Challenge: Week 6

Lord help a girl out, we’ve hit the halfway marker and what happens. The effing snowmageddon. Thanks Mother Nature for this buzzkill!

This week was as inconsistent as inconsistent can be. The snow alerts started getting issued on Tuesday morning with the massive snowfall that literally took over the state of Illinois and said, “we’re shutting this mother down.” I got trapped in my flat, because:

A I’m blonde and forgot to purchase a shovel
B the snow plows were in high demand and didn’t get to my development until way late. As if that mattered, you could not get anywhere. Period.

Luckily I did make it to the gym a few times this week, not the finest and certainly not the most motivated. Getting stuck in doors you find other ways to get productive: text messaging. Lovely.

So rather than doing pilates in my front room I was cleaning, baking, texting and skyping. With whom…...a lady never tells and in this case I will but give me some time first.

As soon as the roads were plowed I was in it to gym it. This next week marks the latter part of the challenge and the real marker for getting down and getting to business. SAD does not exist anymore, hopefully there will not be any more snow advisories like this past week. It’s all about making the most of the next six weeks.

For the food: I openly admit that until I get pregnant or decide AA is the way forward, I will not give up wine. I am making friends, going out to socials, nights out, dates, etc. Passing up on wine or a cocktail was getting beyond difficult. So I’m going to work this one in but work out just as hard so it’s not damaging to the challenge.

For strength: Oye, this week blew hard. I was more focused on getting in serious cardio time when I actually made it into the gym. The need to feel the sweat trickling down seemed more satisfying for some unknown reason. However there is an abdomen bar that is prime for working the core muscles. You will feel the zing of hard work for the entire week in twenty reps. Thank you!

Favorite Exercises
You read right: this bad boy made the times I made it into the gym worthwhile. Yowza the burn in my tummy feels fantastic.



Lesson Learned
Mother Nature is a serious bitch with a massive grudge. Hard work pays off, there is no need to feel guilt if you are unable to make it into the gym as much or for as long of time inside as you would like. Take pride in the times that you step back and acknowledge your health and vitality. If the clouds close down, take it as a sign that a break is okay for right now and when the skies clear up, get back into the saddle.

A Day To Be Taken Advantage Of

Of all the times that you would want to get out and take a walk, to clear your mind, your sinuses, to get out and just breathe. You get stuck in a moment where you cannot leave. Physical or emotional.

A moment where you are trapped behind a bricked wall blocking your exit.

The snowstorm swept through this week and has shut everything down, streets in town are closed and filled with piled up snow that has been cleared off from the main roadway passing through. The sidewalks are crystalline, shimmering with each ray that the sun hits it with.

It is beautiful. It is something you would want to walk for hours along collecting your thoughts, walking and laughing with another person, enjoying the moment that you are in. All to experience this fluke storm and its leftovers.

One can only do so much baking in the span of a snow day and not be tempted to eat everything. I was desperate to get out, to sip freshly made coffee, to see other people equally as excited to have made it out for a break. I needed some excitement.

Something I have learned since this winter started, as much as I love snow and the cold weather getting stuck indoors for 48 hours is just insane. TV shows can only go so far, Bieber songs can only take you so far (ugh I caved and noticed one was kind of good). A girl needs to get out every once in awhile.

With Starbucks snowed in from the plows I boxed up cookies and spent the day with friends, snow or crazy roads be bygones. One of the ladies drank three week old opened wine, another munched on cookies and all I could do was think about a song that had been playing coincidentally in the car on the drive over.

"Making memories using my eyes
Filling up my heart with golden stories"Adele-Painting Pictures

All of us bored out of our heads each needed a break from the confines of something so simple. So familiar and yet we sat in someplace equally as simple and familiar. But we were together, wasting time laughing, completely free of being blocked of an exit.

As soon as I got home all I could think about was the next time this happens. What would you do in a snowed in messy situation? Cuddle up with a book? Rearrange your furniture/wardrobe? Try to break in a new pair of shoes? Here’s a compiled list that will be referred to in just this case. In no order of course!


10. Rent The Shining so you can stop feeling sorry for yourself. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.

9. Go make a snow angel but bring a snow angel buddy because you really could get lost in all of that hubble!

8. Do you have spam in your pantry? This should be a staple for this scenario. Have a spam carving contest and see what you can create. A toilet seat? A laughing head?
Ideas are endless.

