Trains, Trams, Planes, Airports, Cabs and Motorcycles!

Today, Taylor and I leave for a 2-week trip to Indonesia and Australia! There will be MANY, MANY hours/modes of transportation before we reach our final destination just as you are waking up on Saturday, but it will be worth it in the end!

Here's a brief itinerary for our trip!

We leave JFK airport tonight at 10:40pm and fly through Vancouver, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before arriving in Surabaya Indonesia Saturday night.

Saturday - Wednesday we will be in Indonesia, spending most (if not all) of our time in the village that Taylor lived in when he was on the Fulbright. The school he worked at actually scheduled their graduation ceremony around our travel schedule, which just shows what a big deal it is that we are going to visit. Taylor is a celebrity there :) The photo at the top of this blog is of me drinking the world's most delicious coffee in Taylor's village. That's one stop I will DEFINITELY be making while we're there!

After a few days spend relaxing, eating DELICIOUS but terrible-for-you food, and visiting with Indonesians, we will head back to Kuala Lumpur to catch a flight to Melbourne, Australia. Our good friends Kim and Will live there and we will be spending 9 days in Australia with them.

We arrive in Melbourne Thursday morning and on Friday morning we leave to go to Sydney for the weekend. We don't have any firm plans in Sydney but will definitely be hitting up some popular stops. On Sunday, we're going to an Australian Rules Football Game, which I'm really excited about because I have no idea what that is!

When we get back to Melbourne on Monday, June 7, Taylor and I have rented a car and are going to drive the Great Ocean Road for an entire day. I'll be honest, I don't even know what exactly the Great Ocean Road is, but it sounds promising.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Kim and Will are taking the day off of work and we are all driving to a place called Mornington Peninsula. We will be staying at a quaint little cottage at Somerset View. Mornington Peninsula is a wine region so we will hopefully be drinking lots of wine and having a grand time :)

We don't have any real plans for Thursday and Friday, but will probably just tour around Melbourne before catching our flight back to New York at 11pm Friday night.

We arrive back in New York Saturday afternoon so that gives us a day to recover from our jet lag!

Sampai Nanti Semua! (See you later everyone)!

A personal best in the Brooklyn Half Marathon!

Yesterday was the Brooklyn Half Marathon, part of the Half Marathon Grand Prix that takes place every year in New York. They have one half marathon in each borough. The first one was in January in Manhattan and Taylor and I ran it together. We didn't really train much, so it was actually my slowest half marathon at 2:07:20 (9:43/mile).

Well, the Brooklyn Half was very different! Unfortunately, the race was very popular this year and actually sold out before I registered so I had to buy an entry from another girl who had registered but was unable to run the race. Taylor has a minor injury in his knee so since he would have had to buy a bootleg entry too, he decided not to do the race and instead to be my cheerleader extraordinaire.

The race started at 7am in Prospect Park Brooklyn. We left our apartment at 5:15 in order to make it in time. Boy was it EARLY! We made it just in time, too, since the subways are always screwed up on the weekends and it took quite a while to get there.

When we got there, I had to use the bathroom and there were really long lines, so I had Taylor take my bag to the bag check for me. Unfortunately, I forgot to take out the PowerGels that I usually take about halfway through the race. A slight kink in my plan for this to be my Personal Best half marathon! Of course, I didn't realize this until the race started.

The first 7 miles of the race took place in Prospect Park. We ran 2 loops of the park before heading south through Brooklyn to Coney Island. Taylor planned to see me at miles 1 and 3 on the first loop and then to catch the subway down to meet me at mile 10 and run the last 3 miles with me.

Since I had bought someone else's number, I was placed in a corral based on her pace, which was a little slower than mine. As a result, my first mile was spent basically getting out of the pack of slower runners. I felt good, but a little bit weak as the race started. This is pretty normal for long races, it's kind of like having jitters. Typically they work out by about mile 3, which was the case for me. When I saw Taylor at Mile 1, I asked him to see if he could find a PowerGel for me by asking the medical tent or something. Miles 2 and 3 had me feeling better with each step, so that was nice. When I saw Taylor at Mile 3, he let me know that he hadn't been able to find a PowerGel and gave me a granola bar in case I really needed some sugar. I compensated for the lack of the Gel by drinking the Gatorade Endurance Formula that they had at each water stop, which I typically don't do so I was breaking one of the cardinal rules of endurance races: NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY. Oh well.

