'll want to chow down since you'll need to soak the beef in the marinade for two hours. SO to start your marinade you'll need to combine the beef, orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, roasted red chili paste, brown sugar, and garlic in a large bowl. Once you do that, put the large bowl in the refrigerator for two hours. Read a book...do laundry...or dance around in your kitchen like a crazy person to some tunes as you wait.

Once the two-hour mark hits, strain the beef in a colander and set over a large bowl, allowing the beef to drain thoroughly for about 5 minutes and reserve the marinade.

Then, stir the water and cornstarch into the bowl of marinade. Whisk until cornstarch is dissolved and set it aside.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and place over high heat. Cook beef for 1 minute without stirring; cook and stir for an additional minute. Stir in light parts of green onion and orange zest; cook for 30 seconds.

Stir in marinade and green onion tops; cook and stir until beef is no longer pink inside and sauce is reduced and thick, for about 5 minutes.

 Once your side dishes are ready and the meat is cooked all the way through...Bon appéti! 

Bright-eyed and Bitchy-tailed

Have you ever had one of those weeks where things just could not get any worse? Sometimes I say that to myself and I mean it as rhetorical question yet life seems to take it as a challenge. Before things went to shit, I'd like to reflect upon the great Saturday afternoon spent with the future hubs. We went to the Air & Water Show where thousands of people gather around the lakefront to see the show. This year's headliners included the U.S. Navy Blue Angels in addition to other civilian and military aircrafts.

Two planes made a heart! :)

I packed some lunches for the beach and navigated our way to a great spot in the sand on North Avenue Beach to see all of the crazy tricks and formations. Not only is it entertaining to see the show, but best of all...it's FREE! What was not so fun was the $20 cab ride back because of all the construction...

After we saw enough of the show, we headed back and stopped by one of my favorite places to stock up on some Riesling, Le Petit Marché. I felt adventurous so I decided to try a new German Riesling by Heinz Eifel. (Funny how I would SO need this later on this week)

When we got home we took a nap until we picked up dinner and indulged in some non-six-pack-ab friendly food. After dinner Josh and I FINALLY saw The Dark Knight Rises. It was everything I thought it would be and more. So whoever didn't like it can shut their faces. I will always be partial to Batman as my fav superhero.

Meanwhile, since my mom was in San Francisco with my grandmother, my dad and I also caught up on some quality time with each other which was great. I would have loved to tag along...however my limited funds fail me yet again. She landed yesterday and brought back some goodies for me. She got these hand-crafted earrings from a boutique in the area from a designer called "Firefly."

On Sunday my future MIL treated me to a new sushi/Chinese buffet restaurant - One Buffet - for dinner while we planned her 25th wedding anniversary party. I must say I have a huge phobia against buffets but I went anyway since I've heard some pretty good things. My phobia is primarily fueled by children putting their grimy hands all over everything, people coughing and sneezing all over the place (I don't care if there are sneeze guards)and food that is just left out for who knows how long.

One Buffet was different though in the sense where you could opt to create a plate full of raw veggies, meat and other things and hand it to the chef to cook for you! It was fantastic and SO delicious. Oh and for the record, I had to deal with a bitch of a Chief Editor during a possible job interview, broke one of my favorite pairs of heels, got charged $800 in back interest on a stupid credit card I was about to completely pay off and I gained two pounds. I'm waiting for the locusts and plague to hit. Angsty? Yes. But nothing a fabulous glass of wine can't cure.

Party in the U.S.A.

So although it technically isn't Independence Day until Wednesday, all of the fun festivities including lakeside fireworks, the parade and festival all went down this past weekend. If there ever was a sign that I'm getting old...it was this morning when I had to get up for work. However, I have no complaints. This weekend was full of amazingness which started on Friday with one of my favorite people. We had great ambitions to pick out some crazy  Pinterest recipe and artsy craft but we ended up engaging in our ritual of ordering Jimmy Johns, indulging in spinach dip and chips AND her homemade brownies while having a Criminal Minds marathon. Success. It was definitely a calorie-fest and I enjoyed every second of it. I just had to pay for it in miles I had to run in the morning. So worth it.

