Saturday, March 29, 2014

Monthly dinner with friends!

So remember how last month we went out for our friend Jonh's birthday? Well, we all decided we were going to try to get together once a month for dinner or something. Well, we stuck to it and had everyone over for dinner at our house. Since we have so many foodies in our group, I think I like when we do dinners potluck style versus going out to a restaurant. Everyone brought something and it was all AMAZING!!
'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' made pork belly and I made "healthy" mac and cheese (with spinach and cottage cheese) and everyone seemed to like it- I was a little worried! Our friends brought over a kale salad with homemade dressing, a caprese salad, steak, and a bunch of other good stuff! And of course, I don't have one picture of the food! BUT- I did take a picture of my ice cream bar! Priorities people.... ;)
My kind of bar! ;)
Just like all of our get-togethers, I tried to get a picture of all the girls and it turns out like this:


Then I try to get ONE decent picture of the boys and they end up like this....

About 5 second after that picture was taken, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' spilled his drink on our friend John and that ended their pictures. :) Boys will be boys right?! ;)
Boys will be boys right?? 
We always have so much fun with this group of friends and are already planning the next months dinner. I hope this is a tradition that lasts for a LONG time!! Awesome food with amazing friends- can't go wrong!! ;)

What are you doing this weekend? Any big plans? Races? 

How often do you get together with your friends? 

Saturday, March 22, 2014

My last NYC post :(

I really didn't want today to come, we have to leave New York and go back home to the real world. This week's vacation in New York has been my absolute favorite! Not only because of all the new things we did, but because we got to hang out with 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' sister so much!

We woke up and 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and I walked around Brooklyn to get some souvenirs and gifts. I absolutely LOVED the store call Buy Brooklyn- everything in it was made in Brooklyn, NY. (They also sold Mckenzie's products Brooklyn Grooming. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' was SO excited to see that and made sure to tell the cashier that it was his sisters company. :) 
Once we were done shopping, we met up with Mckenzie and Sam for Brunch. We went to a Mexican cafe and the weather was so nice we sat outside.  
'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter ordered, and then changed his order to what Sam ordered. They're like BFF's now. ;)
We headed back to their place after and finished packing everything up and called for a taxi. While we were waiting for the taxi, we took a bunch of pictures together. I was really, really sad to leave them.
So glad to see them together! :)
Miss them already!
We left out of the Newark, NJ airport and the last time we were there, they had a Crumb's bakery in the terminal and I was able to grab some before boarding the plane. Well, they must have more than one terminal, because the terminal we were in this time- had nothing! I was so bummed! 

My mom picked us up from the airport and we stopped at Oregano's for dinner. After dinner we rushed home and had the BEST reunion with our dog. She was SO excited to see us, it was adorable!  

I don't know who was more excited!! ;)
What kind of pet do you have? 

Do you like flying? I really don't like flying and get REALLY nervous on the plane!  

Friday, March 21, 2014

Brooklyn, NYC

We woke up pretty late today after staying up till 4 in the morning watching the movie. It was so nice to sleep in! Once we were all up and ready, we went to Lulu's Cafe for breakfast. (Again, I was SO grateful for Sam and Mckenzie being our personal tour guides! It was awesome to go to some of their favorite places and know that the food was going to be amazing!)

Still obsessed with all the details in the building here!!
After brunch, Sam had to work a little bit, so 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter', his sister, and I walked all around Brooklyn. It was so much fun! We saw so much of the city and went into a bunch of the cute shops. We were going to take the Subway back- but got lost and ended up just walking back. I absolutely LOVED it!! I think the best way to see the city of to walk (or bet yet- RUN) around it. ;)
Once we got finally made it back, we got ready and went out for another run. Mckenzie had a blister on her foot, so we went with Sam and went about 5.5 miles. Oh. My. Gosh- seriously! I need to move here just to be able to do this run daily!! I don't think I would have any problem finding motivation to run with this as the background. So beautiful!!
He took us down to the Brooklyn Bridge and then all around the city- we even went through them wrapping up a movie filming for the day! It's crazy how much stuff gets put up/torn down to shoot a couple scenes in a movie.

