S-P-R-I-N-G B-R-E-A-K!!!!

Off to Jamaica for the next week!

Will post when I come back.

The perfect pair

Hobby of the day: Shopping


With warmer weather upon us it's time for skirts, dresses and capris to be pulled out of storage.  New York and Company has some super cute dresses right now.  I wish that I wasn't trying to save money right now. Perhaps it's because we are leaving for Jamaica in a day and it would be prudent to not go overboard with my shopping.  One thing that I love about NY& Co is that they have teacher's discounts. At least someone appreciates us.:-)

I love shoes! There's nothing like a nice pair of heels or wedges, the hard thing is finding a pair that is comfortable. I'm not sure if they truly exist.  Even expensive shoes are super comfy. I suppose though that any pair of shoes you might wear for a significant amount of time may hurt your feet.  Sneakers if I wear them too long hurt, flip flops, etc... it really doesn't matter for me.  With heels however my feet start to lose feeling. They often go from hurting to hurting so bad that my feet start to go numb.  Probably not the best thing. What we girls do for beautiful shoes. Guys just have no idea- I guess in that area they are a lot smarter. 


I'm currently on the hunt for a cute pair of brown wedges, preferably a pair that will not break the bank.  I bought this first pair at Old Navy, they weren't onsale sadly-although I just checked online and they ARE onsale!!!What?!  
I wasn't sure how I felt about the tying aspect of the shoe.  I tried on a pair that were basically like round shoelaces.  I felt that those might cut into my ankle.  It's important to have shoes that stay on your feet and don't hurt you in an extra places, toe pinching, rubbing weirdly, you know what I'm saying. This pair has a thicker more ribbon like tie.  They aren't solid brown, they are brown and off white spotted. The nice thing about them is that they are quite when I walk, no click clack down the stairs or through the halls.  They seem to have a little suede like cushion for my foot which is nice.  Since the part that holds my foot is made out of fabric it is very comfortable and a little stretchy, no suffocating my lil toes and no weird rubbings or tightness.  

The pictures on ON have them laced in the back- I think they look a little more girly this way.

 The other pair that I bought Marshall's are brown T-strap.  They are made by Guess.  They were $10 more than the ON pair. They are super cute. They are a darker brown with the braiding around the outside of the shoe.  They have a buckle strap and they don't seem to really have any padding for my foot.  They are much louder too when I walk.  There are definitely times when I like to hear the sound of shoes, but then there are times when I find it somewhat obnoxious, maybe that's just a pet peeve of mine, or from living under people with loud shoes.  

Appreciate that I just got a pedicure, otherwise my toes would have distracted you from the beautiful shoes.


 I love the wedges offered on Nordstrom.com, especially the teen section.   I also love that Nordstrom offers free shipping and free returns! It's too bad that the majority of their shoes are more than I would like to spend, at least on one pair of shoes.  I can get 3 pairs of shoes for what one of them costs. I do love the Juicy Couture pair...but $249, no thank you.  
In the past I have purchased from Target, Bakers or BCBG.  

Now, I just have to decide between the two pair.  Oh decisions, life is hard. Haha

What's tickling your ears?

 Do you like music?  I do

I do not in any way profess to be a music critic, nor worthy of being one. If I hear something I like then I will keep listening to it- that makes sense. I like Pop music, catchy with a beat, great for running to.  I like Matt and Kim, happy music and Vampire Weekend.  Jimmy Eat World is one of my ALL time favorites I could listen to Bleed America repeatedly, I know a lot of people prefer Clarity.  (So excited that they will be playing at Bamboozle this May in Asbury Park NJ. They are having a great line up by the way )This is one of those CDs where I pretty much love every song.  
I also really like The Fray, another band I could pretty much listen to every song. There are few unknown bands that I know.....my husband on the other hand finds music that has not mainstreamed yet. He's always a little disappointed when they end up blowing up, but at least he was listening to them before that happened. I remember seeing Fall Out Boy at some little theater in Philly before they blew up. 
Of course I will also embarrassingly add in that I enjoy Ke$ha, old Britney, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys and Lady Gaga. I won't go on to list every group/person that I like.  Sometimes I realize after I've been listening to the songs for awhile how bad the lyrics really are. I end up liking and rocking out to the beat and then when I actually start to concentrate on the lyrics---oops. Oh well.
I do also like bands that play their own instruments, Foo Fighters, U2, Train, White Stripes,

My husband has a blog and writes about music, life and libations(beer in case you didn't know).  He blogged about Gotye, you know the single that's blowing up the radio "Somebody that I used to know." If you are interested in his review, check it out here.


