The Great Wall

If you haven't already heard...I went and made an irrational decision at the end of 2007. For some reason - I thought it would be fun to run a half-marathon. Yes...me...run a half marathon. Um....in case you know absolutely nothing about me - I've never been a runner. I've hated running for as long as I could remember.....except that one summer after I graduted BYU and decided it would be fun to run a 5K with Myra. S0 - what exactly possessed me to set such an incredibly difficult (for me anyway) goal?.....

Well - Did I mention the 1/2 Marathon I signed up for is the Great Wall Marathon? As in..Great wall of China? uh...yeah. Again - WHAT was I thinking??? Do you see this thing? I have to climb those stairs!

So - how did this all come about? My friend Holly was telling me how her and some friends were going to China...And since I love travelling and always look for opportunites to go places, I asked her more about it. The plan - go to China for a week, Run a Marathon, go to Thailand for a week, go home. "uh...excuse me? Run a marathon on vacation?" She told me more about it..and gave me the website...I did a little reading...and the next thing I know - I have my deposit down, my plane ticket bought..and I'm going!

Yep - yours truly is going to attempt to run a half marathon. And I've been reading a little bit about the Great Wall Marathon...and right now my only goal is to cross the finish line and not die. I read this today:

"You could not run it. It would be impossible. It's straight up and down. People were just crawling on all fours. People were screaming from the pain in their calves. One guy thought he would die."

huh...that's comforting. (fyi: The whole thing is not on the great wall...cause then I would probably die. For the half-marathon about 2.5 miles of the race are on it.)

So - I've been training. Or at least doing my best to try to train. I've got the eating part down. I've been eating really healthy...counting calories..and losing weight. What I'm having a hard time with is keeping a good workout/running routine. I get out to the gym almost every day - but I don't always have a lot of time to train b/c of work (which has gotten busy again) and my extreme inability to drag myself out of bed early! But I'm working on it.

Last week when I was in Phoenix for work, I went for a run and ended up going about 5.5 Miles (which is more than I've EVER done).....so, I felt great about that. Granted I ran slow...but I ran the whole time and actually felt like I could have gone longer. I just wish I was in Phoenix training and not freezing cold Connecticut cause those treadmills just bore me to death.

oh...the Marathon is May 17th. Only 15 weeks away. Which is just not as much time as I would like! But I'm going to do it! I've never been more determined.

Rock Your World

Today was a fantastic day. My new toy came in the mail. I first played Guitar Hero in Texas with my family and I sucked (Majorly)....But it was still so much fun! So - i figured, what the heck!?! I should just get my own! This is going to be my new favorite pastime...so if I'm not at work or at the gym - I might just be strapped to my Wii Guitar.



I am determined to become a Guitar Hero! I mean if my face on this picture doesn't show you that I mean serious business..then I don't know what will. Ok - so really..I just want to be able to finish at least 1 song on the hard level without getting booed off! It might take some serious practice..but I think I can do it.

Nieces and Nephews

I was in Texas for Christmas this year with the whole family. My favorite part...Seeing my nieces and nephews. I have 6 of them all together. Here are a bunch of pics of them and me (in the typical Christine style picture pose)! :)

Pick Up Line? Really?

As many of you know, one of the stops on my recent trip to Europe was Paris..."ville de l'amour" as they call it. One thing that is great about travelling is sometimes you just meet some random people. Well, in Paris...I met Younis.



When Heather, Nicole and I arrived in Paris - the weather was perfect! It was beautiful outside...so we decided to make our way down to the Eiffel Tower to make sure we got some good pics. Well....The Metro system in Paris is quite extensive AND to make matters worse...The train and metro people were still on some stupid strike. So - there was no one to ask questions and not all the trains were running. (But we didn't complain since the Metro was FREE because of it!)

Anyway - we jumped on the Metro and got off at I forget what stop and we were looking at the map trying to figure out if we should attempt to transfer trains or just walk it...and that's when Younis came into the picture. Ha.

He started talking to Heather and Nicole and giving them directions. I walked over to them and this guy asked us if we were all American. Nicole was like "Yeah - but she (pointing to me) is Canadian."

Younis: "oh...Canadian?"

Me: "Yep"

Younis: "ohhh...I like Canadians"

Me: shrug my shoulders give him a little half smile and don't really say anything.

Younis (Staring at me): "The best girl I EVER slept with was Canadian...." still staring at me, "It's true - the best."

Heather and Nicole: Laughing.

Me: Thinking to myself "gee this is awkward" and I'm not even really sure what I said. Probably just an awkward, "Well..that's good."

