A Birthday Recap

While I wait in total anticipation for the Casey Anthony jury decision, I figured I should update this. Maybe.

When I last left off, it was almost my birthday. I had made my mileage goal with a spectacular 5k run and I was feeling good heading in to Thursday.

On Wednesday night, I was the DJ of the evening for DDPP. Had a FANTASTIC time and made a kick ass playlist. I wanted to do something to honor my birthday, so I picked out a song from every other year starting in good ol' 1987. Here's the list with some explanations:

1987 (warm-up)- Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer: Number one song from my birth year... how could I not pick this? Plus, the video starts with the band stretching and putting clothes on.
1988- Harry Belafonte "Jump in the Line" (from Beetlejuice): LOVED the movie, and this song is a big crowd pleaser for DDPP.
1990- B52 "Love Shack" : Another one of those "how could I not?" picks.
1991-2- Deee-Lite "Groove is in the Heart": I really struggled with the early 90s because when I was 5 or 6, we listened to only oldies or country songs. My older brother was big on Nirvana, but Nirvana is obviously not the best to dance to!
1993- Salt N Peppa "Shoop": A later love. Every girl must love this song. It's required.
1995- No Doubt "Spiderwebs" : Another requirement for any girl growing up in the 90s. This song is still one that I will turn up on blast if I hear it in the car.
1997- Spice Girls "Spice Up Your Life": Guilty pleasure #1. I was OBSESSED with Spice Girls. I still remember taking countless "Which Spice Girl Are You" quizzes and demanding to see their movie as soon as it came out.
1998- Madonna "Ray of Light": You cant mention the 90s or 80s without Madonna. It was a big fight between Vogue and this.
1999- Jamiroquai "Canned Heat": This song truly started my love of electro-indie-pop/rock. And the music was in one of my favorite dance movies, Center Stage.
2000- NSYNC "Bye Bye Bye": Guilty pleasure #2. I loved BSB more, but NSYNC is more conducive for dancing.
2003- Outkast "Hey Ya": Another "how could I not?" But B gets mad when he hears this at weddings because the song is clearly about getting a divorce.
2006- Apples in Stereo "Can You Feel It": Do you like happy, feel-good, dance music? Find yourself some Apples in Stereo and turn the volume way up.
2008- Beyonce "Single Ladies": In 2008-09, I broke up with my longest term boyfriend... one I wanted to marry because, as Beyonce puts it, "Put in three good years, cant be mad at me."
2010- La Roux "Bullet Proof": My favorite pop song of last year, and my motto for this year.
Random (last work song)- Dexy's Midnight Runner "Come on Eileen": This song is ALWAYS in my DDPP playlists. No rhyme or reason. I just love it.
2010 (cool down)- Peter Gabriel "Heroes": Great song to come off of a high.

Dripping in some funtimerainbow90srock sweat, I returned home to find SOB in a suit, on a rooftop deck (facing the lake and skyline), with a gigantic bowl of homemade pasta. And garlic bread. He even pushed a "meat"ball around his plate with his nose for me.

I'm cuter. And less demure.

On Thursday, we woke up, got dressed, and screamed our heads off at Six Flags for 9 hours. Ahh to be young and not to know what a roller coaster hangover feels like... BTW. There is this new ride in the water park called Torpedo or something, but it should be called Bank Teller Tube of Death. To sum it up, a floor drops from underneath you and you get shot through an enclosed tube of water and in to a small pool. It is not fun and I swear it gave me this nasty cold I'm fighting.

Saturday night was my adventure in to cake making. I actually LOVE to bake. It's soothing to me. I just wish I could eat all of the things I plan on baking. But I had decided a month or so ago that I would make my own birthday cake. I found this recipe which claims to be the best chocolate cake ever... and it's vegan. It did not lie. The cake came out super moist and, well, it was vegan. I then had fun decorating it with icing. It took me about a half hour to decide upon what it should say, but an Office episode helped me decide:

Here's a picture of my cake:

Cake win!

Anyways, the rest of my vacay was spent at home.. drinking with pops. Seriously. Bar hopping with my dad. Oh, and celebrating graduations.

And then there was fireworks on the rooftop.

That sums it up. I will have a more interesting post later. Pinky promise. Just a ton is going on (which I intend to write about), so I'm limited in posting energy.

OH!!! And I got a Nook Color. If you are a lucky lady/lad like me and have one, you should find me and share your book collection. My sister already sent me a saucy book that I devoured in about an hour. Now it's become crack and I want more. 

Weekend Warrior

I'm going to just be completely honest and say that my weekend wasn't much of anything. I ate horribly (McDonald's, gnocchi, stadium food, alcohol... etc.) and I worked out at a minimum. I'm pretty sure the only time my heart rate got to the cardio level was when I watched Michael Bradley score the first goal for the USMNT v Mexico Gold Cup game... which they promptly lost.

I did get in a run. Finally. 5 miles on Sunday, right before I headed down to Toyota Park for the Chicago Fire game.

And since this post has nothing to do with anything in particular, enjoy this AWESOME proposal in Section 8, the hardcore cheering section for the Chicago Fire. Dear Man of My Dreams: Please do this:

Speaking of which, Fire game was great. I won, sort of, club tickets. We were going to go anyways, since it is my birthday week and birthday weeks require Chicago Fire games. But the club seats were pretty much icing on my proverbial cake. We had our own waitress, got to go in through the swanky club (air conditioned) access, a private store, and super clean bathrooms! Ginger and I spent much of the game gossiping and discussing my life choices.

