NYC Part 2 of . . .

You can read Part 1 here . . .  I wake up on Thanksgiving Day and it is a beautiful, crisp, clear day.  I had looked into going to the Macy's parade but heard that you pretty much have to save your spot at 6 am and stay there for hours till it's over.  In a tight crowd.  Not really my thing.  My aunt had previously mentioned that no matter what my plans, if I had a clear day, I should head to the Empire State Building because you never know if the rest of your stay will be cloudy.  And hey, if every other tourist is at the parade, no one will be at the Empire State Building.  I got ready quickly and headed out.  And I was right.  No lines and I was one of about 20 people at the Empire State Building.

I headed back down with the intent of grabbing a coffee and a quick bite and heading to the Brooklyn Bridge and then I realized I could actually catch the end of the parade from close by the ESB.  

Parade?  Check!

Now I'm off to the Brooklyn Bridge which I loved loved LOVED.  Walking across it was one of the top hundred favourite things I did.  : )  On my way to the train, in my wandering I walked past the NYC Public Library and Grand Central Station. (I did go back and do a proper visit of both).

And now the bridge!

My first glimpse when I came out of the subway. 

I walked all the way across the bridge and into DUMBO to get this picture of the Manhattan bridge from Brooklyn.  It's just so weird to see this huge bridge peeking through a side street.

Walking back across the bridge to Manhattan, I just couldn't believe all the buildings and the amazing blue skies.  

Then like a mirage, I see the Waffles & Dinges cart.  I'd sent them on Eat St or some other show like that and it looked tasty.  It was.

The Turtle - waffle, hot fudge, dulce de leche, icing sugar.

Next up, since I was in the area and it was a beautiful day, I headed over to the Staten Island Ferry.  

And now the sun is setting and I have to move fast to get back to the apartment as my hosts Beny & Wes invited me to join their Thanksgiving dinner!  I had so much fun and it was so delicious.  A couple bottles of wine and dancing (yes, dancing) and I had a bunch of new friends. :)

Don't worry.  There was gravy, it just hadn't circulated yet.

I'm in the back on the right side. :)

Once dinner was over, I went upstairs to my room and decided I was going back to the Empire State Building.  When you go during the day, you get a free same day admission after 10 pm.  I wanted to see it at night!  Off I went!!!  Night pictures don't turn out that well but it was so beautiful.

And again -- NO LINES!!  I was alone in the elevator!!!  Feel like a celebrity renting out the ESB.

And of course, the day wouldn't be complete with a quick visit to Times Square on the way home :)

At least this post was less reading. :)

NYC Part 1 of . . .

Let me just preface this by saying that this is SO LATE because I spent 9 weeks following this trip taking care of babies and my sister.  I'll explain that after too!!!

Let's back up . . . Sometime in the summer I started thinking about what I wanted to do for my 40th birthday.  I knew without a doubt that I just did not want to be here.  I wanted to do something really great.  Like a trip.  By myself.  I started googling places to go it alone and New York kept coming up.  Could I do this?  Could I go to New York BY MYSELF?  I decided yes.  I kept it pretty quiet.  Partly because I didn't want to be discouraged by other people from doing it and partly because I just didn't want anyone to come.  I wanted to do whatever I wanted to do when I wanted to do it.  And I didn't want to not do things I wanted to do because someone else was with me or they thought it was stupid.  (i.e. all the wonderfully cheesy movie scene stops!)

Next, I searched what was happening in NYC around that time and discovered that Thanksgiving fell late this year so November 28th and then the tree lighting was December 4th.  My birthday is November 30th.  So that clinched the dates for me.  November 27th - December 6th.  I gave myself an extra day because I really really wanted to skate on the Rockefeller rink.  Once I had the dates, I went to airbnb and found a ton of places available for rent to stay.  I narrowed it down to a top ten based on price and location and started emailing people.  Once I had that down, I checked flights every single day before I went to bed and finally caught a seat sale.  :)  IT WAS HAPPENING!!

As I grew more excited and started preparing my packing list and wardrobe choices (haha see second last post for boots, coat, and skinny jeans), I also grew a little more nervous.  What if this turned out to be a terrible idea?  What if I was too scared to leave the apartment??  Actual fear I had.

I made lists of everything I wanted to see.  I searched what Broadway shows were going to be on while I was there and figured I'd go see one.  I couldn't narrow it down to one and then thought, screw it, go for it.  Do everything.

