Challenge!!!

Home sweet home.  We're back from our rock concert and our challenge to stick to our non-processed diet while away from home.  We were all of 20 minutes out of town when we realized we were very hungry.  When we saw our options at the rest stop were Sbarros, McDonalds, or Panda Express, we realized we should never have publicly declared our goal were facing a true challenge!  We decided to go the good ole' gas station route, where luckily for us they sold bananas and mixed nuts.  Problem solved!

We got to the city and shopped until we were starving.  We went into the food court at Watertower mall and decided to get a bite to eat at Mity Nice.  What a pleasant surprise when we saw a menu that included several homemade dishes, including homemade whole wheat pitas with hummus and roasted red pepper dip.  Oh. My. Delish.  Meal #1, accomplished!

After some more shopping, we had got ready and headed to the rock concert.  Thanks to a taxi driver that drove like a bat out of hell, we got to the venue early, so Mr. McGhee suggested we find someplace to get a drink.  Since Mr. McGhee had spent the entire day shopping with me, I agreed to have a drink with him.  Because I can compromise like that.  We walked into this bar and I quickly realized this was not a "I'll have a margarita, fresh-squeezed organic lime juice, a teaspoon of agave nectar, and a shot and a half of tequila. And I want the good tequila, not that cheap crap" kind of place.  So, I had one of those "when in Rome" moments and ordered a beer.  And, then I got all worried about the processed rules of drinking beer...and I had no access to google to find my answer.  Then, Mr. McGhee reminded me that there is alcohol in beer and, surely, the alcohol will kill all the harmful effects of processing.  I choose to believe him.  Because Mr. McGhee is really smart and has one of those fancy jobs where he puts letters after his name in his signature.   So, drink up folks!  Plus, the beer I ordered came with a slice of orange.  Antioxidants, bonus!

The concert was way fun.  The real exciting part happened before the concert when started we saw a fight.  It was one of those girls-pointing-fingers-and-shouting sort of fights, but I was still a little nervous.  I kept saying to Mr. McGhee, "do you think I should go over there and talk to that girl and tell her she is way too pretty to be fighting and it does nothing for her cuteness to be acting like this?"  And Mr. McGhee said no, I should MYOB.  Thankfully, the music started and the fighting ended. 

We had a lot of fun and before we knew it, it was 11 o'clock.  We decided it was time to go and as we headed out we realized we hadn't eaten since lunch.  Not cool!  We found ourselves wandering around the streets of the windy city looking for something to eat.  At this point I was stressing because I was cold, hungry, and I knew there was an episode of House Hunters International on tv that I was missing out on.  We quickly realized that nothing was open, so we headed back to the hotel with the intention of ordering salads from room service.  At the hotel, we noticed that room service closed at 10:30 pm, and even though it was after 11, Mr. McGhee gave them a call.  I had no worries because people have a hard time saying no to Mr. McGhee, but, nope, I was wrong.  No room service, but they did send some carry out menus up to our room.  And then.....I am hanging my head here......we ordered pizza.  And, we missed House Hunters International and watched The First 48 instead.  Which means I had scary someone-is-trying-to-murder-me dreams all night rather than my usual we-are-moving-to-Ecuador dreams.

We started our morning with a clean slate and some coffee.  We did some more shopping.  Isn't Mr. McGhee a sport when it comes to shopping?  If only I could convince him to carry my purse, I'd be golden.  We found this cute little cafe that had fabulous salads and homemade soup for lunch.  Easy peasy and delish too!  We did a bit more shopping and walking around in the 12 degree weather with snow pelting us in the face, when Mr. McGhee declared it time for a coffee break.  So we stopped at the food court and then the clouds parted and the angels sang.  There was a fresh-squeezed juice bar.  I ran over there and was so excited I got caught up in the turnstile to get into the food court and this gentleman was all "ma'am, this is the exit turnstile, I'm going to have to ask you to go through the enter turnstile to get into the food court."  And, I was all like, "dude, I am about to hurdle this exit turnstile, because, clearly, you don't understand that is a fresh-squeezed juice bar right there."  I finally made it to the juice bar and ordered my drink....which involved 3 whole carrots, an apple, and fresh ginger.  Oh. My.  Delish.  Look at me, I am radiating from the turnstile incident happiness. 

We called it a day and headed home to pick up the minis from the grandparents' house.  I have got to tell you a story about my miniest mini. 

When asked to describe my miniest mini, 9 out of 10 people usually sum her up with one word, "spitfire".  I am not quite sure where she gets her spunk from, but I do know as a general rule of thumb, I stay out of her way.  She spent the night with the grandparents, which means they took her to the store to do some shopping.  They took her straight to *gasp* the cereal aisle and told her to pick out any cereal she wanted.  And my spunky little spitfire promptly informed them that nope, I can't eat cereal.  Bam!  So, off they take her to the ice cream aisle.  Nope, I can't have that either.  Bam!  And then, my dad lied and told her that mommy said chocolate pudding was okay.  Fail.  But, I am way impressed with her and choosing to forgive her for quitting tumbling, swim lessons, ballet and screaming throughout the entire Disney World Princess breakfast. 

So, I guess you can say we all failed our challenge.  Bummer.  We're back on the wagon starting tomorrow.  And I promise all of you that read this entire long and rambling blog post that I will be posting serious recipes all week, including a special Valentine's Day dinner!