Great Day.

Today turned out to be such a good day!  Since J and I have been sick we haven’t been getting much sleep and we had a long sleep in today.  I basically woke up had my coffee and then went out to meet my BFF Kim in Times Square!  I haven’t seen her in awhile so it was great to catch up and have girl time. It was supposed to rain and thunderstorm all day, but it was hot and sunny!!  We had lunch, went walking lots around the city, stopped for a cool iced coffee (at DD of course) walked some more, and went purse shopping (don’t tell).

 

I bought this!  Cute right?

Afterwards, I went home and decided since it was so nice out to go for a run outside finally!  It has been 3 days since I have run and we have been pigging out like crazy using the excuse that we are sick.

Some examples of our gluttony.  Or should I say MY gluttony.  Yes, I did eat that whole pizza myself. 

SO I had a kind bar and I went running. I wanted to do a really long one until I got to about 5 miles and my foot died.  I had to basically walk run the rest of the way for a 6.5 miler.  Not the greatest.  I came home and put on the Olympic Opening Ceremonies!  I did some plank and side plank and stretched a little while I watched. I made some broccoli/onion omelette for dinner and had one of my favorite things… frozen grapes!

Yum!  Watched some more olympics, had some chocolate and waited for my hubby to come home!  Oh did I mention I came home to these tonight…

Amazing right?!

J Let me have this..

J let me have this and even hung it in our bathroom. He really loves me.
Our apartment is definitely coming along.
Today i was a little bit Susie homemaker making dinner folding laundry etc.. While J did manly husband things like hang things and screw holes in the wall.
We pigged out on everything because we deserved it. We have man flu.

so many new things today..

Hi!  Today was finally sunny and not so ridiculously hot as it has been the last few days so me and J decided to have a picnic lunch before he went to his gig in Port Jeff.  We made our lunch and walked next door find a spot in our park!

There he is.

After lunch we hung some pictures in our new apartment and tried to make it a little more homey.  J has this app called iheartradio and we listened to pretty much the coolest songs ever while unpacking/hanging.

WHen he left for work I decided to go for a long run since the weather had been so great! I also needed to try out my new shoes.

They worked.  So I was a little bit tired of all the hills in Fort Tryon and also running out of places to go honestly, so I thought I would venture somewhere a little bit different.  I ran to Inwood Hill Park instead.  It’s a little further north of our park and bigger! Once I had found it and ran inside the first thing I came to was, you guessed it, a great big hill!  So I guess no real difference there.  It was beautiful though.  I came out of the woodsy trail-y part and found this view.

breathtaking!

There were tennis courts and baseball fields and dog parks, oh my!  I can’t wait to bring J to explore more together!! Anyway, I ran and explored the new park for about 8.5 miles.  Which is a new record for me I must say I was pretty excited! I had to stop a few times on the account of all the hills and the fact that I didn’t really know where I was going. At one point I was lost and running up a teeny tiny trail along the highway, hoping I did not get poison ivy. But thank God for GPS (I was actually going the right way)!

The sun hit the water in just a perfect way!

So many amazing views!

I did make it home safely and was famished so I decided to try out our new stove top grill from crate and barrel that we had yet to dig out. I grilled a whole bunch of veggies (zucchinis, peppers, mushrooms, onions and garlic) and can I tell you it was pretty much the coolest thing ever!!  And the veggies were so good!

(best invention ever!)

I cooked up an egg and some egg whites and threw all of the veggies on top to make this crazy concoction!  I never really have any clue what I am doing, but it always tastes pretty great!  I guess I get that from my dad.  He thinks he is an iron chef.

After dinner I through together a blueberry/raspberry smoothie with some protein and peanut butter.  Again, just winging it.  Sooo good.

Overall I’d say it was a pretty great night! I’ll probably be feeling those hills tomorrow though…

Tour de Inwood.

