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Arrivederci Boston

We have really enjoyed our last few days in Boston. We highly recommend staying in the North End (Little Italy). It’s beautiful, tasty, and easy to walk/bike/metro to anywhere.

We’ll close with some pictures…

The Holocaust Memorial.  Each of the columns represents one of the concentration camps. The number of each person killed in the camp is painted on the glass.

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Ivy Leagues and Major Leagues

Yesterday DawnO and I celebrated our anniversary ‘Boston Style’ and it was wicked awesome.  DawnO started off her morning with a phone in radio interview and I got to sleep in a bit.  I informed Dawn that her anniversary present is waiting for her when we get home.  It’s a Venus fly trap!  I know, I know, it’s hard to believe how I came up with a gift that was practical and romantic.  (Thanks to Claire for finding it and taking care of it until we get home.)

We eventually got organized and headed to Harvard with both sets of parents.  We took a tour of the grounds which were quite lovely.  It was interesting to learn about all their traditions, superstitions and history.  For example, women didn’t receive the same degree as men until 1999.  How do you like them apples?
Afterwards we made our way to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox take on the NY Yankees.  We got there early so we could enjoy our time at Fenway.  DawnO got to have her foot long dog (happy anniversary, indeed) and ‘crack beer’ while I enjoyed some park nachos and ‘gluten friendly’ pizza.  The game was great, though the Sox ended up losing.  The crowd was the most entertaining part for us.  I’d tell stories but I’m trying to keep this PG-13.
All-in-all we had a great day.  Tonight we’re going to have our official anniversary dinner  while our parents go to the ‘Book of Mormon’ musical.  I plan on having some New England clam chowdah.
And now for the pictures!
Apparently touching this dude’s foot brings good luck.  Immediately afterwards, DawnO lost her subway pass.  Good luck?  You decide.
The red chair marks the longest home run ever hit at Fenway.

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I kissed a girl…

Today was the running of the 118th Boston Marathon, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. What a cool experience. The weather was perfect for me (aka a bit too hot for most people). There was a moment of silence in the athlete’s village for those who were killed or injured last year, but really the focus was on ‘Boston Strong’.

My goal for the race was to enjoy it. I was not focused on time, though of course along the way it’s hard to keep it out of my mind. As requested by my male (of course) running mentor/friend Terry, I took a picture of myself kissing a girl at Welsley College. This is a tradition, and it was serious. At least 300 girls held signs of different varieties (“kiss me I’m Italian”, kiss me I’m a first year”, etc, etc.). I chose one that said “kiss me and you’ll run faster”!
I felt really great up until the last 2-3 miles (pretty much the usual for the marathon), and finished with my second best time of 3:24:41. It was great to have a big cheering squad (robO, my parents, robO’s parents), plus all of those who were cheering while tracking online!
We spent the rest of the day wandering around, then I had a great dinner at Quincey Market, followed by a cannoli from the famous Mike’s Pastry.  We’re looking forward to checking out Harvard, then our Red Sox/Yankees game tomorrow.

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TNT, they’re dynamite

We’re sitting in the shade, enjoying our last couple of hours of 30 degree weather before our flight back to the Canadian winter. We have enjoyed our week in Huatulco. Though the ‘all-inclusive’ travel is different than our usual, we took full advantage, filling our days with tennis, ping pong, sea kayaking, sailing, swimming, yoga, dancing, reading, eating guacamole, drinking Piña coladas, and eating more guacamole. RobO planned a super date bike ride into town and to see a lighthouse. We spent lots of time with RobO’s family, including our main reason for being here… the wedding of cousin Tyler and his bride Tara (TnT). We didn’t take many photos, so here’s the meagre best of the bunch…

 

 

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Pretty fly for a couple of Gringos

This vacation has been pretty amazing.  We are definitely fans of Zihuatanejo and will be sad to leave on Sunday.  Since we last blogged DawnO and I have had some pretty cool experiences including a couple of bucket list items that have now been checked off.

On January 1, DawnO went fly boarding.  If you haven’t  heard of it, I suggest you google it and watch a few videos.  It’s a board that allows you to hover over the water like the Green Goblin.  Dawn said the experience was comparable to bathing the elephant in Nepal.  In both cases she got a face full of water that was salty for different reasons.

This morning I got to take a turn and it was quite fun.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get up, but once I got the hang of it, it was quite easy to manoeuvre around.  I would definitely recommend it.


DawnO also took a surfing lesson.  She got up on her first attempt.  Nailed it.  She then proceeded to get up 80% of the time after that.  I don’t know if being a yoga Jedi helps, but it definitely doesn’t hurt.

All-in-all we have had a great trip.  We head back to the great white north tomorrow afternoon, but we will be back in Mexico at the end of January.  We will be in Huatuco with my extended family for an Olson wedding!  We will probably blog then.