Does it get any prettier than this?!
After the run, we went to dinner at Aruela. This was by far my favorite restaurant that we went to. The restaurant itself was amazing- the décor and ambiance was my favorite. We got several different appetizers and I loved them all! (I'm usually not into trying new foods or branching out- but everything I tried was new and I absolutely loved it all!)

I know I've said it before, but hanging out with Sam and Mckenzie is so great! I'm really excited to hang out with them more in the future! Tomorrow is our last day and I really, REALLY don't want to go home. :(

Do you get blisters when you run? 

Where is your favorite restaurant? 

Thursday, March 20, 2014

My all time favorite run ever!!

Happy First day of Spring!! Lot's of bright colors around here! :)
We did a lot of walking around today because tonight we are going to Brooklyn to stay with 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' sister.

We walked down to the financial district and saw the World Trade Memorial Center. Then walked back and had lunch (for the second day in a row!) at Katz' Deli. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' absolutely LOVED this place- he said it was the best pastrami sandwich he ever had in his whole life! Very old school style where they give you a sample of the meat before they make your sandwich, and they fill everything out on a ticket and you pay at the end. I got a turkey sandwhich and chicken noodle soup both days- seriously SO good!
After that, we went back to the hotel and packed up to head to Brooklyn to stay with his sister. We had the BEST cab ride ever on our way too!! Along the way, you know we had to stop for snacks! :)
There was purple glitter on all of it! SO, so good!
Once we got there, Mckenzie's boyfriend, Sam, was getting ready to go out for a run. I asked if I could join him and the next thing I knew- all 4 of our were going out for a run.
OH.MY.GOSH! I still cannot believe how incredible this run was! We left their house and ran about a half mile and this was our view.....
I wish this was my daily running path!
We ran along the water and around a park (that is right on the water- how cool is that?!) and then tuned around and headed back. I want to run this every single day, forever! It was so beautiful! I'm glad we went at sunset, because seeing the New York skyline was amazing!!
SO happy to see them together- especially running!! ;)
Once we got back, we all showered and headed out for dinner at The Flying Lobster. The food was really good and the company was amazing! Both Mckenzie and Sam have some of the most interesting stories, I loved spending so much time with them!

We went back to their place and watched a movie. It was so fun just to hang out and relax. I will definitely miss this!!

Where was your favorite run? 

How many miles do you usually run weekly? 

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Hakuna Matata!!

Even though we really enjoyed Yotel, and we were supposed to stay another night, we decided to switch back to 60 LES. It really is that amazing, plus we both enjoyed the lower east side more than Manhattan- it's definitely less "touristy" too. (It also had a dessert shop right on the corner.... ;))

Once we checked out, we were able to use the robot again and store our luggage while we headed out for Central Park!! It has been on my bucket list to run through Central Park- so I was beyond excited for this! We got there and ran a loop around the whole park. (Since 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' is faster than me, we didn't stay together, but we did keep seeing each other throughout the park. It was pretty cool!)
Such an amazing run! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous- I loved running across all the little bridges and seeing all the surrounding buildings. I was so surprised at how many squirrels there were! And they were 100% fearless- they would come running right at me and I didn't know what to do! haha!
How gorgeous is this?!
I think I ran about 6.5 miles and then met 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' back where we started. We hit up a couple food carts and wandered around for awhile. We eventually made the hotel switch and got ready for the night.

We were going to check another thing off my bucket list... The Lion King on Broadway!!
To say I was excited for this would be the understand of the year! I had been looking for tickets since we got to New York and finally stumbled across some cheap tickets online (FYI folks, the "brokers" and ticket sales booths on the street were twice the price of what I found online.) And for getting our tickets the day before the show- our seats were amazing! Dead center in the third row from the stage. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' loved that fact that he could see could see the conductor below the stage. :)
The show was absolutely incredible! I would see it again in a heart beat! The performers were so talented and the costumes were insane! Such an awesome experience! (And during intermission, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' said we need to go to more of these when they come to Arizona. :) Made my night!!)