Sooooooo . . . November 27th . . . terrible weather.  I made it out of Winnipeg and got stuck in Toronto.  The time on my flight kept changing.  I was so worried that I was going to get in super late and I'd done all this planning to arrive during daylight hours.  We finally took off and it was my second scariest flight.  Weather weather weather.  Now I'm at LaGuardia and I'm at the luggage carousel waiting near four women who flew in for the long weekend and to see a show and they knew where they were going and what they were doing so I just followed them from the baggage out to cabs and followed what they did.  Beats the hell out of stopping to ask people all the time!  I was trying really hard to not look like a tourist.  My airbnb hosts even told me what to say when I got in the cab.  Which was so awesome.

The cab ride was crazy.  What a wild ride.  It was still raining and we were flying through traffic weaving around and we were whizzing past all these places that only now seemed real to me.

I'm in an NYC cab!

It was now 5 pm, I was supposed to arrive at 1:30.  It was now getting dark and it was still raining.  I was thinking that maybe I would just take my time unpacking and start exploring the next day.  I was watching the street signs and knew we were getting very close to the apartment (I studied maps a lot before I left) and then I saw this . . .

I watch the Late Show from time to time if I hear someone is going to be on that I'd like to see but I'm not someone who watches it every night but for some reason, I saw this and we were just two blocks from the apartment and this was the moment I knew that I would not stay in the apartment and I was not going to waste even a minute.

We pulled up in front of the apartment and my host Beny was waiting outside.  So funny meeting a stranger that you're about to share an apartment with.  I got out of the cab and he sort of squealed and yelled "are you my girl?"and ran in for a hug.  I knew from that moment on, staying with him and his partner Wes was going to be a breeze.  (As an aside, Beny & Wes actually had two apartments so I basically had Beny's all to myself).  Beny quickly showed me around and asked me what my plans were and gave me phone numbers to text or call in case I ran into any trouble or needed anything at all. I put my stuff in my room, unpacked a bit, changed and grabbed my coat and umbrella and left.  It was now probably almost 7 and I wanted to try to stick to my initial plan for that evening so I could cross a couple things off my list. 

First up, I walked to Gray's Papaya.   I was starving by this point so a famous hot dog from a famous hot dog place that's been in both Sex & the City and You've Got Mail was going to be awesome.  On my walk, I passed Lincoln Center.

Then Trader Joe's!  (I actually went in and waited in a Thanksgiving Eve line to buy my friend cookie butter.  I'm a good friend.

And then there it was!  Gray's Papaya!  It seems so silly but I had SO MANY moments like this.  Where things really didn't seem like real places until I saw them with my own eyes.  And it was a delicious hot dog and the papaya juice was fantastic.  Just enough to tide me over until dinner seeing as how I hadn't eaten since breakfast at the airport 12 hours before.

Next, feeling energized by the hot dog, I decided it was time to conquer my irrational fear of the subway.  I don't know why but the subway scared me.  We don't have a train here.  We have only busses.  Above ground, stopping constantly busses.  I walked across the street to the station and decided it was a positive sign that the station was the one featured in the Michael J Fox show opener.  :)  And it was also at Verdi Square where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are both walking on either side of it. :)

I could have walked to my next place but I decided to just do it.  I bought my unlimited 7 day pass at the terminal and then my first run through the thing, it didn't open and beeped and people were coming through the opposite way so I panicked and jumped back.  (like a TOTAL DORK)  As people rushed past me, an older woman coming through the opposite way glanced up at me and didn't stop moving with the crowd as she shouted "down and to the left a little slower this time, GET IN THERE!"  I laughed, that was so awesome.  I knew exactly what she meant and jumped in and it worked.  The train came in about 2 minutes.  I did my best to look bored but inside I was thinking "I'M ON THE TRAIN IN NYC!  I'M ON THE TRAIN IN NYC!"  Hahahaha - such a dork.  I don't remember if it was one or two stops but then I got out, walked a couple blocks and got here.  Cafe Lalo.  Yes, of course it's from a movie!  You've Got Mail!  Kind of felt like I should have brought a book and a rose. :)

I had a delicious grilled brie and whatever sandwich with roasted potatoes and a salad.  It was so tasty.  And another small fear was eating in restaurants by myself.  The place was so packed that it was hard to even tell if anyone else was by themselves but it didn't even bother me and I was enjoying myself.  So much atmosphere and it was loud and the music was cool.  Oh, and I was in NYC.  :)

Once I finished up there, it was 9ish I think.  I walked back to the subway and got on and was looking at the rest of the stops on the line and saw Times Square.  I knew Times Square was walking distance back to the apartment so why not!  By then it wasn't raining anymore.  Now, Times Square.  When I climbed the stairs out of the station and saw the bright lights of Times Square, it was unreal.   I kept walking towards thinking that all the movies, shows, pictures I've seen, nothing can capture it.  It's crazy.  I took so many pictures but none could do it justice.  It's crazy that such a thing exists.

