Mom and Dad in NYC - Part One

Since Kentucky isn't exactly next door to New York, it is rare that I get to have my parents in my (for now) neck of the woods.  So it is always an exciting and fun filled time when they do venture to the Big Apple.  This time was no different.  We had a jam packed schedule and had a lot of fun spending the (almost) week together.

Mom and Dad arrived in NYC on Tuesday evening.  We went to dinner with Chris before he had to head back up to Albany.  We went to Benjamin's on the east side of Manhattan.  I had a Groupon for there so we had a very nice meal at roughly half the price :)  You know me...always looking for a good deal!

Great little spot in Murray Hill...

Wednesday, I took the day off from work to spend some time with my parents.  We spent the morning getting 1/2 price broadway tickets for Million Dollar Quartet at TKTS. Actually, I went for a run and Dad stood in line for the tickets.  Not to worry though, he made some friends who helped us narrow down our options. Once we bought the tickets, we had a few hours before the show so Mom met up with us and we headed down to Macy's to check out their special spring flower display.  This year the theme was Brasil.  Check out some of the pictures from the exhibit.

I was ready to pack my bags and head south....

We all really enjoyed Million Dollar Quartet.  It is an off-broadway show about a single jam session at Sun Records in Memphis with legends Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins that is based on an evening that actually did occur back in December 1956.  The music was AMAZING!!!  Very talented musicians!

After the show, we headed down to the 9-11 Memorial.  The memorial was nice, but I wish the museum had been open.  They said it won't open until next year.  That was a bummer, but I know it will be fabulous.  Here are some pics of the memorial...

Survivor Tree at Memorial...

Piece of original towers inside the museum that hasn't opened yet :(

 

Check out that rainbow in the background....

We stopped by Trinity Church before heading back uptown to Junior's for dinner.  The cheesecake there is my absolute FAVORITE!!!

Chowing down....

Excited about the strawberry cheesecake...

BLISS!!!!

On Thursday, Mom and Dad spent some time sightseeing while I was at work.  I met up with them after work for dinner at Room Service before going to see Godspell.  Room Service is one of my favorite Thai restaurants in Hell's Kitchen.  It has unique decor, great service, and yummy pineapple fried rice :)

Spring Rolls that come in an amazing dipping sauce...

delicious Pineapple Fried Rice :)

I don't think any of us were really sure what to expect at Godspell, but none of us came away disappointed.  We LOVED it!!  The show is my new favorite (although Wicked probably still edges it out for #1 ultimately).  I definitely plan to see it again!!  It was more like a sketch comedy and improv show with some amazing musical numbers scattered throughout.  It was very entertaining!!

We ended the night right by trying every teeny tiny flavor cupcake at Baked by Melissa.  My favorites were the rainbow one  (top row, second from left) and the specialty Easter one (the two in the center).

SOOOOOO YUMMY!!!!

And we did ALL of this before the weekend.  I'll keep you in suspense (for now) about what fun activities we packed into those few days.  Believe me, you won't want to miss Part Two.

Andrea :)

Two Wonderful Years

Today marks two wonderful years of dating Christopher. We celebrated this past weekend with a little getaway roughly halfway between New York City and Albany :)  We had an amazing weekend!  Friday afternoon, I took the train up to Poughkeepsie where Chris picked me up and our adventure began!  Much to his surprise, I had a little treat waiting for us when we checked into our very nice room with a little balcony at the Kingston Courtyard Marriott (which I would like to thank for being so kind in helping me coordinate the surprise!!).

So yummy!!  Highly recommend Sheri's Berries...

On Friday night, we went to Skytop Steakhouse up in the mountains for a nice dinner.

Saturday began with a big breakfast before we headed out to hike Kaaterskill Falls.  We initially drove to the top of the trail where we took a short walk to what would eventually be our final destination for the hike from the bottom.

The very tip top of the falls...very tip top!!

 

After a few pictures there, we drove down to the bottom to begin our hike.  Neither of us had ever been on a hike so it was a new adventure for both of us.  We ended up having a lot of fun, but I don't think we realized how intense it would be in certain places.  In the end, we made it to the final viewing spot before turning around and heading back down to the car.  I really enjoyed having Chris lead me through the trail to the beautiful falls.

Bottom of the trail...

We made it!!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Poet's Walk for a little less strenuous tour of nature.  The walk was very relaxing and we enjoyed seeing some really nice scenery.

