:Ohhhhh…..the alarm beeped at me way too early this morning. I did not want to peel myself out of bed when it went off. 5:20 am on a Saturday morning, I don’t care for you very much after a later than normal night.

I wish I could say I stayed up late for good reason. Well, I did partly. Chelsey and I I had some awesome chat time last night that I had to peel myself away from…but that can’t be why I’m so tired. I could not fall asleep again. It seems at least once a week I get a random bout of insomnia…but Peter doesn’t really help matters.

I love my husband. I really, really do. But I secretly desire to knee him in the shins most nights because he can fall asleep so easily. His head hits the pillow and he is out like a light…and snoring. Well, snoring isn’t really it. It’s more this weird wheezy, loud breathing with a click. Like I said, I love my husband. I really, really do. But why does he have to fall asleep so dang fast to keep me from escaping “the nose click” at night?!

I need some of these…

Oh, wait. Those are mine. Even they don’t work.

Whew, that felt good. And to be fair, I know I have my annoying things I do too. Which is why I brought my pre-run English muffin with peanut butter and jelly back up into the bed with me. It felt like a little victory when he groaned at me “do you have to eat so loud??”. Although of course he just rolled over and fell right back asleep. Click. Wheeze. Click.

Ah, marital bliss. All about communication, respect, giving each other time and support, and annoying the heck out of each other. What? I know you have your “things” in your relationships too. Don’t try to hide it from me.

Run time!

Obviously if I’m waking up and eating at 5-*^%$@#-30 in the morning, it means I have a long run for the day. Last week I had a recovery week, so this week I jump back up to my previous mileage of ten miles.

The run started off slow. I looked at my watch thinking I had at least close to two miles under my belt and saw .8 miles. Ouch. I thought I had a long road ahead of me, but then got in the zone quickly after that. I felt good and was keeping a steady pace around 9:15 minute miles.

Before I knew it, I hit the 5 mile mark to turn around and head back. I planned to take some fuel around the seven mile mark and when I thought it was getting close I glanced down and saw around 6.5 miles. Went a little longer…checked again and still 6ish miles. Oh, man. Things were dragging again!

Then, I ran a decent amount longer and thought my mileage really should have added up by that point. Checked again…

Doh! I had forgotten to restart my Garmin after stopping to cross a street. It took me three times to figure it out though. Slow on the uptake, much? That would be me! At least I knew my mileage since it was out and back. I don’t know my final time or pace, but that doesn’t matter. My goal for long runs has much less to do with pace and more to do with surviving and ending feeling strong. Which, I did! Success!

I just finished devouring some breakfast – a cozy bowl of oats after a chilly run – and now I must head to the ice bath and foam roller. And let me just say, an ice bath sounds incredibly cruel right now. How am I going to do it in the winter?! Gah!

• What is a small annoyance your significant other, roommate, or a close friend does that gets under your skin?
• Do you ever have “slow on the uptake” moments? What was your last one?

Oof. It was rough waking up this morning. I didn’t want the weekend to end. Did anyone else fall of the edge of the social media and blogging world with me? If so, let me catch you up with at least the happenings around here:

• The Epitome of Exciting
• Kidnapped!! <— Peter hijacked the blog!
• Self-Love Reflection: Loving the Old and New Me
• I’m Such A Tease

For those of you who were around Saturday afternoon, you may recall Peter’s mischievous ways and his hopes of surprising me. Well, they worked. Like a charm. I had NO idea.

When I originally signed off on Saturday morning’s post, I thought I would be heading to meet up with some friends to go to a parade and town festival for the day with the kids. I was frantically showering and getting ready after my run, when Peter told me I didn’t have to rush. I kept telling him “No! I have to leave in 20 minutes! I do have to rush!”

After a lot of assurance, I realized he was serious that he had taken the kids to his mom’s for the day again without me knowing. He then told me we had no plans, but he wanted me to have a relaxing day since he knows how hard I work. Works for me! I settled in on the couch right away…until a few hours later when he told me to go get dressed and plopped some tickets to go see Wicked in my lap!

I may have been just slightly excited.  

As soon as I heard Wicked was coming to the Fox Theater in Atlanta I was dying to go to the show. I love Broadway musicals. I love the story line of Wicked. I love the music of Wicked. And I loooovvveee The Fox.

It has such a charm to it. The inside is designed to look like an outdoor theater from ye olde times, complete with a starry night sky and castle turrets inside the theater.

Don’t you love my sneaky low-light pictures I nabbed before the show started? And oh, the show! I want to go back. Like…today.

I loved it just as much as I thought I would. The characters all played their roles extremely well to make for a very entertaining show. And the music blew me away! I have a feeling I will be singing “Popular” and “Defying Gravity” in my head for weeks now. I really adore the story line of the Wicked Witch not really being so wicked, but instead showing the back story of a harder childhood and her battle against other “evils”. The hype people give it comes with good reason. Even Peter enjoyed himself and this is so not his type of thing.

Don’t worry. He got his type of thing after the show.

With dinner! Dinner, you naughty little thinkers!!!

We had a couple deals to use for the 5 Seasons Brewing Company and we used them well. I love that they let us combine two deals for one meal. It meant we could each get a beer, some appetizers to share, and a meal.

We each got a beer, although we both agreed my choice of the Maibock – a “hoppy” beer with a sweeter finish – won out. I know how to pick ‘em! Strong, but sweet…like my man!

Although that beer at the 5 Seasons Brewing Company certainly stole the show, we had some good food as well. We shared a beet, arugula, goat cheese, and walnut salad…

…plus some beer-battered onion rings for appetizers.

We obviously like to keep things balanced.

Both of the appetizers were fantastic and filled me up pretty well along with the beer, but I still had dinner coming my way.

I ended up ordering the BBQ sandwich with a spicy Chipotle sauce and sweet potato fries. The meal itself was kind of “meh” on Saturday. I remember the sweet potato fries being a lot better when I went for an Atlanta blogger meet-up earlier this year. And I probably should have stuck with the portabella burger I fell in love with then as well. Live and learn!

The meal still left me quite content and I couldn’t beat the company.

Oh, wait. Not the giant, ceramic, beer-loving turtle. This guy.

He is seriously too good to me. Thanks, Peter, for giving me a Wicked awesome day.  

• Have you ever seen a musical in theater? Which one(s)? Did you love it?
• Are you easily surprised? As Peter mentioned, I am NOT. I usually figure things out…but this time I really had no idea it was coming my way Saturday.