From here, I realized that I needed to find an Apple store because I needed a charging cable adapter.  I googled and the largest Apple store was one subway stop away and was open 24/365.  I headed that way.  Such an unassuming giant store.  You walk into this glass cage and down the stairs to a huge store.

Now I was on Fifth Ave.  I decided to just walk down Fifth Ave.  The streets were still filled with people even though it was late.  And I was drawn to all the lights!  

THE TREE!!!  Soon it will be lit!

And with that -- I walked another couple blocks to the apartment.  There was a little corner grocery right across the street so I stopped in and bought granola bars, bananas, a 6 pack of some delicious apple type beer.  My bedroom had a double bed, wall mirror, big tv, empty dresser and night stand, empty closet and a mini fridge. I unpacked completely and put my suitcase away. I showered, grabbed a beer and crawled into bed.  I checked things off my list and checked the weather and figured out what I wanted to do the next day and then slept like a rock.

Don't worry, I know this is a long post and only day one but hopefully the next ones won't be as long.  Maybe?  haha!

Gone Gone Gone, She Been Gone So Long

Well, well, well, it's been a while.  Quite a while.  And it was so busy.  Crazy-like.  And I wasn't at home for nearly three months of my absence.  On November 27th, three days after my last post, I left for what I think was the best trip of my life.  No really, I can't imagine a better trip and I'm not even sure I could have made this one any better.  It was for my 40th birthday and I'm working on a post about it so I can catch up.  I'll give you a hint . . .

P.S.  I also ran race number 12 of my 13 races in 2013 there.  :)

PURGE!!

It all started innocently enough.   My friend Tracie just had a baby a month ago and she was saying how she's an awkward size and too small for maternity clothes but too big for her old clothes.  She was going to go shopping and I said "wait, I have so many clothes, I'll find something for you".  I have four wardrobes.  One might think spring, summer, winter, fall but it's more like 10, 12, 14, 16 and a mishmash of seasons.  Now, I have been meaning to go through my closets (yes two single closets) for ages and had done a little bit here and there.  I knew I only wore about 10% of what I had.  So I started, at first I was just looking for stuff for her but then I started literally, trying on every item and making many decisions, do I wear it? will it be good for Tracie?  does it fit?  do I love it?  if it ever does fit again would I really wear it?  I got ruthless and I couldn't be happier!!!

It started off looking like this at one point (and this isn't even everything)

And ended up looking like this

It didn't stop there either.  I went through EVERYTHING.  In the end, I dropped one big moving box full of clothing at my friend's place.  And 5 big moving boxes at the Salvation Army, mostly clothes, some housewares etc.  There's a 7th box half full in my living room and I keep adding to it.  I can't even explain what a weight has been lifted.  I feel like I had SO MUCH stuff.  What's crazy is that I can't believe all that stuff actually fit in my closets.  I can't imagine how much stuff is in a house on Hoarders considering what was actually in those closets.  I also made two jewelry organizers.  One for post earrings and one for hanging stuff.  The earrings one just sits on my dresser and the other is hanging behind my bedroom door.  It's just a box from the dollar store and in it, I cut strips of grey foam insulation and stuffed them in there and glued them in place.  The hanging one is just an IKEA frame I had that the glass was broken form.  I used chain from the hardware store and leftover square hooks from my running medals/bibs display.

In the end, here's a list of clothes that went bye bye.  It's crazy.  Unbelievable.  And it feels so good.

23 t shirts

27 summer tops

25 sweaters

3 pairs of shorts

3 button down tops

5 dressy tops

5 pairs of jeans

1 pair of cords

1 pair of dress pants

2 pair of yoga pants

3 jackets

And that's just the clothes.  There were some bags, hats, etc as well.

