Summer is Here... And Flying By.

I feel like this summer has already come and gone even though it is only mid-July. Things have gotten so busy with work, traveling to Portland to see Mandy, birthdays and all the things summer has brought me.

Last time I wrote was right before my birthday! I feel that being 26 is the same as being 25 but you never know what this year will throw at me. I had a wonderful time celebrating with all my friends from all the different facets of my life, thanks to all of you for making me feel happy and blessed on my birthday. Check out a few shots below with my roommate, friends from Zog and NYCSSC.

After my biology final was over, I was thrilled to be spending the weekend in Portland, Oregon with my best friend Mandy. We spent the first day checking out McMenamins Edgefield (a cute historical landmark and surrounding bars, winery, etc.), Multnomah Falls and ending the afternoon at Full Sail Brewing Company in Hood River. It was such a blast to relax, see the gorgeous waterfall, and take a tour of the brewery. Saturday we went local and shopped, ate, got our nails done and met up with her dad and step mom for dinner before heading to downtown Portland for a night out. Downtown Portland was tiny but quite happening. I had a fun making new friends and celebrating the brony's. Such a fun weekend even with the horrible plane delay home. Happy belated birthday to me!

With Mandy on the way to Portland (L); beautiful Hood River (R)

Since coming back from Oregon things have been super busy between work and catching up on my social life. My favorite thing coming up for the end of June was the Zac Brown Band concert. It was at Forest Hills Stadium which is an old tennis stadium that has been recently transformed to hold outdoor events. Kevin, Rebekah, Val and Val's brother joined in on what was the best concert I have been to ever. ZBB had no openers and completely made the show by themselves. Who wouldn't like cold beer, country music and a sunny afternoon to take in the first day of summer?

Kevin, Val's brother Matt, Val, Rebekah and I during the concert.

Fourth of July weekend was spent celebrating America at Elina's apartment complex playing games, drinking beer and enjoying what turned out to be a rain free night. It was such a blast to catch up with everyone and see part of the fireworks.

All of us celebrating at Elina's

The rest of the weekend was celebrating Beth's birthday at the Brooklyn Cyclones game and adventuring to the end of Long Island for the first time... yes the very end of Long Island. Janssen, Kara and Tiffany joined in on the trip with me and we had a blast, including a side trip to Target on the way home of course. Check out photos below!

Celebrating Beth's birthday at the Brooklyn Cyclones game

Me at Montauk Point Lighthouse, the end of Long Island's south fork

It's already half way through July and I can't tell you whats coming up next besides work so keep an eye out for an update!

Where did May go? Why hello June!

I can't believe it is already June! Clearly time has slipping away, proof in fact that I started this post 4 days ago and now just finishing it.. But anyways on to better topics, SUMMER!

May seem to fly by between school, work, friends and adventures around New York. My friend Nicki and I told me about the Holi Hai festival held every year in New York a bit after the actual festival in India. It was such a nice day that we were able to take advantage to the full extent of celebrating by listening to music and watching the awesome cultural dance troop.

Happy Holi Hai

I was fortunate enough to celebrate Rebekah's birthday on Cinco de Mayo at Salvation Taco's roof top along with friends. That same week I was thrilled to meet up with Cip, a good friend from college who was in town with his boyfriend visiting for the weekend. It had been 5+ years but catching up felt like time had stood still. So good to see you Cip!

Catching up with Cip

Mid-May flew by and I was thrilled to make it to the beach Memorial Day weekend, it was a much needed day at Brighton Beach. I was looking forward to the last weekend of May the most as it included a day spent driving around in Central New Jersey (mall stop included) and a mini-brunch reunion of sorts with all my friends I met in trivia. We all hadn't been in the same room since Super Bowl, some of us even longer. It was a fun filled sunny day catching up, laughing and just relaxing. Thanks to everyone who made it, we need to do it again soon! 

Just two of the friends at brunch

And now it's June...

Cruissseee....

Top of the cruise ship overlooking Long Beach

I was fortunate enough to be able to go home for a week to visit family for Easter as well as squeeze in a short 3 night cruise to Ensenada. I was excited to a) go on another cruise, with family no less! and b) to visit Mexico for the first time. After less than 48 hours of landing, we were on our way to Long Beach to depart. I was eager to relax, enjoy the sunny weather and have a blast on the Carnival Imagination.