Here's a picture of me at mile 3, looking happy but a little delirious:


Mile 4 was pretty flat and was my fastest mile of the race (8:09), but as a result, Mile 5 and 6, which are mostly uphill, were pretty slow and painful. Not to mention I didn't have my cheerleader any more.

We left the park at the end of Mile 6 and began a long straightaway to the finish line in Coney Island. I felt okay for Miles 7 and 8, but around Mile 9 I started to feel pretty fatigued from the lack of Gel and my pace, which was a lot faster than I'm used to! I took a bite of the granola bar at the Mile 9 water stop and it helped a little bit. But the thought of being joined by Taylor at Mile 10 was definitely the most helpful :)

I got to Mile 10 and Taylor was waiting. He updated me that I had 29 minutes to run 3.1 miles if I wanted to beat my Personal Best time. My best before this was a few years ago and my time was 1:55:48. I had a loose goal of 1:55:00 or better for this race. News that I was on track definitely helped but I of course did the inevitable math and figured that I could run almost 10 minute miles and still make it, which is not a very good idea :)

Taylor had been kind enough to buy me a little bag of energy shots on his way to meet me at Mile 10. They were basically the consistency of gummy bears and tasted okay at first. I took them with some water at the water stop. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't until about 10 seconds later that the after taste kicked in and it was GROSS. So now I'm running my 11th mile with disgusting energy shot taste in my mouth. It's the thought that counts right? :)

Taylor was a great running coach. He told me that I was doing well and looked strong and also kept encouraging me to keep my pace up to break my best time. He'd say things like. "pay attention to your form," "stay focused you're doing great" or my personal favorite, "we're going to kick it up for the last mile." He was so chipper I wanted to smack him :)

But I was able to maintain a decent pace and speed up a little each of the last three miles, so that was good. After Taylor had run with me for 2 miles, we made a right turn to run the last mile along the Coney Island boardwalk. It was a beautiful day, there were lots of people cheering, and I felt really good for the last mile, despite my VERY tired legs. They aren't used to going so fast for 13 miles.

Our last mile was pretty fast (8:30) and we pushed it out to complete the 13.1 mile race much faster than I thought possible in 1:52:47, a full 3 minutes faster than my fastest half to date! The average pace per mile was 8:36. I'm very proud of this time and was VERY happy to be done. Here's a char of how my pace per mile changed throughout the race:

DISGUSTING SIDE NOTE: The girl right in front of me as we were crossing the finish line IMMEDIATELY started throwing up as she crossed the finish line. It was gross, but I obviously felt bad for her. I'm also impressed that she was able to hold it in until she crossed the finish line. That's dedication. But yes, distance running is gross for this and so many other reasons.

Taylor and I spent a little while stretching, changing clothes and enjoying the breeze on Coney Island before heading home. Here are some photos:

Taylor and I after the race
The Ferris Wheel and Cyclone in the background

The Boardwalk and unknown Parachute-like contraption

We got the subway home which seemed to take forever, especially when I was started to doze off and heard the distinct sound of nails being clipped and looked up to see this:
SERIOUSLY, who clips their nails on the subway?! GROSS!

All-in-all a very good day and I'm very proud. A special thanks to Kim B. for helping me get in the race and Taylor for being the best cheerleader/coach/husband/paparazzi I could ask for!

5 years ago today...

I graduated from Vanderbilt University. I have SO many fond memories of my time at Vanderbilt that I literally tear up when I think about it. I am so thankful for all the great friends I made at Vanderbilt, each and every one of which I cherish to this day, even if we don't keep in touch like I wish we did!

