What a weekend!!!

It all started after work on Friday... My princess and my mom met me at the train station when I got home and we walked home. It was such a special walk home because the princess just didn't stop talking. She was just a little chatterbox the whole walk home. It was priceless!

Then the hubby picked us up and the three of us went out to dinner at Olive Garden. The hubby and I needed to carb up for the race and how not to do it then at an Italian restaurant, right? LOL!

After dinner we headed out and ran a few errands before finally getting home to get our things ready for the next morning. 
I finally got to bed around 11pm... with butterflies flapping their wings so hard that I thought that I was going to throw up! LOL! Thankfully I didn't.

6am Saturday morning comes around... and it was time to get everyone out of bed and ready to head out to Soldier Field for the 2012 Santa Hustle 5k!!!

The three of us and my mother got into my car and Joel drove us down to Soldier Field... the princess was wide awake in the car and enjoying the drive to the Field.

We get to the Field and park the car... and here we are after we got our gear on - while in the parking garage...

Our first 5K

So we bundled up the princess in her stroller and headed outside... can I tell you that I almost started crying while we in the car and I saw Soldier Field and all the people dressed exactly like us!! I was so nervous!

We get outside and the atmosphere was so energized! All my nervousness finally subsided - thankfully!!
There was an area where all the runners were meeting up with other runners and vendors giving out samples of things and of course the gear check. 
There were so many people running and so many other people coming to cheer them on... there was so much positive energy in the air and I was feeding right off of it 

The hubby and I took one last picture in front of the stadium and then walked around a bit before heading over to the corrals where everyone were gathered at to start the race.

Soldier Field in the background

So we get into the 10 1/2 minute mile corral and I was just amazed at how many people run these 5k's. I took a couple of pictures of all the people that were just waiting around to start the race ahead of us...
While waiting for our corral to reach the starting line, I heard of a couple of people that had already started it and finished. I couldn't believe that some people did 3.1 miles in like 15 minutes... but then again, I wouldn't mind getting to that pace. LOL!

All the "Santa" ahead of us...

And sometime after 9:00am... our time corral was finally able to get to the starting line and allowed to start the race.

OMG... the whole experience was so magical! I've never felt anything like this in my life. I tried my best to run the first mile but I ran half a mile and ended up power walking the 2nd half of the first mile. The whole race was the same thing... run/power walk/run... but my goal was to start and finish this race in about 45 minutes.

And when I thought that I couldn't do it anymore, Joel noticed it... he took me by the hand and led me along the way. He gave me the best pep talk ever!! I could never have asked for a better motivator than the way that he spoke to me on Saturday morning. And it was because of the words that he spoke to me, I was able to finish this short race. 
It might be a short race but it felt like I was never going to finish it... and I am so happy that I was able to run across that finish line. :-)

After the race, we took a couple more pictures with the princess... around the areas that had Christmas ornaments and we headed out to have lunch. All of us were STARVING! LOL! Running a race can surely bring on an appetite. LOL!

We went to a Puerto Rican restaurant by the house - with a friend of the hubby's that also ran the race for the first time - and had ourselves a wonderful meal. 

A steak jibarito with arroz con gandules! YUM!

 Once we finished lunch, we headed back home to get some stuff... and the hubby, princess and I headed out again. We didn't even change out of our running gear! LOL! We were going to flaunt the fact that we ran! LOL! 
I can tell you that people are nice to you when they see that you have just ran a race for charity. And we even saw a couple of runners with their shirts still on running their errands too.

We got home and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
We ordered food from a chicken wing place that I didn't know delivered and we watched a movie while the little one took a nap.

And to celebrate the start of something wonderful for ourselves, we bought a bottle of wine and toasted to ourselves and the accomplishments that are awaiting us.

A bottle for us!

Since we had been up early, we ended up calling it an early night after watching television for a while.

Sunday was another fun filled day for all.
I went to the jewelry show in Schaumburg with my mom, Maria and Blanca.
Got a lot of nice deals on things and even got a mother/daughter set of knitted hats for the princess and I.

Picture of our hats

Looking forward to the cool days/nights that the both of us will be able to wear them. :-)

After finishing up the shopping at the convention center and having a late lunch, we headed home.
I dropped off Maria at home and I took Blanca home with my mom and I.

The hubby was with the princess all day and they were changing the oil on his car.

He started pasteles for us and I finished it up with some white rice and some beans.
After dinner we had coffee and cheesecake.

Blanca's husband came over and we all chatted for a while... it was a great way to end the weekend: dinner with family. My parents, the princess, the hubby, Blanca and Gino.

The princess stayed with my parents, after giving her a bath, and the hubby and I went downstairs to get me ready for work since he is off this week.

And the start of the week has been great... just got off the phone with the hubby and he'll be making dinner for us. So looking forward to eating since I didn't get a chance to eat my lunch.

Wishing you a wonderful evening!
Hasta la proxima!