Royal Wedding Fever

Once upon a time there were two college roommates, Heather & Jamie, who had crushes on Prince Wills.  They would put up pictures of him in their dorm room, even though now looking back it was totally inappropriate since they were 20 and he was only 14.   Once they left school their crush continued and over the years they would tear pictures of the Prince out of magazines and mail them to each other.  When Heather visited London, she sent Jamie a postcard in the shape of Prince Wills’ head.  Last night, the day before he got married, one last photo was emailed between the two in excited anticipation of his wedding day.  The End.

Are you sure Wills was only 14 when we were 20?

How fantastic was that wedding?!  I was up bright and early this morning and watched every moment of the Today Show coverage.  My favorite part of the telecast was when all of the Royals were making their way to Westminster Abbey and Matt Lauer said “I didn’t know why so much was being made of this wedding, but now that I am witnessing it, it is exhilarating”.

My three favorite moments of the wedding festivities:

The Princes looked so nice in their uniforms

Kate's dress was absolutely beautiful

Such a nice touch when they left the Palace on their own

I have been reading up on the Royals a lot lately – Why isn’t Prince Philip called King? (the male spouse does receive that title, nor the designation of His Majesty, yet female spouses do)   Will Camilla be called Queen?  (she certainly can if she wants to, they will have to make that decision once Charles’ ascends to the throne)  Do you know who the first 13 people in line to the throne are?  I do.

Kate’s dress was beautiful, the hats were so fun and Wills looked as handsome as ever.  What better way to start the weekend than with a fairy tale!
What was your favorite part of the wedding?

Birthday Week Rolls On

What?  You think birthdays are only one day?!  Haha, birthday rookies.

Sure you are only queen/king of the day on your actual birth date, but your birthday should be celebrated for at least the following 5 to 7 days. 

That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Here’s my birthday week so far… Saturday, I was able to go see the musical “Wicked” in Ft. Lauderdale.  Absolute favorite musical ever. 

Have you seen this show?
You really should.

I saw it five years ago on Broadway and absolutely fell in love with the story.  It is the “Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”, based on the book by Gregory Maguire.  In summary, it gives you the backstory on why the Wicked Witch of the West became “wicked”.  It also explains how the components of the “The Wizard of Oz” came to be.  They explain the jeweled shoes, Glinda, the Wicked Witch of the East, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow and even what started the famous tornado that took Dorothy from Kansas to the Land of Oz.

Such creativity… it is fantastic, excellent, amazing and every other superlative you can think of.  It has become quite a sensation and the audience was really into the show, so fun!  Lots of cheers, applause and of course, women in their witches hats!

On my actual birthday I got lots of love and attention from friends and family – thank you, I loved it all!  I received some great birthday cards this year

Lobsters rule, a Lily original & the pink card
kills me... I can twirl my hair like no other!

On Monday, my co-worker took me out for a yummy birthday lunch!  When I got home that night, my camera was in the mail – yippee!  I also received the books I ordered from Runner’s World.  I am really excited to put the FIRST method into practice preparing for my half marathons this fall, as well as the Disney Marathon in January. 

Wednesday was cake and singing day in the office (cue the embarrassed look).  I am not sure why this came so late, or really at all, because my boss had taken me to lunch last week for my bday.  Regardless, the dolce de leche cake was delicious… as my co-worker Yolanda put it “we do not do ordinary” :)

On my way home last night, I got a call from my friend Eileen who had two tickets to a wine tasting that night and did I want to go, um yes please!  We had some a lot of yummy wine and split a delicious burger.  At first the restaurant gave the burger to someone else (what?!), so they had to order a second one and then they charged us for two burgers…  when we pointed this out to the waiter, they ended up giving us our burger for free, thank you!  Then when we left, the parking garage attendant had left for the night, so no need to pay the $16 parking fee.

I love free things.  

Feeling a bit dehydrated today, I had the cafeteria "value meal" for lunch - grilled cheese with bacon and tomato soup... if bacon sandwiches are an appropriate hangover meal at Buck House (how the royals fondly refer to Buckingham Palace), then they are good enough for me.

One last birthday week event will be Brew at the Zoo on Saturday night.  Pretty much just as it sounds, a beer fest at the Miami Zoo… can’t wait! 

I really need to get to bed now because I have my alarm set for 3:45am to watch all of the Today Show coverage of the Royal Wedding tomorrow, so excited!  

Even the UK has a reason to celebrate during my birthday week this year :)

Three Things Thursday

1.  Like a true blondie, I forgot my camera at my friends’ house in Boston on Tuesday.  My sister is mailing it to me, so as soon as I receive it I will give a recap of the Boston Marathon experience.  It was a really fun weekend and my cousin killed her previous marathon time by over 7 minutes!