Sadly, facebook became the life-documenting powerhouse that it is during my last year of college and as a result I don't have very many photos from those fantastic years on facebook. Also, because of the aforementioned 5 years that have elapsed, my computer from college along with many of the photos I had is long gone.

Here are the few I was able to grab off of facebook, mostly group shots. I'll try to put them in chronological order.




RIP Thomas

MISS YOU ALL!

The Lucyk's (and one Smith) are so pretty!

Here are some shots from a family photo shoot last year that I thought I would share. Aren't we the cutest family!?

Spring has sprung!

So I'm sure you've noticed that my blog has been a little boring lately. Or perhaps in light of that boring-ness, no one is left reading this! Regardless, I'm going to soldier on and, for once, actually have something interesting to say :)

The weather this spring has been a little touch-and-go. We had two days a few weeks ago that were about 90 degrees, but then again, March 2010 was the rainiest month in like 50 years in the New York City area. April has been a little less rainy, but it's been yo-yo-ing between highs in the 50s and the 70s all month. Case in point, yesterday was about 70 degrees and sunny and today's high is 52 and it's raining.

Anyway, since yesterday was a beautiful day, Taylor and I took full advantage. It also happened to be Taylor and I's 6-month anniversary of being married (crazy!). So, we celebrated with a jam-packed and very New York City day :) I figured some of you might find it interesting, so here goes :)

Our day started with a 7-mile run in central park. It was an absolutely beautiful morning for a run. Cool and sunny, it seemed like everyone was running in the park. We even took a little detour to the Conservatory Gardens, where we got married 6 months ago. This picture is from Google, but it's a pretty accurate depiction of the weather and flowers in the garden. Quite an improvement from the weather on our wedding day!


Unfortunately, Taylor's IT band is really messed up and his knee has been hurting really bad, so our run was a little painful for him and he was limping pretty much all day.

After our run, we headed out to Citi Field to catch a Mets game with a few friends. The Mets were playing the Braves and some of our friends from Vanderbilt who are also from Atlanta wanted to go cheer on the braves so we tagged along. It was a lot of fun, the weather was great (albeit a little cold) and the Mets won, which made Taylor happy (I didn't really care).

We headed home, but not for long because we had plans for the evening to celebrate our anniversary!

We started out by going to dinner at a really interesting place called Burger Joint. It is inside the Parker Meridien hotel, which is a fancy hotel in Midtown. Here's a photo of the lobby:
That curtain is the divider between the stuffy fancy hotel lobby and the VERY different character of Burger Joint. Those people are lined up waiting to walk into another world. Inside, Burger Joint looks like a run-down, hole-in-the wall burger place that you might find in a decrepit downtown area of a side street in Detroit. All of the signs (including the menu and a sign advertising their wine as "straight out of the box") are hand-written with magic markers, the food is greasy, and the service is purposely impatient, bordering on mean. Here's a photo of the interior:

This must have been taken when the place was empty because when we were there it was much messier and crowded, but it was still fun. The only thing about the place that reminded you that you were in New York City was the guy sitting in the corner using his iPad.

After dinner, Taylor took me to the Plaza Hotel to have a a drink at the legendary Oak Bar. Some of you may know that I have a rather aggressive love for fancy hotels in spite of my unwillingness to ever actually stay at them :) I just love going in, looking around, buying an overpriced drink, and occasionally taking illicit advantage of pool, sauna or workout facilities :).

When we got to the bar, the sign told us that we must wait to be seated and that "proper attire is required." Luckily, our outfits passed the bouncer's sniff test and we were escorted to a very comfortable corner table and presented with the menu for $19 cocktails. After consulting our waiter, I settled on the "Grumpy Garcia" (am I the only one that feels uncomfortable with drinks that contain the word "Garcia"?), which is their "twisted take on the margarita" and contained pineapple and jalapeno infused vodka with pomegranate. They weren't kidding when they said it was spicy, but it was good. I have to say, though, the most surprising moment of that cocktail came when I decided it would be a good idea to eat the entire chunk of pineapple contained therein in one bite. You know how the fruit in sangria is always the most alcoholic part. Well, this chunk of pineapple tasted like it had been soaking in jalapeno infused vodka for about a week, so it was basically like taking a shot! Whew!

