One last update to the 52 in 23*

I made some more updates to my 52 in 23*.  I had considered them pretty set in stone, but I had to work out some final details.

See, Marek and I had decided to make a master list of all the touristy things to do in New York.  That way, when we move away, we won't have any reason to come back here if we don't want to.  If we decide in the end that we don't like it and don't want to ever come back, we want to get all the touristy things done so people can't say, "But you never did X!", where X is that one thing that would have made us just fall in love with the city.  I put some of these things on my original 52 in 23* list, but the list was getting long, and they weren't things that were super important to me for this birthday year.

My brother must have read our minds though, because for Christmas he gave us a book, The Best Things to Do in New York!  I think there's about 1,000 things in there, and we've decided to use this book as a starting point.  We started compiling our master list, and I'll post it soon, but for the time being I've taken most of the New York things out of my 52 in 23* and added in some new ones.  I'm looking forward to doing some exciting things this year!

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52 in 23*

I was perusing the blogosphere and came across a girl who was trying to conquer a list of 26 things in her 26th year (or something like that).  Around the same time, my cousin and I were chatting about her 30 before 30 list.

This got me thinking.  If you were to do this every year of your life, assuming you lived to be OLD and didn't die some tragic or unfortunate and untimely death, then when you were say, 70, you'd have a huge list of things to do.  Some people look at this as a Bucket List, and that works for them, but I'm lazy, impatient, and worry about the future a lot.

I want to get those things done now.  Plus that way, when I'm 70, I'll have accomplished a whole ton of things, and then I won't feel as much pressure to get things done when I'm old and cranky.  Hopefully I'll still be adventuring about, but just in case I end up in diapers, I want to be prepared.

So I'm going to make my list a little differently.  I looked up the average life expectancy of people in the US (78) and South Korea (79), so I just rounded up to 80 for simplicity's sake.  Assuming I want to have nothing on my list when I'm 80, I subtracted my current age (we're still going to pretend I'm 23...and I'll tell you why someday soon) from 80 to get the number of things that should be on my list this for this age-year.  Make sense?

Over the next week or so, I'm going to start putting together my "52 in 23*" list, and then I'll post it here to share, and we can see if I actually manage to come up with 52 fun, non-lame things to do in the next age-year, and then if I actually manage to get them done.  Fun, right?

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Bathtime for Claudius!

I'm fresh out of ideas for a blog post today but I really want to try to post every day this month (although I already failed), so instead I'll just share this video of Claudius getting a bath.  Apologies to anyone on Twitter and Facebook who's already seen this.

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My favorite boyband songs

One of the highlights of karaoke for me was singing some old school Backstreet Boys (they're old school now, right?). The video for "I Want It That Way" has over 20 million views on YouTube.

(As an aside, I'm pretty partial to this version though. The guy in the background kills me.)




Now on to some boybands from across the pond.

This is one of my all time favorites. I have no idea when I first heard it, but it's been a mainstay of mine for a very, very long time. Bonus points that it's by Take That, who brought us one of the greatest boyband songs EVER (see above). On the other hand, this is probably one of Marek's least favorite songs, given my propensity to listen to it on repeat for hours along (while singing along). Whenever it comes on, he mockingly starts singing "patieeeeeeeeence" to me.




And of course we can't forget Take That's most popular US song, which had us all slow dancing back in 7th grade.




I think most people have heard or heard of Boyzone. I love this song. It gets a little long towards the end, but it's another repeat offender on my playlist. I can't deny what I believe, I can't be what I'm not...




How about Westlife? I discovered them on a trip to Aruba a few years ago. This song was playing at the hotel bar, and I actually asked the bartender (who was my BFF by this point, since we went to the bar twice a day) if he could look on the CD who this was.




And here's a bonus video from Take That. Interestingly enough, when I watch the video, all I can think about is whether or not Gary Barlow is actually playing that piano.

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Joe Buck on the Island 5?

I know - I can't believe it either.  I used to be a diehard Red Sox fan.  Starting in 1998, I diligently followed the Red Sox.  I taped their entire schedule, in Excel format (because I was a big geek, even back then), to my bedroom door, and meticulously tracked their progress for the entire season.  In 2004, I, along with every other Red Sox fan, stayed up religiously every night, even for those games against Anaheim that ran long and made for short nights and tired days at work.

And I, like every other Red Sox fan, hated Joe Buck because of his (obvious) bias for the New York Yankees and his (obvious) disdain for the Red Sox.  I knew plenty of people who felt the same way.  I know plenty of people who still feel that way.

