Shopping Skilz

Having completed his first full year of living in NYC, My Hero has officially determined THE way to...wait for it...SHOP in this aggressive city. Of course his style relates to sports. He's so witty. Enjoy!

3 Ways Basketball Prepared Me For Shopping In NYC

By: J.R.

‎#1 The Crossover: I can't tell you how many times you're walking and people just stop in front of you. Here, you should try the crossover where you shift momentum from one direction to another to avoid contact.

#2 Taking a Charge: While shopping, you must keep your feet still and stand your ground! If you're moving, people will blow right through you to get to a rack!

#3 Boxing OUT! This is my favorite move to keep someone from cutting in front of me while looking at a rack. You must get between the person and the clothing while using your butt. The addition of the butt helps make the situation a little awkward. A win for you!

Tortoise & the Hare

17 weeks = 117 days = November 6, 2011

The marathon is coming. I can't avoid it or back out now. I don't want to, but I do. I am torn. I am getting nervous already and I can't help it. What have I signed up for? 26.2 miles...that's what.

I wasn't accepted into the race via the standard lottery through New York Road Runners, but I recently found out that I was accepted via the Tiffany & Co. lottery. Thank you TCO! Apparently, there were so many people within the company that wanted to run this year, there was an actual lottery drawing. WOW! I made the cut! I feel honored.

I am in my third official week of training and enjoying most of it. The early morning workouts come too soon some mornings, but the thrill of the empty streets and the warm air beckon me. A new facet was added to my workout today...a running partner! YAY! I met a co-worker who is also a TCO employee, avid runner, entered to run in the marathon AND an AM pavement-peddler. We are going to test our running cohesiveness this week to determine if we are a good running fit. I have a good feeling about this.

On another note, several people have asked me about training for a marathon and how I am going about this arduous task. While I am certainly no expert on this subject, I do know that Runner's World is a great source for all things related to running. The magazine and site offer valuable insight, education, instruction and encouragement for runners. Through a little digging, I found the 4 month training schedule shown below. Happy running to all!

Bastille Day Festival

My Hero had the day off so I thought to myself, "What better way to share the day together than by going to a street fair?" Oh, this wasn't just ANY street fair. This was the Bastille Day Festival. In hindsight, I think I made it sound much more exciting than it really was. Oops! Well, it wasn't exactly the standard NYC street fair with cheap clothing, sunglasses and fried foods. This street fair is held annually to celebrate France's Independence Day so everything at the event is FRENCH! Oui! Oui! Magnifique! Crepes for everyone!

I managed to squeeze through the crowd alive and make it out with only a freshly squeezed lemonade and turkey baguette. I viewed some gorgeous and well priced French themed posters, but couldn't decide on one, so my mayo and bread-crumbed hands were otherwise empty. I couldn't say the same for My Hero though. We got separated for a few minutes, but I found him at the end of the street back in America with 2 dogs. HA! He said, "Ooh, la-la. Bon appetit!"

Summer Vacay!

My Hero and I took a much needed vacation a couple weeks ago. We didn't take a vacation last year since we were moving out of our home in Charlotte and into NYC. As exciting as that was, we both really needed to get out of the city this summer and put our toes in the sand of a beach somewhere...anywhere. We had high hopes and aspirations of taking a trip back to Mexico to celebrate our 8th Anniversary. We went to Mexico for our honeymoon and are dying to see the uber-white sand and topaz blue water again. Well, we were a little too ambitious. After a few minutes of research, we realized that the cost to travel to Mexico has skyrocketed since we last stayed there. Hmmm...maybe next year.

We quickly realized that Plan B was a better option for us - Myrtle Beach!!! We both love this beach and since My Hero went there nearly every year for family vacays, he maneuvers it very well. Neither of us likes the stress of trying to drive through an unknown area. Since we would have to rent a car for the beach, we decided to drive from NYC to the Carolinas and see our family along the way as well. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!

We (a.k.a. My Hero) loaded everything into the rental car (I supervised and made sure the car didn't get towed...HAHA!) and headed out of the city Saturday afternoon. We were under the gun to get to Charlotte Sunday morning in order to make it to Elevation Church and complete a covert operation (a.k.a. Sneak Attach of Sunshine).

Our week out of the city was chock full-o-fun. We had a HUGE list of items we had to accomplish and we were quite successful. Here's the run-down:

Saturday

• Drive to NC
• Stop at the FIRST...well, second Chick-fil-A

Sunday

• Breakfast at BoJangles
• Sneak attack Sunshine
• Attend Elevation Church service
• Lunch with Sunshine
• Inspect Condo
• Meet w/ renters to re-sign condo lease
• Father's Day dinner with favorite Father-in-law

Monday

• Catch up with former co-workers
• Banking Business
• Lunch with favorite Mother-in-Law
• Quick trip to outlet mall
• Cookout with the family

Tuesday

• BEACH!
• Shopping at outlets

Wednesday

• BEACH!
• Dinner with college friend
• Shopping at outlets

Thursday

• BEACH!
• Sunburn (Note: Spray sunscreen doesn't work if you don't spray it EVERYWHERE. Danger! You may end up with tie-dye legs. Not cute.)

Friday

• Back to Charlotte
• B'Day party for niece

Saturday

• Breakfast with Mother-in-law
• On the road to VA
• Dinner with my sweet family

Sunday

• On the road to NYC
• Home again...PHEW! We are all worn out...even Rockzilla couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.