Taylor took our waiter's recommendation and ordered a cucumber-basil drink that made us both wonder if the waiter was questioning Taylor's sexuality...But he said it was good :)

After drinks, we headed downtown for what was supposed to be our second covert location of the evening (the first being Burger Joint, the Oak Bar is by no means covert, and that is by design). The place we were going is called "PDT" which stands for "Please Don't Tell." It's supposedly a very intriguing speakeasy and the door to this place is through a telephone booth inside of an unassuming hot dog shop. Here's the entrance to the shop:
And here's the tiny door to the phone booth which, on the other side, houses PDT.


Well, evidently some folks DT (DID TELL) because this place is impossible to get in to. We were running a little late for our reservation and they gave our table away! Not to mention as Taylor and I were standing outside waiting for our friends to arrive, EVERYONE who walked by was telling their friends about PDT. Clearly, this is no longer a "best kept secret."

Even so, we ended up going to another bar and having a great time playing darts and having a few drinks. All and all, a great day and night in New York City :)

We're going to Indonesia and Australia in 6 weeks!

Time has flown by and here we are at tax day, which means we are halfway through April. Wow! Well, I am very excited today because Taylor and I leave for Indonesia and Australia exactly 6 weeks from today!!!

Just in the past few days, we have really started to plan our trip and it is going to be so fun! I tell you what, our honeymoon seems like a million years ago, and I am really itching for some time on away. We'll be stopping in Indonesia for 4 days to visit the village Taylor lived in when he was there.

There's this GORGEOUS little hotel near Taylor's village. The rooms are super cute, they have a fantastic pool overlooking the rice fields and they have a delicious restaurant. We'll stay there any head to Taylor's village each day to visit with the folks there. I am so excited! We'll also spend one night in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, at the Novotel. Probably one of my favorite hotels in the world, it has a beautiful pool and (again) delicious breakfast.

Also, in case you've ever wondered, the photo of me at the top of my blog was actually taken in Taylor's village. There's a woman there who runs a tiny cafe out of her home. When I say cafe, I really mean that she has a bench outside and sells coffee and rice that she cooks in her kitchen. But don't let the imagery fool you, she makes the most delicious coffee I have ever had, for just $.05 a cup! I can't wait to get back there and drink some!

After a few days in Indonesia we're heading to Melbourne! Our friends Kim and Will are expats in Melbourne and have concocted a fantastic plan that allows us to see Melbourne, Sydney, the Great Ocean Road, Philips Island (where there are evidently penguins in their natural habitat), Mornington Peninsula wine region and even an Aussie Rules "football" game! We are so pumped and the countdown begins today at 42....May 27th cannot come soon enough!

I'm on a diet!

As you read this, I am dreaming of cupcakes, coffee, and chips and guacamole. Because I can't eat any of those things (well, actually I can eat the guacamole but not the chips). That's because I am currently in the thick of Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. The diet sounds significantly more fun than it is when they describe it on their web site:

Phase 1, the shortest Phase, lasts for just two weeks and is designed to eliminate cravings for sugar and refined starches - and to jump-start your weight loss. The purpose of Phase 1 is to stabilize blood sugar (which minimizes cravings), making it ideal for people who are prediabetic or diabetic, as well as for those who need to lose a lot of weight.

The focus of this two-week period is on eating plenty of nutrient-dense, fiber-rich (and guaranteed delicious!) foods that satisfy your appetite. Your meals include lean protein, such as fish and other seafood; skinless white-meat poultry, and lean cuts of beef (vegetarians can enjoy meat substitutes, tofu, and beans); high-fiber veggies; reduced-fat cheeses; eggs; low-fat dairy; and healthy, unsaturated fats, such as those found in avocados, nuts and seeds, and extra-virgin olive and canola oils.

