Wedding Weekend

Charleston is a lovely city. How it has been that I’ve only just visited is beyond my comprehension. I spent this holiday weekend celebrating with my friends and approving of their matrimony in a truly wonderful city.

The drive is a bit long, but has inspired me to do more weekend trips throughout the fall – outside of my requisite quarterly trip to Ohio and Las Vegas. Man, another Vegas trip is looming in the very near future. Have I mentioned that I am kinda over Las Vegas?

Driving through the Tennessee / North Carolina Smokey Mountains was beautiful and I am planning a trip to Ashville, North Carolina for October to enjoy the fall foliage. However, this weekend the mountains were green and lush and Smokey! And by that I mean foggy and misty. Traversing South Carolina isn’t as picturesque until you get closer to the coast. Palm trees and pine trees co-mingle along the highway. The wedding took place in a suburb of Charleston, Mt. Pleasant – closer to the beach near Ilse of Palms. Very golf-y and vacation-y. But Charleston proper seemed like a British version of New Orleans (who’s French and Spanish heritage is heavily evident).

Some highlights:

Old South Carriage Company buggy tours. Did this on Saturday, before the evening wedding. We had an awesome tour guide, Becky, who had lots of interesting stories – see my flickr for deets. One of my favorite stories revolved around the Old City jail and how haunted it is. I also like the explanation for the porch ceilings that are painted blue: keeps ghosts away (because it looks like daylight blue skies) and keeps wasps from building nests (don’t know why), but I’ll be damned, every dang porch has a blue ceiling.

Magnolia’s Restaurant.
Ate here for lunch on Saturday. I should have gotten the shrimp and grits, if for no other reason to compare it to my own, but instead I got the Low-country Bouillabaisse. YUMMO! The crab bisque I tasted was good, but more like a crab chowder. Hey! I am NOT complaining. The Parmesan crusted flounder was also quite delicious. Go here if you get a chance. The atmosphere is great and East Bay Street is lined with the cutest shops and restaurants. I could have spent a lot more time strolling in this neighborhood. I’ll go back to Magnolias!

Palmetto Cafe in the Charleston Place hotel. Lovely hotel restaurant. Not as nice as the Charleston Grill, which is also at this hotel, but nice just the same. The brunch menu is killer. I ate there twice! Once had she crab soup and crab cakes, both amazing, and a egg white / lobster / crab omlette another day. HEAVENLY!

Charleston Black Cab Company. They are based at the Charleston Place hotel and while pricey, they are a very stylish way to get around town. Imported London cabs (minus the charming cabbies) look very cool on the old fashioned streets of downtown Charleston. Used CBCC to go to dinner and back – super timely and just so roomy! Loved them.

Coast. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe high-end Micheal Mina type seafood, but what I got was a delicious crab shack. Clearly, I over dressed. This place was super duper casual. They specialize in seafood and low country fare, as well as rum drinks. Charleston after all WAS a pirate port, similar to Savannah and New Orleans. I tried a “Dark and Stormy” – which was dark rum, ginger beer, lemon and lime. Yum – glad I only had one. Started with crab dip – very thick and rich, served with sour dough bread…not awesome – the crab was shelly and I think water crackers or something besides heavy bread would have been a better accoutrement. Then had fried green tomatoes, a favorite of mine, but these were slightly disappointing. The batter wasn’t a cornmeal dusting that I prefer, but rather a thicker, flakier batter. So, there must be two schools of thought when frying green tomatoes: cornmeal vs flour for the batter. Which is to say, someone else might really prefer fried green tomatoes THIS way. The tomatoes themselves where perfectly green and tart. YUM. Then had a delicious lobster ceviche. Delicious. Really. But not what I should have ordered. I ought to have gone whole hog and got some large ridonkulous fish dish. Don’t bother watching what you eat there – you’ll be disappointed and end up wishing you ordered what your friends did.

Part II coming up…stay tuned…

Ve-gizzle

How many times have I been to Las Vegas recently? Like about a zillion. I am so sick of Las Vegas I can barely stand it. BUUUUUUUT, I went for the first time ever with a bunch of chicks a few weeks ago and it was the most fun I’d had in ages.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay and I would stay there again in a heart beat. Mendy and I got there early and decorated our room very “bachelorette” – wild girl police tape, penis guns, raunchy pics, the works. We weren’t there but 2 minutes before a knock was heard at the door, “Did somebody order a stripper?”! WHAT?! Some dude decided to be flirty and just see what was behind door number 1. Hilarious. Dale, the pretend stripper. He was pretty cute.

