Jenn on the Run

Newest Designs!

2012-03-27T16:10:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited about these new designs! A little bit of something for everyone. :)

Pearl Ring

This would make a great Mother's Day gift!

Leather Cuff

Newest item for men!

Capture Life

Perfect for any photographer!

Available at www.thevintagechain.com

And don't forget to join our Facebook fan page for exclusive deals only available to fans!

Disney Trip - Feb 2012 - Day 3 - Race Day/Magic Kingdom

2012-03-09T07:26:00.000-06:00

The day started very early...2:30am to be exact. It was RACE DAY!!! Read more about my race recap here.

I plopped myself down like this right after getting back to our room which was in the middle of being cleaned. It just felt good to sit like this! I tried to tell the lady to come back later, but she insisted that it be done right then. So this was all a little awkward. But I wasn't moving!

After a shower and short nap, we headed to Kona at the Polynesian for a late lunch. Shay celebrated me running 13.1 miles with a Mai Tai. I just wanted water.

We then went to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day and night. My first stop was to get my picture with Mickey and Minnie since I missed them at the finish line.

It was fun getting to ride stuff and actually get to sit with each other, rather than two separate ride vehicles, each with one of our kids. It's the little things.

We decided we wanted to buy this picture and the CM saw it was my birthday so she gave it to us for free! Yipee!

Looking rather worn out.

We got to top off this awesome getaway by being at the Wishes Dessert Party on our last night! This is a special dessert party (amazing desserts!) with reserved seating to view the fireworks at Magic Kingdom without having to fight the crowds for a good spot. We lucked out and got a table right by the railing. Although anyone at the party can come stand at the rail once the fireworks start, no one stood in front of us so we got to sit and enjoy the whole show. Oh, and we got to see the Magic, Memories, and You show which was incredible!

We checked out the next morning, but had a few hours before we had to be on the Magical Express back to the airport so we went to Downtown Disney to shop and eat lunch. Then it was time to leave. Such an incredible weekend!

Disney Trip - Feb 2012 - Day 2 - Hollywood Studios/Epcot

2012-03-07T13:09:00.000-06:00

Continuation of our trip

Today was going to be a day of taking it easy in the parks since it was the day before the race. But, no matter how easy you take it, there is still a lot of walking!

We made our way over to Hollywood Studios and grabbed a quick breakfast. It was an EMH morning and we didn't get there until about 9:30am so we were already behind the crowds. No TSMM for us this trip, but I kind of expected that anyway.

It's no Main St cinnamon roll

We did a few things that we would not have done with our kids like One Man's Dream and the Great Movie Ride. And we did say hi to these guys...

I wanted to give Sci-Fi Diner a try purely for the atmosphere (50's drive in where you sit in cars) as I had heard numerous reports about the food being awful and several cases of food poisoning. Anyway, I told Shay we would just split a burger and milkshake.

The verdict...milkshake was good, ambiance was fun, but the burger was so-so and way overpriced for the size. And then, a few hours later things weren't sitting so well for Shay.

Wonderful.

And get to a restroom quick!

We hopped over to Epcot via the boat from Hollywood Studios and went for a ride on Test Track. Fortunately, Shay began feeling better and I never had any issues, but he announced he would never go back to Sci-Fi again. What is it with that place??

And what is it with those big sunglasses?? They're half the size of my whole head!

We got to take our first WDW tour ever with the Behind the Seeds Tour at the Land Pavilion. Shay is a gardener and I knew he would really enjoy this tour. It was fun to do and our guide, Tim, was very knowledgeable and you could tell he really loves what he does.

This Redwood was grown from tissue culture just two years ago!

Trying out some cucumbers grown in this hydroponic garden environment.

Some lettuce

Err, that's a rather large sweet potato you have there!

Annnnnd, that's a reason why we hang back on group tours...for moments like these.

A fish feeding frenzy!

After the tour we headed to France for dinner at Les Chefs. I originally had planned for us to eat at Via Napoli, but it was going to put us back at our resort rather late so we had an early dinner at Les Chefs instead.

Chef Remy came by to see how we were doing.

We ordered the cheese plate which was good (minus the goat cheese) and I had the Salmon while Shay had the Duck. We also shared a kid's size portion of the baked mac & cheese. It's so good, but so rich!

For dessert we shared this

Then we rolled ourselves back to our resort. It was time to get everything ready for race day and get some sleep!

Finally...a necklace related to running!

