Milestone in the pool! I've been swimming laps now for about three months. I'm still not great at it, but man, have I come a long way. Today I was able to complete four pool lengths without stopping. When I first started, I could barely finish one lap (in a 25 meter pool, mind you). My breathing is really improving as well as my arm strength. Love it! For lunch, I headed to Cafe Baratta's in the State Historical Museum downtown. I drive by the sign every time I go to the Statehouse for work. My lunch date had never been either - I'm always glad when I can help someone else experience something for the first time too. I ordered the chicken carbonara cantelloni for $9. I was a little surprised to see only two cantellonis on my plate, but for $9 I guess I should have figured. It was tasty, but unfortunately, I walked away still hungry. Next time, we will be sitting on the amazing patio. I had no idea it was there. What great views of the city! Oh, and my date did offer a bite of her panini today. How thoughtful!
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Always a good day when you get to wear a new shirt to work. Cute, right?
I also tried Trader Joe's chicken enchiladas for the first time. A picture would not have been very appetizing. Two frozen enchiladas come in a pack for around $4, I believe. They were tasty and not terribly bad for me either. A quick, cheap, good meal. Once again, I was not feeling the motivation to run. After running for four months, one would think I would have gotten accustomed to it. Nope. I still don't like it. Anyway, I decided to beat my previous best one mile time of 8:40 set way back on 3.15.12. I did! I wouldn't say I smashed it, but I did it in 8:29. If I can keep shaving 10-12 seconds off every few weeks, I'll be a happy camper. I've never, ever, ever, in my life run a sub 8 minute mile. That is my goal by May 1.
It was my first time eating at Felix and Oscars. We went to the West Des Moines location off Westown Parkway. My boyfriend says they are well-known for their pizza so that's what we ordered. Pictured to the left, you see a large thin crust 4 topping pizza with ham, pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper. It was pretty good. The sauce was very thin and runny though. Unfortunately, the service was slow. It took 30 minutes to get out pizza which seems quite long when the restaurant wasn't busy. The good news was on Monday nights, the thin crust pizzas are half off. Pizza for two plus leftovers was $12. That's hard to beat.
My job has a few perks. One of those is interviewing fun, interesting people like Tony Bohnenkamp. He's a Des Moines musician and owns a recording studio. He just came out with his first solo album and gave me a copy to check out. Please keep in mind I am by no means a music critic. In fact, my ex would laugh at the idea of me giving a music critique (he was a drummer in a super cool band). Anyway, here goes.
I'm starting this with an awful, embarrassing confession: I've never listened to any song by The Nadas. So I really didn't have a knowledgable idea of what to expect for Tony's solo album. I assumed it would be a bit pop/rock/country-ish. I listened to the CD in my car on a beautiful Friday afternoon while driving around town. By the end of each track, I was singing along with the song. That means each tune is catchy, but from an artist standpoint, I don't know if that's good or bad. The songs were also more country/bluegrass than I expected which is not a bad thing. My boyfriend got in the car and was feeling it too. He's way more country than I am. Wow, that was the poorest written album review ever. Better stick to my day job. (3.24.12) If you ask me where I'm from and we're short on time, I'll tell you the Chicago area. If you ask me and I feel like being Chatty Cathy, I'll tell you, "Well, I was born in Iowa, grew up in the Chicago suburbs and went to college in Missouri." And if I find a weird connection or feel it's relevant, I'll even add in that I was born in Creston. Saturday was my first time back to my birthtown as an adult. I didn't go to relive my babyhood; I went to meet my boyfriend's family. Of all the people and all the places I've been, my boyfriend just so happen to live in the same town as me, just a few years after my family had already moved. It was also my first time meeting his brother, grandparents, and uncle and playing a very detailed, math-oriented card game called sheep head. I didn't do the grand tour of town though. I figure I'll be back soon enough to see all the sights Creston has to offer. Today I did decide to see the first house I ever lived in. Sure, it was only nine months, but I'm sure they were amazing. Maybe this is where I got my love of wrap around porches. I could just imagine my mom and dad sitting in lawn chairs on the porch with a kid in each lap passing the lazy summer days.
Now that I think about it, throughout my lifetime I've lived in 7 houses, 5 apartments, and 1 dorm room in 8 towns and 3 states. After waking up at 2:30am for the second day in a row, my body was revolting against me. All that sounded good was chocolate. I met a friend for coffee/lunch at La Mie. I have been there once before, but this was my first time eating one of their pastries. I must say, this chocolate caramel tart was superb. The caramel was rich and sweet. I gobbled it down.
After waking up at 2:30am to get to work by 3:30am and be on air by 5am, I think it's obvious I had no motivation to work out once I left work at noon. I knew my gym, Fitness World West, had started a new class called Group Power. I decided to give it a try since working out in a class always gives you the motivation to do better. It's an hour long strength training class. There were about a dozen women, no men. We worked our arms, shoulders, backs, abs, chests, and legs. Being my first time, I went easy on the weights, but man, I still felt it! I was really worried I'd be sore the next day, but I'm not. I guess I didn't push myself as hard as I thought. Oh well, it's still an hour of training toward the Tough Mudder and the Live Healthy Iowa 100 Day Challenge.
(3.17.12) Go figure. On St. Patrick's Day, instead of revelling in my Irish roots, I go in the opposite direction. I had a New Harbor sauvignon blanc from New Zealand for the first time. It was crisp and clean and a bit sweet. Pretty standard for a white wine. I much prefer a glass of red, but with seafood pasta figured a white wine was a better choice. There are so many wines out there, and I've tried a lot of them in the past year. I hope my palette is becoming a bit more refined.
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