I’m over it and the 3rd trimester has begun!

January 20, 2014 SweetHanrahanLeave a comment

Hello lovers and friends! I hope it is warm where you are because Chicago sucks. I read a report where the meteorologist said that Chicago’s winter has been “impressive.” Do you know what that means? That means it’s been F@&king cold AND snowy 😦

Word.

I, for one, am OVER IT. I miss the summertime. I miss being able to wear sleeveless dresses as I did when I went to NYC to see my bestie in what seems like 800 million years ago.

A little while ago I, I promised myself that I would refrain from complaining about the weather because let’s face it, nobody cares. But I admit, it’s getting HARD. So there, there is my rant.

Thank goodness I am going to South Florida in early February.

In other news, I have officially started my 3rd trimester! I can’t believe it. In some ways, the time has flown but in other ways, it seems like it’s taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R. I am so done with being pregnant and it is only going to get worse as my due date creeps closer and closer. However, the good news is that my placenta has moved all the way up which means….I CAN WORKOUT AGAIN!!!! This makes me so happy. My first day back at the gym was on Saturday and it was slow-going. Today was slightly better with this workout:

Working out is so much harder now that I am 1) a little over 6 months pregnant and 2) out. of. shape. I would typically try to repeat this circuit about 3-4 times and I’ve got to be honest here, I barely made it through 2 rounds. So not only was the circuit difficult for me to get through but even my warmup on the the stair master/elliptical was miserable! Hopefully, if you try this workout, you can make it through better than I did.

Here are a couple of progress pictures in case you have nothing better to do on this fine Monday evening…

I thought it was pretty crazy how much BIGGER I got over the course of 2 measly weeks. The next 13 weeks is going to be brutal, waah!

I took a gander at some of the earlier pictures of when I was at first pregnant and laughed at myself and here’s why:

Did I really think that I was “showing”? Why did I even take this photo? Even my boobs are tiny in comparison to how they are now.

Ah well, only 3 more months, pray for me, would you?

Stay warm, my friends! And if you live in a warm climate, I envy you.

Recent food stuff, treadmill workout and 21 weeks

December 10, 2013December 10, 2013 SweetHanrahan4 Comments

Howdy friends, how’s life?

Life for me is jussssssst dandy. If you follow me on instagram, you know that I recently shared a photo of what it looks like in Chicago (HERE). It’s snowy, freezing and overall miserable. But, on the bright side, at least I’m pregnant and feel perfectly content sitting my lazy rump on the couch. 🙂

I happen to be feeling somewhat like my old self and therefore, I’m not AS embarrassed about what I’ve been eating these days so I thought I would share a couple of things. So here goes nothin’…

This is what breakfast has looked like lately: fruit, egg whites and turkey sausage with a side of english muffin

I also made Bryan’s favorite: mashed banana, egg whites, walnuts, strawberries and almond butter

Lunch has been pretty boring, I typically bring a salad and then also go pick up either a soup or sandwich from somewhere nearby. On this particular day, I made a spinach salad with dates, pears, walnuts and goat cheese tossed with olive oil and agave – I think I got a veggie sandwich on wheat from Corner Bakery as well (no photo because I feel like a weirdo taking pictures of my food at work).

Dinner has been all around the board including: chili, meatball subs, tacos and…PIZZA!!! Seriously, who am I?

Despite the abundance of shitty food choices of late, I have managed to keep my snacking pretty normal/healthy; typically, I go for fruit and yogurt (I used to eat carrots a lot but carrots are DISGUSTING these days, such as life).

Working out these days has also been a struggle. I’ve noticed that either a) I am just too lazy to bring myself to the gym or 2) I am having one of those days where I just feel like dog shit. However, even still, I’ve managed to get my whoopie cakes (according to the internets, this is another name for “butt”) to the gym about 4 times a week. Last week I did this walking workout on the treadmill:

It wasn’t too bad!

The other day this woman in the elevator at work asked me “I heard you are 5 months pregnant, is that true?” to which I replied “why yes, yes it is” … Apparently, I don’t really look like I’m showing which I guess just means I look like I’m getting fat, ha! Actually, I think I look like I’m showing. Here’s a side shot so you can decide for yourself:

On second thought, I guess this picture doesn’t really show much so here is one with my shirt up (I apologize for the grainy picture, there is zero natural light in my apartment so pretty much all my pictures look like they were taken with a disposable camera):

How have your meals looked lately? Any good recipes?

Weekend randoms and dog costumes

October 6, 2013 SweetHanrahanLeave a comment

Happy football Sunday errbody. Hope you all had a spectacular weekend!

