L.A. excursion and Mother's Day

As I mentioned, I jumped from Las Vegas over to Los Angeles after the end of my work trip last week.  I arrived in LA on Thursday evening and met up with my two college best friends, Ari & KV.  Ari moved out to LA last August and it is hard to believe it has been nearly 2 years since I saw her!  KV is in New York City so I am lucky enough to get to see her more often -- most recently on my trip in December, when I ended up coming down with strep throat, but also last summer when I joined her work team for a soccer game under the lights.

I found out last weekend that KV was going to L.A. to visit Ari from Thursday to Sunday so I did a little wiggling with my schedule and since I was going to be so close, decided to join in on the fun for a couple nights with them in Los Angeles.  As long as it had been since I'd seen Ari, it was even longer since the three of us have been together!  We always have so much fun together and as soon as we were a threesome again, the laughs started and did not stop.  There were belly laughs until we were crying from the moment we were together and we had a great couple of days.

When I first introduced KV on the blog, I mentioned that she is an incredibly talented designer and I just want to say that I am totally blown away with Ari too and her role with an incredibly well known TV show.  She is putting her talents to great use and is totally killing it in LA and I loved being able to see her in her element.  I've written a lot about my home friends, the girls I've known since I was little, and my Albany friends as well, but I don't always write about how special my college friends are.

These girls and I saw each other on a daily basis during a very critical time in our lives.  We were away from home for the first time, living on our own, trying to figure out what to do with our lives, learning who we were as people, and just trying to survive the awkward and crazy days of our college years.  It makes me so incredibly proud and happy to now see these girls at jobs that are so perfectly suited for them.  It makes those anxiety-filled years of taking classes, writing papers, and internships & job interviews all seem worthwhile.  Plus, the years after college where being unemployed was scary, some jobs were just jobs, and life seemed overwhelming... well, life may never not seem overwhelming, but you learn as you get older and things figure themselves out.  For anyone out there in college who doesn't know exactly what they will do when they graduate... have faith & patience -- and work your ass off -- and you will get there.  We all did in our own time.

So anyways, Ari had to work on Friday so KV and I explored "the Grove" and the L.A. Farmer's Market -- which originated in the 1800s -- and then took a bus tour of the city.  The farmer's market was pretty cool and was made up of all sorts of little restaurants and stands where you could buy food, including food from all over the world.  After browsing, a Brazilian shop caught my eye, and I decided to eat there.  I'm so glad I made that choice because it was delicious and totally brought me back to my trip to Rio de Janeiro with the feijoada that I ate. YUM, I love this dish (which reminds me... I still have the ingredients to make this and I should try it some time!)

The bus tour we did was called the "Legends of Hollywood" tour and left from the farmer's market, which worked out well for us.  It was KV's first time in L.A. and the bus tour seemed like a good way to get a view of the city, it was recommended, and why the heck the not?

The tour started off on a high note with us learning that our tour guide, Mick, was a Brit who moved to the U.S. 10 years ago "for love" as he described it.  He used to be a tour guide at the Tower of London and one day a young American woman was on his tour, asked to take a photo with him, and then a few weeks later mailed the photo to him.  He said it was written with a note that said, "You must have your photo taken hundreds of times but you never get to see any of those photos.  I thought you might want to see just one of the pictures." and it had an e-mail address.  They started e-mailing and later visited one another, and later got married and he moved to the U.S.!  I now know what move I am going to be pulling every time I have a cute tour guide...

Anyways, the tour was a bit cheesy and the guide didn't seem to have that much to say about many of the things we drove by.  It seemed like he was struggling for things to say and pointing out the most random attractions like homeless people and his favorite restaurants.  He did take us up Mulholland Drive to a cool lookout and place to take pictures with the iconic Hollywood sign.  Unfortunately KV and I were having a day where none of the pictures we seemed to take looked cute.