I got 2 things checked off my bucket list today AND I ended the night with a cannoli  in bed! Doesn't get better than this! :)

Have you ever seen a musical? Do you like them? 

What's your favorite Disney movie? 

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Doing the touristy things!!

We woke up today at 6am on-the-dot, due to some lovely (extremely loud!) construction right outside our window. As hard as we tried to go back to sleep-with all the pillows and blankets over our heads, it was too loud and we couldn't- it was horrible! (Maybe we should stop saying up until 2am in the morning?!)

But it was a good thing we got up so early because we did a ton of things! We packed everything up and switched hotels again. This time we went to a very futuristic hotel, Yotel. It was really cool- they even had a robot you could store your luggage in! We definitely put our luggage in it- just to take it right back out, to watch the robot!! haha!! ;)
We quickly learned that the hotel rooms in New York are really compact! This picture shows the WHOLE room! On the left is the door out and on the right is the curtain that separated the bathroom. And that's it! haha! (These 2 images I got from www.yotel.com)
Once we were settled in, we walked around and decided to do the touristy thing and make our way to MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) around 3:30. They told us when we were buying tickets that they closed at 5:00. We thought an hour and a half would be more than enough time, but we definitely could have stayed for a few more hours! There was so much incredible stuff there!
Who wouldn't hug the Pink Panther?! ;)
Andy Warhol
And of course, we had to find Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. It was crazy to actually see something like that in person!
We seriously could have stayed for a few more hours just wondering around looking at everything! But they kicked everyone out at 5:00 and we headed back to our hotel. Once we got back we ended up eating dinner at the hotel's restaurant. We wanted to do something close and easy because we had big plans for dessert!!
After dinner we went to Serendipity!! This was definitely on the list of things I wanted to do while we were here! I got the famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate and 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' got their Strawberries and Creame with a cappuccino.
I am having SO much fun with 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter', it doesn't even feel like real life. Literally having the time of my life! We're going to bed early tonight so we can wake up and get some things checked off our bucket lists!! ;)

*Do you have a Bucket List? If so, what is one of the biggest things on there? 

*Have you ever used a robot before? 

Monday, March 17, 2014

We already want to move here!!

We woke up pretty late on Sunday- which felt so good to sleep in! I can't remember the last time we both slept in- usually we are up earlier on the weekends than during the week with training. We walked around the city some more and made our way down Brodway. (We also randomly passed a Best Buy and I was able to get a small camera- thank gosh!)
I was so obsessed with all the different street art! It seemed like there was a masterpiece on every corner. I absolutely LOVE all of it- I could walk around forever! We decided to make our way to Time Square and stopped and had lunch on the way- again the food was OK, but nothing great. (I think I was really expecting to be blown away by the food here, I'm not sure why?)
Time Square was awesome- definitely one of the things we wanted to see while we're here. It's crazy that even with all the tourist and everything going on, there was still a lot of regular people going to and from work in that environment. I couldn't imagine trying to commute and deal with that daily! Very hectic!
We went into a few of the stores including the Disney store and got some stuff for my niece and nephew. And then look who we ran into....
We were meeting 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' sister again for dinner, so we headed back to the hotel to get ready. We of course, had to stop at Crumb's on the way back and grab some cupcakes for later. :)
We went to another amazing dinner with his sister and met her boyfriend, Sam for the first time- such an awesome guy! They are so perfect together! They picked us up and we had dinner in Brooklyn, so it was pretty awesome to drive across the Brooklyn bridge and see a different city. The food was great and the company was incredible. It was one of those nights that I don't think I'll ever forget. :) SO upset I didn't take any pictures!!