Saturday my other half and I went to our first Cubs game of the season and he landed some pretty sweet seats right behind home plate! And yes, for all of you who follow baseball...I understand that they have one of the worst records in the league right now...BUT they won this time against the Astros SO suck on that.

One of the things that you absolutely MUST do (aside from people watching and enjoying the game) is scarfing down hotdogs the way only Chicago knows how to make them. :) Going to a game without one is a sin...one of the many reasons why I believe the prices on these bad boys is inflated x10.

Speaking of price inflation...EVERYTHING is insanely priced from little tubs of Dibs that is enough for a toddler to a helmet full of nachos. I mean seriously, a small bottle of water was $4.50. COME ON. I beat them at their game though and smuggled in a huge liter-sized bottle of my own to last me through the whole game. However, Josh and I have a tradition now to get the helmet full of nachos complete with chili, nacho cheese and delicious jalapenos.  It's a challenge for even TWO people to eat.

One thing we couldn't believe though was that they were handing out some sweet Cubs fan gear for FREE. Yes...FREE. We couldn't believe it. We got little Cubs wristbands. Behold the wristbands....clearly they brought the Cubs good luck since they won ;) .

It was flippin' HOT as all hell, but we managed to pretty much have the best time ever. It was an eventful game and the people watching like I said before is always entertaining. Nothing like hot weather and a ball game to bring out the fashion faux pas that will stick with you like a bad sunburn. One woman was even so tan, she looked similar to one of my leather handbags at home. Never a dull moment. By the time the game ended, we packed up and attempted to snag a cab to the train station...yes almost impossible...but we managed to make it with approximately three minutes to spare. We were EXHAUSTED.

Sunday morning I forced myself up bright and early to go for the run of the century since my what seemed to be weekend-long calorie-fest needed to be balanced out with exercise. After my run it was time to prep for the little gathering to be had later on in the day. There was a ton of cleaning and cooking to do starting with making my festive strawberries that I dipped in melted white chocolate that were topped with blue sprinkles. I attempted to make these red, white and blue drinks that  I found on Pinterest but it was an epic fail on my part. Once again, Pinterest users have out-crafted me. Damnit. BUT look at those yummy strawberries. Mmmmmm.

My mom and I also made festive, red velvet cupcakes, a fruit platter cooked pulled pork in the crock pot for some sandwiches. The party subs from Subway also served us well. Alongside Josh's fam, my partner in crime (also previously mentioned above) was able to join us as well.

Everyone feasted on all of that and although it was hot as balls outside, we all played some volleyball until it was time to gather the blankets and chairs to walk to the lake for the annual fireworks. I don't know about anyone else, but I look forward to watching the fireworks every year. If I miss them, the holiday just doesn't seem to be complete. This year's fireworks were very impressive. Because of the drought and EXTREME heat, many surrounding areas have opted to cancel their fireworks show. It's been so hot for so long, streets are starting to buckle! It's crazy! I have never been so thankful for air conditioning and having immediate access to a lake to jump into.

But from me to all the bloggers out there! Happy Independence Day America!!!

Endless Summer

This weekend was definitely needed after such a busy week at work. I didn't get to sleep in, but I got to indulge in crazy amounts of great food, family and friends. It all started Friday night when I had a hot date with not the future hubs but one of my fav friends and also bridesmaid-to-be.

We started off with our newfound sushi restaurant, Kaminari, that has become our go-to girly date night place. For some reason it slipped my mind to remind our waitress that I am highly allergic to avocados so to take extra caution when preparing my food. Lets rewind a little to my wonderful food allergy involving avocados. If I ingest avocado in any way, shape or form...my body will destroy me and I will be making a trip to the ER. SO when our waitress brought our cucumber rolls to us to start with....just seeing the avocado slices made my stomach turn inside out momentarily. I apologized for not mentioning it sooner, she took it back, remade it and all was well.

