No greens

Hi, peaches.

Is anyone else absolutely dying from allergies today? I haven’t been able to breathe normally for most of the day, and I’ve only just now regained the use of one nostril. I know I’m not sick because I don’t have any other symptoms. Just, you know, a total inability to breathe.

Blegh!

In case you can’t picture this accurately enough, I took this little gem earlier and posted it on Twitter. Shield your eyes if you’re squeamish.

You know, sometimes I stop and wonder if these blog pictures will come back and haunt me someday….In the meantime though, I’ll just keep stuffing more Kleenex up my nose.

Mojo is currently passed out peacefully on his back, next to me, limbs sprawled. It’s making me feel sleepy and peaceful :)

this is from when he was just a little guy!

teeny Molly too, please excuse the messy room

I came home rather late tonight after running around Lincoln Park post-work to take care of some business. There may be some (more) exciting changes afoot, so I have yet another task on my plate. It’s funny — just as I was saying that I didn’t have anything going on, this new event pops into my lap. More info to come later.

When I finally got home, I whipped up a super quick  dinner. While boiling some pasta, I baked three Trader Joe’s chicken meatballs alongside some sweet potato fries in the toaster oven. No green foods in dinner today, but I didn’t feel so bad about it since I had a huge salad for lunch and a big green monster for breakfast.

After the pasta was cooked, I topped it with the new marinara I bought, and sprinkled some pecorino on top. It was sooo tasty and just the kind of simple comfort food I was craving. I munched on the fries while reading…

I finished The Hunger Games! I’m not going to go into a long review because I’m already boring myself just thinking about writing a “book report,” but it was awesome and I’m not usually into science fiction, or even really fiction for that matter. I usually read lame (not really) non-fiction and autobiographies because I’m weird like that. I can’t wait for the next one in the series, Catching Fire!

I’m debating whether I want to buy it for Kindle (a.k.a on my phone since I don’t have a Kindle — sadface) or wait and buy the paperback. I’m VERY impatient, so this will be a tough decision…

Anyway, just thought I’d pop in and say hello. I just finished a small cup of chocolate froyo I picked up across the street (mad chocolate cravings, uh oh..), and I’m going to hop into bed and call it a night. So glad it’s almost the weekend! See ya!

I’m Still Here

No, I’m not referencing Joaquin Phoenix’s highly publicized and ultimately fake meltdown.

so sexy

Just letting y’all know that I haven’t fallen into a ditch somewhere, or possibly lost my mind. (Okay, the latter may be true, but only a little bit)

Life is a little cray-cray right now, and despite the fact that I feel like my life is always a little nutso, it has been more difficult than usual lately.

• I’m having some health issues that will (hopefully) be resolved by the middle of next week – in the meantime, waiting is really tough
• A close family friend just started chemo for her second cancer diagnosis, and it’s horrifically scary :(
• I’m at a turning point in work where my initial training period is coming to an end and my performance is expected to increase significantly
• My 5k (and very first race) is Saturday morning
• I’m attempting to wade my way out of moderate (but substantial for me, who has never had any) credit card debt
• I’m still working to get over a break-up
• Horrible allergies and a messy apartment are making all of the above significantly more difficult

I have also been feeling significantly fatigued recently — moreso than my usual lazy self — and I’m thinking that my diet is lacking, so therefore my iron is lacking. I have all the necessary supplements at home, but my messy apartment and lack or organization makes it tough to get my act together.

On the to-do list tonight: get in a 2 mile run with Amy, pick up my race packet, hit up Trader Joe’s or WF for groceries (I have been eating random canned items for dinner…times are getting desperate), update the blog with a few funny stories, a few sad stories, and a few really great recipes (this may have to wait a bit longer :( sorry guys!), do the painfully huge mound of dishes in my sink, fold and put away the OTHER painfully huge mound of clothes atop my bed, and last but not least — get to bed at a decent hour.

I’m surprisingly cheerful for this level of craziness, but I may just be hiding from reality…who knows. Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hello — I promise I’m here and will be back soon. Missing my bloggies!

Cliffhanger

Hi guys.