What are some of your all time favorite bands?


What's a great song to exercise/run to? (I need new music:-) )

You like?!

Got my new Warby Parker Glasses. They looked better on me when they didn't have prescription lenses for the blind in them. Although I guess you can be the decider. However, if I hadn't paid extra to make them thinner I would have coke bottles for lenses.  

I ordered the Beckett pair, it was a hard decision....I did a post back in February on the glasses here.

I was so excited when the arrived at school. I have to say they are very efficient with their service.  I had placed the order on a Thursday and received an email that said processing 1-3 business days and that they would arrive in 10 business days or less, hopefully less of course(my thoughts). The following Thursday (5 days later)I received an email that my glasses had shipped. I checked the tracking # expecting to see nothing, but then found out that they would arrive Friday(6 days later), the next day, before 10:30, I thought no way!  But, ha yes way(I'm such a pessimist), 9:00 got a call from the office that my package arrived at work. I  wanted to wear them right away, but had no place to put my contacts. I asked my students if they liked them. They said yes- good, otherwise heads would have rolled ---JK. 

Came home and immediately put them on. Love the box that they put the glass case in, super durable. Love the sturdy glass case, complete with cleaning cloth. Plus, I also gave someone else a much needed pair of glasses. Please ignore the thickness of the lenses. My friend goes "Are you legally blind?!" Ha

I think that because my prescription is so high the lenses are really heavy for the lightweight glasses so they do tend to slide off my face especially when I look down, which I do frequently if I am using the computer or reading.  However, I called up Warby Parker, got someone immediately, no automated service "press one for..." it actually surprised me so I was quite ready to talk.  I told the person who answered the phone my problem. He told me because they were an online service they couldn't adjust them, but that I could go to any glasses store and get them fitted. He said they should adjust them on low heat and that it should be free, but if they charged me to send the bill to them. Wow! Great customer service. You've sold me Warby Parker, plus again, I love that you give a pair of glasses to someone else each time one is purchased! Can't wait to buy my next pair!

Hopefully in the future they will be able to have bifocal and progressive lenses so that my mother can be super stylish and rock a cute pair. Let me know Warby Parker because your prices are a steal!

"May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor"

Movie Review:  The Hunger Games

[source]

The Before:
Why yes, I was at the midnight showing of The Hunger Games.  I did also take a nap at 9:00 at night and woke up an hour later. Got up and consumed some Cliff shot bloks, flavor fruit punch.  I may have needed a little extra energy, or I just wanted to eat some yummy gummies.  I headed off to the theater and arrived at about 10:30, found a relatively close parking spot, when I've gone to midnight showings in the past I've had to walk miles. Not this time, I don't know if it was because I was lot earlier than some, or because it was a typical work day for everyone else. I took a personal day, very important. 


Got in, no problem, the line was not long, nor was there a line at the snack bar.  But I had to prioritize and got in line instead of getting goodies.  After standing in line for about 10 min they let us in to the theater. I took  our usual seats about half way up on the end, because it makes it easy to get out and because Gary was working until about 11:30.  Thankfully I had my ipad and iphone, so I listened to my Colbie Caillat Pandora station while reading The Vow. Let me just say, I saw the movie and the book is WAY different than the movie. Gary got there about 11:30 so I was able to go get our free popcorn and free drink- Thank you Regal Movie theaters for having the member cards.  For 1$ more I could upgrade the size. I also picked Gary up a pizza. Apparently 
our theater now serves chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches, burgers and fries....quite the expensive experience.  I got a medium popcorn without butter and a blue(raspberry) icee. 


We love previews and there were a bunch before the movie and the majority of them looked pretty good.  