These benches were scattered throughout the trail where we walked.

 

We made it back to our hotel with some time to spare before getting ready for our evening activities so we took advantage of our balcony and used the time to enjoy some of our anniversary treats and reflect on our past couple of years together.  Some of our favorites from year one were our second date, when Chris made his first trip to KY, when we went to Pittsburgh for me to meet all Chris' friends there, the first time we said "I love you", and our trip to Vermont.  From year two, some of our favorites were all the weddings we attended, our Glen Cove adventure, the Super Bowl, our visit to KY for my 28th birthday, and Caucus weekend.  Since we had three cake pops, we decided to discuss the things we were most looking forward to in the coming year as well.  We are looking forward to meeting my niece, his godson, and a whole slew of other babies that our friends are welcoming into their lives, going to several (pre-determined) Broadway shows in NYC, taking a "real" vacation together, more regular date nights, and, of course and most importantly, Chris finding a job and moving to NYC.  We had a nice time reminiscing about the past and thinking about the future on our balcony for an hour or so before we got ready for the improv show.

View from the balcony...

Zoomed in view from balcony - gorgeous!

We quickly got ready and headed over to an amazing BBQ restaurant before the show.  I should have taken pictures of the portions because they were enormous!  The food was spectacular!  We started with some delicious hush puppies before we dug into our BBQ platters. We decided very easily that we would have to make a return trip to this restaurant at some point.  After dinner, we headed to the Ulster Performing Arts Center for the improv show.  It was FABULOUS!!  It was a two man show with Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie from Who's Line Is It Anyway? fame.  They were great, but what made the show so funny was the audience participation.  Chris and I actually got to participate in the sound effect skit.  They passed around a microphone in our section to do Brad's sound effects.  We both ended up having to make a sound of a drill.  It was really cool to get to be a part of the show!

On Sunday, we spent a little time around the hotel shopping before we headed to Keegan Ales Brewery.  It was an interesting place.  Definitely was a different atmosphere that what we anticipated, but the food was good. 

Next, we headed out to Woodstock, NY to check out some interesting shops.  Chris was even able to find a smooth grooves record for his collection :)

As most of the shops were closing up for the day, we made our way back to Poughkeepsie for one last adventure before dinner and my train ride back to NYC.  We walked across the Hudson on a pedestrian bridge.  It was a nice night for a walk especially when the sun began to set.

After dinner, Chris and I exchanged cards and talked for awhile before time for my train to leave.  I had a really hard time telling him goodbye this time. We had such a great weekend.  We are both ready to be in the same city and be able to spend more time with one another, but we know that in God's timing everything will work out according to His plan.  Chris reminded me that we just have to be patient and continue to pray!  While it has been two of the best years of our lives as Chris very sweetly mentioned in his facebook post this morning, it has been two of the hardest in terms of having to be long distance.  Two years is a long time to be in a long distance relationship, but with a lot of effort and love, we have made it work.  It hasn't always been easy, but it has always been worth it.  I think we are both excited to see what the next year together brings our way. 

Thank you for sharing two wonderful years with me, Christopher!  I love you very much!!

Andrea :)

Race #3

 Name: Scotland Run

Date/Time: Saturday, April 7 at 8am

Location: Central Park

Length: 6.2 miles

Bib Number: 9955

Official Time: 1:19:14

Average Time per Mile: 12:47 

The Scotland Run was challenging, but an overall success.  It also happened to be the day before Easter and my parents were in town for it.  Very exciting stuff!!

Me and my chocolate runner Easter bunny :)

Classic pre-race picture

Due to various issues, I got to the race a little later than usual.  I had very little time to use the restroom and get to my corral before the race started.  I didn't end up making it into my corral so I started near the very back of the pack.  Mom and Dad were near the start and got a couple of great pictures there.

And they're off.....

Just as I began the race...

The race was a full loop in Central Park.  I think I had only ever run that one other time so I wasn't really prepared for what I was about to endure, but I pushed through it anyway.  The race began on the west side of the park so we had several hills at the front of the course.  I'll just say I was pretty exhausted by the time I hit mile 3.  Not good.  I did manage to keep all my miles (except mile 3) under the 13 minute mark which was a success.  Mile 3 was just barely over...maybe 10 seconds.  I was a little disappointed by that, but it made me push harder to make sure my final 3 miles were at a better pace.  The best part of the race was a bagpipe player at every mile marker.  It was such a relief when I could begin to hear the sounds of that bagpipe. I pretty much employed the same strategy I used in Race #2, but this one was a couple miles longer and that ended up making a HUGE difference in how I felt on the course. Mom was able to snap a few pictures as I neared the finish.  I was looking for Mom and Dad, but never did see them.  They saw me though...

