You all know that working out, and especially, working out with Mike, is an important part of my weekly schedule (and life).  So I decided that a fun activity for my sisters and I would be to all do a workout with Mike together. 

Originally we were going to meet at the park, but Mike decided it would be easier at the gym in the group exercise room.  We wanted to get fun outfits to wear, and we did!  We found these awesome t-shirts in the kids department at Target!

Now, I hadn’t worked out since the previous Thursday, and really hadn’t even run due to my cold, so I knew the workout would be challenging for me.  Carrie is a college student with no time to work out, and Leslie is a Jillian Michaels/Bikram Yoga/Occasional marathoner sort of exerciser.

Anyway, Mike was supposed to wear a costume too, but he texted me that morning to warn me to go ahead and be disappointed because he forgot.  I told him I was used to disappointment.

We got dressed and headed out.  Immediately upon arriving at the gym we ran into my friend Jon, who gladly took this picture.

I was wearing a pink headband on my wrist because I figured Mike could at least wear that.

When Mike saw us, he asked, "Where do you find this stuff?"  as if I constantly wear really weird clothes at the gym.  This from a man who owns short bright purple shorts.

Anyway, the workout was fun.  We did squats, lunges, thrusters (squat with shoulder press), planks, threw weighted balls back and forth, and all kinds of other stuff.  Carrie was DYING, which was (sorry!) kind of funny, and I was pretty tired by the end as well.  Leslie had never really lifted 10 pound weights before so she was working hard also.  Mike was his usual self, which (and I was glad to get confirmation from the girls) meant he was very talkative, but in a low-talker way.  Sometimes I can barely hear him, and I had assumed I was simply losing my hearing.  I was glad to know that they could barely hear him too.  Mike, speak up!  Quit mumbling!  🙂

I requested that they look "fierce."  Carrie wasn’t quite sure what that was. 

After the workout we went to Sweet Art for lunch.  It’s a bakery and sandwich shop that makes vegan stuff. 

I had a vegan philly cheese steak sandwich.  It was both the weirdest thing I had ever eaten and yet also kind of amazing.  The "meat" was made of seitan.  It really had the texture of meat, which was weird.  The flavor of the sandwich was really good though, but the whole thing was tough to eat, because it was really liquidy, and the bottom piece of bread was completely soggy.  I used a fork.  And I had a lemon cupcake.  Non-vegan.  Love that buttercream frosting! And yes, we were wearing our matching "Move your body" t-shirts the whole time. 

Just a quick blog post—things have been busy and crazy here!  Fun with my sisters and friends.

That’s my weekend!  Workout, dinner with friends, bridal shower.  Lots of fun.  My sisters leave tomorrow and then it’s back to real life though…teaching and rehearsals.

Ah…today I woke up and realized I hadn’t taken cold medicine in OVER NINE HOURS.  I quickly took some, of course, but still, obviously I’m improving.  Sadly Chris is sick now, and spent most of the day yesterday lying down.

Today we are all doing a workout with Mike and then tonight going out to dinner with some of my friends.  Other than that…who knows.  We’ve been shopping, watching Alias, and made some vegan cookies (that are QUITE famous in the blog world, but that’ll be another post)…

Carrie at the airport—we had to wait about an hour until Leslie’s flight came in.

Drinking tea at Lemongrass.

HOT POT!

Wonder twin powers…activate?  And I finally don’t feel totally crazy having my ring on my RIGHT hand.  Nothing like being around other crazy violinists to make you feel sane.  (We all had the same childhood of practicing hours and hours everyday rather than doing anything else that regular people did.  Pros and cons.)

The yellow shirts are for today’s workout.  Not quite sure why we tried them on over our ridiculous flowered dresses, but, there you have it.

Enjoy your Friday!  And I’ll tell you all about Mama Pea’s Dough Balls another time. 

One of the reasons my sisters were coming to visit was to go shopping for bridesmaid dresses.  This was not as fun as it should have been because David’s Bridal is just not that fun to shop at.  Sorry, but it’s true.  I don’t want to look at the catalog.  I want to look at dresses.

Anyway, they had a little fun with the dresses–

I liked this one quite a bit, but it wasn’t the best of the bunch.

It’s Little Red Riding Hood!

We did decide on a dress (not pictured) and I think it’ll look great on everyone! 

The three of us!  Together at last….

Much more to come, but that’s all for now. 

A few more sneak peeks from Sarah Crowder

Breaking news from my neighborhood!  It’s a very special blog post in the afternoon.

I was lying on the couch watching the office and got a call from Chris that he had just gotten home, but that the neighbor’s balcony was on fire and he had just called 911.  Naturally I grabbed my phone and ran (well, limped, actually…) outside to see!

It quickly became apparent I needed my actual camera, so I went to get that.  It reminded me of the last time I was part of a situation where 911 was called.   Such an eerie silence, then masses of sirens.  Luckily this time no one was hurt or even in the building, as far as we could tell.  (No ambulances came, so I feel pretty secure saying that.)

This is two doors down and that empty parking space on the left is ours.  It seemed that no one was at home.  The fire trucks arrived in about two to four minutes, I would say.  The police arrived first and got there before I even got outside.

Finally remembered I had a zoom in feature on my camera.

Bringing out the hose!

And the ladder!

WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AQUAMENTI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of the neighbors who were at home and not afraid of the police were out watching the drama! Yes, the presence of a police car makes quite a few porches of people disappear.  I think that’s the sign of a problem.

Last blast of water!

And packing up.  Good job guys.

After the excitement I needed to go back inside and sit down (working with a bad head cold here), but naturally I first wanted to put out a very special blog post!  Hope you enjoyed.