Turkey Day 2015

This Thanksgiving Day was another year of continued traditions with friends and family. My morning started early with the Turkey Day 5k in downtown Phoenix.

This was my 4th year running it. The first year I ran with Kellyn, Kathryn and Heather and we ran into the Kruckenberg's and every year since I have run with the Kruck's. 

Bella and Kylie dressed as Indian princesses.

Amy, Gina and I. None of us were really in running shape this year...we still work out - hiking, hot yoga, BODI - just hadn't been running. So, we made turkey bows and wore tutu's instead. If we weren't going to run fast, we were going for the fashion show. Gina texted me the morning of the race and said bows and tutu's required more makeup than usual. My response was that usually I wore no makeup for this race, but this year had actually put on makeup.

Ready for the race to start!

Amy, Kylie and I ran together the majority of the race. Kylie said "I told myself I wasn't going to walk this year" and she didn't! Amy noticed the last photographer, so we posed for him to take some pictures. 

My time this year was 31:25, which translates into a 10:07 min/mile. Not fast by any means.

After the run we went back to the Kruckenberg's for Thanksgiving brunch. Brian set up a TV outside so we could watch the Macy's parade while we hung out.

I made the low-carb pumpkin muffins.

Amy made a gluten free quiche...

...and so did Gina.

Brian was our barista again this year.

Some of the group sitting by the fire. It was actually a cold Phoenix day.

Gina and Eli.

After brunch I came home and made a Brussels sprout dish to take to Kevin & Jocelyn's for the family Thanksgiving dinner.

I made this same dish last year, but it took me forever to find the recipe. So, linking it here in case I need it in the future.

Mom's Pinterest veggie turkey creation.

A canvas Jocelyn had hanging up - need to remember this.

Mom made cake-filled teepees for everyone. Uriah enjoyed his.

Uriah also enjoyed playing football with the big boys.

Kellyn brought over the espresso machine that we used for the Rust Family Reunion this past summer. After being closed since June, Rustbucks was again open for business.

It was a good Thanksgiving day, other than the fact that I started not feeling well Thursday night. Was going to #optoutside on Friday, but spent the day watching movies and taking naps instead (and that has continued into today).

Fall Weekend in NYC

During the last week of September I had a business trip planned to our corporate offices in Holmdel, NJ. The plan was to be in NJ on Thursday and Friday, so I booked my flight home for Sunday instead of Friday and spent the weekend in NYC.

This is the Navesink River in Red Bank, NJ. This is where the preferred hotels are located for Vonage when visiting corporate.

Our CEO came from Google so he is trying to create a "Google" environment. Since the bikes were available I had to take one for a spin.

On Friday afternoon I took NJ transit to Penn Station. When I booked this weekend, I had no idea the Pope was in town (except for the fact that hotels were extremely expensive). I arrived at Penn at 5:45pm, and St. Francis was scheduled to be at MSG at 6pm so I was caught in the crowds of people.

I liked my hotel because it was an apartment feel.

This was the view out the bedroom window, and it reminded me of my view on 81st Street.

Friday night I left my apartment and walked to the UES. I noticed that Lenny's had all changed their names to Lenwich.

I stopped in for dinner at The Hummus Kitchen. This is called the Super Healthy Salad, and I once walked in a blizzard to get this for take-out - that's how much I like this meal :)

I also stopped at the Two Little Red Hens bakery for a cupcake after my super healthy salad.

I left the UES and walked back towards my hotel along Park Ave. I again ran into Pope fanfare as he was staying around 72nd Street and 5th Ave.

The NYPL.

Saturday morning I slept in a little and then headed to Central Park...

...the best place in the world to run.

After my run I went back to the UES - I noticed they opened a juice bar on 86th Street so stopped in for a green juice.

But then I followed it with a bagel from H&H.

I then took the subway to Union Square to walk around the farmer's market.

If I still lived there would have bought me some produce.

I went back to the hotel to get ready, and then walked toward Times Square to get a Broadway show ticket from the TKTS booth.

I stopped in at Gregory's Coffee on my way - it's no LGO :(

I bought my show ticket and then walked down Broadway towards Madison Square Park. They were having a street festival so bought a couple of french macaroons.

Some artsy shots from Madison Square Park.

I ended up at Eataly for dinner. Sat at the bar and talked to this British naturopathic doctor while I ate.

On the way back to Times Square I saw that there was a square dance event in Bryant Park. If I didn't have my show ticket I would have found me a partner for square dancing.

The show I saw was Amazing Grace. I never knew the background story of the song and how it related to slave trade.

Since I was solo for the play I got a front row seat!

My view every night I walked back to my hotel.

After the show, I stopped in at the NYC ASU watch party to see ASU get killed by USC. I only stayed until half since it was after midnight NYC time.

Sunday morning I stopped at another juice bar on my way to church. TGC was having their semi-annual All Parish Gathering so was able to see quite a few people I knew from the UES service.

After church I ran up to the UES to get bagels to take home to my family and caught the subway to JFK. It was a quick weekend but so fun to be back in the City. As I wrote on Instagram, the magic of NYC has returned :)