The next day, we switched hotels to Ink48. We wanted to stay in a few different hotels around the city, so we could explore different areas. This one was in the heart of Manhattan, the view from our hotel was insane!
We checked in and headed out. While we were walking around 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' randomly saw a sign for DC Cupcakes!! I absolutely LOVE that show and we continued to follow the signs down an escalator, through a museum, and up some stairs to get there. (Hey, whatever it takes, right?! ;))
We went back to our hotel and had such a hard time finding a place that was still open for dinner! Everything was already closed- including room service!! We ended up finding a place and got some food (and of course dessert). After dinner we walked back down to Time Square to see it at night- absolutely incredible! The lights, the people, everything- so amazing! Definitely a lot different than any place I've ever been before!!
And since it's St. Patrick's Day, here in the city I had to buy the iconic 'I heart NY' shirt with a shamrock, right?!
When in Rome.... ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Did you do anything super festive today? 

What's your favorite holiday? 

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Welcome to New York City!!

After work on Friday, I came home and finished packing (I know, I'm the worlds biggest procrastinator!) and hung out with my mom before she took us to the airport.

I kept saying I felt like I was forgetting something, and as we got everything packed in the car and was about to leave, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' asked if I had our tickets: nope! That's what I was forgetting! I quickly ran back inside and grabbed them (right, dead-center on our counter- where I swore to myself I couldn't forget them!!;)) 

We made it to the airport with a ton of time to spare, so we grabbed dinner at the new Four Peaks restaurant. Before we knew it, we were boarding the plane, taking selfies!! ;) 
We totally lucked out and had the whole row to ourselves, which meant we could try to stretch out a little bit and sleep (in some of the most awkward positions ever!) Since it was a night flight, they turned off the lights and the time flew by!

We got into NYC at 5:15 in the morning- way too earlier for anything, especially trying to find your luggage and navigate around a new city!
We found a taxi and headed for our hotel- 60 LES, in the lower east side. Best. Hotel. EVER!! Not only was the location ideal, but they let us check in 6:00am when we got there, instead of having to wait until the regular check-in time of 11am, with no fee or charge! Everyone was so incredibly nice too. Great place- highly recommend it! Oh, and the view wasn't bad either. ;)
This was our view from the room right when we walked in (at 6am!)
And this was it when we woke up- GORGEOUS!
We immediately went to sleep and woke up surprisingly, somewhat early at 11am. We got ready and walked around for awhile. The weather was AMAZING! I was expecting it to be freezing, but it was actually pretty warm, which was perfect for exploring. We really didn't have a plan and it was nice to just kind of wandered around.
SO excited to be here!!
We made our way to Little Italy and Chinatown- both of which were so interesting! With all the signs in Chinese and unique stores, I really felt like I was in China!
After awhile, we were both starving! We made a pact before we left that we wanted to try new things and not eat anything we could get in Arizona. So we Yelped! and found that we were super close to Lombardi's pizzeria- who hasn't heard of them?! We figured we would see what all the hype was and try it.
It was good- nothing I was blown away by, but still really good. I liked how they used buffalo mozzarella cheese- but I felt like there wasn't enough of it.

After lunch, we walked back to our hotel and got ready for dinner with 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' sister, Mckenzie! We went to Public and it was amazing! We were SO beyond excited to see his sister (we haven't seen her in 4 years!) so it was great to catch up with her and hang out.
'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' snuck a picture of his dinner. haha!
After dinner we went to a couple different places and met one of her amazing/hilarious friend! Such an incredible night! We both are absolutely in love with New York and never want to leave!

On the way to the hotel, we stopped at a dessert cafe on the corner (remember how I said ideal location?:)) and got a cupcake!
Cupcakes in bed!! I need to start ending all my night like this!
Best day ever! I cannot believe we get to stay here for a whole week- it's going to be unforgettable! (P.S. I forgot my small/easy-to-carry camera, so forgive all the phone pictures. We're going to look around for a camera tomorrow, so stay tuned....

Do you like flying? I hate flying! I get really nervous and hang on to the arm rest for dear life! I usually end up getting sick at some point too. But I think I'm getting better, because I actually was able to sleep on this flight and didn't get sick!

Where's the last place you went on vacation?