California Loooove

This October I will get my first shot at bridesmaid duties at Emily and Jacob's wedding in Fort Worth (Another excuse to go back to Texas? Yes please!). The festivities kicked off over St. Patrick's Day weekend in San Jose, CA with the first bridal shower. The MOH, Robin, and I flew out for a much needed girl's weekend. JJ and a few of his buddies took the opportunity to have a boy's weekend in Vegas...yea. Needless to say our weekends were COMPLETELY different, but that's a whole different story.

We left straight from the airport and headed to the Santa Cruz mountains for wine tasting! We stopped off at a little grocery store/deli in Fulton, CA to pick up a picnic lunch to enjoy at the first winery. Hallcrest Vineyards was a beautiful place to start the weekend. We sat at a picnic table on the patio, taking in the breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains and vines, sipping wine. Their Sauvignon Blanc was fabulous, if you are looking to try something new. Next we headed to the Burrell School Winery for another tasting and dessert. Again, another fabulous view of the mountains and vines from the patio. They had great blends with fun school-themed names. My favorites were the Dean's List Cab, Spring Break blend, and Sweethearts blend.

That night was the St. Patrick's celebration at a bar near Santa Clara with Emily's law school friends. I loved all of the law school kids that we met...with the exception of one. I won't go there but the night ended with me covered in green beer, having to drag a drunken fool of a boy out to the bouncer after he groped just about every female in the bar. #can'ttouchthis

Not only does he dump beer on people and grope innocent females,

he ruins pictures too. EPIC FAIL

The next day I went for a run around the campus and took advantage of the nice weather, before the rain came. We drove to San Francisco for an overnight trip and luckily the rain stopped mid-afternoon so we could enjoy the rest of our time there. We had a yummy Italian lunch, then went to a wine bar to share a bottle of champagne. I think we were in an area called Soma? Next, we went to Ghiradelli Square to Crown and Crumpet (where JJ and I visited last year on our Valentine's Day trip) for tea and scones. This place is much more fitting for a girl's weekend, poor JJ had to tolerate the pink and lace. We headed over to Chinatown/North Beach to check into out hotel (S&W Hotel was a great deal for what we got). We did a tea tasting at Vital Tea Leaf, then went to happy hour until it was time for our dinner reservations in Little Italy. After dinner we wet out to a few of the bars, where we happened to see the guy who played McLovin in Superbad. He was playing drums for the live band. Sometime during the night while Robin and I were busy dancing, Emily snuck out for some fresh air and was joined by members of what I can only assume was the Latin Kings (gang), complete with tear drop tattoos near the eyes. They were surprisingly pleasant. Also, at some point a black man asked me to teach him how to Dougie. I did. Jokes on him though...I had no idea what I was doing, but he believed it.

Tea tasting man

After all of our activities, it was finally time for the bridal shower on Saturday. Each guest was assigned a room of the house to buy a gift for. Robin and I were assigned the BEDROOM. Woo hoo hooooo, scandalous! Just kidding, we will save those kinds of gift for the bachelorette party. We collaborated and came up with a "Breakfast in Bed" theme for our gift. Tea pot, matching mugs, breakfast tray with legs, and a bud vase. We also made a recipe book with fun breakfast foods and drinks that were super easy so Jacob has no excuses not to use our wonderful gift...no pressure Jacob!

My favorite picture of the weekend!

Next wedding festivity on the agenda is the Bachelorette party in New Orleans. Watch out Louisiana. You won't know what hit you :)

East Coast Adventures: Boston

Next, we took the train up to Boston. If you ever have the opportunity to take this train ride, please do (and sit on the side of the train nearest to the coast)! The scenery was amazing, especially for two kids from the southwest who have never seen this part of the country.

Ahhhhhhh Boston. One of my new favorite cities. There are so many things to love about it and so many reasons to come back. We stayed at a Courtyard in Copley Square for free (thanks to my Marriott points!) and loved the location. We were close to shopping and tons of restaurants on Newbury Street, one of the cutest streets in America. We spent every night wandering up and down the street exploring restaurants, people watching, and window shopping (ok, well it was just me doing the window shopping).

Because I had actually done my research for this trip, I booked us on a Duck Boat trip (the number 1 rated activity according to TripAdvisor) for the first night. We had a lot of fun, and saw all of the sites and in my opinion, it was better than the Philly tour.

Trinity Church from the Duck Boat
On the Charles River

The next day, JJ and I walked/drank our way through the Freedom Trail. It wasn't our fault that it was like 95 degrees outside and Boston has pubs on every corner, we were just taking advantage of our surroundings. I now have a much stronger appreciation for Sam Adams and his beer. One of the stops on the trail was the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in America, so we had to stop in for lunch (and a beer).

Union Oyster House. JJ barely fit...its like a booth for ants

Because food was a big part of the fun in Boston, and I can't remember exactly what order and on what days we ate at the restaurants, here is a list of the places we loved in Boston:

Legal Seafood- Even though its a chain, all the guide books said it was a must. The food was good and we had a great view of downtown.

Atlantic Fish Co- Fantastic food and atmosphere! A little pricey, but worth it. Make reservations! We somehow got lucky and even though there was a 2 hour wait, we were seated within 10 minutes.

Piattinni Wine Cafe- Super cute cafe! We only had tea after dinner, but the dessert case looked delicious.

L'Aroma Cafe- Great for breakfast and tea, we ate here both mornings.