2012-03-06T10:49:00.000-06:00

I think I've been saying for over a year now that I was working on a necklace related to running somehow. I guess running my first half marathon finally kicked things into gear for me to make one!

Running Charm Necklace

This of course can be customized with another phrase, distance, name of race, official time, etc. Whatever you choose! It's available on my website at www.thevintagechain.com

*****

And here is some more 13.1 bling I picked up at the expo last weekend to go on my new shoes! :)

How would you customize your necklace?

Disney Trip - Feb 2012 - Day 1 - Arrival/California Grill

2012-03-04T10:47:00.000-06:00

A blog post dedicated solely to our dinner at California Grill. :)

The day before we left I awoke to a nice surprise. We had been upgraded to first class for our flight! Thanks to all of Shay's work travel he has a billion upgrades that he rarely gets to use since they are not eligible for international travel. This trip was getting off to a great start!

We took an extremely early flight and arrived to our resort (Port Orleans French Quarter) around 10:30am. Our room wasn't quite ready so we grabbed an early lunch at the food court and took our time eating. Right after we finished I got the text that our room was ready!

We went and changed into shorts since it was really warm that day and then got on the bus to go to the Fit for a Princess Expo to pick up my race bib and do a little shopping! You can read more about that here.

After the expo we went back and took a nap (we had been up since 4am) and then got ready to go eat at California Grill. I had read so many great reviews about this place and was excited to try it. It exceeded my expectations!

We were seated at a table right by the window with a perfect view of the castle. Since I was celebrating my birthday, we arrived to our table and found mickey confetti all over it making it very festive!

The food and service were amazing! And we ordered way too much of it!

We started with this cheese appetizer.

Not a fan of the goat cheese though.

Shay also had sashimi and the crispy rock shrimp salad which he said was delicious. I got the crab stack which was good as well.

For the main course I got the cast-iron seared bison and Shay got seared ahi. Both were excellent! I rarely ever order a steak at a restaurant but for some reason I was craving one and it came highly recommended so I decided to try it. Amazing!

We had already picked into our food before I got a picture.

It was a perfectly timed meal ending with a view of the Wishes fireworks at Magic Kingdom while eating dessert!

Complete with a birthday candle!

Yum!

Everything about this dinner experience was amazing and we couldn't have asked for a better night. I highly recommend eating here if you are going to be at WDW.

More to come!

Race Recap: Princess Half Marathon

2012-02-29T18:51:00.000-06:00

I did it! I finished my first ever half marathon!

It's a few days post race now and all the soreness is pretty much gone thanks to an awesome massage yesterday at the spa courtesy of my mom!

So here's the recap of the expo and race. I'll post about the rest of the trip later!

Expo

Shay and I arrived at the expo Friday afternoon. It was held at the Wide World of Sports Complex which is on Disney property. Side note: as soon as we arrived at our hotel I promptly put on my birthday button since I was also celebrating it on this trip. It made the entire trip even more enjoyable when receiving many birthday wishes from complete strangers, including these guys...

They serenaded me with "Happy Birthday" as I was getting my picture taken!

A view from above the expo

I headed straight for the runDisney merchandise to buy my "I did it" shirt. I wanted to make sure I got one before they ran out! We spent nearly two hours walking around checking everything out as well as picking up my race packet. At one point we stopped to look around and as I turned I saw Jeff Galloway standing right in front of me! I asked for a picture and we chatted briefly about the race. He is a really super nice guy!

Some goodies picked up from the expo. And yes, little bags of brown rice...won those after spinning the wheel!

Race Day

I tried to get to sleep by 9pm the night before since I was getting up at 2:30am the morning of the race. Way too early, but I wanted to be down to catch the bus by 3:30am. I actually slept better than I thought I would and getting up so early wasn't that bad. I was really excited though so I think that helped!

The resort had these special breakfast boxes available the night before so I picked one up. It had a bagel, peanut butter, banana, granola bar, and bottled water.

I ended up only eating half a bagel with PB and half a banana. Three hours later right before the race started I was STARVING! I ate some shot bloks right before the start since it was all I had on me. I now know to bring something else with me if there is going to be that much time before the race.

I got down to the lobby (stayed at POFQ) to get on the bus at 3:30am and waited about 15 minutes. The line was not that long, but after getting on I looked back and the line had grown tremendously! Runners had to be on by 4am and I think alot of people waited until the last minute.

