vacation part 2::: NYC day 2

thursday morning i got up and did 5 solid miles in central park [love].

we got ready and then went to lunch at the shake shack.

the burger and shake were amazing. my favorite burger ever. the fries were just ehhh. brad even said he liked it better than in and out [but he made me add that the 'animal style' on a shake shack burger would be the best ever].

we spent the rest of the afternoon in macy's, bloomingdale's, and some other stores. i loved seeing all the Christmas decor!

we went back and got ready to go see wicked! i was so excited that i finally talked brad into seeing this! last time we were in NYC we went to see the lion king because it was one of the shows brad thought he'd actually be interested in. i'd seen wicked on tour with my mom and LOVED it but brad has always had this aversion to it for many reasons, one of which being, WAIT FOR IT... he's never seen the wizard of oz!! but since this trip was kind of for my big birthday, he let me pick.

it was every bit as wonderful as i remembered and brad even said he liked it better than the lion king! i'm so happy he liked it! after the show we were walking to dinner and i got to meet the actress who played Glinda. she was really nice and signed my playbill! we had dinner at joe allen's then we headed to a bar we found near our hotel that we loved. i could not even tell you the name of it, but we ended up there almost every night we were there. they had tons of beers on tap and brad enjoys trying different ones.

so that was the end of day two! one more day of vacation round up to go!

have you seen the wizard of oz?

An Amazing Weekend!

Brad and I drove up to Cincinnati this weekend to visit with his family and so I could run the Flying Pig half marathon (#4 of 12 in 2012). We left Asheville on Thursday and drove straight through to Cinci, arriving around 130am.

Friday morning we got up and went to Kings Island. It's a big amusement park that we both went to a lot growing up. It was really fun, but we both decided that apparently our bodies are starting to get too old for that stuff!! Those roller coasters beat the crap out of us!

This is us on the Diamond Back coaster. The sun was obviously a little bright!

After Kings Island Brad thought it would be a good idea go ahead and get my packet picked up. I went to the expo while he went and had a refreshing beverage!

This was definitely the biggest expo I've ever been to. SO MANY VENDORS! I loved all the pig statues that were everywhere:

I got my packet then weaved my way through the booths. I noticed the Norwood Chiropractic booth and stopped by. They specialize in ART (Active Release Technique) and Dr. Lydia Ogden spent a lot of time with me and working on my right knee. I've got what we all seem to think is a piece of bone that has chipped off and right where it is I've got some pain that seems to come and go. It's worst when I do squats, but it's not there everytime I do them. When it does hurt it feels like my knee cap is about to pop through my skin, all through that one little spot.

I don't remember all the lingo exactly but Dr. Ogden said it was something along the lines of my right knee not moving in the line it should. Of course there was a medical name for it, but despite my being in the medical profession, I don't don't remember it. She did some ART on my quad and it hurt so good. I have bruises now, but I really think it helped a lot.

After stopping at the Norwood Chiropractic group the expo was starting to close up. I got my shirt, duffle bag, and poster and headed out.

Saturday we headed to the mall (they opened a new Lululemon store there!!), Costco, and the outlet malls. I got some tanks and Lulu, a bunch of stuff at Under Armour outlet and these at Costco:

Oh my gosh. YUM. I'm going to have to separate them into baggies and lock them up. If not I'm going to kill both bags in about 2 days. I also got a big old twist yogurt. Brad bet me that I couldn't finish it. I laughed. Me, not finish fro yo?!?!

He was right, I couldn't do it. Dangit. How wasteful.

Oh and at the mall I got Riley a present:

It's a stuffed pig and it has a rubber band that lets you shoot it across the room. He loves it!!

We had LaRosa's pizza for dinner then I headed home to get to bed for our early wake up call. I laid out all my stuff (and I can't get this pic to rotate):

 That thing in the middle is a pace tattoo that I picked up at the expo. What was the goal time?

My secret A goal that isn't so secret now. Did I get it? Unless you follow me on twitter you'll have to wait to find out!

Let's Start Over... My name is Courtney

To those of you who are still reading or forgot to delete me from your google reader... I'm Sorry and Thank You. I have been a craptastic blogger lately, but today is a new day and I've got lots to share! It's weird because usually I don't post because there's nothing really going on, but lately I've been overwhelmed busy and I keep thinking that I need to do some catch up posts. So that'll start now and I'll quit making excuses!

1.  So first, I've signed up for something awesome. May have bitten off more than I can chew but that seems to be how I get stuff done. Are you ready?

I don't know if I'm more excited or scared... I have been dying to do one of these races but something is always getting in the way. So I jumped all over this when I saw it and am rounding up as many people as possible to be on my team. It's in Charlotte, NC on March 24 and you know you wanna join me!!! Email me at 3xacharmrunner@gmail.com if you're interested. I will be doing a post with more details in a few days.

2. Brad and I went to Nashville, TN this weekend to watch the Bengals play the Titans. Since we've been married we have tried to pick one Bengals game a year to go to. We've seen them in Baltimore, Charlotte, and twice in Cinci. I've never been to Nashville and I loved it!! Loved all the live music and the line dancing. [Quick tangent: They were having a Ragnar Relay! I was sooo freaking jealous of all the cool kids walking around with their medals. Made a decision on the spot:  I will run a Ragnar in 2012! ] The game was great the and Bengals won!! WHO DEY

i love wayfarers but i hate the way they sit all high on your head like that when you aren't wearing them. dumb.

it was a little sunny

our new QB1, Andy Dalton

my crush, #40 bryan leonard. don't tell brad just kidding he had to listen to it the whole game. he left in the 4th with a knee injury, hope he's ok!

3.  So I started my new job last week (part of the reason I've been so crazy). It's going to be a great change, but as with any change I get a little worked up. I felt like I didn't know where anything was or how to do anything (which is really hard for me, I like to know what I'm doing and do it well). But I know that part will come with time. It was hard for me to leave CVS because I'd been with them for almost five years, but I'm very excited about my new job and think it's what God wants for me.

4.  I went to the gym this morning (yes, I got up at 730 on my day off, this is an accomplishment in and of itself!) and did a 50 minute spin class followed by a 50 minute body pump. I've missed group classes so much! It's weird though, I feel like our gym has majorly cut back classes. I'm going to look into that and also look into my contract with them. I go to the Rush now, but the Y is a lot closer and who knows, maybe they have more classes.

5.  It's almost time for the HBBC!! Have you signed up yet?

6.  Thanks to this awesome chick and her amazing shopping skills, I have an erin condren planner headed my way. Why am I so excited? You need to go see for yourself. That is, if you're a huge planner, nerd, geek like me. I am so picky about planners and this one has everything (and yes I'm really this excited about a planner): it has tabs for each month, weekly and monthly views, lol I could go on and on but I'll spare you. I saw these a few months ago but despite my desire to have one overnighted to me immediately so I could begin color-coordinating my life, I had to check myself before I wrecked myself. They're 50 bucks. Then Jenn comes along and shows me a way to get one for $7.50. Customized and delivered. Love her.