Will Write 4 Travel

Business School Graduation!

2013-05-23T08:27:00.000-04:00

After three long years, I graduated from Business School this past weekend with my MBA. My whole family came into town to see me walk across that stage. Thank you so much, family, for taking the time out of your lives to celebrate with me! On Friday morning, we all met up for brunch at Ted's Bulletin in Eastern Market. I ordered a couple of side dishes because I wasn't very hungry. I had

Cross-Country Drive: Biking, Dining and Music in New Orleans, Louisiana

2013-05-22T08:38:00.000-04:00

What is there to say about New Orleans? It is one of my favorite cities in the world. The architecture, food and music somehow make me feel at home there even though I have only visited it twice. Our arrival to New Orleans coincided with the annual Essence Music Festival which takes places at the Superdome. What this meant for us was that everyone was at the Superdome during the day while other

Week in Review (May 13 to 19, 2013)

2013-05-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

Source I had an eventful week of graduation events and my family coming in to town to see me graduate. I managed to get quite a few workouts in. Having my DailyBurn membership definitely helped me fit them in this week. I also did a TON of walking on Friday and Saturday around DC to visit some sights. I'll be creating a post later this week about my graduation activities. Until then, here is

Cross-Country Drive - San Antonio to the Big Easy

2013-05-14T11:00:00.000-04:00

I am fast approaching my three year anniversary in the DC Metro area. It seems as good a time as any to look back on how I got here. Taking a cross-country road trip is something that I think everyone should do once in their life and if possible take a leisurely drive. My drive "across the country" wound up being neither across the country nor leisurely. The week before I was to leave the West

Week in Review (May 6 to 12, 2013)

2013-05-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you probably know that I have been taking advantage of my new found freedom from academic life. On Wednesday after work, I headed to the headquarters of LivingSocial to make a terrarium. They are super easy to make and sound easy to care for, but I'm really bad at keeping plants alive. They are also so pretty to look at so I am hoping mine stays around

How I Spent My Spring Break (or the Great Florida Road Trip): Art Deco South Beach

2013-05-07T11:00:00.000-04:00

The next morning marked the final day of our road trip. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. The weather was gorgeous and the music was already pumping at some of the neighboring hotels. It was spring break after all. Once we were done with breakfast, we had to check out of our room and store our luggage. Then we took a long walk to the Art Deco Welcome Center on Ocean Drive. I love

Week in Review (April 29 to May 5, 2013)

2013-05-06T11:00:00.000-04:00

Done with business school after 33 long months!! Now, I can get my life back. I can't tell you how good it feels to not have schoolwork. My left foot has been feeling strange since the middle of last week and I was afraid that I had aggravated it more by running and doing that difficult yoga class over the weekend. I had an appointment with my doctor on Wednesday, so I decided to hold off on

How I Spent My Spring Break (or the Great Florida Road Trip): Welcome to Miami

2013-05-02T10:50:00.000-04:00

After our night in Homestead, we made our way to Miami proper, the final stop in our travels around Florida and coincidentally the same place we started. Our first destination was Little Havana's La Camaronera Seafood Joint and Fish Market for lunch. I was starving because our hotel apparently starts clearing the breakfast area 15 minutes before breakfast ends. No fair. I ordered fried fish roe

How I Spent My Spring Break (or the Great Florida Road Trip): Winter Homes and Alligators

2013-04-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

After our amazing manatee snorkel trip, we drove south. We planned to end our day at a hotel in Naples. On the way, we decided to make a stop at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers. We arrived with just enough time to see the property, but unfortunately, were not able to spend much time in the museum. Thomas Edison purchased this winter retreat in the late 1890s and his friend,

Week in Review (April 22 to 28, 2013)

2013-04-29T10:55:00.000-04:00

I'm entering my last week of business school and I can't wait to be done! What will I do now that I will "only" be working? I was able to do a couple of things to relax last week. On Monday, I took advantage of SpaWeek and got a massage and foot scrub. The week also wound up having a few firsts for me. On Wednesday, I saw an acupuncturist for the first time and it was an interesting experience.

How I Spent My Spring Break (or the Great Florida Road Trip): Manatees

2013-04-23T08:30:00.000-04:00

Who knew that one of the best experiences of my life would take place during our impromptu trip to Florida? Our morning called for a pre-dawn wake up that included packing up our belongings and driving an hour and a half to the city of Crystal River for a 6:15 am snorkeling trip with the most amazing and beloved creatures this side of Giant Pandas. Yes, folks, we swam with manatees! I am

Week in Review (April 15-21, 2013)

2013-04-22T08:30:00.000-04:00

What a long, crazy week this has been. At this point, anything that I would like to say has already been said. So I'll just say my thoughts are with the people of Boston, West, TX and Sichuan province. I'm at the tail end of my MBA program and I have had a hard time being motivated to run or do schoolwork. I've pretty much felt like this the whole week: Source Monday: rest Tuesday: 2.46

{Product Review} CORE Foods Defender Meals

2013-04-18T08:30:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I received a box with word "PERISHABLE" printed on it in huge letters. Well, then. What was inside? CORE Foods' line of three Defender meals. I don't know about you, but when I see a food item, wrapped in packaging like this, I typically don't immediately think "perishable." So I was surprised to find that these bars are actually fresh and, because of that, only last up to

