Date Night

Even though I've been extremely busy the past few weeks, I feel like I really haven't had much to blog about. I've been teaching a lot of classes at the gym, Todd & I have been doing boring wedding stuff (not that wedding stuff is boring but the stuff we're doing now is), and we're getting ready to move out of our apartments in 2 weeks and into a new townhome together. I've been living in my apartment for 3 years and let's just say I have had a lot of cleaning out to do.

Todd & I took some time the other night though to have a date night and try out a restaurant we'd be wanting to go to for awhile, Montgomery Inn. It's based in Cincinnati and they opened a location in Columbus around a year ago and are known for their barbeque sauce and their ribs. Everyone seems to rave about it but to be honest, we just thought it was okay. It was worth going to once but I doubt we'll be back.

Montgomery Inn

We started with Saratoga Chips & Onion Straws with BBQ sauce

Todd got a half order of ribs with a baked potato

I got the sandwich trio with pulled pork, pulled chicken, beef brisket, and a side of mac & cheese and applesauce...and I didn't come close to eating all of this food

It was nice evening to enjoy each other's company before April hits. Once April 1st comes around, Todd & I will be pretty much be non-stop until after our wedding in August. Among some of the things going on this spring & summer, not in any particular order:

• We're moving


• Easter with Todd's family


• 3 weddings to go to within 4 weeks (not including ours a month later)


• 2 Wedding showers for friends


• My wedding showers


• Bachelorette party for 2 friends in Chicago (coinciding with my birthday weekend so Todd will be joining me on the last day there for a Cubs game and birthday celebration)


• My bachelorette party


• Running a half marathon


• A baby shower


• Usher/Akon concert


• Mary Poppins broadway musical coming to Columbus


• Cooking class at Sur La Table (Todd's Christmas present)


• *Maybe* a trip to the cottage in Pennsylvania


• Columbus Arts Festival


• Ohio Wine Festival


• Jazz & Ribs Fest


• OUR WEDDING & HONEYMOON


Hopefully, I'll still have time to blog about our busy, but awesome spring & summer!

No Regrets, Right?

I got my official Boston race packet in the mail over the weekend. I'm bib # 13442. I've felt good about my decision to not run Boston this year until I got this in the mail. No regrets though, right?

At least Todd & I will be busy that weekend moving and I won't have a lot of time to think about the race.

Weekly Recap: March 21-27

My teaching started to pick up this week and will continue for awhile now that I started teaching Spinning & TRX at another studio. Luckily, I was able to find time to still run and now that I've registered for the half marathon in May, I'd like to add a 4th day of running in (especially since my hips & legs have felt good for past month or so). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do any yoga for the past couple weeks but am going to start squeezing in one class/week after work.

Monday: 4 mi (8:29 pace); 30 min elliptical

Tuesday: 40 min elliptical; lifted total body

Wednesday: 9 mi (8:02 pace)

Thursday: taught 75 min spinning/TRX combo class

Friday: taught 1 hr spinning taught 1 hr TRX class

Saturday: 5 mi (7:46 pace); 30 min elliptical

Sunday: taught 20 min core & taught 50 min spinning

TOTAL: 18 mi

Officially Registered!

I registered yesterday for the Capital City Half Marathon on May 7. I know it's no Boston (right about now is when I get bummed I decided not to run it this year because I swear everyone is talking about it) but I'm very excited! Todd has been following a training program I wrote for him and I'm hoping we'll actually run this race together as it will be his first (and probably only) half marathon. And if he doesn't end up running, no big deal as I'll be able to run my own race and push myself.


I finally feel out of my running funk, thankfully, because it's been a good 4 months since I've really felt like training or running more than 3 or 4 miles at a time. I had my longest run in quite some time yesterday with 9 mi on the treadmill. I can't believe it's been 4 months since I've had a double digit run! Anyways, despite the great weather, I had to do this run on the treadmill. I had to work at 4:00 AM and we were only testing a few police officers so I had time to go to the gym in between that and when our normal day starts at 7:30 AM. I ran 9 mi in 8:02 pace and honestly wanted to go farther except I had to get back to work. My last couple miles were 7:40 pace. Overall, I was pleased and feel like this is the confidence I need to get my motivation back.

