Marathons, Half Marathons, and 1/26 Marathons

Last weekend Chris ran the Queens half marathon...yep...Queens. Believe it or not, aside from the tar plant that he had to run by in the July heat, he said the course was rather beautiful. Ever since running the Brooklyn half marathon in May with his brother Zac, Chris has been considering a full marathon. Tomorrow he's going to sign up for the Kiawah marathon in December...which is pretty crazy! I'm very proud of him and how well he's done!

Inspired by Chris's success, I've been attempting to run myself. I hate to say it, but I couldn't even run a full mile when I first started. The loop around Prospect Park is just over a 5k and it's marked by every 1/4 mile. I started out running a 1/4 mile and walking a 1/4 mile around the loop. On Wednesday I was able to run the 1st mile, which was very exciting! I hope to be able to run the entire loop someday.

Here are a few pictures of Chris and Zac before and after the Brooklyn half. I should note that Zac ran that thing in 1:23:12...absolutely insane!

Menu - Week of July 25th

Once again, we are attempting to menu plan for the week. Chris did a great job last week and we even tried out a new recipe that I found in Real Simple. Evidence can be found on Chris's blog. So it's my turn this week and in keeping with the spirit of trying new things, there are three new recipes on this week's menu. So here it goes:

Sunday: Salad (New recipe inspired by a salad that Chris had at a restaurant last week, this salad has feta cheese, tomatoes, olives, capers, roasted red peppers, red onions, and chick peas.)

Monday: Rigatoni Peperonata (New recipe found in Real Simple that uses many of the ingredients used in Sunday's salad. It should also pair well with white wine...it is The Bachelorette night after all.)

Tuesday: Chicken Paprikash (New recipe given to me by our friend Emily that uses the crockpot! And smoked paprika!! Also, it's reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally..."waiter there is too much pepper on my paprikash.")

Wednesday: Bean Burritos (The Jaynes household staple.)

Thursday: Hamburgers and Baked French Fries (It's been a while since we've braved using the oven in this heat, but I'm craving fries, so be it.)

Friday: Dinner out at Le P'tit Paris Bistro (This cute bistro opened up at the end of our block last fall and we have yet to check it out. So we will on Friday.)

Saturday: Veggie Bowls (Sautéed veggies from our farmer's market mixed with chickpeas and topped with goat cheese.)

Yay I did it!

Chris's Graduation!

The day has finally arrived! After two years of hard work, Chris graduated from New York University with a Master's of Arts in Cinema Studies! Hooray!!!

Chris's mom flew in on Mother's Day and stayed through the week to attend graduation. It was quite possibly the worst May weather ever, but, despite the bitter cold, I think she had a good time. A little side note: she read four books while here...the Jaynes' reading ability never ceases to amaze me.

On Tuesday the 11th, Chris had a mini graduation (only 1,200 graduates) just for his college at Madison Square Garden called the Tisch Salute. Wednesday morning was the big NYU graduation at Yankee Stadium. We were so pumped about the graduation being at the new Yankee Stadium and hearing Alec Baldwin speak. But then the temperature plummeted to 45 degrees and it started raining.

So Chris's mom and I are now the proud owners of Yankees ponchos ha!

And we couldn't have been more relieved when we got a text from Chris that he was leaving after Baldwin's speech. At that point, we could barely feel our fingers! After graduation, a bunch of Chris's classmates and their families got together for lunch at Becco and enjoyed incredible all-you-can-eat pasta.

I am so proud of Chris for completing his master's degree and I can't believe how fast the time has flown by! Congrats Chris!

Russell and Renee Visit

Back in April, Russell and Renee came back to New York for a second visit at Hotel de Jaynes. Our AMAZING neighbors were away for the weekend and offered their apartment to us. It was incredible to have literally twice the space for the weekend. Whenever the Pattersons visit, we know that we will be eating well that weekend...they always know the good places to go! And this weekend did not disappoint.

We also enjoyed a lovely picnic in Riverside Park and saw the garden from You've Got Mail. We completely skipped over where Liz Lemon and Joe Fox live though...next time. Here's a cute picture of the Russell and Renee at Riverside.

Meal Planning Ugh

Chris and I both really enjoy cooking. However, meal planning...not so much. It is always "What do you want for dinner?" "I don't know. What do you want?"

I keep telling myself that I am going to get better at this. I have tried several different things. We have a white board on the wall to keep track of meals...it has been known to keep the same meal plan for a month or so at a time. I even created a separate G-Cal for menu planning. But I never check my G-Cal, so that didn't work.

So...I'm going to attempt to blog it. This may be the only meal planning post ever. But who knows, maybe it will be my meal-planning savior. We shall see. Yeah, I procrastinated doing this for 2 hours.

Meals for the week of April 25 - May 2

Sunday: Mushroom Barley Soup

Monday: Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella Panini w/ Strawberry-Spinach Salad

Tuesday: Cheesy Chicken, Wild Rice, & Peas

Wednesday: Bean Burritos

Thursday: Pork Tenderloin w/ Baked Sweet Potatoes

Friday: Roasted Veggies w/ Chickpeas & Goat Cheese

Saturday: Freebie! Dinner with the Pattersons somewhere in the City

My Parents Visit!

My mom and dad came to visit over Easter weekend and we had a wonderful time! The weather was beautiful for once, although they were a bit disappointed to be leaving the 90 degree weather in SC.

On Saturday we ate at Grimaldi's and wandered about the new Brooklyn Bridge Pier 1 Park that just opened. That night we went to see a Behanding in Spokane, which I have to say I would definitely NOT recommend, but it was fun to see Christopher Walken at least.

Sunday we went to Easter services at Redeemer and then to the Easter bonnet parade on 5th Avenue. We ate very well Sunday...Hill Country BBQ for lunch and Enzo's for dinner. Mmmm Enzo's.

Monday we spent about 2 hours walking around Central Park, which was beautiful because everything had just started to bloom. Then we met Chris in Bryant Park and ate lunch in the park.

It was such a nice visit and I'm so glad that they decided to come back to NY!

Poor Panda

Today I was assigned the wonderful task of taking pictures in Lower Manhattan for work. I decided to give my legs a little rest and sat down on a bench in Battery Park. It was then that I witnessed this hilarity. The video is a bit small, but basically this kid comes up, hits the panda, runs around the statue, then comes back and makes some kind of ridiculous face. Poor panda.