To me, it means I have to eat eggs for breakfast, a cheese stick or peppers and hummus for lunch, and another salad or straight-up meat and veggies for dinner. I have not been enjoying the diet, but I have enjoyed the two best outcomes it provides:

1. Getting rid of sugar cravings! My sweet tooth was out of control until 5 days ago, but I finally feel like I'm getting it under control. That's the irony of this diet. It simultaneously, torturously deprives you of something you love (cupcakes) and helps you learn to live without it. Magic!
2. Weight Loss. I have lost 6.2 pounds since I first weighed myself Monday morning. I have weighed myself at the same time and under the same circumstances every day. I think they actually say this is a no-no, but I am truly enjoying seeing the outcome of all this deprivation on a daily basis. In fact, this diet is supposed to last until Sunday the 18th, but Taylor said that I could stop it as soon as I reach my goal weight, even more incentive!

NOTE: what I mean by "Taylor said" is not that he is the one forcing me to be on the diet, but rather when he sees me depriving myself he feels bad and tries to tell me I can stop anytime but I won't let him, so we compromised and he said that I should stop whenever I get to my goal (he loves me either way). Here goes nothing!

That means I only have 6.4 lbs left! Wish me luck!

Wow, I cannot believe that in 3 days it will be April. The year is 25% over. Time sure flies, doesn't it?

I'm pretty excited to finally be making our first trip back to Ohio this weekend! I haven't seen the family in 2010 and with Garret's near-death-experience last week and the Easter holiday, now seems like a good time to visit the homeland. We've got lots of plans, hopefully we'll have time for everything!

On Friday I'm getting my hair cut by my sister Taryn who is a full-fledged adult these days with a job at a salon in Perrysburg where, ironically, I worked as my first job in high school. I was a towel girl, though, low woman on the totem pole and she's a real, live hair stylist. Good work T! I'm excited! After my haircut I think we'll head to lunch in beautiful downtown Perrysburg. I'll also probably get my wedding rings cleaned since it's been a few months (oops!). Then it's back to my mom's hair salon for a cut for Taylor and a color for me. Any suggestions on color??

Friday afternoon we'll probably hit up Mr. Freeze (duh) to hold us over until dinner at Jed's for some FREAKBALLS (if you don't know what those are, you are missing out!) followed by Clash of the Titans. Sounds like fun!

Then Saturday we're having a family get-together for Easter. Since Taylor and I have to fly out shortly after church on the actual day of Easter, we're celebrating a day early. I'm sure we'll also end up playing some card or board games and taking another trip to Mr. Freeze too :) Sidenote: as I was writing this, I became a fan of Mr. Freeze on facebook, you should too!

So that's what we have on the docket. Next weekend is followed by 4 consecutive weekends in the city with no real plans. Taylor and I will be training for our half marathon in May in hopes of getting a personal best time for me (faster than 1:55:48).

Praise God!

Yesterday, my brother, Garett, was in a car accident. Miraculously, he crawled out of the car without a scratch, but I'm still having trouble believing it based on these pictures:




That's Garett in the red, acting like it's just another day :)
Brother, I think God's got a plan for you!

My husband the fruit vendor

So, I know I always talk about me, me, me, so I thought some of you might appreciate a post about my husband.

If you know me, I'm sure you're aware that Taylor is a very nice person. Very. The following story, then, comes as no surprise :)

So today Taylor was helping his boss with some really random task of moving a couch (around Manhattan, beats me...). So he went and got the car and was idling outside of his office waiting for his co-worker when a man operating a fruit stand on the sidewalk said that he had to go to the bathroom in Penn Station and asked Taylor to watch his fruit stand for him.

Of course while he was gone, two customers came to the stand. Taylor tried to explain that the real "fruit stand guy" would be back soon, but the prices were listed on the stand (see photo), so he obliged to sell one guy bought 2 apples for $1 and a lady a pound of grapes for $2. Evidently, the real fruit stand guy was very happy with Taylor's fruit sales skills and offered that he could take anything he wanted from the stand (I vote for avocados!), but instead, Taylor bartered and asked him to return the favor by guarding the car from the parking police while they unloaded the sofa. And there you have it, Karma, NYC style.