The Benefits of Eating Healthy

Every summer during college, John & I would have one goal. Become jacked and tan. It never happened, ever. With the start of the 2018, I come with the same mission, become jacked and tan. Minus the tan part and more of just get back in shape instead of jacked, but you get the point. Now before we start, be sure to check out the Vlog from January!

After our Snowy New Year, Rachel and I headed back to Chicago with some new years goals. Rachel somehow convinced me to do the Whole30 diet again with her this year. This time we are going all in. No alcohol for January, and only healthy, all natural foods.

Before we dive into it, I would like to add to my jacked and tan story from late high school/college. I'll have it known that John and I were working out two, sometimes three times a day. And we were tanning in between those workout sessions.  So despite consistently working out, we never seemed to have a lot of muscle growth. I am going to say that we failed our mission because of one thing, our diet. I now realize the root of the issue was our food intake. I would slam candy (as I was the king of candy) and not eating all that healthy. My diet was made up of burgers, pasta, fried chicken patties, pizza, ramen, pretzels, chips, candy and other foods relatively low in protein, high in sugar, fat, and carbohydrates.

Fast forward 10ish years and here we are, January 2018. I am working out about 500% less, but my diet is 500% better. So what is the Whole30 diet all about you ask? Let me quickly go over what we can and cannot have. The quickest and simplest rule is that we can pretty much eat anything that is real and natural. Read up:

Things we CAN eat

• Meats (unprocessed of course)

• Fruits (in moderation, watch yo natural sugars)

• Veggies (includes potatoes, yum)

• Nuts & Seeds (no peanuts tho)

• Eggs (lots of eggs)

• Seafood (still not a huge fan, but gotta dive in)

• Coffee (black with no additives, luckily I don't personally drink coffee anyway)

Things we CANNOT eat

• Dairy (no milk, butter, or cheese)

• Grains (no rice, quinoa, corn, or wheat)

• Alcohol (ya booze ya lose)

• Legumes (can't eat beans unfortunately)

• Added Sugar (no honey, maple syrup, stevia, etc)

• Processed foods (check the label, don't recognize it? don't have it)

• Junk foods (don't recreate bad foods out of good foods, ex: cauliflour pizza)

On top of this healthy diet which has really turned me around, we have started to workout. Every Friday after work, Rachel and I have been attending Orange Theory Fitness. These hour long classes involve 25 minutes of treadmill (cardio) and 25 minutes of free weights combined with rowing. Plus 10 minutes of warmup/stretching. I usually try to push myself pretty hard in these classes and enjoy the set up of the workout. If you are not motivated or capable of making your own circuit workout plan, these classes are great! And if you care about tracking your heart rate, they do a fantastic job as well. I'm not too concerned about knowing if I am in the "orange zone" by working hard. I either am going hard or I am not. One of my complaints about Orange Theory is their lockers are at the main entrance, so you can't really change unless you go into the bathrooms which are just bathrooms. Kind of a weird setup. My only other complaint is the price, but it is pretty standard for a group type of class I guess. Depending on your plan it is either $25 or $20 per class. Great workouts that really get me working out my legs more than ever before. Good start to the January weekends.

The next morning on Saturdays, we have been getting beat down at Alana's Sculpt class at Corepower Yoga with Torie. (I have been doing these classes since late 2015 in prep for the Wedding). This is by far the hardest workout I have ever done. I think mostly because of the heat. It is so hot in the room, must be 90+, pushing 100 degrees I'll say, that sometimes my lungs feel restricted and it is super hard to breathe. This along with the constant movements and no "breaks" that Alana "gives" is a recipe for a beatdown. I sweat an insane amount, soaked through my shirt & dripping from my arms, often shaking in my boots from the exercises (updogs, downdogs, squats, pushups, curls, shoulder press, kickbacks, lunges, abs & more!). Rachel, Torie & I usually post up at the front of the class, which is nice because I get to look directly at myself in the mirror, but also a pressure since everyone can watch me.  I am one of the few males in the class, which can often be embarrassing when I am laying on the ground in pain as everyone else continues to workout (this only happened a few times I swear). Again my complaint is the price, depending on your plan it is either $25 or $20 per class. After class I often bond with the other males in the locker room since there are only a few of us and we talk about how grueling the class is. I've run into other lax bros too many times. 