I talked to a girl on the bus who had done the race the year before and she was saying that it had only taken about 15-20 minutes to get to the Epcot staging area. Apparently, this year there were way more runners because we sat in traffic for an hour before arriving. In hindsight, I'm glad it worked out that way since it lessened the time we had to stand out in the cold. :)

Once we got dropped off at the staging area it took another 30 minutes to walk to the start corrals. Part of the problem was that some porta potties had been set up right in the path to the corrals and it created a major bottleneck. In all of the literature, it said that you had to be in your corral by 5am or you would not get to start. I did not make it into mine until 5:15am so I don't think they hold you to it.

Trying to get past the staging area to walk to the corrals.

Once I got to the corrals things became a little hurried and I ended up going into the wrong one! I was supposed to be in B but ended up in C. I got confused by the sign and thought I was going into the back of B, but later realized I was in C. Oh well, there was nothing I could do at that point and I really didn't care since I was going to be taking my time and stopping along the way for character pictures. This race was not about getting a good time for me. It was just about having fun!

Before I knew it, we were walked up to the start and they sent off each corral with fireworks which was awesome!

And in my usual way of doing things at a race (lack of experience, adrenaline pumping, needing to pee so bad) I started out too fast and paid for it near the end. I really need to work on that!

I knew from reading some message boards and other blogs that if I could hold out until the TTC (around mile 4-5), I could use a real restroom instead of the porta potties. Bonus that there was hardly a line!

However, I did stop early on for these fine gentleman.

Getting closer!

Rounding the corner from a backstage area onto Main St

The course became very narrow at this point for the next several miles even once we were out of MK, but other than that it was wide and open.

I have arrived!

We ran up Main St and then through Tomorrowland, through the castle, around Frontierland and exited through a backstage area and back on the roads. It went by too fast!

Yay!

Around mile 8 is when I began to wish I had not started out so fast and knew that the dreaded overpasses were coming soon. I mean really, it was just an overpass but my legs hurt and I wanted to stay on flat ground.

Still smiling though!

And Jack Sparrow gave me a little boost...

Along with this guy yelling at me!

On the overpass looking back at all the runners still coming!

Only 1 more to go!

It couldn't have been that bad if I was still smiling, right?

Almost there! .1 to go

I was bummed that I didn't get a pic at the actual finish line with Mickey and Minnie. I got so caught up in the moment at the finish I never saw them.

But I finished!

Right after getting over to the reunion tent to find Shay, I sat down and felt like I was going to be sick. I waited until he came over to help me up and we headed straight for the bus back to our resort. After a shower and short nap I was ready to go eat! We ate a late lunch at Kona and spent the rest of the day at Magic Kingdom.

And I finally got my pic with Mickey and Minnie too!

Best.Day.Ever.

Last minute details

2012-02-22T10:31:00.002-06:00

Only 2 more sleeps!!! We are leaving very early Friday morning for our flight to WDW and the Princess half marathon! I have so much to do and it's been tough getting anything done with a sick kid around here. I need to pack (only taking a carry-on) but still, I'm going to have to be creative to get all my gear in there. Sure hope I don't forget anything!

I still haven't decided between these two shirts so I'll probably pack both and make a last minute decision.

So, we plan to get to the expo first thing on Friday after we get checked into POFQ. We might go have lunch at Downtown Disney and just mosey around for the afternoon. We are having dinner that night at California Grill!

Saturday we plan to leisurely hit Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We have a lunch ressie for Sci-fi Diner, although a cool atmosphere, I've heard the food is downright awful, but the milkshakes are really good. I'm thinking I will stick to only ordering a milkshake. ;) I don't need food poisoning the day before the race.

Dinner on Saturday is still up in the air though. I have a ressie for Via Napoli but I'm starting to rethink that since it will put us back at our resort rather late that night. I'm worried I will not get enough sleep since the alarm will be going off around 2-2:30am on race day. Like I'm going to be able to sleep anyway!!! My dinner back up plan is to eat at Les Chefs de France much earlier on Saturday. I need to make a decision soon! However, I'd much rather eat at VN.

Sunday is race day followed by lunch at Kona and then spending the day at Magic Kingdom. We will end the night at the Wishes/Dessert Party!

We leave Monday to come back home. A short trip, but it has a purpose and not to mention a nice little getaway for just Shay and I. :)

Quick getaway to the cabin

2012-02-21T13:50:00.000-06:00

Since Monday was a holiday we decided to go out to our cabin for a few days and just relax. We ended up with cabin fever (literally) while the weather (rainy and too muddy) did not want to cooperate. E had minor surgery last week and just wasn't feeling well overall the whole weekend.

