Luna Bell celebrated her 4th birthday this week with several cans of The Florentine Collection and an extra long brushing (hey, it was her special day!). Despite her anxiety disorder, penchant for fancy food and refusal to sleep anywhere but Ryan’s pillow at night, she really is the best cat ever.
Thank God my lack of friends in law school forced me to get a friend cat. Best decision I made during that season.
Happy Birthday, LB!
A post-dinner walk, a warmer than expected evening and a totally unnecessary bottle of wine.
Something about posting up barside with Ryan at Quartino brings about the best conversations. Holiday plans, 2012 must-do’s, career goals, stock market chitchat that I actually enjoyed…we covered it all last night.
For me, the holiday season starts tonight. At 6pm, the Magnificent Mile will light up in all of its holiday sparkle and then It’s on. We will be in Lincoln Park for a Friend Thanksgiving but I already can’t wait to come back downtown later tonight, after the parade crowd clears, and see Mich Ave aglow. I seriously cannot even stand how much I love it.
The most wonderful time of the year, without doubt!
The yoga kick I have been on has been all consuming but it was time to mix it up. When a friend was going to Shred 415, I figured that it was a perfect opportunity to tag along and spice my sweating up.
No lie, I will probably be sore for the rest of my life.
Here’s the deal: for an hour, you do interval training between a treadmill and weights/bench. The idea is that interval training is the best way to burn calories and tone. It changes every day but we did 9 minutes on the treadmill, 9 on the weights, back and forth for an hour…so hard, so sweaty, so awesome. Running at a massive incline at a sprint pace, hopping off to do squats and curls, back on to run up another hill, all while a very nice (full disclosure: also very cute) trainer told us “I know it hurts but don’t stop. The worst that could happen is you get better.” True in treadmills, true in life, wise trainer man.
Shred 415 pushed me to just the right edge. You adjust your own speed and weight so it’s never more than you can handle and I found myself wanting to go harder because I was seeing that I could.
Despite being sore today, I seriously cannot wait to go back. Mentally, it made me feel like a bad ass and physically, I felt like I was capable of anything. Not bad for an hour’s work.
I’m trying out something new- How To Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, we will explore how to do something new or maybe even something not so new. This in no way is to show that I am an expert on anything. But I do know some things and what I don’t, well, I want to learn. So let’s get started, shall we?
How To Make Steamed Mussels.
I love steamed mussels and order them often when dining out (The Gage is my fav for mussels, FYI). A mini activity, I love digging the little guys out and dunking crusty bread in the sauce. Ryan and I saw this two-pound bag for 5 bucks at the grocery and decided it was time to take matters (mussels?) into our own hands.
Step 1: sauté half an onion, at least 6 cloves of garlic and a splash of extra virgin olive oil.
I crushed 2 of the cloves in a garlic press so the flavor mixed in a bit more but leave some whole- a steamed garlic clove is one of the best parts.
Step 2: pour 1 1/2 cup of white wine, one cup broth or water, cherry tomatoes and 2 lbs of mussels.
On medium heat, cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes, letting the wine and broth make a sauce that will steam open the mussels and tomatoes. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, basil, whatever you want. I don’t think it’s possible to mess this up- the more favors, the better!
Step 3: after 10 minutes, add a handful of spinach.
Let it steam for 4 or 5 minutes. When the mussels have opened and the pot smells amazing, remove from heat, pour with the sauce into a serving bowl and serve with good crusty bread. We had some hard cheese (Parmesan) on hand and that worked nicely as well.
This was dinner on Sunday night and we loved it. I have a feel we are going to be super critical when we order mussels out now….
I knew this Monday was going to be a doozy so I fueled up on this view and newly downloaded Christmas tunes on my morning walking commute- like intravenous good moods, I say!
My Monday ended with falling asleep in the middle of eating a sandwich. 2 hours passed and I woke up to Luna Bell sitting in between me and the sandwich, possibly deciding which to eat.
Work, workout, sleep, repeat seems to be the recipe for success this week…that 2 hour sandwich intermission got the pattern out of order so a late night run, it is!
Happy Monday to you- I hope it’s off to a fabulous start!
A November day this warm called for an extra long walk. I cannot believe it is mid month and I am still not wearing my winter jacket. Amazing.
The BP Bridge in Millennium Park was the pleasant surprise of the day- crossing Columbus Ave, this Frank Gehry designed foot bridge is the most attractive bridge I certainly have ever seen. Wind-y, curve-y and so, so pretty…like walking across a piece of art. I pass it nearly everyday so it’s pretty embarrassing that this was the first we took to time to actually walk across but I am so glad we did. And to find out it is Gehry…I love his work.
Gorgeous Chicago on a gorgeous Fall day. It absolutely cannot be beat.
Happy hour, a little basketball game on an aircraft carrier (all sorts of awesome even though my Spartans lost) and splitting a turkey burger and wings with my man at Sweetwater. TGIF, if I don’t say so myself!
I don’t typically use this space for my opinions on politics, world news, or the like.
This is a place for things I like, places I love, happenings that make me happy.
But for the last week, every time I turn on the news, check Twitter, etc., I am met with information that I literally cannot process.
Christmas tree taxes, 72 day marriages, 5 hour jail stays, pop star murderer convictions, college football child rape charges, subsequent protesting of the removal of a coach…
What is wrong with people? Seriously- WHAT is wrong with people?
I cannot believe that a marriage entered into during the taping of a reality tv show, followed by the taping of an extravagant wedding has the makings of a golden anniversary. I cannot feel sympathy for someone, murdered or not, who most likely molested small children. I cannot think that serving 5 hours of a 30 day sentence is going to do anything to teach an entitled actress any lessons about the consequences of her drug-laden actions. And I absolutely cannot understand that anyone finds it acceptable that when given the opportunity to stop the actions of a child rapist that they would not move mountains to do so.
A Christmas tree tax to fund the marketing of Christmas trees? I thought Christmas marketed Christmas trees.
We have an obligation here, people- to not be idiots.
So maybe it’s time to “occupy” something other than Wall Street. Let’s occupy productivity. Creativity. Let’s occupy family and togetherness and love. Isn’t that worth more of our time?
It’s time to pull it together.
Unpopular opinion alert: I think this sucks, Nordstrom.
Some people happen to love Christmas lasting for two months. Some people happen to squeal with delight when it’s November 9th and lights are starting go up on Mich Ave. Some people think that the fine people at Starbucks were genius for putting out their holiday cups on November 1st. Some people ask the security guards at the 900 Shops when the Christmas decorations go up so they can maybe swing by and see art in progress. I mean, for example.
So while I appreciate the stand you’re taking for one holiday at a time, you are always going to be the Scroogier department store to me. Enjoy your turkey but SOME PEOPLE just want to see some trees and tinsel.