The combo of eating healthy (Whole30) and working out on Friday (Orange Theory) and Saturday (Core Power) has resulted in some amazing changes and advantages in my life throughout the month of January. 

Josh's Benefits of Eating Healthy & Working Out

• Better overall health (immune system)

• Woke up feeling good with plenty of energy

• Able to focus and get more stuff done throughout the day

• Better poops. You heard that right. Poop!

• Lost 10 lbs somehow

• Tighter muscles and body with less fat

• Strongest leg muscles since college

• Saved dat $$ by not drinking or going out to eat (Hundreds of $)

Rach's Key Benefits from Eating Healthy

• Handled stress better

• Less tired, more consistent energy levels

• Never feeling bloated

Now I am not going to lie and say this diet (lifestyle change) wasn't hard at times. Whether it was wanting to eat some pizza, having to spend a ton more time on grocery shopping and cooking, or feeling tired and weak by being deprived of sugar throughout the first two weeks. We battled through the challenges and made it the entire 30 days without cheating once. Winners! My final tip is that you need to eat A LOT more than you think you do when doing this diet. You'll eat more than you normally do, and more often during the day because all this healthy food does not fill you up as quickly as the junk food we normally eat. If you don't eat enough (which I didn't plenty of times) you will lack energy and feel tired. You need to eat fat and a good amount of it for energy. Bacon was key for me on this diet. Mmm bacon. We hope to continue this lifestyle for a majority of our weeks ahead. Let's say maybe 5/7 days to start? 

Meanwhile, here are some other notable events that took place in January.

Wednesday January 3rd, 2018 I went to Mariano's for the first time ever with Beth. It was an alright grocery.

Saturday January 6 - Yoga and Ashley's bday in Lockport (we managed to not drink at a bar!)

Sunday January 7th - Lunch with Grandpa Bob, Mom, Dad, & Beth at Lou Malnatis in Chicago (we managed to not eat pizza at a pizza place!)

Wednesday January 10th - Company Holiday lunch at Capri Sogno in Plainfield (I managed not to get pasta at an Italian pasta place!)

Saturday January 13th - Play settlers of catan at Torie and Tim’s with Rachel, Torie, Tim, Brian, & Megan (Torie was sweet enough to get us berries & grapes for dessert!)

Friday January 19th - I attended a concert at Lincoln Hall and saw Ron Gallo, Yoko and Oh Noes, & Dianne Coffee (managed not to drink)

Monday January 22nd - Orange Theory on my own, I walked to and from, checking out Rach's old apartment in Old Town on the walk home

Wednesday January 24th - The iconic Rock and Roll McDoanld's on Ontario is being torn down! A symbolism of McDonalds in my life? I haven't had McDonald's in all of January and February in 2018. Go ahead and see the Last time I was at this McDonalds it was a stop on a Trolley

Friday January 26th - My last Orange theory fitness class - Beth comes over and we watch Lonely island videos all night.

Saturday January 27th - Core power Sculpt with Rach & Torie again. Did a face mask thing. That night Rachel and I go out to eat at Prime Bar. Then see Beautiful: Carole King the Musical at the Cadillac Palace. Fantastic show about an amazing woman who wrote so many famous songs like The Loco-Motion and Some Kind of Wonderful.

On Wednesday January 31st I wokeup at 530a to photograph the Super Blue Blood Moon and Lunar Eclipse. This was the first time this has happened since 1866. Unfortunately we didn't get the blood part since it’s too bright out in Chicago. I was able to see the blood moon part via NASA satellite. See the mornings events in photos below.

Thursday February 1st was the last day of the diet. The Whole 30 diet is over and Rachel was sweet enough to get me some whisky and we celebrated with tacos. Basically Whole30 compliant still!

TV Show of the Month: Black Mirror Season 4 (available on Netflix). Quality show that requires no previous episodes to be seen.

Song of the Month: Vince Staples, Big Fish - Great beat with some poppin' lyrics - It's rap

Before I head out I want to let everyone know I watched 16 of Emma Stone's movies in January and wrote a blog about it. I think everyone should go read that blog and attempt to eat healthy at some point this year. Even if it just for the week days, anything will help with your overall health.  I am excited for the upcoming months and lacrosse season. See ya there!

Josh

Beginnings and Endings

First blog with the new format, which means I will only be covering larger events that happened during February. Let's start it off with Thursday February 2nd when Dario came to work and we strung up a Mikey Powell Voyce, McDonald's themed stick. Hot. Off to a great start of covering only larger events.