Sorry to leave you hanging with my last post. It has been a rough few days.

The fella I have previously mentioned a handful of times (not going to link to everything, but the butterflies post may have been particularly memorable) and I broke up on Thursday. It wasn’t really anticipated at all, and it happened while I was at work over the course of a conversation over text message. Needless to say, I was very upset and angry about how it went down. We had only been seeing each other for three months, but we both agreed that we felt close to each other pretty quickly, and cared about each other quite a bit. Even as I’m writing this now, I’m getting sad and tearing up a bit. For the moment, things still feel very unresolved and painful.

Men boys suck.

maybe I should re-read this guy?

source

In true Laura fashion, I drank way too much all weekend (this is both a good and a bad thing, hah) and didn’t really take the best care of myself. I also spent a decent amount of time crying and moping around.

Thankfully, I have some seriously incredible friends that not only talked me through things over and over again, but also put up with my moping, late night phone calls, and tearful moments in completely inappropriate places. One friend, whom I have just met recently and barely know, sat with me late last night after I had had a few too many drinks and smoothed my hair back while I slowly dozed off on my bed. You  know, while I had five or six people over at my house. (I’m a great host).

She is a wonderful person, and I feel lucky to have met her!

I know things are still fresh and that in time, the pain will fade and I will continue to do all the fun things I normally do. And I know that three months isn’t a very long time. But damn. This hurts a lot. I can’t help but feel pretty down on myself right now, even though I know that sometimes often, people just aren’t 100% compatible and need to acknowledge that and move on. But it’s hard not to take it personally. It’s also hard, and very saddening, to suddenly realize that the person you’ve spoken to every day for the past several months is going to be abruptly removed from your life. I miss him.

Did I mention that he gave me that complete bullshit about how incredible I am, and how much he values having me in his life? And still wants to hang out all the time? As friends?

Yeah, dude, I know I’m amazing. I don’t need you to validate that for me. But if you think you are going to still experience that, after some of the shit you pulled here, you are out of your damned mind.

Despite the constant sadness and crying fits, I actually had a pretty fun-packed weekend. Fun-packed doesn’t necessarily mean you’re enjoying every second of it — it just means you know you’re supposed to be. I went out with a few girlfriends to a great bar called Delilah’s (Lady Gaga stopped by there when she was in town last summer!) and had a drunken, singing cab ride home with a best friend. I went to the aptly-named “Sausage Fest” and drank some icy beer and ate some steamy…you guessed it, sausages. And I spent a lot of time with some truly wonderful people who care about me.

Sorry for the long, picture-less, totally bummed-out post. When I get a chance in the next day or so, I’ll share some fun pictures (look out for a sausage made of out a not-so-typical creature…) of my weekend to bring the mood back up around here.

Three weeks until my very first 5k that I am now officially registered for — yippee!!

Now I just need to, you know, be able to run 5k. *GULP*

Some like it hot

…I don’t. Well, I kinda do. But right now, it’s too darn hot out.

Isn’t it strange how it can be 90 degrees out, yet your office’s AC has you shivering at your desk all day? I still find this so strange.

I had a pretty great weekend despite Chicago’s gloomy, wet weather. I’ll post an update with details later tonight if I can get my butt in front of the computer.

I’m trying to set up the wireless router in my teeny tiny apartment so I can use my laptop somewhere else (cough cough… my bed) besides my awkwardly small couch, but I have no idea what I’m doing. Any tech savvy readers out there?

I just looked at some of my bills for this month and almost had a heart attack. Working for free for five months really set me back, credit card wise, so I have a lot of balances to pay off that will take who knows how long. I really need to cut back on the taxis and restaurants that I always seem to throw my money at…I suck at budgeting. Major sadface.

Still need to go to the gym. It’s getting a little ridiculous at this point. Amy, I’m counting on you for some motivation…

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend!

