Chopped.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I feel like I need a change, I usually chop off my hair. And so I did. I chopped off 6-7 inches of my hair and now it's cute, short and sassy. I love it. I feel like a weight (literally) has been lifted off of my shoulders. Why is that? My mother said that now I look more "professional." Mothers are always great for constructive, yet backhanded compliments. Love ya mom...

I'm sure the hubs thinks I'm going through some early mid-life crisis between getting the tattoo and cutting off my hair...but I really don't think he needs to worry until I've sold my ovaries for a condo in France. Why is it that when you hit a certain age, people just think you should be at a certain stage in your life? I'm sorry, are you Oprah? Shut your face. When I want kids, I will have them....but right now I would rather worry about what nail color I want during my next manicure than picking out baby formula. I know, that sounds selfish doesn't it? Oops. Onto other news....


While it's colder than Antarctica in Chicago right now, I can't WAIT to start my half marathon training. I'm pumped. Getting another half marathon under my belt will be such a great feeling. BRING IT ON. And speaking of training, I just found out that once I re-installed RunKeeper on my phone in order to do a review of it for a feature I'm writing, I get a free year of its Elite version! While I do favor Nike Running, I always loved RunKeeper's training plans they have set. What I'm NOT a fan of is its wacky GPS tracking...has anyone else had this problem? I'm hoping they fixed it. It's been awhile since I've used the app, but I figured I'd give it a shot since I'll be hopping on board with their advanced half marathon training plan. For anyone else looking for a training plan, this one is highly recommended!

Tomorrow is also my hubs' birthday! Since he wasn't lucky enough to have his birthday land on a weekend, we celebrated it on Saturday by going to a great barcade in Logan Square. They have vintage pinball machines as well as newer ones. The best part is that you have to be 21 or older to get in because it's essentially a bar with rows and rows full of arcade and pinball machines. YES. It was a blast!

Naturally, Sunday was a day full of cleaning and prepping for the week ahead. I'm excited to start reading Hausefrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum, I'll be reviewing the book in March and hosting a giveaway so keep your eyes peeled! Apollo just liked to use it as a pillow...

I hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend! Is anyone else training for anything? What apps do you favor?!

Weekend Review: Sister Bonding Time!

It's almost November which means holy #@^%# I'll be moving into the house with the hubs in just four weeks! It sounds like a long time, but we're in the homestretch and we're making a list a mile long of what needs to be done right away/the week we move in. Since the house was a foreclosure, we need ALL of the kitchen appliances. That means we need to go shopping, something I have zero experience in doing. Sorry if you missed the sarcasm that sentenced was heavily laced with. Since it's just about the holiday season, I'm betting on snagging some amazing deals.

What I DID do this weekend was go shopping for Christmas decorations. YEAH YEAH I DID IT. Strike me down! BUT since I'm a fan of all things glittery and shiny AND the fact that this will be our first Christmas in our first home, I'm goin' all out! Pier 1 Imports is my #1 place to go for Christmas decorations. I found the most beautiful ornaments and table pieces.

AND because I'm obsessed with penguins, these happened. Don't you dare judge. I mean come on, what's better than a penguin on a cupcake?

After going to Pier 1, my sister and I finally saw Gone Girl. Now I was DYING to see the movie since it was said that the author rewrote the ending...leading EVERYONE to believe that it was different from the book (which thank God) but....SPOILER ALERT....



NOPE. It was the effing same. And really, if you read this without the spoiler alert, be happy you did. I swear, it was like getting back together with an ex hoping for different results, when NOPE it still sucked something awful and you felt all empty inside. Okay I'm being dramatic...but really. However, the movie and casting was amazing. The author should always write the screenplay for movie adaptations. If they don't something like The Great Gatsby might happen again. This was my hot date for the night....because I'm a five-year-old at heart...or when I'm drunk.

My sister and sucked down some wine and martinis after the movie knowing full well that I had a long distance run ahead of me in the morning. But really, how can I turn down a pumpkin spice martini? It was like basic bitching 2.0.