That night I picked up Rachel, Torie, and Nikki from Alex's place in Andersonville and drove everyone home. Chauffeur status.

The next day on Friday February 3rd, our new couch arrived and the guys who delivered it were so nice they helped me take down the old one to the garbage. Later that day I heard the garbage truck out the window and was able to capture the final moments the couch had before being violently crushed. Check out the Vlog to see it! During the day I watched the movie Crimson Peak directed by Guillermo Del Toro. A solid and spooky film. I met up with Rachel for dinner that evening at Hopcat where we enjoyed some pizza and beer. That night we watched the movie Groundhogs day, in honor of groundhogs day. I can't recall if I had actually seen this Bill Murray classic, but it was pretty funny. Check it on Netflix.

On Saturday February 4th, Rachel and I enjoyed steak lettuce wraps before meeting up with John, Melissa, and Beth at Begyle Brewing in Ravenswood. After enjoying a brew at Begyle, we walked down the street to Dovetail brewing and had a drink there as well. Cool little microbreweries right in the middle of a neighborhood. We finished the night off at Fountainhead, which is a restaurant/bar near where Beth lives that has a huge list of beers and liquors. I went with a whiskey flight for the end of the night. We stopped at Beth's place for a little bit before finally heading back to our place at 1:30a. John and Melissa slept over. Funny thing about this whole event was that Torie and Tim went to the same Breweries earlier in the day and we had no idea. Great minds think alike.

We began the next day, Sunday February 5th with a few breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds to enjoy our hangout session. Later that day, after prepping some food for our SuperBowl party, we headed to Mary and Jeff's for puppy bowl. It was the last time we were going to see Michele and Jordan for some time, as they will be moving to Dallas soon. After the hanging for the puppy bowl and saying our goodbyes to Michele and Jordan, we headed back to our place for the Super Bowl. Brian, Megan, Rachel's parents and Beth all came over for the game. The first half included the Falcons absolutely dominating and mostly everyone being happy. Beth made cupcakes, we had chili cheese dip, cookies, veggies, and some other snacks as well. In the second half, we witnessed what was probably the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, as the Patriots won in overtime after tying the game in the final seconds. Very fitting for this year's sporting events, as we saw the Cavs comeback down 3 games to 1 against the Warriors in basketball. The Cubs comeback down 3 games to 1 against the Indians. And now the Patriots coming back down 28-3 with 2 minutes left in the third quarter. Sports can be amazing sometimes. Crazy.

Wednesday February 8th was a significant day, as I decided to shave my mustache. It was a great run of about 2 1/2 months with the stache. It will be back my friends. After shaving the mustache, I met up with  Rach and Becca at Benchmark for a couple of drinks in Old Town. We finished the night off at Angel's Burritos. Splitting a torta and quesadilla.

The following day Thursday February 9th I hit up Buffalo Wild Wings with a couple of my boys after work. Tasty and sweaty with the hot sauces.

Back to the weekend, Friday February 10th was another work from home. Around 5p I headed to Sarah and Colin's before heading to Lucky Strike to do some bowling for Alex's birthday. Bowling was fun, although in 2 hours we only got through about a game and quarter because there were 9 people in each lane, and I also bowled pretty terribly. But hey, bowling in the city! We grabbed some dinner at Chipotle after bowling and my stomach was super upset. Since I was in so much pain, I ended up catching the bus home, while Rachel stayed out with friends. Dumb stomach.

My stomach was feeling better the next day on Saturday February 11th. That night Rachel and I took an Uber over to Becca's for her going away party. She is moving to Arizona for a new job! After playing a few games with friends at her place, we headed out to the River North club, "Untitled." But unfortunately while I was waiting in line, they pulled me aside and said I was not allowed in because I was wearing white gym shoes. We tried to plead the case that it was Becca's last night and seriously? But no luck, so screw that place and we headed to Moe's Cantina instead. The night was super fun, but it is sad to say goodbye to another friend. Becca to Arizona, while Michele and Jordan are off to Texas. Looks like we have some new places to visit in the fall!

