Tai Chi Center of Chicago: Tracy Von Kaenel
I’ve been going to yoga classes at the Tai Chi Center of Chicago for almost two years and it is truly my sanctuary. I refuse to go through my stressful work week without attending class with Tracy! I head home afterward a more peaceful, calm, and focused person. Continue Reading →
Virtues of Peacefulness
Codes for Living Peacefully with Others: Ahimsa (compassion for all living things), Satya (commitment to truthfulness), Asteya (do not take what is not freely given), Brahmacharya (sense control), and Aparigraha (take only what is necessary). Tracy went through each of the virtues and talked about their history and significance & as we did our poses, she posed questions to us for personal reflection.
Running, Sick, Happy Halloween
You heard it here folks…I’m still running. 2 days til I can say it’s been 2 months! ;) It’s October and I’m sick and it’s 36 degrees out and I am still running (big thank you to Melissa G’s playlist because this morning it got me through the cold without giving up.) Today was unusually hard…so I bet I’ll have to take the next couple of days off and drink lots of tea and eat lots of soup. Everybody send me your healthy good energy…send me the good vibes. haha.
Let see, what’s new? It’s winter, I’m running, oh and p.s. Kurt Cruse moved into our basement! Justin flew down to Tampa on Friday and drove back with him and Chloey the cat (who was very unhappy to meet us at first, but I think she might be getting used to us now. ) Kurt and Bobby have both been sick since the beginning of the weekend so I assume that’s where I got it…although it could be my co-workers…everyone is coughing and sneezing around here too. Bring on the Halls and Dayquil…maybe I can wipe this thing out before it gets too much worse.
This weekend – well, actually Thursday – the Halloween parties begin…and I’m not really a costume-dresser-upper…so hopefully I don’t bum people out at these parties. haha. My cousin’s wife Jen is having a costume party for her 30th birthday at Brownstone and then Friday I’m having dinner at Bridget’s place since Linnea is in town, but I’m stopping by another costume party at Chicago Art Department at some point that evening…so I can see the closing show for Night of the Living Artist – Halloween/Closing Party and drop of a piece of art that I’m donating to their annual fund raiser: Growing Up CAD. Should be fun and exhausting weekend!
What’s everybody else doing for Halloween?
Press on.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination along are omnipotent.”
This is a quote from my boss’s office – embroidered in a little frame. I’ve loved it since the day I started here…just wanted to share.
Bucktown 5K ;)
Today Bobby and I ran in the Bucktown 5K! It was fun and I think we both did good considering our short amount of training or a total lack thereof in Bobby’s case. We both had our Nike+ in our shoes and calibrated them with our ipods yesterday so that we could track our time/miles/calories (the reason my info there says I only ran 4.8K instead of 5 is – I think – because I calibrated it wrong last night. I have to fix it tomorrow or Tuesday morning when I run again.
Also I had a hard time shutting mine off because I didn’t have an armband (I’m not sure Nike has come out with an armband for the new ipod nano – this is the old one) – I was trying to grab it out of a zippered pocket and since it’s the first time I’ve used it I had to fumble with it for a bit…that could be part of my big dip in pace at the end of the race (I had already crossed the finish line and was walking to the food tent)…that is my hypothesis – who knows! ha!.
Anyway long story short – I did the 5K in 30 minutes and Bobby did it in 25 minutes (official times to come later on the website since we had time chips attached to our shoes for this race). We both are happy we did it and know we can do better if we continue to train. This Nike+ thing is super cool because I am able to set up a training schedule for my next 5K and track my progress and goals and calories burnt…its motivation for me, so I’m glad it exists. I am signing up for another race today – The Hot Chocolate 5K – it’s on November 2. Even if I do 30 minutes again I hope I can be more consistent and not struggle as much with my breathing. I want to be stronger.
