NYC Recap

We had a great mini-vacation to NYC that involved 26.2 miles of running (Hubby) and a lot of eating (me).

Hubby ran the marathon for the second year in a row with a time in 4:07. His goal was under 4 hours, but I thought he did a great job and shaved over 20 minutes off his time last year. I watched from Central Park and had a blast watching the elite runners finish, as well as seeing Bobby Flay red-faced and serious on the course, along with thousands of other finishers. So inspiring.

Pre-race

Just being a spectator and not a runner of this marathon, I will say that they seem to have theiract together ... everything from the Expo to the race day logistics seems smooth, especiallywith 45,000 runners and 2.5 million spectators. The only issue I had were that the text messages I was supposed to receive updating me to Hubby's whereabouts didn't come as timely as I had hoped.

Post-race

We decided to rent an apartment this year and I have to say, that was a big thumbs up in our book. Not only were we convenient to pretty much everything (57th Avenue and 6th), it was less expensive, roomier, and we had a doorman. Of course, it came with a few drawbacks ... on the first night, we couldn't get the key to work in the lock and it took us forever to get someone tohelp. We also had to wait for 3 hours for the super to check a suspicious non-flushing toilet. But, all in all, I was happy with our decision and would do it again.

Here I am showing how small the kitchen was, but it was perfect for our needs. I could touch from cabinet to cabinet. Not what you'd want to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, but again ... perfect for most New Yorkers.

We did some of the typical New York sightseeing/touristy things ... MoMA, Magnolia Bakery (ehhh - wasn't that impressed), boat cruise around the city, Top of the Rock, caught a show(Promises, Promises), ate NYC pizza (Joe's and John's ... I may be slightly partial to Joe's), window shopping on 5th Avenue, crazy taxi rides, etc. One must do for me is to buy the City Pass ... we did this last year and also this year. The City Pass that gives you tickets to all the major museums, Empire State Building,etc. It's so worth the price even if you don't use every ticket.

Statue of Liberty from our cruise.

We also found a great tour in Greenwich Village called the Foods of NY Food Tour. They host several different tours around the city, but this one was perfect. A three hour tour filled with historical tidbits, and 6 different samples of Greenwich Village hole in the wall restaurants and bakeries. I really loved Greenwich ... so much more quiet, laid-back, arty, and unique. I would definitely like to spend more time in this area again. You can see where my eating marathon took place!

Holy Cannoli from Rocco's

Holy macaroni and cheese from Home.

Holy big chocolate chip and oatmeal cookie from Milk & Cookies.

My favorites ... hmmm, almost all of them. I would definitely have to say Home Restaurant (we decided to go back for lunch the following day), Milk & Cookies Bakery, Rocco's Bakery, Amy's Breads plus these rice/risotto balls from an Italian specialties shop. Oh my gosh.

Did I tell you that the day after our food tour, we walked from 57th street to 12th? Holy food coma. We spent some time in Chelsea, visited the Chelsea Market and the High Line Park. While High Line isn't the prettiest park in the world (read: manicured), it was a great idea to take a train trestle and turn it into a 1.5 mile walking trail above the city. It's still under construction, but made for some pretty neat vantage points above the city streets. It's a little bit gritty, but it's nice to see something turned around in positive way.

Cool street view

Flowers and bricks.

So, here's my long-winded recap and if you're still reading, thank you.

See you next week!

Movin'

We're moving to NYC ... Ok, ok, not really, but we'll be living there for 5 days this fall. Does that count? Yeah, probably not, but I'm pretending.

Hubby is running the NYC marathon again this year and we decided to make a little vacation of it since it's also near the time of our five year anniversary.

We were looking at hotels, debating if we wanted to return to where we stayed last year, and on a whim, decided to look at vbro.com

We've used vbro in the past and have had good experiences. Once, we rented a neat architect's home in Key West, and another time we stayed in a condo at Wrightsville Beach. We found two apartments that we liked and found out yesterday that the one we really wanted was available.

