Wizarding Weekend Away

This year for my birthday we spent the weekend with the in laws at their new condo in Orlando mainly so that we could check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal, because we're mature like that.

 

The Hogwarts Express, we had to fight so many kids to get this photo.

In front of the Dueling Dragons - the scariest amusement park ride that I've ever been on.  I've never shrieked so loud in my life - the Asian boys next to me were horrified I'm sure, and Abe laughed at me the entire 60 seconds but I just couldn't control the sound coming out of my big mouth.  Honestly, it was really terrifying like when they say "high speed' they freaking mean it.  It was a roller coaster where two cars go opposite directions on opposite tracks so not only are you flying up and down and upside down, but there's another car zooming by you the whole time.  We went on only one other Harry Potter besides this one - The Forbidden Journey, which is part simulation and part shit jumping in your face, and it was actually pretty good.  Much better than any other simulation rides I've been on in the past - this one didn't make me scream, but I did have to cover my face a few times.

[Just a pic of Hogsmeade with all the shops like Zonko's, HoneyDukes, The Hog's Head, and in this case Ollivander's happens to be here too...]

So how was it?  Honestly, if you're a Harry Potter fan, it was really awesome.  If you're not, then don't bother to hit this section of Universal because it's just a mad house!  We got there 30 minutes after the park opened and it was still insanity, all the lines were 45 minutes or more.  We waited a full hour so that I could buy a wand in Ollivander's... yeah I bought Hermione's wand, it's the prettiest.  We stuck around Universal a little while after Harry Potter, but we were pretty spent after all the waiting in line.

The following day, the in laws took us to see the Manatees at Blue Spring State Park.  For a few conversations, I wasn't really sure what they were talking about but once we clarified that it was a creature in the water, I figured it out (there is a language barrier here sometimes).  Also, I'm pretty sure this is only my second time in a State Park of any kind.  We were like: $8!? That's it!?  Amazing.  This was also coming off of paying $22 for two butterbeers the previous day.

After seeing a ridiculous amount of super cute manatees and a retarded amount of really huge and creepy fish, my first alligator, and first armadillo (who knew there were armadillos in Florida?) we made our way to another family friendly type place for them to check out for future guests.

This was a strange place... it was sort of like a lazy river where you can bring a raft if you want and float all around in this like riverish thing that looked pretty man made since there were stairs going into it and even railings, but it had a ton of fish and stuff in there... and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how they kept the alligators out.  The water was crystal clear but only 12-24 inches deep, it was a strange place... and people were actually in there swimming and using nets to catch the fish swimming around (why?).  I mean, look at me, I'm dressed in layers and people were there swimming - apparently the water was warm.  I kept seeing all these signs with this otter, and I was like, WTF!?  What is this otter saying?  He's saying, "for everyone's safety your float otter not be taller than me - 5 feet.  Do people in Florida call floats - otters?  I don't know, I was super confused, or are they saying like - your float ought not be bigger than me...like a stupid play on words?  Ok, yeah that took me like 2 full days to figure that idiotness out.  I get it, in my defense my husband just got it too...

Overall it was a good little weekend away for the experience.  I'm not glad to be home by any means, but I'm not exactly feeling rested and refreshed either.  Family can be challenging at times, but I am happy about the sunshine and the time away with my husband.

Flying out tomorrow!

Today I shoveled a lot of heavy, stupid, ugly snow.  It's not something that I enjoy, my upper body is as strong as a 8 year old... I should probably work on that because these winters are not getting any easier.

Yesterday I was getting the run down from someone about a meeting gone wrong, and she said to me "I'm not one to drink a lot, so on the way home after being berated and belittled for over an hour by that man, I stopped at Konditor Meister [only my favorite bakery ever with the craziest name] and I bought a six pack of pastries and ate them all in the car."  She became my hero.  I'm also not one to indulge in drinking when I'm feeling down and out because I tend to get sick, but I will certainly will shove a cupcake in my face just like a shot when I'm feeling miserable.  I always wonder if that's a learned behavior... I mean, yeah I love food but who doesn't right?

Instead of gorging myself stupid while turning another year older this weekend, I will be drinking a butter beer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando.  I'm sure this is something every turning 29 year old dreams of on their big day!  Leaving this little piece of hell is all that I want for my birthday.  That, and a puppy but that puppy isn't happening this time around or even a mangy stray with one eye.  Actually, I can think of a lot of awesome things that I would want for my birthday this year, but the only thing that will get me some sun is getting out of this place for a weekend.

