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Half Marathon Weekend Recap – The Holy Half

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B and I ran a half marathon this weekend in South Bend, Indiana. You may recall that one of my goals for this year was to run at least 2 half marathons (to partially make up for my injury while training for a full marathon last year). I was thinking of training for Cleveland, but since we’ll be at B’s sister’s graduation from Notre Dame that weekend, we started looking for other races. So when B’s sister mentioned she’d be running the Holy Half at Notre Dame, it only seemed appropriate that we run that!

holy half marathon

How did it go? The race itself went well except B wasn’t feeling good most of the time. He was feeling a little sick the first half, and then was in much more pain the second half of the race – stomach, legs, etc. I kept with him the whole time and we finished, but definitely weren’t running for time. Maybe that’s why I felt so good after the race and could have run at least a mile or few more.

B's Aunt Marie took this action shot!

B’s Aunt Marie took this action shot!

What did we like about the race?

  • The running crowd – I really enjoyed the group of people that were running. It was mostly Notre Dame students so it was a lot of young people – but quite a few non-ND students were mixed in as well (including a BC grad like myself). It didn’t hurt that B, his two sisters and one of his brothers were all running the half or the 10k!
  • The cheering – The students were all over campus cheering the runners on. It was fun to see the students with signs and cheering everyone on – even those who clearly weren’t part of their campus.
  • The water/Gu stops – There seemed to be plenty of water stops to keep us hydrated and even 3-4 stops that also included Gu Chomps.
  • The run through campus – The running route was about two laps of a 10k course. Parts of it were through campus, which was fun to see! I’m slightly biased with my idea of what a beautiful campus looks like (Sorry, but BC was GORGEOUS!) but it was nice to see another pretty college.
  • The start time – Starting at 9 a.m.? LOVED not having to get up at the break of dawn to get to the race!
  • The post-race food – Free Jimmy John’s subs (veggie for me), Dunkin Donuts bagels, Peeps, fruit and more. The supply was endless!

What didn’t we like about the race?

  • The weather – I guess you can’t really blame this on the race but it was COLD! I couldn’t feel my fingers at the end, at all, which wasn’t fun. I was wearing normal winter running gear, but for some reason couldn’t get my hands warm. This could have to do with the fact that I’m incapable of drinking water during runs and spilled the ice cold water cups a few times. Whoops!
  • The overall course –  While I did love running through campus and liked the loop, I didn’t like miles 2-4 of the loop, which were almost like a trail run. They were around a lake or pond on campus and the path was very narrow – some parts you were barely able to pass anyone, which is not good for the start of a race – and the ground was rock solid and uneven. It had clearly been muddy at some point, and then re-frozen and it hurt my knees more than the normal concrete. B also didn’t like the last few miles of the loop because it was mostly running around parking lots, etc.
  • No medal – We didn’t get a medal. Not that I do anything with the medals I get (do you?) but we didn’t get anything for finishing. Our race bags had t-shirts and some odd assortment of goodies (jewelry cleaner?) but there was no medal or anything at the finish line.
Post-race relaxing at Notre Dame .. and a photo-bomb by Pete!

Post-race relaxing at  Legends on Notre Dame .. and a photo-bomb by Pete!

After the race, we met up with B’s aunt, uncle and cousin, who had been cheering everyone on and grabbed a few drinks on campus before heading back to take a nap. Post-nap we were starving! We enjoyed some pretty good pizza (surprisingly good for what I was expecting out of a small pizza joint in Indiana) and then headed to a local bar for some dancing, fuzzy navel shots and some seriously amazing games of beer pong (B was undefeated!). Definitely not a bad way to spend a half-marathon weekend! 

Some thoughts to ponder:

  • Have you ever signed up for a half marathon less than two weeks before the race? How did it go?
  • Do you like to run with a friend/significant other when racing? Do you leave them behind or stick with them through the end?
  • Have you ever run a race through a college campus?
  • What’s your favorite post-race indulgence?
  • What’s your favorite college campus?

Ireland Adventure Recap: Part Four – Doolin!