It's kind of exciting to feel like you're actually living in that location and not just visiting. We'll have a doorman, a great city view, 2 blocks from Central Park, close to the museums, shopping, etc. Plus, who doesn't love drinking coffee at "home" each morning, as opposed to dropping $10 each morning at Starbucks. Maybe I'll be like the scrunchie girl from Sex in the City who thinks that Carrie and Berger actually believes she lives in NYC.

No idea

What is going on with the colors on my blog ... maybe it's just Firefox, but I somehow doubt that. Oh well ... no time to fix it now.

Instead, it's time to ...

1. Pack lunches for Maddy and Libby.
2. Get them off to Parent's Morning Out
3. Run to Target and to DSW to try to find a pair of shoes.
4. Pack my bag for the weekend.
5. Enjoy a weekend with some of my oldest (not age, but length of time we've known each other) friends.

It's been a long time since we've all been together at the same time and I really think I'm in need for a little refueling that only good friends provide.

Circa 1994 or 1995 from college.

Sequins were popular that year, don't you think?
I can't wait to see some of these girls and obviously, we need some new photos!

I may need to go back to lists

I promise I'm really back, but I just haven't gotten back to blogging.

So, here's my P list for the week ...

1. Packing and unpacking. Did I tell y'all that I got home on Wednesday night, unpacked, did a load of laundry, repacked, and got on another flight the next morning? You also know that I hadn't gone anywhere in about 6 months and it was a crazy feeling to be on opposite sides of the US in the same week.

2. PJ's have been my uniform for the week so far. I did shower yesterday, but it just seemed like too much effort to get dressed until I absolutely had to.

3. Poopin'. No idea what my parents and Hubby fed Maddy and Libby when I was gone, but really? Can they really go this many times in a day? Aside from all that, it's great to be home. It was hard to be away from my girls. I'm convinced that they grew 3 inches and learned about 10 new "tricks" while I was gone. Maddy deliberately signed "more" twice tonight, Libby now makes a "baby tiger" noise that is a sweet growl, they both practically run now, and I'm in love with all the kisses they now "blow."

4. Pretending. Still pretending that I'm in NYC and enjoying the rush of the city. It was such a great experience ... watching the marathon, getting an on-course kiss from Hubby when he ran by, walking in Central Park, losing myself in art museums, sleeping in, window shopping, great late-night dinners, Wicked, "secret" burgers, wonderful city views, seeing Jimmy Fallon, and trying to fit in and not look like a total tourist. I'm sure all I had to do is open my mouth and it was evident that I wasn't from around there. I did have someone guess me from Georgia and I still don't know how I feel about that.

5. And a few photos from New York.

Hubby post-race.

The neon sign for the "secret" burger joint.
Awesome burgers, but not really a secret.

I loved this tree in Central Park.

Near Rockefeller Center.

Hubby and I in front of the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. I love that whoever took this picture didn't tell us that we are blocking the HUGE statue behind us.

Sucker

I'm a sucker for good marketing/advertising campaigns.

We just booked our hotel for NYC, and not only does this hotel seem to have a great location, a "hidden" burger joint, but they also had very tongue-in-cheek marketing on their website.

This was taken from the website that describes their rooms.

Park Views? Further than the eye can see.
Comfy Beds? Better than sleeping with the fishes.
DVD/CD players? Oh yeah.
Hi-Speed Web? What do you think?
Humongous TV's? Stole 'em from Times Square.
Showers for Two? Even Two Sumo-Wrestlers.
Desk Space? The Envy of Your Boss.

Now to start planning where to go and what to do. This, of course is all based on hoping that Hubby will be able to walk the day after the marathon.

New York City Marathon

Hubby started his official marathon training last night for the ING NYC Marathon. Whoo-hoo! You may remember that he got in last year, but decided to defer since we knew we'd have two tiny babies to contend with. So, this is the year.

I'm excited for him to do such a major accomplishment (his first marathon), but also to do so at such a historic race in a great city.