 We never shortchange ourselves when it comes to sushi at this place so we placed three orders of rolls each. I got the shrimp tempura, spicy salmon roll and spicy scallop roll. We got our rolls...and...there was fricken avocado in one of my rolls. Now, I had to remind the woman yet again of my allergy for the SECOND time. She ended up lecturing me that I should have told her to begin with since they use avocado in many of their dishes. Apparently I needed to explain my food allergy more than once for it to sink in for this woman. Consider your tip to be slashed in half, lady. Once I got my rolls thereby avoiding death by avocado, we devoured our food and split a bottle of wine. No hot date is complete without one obviously...

After we filled up on sushi and wine we headed out to foam at the mouth over Chris Hemsworth in Snow White and the Huntsman. We had some time to kill so my date treated me to Starbucks. It was such a sweet gesture.

After becoming sufficiently caffeinated, we smuggled in the remains of our Starbucks and settled in to see Kristen Stewart's horrid performance and Charlize Theron totally kick ass. Seeing her kick Stewart's ass at the end even momentarily...was worth seeing the movie. Overall, it could have been better but Theron was definitely one badass, evil queen. I also felt sorry for Hemsworth...he had to taint those pretty lips with kissing Stewart. I was personally outraged. Overall it was a decent movie but I really do hope that they release the DVD with an alternative ending that reveals a more likely scenario with Theron totally owning Stewart ending in her untimely death.

The following day I had to drag my ass out of bed bright and early to get Luigi's stitches out and for a post operation check-up. My kitty has a little infection around the incision site so he now has to wear the cone of shame permanently for the next few days. I know how much he hates it so I was too lenient with it before. Ka-ching once more for an antibiotic. He likes to saunter over to me and look at me like I'm practicing some type of new method of torture on him.

After the vet visit Josh picked me up to go to TWO graduation parties for cousins on both sides of the family. This is where my food baby started to rapidly develop. Beer brats, wine, shrimp pasta spread stuff, potato salad, cake, ice cream, Starbucks frap, italian beef, etc....we started at his mom's side where things tend to be more subdued. It was hot as hell outside and definitely not comfortable enough to utilize the volleyball net that was set up unfortunately. The humidity was disgusting. I engaged in some conversation with Josh's step grandmother shall I say? Josh and I are on equal ground when it comes to how awkward and random conversations can become with her. Prime example, she told me how every time I see her I've lost weight and look great....then she says, "oh my sister-in-law is anorexic but I think that's just because her ex-husband was very controlling." Hmmmm ooookay then. See? Very awkward. Very random. After we mingled a bit over there we went over to Josh's dad's side of the fam to celebrate his cousin Eric graduating 8th grade. This side is where the wine flows like water. My place to be. Not to mention that Josh made me my first smore of the summer. A summer staple. Look at that gooey marshmallow and chocolate....next stop, my thighs.

The following day I once again had to skip the whole sleeping in thing and get up ungodly early so my dad could wake up to breakfast amazingness. I made apple cinnamon muffins, pancakes, sausage and eggs. He loved it and the smile on his face said it all. :) He's definitely one of my role models in life.

I gorged myself on pancakes and eggs myself before I just HAD to finally work some of that off with a long run before continuing with the Father's Day festivities. Once my sister came over we got what we needed to make my dad's special dinner and then we were off to see Prometheus since he's been itching to see it since opening night.

After a successful movie date with the fam, we headed home so my sister and I could start making dinner. She made her famous salmon pasta dish that is to die for and I made a yummy salad complete with fresh cut green and red peppers and cucumbers. I also cracked open a bottle of wine a little early while prepping for this awesome dinner. Yum. Nothing better than some candy wine.

Overall, my dad had a great day. Mission accomplished. My mission of being on track to lose my last 10lbs before the summer is over...yeah that one is still pending. I pretty much consumed more calories this weekend than I did during the whole week. At least I kicked ass during my morning runs. I don't need to gain another one...my sister's dog also made an appearance at the house this weekend. I can never get enough of that little pup. He has little nubs for limbs. Irresistible.