Poor baby :(

While Shay went hunting I had Zane tend to the fire for us

My parents came to see the place and celebrate my birthday some more

Homemade card and a heart shaped chocolate cake...my favorite!

They also brought us some fresh eggs from their neighbor!

The best part of waking up...is Folger's in your cup....

I was also not feeling too well and began to have a slight bit of panic of the what ifs. What if I get sick and can't run next weekend? What if I can't travel? What if all this training was for nothing?

But I soon started feeling better and proceeded to eat nearly that entire cake above.

My mom and I started to talk about my half marathon coming up and I announced that I had registered for the DL half a few days prior. She expressed interest in wanting to do it as well. I was so excited and told her she needed to make her decision quick since registration was going fast. She registered the next day and it sold out a few hours later!

She has done a few half marathons in the past, but it has been several years so her training will be like starting over, but I'm just so excited to get to do this with her!

Make that #2

2012-02-17T14:12:00.001-06:00

It's official...I'm now registered for my 2nd half marathon. Probably a little crazy since I have yet to run my first one. However, I'll be marking that off my list next weekend! :)

I'm going to run the Disneyland half marathon in September to earn my Coast to Coast medal! The Coast to Coast challenge is running a half marathon or full at WDW and then one at DL in the same calendar year. Who knew this running thing would become so addicting???

*****

And because I don't want to disappoint...

Celebrating my birthday earlier this week. Pink fleece and all.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! We are going to relax out at our cabin. ahhhhhh

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Race Recap: Hot Chocolate 15K- Dallas

2012-02-16T12:17:00.000-06:00

This event was held in Dallas (inaugural) last weekend. After hearing so much negativity about this race in DC I went in with very low expectations. I'm happy to report that it turned out to be a really well organized event and I'm glad I decided to register at the last minute. The expo could use a little work though.

Expo

I was a bit annoyed that we were going to have to pay $10 to park to get our race packets at the expo. I would have been somewhat less annoyed had the expo not been so lame. Only a handful of booths with nothing very exciting (except for the ghirardelli samples) and this giant inflatable mug.

oh look, pink fleece again

However, everything went smoothly while picking up the race bibs and jackets. Oh, and the jackets are really CHEAP (easily torn, broken zippers, etc.) and lots of people were having to exchange for larger sizes since they ran really small. The coolest thing in the goodie bag was a $10 gift card to Run On!

Race Day

Woke up at 5am so I wouldn't feel rushed getting ready, eating, taking care of business (yep, got it get it done- no porta potties for me!) and waited for my ride (Jennifer and Shea) to get to my house. We wanted to make sure we had ample time to get down to Fair Park. It was a good thing because what normally is a 40-45 minute drive from my house turned into an hour and a half. Traffic was pretty much at a standstill as we got closer. My friends were running the 5K and made it to their corral with only a few minutes to spare.

And it was COLD! Like, winter decided to arrive the night before so the temps that morning were in the 20's with the wind chill in the teens. I ended up wearing running tights, l/s tech shirt, short sleeve over that and a zip up fleece, gloves, and headband. I never warmed up enough to take my fleece or gloves off. The coldest part of my body though for the first 2-3 miles were my toes. They basically went numb.

The race started right on time. I know there were some who were probably still stuck in traffic and I'm sure are pissed about that, but I think you have to know that when you have thousands of people trying to get to one location at the same time you're going to have to plan ahead for that. It took a little longer than I would have thought, but like I said, we did plan for it. I don't think you can really fault the race organizers for that.

Nearly the first half of the course was all uphill but not too bad. There was one really big hill around mile 5 that I ended up walking (I'm not used to hills) but other than that hill and the water stations I ran the whole thing. I wasn't planning to since I normally do run/walk intervals and really was using this race as my last long training run before my half marathon in two weeks. But, it was cold, I was feeling good, and I wanted CHOCOLATE!

And so, I ran... I ran so far away...

Shout out to SkinnyRunner for this awesome shirt! I wanted to wear it today at the race, but I knew it would stay covered up with my fleece so I opted for another shirt. :(

Anyway, the course was great! There were plenty of volunteers and it was marked well. Also plenty of police along the way to deal with traffic/closures. Plenty of water at the finish line.

Once back at the building where the post race party was set up, I met up with my friends and jumped in line to get my chocolate!

Chocolate fountain (just for show)

I went through the line and grabbed a little tray with various things to dip into the chocolate...half a banana (whole would have been better), marshmallow, apple slices, pretzel stick, and a rice crispy treat. It didn't look like much, but once I started eating it I realized it was plenty. I usually only want a little bit of food at the end of a race and I actually felt somewhat nauseous eating all that sweet stuff.