So, NYC area bloggers, anyone want to show a NC girl around your fair city? I have no travel details yet, but I would love to see if anyone is available to meet up for coffee, lunch, drinks, dinner ...whatever.

The marathon is Nov. 1, so we'll be in town a day or two before and hopefully a day or two after the race. My parents are going to pack up pumpkins (literally) and celebrate Halloween at our house and watch the girls for us.

If you're interested, please leave me a comment or send me an email (it's under my profile) and we can make plans. If you have information about the race, where to stay, where to eat, where to avoid, that would be helpful too and much appreciated.

Whirlwind

I'm still here ... I'll give you the Cliff Notes version of the past few days.

- Two 10-hour car rides.
- Two visits to Cracker Barrel and Denny's. *I swear, these places aren't on my top 10 list, but were awesome places to stop and feed the girls ... they brought us hot water for bottles and didn't care if we spilled 900 cheerios on the floor. Well, since Hubby's a good tipper, I don't think they cared.
- A 13.1 mile run for Hubby, who beat his previous time at this race.
- A 8 mile + 2.5 mile run for me. Long story ... I was supposed to run 10 miles to train for my half-marathon, but ran out of sidewalk (longer story), so I had to break it up into two runs.
- Lots of 80+ degree weather.
- Two nights away from sweet baby girls in a nice hotel, with a king bed, and fluffy pillows, without sweet baby girls, with a Starbucks in the hotel lobby. This is when I wish we had Grandparents in the same city.
- A wonderful dinner with old and new friends.
- A crazy family dinner with yummy food and lots of laughs.
- Picnic lunches, complete with bubbles for the girls by my parents. I really think this was so my Mom didn't have to continually pick up food off her floor.
- A tooth for Maddy!

We survived!

Hubby and I took our first trip by ourselves this weekend. Gasp! Gone for three nights and two airplane rides away from home! I thought it was a success since we didn't drink entirely too much and make jackasses out of ourselves and we also didn't sleep away the entire weekend. There were definitely periods of imbibing and rainy, Saturday afternoon naps, but all in moderation!

It was a trip to Vermont for my work, but we were able to take families along to enjoy the weekend after our meetings were over on Friday. Since the girls are a tad too young for skiing, we decided to leave them entrusted in the care of their grandparents. All in all, it was a win-win. The girls were spoiled rotten, and the grandparents, albeit tired were able to spend uninterrupted time with their newest grand babies.

Today, I had to pick up Zeus and Zoe from their kennel and poor Zeuser broke his dew claw nail getting into my car. Ouch. Poor guy ... he wouldn't let anyone touch his paw and there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it. The kennel owner tried to wrap up his paw, but Zeus was having none of that. It's no longer bleeding, so that is good. I think he is totally milking us for extra attention.

So it really is back to reality - - emails, phone calls, dogs, laundry, meetings, peas in the hair, and sweet potatoes on my shoulder. Never a dull day.

Over the river and through the woods

It's really more like down the highway and on the Interstate ... to the Grandparents house we go.

Tomorrow will be the first family road trip (minus the dogs - they are heading to doggie camp for playtime, chilly swimming, and a bath) for Papaw's birthday. Since we need to be sure we bring everything that we might need for the day, we actually started a list that I need to pack up between now and tomorrow morning.

Diapers
Wipes
Burp cloths
Extra outfits
Pumped milk / bottles
Breast pump and empty containers
Small cooler
Formula
Blankets
Large blanket for floor
Mylicon drops and saline drops, just in case
Camera
Hand sanitizer
Baby Bjorns (possibly)
Couple of toys / rattles

What else? Luckily they have a pack and play so Maddy & Libby can nap there and it's one less thing that we don't have to bring. I'm sure there is something that we've forgotten. Keep your fingers crossed that they do well - it's only a 2.5 hour drive, but it's amazing how fast two little girls can get very loud!

Back from the beach

It's only 7:30 and I can hear two sleeping dogs snoring from their kennels. Hubby & I headed to Wrightsville Beach for the weekend to celebrate my birthday, and the pups went to Air Canine for a weekend of swimming, running, and baths.

