running, eating, & living in the real world

So far I am really digging this whole twenty-five business.

• I can now rent a car on my own
• My car insurance just went down (I even got a $15 refund check in the mail last week for it)
• It just sounds cool to say I am a ‘quarter of the century old’
• Oh, and it just so happened that I am celebrating turning 25 in New York City! One of the best birthdays ever!!

Every morning I have a routine where I return from my runs and immediately turn my tv on to channel four where I listen to the Today Show as I get ready for work. I love waking up with Matt, Meredith, and Al and could think of no better way to spend the morning of my 25th birthday than meeting them live and in person!

We arrived at Rockafellar Center around 7:30 am and were able to watch some of the live shots from the outside looking in.

  

Then Al, Meredith and Matt came outside for roughly 15 minutes of shooting.

I was able to shake hands with all three of them. They were each very nice and made sure to shake hands with and say hi with every person standing outside. I was just sad that it never occured to me to get a photo with one of them!

Al said we looked like we were freezing (we were) and we told him we were all the way from Florida! My Mom also mentioned it was mine and Josh’s birthday and he wished us Happy Birthday.

We stayed at the Today Show just long enough to freeze out pa-tooties off! We needed a place to warm up and have a quick bite to eat and the security guys at the Today Show recommended a great deli down the street.

I couldn’t leave NYC without having at least one bagel!

I had a toasted pumpernickel bagel with walnut & raisin cream cheese.

With some GORGEOUS fruit from the salad bar that was $$, but worth it.

The breakfast was perfect and I loved the zillions of options the deli offered. We need places like this in Orlando! Its not fair there is one on every block here.

We spent the rest of the morning doing a little shopping.

I found this book at Urban Outfitters and was so tempted ot buy it before my brother reminded me I live no where near a Trader Joes.

Honestly i was a little disappointed by Dylan’s Candy Bar. It was exactly the same as the one in Orlando. Nothing special about it to me.

I had a list of things I wanted to do while in New York City and eating at Serendipity was one of them!

We managed to avoid the typical line out front by arriving at the restaurant about 5 minutes before it opened. We were allowed to wait in the warmth inside and were seated at 11:30 on the dot.

My heart was set on one of their world famous frozen hot chocolates! I picked the mint flavor and it did not disappoint!

The frozen mint hot chocolate was the perfect birthday treat. It reminded me of a mint chocolate shake: very rich and delicious.

Josh and I ’shared’ the drink but I would say I drank about 75% of it. It was just too good. My lips were drawn to the straw.

Since I started with a cold drink, I decided to go with a HOT bowl of vegetarian chili for my actual lunch.

The chili was great. It had bits of potatoes in it and was loaded with vegetables. I ate about 3/4s of the bowl and gave the rest to my brother.

The weather was absolutely amazing after lunch. The sun was shining bright and it had actually warmed up a bit. We took advantage of the great weather with some more walking of the city.

My brother really wanted to see the UN while he was here.

We hit up Crumbs for a birthday cupcake.

Apparently there seems to be a big debate on which cupcakes are the best in NYC. Everyone on a twitter has a different opinion to offer up!

There was most notably a love/hate relationship with Crumbs on twitter. Obviously I had to check it out for myself to give my honest opinion on the matter.

First of all, I was blown away by the great selection! So many wonderful flavors to choose from!

I ended up with the Cappuccino

My brother went with the Reeses cupcake and we got them to go to enjoy back at the hotel.

I used a chop stick to split mine in half.

Yum! In my honest opinion the Crumbs cupcake was delicious! I hate to say it, but I enjoyed it more than the Buttercup Cupcake I had on Saturday. I still have the other half left to enjoy later.

We had to change hotels this afternoon and I was excited to see two of my favorite people had finally made it to NYC.

Love, Love, Love TIna and Sabrina!!

When I checked in I was excited to find a goody bag waiting for me at the front desk.

Big THANKS to Electrolux for hooking me up this week.

I have a date with the hotel gym before the festivites begin tonight for the big event!

25 is going to be a great year!

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

It is going to be a busy day of CELEBRATING in the city!

Be back tonight with all the details!!!

After I crossed the finish line of the Disney Marathon last January I swore I would never race in sub-freezing temps again. Not even a month later and I’ve already gone back on my word.

The chilly NYRR Gridiron 4 Miler was simply amazing and worth every freezing step.

My morning started nice and early at 6:00 am. The race didn’t start until 9:00, but I wanted to make sure I had enough time to get to the start without getting lost on the subway.

I had a Odawella Superfood Bar while getting dressed.

And ate an apple on the way out of the hotel.

My Mom, twin bro, and I had no problems hopping on the subway and making our way to Central Park for the race. We arrived in plenty of time to ensure I could use the porta potties and meet up with a group of fellow bloggers to run the 4 miler with.

Jesse, Me, Ashley, and Dori

I met Jesse at the Healthy Living Summit this past summer and had the pleasure of meeting Ashley for the first time this morning.