The next night, Sunday February 12th, I drove up to Evanston to catch the Robert Ellis (and Jenny O) show at Space in Evanston. Pretty dope and tiny venue in the back of a restaurant. I met John and Melissa there, and also met a coworker of John's as he came to the show with his girlfriend too. Robert Ellis provided an awesome and comical show. He was wearing a NASA space themed suit to fit the venue and he played the guitar like a champ. After the show we met him and talked about seeing him open for Deer Tick in 2013, as well as seeing him at Ancora Coffee in Madison in summer of 2015. He was a really nice and chill guy, very humble. After the show we parted ways and called it another successful weekend. I'll hopefully have his whole show up here (link soon).

February 15th was my Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday dad! My mom won my niece and nephew $10k for their school. Here is a picture of my mom accepting a thank you card from the class. Nice work mom!

On Friday February 17th, I picked Rachel up from work and we met my parents out at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. I had the ultimate nacho burger and a beer. Tasty. We hung out with my parents back at their house until about 11p, calling it a night.

The next morning, Saturday February 18th, I broke out my lacrosse ball collection, which has grown quite large over the years, in preparation for the 2017 season. Then around 11a we headed down to Kankakee to visit Rachel's grandpa. After an enjoyable lunch visit with Grandpa, we drove to my Grandma's to visit for dinner. She made my favorite for dinner, roladan. Yummm. We drove back to Chicago that night and hung out with Beth at our place.

Beth slept over that night, so the next morning Sunday February 19th, I drove her home before spending the early afternoon editing The Weeks concert I attended last February.

Valentine's Day was up on us. Rachel and I started our date night by going to see the new 50 Shades Darker movie. After the movie we headed over to Geja's Cafe Fondue restaurant in Lincoln Park. The dinner was by far the best food we have had since the honeymoon! Everything at this restaurant was fondue style. The actual start was a small garden salad, but that didn't include any fondue so let's skip ahead... So we started off with a cheese fondue accompanied by bread and fruit. The warm cheese on top of the fruit and bread was sooo rich and tasty. After the appetizer, we were brought out the main course. A platter of raw meats that we would cook ourselves in our boiling pot of soybean oil. Chicken, steak, lobster, scallops, and shrimp. Each had a specific time you would cook it for on your fondue stick and it was so succulent and tasty. My favorite was the lobster, just so damn good. The main course also came out with veggies like mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, and onions. After taking our time and enjoying all of the delicious meat, we were brought out the dessert fondue. Hot melted chocolate to dip our pineapple, apples, bread, bananas, and of course, marshmallows. After the best meal we have had in six months, we walked over to the J Parker rooftop bar at the top of the Lincoln Hotel. It wasn't a typical February day, so the rooftop was open and Rachel and I headed out to sit by the fire looking out at the city. We met some people from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Texas while we enjoyed a drink on the rooftop. What a great way to close out an amazing Valentine's Day. I love my wife Rachel!

We took the next day off of work, President's Day, Monday February 20th. My mom had won us 2 tickets to the Auto Show and Rachel and I had never been before, so we decided to check it out. I had also never been to McCormick place, despite driving under it almost every day. We took the "L" there and went straight for the Honda section. The new CRV and the new HRV were looking pretty cool. It is funny, we walked around the auto show looking at all the midsize SUVs as if we were planning for a family soon. Not quite yet, but we learned a great amount about the new vehicles of 2017 including the 3rd row seating that can be folded down, as well as the entire roof being glass in the back of some of the cars. We walked around pretty much the entire auto show for about 3 hours. It was a fun experience and I think we would do it again next year! Favorite cars were the Honda Pilot and Nissan Pathfinder. Can you guess who liked which?

We took an Uber home from the Auto Show and decided to get some Lou Malnati's pizza for dinner. We were planning on starting a new diet on this day, but chose to push it back by one more day.

The new diet began on Wednesday February 22nd. Rachel and I will be doing the Whole 30 diet which is a 30 day "cleanse". The diet basically prevents us from eating unhealthy carbs and anything processed. No bread, no dairy, no pasta, no rice, no beans for some reason, no artificial sugars, no chips, no pretzels, basically no snacking at all. So what can we eat? Meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Seems like it may be doable. 

Saturday February 25th Alex came over for Turkey Burgers (no bun of course, new diet) before we walked over to Matt and Caitlin's place for Matt's birthday. We played a fun game that connects to your phone called Quiplash before Rachel and I headed back home around midnight. Also be sure to check out The Weeks concert I went to on this day one year ago! Finally got around to finish editing it.