But I don't watch baseball anymore.  And Joe Buck's kind of growing on me, especially with the recent batch of Super Bowl on Fox commercials - the ones that use the tagline "It's good to have a ring".




So I've decided to put him on the shortlist for serious consideration.  He'll be bumping David Beckham because I'm not quite ready to get rid of Zac Efron yet.  Thoughts?

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Food diary: harder than it seems

So this is my obligatory post for the day.  I'm trying to blog every single day in December, just because.  Maybe that'll get me to update this blog a little more often.

I started taking pictures of (almost) everything I eat starting on July 20th.  With the exception of a few times (usually when there's so much eating (snacking) that it would be difficult, or when it's not really socially acceptable, or when it's just not possible), I've actually managed to get pictures of most of the food I've eaten between then and now.

It's been going on so long now that most of my friends and family are used to it, and don't question when I whip out my BlackBerry and start snapping pictures of everything I'm eating and drinking!  (Thanks. :))

I did fall behind for awhile, so I've been trying to catch up.  It got to the point where I was just bulk posting several days' worth of food every few days or so, so I'm trying to set aside time to go through and get those posts updated - put them on the right days, at the right time, in the right order - but it's a daunting task!  Especially since we moved and with all the short and weekend trips I've gone on, there's a lot to update.

I finished the entire month of November today though, but I ran out of steam as I headed into October, so I'll have to save that for another day.  It is nice to be able to look back on how my eating habits have changed in the past 4.5 months as well, especially during the move and as we transitioned to city living.  I'm up to 72 pages on my food diary Posterous...I wonder how many it will be up to after a year.

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A different kind of Christmas list

I think I've made my feelings on the Kindle very well known, and I was talking to Marek the other day, and I said to him, "I think a Kindle would be the worst present someone could give to me."  He pointed out that it wouldn't be such a terrible present (and then tried to convince me that I'd end up using it and loving it), but I qualified it for him: I think it'd be the worst present because I would think that whoever gave me that present really didn't know me at all.

I think that good gift-giving is an art.  I tend to be kind of boring, but I try.  I put a lot of thought into what I'm getting, and try to make sure it's something that the person would like.  I do have some standard gifts though.  Every year I give my father an Ansel Adams calendar.  Every year I give my brother the Guinness Book of World Records.  EVERY YEAR.  I gave my mom some forks one year as a present, wrapped up inside of a brownie box...that was pretty unexpected (and it was a good present, but too much of a story to get into here).

Anyway, so here's the top items on my "Do You Even Know Me?" Christmas list.

1. A Kindle.  I have no interest in one of these at all.  My Dad once said that being surrounded by books "comforts" me, and I can't disagree.

2.  An iPhone.  No thank you!  I like my BlackBerry a lot.  My friends seem to have taken the tactic of harassing me until I give in, but it's not going to happen.

I will give a special "thanks" of sorts to Marek and Airport Chris, who are the veritable leaders of this movement.  They never miss an opportunity to tell me how much my BlackBerry sucks/how much better the iPhone is.  I truly admire their commitment to the cause.




Tied for 3rd.  I'm not really sure which one I'd rather have least, but the only way this gift could be worse is if it were pink and sparkly.

Other things that make the shortlist would be make-up and anything Hello Kitty.

And there you have it.

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2011 Running Goals

Today I registered for 2011 Hyannis Half Marathon.  After the Boston Half, I searched for some other half marathons to run in the winter.  I wanted a half marathon that was some time in January, which would give me a little bit of time off and still enough time to train, but was also a few months away from the Mini.  The ones I found in my exact time frame were in South Carolina, West Virginia, and Missouri.  I ended up settling on the Hyannis Half which is later than I was hoping for, but I think it'll be okay.

When registering for the Hyannis Half, I noticed something called the Cape Cod Half Marathon Trilogy, which is a series of three half marathons on the Cape.  I'm not sure if the timing will work out for me to run all three, but it got me thinking about some running goals for 2011 (and got me back out running today).