 

Despite my thirst for pumpkin spice martinis, I was up bright and early for my 10-mile run in the morning...grumble. Thank the lord for Beyonce and Iggy Azalea for helping me pull through. Yeesh. I must say though that this weather Chicagoland is experiencing is AMAZING and it needs to hold out for a couple more weeks until my 15k...just sayin'.

This weekend I have my Panting for Paws race that benefits all of the furry little buddies out there that need a forever home. It's one of my fav races because well...nothing is better than running for furbaby funds right?! Speaking of which, unbeknownst to me, Apollo has his own clothing line...I found this out when I came across this sweater. Naturally, I bought it. He's aiming to be the next Karl Lagerfeld....

 And amidst all of my house moving craziness, my bff also moved into her new condo! We celebrated with margaritas the size of our faces. Cheers!!

And as this week progresses, I'll just be sitting at my desk planning for the move...because is it November 25th yet?!?! And yes, I have a countdown on my phone....

Self-Medicating

The grieving process is never easy. I feel like an unstable schizo going from really sad and crying to completely being numb and void of the whole situation. Like...is this all really happening? DID this really happen? My grandmother passed away peacefully Saturday morning and right when you think you don't have anymore tears left, the flood gates open up again! After going to the hospital for the last time, I felt like I could have slept for a whole week straight. My mom and I were on our way home and stopped for lunch although neither one of us wanted food....however we both demanded a glass of anything with alcohol after the many calls to the funeral director and figuring out a lot of the details for later. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

We headed over to Septemberfest since we were both exhausted and needed to ease our minds a little bit. For those of you who aren't familiar, it's a HUGE event where a bunch of local crafters and businesses get together and set up shop. Of course the majority are insanely overpriced, however I was SO very grateful to run into this one shop that sells essential oils and all natural, homemade soaps. Lavender everything bring it on! It's of course known to calm you down and de-stress. Just what I needed. I also bought some essential oils that work wonders for said stress and migraines.

 

 After that I headed to Half Priced Books with my sis. Because obviously. I was tired of being in tune with real life and decided that I needed to get lost in some new books. They were also having an extra 20% off sale so I got a stack of lovely books for $20. Um yes?

 My grandmother was a huge reader too so I felt like it was completely appropriate to indulge in some new reads. Running along the lake of course is another primo way for me to de-stress and zen out for awhile. Being around family is great and everything, but if you're anything like me, you need to just be alone with your thoughts sometimes.

I wanted to also say that all of you who left emails and comments when I broke the news last week about my grandmother are simply wonderful human beings. I mean just look at yourself, you're awesome and I love you all *BIG GROUP HUG*.

Then you also have the furbabies snuggling and bugging you since they always have a sixth sense for when their humans aren't feeling 100%. Apollo would just be there like, "hey mom, I'm here...for pets...well and for you too."

I'm looking forward to getting back into my normal daily routine and blogging regularly. And for those of you who have XM Radio and just wait around until a free promotion rolls around, that time is now!! #thesmallthings.


I hope your day is all rainbows and sunshine everyone!!! xoxo

Line Dancing & Vodka

So Friday was tons of fun. Why? Because for the majority of the day, our network was down and our IT team didn't have any answers. Like none. And might I add the main IT dude around the place is the most condescending ass-clown. His initial solution to this outage and not being connected to any of the drives was to repeatedly restart our computers. Seriously? Good thing I brought my iPad so I could read my smut classy romance novel at work. Thank you Maya Banks for saving the day. Oh and the fact that my coworker and I decided to bail and leave for lunch early and indulge in the best sangria we've ever had.

Saturday morning was greeted with the Colorblast 5k with my best running buddy. We definitely weren't aiming for a new PR for this race since we were determined to get as much color on us as possible in the color zones.

The ride home is always entertaining since people driving by have this "wtf" face. By the time I got home, I also decided to make my donation to the ALS foundation and do the ice bucket challenge. And thanks to the hubs for the primo editing job. Good lord. Some people are ragging on it, but all I have to say is shut up, it's for a good cause and has raised millions for the organization.

I think the hubs enjoyed doing that a little too much...but ANYWAY, this is the aftermath of the colorblasting and after being doused with ice water. So hot....

Once I looked like a normal human being again, Josh and I headed over to his uncle's surprise 40th birthday party. His aunt's sister made this boob cake..I can't even.

