From SF back to NYC

OMG - I've been awful about updating the blog lately, and I have no excuses. Now that I'm back though for a few weeks, I will be keeping this thing up to date on a regular basis.

To catch up from last time I posted, I'll start with Sweetie J's birthday bash. I met up with her and some of her friends in Tribeca for a late dinner, and then afterwards, they convinced me to go to a dance club with them. The dance club was about 4 blocks from our apartment, so I really had no excuse. Let me say this though, I'm a shitty dancer.

So we got to the club, and a friend of Sweetie J's knew the owner, so we had VIP entrance and table/bottle service. I did last until about 3 am, and I did tried to shake my bootie somewhat - but it's as bad as it sounds. Ugh.

Okay then - off to San Francisco, and again, some of the most beautiful weather I've seen. It's my good luck I guess - 3 times back to SF, and 3 times I've had AMAZING weather. I landed on Monday morning, headed to the gym, and proceeded to run a bunch of hill work on the treadmill. After a shower, I headed over to work, but immediately took off with my friend KT for a long walk down Market St. On our way back to the office, my other friend who had also turned in her notice, texted that she was at the bar. So KT and I stopped in and hung out with a group of friends for a bit. A few beers later (and no food whatsoever that entire day except for a bag of gummy bears on the plane), I was a little tipsy.

I made it back to work, proceeded to try and boot up my laptop, and that was it. KT called and she was done, so it was back to another bar to say goodbye to an awesome coworker and friend. After our drinks, KT and I headed for dinner to hang out just us two. I'm going to miss the fuck out of her, and wish her the best of luck at her new job.

So, Tuesday, the stomach/sleep thing started - this happens everytime I go back to SF - I don't sleep (I'm up by 4:30-5 am everyday) and my stomach revolts. So the entire week, I'm up around 4:30, stomach finally settles around 6:15 ish, and I'm off to the gym for an hour.

Then it was to work, and back to back meetings, before I headed out with my team for drinks on the company. After drinks, I met up with a coworker from NYC and her friend for dinner and drinks in the Mission district. It had been awhile since I'd been over that way, and I was able to take them to my favorite bar in the Mission, after some tasty Mexican food.

Wednesday was more low-key - work, work, work (woot), but then I got to go with 2 coworkers that I like but don't hang out with very often - we headed for a quick drink, before off to meet up with Shelbs and Bbbb for dinner at a rotisserie. It was tasty yummy goodness, and soooo good catching up with the Thunderwoods. After dinner, I finagled an invitation back to their apartment to watch TV on their couch. Snarky commentary ensued, and it made me really miss living in SF, and the good friends I have there.

Thursday was a "nutso" day - it was our architect and OP's last day (both of them quit at the same time), so I headed to lunch with the architect - 3 hours later, I was back at work to finish up some crappy tasks, before heading off to the going away party for the both of them. My flight had gotten cancelled due to snow in NYC, so I had a Friday morning flight instead. It turned out to be a good thing as I got to stay out late, not worry about flying drunk, and got to crash with OP for a night.

Friday, was my flight back - I dozed most of the flight, and due to time change, didn't get home until almost 9 pm. Blondie had ordered food and saved me some beans and rice (I have a slight obsession with the beans from this argentinean restaurant - it's like crack for me).

Saturday, we did a hardcore workout before Blondie took off to play some poker with some friends. I watched crappy TV all night, and hit the sack early.

Last week was a typical work week - trying to get my head back into work for really the first time since before the holidays SUCKED BALLS. I met Blondie on Monday for dinner at our bar, and then Tuesday we had all-you-can-eat ribs and beer at a restaurant we had gone in on a groupon for - we went with about 8 of us, and while I'm not big into BBQ, I ate my weight in cornbread - so that was good. Friday was a good friend's bday so we met up with him and his friends to celebrate - we met in West Village for dinner before heading over to Greenwich Village for many beers after.