The After: Thoughts

[source]

Loved the character Rue and who portrayed her. When I first saw the cast list I wasn't sure if I liked who was playing the main characters.  Elizabeth Banks is great as Effie Trinket.  I would not like having to wear the amount of makeup that they people of the Capitol have to wear, I'd totally break out.  She was ditzy and silly and her costumes were great too.   I was also a little unsure of Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, but he also pulled it off well, going for that crazy drunk persona. Jennifer Lawrence was as great Katniss and while I don't like Peeta, as much as I like Gale, he fulfilled his part well.  I am team Gale....haha.  I hated Snow, Donald played his part well and I could almost smell the blood of his white roses- blech.  Again another character that I was impressed by was, Lenny Kravtiz, as Cinna; at first I didn't see it, but once I saw him in the role, he definitely earned it.   I would have liked to see more of the stylists, but maybe in the next movies.


There were some parts that were left out, as to be expected when a book goes to a movie.  They left out a few sub characters, like the mayor and his daughter and may have changed some of the scenes from the book.  They didn't really mention the Avox girl, even though I believe she was seen in a few scenes, but perhaps that isn't hugely relevant to the book/movie.  

The director did a tasteful job of capturing the killing scenes.  Obviously in the book they were quite brutal, but they can't really show children slaughtering each other, instead they would briefly flash over fighting scenes and flash clips of the dead tributes. 


Overall I give them movie an A, was it necessary to see it at midnight? No, but it was fun and of course there were people dressed up. Not as much as Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter, but maybe that was just my theather.  I definitely recommend that you see it sooner than later.

Foodie: Eggplant Rollatini

Hobby of the Day: Cooking


Was living on the edge today and decided to go vegetarian....or just a little healthier....though one might say after all the cheese I put on there, it isn't quite as healthy.  What can I say, I love cheese! Plus Harris Teeter was having a buy 2 get 3 free packs of cheese. As if I could pass that up?! Guilty.

I decided to try and make eggplant rollatini.

I shaved off the skin and then sliced 1/4 inch thick, then I let sweat for about 1/2 an hour, rinsed and patted dry.
I dipped the eggplant in two egg whites and then in Italian bread crumbs (added some extras, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese). Then I broiled 5 minutes on each side to crisp up- I sprinkled each side with EVOO too. 

 Mixed up the low fat ricotta with chopped spinach- the recipe called for prosciutto, but I wanted to make it a little healthier so added spinach. I also added sauteed garlic to the mixture.

Then, spread a thin layer of the mixture on top of the eggplant, roll loosely and place open side down. 

Top with pasta sauce- again I don't like a lot, so I only added lightly enough to cover the eggplant, but not too much more. Add lots of mozzarella, bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melty and browning.

And Voila!

Got the recipe here....did a few tweaks....

The Day After.....a few days later

Waking up was P-A-I-N-F-U-L the day after the race! I had been still for so long poor muscles....ugh. Perhaps I didn't stretch as well as I should have after the race.  I probably should have iced....grrr.. regretting that now.

People become very religious with their running habits, both before, after and during.  Trust me, when I find something that works I will stick to it.  It's interesting, the morning that we were walking to the half we were passing people who were running/warming up. They were fairly far away from the stadium.  Now I know that I know warm ups are important to get your muscles ready. Usually when Gary and I run, we start off and then we stop to stretch, then continue on our way.  I thought, there is no way I'm going to do some warm up running before I commit to 2 plus hours of running. Was that my bad? Plus there wasn't a whole lot of area to warm up or stretch and once we were in our corals, forget it! So I did a few stretches and then well we ran...surprisingly I didn't feel awful, perhaps it was the adrenaline, the pure excitement, the desire to beat the person in front of me, who knows.  I am very thankful that I did well. 

I had bought the whole Gatorade Series, 01 prime, 02 perform, 03 recover, sadly they don't have a ton of flavors. We love the blue Gatorade. I know blue isn't a flavor. I also like the riptide rush, which is purple.  The Prime came in berry flavored and is full of Carbs and +B Vitamins to be drunk right before exercise. The perform comes in more flavors and should be consumed during exercise, not a problem since I had a hydration belt.  I chose the low calorie glacier freeze one full of electrolytes and carbs. Then I got the Recover, flavor mixed berry, not to be confused with just berry.  Again, full of electrolytes and carbs- protein to rebuild.  However, come race morning, I was little nervous to do the prime because I hadn't before, so I consumed a pack of powerbar energy blasts in raspberry flavor. If you know me, you know I love my gummies. It just seems that when I have to force myself to consume something, it just doesn't seem as good, but these weren't bad and they didn't hurt me- huge plus! 