Loved Ashley! So glad we were able to spot each other before the race! And a big THANKS to Jesse for picking up my race bib and shirt earlier this weekend.

Jesse was planning on running a super speedy race so she went ahead in the corrals, while Ashley and Dori I headed to the back. We intended to run at an easy pace and just enjoy the experience (at least that was my plan lol)

By the way are you digging my racing outfit?

I swear under all those sweats is actual technical running gear! The plan was to discard the sweats before the start, but I was just sooo cold that I left it on. I didn’t regret that decision for a second.

This race was HUGE!

There were people as far as the eyes could see and it took at least 10 minutes to cross the start line once the race started.

Running through Central Park was absolutely gorgeous. I tried to soak everything in and enjoy as much of the course as possible. I was really glad I decided to not go full out on this race and instead run it easy with a couple of new friends.

Ashley, Dori and I had a blast chit chatting along the way. Ashley even made sure to pick out a few of her favorite Central Park landmarks, including the sport where her husband proposed to her.

Beautiful, right?

Before I knew it the race was over and we were heading to the finish line.

I think we finished in around 41 minutes?

It was a fun race and I am so happy I braved the cold again to run in Central Park.

My Mom and Twin Bro forgot to take photos at the end, so we got some ‘let’s pretend’ shot for fun.

After the race a group of bloggers and reader’s headed to Arte Cafe for a nice hot brunch.

Plenty of people had suggested Arte Cafe, so I was happy when Dori had made reservations for the group of us this week.

The table was served cranberry (raspberry?) muffins to start.

I immediately dug in and enjoyed every sweet, crumbly bite.

For my main meal I ordered the Brioche French Toast with a warm, cinnamon apple sauce.

The french toast was delicious with the apple sauce, but I was a little disappointed by the small portion. Everyone else had great plates full of food and I had two tiny squares of french toast.

Heather took pity on me and shared some of her omelet.

Heather’s omelet – full of squash and carrots – was very tasty. Thanks Heather!

Ashley baked the group Vegan Macaroons for dessert.

I had one after breakfast and the other a couple of hours later.

Group shot!

(Sorry its a little blurry! I didn’t discover the manual focus was on until later)

I had a blast at brunch getting to know everyone! There are some incredible people in this city. Plenty of excuses to come back and visit in the near future.

After a shower and a quick change of clothes my Mom, twin bro and I were off for a little more exploring downtown.

Statue of Liberty

Wall Street Bull

Chinatown

Ashley had suggested we stop at Nice Green Bo Restaurant for some great cheap Dim Sum while we were in Chinatown.

Loved how hot green tea was automatically served at the table.

The three of us decided to split four options.

Shanghai Shu-Mei

Pork Spring Rolls

Vegetable Dumplings

Sweet Red Bean Pasty

This was by far my favorite.

It was like a donut with a red bean center instead of jelly or custard. It was actually pretty tasty – a nice mix of sweet and savory.

I left Chinatown and set out in the city for the first time on my own. I took the subway all by myself (Yes, I am an hour away from turning 25 and am very proud of this fact) and met Betsy at The City Bakery for a sweet treat.

Betsy ran the Gridiron this morning as well, but was unable to meet for brunch afterwards. She suggested we meet for coffee instead to say Hi and I told her as long as the place was famous for something tasty then I was all hers.

She did not disappoint when selecting her location. The City Bakery looked and smelled absolutely amazing and as soon as I walked in and saw the crazy Hot Chocolate station I knew exactly what I was ordering.

I ordered a small flavor of the day with one of their famous marshmallows.

I felt like I was sipping pure chocolate. This little bowl was very rich and divine!

I ended up drinking (eating?) my hot chocolate with a spoon and concentrated on having a piece of marshmallow in every bite. It was so rich I could only handle a quarter of the drink.

I also enjoyed a few bites of Betsy’s Blueberry Cornbread she had ordered.

An hour of gabbing later, Betsy and I sadly had to part ways.

She headed uptown to a Super Bowl Party and I headed midtown to meet my Mom and win bro at the Empire State Building.

I’ve been to the Empire State Building three times before, but have never been to the top. Each time the line was too long to even fathom waiting in.

This time, however, we lucked out without a line and decided to buy tickets to the top.

It was cooold at the top, but the views were worth it!

Now I have a sudden urger to see Sleepless in Seattle for the 10th time.

We ended our evening at Candle Cafe for some tasty vegan eats.

Candle Cafe was cute, quaint and exactly what I was expecting. The menu looked fantastic and I wish I had more time to come back and try everything,

My twin bro and I both ordered the BBQ Tempeh and Sweet Potato Sandwich and were both very impressed.

I need to remember to try this flavor combination at home sometime.

What a day! I a officially exhausted and I know I just have another full day ahead of me!

Tomorrow is mine and Josh’s Birthday and we plan to celebrate with the Today Show and Serendipity. I can’t wait!!!

Good Night!