Devour Downtown: An Exercise in Gluttony

Twice a year a good majority of the restaurants downtown participate in Restaurant Week – aka Devour Downtown.  They all have a special three course menu for $30, and it is a great opportunity to try out places that you normally might hesitate to try because of price or cuisine type.  Depending on the price point, some of the restaurants offer three course menus for two diners for $30.  There are also $15 lunch specials.  The menus change each time and new restaurants are added.  See where I’m going yet?

It is such a great deal that I feel this inexplicable need to try to eat at as many of those restaurants as I can in that 2 week period.  It makes no sense.  I would never ordinarily eat multiple three course dinners in any given week, yet I do it without even thinking.  Don’t get me wrong, the food is usually tasty and worth the $30 (especially when you would ordinarily be paying at least twice as much), but eventually I start to feel a little bit bad about myself.

I can’t be the only one, though.  We had talked about going to Fogo de Chao the weekend before Devour Downtown started and figured it made no sense to pay $20 more than necessary.  In case you don’t know, Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian steakhouse that involves eating all that you can of various types of Brazilian-style meats brought to you on swords.  Talk about gluttony!  Since our location opened (2 years ago?), this was only our second time to go.  I think once a year is probably enough for me considering I’m not a big meat-eater, and really don’t like feeling like I need to be rolled out of the restaurant (ala Violet from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory).  I digress.

We tried to make reservations for Friday night and our only options were between 10:00 and 10:30 pm.  We looked at Thursday night.  The options were 5:00 or between 9:00 and 9:30 pm.  None of those were ideal, but we were determined to take advantage of the special.  We arrived downtown and could not find a place to park.  Apparently many others were taking advantage of the special menu week.  We found a place and walked the two blocks (as if we wouldn’t need the exercise!).  The restaurant was packed!  The internet was not lying to me when it provided such limited reservation options.

I tried a different restaurant last night with some girlfriends.  I only ate half of my key lime pie and brought the rest home to my husband.  (Thoughtful…or just trying to save calories?)  Restaurant week only lasts until Friday, and based upon the freezing rain and snow that have been coming down since 5:30  or so, I’m guessing I will be able to resist trying out any other menus.  I’ve got six more months to plan the summer Devour tour.

In The Blink Of An Eye

I really have no idea where yesterday went.  Do you ever have those days where your schedule is jam-packed, and before you know it the day is gone and you just did not have the time to get everything done?  That was my Saturday.  I will readily admit that I got up a little later than usual, but only by 45 minutes to an hour.  That amount of time is really not that significant in the scheme of a day.

We got ready, and walked to have brunch.  Despite the restaurant being packed, we were seated fairly quickly.  (As it turned out, the majority of the people waiting were part of two huge parties).  We were done and out the door in no time, and on our way to shoe shopping.  I did take my time looking down all of the aisles at DSW, but nothing unreasonable.  Then we had to stop at the running store so I could get new running shoes.  Again, I spent a normal amount of time with the sales person selecting shoes.  We got home about three, both of us went for a run, and then it was time to get ready for my husband’s firm outing.

It started at 5, with dinner reservations at 7:30.  I figured we would be home by 9:30 or so, even with a big dinner party.  No such luck.  We didn’t get seated until after 8:00, and I don’t think we got our entrees until after 9:00.  This was a bit surprising because the restaurant has many private rooms in an upstairs area away from the main dining, so I figured they were used to large parties.  We didn’t leave until 10:30, although my belly was full of tasty Italian food.

And with that, the day was gone.  I don’t mind when that happens during the week, but now I really feel like there hasn’t been much of a weekend.  Luckily today has been both productive and relaxing.  I was up early, ran 6 miles, have completed two blog posts to make up for yesterday’s poor attempts, and it’s not even 11:00.  Now my stomach is grumbling loudly, so I think it may be time to refuel for the day.

***Interesting – apparently I didn’t actually publish this yesterday.  I’m not sure what happened.  I remember hitting publish and looking at the suggested spelling corrections.  I must not have hit the button a second time.  Oops.  I guess I will have two new posts today!

Blogging on the Go

I downloaded the WordPress app for my phone in anticipation of my upcoming honeymoon. I’ve already thought about writing posts and setting them for future publication, but 10 days is a long time. So, I thought I would try mobile blogging. This is really just a test post, as today has not gone as planned. I promise more substance tomorrow. If you have an Android phone, I recommend the WordPress app.