Hot & cold

I thought about posting one of those pictures that show how many tiny particles of saliva/snot explode when you sneeze, but it was a little too gross — even for me. I thought this one was a nice substitute :)

It’s finally getting warm out in Chicago (oh hey there, May) and of course, I caught a cold. As I mentioned before, I pushed myself too hard in the previous few weeks, and haven’t been eating my normal (mostly) nutritious meals, so my body just crapped out on me. I’m certain now that it’s a cold because I’m still sick, and colds have that wonderful habit of sticking around for two weeks. There are few things more frustrating than not being able to breathe/taste things/go five minutes without blowing your nose when it’s 80-something degrees outside. Bleh! I have been resting up a lot (aka not going to the gym) and sleeping in the hopes that this thing will get lost soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

BUT — in case you didn’t understand, it’s EIGHTY-SOMETHING DEGREES OUT. Hallelujah!

I’m convinced there is no better place than Chicago in the summer.

Ohhhhh, I can’t wait.

Considering the fact that I’ve been sick and tired for two weeks, I’ve still been in a pretty excellent mood most of the time. That is, until yesterday. I had a rather unsavory conversation that left a stormcloud over my head most of the day, and through the night. After being exhausted, sad and stressed out most of the day, I finally just let loose and let myself have a good cry after getting tucked into bed. It sucked, and it made me sad, but it was also somewhat cathartic. I know not everyone agrees, but sometimes it can be very therapeutic to just let yourself be sad, let out all the emotion/frustration/embarrassingly deep sobs and just cry. It needed to happen, and I’m still sad, but I’m a little more at peace now that I’ve come to peace with the fact that this specific issue is bothering me.

I’m wondering if maybe I need some yoga in my life right now? (Pardon me for saying this, but who am I?)

As if by magic (or clever scheduling, same thing), I have a massage appointment scheduled for after work and could not be more thrilled. Honestly, I rarely treat myself to massages/pedicures/etc. (I’m broke and cheap most of the time), but this time it is sorely (hah!) needed.

I just noticed I’m making a lot of bad puns here; thinking this means it’s time to wind this post down…

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hello. I’m thrilled with my new job and mostly pleased with my new apartment, so aside from the noted issues above, life ain’t all that bad right now. I get my first paycheck Friday in ages (which, unfortunately, is already accounted for in the form of bills), so I won’t be (as) broke soon either.

Oh yeah, and did I mention it was 80 degrees out?

Have a great day, y’all :)

Up next: look out for some musings on cooking in a tiny, tiny kitchen/apartment.

This…

..is what I’m doing right now:

Snugglin’ with this goofy lookin’ guy and catching up on blogs. Aren’t we quite the pair?

I was just reading Julie’s sweet post about how, no matter how foul her mood, she is always cheered up instantly by her Viszla pup, Sadie. While I’ll admit that having two cats can sometimes be a slight (okay, a huge) pain in the ass, I’m still thankful for them most of the time. They are such sweet, playful and cuddly kitties, and they are always there when I need company or just a good snuggle buddy.

Okay, I know — I am a crazy cat lady. Bear with me anyway?

I’ve been very stressed out this week due to my shifting living situation. The apartment that I will be moving into (or would like to be, at least) isn’t 100% available yet (the current tenant is still waiting on word from her new apartment…it’s so complicated!), so I am on pins and needles waiting to hear that my rental will go through. If it doesn’t, I may be homeless in a few weeks!

It is also the last week at my current job, which I absolutely love, so I am stressed and sad and not handling it very well. I’m so grateful and thrilled to start my new job, but it will be hard leaving a place and group of people (I’m looking at you, Kara) that I have grown to love.

Thankfully, though, the gym is always there. After receiving a particularly horrible text message from my particularly horrible roommate, I was furious, stressed out and wanting to strangle someone. So I hopped on the treadmill, turned up my iPod and ran my fastest mile to date! It was awesome. I have never felt my blood flowing through my body like that, and I felt like I could squeeze every ounce of energy from the day’s stress into energy for my legs. After two more, I hopped off feeling lighter — physically and mentally.

Sweat > therapy.

I have been lazy and haven’t been cooking anything exciting this week. I’ve also been eating much less than usual due to stress (this is unusual for me — it takes a LOT to get my mind off of food!), so I don’t have too many exciting eats to share this week! On the way to a friend’s house tonight, though, I did stop at WF and picked up some delicious-looking and in-season strawberries and mangoes! I also grabbed some salad fixins. VERY excited to incorporate those into some meals, ASAP — my body needs fruits + veggies, stat.

