Sunday, September 25, 2011

My Niece

My niece Ava's birthday is coming up on October 8th! I won't be there for their Halloween extravaganza birthday party, but I did get her some cute stuff from the Disney store. Shopping for kids is waaaay more fun than shopping for adults.

I was going through my e-mail this morning and ran across this video that my sister-in-law, Amber, sent me. The title is "Video Proof that I am the Worst Mother Ever."

Amber explains:

Ava and Andrew like to slide down the stairs. I changed the way they do it. I don't think you're supposed to teach two-year-olds this stuff. Whoops.



I think this is absolutely stellar! I can't stop laughing at the video.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Chi-town Balance

I promised that I'd get back to blogging and surprise, surprise I haven't been very good about posting.

It may sound weird, but I'm having such a great time here in Chicago that I'm afraid that if I write about it then that will ruin it. My secret bubble of happiness will burst or something.

Sometimes I worry that I'm not doing enough here. That I'm not taking full advantage of the city. But then I just reflected on everything that went on this past weekend and the guilt quickly faded away.

I'm discovering that I've finally, finally managed to get a balance in my life. I leave work at 5. I have not and will not tie my work e-mail to my phone. My weekdays are pretty low-key while I'm always exploring something new on my weekends.

Balance is happiness, my friends.

To give you an idea of my new life in the city, here's a glimpse at this past weekend:

On Friday, the director and producers from the ABC show, Shark Tank were filming in our offices. As both our CEOs were out, it was my job to make sure that everyone knew their way around the office and had everything they needed. The producer, Steven, and the director, Patrick, were both great guys! It was fascinating to see the whole filming process unfold. What's crazy is that a whole afternoon of filming will probably amount to only a couple minutes on the show.

George and Rolf, creators and inventors of Power Decal.

My desk will be famous!
After working late to make sure that everything wrapped up and they got out of the office okay, Nick met me at work and we rushed over to US Cellular Field to watch the Chicago Police versus Chicago Firefighters charity baseball game. This game was sooo much fun! 10-times better than a Cubs MLB game. We had such a great time!!

Watching Chicago's Finest
A great picture of Mariya, myself, and Nick!
It took up about a million shots to get the picture above, mostly because I have short arms and because Mariya likes to make faces for every picture she's in.
After the baseball game, we trecked out to Nick's side of town to meet his adorable dog and to grab a few more drinks. I'm not a huge beer drinker, but after a long week at work it was the nectar of the gods.

On Saturday morning I woke up and worked out with my awesome trainer, April. I'll do a whole separate post on her later. Just to make sure I was fully recovered and not under-fed, Mariya and I went out to Greek Town for some amazing Greek food.

Incredible appetizers. Look at those giant lima beans!
Meat pie wrapped in philo dough. Heaven,
Lamb with greek pasta
After the giant lunch and subsequent food coma, we rolled back home and spent the night watching Weeds. I'm new to this show and Mariya and I have only gotten to the third season, but this show is absolutely nuts! I'm constantly saying, "what the f---?!" at the end of every episode.


On Sunday I rolled my bum out of bed, threw in some laundry, and went to our playoff soccer games in Lincoln Park. The first game we won but the second game we lost in penalty kicks. Brutal! I've been playing with this team for about two months and I'm finally getting to know everyone on the team. They're a ton of fun! As I've always said, adult sports and leagues are a great way to both get outside for a little bit and get to know people! Everyone always has an interesting story.

So, there's a weekend in the new life of Claire. It's stellar. At least, I think so. :)

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

10lbs Heaver, 10x Happier

View of Chicago from my rooftop
According to Blogger, I haven't posted since May. My bad!

At first, I was so stuck in Boulder that I didn't want to post anything. Who wants to write about unhappiness? That just sucks. But now, I've been so busy and happy in Chicago that I haven't had the time!

And then I gained 10 lbs. Damn amazing Chicago fried food! Ack! So, I need to recommit to my fitness and my health and my blog while continuing to be happy with my life.

Do you ever get to the point where you sometimes forget what happiness is? I had forgotten in Colorado. I was just getting through each day. My life wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. Moving was one of the best things I have ever done.

I'm also permanently on vacation out here---which means that I'm eating like I'm permanently on vacation. I literally had restaurant kettle-fried chips for dinner. Oops! Time to stop that. Right now.

So, dear friends (all two of you), I'm ready and excited to continue sharing my happy life and my struggles with you. There's so much to tell! I will forge ahead... again.