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Part Four: Doolin

(continued from here)

Doolin: After doing some shopping in Galway, B got in our car to drive to Doolin, where we’d also be staying in a bed and breakfast. Our plan was to get to Doolin by 1, catch a ferry to the Aran Isles, check in at our bed and breakfast, and then enjoy dinner and some of what is known as Ireland’s best live music. Of course, the trip didn’t go as planned. Irish driving always seems to take longer than it should, and we pulled into Doolin at 1:15 p.m. – just too late for the ferry to the Aran Isles! So, instead we decided to see if we could check in early.

Our Doolin B&B

Luckily, our bed and breakfast was gorgeous – and the people who owned it were by far the friendliest Irish people we’d met (and we’d met a lot of friendly Irish people!). We were greeted not only by freshly cooked scones and freshly made coffee, with Bailey’s, but the host, Sarah, also gave us a ton of flyers, a recommended itinerary and plenty of suggestions on how to spend our day without seeing the Aran Isles.

B on the Burren in front of the Cliffs of Moher

On the Burren in front of the Cliffs of Moher

B and I got back on the road and decided to check out the Burren museum and drive through the beautiful Burren region. The hills of Burren are made of limestone rocks and bright green grass. Because of the way the area was formed, and the way the limestone just juts out of the grass, the area is home to some incredible flora and fauna, and is often studied by scientists and naturalists. After checking out the museum and beautiful scenery, B and I headed back to our B&B and decided to walk to the ferry station and catch a boat tour of the Cliffs of Moher.

Cliffs of Insanity!

The boat ride was beautiful! It was chilly, but not raining, and the cliffs were magnificent, jetting into the water and far above our heads. The water was rocky and I may have felt a little seasick at some points, but I definitely recommend taking a boat cruise to the Cliffs if you’re ever in Doolin. We could see the Cliffs from our B&B, but to be up close to them was truly incredible.

After our boat ride, B and I walked back to our B&B and got ready for dinner and some of the famous live Doolin music! We ordered dinner at a local pub and enjoyed some really cool, traditional Irish music. What a great evening!

Guess which breakfast was mine? (scones and breads not pictured)

The next morning, B and I had another amazing B&B breakfast – this time with homemade jam, freshly baked scones, brown bread and banana bread on the side. Then, we hit the road for our last adventure – one more day/night in Dublin!

Return to Dublin:

After our drive back to Dublin, B and I decided to hit one of the places we had missed our first time around – the Jameson Distillery! We enjoyed the guided tour, plus some Irish coffee (made with Jameson of course), Irish coffee chocolate, and a Jameson tasting at the end.

irish coffee at Jameson Distillery

the last pub

After the Distillery trip, we walked a little more around Dublin, visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and got dinner at an Indian place. We got there before 7, meaning we were able to try their tasting menu and enjoyed an appetizer, main course, naan and a drink.  After dinner, we had plans to meet up with Katie one last time and enjoyed some more beverages, including my last Irish cider (<3 Bulmers!) and last live music session. It was the perfect way to spend the last night of our trip!

Part one of this post, our Dublin trip recap, can be found here.

Part two of this post, the London trip recap, can be found here.

Part three of this post, the Galway trip recap, can be found here.

Ireland Adventure Recap: Part Three – Galway!

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Part Three: Galway

(continued from here)

Galway Day One: After flying back into Dublin, B and I rented a car and began our adventure. We were going to drive to Newgrange, visit the old tomb/monument, then continue onto Galway for our first night in our bed and breakfast.

B was incredible with driving on the windy roads that make up Ireland and driving on the other side of the road. With me as his co-pilot, what could go wrong?

