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the furbies

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:02:53 -0500

the furbies

Ragnar Relay finishers!

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:11:00 -0500

Ragnar Relay finishers!

Ragnar

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 20:44:18 -0500

This weekend I completed my first Ragnar Relay. If you’re not familiar, it’s an event where a team of twelve runners covers a distance of around 200 miles by running non-stop, overnight relay style. I did the Madison to Chicago Ragnar but there are races all over the country (and a few new trail events, too!).

A bunch of my friends did it last year and raved about how much fun it was but I’m not going to lie- I was a little skeptical. Running three legs (ranging from 3 to 11 miles) over the course of about 36 hours, sleeping in a van, and no showering? I figured it would have it’s moments but I’d spend a lot of the time being cranky and tired.

No joke, people- this event is AWESOME. Yes, you’re tired and you smell bad (and your legs hurt like they never have before if you didn’t train…) but it’s such an amazing experience- you feel like such a team and it’s seriously kind of insane how accomplished you feel after covering so much ground.

If you’re a runner you should totally get a group of eleven crazy friends to try it out- you won’t regret it!

Photos: My van after we all finished running// vans lined up in WI near the lake at 6 am// trail on the IL/WI border// Jen and I piloting/co-piloting the van// our insane octopus of cell phone chargers

Here’s a little video of Nate playing with the dogs this...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:29:53 -0500

Here’s a little video of Nate playing with the dogs this morning. Probably exciting to no one but me but they’re pretty cute so I thought I’d share. :)

"1. push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go..."

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 21:09:33 -0500

“1. push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.

2. push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

3. erase processed food from your diet. start with no lollies, chips, biscuits, then erase pasta, rice, cereal, then bread. use the rule that if a child couldn’t identify what was in it, you don’t eat it.

4. get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

5. stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

6. buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

7. buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

8. strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

9. organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

10. have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

11. push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

12. message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

14. think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

15. become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

16. lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.”

- Sixteen Small Steps to Happiness (via nerdyawkward-ashley)

~*~this is what i’ve been doing and it feels wonderful~*~

(via sexualassumptions)

This is beautiful.

(via cvroline)

Yoga Teach Training Advice

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:38:23 -0500

Hey friends- I know I have a lot of yogis within my tumblr network. I’m pretty serious about doing teacher training this fall but am not sure if I want to do it with my current studio. For those of you who are trained- what do you think is most important to consider when selecting a program? For those of you who do yoga in Chicago, is your studio awesome and do they have teacher training?

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change."

Wed, 29 May 2013 20:32:02 -0500

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”

- Jim Rohn

I stumbled upon this quote today and could not agree with it more. Over the past few months my life has changed so much- a best friend turned into a boyfriend, I went from a tiny one bedroom I shared with Lucy in the neighborhood I’ve lived in for four years to sharing a huge two bedroom in a new hood with my dude and two dogs (one of whom we adopted from Thailand!!!)… the list goes on and on.

And you know what? It is soooo much better. So, so, SO much better.

2013 Chicago Festival Guide It’s already that time of the year...

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:30:24 -0500

2013 Chicago Festival Guide

It’s already that time of the year for the best season in Chicago: Street Fest Season! Get out your koozis and friends for day drinking, art, music, people watching, cover bands and some 90’s one-hit-wonders play that “one song” that everyone knows (“It’s been….one week since you looked at me…”) and trust me, these band go great with vodka lemonades. Chicago Fest Season 2013!

*Disclosure: There are many more, as this is just a highlighted list.

May

25-26th: Belmont Music Fest (Lakeview)
30-June 2nd: Maifest (Lincoln Square)
31-June 2nd: Do Division (Wicker Park)

June

1-2: Lincoln Live (Lincoln Park)
7: Taste of Greece (West Loop)
7-8: Ribfest (Lakeview)
7-8: Blues Fest (Loop)
8-9: Wells Street Art Fair (Old Town)
8-9: Old Town Art Fair (Old Town)
14-16: Taste of Randolph (West Loop)
15-16: Sausage Fest (Wrigleyville) Hello, Abe Froman?
20-23: Chicago Craft Beer Festival (Old Town)
22-23: Pride Fest (Boystown)
23-24: Green Music Fest (Wicker Park)
28-29: Old St. Pat’s World’s Largest Block Party (West Loop)
29: Summer On Southport (Lakeview)
29-30: Chicago Country Fest (Lincoln Park)
29-30: Lincoln Park Arts and Music Festival (Lincoln Park)
30: Pride Parade (Boystown)

