Life

Just some snaps shared on my instagram page.

This morning I made myself a fancy lil breakfast.  This is my second big experiment in the kitchen this week.  The other day my boyfriend and I made a Caribbean dinner.  He made jerk chicken and sweet fried plantains, I made Jamaican cabbage and haitian rice and beans.  This morning I decided to satisfy a craving for quiche!

The ingredients (minus half & half and eggs) were about 15 dollars.   Got the recipe from Pillsbury and used a pre-made pie crust. (GOAL: Learn to make pie crust homemade for quiche and my famous apple pie!)

--

The morning before our caribbean dinner, the boo and I stopped by the Garfield Park Conservatory.

It's free and was a lot of fun. A lot of the space is under construction so I bet it will be really cool by the summer next year! 

I'm going to make sure to visit regularly so that the space is supported.

I love that every part of Chicago has so much to offer.

--

One of the cute dining spots in Lincoln Park is called Blue Door Farm Stand.  It's a restaurant that features seasonal dishes that gets most of its grub from Indiana to plate and serve here in Chicago. 

The other day I went in to order lunch and noticed that they now have a "Build Your Own Four Pack" offer.  So for the Bears game that night I popped in and had the guys build a pack for me. In it there was Two Brothers, an Off Color Brewing, a Lazy Magnolia (Southern Pecan--my second favorite) and the pictured Hopothesis (Oatmeal Amber Ale).  This stuff was so good! Kinda fruity (to me) + totally delicious!   And by kinda fruity I don't mean that in a Seagrams/Mike's Hard kind of way.


This company is Chicago based!   See!  This city is just so dope.

--

Last but not least!

On last Friday I got to participate in the lululemon athletica Chicago region's Metta Movement event called #100miles100smiles event with lululemon athletica Ambassador, David Coligado, and Smile Train.

Dave C took on the challenge of running 100 Miles in 24 hrs to raise $25,000 to provide cleft pallette surgeries to 100 kids through the Smile Train organization. 

The store where I worked had about 10 people come in and run on our treadmill (donated by Equinox) in Lincoln Park while Dave ran on a treadmill at the Rush & Walton location in downtown Chicago. 

The coolest part is that he finished in just under 21 hours!  WOW!!!!!  We kept the Rush & Walton store open for 24 hrs and offered comedy, fitness classes, libations, and nibbles all throughout to keep him encouraged. 

Dave is such a great guy and it's so beautiful that he took the time it takes to take a stand for hundreds of people who can't do it for themselves. 

It's almost a week later and everyone is still buzzing about the accomplishment. Unreal. Thanks for showing so much love, David!


 

New Gear

I decided to treat myself to some fresh new gear to workout in. Check it out:

105F Tank in Inkwell
All Sport Bra in Black
Journey Crop in Black

Today I broke a sweat at the new Flywheel spin studio that opened in Old Town.  This morning's class was subbed by Kyla B.  I've never done a spin class that does the upper body work at the end.  It was really tough even though the weights were only 2 and 4 lbs (with the option of combining the two to make it 6).

The space is super sweet and not as intimidating as I had thought it would be.

But let's talk about this gear!

The 105F Tank is dope because it's "stink free".  And I'm not putting it in quotes to say as if.  It's just the term used to describe how the shirt won't ever stank!  I also like how breathable and relaxed-fit it is.  At one point I actually wiped sweat with it instead of my towel because it seemed like towel made me feel hotter.

The All Sport Bra is my favorite bra from lululemon athletica, this is actually old, but I did buy a new patterned one.  Great support and wicks sweat quickly so you don't feel heavy on runs (or in a bootcamp or spin class).

The Journey Crop is a piece I missed out on last year and just bought yesterday.  It's three panels of fabric and is extremely versatile for most sweaty endeavors.

There's the classic yoga fabric, the staple run fabric, and a panel of mesh down the back of the leg.

I felt so cute and ready! Haha. Sometimes you really do need a boost in your workouts that can only come from a fresh crop of gear in your drawers.

I'd never had the 105F Tank before this and it's definitely one of my faves now.  Covers the butt and doesn't stick to the skin. YESSSS!

*If you aren't aware, I do work at lululemon athletica, so this post isn't sponsored and I do take more of a liking (more like loving) to their product.