So here they are!
Race goals:

• Complete the Hyannis Half Marathon (February 2011)
• Complete the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon (May 2011)
• Register for and complete the Boston Half Marathon (probably October 2011)

If I end up going for the Cape Cod Half Marathon Trilogy, there's also the following races:

• Johnny Kelley Half Marathon (May 2011)
• Harwich Cranberry Half Marathon (May 2011)

Then I have a few pace goals:

• Run the Hyannis Half in 2:10 or less
• Run the Mini in 2:00 or less
• Run the Boston Half in under 2:00

I think these are pretty reasonable goals for me.  When I started training for the Mini last January, I was running a solid 12:30 mm, and have shaved a solid 2 minutes off my time in about 10 months, and with about  7 months of dedicated training.  I met my personal goals for both the Mini and the Boston Half, so I'm hoping I can keep up my training and get down to a sub-2:00 half marathon.  If I make all of my goals for 2011, then I think I'll start training for a full marathon!

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Home for football and Thanksgiving

For my birthday, my cousin was generous enough to give me his tickets to the Colts/Patriots game in Foxborough!  What a wonderful birthday present!  I've been to every Colts/Patriots game since 2007 (and also in 2005...I must have been sleeping in 2006 or something), and the past 3 games have been in Indianapolis.  I was glad we were able to continue our tradition this year, even if the outcome made me sad.

I lost my voice two days before the game, so was barely even able to cheer, but then again, there wasn't a whole lot to cheer for.  We met up with some other people beforehand and tailgated - it was my first time tailgating!  We had a lot of fun though.  My cousins were also at the game, so I got to pop over at halftime and say hi to them.

I spent the rest of the week at my parents' house, and we had my family over to our house for Thanksgiving.  A couple of my cousins from the West Coast were at dinner, and I was really glad to see them.  I only see them about once a year, so it was nice to spend time together and catch up.  Here's a picture of my cousins, my brother, and I.  Someone's wicked short!

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I had a birthday.

Sometime in the past month or so, I celebrated my 23rd* birthday!  It was a great weekend, and I've been meaning to do a post for awhile now, but with November just being busy in general and the holidays coupled with my general laziness, I'm just getting around to it now.

On my actual birthday, we had reservations at Landmarc at the Time Warner Center (courtesy of Marc Murphy, the owner, which was probably the most exciting part for me), and the dinner was great.  Marc must have told them that it was for my birthday, because they brought over the dessert sampler AND cotton candy after Marek and I were done eating.  We ate all the cotton candy, and I ate the creme brulee (so good), and we took the rest home.  It was a very good meal, and I cannot wait to go back.

Before dinner we had some time to kill, and so we stopped by Bouchon Bakery, which is right next to Landmarc.  I got a few bouchons, and Marek got some monster pastry.  The bouchons are so delicious.  I won't even tell you how many I've had since my birthday, but let's just say it can't be healthy.

The weekend before my birthday (which was on a weekday), I was fortunate enough to have a whole bunch of my friends make the trek down to New York so we could celebrate together.  We got together Saturday afternoon and went to Shake Shack (I love Shake Shack), and then had reservations later in the evening at Virgil's BBQ, but I messed up the time, and in the end, we ended up eating at Chevy's instead.

After that, we got a private room for karaoke, which was so much fun.  We had to kill some time at a nearby bar, and I finally got to try a Guinness...yuck.  I've always loved doing karaoke - I used to do it every week my senior year of college, and one thing that New York has going for it is plenty of karaoke!

Jeremy and I like to sing duets together.  We like to sing together as Boomer and Chief.  (If you get that reference then we should be friends if we're not already.)  Here we are singing the song from "Aladdin" together, which, surprisingly enough, is one of the most requested karaoke songs.

After karaoke some of us went to the bar a couple of doors down and had a couple more drinks.  I had a Shirley Temple, and the bartender made it with Coke.  When I pointed out that I asked for a Shirley Temple, he said it had been so long since he had made one that he had forgotten what was in it.  Really?

Another thing I like about New York is the public transportation, especially given how late bars can stay open.  We headed home around 2:30 AM, and it was nice to stay out late and spend some time with our friends.  Jeremy ended up giving Marek and his brother piggy back rides, so it was an interesting end to the night.  Very entertaining watching Jeremy shoulder both Marek and Pawi at the same time!

The next morning I was really excited that Friar Chris came and met up with us for breakfast.  He is living in New York, too, but this was the first time we got to see him since we all moved down here, and I was glad he was able to come up when our whole group of friends were visiting.  We all went to this diner near our apartment (Marek and I are trying to make it "our" diner where we always go).

After breakfast, our friends from home headed back, and Chris, Marek, and I went to Central Park.  We walked around for a bit then went down to Times Square to people watch for a bit.  I took full advantage of the nut carts that day!  I love those things.

