Benefit, pedicure, park, and boot camp

Lots to cover because we've done a lot since Friday. Friday night, we went to ¡Ay Chiwowa! for an event to benefit Common Threads. David is on the board, and "Common Threads has been teaching children living in underserved communities how to cook wholesome, healthy meals in professional led, curriculum-based after-school programs for 10 years" (Straight from their website commonthreads.org). So it has an awesome purpose, and we had a fabulous time. We only had chips and salsa, so we went to Burger Joint afterwards. We all had burgers, um, of course. Chili cheese for me. I haven't eaten like that in a long time, and I was regretful. The four of us were enjoying our company sans kids for the night, though, and we laughed a lot.

Saturday morning, Jack skipped basketball because he wanted to watch Little Einsteins. Even though we explained that if he did that he wouldn't get to go to basketball, he still had an absolute meltdown when the show was over and we didn't let him go to basketball 20 minutes late. But then we all played outside, and he was fine. We did lunch and just relaxed. Liz and I met up for pedicures that afternoon. We had to make a later appointment, so we got tea at David's Tea, grabbed the boys some clothes at The Second Child, and scoped out Oh Olive. I really wanted straight dandelion root tea to get rid of my major salt retention from that chili cheeseburger, but they didn't have it straight. They did have a mix, though, and it still did the trick. Sweet. Our pedicures were great. I am so darn ticklish, and I almost kicked Angie in the head just getting in my chair. But those massage chairs are seriously awesome, and it was great getting pampered.

That night I made steak in the oven, smashed potatoes, and green beans using an herb mix I've never tried before: Herb de Provence. It is delicious. I've been using Fresh20 for most of our meals, and this week's meals were so good. Travis and I both loved our dinner.

Sunday morning we went to a different church because Willow was doing a service event that utilized the older kids' rooms. We went to Park Community Church. The children's ministry was nice. The music was very Nickelcreek-esque (love!). The sermon was straight from the scripture. We enjoyed it. We were home by 10:30 and had the rest of the day free. Last night we went to small group, which we had not been to since March, so it was refreshing to reconnect and plug in again.

Last but not least on the topic list is Boot Camp. Oh, glory. I am really sore, and today was just the intro/assessment. Liz and I met at Churchill Park in Bucktown for this boot camp that may kill us. The guy is nice, but he's not playing around. We did a 1-mile run for baseline time then push-ups to fail for baseline then a whole bunch of lunges, planks, push-ups, and other things that make me go "ow, ow, ow" with each step in this three story apartment. I'm excited to be doing it, but I am dreading tomorrow morning. Because he said, "this is nothing" at some point while my legs were trembling in a lunge. Fine. Bring it.

So that's about it on my exhausted recap.

Here's one of my favorite photos ever ever ever. Because these are my favorite moments.