weekend – Page 6

A Day Trip to Rochester and Beach Weather

June 18, 2018 by Alicia Leave a Comment

After 3 weekends of working on painting and house projects, it was nice to have a relaxing weekend. All the bedrooms are now painted and I am waiting for Brian to return home to get started on putting the trim on and staining the floors. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple weeks. We are expecting some furniture to be delivered this week, but I am not sure if I will put it together right away as I may just wait until the floors are done since we have to move everything around as it is. It is a process moving in and especially since we didn’t have furniture other than a couch and mattress, it has been a process picking things out and thinking about the design of the rooms. I am trying to stay patient in the process, but keeping busy with getting out of the house definitely helps.

Saturday morning I had some breakfast and then I headed to Rochester, NY. It’s a 2.5 hour drive there and it was really smooth the whole way up. I arrived at 10am, just like I had planned and met up with one of my old college roommates. We figured out we hadn’t seen each other in 3 years, which was way too long. In that time she has moved nearly every year like me, from NY to Florida and now Ohio, but she was visiting her family and I figured I had nothing scheduled that day, so I took a day trip. Plus there is a beach up in Rochester and the forecast said at least 80 degrees so that was a perfect beach day.

We first met up in town for some brunch or breakfast round 2 for me. I had some chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. We were talking non stop catching up about everything and you know how you are talking so much you forget to eat. I ate most of my meal, but didn’t finish the pancakes. It was my second breakfast anyway.

We then met up at the beach. There was a sign that said beach closed, but clearly everyone was ignoring that. I think it was referring to the water being closed due to the previous days of high winds. Being that it’s Lake Ontario and June, the water is far from warm. We laid on the beach for a while, continuing chatting, before feeling like we were too hot and needed a quick dip in the water. We went in about up to our knees and adjusted to the water temp, but we weren’t so hot that we needed to dunk in. Back to the towels to continue to chat and soak up the sun. Somehow 3 hours or so went by. The fastest 3 hours ever!! Around 3:30, we figured it was time to pack up. We were pretty thirsty since we had both finished our waters and our spot ended up in the shade as the sun moved. We got some final photos together and then said goodbye.

Rochester 2018 — have to get back to my bridge photos

Next time, she has to come visit me at my new house. I can’t wait to get the guest room together so I can invite friends to stay for a weekend.

I made a stop for Tim Horton’s iced tea of course and filled up the gas tank and then started on my drive back. The drive was fairly smooth other than a minor 5 min stop from an accident that was partly cleared up when I got there.

Since it was nearly 7 by the time I got home, I stopped for a large speidie salad for dinner. Other than a little cracker pb snack, I hadn’t eaten since 11am, so I was hungry. I had to shower first upon walking in the door though since I was still covered in sand. After showering I discovered most of my back burned at the beach…oops. That’s what I get for using SPF 30 instead of 50 and I didn’t reapply like I should have and mostly laid on my stomach. At least my stomach was saved because I burned that in Australia and it hurt so bad. My sunburn didn’t hurt too bad, but I had bought a tube of aloe vera recently just in case. I spread a ton of that on and then sat down and ate my salad and watched Good Witch until I got tired and it was time to get into bed.

Sunday morning I actually slept in until 7:30am. I was impressed. I had some breakfast and headed off to the gym. I was actually tired when I first arrived at the gym, but as I started to get moving, it woke me up a bit. I was glad my shoulders didn’t burn because then squats would not have happened. As it was, my right side of my upper back burned worse and the barbell was rubbing a little spot of the sunburn, so squats hurt a bit, but I pushed through. I did skip one exercise that I knew would rub my back too much.

After the gym, I headed to Wegmans for groceries for the week. By the time I got home, it was almost 11, so I started to cut veggies and let meat thaw to make chicken stir fry. While the meat thawed, I quickly made muffins using the blender and then let them bake while I cooked the veggies for the stir fry.

