Long Weekend Recap

Ahhh, 3 day weekends.  How I love thee.  While I really like my job and the industry I work in, I do wish that I worked in an industry that allowed for alternative work schedules, like 4 10-hour days. But alas, that's not possible in the financial services world. But there are lots of other great things about the industry I work in (like getting bank holidays like yesterday off among many other things) so I guess I just have to accept that a flexible work schedule isn't one of them!  Here's how I spent my delightful long weekend!

On Friday night Phil and I met up with my running club training partner and her boyfriend at a sushi happy hour. We kind of had to rush to get there on time but it was nice to be home by around 7 pm as I struggle with late Friday nights!

On Saturday morning I woke up to bitterly cold weather. But since marathon training is starting soon, I forced myself to get up and join the club for my run.

-6F/-22C requires lots of layers.

So how does one dress for a run in -6F weather?  Layers.  Lots and lots of layers. I wore: 2 pairs of socks + toe warmers, running tights, my XC ski pants that block the wind, a base layer shirt, a fleece, a wind breaking jacket, mittens + hand warmers, a gaiter to keep my neck extra warm, a balaclava, and 2 layers of hats.  I actually was fairly comfortable during the run (or as comfortable as you can be in those kind of conditions) but I was very happy when my 7 mile run was done. The biggest thing that bothered me was my frozen eyelashes as they kind of made it harder to see at the end and just felt weird.

Post-run. Note the frozen eyelashes

Saturday afternoon was all about being productive so that I could relax a bit more on Sunday and Monday.  I spent a lot of time in the kitchen listening to podcasts as I prepped my salad of the week (Greek salad), made 2 dozen breakfast mini quiches...

and made a batch of granola.

Homemade granola is SO good!

Then I hung the medal rack that my parents gave me as part of my birthday gift!  I have been wanting one of these for a long time, so I am glad I finally have one!  It was nice to pull my medals out from the bins under my bed. It brought back a lot of memories to go through them all.

After that, I did my taxes, which is a chore that I really, really enjoy doing. I'm such a finance dork.  :)

On Saturday night, I went to church  and then met up with Phil at another couple's house for a game night/birthday celebration for me. They had picked up some delicious gluten free cupcakes which was a fun surprise!  We had a really fun night together and got to try a new game called Dixit, which is kind of like Apple to Apples but the cards have pictures instead of words. It was really fun!

On Sunday morning I went to yoga and got some things done around my house. I made these banana oatmeal muffins. They are fairly healthy and will make a good evening treat when I am craving something a little bit sweet.

On Sunday afternoon, after doing some prep work for the meal I was making for Phil for Valentine's Day, I headed back over to his place. Our Valentine's Day was very low key - we just stayed in and soaked up time with Oscar. She had been at his mom's for 2 weeks so we definitely missed her (but now his mom REALLY misses her!).

Oscar hopes your Valentine's Day was purrrrr-fect!

On Sunday night, I made this India Spiced Stew with Chicken and Potatoes, which Alli had recommended. It simmers for about 3 hours on the stove, but it's worth the wait! It was warm, savory, and delicious, so it was the perfect meal for a cold, snowy night! We ate dinner on the couch while watching the movie Recount on Amazon Prime.

On Monday morning, I woke up to much milder temperatures so I headed out for a run. It was 18F which felt amazing after my -6F run on Saturday!  I ran 5.5 miles along a creek and a lake in south Minneapolis. There was a section along the creek that had a bunch of ice sculptures along the path which were neat to see and a fun distraction!

On Monday afternoon, I picked up my nephews and we went to Dave and Buster's for a couple of hours. I hadn't seen them since Christmas so it was fun to get some time with them. I think this is our first aunt date outing that hasn't included a trip to a bookstore but it was fun to switch it up and do something different.

The rest of Monday was very relaxing and low key. I read, went to an awesome yoga class that was taught by my favorite instructor, and watched an episode of Gilmore Girls (I'm almost half ways through season 4). It was nice to end my productive weekend on a relaxing note!

What did you do this weekend?