Conclusion: When someone in your life isn't supportive or even present, it's ok to do immature things. (Win)

Highlight of this weekend: Workouts in the park. Is there anything more lovely than doing yoga in Millennium Park, which happens to be my favorite place in the whole US? The sun is shining down as you cat and dog your way through poses, and the atmosphere is pretty inviting and calming. You dont find that often, even in home practices of yoga. Often, when I do my sun salutations in the morning, I do them with a bajillion things running through my head- what I'm going to wear, how work will go, can I eat a bagel today... etc. But doing them in a park, on a Saturday, with the world driving past you... well, a clear mind is the only thing it results in for me. 

So, with a pretty sweet farmer's tan, a heart pumped up with cholesterol, and a somewhat clear mind... this week begins. It's my birthday week, so please be kind.

A Reprieve

Part of it is probably the depression, but I've been feeling more and more... disconnected lately, especially from working out. It's been all habit and routine, nothing fun. Combine that with not being able to go to my regular gym because of concerts and power outages, well, I'm obviously not motivated. I'm the opposite. I'm freaking burnt out. Even my running is suffering because of an Achilles Tendon strain.

So, it was decided that on this week of June, I would give myself a reprieve. I would work out when I wanted to workout and not follow my usual set schedule. Instead of forcing runs at 5am every other morning or going to two-three spin classes a week, I'm allowing myself to just rest when it needs to and work out when it wants to. And if it does want to, I get to pick the activity. It's not sanctioned.

Yesterday, for example, I would normally do a strength training routine and 30 minutes of HIIT (interval training). Instead, I opted to force SOB to take a 3 mile walk with me down the path. To be fair, I did promise him Big Chicks food and drinks after.

During that walk, we talked about the emotional issues I've been going through, we swung on a swing set, and we watched the boats come in and sail off from the marina. In the end, we both agreed that this was an excellent way for us to spend some time together that was out of the house and sort of active. It certainly helps that we both burned around 260-80 calories. I am a convert, oh holy walkers.

And of course, we got Big Chicks on the way home. My chicken fingers with fries and a vodka cranberry certainly washed away any calorie burn I may have had today. Total calories for yesterday: 1800 (which is only a little over my highest amount of calories possible).

I wish my constant need to eat everything around me would stop. I've been on some week long binge that I'm blaming on my Sunday 12 miler. Seriously, I alone have gone through a party sized bag of pita chips in about 5 days. Those are $4.99 a bag, Michelle. Get with the poverty program!

As for my weight, I've maintained. I have been on a plateau for about 3 months now with me gaining and losing the same 3lbs over and over again. I dont expect this reprieve to do much in this department. But I'm hoping that I will come back on Monday with vengeance. Till then, my friends.

Grain of Salt

Since I've rejoined Sparkpeople (for the 100th time since 2006), I've had to analyze my relationship with non-living things: food and exercise. To lose weight in a healthy manner, as I have done in the past, I constantly have to analyze and process the two things that are essential in me getting healthy.

I've talked about exercise already. I actually really love to be active, contrary to popular belief. I get restless easily so it's a tool to get myself off of the rut of couch planting-B rated netflix movie watching.


It also provides me with a social network. My spin teacher, a crazy mad deamon in bike shorts, does what she calls "talk tests" where she brings up a random (often X-rated) topic and has us each talk for 10 seconds to a minute about it. It's often during peak sets or tempo sprints, but there is no better laugh than talking blow jobs while forcing yourself not to pass out on a stationary bike. Since I've moved to Chicago, my friend zone has been at, well, about a zero- besides my boyfriend's friend and family and occasional phone calls and emails. At least when I am spinning in a room full of girls, doing dirty "talk tests," I can get out that need to giggle, joke, gossip, and emasculate men that I would normally have if I was living in the burbs and able to see my MIA girlfriends.

And, more often than not, exercise does quite the opposite- it elevates the social process of life. Do you want to just totally lose every grip on any stress in your life? Well, I know it's corny and so late 90s, but try yoga. I recommend this looking up yogamazing, a free Itunes podcast featuring a very calming teacher. Want to literally sing away away anger while burning calories? Watch this and try not to laugh:



There's always that scientific thing about endorphins...


As for food... well, that's less clear cut. If we are going to be honest here and do some self reflection, I will just straight out say that I am a terrible eater. As a child, my diet was fat, carbs, and more fat. I avoided veggies like the plague (and quite honestly still do... just never could physically eat green beans or broccoli). It contributed to an overweight, unhappy child that would grow to an overweight, unhappy adult.

Just like about 99.9% of you, I turn to food for comfort in times of stress and a quick pick-me-up when I need a burst of energy. Food is social. It's where the majority of first dates take place, served at weddings, left out at funerals. Food follows us through life and defines who we are, whether I like to admit that or not.



I struggle, currently, with a heavy salt/sodium addiction. It is added or showcased in most of my food, and, in return, it retains all of the 8 cups of water I struggle to drink per day. It is the reason why my feet and fingers are constantly cold or why I am exhausted at odd hours of the day.

But even knowing this, I am still a salt fiend. I still crave it. I still keep a dispenser filled with seasoned salt on my eating table (for real). This is my life. It's what I hold on to, and that's depressing. Even with all the anger and resentment that comes from having past food addictions and seeing what negative hold it had on me for so long, I still let something as minuscule as a grain of salt hold on to me.

Normally, I'd write my solution or some goal. But I'm being realistic when I say that this salt craving will never, ever go away. I'm always going to want to whip up some popcorn or dash some seasalt on my potato skins. It's just going to have to be something I work around and with- just like any human relationship. I'll have to compromise and dedicate myself, just as anyone who wants to make a major change in their life would do.

Salt, you win. You can stay.