Keep those shovels handy - I heard more snow on Saturday...

Workout Update and Three Things

I didn't have a fierce weekend workout.  Instead on Saturday I had:
19 minutes on the treadmill at various speeds = 2.0 miles booo
and then a 30 minute core class.  I never seem to time the treadmill workout before the class well enough, oh well, I can't be bothered... my stomach was pretty upset so at least I did something.

Today, I did a 5k on the treadmill at building speeds starting at 9:40ish and ending at 8:35ish.  It was actually really good, the whole thing was about 28 minutes which is way slower than awesome but it felt good and I would have continued if I didn't have someone breathing down my back for my machine.  Mondays at the gym are the worst!  It's so busy, and there's the whole "30 minute maximum during peak hours" thing that I don't appreciate.

And now for the the exciting things that are boggling my mind these days:

1. Outside the house on Jersey Shore there is indoor furniture.  How and Why?  Does the crew move it inside at night?  It's it actually outdoor furniture disguised as indoor furniture?  I mean, it's not like nice or anything so I'd think that perhaps it was actually just expensive outdoor stuff.  I just don't understand how ugly grandma furniture can resist mold and mildew while outdoors by the ocean...

This reminds me of some neighbors down the street that park on their lawn all the time.  I mean, they have a driveway, so why do they also park in their front lawn all the way up to the front door?  It's a rental home, and you'd think that it would stop once tenants moved out and then new tenants moved in but no, the idiotness continues... last week they plowed their front lawn and parked on it during the blizzard.

2. My husband's missed career path in the kitchen of a high end restaurant:

That would be sausage in that pan and it was delicious, cooked to perfection.  Sausage over lentils cooked in pork fat and pancetta: a non vegetarian's wet dream, or just mine.  I would talk about this restaurant more but I may have a skewed opinion of it's awesomeness because they treat us so well.

3.  My mom didn't know that I don't eat ice cream.  Mind Boggling.  I lived in that house for ages, she was a stay at home mother so she could be there at all moments yet she had no idea that I don't eat ice cream due to being lactose intolerant.  She's all apologizing that she didn't get any vanilla ice cream to go with the cake and I'm like, "mom, we don't eat ice cream... I've never eaten ice cream in this house..." and she was Blown away.  Other things she doesn't know: I hate ricotta cheese and one or both of us is always hungover at family dinners.

Anyways, hopefully everyone is having a more thrilling start to the week than myself.

The_Real_Shaq

I was going to run today, and then He got in my way.  No not the little white guy staring me down, it was the big massive Shaq!

He really is like 3 feet taller than me and a whole world bigger.  We heard on the radio this morning that he was going to be participating in some kind of Oreo event in the mall attached to my office, and so obviously I had to go!  He seemed really nice and just excited to be there, but he only stayed for like 20 minutes - there's a game tonight.

Then I was off to the gym through the nasty weather out there.  Seriously, snow then rain, and snow, and then ice?  I almost fell on my ass a few times, it was not pretty.  I did a 1 mile warm up on the treadmill and then an hour bosu/core/cardio/weights class and I was actually still pretty sore from yesterday.  You know when you're walking up the stairs and your legs just feel all heavy and tired?  That's how I felt all day today, so luckily tomorrow I'm going bowling after work instead of hitting the gym.

I registered for my first 5K of the year in March, so I need to get moving and fast if I'm going to enjoy the beer waiting for me at the end of it (hello St. Patty's race)!

No to work, Yes to working out

How was your day off?  Mine was stupid, I didn't do anything at all except hit the gym and mop the floor up from some boys playing fruit ninja in the kitchen last night with lemons and knives (seriously).

15 minute drive through traffic to my gym 2.5 miles away.  What the heck?
15 minutes to find a stupid parking spot, and then the fun really began...

Treadmill workout

1/2 mile @ 9:22 pace
1/2 mile @ 9:05 pace
1 mile @ 8:49 pace
1/2 mile @8:35 pace
1/2 mile @8:19 pace - oh the pain
1 min. quick walking cool down
Total 3 miles.  I was hoping for 4 today but the parking lot had other ideas so maybe tomorrow.
Then 45 minute cardio and resistance bands class (this was A Lot more challenging than I had planned on, OMG, I was dying in the back.)

