The 4th and Then Some

Wow. What a food-filled last few days. I hope everyone had a fun weekend!

Here are some pictures from this weekend and before:

Remember that Race Against Hate that had a cool swag bag? This is me and my sister Devin right after the race.

It was in our neighborhood, so we rode our bikes there!

Oh my. what do we have here? Oh, that's right! That would be my NEW TOTE BAG from finishing my first punch card for the YMCA contest!! One step closer to those free personal training sessions!!

The holiday weekend started with a picnic and fireworks with Anne-Marie and Colin (of Sandbagger fame). We headed away from the Taste of Chicago and downtown, and instead went north to Wilmette. It was so nice to just hang and stuff our faces.

Me and the Cheese.

Hmmm. Those look like brownies.....7-layer brownies.....I wonder who could have made them....IT WAS ME!!!! I did it! The Un-Domestic Non-Goddess!!!

Cheese cutting some turkey wraps. Clearly, he really likes turkey wraps.

Me and my uber-preggo besty, Anne-Marie.

It's parade time!! We went to the Edgebrook parade again this year - Edgebrook is the little neighborhood next to Sauganash (where I grew up). It's a really tiny parade, but the neighborhood reminds me of my own childhood, so I like going to it. And look - here we have the Mayor of Whoville, Baby Nolan. What sweetness!

Just waitin' on the fire engine - Ellen (and her huge baby bump), Mayor, and my sister-in-law (and also preggo!) Jenny. I LOVE this picture.

The Mayor taking his turn at the camera.

Devin and Patrick - they brought their children too - Chili and TJ.

All the beauties waiting on the start of the parade.

"I am sitting here like you asked, Mommy. Now where's the fire truck? And I thought you said something about candy. Am I gonna have to make a scene? Am I? Don't make me do it. And who are you texting? Your whole family is here with you. Are we not enough, Mommy? You better get off that phone or I swear I'll crap my pants ri --

"Wait, what's that dog doin' over there? He must really love that man. He sure is hugging his leg really hard."

And then it began. It start with a police car (exciting), then a fire truck (with a hose on top!! oh my goodness - the BEST!), and then a camel (wha-???), a zebra (huh?), and a bunch of people throwing candy!! I'd say that was worth the 9am wake-up call! Here is Nolan, with the start of his candy collection and his new fancy necklace bling......

And then at the conclusion - with his frisbee full of goodies....which Aunt Megan might have helped herself to later on....

Me and the Dev - At the beginning of the parade, I told Jenny that the people on the floats throw candy at you. And Jenny was like, "Really?" And I said, "Oh yeah - and I think we all know I'd step on a small child for a pack of Smarties."

Observe the Smarties.

And my shit-eatin' grin.

HAHA.

(disclaimer: no small children were actually harmed in the retrieving of my Smarties. My self-respect, however, may have been slightly damaged in my scramble off the curb for some Tootsie Rolls and Gobbstoppers.)

End of the Weekend Pictures

So I know I have totally thrown up a ton of pictures this weekend, but the other day I was scrolling through my posts and noticed that I have a woefull amount of pictures. Thus, I took my camera with me all weekend, and here is the final day - Sunday. On schedule: Three-hour ride, one-hour run. Today I conquered my fear of riding alone, and did the whole brick by myself. And what a surprise - I didn't get a flat, get run over, or fall off my bike without having someone to save me. It was just me, and I loved it.

I tried to take this while actually riding the bike. This is on the north trail, looking, well, north. This also happens to be the same path I ran south on for the MC200 relay last month. In fact, the exact exchange point is just about right where I took the next two pictures.

Me.

Path.

YAY!!! Home from the ride, getting ready to run. The smile on my face is most likely because A). I did the ride 10 minutes faster than last week and B). I was feeling oddly fine, which was weird, given last week's catastrophe of a brick. Uh, yeah, so the apartment is SORT OF a distaster - but in my defense, I have been pretty swamped this weekend, and was basically in and out like a tornando. Please avert your eyes.

Evanston lakefront, looking south - in the far stiance you can make out the building of downtown Chicago.

Overlooking Lake Michigan. I was aiming to get the sailboats, but they didn't really come out. Use your imagination.

This is on the way back, at Lee Street Beach, or as I like to call it, "My Beach." Okay, so I don't technically own it, but I like to frequent it. About 10 seconds after I snapped this picture, Devin ran up to me with TJ (my once-dog, now hers because I can't take care of shit). It wasn't until we parted ways that it occurred to me we should have taken a picture together (we were wearing the exact same outfit of skirt, black bra, glasses and IronMeg visor). Oh well. You know what she looks like.