As an added bonus we saw Sang-woo, Rich, and Mike at the race so we chatted for a bit and decided to walk over to Moonshine and have some breakfast. We walked home a little bit ago and my legs are super sore…ouch!
“Getting Back on the Horse”
Today is the 18th day I’ve gone jogging at 6AM for about 3 miles, since Sept 1, 2008. :D Jessica Large has gone with me a lot of these days but this week she has been sick so Mon, Tues, Wed I went all by myself…which I find to be very fundamentally different and motivational for myself personally! I was smiling this morning when I got halfway around the route just thinking wow I never would’ve thought I could get up and do this THIS early, without hitting snooze, without complaining…but I think I like it. No, I really like it. And I CAN do it, and it’s not so bad! It’s actually refreshing and gets me ready for the day…I need everybody’s support to keep it up though, because usually I don’t make it past two months without “falling off the horse” again. If I can make it past that 2 month mark then I’ll be on my way to a healthy happy body. :)
And kudos to my dad who is doing this with me from Ohio – getting up every day and working out on his Schwin Airdyne Bike for 30-40 minutes! Good work dad!
This map is my jogging route (the point on Bell Ave is my house and the point on Wolcott is Large’s house) – and p.s. google maps rocks for having sweet routing capabilities. Wish me luck – I have to do this!
Happy Hoop Day 2008!
Happy Hoop Day 2008 Chicago! August 8, 2008 is the second international World Hoop Day celebration and hundreds of hoopdance enthusiasts around the globe will be making sure thousands of people are introduced (or re-introduced) to the physical and mental benefits of the hula hoop.
HooperPower has planned a fantastic celebration tonight in Wicker Park~!
August 8
Wicker Park
1425 N. Damen Ave.
5-8pm
They will be giving away over 75+ FREE hoops to Chicago WHD participants, DJ Dustin Harris will be spinning tunes and we will have HooperPower merchandise for sale too with proceeds going to WHD, Inc.
World Hoop Day Inc. efforts ensure that children at schools, youth organizations and those living in poverty will have hula hoops to play with and to keep them mentally and physically healthy.
Kelley, you’re famous! Yay!
So as Jess and I were heading into our Bikram Yoga class tonight I realized I needed to buy some yoga shorts…figures I brought the wrong shorts in my bag this morning…so I walked over to the clothing rack to pick out a pair and guess who was all over the Danskin tags!? Kelley!
Jess and I were really excited – we tried to take a pic with Jess’s camera phone but couldn’t get a clear shot. We were pretty bummed about that, so I, being the huge dork that I am, asked the woman at the desk if she would let me have one of the tags! haha! I explained that this was our college roommate and I HAD to post it on my blog! So she cut it off of the shorts for me! She seemed very excited for us too!
AWESOME. :)
McDonald’s LATE Ride
Forgot to post this pic this past weekend because I think I was jet lagged from staying up all night to bike. Saturday the 12th was Justin Winget’s birthday and we all went over to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for some delicious tapas and sangria. YUM!
Then at midnight Justin, Bobby, and I did the McDonald’s L.A.T.E. ride…a 25 mile bike ride that’s proceeds benefit Friends of the Parks, a 33-year-old not-for-profit parks advocacy group whose mission is to protect and improve Chicago’s parks and forest preserves in Cook County. It was fun and nice to hang out with J.Win for awhile! I’ve never done a bike race (well, this wasn’t really a race), but I look forward to doing another one like this soon….I think I’m really into biking. I might have to consider getting a new bike though – mine isn’t really a road bike…its got “off road” tires. Anyway I’m rambling…here’s a pic of Justin, Bobby, and I right after the ride at around 4:30AM. :) Fun fun!
Bobby 5K
Bobby randomly decided to run in a 5K tonight. It’s the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in Grant Park – it’ll help raise money for the Bears Care Foundation. He sent me this pic and of course I had to be cheesy and post it on my blog. he he. ;) He is so cute.
