WoW!

Time to get started :)

Earth and Birth Days!

Happy E-arth Day, Everyone! I think I want to celebrate by watching a Nature documentary (it's date night, so don't tell B :) A few of my favorites: DisneyNature's Earth or Oceans, Tapped (about the bottled water industry; how it's affecting the environment and how water from your tap is cleaner and regulated more than what's in that bottle) or Chasing Ice (shows you exactly how global warming is affecting glaciers. It's pretty mind blowing) 

(source)

Today also happens to be the 15th anniversary of Disney's Animal Kingdom. Happy 15th, DAK! You've come a long way from the park that I worked at so long ago (yikes!); Most of the people I worked with opened the park and it was very different. Now, I can't even imagine Asia without Expedition Everest or Dinoland USA without Chester and Hesters Dino-Rama. I do have a new found appreciation for Tarzan Rocks! and am totally sad it's gone (not bias or anything). 

The Tree of Life from the roof of Dinosaur 2001.

It's also Cirque Du Soleil ToTem's 3 yr anniversary (hence, the new found appreciation for Tarzan Rocks!) Seems like an awesome day for good things!

Do you know of a good nature documentary? What's your favorite attraction at DAK?

The Amazing New York Scavenger Hunt

When I saw this Pogo event through Time Out Offers, I double checked that the PIC was in town and I signed us up! Little did I know, I wouldn't be feeling 100% and no where near good enough to run around the city on a scavenger hunt, but I did it anyway (I live on the wild side like that) and it turned out to be an awesome day! 

Their website encouraged teammates to dress up. This was not a problem for us, that's one of our favorite things! Last minute, we decided on Salt and Pepper. 

Sadly, when we got there, we were the only ones dressed up. When I spoke to one of the reps after, she said it all depends on the day. Sometimes everyone is dressed up and sometimes no one is. Luckily, we decided on a mild costume, (the original idea was multi-colored tutus. . .yes, this is considered mild for us!) so we didn't look too different AND we got extra points for it. Score! Plus, it made it a lot more fun for us; when does dressing up not make things better?!

We started by meeting up at Libations bar/restaurant on the Lower East Side. Before arriving, you were supposed to download the ScanQuest app, which is where all of our challenges came from. The event website said to bring a digital camera, but it wasn't needed. You took pictures with the app and the pictures were automatically sent to your phone's photo album. That was a really cool feature, except for a lot of the pictures, the logo was so big it covered us up. 

Once they scanned your code, you were off! You had to complete as many challenges as you could within the time allotted and be back to the bar before your time ran out. As soon as we got scanned in, we strategized. We tried to figure out the clues and where the pictures need to be taken (we had to take a picture with the signs of these locations. Both teammates had to be in all of them, which got quite tricky especially being in NYC and not willing to part with your iPhone). We decided to tackle the landmarks farthest away and work our way back downtown. The farthest being Tiffany & Co. and Ernest and Young. Just what I always wanted- a chance to run through midtown on a Saturday while recovering from a sinus infection. Luckily, I had my PIC with me and honestly, it was a lot of fun! 

Lord & Taylor

Barnes & Noble

Along the way they had a side challenge- collect business cards from 6 different frozen yogurt/ ice cream parlor or matches from 6 different restaurants. We started collecting both but ended up with all the matches first. Who knew restaurants still did this?! And PS- the matches are usually at the hostess stand, not the bar.

Random things to find: Apple & Orange

Save time: Take pictures of things you already have on the train!

Paper & Pen

There was also a "Road block" back at the bar in the middle of the adventure for a ton of points. We made our way back to Libation for the challenge which consisted of a Jenga game- we had to pick 5 pieces, which each had an activity to perform in the bar. Some of ours were acting like we won the lottery, stand on a chair and tell everyone in the bar hello, get 5 autographs, etc. Luckily, this bar seemed to have an awesome atmosphere, so it wasn't terribly disruptive (in fact, most of the people who were having brunch were still there when we finished the game- dancing in the aisles! For a $24 brunch with bottomless mimosas, this is definitely a brunch place I'd like to check out in the future). 

Off we went to get the rest of the photos. This time, we stayed close to get the rest of the challenges done. These challenges consisted of 2 things (ham&eggs, moon&stars, mickey&minnie, etc.) that had to be in the picture. Honestly, I didn't think we did too bad. It did say to get creative with our photos, and creative we got!  We missed 2 photo opportunities- Milk & Cookies, Peanut Butter & Co. in the Village but we figured we would make up for it by getting all the other ones. We headed back to the bar and waited for the winners to be announced. 

Little did we know, we won! 