While I was strolling the lovely WF aisles, I also snagged a quickie dinner at the hot/cold bar. I had some marinated green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes and carrots, a bulgur + quinoa salad, some rosemary-garlic tofu and some yellow daal. The daal was definitely my favorite! It was so flavorful and creamy, I wished I had gotten more. Next time! I also sipped a guava Kombucha. All was scarfed up much too quickly to snap a pic :D

Thanks for hanging in here with me while I get my life figured out, guys….I hope I haven’t bored too many of you to tears! More fun stuff to come soon, I promise!

Big changes

Howdy!

This is my friend Amy. She makes me smile :)

Hi Amy!

We decided to put on some cheap (and not so flattering…) sunglasses after a few beers and have a photo shoot. This is why we are friends :D

My life is going through some crazy transitions right now, and one of which involves this lovely lady above! I will be moving out of my current apartment soon, and Amy might be a new roommate. Thrilled doesn’t do justice to my excitement about this!

The issue, however, is that my current lease is not up until August 31. Amy’s is not up until July 31. And, well….as I may have mentioned before, I don’t exactly love my roommates.

I’ve been trucking along and doing the best I can to get by though, and for the most part things have been fine. Recently, however, things have taken a turn for the worse. I’m naturally somewhat of an anxious person when things get stressful, and the relationship (or lack thereof) between the troublesome roommate and I is making me physically ill with stress. Not only does coming home when I know she is there put a knot in my stomach, but she is also disrespectful and even took something of mine (a coach purse), then lied about it when I asked (nicely) for it back.

I’m feeling like I can’t live here anymore, but am not sure if I can afford to move out.

BUT. I am a happy, goofy, hilarious and fun person that is generally positive an optimistic about life.

Those last two are pretty weird, huh? I was trying to emphasize the “goofy” part, hah! Say hello to my friend Amanda in that last one — she is pretty fantastic!

I truly believe in the mantra that if you don’t like something, you should change it. Instead of sitting around feeling miserable, you can get up and do something about it! Life doesn’t always (or really, never does) go as planned, but if you are flexible, positive and willing to go along for the adventure, everything will be okay and turn out exactly like it is supposed to.

Because my current roommate situation has gone from “nuisance” to something that is actually interfering with my happiness and living of my daily life, I have decided to look for a new place to live ASAP as a temporary solution.

This freaks me out for a number of reasons: 1) moving is expensive, 2) living on your own is expensive, 3) I have a lot of stuff and moving is a HUGE pain, and 4) I’m not sure how exactly this will work out. I will have to coordinate the timing of my moving out with someone new moving in to takeover my lease (and who knows how difficult a person will be to find), and I also have to talk to my roommate about doing this. Since she is the type of person that seems to need to control everything, I’m not sure how this will go. I just know that I need to get out of there for the sake of my sanity, and that I cannot afford to pay for 2 apartments at once.

Wish me luck.

Another big change that I’m beyond excited about is that I (officially) have…

…drumroll…

A NEW JOB!

I’m keeping the company name under wraps (at least for now) because I haven’t really ironed out how comfortable I feel about sharing that sort of thing, but it’s for a large and well-known company in Chicago that I’m thrilled to be joining. My start date is April 25; I’ll be part of the editorial staff and will finally be back on salary, something I haven’t been on since I moved from Madison and switched jobs back in June. It’s been a looooong time coming, friends.

Big changes, but happy changes. I hope I can keep improving my life everyday and continue to be the happy, downright KICKASS chick that I know I am (she’s just been hiding from satan roommate).

