cheater cheater

Yeah, that’s right…

I’m a cheater.

I cheated on my beloved frozen custard for something new + sexy in the “ice cream” world.

But, first, the Hubs owed me a date since I spent most of my birthday evening alone, and I requested pizza.  But not just any ol’ pizza…

[source]

Dewey’s Pizza!  Only the best pizza place out there!  And we are so fortunate to have several establishments in the St. Louis area!

Started dinner off with an O’Fallon Wheach [wheat + peach] beer, and split a pizza – Southwest BBQ Chicken for him + a Billy Goat for me.  Delish!  I only ate about 1/2 of my side, and took the rest home [which I devoured for dinner tonight].

Then we headed to a place I have been dying to try since it opened up this summer.

YoMyGoodness Frozen Yogurt in Webster Groves. 

A high school friend + former Fritz’s coworker helped open YoMyGoodness this summer [and actually just opened up a new one in Crestwood this past weekend].  I am in love with the self-serve frozen yogurt concept – as many flavors of yogurt as you want [they serve 10 different flavors that rotate pretty much daily] and a choice from 20-ish different toppings to add on top.  And you pay by the ounce, so you can add as much or as little as you want and won’t feel like you’re getting ripped off.

I chose pumpkin [duh] + white cake batter [duh] + sugar-free peanut butter [duh] frozen yogurts and topped them with granola + white chocolate chips, plus a few mochi just to see what they were all about [not much flavor, more of a textural thing, like a bland gummy bear].

The Hubs got pumpkin + cake batter like me, but also tried out Irish cream, caramel, and brownie batter frozen yogurts.  Brownie batter was his favorite, but I really LOVED the cake batter!  The pumpkin was a bit too nutmeg-y for me.

I can TOTALLY tell the difference between [fat free] frozen yogurt and [full fat] frozen custard.  Fro-yo is much more icy tasting and not nearly as smooth and creamy as frozen custard.  I guess I’ll stick to my true love after all…

I think that will make Matt feel pretty good too…

a frozen custard love story

Earlier this week [Wednesday to be exact], I celebrated my 26th birthday.  Although I spent the day at work and most of the evening at home by myself, I still had a wonderful birthday!  Thank you so much to everyone for all the Facebook messages, emails, texts, and cards!  I feel so incredibly loved and wish I could give each and everyone of you a huge hug!

Not only was Wednesday special because it was my birthday, but Matt + I were also celebrating a very important anniversary.  9 years ago, we fell in love…

Matt + I started dating on my 17th birthday.  After spending the summer working + flirting at Fritz’s together, Matt finally got the guts to see if I wanted to hang out after work one night.  [I believe his exact words were, “Do you want to see my new truck?”]  He actually wasn’t the one to ask me out, I actually had to ask him if he wanted to get together on that fateful Saturday, that just so happened to be my birthday.

My parents were a little worried at first, since Matt is 4 years older than me.  A guy in college wanting to date a junior in high school… who could blame them?  But, his intentions were good of course, and he was more than happy to meet them before our date.

Our first date involved dinner at Chili’s, a movie at Mid Rivers [Joy Ride to be exact], and then driving around and walking on Main Street St. Charles.  I think the only time I’ve ever been more nervous was on our wedding day.  I think both of us pretty much knew going into the date that this was going to be for the long haul.

It has been an amazing 9 years… we are still very much in love and I fall in love with him more and more every day!  And, why wouldn’t I, when he takes me out to celebrate my birthday + our “anniversary” at the place where it all started…

Matt unfortunately had Parent Teacher Conferences at his school Wednesday night, so we decided to meet up for our “date” after he was done for the night.  [Don’t worry, we will be doing a real date tonight.]  And of course, the real reason we wanted Fritz’s…

Pumpkin Concretes!  Tonight’s Flavor of the Day was actually pumpkin cheesecake [they ran out by the time I was able to take a picture of the sign, so that is why it is blank], but we figured it was close enough to their “actual” pumpkin.  I decided to “create my own” concrete and went for the pumpkin cheesecake custard with chocolate chunks + caramel.

This was TO DIE FOR!  It was mixed PERfectly, so there were swirls of caramel and a little chunk of chocolate in every bite.  And the pumpkin flavor was spot on!

Matt’s wasn’t nearly as good as mine [I win this time for ordering better than he did].  He decided to get a Caramel Crunch sundae [caramel + pecans + hard shell chocolate] with the pumpkin cheesecake custard.  You couldn’t tasted the pumpkin custard nearly as well as you could in my concrete.