They had a pretty good band playing, but we didn't stick around too long which was fine. I felt bad that my friends had to wait around so long for me to finish so we left.

I got home to find Shay had prepared a wonderful lunch of venison (elk) spaghetti over penne pasta. Yum!

Overall, I was really happy with the whole experience. I think the race organizers did a good job and I would definitely do it again next year!

The Green Monster

2012-02-13T14:23:00.000-06:00

It's a cold and dreary day here so I ran a few miles on the treadmill and then had a green monster smoothie afterwards!

Love this!

I like to mix it up from time to time. But for this one I put frozen strawberries and mango, spinach, ground flaxseed, protein powder, greek yogurt, milk, and a drizzle of honey.

Then somebody stole it from me

So then I ate some chicken salad that Shay had made for work

We're going to celebrate my birthday early tonight with the family at Benihana of course! And you can bet there will be a family pic with me in my pink fleece...again.

I'll have a recap soon of the Hot Chocolate 15K race I did this past weekend. It was fun!

For real...I love benihana

2012-02-09T09:30:00.001-06:00

It really is! It's on Valentine's Day and as usual we'll probably have dinner at Benihana and have our family picture taken by the waitstaff. It's where most of our family portraits are taken. We really don't get out much...except to Benihana!

Here are a few in no particular order...

wow, my scanner is dirty

I LOVE their fried rice and I finally found this recipe to make it at home. Not exactly like it but pretty close and will do in a pinch.

*****

Ran a few miles on the treadmill this morning and then I'm headed to the Hot Chocolate expo with some friends to pick up our race packets!

Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 6 - Magic Kingdom/Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage

2012-02-08T15:38:00.000-06:00

This was our last full day of our trip. :(
But it was a fun day! :)

Way back when I made all of our ADRs I had scheduled a breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table (aka The Castle) for before the park opened. I was excited that we would be able to walk down Main St with nobody around and get some great pictures of the castle with just us in them. :)

But, you have to be flexible and ready for any changes Disney might throw at you. The park was originally scheduled to open at 9am, but had since changed to 8am. There went the pre- rope drop plan! Not only that, we then discovered that we would be there on a day that portions of the ABC Christmas parade were being taped which meant people would be in the park as early as 7am. Oh well.

I stressed over this for a while before our trip and tried changing our CRT ressie, but couldn't find any other available times. So we made the best of it.

As it turned out, there was nothing to stress over. It was easy to get to CRT that morning and we had no problems navigating down Main St. In fact, we enjoyed very light crowds until we left about 2pm that day.

Cinderella's Royal Table

It appears that I wore the same thing every day. I'm always cold and I live in this pink fleece. But I promise I changed my shirt every day!

Zane really digs all the attention from the princesses.

Getting stuck on Splash Mountain for a bit

Pirate Goofy

We headed over to the Boardwalk for an early dinner at Kouzzina. I love Greek food and this place was just ok. It was a bit overpriced (but what isn't at Disney) for the quality of food. I've had much better back here at home. Maybe I'm just too picky.

Anyway, it was time to get back to the Contemporary resort for our last big hurrah of our trip. We were booked for the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage! It was redemption after having missed the special Wishes fireworks at Magic Kingdom during MVMCP.

And the whole experience was awesome! Well, except for Emma's embarrassing behavior before, during, and after. But she's Emma and she's four. Enough said.

Aside from that it really was a magical time and the view of the fireworks over the castle (without having to fight for a spot) was worth every penny.

So, you check in and are taken into a large room where there are snacks and drinks awaiting you. We hung around a bit and then Captain Hook and Smee come out for a photo op. I had heard the best approach was to immediately head to the part of the room that has the backdrop set up and line up as soon as possible then go get snacks. That way, you can get the photo op done, go grab some snacks, and use the restroom (VERY IMPORTANT) before it's time to go down to the boat. Otherwise, you might be spending most of that time in line waiting to meet the characters during the "pre-party". And if you miss your restroom opportunity your going to have a problem.

Before making your way down to the boats they divide everyone into two groups. You are either in Captain Hook's or Smee's group. Your ticket determines this and what row you are sitting on in the boat. They introduce "Patch" (one for each boat) who will be your guide for the remainder of the night. These guys are pretty funny and entertaining. We played some trivia, had a sing-a-long, and got a perfect view of the Electrical Water Pageant on the Seven Seas Lagoon.