I’ve had some delicious eats recently, but I’ve scarfed most of them down before thinking to take a picture! (bad blogger!) Salads are back in my life, and I’m so happy about it because I think a big salad a day is what makes me feel the best. In today’s mix:

• huge handful of arugula
• huge handful of TJ’s organic broccoli slaw
• sliced leeks (soo crunchy and add a huge pop of taste without being too onion-y)
• sliced 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/4 avocado cubed
• a few shakes of ground flax
• 3 oz grilled chicken
• TJ’s lemon pepper seasoning
• big dollop of TJ’s Mediterranean hummus

It was DEEELISH. It was so crisp and fresh tasting, but I feel totally satisfied afterward. I also have an orange to munch on later. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture, but I’m sure I’ll have the exact same lunch tomorrow! :)

I made an internet pact with my buddy Mike last night that we would both hit the gym today, since we’ve both been slacking this week. The universe must have answered my prayers yesterday when I was talking about lacking motivation, because it arrived to my doorstep yesterday in a shiny little package!

I wish it had been SHAPE or Women’s Health, but hey, I’ve always said that the ladymags are the best way to get my butt to the gym when all else fails.

See ya on the flip side!

(She hasn’t fallen off the face of the earth…yet)

Hi friends!

I am so so sorry for neglecting PLW recently! My life has been in a bit of a shambles, and I just haven’t had it in me to post much. I highly doubt you’d want to listen to me moaning and groaning. Life is stressful, and while it really (really) sucks when it is, you just have to take a deep breath, look yourself in the eye and keep movin’ forward.

I decided to do a little self-therapy last night and watch “How Do You Know?” (with Reese Witherspoon) in bed curled up with a kitty or two ;) It didn’t make things suck less, but it sure made me feel better — the movie was surprisingly good! It was also much less of a chick flick than I thought it would be. I loooove Reese Witherspoon (did you know her first name is Laura?) and I think I love Paul Rudd even more.

He is just so damn cute.

swoon

My eats and workouts have been a bit all over the place lately, as tends to happen when stress comes into the picture. Regardless, I’ve been making a strong and conscious effort to do my best and stay on track because I know that when I eat well and exercise regularly, I feel 1000x better, and it keeps the stress from getting out of control.

A funny side effect of having a roommate that you don’t get along with at all is that I go to the gym more often…since it’s just 2.5 blocks from my house, I can head over there whenever I don’t want to be home! Great solution :)

I’ve been continuing to do my Women’s Health workouts and they have been fantasic! They are so comprehensive and well-put together, I never feel like I’ve missed something. I am also feeling seriously strong. Yesterday I did:

• 3×8 dumbbell step lunges
• 3×8 underhand grip reverse flys
• 2×10 Swiss ball Russian twists
• 3×10 alternating shoulder presses
• 2×60 sec hold planks (split into segments bc I am still not very good at these!)
• 2×8 Swiss ball hip raise and leg curls (these are KILLER)
• 2×10 back extensions (in place of 90 sec prone cobra hold because I really really hate that move for some reason!)

If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend going out and getting your hands on the Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises! It is the cheapest personal trainer you can buy!

Speaking of the gym, I had a verrrrry interesting run-in yesterday. Remember my two-timing ways? Well thankfully things sort of resolved themselves on their own…While one guy seemed to be making more effort in showing that he was interested, I happened to be more interested in the other — you know, the spark. I was unsure of what to do about the situation when one day, Mr. Interested suddenly became Mr. dis-interested — we had plans, he canceled at the last minute, and I never heard from him after that! I was angry and thought it was very immature of him, but also relieved because it left me to focus on the person I really wanted to get to know.

Well isn’t the Universe a jokester, because guess who I ran into while stretching on the mat! After our first date, I knew that Mr. Dis-Interested and I worked out at the same gym because he lives very close to me. I also thought I had seen him there once before we had gone out. After he fell out of touch, I often wondered if I would ever run into him at the gym and how awkward it would be…Sure enough, yesterday I saw him saunter up to the treadmill line a few feet away from me! Naturally, I speeded up the ‘mill (to look super badass, obviously) and kept my head down, hoping to avoid eye contact.

I thought I had escaped the situation when I saw him walk past me again, this time over by the free weights. I was pretty sure at this point he had noticed me, but I didn’t want to let him know that I had seen him. I kept my eyes on the prize and completed the killer workout you see above. Just when I thought I was in the clear and stretching out on the mats, I noticed him walking toward me.

Cue mental panic.

