So..um..this is getting posted about a week late. Sorry guys. I hope you forgive me…and if you don’t it doesn’t really matter because I’m posting anyway.

So last week I hit up the festival (of course) in my hometown of Metamora…Old Settler’s Days!! It was super rainy and gross out.  Seeing all of the rides and tents standing in the rain made it a little sad.

Doesn’t that Cotton Candy stand look so sad and unmagical all dark and wet looking?

Anyway, we headed straight over to St. Mary’s food tent to grab some dinner.

I went the healthy route and got a tenderloin with cheese fries and a Diet Coke.

That is some serious festival food. And it tasted like magic! The only problem was finding a dry table for us to sit at…we found a cozy one between the housewives of Metamora (one was my old babysitter from the 90’s) and part of MTHS’s incoming freshman class (the braces and Aeropostle clothing gave their age away). Very entertaining either way you look at it.

My friends Jeff and Lindsey wanted some pie…so they each got a piece (Linds got apple and Jeff got cherry…I think) and I picked up a piece of rhubarb pie for my mom.

(Jeff LOVES getting his picture taken)

(So does Linds :))

After we ate we quickly walked around the square to see the booths–although most of the vendors were packing up. Of course we had to get a picture of old Abe!

We handled the rain for about 2.5 seconds and did what everyone in a small town does when there’s nothing else to do….go to the bar. We were lucky enough to catch the Scoreboard on it’s last night in operation.

And of course there was a band..

But shoot we were bored with the Scoreboard…it was too loud and the crowd seemed too old. Off to Home Turf!

Ahhh…much better! We were able to find a table, the beer was cheaper and I put 5 bucks in the jukebox… a mix of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jason Aldean, Fall Out Boy and Alkaline Trio played throughout the bar. (Yea, I choose that mix of jams..judge me)

After a couple rounds, we headed out to SUE’S PLACE–my favorite spot in Metamora.

At Sue’s there was even cheaper beer, more old high school friends and shuffleboard! Look at us just tossing money at the bartender…

This is pretty much the best group ever..

After Schertz and I dominated at shuffleboard, we walked alllll the way back through town to hit up Barbie’s…the final destination of a festival turned bar crawl! (This blog is making it look like I drink a lot…I don’t really…I mean, it all depends on your perspective…why am I trying to justify myself to you?)

Anyway, Barbie’s was hoppin’…. they even had karaoke and you know how Linds loves karaoke! Plus the DJ had lots of fun hats!

(I love the Angels–actually I love Santa Ana so therefore I also love the Angels)

I wish I remembered what Lindsey sang…I’m going to guess it was a show tune.

I think at this point it was about time for us to head back home… and I have no more pictures which means I have nothing else to write about. Oh and btw, I didn’t have my regular camera on this night so all of these photos were taken with my iPhone…not too shabby.

Anyway, I need a break from bars and festivals… I’ve got some other really fun stuff on deck for this week…yes, I actually planned out the next week so I won’t be such a slacker!

Happy 4th Peoria!

TP

Pssst!  I honestly have no idea how much I spent… it was a lot since I bank rolled Linds.

You thought I fell off the bandwagon, didn’t you? I didn’t… I just haven’t written about anything mainly because I’m lazy and partly because I wasn’t feeling creative or witty and reading a noncreative or witty blog just isn’t as fun. Anyway, last Thursday Lindsey and I hit up a few watering holes in Peoria Heights.

What started as one quick drink turned into a mini bar crawl. Linds and I first met up at Tavern on Prospect.

We ordered a drink while we discussed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

You can’t tell, but that little bowl is full of Gardetto’s–it was the perfect pairing with our brews. I got a Summer Shandy and Linds drank Sam Adams. To be honest, we weren’t really feeling the over 40 crowd at the Tavern…maybe it was too early in the night (7pm) or Thursday just isn’t a bumpin’ night for them…either way, we decided to roll out and head down the world’s most beautiful drive to Publik House (also located on Prospect, if you didn’t catch that).

I didn’t get any outside shots of Publik House–think fire engine red and old skool Boston. They had a way more interesting selection of beers…also Linds said there food is the bomb.com (I don’t know if she used that reference exactly, but it was something like that) so we also browsed their menu. Check out this interesting beer selection… once in particular stuck out to us.