The chicken stir fry turned out so good. I haven’t made stir fry in a while so it was a nice dish to prep for the week and also have some for lunch. I ate and finished the last two episodes of Good Witch season 3.

Then I took some time to enjoy the heat outside, wearing sunscreen, and read for a while. After finishing my book, it was time to spend some time writing. That was my afternoon and then it was time to relax until dinner.

Do you live near a beach? I grew up near one and it’s hard not being less than 5 miles from one now.

Road Trips and Theresa’s Graduation

May 28, 2018 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Happy Memorial Day. I’m playing catch up here and recapping my road trip and travel from last weekend with my sister’s graduation. I don’t even know where last week went. It was a crazy busy week where I barely had a break and I opted for sleep when I could.

Let’s back up to Thursday May 17th.

I left work and drove to Syracuse, NY to stay with a friend. I had an early flight out to Chicago Friday morning. It was the most beautiful night and I enjoyed a long walk before all my upcoming travel hours.

Friday morning I arrived at the airport with plenty of time, thank goodness because 2 flights were leaving early and the kiosks decided that they didn’t like every other person, so checking a bag was slow. Thankfully I have TSA precheck so security was a breeze and I grabbed a small iced tea to drink before the flight.

Oh and I got moved to this flight a couple months ago due to my original flight being cancelled so then I didn’t have a seat. The airlines offered vouchers for a few people to give up their seat so I did get on and was excited when I even got a window seat (it’s the little things). It was a beautiful morning and I could literally see land/water the entire flight, not a cloud in sight. I listened to a couple podcasts and before I knew it, we were landing. Landing took a bit of time I think because we arrived early so we had to circle in the air once (which I HATE). I’m glad I discovered the joys of podcasts on my travels last year as they help to take my mind off the flight because really it’s my nerves when flying that get to me, but I still love to travel.

We landed at O’Hare airport and it took some time to get to our gate. I noticed as we pulled to our gate that 5 planes were in line behind us to taxi to a gate too. O’Hare is super busy and HUGE. I always used to fly in and out of Midway airport in Chicago which is much smaller.

I followed the signs to the baggage claim, stopped for a bathroom break and literally arrived at baggage claim when my bag came out. Talk about perfect timing!

I then made my way to Enterprise for my rental car. First stop: Michigan!

It’s just a 2 hour drive from Chicago to Benton Harbor where my friend lives so the drive wasn’t bad at all. Plus the weather was beautiful and sunny. I even stopped at Panera and ate some lunch outside.

I then arrived at my friend’s house. The baby was sleeping, but I played with Isabella who is 4 years old until the baby woke up and I finally got to meet Grayson. He is 10 months old and he loved me from first sight, just grinning at me and wanted me to hold him. My friend was at work so I was home with her husband and the kids.

At 5 we headed to pick up my friend and decided to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel. Of course it decided to start raining right at 5, so we couldn’t get to the beach which was a bit of a bummer.

Once we came home for the night, we watched a movie while the kids were being crazy and then it was finally time to sleep.

Saturday morning was the Royal Wedding. I was up before anyone and had a snack and just read blogs on my phone for a bit. Once my friend was up with the baby, she live streamed the Royal wedding on her phone. Honestly, I was a bit bored watching it. Maybe it was just the clip we started at.

I decided to leave around 8am as I had to drive to Iowa which was going to be 6-7 hours. Thankfully the time zone change was in my favor, gaining an hour.

Knowing I would be on the road for a while, I made a stop at a cute café, The Mason Jar café, in Benton Harbor and had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage. It was actually quite filling because I didn’t eat again for 4-5 hours.

the mason jar cafe — cute little art exhibit in the cafe

The drive was long, but it went well. I hit some sprinkles of rain, but for the most part, the sun was out. It was only when I was 20 miles away, it literally started to pour so hard, the highway went from going 60-70mph to 40 mph because you could not see it was pouring so hard.

I was glad I was so close by that time and I arrived around 3pm central time to my sister’s (Theresa) apartment.

