balance

Responsible Weekend Sandwich

Do you ever feel like your personality can do a complete 180 on a whim?

This past weekend pretty much felt like that for me (as most weekends tend to do…)

We’ll call it the “Responsible Weekend Sandwich.” Lot’s of calorie-laden, lethargy-inspiring decisions sandwiched by ultra-healthy behavior. If I had to title a book about my everyday life this would have to be it.

It all started responsibly enough. I worked a fun seven-hour shift on Friday, headed to CorePower for a sculpt class at 7:15, made a healthy meal (sweet potato nachos FTW!), and went to bed at a decent hour. I think I even had a glass of water with my meal. Big, healthy things happening over here. Including these muscles:

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Who wants to meet up in a dark alley?

Thennnnnn came the meat in this “Responsible Weekend Sandwich.” Aka Saturday. Aka I overslept, skipped my morning long run, got in a car and drove to Tinley Park for a day-long alternative music festival, and subsequently drank 120 oz of beer. Yes, I did the math.

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Between the heat and the 10 hours of non-stop music, it’s really no feat to have had six 20-oz cups of beer. But thinking back on it today it makes me want to punch myself in the face. That and the Pringles. So many Pringles (they were on sale, I don’t want to talk about it).

The “meat” was the best part of the weekend. 10 hours of seeing some of my favorite bands live? I can’t even tell you how happy I was! Do you think I can convince the guys of Smallpools to lease an apartment with me?

Waking up Sunday wasn’t as bad as anticipated — and I was able to get to work and have a kickass time. I was tired by the end of my shift but some friends from the store convinced me to grab dinner and I knew I would be much more likely to eat vegetables at a restaurant than I would at home. So we headed to Doc B’s for giant salads.

IMG_5629Black Tiger Shrimp Salad: Field Greens & Avocado Vinaigrette, avocado, peppadew, red onion, jicama & feta

Is anyone else a HUGE fan of jicama in the summer?

And now, to metaphorically slab the sprouted grain piece of bread on my Responsible Weekend Sandwich, I just finished up journaling. Yep, goal-crushing over here.

Question:

  • Any jicama recipes you’re willing to share?
  • Do you often get caught in a healthy or unhealthy “sandwich” of sorts?

balancing the weekend: jumping jacks and jello shots

I don’t even know where to begin describing the shenanigans that went down this weekend.

Friday night we celebrated my Dad’s birthday with our annual trip to a German restaurant. We eat German food once a year because it’s my Dad’s favorite — that shows how much we love him because I don’t think anyone in the world besides Germans love German food. I was lucky because my mom brought me a piece of his German chocolate cake that they had the night before — sensing a theme here?

1476089_1007196122640516_3360148816688752952_nWe went to Mirabell and it ended up being FANTASTIC. I never love German food but this was actually delicious! They took their time with the dishes but it was worth it — everything came out piping hot and flavorful.

unnamedI had salmon with garlic-cream sauce and fried potatoes with a salad to start. My brother got the famous Wiener Schnitzel and we all sampled some potato pancakes — everything was great. Plus I got to eat cake in bed later that night and I’m not sure what’s better than eating cake in bed…

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Saturday was when most of the shenanigans ensued. It was Chicago’s annual “12 Bars of Christmas” Event, otherwise known as TBOX. We started the day at 7am with coffee/Bailey’s, mimosas, egg sandwiches and cinnamon rolls.

IMG_2043 IMG_2040 IMG_2046IMG_2049 IMG_2051Oh and did I mention the jello shot tower? Yeah, there was a jello shot tower.

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Needless to say it was a fun morning.

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Now, in the name of balance let’s talk weekly workouts.

