As the holiday weekend fast approaches (which I will gladly take after having JURY DUTY this upcoming week!), I’m getting excited for the plans Chris and I are making. On Friday night we’ll be heading to the Mets game (complete with a fireworks show!) with friends.

(P.S. We did this last year as well):

Then we’re renting bikes to ride in Central Park on either Saturday or Sunday and heading to a Brooklyn barbecue on Monday (also something we did last year, as well).

Hope you guys all have some fun plans for the holiday weekend, too!

Bis bald!

So yesterday was my sister’s boyfriend’s birthday, and they took a little day trip into the city to hang with us. Chris and I wandered through Central Park, across the Reservoir, to get to the West side, where we met up with the pair at The Boat Basin Cafe, an open-air cafe/bar right on the Hudson River.

After the Boat Basin, we walked down along the river, out onto the docks, and had some sangria while sitting outside at the Pier Cafe. We ended the night with burritos as Blockheads back on the east side, where you can never go wrong.

Some photos from our day:

Bis bald friends! Hope your weekend was just as sunny

Oh hey there, London.

Hi friends!

Oh. My. Goodness. What a whirlwind! So Chris and I just said farewell to his parents who, luckily, we’ll be seeing again for our wedding celebration in Australia in just five months. This apartment always feels so sad and lonely when they leave.

While they were here we took a trip to London, Chris ran the marathon and we headed upstate for a little Magnanini Winery wedding celebration with my mom’s side of the family.

It was a fast and furious two weeks, to say the least!

And that’s why I’m a tad late on my London posting. Of course it’s nowhere near faded from memory yet, but I do like to get my thoughts down on the blog as soon as possible, so I don’t leave any details out.

So about that, it was late last Thursday when we left for our little journey ….

We had all decided that it would be best to catch an overnight flight to London so that we could spend all day Friday and Saturday putzing around before Chris ran his race on Sunday. So we hopped on our Virgin flight (very nice, by the way!), and ended up touching down around 7 a.m.

Before I go any further, I thought I’d give a little shout-out to some new travel products that I ended up using on this trip. Especially since I knew that we would be hitting the ground running on Friday morning (probably without even having a chance to check in at our apartment, since we’d be getting there so early), any face washing or make-up-putting-on I wanted to do would have to be done in-air. I had read about a couple of products in a magazine recently and decided to try them out … and I’m so glad I did.

• The awesome La Fresh Eco-Beauty Beauty Wipes for Tote & Travel provided me with individually sealed, paraben-free pouches of waterproof makeup remover, nail polish remover, instant body smoother, face cleanser, hand sanitizer and face cleanser. This means I got to wash my face both before passing out for the evening and upon waking up to de-plane. Essential when you’ll be making no stops before hitting the town.
• The second item I got was the Cabana Glama travel make-up kit from benefit, which comes with a mirror, bronzing power and brush, poppy-pink tinted lip & cheek stain, medium foundation and a triple eyeshadow palette. Everything worked beautifully, which essentially means I’m not ashamed to share any photos I was in that first day …

Anyway, moving on. After arriving, we left our bags at our house (the Connors’ hooked us up with an amazing two-bedroom apartment at the Clarges Street Apartments in Mayfair, which were amazing! Also, for anyone from Australia or the UK, Mayfair is, I’m told, the top of the Monopoly board for the games made in those places. Fancy schmancy!) We took a little bit of a stroll around then, stopping to meet up for lunch with some of Chris’s old friends.

After our quick tour along the Queen’s Walk and through the Westminster area, we headed back to the apartment to get ready to head to the Queen’s Theatre to see Les Miserables, which was my first time seeing it.

Friends, if you are ever in London and have a chance to see this amazing play, I highly, highly recommend it. It’s beyond beautiful.

The next day we had to get up early for Chris to head over to the expo to pick up his race bib. Marathon expos are always fun, because they’re full of such energy and excitement (and really fun running products to purchase!):

London Marathon? Done!

New York Marathon? Done!

Chicago Marathon? Done!

Berlin Marathon? Done!

Boston Marathon? Done!