July

5-7: Windy City Rib Fest (Uptown)
6-7: Taste of Lakeview (Lakeview)
6-7: Rock Around the Block (Lakeview)
10-14: Taste of Chicago (Grant Park)
12-14: Windy City Smokeout (River North)
19-21: Pitchfork (Union Station)
20: Sheffield Garden Walk (Lincoln Park)
27-28: Taste of Lincoln (Lincoln Park)
27-28: Wicker Park Fest (Wicker Park)

August

2-4: Lollapalooza
3-4: Chicago Summerfest (Wrigleyville)
7-11: Tall Ship (Navy Pier)
10-11: Retro on Roscoe (Roscoe Village)
10-11: Halsted Market Days (Boystown)
17-18: Air and Water Show (lakefront/wherever you can see the planes)
22-25: Festa Italiano (Little Italy)
24-25: Bucktown Arts Fest (Bucktown)
30-Sept 1: North Coast Music Fest (Union Park)

September

6-8 Windy City Wine Fest (Grant Park)
7-8 Guinness Oyster Fest (Roscoe Village)
27-29: Oktoberfest (Lincoln Park)

Check out the new apartment!

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:53:14 -0500

Check out the new apartment!

The girls… snoozing on the couch. A week in and...

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:28:56 -0500

The girls… snoozing on the couch. A week in and we’re doing just fine!

Photo

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:22:31 -0500

What A Week of Groceries Looks Like Around the World

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:28:37 -0500

passtheranch:

USA

Italy (look at all that bread!)

Chad

See the rest here.

Nate gave Mona her first bath this morning and she was just...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:09:08 -0500

Nate gave Mona her first bath this morning and she was just thrilled… :)

I’ve written a lot about my boyfriend, Nate, in passing on...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:00:25 -0500

I’ve written a lot about my boyfriend, Nate, in passing on this blog but wanted to share a little more of our story on here. There are two pictures above- one that he snapped on the way home from a friend’s birthday a few weeks ago and one that was taken about ten years ago.

Nate and I go WAY back- like he was my boyfriend in middle school way back. We actually dated off and on all the way through high school and in to college but, as these things tend to go, growing up took us in two different directions and we broke up before the end of my freshman year. Over the years we stayed friendly and over the past few years (after I moved back to Chicago) we got really close. This fall that friendship turned into dating and we haven’t looked back- moving in together a few weeks ago is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Nate’s my best friend and getting to spend every day with him is pretty much the best thing ever. :)

It’s all kind of crazy when I stop and think about it- I’ve known him since we twelve years old!- but at the same time it all seems so obvious- of course I was going to end up with Nate, who else knows me like he does? I’ve always felt incredibly lucky to have in my life but getting to truly share it all together? It doesn’t get any better than that!

2013 Goals!

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:31:42 -0500

On January 1st I set 13 goals for 2013. Here is the rundown of how I’m currently doing!

~~Complete an 8 week paleo-vegetarian challenge~~ (I’m calling this one done given my April month doing paleo!)
Successfully coach a Girls on the Run Team (This will have to wait until the fall due to some things falling through at the school.)
Complete the best road trip ever with this lady (Sadly this road trip was cancelled BUT there is still time.. Brady, where should we go??)
Master a forearm handstand w/o a wall (Not there yet, but I’ll get there! I need to work on my back flexibility…)
Visit a new country (this might be our year, Canada…) (Not done yet but I’m confident I can make this happen.)
Visit a new city (Austin, LA, and Vancouver are all high on the list) (Nate and I are going on a trip sometime this fall so this should be easy!)
Take a guitar class (This might change to a dance class… can’t wait)
Pay off my car and save $5000 (Well moving and adopting a dog derailed the saving part a bit but my car is almost there!)
~~Complete a 5-day juice cleanse~~ (Done!)
Yoga Challenge: 30 classes in 30 days (Oooh.. forgot about this one! Maybe a good July goal??)
Attend another yoga retreat (This might not happen this year but I’ve been contemplating an “at home” yoga retreat… more details to come…)
PR @ the Indianapolis Mini Marathon on 5/4 (goal time: 2.15 but I just need to beat 2.22) (Yeah… didn’t happen, but I’m honestly not too interested in pursuing this one at this point given my desire for a running break!)
Complete all (or most) of the things on this list (We keep adding to the list but are enjoying checking things off!)