Driving in Ireland*

*please ignore my commentary

We amazingly found our way to Newgrange without any issue (despite not having directions. Or a gps. Just a little ole map that wasn’t very detailed and simply listed Newgrange as somewhere in the vicinity of some other roads). When we walked into the visitor center, we learned that the only way to view the tomb is by guided tour, and the next tour that had openings would be two hours later. So we faced a decision – do we wait for two hours, take the guided tour, but not get into Galway until 8 p.m.? Or do we skip the tour and head to Galway immediately, getting in by dinnertime? We ultimate decided to forget Newgrange, and find our way to Galway. Slightly disappointed, we got back on the long, windy country roads and were a few kilometers away when I couldn’t help but see a large mound in the distance. Could it be? No .. it was! I couldn’t believe our luck – the tomb was far away but we could see it! We pulled over and took a few pictures, feeling satisfied that our trip wasn’t a complete detour.

Newgrange in Ireland

We caught a glimpse of Newgrange from the car!

We made it into Galway, checked into our bed and breakfast (and found homemade scones and jam waiting in our room!) and then walked into the town to check out some of the shops and restaurants. Most shops were closed, but we were able to enjoy dinner and drinks at a local pub and then some of the best live music of the trip at a nearby pub, An Pucan.

I had the Mini Breakfast

Galway Day Two: We woke up early, headed down to breakfast, and both B and I enjoyed a traditional Irish breakfast – cheese, scones, brown bread and of course eggs, different types of sausage, and ham. Then we got into the car with the goal in mind to hit two nearby landmarks – the Kylemore Abbey and Croagh Patrick.

B and me with Kylemore Abbey in the background

The view of Kylemore Abbey

After driving an hour or so through more windy roads, and nearly running over a few sheep, we were at Kylemore Abbey. I couldn’t help but catch my breath as we drove closer – it seemed like out of nowhere, this castle in the hillside, upon a lake appeared! Kylemore Abbey is an old castle, now an Abbey, with a really interesting and romantic history that I won’t share with you here (you can read about it instead on their website). In short, though, the guided tour of the castle and the gardens (they’re walled and beautiful – like the Secret Garden!) was great – and we even got to stop by the chapel that was built by the former owner in dedication to his wife after her death. I told you – it’s romantic!

looking happy early on our croagh patrick hike

After visiting the grounds and catching the beginning of a free concert by an American choir in the chapel, it was time to head to our next location – Croagh Patrick. I was a little nervous – Croagh Patrick is a large hill that people climb, some barefoot, to get a beautiful view of the Irish countryside. It was the same mountain that St. Patrick supposedly climbed before he chased all the snakes out of Ireland and therefore is the site for many religious pilgrimages. The climb isn’t easy, however, and the weather had turned cold and rainy – not my idea of ideal mountain climbing weather. When we got to the base of the mountain, it was still rainy and so foggy that we couldn’t see the top of the mountain. I kept my fingers crossed, bundled up (pants, sneakers, long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, windbreaker and gloves for July!), ignored the sign that warned us not to climb in “wet and foggy days,” bought a walking stick and began the ascent.

The first part of the climb wasn’t too bad. The grade wasn’t too steep, the rain had slowed down to a drizzle, and we passed many families and children also making the climb. Then, after climbing for an hour or s, the conditions worsened. It started raining, heavily (I swear it was wet snow), and the climb got much steeper. The walking sticks came in handy, as not only was I soaked, but so were the pathways so it was like climbing uphill through a rocky stream. Only a few people passed us, and the people on their way down didn’t even look happy. I remember reading online before the trip that the climb can get difficult, but it’s worth it when you see the people on their way down, hear their words of encouragement and ask them about the view. So of course, I asked a few people. While one couple did offer some nice advice, “Keep going! You’re almost there!” The answers I got were, “Ugh it’s not worth it,” and “Turn back now!” and “We got to the top and saw nothing. Just rain and fog.” Definitely not encouraging. B and hiked for at least another hour, soaked, until the incline became nearly vertical. The walking sticks did little to help as we climbed the wet rocks – two steps up, one step sliding down. Finally, realizing there was definitely no view to be seen in the rain/fog, and soaking wet, we decided to turn around and make the 2 hour descent. Do I wish we had made it to the top? Absolutely. But I wish it had been sunny, and there was nothing we could do about that. Exhausted, that night we enjoyed our last meal in Galway and returned to our bed and breakfast early, so we’d be ready to go for our next drive to Doolin.

