Disneyland Day!

Since I've been dealing with a sore knee for a few weeks and have been advised to take a break from running, the husband and I decided to opt for a different kind of workout a few weekends ago...a nice day hike through Disneyland!

I was antsy to ride the new "Luigi's Rollickin Roadsters" ride, so we made a beeline straight to Cars Land, stopping to grab a fastpass for Radiator Spring Racers before hopping in line for Luigi's. Shortly after getting in line, there was an announcement that the ride was down, so many hopped out and we scooted forward. It had been marked a 60 minute wait when we got in line, so we didn't feel bad waiting around while the line was down, and figured we were moving faster with it broken than with it running due to the amount of people leaving. Pretty soon we were only about 75 people from the front, and they began giving out return passes to come back when the ride was back up. We'd take it!

After "dropping" by the Tower of Terror, we moseyed back to Luigi's and, sure enough, the ride was back on. We were directed through the exit and to the next loading area, and in total, spent much less than the originally predicted 60 minutes in line.

I have mixed feeling about the new ride. First of all, I'm biased because I loved the Flying Tires. Yes, they were difficult to fly and a little boring, but I loved the nostalgia in a new version of an original Disneyland ride (the Flying Saucers in Tomorrowland).

However, as sad as I was to see the tires go, I was quite excited about the new Luigi's, since it utilizes technology that no US Disney park had used yet (but we experienced during the Ratatouille ride in Disneyland Paris). The technology uses a system of magnets underneath the surface that the ride vehicles use to allow the vehicles to move freely without tracks, giving them many more movement possibilities.

Waiting to board the ride, we had a great time watching the cars "dance" around each other as the music played. It was exciting to see the cars wheeling around in various formations, like a classic Italian Dance. However, riding it was a different story. The ride did not feel as smooth as Ratatouille. It was a bit jerky and had a lot of sudden twists and turns. Additionally, you can't see and appreciate the formations of the dancing cars while you are in them, which leaves you feeling like you're wheeling around with no purpose.

One of the adorable cars

Ultimately, I think it's fun to watch the ride, and I look forward to seeing it operating during the holidays, as supposedly they will be adding Christmas songs to the dances. For now, though, I'm okay avoiding the hour+ line.

After Luigi's and lunch, we grabbed some ice cream from Ghirardelli and decided to eat it while doing the annual Easter Egg hunt. In the past we've done the Disneyland side egg hunt, but we were already in DCA so we decided to switch it up this year. We bought our map and stickers and set off to find the character eggs. When completed, we brought our map back to Elias and Co. to get our prize, a Cheshire Cat egg!

Of course, no trip to DCA is complete for me without saying hello to my favorite lucky rabbit (especially with Easter so close). I had thought ahead and not only wore my favorite Oswald shirt, but brought my ever-growing lanyard with my Oswald pin collection. He was quite excited by my lanyard and gave me a kiss on the hand!

Oswald loved my lanyard

We decided to head home before we got too exhausted and irritated with the crowds, which had grown quite a bit since we arrived. Overall it was another wonderful Disney Day!

Chick Trip

When I was about 7-8, my mom decided that she wanted to start taking each my sister and I on weekend getaways each year for some one-on-one time. While my sister liked exploring a new city each year, I quickly fell in love with Carmel-by-the-Sea, and insisted that we return each year, stay in the same hotel, eat at the same restaurants, and browse the same shops. Did my Mom get a little tired of that? Probably. But she humored me, and we've stuck with it, going nearly every year.

Not only do I love Carmel, but it seems to run in my blood. My grandmother and grandfather used to visit every year and even my parents enjoyed vacation there before I was born.

As I've gotten older and my mom's parents have fallen in and out of health, it's been harder scheduling our "chick trips". The last time we went was almost 5 years ago, so we were way overdue.

The whole trip was supposed to be a surprise for my mom, but that went out the window pretty quickly when my dad missed the "secret" memo. She was ecstatic, nevertheless, and it gave us both something to look forward to for months.