My weekend was pretty random. I didn’t do anything special but it was nice 🙂

I took a long walk on Friday and thought to myself how it really hasn’t felt like fall here (it’s been abnormally hot) but it sure is starting to look like fall here!

Then on Saturday we had to run a few errands before the weather turned to shit. Before we ran said errands, we had to pick up some lunch and stumbled upon this!!!!

HELLLOOO! How awesome is this?!?! It seriously made my day. I have also come to the conclusion that when Scooby kicks the bucket, I am buying a Pug as a replacement and I am going to name him Pig. It’s going to be great.

Then today, I ventured out for lunch and more errands and stumbled upon this sign next to the train station.

I’m not sure what a “Donet” is but it sure looks as tasty as a donut!

And then this happened:

Poor Susan, she never knew what she had coming, ha!

Now I am just sitting here looking for dog costumes to ~~throw my money away~~ purchase for my dogs and I thought I would share my favorites.

I actually already have this one and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Found here, it’s only $15…what a steal!

For the future Mr. Pig, the Pug:

[source]

This little guy looks like my Scoob:

Apparently, he was the “Wile E. Coyote“? I don’t care what he was, he is freaking awesome!

Or perhaps if you have a larger dog…

[source]

All right, I’ll stop wasting your time, have a great weekend!

Oh you fancy, huh?

September 22, 2013 SweetHanrahanLeave a comment

Sun-daaay FUN-daaay = Miserable Monday

Happy Sunday, ‘errbody! I hope you all are having the type of awesome Sunday that makes for a miserable Monday. As for me, I’ve got a rough week at work ahead of me so I took it easy and rearranged/added some things around the house. Whenever I do the decorating thing, I feel super fancy (because I’m totally not). I thought I would share because you know, the internet.

My bar cart didn’t have any fun decorations on it so I made a quick run to Pier One to sass it up a bit

Here’s a closer look at the top & bottom shelves. The top shelf has the frog and candle combo that I picked up from Pier One (the bottom shelf consists of items I scrounged from around the house).

RIBBET!

I just realized that it might have been helpful to include the “before” photos…but I’m an amateur so I’m sure you forgive me.

Anyway, after tackling the bar cart, I moved onto the coffee table. All that was there before was a little tray for the remotes and the books. I left the books and bought a new tray plus the vase and the bird. In case you didn’t notice, I am very festive which explains the little pumpkins in the vase.

And finally, I am going to eventually frame this picture that I took to hang up in my bedroom. We’ve got a couple of black and white photos of Chicago already hanging up so this will fit in perfectly!

That’s all folks!!!

Any home improvement projects you’ve been meaning to tackle?

-I’ve got a ton of empty frames that I’ve been meaning to fill and hang up but ugh, that takes too much energy.

I have a problem and some random photos

August 27, 2013 SweetHanrahanLeave a comment

Hey party people! How’s your week coming along?

Mine has been a little rough but I guess that tends to happen from time to time, right?

Aside from my rough week, I have been struggling to keep my diet in check. For me, once I start eating shitty food, it slowly morphs into a problem <— where I’m at now.

SO, with that being said, it is time to clean. it. up. For the rest of the week, I am going to work on my path to eating clean again. Which means I am going to focus on cutting out the following:

1) Sugar (ice cream, I’m looking at you!)

2) Alcohol (waaah!!!)

3) Processed carbs

My weekends these days have been fairly boring so I haven’t been taking pictures like I usually do. There are a couple of random pictures from the last few weeks that I thought I would share.

A friend of ours, Ryan is going to run the Chicago marathon and so he and his wife had a little rooftop party to help raise money for PAWS. The rooftop had a cool view of Union Station.

And the food was quite delicious!

Sunshine + Beer (which I don’t ordinarily drink but…when in Rome, right?)

I went on a run for the first time in a loooong time and snapped a quick photo of the skyline. I did a .5 mile warm up + 3 mile run + .5 mile cool down. My legs are still giving me issues so I think I’ll have to continue to layoff for a while 😦

Now that the summer is winding down, we were sure to grab at least one more concert in the park. Boy was it CROWDED! Crowds are not my favorite (read: I am a total lunatic when it comes to crowds in that I. can’t. deal.) so we left at intermission.

We had a little lunch at West End because we could bring the dogs. I’m not sure why though because every time they come, I get so annoyed that I begin to question my life choices.

That’s all I’ve got for now!

Has anyone else been slipping up when it comes to food or fitness goals?

-As usual, I find that the fitness/working out part is easy but my real challenge is with my diet!