How I Spent My Spring Break (or the Great Florida Road Trip): Art Interlude

2013-04-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Our second full day called for rain, which made it perfect for seeing some art. After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to St Petersburg to visit the Chihuly Collection. A number of years ago, we saw Chihuly's exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Seeing his work in a museum space was incredibly different from seeing the pieces mixed in with plant life. I found this experience

For Boston

2013-04-16T18:45:00.000-04:00

Tonight I ran. Tonight I ran 26.2 minutes. Tonight I ran 26.2 minutes in support of the runners, spectators, volunteers, organizers, first responders and everyone with loved ones at the Boston Marathon. I haven't been a runner for very long but have come to love the running community. I wore my race shirt from the Princess Half, my first big running goal and my first half

Week in Review (April 8 to 14, 2013)

2013-04-15T09:30:00.000-04:00

Wasn't it winter two weeks ago? This week we had consecutive days over 90 degrees. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. On a positive note, the flowers are blooming! Here are a few tulips in front of the Netherlands Carillon. And a cherry blossom tree I came upon during my Thursday run. I've been having some knee and shin issues since the 10 miler last week, so I took it easy

Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run 2013 - Race Recap

2013-04-11T10:15:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, I ran my first race in DC. I was really looking forward to this race for several reasons. The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler is such a classic DC run. Also, getting a spot in the race can be difficult. They operate on a lottery system, and I am fortunate to have gotten in on my first attempt. As I mentioned before, I went to the Race Expo after work on Friday to pick up my race bib and

How I Spent My Spring Break (or the Great Florida Road Trip): Universal's Islands of Adventure

2013-04-09T10:06:00.000-04:00

I've been itching to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter ever since I heard that it was being created. I knew that it would be unlikely for me to make a trip to Orlando just to go there, so I figured now was a good time to go. Raisin Bread thought it was a good idea as well even though he isn't a Harry Potter fan. It's too bad that the only real reason anyone seems to go to Islands of

Week in Review (April 1 to 7, 2013)

2013-04-08T11:13:00.000-04:00

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I think spring may have finally arrived in DC. That makes me happy. The fact that I have three weeks left of graduate school makes me even more happy. I finally got out of my post-vacation rut and put my workouts back into high gear. Monday: 30 minutes at-home yoga Tuesday: 4.3 mile run + 30 minutes at-home yoga Wednesday: rest Thursday: 3.28 mile run Friday:

How I Spent My Spring Break (or the Great Florida Road Trip): Miami, not Belize

2013-04-04T11:00:00.000-04:00

Back in June of last year, Raisin Bread and I started planning our spring break. We had a bunch of miles to use and decided on BELIZE!! I've always wanted to snorkel the Belize Barrier Reef and visit the Mayan pyramids. I spent months planning out our itinerary, researching hotels and tours, and have been counting down to my last spring break, probably since the beginning of winter, since this

Disney's Princess Half Marathon 2013 Race Report

2013-04-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Well, I did it! Not as well as I had hoped, however. My goal was to finish under 3 hours, including an allowance to stop for photos. Didn't happen. It just wasn't my day. First of all, Aunt Flow decided to pay me a visit on Saturday, which meant Sunday was awful. Secondly, it was hot, hot, hot and humid. I've been training in 40 degree weather, so I guess I wasn't prepared for how the

Week in Review (March 25 to 31, 2013)

2013-04-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed that I haven't done a weekly update in some weeks. I must confess that this is due mostly to the fact that I gave myself an extended rest that was entirely unintentional. After the Princess Half Marathon (race recap will be up tomorrow), I sort of fell off the wagon. Now I'm kicking myself for it because in five days, I have to run my first 10 miler! Ugh, what did I do?

Disney's Princess Half Marathon Trip Report: Magic Kingdom

2013-03-20T11:00:00.000-04:00

With only a few hours left in the day to spend at the parks, I knew I had to see the new Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom before I left WDW, even if that meant only looking at it. The rides had ridiculously long waits, it was super crowded and it was getting extremely hot outside, so we went and saw but were unable to partake. Sad. So we saw Under the Sea with The Little Mermaid... and

Disney's Princess Half Marathon Trip Report: Animal Kingdom

2013-03-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

We tried to start off my only full day at WDW bright and early since our time in the parks the previous day had been limited. After breakfast at the Wilderness Lodge, we traveled to the Animal Kingdom. The park wasn't very crowded yet at this time of day so we decided to head straight to Expedition Everest. It had a reasonable wait time so we joined the line. Looking at my pictures

Disney's Princess Half Marathon Trip Report: Hollywood Studios and Pasta in the Park Party

2013-03-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

Following the Expo, we headed to Hollywood Studios for our 1:30 pm lunch reservation at the Hollywood Brown Derby with about a minute to spare. After having done so much already in the day, I was starving! For my lunch, I ordered the duck two ways and we shared the restaurant's signature grapefruit cake for dessert. Following lunch, we hopped into the single rider line of Aerosmith's Rock n