Running to the Beat of My Own Feet

I am one of those runners that feels like they need music to get through a run.  I’m OK on short runs, but if I am running any significant distance by myself I need tunes.  Or so I have told myself.  Running music is different from the music I would put in the CD player in my car.  Running music allows me to indulge in guilty pleasures, like 90s rap and 80s pop and hair bands.  I have spent many hours putting playlists together for half-marathon road races – not just selecting the songs but putting them in a specific order based upon where I expect to be at a particular time along the race path.  Very serious stuff.

Neither of my running coaches run with music.  One of them regularly vocalizes displeasure with headphones while the other encourages you to do what you are comfortable with.  I was running with her Wednesday and she was talking about how she weaned herself off of running with music.  She said that during her first marathon her iPod stopped working at around mile 20.  I would have felt such panic!  It took her a while to get her stride back, and then the iPod started working again around mile 24.  After that she started the process of weaning her dependency.

I am fairly certain I could run a half marathon without music.  When I first made the decision that I would run a marathon, I was convinced that I could not get through that entire distance without music.  If I was alone for 26.2 miles with just my thoughts, wouldn’t I just focus on how far I had left to go, how tired I was and what was starting to hurt?  That sounds horrible!

However, deep down I know that there are signficant benefits to running only to the sounds of nature and your body.  You are more aware of the sound of your feet, and therefore your pace.  You hear yourself breathing.  You are conscious of your heart beating.  These are all things you need to focus on in order to ensure that you are not going too fast or too slow.  Very important when you are pacing yourself for a marathon.

So, tonight I went out and ran 5.4 miles with just the sound of my feet.  Surprisingly, I did not notice missing the music.  I thought about random things like I always do, ideas and thoughts running through my head the entire time.  I do not recall thinking about how far I had gone or how much farther I had to go any more than usual.  I realize that 5.4 miles is a very small distance comparatively speaking, but it’s a start.  After all, training for a marathon is adding on one mile at a time and before you know it, you’re there.  I’m (almost) convinced it will be the same for training without music.  Happy running!

The Winter Doldrums

Today brought another gray sky and cold temperatures.  I’m not certain when we last saw the sun.  Maybe over the weekend.  The sky has been gray all week, a foreboding of the snow that fell this evening.  It appears that the roads are fairly clear.  Hopefully nothing else will fall overnight and impede the drive to work.

This is always a difficult time of year.  The days are so short, and it’s so cold and windy that I never want to leave the house.  It’s hard not to fall into a bit of a depression.  It will be another two months or so before we see any type of consistent increase in temperatures, and it would not be surprising if we have another snow or ice storm.  I remember when I was in the seventh grade we got a serious ice storm right in the middle of March.  Ice literally coated every tree branch and blade of grass.  We were out of school for three or four days, which was awesome for me.  Unfortunately a lot of houses were without power because the weight of the ice snapped the lines.  Nothing so severe has happened since that time, but you never know what to expect.

The dog, however, loves the cold and the snow.  Every morning, rain, shine, snow or ice, she goes outside and sits at the fence watching the birds and squirrels in the neighbor’s yard.  She sits very still so as not to startle the creatures.  Sometimes I wonder if she falls asleep while sitting there.  I will watch her from a second story window and marvel at her dedication.

I think it’s time to pick a new book to read.  I could definitely use an escape from these winter doldrums – something interesting and adventurous, and maybe set someplace warm.  I want to wrap myself in the pages of a story and get lost in the words.  I think it’s time to go peruse the titles on my bookshelves.

Places I Love in the City: City Market

 I’m borrowing a bit from my photo blog post, but it’s getting late and I couldn’t come up with any great ideas tonight.  So, I thought I would share my love of the City Market.  This half-block facility is across the street from my office.  It is full of local vendors with a focus on food (what more could I ask for?!).

I love to support local businesses, and the Market’s popularity has fluctuated over the past few years.  The city has put quite a bit of money into renovating it, and it’s getting ready to undergo another round.  But so far, things look promising.  A lot of new vendors have opened up shop, including a pretzel shop and a tap room (although I have not tried either…probably not a good idea to have beer at lunch).  Vendors set to open include a French crepe place (mmm…they already have daily specials listed), and a soup bar.

I spend at least one lunch a week at the Market.  Sometimes I patronize the shops, but most of the time I just eat my lunch from home, do some work, and people-watch.  I know it’s lame to work through lunch, but at least I get out of the office for a bit (and see yesterday’s post).  I love the architecture of this building (not that I know the first thing about architecture…I just know what I like).  It’s a brick building, but inside there is all of this intricate metalwork.  The building is probably three stories, but completely open with second story perimeter balcony seating.  There are high windows that allow natural light to stream in.  It’s cozy even when it’s nasty out (like today).