Moorea, the ‘european’ pool at Mandalay, was the scene of numerous crimes and some old fashioned dirt-baggery. I saw a LOT more silicone than I had bargained for, but what are you gonna do? I think I’d rather do that than go to hot night clubs – water, cold drinks, sunshine, tunes – loved it. I think I’ll pony up for VIP next time tho. But hey, John Mayer was there on Sunday, so it couldn’t be all that bad!

I even managed a work out. All in all, the best trip I’ve ever had to the desert. Now I can’t wait to go back. Halloween weekend is a possibility…

Recovery Week

I really haven’t written much about Boot basically because all of this working out is 1) boring for people who aren’t into it, 2) perfectly integrated into my life – I hardly notice it! That’s a lie. I totally notice it. Like, I am totally noticing that this week is a recovery week. WOOT!

Look at my cardio:

Monday: Off (actually, it was supposed to be intervals, but I am swapping with Thursday)
Tuesday: 60 minute steady state, with my heart rate between 148 – 155
Wednesday: 50 minute steady state, HR above 155 (ouch!)
Thursday: Interval day! Bite me! 10′ warm up, 4×5′ @ HR above 160, 4×4′ @ HR below 144
Friday: 60 minute steady state, easy HR below 144
Saturday: 60 minute steady state, easy HR below 144
Sunday: Off – WOOT!

Really, working out with a heartrate monitor is the BEST. That way, I can say, “Hey, O-Town, you are really pushing it too hard, ease up or the last 15 minutes are gonna be murder!” Makes life so much easier. So, I’ll still be lifting every day (M – F), just not crushing myself. I think I kind of have my food under control. I try to be as consistent as possible. Seriously, 1200 calories is a LOT of food – as long as you aren’t eating garbage. I rarely feel hungry (today was an exception), and kind of get tired of eating all of the time. In fact, time for my 3:30 snack: 1/2 apple, 1/2c cottage cheese, 1 pack of oatmeal. To be perfectly frank, I am over the cottage cheese. This afternoon snack has been giving me fits for 6 weeks. I just hate eating in the afternoon.

Where’s the Beef?!

OH THE HORROR!!! Wendy’s has closed the first Wendy’s ever opened! Dave Thomas is rolling over in his GRAVE! Earlier this year Wendy’s closed the first store Dave Thomas opened in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. Now the No. 3 burger chain is considering selling the chain entirely as net income fell 71% in the first quarter. DAYUM!

OH. MY. GOD. NO.

Sure, downtown Columbus is a total dump, sure no one goes to City Center Mall, but dang, y’all! Why you gotta go closin’ down the first ever Wendy’s?!This is the worst possible news (you know, besides all that Iraq war stuff)! I love Wendy’s! I love dipping their french fries into my frosty. Shoot, I remember when they had those crazy beads for curtains. I looooove their food and passionately HAAAAATE McDonalds. I don’t think the answer to winning hearts and minds (let alone profitability) lies in selling out. They need to embrace a cause, be it corporate social responsibility, global diabetes awareness (just a thought!), childhood fitness – something! But a sellout? That’s for weak, reactionary bitches. Buck up and get a strategy. PS: that little purchase of Baja Fresh was kinda off message and reactionary to McD’s Chipotle success. Not super helpful.

Here’s to Dave T…and knowing how to make delicious fast food that is the best in the industry. PLEASE don’t loose the #3 spot to Hardee’s. WTF?!?!? (Now there’s a turn-around for ya…)

Catching Up On Lost Time

Lately, as you well know, I have been Super Healthy Girl, able to leap benchpress benches in a single bound. Well, to make up for lost time out, I decided to close a bar last night. Ed and I and a very large group of friends went to our hang out for some din-din. I was just there the other day and saw Nick Lachey and one of the Nelson twins, and the time before that I saw Lyle Lovett, and about a month before that I sat next to Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Well guess who I touched last night (as he passed to go to the men’s room)? Joey Joe McIntyre!!!!!!!!!! Seriously I almost died!!! I couldn’t decide if I needed to laugh out loud or just swoon. Come on now, I was a HUGE fan of NKOTB waaaay back in the day! Loved them! Sad – I know, but I’m over it, you should be too. Sure, cheesy, whatevs. But I was excited for the first time to see a celebrity. I mean, I was excited when I saw Alan Rickman in Paris sitting near me at Le Theatre Du Soleil, and John Malkovich drinking a cocktail 3 feet away at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, but this was a little bit more fun and pop culture-y.