Rachel and I drove over to Beth's on Sunday February 26th for the Academy Awards. Beth made a tasty chili for us, as well as Austin, Christine, and Shanna. The awards were mostly going to LaLa Land, as they had a record tying 14 nominations. Rachel and I were getting pretty tired near the end of the night, this new diet is really throwing us off as we don't have a ton of energy, so we headed back to our place. The craziest part of the night was when they announced LaLa Land as the best picture. There was quite the delay before the award was announced, as the guy presenting the award seemed a little unsure if he was reading it right. The cast and crew came on stage and began giving their acceptance speeches. About 2 minutes in to this, someone grabbed the microphone and said, "Moonlight, come up here, you won best picture." And all of sudden the best picture belonged to Moonlight. What a turn of events! The guy who announced the award then explained how he delayed presenting it because it said, "Emma Stone, LaLa Land." Which was the winner of the award directly before Best Picture. They somehow gave him the same envelope. Mad confusion, but understandable on how this greatest mishap in Oscars history came to be. Good night!

The lacrosse season has officially begun. Monday February 27th was the first day of Cats Tryouts. This years tryout was about 50 degrees warmer than it was last year. It was about 50 degrees out and actually quite nice. We will be doing most of our practices at North Central College before we can use the grass fields. The squad is very talented this year and I believe will do big things. Excited for it all to come together. The focus is for practices to be at a faster pace, since I am officially now the 2nd longest tenured Coach in Neuqua history. Pretty crazy. They have had about 13 straight years of 1 and done coaches. I had 4 coaches when I was there, the guys after me did, the guys after them did, but I am back for a second straight season, making me the first back to back head varsity coach since 2003-2004. Let's do it. Go Cats.

I hope you enjoyed this new blog/vlog. Although now that I am done I realize it is very similar to the old format. Probably unrecognizably different to most. We will see what March brings, as I may change up the format once again. 

Let's do it!

Josh

New Year, Same Me

With a new year will come a new blog and vlog format. Starting in February, I will be picking a topic for each month and focusing on that for my blogs. I am going to no longer talk about how I worked, slept, or ate food each day. I will still have days of significance blogged and vlogged about, however will be cutting out the day to day basics that have so pleased all of you for the past 2 years or so. 

For those interested in my day to day life, you are in luck, as this blog will still be formatted as that. Now let me tell you about how January, the first month of the new year, which resulted  in me doing and being the same me. 

The year 2017 technically started at the Corona Beach House, but you already know that.

The first morning of 2017, Sunday January 1st, Rachel and I awoke to John already being gone. We saw Beth off and grabbed an Uber to hit up the Shedd Aquarium by 11 am. On this day, my brother in law, Rob, would be proposing to his girlfriend Katie. Rachel and I met up with Rachel's parents, and Katie's mom once we were inside the Shedd. We found a spot camped out above the Otter area. After waiting for what seemed like hours, Rob and Katie finally strolled in to view the otters. I snapped photos and Rachel took a video as Rob got down on one knee and proposed to Katie. She said yes! Congrats to Rob and Katie and Happy Wedding planning! 

After we took some photos around the shedd of the newly engaged couple, we headed back to Rob and Katie's place and had a little party for them. Their friends came over and we all hung out chatting and enjoying the pleasant day. We got some pizza for dinner later that evening, and ended up hanging at their place until 1am or so. Drinking and stuff. You know how it is. We grabbed and Uber home. What a way to start the year! 

The next day Monday, January 2nd, I had the day off, and so did Rachel. We relaxed and chilled until making a homemade chicken pot pie for dinner. Yum.

On Tuesday January 3rd, I didn't have to work until noon, and someone had interest in purchasing our leather couch with the recliners. They came and picked up and paid. Great success! Back to working after that. 

We had our work holiday lunch at Dario's restaraunt Capri Sogno in Plainfield on January 4th. Everyone ended up ordering the same thing, Dario suggested, Rigatoni Vita Mia. Delicious.

On Thursday January 5th, after a long days work, I headed to Target where I ran into my cousin John. He gave me the grand tour and led me on my shopping trip. Good to catch up!

As I worked from home on Friday January 6th, or new couch was delivered. Rachel did an amazing job picking it out. It looks amazing. We had a little date night as I made some blue apron burgers and we watched tv. 