2.  In the spirit of Easter (which is also the same day as my birthday, ahem) I am participating in the virtual Jelly Bean 5K race. 

3.  runDisney announced their new race on Tuesday, the Tinker Bell Half Marathon at Disneyland.  80% of me is excited for the new race because I love Disneyland and it will be an excuse for me to visit once again.  20% of me does not like the new race because it is not in Florida (I know, I am totally selfish) and also because it is on the same day as the ING Miami Half Marathon, which I am already signed up for and very excited to run again in 2012.  Tink will have to wait a couple of years, but for those of you who run the inaugural I know you will have a blast!

I'm Shipping Up to Boston!

This is my cousin Amanda

She’s running the Boston Marathon on Monday

as part of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team

and has raised over $7,700 for cancer research – awesome!

There are several members of my family meeting up in Boston for the 

weekend to cheer her on.  We are having a fun dinner in the 

North End Saturday night with lots of this

before 7 of us run the B.A.A. 5k on Sunday morning.

Along the Marathon course on Monday we will have this most awesome sign

 *Note:  This is my friend Derek.  I had the sign shipped to his place in Boston so I wouldn't have to take it on the plane - thanks Romanos!  However, he thinks that by appearing on my blog his photo will go viral and he will become the most popular guy on the web.  I've known this kid since I was 14, he is not kidding...

and of course, no cheer section would be complete without

After Mandy’s 26.2 mile adventure from Hopkinton to Boylston Street 

we will all meet up on Newbury to toast her journey with these…

GOOD LUCK to all you Boston Marathoners out there!  We'll be cheering for you!!

Re-introductions, motivation & a MARATHON!

Two months into my blog and you all are sticking around to read some more.  THANK YOU!  Writing this blog as been so much fun and I absolutely love, love, love reading your comments, as well as reading everyone else’s blogs too! 

So what’s going on in Heather’s World this week…

I knew as soon as the 5Ks I was signed up to run in March were over my motivation would be hard to keep up going into the summer. 

I… was… not… wrong.  It’s been two whole weeks since I ran a step, ugh!  What to do?!  First, put down the iPad…

What!?  It's not normal to walk around all day with your iPad?!

Second, Heather let me re-introduce you to your new sneakers, which last month you said you loved.  Now, put them on!

Sneakers... love them... wear them...

Third, remember how Shakira’s Waka Waka is your new favorite running song?  Well in order to hear it you need to use your iPod shuffle, headphones from the 80s (I LOVE these) and then time your run on your Nike+ sportsband.

Good music, good times

Here’s to hoping this little motivational talk helps.

If not, I also just subscribed to Runner’s World magazine & ordered a couple of their books (which I will review in a later blog post).

'New Year, New You'... Ok.

I decided to subscribe because I want to read up on anything and everything concerning running since my fall will be full of half marathons.  I just signed up for one of them today actually, Disney’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon on October 1^st. 

Can't wait to run this race a second time!

I ran this last year and it was the very first half marathon I have ever done.  I swear Disney made this race for me… Disney parks at night, running, wine, dine… all things I love in this world!  Last year’s race was the inaugural and there were some issues with crowding, etc., but Disney seems to have gone above and beyond to correct those issues and make this year’s race the best it can be!  I am absolutely so excited for this race!  Annette… Trish… sign up already!  Anyone else want to run!?

I am hoping the half marathons I run in the fall will really help me to prepare for my next challenge… the Disney Marathon on January 8^th!  Yup, I am going all the way!  26.2 miles!!  I also signed up for this race today!!  You’re welcome runDisney for my generous donation to your running program :)

My mantra:  Mickey medal, Mickey medal!

One statement I often hear about marathons is that 26.2 miles is a distance to be respected.  Not gonna lie, I am a little freaked out about it.  I know I have LOTS of work to do in the next 9 months, but I know with hard work and motivation I will be happily accepting my Mickey Mouse medal from one of the volunteers in January! 

Wish me luck! I hope I can keep you thoroughly entertained throughout this little challenge!

Lazy Saturday

So far I have done nothing today except for lay around reading an eBook on my new iPad and listening to Pandora radio.  Honestly, it has been a great day!  Oh yea, in between reading and blogging I got in a little nap.  I know you are jealous.

First my new iPad… well I love it!  I am really glad that after a year of thinking about getting one I finally did. 

One mistake I did make though was downloading the ‘Angry Birds’ app… omg… so… addicting!  What a complete waste of time that app is, but god I want 3 stars on every level!!  Friends, if you have never played that game before, please use this as a warning – do not get sucked in!  I have only downloaded the free app, so I know I will be forced to cut myself off, BUT there is still the free Rio Angry Birds app and the free Holiday Angry Birds app… aye.