Overall, it was a wonderful birthday!  I could’ve have asked for a better husband + best friend to spend my birthday with!

i [heart] chicago

I signed up for the Chicago Marathon for a couple of reasons:  (1) the amazing 10.10.10 date, (2) the fact that I would be turning 26 in 10 (now 8) days so 26 miles seemed to fit perfectly, but most of all (3) my best friend Julie and her husband Matt live there!

Julie + Matt got married in December of 2008 and I still had YET to go up there and visit.  Plus, the Hubs had never been to Chicago, and I actually hadn’t been there since I was about 8 years old.  Again, why that Chicago Marathon was a perfect fit!

I took a personal day off work on Friday so we could drive up and get to J + M’s at a decent time, so we didn’t waste our entire Friday.  J + M bought a beautiful townhouse a little over a year ago and were wonderful hosts to us while we visited!  They even have running trails that back up right to their front door!  SCORE!

And of course, their baby…

Hannah!  I was lucky enough to take this sweet girl for a short 2 miler on Saturday morning!

But, first, we headed out for some sight seeing and shopping!

Wrigley Field…

So much smaller than Busch Stadium!  It was kind of like “this is it”?  It’s tiny!  Someday we will come back so the Hubs can actually seeing a game inside the stadium (I went when I was about 5 years old).

Lincoln Park…

Beautiful area!  We did a bit of shopping and then headed to Karyn’s Fresh Corner for some raw vegan food.  Well, I had some raw vegan food… [I think everyone else was a bit too scared to try it!]

French vanilla “ice cream” made with coconut and some other stuff I don’t remember.  It kind of had a almond extract flavor to it.  It was a little gritty for my liking, but still pretty good.  I think J, M, and the Hubs just thought it was OK.

Then off to dinner at this wonderful neighborhood up near J + M’s house called The Glen.

We went to a place called Yard House and it was fantastic!  I really hope they open one here in St. Louis someday.  There were a ton of vegetarian choices, amazing salads, AND you could substitute a Gardein patty on any of the burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, or pastas!  I ended up going for a Mediterranean veggie sandwich without any substitutes and some amazing sweet potato fries with maple syrup drizzled on top.  AH-mazing!  Plus, 118 beers on tap never hurt anyone!  Unfortunately, it was too dark to take pictures, but you will have to trust me that it rocked!

Saturday was an amazingly fun, long day!  We hopped on the Metra to head to downtown.  Our first stop was the French Market, where I got to try some more vegan raw food (a falafel sandwich that was pretty good, but left my stomach hurting a bit) at a restaurant called R.A.W.

Then, it was off to the Marathon Expo!  Picked up my race packet and walked around a bit, checking out several different booths, and of course, trying to find my name on the giant wall!

 

The Ultramarathon Man himself, Dean Karnazes.  I have actually met + ran with him before when he was running across the U.S. and stopped in St. Charles.  [I beat him by 25 minutes on race day!]  

After the expo, we decided to huff it up to Grant Park.  Even though it was quite a trek, I’m so glad we walked because we got to get a behind the scenes look at the marathon!

      

Soldier Field (right outside the expo)

Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park

Fountain in Millennium Park

And The Bean!

Favorite pictures of the whole trip!

Grabbed a cab and headed toward Navy Pier.  I have to admit, I wasn’t too impressed.  Yes, the view was spectacular, but I was expecting it to be more like Santa Monica pier in California.  It felt more like another street to walk down than a pier with the giant building on one side of you the entire time.

We decided instead of taking an architectural tour that we would just take the water taxi back to Union Station.  I loved all the big, beautiful buildings!

Chicago is ginormous compared to St. Louis.  It really puts our city into perspective.  There is so much to do and see in Chicago and we barely hit the surface.

We cannot WAIT to go back and visit when I don’t have a race planned so we can really enjoy the city as much as possible!

Thanks again to Julie + Matt for a great stay!  We are looking forward to our next trip back Chicago!

THE AFTERMATH
It’s 2 days after the marathon, and I am still pretty sore.  My calves are tight, making stairs difficult, but otherwise I’m feeling pretty good.  I am totally itching to run again, but 3 days of absolutely no exercise is just what my body needs right now.  But, I already have a fun run planned in about 5 weeks that I can’t wait for!