7. Video Texting/Skyping. Because phones are so blasé. This makes for a funnier time with the people on the other end because you know at some point they will be rubbing it in your face that they have to hang up so that they can actually go outside.

6. Make Howard Hughes proud and clean your house from top to bottom. With the airflow moving from the heating vents dust is just as trapped inside as you are. Grab the endust and get moving!

5. If you have a puzzle and are with someone, remove a piece and start putting it together. Walk away from the project several times and at the end be just as shocked that you are missing the piece. There went an hour!

4. Alphabetize the food in your refridgerator and pantry.

3. Balance your checkbook and then get online and make a purchase of something you desperately want but wasn’t sure you could do.

2. Whiten your teeth, because this step is easily forgotten with late nights, late phone calls, absentmindedness and whatever else that makes us forget about the pearly whites.

1. Be immobile. Find temporary residence on your couch in hot/yoga pants and call it a day and get comfortable. It is technically temporary.

So with that, the sun is shining brilliantly and the roads are cleaned so I KNOW Starbucks is accessible! Have a fabulous Friday.

Guilty pleasures, secret obsessions, and a trolley ride?

We’ve heard the sayings that times are rough. When times are rough, why does it seem natural to turn to your guilty pleasures for a little release?

In this case it’s shopping (mainly because Hoarders is free and soooo addicting and a certain man is unobtainable yet still sinful to the eyes).

A month ago I stumbled into a hip and funky boutique that has an owner to die for and has offerings that would feed any secret obsession. She’s brilliant with fashion and loves nothing more than to style her customers. Thank you.

The first time I stepped foot inside I walked out with the cutest fingerless gloves and an invite to a ladies night out.

The party was fun and opened the playing field for having conversations with people I’d never even think to have had them with and also got the excitement started in finally beginning to connect with new people.

A couple of weeks ago, the same owner (now friend) text me and invited me out for a trolley ride through town with a bunch of other ladies to get the holiday spirit going….with a start at the store. Uh oh.

Enter guilty pleasures and secret obsessions. The minute I walked into the shop several ladies were getting spruced and styled prior to hopping on the trolley (a glorified and very suburban party bus). It was basically like being with a bunch of girlfriends getting ready to go out. Gossip, drinks and dressing up. A complete riot.

I love this, where you can get the advice of people around you to openly and honestly tell you if you look frumpy, need a belt or simply tell you that a sweater is flat out not gonna work.

Today. A day later. Nursing a hangover from the Prosecco I headed back to the shop to snag up some sequined leggings that I put aside and give many thanks for the trolley ride that made it through the snowstorm, I got sucked into the style mode.

Is there such a thing as will power, yes I think there is but when you are surrounded by serious temptation and a group of people either supporting or encouraging you on a new look you are bound for trouble. But a wonderful addition to your wardrobe nonetheless.

So was anything learned from this or am I just rambling? Definitely rambling but learned this: make friends with an owner of a boutique. It’s one of the finer things to know someone who owns and designs their own clothing line. It’s also another thing to listen to the back burned voice that is screaming “Remember your budget” but at the same time remember to treat yourself when you feel you may need it.

Now on a serious note. Apart from the rare side of consumerism (because honestly on most days, you’d find me in leggings and an old sweater)you really never know how and when you meet people and how they can open you up to endless possibilities. Whether it involves guilty pleasures or not.

Outfit update: Sequined leggings (now not so secret obsession)
Full length black slip
Black lace sweater
Body tank

Courtesy of Google Images

Can we say trouble!

C is for "Superior"

Enough of the negative nancy’s for today! For the first time in over a month, the facebook account actually got logged into (blackberry app, you are the devil) and updates on my nephew, a 2 year old tazmanian cutie finally got checked! Last weekend, my sister and her family had traveled out to see a tree lighting ceremony in a small German-inspired town back home with some of their friends and their little ones. In the wake of the trip, her husband and their good friend decided to body sled down a snow covered hillside.

Only they would do this and actually get a rise out of the people surrounding the hillside sledding. Not body sledding, just sledding. My brother in law. The firefighter and Mr. Safety, who working the C shift, clearly takes “Superior” to an ultimate level as he made it down the hill first!

