Massage #1

I finally redeemed the gift certificate I received from my in-laws from my birthday for a massage.  I felt bad, I think I was supposed to leave a gratuity for her.  I guess I learned a lesson.  It was very relaxing though.

Date Night #10

walked around the forest preserve
dinner at Jaspers
movie Argo

November 8

November 7

Run the Hot Chocolate Run

I did not train for this!  I probably should have and then I could have knocked off a second list item, "run an entire 5K".  The only thing I did in preparation was to walk 3 miles with the stroller around Lake Arlington one day last week.  I had shin splints from that, so I knew I should  have done more, but it's the same reason I don't work out now!  I don't make a it a priority to schedule it!

Since it was the morning of the time change, I checked my phone when Caitlyn woke up about 4:30, I thought I would feed her and then be on my way.  Josh also got up about the same time, and his clock had been changed the night before and already read 5:30.  We didn't understand, so I checked the clock in the kitchen which hadn't been changed and it said 6:40!  (Real time was 5:40!)  I had wanted to leave at 5:45.  Luckily I had laid out my clothes the night before and was able to get on the road quickly.  Made good time, though I had to stop for some gas.   Traffic was light - most people were probably still enjoying that extra hour of sleep!  There was some traffic close to the parking and the course, so I paid $30! dollars to park and then walked over to my corral.  I didn't cross the start line until 50 minutes from the official start of the race.   Since I was in M corral and they allowed 3 and a half minutes between each corral, I was not in any rush when I saw the actual start of the race.  I did manage to run the first mile, mainly because I was pacing behind a mom with her son, her 5 year old son!  I used Jared's wireless bluetooth headphones which worked great.  I tried listening to my music on Google Music, but the same song kept repeating; I also tried using the Nike Running app, but you have to keep the screen on for it to work.  that wouldn't have worked out, though it could have been cool to "hear" the cheers of my friends liking my status through the run.  Maybe next time...Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  I ran the race in just under 40 minutes.  though they got the bibs mixed up, so I couldn't search for my name on the results.  My knees and hips were sore after the race, and my quads the next day.  Overall, I am happy with my results.

Update I forgot to review the reason I added this to the list: Hot Chocolate and Fondue at the post race!  The finishers mug was awesome.  Pretzels, marshmallows,  apples, banana and the hot chocolate and fondue.  Awesome.  Plus a great sweatshirt and chocolate candies at the expo and past the finish line.

Dinner to Friend who had a Baby

Johanna had her baby Jasper about a month early, just after they had just moved in to their new apartment.  He was healthy enough to be release from the hospital without much fuss, but being earlier than expected and a premie is hard on them.  He is exclusively fed pumped milk, which is exhausting them.  Plus he is sleeping in bed with them too. 

We were going to be in Chicago for a Halloween party, so we decided to stop by and bring them the King Ranch Chicken Casserole.  I doubled the recipe, making one for ourselves too.  Her brother had been in from North Carolina to help, and I think that was helpful.  I wish I could have done more...I tried to remember how things were for us when Josh was only a month old.  Jared's parents had only been in for a week, but we ventured out a lot.  We are very lucky that both of our kids were so easy.  I'm going to add this to my next list, because I can see the value in helping others like this.

Date #9: Pottery & Dinner

Instead of Dinner and a Movie, we mixed things up based on some blogs (http://fridaywereinlove.blogspot.com/  http://shannonbrown.typepad.com/life_in_general/featured.html) I had checked out.

We went and painted some pottery, which we had done when we were dating. Thrown Elements had a special rate for the night; though it was a girls night out, they honored the price for Jared!  It was kind of funny to get dressed up to work with pottery and paint, but we had fun.  When we were younger, I had painted salt and pepper shakers and Jared a flour pot.  I know we also had an IU picture frame at some point too.   This time I painted a plaque for the house and Jared a cereal bowl.  It was fun, but took a bit longer than I had budgeted, and we were a little late for dinner.

We went to Mago in downtown Arlington Heights.  We had made the reservation on opentable, which I love to do!  We called them to let them know we would be a little late, but we didn't have to wait too long and everything was speedy after that!  We enjoyed Margaritas on the rocks, chips and guacamole made at our table.  Jared had the salmon special and I had the Carne Asada Tampiquena, both were excellent.  I had never had fried ice cream, so I ordered that for dessert; surprisingly I liked the strawberry the best.  Jared ordered pumpkin cheesecake to go.    The restaurant was in the same building as the Metropolis Performing Arts Center.  I have been there before for a performance with some former co-workers...I added a show at the MPAC to our list of date night ideas.

It was nice to have a whole night to talk and I realized what I already knew - doing something is always more fun than just watching a movie.  Though we are going to see a movie next.  I think part of the reason we seem to alternate movies and doing something is that there is always some movie out that we want to see and it feels so adult to get to see a movie together.