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Zihua

We’ve spent the last couple of days getting our bearings around Zihuatanejo, Mexico. RobO and I rented a condo just up (“north” as the grinch would say) from Playa La Ropa. As you can see from the photos, we’ve got the million dollar view, complete with 2 infinity pools. The weather has been perfect, which means it’s hot enough that even I have swam, both in the pool and the ocean!
Yesterday we went into town for groceries, made some delicious huevos rancheros, swam/read in the afternoon, walked the beach, and had dinner at a beachside restaurant.
Today we went to the beach early and spent an hour on stand up paddle boards. For obvious reasons we couldn’t bring our camera, so I took some pictures of another couple. Just picture us in their places, looking much cooler of course. We went into town for the afternoon to soak in some culture, complete with tacos from a roadside stand. We’ve had lots of chances to practice our Spanish, with mixed results! We’re looking forward to homemade fish tacos tonight as we ring in the new year. Feliz año nuevo!

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Sports Weekend in Chicago

Hey blog fans.  We just had an incredible sports-filled weekend in Chicago with our friends Nick and Meg.  One of the few things on my bucket list was checked off today when I went to a tailgate party followed by a Bears game at Soldier Field.  If that wasn’t enough, we went to the Madhouse on Madison to watch the Blackhawks play the Oilers 4 hours later.  But that’s not all… I got to play hockey with Nick last night on his rec league team.  I may have gotten my first penalty of the year due to a rather weak call.  DawnO wants to note that she agreed with the call.  Traitor.  Anyway, as you can probably imagine I’m a bit exhausted so I will leave you with some pictures.  Tomorrow we fly home!
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SFO –> YYC


We are heading back to Calgary this afternoon after spending a few days in Palo Alto with friends.  I thought I’d write a quick blog showing you some of the highlights.

We took a trip to the Great Basin to see some giant redwood trees.  We rode bikes around Stanford and saw some amazing Rodin statues.  We also went to the top of the bell tower and got a pretty nice view of Palo Alto.  Last but not least, we got to test out our español skills at a taqueria and ordered up some amazing Mexican food.  We’ll be back in the Hat until next month when we head to Chicago!

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Breakfast with Tiffany

RobO and I flew to San Francisco yesterday.  Our main purpose was to visit our friends Lyndsey and Mike, who are living just south of the city in Palo Alto for a year.  And the other little reason was that I got into the San Francisco Women’s Half Marathon (the one where you get a Tiffany’s necklace at the end, given to you by a firefighter in a tuxedo)!
We had a great day in the city yesterday.  As usual, robO helped me carbo load before the race (Thai lunch and Indian dinner), as well as pig out after the race (Ghiardelli’s chocolate).
The race course was the hilliest I’ve ever run (mostly uphill) and it was so foggy that I couldn’t see the bridge.  For the first time since receiving a GPS watch I didn’t wear it during the race – I wanted to go just on feel and try to enjoy the experience.  I felt pretty good for most of the time, up until the last kilometer when I got a big stitch.  I knew I was in the range of achieving my sub 1:40 goal, but that cramp foiled me.  I ended with a happy 1:40:30, my new Tiffany, a pic with a firefighter, and a post race celebration with my #1 fan!  That equals 14th in my age group and 187th overall out of 26,417 runners.
We’re in Palo Alto now, enjoying our first night with the Bristows.
Here are some pics…
San Francisco days
Team carboloading
Here she is: the X is for the 10th anniversary of the race
Movember’s coming early
Slurp

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La Belle Ville

The past few days we have been doing what we do best: imagining that we live here.  For the week we rented a small studio apartment right in the heart of old town.  We shop at the markets, have a drink in the neighbourhood cafes, and picnic in the parks.  Most mornings have been spent sleeping in then doing some form of exercise (me) or catching up on computer/tv time (robO).  We have filled our afternoons with a variety of activities: exploring the city, tennis, reading on the boardwalk, and people watching.  Our major decision each day revolves around where we’re going to eat dinner (and, of course, if we’re going to have gelato).  It has been the perfect blend of down time and excitement, which I’ve coined ‘relaction’!

Friday night we decided to follow the old rule of “fool me once…” and bought VIP tickets to ensure our entry into the ‘free’ Cirque de Soleil show.  It definitely helped that we also weren’t standing in the family-only line.  What a show.  I’ve seen Cirques in a few different places, but there was something really special about watching the outdoor show amongst the silhouettes of the old town.
Today is my 35th birthday, and I’ve spent the day doing all the things that make my heart smile: waking up in a Murphy bed with robO, a morning yoga practice, rollerblading on the Plains of Abraham (currently vying for my favorite activity of this lifetime), poutine, an ass-kicking tennis game (guess my husband doesn’t let me win because it’s my birthday), and dinner at a ‘bring your own wine’ Indian restaurant.  We closed out the night with live music in the park and fireworks over the St. Lawrence.  I don’t think it can get much better than this!
We’re on our way home tomorrow.  This fall we have a few trips in the queue, so stay tuned for more updates…