The foggy mountain we climbed. Didn’t actually obey the sign – woops!

The next morning, B and I woke up early, enjoyed another great Irish breakfast with Irish cheese and pastries on the side, did some walking around Galway, and hit the road for Doolin! (to be continued …)

Galway!

Part one of this post, our Dublin trip recap, can be found here.

Part two of this post, the London trip recap, can be found here.

Ireland Adventure Recap: Part Two – London!

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Part Two: London (Part One: Dublin, here)

London Day One: B and I enjoyed a short flight from Dublin to Heathrow, and arrived in London around dinnertime. We looked at a map and decided to just take the tube to our hotel in Chelsea. After getting off the tube, we were walking and walking until we came upon a huge soccer stadium and got excited – that has to be the Chelsea Football Club! But it wasn’t. In fact it was the soccer stadium that was we had passed two two tube stops previously. Woops! We had gotten lost on the way to our hotel and walked 40 minutes in the wrong direction! We finally made our way back to our original stop, and of course found our hotel just a few blocks in the other direction.

After checking in, we decided to walk around the area to find a spot for dinner. We ended up selecting a nearby Indian restaurant, which had great food! Despite the less-than-nice server (how dare he question B’s ability to eat lamb vindaloo, or me to eat spicy chicken without rice?!) the food was great.

A group at the London Pride Parade

Day Two: Our Walking Route (about 8 mi)

London Day Two: On our second day in London, it was time to explore! We took the tube downtown and got off at St. James’s Park and walked to visit Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square (where we ran into and got to enjoy the city’s Pride Parade!), the horse guard, Westminster Abbey, and more. Then we crossed the river and toured the other side – taking in the sights like the London Eye, The Globe Theater, the Jubilee Gardens, the London Bridge – before crossing the Tower Bridge to get a better look at the Tower of London and then find our way to dinner and drinks at the pub, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.  B had been to London twice before, and each time had wanted to go to this old pub (it’s been around since the 1500s! Or as one Brit pointed out when we were there, “Longer than your country has been around.” I did mention that America was around..just not our government) and we finally made it there! My food was kinda bland, but the old pub atmosphere, shared tables and drinks made for a fun night.

in front of the Tower Bridge – ready for the Olympics

B and me at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Less than stellar food at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (my “pie” is on the left)

In case you didn’t realize it, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is really old

London Day Three:B and I took the train again to St. James’s Park and decided to spend the day seeing some of the sights we hadn’t gotten to the day before. We first started at the Churchill War Rooms museum which was really cool. While B is a history buff, I hadn’t expected to enjoy the exhibits so much – I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re looking for something different, and indoors, to do in London. After spending a few hours in the museum, it was time to go shopping! We hit all the ones on my list (including Top Shop and Harrod’s) minus Boden, which apparently only has two stores and not downtown. Oh well. After a long day of touring and shopping, it was time to try a typical Sunday meal – a roast. We headed back to Chelsea for yet another meat and potato (chips this time) meal and of course a few pints. Being Sunday, not much was open too late, which wasn’t that bad, because we had to be up early for our return flight to Dublin. In Dublin we were going to rent a car and head west, beginning the second adventure of our trip. More to come on that …

(Part one of this post, our Dublin trip recap, can be found here)

Ireland Adventure Recap: Part One – Dublin

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As you may have gleaned from the past few photo posts, B and I just came back from an amazing European vacation, where we traveled around Ireland and visited London. It was a GREAT trip, even better than I had expected.

Let me start by admitting that Ireland had never been on my list of places to visit. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to visit it – I love traveling and had heard many great things about the country – it was just that I’m not Irish and my list of places to visit have included Asia  (yes the whole continent), New Zealand, Belgium, Turkey, the Caribbean, Spain, and so on – but never Ireland. BUT I am SO glad we went. Ireland was beautiful, breathtaking, pastoral, etc. and the people were more than friendly. So what did we do? Here’s an outline of our itinerary, some of my favorites, and some photos for you to enjoy.