It was a really nice weekend and birthday, and I'm glad I got to spend it with so many friends!

*You don't even need the asterisk to know that's a big, fat lie.  However, I've been told that if I start early and say it often, it'll eventually catch on.

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Friends, Family, Football

(Writer's note: I've been meaning to write this for two weeks now.  Whoops.)

Not to get all super cheesy on you (oh wait, YES), but do you need anything else in life?  Maybe french fries and ice cream, but really, there's not much else.  Oh, and cookies.

A couple weekends ago I got to escape NYC for DC.  I headed down Friday afternoon, leaving at oh, pretty much the worst time possible.  The trip was supposed to take about 4 hours.  It took 6.  I hit traffic in almost every state I drove through, and I'm not even going to talk about the traffic heading into Dupont Circle.  I stayed with Airport Chris (the titular Friend).

It was nice to get away from NYC for the weekend, and I'll just say that I had a really fun time on Friday and Saturday nights, and just leave it at that.  (We went out both nights.)

Here we are at "The Loud Bar" in DC.  Being a non-local, I always defer to the locals to pick where we're going, and this was a bar we went to the last time I was in DC, in August.  It's not a bad bar, but it's really loud downstairs...hence, The Loud Bar.  And here we are at the bar.  See?  Lots of fun that weekend.

On Friday night, I told Airport Chris that if I gained any weight on the trip, that I was going to blame him, and I have to say, he took his responsibility very seriously - especially considering it was said half-jokingly, and I completely forgot about it the next morning.  This means we walked a million miles on Saturday (but luckily didn't have to walk over the hill the Washington Monument is on, phew), and I wasn't allowed to get any Krispy Kreme donuts. :(

Here's Airport Chris and his roommate.  I was super excited to finally get to meet him!  He is a very nice guy.

If you remember our last trip to DC, you might remember that I utterly failed at taking pictures with a serious face (and at the same Loud Bar, too!).  Apparently everyone can do it but me.

More pictures outside the bar.  We stayed until the very end, way way past my bedtime.

On Sunday, we got a quick breakfast, and then watched some football.  Airport Chris introduced me to the Redskins' fight song, which I never even knew they had.  It's long.  In the afternoon, I headed down to collect Marek from the bus stop, as he came down that day.  On the way back, we stopped by Krispy Kreme and Marek got himself a dozen original glazed donuts, lucky.

After the end of the Patriots game, we headed out to Maryland for the Colts/Redkins game (titular Fooball).  We went with my cousin Kate (titular Family), and we all drove out (since Marek and I were heading right back to NYC after the game).  FedEx Field is very nice - for all of our trips to Indianapolis, there is something so authentic about an open air stadium.

Kate and I both wore our Peyton Manning jerseys (because he's the best)!

The game was the Sunday night game for the week, so the sun was setting as we made our way to our seats.  We got seats up in the highest section, so had a long way up to go, but it was fun.  Plus, any time you're walking uphill, it really helps tone your butt!  Here's Marek waiting for me and Kate to stop taking a billion pictures of the parking lot and the sunset.

Like this one.

And this one.  (If you look at this bigger, you might be able to see DC and the monuments waaaay off in the distance.)  It was a very pretty sight.

Here was the view from our seats.  They were very high up, but very good.  We had a nice view of the whole field.  We had a bunch of Colts fans sitting near us, and some really annoying Redskins fans (who were asked to leave by security, ha!).  And they really did sing the fight song...amazing.

Here's Kate and I after the game, celebrating the win.  As we were heading down, Peyton Manning was walking off the field, and all these Colts fans were gathering around the tunnel, cheering for him.  He even threw some of his stuff to some of the fans, what a guy!  He seemed to appreciate all the fans who were waiting for him.

After that, we headed back to our car, and just sat there for a little bit, waiting for the traffic to die down.  The drive home was pretty brutal...I was already tired from going out two nights in a row (that's what happens when you get old, go to bed at like 10 every night, and hardly ever drink), and wanted to get home early to try to find a parking space.  We finally got home around 5 AM, and were able to squeeze in a few hours of sleep before starting work for the day!

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Hey, Soul Sister

This post is a little more introspective than this blog is used to, but that's okay, because who's really reading it anyway?

I recently read this article in the New York Times, and aside from being interesting from a linguistic point of view, I thought it was an interesting read on sisterly relationships.  I'm a sister, but more than that, I oftentimes wish I had a sister.  I know I've been asking my mom for one for at least the past 5 (maybe 10?) years or so, but unfortunately, I doubt that wish is going to be coming true any time soon.  

