5/20/09: 30 Day Shred - 1 Day...DEAD!!!

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I started my workout program today! I bought a DVD circuit training workout by Jillian Michaels called 30 Day Shred. She is the tough female trainer on "The Biggest Loser". Man is she ever! I'm on level 1, the beginners level and it kicked my butt!! I couldn't even keep up with it. Man! I'm an in worse shape than I thought!! But...you have start somewhere. I figure after a week or so I might be able to actually do the beginner level the way they do it without adding too many modifications to make a littler easier, but still get something out of it.

Jumping jacks are hard!! I've always hated them, but they are easier than lunges. I bought another Biggest Loser DVD a while back, this one by Bob Green. I liked it, but it was full of lunges that I just couldn't do. My poor knees just can't handle a lot of lunges. Why is it two exercises I hate the most (lunges and jumping jacks) do the most for you?? I guess the same reason Broccoli tastes like crap compared to a doughnut. Oh well.

This DVD promises that you'll lose up to 30lbs in a month and up to 3 sizes if you follow it religiously. I'm guessing that since I've had to make so many modifications initially just to get through the workout without killing myself that it will probably take me a little bit longer to get there. Here's hoping!!

ALSO, Happy 43rd Wedding Anniversary to my Parents today!! :)

5/15/09 - Happy Birthday Denese!

Today was my friend Denese's 40th Birthday. She considers New Orleans home so we celebrate in true New Orleans fashion, by going to the New Orleans Zydeco band called Mojo and the Bayou Gypsies. It's quite what I expected, but I think we all had a good time. I forgot my camera again, but Denese and shar took some pictures so hopefully I'll be able to post some soon.

5/14/09 - Game Night a Guthries

I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures from this night. Sorry.
There is bar in Wrigleyville that has a bunch of boardgames so we set-up a Meetin event to go there and play games for the evening. It was fun. We played Apples to Apples. I should have been home working as I had a huge deadline this week, but oh well, David's friend was in town from Philly as well so I didn't want to be the work-a-holic, party pooper girlfriend, so I went out instead and was late getting the work done. It wasn't too big of deal though because everyone else on the project was just as far behind as I was! Whew!

5/11/09 - Dinner w/the Neighbors

Wing night or Turkey Wrap night (for me). We went to the Rail for Wing night. Katherine and I are both trying to lose weight so we get the wrap, while the boys dig into the wings. Aside from that, it was a good night.

5/9-10/09 - Clean, Clean, Clean

Nothing too exciting the rest of the weekend. I cleaned the house because it really needed it bad! Some people hate doing laundry or washing windows...my least favorite household chore is mopping!! I can't stand it. I'm much rather do 20 loads of laundry or wash every window in the house than mop the floor, but it has to be done. Especially in our kitchen because it has a cream colored tile!! Ugh! Every little spot shows up. It really should be done weekly, but currently it only gets done about twice a month.

Plus I don't know what it is, but sometimes it's hard to clean when other people are around. So I took the opportunity of David being in Philly to put a good dent in the cleaning. It looked pretty nice, but it didn't last long...oh well.

I went over to my friend Denese's house and helped her plant some flowers, then I called my Mom on Sunday to wish her a Happy Mothers Day and then went and picked David up at the airport and that was about it! Pretty mellow weekend.

5/8/09 - Crapple

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David is in Philly this weekend visiting his Mother for Mother's Day. I wish I could have gone to SLC, but tickets were too expensive. I'm going to try and go this Summer sometime though. Instead I went to Crapple tonight. A Meetin event. It's a bar near our neighborhood. Crapple is a raffle game. You by tickets, then if your number is called you win a prize, the catch is that there are good prizes and bad prizes so everyone yells, "Crap!...Crap!...Crap!" because they want to you to get a crappy prize. The grand prize is giant blow up toy of some kind and you have to travel home with it blown up. So if you rode the bus, train or your bike as many Chicagoan's do, you'll look pretty silly toting this giant blow up thing....and look who won, our friend Rob...too bad he drove to the event :(

Carl, Jenni, Becca, Kelly, Jen and Sarah (also pictured)

5/6-7/09 - Road Warrior Training - Santa Clara

Traveled to Santa Clara this week to facilitate training for Sales Force One. A Marriott Initiative that is rolling out across the nation. It was a quick trip! I flew in on Wednesday morning, taught the class Wednesday afternoon and had dinner with some cow-workers then flew back to Chicago the next morning.

I must be getting old, that trip, though short, wore me out!!! It's about a 3.5 to 4 hour flight depending on head/tail winds. A lot for such short time frame. I'm heading back that same area in a couple weeks and think I'll do it a little differently this time.

5/5/09 - Opera Night

Again, camera's not allowed, but tonight we went to the Opera with our friend Kelly Goodall and a few others from the Meetin group. We saw "The Tragedy of Carmen" it was pretty good. Carmen is a little hussy though. I never realized it before, but it makes sense now. The story is basically about her running from man to man, breaking hearts left and right. This version was what they would call an operetta, it was a condensed version of the full Opera, which is like 4 hours long. This one was about 90 minues. Good thing, although I really enjoyed it very much, I don't know if I could have sat through 4 hours of it.

5/4/09 - Stepping Down - MiC it's been good...

It's been a little over a year since David and I took over MeetinChicago. It's been fun, but we decided it was time to pass the torch. The new leaders are Jen Strom, Jenni Langland and Greg.

We'll continue to be active on the board and go to Meetin events, but I'm also looking forward to hanging out with the friends we've met through Meetin (and outside of it) and deepening those friendships.

5/3/09 - Our new canopy: Hooray for BigLots!!

We went to Big Lots today to look at canopy they had on sale. It was perfect so we bought it and assembled it right away. I love it! It provides shelter from the sun on our patio, but doesn't take up the whole patio so if want sun there is still plenty of room to roam around. Can't wait now for the weather to be more consistent so we can enjoy it.

5/2/09 - Titanic Exhibit/Sprecher Brewery

A Bunch of Beer Bottles

That's one heck of a coozie!!

David and I in front of the Brewery

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This weekend David and I and a few of our friends; Derek, Jamie, Erick, Shar and Bof drove up to Milwaukee, WI to visit the Milwaukee Public Museum for the Titanic Exhibit. This exhibit included artifacts and personal belongings from the ships survirors and deceased. It was very interesting. They have been able to bring up, clothing, jewelry, money, dishes, toiletries, all sorts of stuff. On one hand it's very eirie looking at stuff that once belonged to these people that are now dead and not only dead, but that drowned in the sinking of the Titanic and on the other it's quite amazing at how in tact a lot of it is. There were bottles of medicine and champagne that still had liquid in them. There was even a jar of face powder that still had powder in it. In a lot of cases they had photos of the items either on the person (clothing/jewelry) while they were still alive on the ship or where they found it amongst the wreckage next to the item.

It was really cool. I hightly recommend going to see it if the exhibit travels to your area. In fact if you google Titanic Exhibit, you'll see a list of destinations and dates.

Now, a trip to Milwaukee wouldn't complete of course without a trip to a brewery so we visited Sprecher brewery, in Glendale, WI while we were in town. Camera's were not allowed at the exhibit, but was able to catch a few photos at the brewery.