The next morning, Saturday January 7, I had to coach in the burbs. Once back in the city Rachel and I went to a Yoga Sculpt class. Kicked my butt as usual. We hung out at our place until later that evening around 7 when we caught a bus down to Sarah and Colin's for Colin's surprise Bday party.  Sarah did a great job planning it as Colin was super surprised when he arrived home. The party was fun and they have a super cute dog named Russell. When we were leaving, we decided to visit Rachel's work for some reason. She gave me a tour at 1am. 

The next day on Sunday January 8th, I really did nothing but hang out and chill all day. I went and watch the Cat's have their first indoor winter training that night. Lazy sunday. 

I spent the evening of Monday January 9th at my parents house. After working late, I headed over there to catch the second half of the National Championship game. What an amazing game. Clemson ended up beating Alabama by scoring with 4 seconds left. An instant classic!

Tuesday January 10th had me working late and eating shrimp for dinner.

I was able to check out the Cats storage locker on Wednesday January 11th as Beth and I pulled some jerseys out of storage and I inventoried for the upcoming season. They still have our jerseys from my sophomore season 2005 and the JV team still currently wears the jerseys from my senior season, 2007. Vintage stuff. I had to work late again that evening, seeming to become a thing..

To no one's surprise I had to work late on Thursday January 12th. I did some shopping at Jewel after and ended up finding an insane deal on pork. These pork roasts were on sale for $0.99 a pound. So I got 13 pounds of pork for $13. Quite the deal. I enjoyed a pasta dinner when at home around 10:30p thanks to Wifey. What a lady.

Friday the 13th of January, spooky scary. I started to watch this new show called The Magicians and loved it! Aly also loaned me the book, The Hard Hat, by Jon Gordon. It was a short but very inspirational read. I suggest anyone who can get their hands on it to give it a read. Made me tear up at times, and it is focused on lacrosse.

While I was working from home that day I also fired up some pork carnitas in the crock pot. 

Around 6p, I met Beth, Brian, Megan, Alyssa, and Chris at Whole Foods for their 5 at 5 wine tasting night. Unfortunately Rachel was stuck at work and not able to join. The wine tasting was clutch as always, although I think 4/5 wines were red, maybe all of them even. Still solid.

After the tasting I invited everyone back to our place for dinner. We did have 5 pounds of pork carnitas cooking in the crock pot. We grabbed some beverages on our way back and once back at our place, Rachel was there and prepped the taco toppings for everyone. We all ate and then ended up chatting, hanging out, and playing Cards Against Humanity until 1am. Thanks to everyone for coming over and making the night so fun!

The next morning was a little rough. I had to wake up at 7:30a on Saturday January 14th and head to work. After work I went to Men's Warehouse and bought my first navy suit. I only have ever bought 1 other suit, and that was for Adam's Wedding. Supposedly I got a good deal, but who knows? I picked up some Potbelly for lunch before heading back into the city. Once back, Rachel and I watched 2 episodes of the Man in the High Castle. A dramatized TV show about what life would be like if the Germans won WWII. I spent some time with Rachel before heading over to Grant's place around 7p. Rachel's cousins were coming over for a night out in the city for Kelly's 21st as well. Grant and I chatted and played some video games at his new place, which was very nice. I had a few scotches, as well as 5 of the double IPA Stone IPAs I brought. Did not plan on drinking almost all of them, but that happens sometimes. We headed out to meet up with some of his buddy's at Blarney Stone in Wrigley. The bar was pretty lame, and after 2 beers we decided to call it a night. This is where things got real interesting for me. 

Usually when I leave a place late at night, Rachel and I help each other get home. She was out with her cousins, so that wouldn't be happening this time. Blarney Stone was on Clark, just over a mile North of where we live, so I thought it would be a good idea to walk home. Little did I know I would stray off the straight path, it would take me over an hour to go home, I would end up in the middle of a park entirely lost, and I would snap about it. But at the end of the night, I made it home and was in bed by 2:30am. I was greeted by 3 screaming ladies a few hours later around 6am when Kelly, Amanda, and Rachel all finally arrived home. Late night for everyone!

I was ready for another lazy Sunday. Which is why January 15th was my second lazy Sunday in a row. Sleep and rest all day.

I spent my Monday January 16th, MLK day, coaching a lax tournament all day. That evening we made some homemade burritos, with carnitas of course. I ate two of them while Rachel and I watched the old classic film Gigi. The plot was kinda weird, as a full grown man falls in love with a 15 year old girl basically. It was fine during the times I guess? We watched a few episodes of the Magicians to close out the night. Love that show.