Part One: Dublin

Dublin Day One: B and I flew out of Cleveland late Tuesday and arrived in Dublin just in time for breakfast on America’s birthday- July 4! We somehow made it from the airport to our hotel and dropped off our bags. I felt pretty gross and tired from our 7ish hour plane ride and no shower, but the adrenaline and excitement of being in the new country kept me going! We walked around Dublin, starting at St. Stephen’s Green, a beautiful park area right next to our hotel. After that we happened to literally run right into Grafton Street, Dublin’s shopping and music hub – in front of the shops on the cobblestone walkway are tons of musicians putting on performances, trying to make money and get discovered. Have you seen the movie Once? It’s where the two main characters first meet… beautiful!

photoshoot at Trinity College

After some window shopping, we found Trinity College and took a tour of the campus and its library, which meant we got to see the famous Book of Kells and the Long Room. I did sit down at one point in the Long Room and found myself almost passing out – which meant it was time to go, so B and I headed to find his sister Katie, who was in Dublin working for an organization called Friends of the Elderly. We found her, dancing with some elderly people during their Fourth of July celebration, which was pretty amusing to see. Are you picturing this? A bunch of elderly Irish people, dancing with Katie, to some American-style marches, in a room decorated with red, white and blue, and of course, tea and scones.

After meeting up with Katie, we finally headed back to our hotel and were able to freshen up and take a quick power nap. For dinner, we met up with Katie at the Brazen Head – the oldest pub in Ireland! I enjoyed a lamb stew, while B got his fish and chips. After our food and drinks, we headed to Kearney’s for some live music, dancing (including to the song Galway Girl!) and whiskey tasting. Not a bad first day!

The three of us outside the Brazen Head

fish & chips (and B’s favorite – mushy peas!)

irish whiskey tasting

Dublin Day Two: B and I slept in and then enjoyed coffee and brunch right off Grafton Street. After brunch we decided to walk as much as we could before our feet fell off to check out some of the other places on our to do list, including: Dublin Castle, the free museum at the castle – the Chester Beatty Library (which I HIGHLY recommend – it was really cool and filled with tons of artifacts!), the Guinness factory, St. Audeon’s and the Kilmainham Gaol. We almost didn’t make it to the old jail – after walking around and around (and of course not asking for directions) we finally made it there JUST as the last tour was going on!

B, in Jail

Dublin Castle!

Enjoying a Guinness at the Guinness Factory Tour

After a long day of walking around and touring, we met up again with B’s sister for drinks and traditional live Irish music at the pub, Cobblestone. Not realizing the place didn’t exactly serve food, B and I grabbed some shawarma on the way back to hotel that evening. I love street food!

Dublin Day Three: B and I slept in again and then decided to take the bus to see UCD, the campus where his sister was living. Well, we actually were going to leave our bags with her while we were in London (Spoiler alert!) but realized then that we wouldn’t be able to get them upon our return to Dublin so our trip wasn’t really necessary. So we returned back to the city center and went shopping! I bought myself a pair of earrings, some post cards I never sent, and continued to peruse stores looking for souvenirs. We then braved the pouring rain and headed to Dawson Lounge, what’s “probably the smallest pub in the world” (as they claim) for a drink before catching our flight to London! (to be continued …)

Dawson Lounge – “probably the smallest pub in the world”

Weekend Recap: PETEFEST 2012

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Friday at 3 p.m., I shut down my laptop and put my phone on the Out of Office Mode. I had changed my Out of Office email to read, “I’m in Atlantic City for Petefest 2012 (don’t ask). I’ll be back, and checking email, on Monday, March 12″ and my weekend was ready to begin!

This weekend, B and I traveled to Atlantic City in honor of Petefest 2012, the celebration of B’s cousin’s 21st birthday. Though I’d been to Jersey many times before (being from NY and Staten Island, I obviously have family that lives there), including the Jersey Shore (Seaside Heights, what what!), the only impression I had of AC was from Sex and the City. Who doesn’t remember that episode where it’s Charlotte’s birthday and they go to Atlantic with Richard right after Miranda has had a baby? I digress.

