In New York, the concrete jungle where dreams are made...

...there's nothing you can't do.  Name that song.

So to really prolong the wonderful memories of NYC, I've delayed the posting a bit.  Mainly I've been busy keeping up with working out and trying to relax a bit after a stressful week.  Now back to the recap.

After some fun Philly times, it was time for us to trek to New York City!  We didn't get stuck in traffic, but I will mention that we had to pay a TON of tolls along the way between leaving Raleigh and finally making it to NY City.  Before we left, we did stop to get a famous Philly cheesesteak!  Let me tell you that thing was surprisingly good!

[Pat's Steaks, right across the street from their rival, Gino's]

 [I like mine with no onions and just cheese]

Then we hit the city!  We stayed in an apartment in upper Manhattan which was only like a couple blocks from the Subway.  It was rainy and chilly the first day.  We met up with one of my college friends in Soho and ate at a delicious tapas restaurant, Stanton Social.  Why in the world didn't I take a picture with my friend?!  It was fun exploring that area, which is where we entered the wonderful Anthropologie.

Fast forward to our first full day in NYC.  We woke up early so we could catch the subway all the way to lower Manhattan to stand in line for discount Broadway tickets.  The line was crazy long (actually not that bad, but at 11am with a cloudy sky, wind, skirt, and no tights, it was long), but we only ended up having to wait about an hour.  The two shows that were on the top of our list were out of our price range.  I think it worked out though because we ended up getting front and center seats.  After the long wait and on empty stomachs, we found a pizza joint to try.

[Yep...that face sums it up]

Harry's Italian Pizza Bar was right around the block, and it was wonderful!  It's right near Wall Street, so there were a lot of business type people in there.  That didn't hold us back though!  At after noon and going on no breakfast, we devoured the pepperoni and mushroom square pizza.

After getting our NY pizza fix, we hit the streets!  We decided to head up towards the Museum of Natural history, which is right across the street from Central Park.  

[Central Park]

 [Manhattan backdrop]

After we made a brief walk through the park, we hit up the Museum.  It took so long and there was so much to see.  After that we definitely couldn't fit in another museum.  I think when we go back, we'll just have to hit a different museum every time.  

After the museum we hit up The Ginger Man, which ended up being one of my favorite bars in NYC.  They had one of my favorite German beers and I tried an absolutely delicious Milk Stout from NY.  We had some food and headed over to see our Broadway show.

 [I'm not a Robin Williams fan, but the show was AMAZING!  I definitely have the itch for more Broadway!]

[Had to sneak this with the iPhone, but that's literally how close we were.  Second row, center]

[Outside waiting for the show]

After the show, we got to see Time Square at night which was something we really wanted to do.  We were definitely able to hit some key points and sights in NYC just in one day.  I also got to cross some items off my 101 in 1001 list (which I'll be updating again soon).

It was a perfect day in NYC.

Philly is fantastic.

...let's see how many Philly vs. "ffff" sound phrases I can make!

After our breakfast Monday morning, we hopped on the bus to go visit the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly

[Photo by me.  It was actually built to look like a castle]

D really loves ghosts and ghost stories.  I know Ghost Hunters has gone there and maybe a couple others.  

He was anxious to see it, and I ended up really enjoying the tour.  They actually have a haunted house there that I would love to go back for!

 [Sir, I really like those big headphones you have]

We obviously took an audio guided tour throughout the penitentiary.  The audio was actually really well done and narrated by Steve Buscemi.  You could pretty much walk around wherever you wanted, aside from a few locked off places.

 [One of the "nicer looking" cells]

 [I think this was the haunted section?]

[We all know how hard it is for couples to get pics on their own.  D is a pro]

 Well and then we couldn't leave without seeing Al Capone's cell!  Apparently he complained of being haunted by a ghost in the penitentiary!

 [Next, we'll follow him to Alcatraz!]

After leaving the penitentiary, we took a long walk and saw some sights.  The Museum of Art was closed, but we did see the Rocky stairs.  No chance we were waiting in line to get a pic with that statue.

 

There was no way we I could pass up a picture with the LOVE sign, especially when we walked right past it!

