Happy St. Practice Day!

I had never heard that expression before, but in the midst of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day one day early I saw a sign saying that today was St. Practice Day and tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day!  Meaning that the real fun doesn’t begin until tomorrow, and today we are merely “practicing” for tomorrow.

Today was a full day, so I will start at the very beginning.

Workout

I woke up bright and early this morning to go workout at Butler’s facility.  I am going to begin teaching classes there as a substitute, and when I met with Beth, the woman in charge of the group fitness program, she gave me a free day pass to the facility since I don’t currently have a gym membership anywhere.  As much as I love running outside in the beautiful weather, I was super pumped to head to the gym this morning and pump some iron.

Since I haven’t been able to do a weights routine each day focusing on a different muscle group, I did a total body weights routine this morning.

After completing the total body weights I then did 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical while watching my favorite news program, The Today Show!  I wasn’t able to watch The Today Show the entire time that I was on the cruise, so it was a real treat to be able to watch it this morning.

Breakfast

I then came home to get ready for the day.  Brian and I had some friends over for a St. Patrick’s Day pancake breakfast before we headed to the Indianapolis St. Patrick’s Day parade.

I tried to get creative and make my pancakes look like shamrocks…but they didn’t turn out so well.  Luckily, they tasted good!!

We also had a tasty fruit salad with organic apples, frozen blackberries, and frozen strawberries.

I also tried to make the pancakes green, but the grocery store was completely out of food coloring so I purchased some green decorating gel with high hopes that it would turn the pancake batter green.  Unfortunately, the pancakes did not turn colors 🙁  At least I tried!

We then headed outside to walk from the apartment to meet Brian’s parents at the parade, and we noticed that the canal by our house was died completely green!

We then arrived at the parade and Brian’s mom had extra festive goodies for us to wear including necklaces, hats, and flags…she is never unprepared when it comes to a theme or a holiday!

When the parade began, the Indianapolis Police Department rode in a synchronized fashion with Indianapolis spelled out on the front of their motorcycles.  How cool!!

The parade was full of St. Patrick’s Day and Irish themed music, outfits, and dancing.  It was a great way to spend the morning.

After the parade, we headed to a German bar called the Rathskellar to enjoy the sunshine and a couple of drinks.

The afternoon was perfect!  We came back from the Rathskellar and because it was so warm outside Brian, Maelyn, and I decided to lay out and bask in the sun.  Seriously, I can’t believe that the weather is like 80 degrees in March in INDIANA!  This never happens.

While we were laying out, another one of our friends, Caitlin, joined us and I noticed that Caitlin, Maelyn, and me all have the same water bottle!  What are the odds of that?!

Once the shade overtook our sunny spot on the grass, we decided it was time to pack up and head inside for dinner.  I quickly thawed some wild-caught cod from the grocery and prepared a little salad of cucumber, tomato, onion and white wine vinegar.  The cod cooked up in the oven in no time and before I knew it dinner was ready!

Now, Brian and I are watching the new show Fashion Star before we read some of the Hunger Games.  We have been reading it together the past couple of nights before bed, and we are totally hooked on the book!  We just have to finish it before the movie comes out.

Happy St. Practice Day!