Mile-wise this clearly was a pretty short workout, but then adding in another 45 minutes of cross training/strength really did me in.  I just wanted to curl up into a little ball after and hydrate.  Some people like to start back slow so they can get their bearings and not push too hard right away.  I'm not in that group of people, I like to jump into the deep end immediately.  My thoughts are that people can push themselves so much harder than they think they can, so don't waste the time, just get in there and go - everyone is different!  

Learning To Be Progressive

Saturday workout

Treadmill progressive run at 1.0 incline to simulate outdoors, or something, I don't know if it really does that much but I always use 1.0 at minimum.

1/2 mile @ 9:40 pace
1/2 mile @ 9:22 pace
1/2 mile @ 9:05 pace
1/2 mile @ 8:49 pace
1/2 mile @ 8:34 pace
Quick 2 min. walking cool down
30 minute core class
1.02 miles @ 9:49 pace for 10 minutes as a longer cool down
Total: 3.52 miles on the treadmill, not bad, it was really sweaty...
I have to say that the hardest part about this sort of workout is that you have to keep getting faster without any rest, like you have to tell yourself "you need to keep getting faster so just live with that and be uncomfortable."  

Then I refueled with this:

A plate piled high with ziti, meatballs, and eggplant, all smothered in sauce and somewhat melty cheese from Comella's.  It was a truly shameful lunch, but this is what happens when I wait till 3pm to eat - a crazy person takes over my body and finds something self destructive.  I did take home 1/2 of this plate, but still, let's be serious here... this was no salad... it was kind of the opposite.  I spent the rest of the day napping and being an overall waste of space.  I have a feeling today is going to become much like yesterday, only with more beer.

Because I mean, look who's playing today - Go Pats!  If you are cheering for the Jets, that's cool.  I'm not here to trash talk, but based on the point spread we're probably going to win today's game, it's just a fact.  Either way, it will be a really good game with lots of delicious foods and beer.  Cheers!

Depressing as shit

Today's treadmill workout was going to be something like this:

A progressive pyramid of sorts
Mile 1: 9:30 warm up
Mile 2: 9:15
Mile 3: 8:45
Mile 4: 9:15
Mile 5: 10:00 cool down

What was it really?
Mile 1: 9:22
Mile 2: 8:57
Mile 3: 10:00 cool down suuuuuuuck
Now that is depressing as shit. 

I'm really out of shape and that kicked my ass.  It's cool though, I'm going to keep attempting my little pyramid of pain until I can get there.  I hate starting from square 1 but whatever, I do this to myself every single year: I sign off from running at Thanksgiving and in January I'm like, "oh yeah I should try that again".  How easy a person can go from running a marathon to getting kicked off a treadmill by a 55 year old woman with chin whiskers and tapered sweat pants...

What really happened is that I stepped on the darn thing, and then she turns to me - while standing on the one next door, and says "excuse me, I was going to go on that one, this one isn't free like I thought it was" (in the voice that an elderly anteater might have).  Um, OK.  I'm generally a nice person...nicer in my older years that is.  Anyways, the look I gave her would stick in her brain forever if she had one.  I actually stood there, stared at her and said, "Oooooooook" with the nastiest look EVER, then stared more, and left the treadmill to find another one with less idiots around it.  Honestly, what the Eff!  My gym is generally a pretty cool place to be, but you know what is cooler?  Not having to deal with people who don't have all their dogs barking.

This is the first time I've talked about running in a long time.  My hopes are that this motivates me to get my ass moving... it certainly will give me more to blog about!

Shoveling Out

Snow in New England is sort of a drag.  So far, I'm completely snowed in due to the fact that I haven't shoveled off the car yet... or the steps or the walkway.  Is it the snow that's a drag, or is it my laziness?  Well it did get me the day at home and that's a first.  I might not work a full 5-day work week until February at this rate!  If I've learned anything from living in the Boston area at all, it's this:

1. I need a freaking treadmill for the winters

2. Go to the grocery store two days before a predicted storm not the day before like an idiot OR order takeout the night before with enough for leftovers

3. Wellies work better than Uggs in the snow
4. Keep a shovel in your trunk
5. Keep beer in the fridge or wine in the bar
6. If I brew a whole carafe of coffee, I will in fact drink the whole darn thing


If you get bored sitting at home all day long (this never happens to me) then possible solutions are:


1. Bake cookies and eat them
2. Break out your exercise ball and yoga mat and do some home strength work after eating all those cookies

3. Hulu
4. TV marathons, which are in fact better than real running marathons
5. And my favorite thing to do on a snow day is to look up vacation packages to exotic locations that you can neither afford nor have the time to visit, later searching online for the perfect swim suit to accompany such a vacation that you're not going on.