And on a side note, Todd & I are moving in together in less than a month and I've started to clean out my closet. I seriously had no idea I had this many old running shoes and this doesn't even include the 2 pairs I currently wear to run in. Needles to say, I do not have any of these shoes in my closet any more.

Everything Happens for A Reason

I really hope the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason" is true because it has been a whirlwind the past couple weeks for Todd & I. A couple weeks ago, Todd told me that his senior manager at work asked him if we were interested in moving to Japan in the fall for 2 years. My immediate thought was no. We would just be married for a couple months, I'd have to leave my job and teaching spinning, and we'd live halfway around the world where we'd only know 1 other couple from Todd's work and we wouldn't speak the language. We had about a week to decide if we wanted to go. The more information & details we got, I slowly started to change my mind and became super excited about moving to Japan. We'd be living in Utsunomiya which is just north of Tokyo and I'd even have my own Japanese teacher that would help me learn the language and navigate the city. Oh, another big plus, I wouldn't have to work for 2 years! We'd also be able to travel the world; Todd & I were thinking of going to Australia, Thailand, Fiji, etc. and I had grand plans of running the Tokyo Marathon and climbing Mt. Fuji.

Map of Japan (Utsunomiya is just directly north of Tokyo)

Within a couple days, I had done a total 180 and was 100% on board for moving to Japan. Granted, it would be difficult to be away from all of our friends & family but we were excited to begin our lives together with such an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We were pumped and I was beginning to count down the months until our adventure. Unfortuntately (and ironically), the day Todd told his boss we were interested, was the day of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the disaster and it was obvious by the end of that day, our big plans were not going to happen. In fact, the people currently in Japan from Todd's company that had just moved there last fall (as in 4 months ago), were permanently reassigned back to Ohio. It was very disappointing to learn we wouldn't be able to go but at least we weren't just getting adjusted to living there and then forced to move back (especially since I would've quit my job!). Hopefully since this opportunity didn't work out, that means there's something bigger & better on the horizon for Todd & I. Because like they say, everything happens for a reason.

Weekly Recap: March 14-20

I had my longest "long" run in a few months with an 8 miler on Saturday before sitting in Pre-Cana for 8 hours with Todd. I felt good during the run and will hopefully be registering for a 1/2 Marathon at the beginning of May. As of yesterday, I'm also officially TRX certified and highly recommend everyone to try out a TRX class if it's available at a local gym because it's an awesome workout (if I haven't already mentioned that enough before).

Monday: 30 min elliptical

Tuesday: 45 min spinning

Wednesday: 5 mi (7:46 pace); lifted upper body
30 min Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown (Level 2)

Thursday: 5 mi (8:17 pace); 15 min elliptical

Friday: REST

Saturday: 8 mi (8:12 pace)

Sunday: 8 hr TRX training
taught 45 min spinning

TOTAL: 18 mi

Mac & Cheese on a Meatless Friday

Since it's Lent, Todd & I don't eat meat on Fridays so I decided to make us homemade mac & cheese tonight for dinner. My favorite part of homemade mac & cheese are the buttered bread crumbs on top, it really isn't the same without them. We enjoyed our meal while watching college basketball and taking it easy.

Homemade Mac & Cheese

Served with sourdough bread & green beans

Homemade Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

8 oz uncooked macaroni noodles

2 T butter

2 T flour

2 cups milk

8 oz cheddar cheese

2 slices bread

2 T butter

Directions:

1. Cook macaroni in boiling salt water until tender

2. Prepare sauce: Heat 2 T butter, flour, and salt in small saucepan until mixture bubbles completely

3. Add milk quickly while stirring rapidly

4. Add cheddar cheese

5. Continue stirring until sauce is slightly thick and cheese is melted

6. Crumble bread into small pieces

7. Heat 2 T butter in small skillet

8. Add bread crumbs and toss until crumbs are coated in butter

9. Combine sauce and macaroni in buttered casserole dish and top with buttered crumbs

10. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 min until crumbs are brown and sauce bubbles