We hit the road around 4 p.m., picked up B’s sister, and headed on the 9 hour drive to New Jersey. We pulled into Atlantic City right around midnight, passing by the skyline – larger than I had expected. We arrived at the beach house about 10 min away from AC that B’s Aunt Marie had rented, and caught up with half the group (the other group was out gambling), including the birthday boy, who had returned from a day of celebration.  We stayed up to celebrate a little, but then decided against hitting the casino and instead headed to bed, as we had a 13.1 training mi scheduled for the next morning.

The next day we woke up early, ran our half marathon training run (more on that here), and then joined the rest of the group for a day of celebration.

half marathons make me sleepy!

After a quick nap (13 miles tires me out!) I put on my Petefest Shirt and joined the others in some games, including the longest game of Kings EVER and a heated game of Bunco (not to brag but my team may have won).

Aunt Marie prepared a pretty awesome meal of cavatelli and meatballs, and then we all got ready to head out for the night. Aunt Marie’s friend Bev did my hair – Jersey style of course!

We headed to the Legends Concert – the birthday boy’s request – and saw a rocking show of Tina Turner, Elvis, Ray Charles, the Blues Brothers and Liza Minelli. We then headed to the casinos to gamble and party some more.

The group with the Blues Brothers

What a fun night! When the birthday boy got tired, B and I headed back with him, knowing we’d be getting up at 7 (really 6 a.m. with the time change) to drive 9 hours back to Cleveland for B’s mom’s birthday dinner. But not without a stop in Philly to meet some college friends for brunch! Mitch (who had visited us a few weeks ago) had suggested the famous Philly brunch spot Sabrina’s, but after finding out there was a 1.5 hr wait (which would make us late for dinner), we headed to Hawthorne’s and enjoyed a delicious brunch! My eggs benedict with smoked salmon were AWESOME. We chatted it up with our friends, then headed back to Cleveland, and made it to dinner at 6! We were home by 10 p.m. and crashed from great weekend of 18+ hours in the car, 13.1 miles of running, fun, family and big hair.

Hashtag Mom Will Make Your Mom Happy

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Hashtag Mom is Brilliant.

“Honey, can you text me when you get in? I know it will be late but I’ll look at it in the morning.”

“Can you text me on your drive back to Cleveland? Just want to make sure you’re having safe travels.”

Does that sound familiar? Whenever I travel, no matter if it’s driving back to Cleveland from the holidays in NY, or flying out west for work, or driving to Toledo for a meeting, I often hear the above from my mom. While I usually groan (Moooooom, I’m in my mid-to-late twenties!), I almost always send a text or a few along the way and when I arrive.

Getting tired of texting mom? Wish that your tweets, Facebook and foursquare check-ins were enough? That’s where the brilliant folks at #mom come in. They’ve started a service that texts your mom for you! Here’s how it works – tag your Foursquare check in with the hashtag “#mom” and your mom receives a text OR a call! What does this mean? No more worried moms!

Visit
http://hashtagmom.com
 to learn more.

 

Yet another one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” ideas. Pure brilliance.

(via
http://sarahsfav.es/
).

 

Holidaze!

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Sorry, couldn’t come up with a more original title for this post. You’re probably wondering where in the world I’ve been these past few weeks … no? Well it’s really been a daze of food, fun and family. I somehow ended up with waaay more time off than should be legally allowed and my last day in the office before January 3 was December 16. What have I been up to in the meantime?

My vacation started off with dropping off food and gifts for the Boston College Adopt a Family program – B and I coordinated the program this year and our local alumni chapter was able to adopt 5 families and provide food and gifts for 37 people this year!

