all my single ladies

this might be the best little one dance along yet . . .

boston wrap-up

i finished up my week with a precious friend from work, Lauren. she recommended a south side restaurant named beehive and after wine and cheese in her adorable city brownstone we walked the few blocks to the restaurant.

beehive is a funky little restaurant with a bit of a bohemian feel. we sat on the top floor and overlooked a jazz band with old school burlesque movies on the brick stone wall. we had the best time. we talked about work, friends, travel, marriage. i had the best time. here’s a shot of the film:

after dinner, we mosied across the street to a place called the butcher block. any place that cures that own prosciutto is tops in my book. yum-o. i made myself physically sick eating more a dinner at beehive and then cheese and an antipasto plate at the butcher block. i scored a free drink of champagne at stop #2 because i knew that sweetbreads were the thymus gland. be proud jacq.

here’s a shot of the fantastic meats at the butcher block:

in an un-related to boston note, alex and i ran in our new shoes for the first time tonight. a little sore, but i’m liking them.

i got a new pair of shoes

and they’re not even cute. well, not in the traditional cute shoes sense.

alex and i made a visit to peachtree running company tonight and had ourselves fitted for new (aka not the cheapest) running shoes. like actual made for running shoes. not what’s on sale at belks. okay, alex had nicer shoes. i paid a whopping $35 for mine and well, they weren’t the most supportive. the tops of my feet kept flaring up and i knew i needed something different.

the fitting process is pretty intense. they check out your stance, make you stand on some contraption that checks the pressure of your feet, and run and run and run. apparently everyone “pronates” to some degree. i’m a moderate overpronator which means my foot rolls a bit to the outside. alex is a severe overpronater. yikes. 🙂

we tried on about 5 or 6 pairs each and each walked out with a brand new pair. WAHOO!

we both happened to pick out mizuno’s (which i had never heard of until about 3 hours ago) and we’re psyched.

yeah, i know these people

this weekend i witnessed some pretty serious athletic prowess. how could i not be inspired by these folks? saturday morning we made or way to watch the man butlers in their sprint triathlon at parris island. let’s talk a bit about parris island: gorgeous! i know most marines would care never to visit that place again but as a civilian i thought the campus was just lovely.

alex started first with his division,  the clydesdales, while alex’s dad competed with his age group. alex’s mom and i found alex right before he began his swim and got our cameras ready for action.

here’s what we thought was alex

then i realized that he wasn’t hairy enough to be my hubs. 🙂

i caught him next on his bike transition and then returning from his bike.

rachel sent him out on his run with a short jog and we anxiously awaited alex’s dads start.

about this time senior butler took his place in the pool. i was stationed at the pool exit so i could capture the transitions. here’s mr. b on his way to prepare for the bike.

and here he his starting his bike portion.

alex came in for his finish — he beat his goal but almost a minute! go alex!

we caught alex’s dad on his bike/run transition

and here he is crossing the finish line

later that evening rachel competed in an 8k in habersham, sc. those of you that have been to daniel island it’s very similar. much smaller but with all the charm and city planning. here’s rachel completing her race. she’s so fast i couldn’t even capture her. 🙂

yeah, so i’m much better at eating. after the race the folks hosted an oyster roast. i should aim for competing in a shucking competition. here’s me doing what i do best. i was not aware we were going to this oyster roast before the trip and so i was without my oyster gear. this is the first time in a while i’ve shucked “gloveless” and i managed to survive without battlewounds. i consider this a major accomplishment.

and in unsports related news here is rachel and here cutie pie of a new puppy. i’m not sure if she’s decided on a name just yet but i think she’s leaning towards “crash.” yeah, you can guess who contributed that name.

greetings from bah-ston

i’m in (rainy) new england this week blogging from downtown boston. being here just reminds me that i’m really a city mouse at heart. i love walking everywhere, getting dinner at 9, jaywalking through traffic. i grabbed lunch in chinatown and had a new england clam bake for dinner. eat your heart out. with all the yummy food i’m glad i’m using my own two feet for public transportation. i’m pretty sure if i was a real city girl that i would be a skinny minnie. i’m walking about 2 miles each day just to work and back. add in my 5k training and i’m getting some serious workouts!

speaking of that 5k training, i’ve made a commitment to my first on april 17th. it’s now public. i will likely have the slowest time ever recorded in the history of 5ks but i just want to finish the thing. so now it’s public so i have to follow through. 🙂 if alex and his dad can complete a triathlon (more to come) and his sister, rachel, can kick butt in an 8k i can follow through on my goals.

i may not be an athlete but i’m a great cheerleader

this weekend alex is competing in his first triathlon of 2010: The Parris Island Triathlon

http://www.setupevents.com/?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=1432

i’m not going to lie, going onto a military base for a triathlon is a bit intimidating. especially when they tell you that they may not let you on if you don’t have proper documentation. but hey, i’m there to cheer the hubs on. and maybe because i want a shrimp burger from the shrimp shack. 🙂

it’s also alex’s dads first triathlon. EVER! he’s been training very hard and we’re super proud. it looks their start times are going to work out perfectly so that we’ll get to watch both swin and see all transitions. GO TEAM BUTLER!!