Ok, enough name dropping. After dinner, we all decide to go to our favorite beer joint, Broadway Brewhouse. Ed had to leave, he’d been partying for many many hours and just couldn’t hang. I, on the other hand, unable to shed my Super Healthy Girl persona, was fully hydrated and ready to socialize. All the way to 3 a.m. I have not been out so late to hear the words, “LAST CALL FOR ALCOHOL!” in ages. But there we were, all just chillin’ until we were kicked out. SO FUN! I can’t wait to do it again…in 12 months. I am exhausted now and have to hit the gym. Booooo. I hope my super powers can carry me through an hours of cardio and sprints….

Aged Beefcake

Aged beef past its prime was on the menu tonight at Ruth’s Chris in Nashville. If you recall, the last time I ate there was Valentine’s Day….that is the longest I’ve gone between visits and my waitress noticed. Anyhoo, with my New York trip, there are only so many weekends in a month. I digress…

Tonight, aged beefcake was on the menu…I sat next to one of the Nelson twins, of the group Nelson (you know, the twin sons of Ricky Nelson) and across the bar from Nick Lachey. Which is so ironic because I was just making some jokes about the midwest and Ohio in particular when Ed starts cracking up. I thought I was just particularly funny. No such ‘luchey’. Ed was laughing at the irony of the poster boy for Ohio (or maybe just Cincinnasty) walking by as I was cracking a joke. Either way, whatevs.

Please note, it is VERY un-Nashville to gawk and get star struck so of course I took no pictures. I mean, I didn’t take pics last week when I sat next to Jeff Fisher (Titan’s head coach) when we got our hairs cut, or of Demetria Kalademos (local news anchor) when we were buying techie crap, or of Eddie George (who actually I’ve met on several different occasions, even while we were both @ OSU) when I saw him out and about.

At any rate, it made for a hilarious dessert course. Nick Lachey. LOLz….ps: in case you are wondering Vanessa Manilla-envelope was not with him.

Athlete, Thy Name Ain’t O-Town

Day #3 of the Boot couldn’t have been harder. My little chicken wings are all sore, my legs feel like lead, and I am tired. Boo-hoo, spoiled girl, working out daily with trainer, you must be saying. Sure, sure, I asked for this, but I don’t think it will turn me into an athlete. But perhaps a more athletic me would be a welcome change.
In the past 72 hours I have ingested over a pound of asparagus, a large bag of baby spinach, 1 whole green pepper, 2 nasty protein smoothies, loads of cottage cheese, 1 cantaloupe, 14 liters of water and a ton of other stuff I don’t feel like listing, it is exhausting. I’ll put my week end totals on the Boot page. But! Heart burn is gonzo! LOVES IT!
I wonder how badly this weekend’s crawfish boil will derail my best efforts this week…To be continued…

Trubs

I am in serious trubs. Met with my trainer, John, today. As the first day of Boot, we simply measured me and did an assessment. According to my “ASS-ASS”ment, I have 35% body fat. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

So, now here are things I must avoid, AT ALL COSTS:
1. fried anything (dang!)
2. pop
3. fast food – fine, don’t eat it anyway
4. alcohol – WHAT?!?
5. candy, cake, cookies
6. ice cream
7. pizza –
8. chips / nachos
9. donuts / pasteries
10. flavored drinks / coffees

I don’t eat most of those things anyway, so that won’t be a hardship. The most difficult thing will be to make sure I get the appropriate quantities of protein and fiber and decrease (by A LOT) my sodium intake. Additionally, on top of 5 1-hour weight training sessions during the week, I need to pile on 1-hour of cardio 6 days a week! You know, plus whatever else I want to do like yoga or pilates or a brisk walk. [GULP!]

Redneck

During a nice lunch today at a little outdoor spot, Otters, I got sunburned. And I ran into a hot little friend of mine. Then we took a little tour around lower Broadway and snapped some pics. It was almost a shame to come back to work. Do I see a little Happy Hours in my future? Today is shaping up to be grrrrrrrrrreat!