Truthfully, I haven't really had a lot of really close girl friends.  I've gone through periods in my life where I've hung out with groups of girls, but with the exception of my penpal, there are no female friends in my life who I've known for more than 6 years.  I have female acquaintances that I've known for awhile, but even those don't go back much further than 6 years.  (Full disclaimer: I've known my penpal since we were 7.)

What I have always had are really close guy friends.  Ever since middle school, I've almost always had a really close guy friend in my life.  Like a lot of friendships, those guys have come and gone.  I've grown apart from them, and I've made new ones.  And it's never really bothered me, because I've always gotten along better with (and honestly preferred to spend time with) guys.

In fact, I was recently having what amounted to girl talk (for me) with a friend (of sorts), and during our conversation, he said to me, "You're a dude's girl."  

And can I tell you?  That may have been the best thing I heard all night, because I'm okay being a dude's girl.  I might even love being a dude's girl.  (And Lord knows it's better than a lot of the other options out there.)  

But that still doesn't change the fact that there are times when I feel like I'm missing out.  There are some things (no, not those types of things) I just wouldn't talk to my guy friends about, and when those things creep up, I start feeling really alone, and it kind of really sucks.  Don't get me wrong - my guy friends are amazing -- the best even, just like brothers -- but some quality girl talk would do me good once in awhile.

Even if the sister ship has sailed at this point, and it certainly has, it'd be nice to have a sister-like girl friend at least.

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Home

I went home home this weekend to drop my car off (because I just cannot deal with having a car in the city), and I was lucky enough to get home right during the gorgeous leaf-turning season in New England.  I don't care what you say or where you live - there is nothing like autumn in New England.  It's perfectly crisp and cool, the best weather for snuggling up in or with something warm and fuzzy, and the scenery cannot be beat.

I was lucky enough to go to school close to some prime leaf-peeping areas, and even the area where I grew up has some gorgeous views.  All the different shades of leaves is really quite pretty, and reminds me that no matter where I go, New England will always be my home.

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Next life: ostrich!

I have been on the hunt for an amazing pair of boots for awhile now.  A nice, polished pair of almost-knee-high boots, preferably black, maybe a nice shade of brown.  I've come across a few, but they never fit, because my calves are too wide.  And my legs are too short.  I found a great pair from J.Crew.  I requested the measurements, and measured my calf, and they were allegedly going to fit.

I say allegedly, because I got them earlier this week, and they "fit", but they don't.  I bought extended calf to get a little extra room, and they're a tad too long, and still a bit tight.  I know they will probably stretch, but the truth is, I'm just not a boots person.  But still.  IF I WERE, it'd be nice to find a nice pair that fits.  Stupid calves and short legs.

So I decided.

In my next life*, I'm going to be an ostrich.  This is going to be amazing on so many levels.  First off, I'm going to be a bird, and I kind of always wanted to be a bird.  I'll have pretty long legs.  I'll be able to run at sustained speeds of 30 mph.  Imagine that - long, skinny legs (perfect for boots - I'll need them, because I'll have really ugly toes), and I can run really fast.  Awesome.  (There are cons, sure, but let's just focus on the awesome things.)

Also, look at how cute I'll be!

Marek decided he'd be a turkey vulture, his logic being that then he can be as disgusting as he wants, and no one will care, because it's practically expected of him.  Hmmm....he also says he sees the resemblance in the picture below. :)

*No no, just kidding. I don't believe in a next life.

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The map means fun

I'm super excited that today's Friday.  Not just because it's Friday and Friday is generally all kinds of awesome.  I'm extra excited because I'm taking the afternoon off and driving down to DC from the Big City.

I get to see my awesome cousin Kate, my favorite airport friend Airport Chris, and maybe some lovely J.Crew blogging friends.  I can't wait!!

Oh, and did I mention?  The COLTS are coming to town to play the Redskins, major score!  Marek and I want to go see every NFL team play at home (basically visit every NFL stadium, but I'm not sure if the University of Phoenix's stadium is considered an NFL stadium), and this will help us knock another one off our list!

The list is tricky, because we've technically been to 4 different stadiums, but only seen 3 teams play at home.  We've seen the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, the Indianapolis Colts at the RCA Dome (old) and Lucas Oil Stadium (new), and the Jets at the Meadowlands/Giants Stadium (old one).  We'll have to go back to the new Giants Stadium and see a Jets AND a Giants home game for them to count.

