Girl’s Weekend 2012

Another one in the books! The 15th Annual Girl’s Weekend in Minneapolis was a success like always.  It is honestly one of my favorite weekends of the entire year.  I didn’t get photos of all of my amazing food and drink, but here is a sampling…

Sushi from Crave (located in the Mall of America).  This is becoming a favorite stop for us!  I highly recommend the Mexican Roll, the Crunchy Roll, and the Sumo Roll.  Cocktails are also a must with lunch–just because we can.

Beef short ribs with a Yukon mash and some sauteed veggies.  This was my dinner theater selection and it did not disappoint!  Better than the food was the wine.  There was no shortage of red wine… If I could remember the name I would share, but unfortunately I was too wrapped up in the play to write it down… I’m sure Sue will remember, so I’ll have to ask!

Cereal!!! Ahh I never have cereal anymore.  It is such a nice treat to be a visitor.  I think there is Corn Pops, Kix and Granola in there somewhere.  My aunt has a flux of grandkids going in and out of her house, so she has all of the good stuff.   Along with some tasty fresh berries! She knows how to make me a happy shopper.

Last but not least… A made-to-order stir fry from a new place cleverly named “Stir Crazy“.  We really enjoyed this place.  Almost like a mongolian grill, but with a line of woks instead of one big flat top.  This is a mixture vegetables and coconut curry sauce (my fave!) and brown rice.  Enough for leftovers, but not conducive for a plane.

I was super sad to say goodbye to my family after such a short and wonderful visit.  I guess I just need to get planning on my next stop home.

In other updates, I got a fantastic 7-miler in early Saturday before shopping went full-force.  I cut my scheduled 10-miles down so I didn’t miss out on any socializing once everyone started waking up.  Worked out perfect because I’m just flip-flopping this weekend!

This week in training:

• Monday: 3 miles easy
• Tuesday: 5 miles tempo (800 repeats)
• Wednesday: easy short run + strength (60 degrees outside, had to!!)
• Thursday: 3 miles speed (400 repeats)
• Friday: OFF
• Saturday: 10 mile long run
• Sunday: Yoga (I missed it last week!) + strength

 

 

 

Tristan’s first birthday

My nephew/Godson Tristan turned 1 year old on May 13th! Since my brother and his wife had a party for him on Saturday, my Step-dad John had the fabulous idea to fly me home and surprise my entire family for the occasion.  I couldn’t have been happier to partake… we had been planning this for about a month!

Friday-Sunday was a quick, but incredible weekend.  There was lot’s of wedding talk (Eric and Julie will be getting married in October!), birthday celebrating, and tons of laughing involved.  Of course, good food was consumed.  Here’s a brief overview:

Heirloom tomato and asparagus salad

Cajun crab cakes + baby red potatoes

Fresh lemon poppyseed muffin

Party plate of cookout goodies

A very good beer.

Veggie Omelet, raisin toast

I didn’t have much control over the food I ate because as you can see pretty much everything was eaten outside of the house.  It was all delicious though!  For the most part, fairly healthy minus the alcohol-induced tortilla chips and salsa on Saturday night…whoops!

I was so happy to be able to go home and see everyone! What a fabulous and jam-packed couple of days.  When I landed in Denver on Sunday, I was sad to leave but excited to come home because I had visitors waiting for me! Yes, we are currently sleeping 6 in our 2-bedroom apartment.  But it’s pretty fun to always have someone around and we’ve been doing lot’s of fun things in our quest to show them around the state.

Friday I may be going White-water rafting!!!! Never done this before, but I have always wanted to.  What a great way to spend an afternoon.

Anyone have awesome summer plans? I’m looking forward to camping, hiking, baseball games, races and concerts.  Lot’s of special things planned!

How not to eat on a daily basis

Hmmm… went to Vegas for a few days and let’s just say my eating habits were sub-par.  But it’s okay because it was the most fabulous vacation ever and I’m actually still laughing out loud (by myself sometimes) thinking of all of the ridiculous fun I had!  Solid vacation indeed.

Exhibit A:

I love nachos–probably more than the average person, in fact–and these were nothing short of spectacular.  But having them numerous times in one day is probably not considered the best way to treat myself.

Exhibit B:

GELATO!!!!!! You know I can’t pass up this fine display.  Funny story, I went for a walk in the mall that our hotel was in (Planet Hollywood) so I could grab some lunch for Jess and I to split at the pool one day.  Came back 2 hours later because I get so darn distracted at places like this.  And I also may have gotten lost….

Regardless, I had some coffee and coconut gelato on my adventure and it was insanely good.  Check out that presentation!

Exhibit C:

Um yeah.  This would be Jessica’s free birthday dessert.  We weren’t about to turn this down.

Exhibit D:

Margaritas galore! I know it’s classic text book to avoid sugary drinks like this… but they’re just too good!  And how can you eat nachos without a good marg, right?  The one above was Cabo Wabo’s House marg–made with agave!

This is the Cactus Pear variety:

And this was a Raspberry one from the Mexican restaurant in our hotel.

yeah.  Believe me there were more, my camera just couldn’t keep up with them all!  I highly recommend Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville–specifically the Mango.

Last but not least…

Exhibit E:

Ah yes, the late night meal.  My eating schedule is so out of whack it’s crazy!  I mean eating at your first meal of the day at happy hour, and then again at 7:00am, I guess I can understand how that would happen.  This is stuffed french toast, by the way.  Yum.

I lived it up like no other during these 5 days and wouldn’t have changed a thing!!!!  That being said, it feels good to be back to normal eating/exercising and I’m planning on signing up for another 1/2 marathon pretty quick so no worries…. my evil twin has definitely NOT taken over my blog.  Normal food pictures resume tomorrow.

Vegas, I love you.