My face pretty much sums up how I was feeling after 6.2 miles in the park...

Crossing the finish line....so exhausted!!

Overall, the race was a good one.  I am glad to have another one down, but still have a ways to go to get my pace closer to my goal of 11:30 by the end of the summer.  With some hard work, determination, and will power, I know that I will get there eventually.

Post-race picture...after I finally found Mom and Dad...

Yay for Scotland! :)

I don't run my next one for a couple of weeks.  I will be glad to get a bit of a break.  I will also need to keep focused on my training because it will be a busy, busy, busy few weeks.  Stay tuned...

Andrea :)

Merry Christmas to Me :)

One of the disadvantages of a long distance relationship is (obviously) not being together as much as we would like to be together.  This might help explain why I just got one of my Christmas presents...in April :)  The beginning of the year is particularly busy for both Chris and I with playoffs/Super Bowl for me and the budget for him, but we have finally made it past both obstacles that take us to far off places and keep us at work for such late hours and long weekends.  So, we celebrated with my belated Christmas gift - tickets to Rent!

I had been asking for tickets for quite some time so I was very excited when I received the promise of them at Christmas this past year.  I thought the movie was fantastic, but hadn't ever had the opportunity to see it on stage.  This cast was great!  The show is off-broadway now so the theater was small and cozy which made it even more intense.  Some of the actors had phenomenal voices so that was fantastic.  While the story itself is a bit of a downer (if you don't know the story, check out a synopsis), the show was very well performed and exciting.  Lots of high energy dancing and singing!

After the show, we headed to a nearby spot to catch the second half of the NCAA Championship Game between UK and Kansas.  When we arrived, it looked like the Cats were going to crush the Jayhawks, but at the end things tightened up a bit and it wasn't a total runaway.  Even though I am not a hard core UK fan like basically every other Kentuckian I know (expect my friend Maggie), I was happy to see them win.  My little brother goes to UK so I was happy that he got to have the experience of his college team being a National Champion.  I know the feeling from my freshman year at Georgetown when we won the NAIA National Championship in football.  I was actually at that game...such an exciting event!  Anyway, all that to say...Congrats to the Cats on bringing home that 8th title.

Andrea :)

Race #2

 Name: Colon Cancer Challenge

Date/Time: Sunday, April 1 at 9am

Location: Central Park

Length: 4.0 miles

Bib Number: 7371

Official Time: 48:43

Average Time per Mile: 12:11

pre-race...

I was a little nervous going into this race for a couple of reasons.  The main one was that I had never run a race in Central Park and also hadn't quite gotten around to doing any training there.  However, the conditions were perfect (44 degrees, 3mph winds), the start time was a tad later than most, and I had Chris there for support :)  It turned out to be a GREAT race for me.  I had set a goal to run my miles in under 13 minutes with a finish time in under 52 minutes.  As you can see, I ran my miles in closer to 12 minutes which I was VERY excited about.  I have been training with runs on the West Side Highway pretty consistently since my last race so I know that has been a big help.  I also have changed up my music.  I have been listening to praise and worship music and it really has helped me to not be so hard on myself and to give the race to God.  Believe me, he was definitely my strength on those hills between the 3rd and 4th mile today!!  I also set a timer at every mile marker for 13 minutes. Then I run, run, run as fast as I can to make sure I don't hear that timer go off.  I have been practicing that way as well.  I think it has really helped.  At the 1 mile mark today, I was just under 1 minute from the timer going off.  At mile 2 and 4, I was around 1 and a half minutes from the timer, but on that hilly mile I was just 20 seconds or so from the timer.  Regardless, I did all four miles in under 13 minutes and finished the race well under the 52 minute mark.  Since Race #3 is this coming Saturday and I will be quite busy between now and then, I am hoping to just remain consistent even though it is a 10k next time.  The last thing that I know was a motivator for me was having Chris there for support, encouragement, and to cheer me on.  It was nice to have him there at the start and then to see him right there waiting for me at the finish.  I really appreciated him being there today! He doubled as a great photographer, too :)

Beyond excited about my great run in the park!!

Andrea :)