The first thing I wanted to do was shower. So my parents headed out on a tour of something (I didn’t pay attention haha). I showered and relaxed. Then Theresa and I headed out to buy some cupcakes because there is a really good cupcake place, Scratch Cupcakes in Des Moines, Iowa. I couldn’t decide how many to get as there are so many I wanted to try, but we settled on 4.

One cupcake was gone immediately upon getting back to my sister’s apartment. The Vegan Maple Cinnamon cupcake was delicious as an afternoon snack.

My parents returned and they weren’t hungry for dinner since they all went out and ate a big lunch. Theresa gathered some food she had in the cupboards for me for dinner, which was perfect. I loved how I didn’t have to eat out actually. We watched the movie The BFG and then my parents headed back to their hotel. I had some relaxing time and then slept on the couch at Theresa’s.

Sunday was the big day. I had some breakfast when I got up. I had brought some oatmeal with me because I am such a big breakfast person and need to eat when I get up.

Theresa headed out at about 8:30 and once I was ready, I just watched Jane the Virgin on Netflix until Theresa’s friend arrived and my parents stopped by to pick us all up. The graduation was open seating and not limited on tickets. We ended up sitting in the bleachers which was far away but my dad had a nice zoom lens to capture some photos.

The graduation only lasted 2 hours which wasn’t bad and then it was paparazzi time. All the photos were taken!!

the grad 1 — favorite headshot that I took

the grad 2 — Theresa and her best friend who met us for graduation

the grad 3 — sisters being goofy, recreating a similar photo from my graduation

We went out to lunch and grabbed another cupcake because Molly’s cupcakes was next door. Then we relaxed the rest of the day. Theresa and I watched The Kissing Booth Netflix movie which was ok and made some dinner to end the night.

I could barely keep my eyes open after 9pm and I slept well.

Then Monday came. That was an adventure and could have its own post. To keep it short, my rental car wouldn’t start. I got a jump start thanks to Theresa’s boyfriend, but ultimately, I got stranded at a rest stop in Iowa an hour and a half into my drive because I stopped to pee and it wouldn’t start again. There was something wrong with the car because trucks were clearly telling me to pull over as well. I have no idea if it was smoking or something, but at least I was safe at a rest stop.

yoga and stretching at the rest stop while I wait for the tow truck

That put me an hour and a half behind my plan to get to O’Hare to fly out. Thankfully I got a new car in Iowa city and made it. Of course to make it worse, I didn’t turn well into the Enterprise lot and scraped up the passenger side of the car a bit with the yellow entrance pole. It was a mini van and I wasn’t used to driving that.

But besides all that…I made it on my flight in time with even 30 minutes to spare before boarding. I was home around midnight and Tuesday was a long day at work. I was catching up on sleep all week, but thankfully the weekend and sleep in days arrived. Phew…

All in all, it was a good trip minus the last day of travel. I was reflecting on all the bad luck I had that day, but in the end I was grateful to be safe and made my flight. I was really trying to remain positive. Also Oprah’s podcast episode I was listening to reminded me, the sky is always blue, but sometimes clouds are in the way. The drive was very grey and sometimes rainy, but the sky is always blue, you just have to get above the clouds (which I did when flying).

the sky is always blue — sunset above the clouds and blue sky

So we are all caught up on last weekend. Stay tuned for a memorial day weekend post.

Tips for staying positive when everything seems to be going wrong?

Have you ever had a bad rental car experience?

A Warm Day and a Cold Color Run

April 16, 2018 by Alicia 3 Comments

It’d be really great if the weather would just get the hint that we are now halfway through April and it should be spring like and light jacket weather. Well I can dream right?!

Friday and Saturday were beautiful!! Friday night I finally got back to my favorite yoga class. I literally haven’t been to Friday night yoga since February. March got crazy between snow, friday night events and more. I was so happy to make it back. I really needed that class.

With getting up early Friday to drive Brian to the airport and being so relaxed after yoga, I was definitely asleep at 9pm. I was tired and I slept like a rock so no regrets there.

