Life Lately: Summer Edition

Hi friends!  Can I just say how much I love summer?  Love it so much.  I haven't been blogging much these days because I haven't felt like I have too much to say, but I thought I'd share a little bit about how I've been spending my days...First, there have been lots of naps.  So. many. naps.  Saturday I took a three hour nap in my sweaty running clothes (ew, I know, I'm disgusting) after almost falling asleep at the wheel on my way home from a training run.  The run was only six miles too--god help me when we get up in higher mileage!  There may not be enough hours in the day for all of my napping!

Speaking of training, that's the one non-lazy thing I've been doing with my time!  I am in week 4 of training for the Milwaukee Marathon.  Now that triathlon season is over (for me), it's nice to have just one big goal to focus on.  I'm following Hal Higdon's Novice plan again this year and training with CARA (Chicago Area Runner's Association).  I love my CARA group--I made such great friends in it last year that I couldn't wait to be back to regular Saturday morning runs with them again this summer!  That being said, I'm still adjusting to the early Saturday wake up calls.  In fact, starting THIS WEEK I am instituting a no going out and absolutely no booze on Fridays rule.  Just in time for the Fourth of July...oh well.  No one said training for a marathon was fun and easy, right?

Taken before last year's 20 miler--love these ladies!

I have managed to squeeze in some fun outside of training.  Of course I've been spending a lot of time reading on my balcony...

Obv had to reread before the movie...during which I think I became dehydrated from excessive sobbing...

And laying around here...

And watching way too much Food Network and ABC Family.  Oh ABC Family, you and your trashy/addicting shows!  Ahem Switched at Birth and Pretty Little Liars...

I saw two great plays in the last few weeks--The Last Five Years and Avenue Q.  Last Five Years was beautifully heartbreaking, and Avenue Q was nonstop laughs.  Both wonderful and highly recommended.

Last week I got some teacher friends together for a backyard yoga class.  I absolutely fell in love with teaching my informal after school "teacher yoga class" during the last few months of the school year, and I was excited that some coworkers were up for meeting me to do some summer yoga.  This just in--it's hard to chaturanga on grass.  But listening to birds sing during savasana is bliss.  After our hour-ish of vinyasa flow, we soaked up the sun and enjoyed breakfast, coffee, and company.  Can't wait til our next yoga day!

Oh, and Friday night was my monthly book club.  This month we read My Life in France, Julia Child's memoir.  I really enjoyed it, but it kind of dragged for me.  It was wonderful to enjoy book talk over French yummies and wine at Katie's house.  Can't wait until next month's meeting!

Source: Katie's Blog FB Page :)

All in all, summer is shaping up nicely. :)  Looking forward to a couple of outdoor concerts this week, some time with friends, and a pool day for the Fourth.  Have a beautiful week!

What summer things are you loving these days?  Any big plans this week?

Celebrating Summer

Happy Summer!  Technically it's not truly summer yet, but I finished my last day of teaching Thursday, so it's summer time as far as I'm concerned!  Based on the last two days, I just know this summer is going to be awesome.

My packed up, ugly, empty classroom.  The good news is that this year I'm not moving rooms, no cabinets are being replaced, and the walls are NOT being painted.  I was able to leave up posters and just shove things in bags and cabinets--no boxes involved!  Hurray!

I kicked off Friday morning by meeting two co-workers for pedicures and shopping followed by lunch with one of my best friends.  In the afternoon, another friend and I headed into the city for some fun.

I have never seen a cocktail menu on which there were so many words I did not know...I tried to use context clues, but...

We enjoyed fancy cocktails and good eats on a beautiful patio, then headed over to a Beer and Film Clips festival sponsored by New Belgium brewery.  We tasted some different New Belgium beers, ate some yummy food from local food trucks, and hung out in the park watching different short films on a big screen.  Perfect!

Me and my high school bestie!  

Today, I met my running buddy Donna for the Esprit de She race expo and packet pickup.  This will be my third year doing this sprint tri, and I can't wait!  As usual, Esprit de She provided some awesome swag:

Again this year the race shirt is a Moxie cycling tank, and I also got a thin cotton tank for registering early!  Love it.  We shopped around the expo for awhile (obviously I bought three headbands in the process...) before meeting our other running buddy for lunch.