Yesterday had been another REALLY long day.  To wind down, we went exploring our new neighborhood.  We stopped here…

Mamajuana Cafe

The food is amazing! J ordered the Pollo stuffed with Chorizo with a side of Yautia mash.  It was purple. I wish I had taken a picture. I ordered the Sea Bass in a lemony, garlicy, lobstery sauce. Yes, those are the technical culinary terms. It was amazing and came with a side of my favorite veggies: Peppers, onions and summer squash!  Oh and peas. I did not add them because they are not my favorite. We also had a bottle of the

yum. For dessert James had the creme brulee and I ate a warm flour-less chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream on top.  Ever since my mother in law (who eats gluten free) made this amazing flour-less chocolate cake in London, I have been hooked.  Chocolate/dessert is a new obsession that I really could have done without.  

So we finished off dessert and headed off for home.  As we walked we stopped by Corcho Wine Room (just to check out the menu).  We ended up staying for some port and this happened…

oops.  That was a warm brownie/cheesecake infusion with vanilla ice cream on top.  It was more of just a warm brownie… but still delicious. Our second dessert.  I can’t believe that happened.  No, I can.  

So we realized that our new neighborhood has some amazing bars and restaurants and cannot wait to check out some more.  Corcho also has brunch on Saturdays and Sundays that sounds amazing. Bottomless Mimosas and Sangria for 10.99.  We will have to check that out!

Our New Park.

Tonight to get away from all the chaos/stress/unpacking in our apartment we went for a walk in the park that is right across the street from our building.

It’s called Fort Tryon and inside are the Cloisters. We haven’t been yet, may go with my mom sometime soon! We did a few laps inside and out of the park.  It’s pretty hilly and beautiful.  There is so much to see I get lost every time!  I definitely need J there with me to show me the way.

View number one!

(view number two)

We had to stop and take a break to practise some yoga poses.  On a bench.

We needed this timeout from all of the busy craziness we have been having.  It felt good.  After, we came home and had some more subway sandwiches (we also had for lunch today and for dinner yesterday)  THANKS MOM AND DAD!  We have been too tired to do anything and it is especially too hot to cook!  I froze some of my favorite flavor of #chobani….

Pomegranate!  I put them in our ice cube trays and we had some delicious Greek fro-yo for dessert!

Yum!  What’s your favorite Chobani flavor?!

Roaches out, Barr’s In

Sorry it has been a long time but it has been such an insane whirlwind of craziness here since we’ve been back from London.  And we have no internet yet! (I know, it’s the end of the world!)

We moved some of our stuff into our new apartment and are planning to move the rest this weekend with help from my parents and some other friends. The night we got in we found little cockroaches everywhere!  They were coming from a new refrigerator that we just had put in.  So after arriving at 3 in the morning we were so lucky to have to deal with cockroaches instead of our jet lag.  After a couple hours of sleep we went up north to my parents to stay there, get our car and some more things for our apartment, while keeping a safe distance from the roaches.  Now that we are back and have a different fridge, had an exterminator come in we still have some but they are dying off.  I am beginning to really enjoy the smell of raid.

On another note, I took 4 days off from running after our trip because my feet/legs/ankles were killing me and I think I needed it.  I was back at it Thursday, but still not sure I have recovered.  Yesterday, sticking with the theme different exercise, I went back to the bike!  I am still attempting to rest my poor little feet.  So I biked 9.4 miles I 32 minutes.  I wasn’t planning on going that long but I just got into and couldn’t stop.  Kind of like I do with running.  After I did some weights (chest/tri’s/abs).  It was a pretty busy day otherwise, me and J were running around the city for most of the morning and then I did a lot of errands/walking/cleaning. 

Oh and Hey, check out my new sneaks…

Im sure that the apartment will be great once we have all of our things inside and it begins to feel more like our home (And when we make our London/New York room). J is already starting his dueling and solo gigs, which me and the family will go see tonight in between moving furniture!  I am really excited to finally move in everything this weekend and get started on our life here in New York!  Oh and this is a nice thought that we get to read on the sidewalk en route to the gym everyday..

On with the packing/unpacking…

New workout!

Last night I tried something new! Pure Barre! It was a lot of fun and for a 55 minute class it went by so quickly! I completely recommend. It works you out by focusing on your smaller muscles making you long and lean. I definitely felt the burn, my legs were shaking the while time. Can’t wait to go back and try some more!