Guest Post: JJ at the Finish Line

As the title might suggest, Laura will not be writing this post. I've successfully hacked into her blog and fully intend on giving my report of the most recent events gripping the Jansen's here in Charlotte. Now, in the past Laura has always been able to give her reports to the funny, amusing, and sometimes disturbing encounters that she's had with fellow Charlotteans (ok, so I don't think that's how you spell it, but you get the point) and so on. I've also noticed that from time to time, my good name is used for the amusement of the blog. With this in mind I've been waiting for the right moment to exact my revenge. Unfortunately, my encounter yesterday at Laura's 10K might not be the best day to portray myself in the best light. But here it goes anyway...

Many of you know that I start my weekdays getting up around 7 to do my household chores (i.e. getting Barney his breakfast and morning pee...not always in that order) and then getting out the door to participate in our offseason workouts. So, I'm always looking forward to the weekends where I can sleep in until 8 (that's when Barney wakes me up) and basically relax the day away. This weekend I had planned on more of the same. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Laura's 10K was this weekend, so when Saturday rolled around I was greeted by a 6:15 alarm. Laura hopped out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready. Barney and I decided it was too early and continued sleeping. 6:15 turned into 6:45 and still neither one of the Jansen boys had move. (We don't get up until 7.) Finally, I rolled out of bed, put on a signature gray T-shirt, a sweatshirt and the same white shorts I had worn for two days in a row and got into the car to drive Laura to the race.

When we got the race, we quickly realized that we were both a little under dressed given the 35 degree morning temp. I knew Laura would be fine once she started running, but I knew I would need something to warm me up and I certainly wasn't going to be doing any running. I decided maybe some early morning tea might do the trick, so I planned on making a Starbucks run once Laura began the race. More on this in a second...

As we approached the starting line, I noticed that everybody seemed to have on either an orange or white number, signifying which race they'd be running in. Everyone except me. I quickly realized that either no body else was dumb enough to wake up at 6 in the morning on a Saturday to run a race in the freezing temperatures, or I was the only person lazy enough to show up and not want to run. Either way, I wasn't off to a good start.

Laura began warming up. Being an elite athlete myself, I offered up some suggestions as to what she might do in her warmup. I, of course, figured that she would be quite receptive to some stretching routines used at Bank of America Stadium each and every morning. She looked at me, seemed to take in everything I had suggested and then said, "Thanks so much baby, but I think those years of track, volleyball and months of training for half-marathons and 10Ks have probably taught me a thing or two about warming up. I think I'll be okay!" And with that she tap me sarcastically on the shoulder twice and began her light jogging and stretching.

Now being professionally demoralized and with Laura making her final preparations, I began to survey all the competitors and handicap the field...

The Favorites:

The two Kenyans: Draped in green and gold, both of these young men looked destined for a great run. Of course this was probably a training run for a full marathon, so I fully expected them to do well.

Really amped up guy: As the named suggests, this twenty-something gentleman was near the start of the line, and really roaring to go (something tells me he took off sprinting, feeling really good about himself until he threw up his 8th Red Bull of the morning at mile marker 3.

The Dark Horses:

Cougar Town: A young girl in her early twenties, looking fit and ready to go. However, she chose to wear a leopard-print skirt to the race with a tank-top. Laura and I were both speechless.

You Can Run With Us: A pack of 40 or 50-somethings holding up a sign that indicated that they were planning on running 12 minute miles. They seemed really friendly, even letting others know that "you can run with us." I never saw them finish.

With the field handicapped and Laura ready to go the starting line, I decided to warm up a bit by going to get my tea. I arrived at Starbucks and spent 10 minutes trying to get a tea (even though I was the only one in the store) because the three baristas all kept trying to explain to me which teas had caffeine, which ones were herbal, which ones were organic, which ones were from South America, North America, Europe, which ones were good for morning, which ones should be drank with milk, sugar, honey, etc. Needless to say, I just wanted the Awake tea that I had come in for. (I never should of asked if they could recommend something for me).

Now with my tea firmly in my hand and 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back, I drove back to the race and walked towards the start finish line. It was about 8:15 and I knew Laura's 10-minute mile pace would have her finishing around 8:30. The walk from the parking lot was a little further than I expected and I began to get a bit nauseous...no joke.

At the finish line, many of the fastest runners had come in and were celebrating with friends and family and it made me really excited to be there when Laura finished. Meanwhile, I could barely stand from the nausea. As Laura approached I got a rush of adrenaline and watched her power through the finish line with a time of 59:17. An average mile time of 9:43. Laura had beat both of her goals, 10-minute miles and under 1 hour. I was so proud of her. Unfortunately, I was the one still literally sick to my stomach.

As Laura took a cool down walk, I had to duck behind a trailer to avoid being out of sight in case I threw up. All I could tell myself was "don't throw up in front of people who just ran between 6 and 13 miles this morning." I even went over to the refreshments table and ate the oranges, bananas and bagels laid out for the racers.

Finally, after 45 minutes of nausea and almost throwing up on 3 separate occasions, I was able to work up the energy to actually tell Laura that I was feeling sick to my stomach. When she asked me what I had ate, I told her nothing except for the tea. She started laughing. I didn't find it amusing. Then she told me that the acids in teas make you sick to your stomach if you don't eat. I still didn't find it that amusing, but at least she'd figured out the problem for me. Needless to say I'm glad she had because if I had kept drinking that tea I surely would've been the one that all the racers would've been telling each other, "look at that guy over there with his head in the trash can, he must've run really hard." And they wouldn't have been further from the truth...

Like the post? Hate the post? Think I should continuing hacking in? Let me know with your comments below. Thanks.