Was this jerk really approaching me after blowing me off?

“Hi Laura…how’s it going?”

Cue awkward 30-second small talk conversation.

Him: “I’m sorry I haven’t called you…I’ve been really busy and just working like crazy.”

Me: “Uh huh.”

Cue more awkward small talk.

I wasn’t nice, but I wasn’t rude. I didn’t feel I needed to be nice. After he seemed to get the hint that I didn’t want to talk, he told me he was going to go finish his workout and I said I would “see him around.” Right.

Men are such stinkers! I hope he realizes that he messed up a chance with a truly incredible chick.

——————————-

Anyway….so I am still using the Livestrong calorie counter and I feel like it’s been extremely useful in helping me keep my calorie intake in check. This morning, for example, I made an oopsie:

It wasn’t from Sprinkles, but that was the closest thing I could find :)

I had a doctor’s appointment early this morning and didn’t leave myself time to make my normal steel cut oats for breakfast, so I grabbed a cinnamon roll Larabar. Well, I should have known better that those are only good for post-workout snacks because I was starving by the time I finished at 9:30! I stopped in Starbucks to get something a little more substantial and walked away with a (decently tasty) egg white, turkey bacon + cheese sammie on a whole wheat English muffin and a grande soy latte with a Splenda. It hit the spot, but I immediately realized my breakfast had way too many calories!

Of course when I got to work, there were 96 cupcakes waiting for everyone in the office. One of our main clients is a very large food brand, so we are constantly in communication with everything from cupcake trucks to daily enchilada recipes. One of our coworkers won some sort of prize on Twitter, and they came and covered her entire workspace with aluminum foil! To soften the blow, they left more cupcakes than I have ever seen in my entire life. I had to try one of the red velvets because it looked so darn cute, but I only wanted half of it — it was far too sweet and just not worth the rest of the calories. I was still accountable for it though, and I’m glad I was! Looks like my lunch will need to be a light one today…

I’ll try to post some more pictures today or tomorrow, but a few recent eats have been: Annie’s aged cheddar mac w/fresh green onions & shredded chicken, chicken avocado salad (AMAZING — see picture below, I’ll post the recipe this week) and leftover flank steak & roasted potatoes from a date night I had last week :)

Unfortunately, I was supposed to have a follow-up date tonight and just got word that he had to cancel. I am seriously bummed, and was really looking forward to it after a week from hell.

Oh well. Keep calm and carry on, right?

Fast food

Boy, did this day fly by! I had a lot of work on my plate and barely looked up from the computer most of the day. I’m glad it went by quickly, but I felt like a big lump of blah.

Instead of staying late, I decided to eat lunch at my desk so I could leave at a normal time. (I do this far more often than I’d like to admit). Since it was a Monday, I went with healthy convenience foods instead of something elaborate for lunch; since I already had a can of soup in my desk, I grabbed a strawberry Chobani and an English cucumber to throw in my purse while my morning oatmeal was cooking in the rice cooker.

Sidenote: I am legitimately obsessed with making oatmeal in my rice cooker. Post on this to come!

I ate one of these guys:

As noted before, this stuff, while delicious, is just too salty for me. I had to down several glasses of water, all in my goofy Santa-Simpsons cup.

I never got to the cucumber, so it’s still waiting for me in the fridge at work!

I got hungry a few hours later (shocker) so I had the Chobani with some of the strawberry stuff mixed in (all of it makes it too sweet, in my opinion), some uncooked old fashioned oats and some of Kara’s Vanilla Almond Special K mixed in to tide me over. Delish and worked like a charm!

So despite it being only Monday, I already had plans set for every day this week, as well as a trip for this weekend, so I was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed and worried that I would’ve have much me time – let alone any gym time. I decided to rearrange my plans a bit so I could not only have Laura time (very important :D), but also feel less..I don’t know, boxed in? I tend to get really anxious when I’m overwhelmed and it’s just not good for anybody. I’m now on the bus home (update: finished the post at home!) and feeling much better about the week ahead :)

In other and less important news, why do the ends of my hair always look like they’ve been chewed on by an animal?! I need to get a haircut, blegh.