They added Tokyo to the list of World Marathon Majors at the beginning of this year. That wasn’t part of the plan. Stupid Tokyo. Oh well…Tokyo 2015 here we come!

After picking up his bib, we headed over to catch up with our reservations at The London Eye. If you plan to take a go-round on this now iconic ferris-wheel type attraction, I’d honestly recommend making reservations to skip the line. If we hadn’t done so, we probably would have had to wait for hours and hours. Instead, we bypassed all that and hopped right on. Here’s a bit of what we saw …

After the London Eye we decided to wander a bit, and we happened upon the Embankment Cafe along the Victoria Embankment. It was a gorgeous place to grab some beer and food and sit outside in the sunshine:

After our drinks, we took in a few more of the sites before Chris and I headed home to relax and get dinner ready for his marathon the next day while his parents took a quick bus tour around the city:

And so we woke up Sunday morning to Race Day!!! Chris got all ready and headed to the start line at a little after 9 (his particular leg of the race started at 10 a.m.), and his parents and I set off to hike it around London with our map to catch him at the exact miles where Chris thought he might really need the cheering:

Geared up!

All done!

And although that husband of mine had just finished running a full marathon (in 2 hours and 52 minutes, no less!), you know he rallied and was able to meet up with some friends that evening at the Founders Arms, an awesome little bar/restaurant along the river Thames. We practically closed the place down that night:

On Monday we needed to catch our flight home around 2, so we planned to get up early, grab some coffee and breakfast and walk over to Hyde Park.

Of course, that was the original plan. However, on our way over to the park, we happened upon a row of Barclays Cycle Hire bikes, which are available throughout the city, that Chris had been interested in riding since the day we arrived and his friend mentioned them to us. So we did it. We grabbed four of the bikes and cycled our way around the city:

So about the bikes. It was the most fun ever to be able to rent them and drive around for a while, but there is a minor flaw with this bike system. Allegedly there is a map that you can see when you rent the bike that shows you where empty spots are available around the city to dock your bike again when you’re done, but unfortunately we didn’t know that. Instead we tried parking the bike a little closer to our apartment at a dock Cath had seen on the way to Hyde Park, but those were all used up. (It might be nice to provide a few extra bike slots at the rental areas around the city for those who wish to drop their bikes off at different spots from where they rented in the first place. Just a thought.)

We probably ended up taking an extra 20-25 minutes cycling around trying to find empty spots before returning back to the place we originally got them, running back to the apartment and very nearly missing our flight home. (Which, let’s be honest, I wouldn’t have been so upset with.) So let it be a lesson to you all–if you happen to rent these bikes in London (which I would highly recommend), just be sure to double check the maps before cycling all around the U.K. to find a place to park.

Okay friends, that’s about it! Our London 2013 trip in a nutshell! It went by too fast (as it always does), but we really did manage to pack quite a bit in while we were there.

So next up, we’re off to Delaware next weekend for a wedding, then to Arizona on July 4th weekend to catch up with an old friend of mine from elementary school.

And lastly, I’ll leave you with this super fun (if I do say so myself) photo of myself and Chris from the party my mom and step-dad threw for us this past weekend in upstate NY.

Bis bald, friends!

So we’re back from our little jaunt in England. I’ll have to post later after I’ve downloaded my photos and had a chance to collect my thoughts, but overall the trip was fantastic. We saw Les Miserables at the Queen’s theater (my first time!), caught up with some of Chris’s friends from both London and Australia and had a go-round on the London Eye.

We also rented bikes with the Barclays Cycle Hire for a trip around the city on Monday and very nearly missed our flight back home because we couldn’t find a place to return them. (More on that later!)

Bis bald friends! I’ll be back soon!

As Chris and I get ready to fly out on Thursday to London so he can run the London marathon, I find myself glued to the TV, watching, listening to and reading everything I can about the senseless bombings that took place at the Boston Marathon yesterday.

Three years ago Chris ran that race. My sister and I drove around like mad women from point to point to follow him throughout the course–to include making a beeline for that last mile to watch him at the finish. As I watched the videos of the attacks yesterday, I couldn’t help but remember what it means to be a spectator. How excited you are for your runner or runners. How you scream and cheer until you have no voice. How your heart bursts with pride when you see your loved ones run by.