Back when we were in college, after a night out, KV and I would get together in the mornings and go through all of the pictures I had taken of the night before on my computer.  We would crop the photos down to cut out fat arms or legs or delete pictures that we didn't think were flattering.  We'd often just end up with a picture of a tiny portion of our bodies or no good pictures from the night before.  Sometimes I feel like my body image has gotten much better over the years and sometimes I feel just as critical and self conscious of myself.

One of the times that we laugh about was a night that we literally tried on EVERYTHING in our closets trying to find an outfit we thought looked good and we just couldn't.  It was tragic at the time, and laughable now.  Okay, maybe it's still somewhat tragic.  But I think we all have days like that, right?  When you just can't seem to find anything that looks right?  This one night in college will always stick out in my mind because I remember seeing the PILES of clothing as we literally went through pretty much every item in both of our closets trying to get dressed.

However, one of the things I learned from KV in those mornings of looking through photos was looking for "happiness" in pictures.  I remember her saying she loved one picture because we both just looked so happy in it.  It is now something I look for in pictures and have since found myself loving photos where I may not look particularly flattering but that you can just see the happiness flowing out of the image.

We always have fun together.  And one of the things I love about hanging out with KV is that she pays such close attention to detail which leads to some comical things I might otherwise have missed.  Such as this incredibly specific sign.  A fine of $541?  Seriously? Was $540 too little?

We drove down the Sunset Strip, stopped at Hollywood Blvd. and toured the "Walk of Fame" where you see stars names and handprints in the ground.  Did you know that after a celebrity is nominated to have a star in the Walk of Fame they then have to pay for it themselves?  $30,000!  What an honor, huh?

Friday night we ate out at an amazing Italian restaurant Ari picked out where we feasted on fresh pasta, bread, salad, cheese, wine, and just mass amounts of delicious food.  We followed it up by heading to a really cool bar that made me feel like I was in the 40s.  I forget what it was called but it had delicious drinks, a fun band, and an all around cool atmosphere.  It took a few tries, but we did end the night with at least one photo that we all approved of ourselves.  Love these girls.

So, I have to share the following picture because it is just kind of gross and weird.  Remember how I mentioned that my feet were totally destroyed by the time I left Las Vegas?  Well, the grossness continued through Los Angeles.  Take a look at how puffy and swollen my feet were at the end of our night out.  Isn't this ridiculous?  My feet are like little sausages here.

I unfortunately was not able to stay longer with my friends in LA as I had an early flight on Saturday morning to Boston.  I had to be at the Cape for work on Sunday evening and I wanted to spend Mother's Day with my family.  So I got into Boston on Saturday evening after a day of travel to have my another one of my favorite people waiting for me at the airport.  There isn't must that KO and I like more than to make a scene, so although it was just a few weeks ago I last saw her, we had a grand reunion in the airport as if we hadn't seen each other in ages.  Gotta love being goofy with your best friends :)

I gave KO a ride back to Rhode Island and then headed to my mom's where I crashed for the night and got up early with her to head to spin class and then home for a Mother's Day breakfast of Cake Batter Protein Smoothies.  Complete with sprinkles on top because I love me some sprinkles :)

It was really great to spend the day not only with my mom but with my siblings as well.  We went to my aunt & uncles where we had a cookout with my cousins and grandparents.  I hadn't seen my sister and her husband in a couple months so we had fun all catching up and enjoying the sunshine.  And celebrating my mom on her very special Mother's Day.  I wrote a longer post about this last year, but my mom seriously is amazing.  We had a lot to celebrate this Mother's Day and it was a really nice day that I am happy I was able to be there for!

Also, my Uncle Peter took that family photo for us, but not before taking a selfie first.  And because I am an amazingly nice niece, I just had to post the picture here :)  Beware if you take a photo on my camera -- I WILL blog that!!  Love you, Pete!

As with any family gathering that we have, there is always a ton of desserts.  This year my mom made some amazing cakes (thank you Pinterest!) including this Kit Kat masterpiece and an eclair cake.  Yum!