The best part was getting to know the manager/bartender, Bender. (hehe) He’s actually a close friend of my sister and brother-in-law but he was super cool to me and Linds. He let us try a few different beers before we settled on one…including Arrogant B (which we decided we weren’t Arrogant B’s and it was too hoppy)…so we end up with Two Brother’s Domaine Dupage–best part about the beer–it’s locally made (sort of) in Warrenville, Illinois! WIN! And we also ordered the Bacon and Bleu Fries…

Uhh…YUM. And I’m pretty sure they’re fat free, so that’s also a bonus.

So as Linds and I are minding our own business and admiring the fine mermaid sculpture, we notice Lindsey’s friend Matt and his friend Doug at the other end of the bar! FUN! So we kicked it together for the rest of the night.

Instant friends. So did we end our night at PH? Of course not, going home is like quitting and quitting is for losers and we are definitely not losers, so we continued our way down Prospect to T-n-T’s! We heard they have karaoke on Thursday nights and while I’m not much of a singer (unless you consider singing a duet with my dad to Jimmy Buffett’s “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw” on my 21st birthday…), Linds has some pipes and she’s been known to sing a mean showtune or two.

And as soon as I walk in, who do I see? Two of my long lost buddies from M-town. Photo op!

I am not actually that tall. They were holding me up to be normal human size. So after I exchanged a few laughs with Joe and Nate, I met my new crew at the karaoke table. Linds was already on deck to sing, but first we had to listen to a few other people “sing” so we entertained ourselves.

This is our impression of the lucky waving cat that Matt bought me recently when he was on a trip to Japan.

And this is us looking normal.

And this is us plus Matt…he just HAD to get his picture with us, what a diva 🙂 (This is a really attractive photo of me and Matt by the way…actually no, Linds is the only one lookin’ fly)

FINALLY! It was time for Lindsey to show the patron’s of T-n-T’s what it means to karaoke!! She nailed “Out Tonight” from Rent.

Woo Yea! You go, Linds!

After Lindsey brought down the house, it was time for us to head out. There are plenty more pubs to hit on Prospect–perhaps we will continue the crawl for another slow and lonely Thursday.

Be safe, Peoria.

TP

Psst! I wish I could give you a cost break down, but I didn’t keep a running tab of things. Sorry!

Who is the worst/laziest blogger? ME! I AM! I picked things back up last night by heading to Cyd’s for Burgers on the Boardwalk. Cyd’s is a local gourmet cafe–a definite favorite in my office–and they offer a build-your-own burger “special” every Wednesday night from 5 to 9pm.  Since I’ve been mooching off my parents any time I write about food for this blog, I decided it was time for me to give back–I took Mike and Linda out to dinner at Cyd’s for burgers! Favorite Daughter Badge.

It was a little rainy last night, so we didn’t eat on the boardwalk–which was totally fine because Cyd’s has a great atmosphere inside as well as a live local musician. I almost had a panic attack when we walked in because it was PACKED. And since everything you order at Cyd’s is freshly made, you wait quite awhile for your food–so I knew we’d be waiting a hot minute to get seated.

Lucky us, they opened the back “banquet room” which offered more seating…so we headed back and picked our own table. After a few minutes of waiting, we ordered our drinks… water is served in cute little mason jars…and my parents soda’s came out in mason jars too–but with really fun gray and white striped straws. I was a total bad ass and ordered Stella Artios–in a can…classy.

 And then we browsed the burger inspiration sheet and marked our selections.. I ordered the veggie burger with pepperjack cheese, avocado and chipotle mayo, my mom got the chicken burger (which is ground up chicken with parmesan) with feta, avocado, onion, lettuce and sun dried tomatoes, and my dad got the secret agent (which is beef ground up with bacon–this summer’s special) with onion, provolone, tomatoes and mayo…and we all split some sweet potato fries.

So we chatted and solved the world’s problems while we waited for our food.

Finally–the big moment came–a secret agent even delivered our food–complete with a creepy mustache and a top hat! (I didn’t catch a photo of him…sorry!)

YUM!!! These burgers were…. yes, you guessed it… the bomb.com.  We continued to chat and enjoy our beef/chicken/veggie patties. I liked that we all tried something different…and what I love even more about Burgers on the B-walk is that I can come back and try a bunch of other different combinations of toppings on different kinds of patties!