[Philly probably is for lovers...but I look like a fighter here after walking 5 blocks]

 We walked from the Museum of Art to the Reading Terminal Market, which is apparently pronounced "Redding" Terminal Market.  We loved it though!  If you follow me on Twitter, you know we settled on a delish Cajun meal there.  

 [Clearly it should be pronounced "REEE-ding"]

[Inside.]

I wish we would have had more time to really explore inside the Market.  There was cool used book section and stuff.  We headed over to see the Liberty Bell, but you know we aren't into lines and we're having the crazy one there.  We hit up some other cool bars, had dinner with some beer guys D knows and ended again at Sidecar. 

We had the best of times in Philly.  I honestly can't wait to go back.  I honestly can't wait to go on another leisure (non-beer related) trip with D.  He really is the best travel buddy and I love exploring with him.  It took me a helluva long time to write this post (thanks for bearing with me and reading it all!), so keep an eye out one day for NYC posts...they'll come one day :) 

Will the real weigh-in Wednesday please stand up?

I wasn't going to weigh myself today after the spring break trip and all, but since I've jumped right back on the working out wagon, I figured I'd go for it.

I'm down .2 of a pound!  Haha...while it doesn't sound like isn't much, I'm thrilled that I didn't gain weight from the trip!  It's doubtful that I worked out anything gained during the trip in two days.  There is something to be said for trips that involve lots of walking (haha, but come ON, we all know there is also something amazing to be said for sipping cocktails on the beach).  I'm happy that I'm not back to square one (although I'm still not too far from that square).  I didn't take my measurements because I didn't have time.

Now come on...I'm not trying to look like her, but I want to get into that swimsuit from J Crew in the bitter citrus (yellow) color! Love it!  I'm rocking the Shred with Level 3, day 2.  So far I am loving level 3.  I need to prepare to move on from there.  Recommendations for what to move on to?  Couch to 10k is always getting me really excited about running.  I can't wait to schedule my first 10k in July! 

And first we hit Philly.

I seriously can not rave about our road trip/vacay enough.  We had such a wonderful time.  The time actually didn't fly by, which was wonderful!  I think we enjoyed it to the fullest.  On a completely random note, do you ever have the weirdest dreams when you're on vacay?  I think it's that you're lacking the subconscious comfortability that you have when sleeping in your own home.  I didn't start dreaming about school until the end of the trip, so that was nice.

To save a bit of money on hotels, we decided to check out Airbnb. It was recommended to us by some friends who used it when they traveled to San Fransisco a while back.  Basically people rent out their homes/apartments/etc for similar prices as hotels.  Airbnb acts as the "middle-man" so owners do not handle your money.  It's definitely fab if you're staying for a bit and want the money-saver luxuries of making a couple of your own meals.  You can choose to rent just a room or a full home/apartment.  Anyhow, we chose to rent apartments in Philly and NYC through Airbnb.  We had a wonderful experience at our apartment in Philly.

It was a little studio apartment, but the location was ideal!  We found parking on the same block (which is always a concern when you're road tripping to a city).  The apartment was only around two blocks from a great little craft beer bar, Sidecar.

The first night we were there, we headed out to walk around the city and find some good food.

As we were walking in Philly, I instantly fell in love.  All the brownstones.  I really love a city where you can easily walk/bike anywhere.  I know the above picture isn't great.  I was just snapping random shots on our first night.  We walked about 5 or 6 blocks to Jose Pistolas.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture pics of the food.  D had been there before, but it's a really cool Mexican restaurant with awesome beer.  We hung out, had some beers, and had a delicious meal.  A couple things we loved: a) great mexican fare which we can't seem to find in Raleigh and b) the price!  It was so affordable (similar to Raleigh prices).  I could eat there all the time.

After leaving there, D quickly hailed a cab like a pro and we headed back to Sidecar.

[Delicious craft beer line-up]

We didn't eat there, but I wish we would have had the opportunity!  They have a great looking food menu.  The place is a bit small, and it was pretty packed for a Sunday night.  Although we still scored bar seats and had a great time.  The bartender recognized D and let us try some special beers.  Even better...we walked right "home."