A couple of workouts and summer is almost over

August 16, 2013August 16, 2013 SweetHanrahanLeave a comment

It’s Friday, bitches!

My week has gone by somewhat slowly but at the very least, I did manage to get in a couple of really good workouts that I thought I would share with you…

Abs & butt workout

Warm Up:

20 minutes on the elliptical

3 rounds of 15 reps for each move:

Dead lifts, bridges, outer thigh with resistance band, inner thigh with resistance band, plank back kick

Then I did the Blonde Ponytail’s 5 moves for a solid core workout. It is good if you don’t feel like busting ass at the gym…not too crazy but still a good little sweat sesh.

This next little workout got me a little sore all over which was nice!!!

I started with about 15 minutes on the elliptical, followed by…

I don’t know about you guys, but I am getting really depressed about the fact that the end summer is quickly approaching us. What really gets my panties in a twist is the kind of summer we’ve had here in Chicago…a CHILLY one, what is up with that??!?!? If I had anything to say about it, I would request that the summers be so hot that my nips are literally sweating off!

So, I thought I would share a couple of pictures of this past summer to help us all focus on the present and not worry about the impending ~~winter~~ fall temperatures.

Me and my little Otis hanging out by the lakefront on one of the few days that it was warm enough to warrant a bikini.

It was also the weekend where all my in-laws (+the significant others) were in town.

On a nice toasty day, we went to go check out the gay pride parade and I stumbled upon this fellow with these killer shoes!

Enjoy sunglasses while you still can, folks!!!

On the bright side, we can all enjoy a nice cold beer no matter what season it is, am I right?!?!?!

Anyone have last minute summer plans?

Outdoor workout and I <3 NYC

July 15, 2013July 15, 2013 SweetHanrahan1 Comment

Happy Monday friends!

I know, I know…Mondays suck. But just think: if we had no Mondays, there would be no Fridays.

I have been MIA of late because there has been a lot going on. Rather than bore you with the details, I thought I would share an outdoor workout + some pictures from my recent ~~bender~~ trip to NYC.

I’m not usually one to take my workouts outside because it is always either too hot or too cold for me but this Saturday, it was perfect!

For the farmer’s walk, the field I worked out in had weighted sandbags that were easily 50 pounds so that’s what I used. However, if you do not have access to weights, you can replace that bit with burpees or any other move of your choice.

This was me after the fact:

The dogs came out and did a couple of sprints with me which really exhausted them, win!

Last weekend, I made my way to NYC! Boy, New York never disappoints so I thought I would give you a little recap of the weekend.

Friday Leslie & I landed at 10:30 PM so it was supposed to be a “chill” evening. Not so much. We ended up going to the Gansevoort rooftop (my friend’s husband owns the hotel so that’s where we spent a lot of time, fun!), got home at 4:30 AM and scarfed down some pizza (who am I???).

[from left: Me, Rachelle, Leslie]

Saturday we took a trip out to Brooklyn to go to the flea market but it was so hot that we didn’t stay for very long. Saturday night was a ~~hot mess~~ blast. I will spare you pictures from that night but let’s just say that it’s nights like those that make me very nervous about what pictures will surface on the interwebs. It was another late night! We got home around 5:30 AM, whoa!

Then Sunday was the rooftop pool party, followed by “cowboys and indians” themed bingo at the Standard Hotel.

[from left: Leslie, Miguel, Me, Iveline, Kristy]

Indian face paint!!

Karan is such a goof, I love it!

Fun times were had all around. Thank you to everyone who made this weekend unforgettable! I love you all!

Next week’s diet plan and a photo dump

June 19, 2013June 26, 2013 SweetHanrahan3 Comments

Hola! Como Estas?

I’ve got some familia in town so things have been a little bit hectic around here.

So far this week, I have been doing The Blonde Ponytail‘s Summer Shapeup plan. I wanted to do a spinning class this afternoon but I came to the sad realization that my gym membership expired (because we are moving in 1.6 weeks, I can’t believe it!!!). SO, yesterday and today, I did Day 5 and Day 6 of week 1. The upside is that my building’s gym has a pretty great view especially during the summertime where there’s lots going on in the park. I was workin’ out as I looked down on the peeps at the concert in the park!