At the end of the meal we were all feeling a bit like we needed some shut eye, and a few of us actually got a couple of Zzzz's in.  Which leads me to the next family-shaming photo of this post.  Hey there Grampy! :)

So, it was a lovely and wonderful and FILLING Mother's Day that I wrapped up by heading to the Cape where I am for the next day or so for work.  I'm glad I am finally caught up with you and will try not to get behind in posting again!!

My week in Las Vegas!

For those of you who don't follow me on Instagram (which you should...) the reason I haven't written in the past week is that I've been doing a bit of traveling and haven't had a real moment to sit and recap!  I have a problem being brief and have trouble posting if it isn't a full blown entry.  Last Sunday I flew out from Albany to Las Vegas where I stayed until Thursday for a work trade show.  It was my first time in Vegas and it was a ton of fun but my main observation was that it is... weird.

It's a whole mix of a little bit of everything and a little bit of every kind of person all mashed up here in the desert with nothing else but man-made adult enjoyment type things all around.  Alcohol, gambling, over the top shows, bright lights, food, and all of it costs tons and tons of money.  No lie, I forgot a hairbrush and had to go to my hotel's convenience store to try and purchase a cheap little plastic comb or something and the only hairbrush they had in the store cost $72!!!  INSANE.

Anyways, although I was there for work, as you probably know by now, I always try to squeeze in fun when I am traveling for work.  Although I leave that stuff out... trust me, the week was a culmination of many, many months of work and the days were long and busy but totally fun to see the work pay off.  So in addition to the work stuff, I was able to see a couple of shows (including fulfilling a lifelong dream and see a Cirque de Soleil show!), soak up a little Vitamin D at the pool, check out the Bellagio fountain show, and have some enjoyable meals with coworkers.

The pool was really nice and I wish I had been able to spend more time there, but unfortunately that's not what this trip was about.  Plus, once more of my coworkers arrived, I avoided that thing because nobody needs to run into coworkers when bathing suits are involved, amiright?

The first night we were there, we were able to have dinner at one of the restaurants in the Bellagio hotel with a view of the fountains.  We had the most perfect night to walk around and check out the Vegas strip!  It's a pretty great thing when you have coworkers who you enjoy spending time with outside of work and even better when you get to do it in cool locations.  The Bellagio hotel was pretty neat to see inside, as well as some of the other hotels on the strip.  They are very elaborately decorated all with a theme.  The New York, New York hotel was impressive from the outside.  As well as the Parisian hotel (especially after just seeing the Eiffel Tower in person!) and of course, I had to check out the Venetian.

Another amazing thing is that as part of my job and my company's role at this conference, I organized a 5K race for conference attendees.  We have been running registration for a couple months now and I hired a race organizing company to help with an actual chip-timed, Active.com registration needed, 5K race here in Las Vegas!  I had about 120 people up at 5:30 a.m. to run 3.1 miles before the start of the conference yesterday and it was such a fun and great time.  I love sharing my excitement for running and attempts at being healthy and was really proud/excited that I could work something I love into my job and convince even one other person to wake up at the crack of dawn in the city of sin to run!

Aside from the 5K, which took place in a park, I also did a morning run up and down the strip, which was pretty cool to do.  I am starting to rack up quite the list of places around the world I have run and I kind of like it!  It is helpful, but not entirely, in helping to make up for the extra amounts of food I consume while traveling.  I still haven't recovered from the extra weight I put on while in Europe (which WAS worth it, but I want it gone now) and I have a lot more travel coming up so it just keeps packing on.  I am struggling to keep up the running & exercise & resist food urges but it is tough.

We celebrated Cinco De Mayo while in Vegas.  Which, who can say no to that?

And for the first time in my life I ate at a Johnny Rockets.  Johnny Rockets is not unique or special so I probably should have done better there... however, it was comfort food I allowed myself after I faced a fear and had adrenaline rushing through my body.  In addition to the shows and gambling in Vegas, there is also some thrill-ride type activities that you can partake in.  And I somehow found myself taking a quick lunch break with my boss and a customer to jump off the top of the 108th story of the Stratosphere building and plunge to the ground, only to be caught 15 feet before the ground.  Ahhh!$%!

