Household Exercise "Equipment"

Lately I have been using my rolling pin to massage my legs muscles.  It works great and there was no need for me to go out and buy a foam roller or rolling muscle massager.

Good thing I don’t bake often.

Do you use any household items (towels to help stretch or can goods as weights) to help you exercise?

Hong Kong Heartbreak

Who watches ‘The Bachelorette’?  Who likes to travel?

I am pretty sure this post will appeal to a variety of people.

First, Ashley and that disaster she calls Bentley.  Well done telling him to F-off… now on to the real men, and by real men I mean J.P. (for sure) and Ben F. (just because I am a sucker for wine and shaggy, curly hair).  I really hope these two make it to the final episode, the others are just wasting my time.  I watch this show every season and hope it turns out differently and it usually does not.  Please Ali and Roberto do not break-up.

ABC has finally caught on to the fact that Americans LOVE ‘The Amazing Race’, so they have been sending their Bachelors and Bachelorettes to foreign lands to find love.  Fine by me, I love travel probably more than the next person.  Totally love that they were in Hong Kong this week. 

I have been lucky enough to have visited this ridiculously amazing place for WORK (a.k.a. free!), and it ranks in my top 5 places on Earth.

My top 5 places on Earth

1. Venice, Italy

2. Barcelona, Spain

3. Hong Kong, China

4. Chang Mai, Thailand

5. It’s a tie…

San Francisco - I would never want for anything here (except maybe lower prices on everything)

Alaska (too many places and too many memories to pinpoint one exact location) - 

like New England, it will always have a piece of my heart

What did I do for work in Hong Kong?  As I mention in the Me and My Blog section, I work for a cruise line and was asked to take part in one of our Loyalty cruises.  For 8 nights onboard the ship I mingled with our most loyal cruisers at reunion get togethers each night before dinner, conducted a presentation on our cruise/land programs, helped out at beading and arts & crafts classes...  those were the good times.  We also unpacked, moved and delivered gifts to the guests, then sorted and packed up everything before we got off of the ship.  Working late into the night was not out of the ordinary, however, it was not that tough given that while in port we were free to explore, and explore we did!

Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong

JUMBO Restaurant where Ashley had the cocktail party and rose ceremony

The rejected guys were floated away on Sampans

All of this was taking place in Aberdeen Harbor.  There you will see several families' fishing boats all tied together.  Really incredible.

Hong Kong is an amazing place, where most residents live a vertical existence

I love all the signs found in an Asian city, makes it feel alive!

As a true Disney dork, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit Hong Kong Disneyland!

public subway to the park

Gateway to Hong Kong Disneyland!

Familiar site, just in Hong Kong!

Mickey & Minnie are still the same no matter where they are

Judging from my hair, it was windy that day!!

Tomorrowland was small, but Space Mt. was Disneyland awesome!!
Those of you who have been to WDW and DL know what I mean :)

Small World... the pretty version.  Plus you get the
mountains on Lantau Island, beautiful!

Favorite memory from HK Disneyland...
The Jungle Cruise was in Mandarin!  Awesome!

Since we had the hook up onboard the ship, we were able to enjoy the sail out of Victoria Harbor from the Bridge... incredible!!

Hong Kong, I will be back :)

Getting Organzied

Since the official start of summer was last Tuesday, I figured I would start off this new season getting organized.  Living in a one-bedroom apartment, I do not have a whole lot of storage space, so I really need to take advantage of every inch of space that I have.  It can (and does) get disorganized very easily.

Kitchen cabinet, before

Kitchen cabinet, after

I am trying to be more organized when planning out meals for the week

Totally went crazy on my closet and dresser, getting rid of any clothes I have not worn in awhile.

My donation to Goodwill

Closet, before

Closet, after

I realized I already had many things on hand that could help me be more organized.