Although the weather was gorgeous on Friday, our day at sea, it wasn't warm enough to spend the day on the deck reading and sunbathing like I originally hoped. So instead, it was spent playing tons of trivia and games offered by the cruise. We even managed to win a ship-on-a-stick!

Our day in Ensenda was spent taking a bus tour of the city and a stop at one of the three only natural blow holes in the world. It was awesome to see despite it being the middle of spring break as well. After checking out the blow hole we wandered our way back through the shops and free samples to the bus ride back. Props to Juan our tour bus guide! He was very funny, interactive and informative.

Things have been a whirlwind since I have returned, and I can't believe it is already May! Here's to warmer weather, summer days and lots of things to do in NYC.

Spring Has Sprung!

Happy April and happy Spring! I can't believe another spring is already upon me in New York. The first week of April seems to have been the most exhausting week I've had this year. Between a new boss starting, school and studying, the week didn't seem to end. Now that the weekend is here, I'm relaxing and ready to embrace all that spring and the rest of the year will bring me.

Last weekend my friend Nicki and I participated in a scavenger hunt (including food stops) in Greenwich Village. My mom had bought it as a Christmas present for me and I was able to finally sign up for one. It was a blast learning facts about the area and munching our way around despite it raining most of the time. We even managed to win thanks to some extra points for grabbing food along the way with a peanut butter & neutella sandwich at Peanut Butter & Co., a cake pop at Molly's Cupcakes, a green tea macaroon at Bisous Ciao, cheese samples at Murray's, delicious rice balls at Faicco's, and teas at David's tea. Not only did we received $20 for another hunt for winning, everyone got a free hunt for you and a friend for trekking it out in the rain. Let's see which one I should do next!

I'm so excited for next week as  I will be on my way back to California!! I decided with everything going on, I needed a little vacation and going to see family would be great. We also are now going on a three night cruise with all my family on my dad's side to Ensenada and back. Some relaxation and fun in the sun is just what I need these days. Also, which I am now even more excited about, I will be able to now meet my best friend's daughter, Liliana who was born yesterday! Stay tuned for more :)

Happy Spring

I don't know about many of you, but I am so glad Spring is finally here although the weather in New York may not make it believable just yet. While March started off on a bit of a slow note, it definitely has gone by rather fast the past week.

Smiles for a successful day

I went snowboarding again, this time time with two newbies: my friend Elina and her friend Jay who I had met once before. I was on the fence about taking the lessons that was offered through our Living Social deal and didn't make the last minute decision to take the lessons until we got to the mountain. Looking back, I am so glad I took the lessons as the mountain was 3x's as empty as when I had gone two weeks prior. With that being said, the lessons were much more hands on/small groups and I definitely relearned a few of the basics skills I had been lacking on. After a wonderful day at the mountain, I was excited to meet up with Brittany, my sorority sister in town for the weekend.

Ride home.. we don't look too beat up

St. Patrick's Day weekend turn out to be a blast this year. Started the day with brunch with Zog kickball friends at Agave and then proceeded to make our way back uptown to meet up with other kickball friends and friends of friends. 5 bars and countless laughs, smiles and pictures later I was beat but happy. Here's to next year and possibly making it out to watch the parade since I was too cold this year.

Brunch crew

March ends with brunches, school, dinners to catch up with friends, movie night, a new boss starting and a paint night! I'm also looking forward to April as I get to make it home for Easter, see family, enjoy the warmth and hopefully meet baby Liliana!

St Patrick's Day celebrations at Perfect Pint

Stay tuned!

A Little Late, 2013 Running Recap

I realized the other day that I never did a running recap for the New Years Resolution I completed for 2013. I completed 12 races and 1 volunteering race to make 13 for 2013. What can I say, it was a great challenge that I feel proud to have accomplished it. After the year was completed, I can only say I am feeling happier, healthier and definitely stronger than where I started in January 2013.

Last race of 2013

Best atmosphere: Dirty Girl Mud Run by far! Between running with 3 of my closest friends, raising money for breast cancer, getting down and dirty while working out and running in the rain, this was such a blast.

