Friday Five!

{since I’ll never have this… this will have to do! (could not love it more!)}

______________________________________________________________________________

It was in the 80’s for my Monday lunchtime run. It was in the 30s when I woke up Wednesday morning. Damn you Michigan! Luckily it’s end of week and the temperatures have stabilized and we've comfortably settled into the mid 60’s. It can  only get better from here!!

We’re not only approaching a long holiday weekend but it’s also my birthday weekend as well! I think you all know I LOVE birthdays, so you can only imagine how excited I am for this weekend. I don’t quite know what’s on the agenda yet, but I’m sure it will be an outdoor lovin’, champagne drinking, city hopping few days! Can’t. Wait!!

Friday Forte: 

(don't know why I'm so obsessed with this version of the song...}

{fun new prints for my newly renovated cubicle (I got a back wall!)}

{preparing the guest room for next weekend’s GUESTS}

{summer has arrived! Even if we did get in the 30’s a few days ago…}

{productive meeting over sushi at Tokyo}

NRA 2015

Last weekend I went my first weekend business trips since in my new job. Well, really it’s the only weekend business trip we have all year. I was completely fine giving up my weekend for this event. I've been once before in the past and it always proved to not only be a great education, but also a GREAT TIME! Usually we’re able to have a fun combination of work and play. This year was no exception.

The NRA show (National Restaurants Association) is an annual event in the United States and is an “international foodservice marketplace” that provides “opportunities for buyers and sellers to come together, conduct business and learn from each other”. Most manufacturers are in attendance (anything from china to hot dogs!) as well as distributors (ME!), brokers, etc.Typically, we meet with our current vendors to take a look at their latest and greatest products, as well as other potential vendors, and bring those notes back to our home base. The show also provides many seminars for additional learning's (we did not attend any of those this year).

Saturday afternoon we let loose and caught a baseball game! This was my second Cubs game and I loved it! The first Cubs game I went to I was on one of the rooftops across the street, but I didn't have as much fun. I didn't feel like I was in on the action! After the game we hopped across the street in Wrigleyville where watched Run Forest Run at the Cubby Bear (I LOVE 90’S COVER BANDS!) until it was time for our dinner reservations at Shaws. Delicious food and great conversation was had, until all of us decided we would fall asleep in our desert if we didn't hit the hay.

Sunday we walked the show some more and caught the train home to sleep in our own beds! Such a fun (and exhausting) weekend! Gotta love business trips… 

{we took the train from Michigan City right into McCormick Center}

{always loved the fountains at McCormick Center}

{fancy shmancy new product...}

{the Anheuser Busch tent!}

{i have a weird obsession with fake food... it's so cute!} 

{Click here to be able to actually read this map! And I recommend you do so. It shows total restaurants per state as well as total employees of restaurants per State. Fun facts!}

Bridal Shower @ Food Dance!

Last weekend we celebrated one of my best and oldest friends for her Bridal Shower. I traveled down to Kalamazoo to a restaurant very near and dear to our hearts, Food Dance, and had the best day with the Kalamazoo girls! Since one of our girls is the event planner at there, we knew it would be a brilliantly decorated and momentous occasion. She delivered and the day was beautiful, the food was spectacular and the company all of the above.

Next up is the Kalamazoo Bachelorette! Can’t wait!

{mom-to-be event planner :)}

Monday Motivators: Yoga with Adriene

My husband and I are currently in Week 3 of another round of the Whole Life Challenge . After 8 weeks "off", we began to crave more accountability again; something to steer us back on track and away from some of our toxic habits. I'll confess, we are allowing for a bit more leniency in these games, but I actually think that's better, because we're experiencing real life, while also honoring some tough guidelines.

Birthdays (both of ours + a few friends), anniversaries, the end of the school year, and reunions back home are all happening at once, so we're bound to run into temptations --but we're cool with it. We're having fun while maintaining a healthy mindfulness.

The WLC games generally stay the same: nutrition guidelines, daily exercise and vitamins, reflections and comradery. The big change I was hoping to really own and internalize this time around was the stretching component. The requirement is to engage in stretching for 10 min each day.

Last time, I honestly saw it as a chore. I took advantage of the flexible rules and split those 10 minutes into about 15-20 mini stretching sessions. It did NOT give me the flexibility I wanted but even more so, it didn't allow me to have a daily meditation-type practice that would allow me to take time for me, to start each day with some sense of calm. I really needed and desperately wanted to make that life change. But I'm always so rushed and distract myself so easily...

Enter Yoga with Adriene.

As much as I would love to go on and on and on and on about the crush I have developed on sweet Adriene, I'll save you the 12 page narrative and just beg you to trust me. Better yet, just Google her.

What I will tell you now why she's become the topic of my Monday Motivators: Participating in YWA's 30 Days of Yoga, in addition to the many other workouts YWA has to offer, has provided me with something that I can--and have-- committed to to fill that stretching-meditation void. On the reg.  No joke.

Today is Sweet 16 for me. I've now practiced yoga once--and more often, twice--every day for over two weeks now. The first practice is always before work in the morning. I'm actually excited to get up each morning! EARLY. I open my email to find the next day's YWA video waiting for me....along with a purposeful message from Adriene herself.

Once you get to know her, you'll see all she has to offer and just how addicting her company really is.  And if you find the same admiration I have, please subscribe to her YouTube channel and her weekly newsletter. She even has a vlog , so you can really get to know her and learn from her in the flesh...ish.

This Monday, I am motivated and oh so grateful for having found this YouTube channel..and for the real and lasting habit it has brought into my life.

 [Homemade mat cleaner: white vinegar, water & your choice of essential oils. I prefer eucalyptus from Whole Foods. Only $10, compared to $20+ at similar shops.]

This is the haven I have created in our guest room. It's clean, it's spatious and--most importantly--it's quiet and distraction free.

[And yes, I do want one of her tanks ...and yes, I'm sure I'll own one very soon.]

Oh, yea!  My 35th birthday is later this week as well...so I suppose I'm motivated by the fact that, at this ripe old age, I'm still finding new things to excite me!  Make it a great week and be sure to do something that makes you happy and feel good every day.

Namaste, everyone!