That was a surprise, especially considering I was not functioning at 100%, but that just goes to show you how awesome The A Team is when we're together! We won a tshirt, a $60 gift certificate to Naked Wines, tickets to The Big Quiz Thing, The Memory Show musical, and a Quiet Show event. I'm excited to see what all these shows are about! 

A tshirt that says I'm amazing? How did they know? :)

I really enjoyed the event and would suggest it to anyone wanting to spice up a Saturday. We definitely put our knowledge of the city to good use. It was extremely helpful to know the subway system and to know different areas of town. Even though, neither of us knew much about the Lower East Side and The Village before this- we will definitely won't forget the area anytime soon!

Have you ever done a scavenger hunt through your city?

3 Things.

I'm trying out a new technique. It's called focusing on the positive. Novel idea, right? There is way too much crazy going on in the world not to. I'm loving that I feel human again! I've been craving a good yoga session, too, but haven't gotten around to it. I hope I can start slowly going back to the gym next week. . .or whenever I stop losing my breath at the smallest activity. Man, is it easy to lose that endurance.

10 points to whoever knows where this is from :)

4 years ago today, I lost one of my favorite people in the world. 2 years ago today, I decided to make it a positive by choosing it as the day I quit smoking (it was also the day of The Boston Marathon. . so it had all kinds of significance). It's crazy how so much can happen through the years that all these things feel like a lifetime ago.

Travel Day! 

 Yes, I'm only going for the weekend.

No, it's not a race-cation and no, I don't know why I need so much stuff.

Reason #672 you know you're turning into a New Yorker: Bringing luggage onto a train at rush hour no longer gives you anxiety. Instead it gives you small joy to hit people "on accident" as you try to exit the crowded train because no one will move. Hey, that's positive! Another small joy: disguising your yoga pants as work appropriate (again). What can I say? It's a fun challenge. I should probably stop running around the office asking if people can tell they're yoga pants if I actually want to get away with it, but it's just so much fun!

What's your plan for focusing on the positive?
Any awesome plans for the weekend?

wow

Spoiler alert: this is tomorrow's date. Thought it was more appropriate.

A Blue and Yellow Heart Day

I'd like to apologize to those of you who read my post yesterday (even when it's been taken down, if you open it through a reader it still shows up for some reason), it was posted before the tragic events happened and was respectfully taken down as soon as possible. I didn't feel comfortable leaving the content up. If you did get a chance to read the post, you know The Boston Marathon does hold a special place in my heart and I would never want something to be misconstrued. 

This time of year already has great significance to me, and yesterday just added sadness to my already heavy heart. I don't really have much to say about this at the moment except my thoughts and love are with Boston and the running community. 

Date Night: Cirque du Soleil's Totem edition

This week's date night was extra special! We went to see Cirque du Soleil's Totem. It was held in the parking lot of Citifield. That stop on the 7 train is always fun, seeing as the Flushing Meadows Park is there. This is where the famous unisphere from the World's Fair is and "spaceships" from Men in Black are- I also ran a half marathon there last year.

You can totally see them right? 

We walked over to get a better view, but it was freezing and the wind was insane, so that's the best I could get. Little did we know a Mets game was letting out at that moment, so getting to the other side of the subway station where the Cirque tents were was  interesting to say the least. We did get there early, so we had time to take pictures and hang out in the concessions tent.

Don't forget to get your picture with someone from the cast, thanks to Inifiniti.

 

You know I had to do it.

I was a huge fan that they were selling refillable water bottles and providing water to do so. I believe this has to do with their partnership with One Drop, an organization that helps provide clean water in developing countries. That really impressed me, especially because I am all about the refillable water bottle! 

The Grand Chapiteau's tent atmosphere made for a very intimate event. This was new for us and completely different from when we saw Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall. We were in one of the upper sections, but we still felt very close to the stage. There didn't seem to be a bad seat in the house. 

If you haven't heard anything about Totem, it's concept is about the evolution of mankind. I was interested to see how this was going to be worked throughout the show and I was not disappointed. I can't even pick a favorite act because they were all breath taking. I can say the stage was my favorite character; it definitely took the show to a different level. It was beyond impressive, even more so that it's a touring stage! Kudos to the designers and those who manage that.

Before this weekend, Zarkana was the only other Cirque we had seen (I saw Dralion many moons ago and don't remember much) and our favorite. Even though it was amazing, Totem totally blew it out of the water. If you get a chance to see this, I highly recommend. I can't wait for the next tour to get here so I can add another one to my list! Hopefully, we can add La Nouba when we go in October and I'm thinking we need to take a Cirque-specific trip to Vegas sometime soon- they have 6 different cirque shows playing there right now!

Are you a cirque fan? Which one is your favorite?

Journey Bar giveaway is open until Monday!