Can you believe I did that?!  To be honest, I really cannot.  A warning to you all -- be careful what you agree to while drinking!  However, I must say I am really proud of myself for facing this fear and doing the SkyJump.  My coworkers were pretty proud of me too; it is fun to prove people wrong and do things that are not expected of you.

It's also fun to do things that are silly and cheesy and take you back in time -- which is exactly what I would say about one of my other Vegas activities, which was going to see the Britney Spears "Pieces of Me" show!  My coworkers and I all went together on one of our evenings off and although it was not a miraculous vocal performance (lip sync...) the show was a great visual performance with amazing dancing (although not from Britney), spectacular sets, and of course the music of my middle and high school years -- Britney!

If you can't tell, to sum things up, the week in Vegas was great.  I am not regretting any of the decisions I made because there is no point in that, but just trying to get back on track now as best I can.  I heard an interesting quote from the keynote speaker at the conference who said, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time to plant a tree is today."  It's a bit abstract, but I like it.

My time in Vegas wrapped up on Thursday, when I hobbled my way to the airport to jump over to the city of angels where two of my best friends in the world were waiting for me for a fun couple days.  But in wrapping up Vegas, let me just say that when I wrote "hobbled" I meant hobbled.  Somehow between the conference, airplane swelling, wearing of summer shoes for the first time, running, and being on my feet all day long at the trade show... my feet got torn apart with blisters and pain.  I was in rough shape at the end of the week but fought through.

Another random quote I recently heard had to do with runners and their tolerance for pain.  In a study that was done, it was determined that runners feel pain at the same time as others, they just don't do anything about it, whereas others stop whatever is causing the pain.  I definitely saw that as true for myself this week as I kept fighting on with my heels and sandals whereas others were walking around in sneakers at the end of the week.  Stubborn me.

So this is all I am going to cover in this post as I have got to get to bed.  I will fill you in on the second part of my trip later, but want to get to bed so I can get up in the morning to get a run in before my work day.  I am still not back in Albany and living out of my suitcase, however, this time from the completely opposite side of the country.  I'm blogging from Cape Cod with a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean tonight -- gotta love the beach!!  Hope you guys have a great start to your week!

10 Random Things I Thought You Should Know

[The majority of this post was written yesterday before I got all emo-y after my failure run.]

1.  The other day I stopped to get a coffee at the drive thru on the way to work.  As I was waiting to pull around to the window where you pay and pick up your coffee, I was playing on my phone.  I didn't drive forward the second that the car in front of me pulled forward and the lady behind me in her car yelled out her window at me to, "MOVE!"

I found it to be pretty annoying and wanted to shout something back but didn't.  I resisted.  I figured she was late for work or having a tough morning or something like that.  So instead, when I paid for my coffee, I told the lady at the drive thru to pay for whatever the lady behind me got as well.  It was just a coffee, so it didn't break the bank too much for me, but I hope the lady behind me smiled a tiny bit or had a little bit of a better day because of it!  Pay it forward, people.

2.  This week I had a meeting one day at work that I had scheduled with a lot of attendees going to it.  However, I was running late and had a few things I needed to get done before I went to that meeting, so I ended up being 5-10 minutes late for MY OWN meeting that I had scheduled.  I felt like a jerk, so what did I do?  I took my coworkers entire candy bowl and brought it to the meeting with me.  Because I figured they couldn't hate me that much if I brought candy, right?  And of course I don't keep my own candy bowl, because that stuff would be gone in a day.  So I brought a coworkers candy bowl to a meeting.

Yup.

Which is why I had to go out on a lunch break to buy her a refill bag and a bonus bag of those Dove chocolates because I really wanted to try them, and again... I can't keep that stuff at my desk...

3.  You know how they say that girls who live together have their cycles sync up?  Well, I think the equivalent of that is girls who run together having their rotation of race shirts syncing up.  All three days this week on our runs -- which were Monday, Thursday, Friday -- Jess and I wore the same race shirts.  We were twinning all week!  Kind of freaky, right?