We then said we were going to start heading to the Eiffel tower...so he said goodbye to my friends and told them he needed to talk to me.. He leaned forward and started whispering his number in my ear and told me to call him the next time I'm in Paris. Ha ha ha....

Oh...don't worry...It didn't end there. Which is why I have these pictures that Heather took. He left the Metro and a few minutes later we walked up the exit also. And we were laughing about the whole thing when all of a sudden..who pops up behind us...oh yep. Younis! He asked my friends if he could walk me a couple of "bridges" on our way to the tower...(Paris is lined with bridges).

So he walked with me for a little bit...telling me about how he was ready for a girlfriend..and how he liked me. I didn't know his name at this point...but then he pulled out his I.D. Younis from Tunizia, born in 1982, (and who likes to sleep with Canadians) apparently wanted to be my boyfriend. ha ha ha. Gross.

When we reached the second bridge he really wanted to make sure he gave me his number.. He even started asking people passing by for a pen. Heather caught him in the act...

The whole time I was just trying not to laugh too much. So - he gave me his number. Don't I feel special. I have no clue what happened to that piece of paper. Ha ha ha...Oh - it makes me laugh just thinking about it again...Oh...sooo random.

"No talking..No Talking..No Talking"

Those words will forever make me laugh!!! Saturday was such a great day. Jaime came to town and was staying with me and so we decided we wanted to go to NYC for the day. We invited Josh and Reid to come along...and thought we would do some shopping, get some food..and see a show. You know, just a typical day in the Big Apple...


Well...we got to the city and headed to the TKTS booth. Reid and Josh were kind enough to stand in line and get the tickets (thanks again guys!) while Jaime and I got a head start on some shopping. Jaime wanted to get some knock off purses...so what better place to go than Chinatown, right? Right. So...we took the subway down to the famous Canal street and started looking around. We went into a couple of back rooms and saw a couple of nice bags, but nothing that Jaime and I really wanted and still hadn't gotten anything by the time the boys met back up with us.

So, we continued our way down the street with several offers to look at "coach, Prada, Gucci" bags...One guy stopped us and asked us if we were interested and Jaime said "sure." He started walking down the street and since I've followed people before (See my blog entry from April "NY Sweat Shops"), I asked him how far it was. "Just one block" he said. So we followed him. He walked us for a bit and then just handed us off to a small Chinese lady that walked us down another street. We stopped at one of those big, sketchy white vans...she opened the doors and said "Get in". So Jaime and I started to get in...and she said (in her very thick accent) "All of you!" So ALL four of us, plus the Chinese lady all climbed into the back of this white van....she shut (and apparently locked) the doors! A van similar to this (I pulled this pic off the Internet)...but you need to envision it in the middle of dirty NYC Chinatown...



Oh how I wish I had a picture to show you what it was like in the back of that van which was full of knock of purses. Here we all are sitting on tiny little stools or blocks of some sort in the back of this dark (the couple of windows it had were covered) van...and this lady starts pulling out every Channel bag in her van! Ha! I was kinda loving it b/c I knew I could add it to my random experiences in New York...but it gets better. Oh...So much better!

After looking at her selection of purses, we decided that they just weren't that great and decided to leave....She then radioed someone (probably the guy that handed us off to her)...She was talking in Chinese so we didn't understand anything...but then all of a sudden she says (Remember...everything is in a VERY thick Chinese accent) "No talking, No talking" and puts her hands together like she is praying and starts chanting something in Chinese and rocking back and forth....! It was so weird and so random...and we didn't know what to do! We just kind of sat there trying not to laugh! And if we would start to make any noise she would wave her hands at us and just keep saying "No talking, no talking..No talking" and keep chanting.

At first I thought she just wanted to pray really quick before we left to make sure she didn't get in trouble or something....I really didn't know what was going on...until she said again "No talking...Police outside...Please..no Talking.." Hmm..so apparently the cops were outside. We just kind of sat there for a minute and then all of a sudden Josh lost his patience (a lot faster than I thought he would) and said he was leaving (which is when he realized the door was locked)...She grabbed him and stopped him and just kept pleading with us. So we kept sitting there and she kept chanting and telling us "No talking, No talking." Josh kept saying he was going to leave so she offered him an ugly wallet (which he didn't want at all). ha ha.

I didn't have a problem waiting a few minutes. I figured that maybe the cops were just in the area, walking by or something. And I didn't really want this poor lady to get deported or whatever because we went to look at her purses. You could tell she was scared for her life. I felt really bad for her.

Josh tried to look out the window and he said he didn't see any cops...but she kept saying "jacket like you, jacket like you" implying they are undercover. She kept saying "One minute, One minute" in between all the "No talking" and chanting. But 1 minute turned into a lot more minutes....and then all of a sudden there was banging on the van door and someone pulling on the door handle trying to get in. They banged on every single door and window all around the van. And we just sat there...not really knowing what to do.