Then the fireworks began and it was magical, with music piped into the boat. Afterwards, we sailed back to the dock to meet a very special guest!

I would highly recommend doing the Pirates and Pals!

It was time to get back to the resort and start packing since we were checking out the next morning to go home. Another great trip and can't wait to go back!

Back to {Disney Trip Reports}

weekend recap

2012-02-06T09:44:00.000-06:00

This is what I'm wearing for the princess half marathon (still waiting on the socks to complete the ensemble).

But I haven't decided between this shirt

or this one

here's the back

And I'm not sure if I'll go with capris or shorts. My shorts tend to ride up and it's so annoying, but I'm afraid I might be too hot in the capris. I don't know.

I did a little test run with my tutu on the treadmill as I can't bring myself to run outdoors around here with it on! All is well.

*****

I made a last minute decision to run the Hot Chocolate 15K- Dallas this coming weekend. I'm really hoping I don't regret that after reading all the recent negative reports from the D.C. race. Let's just hope the race organizers learned from it!

I also had lunch with a friend and I'm now committed to running another half marathon in November! Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio here we come!

I might be getting a little ahead of myself since I haven't even done my first half yet, but gotta have something else to work towards right?

Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 5 - Epcot

2012-02-05T09:12:00.000-06:00

We arrived at park opening and were picked out of the crowd to.....

wait for it....

to go thru a separate entrance where they were testing out the RFID stuff when entering the turnstiles. No family of the day here! But, it was still kinda cool to get to do it and we got a little Mickey RFID sticker on our KTTW cards. However, I was convinced they were now tracking our every move. ;)

So, off we went to grab fast passes for Soarin' and then to ride Test Track. Zane had no desire to ride it so Shay and I took turns riding in the single rider line.

Then we went back over to the Land pavilion for Soarin' and rode Living with the Land and saw these giant lemons!

Duuuuuuuude

Fun with jumping water fountains

Let's play "Where in the World showcase of Epcot are we?"

The Candlelight Processional was going on while we were there. I wish we could have watched the whole thing, but with young kids I knew they would not sit through 45 minutes of a choir singing and reading of the Christmas Story. We walked by and stopped to listen for just a few minutes though. It's in an outdoor pavilion under a roof.

We rushed around the rest of the world showcase since we had to get back over to the Land Pavilion for our dinner reservation at Garden Grill with Chip 'n Dale. It was one of our longest waits to be seated...nearly an hour. But once we got seated we were able to enjoy our meal and the characters at this rotating restaurant. They even came around twice during our meal!

She has a thing about touching noses with the characters. I don't want to even think about how many dirty hands have been all over that.

And this.

She tried with Mickey, but he wasn't having any of it.

Perhaps we should take up pin trading or get some autograph books instead.

I enjoyed the family style meal (they bring all the food you want to the table) vs a buffet with the kids. It's much easier that way.

We skipped Illuminations since it was getting late and had been a long day with no break so we made our way back to the resort.

And cleaned Emma's face really well.

Back to {Disney Trip Reports}

I think it might be my new favorite

2012-02-04T09:38:00.001-06:00

Chicken, Artichokes, and Cheese Melt

Chicken breast, chopped

Jar of artichokes, rinsed and chopped

Mayo

Grainy mustard

Onions (I used onion powder since I didn't have any onions)

Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and top with a slice of provolone cheese (or whatever cheese you like) and zap it in the microwave until it's melted.

You're supposed to serve this on a toasted bun, but I ate it without. Didn't want the bread.

Quick and easy lunch!

*****

Off to run 4 miles this morning in some gorgeous weather. We've been having a really mild winter... knock on wood.

Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 4 - Magic Kingdom/Hollywood Studios

2012-02-03T08:52:00.001-06:00

Back to MK we go! I told you we spend a lot of time there. :) Great day as usual... low crowds, meeting random characters, and saying hi to Mickey and Minnie.

Mid-afternoon we hopped over to Hollywood Studios for an early dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby followed by the spectacular Osborne Lights down the Streets of America. This is a definite MUST DO if you are going to be visiting WDW during Christmas. Honestly, I would skip the MVMCP, save some money, and just go see the Osborne lights instead!

Absolutely amazing!

Back to {Disney Trip Reports}

Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 3 - Animal Kingdom/MVMCP

2012-02-02T15:50:00.001-06:00

We had another day of being up early for a breakfast reservation at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom before the park opened. We almost missed it due to having to wait for a bus. It seemed every bus that came was for another park but the one we needed to get to. But we made it just in time! Although it didn't seem to have mattered since we ended up having to wait about 40 minutes past our reservation anyway. Oh well.