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Boston Half Marathon Weekend

This past weekend we headed home for the Boston Half Marathon.  We left on Saturday pretty early in the morning because His Highness had a vet appointment at 9 AM.  Claudius had a trial day of daycare this week, so we had to get his kennel cough vaccination updated.  After that we dropped him at daycare for the weekend where he got to see his favorite person who's not us. :)

I spent most of Saturday doing laundry, and then we went out to dinner with my parents, which was a lot of fun.  After that, we met up with some of our friends at The Cheesecake Factory to get some dessert.  Because The Cheesecake Factory is all too cool for school and doesn't take reservations, we had to wait for an hour, but we had a lot of fun!  I pigged out and had two desserts (ice cream sundae and lemoncello torte or something like that), and they were totally delicious!

Jaimie and Avi (above) and Sean (below) met up with us, and we had a nice time just chatting and catching up.

Here's Marek and I.  Marek left his leftover cheesecake in my parents' refrigerator, and he was so sad when he remembered it, as we were already about 45 minutes away from them.  Oh well - there's a good reason to go back then!  I am actually not really a big fan of cheesecake, but I will go back for cakes and ice cream any time. :)

Sunday morning we got up early to head into Boston for the Half.  Marek dropped me off at the starting area, and then went and met up with our other friend who came down to watch the race too.  After he dropped me off, I joined all the other runners in the lines for the port-a-potties (gross), and then just wandered around.  I was looking for a friend from high school, as she was running the race, too, and wasn't able to find her, so headed over to the start corrals.  As I was trying to decide which corral to get into, I ran right into her, so we got to chat and catch up.

She was much faster than I am, so when we started, I was on my own (I like it better that way, I think), and everyone was passing me.  This was my third half marathon, and I've noticed that people LOVE to go out fast at the beginning, and I have learned not to pay attention to ALL the people passing me at the start, because I'd rather pace myself and finish without feeling like dying than whiz past people at the beginning.  It was a little while before I started passing people, but I found a girl going at a decent pace that I used to sort of mark myself against.  I tried to stay close to her, and we kept trading off who was ahead or behind (unbeknownst to her), but I finally passed her after 4 or 5 miles, and then I was on my own.

They were not lying when they said the course was a "rolling" course.  The half marathon in Indianapolis is pretty flat, and this one wasn't.  The hills weren't too bad, except for the big one at mile 11.5 or so, which is really one of the least awesome places for a steep hill in a half marathon.  It was tough (I actually stopped and walked for about a minute just to get to the top), but the best part is that it wasn't even the last hill!  They really made you work for your finish.

My goal was simple: get my medal!  The Boston Half requirements for "finishers" are pretty strict.  You have to complete the marathon in 2.5 hours, and if you don't start right at the gun time, then you have even less time to be an official finisher.  The course opened at 8:30 and was closed promptly at 11, so if you weren't done by 11, you weren't considered an official finisher, and didn't get a medal!  (At least not according to the website.)  Based on the runs I had been doing, I was fairly certain I could finish in 2.5 hours (our time in Indy was 2:29), so my private goal was to finish in 2:20, cutting about 9 minutes off my time.  I wanted to finish at a sub-11 minute per mile pace, and I did!  My official time was 2:19 and some change, and my pace was 10:40.  I am so excited (and I got my medal, woo hoo!!).

Here I am enjoying a post-run banana, wearing my pretty medal (take note, Indiana - the Boston Half medal is much prettier than yours!).

Here's Marek and I after the race.  He and our friend met me in the post-race area after, and he took a couple pictures of me running, too.

After the half marathon, we headed back to my parents house and I finished our laundry.  Then we headed out to visit with my cousins.  We went to Red Robin for dinner, and had a ton of fun! I LOVE Red Robin, and I totally pigged out - raspberry limeade, burger, tons of garlic fries (YUMMMM), onion rings, nachos, and chili queso dip.  SO GOOD.  I'm not kidding when I say that my Red Robin meal helped push me forward when I was running.

My cousins have a young son, and it's always fun to see him.  We have been hanging out with them a lot more in recent years, and it's been really nice getting to spend time with so much family.  I can't wait to hang out (and maybe go to Red Robin :)) again!