Starting the carb loading!  Those potatoes...oh my...

After I finally made it back home, I spent the afternoon packing my triathlon bag and meticulously checking over my packing list.  I think I actually have everything organized and ready to go!  I've been training hard for this race, and I think it should be an awesome day.  Can't wait to share a race recap with you for tri #4!

Hope you're having a beautiful weekend!

What has made your weekend beautiful?

Weekend Wrap Up! Bye, Summer... :(

After my first year teaching, one of my friends asked me, "Do you miss your students sooo much??"  I looked at her like she was a crazy person!  Sometimes I think people outside of the profession expect teachers to just LOVE their jobs SO MUCH that they hate to say goodbye to the kids in summer!  You guys should know by now that I'm a tell-it-like-it-is kinda girl, so I'm going to be straight up honest.  I love teaching.  I love my students.  But I LOVE summer.  LOVE IT!

Oh summer...I love you.

This summer was the perfect combination of relaxing, reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.  I even got to spend over a week with my sweet little niece aka my favorite person in the world.  

However, it has FLOWN by, and here we are--another Sunday night, thinking ahead about how I'm going to have to set an early alarm tomorrow.  Don't get me wrong--part of me is excited for the year to come, to meet my new kiddos, and to get back into the routine, but a very real other part of me is bummed that my days of sleeping in past 8, morning hot yoga classes, and afternoons reading or at the pool are long gone for awhile!  I did squeeze in some fun things to celebrate my last weekend of summer.  

My Friday nights are less than eventful these days as my wake-up calls are bright and early for Saturday training runs.  I had to make a special trip to the grocery store Friday afternoon for pasta and bananas...going through a lot of those things these days!  Then I laid out my clothes and gear, cut my rock tape, and settled in with a good book.  I'm reading Tell the Wolves I'm Home right now, and I'm loving it.  Really beautiful, but kind of sad.  I don't think I'll have a book review ready for this Wednesday, but check back next week!

Saturday morning I set a new DISTANCE RECORD by running FIFTEEN FREAKIN' MILES!  Check back for a whole post detailing it on Training Tuesday!

After my amazing 15-miler and visit to a French Farmer's Market, I quickly showered, threw on a bathing suit, and met a couple friends for a day on a lake in Wisconsin.  Don't worry, I wore my compression sleeves...Obv.

I'm always hesitant to make plans for Saturday afternoons post-long run, but I'm glad I did!  It was the perfect day for tubing, sunshine, and of course some Goose Island.  Sweet summer. 

By the time I got home, I was completely ready to pass out and was in bed by 9:30.  I apparently moonlight as an elderly woman, hmm?  Oh well. :)

Sunday, I met my cousin for lunch and a movie.  We saw The Spectacular Now, which I liked but was kind of sad.  

Seems like Shailene Woodley is in everything these days, but to be honest I have a hard time seeing her and not seeing Amy Jergens from Secret Life of the American Teenager... 

That was followed up with some perusing of picture books, reviewing of lesson plans, and making a new affirmation sign to start my year off with.  I'm so excited to share this one with the kids this week!  I look forward to talking about "Being our Best Selves" all year long.  (Read more about my affirmations here.)

And now I'm off to pack up my gym bag for an early morning swim tomorrow before heading over to my parents' for dinner and the season premier of The Great Food Truck Race.   LOVE Food Network reality shows!  

Have a great week!  Good luck if you're heading back to school!

What did you do this weekend?

When do you go back to school?

Seen any great movies lately?

Four on Friday, a day late!

1. You guys, it's freakin' hot out in Chicago these days.  Wednesday evening at 7pm, it was still 95 degrees out with a "feels like" temp of 101.  Yesterday's heat index had a projected high of 110--not sure if it actually got up there, but it was pretty darn hot.  Yikes.  I've had the best intentions of getting up to run before dawn this week, but needless to say my summer lazies have led me to shut that alarm right off each morning.  Consequently, I've been running here:

 Hate this thing.  I usually tough it out and only resort to the dreadmill if I'm running super late at night or the dead of winter, but the humidity has been just killer and the streets and paths have minimal shade around here.  I know February will be here before I know it and I should savor this, but some days...