I had eaten here several times before for lunch (no characters) and was looking forward to enjoying it this time around with Donald Duck and friends. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed. The food was good, but the character interaction was not. The characters barely hung around long enough to even snap a few pics. We were also at a table in a back corner that was really cramped and we felt removed from much of the action which I think contributed to our so-so experience.

After breakfast we went and grabbed fast passes for Kilimanjaro Safaris for later and then headed over to watch Festival of the Lion King. Great show!

Back to KS

Yikes!

We piddled around just a bit longer and then headed back to the resort to take naps before spending the evening at MK again for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

A sweet moment caught on camera! As we were leaving I turned around to find them like this and dancing together. :)

I can't really give an honest review of MVMCP. Unfortunately, we were not able to take full advantage of our time there so we did not experience much of the party. The kids (especially Emma) were just too worn out and Emma fell asleep during the first parade.

Here are a few pics from the parade though!

I was bummed for the wasted money spent, but we made up for the Holiday Wishes fireworks we missed on a different night. :)

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Always evolving

2012-02-01T13:10:00.001-06:00

You may have noticed (or maybe not) that my blog has changed in the recent days. The name in particular, as it will no longer focus mostly on my jewelry business (The Vintage Chain), but rather more about my running journey with bits of random ramblings thrown in the mix.

If you are a new reader, welcome! Check out the About page to learn more about my running journey. And stick around and share your own experiences.... I would love to hear from you!

*****

No shame here. After having some routine bloodwork done this morning (and fasting for nearly 16 hours!) I drove myself straight to Jack-in-the-box for a breakfast jack combo.

Yeah, that's how I roll.

Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 2 - Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom

2012-01-31T09:37:00.002-06:00

We were up bright and early to catch the first bus to Hollywood Studios to make it in time for rope drop. We wanted to get Zane signed up first thing for the Jedi Training Academy and get fast passes for Toy Story Mania with an early enough return time. We were only spending half the day at HS since we had our afternoon planned at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at the Magic Kingdom. Things needed to fall into place according to plan...and it worked out perfectly!

I took Zane to get signed up for JTA and we were able to do this about 15 minutes before the park officially opened. Meanwhile, the hubby took Emma to get our fast passes for TSM. We lucked out getting a second show slot for JTA and having a decent mid morning return time for our fast passes. We leisurely grabbed a small breakfast at Starring Rolls and made our way back over to the JTA to check in for the show.

Zane really enjoyed participating!

Afterwards, we split up so Zane could ride Star Tours while I took Emma to see Voyage of The Little Mermaid. By then it was time to use our fast passes for TSM!

We had lunch reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, and it was so much fun! The food was great and our server, Sue, was a blast. You are taken back to the 50's in your mom's kitchen and expected to mind your manners among other antics! I was yelled at several times for having my elbows on the table, we were given "homework" to complete before the end of the meal (we had to list 18 Disney films with only one name in the title), and hubby got caught cheating with his phone. Sue took his phone away for the remainder of our meal and the looks on our kids faces was priceless!

After lunch we went back to our resort to get Emma changed into her Rapunzel costume so we could go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get her done up like a princess!

Zane did the Knight package and got a sword and shield as well.

We hung around in Fantasyland for the evening, had dinner at The Plaza (even saw the fireworks from our table), and then called it a day. It was a bit chilly and drizzly all evening and everyone was tired from the long day.

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Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 1 - Arrival/Chef Mickey's

2012-01-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

*The next several blog posts this week will be about our trip to Disney World we took in Nov.*

Our second family trip back to Disney World! I booked this trip with a bounceback offer while on the trip with my sister last May. We ended up not telling the kids until about a month before our trip so we could limit the amount of "how much longer until we go to WDW?" questions. ;)

I was so excited to get to visit while all the Christmas decorations were up! We left the Sunday after Thanksgiving and spent 7 days staying at the Wilderness Lodge.

It was a beautiful resort (especially at Christmas time) and was very convenient to the Magic Kingdom by boat. Sadly, I did not get ONE picture of the lobby our whole trip. :(

We arrived around lunch time, checked in, and got settled in our room. A glorious room with bunk beds for the kids to share. And again...no picture. :(

We have ARRIVED!

errrrrrr....oops

We took it easy all afternoon around the resort until it was time to head to Chef Mickey's for dinner. Now, I really enjoy the atmosphere there, but take my advice and stick to breakfast only if dining at Chef Mickey's. You can't really mess up a breakfast buffet, however, the food at dinner is another story. One word...Gross.