4.  This week everyone was posting that video of Emma Stone doing the lip sync battle with Jimmy Fallon on Facebook and social media.  People seemed to think it was hysterical and really funny and that Emma did amazing at it.  Am I the only one who disagreed?  I didn't think that Emma did THAT great and I was so distracted by how skinny she is for the entire thing.  Seriously, she looked so frail.  She hasn't always been that thin, right?  Yeesh.

5.  I am finally caught up on Parenthood.  Is it possible to watch that show without crying??

6.  This week I literally had the #BestDayEver when I found out that the business I work for is now going to be supplying the power for all of the manufacturing of M&Ms in the country (kind of.)  I was having a normal day at work and then all of a sudden learned this and ran up and down the hallway at work telling everyone I could find and asking anyone who had known about it why they hadn't told me.  It seriously made my day and I was SO excited.

7.  Right after that happened I was offered the opportunity to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams this Sunday evening.  Legitimately CANNOT WAIT and am so excited.

8.  Last minute I changed some plans around and will be spending Thursday-Saturday with my two college best friends.  The times I am with them are usually non stop laugh fests and times that just make me happy and soothe my soul.  I am so glad that things are working out to be able to spend some time together and I cannot wait until we reunite!  It has been a LONG time since I've been with one of my friends and a LONGER time since we were together as a threesome.  FIVE DAYS!!!!!

Oh hey... senior year of college!

9.  This week I learned about and ordered Muscle Milk Light Cake Batter protein powder and it is literally blowing my world.  SO DELICIOUS!  I ordered it off of Amazon and you probably won't regret it if you order it yourself.  Yummmmmy smoothies!

10.  I have a flight in 7 hours!  Wheel's up, friends!  Next time I write will be from somewhere sunny :)

I gave up on my run today.

I gave up on my run today.  I feel pretty lame right now.  I feel pretty disappointed in myself.  And it's almost scary how easy it is to give up.  It is scary.  I could really easily just keep giving up.  One run could become a lot of runs.  And I'm trying really hard not to let my mind spiral out of control like that because right now it is just one run.  But I gave up on my run today.

I had wanted to do 10 miles today.  It wasn't a surprise, I was planning this for a while and I had it written on my training plan on my wall of my cubicle at work. It was part of my build up mileage plan leading up to the Tough Mudder at the end of May.  I planned to do a 5-mile out and back run and I didn't feel very good throughout the whole thing.  Even 3-4 miles in I was feeling heavy and just told myself to keep going until I got to the turn around.  Which I did, I got to a little after 5 and was heading back and was just so thirsty.  I'd been fighting with myself to not walk and then I let myself.

And once I walked, I couldn't get myself going again (which I know is what happens to me.)  I was so thirsty and I texted my friend who lives on the route back and asked if I could stop for water.  I tried to run a little and my legs felt terrible.  I told myself I would run again when I got some water because I was feeling really dehydrated.  I hadn't drank enough water before I started.  When I got the water I chugged a bottle and then my stomach felt terrible and I thought I was going to throw up so I walked some more.  And then when my stomach felt better, I tried to run again and my legs felt awful again, so I kept walking and I allowed myself to walk.  I pretty much walked the 5 miles home.

I'm bummed.  I'm a bit freaked out.  I know that of all the excuses I can come up with... my legs felt heavy, I didn't prepare, I didn't drink enough water, I ran 3 days in a row, etc. The main reason that I didn't run the way I wanted was because I gave up mentally.  I allowed myself to give up.  I've been feeling pretty down in general this week without a lot of mental strength.  Little things that normally wouldn't bother me were getting me upset.  I didn't have my normal pep or energy.  It's just been a down few days.

I am not proud of that.  And not proud of my run.  And now I don't get the frozen yogurt that was supposed to be my post run treat.  Blah.

At least the trees are starting to bloom?