Best personal time: Roosevelt Island Spring Fling ended up being my PR for the year. I think besides the fact it was the flattest course I ran, weather and running solo did wonders for me. I wasn't side tracked mentally with thoughts of keeping up with people I knew running.

Most organized race: I am not so sure on this as each race had different aspects that were better than others. NYRR races are definitely organized when it comes to corrals, water stations, mile makers and directions throughout the course. But I would say that the race with the best race check in was the Rock 'n' Roll 10k.

Best post-race: Hmm... I would say the Color Run still beats every other race I've done. Having a blast dancing amongst everyone else covered in color, throwing color into the crowd and the giveaways volunteers threw into the crowd sealed the spot for best post-race.

Best goodie bag / post race offerings: This is a tie between the hot chocolate bowls/treats in Atlanta, the beer options at Dirty Girl Mud Run and the Rock 'n' Roll 10k in Prospect Park. Chocolate vs beer? Tough choice, but I think beer wins.

Favorite shirt / goodie bag: Favorite shirt is the NY Giants Run of Champions shirt.. although wasn't the best fit it was not just a plain cotton t-shirt.

Least favorite exciting race: Least exciting race was the Running Festival of Lights race in Bay Ridge. Had it not been 9 degrees and extremely windy, I would have been much more thrilled to running along the gorgeous water front. I think my mind and body was also not prepared for this race as much as it should have.

All 12 races I ran!

So by the numbers:
Number of races: 12 ran, 1 volunteered
Number of miles ran: 42.2 miles
Number of states ran in: 4! Georgia, New York, New Jersey, California
Places I ran: parks, a downtown of a city, an island, a football stadium, a baseball stadium, an air field, a racetrack, along a waterfront, a college, a dirt horse trail and local neighborhoods.
Number of boroughs completed a race in: 2 (sadly didn't even run a race in my current borough!)
Number of 5k's: 9
Number of other races: 3! two 4-milers and one 10k
Number of free beers: 2
Number of races ran alone: 1
Number of races ran with my sister: 2!
Number of races involving mud, color powder, obstacles, etc.: 3
Number of metals received: 2 

So now what? Maybe a half marathon? Who knows but keep an eye out or come join me for a run! 

Dear Monday

Dear (sunny) Monday, I'm so happy you're sunny but I wish the weekend could have lasted just a little bit longer.

Dear Hunter Mountain, you were a BLAST to snowboard on this past weekend. It was a great first time going snowboarding on the East Coast and I look forward to see you again in two weeks with Elina.

Dear restaurant week, had no plans for you before it started and now I have 2 this week! Excited to check out Fig & Olive and Abboccato.

Dear family, I miss you bunches, looks like you guys had a blast whale watching this weekend. Hope to see you all soon!

Dear body, I'm sorry I beat you up snowboarding this weekend, but we've got all week to recover.

Dear school, I'm glad the 6 week winter session is over, that did me over physically - I'm beat!

Dear Valentine's Day, you weren't as lonely as I thought it would be. I got to celebrate with my awesome single friends.

Dear Portland, I can't wait to visit you again soon after all these years. Can't wait to see my best friend Mandy.

Dear San Francisco/Sacramento, I plan to visit again in May and I can't wait! Need to decide if I should visit Cinco de Mayo weekend again or Bay to Breakers.

Dear blog, now that school is over I promise to get back to writing.

Dear running, see above. I miss being more active.

2014 is Here with a Bang

It's been awhile since I have written last for many reasons, the largest ones being work and going to night school 5 days a week (yikes!). Now that this winter session is coming to an end I am excited to only be going to class 2 days a week like I did in the fall. This will give me some of my nights back to hang with friends, relax and plan activities I have been talking about doing. On my list so far: another paint night, a night at a piano bar, go to spin, yoga or Pilates workout classes, get back to the gym on a more regular basis and find the time to decorate my apartment more. Any other ideas? Throw them at me.

Balls & Dolls

 Although I've been busy with work and school, I've managed to play in a bowling league, catch up with friends who I haven't seen in ages, go to birthday parties, see Avenue Q for the first time, spend time in Astoria with my roommate and friends who live there, win $50 at Super Bowl, spend a weekend with my cousin and just enjoy the winter while it's here. Check out some snapshots!