On Saturday, I flew up to Sacramento, where Mom picked me up and we headed for Carmel, making a stop for wine tasting and to pick up a few bottles at a winery in Livermore before battling traffic down to Carmel. We arrived to find our little hotel unchanged (a relief after finding out that it was now being managed by a company that runs a lot of BnBs). The same manager that has been running the inn was still at the front desk! We unloaded the car and sighed in contentment. We were finally on vacation!

The Coachman's Inn

That evening we wandered around the quaint town, stopping for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Club Jalapeno, before heading back to our room to soak in the hot tub and relax. After sleeping in the next day (which we almost never do), we had a quick buffet breakfast and headed to Monterey to get some shopping in.

For dinner on Sunday night, we decided to head over to the Carmel Mission Ranch, which is owned by Clint Eastwood. It had been a favorite spot of my grandmother's but neither my mom nor I had ever eaten there. We were absolutely taken by the beautiful property and the rustic restaurant. It seemed as if nothing had changed since the 60's and yet everything was immaculate. Our filets were perfect and paired with fresh asparagus and delicious potato gratin. The drinks and dessert were delicious as well. We toasted to Grandma and Grandpa and enjoyed every minute at their favorite spot.

The most delicious filet!

The next morning we said goodbye to our lovely inn and headed up the coast to Santa Cruz so I could get a quick moment with my old college campus and we could visit my aunt before heading back up to the airport to drop me off. UCSC was on Spring Break, so the campus was quiet and absolutely beautiful in the drizzle and gloom. It's just how I love to remember it. After a walk around Porter College (and a quick call to my college friend, Tim, to tell him where I was), I grabbed a requisite "Squiggle Picture" and we headed to lunch.

One of the many beautiful murals adorning Porter College

The Squiggle!

The drive up to Sacramento was one of the rainiest, scariest, most traffic filled drive I've ever had from Santa Cruz. It was a relief to finally get to the airport and stop worrying about if the traffic was going to make me miss my flight.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. It was so refreshing to get out of the city and see greenery and open spaces. I relish the time that I got to spend with my mom, and so look forward to planning our next getaway!

Mama and I

A Beau-TEA-ful Afternoon

Contrary to popular belief, running is not the only thing that I do in my spare time. This past weekend I spent a delightful Saturday afternoon at Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel, partaking in their new offering of a Classic Afternoon Tea.

To begin, I love tea. I always have. Until I started working full time and needed a little more caffeine in my morning, tea was what I drank every morning before work/school/etc. And as much as I love tea, I had somehow never been to a classic high tea. Therefore, I was thrilled when Disneyland announced that they would be offering tea every afternoon, and my mother-in-law made a reservation for she and her friend, Susan, and I to try it out.

Our reservation was for 1pm, so we had a leisurely morning before she picked me up to drive to Orange County. Loving any excuse to dress up, I opted for one of my favorite skirts from Pinup Girl Clothing, the trains skirt from the Mary Blair collection, which I paired with comfy flats and a fun necklace. We picked Susan up in Orange County and headed to the resort.

L to R: Susan, Me, and Adrienne (my fabulous mother-in-law)

Arriving at Steakhouse 55, the three of us were famished and couldn't wait for tea to begin. We were escorted to our table and told that we had two options for the tea, either the "Classic Tea", which came with an assortment of scones, tea sandwiches, and desserts, or the "Premium Tea", which, for $15 more also included a glass of sparkling wine, a green salad, and two boxed truffles to take home. Go big or go home, right? So we sipped our sparkling wine while waiting for our tea and nibbles.

The bubbly!

All of  the food and tea was wonderful. There were over a dozen different types of tea to choose from and each one was brewed fresh and brought out in a small teapot. You could try as many teas as you wanted, and we tried some truly delicious ones.

The salad came with a delicious dressing and was a nice healthy starter. The scones were magnificent, still warm from the over, with an array of clotted cream, blueberry compote, and lemon curd for spreading. The tea sandwiches didn't disappoint, and I happily had one of each type (lox, egg salad, watercress, and caprese). Finally, the desserts were to die for. Beautiful macarons, chocolate dipped strawberries, and fruit tarts.

So delicious!

By the time we finished our tea and goodies, nearly two hours had passed, and we almost had to be rolled out the door from stuffing ourselves with all of the delicacies (I even requested an extra scone, which they happily obliged). We never once felt rushed during the experience, and our waitress was truly wonderful, describing each food and tea as we were served.