The fact that anyone would target innocent bystanders and people fulfilling the personal goal and dream of running a marathon—something people train for months, or even years, for—is disgusting. An 8-year-old child was among the three confirmed dead from the bombings. What right did he or she have to die?

These races have meant so much to Chris over the past five years—he’s now run New York, Boston, Chicago and Berlin. London will be his fifth (and what was to be his last, until they added Tokyo to the World Marathon Series at the beginning of this year)—and they’ve meant a whole heck of a lot to me, as well.

What happened yesterday will not stop us from heading to London on Thursday. It won’t stop Chris from running in that marathon, and it won’t stop me or his parents from running around the course to watch him–nor will it stop what I’m sure are to be the thousands of others who will be there as well.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? Terrorism is disgusting, vile and heartless … but it shouldn’t, and it won’t, stop us from living our lives.

Oh hey, Hudson River on a gorgeous, sunny day!

Hey friends!

So someone (ahem, me) just had a birthday, and it was a big one. That’s right, the big 3-0! So in honor of getting older, I decided to do something to make me feel younger–go on a 3-mile long, rock-climbing hike.

The place we picked was Breakneck Ridge in the Cold Spring area. It’s about 2.8 miles in total, and let me tell you — it is strenuous! 

Holy rock climbing!

I have some amazing friends who agreed to go on this hike with me!

Thanks for going along with my crazy idea, gang!

We all packed some food (and my husband packed a 3 liter bag of boxed wine to carry the entire way … what a husband!) and drinks and sunscreen and took off for the day. I would say it took us about 4 1/2 hours to hike it, but that included about an hour stop for a picnic at the top.

A tasty assortment of goodies, including homemade baked cookies by a good friend from college and Trader Joe’s brownies with a birthday candle from a former co-worker.

The 3-liter bag of wine that Chris took out of the box of wine he purchased, which he carried the entire duration of the hike. That’s my man.

There were many points of the hike that provided awesome and amazing overlooks of the Hudson, and it was the perfect day to hike—sunny and in the low 50s. Here’s a little bit of what we saw:

We envisioned this point being somewhere near the end. It was not.

And so, we all made it through, all the way to the end, and I was so proud of everyone…

After the hike, before catching the train back to the city, we stopped at the Cold Spring Depot (which is walking distance to the train stop) for beers:

And so that’s about it, my friends. I had such an amazing time. It felt nice to be outside, we had an amazing group with us and I’d recommend this hike for anyone who’s game for some awesome, strenuous rock climbing.

One other word of note: If you’re planning on catching the train from New York City to Breakneck Ridge, I’m told you can alert the conductor to the fact that you want to get off at Breakneck, and that sometimes they’ll stop there for you (otherwise there are only two stops directly at Breakneck a day). We thought we’d get off at Cold Spring and walk to the trail, but it turns out that’s about a 4+ mile walk. We were not game to do that before even starting the hike, so we had parts of our gang who were driving pick us up. Just something to think about.

Bis bald, friends! Off to London week after next! My lovely in-laws have purchased Les Miserables tickets for us for Friday night when we get there. I love London theater, and I’ve never seen Les Mis, so I’m really looking forward to this!

Well we’re firmly into the second quarter of 2013 here, and it’s time for me to start getting excited about some of the trips we have planned for the rest of the year.

So let’s see. For starters, my in-laws will be making their way to the U.S. the week after next, and Chris and I will be heading to London with them to watch Chris run the London Marathon:

^^A little flashback to when Steph and I first visited London back in 2010

Then, Chris and I booked a trip out to Arizona to visit an old friend of mine for the weekend of July 4th. Neither one of us has been before, so we’re super excited. We’re going to go camping and hiking, and visit Lake Powell and Havasu Falls:

September will be a big month for us, too. We’ll be heading to Australia to celebrate our wedding with Chris’s side of the family, and then taking a couple-day honeymoon to The Great Barrier Reef:

^^A little memory from our last trip to Australia (written about here and here). That’s Shawn the Koala, the subject of my soon-to-written children’s book series. Seriously. It’s coming.