Yesterday was a sleep in late day, with another long nap in the afternoon. It pretty much ruled. We did our grocery shopping yday morning, and stopped to buy a wheelie cart that I can pull home - it's much easier putting milk and cans into that then trying to walk 2 avenues carrying a ton of bags.

Today I'm not doing anything - this week coming up is going to be crazy, so I'm going to just lay here and watch TV all day. I'm so looking forward to it!

In other news, my half-marathon training starts a week from today (on SuperBowl Sunday - that sucks). I've been really busting ass with my runs lately (even though I'm not officially training) and have started incorporating hill work on the treadmill into my routines - it's amazing really. Mr Pooh had told me about some steep hills he has been running outside, so just by pulling in hills 2 days a week, my normal runs are off the hook good right now. And the calories I'm burning doing hills is way more than a flat out normal run. It's exciting to watch. I've maintained my same weight since about August, but it's starting to decrease again now, and I'm happy to watch it go.

--K

Vegas Pics

The lions at MGM

The fountains at Bellagio - my all time favorite Vegas thing

Paris Casino

Freemont St in all it's glory

Golden Gate Casino, neatly tying together Vegas and San Francisco

It kind of ruins it if Kiss needs a cane

I was drunk, is it any shock?

2 blondies live in our house

Random Pictures

In Wisconsin, who doesn't love farm toys for Xmas?

Deer carcasses not welcome!

Stranded in Chicago, but at least it was beautiful

Sears Tower - 103 stories up, a glass balcony, and I almost peed myself

In the Sears Tower, looking at the Hancock Tower

Vegas! California!

Vegas was awesome! Blondie and I flew out on a Tuesday night, and actually had an okay flight (OMG!) We got in and dropped our stuff at our casino, and then we debated. Typically, the first night we are in Vegas we are up all night. But Blondie's bro MG was flying in the next day early and we didn't want to waste his first day there. So we curled up in bed instead with some room service as we were both starving.

The next day we hit the casino early while waiting for MG to get in. We started with Pai Gow and moved onto craps when MG arrived. We decided to eat at PF Changs for lunch (okay, okay, I decided - TX has left a love of chain food in me), and then we explored up and down the strip. We checked out the lions at MGM Grand, we got a 100 oz frozen drink to split between the 3 of us, we saw all the new casinos that have gone up on the strip in the last few years (Aria, Oriental Mandarin), and then headed back to the Venetian to check it out also.

We decided to go to Freemont St on Wed night, and um, well, a very blotto Yours Truly convinced the brothers that riding the zip line down the canopy was a brilliant idea. We toured around Freemont St for a bit before heading back to our hotel and crashing.

The next day I sent the brothers on their way early and slept in to get rid of my hangover. When we did meet back up, we did a bit more exploring before heading for a big greasy mexican lunch. Then I went back and crashed some more while they explored more, and finally we all met up at our casino for a few more table games.

We then caught an evening show of a Cirque Du Soleil - Ka - at MGM. It was incredible - I developed an inappropriate crush on one of the actors in it, and their sheer athleticism just blew all 3 of us out of the water. The set was this giant rotating enormous thing, and they had built these maze like canopy things out into the audience (think Avatar - the trees they lived in - they had a set built like that through the seating area).

That night for dinner, we went and bought a buffett pass - $40 all you can eat for 24 hours. Ugh - never again. But we did it - ate buffett for 3 meals in a row.

Friday we kept it more low key - we did head down and check out NY NY, Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay, but for the most part, we were less energetic. Saturday we said goodbye to MG and caught our flight back.

Sunday I started working out again - and it sucked. I went for a run, and that was okay, but just trying to get my head into it again, hurt. Monday I did my 30 day shred DVD, and then it was off for my first full week of work in about 5 weeks.

On Monday evening, I decided to chop off my hair and dye it blonde (a total change) - I needed something new and it seemed an appropriate time to do this. I like it okay now, but it was really hard to get used to - and it still throws me off sometimes. Afterwards, I met Blondie on at our bar, to say hi to our group since it had been awhile. Then on Tuesday, friends of ours from SF were in town for a few days - they had a flight to Paris and London, but took a couple of days in NY first. We met them for dinner and drinks, and then Blondie headed on home because he's been sick. I stayed out with them for pretty late - and it was so awesome when I started home, because it had started to snow in earnest - loved walking home in it!