I would happily go back and have even made reservations for the husband and I on Dapper Day this coming May.

After the tea, we hopped into Disneyland for a short time, but it was crowded and we were full from our meal, so after grabbing a caramel apple from the Candy Palace and a quick picture with the train engine at Main Street Station, we bid the park a good evening and headed home.

As sad as I am that the trains aren't running this year, I love getting to take photos with them!

San Diego Mardi Gras 15k Race Recap

When I started working at Pepperdine, I found out that one of my coworkers in the library also began running recently and had actually done one of the same races that I had recently. She and I quickly bonded over running and decided that we'd love to do a race together (although we were also in agreement that that did not mean that we would actually run at the same pace).

As luck would have it, we found a race that was Mardi Gras themed (Kim hails from New Orleans) and it was a distance that neither of us had done before, a 15k (hello, automatic PR!). The race was in San Diego, so we decided to make a weekend of it!

We took Amtrak from Union Station in LA down to the Old Town San Diego station. From there, we had a pretty short (but also kind of sketchy) walk to the hotel that Kim had booked with travel points (yay free room!). The hotel was perfect and we relaxed for a bit before taking a Lyft down to the Gaslamp Quarter for dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. OSF is my favorite restaurant and there isn't one in LA so when I saw that there was one in San Diego (plus, we needed to carbo-load, obviously) I jumped at the chance. I got my tried-and-true, Tortellini, or "little green hats" as I called them as a tiny child. Yum!

My Old Spaghetti Factory favorite- Tortellini!

After we were thoroughly stuffed, we caught a Lyft back to our hotel and called it an early night.

The race was at Hospitality Point in San Diego, and it turned out to be a pretty cool place to run. The weather was just about perfect. Cool and a little foggy, but it warmed up a bit during the race. The 15k runners started first and made our way up the bike path, over the bridge, and continued along the San Diego River. My plan for the race was pretty simple: Redeem myself for my disappointing marathon time. I wanted to stick as close to 10 minute miles as possible, finish in under 1:35, and keep my times pretty consistent throughout. I was cautious not to go out too fast, because the last thing that I wanted to do was bonk in the last two miles.

Kim and I before the race

Luckily, my body was cooperating that day, and I felt mentally and physically strong. I saw Kim around each of the turn-arounds, and we high-fived before focusing back on our pace. The mile splits that I did catch on my watch were pretty consistently in the 9:35-9:45 range, and I knew that not only was I going to finish in under 1:35, but I could finish in 1:30 if I pushed myself through the last two miles. As I approached the finish line and could see the clock ticking through 1:29, I picked up the pace and crossed the finish at 1:29:48. Woo-hoo!

Right before the finish, realizing that I was going to CRUSH my goal!

As I caught my breath and waited for Kim to finish, I chatted with a few other runners, including a couple that complimented my skirt! Kim finished strong, also beating her goal time, and we wandered around while we recovered. When we headed to the board to check the official results, I saw that the person who came in second place in my age group had only finished 20 seconds ahead of me, and the third place spot was still empty. After an agonizing few minutes of waiting for the updates results, I found out that I came in 3rd in my age group! I've never placed in a race before and was thrilled!

3rd Place in my age group!

I don't know that I would travel to San Diego for the same race again, but it was a fun and well-constructed race. It was a fairly flat course, and other than a swarm of little bugs flying into my face at one point, overall fairly pleasant. My only complaints about this race are the same as the other Wiz Events race that I did last summer. There are NO porta potties on the race course. When you've hydrated well and it's a cool day, sometimes you need to go. On the upside of this, I didn't stop at all, which led to a much better time than if I had had the opportunity for a bathroom break. There were also very few water stations, and I was thankful that it was so cool outside. Post-race refreshments were great, with bagels and peanut butter along with the usual bananas. They also had a New Orleans style food truck, but we didn't partake. Overall, it was a great race day and I came out of it proud of how I did and with a renewed faith in my abilities.

The fun hat and medals that we got at the race, along with may embellished Sparkle Athletic skirt