Tuesday January 17th involved another pork burrito for dinner. I also watched the Simpsons lax episode which had came out earlier in 2016. Pretty hilarious and spot on with some of the lingo and stereotypes.

It was also on this day that I learned the very sad news that Robbie Crowell has left Deer Tick. This is a huge loss for the live shows as he played the sax and the keys, especially during mange, my favorite jam sesh song that includes a long Robbie Tick solo on the keys. We will miss you brother! Best of luck with whatever you are doing and hope I'll see ya touring in the Chicago area soon with someone!

Believe it or not, I had pork for lunch again on Wednesday January 18th. I think I am starting to feel ill from it all. I ended up working later than expected. Surprise surprise, and then decided to spend the night at my parents. We enjoyed a French Silk Pie for dessert to celebrate Beth getting a new job in the city. Congrats Beth! Be sure to catch up on her Blog here... I finally got around to it and it is some quality material!

On Thursday January 19th, I ate a Patelli's chicken sandwich for lunch and had to work late once again. I was able to pick up Rachel and Torie on my way home as they were leaving a get together. Back at our place, our new rug should finally be here! And it was here, but it was literally outside of our lobby. Sitting in the pouring rain, and it had been all day. Seriously? Complaint headed their way.

I worked from home on Friday January 20th. After work Rach and I headed to Whole Foods for another 5 after 5 wine night with Brian, Megan, Torie, Tim, Chuck, and Julie this time. We decided to have everyone over again. With no pork on hand, this time the ladies went to Del Seoul and picked up gourmet tacos for dinner as the boys went to the liquor store and picked up some beers. After dinner we played "Adult Question" the game and as we were playing Aly stopped by. We had fun playing the adult question game, until eventually we switched to Cards Against Humanity. Everyone ended up being over a little past 1am again, before we headed to bed. Another fun night. Whole Foods 5 after 5 sure does get ya.   

I of course had to go to work the morning of Saturday January 21st. Rachel and her friends all went to a Women's March in downtown Chicago. I picked up some Wing Stop wings for lunch in the burbs and was home back to the city by 4:30p. That night I finished season 1 of The Magicians. I highly suggest it as season 2 has just began on SyFy, but season 1 is on Netflix. I spent some time consolidating my movies and sending a few hundred home to my parents for now. Rachel made a succulent chicken pesto pasta for dinner, so good. We cleaned and organized before heading to bed that night. 

My lazy sunday theme continued on Sunday January 22nd. I watched a couple episodes of the Netflix show Sense8, the movie 10 Cloverfield Lane, an episode of the netflix show Lemmity Snicket. Rachel made us some salmon for dinner. 

Monday and Tuesday January 23rd and 24th involved mostly work. I slept at my parents on the 24th. On Wednesday January 25, Beth's last day at 1223, we went to get wings for lunch at Draft Picks. Best of luck with the new job Beth! I'll miss ya! Another day of work on Thursday the 26th. 

I worked from home on Friday January 27th, watched the movie 33, about the 33 Chilean Miners who got caught underground in 2010. I met up with Rachel for a sculpt class. It kicked my booty. I had to leave the class and sit down at some points. Probably dehydrated. It was so hot. Rachel and I hang out at our apartment after the class and I fall asleep early around 10:30p

Another early morning on Saturday January 28th, after work I picked up my suit, did some shopping, came home and redecorated our apartment with Rachel. Our new new rug finally came, so we laid that down, we also rearranged the furniture. Rob and Katie come over around 9p. I made baked mastacholi for dinner and we ate around 11p. I also made a tasty oreo cookie pudding pie. We somehow ended up being up until 4:45am. Late night!

On this lazy Sunday, January 29th, I chilled at home until heading to the burbs around 1pm. We had a Top Golf event with the Cats. I hit some golf balls, ate lots of food, and had fun with the boys and some of the other coaches. When I arrived back to city, I had more pie while watching Zoolander 2, Episode 1 of season 2 of the Magicians, and Crooked Arrows.

The last two days of January, Monday the 30th and Tuesday the 31st were spent working, eating, and drinking, just like the rest of January was. I guess you can sum the start of 2017 up with one statement, it is a new year, but the same me. Let's see if I can make some changes starting in February.

Before heading out, check out a few of these cool links/videos.

See the most popular baby names in America over the past 100 years

See ya in February. Not entirely sure what the topic of focus will be yet.

Josh