My roommate Raquel & I at Astoria Brewhouse

I'm so ready for Spring to be here although not just yet as I will finally be going snowboarding for the 1st (and 2nd) time here on the East Coast starting next weekend and two weeks after that. Let's hope I can remember everything! Stayed tuned for another update when school has slowed down :)

New Years Resolutions

Looking back on my New Years resolutions for 2013  I would say I completed most of them fairly well.
Personally:

• Run additional 5K's, ideally I would like to run one a month for the year. This was definitely accomplished. 42+ miles later, I feel happier, healthier, stronger and more determined to start what I accomplish. Who knows what 2014 will bring for me in terms of running but can't wait to get started. 
• Pay off personal credit card debt. This was an up and down roller coaster this year especially with starting school in September. With much determination I am debt free starting 2014 off right.
• Double my savings - once credit card debt is paid off and weddings are booked I hope to be adding more to my savings, something that is always on the list. This wasn't accomplished but I did manage to add to my savings account this year and plan to continue to do so more this year.
• Volunteer - I have tried this many ways so this year I am trying something different. I managed to volunteer sporatically throughout the year between work and volunteering at the Brooklyn Marathon. I plan to continue this in 2014. 
• Cook more meals at home/for friends - I feel like I don't do this enough so here's to dinner parties to come! Well I definitely cooked more at home this year due to school and with everything else going on I wasn't able to cook for friends like I wanted. Here's to making that happen this year.

Work:

• Maintain a strong work ethic and dedication to my position and the department. I would say I definitely accomplished this year as I always put hard work and determination into my job and all that it entails.
• Hopefully get promoted to a salaried position within the company. This didn't happen this year due to changes in management so this is definitely a goal for 2014.
• Go back to school and get a degree that will further my opportunities in Environmental, Health and Safety. I started school again in September and if everything works out like I have planned I will hold a certificate in my hands June 2015.

Now what to do for 2014? Keep an eye out!

Goodbye 2013

I can't believe another year has already come to a close. It feels like just yesterday that December started and I was looking forward to heading home for the holidays. Between Santa Con, birthdays, celebrating the holidays at work and a fun ugly holiday sweater party at my friend Greg's house, I stumbled upon the last day of work.

Finally I made it to sunny California to spend the holidays at home with family and to catch up with friends I haven't seen in over a year. I lucked out and had goregous 70-80 degree weather all week, got to spend time in Big Bear as well as run many errands I needed to finish before year's end. Check out some photos!

I also finally got to spend some time with my best friend Raquel who is 5 months pregnant! It's crazy to think last time I saw her she had just gotten married and had moved. Time flies when you are away so long. But she is glowing and excited for Liliana to make her way into this world. I can't wait to meet baby Borrayo!

And with that, December 2013 is almost over. Here's to 2014 and all that is in store for me personally, professionally and emotionally.

Where Has the Time Gone?

I can't believe it is already the end of November and another Thanksgiving is shortly upon me. This time last year we were picking up the pieces from Hurricane Sandy, my cousin got married and I was seeing the Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time live.

Since I last posted, my days have been filled with school, birthdays, cornhole league, another race, work and various other random days that fill my days.

My November race was the Running Festival of Lights/ Chanukkah Gelt 5K in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. It was a cold and windy morning to begin with, but running along the water multiplied that by 5. As I stood there with Josh and Michelle, I began to really contemplate my insanity for doing this race. But as I reminded myself I committed to this New Years resolution of a completing a race a month and was determined to finish whether I ended up running it or not. Overall, I managed to run it at a slower pace due to asthma kicking in but managed to still complete the run under 40 minutes with a gorgeous view of the Verazzano Bridge.

Cornhole was blast playing with Janssen, Nicki and my friend Stan from Zog kickball. Even with it being a small division, we managed to have fun, make friends and win bar champs!

Can't believe it's December in two days, with Thanksgiving being so late this year everything seems to be going by a lot faster. With the last month of the year upon me, I can't believe what 2013 has brought me. Stay tuned for my last race for 2013, the Placerita Canyon Holiday 5K at the Master's College in Santa Clarita California. I am so happy to be ending my new years resolution how I started it, by running a race with my sister.

October-ness

So as I had mentioned previously, I decided to run the Rock 'n' Roll Prospect Park 10K as my race for October. Between making sure my new roommate moved in succesfully, setting up new bills and my best friend Mandy coming to visit, I felt like I didn't have a ton of time to run before the race.

