Welcome to the Island

Rhode Island that is. I survived the hurricane and only had to last a little more than 48 hours without power. I feel horrible for those who still don’t have power or worse, don’t have water! If any bloggers in New England need a shower, come my way. G and I will help you out! So needless to say, I haven’t been working out or cooking much. So instead of that talk, how about a tour?

Let’s start with the beach! Who doesn’t want to look at water? The day after I arrived in Rhode Island (with the help of my brother) we did some touristy stuff.

This was a rocky beach, but everybody was chilling on it like it was a sandy beach.

I find beauty in little things, like green beaches…

and waves crashing on algae covered rocks.

So after a trip to the beach, we hit up an awesome burger bar. I highly recommend Luxe Burger Bar. Not only did they have a decent beer menu, but the “build your own burger” was fun. My suggestion, pick a theme and then build from there. My bro did a Greek inspired burger with Kobe beef and I did a spin off of the traditional with a turkey burger (garlic aioli? caramelized onions? YES PLEASE!). The best part? G-Dog was allowed with us on the patio.

After stuffing ourselves, we took a tour of downtown PVD. The Guin-pup and I tried to take a family picture on the steps of the State House. It didn’t work so well. The close ups are ridiculous. It’s not even like one of us was prepared. Humans AND dogs can suffer from ADD. So here are some further back pictures, in which you cannot tell that we’re both looking in complete opposite directions..

 

The next post will have an apartment tour. Including ghetto cabling throughout all the rooms (I can decorate, but cannot figure out electronics). Get excited!

 

What was the last great restaurant you went to?

What’s the most exciting thing that happened to you in the past 4 days?

Probably the hurricane, even though it was only a tropical storm by the time it got here. But after that, getting my electricity back!

Reasons why moving sucks.

1. Packing = Cleaning = Dust = Dust mite allergy overload. I’ve been sneezing so hard that I may have peed a little. Yeah, that happened.

2. Living in one place with other people for more than a year means you forget what’s yours and where everything is. I swear I had ice cube trays at one point…

3. Eventually you get to the point where you’re living out of boxes. This assumes that at one point you unpacked when you moved in.

4. You get to the point where you realize that you have too much crap and try to downsize, but honestly, I need the ENTIRE BOX of mugs. No really. What if I just stop doing dishes some day? Those 20 mugs will come in handy. And 2 china sets? What if entertain more than 12 people? It will happen. Everyone bring a chair and we’ll be good to go.

5. Once you “downsize” you realize that you want new stuff. New desk? New dinning room chairs? New shelving units? New jeans? New hair? I need it all. My credit card will understand.

6. Then you reach the point in which you need more boxes. Let’s not talk about that.

7. Then your eye starts twitching all the time from the stress of it all. Those cute little to-do lists now haunt you in your sleep.

8. You have a nightmare about driving the wrong direction across the USA! Granted I would love to visit Skinny Runner or Blonde Ponytail, but that’s not where my apartment is.

9. Your dog starts showing signs of stress. Pooping on the carpet is never okay! Seriously G? I’m going to have to charge you rent if this is how it’s going down.

10. Finally your friends all start calling because they finally realize that you are actually moving. Too bad numbers 1-9 are causing you to never leave the house. There’s just so much going on!

Moving is one thing, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. But moving across the country after putting roots down for 4 years? Never again. I’m going to start developing other nerves ticks. I’m about ready to hire a personal assistant. Anybody up for applying?

Angry IBS?

So we know I work strange hours and that my schedule changes day to day and week to week, but I’m so glad that I’m almost done. I worked late last night, but I love my Wednesday night crew and there was vodka involved after we left the building. But then at 3am I woke up, nothing too unusual, but still… RUDE… Well, the 3am wake up wasn’t on purpose and it wasn’t a confused body. I had the WORST stomach pains ever. It was like menstrual cramps, on crack, with a sledge hammer. Not okay. I couldn’t even get out of bed right away. I figured, angry IBS, maybe vodka doesn’t work for me. Who knows. But after rolling around for three hours, I finally pulled myself together and figured I should at least show my face at work (one week left… one more measly week). I showed up, got some crap done, left 5 hours later and crashed at home. Stress? Vodka? IBS? Food poisoning? Take your pick. So, moral of the story, I hate my body.

