Thursday, June 18, 2015

Obsessed

Hi Ya'll!!!!!! How is everyone out there in bloggy-land?!?!

I have a new obsession!!!!

I am so in love and I can't stay away!

I went for the first time on Tuesday night and I have been back every night since!

It is Pure Barre!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

From the studio, to the instructors, to the many adorable customers, to the friendly and cute space!!!

It is great!!!!!!!!!

Anyone that reads this blog probably remembers that my favorite gym (that I attended nightly, EVERY NIGHT, for three years closed last year) I was so sad and have felt no real connection to a workout or gym for a long time. Well, that's now all changed!

I am attending the one in Peters Twp and it is fabulous!
 

I tried it out on a two day free pass and signed up that night!!!




They were so perky and friendly and explained everything so well...I can only HOPE to someday look like those girls!!

It is a great high energy, low impact, and fun fun fun class!



I will have more updates on here for sure but I had to report in!!! 

I have found a new studio love!!

I will leave you with the picture of my finish at Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May 2015. I just bought the digit rights to the pictures...here is the finish!


Question:  Has anyone else ever tried Pure Barre? What did you think? Is there a different workout that you love? If so, what is it? I would love to hear back from you all!


Happy Thursday!!!!



Thursday, June 11, 2015

Thinking out Loud

I have decided to link up with a fun Thursday post by Running With Spoons called Thursdays are for...Thinking out Loud!  I am really good at random trains of thought so this should be one amazing post - Choo Choo!




It is Thursday and it has been a long week! My baby leaves tonight for the beach in Florida and I can't go! He has a house down there and has not been able to escape and get down there for a few months now. Things are slowing down in him company and are under control so he is finally able to get away from work long enough to head down. He leaves tonight and won't be back until the end of next week :-(
It is going to be above 90 degrees everyday that he is there...and he has a pool you can't see in this picture...yes, I am totally jealous and totally wish I could retire and go there!!!


I only have a little vacation left for the year so I am saving about five days to head down with him later in the year! Hopefully when it is snowing here in Pittsburgh! Cute house isn't it?!?! I have not seen it in person yet :-(

This weekend I will be spending quality time with my family - I can not wait!!!! 

Also, over the next two weeks I have THREE concerts at THREE different venues in and around my awesome city of Pittsburgh!!! YES-You heard me right! Lucky girl, right? Can life be any better?!??! Noper!!!!!  I think not!!!

Sunday night I have a concert with work friends! We are going to see The Steve Miller Band at the Highmark Stadium!








Then my baby is actually coming home next week in time for a concert that we have tickets for...

We will be seeing the amazing Rolling Stones in Pittsburgh next weekend at Heinz Field (the stadium that the Steelers play in)!!!




And then, as if that is not enough, we have tickets to go see my ULTIMATE FAVORITE PERFORMER EVER - KIDROCK at the First Niagra Pavilion! We have tickets 10 rows back and I am truly psyched!! I can hardly wait! 



I just hope my boyfriend still wants to be my boyfriend after he sees me in action at Kidrock! I tend to get a little out of control! LOL!!! I just love him (I guess I should say them...my boyfriend and Kidrock...HA)!!!

So I guess that truly is as random as it gets! I have a weekend with my family and then a bunch of ear shattering concerts lined up so I foresee a little hearing loss in my future!

Hope you all have an amazing Thursday and I cant wait to link up and read everyone else's random thoughts today - and maybe make some new friends...YEA!!

Linking to the HOST




Date Night Laughter

I love a good date night with my honey!

Last night we decided to try something new and went to dinner and a comedy club here in Pittsburgh!

We live in the suburbs so it is a treat to spend the evening in town - I forgot how amazingly beautiful our city is at night too!!! I did not take a picture as I was trying to enjoy every moment with my man and he is not a "Facebook-ey kind of guy" but I pulled this amazing example from Flickr!



We spent the evening in a place that is refereed to as the Riverfront. It used to be a bunch of abandoned Steel Mills on the river and the whole area has been transformed into a shopping, dining and hanging out mecca!! There is also a trail you can run, walk or bike along the river!  Seriously, if you are ever near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania you need to check this place out! (Again, not my picture but a good representation of what the shopping area looks like).



We went to dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market! It was amazing as always!!! I had fresh cod and he had the filet with crab meat on top.

Then we ventured across the street to the Improv! We saw a local comedian from Pittsburgh that now lives in Austin, TX named Danny Palumbo and it was a really fun night!



We actually can't wait to go back again!

Have you ever been to a comedy show? Did you like it?

What did you do for your last date night? I am always looking for new ideas for date night!


Wednesday, June 10, 2015

May StrideBox

The May Stridebox did not disappoint! It is now time for June and I realized that I never posted my review for May...oh, well! Here we go friends!!

Here is the list of what we included in this months box of JOY!



 I cannot wait to try this! I thought I was going to need this after my 5K last week as I was sore before the run but I held off - saving it for a more painful finish!!! HA HA


Tried this the morning after I opened my box! It was not good or bad. I could not taste a difference in my coffee and I did not notice more energy buy it may work - just not sure :-)


These babies were DELISH! Ate these on a training run last week! Chewed up very easily and slid right down - yummo! Flavor was outta sight!



I will try these at a later date also!


Ate this and a salad for lunch one day! Kept me full all afternoon - very yummy!


Cannot wait to try this on a training run soon - have not yet because citrus is not a big favorite of mine and I have other options right now - ha ha!


I am completely in LOVE with this ball! It is fantastic for rolling around my sore feet under my desk at work! Perfect and portable!! Yea!



And, as always, an awesome sticker!!!! I really need somewhere to stick these - best motto's ever!