Bears Care will receive a donation from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation in connection with the Corporate Challenge. Charitable giving is a key component of the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series, with locally-designated donations at each of our 12 events in six countries on five continents. More than $1.5 million has been provided to not-for-profit organizations in worldwide Corporate Challenge markets since 2005.
Living the Life
So today I was typing back n forth with Kurt on IM, like we do every day (almost seems like he’s right next door or down the street ~ ahhhh the sweetness of IM)…anyway I was telling him that last night I went to Rene’s place for taco night and all the girls from work came and we drank margaritas and talked and played cards until late and tonight after work I was going to meet up with my good ol’ web editor friend Nicolette (that I worked with for two years at SAIC) at the Lovely Bake Shop. I was saying how I was gonna finish up some stuff and bike over there since it was such a nice day out, and he said “Well aren’t you just livin’ the life?” and I was like “huh?”
But then after a couple seconds I got it….and I AM living the life. I’m designing websites by day (which I must say is pretty much what I’ve wanted to do with my life), I’m going to themed dinners with co-workers (next week is Italian night at Libby’s), I’m doing yoga with Tracy Von Kaenel once a week, I’m meeting old friends for coffee and buscuits (and corn chowder), and biking to and from work….and although things are non-stop…life is good and interesting and I’m happy. This is like a 360 from last year in the burbs, working corporate, having no social life, sinking into my couch with depressed thoughts and no motivation.
My heart is happier today and that feels awesome.
And I hope you all are finding happiness too, because you deserve it.
Lucky Bean Tree
I went out to IKEA with Bridget today since she was looking for an outdoor table and some curtains and I got this Lucky Bean Tree…it is so cute! I just googled it though and found out it can get to be really big. Crazy…I guess I might have to get a larger pot than the one I bought today.
This weekend was Lance and Casie’s wedding in New Orleans! So sad we couldn’t make it, but Bobby had to work all night on Saturday night (midnight to 9AM)….boooo! I’m excited to see pictures, I hope everything went really well and they are happily married. I’m sure it was a fun party, knowing Lance!
So, Friday night, unexpectedly I went to the Long Room with Rene, Lee, Barrett, Bridget and John and ended up going to Swig in Wicker Park after that to meet up with another co-worker and friend of mine, Jessica Schoolman and her boyfriend Chris. That bar ended up being way more expensive than I thought, but I did have a fun time and they have awesome tater tots. Then Saturday morning after Bobby worked all night he came home in a strangely good mood and cooked my breakfast! yay! Eggs, toast, grits, and coffee! His big work weekend “deployment” went better than expected and he told me all about it. :)
Then we went to help Mandy move the rest of her furniture over to Winget’s place. It was so cute, Justin got Mandy roses with a little note that said welcome home! I’m so happy they are happy, I really like Mandy too. :) Then they took us to lunch at Blackie’s Bar & Grill for some delicious burgers and came home for a much needed nap. I just love sleep when I need it so bad….that nap was awesome! Bobby slept until 7:45PM and then I woke him up so he could experience “Earth Hour” with me and turn off all the lights for an hour and do our part for the environment. We actually went for a drive to see if we could see any difference in the city skyline….and it did look dimmer but I think there were a lot of people that didn’t know about it and didn’t participate. Still Chicago decreased it’s electricity usage by 5% over that one hour (8-9PM) which is equal to 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide not being emitted into the atmosphere. So good job Chicago…but from the looks of it, we could’ve done a tad bit better….
Then today I went to IKEA in Schaumburg with Bridget and braved the masses (I swear that place is like the suburban vacation spot on the weekends…it was a traffic jam at every corner) but we had a great time and found some good stuff! I’m ofcourse in saving mode because we’re buying the condo so all I bought was my Lucky Bean…but I was really holding back. IKEA has so much cool stuff that I want!