 THEN we pre-gamed before we boarded the party bus to a bar....called the Saddle Up Saloon. I was feeling quite happy well before we headed out to the bar since it's the only way I can handle the questions, "when are you having kids and have you found a place yet?" The second we walked into the bar though - the seventh circle of hell -  I knew I had to consume WAY too much vodka to put up with the line dancing going on in the center of the dance floor (yes you heard me right) and the Jason Aldean hits blaring from the speakers. Shoot me. Sorry folks, I don't do country. I absolutely can't. Give me some Katy Perry or some clubby dance hits to listen to please. I can't white girl dance to Leann Rimes. Sorry. I thought I somehow teleported from Chicago to down South. I didn't know places like this existed around these parts. It wasn't until I consumed enough alcohol until I then decided to participate in the line dancing. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I'm sure I pissed off some cowgirls out there as I threw off their groove.

Source

Luckily they eventually started playing my jams where I rocked out to Iggy Azalea and Beyonce all night long. They even played the Spice Girls. NOW they understand me. I haven't danced that hard since my bachelorette party, it was fantastic. Thank the good lord I opted out of heels. However I was an outcast for not wearing cowboy boots. Yep. Completely sober here...

Sunday was spent hydrating and stretching out my bod that was a tight mess after all of that dancing. Lordy I'm old...I'm pretty positive that level of dancing countered all of those empty vodka cals I consumed. #doingitright.


Is there any kind of music that just makes your ears bleed or somewhere you went where you just wanted to run out of the door screaming??

Weekending Like A Boss

So for all of you Chicagoans out there, can I just say that the weather we had was UH-mazing?! My weekend wrap-up is coming late because well...late concerts happen...and blog posts don't sometimes. SO Friday night I was completely exhausted, but that didn't stop the celebratory festivities at Buffalo Wild Wings or as other annoying people call it, Bdubs. The whole family was there and my FIL decided to order hot wings with their hottest sauce made with ghost peppers. It was then where bets were placed to see who would be eating them. While Josh had the julios to eat one, I said "eff that" and sat back to witness the others incinerating their mouths while watching the first Bears pre-season game HOOZA.

Saturday was our day to hash out all of our bills and such to make sure that our list of favorite places would be possible to afford. And BOOM they are. Winning.We'll be setting up times to visit them this weekend!

Sunday morning was race day! I was really dreading this 10k simply because my stomach hasn't been feeling that great during my previous runs leading up to Sunday. HOWEVER the weather was pretty much perfect for a race. Overcast and cool to start and then it didn't get too sunny until I was halfway through the race! I ran the whole way without my stomach acting up once AND come to find out, my average pace was even better than I thought by a whole minute! I felt so solid throughout the whole run and I wasn't dying by the end of the race either.

This gives me tremendous hope for smashing some PRs for my 15k and moving forward with my training. :D The only qualm I had was that the start waves weren't released far enough apart...soooo those who pretty much LIED and said that they run at a faster pace than they really do...were holding up a lot of other people...#GGRRRRR #getoutdawaybitch.

Once both my friend and I finished and patted ourselves on the back for kicking ass, we took a million photos per usual.

We gathered our free post-race snacks for the road and I had to head out to prep for the concert later on that night with Josh and the in-laws. Yep... Daughtry, Goo Goo Dolls and Plain White T's. It was a blast HOWEVER leaving concerts early is not my cup of tea, especially when I was holding out at least to hear Iris.

And let's just face it, 85% of Daughtry's fan base consists of middle-aged women who wish their husbands were Daughtry. There was a group of older women next to me and uh, girl needed to cut back on the canned limeritas. I'm all for a girls night out away from the kids (lord knows I'll be one of them one day) but handle your damn liquor properly and don't flail your arms around and obstructing my view. I'll break your hip. Concert etiquette, ahem!I'll be damned if you ruin "Black Balloon" for me.

Josh however was less than enthused. I'm pretty sure he would have rather watched paint dry than go, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. People watching at a venue like this though is one of my fav things to do. Entertainment for days. Overall, I love this windy city and summer just couldn't end without an outdoor music experience!

What are your concert pet peeves?? Did everyone else have an amazing weekend??