She's here!

Mandy came to visit for 5 days between work and my new roommate moving in. It was a crazy week leading up to her visit but I was so excited to see her here in NYC. We filled her visit here with eating, a beer garden visit, Oktoberfest at Bear Mountatin (Circle Line cruise included!), kickball, cheering on the 49ers and her birthday celebration. Hope you had a blast Mandy!

Oktoberfest with Mandy, Kevin and Janssen

After Mandy left it felt like the week flew by and before I knew it, it was race day! With a early wake up call to make the hour trek to Prospect Park, the nerves didn't set in until my bag was checked and Michelle, Janssen and I headed to our corrals. As I told them, "I'll meet you at the end, I want to finish standing strong and to run continously.. and if I make it under an hour and a half I'll be happy too." 

Pre-race... when the nerves set in.

And we were off! Having never run Prospect Park before, Janssen told me there would be some slight hills that would be tough without having run them before. I felt good and knew that possibly I would see Michelle's husband Josh sometime after the 5K mark. Nearing the 5K mark I didn't see Josh but realized he'd probably gone ahead to cheer her on. As the first exhaustion wave set in I keep reminding myself that I have gotten farther than many people who've not gotten up off the couch and run. With that and the determination to run straight through I forged ahead. As I neared the 6 mile marker I started see people who had finished the race walk by with their medals and smiles on their faces... with that I knew I had to finish strong. AND I DID :) 1 hour and 27mins later, I completed my first (and probably last) 10K!

I had to get a photo with the back drop and my medal.

San Francisco

This past weekend I went to San Francisco for Megan & Gordon's wedding at the Piedmont Community Center near Oakland. I was so thrilled to be invited for such a special event, thanks Megan! After landing, spending time with sorority sisters and picking up the wedding present, I was ready for Saturday nights festivities. It was such a blast to spend it with sorority sisters who I have seen recently and those I haven't (good to see you Megan Weber!). Here's a few highlights!

After coming back from San Francisco it was already October, crazy how time is flying this year. This week itself has been crazy with cleaning my apartment so my new roommate could move in and for when Mandy comes tonight. I'm so excited to see her and catch up on life. Also excited for the Oktoberfest event on Saturday taking the Cicle Line up the Hudson to Bear Mountain Park and all the other things we plan to do while she is here. Lets hope I can squeeze in more times to run before the 10k next Saturday!

Running Update

“The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” - John Bingham

With some much needed words of encouragement from friends who are running the Rock 'n' Roll New York 10k in Prospect Park, Brooklyn on October 12th. Eeek! I decided to do this run as part of my goal to run a race every month this year. As the date gets closer and closer I am going to do my best with the time I have to run/prepare for this as much as I can. I just started school this week, two nights at week and therefore cuts down the time I have to run. 

Race route

Goal: To complete this run; not for time but just to say I finished. Finished with that sense of accomplishment (and not to mention a shiny medal). When I completed the registration form I put 1 hour 30 minutes as a rough estimate of when I think I would finish based upon previous 5k times. We will see how this goes, wish me luck!

Update: I plan to now do 13 races for 2013 but instead of running #13 I plan to volunteer for a race to give back. Race #10 is the 10k in Prospect park, race #11 will most likely be the race I volunteer for (eyeing either the Brooklyn Marathon or the Festival of Lights 5k/10k in Bay Ridge), and race #12 is the Flushing Meadows 5k the weekend before Thanksgiving. Race #13 is hopefully going to be a race with my sister while I am home for Christmas since I thought it would be awesome to start and end the year by running a race with my sister. We will see how things go!

1 Year Later... The Color Run

Feel good. Be happy. Run faster.

1 year later and I'm back at Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn with my friend Kerri ready to run The Color Run. After an early morning rise to meet Kerri at Atlantic Terminal to be at Brooklyn College by 7:30am to catch the shuttle to the complex. When we arrived at the complex I was surprised yet happy to see a few changes from the previous year. 1) They moved the stage to the back of the area reserved for the run which helped stream line the flow of things. 2) That being said, the bag check area was moved towards the exit of the area and was a definite upgrade. They had scanned bar coded tags for each bag and required the runner to give a phone number to match with the photo they also took for record keeping. 3) There were more vendors this year (one of my favorite - Kind Bars). Two negatives I would say about this year: 1) They didn't have lawn blowers to blow off any excess color dust. This helped tremendously the previous year and 2) Occasionally they squirted color water into the post-race color throwing party crowd. Great idea for it being warm but didn't exactly dry quickly before getting back onto the shuttle.

