Happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  Mine was GREAT.  Seriously, it was an awesome weekend.  Saturday was particularly memorable!

I started things off with dropping Claire’s crib.  Sure, there are those typical milestones like crawling, walking, talking… But I consider the crib drop a big one, too!  I almost shed a tear while I unscrewed the bottom of the crib.  It’s probably the last crib that I’ll ever drop.  Wahhh.

After breakfast, I headed out on a bike ride and run.  THANKS to the Husband for helping facilitate this long workout.  He practically chased me out the door when I confessed that I really, really needed to do a super long brick workout.  I kept putting it off, but he made sure that I got it done!

My game plan was to do a 1 and 1/2 hour bike and a 3-mile run.  I figured that if I could do that, I’d feel a lot more confident about my upcoming triathlon, which includes a 25-mile bike and a 6.2 mile run.

I really nailed hydrated and nutrition on this ride.  Coach Marni (who trained me back when I did a Half Ironman) taught me to take in tons of LIQUID calories (I used to eat solids on the bike).  I really think liquid calories have made a huge difference in my training.  I aim for 100 calories an hour, which is about what I hit for this workout and felt great during and after!

The run was a little rough in the beginning, but that’s expected after coming off such a long and hilly bike ride.  I was relieved when the whole thing was over and I could come home to the family.

We hit the pool afterwards.  This has been our M.O. for weekend pool fun – we drop the kids off at gym childcare for an hour and go to the pool by ourselves for an hour for adult time.  I usually read.  It’s blissful!  And then we pick the kids up and play together.

But the real excitement of Saturday came in the evening.  A few months ago, I spontaneously bought the Husband tickets to the Sam Smith concert.  Kristien absolutely ADORES Sam Smith and was thrilled when I presented him with the tickets.  I was pretty pumped to go, too – The Lonely Hour is one of the best albums that I’ve heard in a long, long time.  How incredible is Sam Smith’s voice?  This is one of my favorite songs, but I also love this one and this one!

We headed Uptown…

And went to my favorite Thai restaurant (Basil).  I got sweet and sour tofu and it was epiiiic.

I also put a serious dent in this bottle of champagne!

And then it was concert time!  A teenager next to Kristien turned to him right before the show started and said, “I am so sorry if I scream really loudly in your ear, I’m so excited,” and Kristien laughed and said he was probably going to scream, too.  Hah.

This was his first big show back since he had vocal surgery three months ago, and you could tell that he was SO HAPPY to be singing.  He also got really famous really fast (this album, which is his first, won four Grammys) and it was interesting to hear him reflect on everything that comes along with that.  He seems like a cool guy  – and seriously… That voice. 

He closed with this song, and it was so beautiful.

Who’s your favorite artist of the moment? Any other Sam Smith fans out there?