We had a good, very relaxing weekend, albeit cold and windy. Walks on the beach were pretty short, but it's still nice to have the ocean as your backyard. Lots of eating and napping, a little shopping, and I even stayed up to watch UNC beat Duke last night. Go Heels! I think my afternoon nap helped me out for the 9pm game. And, not to forget my alma mater, a little shout out to the Peay for making it to the NCAA tourney!

As always, it's nice to be home. Loving the daylight savings time ... I'm sure I'll grumble tomorrow morning, but for now, I love the extra daylight.

See you next week!

We're off for a few days of R&R. See you on Monday!

San Antonio, Revisited

I wanted to share a few pictures and details of our trip to San Antonio.

1) It was really cold when we arrived and of course, we were anticipating 70 degrees and sunny. No such luck - my friend who now lives there arrived for dinner in her coat, scarves, and gloves. The first time she had to wear them since she's been there. It was great to see her - she looks wonderful and really loves the area.

2) I looove the tableside guacamole. So fresh and yummy. We had it at the Iron Cactus and Boudro's and my favorite was the Iron Cactus.

3) We heard several mariachi bands and other entertainers. My favorite was the all female group who performed for the opening session of the Junior League. Aren't they pretty?

We also noticed this Hispanic bagpiper. Good, just not what we were expecting.

And I had to take this picture on our last night. We were at Rita's on the River and this very flexible duo did a little fancy Texas Two-Steppin on the dance floor. This guy could do the splits and he did them, several times!

4) Of course, no trip to San Antonio is complete without a trip to the Alamo.

5) There was a street fair occurring on Saturday. Some very sad animals were on display.

6) And of course, the real reason I was there ... The Junior League. It was a great conference - jam packed with training and information.

Off to the land of tableside guacamole

I'm heading out of town and can't wait to try out this place. When I read that their menu offers guacamole, freshly prepared at your table, I was hooked. I'm attending a Junior League leadership conference and I'll also be able to see one of my very dearest childhood friends who lives in the same city, so hopefully a good trip altogether. See you next week.

Tree & Weekend Update

Just to let y'all know, I've used 10 strands of lights and just sent Hubby to Target to buy 4 or 5 more. I like a lit tree - my mother was always the Christmas Tree nazi & would do a "squint test" on her trees. This was some kind of scientific method that she developed to determine if you had enough lights on your tree. I think when you squint and you don't have any holes aka dark spots, then you're OK. And, she never let us kids decorate the tree, but that's another session!

We had a good weekend - very nice to getaway and the place we stayed is gorgeous and crawling with history. We were lucky to have a room in the Main Inn that is also the original part. You take a elevator, complete with attendant, that is literally built inside of the grandiose 14-foot fireplaces. This was done to conceal noise and they are still used today.

Here were a few pictures of the room - love the little details. While not very large, the working windows are a plus. We loved all of the craftsman style furniture. The room picture really doesn't do it justice, but should give an idea.

On Saturday afternoon, we found this great little wine bar where I found a great Spanish wine called Heredad Sol i Terra and Hubby found a new Belgian beer called Leffe Blonde. Both were great and probably our new favorites.

It was a relaxing weekend - a little shopping, eating, drinking, and a pedicure to round things off.

We're off...

The "Z" dogs are headed to doggie camp, and we're headed here in the moutains. Hubby has a conference and I'm going to play. Have a great weekend!

Charleston Recommendations

Nanders, a few watering holes that I enjoyed include Red's Ice House (actually in Mt. Pleasant, on Shem Creek), The Rooftop Bar at the Venue Inn - a perfect place to see Charleston from a great rooftop bar, and Tommy Condon's, an Irish Pub with a great outdoor patio.

Also, swing by the Market... it's fun and has the great handcrafted baskets. Some of the stuff is crap - fake gucci sunglasses, but it's fun to see. You can't go wrong on dining in the downtown area and also for pubs as well.

Have fun - Charleston is a great city!