Wedding Wednesday

Todd & I haven't been too busy lately with wedding planning but I'm sure that's going to pick up in a month or so...on top of us finally moving in together in April! The past couple weekends we've spent registering at Crate & Barrel and Bed, Bath, and Beyond and we plan on registering at Macy's soon too. They tell you you're supposed to register for 2-3 gifts per guest so apparently we're suppose to register for 400-600 items since we're inviting a little over 200 guests. At first, this sounds amazing. You mean, I can pick that many things that I hope people buy us? Trust me, it is actually very difficult to register for 400-600 items! We were at both stores for a couple hours each and thought for sure we had registered for tons and when we got home to check our registry, we were under 100 items for each store.

I've also been working on some smaller details for our candy buffet, such as the bags our guests will put their candy in. My mom found some smaller sized, frosted bags and since they were plain, I wanted something to jazz them up. I found some stickers on Etsy from partyINK that will be perfect to put on all the candy bags. I had them personalized with our exact wedding colors and our names & date of our wedding. partyINK was super easy to work with and sent me a proof after each change I made. I got them in the mail the other day and was very happy with how they turned out.


Up next, we're meeting with my Matron of Honor tonight (she designed our Save the Dates) to start working on our invitations and we have pre-Cana for 8 hours this Saturday.

Weekly Recap: March 7-13

This was one of the best weeks I'd had in a long time. I felt great during most of my workouts and definitely feel like I'm finally getting faster & stronger. This week I start teaching Spinning/TRX at a new studio and I cannot wait! Another extra perk of teaching, besides getting paid, is I now get to take free yoga classes from the studio!

Monday: 1 hr TRX class

Tuesday: 45 min spinning
3 mi (7:44 pace; 8:00, 7:38, 7:35)

Wednesday: 7 mi (8:16 pace)

Thursday: 75 min Power Flow Yoga
1 hr TRX class

Friday: REST

Saturday: 6 mi (8:01 pace)
75 min Spinning/TRX combo class

Sunday: taught 20 min core & taught 50 min spinning

TOTAL: 16 mi

And So It Begins...

Today is the first day of lent which means I won't be eating any sweets for the next 40 days. I give sweets up every year and I swear, it gets harder & harder every year. Goodbye brownies, cookies, ice cream, candy, cake, etc...see you on Easter!

Todd & I celebrated Fat Tuesday by going for Japanese at Shoku followed by Jeni's Ice Cream. Jeni's Ice Cream is a local favorite that has some very unique flavors and has been featured on the Food Network & Oprah.

New flavors!

Lots of delicious ice cream

There are definitely some crazy flavors...like Queen City Cayenne and Goat Cheese & Cognac Figs just to name a couple

My sundae with Salty Caramel ice cream & The Buckeye State ice cream (peanut butter & chocolate) with fudge and homemade whipped cream

Definitely a happy girl!

Celebrity Sighting

This past weekend in Columbus was the Arnold Sports Festival, which is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's a huge fitness, sports, and bodybuilding event and actually is one of the bigger bodybuilding competitions in the country. It's a 4-day event that includes an expo, bodybuilding competitions, as well as competitions in gymnastics, cheerleading, martial arts, fencing, power lifting, and a few others.

Todd & I were at Easton on Sunday to register at Crate & Barrel for our wedding and decided to take a quick snack break at Bar Louie to watch part of the Ohio State basketball game. Bar Louie is on the second level of the complex and I happen to look out the window when I saw a group of about 20 people walking around the shops. I wouldn't have thought twice about it except I saw police officers mixed in this group. I took a closer look & realized it was Arnold himself doing a little shopping!

Arnold coming out of Banana Republic

A small crowd had gathered around him as he walked to the next store

I'm not sure how long he was there but it was pretty cool to see him!

Weekly Recap: February 28-March 6

I was able to do some different workouts this week (30 Day Shred & Kettlebells) to mix it up and I really liked that. I think years of just focusing on running has finally hit me and I like that I'm now changing up my workouts. I also met with the owner of the gym I'm going to teach spinning & TRX classes at and I'm going to start teaching on March 17!