So you see I definitely have some work to do but I have to say, it’s been a pretty darn good year even when I’m not paying attention to this list. How is everyone else doing with their New Year’s Resolutions?

Well it’s been an eventful few days! We’ve had a...

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:01:00 -0500

Well it’s been an eventful few days! We’ve had a lot of wins, but we’ve also discovered how much we have to figure out with the latest addition to our family. A few things we’re still working on:

Sharing with Lucy. Mostly toys and treats, but occasionally our affection.
The difference between playing nice and being so rowdy our neighbors want us evicted. This is actually an okay problem to have, it’s cute watching Mona act like a puppy.
Staying in her crate unattended. We left the two dogs along for the first time today and Mona barked the entire two hours. Considering Nate and I would like to be able to leave the apartment together on occasion we’re going to need to figure this one out. :)
Mona’s independence from me- she’s pretty much my shadow. She like Nate but definitely took to me pretty quickly and we want to try to even things out a bit.

But here are all the things that are going well!

One the whole, Lucy and Mona get along great (as you can see in the picture above!). They’ve both staked out their sleeping spots and are able to go on walks together pretty successfully.
Mona had one accident in the house on her first day but has successfully done all business outside since then. She’s a really good walker- doesn’t tug at all and seems very comfortable on a leash.
Sleeping has actually been fairly easy- we’ve had her sleep on a towel she likes right next to the bed. We decided to move her crate into our room so we don’t have to be nervous about her all night- we’ll see if it goes as smoothly as the past two nights but I’m hopeful.
Mona eats her meals and will chew on bones in her crate with no problem at all- the barking problem when we leave seems to be based purely around being alone. Hopefully as she gets a bit more settled in we can fix this pretty quickly.
She really is a sweet and affectionate dog- all she wants is attention and love and we’re happy to give it to her!

Thanks again for all the love and support while taking on this adventure- it’s definitely a transition but we’re happy that she’s here with us and are so impressed at the strides forward she’s already made given what her life has been like up until this point!

Ms. Mona has arrived and she’s a doll. :)

Sat, 11 May 2013 19:51:22 -0500

Ms. Mona has arrived and she’s a doll. :)

Mona doesn’t arrive at our apartment until tomorrow but...

Fri, 10 May 2013 22:12:08 -0500

Mona doesn’t arrive at our apartment until tomorrow but she made it to Chicago! I wanted to share a few pictures from her arrival. Word on the street is she’s sweet, friendly, and curious. We can’t wait to meet her!!!

Coffitivity - Increase Your Creativity!

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:45:00 -0500

Coffitivity - Increase Your Creativity!:

Stream the sounds of a coffee shop at work! Coffitivity is the virtual solution to research showing moderate ambient noise helps enhance creative cognition!

This site.. I get the concept but when I tried using it today is seriously almost induced a panic attack- I couldn’t even last 5 minutes!

Mona Update!

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:25:39 -0500

Hi tumblr friends- I shared some exciting news about Mona, the rescue dog Nate and I are adopting, and wanted to provide a quick update!

Mona is 100% ready to travel- she’s healthy and vaccinated and ready to come home to Chicago! We are at the point where funding her travel is the only barrier. Nate and I have been able to raise quite a bit of money but need to raise about $50 more.

I know there are a million and a half ways to spent any extra money you might have but if you’re willing to donate even $5 to help us give Mona a safe and stable life I would truly appreciate it! You can find more information and a PayPal link at the google site we made:

https://sites.google.com/site/donatemona/home

We’re hoping to have her here a week from Saturday and I can’t wait to give you all updates on what her transition is like (and of course, more adorable pictures!). :)