That Time I Almost Blew Away...

…no really!  I almost blew right away on the mean streets of Chi-Town yesterday.  More on my Dorothy experience in a bit.  I haven’t done the WIAW Rodeo in a bit so I figured I’d give it a go since I’ve got some out of the norm things to share as I’m on the road.

Thanks as always to Jenn from Peas & Crayons for hosting the link up

Tuesday morning I had just enough time to get in a workout back on “home turf” before my flight left.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t forgot numerous times what number of each round of sprints I was on so I’m fully convinced I did way more than the program.  Apparently I need to get with THE program & figure out how to count or bring a pen & paper with me.

Once I was home I kicked-back a nice cocktail of ACV & Emergen-C.  I swear by the C when I travel for keeping germs at bay.  Paired with ACV & you can mask the taste of that nasty lovely ACV stuff!

Promptly followed by more liquid, a ton of water & buckets o’ coffee with coconut milk —

After I scurried to shower & finish tossing shit in my suitcase packing, I enjoyed slammed breakfast, a sweet breakfast scramble, in this hot mess — a banana, heaping scoop of pumpkin, 1 egg, almond butter, cinnamon & some cottage cheese to top it all off (sorry for the crappy/ugly pic, I swear it was tasty!) –

The STL Airport was a joke yesterday morning & totally full of nonsense.  Somehow I managed to have the most ghetto experience ever get some coffee at Starbucks, Blonde Roast with some Cinnamon Dolce syrup for the short jaunt to Chicago —

Once I landed I grabbed a taxi & headed to the convention center to setup.  This is where I get into it with the cabbie, he was trying to tell me where I needed to go which was NOT in fact where I needed to go, I ended up yelling at him directions to get me to, what do you know, EXACTLY where I needed to go.  What a miracle! In between shouting directions, I scarfed a Lara Bar for sustenance in my battle.

I ended up slinging around our 450 lbs. of tradeshow equipment & setup in record time.  By the time I got into the city I was starving & headed to the 1st place I saw that looked like it would feed me decent.  It was 2pm before I got down to business with the Turkey Cobb Salad at Elephant & Castle.  Holy avocado & bleu cheese party!

The entire avocado tree, whole turkey & pound of bleu cheese fueled me up well for my afternoon tour of the Magnificent Mile.  Even though it was freezing, I managed to last about 3-hours walking around & ducking in & out of shops.  Short intermissions for a much needed mani (sausage fingers from the cold) —

Luckily the Ghiradelli store was nice & warm & offering samples.  Yes please!

Here’s where I almost lost my life blew away!  I was headed out of a store when I realized the reason I couldn’t open the door was not because of my weak sauce but because of the crazy wind.  Even with my full avocado, turkey, bleu cheese, chocolate filled bodyweight, I had a hell of a time opening that door!  Outside things weren’t much better, I had to put my full-force into walking forward, what a joke.  I decided to call it a wrap & head back to the hotel for a bit to get some work done.  Blah!

After working & thawing out, I resurfaced for dinner.  I was in the mood for something warm & noticed there was a Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion nearby.   Apparently I was also in the mood for a glass of Malbec to start the party —

The bartender who also had a mullet (let’s not dwell) kindly brought some edamame & crisps with peanut sauce to get me started —

And for dinner I opted for the “Seared Idaho River Trout with black radish, turnips, carrot, butternut squash & citrus mustard vinaigrette“.  The combo of the fish & root veggies sounded like a perfect comfort food for a chilly evening.

Ughhh, it was SO disappointing!  I ate it as I was too tired to protest & had already waited awhile.  Let’s just say I’m glad mullet man the bartender started with the edamame or I would’ve left hungry.  I didn’t stick around & hoofed it back through the cold to enjoy some dessert & Millionaire Matchmaker in the comfort of my hotel —

This morning I just wrapped up a workout in the dinky hotel gym & am enjoying some coffee before heading off to trade show hell city for the day!

I am contemplating strapping a dumbbell to myself for my short walk to the bus this morning!  Here’s to hoping the wind has died down & Toto & I don’t end up in Kansas!

What’s something awesome you’ve eaten this week?  Ever send food back at a restaurant because you were disappointed?  Happy Wednesday!