I used my LL Bean bag to hold all of my smaller bags and totes

The bottom storage cube holds my “winter” shoes (Danskos, Uggs, etc.) and the top cube holds my flip flops

I decided to put everything I don’t use very often up on the top shelf.  You would think that was a given, but it took a while for this blondie to figure out :)

Bathroom cabinet, before

Bathroom cabinet, after

Is there a time of year when you find yourself wanting to get more organized?

Adios Black Toenail

Aaahhhhh.... Tonight I got my first pedicure since January.  It felt great!
How can I live in Florida and not have pedicures?
Glad you asked.  I have actually been giving myself pedicures for the past 5 months, but nothing beats a good pedicure from a pro.  Honestly, I have been avoiding pedicures since I ran the ING Miami Half Marathon at the end of January and ended up with a bruised toe nail.

This one was the culprit

That bruised toe made me embarrassed to show any nail stylist (what would you call them?).  Luckily I never lost the nail  (THANK YOU LORD), it eventually just grew out.
After many, many months under the cover of purple, green and dark red polish my toe nail looks normal and tonight I was so happy to have the rough skin scrubbed off my heels :)
Is this a little graphic for some?  Sure, probably.  But for runners... you know what I am talkin' about!
The toe box on my old sneakers was just too tight and at the end of 13.1 miles I wanted my shoes and socks OFF!  It did not feel great.  
Now that I have running shoes that I LOVE...

Sauconys rule!

I can't believe that I ran for year and through 3 half marathons in shoes that just killed my feet, ankles and legs.  I will never name names, but I went to a real running store, got analyzed on a treadmill and then fitted for the shoes that absolutely haunt me to this day. C'est la vie... yet a big F-U to the runner's store at the same time.
I love my shoes now.... Saucony ProGrid Guide 3... love them!  I bought these bad boys at the Disney Princess Half Marathon Expo.... it was super crowded that day, I was rushing to try them on, they were only $60 and when I put them on, they felt like they were giving my feet a little hug.
Woman's intuition... yea I am sticking with that.
P.S.  Don't worry I will not regularly show pictures of my feet and yes I do know the 2nd and 3rd toes are slightly webbed... if you think this is bad you should see my sisters.  Maybe she will let me take a picture next weekend when I am home.  Doubtful, but I will try.

Land of the Midnight Sun

Happy Summer Solstice everyone!  Today is the looongest day of the year.  To most of us here in the lower 48 (a.k.a. the continental United States) that really does not mean a whole lot.  We all know the sun sets in the summer sometime between 8 & 9, maybe a little later the further north you go.  But in Alaska (where I lived for 5 years) Summer Solstice is always a day to be celebrated!  This past weekend in Anchorage there was the mayor’s midnight sun marathon & half marathon, in Fairbanks tonight, there will be the Midnight Sun Baseball Classic where the first pitch is at 10:30pm and no lights on the field will be used, plus you can go hiking, flight seeing or fishing at whatever time you want… it won’t get dark!! 

Today in Anchorage there will 19 hours and 22 minutes of daylight.  If you look outside your window this afternoon that is how light it will be in Anchorage at midnight.  No I am not joking, not even a little bit.

I use to love the daylight throughout the summers and always felt like I had so much energy.  I would even sleep with the blinds in my bedroom open because I loved how it was light all the time.  Hope all my friends in Alaska are enjoying the day!

Thinking about Alaska makes me miss it, so I was looking through my pictures and figured I would share some of them with you all...

Downtown Anchorage

Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America (20,320ft.)

Talkeetna, the coolest little town I ever lived in!

Spot on G - log cabin I lived in my first summer in Alaska

Flight seeing in the Alaska Range

Salmon fishing.  I am ok reeling them in, but don't want
to touch the fish... too slimey!

Mt Susitna - a.k.a. The Sleeping Lady

Amazing beer & the amazing
Turnagain Arm in the background!

Picturesque scenery everywhere

Native culture & history

Glaciers!

Need to give a shout out to the cruise industry, without
which I would have never gone to Alaska in the first place

Good friends!