Day in the life of Xaarlin, Saturday edition.

Couldn't resist making a "Day in the Life" post because so many others are doing it today, and because last Saturday was so crazy!

5am: wake up hit snooze x20, piss off L.

6am: get up and go to the gym. But first take a photo of the gorgeous sunrise.

6:22am: Run 3 fast miles.

Photo from another run where I was goofing around.

6:45am: take a shower, have a coffee and quickly get ready.

7:25am: leave with CB for his vet appointment.

7:35am: CB decides he doesn't want to go to the vet and stops half way on our walk/run and wont budge. People begin to wonder if I've stolen my own dog due to his resistance for going on a walk with me.

7:40am: We finally get to the vet and he backs out of his leash and starts running around the parking garage.

7:45am: I corral CB and we go into the vet and find a long line. I appreciate the time the vet techs/office staff spend checking in each pet to listen to our issues etx. Luckily it moves fast enough.

8:00am: I run home one mile from the vet in jeans.

8:10am: I eat a ham egg and cheese croissant in record time.

8:20am: We leave for the train. (Because I worked out late, and because I left late to the vet, I was thinking we would miss the train)

8:40am: after a brief hustle to the train, we are seated comfortably.

10am: arrive Gary Indiana and walk to the 18th street brewery.

10:10am we start waiting in line for the 2 hours until the brewery opens. We were there for their special release of Hunter Coconut stout. <Spoiler Alert: It was worth the wait>

11:15am: still waiting in line. The vet calls and we discuss our next steps with CB. He has been drinking too much water for the past few weeks. No other symptoms. I agree to additional blood work to figure out what is causing him to drink every last drop.

11:30am: we are still freezing our asses off outside.

11:50am: The line starts to move and we can go inside and buy the Hunter Coconut.

11:55am: we buy our allotment of Hunter Coconut and find a seat to enjoy some beer!

11:59am: I buy a round of Hunter Coconut for L, my Daad and I so we don't have to open our bottles. It is delicious and chocolaty and coconuty and everything I had hoped it would be and more.

12:31pm: I drink a delicious Cone Crusher IPA from 18th Street

1:05pm: I go in line to buy another beer for my Daad and L.

1:06pm: I drink a Bitches Bank imperial stout from 18th Street. Man was this one delicious. Stout with cinnamon and other spices- almost reminded me of a boozy Mexican Hot Chocolate or mole in the best possible way.

1:15pm: I go use the rest room before hitting the train and take a photo of this sign.

1:20pm: we walk to the train

1:25pm: we get on the train.

2:47pm: we arrive Chicago

2:54pm: arrive Porkchop and get food.

3:24pm: arrive at my place, chill for a while.

5:15pm: leave to go pick up CB

5:30pm: go to Whole Foods.

5:38pm: go to the vet. Wait a very long time because the Vet was in a surgery. Speak to the vet for 10 minutes. Get some answers, get recommendations for more tests to find the underlying cause of the excessive drinking. Elevated kidney enzymes indicate the possible onset of early stage kidney disease or early stage kidney failure. Vet doesn't seem too concerned at the moment, so I breathe a sigh of relief- especially since CB has been acting normal- the only thing out of the ordinary was the excessive water consumption.

6:30pm: head home with CB.

7:00pm: Arrive home and chill the rest of the night.
9:18pm: While trying to go to sleep, I start crying thinking about how my dog will not live forever. And while there's no serious diagnosis, my mind goes to the worst. I start researching home remedies for kidney disease and info about changing his diet and go to bed because it's been a long day and I am drained emotionally and can't stay awake any longer.


WOW that was tiring to write.

And now that I've looked it over it was kinda boring and tedious to read. I must work on my day to day activities to make them more interesting for blog content. But, the more I think about it, This is a somewhat usual Saturday for me- minus the vet visit.
Until next time.

--Xaar

Happy 10th Birthday CB!

So today, January 15 is CB's birthday. I got him from the humane society in Greenville, SC when he was 10 weeks old. I counted back 10 weeks and 1/15/2005 became his birthday. Tonight we have some special celebrations planned.
The day CB came home with me, I remember like it was yesterday. I just don't remember him being so small and spunky. But I renamed him, because I could never have a "Rusty" in my house.
Full of awkward intensity since 2005.
After living briefly in South Carolina, we moved to Mexico for a few years. Then all the way to San Francisco. CB loved SF and running around Chrissy Field. We are convinced when he is dreaming, with paws twitching, that he is dreaming about running free in Chrissy Field.
In California, he also visited wineries.
In 2011, we moved to Chicago.Along the way we stopped at the oddities on route 66- such as the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX. He had a blast running around without his leash!
Sometimes he would even dress up to go to "work."
Other times, we weren't sure what he was up to.
He experienced his first blizzard in 2011, and has pretty much hated the snow ever since.
He never likes to cuddle.And always shakes off after I scratch him.
He even has an imaginary friend....
He makes our small family complete.
And he brings me so much joy.
Seeing him happy melts my heart.
He's been my running buddy for a long long time.
He loves Fido to Go and "helping"out in the truck sometimes.
We cannot wait for Frisbee season again.
I seriously cannot believe I've had CB for almost 10 years, almost a 3rd of my life.
Happy Birthday little bear dog! I love you!

2014: All the stats!

2014 surprised me- in regards to working out. While I ran 581 miles less than last year, I cycled a lot and added swimming to the mix. I worked out a total of almost 12 days!

I am most surprised that I ran 161 times, averaged 45+ minutes and 5.29 miles each run. I really thought those numbers would be lower, but with Spring marathon training, it brought the numbers up.

I also spent 1.85 days of 2014 doing Physical Therapy. Not a surprise at all. But the time adds up quick.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I logged 544 beers in 2014, with 82% of them being unique check ins- beers I have not logged in the Untappd app since I started using it in late 2011- which is pretty much when I started getting into craft beer. I drank 448 unique beers that I've never had before in my life in 2014. Now many of those came from sharing bottles and sampling at beer festivals, I also actively seek out unique beers while at restaurants because it's super boring to me to have the same beer over and over again. There's so many amazing craft beers being brewed, I want to try as many as possible!
My "top" brewery of 2014 was BrewDog with 30 beers, followed closely by Goose Island with 25. I did drink a lot of BrewDog beer while at the BrewDog Bar in Sao Paulo in November, so it makes sense.

Here's a list of my most frequently checked into breweries:
I was not surprised at all to see that DIPA (Double IPA) and IPA's accounted for almost  25% of my beer consumed in 2014. Those generally make up my favorite beers to drink. I thoroughly enjoy Imperial/Double Stouts in the winter, so having those make up my 3rd most frequently checked in beer is no surprise. I am in love with sour beers, so for that to be 4th, is right where I expected. Now, as for 2015 resolutions, those aren't my jam. I don't believe in setting myself up for failure at the start of the year with a bunch of wishes or dreams just because the masses are doing it. (The difference between a goal and a wish is a goal has a plan.) I feel most "resolutions" are just wishes- to lose weight, to do this, to do that, but there's no plan in place to get to the destination (and not enough discipline to follow through). Asides, making goals or "resolutions" once a year is pretty sad. What about the other 364 days in the year to make a change? Every single day I'm evaluating and analyzing my life and how to make it even more amazing. I don't wait for things to come to me, I go out and make shit happen.

2014 was by far the best year for me, but I also said the same for 2013, 2012, you get the idea. I accept nothing less from my life.

2015 will be another amazing year, I have no doubt!