666, or How My Birthday Was Visited by Satan

You know, the tone of a weekend can really be set by the kind of hotel room you stay in. I was upgraded – in the Waldorf=Astoria, mind you – to room 666. Yes, the finest Hilton has to offer actually has a room 666. What was supposed to be a fun, exciting 4-day weekend in NYC to celebrate my 32nd birthday was overshadowed in many ways by…karma?…superstition?…the mark of a fallen angel?…a bad plate of mussles?

Let me give you the Sports Center run down…Wait, let me start by saying had we eaten WHERE I WANTED TO EAT IN THE FIRST PLACE I would be eating solid food today. I just know it.

As a special treat for my birthday, Ed gifted me with a trip to one of my top 5 favorite places in the world – New York City. Including a luxury room at the Waldorf=Astoria. YAY! Dream come true – a weekend full of bustling streets, endless excitement, copious food and drink and legions of people waiting on me hand and foot at my favorite shoe stores.

The Waldorf=Astoria is truly an art-deco masterpiece and amazingly well-kept considering they have around 1200 rooms. Upon checking in, we were upgraded (a favorite trick of Ed’s) to a bigger room (be it on the Lexington Ave side, not the Park Ave side), YAY!….to room 666. Um, what room were we in before?! I had planned this trip down to the nth degree and was so excited to head down to the West Village for a delectable dinner at ‘Ino, when Ed informed me he wanted to deviate from plan and eat something NOW. Grrrrrr.

Long story short, we head uptown (always a huge mistake – I loathe uptown) to a little French bistro that I remember liking. Ed got his steak, I ordered a plate of moules marinere – mussles in white wine sauce. Mussels are IN SEASON, so no worries, right? Ed and I have a lovely evening and go to bed relatively early, knowing tomorrow was going to be a big day!! I wake up as sick as a DOG – and spent most of the weekend writhing in pain, booting any and all food or liquid that had the misfortune of being ingested by me.

I did not get to eat at Babbo, Esca, ‘Ino, or any of my pre-planned restaurants. Instead I ate nothing other than 1/2 a croque monsieur at Pastis (did not sit well, but I am sure under other circumstances it would have been divine) and some smoked salmon and blinis at Samovar (didn’t last long in the tummy and I think I am off smoked salmon for life) over 4 days and nights. I did drink a case of San Pelligrino water, however.

The trip was NOT a total bust…contrary to how this might sound…But let me quickly outline other hilarious abuses I suffered at the hands of New York before I talk about the high-points. My heel broke at 7:05pm on my way to the theatre. Luckly, we were just outside Saks Fifth Avenue. I know that they close at 7 but this was a SHOE EMERGENCY! I walk in to the store which was STILL FILLED WITH PEOPLE and some flunky said “Ma’am, you can’t come in the store is closed”. Well, yessir, I understand that, but I am not shopping, I need to buy a new pair of black pumps. I know exactly which ones I want, where they are and what size. See? I just broke my heel in the middle of 5th Avenue! “I am sorry ma’am, all the registers are closed”. This is where I lose my cool, because not only was that a BALD LIE I know from having my own store that you do not close out registers all at once and an open register – where all those other damn people that I saw right in front of me were paying for their crap – could assist me. So I go off on this joker, to no avail, except for I felt better than I had all trip. SEVEN OH FIVE. PLEASE! Saks Fifth Avenue will never see another red cent from me.

We hop in a cab and high-tail it back to the hotel so that I might change shoes (granted it was 2 blocks away) as we were running out of time before curtain call and I was tired of limping. The cab driver drops us off and said – oh look you were only 2 blocks away. Really?!?!?! NO F’ING SHIZZZ…

High points: I love New York, regardless of its rough treatment of me, so I did love just being there. Spending an afternoon sitting in the sun in Central Park was a treat! Walking in Soho and finding a designer sample sale was SO FUN! Spending time at my favorite bar on Spring street was a blast – even if I only looked at my beer and never drank it. Trying on shoes at Christian Louboutin is always fun, as it is at Manolo and Jimmy!!! I love the fashion and I love the wind in my face and the smell of diesel fuel. So even if I was sick and miserable, the trip was really very magical. But my favorite parts aren’t the funniest parts.

So there you have it. A post that is too long and which doesn’t really do the trip justice. I’ll post pictures, though, of my new shoes!!!!!