We thought about desserts…but apparently the mix of hearty food and hearty beer made me tired.

So I got the bill…which came out on a super cool clipboard.

I paid…and we peaced out. But first, we swung by the baked goods to view the selection–while tempting, we left empty handed.

Cyd’s has never let me down and didn’t let me down this time. While you may have to pay a little more for local gourmet quality, it’s definitely worth it. I also love that Cyd’s also sells other really fun/cute boutiquey type  treasures…like a shirt that says “Made in the Midwest” or an old fashioned egg timer or decorative napkins.

I liked taking my parents out for once–maybe I’ll make a better habit of it!

And now that I’m back in business, I’ll be posting more regularly again–for those of you who check back regularly (Margo, I think you’re the only one :))

See ya!

TP

Psst! This one was kind of expensive (for me at least!):

My mom’s burger: $8.25

My dad’s burger: $7.75

My burger: $8.75

Side of fries: $3.00

2 Diet Cokes: $3.00

1 Stella: $2.75

Total: $33.50 (plus tax and a tip)

 

 

It’s becoming a trend–I get super lazy over the weekends and I don’t post anything. Don’t judge me…especially since I wasn’t lazy on Saturday because I woke up at 6:15am to go to the Steamboat Classic…7:00am start time, folks. For those who don’t know, the Steamboat race in Peoria is known as the world’s fastest 4 mile race and Illinois’ toughest 15k. I was granted some VIP access to the Gateway Building for primo picture taking before the race. I’d like to give a HUGE shout out to Maggi for offering that up to me…check out her blog here: http://lifewithoutane.wordpress.com/.

So lets get to the race and those pictures.

The time was 6:50ish and the approximately 5,000 runners were heading to the starting line. Both the 4 mile and the 15k started promptly at 7:00am…and they’re off.

If you wanted to know the race course, here you go: (I took these pictures off the official Steamboat website)

Thinking about running that makes me tired…

After the race started, I just kicked it up in the Gateway building chatting with Steamboat committee members and the few others up there–including Central Illinois very own Tim Broe’s mom! (Matt, I mentioned your man crush on Tim to his mom :)) Anyway, about 17 minutes later we spotted the lead runners coming back down Hamilton (actually we saw the 2 lead cars and their flashing lights) which warned me to turn my camera back on.

Then there was this dude who came flying down in his wheelchair.

And the first female runner…

These people seem super-human…a break down of times along with some honorable mentions. (The reason why I choose some of these people will make sense in a second)

4 Mile:

1st-Kevin Chelimo @ 18:02

3rd-MacDonard Ondara @ 18:08

1st Female-Diane Nukuri Johnson @ 20:41

7th Female-Nikki Domico @ 23:54 (she’s my old neighbor!)

58/9th-Jeffrey Camp & Adam White @ 23:57 (my gurus from Running Central!)

Maggi Wettstein @ 28:21 (my “in” with Steamboat)

Jim Rustman @ 40:13 (favorite friend’s husband)

Jess Rustman and Ellie Doyle @ 40:36 (favorite girls)

15k

Allison SU @ 1:34:53 who beat her dad, Dave, who came in @ 1:34:54 😉

(I got those times off Steamboat’s official website, if you were curious)

Phew!! So anyway, little did I know that where I was hanging out taking pictures was also the place that the elite runners keep all their stuff–that meant celebrity photo op post race!

(I hadn’t showered yet…I didn’t know I would run into the fastest dudes at the race!)

And here are other random race photos..Starting with an interview with the winning female.

And the Peoria Firefighters who ran the 4 mile race in full uniform… HOT! (in more ways than one)

Then I mosied my way down to the finish line to support my girl Allison who thought running the 15k was a good idea…and then I saw her brother. Hi Jeffrey!

And here comes Allison…why does she look so pissed off?

Allison, there’s no need to be angry–you finished the race! YEAH!

And once Allison crossed the finish line, it was my cue to head home and go back to bed.

Although I was tired, going to watch the Steamboat race was so fun. It was motivational, really…there is this running cult, I mean culture that I would love to be a part of. Maybe I should head back to Running Central and actually buy shoes this time?

And today I have the day off–I wonder what I’ll do? Whatever it is, you’ll find out tomorrow! See ya!

TP

Psst! Watching the race was free, but if you signed up late to run, it would cost you $35.