2. I keep seeing pictures on blogs and pinterest of people's classrooms that are almost completely set up.  Each time I have a mild panic attack.  We start school August 19th and I'll be on vacation August 1st-6th, so I was hoping to get in my room these last weeks in July to start making a dent.  Since I moved classrooms this year, I have a TON of work to do!  However, when I emailed the custodian to ask when my room would be ready, he told me that there is a "hold" on cleaning my room--the person previously in my room is moving to a room downstairs, and that teacher is moving schools.  However, the other school is finishing some work and can't accept her boxes yet, so the things from my room's previous teacher can't be moved yet...you get the picture.  I already told my mom and a couple coworkers that I am going to need a SWAT team style task force to help me get unpacked and ready to go once I can finally get in there!!

All these boxes need to be unpacked!  Ahhhh!

3. I have been trying to find ways to beat the heat this week!  Yesterday my friend and I hit up the Six Flags water park, Hurricane Harbor.  I'd always balked at the steep price tag for this place, but I'm so glad we went--we had a blast and stayed cool the whole day!  I'd forgotten how much fun water slides are!  (Although we definitely BURNED the bottoms of our feet walking around on what can only be described as the scalding hot pavement all day!)  No pics to share unfortunately!

Thursday, I visited by high school bestie in Milwaukee yesterday.  To beat the heat, we went to the beach and literally SPRINTED down to the water because the sand was so burning hot!  Nothing like a little freezing Lake Michigan water to cool you off!!  This was one day I didn't mind that cold lake!  There was also food:

And pie:

At this point I figure that if I can't work in my classroom, I might as well enjoy the end of my summer!

4. Did you happen to see this cartoon on The Oatmeal this week?  I loved it!

Some highlights that ring true for me:

Seriously, I am one hungry runner these days!  I can't imagine how much I'll be eating once my training really steps it up...hope I can afford the grocery bill!!  (As I write this, I am gorging myself on chocolate almonds.  Not quite nutella through a straw, but I'm thinking it's a slippery slope...)

Um yeah...some of these early morning runs followed by busy days lead me to be more likely found collapsed on the living room floor than, you know, keeping my apartment livable...

Just YES.  Exactly.

Anyways, hope you are having a fabulous weekend!  I'm just relaxing today after a busy past couple days and my hot and sweaty long run this morning, but tomorrow I'm volunteering at the Rock and Roll Chicago half marathon.  Anyone running it?

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Summer Days in Pictures

I read a post on Clean Eating Chelsey last week where Chelsey took a photo every hour for a day and published them all in a recap of the day.  While I'm sure no one really cares what I do all day, pictures are always my favorite parts of blog posts, so I decided to try documenting my day in pictures yesterday.  Here's what I've got!

7am 

Alarm goes off, hit snooze...

Finally get out for a 3 mile run...

8am

Foam rolling + Refueling with Chocolate milk

Registered for a duathlon!

9am

Steamin' hot yoga class

10am

Delicious post-yoga protein smoothie

Visit to Target

The haul--love this super light and loose running tank!

11am

Grocery shoppin' in preparation for Book Club tonight

12pm

Making pasta salad and sangria for book club

1pm

 My go-to summer lunch: mixed greens with goat cheese, strawberries, and vinegarette + chobani

Blogging time!  With a little chocolate on the side...

2pm

Much needed fresh coat of nail polish + catching up on this week's Pretty Little Liars 

(I KNOW.  Judge away, I'm still going to watch...)

3pm

Book + Balcony

4pm

Sweet napping awesomeness...

5pm 

Laundry...

Finally got around to doing my hair...

((Belated)) thank you notes for a few student gifts

6pm

Book Club!

7pm

More Book Club...

8pm

Even more book club...

9pm

Balcony Reading

10pm

More Reading...

11pm

Fell asleep here :)

And that's my day!  I know you were probably thinking how little you care about my boring summer days, but I had fun taking pictures all day.  Let me know if you decide to do a photo an hour day!

What fun things do you have planned for the weekend?

This is a busy one for me!  Saturday morning I have a 7 mile training run, followed by spending the day boating with a friend, followed by hopefully watching another Blackhawks win.  Sunday I am jetting off to Florida to see this little princess!!

Me + Adorable Niece

Can't wait to see how big she's gotten since Christmas!