I hope you all have an amazing Hump Day!!!

Does anyone love subscription boxes?
Which ones do you get and which are your favorites?
I am ALWAYS looking to order new ones!!!

Thanks for stopping by yinz!!!!



Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Pittsburgh's Best Restaurants Party

Anyone who knows me knows I love my city! This is just one of the many reasons why!!! Pittsburgh has so many amazing and inventive restaurants and chefs - it truly is an awesome place to dine!

Every year my friend Jenna and I attend the Pittsburgh's Best Restaurants Party! This is put on by the Pittsburgh Magazine and readers are the ones that vote for the best! It ends up being tables upon tables of all of the amazing food that is available in and around the city all in one place!

The winning vendors are asked to select two dishes to sample for the public and tickets are sold to raise money for charity. The tables are set up around Heinz Field and you just go from table to table and taste the amazing cuisine of each restaurant! So Yummy!!!!!

There is VIP time from 5 - 6 and then the public time for 6 - 8. We always purchase VIP! They are a bit pricey but it is so worth it!   There are FAR less people and no waiting at all in lines for food. It is casual and fun and (did I say) yummy?!?!? We had sampled everything and were headed home by 6:15PM!

This was my favorite dessert this year! It is a new restaurant that I do not even think is open yet called Station! They had their signature dessert to sample last night and it was a caramel sea salt pudding - AMAZING! Seriously so amazing I went back twice!


And this is by far the best food in my opinion! It was Braddock's and they served an amazing bite of heaven! I wish I had a picture of the food - so amazing!


This is our selfie! I hardly took any pictures this year as I wanted to concentrate on the food and now I feel like I totally jipped you guys. Sorry - I will do better next year!


I got this little pie from Wild Rosemary and was planning on eating it as my late night snack but regretfully, due to my horrible driving skills, it never made it home clean enough to eat :-( 
Little side note: this is NOT an endorsement for Wild Rosemary Restaurant. I have heard that there is a long wait to get a table there - like weeks in advance. Both years we tried their food, this year and last, I was not impressed AT ALL so I will not be paying to eat there anytime soon....but the pie looked good.



I'm interested to hear feedback from you all!

Are you willing to pay more for something VIP? Do you go to the charitable functions in your hometowns?

 Happy Tuesday! Hope you all are having an amazing week!







Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Amazing Weekend - Color Race Recap

What an amazeballs weekend I had!!! I got to go spend the weekend with my sister and her family and we ran the color race together in Hershey on Saturday morning!

Here is me before we left for the race - we forgot our striped socks but I never forget my fanny pack ever!!!!!! This baby is with me every race! We had a start time of 8AM (since we were in the runners only corral) and we had t leave at about 6:15 AM to get to the race early. This was right before eating my English muffin and bolting out the door!


Here we are in the start corral!!! Lots and lots of people!!!




A little shot of my sister Kerry and I (I am on the left) and another of or little jogging group of three! I am on the right in the photo below and my sister is on the left. Her Zumba instructor and friend Diane is the girl in the middle! They were soo fun to run with (I slowed them BOTH wayyyy down and they were still nice and polite to me)! HA


This is about 1 mile into the 5K...we hit the yellow color station!


Then we came upon the bubble station!!! So fun to run through!!!!


After the bubbles and some serious grassy hills we ran into the pink station!!


And the next to the last color was the blue station!


IO wanted to capture them jumping so we hit this back path in the shade that was about 1 mile from the end and I asked them to start jumping and I would catch it...LOL! This is as good as it got!


Last, but not least, was the orange station!!!!


My sisters friend Diane was nice enough to run ahead and get this great shot of us crossing the finish line together!!! This is my favorite picture from the day even though I do not look so great! HA


Who knew?!?!?! This is the first time we actually got BLING at the end of the color run! Love this!!!


I got a packet of purple when I crossed the finish and decided that I should throw a handful in my own face - strange, I know!!!


Here is our little group at the end!!!!


Trying one last time for a jumping picture.....


And finally I got them!! Yea me!


What a great day it was!!!


We threw the rest our packets and glitter on each other and called it a successful run!!!


Here is our whole group of girls together at the end!!! Most of these ladies take Zumba with Diane!


We left the run and went home to immediately shower and spend the rest of the weekend catching up with my nieces and nephew and sister! My sister is amazing and always so welcoming!!! She made my favorite meal Chicken Pan Pie for dinner the night I got there so I got to enjoy that ALL weekend too (should have gotten a picture!) Awesome weekend of gardening, shopping, bonding and chatting - my kind of weekend!

Thanks again for letting me visit and I had an amazing weekend visit as always!!!!!!!!!







Monday, June 1, 2015

What a Great Weekend!

This is going to be a post in pictures... This was my Holiday weekend!!

Went for a little run outside - love the current weather here in Pittsburgh!!



Worked in the BF's yard ...



Chilled with the BF in the breezeway!!!



Watched the grape vines grow - cant wait for those concord grapes!!!!



Went up to my parents house on the lake! Spent the weekend kayaking, boating, jet-skiing, and fishing with my adorable nieces and nephews and the rest of the family!



Gathering the worms for fishing!!!!...



A little campfire action!!!!



Our little Diva hooking her own worm!!!!!!


 Waiting for the fish to bite...


Paddling and steering the kayak for the first time


Cleaning the driveway after the kids did pop caps...


 A little selfie with one of my cute nieces
 

The beautiful lake!


I hope you all had an amazing holiday weekend!!! Get ready for this one!!!! Yea it's Friday!

Happy weekend everyone!





ICU Nurse it is

 Hi everyone!! I am just here checking in quickly. I almost feel bad checking in as it has been an eternity since I posted!!! UGH! Life has ...