It was a really nice weekend! yay! I’m really looking forward to this Friday…going out to Colorado to see Amy + John and do a little skiing (although I’m still just as terrible as the first time I skied.) I may need to take a lesson this time, instead of just taking pointers from Bobby. I can’t seem to find the “free as a bird” feeling everyone else seems to have on the slopes. I”m more like a scared little chicken hopping around and falling and getting upset. haha. We’ll see how my skiing goes…if all else fails I’m sure it’ll still be a really nice weekend to hang out and talk and catch up with old friends. :)
I’m gonna go watch some serious TV and then hit the sack. Goodnight ya’ll.
:) happy
Hiii…London is awesome. It’s been about 24 hours now that I’ve been here and I think we’ve almost seen everything. haha. JK. We just happened to get a little lost last night after Bobby misplaced his blackberry and ended up trekking all over the place. It’s so cool here, so much to look at. Last night we had dinner at this little greek place and had some fish-n-chips, hummus and flat bread and some kind of yummy beef skewers…oh and then chocolate cake that was sooo delicious!
…then we took the Tube to London Bridge and then the bus over to Piccadilly Circus…took a bike trolley around and somehow lost Bobby’s blackberry in the process (even though the bike trolley was so fun it kind of had a bad ending with us losing the phone and walking about 2 miles back to where we started to wait for that trolley driver to come back to home base….although we never saw him again.) This led to a very long walk home since it was late and the Underground trains had closed. It was a LONG walk but we saw so much cool stuff in the process and since alot of people weren’t out it felt like London was all ours (especially near the Bank Station Tube Stop (check out the myspace pictures)…nice peaceful and quiet walk all the way home – just really enjoyed it.
Leaving tomorrow!
So, it’s past ten o’clock and I still haven’t gotten my workout in or my clothes packed for tomorrow, but I plan to be up for the next few hours I guess…I should be able to get it all done. I just got an email from Bobby explaining everything I need to do and where I need to go to get to our hotel. I was a little nervous about going by myself but I think I’m gonna be fine. I’ll just need to figure out something to do Thursday and Friday during the day since Bobby will be working. I might just find a coffee shop and try to adjust to the time change and do some blogging….I just don’t want to go to far and get lost or something. If anybody has any suggestions about places I should go in London…tell me now. I know for sure we are going to the TATE Modern Museum, 
Piccadilly Circus, on a double decker bus tour, to the Portabella Road Market (I have to find the artist lady for Libby), The London Eye (a great big ferris wheel) and some other various places. So excited!!!
More than anything I’m just excited to see Bobby! It’s been like 5 days without him now and I am beside myself…I mean I’m busy and have tons going on but I’m so used to him being around when I get home for work and getting up together in the morning. I think my trip to Findlay over the weekend really helped because I was surrounded by my family and friends and not thinking about it constantly…but its gonna be so awesome when I see him again! yay!
Bridget came over tonight and I showed her the “rounds” for the kitties…she’s awesome for watching them….I just hope they don’t get too lonely without us here at night…they’re used to us not being home during the day but not at night. Hopefully I don’t get home and they’ve trashed the place. haha. At least they have each other though, I guess if it was just one kitty I’d worry more.
Well, I guess I’m off to watch the news and work out on the eliptical machine…and shower, and pack, and all that good stuff. Oh! And pray for me not to get lost in Heathrow Airport!
It’s Saturday night…
…and I’m a geek.
I’m really excited about this new blog. I swear this is the last time I’m going to try and keep this up. Try not to get weak and delete it. What do you guys think? Think I can keep it up? Ok well just watch – I’ll make you proud this time.
Well, for starters, it’s going to be quite an exciting year. I’m getting in shape, I’m going to hone my skills as a hula hooper and I’m going to try really hard to visit all my friends that I so desperately need to see. (You guys are the ones that have made my life so interesting up until this point.) Thanks for always being there and listening.
Well, I’m off to work on this blog design…check you later (for a more intimate update.)
:) miss. shellie