Race #9 for the year :)

As for the race itself, it was the same layout as the previous year although they shifted the start and finish lines so you ended up running through the finish line right into the festival area. Kerri and I made a plan to try to run the race straight through as we didn't feel the need to stop and take pictures after each color zone since we had done it before. The color zones were better equipped this year with more volunteers, music at each zone and huge arches designating the color. 

With a happy feeling inside, Kerri and I finished the race straight through with no stops for pictures or anything and I felt GREAT. After a couple pictures at the finish line, we made our way to check out the post-race festival. There was coconut water (found out I'm not a fan), Kind Bars (yum!), Color Run gear and this year even food and beer for sale. We managed to gather at the stage for a color toss with the free packets of color we received with our registration and managed to fit with Kerri's waist pack. Dancing, color throwing, and singing among the fellow runners, we had a blast for a couple hours until we were too exhausted and hungry to enjoy anymore. Disappointed we didn't see the lawn blowers out, we dusted off as much color as we could, grabbed our bags to head home.

Goodbye August, Hello September

I can't believe summer is basically over, August went by in the blink of an eye. Starting off the month on a fun note with the mud run, I was excited for the rest of the month's activities I had planned. Made it to a few baseball games, went white water rafting, checked out the MTA Museum in Brooklyn, went to the NY Cosmos game, tons of birthday celebrations and brunches. Here is a few snapshots that was August.
 

Suprise birthday for Kara :)

I can't wait for what September has in store for me. The Color Run is this weekend, my 9th race for the year. Also looking forward to more birthday celebrations, a trip to San Francisco to celebrate a wedding of one of my closest sorority sisters and starting school (finally). Keep you posted on my adventures!



MTA Musem - Old Subway Car



Mud, Smiles, Cheers, Laughter and Scars

Mud, Smiles, Cheers, Laughter and Scars... the 5 words to describe the 5k I participated in this weekend. The Dirty Girl Mud Run is a 5k mixed with mud and obstacles along the way. Proceeds benefit breast cancer and research. I saw my sister post about this awhile back and decided to post about it via my Facebook page to see if I could gather any interest from my friends to join me. In the end Elina, Christina and Rebekah (kickball friends) joined me in the awesomeness!

Obstacles they posted about on their website 

Saturday after I picked up my ZipCar (by the way awesome!), I headed into the city and down 2nd Ave to pick up the ladies. After a quick hour drive we made it to Englishtown Race Track for the race. With an hour to spare, we spent time checking in, taking photos, writing our team name on our arms, browsing stuff for sale and just getting in the spirit of the run.

Team Rainbow Warriors

Pre-race

Although we were in the biggest wave of the morning, we managed to get near the front and stay ahead of the pack. Despite the advertisement of obstacles on their website, our race didn't have the exact same ones:

1. Knee high mud pit

2. Bungee maze

3. Tires

4. Mud pit with fence to crawl under

5. Rope fence to crab crawl across (about 5 feet high)

6. Small wall to climb

7. Balance beam logs

8. High jump logs that got higher off the ground

9. Mud pit with tubes to crawl in between

10. Water pit - chest high

11. Small hill to climb

12. Natural mud pits through the trees/forest

13. V ramp to climb then under a fence

14. Ladder rope climb

15. High wall to climb

16. Race ended with a mud pit! :D

Post-race with our numbers & free beer :D

To summarize - an AWESOME time with some amazing women. Despite the bit of rain, the weather held up nicely. After the water pit, most runners were a bit cleaner than they had gotten so the 4 of us made a pact to get back to being dirtier by holding hands as we ended/got into the last mud pit and dived in.

Muddy, dirty, happy and feeling accomplished.

After a stop for lunch and a u-turn (twice) to get Blizzards from Dairy Queen (of course since not in NYC) we headed back to the city to relax and get ready before a friend's patio party.

Muddy & smiling with Elina