Celebrate Good Times!

Chris and I had so much fun last night celebrating our three year "dating" anniversary.  Due to the power outage earlier this week and the fact that Comed told us we were going to be without power until today we ended up doing a priceline and getting a pretty good deal on a hotel for 3 nights.  So we've been staying at the Marriott Oak Brook Hills Resort.  Last night after I got "home" from work we decided to go down to the bar for a drink and some appetizers.  I said happy anniversary when we toasted and the bartender over heard us but didn't say anything about it.  Then later in the night the bar manager came over by us and asked what we were "in town" for and we said power outage and anniversary :)  We left the bar a little while later and when we were walking into our room we passed the manager and said hi.  When we got back to our room there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.  We immediately went to thank the manager but it wasn't from him, so we were a bit confused.  When we checked the card we realized it was from the bartenders.  So nice of them!  When we woke up this morning there was a card under our door from the manager with a note that breakfast was on him!

I told Chris we're getting more preferential for a 3 year dating anniversary than we did on our honeymoon :)  Maybe we need to pretend it's our anniversary all the time!  LOL only kidding, but we did greatly appreciate the treats and great hotel!

Black Rice

The power is back on!!  YAY!!  Last night we went out to dinner and had sushi.  Chris is pretty sure that he has a gluten allergy, in fact he went to the doctor yesterday to get a bunch of tests done, so he's been trying to stay away from gluten.  The sushi place offered black rice which is gluten free so we tried it.  Not sure I'll try it again, but it wasn't horrible.  It was a little chewy and not as sticky as the regular rice so it was a bit difficult to eat.  At least we tried it.  We also had some of the sparkling sake, now that was delicious :)

Three years ago today, this picture was taken:

It was the day I met Chris and (for the most part) I haven't stopped smiling!  This has been the best three years of my life!  I knew we were meant to be by our mutual love for cheese :)  I think that's where I hooked him.  After the game all of my friends, Chris and I went back to my condo, the first thing Chris did was open my refrigerator and check out my cheese drawer.  Good thing I had some in there otherwise he may not have stuck around :)  LOL!  I love you Chris!

A Power Outage and a Hawks Win!

Yesterday I posted that I was going to Zumba, I was actually excited about it because I really do like it.  I got to the gym, was about 1/2 way through the class and then it happened..............complete darkness.  There were some pretty wicked storms passing through so that caused a power outage.  We waited a bit and then they canceled the class and closed the gym.  At least I got 1/2 a workout in?  Anyway the plan was to meet Chris at a bar and grill down the street from the gym to watch the Hawks game.  I got there and.............complete darkness!  Chris was sitting at the bar, on his computer working, having a drink waiting for me to show up :)  We waited there a little bit and decided to drive to where there was light!  We drove by our house to make sure grandma was ok and then went to where we usually go anyway Chuck's bbq.  The problem with that was that the bar was PACKED already.  Luckily they had a big screen in the restaurant so we watched it from there.  

What a game!!  I will be the first to admit that I jumped on the Hawk's bandwagon when they got into the playoff's but I look at it this way, I'm a Chicago fan!  If any of the Chicago teams were in the championship I'd root for them, including the Sox, which I did when they won.  The only time I wouldn't would be a Cubs/Sox World Series, but honestly who am I kidding, not in my lifetime!  Anyway back to the game, the bar and restaurant went nuts!  It was a lot of fun to be a part of.  The fire department across the street opened it's garage doors and put the lights and the siren of the fire truck on.  There were fireworks going off all over the place.  I'm proud to live in a city that has so much pride :)

Then we went home, all was good.  We went to sleep and at 4 am I was woken up by Chris who was trying to find a flashlight because.........complete darkness, our power went out.  I probably would have slept through it, but Chris's sleep machine stopped working and that of course woke him up, no sleep machine = no sleep for Chris :(  Comed says that we'll have power by 11 pm on THURSDAY so to a hotel we will go.  The hotel has a gym so my gym clothes are packed and ready to go! 

OMG I'm Sore!

Last week I said I was going to try out Piloxing on Thursday, well that never happened.  Because I'm using a Groupon I have a punch card.  Well I switched purses last week and my punch card was in my other purse :(  so I couldn't take the class.  I did take a class on Friday morning called "Circuit Training".  OMG that was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life!!  It was a class that utilized some weights, but primarily used body weights to do squats, wall sits, planks, lifting, etc.  I left there exhausted, by Friday night I was already sore.  I could hardly move Saturday or Sunday.  Today I'm still a bit sore!  I was talking with some of the women after class and the one said that of all of the classes offered at the gym that one is the hardest by far!  So I guess it's a good thing I "survived" the class and I put that in quotes because I didn't do all of the moves by any means, however I did do the best I could!  Tonight is Zumba and then we're watching the hockey game, GO HAWKS!

Workout Re-Do

Yoga didn't happen last night.  Nerves coupled with a bad day at work resulted in me allowing my brain to talk me out of going.  However, today is a new day and I am going to a Piloxing class at 6!  I am a bit nervous about this one too, but I'm going to do it!  It's a combination of Pilates and Boxing, neither of which I've done before.  New adventures.  I'll report back tomorrow to let you know how it goes.  Also, as a result of that "bad day" yesterday I didn't make the best food choices.  Not the worst ones by any means, but the wine and cheese blew it, it was good though :)  

Namaste

Namaste - I think that's what people say at the end of Yoga classes?  I've never done Yoga before, but I think I'm going to give it a try tonight.  My Groupon gym has a class tonight from 7 - 8 pm called "Gentle Yoga".  I'm hoping it's like a Yoga for beginners.  Here is the description - Rejuvenate your body from the inside out with Yoga.  Yoga will help you to develop strength and ease of movement through flexibility and relaxation.  So we'll see how that goes, wish me luck!  :)

Back to Zumba!

Well after some encouragement from those of you who read the blog and a groupon that Chris bought for me for an all women's fitness class bundle, I went to Zumba last night :)  It was a lot of fun!  As I mentioned (in this blog post) Chris saw a groupon for 20 classes at an all women's gym in LaGrange, not too far from our house.  I have 40 days to complete the 20 classes.  I did my first class last night.  It was really nice to be in an all woman's facility.  I wasn't nearly as self conscious as I am at our regular gym.  The class was small, maybe 10 people which was great, because usually at the Zumba class at our gym there are around 50.  I had room to move and see the instructor.  All of the women were really nice.  The first song they played "Can't Hold Us" by Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis always makes me think of Chris so that was an added boost of energy :)  At the end of the class I almost fell over when I looked down at my heart rate monitor!

705 CALORIES BURNED!!  I was pretty darn excited to see that.  It was a tough class, but it was a lot of fun and if I can burn 705 calories for dancing around for an hour I'll take it.  I am a bit sore today, especially my upper body.  There was a lot of focus on arms in yesterday's class.  My foot does hurt today from the planter fasciitis but I think part of that is my doing, I did not stretch as much as I should have after class and I did not ice my foot when I got home.  I will need to try that next time.

As promised yesterday, the food journal is back!