PowerBar Energy Blasts gel filled chews are a great choice for use before or during moderate and high-intensity exercise. They're formulated with PowerBar® C2MAX dual source energy blend, a 2:1 glucose to fructose blend found to deliver 20–50% more energy to muscles than glucose alone and improve endurance performance by 8%.*

Fueling up right can make a big impact on how you feel and perform, no matter what you’re tackling. During activities lasting more than 1 hour, have 1–3 pieces every 10 minutes. You can also have a packet of Energy Blasts gel filled chews 30–60 minutes before exercise to top off energy stores. (Six Energy Blasts gel filled chews are the energy equivalent of one PowerBar® Energy Gel.)

PowerBar Energy Blasts gel filled chews — key features:

• Great tasting energy chews with a refreshing liquid gel center
• Provide more energy to muscles with C2MAX
• Packed in a convenient resealable pouch
• No preservatives or artificial flavors

*Currell K, Jeukendrup A. Superior endurance performance with ingestion of multiple transportable carbohydrates. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2008;40:275–281.

Nutrition Facts

Serving size 1 pouch (9 pieces)

Calories 190
Calories from fat 0
* Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Amount/Serving	% DV*
Total Fat 0g	0%
Sodium 60mg	3%

Amount/Serving	% DV*
Total Carb 45g	15%
Sugars 36g
Protein 3g

• Vitamin C 10% •

Ingredients

C2 MAX ENERGY BLEND (SUGAR, GLUCOSE SYRUP FROM WHEAT, INVERT SUGAR), WATER, GELATIN, 2% OR LESS OF: RASPBERRY PUREE, RASPBERRY JUICE CONCENTRATE, SODIUM ASCORBATE (VITAMIN C), CITRIC ACID, TARTARIC ACID, MALIC ACID, SODIUM CITRATE, GLYCERIN, CARRAGEENAN, LOCUST BEAN GUM, NATURAL FLAVORS, SORBITOL, COCONUT AND/OR PALM KERNEL OIL, CARNAUBA WAX, BLACK CARROT JUICE COLOR.
MADE ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES MILK.  [source]

  

Many people love the GU. They have many different products from gels, to gummies to powders for your drinks.   Lots of CHOMP flavors, but I purchased the strawberry ones with caffeine for that extra little boost.  In the end I ended up with one pocket of CHOMPs and one pocket of Jelly Belly Watermelon Sports beans (with caffeine).  So many people had the gels, they were in pockets, on their running belts, etc. I think it could be a texture thing for me, but I have trouble with those, but to each their own. You find what works for you.  They are a lot easier to "get down" than gummies because you have to chew chew chew and swallow and gummies do tend to make me salivate more. I also like shotblocks- strawberry flavored of course.

I also noticed that they were handing out salt packets before the run....they also had them at one of the water stations.  Obviously I am new to this so I looked it up. Apparently they help with cramping on long runs, specifically in the leg area. Since you sweat a lot more, especially during long runs in warm weather you need to replenish your electrolytes/salt- makes sense.....Some people do salt tablets instead, or you can do a salt shot....

• Just empty a salt packet (from McDonald's or other fast food place) onto your hand.
• Lick the salt off your hand.
• Drink some water immediately after.
• If you're doing a run longer than 2 hours, you may want to take another one halfway through your run/race.[source]

How do your survive after? I stretch and rehydrate, sometimes nap. After the RNR I drank a bottle of water and had a thing of chocolate milk, courtesy of Refuel with Chocolate Milk.  That's one of those things that I started to do after exercise. YUM! A lot of times I also ice, although I seemed to forget this time- whoops.

What's your favorite energy of choice while running?

Do you take salt packets before/during a long/warm run?

What's your after?

OH sweet loving!

I am a big fan of candy! And a BIG fan of this place....