Do you ever remember doing stupid things when you were younger (or yesterday) that you turn your head away and hold your laugh in? Or do you accept the fact that you’ve become a nerd for a minute and laugh!

I can’t even answer this question without falling into giggles. Since on the topic of sledding, growing up (we, meaning me and my sister) used laundry hampers to sled down the stairways which slammed right into the front door unbeknownst to our parents, or so we thought. Very un-ladylike, but bruise friendly shenanigans.

What a way to start a day. Body sledding. Newest addition to the next winter Olympics!

....and so it snowed

This weather, the cold and snow. I am loving it while others are cursing it. Coming from a maritime area the closest you can get to snow is a drive away. And if you’re lucky every couple of years an actual snowstorm might sweep through off of the coast but it’s hardly dramatic. It has snowed twice now over the past two weeks, fresh blankets covering the parks and reserves. It’s truly beautiful and makes you appreciate how simple things look when dusted over.

Today has been rather unproductive, I am hosting a cookie exchange next weekend and am pleasantly surprised that several people are equally excited about getting into the kitchen and baking something delicious. Since today appears to be a day to be lazy, despite the fact that the gym was number one on the list of things to do, baking now takes rank. What to bake. Last year I baked so much, you would think the smell of cookies would be off-putting but it is not. Here’s the contenders:

Gingerbread Snowflake Sandwich Cookies-Lemon Merengue filling
(recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart)
Chocolate or Hazelnut Macarons
(recipe courtesy of a patisserie I went to)
Savannah Bow Ties
(recipe courtesy of Paula Deen)
Chocolate Pistachio Cookies (recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart)




The pistachio cookies just may be the ones, but I have to do a test run on how the preparation and bake time is. And so I’m off. Ready. Set. Bake.

Note to Martha Stewart and Co.: I now fully understand why some of your recipes do not state the length of time it takes to completing. Thanksgiving day: Time spent on dinner-1 hour. Time spent on Hazelnut PralineTorte-6 hours. Picturesque and amazingly delicious but draining to make.

On a completely different note. Sorry for the loss boys, last night just wasn’t your night and the defense was raided. Speed it up tonight! As always, GO FLAMES GO!

The wrath of the ugly sweater

Last week I got invited to take part of the cotton clad festivities that is an Ugly Sweater Party and was more than willing to get on that tacky boat. Because I don’t have a job yet, meeting people is a little difficult without that familiar foundation, had it not been for certain social networks I really would be a hermit in my home, but thankfully I’m not and have been lucky to get these invites. In all honesty though, I am missing my close friends at times like this. Social networking is great but core friendships are rare and these cross country phone calls are killing the phone plan. I need to get on the friend train…asap.

Now, I am nowhere near feeling like I need to cry myself into a dark corner and listen to sad songs for moving so far away from those I am close to. It was a decision and I stand by it, now is the time to support that decision. But for heaven sake, when you have to find an ugly sweater and are sifting through the racks at Goodwill looking blindly. You need a friend.

So I called my sister, who is the closest of everyone and walked through the store extremely grateful for the power of cell phone technology and good service. Desperate in trying to find the perfect sweater, rack for rack I was explaining what I was seeing and could hear her husband in the background saying NO to everything. Until I was directed to the Men’s section.

Goldmine…crisis averted. I found one that would make my grandmother proud. It is tack with a capital T, red (perfect for the holidays) with embroidered flowers, a built in polo neck and an oil stain. After getting the determining factor, Houston…we are good to go! As per our phone call, after laughing as much as we did, she and her husband have unanimously decided to create the ultimate holiday cards for next year. “Ugly Christmas with the____’s!” You’re welcome.

Jump to tonight, I set off for the party. I really did, and then the skies decided to close up with a snow cloud and dump down inches of snow. Normally I am comfortable with driving in such conditions, when I know my surroundings, have chains on the wheels or the roads have been cleared. This was not the case, and at the third time my tires spun I turned around and headed back. This turned out to be a smart decision as there was a couple of inches awaiting the arrival. Unfortunately the ugly sweater goes unused for this evening.

Home now and nestled in comfy clothes with the heat turned up too high and a dark fireplace remaining unburned which is a story in itself and another day. It’s game night and in between these sentences I get to watch a certain defenseman get to work after a serious hiatus due to injury. Good luck #7, crush the Kings but mind the shoulder. GO FLAMES GO!