We waited a couple more minutes and hoped they would just go away...but then again there was more banging. That's when it was obvious that this cop or whoever knew we were in there! And he wasn't going anywhere! So - finally we told her we had to go...we couldn't wait. She asked to call her husband...so we waited for her to do that. And then Josh opened the door with this Chinese women trying to stop him and jumped out. She tried to close the door and turn off the lights...but the cop opened the doors...and heard me say something like "Can we just get out of here?" and the cop said "Yeah - she told you, you couldn't leave?"...and not really wanting to get involved with anything we just kinda scurried away. ah ha ha ha ha ha ha........

Who would have thought!?!!! :) It was GREAT! And would I go back and do it all over again knowing what would happen...Yeah - probably. Except for the part where the lady gets caught...Cause I felt really bad about that. Who knows what happened to her... We basically helped sent a lady to jail that night.

Luckily we got out of the van in time to get some food before the show. We ate at Lombardi's Pizza in little Italy and then we made our way back up to midtown to see Hairspray.

Reid kinda looks like he could use some hairspray himself in this pic..ha ha. :)

In the theater just waiting for the show to start...

It was a good night. I really enjoyed Hairspray. It's a fun musical...really upbeat. And we laughed the whole night about our crazy van experience! I don't think anyone but us will really understand just how great that story is... oh..Good times!

Red Sox Fans, Anyone?

So - I have to be honest. I had no idea who this guy was. But I figured some of my friends might..and they might think it was cool...so I figured what the heck - might as well get my pic taken with him! He's not bad looking either..! ;) For my other not all that up-to-date with baseball players...This is Tim Wakefield from the Boston Red Sox - He's the pitcher.

I was up in Boston for work....for training. And it happened to be the same week my company up in Boston was having their Holiday party....I guess they invited Tim to please all their Red Sox fans....and had him take pictures with anyone that wanted! So - That's how I have a picture with Tim. Brian, are you jealous? :)

Oh...Europe..

So...I went to Europe for the 3rd year in a row this past November! It's almost becoming a tradition! Except not really since I'm pretty sure I won't be making it there this year. Anyway - I had a fabulous time and got to do and see a lot of things...I took tons of pictures (and I'll post more of them later)...but I wanted to put some of the pictures up from what was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.... These views:

The picture above is taken at Mount-Pilatus in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The picture above and below are from the top of Jungfraujoch, near Interlaken, Switzerland.

I don't think I have ever experienced anything quite like it. Going up to the top and just seeing the snow covered mountains...and being above the clouds..it was just something else. Too bad my pictures don't do it ANY justice. It was AMAZING.

For Mount-Pilatus....we (Me and my friend Ben who I met up with in Europe) rode up in this little thing most of the way up the mountain....

It was such a COLD day...and very cloudy..as you can see from the picture below. So we were a little worried that the view wouldn't be that great when we got to the top...but since you don't go to Europe every day - you just have to do it anyway...


But what I didn't realize is that we would be going ABOVE the clouds. Once we got a lot of the way up the mountain they make you switch on to this bigger thing....which takes you up the rest of the way. This is it coming out and above the clouds....

And this was the top! It was FREEZING cold at the top...but so worth the view! So - all that white in between the mountains closest to me and the mountains in the background is all clouds. I had never seen anything like it. It was beautiful!

The sun was ridiculously bright....So I was happy I brought my shades with me that day..despite the fact that it was cloudy down below...

This little church was on the mountain...Who goes there? I have NO idea... but I thought it looked cool...

So - that was Mount Pilatus in Lucerne. Oh..and just as an FYI - the mountain is named after a local legend that says Pontius Pilate was buried there..


The next day..Ben and I were in Interlaken, Switzerland and we decided to take the train ride up the mountain to Jungfraujoch...It was about an hour and 1/2 train ride..and I loved every minute of it. The mountains were gorgeous.




The windows came down in the train...so I was able to snap some pictures. I probably froze out a few people..but oh well! :)






Then we made it to the top. I forget how high the mountain is. It was a beautiful day which was great...except I forgot my sunglasses this time so the sun practically did blind me! :)

Ben and I with the Swiss Flag

Ben and Me (well..our shadows)

They even had this little "ice castle" in the building at the top. I wouldn't exactly call it a "castle" but they had lots of cool sculptures and we of course had to take a picture with this one..

More of the view...It was just so amazing to me. I was quite content just staring at the scenery.

So....I did a ton more stuff in Europe...cause I not only went to Switzerland...but also to Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, England, and France! But the Alps was definitely a highlight!