After dinner we headed back home, and I'm already trying to decide if I want to do another half marathon between now and Indy next May.  I looked up some half marathons in January, but right now I am leaning towards the half marathon in Hyannis at the end of February, but I'm worried that two months won't be long enough in between halfs.  I know there are plenty of hardcore runners out there who could do that, but I'm not sure if I'm there yet.  But as of now, that's what I'm thinking, because there is a lot of travel involved for the other potential halfs (West Virginia, Charleston, or St. Louis).  Decisions, decisions...but the bottom line is I finished the Boston Half in the time I wanted, and that'll be enough to motivate me in my training for now.

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A little bit of exploring!

A nice benefit of living in the Big City is that we take the Royal Beast on a lot of walks, at least a few miles a day.  That's nice for him and for us!

Here's a picture of me and Claudius getting all fancy and cultured and stuff on the Met stairs. :)

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Local News and other random thoughts

So I was going to do another one of those bulletted list posts, because they are oh-so-interesting.  And then I thought maybe I'd update you on what's going on in our lives...but of course the issue with that is letting you know enough that it's interesting, but doesn't give out too much information.

And then I watched the local news, and heard this awesome quote:

Why are you so ASHAMED, Mrs. Levine?  Because you're making people live like animals?

Which in turn reminded me of my favorite local news quote ever:

Small animals are exploding, but it's a DRY heat.

I rarely watch the news.  But sometimes the local news makes it so worth it.  Like the time I watched the news back home and the big story was about a snake who escaped from his owner and sneaked into someone else's room.  They interviewed the MSPCA and even sent a reporter LIVE ON LOCATION to cover the story.  Really?

And I am doing the bulletted list.  Eat your heart out:

• The half marathon is in 4 days.  I took 3 weeks off from running.  I ran 11 miles on Sunday to see if I should even bother to go home for the half (apparently I should).  Then I woke up on Monday and my hip bones hurt were basically bruised, which was an interesting side effect, to say the least.
• I bled through my shoe today during my run.  How totally totally awesome.  I feel like a real runner now.
• My motivation on Sunday is no longer just a shiny medal.  It's a shiny medal AND Red Robin.  Yeah.
• I took my first run around Central Park on Sunday.  I took my first run in Central Park today.
• Transformers 3 is filming in DC next week.  I'm going to DC next week.  Coincidence?  Fate?  (Neither...I won't be there when they're actually filming, so woe is me...thanks a lot, OHIO.)
• Please, please, please, please someone help me find an anti-wrinkle cream that is good for sensitive skin.  I am not kidding about this.  HELP!
• Remember when I said I wasn't one of those people who lost weight due to stress?  Yeah, apparently I was wrong about that.

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Road trip to Chicago and Indianapolis!

My love of the Midwest, especially Indianapolis, can't be a secret at this point. I first visited Indianapolis in high school actually, as part of a band trip (oh, yes, I was in band in high school), and I loved the city! I love that being a fan of the Colts gives me an excuse to go back there pretty much once a year. And having friends and family in Indianapolis/Chicago/the Chicago area gives us even more reasons to head to the Midwest.

So for this trip, we headed to Chicago first to see my cousin for her birthday. We had had tickets for the Colts/Giants game for awhile, and it happened to coincide with my cousin's birthday, so we extended our trip by a day, and swung through Chicago to celebrate with her. My other cousin flew in from DC for the weekend as well, so it was a nice little cousin reunion!

My cousin had cardboard mustaches for all of us to wear, so we stuck one on Marek's whale on his tee shirt.

Dashing

Here's the three of us doing a little impromptu dancing. As you can see, we have a lot of fun together! I really wish we all lived a bit closer so we could get together more often, but it makes for fun trips. I'm going to visit my DC cousin in October, and possibly back to Chicago in December, and then I'll see both of these girls at Christmas - I can't wait!

Love my girls! I can't believe we've only been hanging out for a year (even less)!

We partied for a long time on Friday night, but had a ton of fun. Saturday morning I had made plans to meet up with Julia. She and I connected through our blogs sometime last year, and met up in Chicago last year when Marek and I swung through on our way to Indianapolis. We both had pretty full schedules for the weekend, but were able to meet up at Ann Sather's for breakfast/brunch, which was great.

Saturday night I headed out of the city to visit with some more cousins of mine - and even meet some whom I had never met before! It was a nice visit, and we had a lot of fun!

Sunday morning we got up and got breakfast (third straight day of eggs/bacon/toast/pastry, blech), and then started the drive down to Indianapolis.

