Alive and Vacationing

Posted by Lauren

Hey there! I’m alive… you might have thought this blog turned into Sugar Coated Sister and that I disappeared and all – NO such luck! I’m still here and I have got a LOT of content I want to share in the next couple of weeks. Last time I posted I gave a little teaser related to my trip to Yosemite with friends over the weekend to celebrate my 24th birthday and then some random tidbits from Monday.

Then Nicole swooped in with a post about her new USC shirt, an eggcake, and taking off for Illinois.

In an effort to speed things up starting from Monday, here’s a fast recap:

• Monday night bike ride to the gym and then kickboxing class… followed by a late night of reading. Like my neon vest? Safety first!

• Tuesday morning dreary drive into work. Sand dunes and Pacific Ocean = beautiful. Fog/White Out = not so much.

• The sun glimmered in the distance over Monterey, but I got off in Seaside for work…

• Lunch highlight: Breakfast Sandwich with spinach, egg, and cheddar cheese.
• Evening highlight: Saw Bridesmaids with Doze for only $2!

Did anybody else experience the same phenomenon that I did: continual crying out of one eye (because it was so sad!!) but also laughing and whooping [too loud] 80% of the time? I kept having to wipe my one runny eye…. two thumbs up though for that one!

Before Kyle and I went into the theaters we grabbed sandwiches from Togo’s. I picked turkey and avocado with jalapenos and banana peppers on honey wheat. Their bread tastes like cannnndy it’s so sweet. SWEEEEET.

When I got home my mom asked me to go on a toilet paper run. I biked over to Lucky’s and grabbed two bananas for the trip to ILLINOIS! After delivering the paper goods, I spent the remainder of my night cleaning, packing, and listening to the new Taking Back Sunday/Beyonce albums. Neither were fantastic… and I’m not ashamed to admit that TBS usually gets me in a great angry run mood and Beyonce is my hero. HAHAHA

And that brings us to WEDNESDAY aka FIRST DAY OF VACATION!! 

Let me cover my morning and then Nicole’s…

Nicole opened her bedroom door at 5:45 am and that snapped me out of dreamy sleep. I put on my sneakers (because yes, I was sleeping in gym clothes) and then headed to Mr. Jim (aka gym) for a run while I waited for the kickboxing instructor to show up [late].

The first three minutes were a warm up for the three 5-minute increasing speed thingydingys. The settings for minutes 3 – 8 were repeated two more times and brought me to 2.5 miles in 18 minutes! Average pace: 7:14/mile.

Guess who was workin’ it behind me?! Oh yeah that sexy lady is Nicole. She ran 3.1 miles, went potty, and then did another 1.15 miles. MONEY. While she listened to her technoelectricdubstep kinda stuff (aka Hate to Love by Alex Sayz feat. Evi, the Nervo Remix), I got busy next door at the kickboxing studio!

I partnered with one of the strongest girls in the class and it was sort of intimidating, but she kicked my butt into gear and kept my heart rate up. WOO! We ended the class with tons of abs – I guess the instructor is going to start adding a lot more abdominal work.

Before going home I drove to Los Gatos to sign a waiver for my next fitness endeavor… YOGA!

I’m totally clueless when it comes to yoga and I have a bajillion groupons to things like this that need to be used up. I was really impressed with the size of the Yoga Source facility and can’t wait to start yoga once I finish kickboxing July 20th.

And as for Nicole…. she ate this PB2&J bread concoction on her way to the gym.

And after the gym she enjoyed tea and oatmeal. I think my oatmeal was better though… I used tahini, bananas, flax, and soy milk. Pretty sure hers had bananas and cinnamon…. and probably other stuff too because that girl loves adding things to oat bowls!

I ate my oatmeal from the front seat while David drove Nicole, her friend Vanessa, and myself to SFO. Vanessa was kind enough to wake up early and drive the car all the way back to San Jose so we could avoid exorbitant parking fees.

We blewwwww through our plane snacks because apparently I had [random] insatiable hunger. The carrots were covered in tahini and the cucumbers had a balsamic vinegar coating.

Nicole almost dozing off… she stayed strong and commented on tons of blogs.

I, on the other hand, fell asleep. I guess that happens when you get 3-6 hours of sleep for six days in a row.

Arrival > Baggage Claim > Enterprise Rent-a-Car (6400 N Shilling Road, Chicago, IL 60666)

The shuttle driver was too funny. He said that Nicole and I aren’t strong enough to carry our own bags, warned us to hold on for a bumpy ride, and made sure we avoided all the airport traffic.

I was overwhelmed by how much customer care this facility provided. Right away we were offered water bottles and the staff was more than willing to recommend exciting places to eat for dinner.

This is probably too specific, but on the off-chance you’re planning a trip to Chicago and need a rental car, I totally suggest this particular Enterprise Rent-a-Car. I wish they had a Yelp so I could give a good review. <– who am I?

… but what happened next??

Well you’ll have to wait to figure that out, but let’s just say it involved these two adorable twins!

-Lauren

Question: What sort of plane snacks do you prepare for longer flights?

I think airports play off of the caveman survival instinct to eat as much as you can because you never know when your next meal will be. (Morbid thought, yes, but it’s true! Planes = somewhat dangerous, right?)

30 minutes after I ate my oatmeal, I was stuck in an airport & airplane with $$$ food. Within minutes, I had quickly dug up the granola bar, fruit, and veggies and scarfed them down. Downside: it made the rest of the 4+ hour flight reeeeeeeally long.

p.s. I want to clear this tomorrow! Can everyone stop posting for a day to let me catch up?