It's incredible how much easier it is to find things, get ready for work etc.  I've always wanted a wardrobe with simple pieces that I can mix & match and that is not what I had.  I had a mess.  I did find a few items that I now fit into that I had in my "smaller clothes" closet so I've added those to my good closet.  I also know that there is very little that I need at the moment and I most definitely do not need any workout wear.  Holy crap is there a lot of it!!  

And with all the trying on of clothes, I got brave and finally finally finally wore skinny jeans and boots.  With one of the tops and one of the sweaters that I found in the other closet. :)

Please forgive the terrible picture.

found sweater, macy's t shirt, old navy bootcut jeans

my new jacket, the skinny jeans and boots.

I need a proper wall mirror so I can stop taking pictures in divided mirrored closet doors. :)

Do you tend to hang onto things or get rid of them as soon as they are no longer useful to you?  I think I've turned over a new leaf.  I keep finding things that can go and I have to say, it is so much easier to stay clean & organized now!

Two-fer Race Recap!

I'm totally getting this 13 races in 2013 thing done!  Race #10 was the Fire Paramedic service 10 km.  I had a great time and although it wasn't a personal best, I was within 45 seconds of it.  Baha!  I've had three 10 km's this year in the 1:21:xx.  My friend Nicole on the other hand . . . SPEEDY!!!!  You'll see.

Before the race!

SUCCESS!!!

So Nicole finishes about 35 minutes before me.  She gets her bag and then comes back to the finish line to wait for me patiently.  Then she says "hey do you mind if we head over to the auditorium for the awards?  I may have won something".  Ummm what? OF COURSE!  Hehe - if she can wait 35 minutes for me to make my way to the finish line, I definitely have time to see if you won something!  We couldn't find a race result posting so we just went to the auditorium and waited for it to start.  They did a few little speeches and then started with the 5 km top 3 finishers of female and male and then here it comes "For the 10 km, top three finishers, in third place Nicole Speedypants!"  Yes, I whooped super loud and then cheered like crazy as she ran up to collect her extra medal and swag.  47 minutes and change.  And that wasn't even her fastest, she was first place female summer before last in a 10 km race at 43 minutes.  It was also 38 C/104 F that day.  Hotter with the humidity.  I'd have died, surely.

Nicole in her super fast shoes.

One more for the wall!

Next up, Race #11, my first Halloween themed race.  This was a Twilight Run - Spooky Series - 5 km.  Thankfully, the only spooky part is that it's dark out.  Like black.  We are out on a trail in the forest and the only light is our headlamps.  No people jumping out at us so phew!!  My Disney ears got used my friend Steph and I made myself a crayon.  The run was good.  I was slower than normal.  I caught up to a girl from my previous clinic and she was struggling so I just started walking when she needed to walk.  I had a moment where I considered just wishing her well and running on but it's SUPER DARK and although we were safe, I didn't want to leave her alone out there.  It was the right decision because the next day, she wrote on our run club facebook page how much it meant to her that I stayed with her and it was just what she needed.  Definitely made the right decision.

Beer is the new medal. :)

Now Race #12, I haven't added to my race page yet because it will be part of another post that is super exciting (I think) and involves my upcoming 40th birthday!!!  

I have loved reading all the race recap posts lately.  Fall is heavy race season and with so many people running big ones that just passed and big ones coming up, it's so inspiring and has me thinking about a full marathon.  One day.  One day.  I just have to pick which big one I want to do and what year i want to do it.  I'm looking at Chicago and New York in particular.  Maybe even Toronto.  Chicago and New York are top two though.  

If you've done a full marathon, where was it & did you love it?  Or if you were ever to do a full, which one would you do?

In two days, I'm flying to see my favourite little peanut!!!  I'll be wearing my crayon costume again to take her trick-or-treating.  Candy candy candy!

Tardy Race Recap & Onederland (Yet Again)

Sooooo . . . I know, I procrastinate.  Wild Hog 10 km race recap here we go.  First of all, I know lots of people probably had a miserable time because it was wet wet wet but we had a great time.  On the Friday, we made the 2 hour drive across the border into Grand Forks, ND.  Checked into our super cheap Travelodge (it was clean and had wifi & breakfast, SOLD!), and then went to the expo to get our race kits.  We got a glass and a great pair of socks and I must say, I actually like the race shirts. Long sleeved and not white!  They were navy blue.  Then we hit the pasta dinner which was actually super tasty and very convenient.  Especially since I knew there was a lot of out of towners so restaurants would be busy etc.