I LOVE the drive from Chicago to Indianapolis, really. We made the same drive last fall, but it was a bit later in the fall and a bit later in the day, so the sun was heading down, and it was just beautiful. There is this great stretch of road, heading south on I-65, for about 5 to 10 miles maybe? And there are wind turbines everywhere. I love it. I drove to Indy this time, so didn't get any pictures, but I imagine we'll make that drive again at some point, so maybe next time.

Once we got to Indy, we parked at a lot and then headed out to get some "must-dos" done: get my mom an Indianapolis Starbucks mug, make a stop at the Colts Pro Shop and get some new gear for the season, and get my Peyton Manning 2011 calendar. Living on the East Coast (and my state in particular), they don't sell Peyton Manning calendars around here, but luckily the Borders near Circle Centre always has them in stock...or at least has for the past 4 years!

Marek and I then hit up our favorite restaurant in Indy, Weber Grill! We really like this restaurant, and have made it one of our regular stops when we visit the city. We were really looking for a place to watch the Patriots/Jets game, and ended up scoring a table right near the TV. I was curious who the Indy fans would root for. They seemed largely indifferent, but there were more cheers when the Jets scored. (There were Giants fans around, too, though, so maybe it was them? Or do Giants fans hate the Jets?)

After the Patriots/Jets game, we headed over to the stadium (aka The Barn) for the game. Normally we get to the stadium an hour and a half to two hours before the game, and we get to watch the players warm-up and stuff. This time we got there about half an hour before the game started, so we missed getting our "Scout" magazines (free game programs), which made me super sad. (I ended up getting one that some guy in our row left behind though!) We also made a second trip to the Pro Shop, so that evened it out I guess.

They are doing a lot of work over near the stadium at the site of the old RCA Dome. The Indiana Convention Center renovations look pretty cool, and it looks like the Marriott is putting up a shiny new hotel. At least, we assumed it was the Marriott. Right now it's just the "Rriott".

Here's the view from our seats. We buy our tickets secondhand, so usually end up pretty high up, and this year was no exception. We did get tickets close to the 50-yd line, which was a nice change though. Lucas Oil Stadium is pretty big, and I always love going there. They had the roof open the night of the game, which is always pretty cool, too.

Here's the Colts' opening drive. Normally I take a lot of pictures of the game, but I left the SLR at home for the weekend, and felt like just relaxing and taking only a few pictures. I love game pictures, but you spend so much time taking them (especially with just a point-and-shoot) that it's easy to miss the fun!

I had to take a picture of Air Blue though. The Colts have a main mascot, Blue, who is a blue horse. There is a Junior Blue, who is a mini version of Blue, and then this buffoon, Air Blue. Poor guy is in a blow-up mascot suit, and he can sort of waddle around, but not much else. He has a long floppy tongue that flails around out of his mouth, too. Very strange. I love watching him though - always like to see if he falls over, haha!

Here I am after the game! (We won, woo hoo!) It took us awhile to get to a spot where we could take this picture, as people kept coming over to where we were. I love my Peyton Manning shirt. I get to wear it basically once a year when we go to the game, and I'll pull it out for playoffs (or the Super Bowl) occasionally, and I got new beads for the game this year (left my horseshoe beads at home). It was a very fun game, and we made sure we stayed until the end!!

Colts championship banners! I love the way they have them displayed! Wish the one on the right was for the Super Bowl Champions (not just AFC Champions)!

After the game, we met up with my friend Erin, whom I've known since freshman year of college (so long ago!). She lives in Indianapolis, and was kind enough to meet up with us after the game was over (after midnight!). We met outside the city at a Steak 'n Shake, which was my first time there, and I have to say, it was kind of awesome! We weren't able to catch up for as long as I would have liked, but we were able to hang out for a little over an hour, and then Marek and I had to get on the road. (Marek was probably grateful for this...last time Erin and I got together we were chatting nonstop for 3 hours.) Erin is someone I get to see very rarely, so I was really glad we got to hang out! Love this girl so much!

After Steak 'n Shake, Marek and I headed home. Normally I would drive for 2, maybe 3 hours, and I was ready to call it quits just outside of Columbus, Ohio, but instead, we might have gotten into an argument, which gave me the energy and adrenaline to drive until 7 AM (so about 5 hours). Marek drove the rest of the way back to New York (about 6.5 more hours), and so we actually made the drive home straight through, without stopping for any naps. New personal bests for us!

All in all, it was a really fun trip! I love seeing friends and family, and we got to see so many on this trip! Thanks to everyone who made time for us. And of course the Colts winning their home opener and winning their first game of the season wasn't so bad either. :)

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