Monday: 30 min Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (Level 1)
45 min TRX/Cardio class

Tuesday: 6 mi (7:52 pace); core

Wednesday: 30 min elliptical; 45 min kettlebell workout

Thursday: REST

Friday: 4 mi (8:09 pace); 30 min bike

Saturday: 5 mi (8:04 pace)

Sunday: taught 20 min core & taught 50 min spinning

TOTAL: 15 mi

Kettlebell Workout

When I got to the gym the other morning, I saw this sign by the front desk and was immediately excited. I've always wanted to know more about kettlebells and what better way than with a free class!

Going into the class, I knew a few kettlebell exercises but wasn't sure on proper technique and form. The firefighters I train also have kettlebells in their gym at the station but I never really wanted to incorporate them into any of the workouts since I didn't have any real knowledge or training. I figured this free class would benefit me as well as the guys I work with.

The class started at 5:30 AM and was led by one of the personal trainers who is also certified for kettlebells. He spent the first 15 minutes going over form and technique and then having us demonstrate the movements without the kettlebell. I thought this was great because then we knew what we were supposed to do before adding in the weight and making it more difficult to keep good form. Once we got down the basic exercises, we did a little circuit with upper body, lower body, and core. We did kettlebell swings (I had done this before but apparently my form had been off), front squats, single arm overhead press, upright rows, single arm bent over rows, windmills, and plank pose.

Kettlebell Swing

Once we went through the circuit, we took a couple minutes of rest and then finished with a ladder workout. We did 12 reps of 3 exercises (kettlebell swing, front squat, and overhead press) and then did 11 reps of each, 10 reps of each, etc. until we finished with 1 rep of each exercise. I used a 20 lbs kettlebell for the swings & squats and a 15 lb kettlebell for the overhead press. Let me tell you, this was a lot harder than it sounds! It probably took almost 10 minutes to complete and I was dripping in sweat afterwards. The kettlebell swings are a lot more cardio based than you'd think and my heart was pounding when I was done. I was worried that going to the free class wouldn't really be much of a workout but I'm glad I was proven wrong. I woke up the next morning and my entire back (upper & lower) and hamstrings were sore! It was a good kinda sore though and I'm definitely going to start incorporating more of these exercises into my workouts.

Wedding Wednesday

Ever since I got my Toms last summer, I've been obsessed with them! I was finally able to break them out again in Nashville this past weekend. They're super comfy, cute, and I can get away with wearing them to work. I was looking around at their website the other day and noticed they now have a Toms Wedding Collection. Seriously, these would be so comfortable to wear at the reception and they even come in a couple shades of pink.

Light Pink Canvas

Pink Sparkles

But then again, I don't think anything compares to my fabulous fuschia peep toe pumps

Weekend in Nashville

Todd & I took last Friday off from work and made a 3 day trip to Nashville to visit our friends, Sara and Jay. Todd & I actually met at their wedding in July 2008 and have been together ever since. Anyways, on our way down to Nashville, Todd wanted to stop at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.

Entrance to the Park

We went on the New Entrance tour--a 2 hour tour through about a mile of the cave. It actually spreads out over 390 miles so only seeing 1 mile was really just a little peak but it was pretty incredible. We only had 13 people on our tour and the guide told us that in a few weeks during spring break season, they'll be over 100 people on the tour! We were lucky there were so few of us because it gave us more of a chance to look around and actually ask the guide some questions.

No joke, this was actually the entrance to the cave....a little anti-climactic if you ask me

We made our way down 300 very narrow stairs and about 250 feet underground before we were able to actually stop and take everything in. Since we were underground and weren't affected by the elements, it's always around 50 degrees in the cave. The best part of the tour was towards the end when we saw the Frozen Niagara which is all the stalagmites and stalactites....very impressive!

Following our guide through the cave

Stalactites & stalagmites

Frozen Niagara room

After our tour at Mammoth Cave, Todd & I drove another hour and a half to Nashville. We got to Sara & Jay's house in Franklin, cleaned up, and made our way over to Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant for dinner. We ate some good southern bbq and listened to some amazing live music.

Cheers!