After the drop off, gathering with some of the volunteers

After the drop off, B and I headed to NY to spend Christmas with my family. Not before spending a few days in NYC first to visit friends and family and sightsee! As you may know, most of my family (grandmother, aunts, cousin, brother, uncles) all live in NYC so each visit I tend to spend time with family, and not have time to visit the sights. So B and I decided to take the train down and spend a few days walking around Manhattan, stopping by Brooklyn to get an amazing dinner with my uncle (SO mad I didn’t get a picture of my awesome Italian meal of grilled octopus and calamari!), getting lunch with my great-aunt at a Mexican restaurant in Murray Hill, visiting my brother at Columbia, and doing touristy thing like eating tons of bagels with lox cream cheese (my fave!), walking by Rockerfeller Center (but not touristy enough to take a photo of the tree), checking out Eataly, walking around Central Park, running through Riverside Park, window shopping at the outdoor Christmas markets, and checking out the window displays on 5th Avenue.

NYC at dusk

Visiting my Grandma's Sister, Aunt Glad

In addition to our fun times in the city, we got to spend Christmas with my family. Never a dull moment in the Koski household, this year’s Christmas festivities included:

  • Lots of cookies
  • Even more tissues and cold meds as I had the longest and stuffiest cold of my adult life
  • Walking Queenie … and then scarily witnessing her have a seizure a few days later
  • Decorating the tree … and then it falling down, leaving me to hold it up while B and my dad attempted to trim some branches off the bottom so it’d better fit in the tree stand
  • Seeing two movies (Sherlock Holmes AND the new Mission Impossible) in the theater and watching Love Actually with the family for their first time (possibly my 10th)
  • Lighting the menorah for Chanukah and going to Christmas morning mass
  • One clogged toilet and a Christmas-day call to a plumber so we could once again use the water in our house … which has become a sad tradition
  • Impromptu dance parties to All I Want for Christmas Is You with my aunt and mom
  • Reconnecting with one of my bffs, Jane, and recounting who from our high school was pregnant, who was divorced, who had bought a house, and how old we are getting
  • Lots of reading (almost made my way through the awesome book Cutting for Stone)
  • Getting lots of amazing Christmas and early-birthday gifts from my wishlist! My favorites being my new Hunter boots (thanks B!), my new awesome laptop  bag/carry all purse (thanks Mom/Dad!) and new running shoes (which already have about 20 or so miles on them :) )

You should be seriously jealous of these hot Christmas sweatshirts

holding the tree while B and my dad cut the branches

The Menorah on Christmas Eve

All in all, it was a great time with my family and of course I was sad to leave and drive back to Ohio. How did you spend your holidays?

Weekend Recap: BC v. ND Weekend

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As a proud Boston College alumna, I’d be in trouble if I didn’t post about my recent weekend in South Bend to witness another year and another episode of the Holy War. We (BC) were supposed to lose by 20+ points (sadly, we’re less than stellar this season) but the game was closer than it should have been – the final score was 16 – 14, with BC only losing by 2! Again, it was still a loss, but it was a fun day, fun game, and great weekend.

The weekend started off at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday when B and I were picked by his dad in a 12-person van, and it was already full with his parents, 2 of his brothers, 1 of his sisters, B’s coworker and our dentist and his wife (yes, you read that right – they’re family friends so we spend the 4ish hour carride, tailgate, and night/next morning with our dentist).

We arrived at ND and met up B’s aunt, 3 uncles, 2 aunts and 7 cousins. Yes, our tailgate was HUGE, family filled, and got even bigger when 4 of my friends from BC stopped by.

B* and me

There was tons of food, including my own first attempt at cake balls – shaped like footballs of course:

We stayed at a hotel after the game and then headed back to the CLE the next day.

Does your school have any big rivalries? What’s your favorite alumni sporting event?

*B does not usually look like such a creepster. He’s just doing Movember and raising money for man-cancers. If you’d donate to him, I’d appreciate it so he actually does shave it off come 8 days from now (and yes, I’m counting down).

A Series of Unfortunate Travel Adventures

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Over the past month, I have traveled more than usual. And that’s putting it lightly – I was on a plane 9x (and it should’ve been 11 except 2 flights were cancelled), spent 40 hours driving in road trips, and spent 9 nights sleeping in beds that weren’t my own (no, not in that way.. I’m talking hotel rooms, condos, etc.) That may not sound like a lot for you veteran travelers, but this was after 2 months of no travel at all and before that it was just a trip home for Christmas. With all of this travel time, I’ve had some funny/crazy/frustrating experiences (let’s say a bout of bad luck) – all of which could not be explained in one blog post.