Saturday was a busy day. I started my new training block from my coach. Saturday marks officially 4 weeks away from my first Powerlifting meet. I’m excited and nervous because I don’t really know how these things go, but just going to start training with the cues in my head so I know what I am doing on meet day.

This training block brings some new to me moves. Saturday was pause deadlifts and I may need to lighten my load or take them even slower to work on my form more. It is nice to switch it up though as this last training block felt hard and less motivating. I needed something new and exciting.

After the gym, I had an early lunch of random leftovers in the fridge and decided to head out shopping.

I needed some shoes/sandals for a dress I recently purchased and also found a new blouse for work at the Banana Republic Outlet store. I am trying to add a few new blouses into my wardrobe because I am bored of the same old thing. I might get myself a Stitch Fix box again soon as a way to try new styles and things.

It was too beautiful outside to stay in, so I decided to stop for a walk after shopping. I got in those 10,000 steps which can be a rarity these days, but hopefully with warmer temps I will get outside more. I think this winter I realized just how much walking outside for even 10 minutes can help me. At my last job, I walked to the train or took a walk during lunch and that definitely helped.

walk outside — also got a new shirt representing my gym

The rest of the afternoon, I relaxed. I did some San Diego research for Blogfest 2018!! Basically this means I found a cupcake shop and tons of cafes I want to visit. I don’t even drink coffee, I just like cafes and there is always tea and treats. I know I will have to go back to San Diego for vacation sometime.

I put together a quick dinner of black beans, shredded chicken and avocado. I also had someone else interested in my meal…

After eating, I decided to open up the new book I bought and somehow kept turning the page which led me to bedtime. I wrote for a bit and then called it a night around 10.

Sunday morning was unfortunately much colder than Friday and Saturday and of course that was the day of the Color Run. The good news was that the freezing rain missed up and was farther North and besides the clouds and a few mist like sprinkles, it didn’t rain.

After checking in, I met up with my friends and we went back to the car with the heat on for an hour before the run. Then it was time to get to the Color Run starting line and we were released in waves.

I don’t know exactly when we left the starting line, but my guess would be around 10:10. We ran right into a headwind and it was COLD.

I ended up wearing two sweaters under my white t-shirt. I was also happy to have my new leggings from Athleta that had pockets. These pockets were lifesavers through the run to quickly put my hands into.

At about each 1 km mark, there was a color spot to run through. Despite the cold, we had a fun time getting all colored up.

It wasn’t long before we made it to the last color spot and got our medals at the end. I couldn’t believe we actually got a medal. I didn’t get a medal at the last color run I did, but that was 5 years ago now. We finished around 10:45, so our timing definitely wasn’t bad and I was surprised how much I jogged because I did not train at all to run. I think the cold weather definitely made me want to run more.

We took some photos and then headed to our cars. It took me a good 30 minutes or so to get out of the parking lot, but I stayed patient because I mean where was I going to go. Plus I had the heat cranked and by the time I reached the first traffic light, my hands were warmed up again which I was thankful for.

I got home and took a nice hot bath and then threw all my clothes in the washer. Then it was time to make some meatballs for lunch and added some pasta I had in the freezer and it was delicious.

After eating and snacking some more, I spent some time listening to podcasts and working on this post. I have a road trip coming up in May and I think I found my entertainment for the driving, Dear Mr Potter Podcast. There are so many podcasts out there. I keep learning about more and there are some you just have to listen to in order so I’m going back to 2015 on this one.

And now it’s time to get back to my book I was reading. Hoping the weather warms up this next week.

What’s your favorite podcast?

Fundraiser Night Out and Weekend 3/26/18

March 26, 2018 by Alicia 1 Comment

The weekend kicked off with A Tasteful Night for HCA fundraiser event. I went to support my friend Alicia2. It included wine and food tastings. I don’t drink, but the food was absolutely incredible. I did taste one wine. I didn’t like it and that’s just it, I just don’t really like alcohol. I don’t like the sugar filled drinks either where you can’t taste the alcohol, because then I still get a very upset stomach from the sugar. I’ll take a mini cupcake over the sugary alcohol, thanks. I had fun and I didn’t need to drink to make the event more fun.

