Windy City

I luuuuuurve a short week. Coming back to work last Tuesday was more than fine, as it was 1 of 3 days that I needed to be at the office last week. AOK in my book.

Tuesday went fast - catching up from the long weekend took all morning, and then in the afternoon, it was back to the doctor. NOTE: I've debated about writing about this doctor's appt because I know you guys (the fam) read this - but finally came to the decision to write about it, simply because I do use this blog as a diary. Having said that, please do not freak out about this - I'm 100% FINE and don't want to talk about it anymore / ever again - I just want to write it down in case I have to ever remember when this happened.

Disclaimer noted - at the doctor's appt. 2 weeks ago at my semi-annual gyno appt, my doctor noticed a problem with my cervix. Test results came in on Tuesday last week and it was not cancer (PHEW); but they needed to go ahead and freeze out the offending bits. So Tuesday afternoon I headed in for the freeze - it only lasted 90 seconds, but it was like having the worst cramp of your life - and the cramp lingered around all day afterwards. Since then, I've been dealing with the aftermath of this - hint, if you freeze something, it eventually melts. And in this case, it's been melting for 7 days and can go on up to 3 weeks. FUN AND JOY. But, NOT CANCER! I'll take that anyday.

I went out with my BFF from work on Tuesday night after for a quick drink to celebrate the results, and then stuck a fork in the day and declared it a giant f'ing success! Wednesday I was on tap for another release call - which went on for (no joke) 10 hours. Non-stop. I ran the battery out of my phone and had to switch to a new battery at one point. Finally at 9:45 pm that night, the call ended. But Wednesday went fast because of it.

And Thursday, I took it easy - I finished up a bunch of tasks that I've been avoiding at work - they've been on my to-do list for a while, and it was a big sense of accomplishment to finally cross them off. I came home that night and got packed up, because Friday we took off bright and early for Chicago!

A note on NYC area airports - if you can, avoid JFK at all costs. I'm going to only ever try to fly out of JFK on my flights to SFO, or if we're going international. LaGuardia is so much nicer (smaller, less security lines, less taxi lines, etc) to get in and out of. We flew Delta Shulta to Chicago, and these shuttle flights rock. We figured out that the shuttles go between LGA and Boston, DC and Chicago - the planes are brand new - with 2 seats on each side of the aisle, and free bagels on the morning flights and free beer on the afternoon/evening flights.

We got to Chicago around 9:30 am Friday morning and cabbed to our hotel to drop our bags off. We putzed around in Lincoln Park for awhile before making the 2 mile trek (walk) to Gino's East. HEART! We split a small pizza and then cabbed back to our hotel and hung out/people watched in the lobby for awhile. After that, it was time for showers and then we met up with Slick and his dad in the hotel bar for a few drinks before heading over the rehearsal.

Slick and Mrs Slick (PFunk is getting renamed to Mrs Slick) got married on the lakefront in Lincoln Park - they had this old building that they used and the space was amazing. You had city views, lake views, etc. Overall it blew me away. The rehearsal was nice - it went fast and then they had a bartender and catered food for dinner. Afterwards, the other groomspeople and their spouses and me and Blondie hit up a bar in the Lincoln Park area. The bar had this giant bar jenga set (a jenga game made out of 2x4's) and we spent all evening playing that and drinking beers. The night ended around 11 pm and Blondie and I walked back (~1 mile) to our hotel and crashed.

I was up and at it early on Saturday - caught a cab out to Slick's neighborhood around 9 am and met up with Mrs Slick and the bridesmaids/moms for hair and nails. Around noon we went for a brunch before we caught our trolley over to the venue for the wedding. The trolley then went to go pick up the guys and bring them over, so I rejoined the groomspeople around 2:30. We spent an hour or so drinking beers and whiskey before we had to do our picture run. And then it was time for the wedding.

Slick and Mrs Slick are 2 of my favorite people in the world. And it took all my willpower not to cry during the wedding. They each had their officiant read a line about how they realized that the other one was "it" for them - and Slick's line was that "when he saw Mrs Slick smile, and he realized he wanted to be the one to make her smile for the rest of her life". OMG - the waterworks wanted to flow so bad at that point.

After the wedding, we did a few more pictures then it was time for cocktail hour and dinner. Dinner was awesome - they did a BBQ (pulled pork, chicken) and they had a ton of sauces on the side to put on them. After dinner, more cocktails and a lot of dancing. We were supposed to go back out after the wedding ended, but it had started pouring rain at that point, so everyone hopped the trolley back to the hotel, and then Blondie and I snuck up to our room, hit the bed, and zonked.

Yesterday was spent getting back to NYC - the flight went perfectly well, and we were in a cab out of the airport 10 minutes before we were even supposed to land (again, LGA - all the way). We ordered in Indian food for dinner last night and then I spent the evening watching crappy movies off Netflix while Blondie played on his computer.

I have the day off today (recovery) and have already spent a couple of hours at the gym, and Blondie and I have big plans to grocery shop this afternoon. It's gorgeous outside right now, so can't wait to get out and walk a few blocks in the sun.

Now it's time for workouts - but I have to say, that amazingly enough Blondie and I did not blow it in Chicago. We both keep our portions under control, and I even pushed away food when I was hitting the full feeling. It was sooooo nice to have the weekend, and not feel like I had to fart every 3 secs (what happens when I stuff myself). So kudos to us for keeping things on the healthy side this weekend.

Workouts:
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Insanity Core Cardio and Balance
Thursday: 30 minutes on treadmill; 2 mins walking at 4.1 mph; 2 mins running at 5.6-5.8 mph; + 5 min cooldown + weights
Friday: Insanity Cardio Recovery (at 4:45 am) + 2 mile walk to Gino's East + 1.5 mile walk to bar and hotel after rehearsal
Saturday: None (wedding stuff all day)
Sunday: None (travel + lazy)
Monday: 1 hour running on treadmill - 4.62 in 60 mins; 4.93 after cooldown; 1 hour of weights

--K