Next week I am planning on eating super clean and I thought I would share an example of what a day will be looking like. In general, I will be avoiding carbs, sugar, alcohol, meat and dairy. I’ve been doing all of the above this week minus the alcohol 😉

Breakfast: 2 egg whites, 1 egg + coffee with almond milk (no picture because I’m lazy)

Lunch: Salad with a variety of fruit/veggies + oil and vinegar (in this picture I had 1/4 of an avocado, broccoli, tofu, red peppers, arugula, cucumbers, olive oil, fig-invused vinegar)

Snacks: 12 almonds + handful of grape tomatoes

Dinner: fish + veggies

If you try this, I urge you to eat as many veggies as you want. In terms of fruit, limit yourself to berries.

In other news, I got some new duds (sneakers) and am getting rid of some old duds (dishes). It actually worked out quite perfectly because my bro-in-law and his woman want the dishes I’m getting rid of for their new apartment: win-win!

I will miss those dishes but I am also looking forward to entertaining guests with the new ones 🙂

And in case you are bored, here is another photo dump from my weekend…

Saturday, we rented an electric boat and cruised up and down the river so I thought I would share a couple of pictures with you. Obviously, alcohol was involved (except for the driver, she did not partake…thanks for being the DD Leslie!!!).

Me and the blondie DD before things got messy.

My husband chose to wear his “captain” hat even though he was not the captain at all!

That’s all I’ve got for now!

I hope you guys have a great rest of your week!

My mini-goals and a MAJOR photo dump

June 5, 2013June 5, 2013 SweetHanrahan4 Comments

Happy Tuesday peeps. I have been TERRIBLE about getting my ass to the gym.

My IT band has been bothering me along with my ankle (STILL!) so it has been a struggle to get myself to the gym knowing that I can’t run. Today, it made me realize that I need a few mini-goals to get myself re-motivated so here they are:

1) STOP feeling sorry for myself about being injured and START doing something about it. So my goal is to focus on low impact weight lifting, spinning, swimming and doing the elliptical.

2) Do a better job of meal planning (mainly, lunches). Lately I have been scrounging around for food to bring to work and end up feeling unsatisfied after eating.

3) Live in the moment! I often find myself being so consumed with my “list” that I lose sight of what life is all about. STOP IT.

And now for the fun part!!! PHOTO DUMP (I know you guys are so excited, stop frontin’)

Last weekend (Memorial Day), the weather was nothing to write home about but we did get out on Sunday and that was nice.

And then a SERIOUS game of Jenga commenced.

Followed by a little rooftop action and a game of Parcheesi.

Hello Michigan Avenue!

Then this past weekend, it was time for some BFF action with my high school sweetheart who now lives in NYC with her husband.

Friday, we went to the Rolling Stones concert and it was AMAZING!

The stage:

Guys, Mick Jagger is SO SKINNY!

This is us after the concert, clearly sober.

The next day, we went to the bean, walked through an art festival, had brunch and went to a music festival that got rained out. Here’s a couple pictures from Saturday.

It truly was an amazing weekend, the only thing missing was our friend Iveline who lives in Paris. We miss you Iveline!!!!

Anyway, after my fun-filled weekend, yesterday, my husband and I decided to hit up the free concert in the park.

SEE, I told you it was a major photo dump!!!

Anyone have any unforgettable memories/weekends/nights/events of late?

Mine was definitely the Rolling Stones concert! Thanks again Rachelle & Michael!

My weekend in pictures

May 22, 2013June 26, 2013 SweetHanrahanLeave a comment

I thought I would kick off this post by sharing my workout from yesterday.

It started off with 20 minutes on the elliptical (I started with the resistance at level 9 and kicked it up a notch every 5 minutes). Then I moved along to this quick little leg workout:

I was pressed for time so I didn’t really work on my abs. The whole workout (including the elliptical) took me about 55 minutes. It was a pretty good little workout!

This past weekend, the weather was unbelievable. I mean, now I remember why I live in this city after all! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Since strawberry season is in full swing, I picked up a whole bunch of them and made a little salad with a side of chicken for lunch before heading out for the day.

Look at these things!

Then it was time to take a cab over to Mayfest but look what I saw on the way there…A squirrel in a dress!!! HA!

Saturday, we played our kickball game (and lost again) and then headed over to the lakefront to play some croquet.

Well, the boys played croquet…This is what the girls did…

NOTHING! It was awesome!

This is probably one of my most favorite spots in the entire city (when it’s warm, of course) because the view is just awesome. Here’s a better picture of said view:

After croquet, we got home and the dogs were all like “excuse me, WHERE have you been all day?!?!!?”

Does anyone have any plans for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend?

-I’m not sure what we are planning because it is supposed to be quite chilly here in Chi so we shall see.

Hope you guys have a great rest of your week!!!

SweetHanrahan

This shirt is dry-clean only…which means it's dirty.

Tag: chicago