After dinner we took the monorail from the Contemporary over to the Grand Floridian to check out the larger than life gingerbread house in the lobby. Really cool!

It was getting late by this point so we decided to get back to the room for a good night's sleep. We wanted to be ready for an early morning rope drop at Hollywood Studios for the Jedi Training Academy and the Toy Story Mania dash for fast passes!

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Random ramblings about today's run...

2012-01-28T21:14:00.000-06:00

It may not have been a great 12 mile run, but it was 12 miles and it is done. I think it was a combination of not having run any sort of long distance in the last 3 weeks and starting off a little too fast. The last 4-5 miles were difficult which led me to start pondering some things...

1. That idea I had been entertaining in my head about possibly training for a full marathon is now gone. At least today it is anyway. :)

2. The new route I ran was a nice change of scenery (well, part of it was) if you like running along side power lines. Running along the creek was the good part.

3. At about mile 7 I felt like I was running with 50lb weights on my legs. The last few miles were straight into the wind on a slight incline. Brutal.

4. Black toenails are kinda gross.

5. Dead rats next to the trail are even more gross.

6. Shot blocks are hard to chew when you are sucking wind, but they are convenient to carry.

So that's what was going on in my mind on the last half of my run today. I'm going to chalk it up as just having one of those days that you just have a bad run.

I came home and had a nice long nap, a great dinner of pot roast, and topped it off with a chocolate shake from Jack-in-the-box.

So yeah, I think I just canceled out my run.

Race Recap: Believe! 2011 10K

2012-01-26T17:07:00.001-06:00

So, I ran this back in November (Thanksgiving weekend) but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.

I went with the same friends as the previous race I had done. They both did the 5K and I did the 10K. It worked out perfectly since I was due to run 6 miles that weekend for my half training. It's so much better to get the mileage done in a race than on a training run!

We got there early and hung around a bit before the race started. It was a little chilly but not too bad and there was a fine mist that had begun to let up right after getting there. It was a rather small race than some previous ones I had done so that was nice. The course took us around a small "lake" at a park that was really pretty. I was near the back of the pack and at times I had no one running around me. Once we merged with the 5K runners towards the end there were plenty of runners all around. :)

I didn't feel completely good during this race for some reason. I'm guessing it had to do with it being two days after T-Day and the massive amounts of food I had consumed. We were also leaving for our Disney trip early the next morning so I had the stress of packing on my mind. And, I think I started out a little too fast and began having some pain in my left knee.

The finish line was cruel in that you finished uphill after running up and down several rolling hills right at the end. But I finished!

Looking a little miserable here

Still, it was a fun race and one I would do again. And the long sleeve tech shirt we got was pretty sweet too!

On that same note...the Princess Half Marathon is only a month away! I'm so excited and can't wait to be there. I ran 12 miles a few weeks ago and felt great. That is the longest distance I have ever run and the longest I plan to train for with this upcoming race. Galloway's plan has you do a 14 mile run two weeks before, but I'm only planning to do about 9-10 that week. I've got another 12- miler this weekend to get through first.

I'm also getting my "costume" put together for the race too. Yes, I will be wearing a tutu!

{Winner}....$50 Gift Certificate

2012-01-24T09:47:00.001-06:00

The randomly picked winner of the....

KS Nash

KS Nash said, "I love the sterling silver cuff bracelet! It would make a great gift for my bridesmaids!"

Congratulations!!!

Please email us at thevintagechain@yahoo.com to claim your gift certificate.

And a BIG thanks to all who entered and joined our Facebook fan page. Please enjoy 15% off all orders now through 2/1/12. Use code FEB15 when checking out.

Enjoy!

{GIVEAWAY} $50 Gift Certificate

2012-01-17T22:38:00.002-06:00

Valentine's Day is coming up so how about a giveaway!

Plenty of new designs to choose from on our website including:

Domed Name Charms with Birthstones

Cup of Pearl Earrings

Horseshoe Necklace

Puzzle Piece Necklace

Enter to win a $50 Gift Certificate by simply leaving a comment below telling us what design is your favorite!

*Extra entries*

(please leave a separate comment for each)

1. "Like" us on facebook

2. Share this giveaway on your facebook page

3. Tweet and/or blog about it

Winner will be randomly chosen and announced here on the blog!