Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

The Ragnar Reacharound August 27, 2011

Filed under: Ragnar — Kelocity @ 7:06 am
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Doing the SoCal Ragnar Relay was definitely one of the top 10 things I’ve ever done in my life. Ever. It was amazing. Getting in a van with six other strangers and running a combined 200 miles over two days was such an amazing experience.

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It’s hard to pull a u-turn in a huge 16 passenger van. We dubbed our signature move the “Ragnar Reacharound”. Man, it’s crazy how sleep deprivation can make anything sound hilarious.
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I was on an awesome team with some very fun people. We were also lucky enough to have a film crew with us the whole weekend!!!! I can’t WAIT to see the final video, but they sent over a teaser that seriously gives me chills when I watch it.

This is just a rough cut, but I am in love with it.

Enjoy!

 

The Europe Essentials–Packing Part 1 August 25, 2011

Filed under: Travel — Kelocity @ 7:15 am
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We’ve got a big trip to Europe on the horizon that we’re getting pretty pumped about. We have been looking forward to this trip since our last trip 10 months ago! Can’t believe we’re already in the packing stage now! Our annual international vacation is almost here! We try to go abroad at least once a year, and so far so good! This year is taking us to Eastern Europe with Contiki Tours.

Click to enlarge. Blue Dots are where I’ve been, Pink Dots are what’s next!
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Our most recent international trips together:
2010 – Egypt; Dubai
2009 – Russia & The Baltic; Iceland
2008 – Italy

I was so excited to come home from work today to see that Irving’s already begun pulling out all the travel gear and piling it up in the corner. It made me giddy! I don’t really like packing, but I love oogling over travel gadgets. I thought I’d share some of my favorite essentials.

Travel Sheets
Anyone who has ever slept on a train or in a hostel knows how important these are. We each have a set and they have been lifesavers. We’re always the envy our tour when we are able to cozy up without getting the heebie jeebies at night. They fold up really small and stash in the bottom of your luggage. We don’t travel without these now.
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Adapters and Converters
We have a collection of plugs for all over the world. The little ones on the right are for Europe and can charge cameras and phones. The big guy on the left is big enough to charge our laptop. Check your devices before you leave to make sure you have the right ones.
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Travel Wallet
I know these sound kind of nerdy, but they’re essential. Mine is on the right and goes around my neck under my shirt. It will hold my passport, money and credit cards. Irving’s on the right hooks to his belt and goes under his waist band. We LOVE Eagle Creek products. These have a dri-fit back to them so they won’t chafe or rub on your skin even in the heat. They’re super light weight and pretty indiscreet.

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Travel Locks
Just tiny TSA compliant locks for your luggage. We’re not so worried about the airlines as much as leaving them in hotel lobbies and train stations. Sometimes we’ll check our luggage and it just gives us a little peace of mind that no one is snooping. It’s not a fail-proof method, but it’s a deterrent and we’ve been lucky so far.

We also travel with a copy of each other’s keys in case one gets locked inside. (This happened to me once in Spain! Some guy came with a hack saw to cut my lock off for me when I locked my keys inside my bag!)
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Sleep Mask and Ear Plugs
I use my mask and ear plugs on the plane, busses, trains and even hotels. It can pretty much guarantee a good night’s rest. Some airlines provide them for you, but I bring my own just in case.
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Luggage Tags
Goes without saying, but label your stuff. Checked and carryon bags should have your info on it just in case.
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Luggage Scale
We don’t travel WITH this, but we use it before we go. Most airlines and tour companies have strict weight restrictions so using one of these handy scales at home can help prevent an unpacking frenzy at the airport.
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Passport
Duh. We also carry a copy of each other’s too in case on of us loses it. An embassy can reissue a passport in a pinch, but having a copy of it will expedite the process.
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Tour Book
Just ONE book. Not seven. We do lots of research before we leave. We love knowing about the history, culture and art in the places we visit.
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But when it’s time to jetset, we only bring ONE book. And that one book almost always is a DK Eyewitness guide. We LOVE their books. Great pictures, maps and city highlights.
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Eagle Creek Pack-It System
Ok, so this isn’t a necessity to some, but it is the way we travel. We LOVE using these travel folders, pouches and cases. Everything from clothes, toiletries and chargers gets packed in it’s own case. It makes it easy to find things when you’re in a rush in the morning. It keeps everything organized and together. An organized traveler is a happy traveler! (Full Disclosure: I learned everything I know about organized travel from my husband. He is the KING of suitcase packing. <3)
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We’ve got tons of different shapes and sizes so everything has a place.
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I swear this post isn’t sponsored by Eagle Creek (but it should be! We love their stuff!)

Speaking of Organized travel…
I bought Irving these packing lists for Christmas, it’s got almost everything you can imagine and it makes packing a breeze.
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Travel Gnome
Don’t leave home without it!
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For a few more ideas on what to bring, here’s a post a wrote a few months back.

I plan to post about clothing packing later. Stay tuned.

 

Have any tips of your own? Or questions about packing for a 17 day trip for a later post?

 

Sweet Butter and the Palm August 24, 2011

Filed under: Food,Love — Kelocity @ 9:43 pm
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I ate out a lot this week for some reason. 99% of the time, I bring my lunch to work, but lately I guess I’ve been lazy. But the food and the company has been great, so I can’t complain.