Run done. Yeah, I am not as happy in this one. I think I was just really hot, sweaty, and achy. I threw my back out yesterday doing something completely ridiculous (lifting bottled water) so I wasn't even going to ride today, but then when I woke up (I slept on an ice pack) I was like, "Self, don't be such a sissy." So after the run, I was pretty stiffened up, and STARVING.

Speaking of starving, I need to go eat. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!

Fourth of July - Round Two and Le Tour

While the first half of the day proved to be quite eventful, the second half was just as crazy. After the run and parade, I went to Ellie's to hang out. However, most of the time was spent listening to Baby Nolan, who apparently knew there was fun to be had and screamed from his crib until we took him out. Her he is, post-nap, dried snot everywhere, and a look that says,"I hate you Auntie Megan."


From there, I went to my mom's, ate four (4!) servings of delicious dessert (diet be damned!) and then headed to the Sox game. I didn't take any pictures of the actual game, but I managed to force my sister and brother-in-law to take a picture outside on the top level.

You may notice that we are all in sweatshirts - that's because it was COLD last night! Yes, cold - on July 4th.

Me and Devin. So that's all I have to say about the 4th. It was long, busy, and when I got home I literally passed out in my bed. My legs were exhausted, my head was throbbing and my eyes were itchy from all the firework smoke that was EVERYWHERE. But overall, it was a great day.

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And for those of you who care, Tour de France started today. This is one of the big highlights every summer for me, mostly because I started watching it the year my dad got sick. That summer I began a short-lived tradition where I would spend a long weekend at my friend's lake house (at the time, it was birthday treat, and to also take a break from caring for my dad) and every morning, I would get up, turn it on, and obsess over it all morning. Lance rode back then, so it was kind of a big deal.

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The Tour reminds me that it is summer, and that my birthday is right around the corner. Every year I pick a favorite, and me and my lake house friend used to make all sorts of friendly bets on the race (overall winner, king of the mountains, etc). I will admit that I fell off a bit last year towards the end of the race because I just got so frustrated with all the doping nonsense. But this year I am back and ready to see some action.

Fourth of July - Round One

No better way then to start the day with a 10-miler on the lake. Yes, in fact, this would be the second attempt of my long run this week, what with all the quitting I did the other day. I decided to take my camera this time, because far too many runs I have had where I think to myself, "Damn am I lucky to live here - I wish everyone could see what I see." And now you can!

Belmont Harbor looking north - this would be around my two-mile mark (I started at the 1.5).

Heading south down through Lincoln Park - to the left is the Lincoln Park lagoon, and straight ahead is downtown - you can seek the Hancock Building.

Me - standing at the top of the North Avenue Bridge - behind me are the south bound lanes of Lake Shore Drive - this bridge crosses over to the lake and North Avenue Beach, where, at 9am, people were already picnicing and sunbathing.

And over at North Avenue Beach, heading south towards Oak Street Beach - if you ever saw the movie "The Break-up", this is where they shot that 10 seconds of Jennifer Aniston running.

How I only noticed this today, I have no idea - apparently someone thought it would be an AWESOME idea to put fake palm trees all along Oak Street Beach. Which is great because A.) Clearly my tax dollars are HARD.AT.WORK. and B) If I wanted to see fake shit, like faces, boobies and personalities, I would live in LA. What a mess.

Run done - 10 miles in the books. I actually felt great, so I suspect the harsh face is because I was being followed by about 10 cars and three men on foot for my parking space at Montrose Beach. Oh - this entire area was like a clusterfuck since 7am. I so wish I was kidding. I had never seen anything like it, and hope never to again. Then, as I pull out of the space, one guy stands in the middle of it (as if to save it) while another guy tries to pull his car in. I pull away just as the fracas breaks out. Ahhhh - ain't this country grand?

It's parade time!!!! I met up with Bridget and Baby Terry (who was sporting one of his mother's creations unbeknownst to Papa Joe) His shirt read: "My momma's for Obama"

"But my papa's for McCain." Guess whose house I DON'T want to live in come November.

And look who joined the fun!!!! It's my sister Ellie and Baby Nolan! Could not just eat this picture up?

What an awesome picture!

In his jarbled baby talk, Nolan was asking "Hey, when do they start throwing candy at you?" I was confused until - I'll be darned - they really DID throw candy at you! Which was great, what with my diet and all - but you can bet you mortgage on me snapping up some Sweet Tarts and Tootsie Rolls. Hey, I ran 10 miles - give a girl a break.

And of course, what is a Fourth of July parade without a camel? No seriously - WTF? The best part is the sign for Happy Foods, which was out local mom-n-pop grocery store before the whole Jewel thing. I have many a fond memory of the Happy Foods.

And here we are - me, Ellie and Nolan. Okay - off to the BBQ and then the Sox game!