The Market is even better in the summer.  There is a large brick patio that takes up probably a quarter of the half-block, with even more seating.  I spend more lunches over there in the summer.  On Fridays there is live entertainment over the lunch hour – always something interesting and unique.  On Wednesdays, the Market sponsors a farmer’s market.  It is one of the best farmer’s markets I have been to.  Fresh veggies, local meat, flowers, and baked goods (including dog treats).  Oh, and kettle corn.  I love kettle corn.  OK, I love all food.

Since we’ve had such terrible weather, I have been lamenting (well, cursing, really) living in the mid-west.  I am hoping that focusing on some of the great places in the city will help the rest of the winter months fly by!

Death to the Billable Hour

Is there anything worse than keeping track of your life in six-minute increments?  Putting off eating lunch or even going to the bathroom because you don’t want to miss out on precious minutes?  Ugh!  I hate the billable hour.  You would think it would be a great thing.  You can track your productivity and efficiency every minute of the day, right?  Wrong!  Because no one is productive and efficient all day every day.  And those off days really throw a wrench in my system.

Don’t get me wrong – the Type-A part of my personality loves documenting what I do during the day.  When I have a high billable day, I feel great.  But big billable days don’t necessarily equate to highly productive days.  I have found that some days I might cross seven things off my to-do list, which also feels great, but those seven things only took me two hours.  I still have 5.4 more hours to bill.  That feels terrible!

On the days that I am both productive and efficient, I find that I then have to spend anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour at the end of the day actually entering my time into our timekeeping software.  I’m not able to keep up with time entry as the work gets done, and having to stay extra just ruins my good feelings.

I have no fix for the billable hour.  I understand its purpose.  I just long for a job that focuses on results, and not how much or how little time it took me to complete the work.  If it’s good and it’s right, shouldn’t that be enough?

Ironically, I have been seriously thinking about starting my own practice.  I think I must be crazy, and I fear I just have a bad case of “the grass is greener on the other side.”  But then I think, if I have to continue doing this, shouldn’t I get to be my own boss, choose my own clients, actually have interaction with other humans during the day, and yes, reap the monetary rewards?  I think this is just a different manifestation of my frustration with my current path.  Clearly I have no idea what I want to do!  We’ll have to see what develops.

A Perfect Sunday

Oh, to have a perfect Sunday every week.  Unfortunately, I can’t recall my last perfect Sunday.  It probably involved a long weekend that didn’t require me to go to work on Monday.  I frequently suffer from Sunday night blues, and some Sundays they come on earlier than others.  It just depends on what the week holds for me.  But a perfect Sunday would entail the following:

First and foremost – a perfect Sunday must be a warm day (hard to come by this time of year). 

I love to start Sundays with an early morning run – shoes on and running by 7:30 (I guess that’s not that early).  Sunday mornings are always reserved for a longer run.  I have found that by dedicating this time solely to running, I have a better run.  I feel good.  I can go for 8 miles without feeling tired.  I get my workout done and out of the way so that the rest of the day is mine.

Actually, there is one other reason why I love starting out the perfect Sunday with a run.  The next part of the perfect day is having a huge breakfast.  If I’ve run 8 miles, I don’ t have to feel bad about eating pancakes, eggs, toast, etc. etc. (breakfast is my favorite meal).  Usually we will walk to a neighborhood restaurant.  There are about 3 that we rotate between.  Although recently we have taken to making whole wheat blueberry pancakes at home.

The remainder of the day will entail walking to the nearby neighborhood village to do some shopping and getting ice cream from the local ice cream shop.  The village is about a mile and a half or so away, so the 3-mile round trip walk justifies the ice cream!  I always take my camera along with me because we have many scenic routes to choose from and we run across all kinds of wildlife (I swear one time we saw a rat next to the canal.  I did not have my camera during that walk.)

A perfect Sunday would include an evening round of golf.  During the warm months, we have sunlight until 8 or 9 pm (or later once we reach June).  I am a very new golfer.  I am not good, and I am very self-conscious.  I have no problems going to the driving range when there is a crowd, but I cannot actually golf if there are groups stacking up behind me.  I will always completely miss the ball on my tee-shot.  I will then get flustered and once I make contact it will go maybe 5 yards.  So embarrassing.  We have learned that one of the local courses isn’t too busy on Sunday evenings, so I like to go whenever possible.

At the end of a perfect Sunday, which so far has been unattainable, I would not dread going to work the next day.  I would look forward to the week ahead because I would love what I do.  The twilight hours of Sunday could approach and my spirits would not sink along with the sun.  This is really the most important requirement for a perfect Sunday.  I hope that by the time the weather turns warm, a complete perfect Sunday will be a reality.