  • Monday: Rest
  • Tuesday: 4 mile run
  • Wednesday: Sweat on State (400m warmup run + main workout shared below)
  • Thursday: Kick-ass spin class at Flywheel
  • Friday: 60 minute Sculpt class at CorePower Yoga
  • Saturday: Jello shots burn calories right?
  • Sunday: Rest

Even though I only worked out four days last week, I feel like I pushed myself 100% for those four workouts so I don’t feel like I skimped on the sweat at all. Plus I’m finally starting to notice a significant difference in my upper body strength which is so exciting! I love that I now measure my success on what I can accomplish with my body, not on how it looks or how “skinny” I can get.

A workout that centers on running - my kinda day!

A workout that centers on running – my kinda day!

The blue pants always make an appearance at sculpt

The blue pants always make an appearance at sculpt

unnamed (7)Moral of the story? With great food/drinks comes great responsibility…to sweat! And when you make working out as much fun as I do, it all balances out. The jumping jacks AND the jello shots 😀

Questions:

  • Any fun holiday parties this past weekend?
  • Is there a type of food you aren’t fond of, like I am with German food?
  • How do you keep a balance between food/drinks and fitness?

newsflash: I’m not 21 anymore

I haven’t talked to you all since Wednesday and I still feel like I don’t have anything to say. I’m kind of tired of the “sound” of my own voice, if you catch my drift. I do have two recipes to share with you this week so get excited for that!

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The past few days can be summed up in one word: beer.

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You know what that means. It’s Sunday night and I feel like I’m typing with a preggers belly. All i can say is: thank god for fall layering. Those vests and cardigans really came in handy after day three of being slightly buzzed by Sam Adams Oktoberfest. Woof.

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It wasn’t my most shining moment as a proponent of health/fitness. And yeah, I had fun, and no, I don’t regret it. But it never fails that after weekends like this I find myself sitting on the couch Sunday night feeling like a lump on a log and wondering why I couldn’t get it together all weekend.

Thursday night I met up with old friends from my favorite PR internship last year for happy hour at Randolph Tavern in the Loop. We’ve only been able to make it happen every few months but every time we remember why we’re still friends – we’re a freakin’ hilarious foursome. We split a bunch of pork nachos and tacos. So maybe it wasn’t just the beer’s fault (whoops). The restaurant was pretty phenomenal considering we picked it at the last minute.

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Friday night was my five-year high school reunion! First of all, is that normal? I showed up to the bar and basically saw the same people I went to high school with except some of the guys actually had facial hair instead of hopeless shadows creeping all over their faces. And even though I will say, without shame, that I was pretty pumped for the reunion, it totally exceeded my expectations. I had a BALL.

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I’ve also been wearing the crap out of those booties I shared with you a few weeks ago. If you want a pair, head to Nordstrom NOW. Best purchase I’ve made in years. I was comfortable in them for hours and they only slightly made me resemble a WNBA player.

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Saturday was a little rough after reunion night (read: more beer) but I managed to get through work and meet Megan up at a local Oktoberfest celebration. My favorite part was a jousting “arena” that everyone from toddlers to sixty-year-old men was taking part in. I have to say, whenever I go to celebrations like this I kind of wish I had more culture in my life. Minus my quick stint visiting Prague, I haven’t done much to celebratte my Czech roots throughout my life. You Germans and Irish know how to party!

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We left Oktoberfest to get some real food at the Mystic Celt and ended up with an incredible view. The only thing better than sitting on a patio in the summer is sitting in the restaurant during Indian Summer when they have the front walls down so you’re basically outside while still sitting indoors. It made for some nice views of the street.

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So all in all, I ate and drank and didn’t do NEARLY enough activity to balance it all out. But I have a plan for this upcoming week to get more in control of myself when all I want to do is eat drink sleep repeat. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, fitness-loving Lauren wakes up Monday morning wanting to punch herself in the face. And we all know that when you make a plan and have high hopes for yourself, nothing can possibly go wrong or get in your way. Right? ………………….Right?

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No, Lauren, it isn’t fair, but you’re also not 21 anymore. Proper nutrition, water and sleep are a wee bit more important than back in your heyday.

So that’s that. How was your weekend?