For a couple hours, we walked around and sampled and then the live auction started. I was in that fear if I raised a limb, I would bib without knowing, but the auction was very entertaining to watch and see what the items went for. There were many gift cards and due to the fact that it was for charity, people were very generous and overbid on some of those. It was definitely a good night out. I was surprised that I didn’t even leave early because I was enjoying the time with Alicia2’s friends as well. After the live auction, they drew the raffle winners. I put in some tickets, but I didn’t have any luck. That’s ok though as most of the items I didn’t need, but that one pampered chef basket, I would have loved.

Saturday morning I got up shortly after 7. I made breakfast and decided to get an oil change and do my grocery run. On a side note, review your grocery receipts or pay attention as the person scans. I don’t usually have an issue, but the person voided a couple transactions as they scanned and I reviewed my receipt before leaving the store and noticed I was charged twice for the ham I bought. Getting it credited right away was good rather than noticing later.

When I got home, I froze some meat and threw some chicken in the crockpot. Then I sliced up some pork I bought and set it in a dish to marinate for stir fry later.

I got some laundry done and ate a snack plate for lunch and then decided to head out to the library.

I got a library card over a month ago and still had yet to check out books and head there on a weekend. I brought along my laptop and was able to sit down and actually write and focus for a couple hours. It was wonderful. I realized the open space and quietness of the library and sitting by a window with the sun shining in was just what I needed to focus and get some thoughts out. I also picked up a couple books since I needed something new to read and I really do like the physical book, so now I can save some money from Amazon ordering too.

Later in the afternoon, Brian came home and we made stir fry for dinner. I had snacked most of the afternoon though so I wasn’t too hungry, but the stir fry was delicious.

I then headed to a special evening Rock and flow yoga class. I have missed my Friday nights of yoga lately and this class was so much fun. The teacher had an awesome playlists with some hits from Destiny’s Child, Weezer and more. Though I will admit, it’s always hard for me to concentrate on the teacher with music playing where I know the lyrics. I was definitely singing along to some old hits and really loved it. The flow was also fun and challenging. I was really happy when we got to our balancing flow that my balance was great Saturday night. I have felt that recently it was off, but building leg strength and practicing some balancing at the gym after my workout or at home seem to have been helping.

Shortly after I got home, Brian had to head back to work and then I got ready for bed.

Sunday morning I woke up to it SNOWING!! I looked out the window at 7am and I was like, WHAT!? I hadn’t read the forecast recently so the snow was a complete surprise. Luckily it wasn’t snowing for very long. I had some breakfast and slowly made my way down the hill around 8:30 (since they didn’t really plow) and headed to the gym.

My workout went pretty well, despite my not feeling the best. I was able to increase my squat weight and get a new rep PR for my deadlifts. I took my time through my workout and then when I finished the sun was coming out at least and already melting away the bit of snow.

practicing my backbending after my workout

On my way home, I had to stop at the grocery store, because I just couldn’t stop thinking about eating cereal. Do you ever have those cravings that don’t go away until you get that ONE thing? I have seriously been thinking about cereal for days and I finally had to buy a box. I also have finally been getting tired of drinking plain water so I had to pick up some vitamin waters.

I got home and poured myself a bowl of cereal and it was the best.

Sunday was a pretty laid back day. I was even able to take a bath mid day which was awesome. Actually after my bath, Brian’s brother’s girlfriend had to show me her new chicks. I spent a bit of time holding them, but I was also thankful that I didn’t have to care for them. Brian can’t wait for some fresh eggs though.

Then the rest of the day was spent cleaning, reading, baking and watching Netflix. I enjoyed the sunshine streaming in the windows too. It’s really so so nice to have the sun back.

What’s one thing you did this weekend?

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