If you are lucky enough to be snowed in today, enjoy it because life goes back to normal tomorrow... boo.

Not Feeling It

Thursday, I pinched a nerve while drying my hair.  Laugh all you like, but ever since I hurt my neck last spring (read about retarded neck injuries here) almost any daily activity is a risk for hurting my neck again.  I made it through Friday, and this morning it seems to be a little worse so I decided to skip out on my favorite abs class of the week.  Yeah, big freaking deal, I miss one class!  I do find myself really angry about it though, like I really wanted to be tortured on a mat or something.  Which instead, led me to Internet surfing as a form of entertainment and I was reading all about stupid shit that famous people do when I came across Colin Ferrell and I was like: wait, dude is still famous?  That brought me back to when I saw him at the Miami airport and he totally saw me staring at him trying to figure out if it was Really him, and instead of me like acknowledging his star power - we got up and moved our seats (he looked Terrible!).  Why??  Why?? Because it was Freaking Colin Ferrell and not like Brad Pitt or like John Hamm or whatever, and nobody cares.


Also things that nobody cares about, but I kind of do:

I have a case of Pop Chips sitting in my dining room.  Did someone send me some free products to review on my blog? No, actually I bought a case of Pop Chips on Amazon through my own desire for a really crunchy snack.  They are the best chips ever and only 100 cals per bag, so naturally that means I can eat more than 1 bag at a time right?!  Ok, maybe not, but they're really good so try them if you are a chips person (the BBQ ones are the best).

Our Christmas ornaments are off the tree and organized this time around, unlike last year when I found multiple ornaments broken or missing.  Tree pickup is in a couple days so it was time for this shit to come down and go away for another year.  If you're looking for something this awesome, you can find it at Target on clearance for $7 or at least at my ghetto store location.  As boring and stupid as this sounds, it will make you hate holiday cleanup a little less.  There is always the option to throw it all out in one toss... I always have that urge.


My Sunday advice to you all: get a snack, throw your holiday decorations out the window, and try not to pinch a nerve while doing those things.

Quick Visit to NYE

New Year's Eve - One of us is sober*, one of us is giving his best bedroom eyes...
[note: that prison tattoo on his neck is fake!  Prison is not our thing.]  I can't even bear to show the rest of the pictures, they can't be allowed into the Interwebs - we like having jobs.

And later that night, my own personal photo session.  You want a piece of this?  Sigh.  Me neither.
No, I can't see in my own bathroom mirror - it's like a foot too high.  I'm either a midget at 5'2" or the idiots who built this place were giants.

* The cute polka dot sweater is from Target!  I might look like an Easter egg, but I look like a cool one.

First Wedding of The Year

We went to a winter wedding yesterday for my good friend from high school.  Luckily for everyone, I was completely not hungover (like the bride might have been) this might have been a less than enjoyable experience.  When we arrived at the church his parents didn't even recognize me for a minute, and I was over his house like everyday as a teenager (the unibrow and short hair years), but the surprise on his mother's face was like gold.  A lot happened in the ten years since I've seen them, I was like: meet my husband, they were like Whoa... I'm pretty sure they had one of those moments where time seems to have run away.  Anyways, the ceremony was in a really nice church in the heart of Harvard Square and the reception was at a hotel down the street.

[the groom, this in fact a horrible photo of him]

Two things at this wedding that I've never ever seen before... passed cookies and double shots of milk... and somewhere around 10:30 about 25 pizzas arrived and one pizza was delivered to each table.  I mean sure the dinner wasn't something to write home about, but I wouldn't say that people were hungry or anything... it was still pretty cool. 

I had a great time catching up with friends from my high school swimming days, and celebrating the marriage of two really great people, they really are an excellent match for each other.  Seeing people on the happiest days of their lives really makes you feel good and it made me appreciative for what I have in life today.