There will be another trip in September two weekends before Australia, but that’s super secret for now, as it’s a surprise trip in honor of Chris’s 30th birthday. Let’s just say—I’m super excited about it!

And that’s about it (for now)! Bis bald, friends! I’ll catch up with you again super soon …

Thanks to one of my favorite bloggers, I’ve been tipped off to this amazing video:

Oh New York, you really do capture the hearts of so many, don’t you? The entire time I was watching this video I couldn’t help but play Dave Matthews’ Ants Marching in my head. So I found the YouTube video for it. I suggest you try it—it’s pretty fitting:

“Take these chances
Place them in a box until a quieter time
Lights down, you up and die
Driving in on this highway
All these cars and upon the sidewalk
People in every direction
No words exchanged
No time to exchange

When all the little ants are marching
Red and black antennas waving
They all do it the same
They all do it the same way”

Me and Lise in D.C., circa 2006ish

Hey friends,

So I arrived back from my trip to D.C. to visit Lisa last Sunday and I have to say, I love that girl a whole heck’uva’lot. We actually met back in college when we both worked for our school newspaper, The Breeze, and we’ve been besties ever since. We’ve both moved around a couple times in the, ahem, EIGHT years since graduating from college (good grief), but throughout it all we’ve stayed in touch.

So back when Lise first lived in D.C., we used to do a whole lot of sightseeing when I would come and visit. It looked a little something like this:

Yeah … we’re pretty cute

Anyway, these days there’s almost nothing we’d rather do together than sit around drinking wine, eating delicious food and talking until we fall asleep. We did a whole lot of that on this trip (Guapo’s in Shirlington is one of our fave spots), as well as taking walks, playing with Lisa’s insanely adorable niece and practicing with my make-up for Chris and my wedding party at the end of April. (Lisa’s doing my make-up for that, so I got my make-up done for the first time ever at the Bobbi Brown counter at Nordstrom.)

This trip looked a whole lot like this:

Lisa’s detailed notes from my Bobbi Brown makeover

All the makeup we used to replicate the look back at her apartment. She did a fabulous job, if I do say so myself.

Anyway my dears, that about sums up my trip to D.C. Oh, we also saw ‘This is 40′ at the Arlington Cinema & Draft House, where you can order beer and food while you watch your movie, and Zero Dark Thirty the following day. Lise also lovingly allowed me to visit World Market, since we don’t have a store here in NYC, and we ate at the Nordstrom Cafe before getting my makeup done, which I would highly recommend for it’s deliciousness.

Okay, bis bald, friends! Chris and I may or may not be snowboarding this weekend at Windham, and we’re in the midst of planning a little hike with some friends for my birthday (perhaps here). Plus, before you know it it’ll be London Marathon time in April! Lots to look forward to, my friends, lots to look forward to …

Can this new site make leisure travel cheaper?

Hey friends,

So I know I owe you a D.C. post (don’t say I didn’t warn you that we do a lot of hangin’ around when we’re together), but I wanted to jump on a press release that I received in my email this morning about a new travel site that, I think, has a lot of potential.

So the site, called GetGoing, works on what they’re calling a ‘pick two, get one’ process. What that essentially means is that users design two different trips (including dates, flight times, number of stops they want, etc.), and GetGoing works to get you the best discounts so you can actually purchase whichever trip turns out to be cheaper.

The system works because airlines often offer up to 40% off airfare for leisure travelers in order to fill up their empty seats. “Nearly one in five seats on all flights worldwide are empty, and we view that as a huge opportunity for more people to get out and see the world,” Alek Vernitsky, co-founder and CEO of GetGoing said in their press release. “So we decided to help flexible leisure travelers get great deals on those open seats by proving that they are actually traveling for leisure.” (Hence the reason users are prompted to pick two destinations.)

GetGoing is currently flying to hundreds of major airports in over 50 countries.

Check out the full video explanation of how the site works here:

What do you guys think? Would you try out GetGoing?