Orlando Yelp Event- Hemingway's

Last Friday I was fortunate to attend a Yelp event at Hemingway's at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Hotel.

I met up with Cecille and her friend Pamela.  We were treated to free valet parking and then when we walked in, we were treated with champagne!  What a nice surprise!

We socialized for about 5 minutes, then they took us to see the new pool area.  So pretty.  Then we headed into the restaurant.

We signed in and then went into the bar.  We were shown how to make the specialty drink, a Papa Doble, Hemingway's favorite drink!  It was yummy!  We were also given 2 drink tickets.  I only used one on a soda (you could only order a small selection of wine and beer and I didn't like any of the choices.)
 

Then we headed to the back part of the restaurant.  We learned some neat facts like there are 815 rooms in the hotel and it just recently went under a MAJOR renovation.  The hotel was so pretty! I took this shot on the way out later.

 

Then we got to the eats.

First up was an Island Barbecue Scallop. "Succulent diver scallops, Bahamian dry rubbed spice blend

Served with Applewood smoked bacon, toasted pine nuts and chimichurri drizzle."   

I also had a cheddar biscuit.  I wish I had taken more than one at the beginning because they were quickly gone!

 

We had 3 types of ceviche- salmon, beef, and shrimp.

Then came my favorite food of the night--Crab Cakes!!  I'm not quite sure what it was served over but this delish was absolutely DELICIOUS!  I would have been happy just to have these over and over again all night.  I will definitely be back to get these some time!

 

For dessert, we had a mini key lime tart and crème brulee (my fav!)  You could get it with or without a raspberry.  I opted for without. 

I also met Cecille's friend Mia!

And we made a new friend, Meghan.

On the way out, we got a parting gift--a really soft orange beach towel!

We had such a fun time out!  (In fact, we didn't want the night to end so we headed over to the outlets for a little shopping!!)

Thanks for the great evening Yelp and Hemingway's!

Disneyland Day 3

After the Half Marathon, we headed back to the hotel room to take a shower.  When we got there, the housekeeper was still in there so we took a seat on the floor.  We even stayed there for a little while after she left.  It just felt so nice and cool.  As soon as we walked in, I headed for the bathroom to wash the biofreeze off my hands because I wanted to eat something but wanted to make sure I got all that off first.  I heard the girls laughing but wasn't sure why.  I walked out of the bathroom to find this!

 

 

 

The girls were laughing because I was completely oblivious when I first walked in.  The girls had gotten me a surprise!  I have such great friends! 

 

This is my "why are you laughing at me?" face.

 

 

 

 

Cori got me the Princess birthday bucket.  Does she know me well or what?  Birthday cake and princesses!!

And Suluh got me a wine and cheese basket.  She said that she had called earlier but they called her back when we were in line for Goofy's Kitchen the day before and she told me that it was work related.  And since she was going with that excuse, she couldn't pull Cori away from me to ask what I would like.  So she took a guess on the wine and cheese.  And she guessed perfectly!  I LOOOVE wine and cheese! (and am trying to eat all the cheese plates on WDW property).  So she picked perfectly.  It was so yummy!

We took a shower and snacked on some cheese and crackers and birthday cake.  I had to take a picture of all 4 medals!!

 

We headed out to La Brea Bakery to get some breakfast.  I didn't feel like any food but did ask for chocolate milk.  It was homemade and tasted like pure chocolate syrup.  I downed that sucker in about 4 seconds flat!  Delicious!  We waited for Derek to meet up with us again (yay for getting to see him twice!!) and then headed over to Disneyland and Space Mountain.

I had to take a picture of my running shirt.  And I'll explain it here since so many people didn't get it.  I wanted a Disney/running/birthday themed shirt.  So Justin helped me come up with this and it's perfect! The Disneyland 10k theme was Alice in Wonderland and they celebrate her un-birthday (in fact, they kept playing that song while we waited for the race to start. I was hoping they would do that before the Half Marathon too, but they didn't).  Anyways, since it was really my birthday, that would make it my un-unbirthday.  And since I was running, it was my (r)un-unbirthday!!!  Love it!

 

We hopped on Space Mountain.  I love that it's side by side at Disneyland.  Love this pic too!  Derek's screaming, I'm smiling, Cori has her eyes closed so she can't see the flashing lights (she has epilepsy), and Suluh's making sure Cori's okay.

 

We rode some more rides like Small World and Derek was so great about running and getting our fast passes since we were shuffling around (I was limping around) slowly.  So thankful for him!

 

Then we headed over to California Adventure because I wanted to check one last time on the popcorn (which was still broken.  Sigh).  We rode Radiator Springs again and took some pictures.

 

We also changed our dinner reservation.  We were doing the World of Color dinner package at Ariel's Grotto since Cori is super picky and that had the best choices for her.  But she still wasn't feeling well and wasn't going to eat more than a kid's menu.  So we changed it to the place that I thought I'd like the best.  Wine Country Trattoria.  Our waiter was great.  We explained that Cori wasn't feeling well and she asked if she could order from the kid's menu, even paying for the adult price if necessary since it was part of the dinner package.  The waiter said sure and that he would only charge her the kids price, and if she decided she didn't want to eat at all, he would still give her a ticket so she could be with us.  How great is that?!

I had the salad which had arugula, fennel, red onion, spiced walnuts, and goat cheese with a fig-balsamic dressing.  I asked for no walnuts and discovered that I don't like fennel.  But the rest was yummy.  Especially the goat cheese!!