I don't want to go all picture/text heavy on posts, so I'll save more Philly for another day (plus, my internet is acting up and it's taking AGES to upload pics).  The next morning though we did enjoy the perks of being in an apartment with our own homemade breakfast :)

[Although it's harder than you think working in a kitchen that's not yours...eggs should have been over easy and toast a bit lighter...delicious nonetheless!]

How to pack for vacay!

You know I'm all fashionably challenged.  I did want to try and up my game a bit since we were going to New York City.  Plus, I have a small duffle and didn't want to mindlessly throw in lots of items like I usually do.  I wanted to go in with a plan!  That's what I did.  I developed outfits that could work for every day with a little flexibility since I couldn't exactly predict the weather 7 days in advance. 

I picked out a lot of my favorite pieces and just started trying on outfits.  I went with layers and flats.  Here's what I ended up with:

We were going for seven days.  I wore some casual, comfy clothes not pictured for the long car rides.  I tried on every outfit and listed each one in my iPhone, so I knew I wouldn't lug along a bunch of extras.

As for shoes, I knew flats would be an absolute necessity.  I brought along my rain boots (necessary for rainy days in NYC),  my oxfords, my Tory Burch flats, and my Clark's.  The oxfords were a stretch since I hadn't worn them and weren't sure if they'd give me blisters (they didn't!).  The TB flats tend to hurt the balls of my feet and backs of my heels after being in them all day.  I knew I needed a back-up if the oxfords and flats killed me any day.  The Clark's Wallabees are certainly not the most fashionable, but they have to be the most comfy shoes I own.  I knew they'd be a necessity for my feet if fashion killed them :)

I added this French Connection dress last minute.  I have started wearing it as a "skirt" with the sweater over it.  I knew I could layer it well with tights and a jacket if need be.  I actually wore this instead of the other dress.

All in all, the pre-trying on and well-thought out packing really helped!  There were a few outfits I didn't wear.  There were a few I didn't love on arrival.  It was still nice to not think about pairing and changing 5 times.  Even if I didn't love the outfit, I usually went with it for ease. 

Weighing-in Wednesday...two days early.

Nope.  It's not Wednesday and I'm technically not weighing in.  That's probably not an appropriate title at all.  I'm loving having this extra day to recoup from our vacay and mentally prepare for the hell that is going to be the next month and a half at school.  I know I'm going to be super busy this week, but it's wonderful to have some time to catch up on blogs and schedule some posts for this week.

Anyway, working out/running is going to definitely be a challenge with my busy work schedule and the heat wave we came back to in Raleigh.  I will say, whether it is mental or actually physical, I can tell a difference in my body after not shredding/running for a week. 

[Google images]

I hit it hard today, and that might be me by tonight.  I started back on Level 2 of the shred.  Day 10...my last (hopefully...I've lost a little count after the vacay) and I vow to never go back to that level.  The temperature in my house is currently 77 degrees (what? We're cheap smart and refuse to pay crazy expensive power bills).  I probably didn't shred to my fullest because I had to stop multiple times to keep from passing out.

After what I thought would bring me to my deathbed, I figured I'd brave the 83 degree weather for my first day of Couch 2 10k.  Thanks to Kayla for recommending it.  I'm hoping it's going to get me up to a better speed and endurance.  It's a 13-week program, and it only requires running three days a week.  I think this will be a much better start than jumping right into the half training (which, let's be honest...I wasn't ready for).  I'm going to do the c210k, and then start my half training.

There's the plan!  Not too tough.  10 days left of the shred.  I'm considering going for Jillian's Ripped in 30 that some of the shredcrew have tried after I get through the shred.  I'm working hard to jump right back into the routine to get bikini ready!

Look forward to lots of vacay posts this week!

Vacation all I ever wanted...

...vacation have to get away! Our vacation has been wonderful and I can't wait to write lots of posts next week filling you all in on the fun! (if you follow me on twitter [@sknnyjeanschai], you've already seen most of these)




Philly cheesesteak!




So happy to go in an NYC Anthropologie store!




Should have worn tights to wait outside in the wind for discount Broadway tix




View from Central Park




You can't tell but that's Robin Williams, and that's literally how close we were.




Good ole Lady Liberty from afar...

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