Today I ate at Sweet Butter in Sherman Oaks for the first time. It was a little pricey, but definitely worth it. The atmosphere is fun and the food is incredible. We had a nice leisurely lunch outside today. Even though it hit 104* in the valley today, it sure didn’t feel like it under their awning with an arnold palmer in hand.
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I got an artisan grilled cheese that was to DIE for. I consider myself a grilled cheese connoisseur and I have to say this was hands down one of the best I’ve EVER had. It had a high quality cheese with heirloom tomatoes inside. Delicious. The shoestring fries were kind of meh, but I ate them anyways. I’ll eat anything with ketchup.  I am already scheming up a trip back just for more of that grilled cheese.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I haven’t seen much of Irving this week. We’ve been working opposite schedules and he’s often going to bed when I get home and he’s gone by the time I wake up. In order to catch up on life, we took a trek downtown for a change of scenery. In the car ride there we had a “brain dump” where we just chatted about miscellaneous things that happened during the week. We are both independent people, but after a few days, we really crave each other’s undivided attention and need to reconnect.

We really do make a great team. Case in point this week… Irving started a load of laundry. I came home and threw it in the dryer. He came home and folded it. We never communicated once about it, but we’re like a well oiled machine and make such a great team. Love you babe!
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Dinner tonight was at the Palm Restaurant, courtesy of American Express (who sent us a gift card for some reason! Score!)
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The food was great, but I just don’t understand fancy restaurants. The décor was nice, the food was great…. but it just didn’t feel special for what you get for your money. I don’t know, guess I’m just one of those girls who isn’t impressed by fancy menus and white linen table cloths. I felt so out of my element.
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It was a great evening though. Nice to get out together and enjoy downtown LA.
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Do you like fancy restaurants?  It’s fun to get dressed up and catered to, but I’m definitely more at home with Olive Garden. At least they give you chocolates when they hand you the bill. That’s always a winner in my book.

 

Tiny Baby Things August 22, 2011

Filed under: Babies,Food,Friends — Kelocity @ 8:32 am
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Well, it really does seem like there has been a parade of babies lately! First it was wedding after wedding and now so many of my friends are starting families and it’s so much fun. This weekend was the baby shower of my good friend, Janet. She’s having a baby boy soon and was great to celebrate with her.

The shower was gorgeous, everything was just so adorable.

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What a good idea to make tea sandwiches out of cookie cutters!
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And the cake! Oh, the cake. More on that later. But it matched the plates! IMG_7375

I couldn’t wait to steal a taste of that icing!
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It was so nice to have a sit down lunch and get to know some of Janet’s friends. Such a great group of girls.
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We played a lot of really fun games that I’d never seen before. This first one had a board of all kinds of candy bars. Then the host read a story and you had to guess which one matched. For example: “The amount of hospital bills from having a baby…. 100 Grand” or “Twin baby Boys… Mike and Ike”. All of them were so funny we were laughing so hard.
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There was a game of ‘match the celebrity baby’ too. I’m happy to report that I got them all right.
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Ok, seriously, how cute is this? Can you believe someone made this?
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Lunch was delicious. Especially the salad. I almost went back for more.
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Later, we all decorated onesies for the baby.
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We each started with a different size onesie. A blank canvas if you will.
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Let the creativity begin!
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Janet’s husband and Irving were college roommates, so I thought it was appropriate to represent!
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I’m sure it will be his favorite shirt. Bahaha
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Then we ate the cake!! Oh man, I love cake. I asked for a piece with extra frosting and boy did they deliver. Some of the best icing I’ve ever had. That “sugar-rush-to-you-brain-hurt” kind of good. It tasted as amazing as it looked.

Note: not my piece of cake. Mine had extra smears of icing all over the plate.
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Soon it was time to shower Janet with presents. Everything was just so cute. We oo’d and aah’d over all of it.
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Baby Rocker T-shirts! Are you kidding? Adorable.
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Congrats to the mama-to-be. She was just glowing. So happy to be part of this special day.
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Random Things Thursday August 18, 2011

Filed under: Random — Kelocity @ 10:01 pm
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I spent my evening decluttering my computer desk as well as the desktop itself! I’m not the neatest person in the world, but I really hate clutter. Just did a clean sweep and it feels so good. Just a small to-do list for the week, I’m finally caught up!

I also cleared off my camera chip, so I thought I’d share a few random things from the week:

1.) Check out this awesome screensaver CD featuring “Birds of America” from what looks like the 1980s. (But maybe it’s from the 90s, it’s hard to be sure).
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Irving had this disc in a box under his desk and I begged him to keep it because it’s just so awesome. People used to actually PAY for screen savers? Kids these days just don’t know what they’re missing.

But wait…there’s more… when you open up this “CD” case…
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…you find out that It’s a floppy disc!!! I’m sad that my current computer doesn’t have the capabilities to look at these 20 images of “Birds of America”. I may not be able to use this disc, but it sure did provide a barrel of laughs when Irving told me he actually bought this himself. LOL NERRRD!

And that’s not all… on the left side of the CD case was a film envelope. BAHAHA remember those?!?!
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2.) WHO LOVES CUPCAKES? I should probably cut back on the cupcakes… FOUR of my birthday cards this year had cupcakes on them! Everyone must know how much I LOVE them. I ❤ my friends and family!
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3.) Ah-nild Pah-mah. That’s how we say “Arnold Palmer” in Boston. Irving found these drink mixes this week. Kind of cool, right? I’m excited to try them. Never seen them before!
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4.) Pour, Bake, Eat. I saw this in Trader Joes this week and I HAD TO HAVE IT! Ready-To-Bake Brownies! The guy at the register told me that I could probably just eat it with a spoon too. Whaaaa??? I’m saving this for a rainy day.
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Three steps, people. Pour. Bake. Eat. Done.
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Guess that’s it for now.

Who else has a box of old floppy discs sitting around? I kind of want to find a drive that will open them up because I often lie in bed at night wondering about my 6th grade history papers and 7th grade poetry, don’t you? There could be good stuff on there!