I also tried out my first eBook… Sweet Valley Confidential.  Anyone out there who use to love the Sweet Valley High and/or Sweet Valley Twins series when you were younger?  I thought so…

This book picks up when Elizabeth and Jessica are 27.  Good, quick read.  Nothing earth shattering, just pure fun.  I do have to stay that two chapters into the book I was a little heartbroken over what was going on, but in true Sweet Valley fashion, everything tied up in the end in a perfect, all sunshine and rainbows sort of way :)

Sweet Valley Confidential - the Wakefield twins continue!

I love how iPad works as a book and radio at the same time.  Pandora’s Plain White Ts channel was hitting it out of the park today with awesome song after awesome song.  Perfect companion for a lazy day of reading!

Plain White Ts channel = awesome!

My only concern with eBooks is what do I do with it now?  With real books, once I am done with them I will trade them in at the second hand bookstore and keep reading second hand books until my credit runs out; then I buy new books and the cycle starts again.  Also, I do keep a small amount of books to loan to friends or re-read myself sometime in the future.  Will eBooks in the current format still be viable in 5, 10 years; how can I share these eBooks?  Hhhmmm… so many thoughts about this.

My cousin did tell me that through Kindle (either the app or the actual Kindle) you can share books with other Kindle people.  I will have to give that a try.

Do you have an eReader?  What do you think about it?  Have you shared any books?  Let me know what you think!

Time to get ready to head to the mall for a little retail therapy.  This day keeps getting better and better! 

Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

My sweet niece is so cute in my tiara & tutu from the Princess half marathon!

What a week!

Wow, this past week has flown by and has been filled with many highs and lows.  Where to begin…

Last weekend I completed my 26.2 miles for the Cupcake Marathon.  Can’t wait to try out the cupcake recipe we received for signing up!

We had to send in a picture with the
race "bib" to be included in the marathon

On Saturday I helped out one of the relay teams in the Palm 100 relay from Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach back to Ft. Lauderdale.  The team was made up of people fellow co-workers and they are really amazing runners!  They were comfortably in second place the entire first half of the race, then there was a snag on the course where one of the runners got lost for about an hour.  Eek!  At the 50 mile check-in point they were in 11^th place.  The second half of the race was all about catching (and passing) as many teams as possible.  They ended up in 5^th place, it was pretty exciting and, like I said, they were all amazing runners.

I even got a finisher’s medal for helping with the driving!

Cute finisher's medal... a coconut with sunglasses!

Sunday morning two friends from Alaska, Danielle and Bill, came off a cruise from South America and stayed at my place for a few days.  They are always so pleasant to visit with and it was great catching up with them and hearing about all their winter travels…. Europe, Africa, South America and Antarctica.  Yup, they are hard core travelers.  I especially loved seeing their pictures from the Galapagos cruise.  That trip is on my bucket list and I hope to get down there within the next year.  I collect Starbucks mugs and they brought me one from Peru.  Thanks again Dani & Bill!

My first Starbucks mug from South America

Tuesday I headed over to Ft. Myers to catch the last Red Sox spring training game at City of Palms Park.  I have no idea why I have waited so long to go to my first spring training game, it was so great!  The stadium is so small you are so up close to the action, I absolutely loved it!  Can not wait for next March!

Warming up!

Our latest and greatest left fielder!

Immediately following the game, I headed to the Ft. Myers aiport to catch my flight to Boston.  When I arrived, I was told the Red Sox would be there for an announcement at 5pm.  I couldn’t believe my luck!  I got to the see the whole team as they held a press conference to announce the name of their new spring training park…jetBlue park.  I realize I was just at the spring training game, so I saw them all there, and I have been to Fenway a ton of times, so I see them all there, but nothing beats a chance encounter… it was the entire team!  Woo!  I seriously felt like a giddy schoolgirl and I could not take pictures fast enough.

Beckett, Varitek, Gonzalez

Pedroia, Papelbon & Wakefield

Papi!

Love me some Red Sox!

The reason I was headed to Boston on Tuesday was because my grandmother (dad’s mom) passed away on Sunday and her services were on Wednesday.  It is nice to think that her and my grandfather are together again.

I did get to see my niece for about 5 hours on Wednesday and loved every minute of holding her, getting hugs from her and kissing her cute little cheeks!  I do have to say, that my arms were KILLING me after holiding her for about an hour straight.  I am convinced my sister is the strongest person ever :)

On Thursday I got this most awesome medal rack in the mail from my cousin Amanda!  Thanks Mandy, I love it!!

I love my new medal rack!

Well it is now April, the best month for birthdays!  Yup, mine is the 24^th…the first time my birthday and Easter have been on the same day.  Don’t worry I’ll keep reminding you all my birthday is getting closer and closer.  I love my birthday!

Make it a great week!!