When I was in NYC with Gary over Christmas I saw a brightly colored add for Dylan's Candy Bar. We didn't get a chance to go, but it was apparently only a Pop up store, which are very in right now. Pop-Up candy stores, restaurants, baked goods and treats, etc... 

However, when I was back to NYC with my mom in January we ended up going to Dylan's! YEAH! Who says adults don't love candy. This was so much better than any of the candy stores in the mall. As one should expect of course it is NYC after all.   Candy Bliss!!! I don't think that there was one child in the store, just adults. It could also be because it was 9:00 at night, or that the candy was more expensive than most, again NYC prices.  

I love gummy sweets, sour are some of my favorites. I was tempted to take a whole bag and run....JK, but look at all those treats!!

 Really wanted to buy this super cute hate, but not for 28 buckos

 Didn't buy but looks fabulous

 Did buy, but haven't tried yet, saving for a rainy day.

 Remember this?! They had so many flavors.

 They had all these containers filled with famous people's favorite candy.

They had a bunch of old school candy- remember fruit striped gum? Also, all that powdered sugar?! Pixie Stick high and super ADD!

What's your favorite kind of candy? 

Are you a chocolate person or a gummy person?

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!!!

I DID IT!

I completed my first 13.1 and now I an proudly adorn my car with the cute pink 13.1 sticker I purchase at the Expo.  

I went to bed last night, had laid out my outfit and gotten all the things ready for the race, bag packed refuel belt and GUs/ jelly belly beans....I set my alarm for 5:30 and went to bed around 10, after I had called my mom. There's nothing like hearing her voice or words of encouragement and knowing how she's behind me 110%.  I love that lady- mi mama! I had told her if I was struggling real bad for the last 2-3 miles I might call her and she would just have to talk to me. Talk to me about dad or read me stories lol. It would be a very one sided conversation full of her speech and my heaving breathing.

Woke up, got dressed and had breakfast, glass of water, hard boiled egg and a banana.  I ate a pack of raspberry power bar gummies before the race.  I peed like 3 times before we left.  We walked over, there were so many street closures... plus it was a nice little warm up.  There were people running all over the place to warm up. I dunno, I don't really feel like running more before running A LOT....call me crazy. 

Jenna and I- our pre-race pic. I look tired!

There were TONs of people all over, thankfully they had many port-o potties. I didn't use, but we did find our friends in line.  I was supposed to start in Coral 23 and Gary in 19. My goal was sub 2:30.....or rather my hope. We ended up moving up corals since it was taking along time for the corals to move through.  The first coral went at 8:00 and we didn't start until like 8:30. Marathoners were in the front of course, unless they thought it would take them a longer time to finish. Gary and I started together briefly and then a quick kiss goodbye and I released him to do his thing....I watched him weave in and out of people and then he was gone. 
 No- we did not start in coral 3

H St- the home stretch mile 11

There were tons of supporters along the route it was really nice. Even though they weren't specifically for me, they weren't not for me either if that makes any sense.  The first four miles were on pace for me: a little over a ten minute mile. Then as usual around mile 4 my feet fell asleep. Then came the loooong hill. Slow and Steady, one foot in front of another. I just keep looking at the pavement in front of me, or the person in front of me. I passed many a walker but I just told myself I would not walk it.  About the 10k came the gross super steep part of the hill. DISLIKE, but I made it. I just kept plodding along.  I felt pretty good, my left ankle did start to get sore around mile 7. Miles 11 an 12 were in North East and I felt at home running down H St. 13th St. was another slow incline hill. My legs were getting super tired. I thought maybe I should walk for a second, but my legs didn't like that either.  Nothing was making them happy at that point. The last .1 of the half was another incline- GROSS..... but I long leg sprinted to the finish and came in sub 2:30 at 2:19:58. I had really wanted to come in below 2:20 by the end.

My legs don't feel too bad, but ask me again in the morning and we'll see.  My right foot around the arch was super sore after the race, but it's getting better. I grabbed all the free stuff that I could. Free is free after all. 

After meal: Italian, veal parm and Gary got baked ziti with Italian Sausage. There was too much sauce for me

 And....Dessert, YUM! Fro- yo, PB for G on the left and Choc/Van for me with lots of sprinkles- the container was real low so I didn't get my usual mass amount

Love you Daddy!