In other words, I didn’t wake up early to get in a run. I’m sucking it up at following my training plan. What training plan? Yeah, that’s not happening at all. My half is in less than two weeks. Like 10 days. YIKES! How in the world am I going to pull this off? Holy shiz-balls kids! This is really happening isn’t it?

Let’s not discuss how I desperately need new running shoes… or how I should man up and buy some technical fabric tanks… or how I still haven’t figured out fueling… or how I haven’t had a run in the double digits. This is now the blog of a freaked out runner. Nervous? No, I’m past that. I’m shitting myself over here (don’t worry, blaming it on the IBS totally works).

At least my life is more pulled together than the Jersey Shore kids’ lives! But I do steal their gym routine:

 

Any mysterious illnesses you feel like sharing?

I can’t be the only one waking up in the middle of the night in pain.

Share a story about being underprepared for a race. Please comfort me in this time of pain!

Any advice you care to share for the next ten days so I can freak out a little less? Tips? Calming mantras? (mine right now is “this is temporary” a little harsh, yeah probably)

A Weekend in Chicago

(edit: when using Live Writer, make sure to hit publish, not post draft to blog. whoops!)

My mom’s birthday is next weekend, but because my brother decided that he need to go to Lollapalooza, like he does every year, we celebrated this weekend. My mom loves doing touristy stuff in Chicago, which is great, because my dad grew up in the city and he knows what’s up. Plus my brother now lives in the city, which gives us a free bathroom and somewhere cheap to park. Both good things when it comes to Chicago.

So we took an architectural tour of the city, by boat! I highly recommend this as a fun summer activity. (if any of want to do one, I highly suggest the ones with Wendella or the Chicago Architectural Foundation.) It makes me sad that I will be leaving this beautiful city behind when I move. There is more than enough history here to keep me entertained for years.

My dad and I are nerds and have learned a lot about Chicago on our own. So we were those annoying people talking about the buildings before the tour guide even got a change to say something. At least the people around us found us hilarious, so we didn’t annoy them too much. (But seriously, why do boats have to move so fast? Every time I had my light meter lined up perfectly, the boat would move which would either expose or hide the sun. How rude!)

All you Chicago marathoners should consider doing a boat tour. You will get a good chunk of time sitting down, resting your legs, but you will still get to see lots of the city.

So after the tour, we started hunting for a restaurant. Thank you smart phones for helping make these decisions. We went with a local Brazilian steakhouse, Brazzaz. Twenty-four hours later, and I think my body is still digesting all the yumminess that was presented. I hadn’t eaten for almost 8 hours, so I just went face first and didn’t even think about taking a picture. Sorry guys. But let me tell you, it was amazing. A little pricey, but considering there were oyster on the half shell at the salad bar, it is totally worth it.

For those that don’t know, at a Brazillian steakhouse, gauchos (men serving food), walk around with varities of meat and serve you slices when you say yes. It’s pretty cool, everyone at the table has a chip that on one side says no and the other says yes. The gauchos only come to you if your chip says yes. It’s easy to overindulge in a place like this. I don’t eat red meat, but I was still over eating. For dessert, we all had coffee and I had an extra fried banana that are served as a side dish (seriously, I could eat this every day of my life). Again, this place would be great after a marathon. You know, you burn a few thousand calories and you just want food? All you can eat, baby.

So since there are no pictures of dinner, let’s look at Chicago some more.

 

 

Even though I’m ready for a change, I’m going to miss you a bit, Sweet Home Chicago!