On a different note, today I did my run at the gym after four days off. It’s a lot different trying to run my same amount of miles on the treadmill. How do you keep going? I ran my longest time on the TM ever, 53 minutes straight running
and a total of 68 minutes 7.3 miles. It felt great to be back running again but I really missed the outdoors.

Saying goodbye

We have had such a crazy busy time here in London and now it has come to that time, time to go home. #sad face.  Here’s a quick recap of our second week in London! (okay maybe not so quick, sorry for all of the pictures)

We stayed in Wimbledon for the week and had a really nice day on Wednesday full of sunshine and tennis!  Yes, we made it to Wimbledon and got court 1 tickets!

(no not centre court, we weren’t THAT lucky)

4th of July!  My mother-in-law was kind enough to throw a 4th of July BBQ for the American in London!  We had family over and it was a great party with lots of red, white and blue!  I had to refuse the Union Jack hat on this occasion.  

This weekend was full of parties, good food, friends and family.  I got to spend more time with my new favorite niece, more snuggles with her because we won’t get to see her again until January :(.  She is absolutely beautiful!  We also had some time with Manny who is growing so quickly.

(Manny and Emilia made friends!  They are adorable!)

Saturday night we went to the Ealing Cricket Club Summer Ball which was so much fun!!  I got to dress up and attempt to act classy for a night!  I even did my own hair for the occasion!  

There was a twenty course meal (exaggeration) lots of drinks and dancing!  Afterwards my father-in-law gave me a nice lesson on brandy!  That was fun! I do enjoy some Remy XO.

Don’t we clean up nice?!

(I took a picture of the picture so please excuse the quality)

We were able to do so many things this visit and see so many people it was great but a little exhausting! There will be lots of working out when we get back to make up for all the wonderful food/desserts and chocolates that we ate over the two week period.  We are very excited to get back though and start moving in to our new place in the city!!  Straight on to the busy, busy, busy and real life!

Run

Also saw this guy in my run!

Pic

Today turned into a beautiful day after all of the rain, so while my husband and mother in law watched Andy Murray win the tennis, I went out for an early evening run around Wimbledon common! We’ve had a bunch of sunny spells since we’ve been staying in Wimbledon it’s been great and I have been taking advantage! I tried to make it a short run since we are going out tonight for our friend Claire’s birthday! 5.25 miles to burn off all that chocolate and cake I’ve been eating… I don’t think it’s worked.

New Record!

Today I ran a new record!  8.14 miles!  I needed a long run today and to change it up a bit.  It was warmer than it has been and wasn’t raining so I went for it!  I ran the usual trip that I usually do and then I ran to Gunnersbury Park.  I was just going to run there and back home but then decided to check it out once I got there.  It is beautiful!  I will have to run a little further in on another day if I get the chance.  I was also a little afraid that I may get lost inside!  It’s a pretty big park!

Here was my view inside the park.

(a mom and her daughter were feeding the ducks!)

Anyway, I felt great after the run and felt like I could’ve run longer.  Then we went into town and caught up with some friends.  It was a great day!  

It’s the 1st of July…

Been in London about a week now and it has been crazy busy.  We have seen a lot of things and visited a lot of people.  We went to the Olympic site, but could only look from the outside as it was closed for rehearsals.  Still, it was nice to see where it will all be happening.  The weather has been pretty chilly here, not much like summer and it is already July!  Yesterday we attended a wedding party of a friend in Kent and the sun was shining!  Today we have a family barbecue for birthday celebrations and little Emilia! I am planning on wearing warm clothing since it is windy and rainy.  

The nice view I am lucky enough to have while drinking my afternoon coffee.  Don’t be fooled, I was showered with rain during my morning run.  It was more of a mid morning run due to some late night car trouble keeping us up til 2am but I won’t get into that.  My legs were feeling like lead, I have been so exhausted, however when that rain came down I did not need anymore motivation, I was in a full sprint.  Luckily I was already on my way back home and up the big hill (One day I will post a photo of the half a mile journey back to the house). I did still get in a good 5.5 miles though.