and it’s been a long time since i’ve smelled the salt water and felt sand between my toes and i’ve really missed the beach.

canada is exactly like the states, only completely different

i like traveling to canada (especially calgary and vancouver) because there are many similarities. my humor translates. they speak english. they also love their wine.

but canada boasts a few big differences (and i mean besides government regulated healthcare). let’s hit on everyone’s favorite: diversity. vancouver boasts a large asian influence. i love it. it translates to great restaurants and when i’m traveling, well, that’s what i’m living for. noticable missing? african americans. although i’m not entirely sure that’s the correct term because clearly canadians are not americans. but i noticed the difference immediately and thought it was well, odd! but i also met a lot of australians, english, scottish, and irish folks, too.

last week i was working with a university and we talked about the difference between canadian and american higher education. i think the canadian system is a mix of the british and american — they definitely do not have the tie to their colleges through family traditions that we have in the states. as in, they didn’t know if they had a hockey team. academics always trump athletics. can you imagine not knowing if your school had a football team? but they see college as a right instead of a privilege. different way of thinking.

maybe this is just a west coast thing but they’re overall healthier: active lifestyles, better eating habits. heck, there are recycling bins everywhere! most of the people i met have either one or no cars per household. that is saying a lot for a city that is smaller than atlanta. (atlanta metro = 5+ million, vancouver metro = 2 million).

i really, really enjoyed my trip. as in, i would spend my very own money (or hard-earned FF miles) to visit. and i think that says a lot. 🙂

Not it!

Ashlee tagged me in a blog game of sorts so here goes:

i had to slightly modify mine because “blog” is the first photo folder and well, you’ve seen all the photos in that folder and it happens to be the 10th picture was a rug. doesn’t make for a good story. so i moved on to the second folder.

Rules:
1. Open your 1st photo folder.
2. Scroll down to the 10th picture.
3. Post the photo and story behind it.
4. Tag 5 more people.

this photo was taken on july 3, 2008 about two minutes after alex proposed. i think my lack of stylish crabbing attire is proof that i didn’t expect the engagement. 🙂 alex hid a message in a bottle and got down on one knew after i pulled up a very special crab trap.

so i tag mere, steph, and holly, amy, and jacq to get blogs so i can tag you girls, too!

not your mommas benihana

vancouver is known for its cultural diversity. what does this mean to me? a whole bunch of awesome food!

on the way back from the gym last night, i spotted a little asian restaurant. i checked it out online (all i could ready from the street was “garden”) and it turned out to be a trendy little place.

when you walk into a mexican restaurant and you’re the only gringo there you know you’re in for some great, authentic food. well that applied here, just sub japanase. the menu was funky, the atmosphere social, and the drinks delicious.

i had the tuna granite which was like a tuna carpaccio with melon and melon shaved ice.

and the miso black cod was out of this world good

i had a some kind of melon drink concoction with almond ice cream. i saw melon and float and i was in. i just might make a return trip friday evening and treat myself again. 🙂

loving vancouver!

me, the airport, and saturday night

canada hates me. yep, those crazy canucks don’t even want me in their country. must be canada karma.

so what better way to spend your saturday night than in the minneapolis airport awaiting your fate with customs. here’s the skinny. i had to book my trip a day earlier than my normal sunday travel to guarantee a nights sleep. i convinced myself this was a great way to check out the vancouver scene. after all, i haven’t been here in almost four years and even then i didn’t get a chance to leave my hotel much. fine, fly out in saturday it is.

well i’m leaving for my flight and making my way to the airport when i hit obstacle #1: killer traffic. yes, i know you’re thinking “kate, you live in atlanta. of course there’s traffic.” well, not usually on a saturday afternoon at 3:30. ah well, i get through it only to realize (thanks to the hubs) that i’ve left my passport. obstacle #2: must make frantic exit off interstate and meet alex to grab passport and travel docs. i’m panicking about being late but i actually make it to the airport.

giant sigh of relief.

but no, there’s more. obstacle #3: my passport is in my maiden name. my ticket is in my married name. i have a copy of my marriage certificate for documentation but the gate agent doesn’t know if this is enough to verify my name change. WHAT???!!!! apparantly i should have brought the original. i pretty much only travel with copies of important documents that are the only originals in existance.

 so i’m freaking out a bit. i’m just sitting here in minneapolis waiting for the call to check passports. even if i make it through here i’m going to be super nervous in cananda. i don’t want to get stuck in the vancouver airport. it freaks me out. there are random stuffed giant mammoths that i don’t want to cuddle with.

UPDATE: After being stressed for 10 hours, the canadian customs lady did not give a second look to the copy of my marriage license. i would like to kick the counter man in atlanta’s butt for freaking me out.