Sara & I got up on Saturday morning and went to a spinning class at the local YMCA while Jay ran 17 miles and Todd slept in. Once we got back, Sara had to volunteer for a few hours for school so Jay showed Todd & I around downtown Franklin. The weather was perfect, the company was fantastic, and there were lots of cute shops to browse around in.

Historic Downtown Franklin

A view of all the shops & restaurants

The three of us ate lunch at Franklin Mercantile and even though I liked the sandwich & soup I had, I really should have taken Jay's suggestion of getting the local favorite--a pimento cheese sandwich.

Lunch at The Franklin Mercantile

Todd & I enjoying our lunch...I love how they used mason jars for glasses

A view of the restaurant

After walking around & shopping for a couple hours, we went back to Sara & Jay's house to meet up with Sara before going to Arrington Vineyards. Sara & Jay clearly know Todd & I very well when they planned out our day and Todd was glad we were able to keep our streak alive for visiting out of town wineries and breweries. Arrington Vineyards was founded by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn and has a great setup with lots of picnic tables outside where you can bring your own food and purchase wine from the winery. Todd, Jay, and I had a free wine tasting (Sara couldn't take part since she's pregnant) and we even bought a bottle of Red Fox Red and Blackberry dessert wine to bring home with us. The Blackberry dessert wine went great with a piece of dark chocolate.

Entrance to Arrington Vineyard

The four of us on the swing waiting for our wine tasting

We were able to sample 4 wines during our tasting

Enjoying our free wine

We took a quick break at Sara & Jay's house and got ready for the evening. We went to dinner at Taco Mamacita in Nashville followed by a night out on the town in Nashvegas. Dinner consisted of some of the best guacamole & tacos I've ever had and we all left there stuffed.

Todd & I goofing off while waiting for dinner

The four of us hit up a few bars in Nashvegas (the couple blocks in Nashville with bars, bright lights, and tons of live music). We started off with drinks & music at Tootsie's. We got there around 8:30 PM, which I thought was early, but the place was packed! There were people wall to wall with live music downstairs and upstairs. Despite my lack of interest in country music, we all had a great time. We left Tootsie's and walked around the area for awhile before calling it a night. I'm not gonna lie, I was exhausted after such a long couple days and with an hour time change, I was glad we didn't stay out until all hours of the night.

Todd & I at Tootsie's

Sara, Jay, and I went out for an easy 3 mi run on Sunday morning. I was jealous that they're able to run in shorts & t-shirts at 9:00 AM on a February morning all the time....it was amazing! Todd & I packed up and then we all headed to breakfast at Pfunky Griddle. This could be my new favorite restaurant! Each table has its own griddle so you cook up your own pancakes, omelets, and french toast. We each picked different toppings so we could share and of course I couldn't resist Reese's Pieces for my pancakes. It was such a steal too because it was all-you-can-eat pancakes plus one topping for only $6!

Cooking our pancakes & Jay's omelet

Almost done

Todd & I

Sara & Jay.....with their spatula

Since we were already north of Nashville, Todd & I headed back home after breakfast. I was pretty sad to leave because we had such a great weekend and it was so nice to hang out with Sara & Jay. They moved to Pittsburgh right after they got married, which was right when Todd & I started dating, and then moved to Nashville last year so we really haven't been able to spend a lot of time with them in the past few years. Nashville is an awesome city and a weekend there definitely wasn't long enough to get a real taste of it.

No road trip would be complete for Todd & I without making a random stop on the way back home so when we passed the sign for Abraham Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky, we made a short detour. Unfortunately, my camera battery died right when we got there so the only picture I took was of the sign on our way in. They had a huge memorial set up with a log cabin inside. Todd & I thought this was the actual log cabin Abe Lincoln was born in but after reading the brochure in the car once we left, we found out that it was just a log cabin from around the time he was born and it's the symbolic log cabin of his birth. Sounds like a rip-off to me so I'm glad we didn't pay money to see it.

Abe Lincoln's Birthplace

We arrived safely home after our 6.5 hour drive back (and a quick dinner stop in Cincinnati) to lots of rain & thunderstorms. I'm definitely missing the 65 degree Nashville weather and our awesome friends, Sara and Jay!