Wednesday we took it easy, but then Thursday we met Sweetie J at our bar! She's in town with Dirty Sanchez to celebrate her birthday week. Yesterday was another low key day, but then today it was a long workout at the gym, followed by *finally* getting a pedicure - my toes look so much better now. Blondie was feeling slightly better so he met me for a late lunch after, and now I'm killing time until I head out to meet Sweetie J and Dirty Sanchez for dinner. How old am I if a 9:30 pm dinnertime is blowing my mind?

Tomorrow I have to pack, because yes that's right, it's time for my 2nd cross country trip this year (and it's only mid January). I'm off to San Francisco for a week of work again on Monday morning bright and early. I will also say goodbye to 2 of my best friends from work, both of whom turned in their notices in the last 2 weeks. So it will be good to see them, but sad to see them go.

Hope everyone is doing well!

--K

A bit of a disaster

Travelling at Christmas SUCKS. I'm not a Xmas fan anyway, I'd much rather stay around my home and celebrate solo with the one who is Blonde. Mash not liking Xmas with everybody and their brother travelling, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

This year was even worse - we started off by heading to Chicago, and had a disastrous flight there. They loaded us on our plane, and then made us sit for an hour at the gate before they backed us away and parked us on the tarmac for 2 hours, before we got in line for takeoff. Couple that with a mom travelling by herself with 2 kids under the age of 5 sitting directly in front of us, and it was a nightmare. The only saving grace was our flight attendant who didn't charge us for our vodka due to the family from hell.

We hung out with Slick and Pfunk for a day in Chicago and that was fun, and then rode to the Land of Cheese with Blondie's brother. We spent 5 days with his family, and had a good time - we got to meet the nephew (6 nieces, 1 nephew) and see all of Blondie's extended family. We went all over Blondie's hometown, ate some really good home-cooking, and drank a shit ton of food.

Okay, so time to come home - and everyone knows that the blizzard blew through NYC the day after Xmas. We were flying back the day after the blizzard in the evening, and while a lot of flights were cancelled, ours wasn't the morning we were scheduled to fly. So we caught a ride to Milwauke and took the Amtrak to Chicago to catch our flight back. We were just pulling into Union Station in Chicago when our flight cancelled. No worries we thought - let's see what the airlines can do. Blondie called up, and lo and behold, even though it was Monday we were supposed to be home, they couldn't get us back until Saturday.

We didn't agree to that so finally they booked us on a flight to Philly on Thursday, which left us 3 days of hanging out in Chicago. We got a hotel room the first night and relaxed, before heading over to Slick and Pfunk's for the rest of our trip. We got in some trivia and food and booze, and even got up the Sears Tower to see the glass walkways 103 stories in the air.

Finally it's time to go home - we got to OHare where we waited in the longest security line ever before finding out our flight was delayed 2 hours. I almost cried when we landed in Philly b/c that meant at least we were getting home that night - a 1.5 hour Amtrak ride later, we were back in good old New York City, and I've officially declared Xmas "Shittiest Holiday Ever".

We headed over to Jersey on Friday to hang out with our bartender and his family and friends for New Year's. We had a blast at that - we got over mid afternoon and started drinking, and it was just all about good friends and good times. We spent the night before catching a ride back into the city on Saturday. Since then, we've done nothing. I managed to get in a workout today, but have gained at least 10 lbs over the holidays. I'm about to start on my half-marathon training so I'm not worried about the gain, it's just frustrating that I had no control over it while I was gone.

Our week is another hectic week. I'm back for 2 days at work before we take off for Vegas. It will be a fun 4 days hanging out with Blondie's brother. When we are back from that, I don't have vacation again for a long time.

Hope everyone had a better Xmas than us - and stay tuned for pictures from our trip!

--K