How DO You Define A Friend?

Friendship is a tricky thing.  Friendships are hard to develop, hard to maintain, and even harder to resurrect.  I have found making friends more difficult than finding my perfect match in my husband.  I have spent many hours trying to figure out why this is, and I haven’t found a sufficient answer.  Although I don’t think about it for too long because it makes me sad.

My husband is my best friend, but everyone needs friends outside of your significant other.  It’s important to have interests and friends that define who you are as an individual.  I have always struggled with having close girlfriends, at least since middle school or so.  I had no problems making friends at that age.  It was developing the friendship into something more meaningful and lasting that I could never achieve.  Friends gradually began to slip away.  Some of it I get.  You really don’t know who you are at 12 or 13 years old.  You grow up, your interests change, friendships fall by the wayside.

However, I have a number of friends who have 20+-year friends (so, friendships that started roughly when they were about 10 years old).  I’ve still got about 5 more years before I can say that (not that a 15-year friendship is insignificant, but I only have one of them).  I often wonder what it is about those relationships that have withstood the tests of time and distance because I haven’t figured out the trick.

I don’t think that I expect too much out of a friendship.  The qualities that I look for are not uncommon: similar philosophies on life, some similarities in background (but not too many because that’s what makes people interesting), similar interests or hobbies, and will laugh with you, cry with you, and generally be there for you (as I will do the same).  I feel like the downfall of most of my friendships has been changing interests – both on my part and the friend(s).  I have never had a true falling out with anyone – no terrible fights, no betrayals, nothing so dramatic as that.  Just general fizzling out.

I do approach meeting new people with an open mind.  I’m always looking for new friends.  That’s why I joined a running group, and yesterday I signed up for a knitting class.  At least I know going into it that I have one thing in common with the people I am meeting!  However, I do worry that I am putting too many expectations on myself and on other people.  Don’t true friendships really just happen?  No planning, no scheming, just two people meeting, perhaps by chance, and finding each other interesting.

Like I said, friendship is tricky.  There’s no one way to define a friend, and breaking that barrier between acquaintance and something more is never easy.  But I continue to try.  I know there’s someone out there who I can shop with when my husband wants to watch football, talk with about girly things, and giggle with endlessly as only girls know how.  It’s just a matter of time and you never know what life will present to you.

Border Collie + Beagle = Crazy

 I thought I would start a series of posts that provide a little more insight into who I am and what I do outside of blogging.  I figured I would start by introducing you to my dog, Maggie.  That’s her to the left.  I know the title gave it away, but she’s a border collie beagle mix.  She’s insane.  Sometimes she looks and acts exactly like a border collie.  Other times she looks and acts exactly like a beagle.

When I first got Maggie, I also had two cats.  I thought everyone would get along swimmingly.  The cats had been around dogs before and basically ignored them.  I realized about 2 minutes after bringing Maggie home that the reason for that is because the dogs basically ignored them.  Maggie – not so much.  Her border collie herding instinct immediately kicked in.  This little puppy, barely bigger than one of my cats, immediately thought they belonged on top of the kitchen cabinets.  From that day forward, the cats basically lived on top of those kitchen cabinets (although I can just imagine how they tormented Maggie when she was in her cage during the day).  Any time one of them moved, Maggie would race over to the cabinets, leap at them, and bite at their tails if they were close enough.

The cats now live with my mom (not entirely because of Maggie’s behavior towards them), but that doesn’t stop her from going crazy.  These days, Maggie thinks her job is protecting our house from people, dogs, squirrels and cats.  If you are one of those creatures, don’t even think about walking by our house.  Maggie will show you all kinds of crazy.  She barks non-stop.  She runs from the sunroom, up to a bedroom, and back down again.  She throws her body at the windows.  She will not stop until the “threat” is out of her sight.  You don’t even want to know how she behaves on a walk.

We are trying to do our best to break her of this habit, but it’s slow going.  I know all of our neighbors think she’s nuts.  She has the ability to learn because we have been able to teach her all sorts of tricks.  Unfortunately she wants nothing to do with “stop” or “quiet.”  We need help.  It would be great if we could get on “It’s Me Or The Dog.”  We could definitely use Victoria’s help.

Despite all of the crazy, she is very sweet.  (See right).  She loves to lay with us and keep us warm.  She is very pretty and soft.  Sometimes she will sing with us.  She hates to have her picture taken.  She hears whenever I take the cap off the camera lens and will immediately change positions or stop doing what ever cute thing she was doing.  It’s very strange.

There’s your introduction to Maggie.  She may very well be the subject of future posts because sometimes she does the strangest things that make for good comedy.