For entrée, I had the Filet Mignon served with roasted potatoes, sautéed green beans, and a bleu cheese butter.  I like my steak medium-rare.  And if it errs, I like it to be more rare than  medium.  Unfortunately, the steak was medium, bordering on medium-well.  Not even close to how I like it.  The girls told me to send it back, but since it was over-done and not under, they couldn't just throw it back on the grill.  They'd have to completely do a new one.  So I just sucked it up and ate it.  I wished we had stuck with Ariel's Grotto though.

For dessert, we got a sampler of Trattoria Tiramisu, European Macaroons, Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Fresh Fruit, and a Chocolate Caramel Espresso Tart.  It was okay but nothing grabbed us we only tried a few bites.

Then our waiter surprised us and came out with a birthday treat.  Inside was chocolate mousse.  Now THAT was yummy!  I was so full but I ate the whole thing!

 

We did some shopping and then went in search of plain popcorn since I needed to have some that day!  We ended up doing almost a full circle around the lake!  You'd think they'd have more popcorn carts!  We got in our reserved area about an hour ahead of time.  Again, I didn't like that there wasn't seats available.  And it was especially rough getting up and down after the Half earlier.  But it was sooooo worth it!  I loved World of Color!  I think Epcot needs to get rid of Illuminations and put in World of color!

 

After the show, we headed back to the hotel to head to bed.  We had to be up at 5:45 to head back to the airport.  (We flew home on Virgin and I loved them!!!)

We had so much fun!  I just wish we had had one extra day at the end.  There was still a bunch of things that I didn't get to do that I wanted to!  One day!

Giveaway- Armpocket

There are a few things that I never run without.  My Armpocket is one of them!  I bought it right before my very first run and except for the one color run and 2 water runs that I did, I've worn them for every single run, both training and race.

 

I started off with a small purple one.  I honestly don't know which model it was since it was over 2 years ago and I didn't pay attention to that.  I love being able to carry my phone, a key, and a gel or two in it.  There's also a spot for credit cards/IDs.  I wore it and washed it for two years (well, okay, I probably should have washed it more than I did :)  ) and it still looks and works great.

When I got the iPhone 5, it was a little bigger than the 4 and while everything still fit, I knew I wanted a bigger armpocket for longer runs.  I was lucky enough to be able to try the i-30 for review. 

This version doesn't come in purple so I chose pink.  It arrived quickly.  I tried out for the first time during the Dumbo weekend races and it was great!  My phone fit easily along with our room key, credit card, ID, cash, and 2 gels and a honey stinger waffle!

This is a picture post race, but you can get an idea of what it looks like on.

I know a lot of people are worried that having something on their arm is going to bother them when they run, but I don't find that to be the case at all.  I love being able to feel safe by having my phone with me at all times, plus I use it for music.

I am definitely an Armpocket fan.  I can't run without mine!

And Armpocket has graciously allowed me to have a giveaway for any Armpocket (except the Nighthawk)!  Thank you!  To enter the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter below.

( Disclaimer:  Armpocket provided me with the Armpocket to review but I received no compensation for this post.  As always, the opinions here are my own.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Race #36-- Disneyland Half Marathon

We woke up early to head to the corrals, but it was already packed.  When we got there, the D corral was full.  As in, there was no more room at all.  How does that happen?  They shuttled us down the side, which we thought was to head to the back of the corral but the line stopped moving and we were pretty much stuck.  Here you can kinda see the crowd going down the side before we got in.

We were doing a very (very) loose interpretation of Alice in Wonderland.  I was Alice, Suluh was Queen of Hearts and Cori was the Mad Hatter.

Here you can see where we were stuck.

We ran through the parks first which was a little sad because we knew the rest of the course was off property.  First up was California Adventure.

 

Then over to Disneyland.

 I love running through the castle!!

 

 

Then by about mile 4, we were done with the parks.  We turned down a street in Anaheim and I was so glad to have my sunglasses.  The sun was brutal!!  There was lots of entertainment on the streets.  But it just made it feel like a local race.  I mean, I get that Disney can't have the characters on the streets.  I KNEW that beforehand.  But I'm so used to seeing the fun Disney stuff even on the roads at WDW that this didn't feel as special to me.

 

There was also one place that was gravel/dirt.  And a pretty steep cliff to the side with no railing.  I'm surprised no one fell off!

 

We did get to run through the Angels Stadium which was pretty neat.

 

                                      

 

 

                             

 

 

 

                        

                                        

 

At about mile 10, my heel started hurting which was weird.  I'd never had heel pain before.  I started having shooting pains every time I stepped and then the bottom of my foot went numb.  The first thing I thought was that I had a stress fracture like my friend Justin (Always Running Forward) did.  (Luckily, it turned out to be fine.)

 

But I didn't let that slow me down.  I was on a hunt for a PR.  I had figured out earlier that we should be able to get it.  Unfortunately, we were 10 seconds off. 

 

 

But we pushed it to the end and finished!  This is my finish line photo.  Really Marathonfoto?? Nothing with the finish line banner in it?  (And once again, I'm stopping my watch.  I need to stop!)

 

Anyways, we got our Disneyland Half Medal then headed to get our Dumbo Medals then our Coast to Coast medals.  I didn't take any pictures of them until we got back in the room.  I just wanted to find some ice, get our medals engraved and sit.

Overall, I think we did pretty well.  I know a lot of people complained about the weather, but it didn't bother us at all.  I think training in the Florida summer helped a lot.

Some fun finishers certificates

I enjoyed the race and want to someday do the Tinkerbell Half.  But I definitely prefer the WDW races.