This post, then, will serve the purpose to share with you some customer service stories – and 2 lessons.

Customer service reps do not always know what they’re talking about: On one flight, I had two legs to get to my final destination. When I booked the flight on Continental.com, it appeared I was on two Continental flights. But when I went to check in for my flight, it showed that my first flight was Continental, and the second was United. And of course, I was unable to check into the United flight. So after calling Continental, and being told I had to call United (yes, they are soon to be the same company), I was put in touch with a customer service rep who clearly didn’t know how to help me. His solution for not being able to check in? During my 50 min layover in Houston, leave the secure gate area and check in at the United check in counter – and then go through security again and catch my flight. Ridiculous? Yes. Plausible during a 50 minute layover where I had to dash from one end of the airport to the other? Not at all. When I asked “Charles” if he’d ever been to the Houston airport, he said “Oh yes … this is very doable.” Did I listen to “Charles”? Of course not. I ended up being able to check in to my United flight when I arrived at the airport for the first leg of my trip. Did I still have to make a mad dash across the airport? Yes.  But if I had listened to Charles, I probably would’ve missed my flight.

Patience, when it comes to customer service, really does pay off: On one trip, after my hotel room was mysteriously cancelled (I found out the night before my stay and the other hotel rooms were booked due to high school basketball games in the area), I then somehow ended up with two different hotel rooms, booked with hotels.com. Of course I couldn’t be in two places at once, so I called hotels.com to explain the mishap and get the same hotel room for 2 nights. After waiting 35 minutes for my call to be answered, I was told by the first rep that they could not cancel my hotel room, because the reservations had been made more than just a few minutes ago … I explained to him that the reservations had just been made – but I’d been on hold for more than a half hour. So he put me on hold as he “tried to connect with the hotel.” When he came back 15 min later, I was told that he was unable to reach the hotel, because the reservations department at the hotel had already closed for the day and I’d have to try back tomorrow – at which point there would be a charge for the room because it was the same day. At this point, many would’ve given up. But not I. I was determined to take advantage of hotels.com’s free cancellation policy an get the hotel room that I needed.

So after the first call to hotels.com (yes there was another), I called the hotel and was put in touch with the reservations department right away. They told me that they had not been contacted by hotels.com and they were open for 24 hours.  They said they’d happily cancel my room if they got the confirmation paperwork from hotels.com. So I called hotels.com back, and waited another 40 min for my call to be taken. This time, the woman told me she was unable to confirm with the hotel because nobody was answering the phone. I assured her that they were, indeed answering their phone and were waiting for her call, as I had just spoken with them. So I was put on hold again as she tried to reach them. When she returned, the hotels.com rep then told me that she had spoken with somebody but their phone kept hanging up on her so she was unable to get their fax number. Of course, I had gotten their fax number so I gave it to her – to which she said she needed to physically speak with someone. After this went on for some time (each time she “tried” the hotel I was put on hold for 5-10 min), I finally told her I would be happy to call the hotel on my other phone and put them on speaker phone  so the could communicate directly. She responded that she would try again and see if their phone was working again. Then, she came back and said she had spoken with the hotel and they would not be able to cancel my room, because it was part of a larger reservation, for 5 rooms, and they had to be cancelled all at once. I luckily had asked the hotel about this – and told her what they had told me, that it was no issue at all to just cancel my room. So I waited another 10 min while she “talked over the issue with the hotel.” Sure enough, she came back and the situation was taken care of and I would receive the refund.

I nearly screamed for joy at the end of this saga. I had won the battle of customer service! But did I really win? I had started my calls/inquiries to solve the hotel problem at 5:00 p.m. and got off the phone with hotels.com at 7:30 p.m.  I had lost 2.5 hours of my life just so my client wouldn’t have to pay $150 for a hotel room that  I did not need. Was it worth it?

PS – I will never use hotels.com again.