Next, was a quick stop at Scheel's looking for race fuel and an ear warmer -- success on both counts.  I tried a new fuel (totally not supposed to do that on race day, I know).  I forget what they are called but they are almost like jujubes and I think they are made by GU.  I will definitely use them again.  Then back to the hotel to lay out our stuff for the early morning.

This is when we both started wondering what the hell we were thinking when we were packing.  We knew it was going to be cool and possibly raining.   All the forecasts said that.  And yet, NEITHER of us packed our running jacket and Steph didn't have a long sleeved shirt.  (Luckily, the race shirt was long sleeved so she ended up wearing that).  What's even funnier is that I actually packed two garbage bags for us.  The last time I showed up at a race where it was raining, I noticed many had garbage bags they were wearing until the start and then they peeled it off after the race started so they didn't get wet and cold while waiting.  So yes, I had garbage bags and no jacket.

6 am, the alarm goes off and it's pouring and cold.  We're dreading it.  We get ready, we drive there, get an awesome parking spot and decide we are waiting in the car till the last possible minute.  We were so early too.  I was prepared for traffic and there was none.  We napped for about 30 minutes in the car.

Once it got closer to time, we made cut head & arm holes in our garbage bags and ran to bag check.  I actually ran with no music and no phone at all because I was worried about the rain.  Got to the start and everyone is jumping up and down and shivering.  I was so happy for the garbage bags.  I was bone dry.  Then we're off!!!  A couple weeks earlier, I had just run 5 km straight for the first time ever.  Slowly but running.  For this race, I decided I would at least run the first 5 km and then after that, anything else would be the new longest distance I'd ever run.  I RAN THE WHOLE THING!  I couldn't believe myself.  Again, slowly but I ran it.  I kept my pace as steady as I could so that I could keep it up and my time ended up only being 17 seconds off my personal best.  I also left the garbage bag on for almost the whole race.  It was so chilly out and my arm holes were big enough to give me plenty of ventilation.  At one point, I ripped a hole in the back too.  Then at about 5 3/4 miles, I pulled it off so I could cross the line bag free.  We even got those silver race blankets.  It's crazy how much warmer you feel with one of those wrapped around you.  I thought it was pretty cool.  I'd never been at a race with those.  Also, because our phones were in our bag check, we don't have photos of the garbage bags or the silver blankets!!  Booooo.  On our bib was drink ticket and it was booze!  We both got a Mike's Hard BLack Cherry Lemonade and it was soooo good.  I had a few sips and then decided maybe pounding a 16 0z 8% alcoholic beverage after running 10 km and then driving back to the hotel isn't wise.  I didn't know exactly where the food was and we were freezing so we decided Starbucks was a better option.  I really didn't want to waste my Mike's though and I had a water bottle in the car.  I dumped the water and filled it with Mike's and put it in the trunk (GO ME!)  Then we stopped at Starbucks for some well-deserved Salted Caramel Mochas and cake pops.

My Salted Caramel cake pop reminds me of those Little People toys.  Bahaha!

Next up, we showered and hit Qdoba for lunch, so love that place, and so wish we had one.  Then we shopped, shopped, shopped.  And I bought some shoes for Zumba so that I'm not wearing out my running shoes.  I googled and everyone seems to love the Nike Free for Zumba so I bought those in a super bright colour.  Also good to have different shoes because these were half the price of my running shoes.

After shopping, we unloaded our purchases at the hotel and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for supper.  There was a 40 minute wait so we sit in the lounge and it's pretty much the same as sitting in the restaurant.  I love those deep fried pickles.  And I got a delicious wrap and a Redd's Apple Ale that tasted like punch.  I could have sucked another one back for sure.  The next day was a Target stop and then hit the road home.  Always nice to get away for the weekend.

Now for Onederland -- the scale was playing all kinds of tricks with me.  UP a bunch then down a bunch and then down a few more and I'm at 199.2 this morning.  It's funny because I'm excited to be under 200 but I really need to get further away from it in order to be more excited.  I've hit it a couple time in the last year or two and only for a short time.  I think I'll get more excited when I'm 5 - 10 away from the 2 mark.  

This weekend we have another 10 km coming up!  I've only run twice since the last one a couple weeks ago.  Bad Michelle.  Bad.  Hopefully, it won't be terrible :)

Now I'm off to try to empty my PVR.  This new tv season has me scrambling!