Weekend in Ohio

Me n Kristi

In the corn tire

Butterfly pose

feets

Pumpkin patch

Last weekend was my very first trip to Ohio. One of my bestest buds, Kristi and her fam moved to Ohio this summer and I was able to take the weekend to go visit. It was a great weekend of girl time, relaxing, family time, and fun. It is always great to spend time with someone I feel so close to. Very good for the heart. On Saturday we took the kiddos to the corn maze and a little pumpkin patch. I love fall and the country is so beautiful and green there.

Another day of filming...stay tuned

So it looks like the audio was a dud on our first day of filming. Ugggghhh....but the good thing is that Sari says it at least looks really good. So we have to find another day this week to go do a few more shots in order to put something together for our project. Chinatown here we come AGAIN! Maybe we can get a few more interactive shots with some locals and sneak into a market that will let us tape. What shall I eat this time? :) Awwww....the day in the life of a TV star ;)

Sad day in the life of a runner...

Well....I haven't posted much about my running or condition lately but I have been resting for the last week due to some foot pain. It was caused by a mixture or trying to run to far in new shoes and also running far in general. Also it is the foot that I had a stress fracture on a few years ago. So, sadly today, I tried to run again after a week of rest and it still was slightly painful. Instead of paying for an xray that was going to tell me to rest for a while and the possibility of a stress fracture, I decided that I would "call it" myself and take 6 weeks of rest from running to let it heal. Very sad but in good spirits and going to try be motivated to do lots of yoga and weight training. Still hard cause I do enjoy my running, my running buddies, and my stress release. Life goes on and things could be worse. No marathon for me unless I decide to walk. hmmmm....

Preserved Egg

Oh mano! I am really glad I didn't read this before I ate lunch today. I THOUGHT THE CHUNKS WERE MUSHROOMS!!! My stomach is still churning a little bit tonight... Totally worth it though ;)

WIKIPEDIA:

Century egg, also known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg, and millennium egg, is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulfur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavor.

Lights, Camera, Action!

The Real Action Hero

Loosin up and toast

Ready to go!

The camera-girl

"Testing" on my mini mic

Lunch Menu

Here I go....and...

YUMMY!

Fun day today doing a little filming and messing around in Chinatown. Sari and I started the day with a little toast and ceremonial shot before grabbing the camera, hooking up the mic and hitting the streets. We checked out the cool architecture and walked around looking for good spots to stop and talk about the area. We stopped in a few places along the way and attempted to chat people up but talking to the locals was a little difficult as many didn’t speak English. I still tried with a couple though. It was a little disappointing and surprising that a few of the places wouldn’t let us film inside. We did sneak in a little bit before they asked us to stop. The highlight of the day was lunch. We went to a little café in the square that posted “Authentic Hong Kong Style Restaurant” and had a variety of items on the menu. In order to make things a little interesting I decided to order a little exotic: Preserved Egg and Pork Congee and Pork Stomach and Intestine with Pickled Vegetables. I did manage to take down a little bit of it, for the sake of the show, but ended up eating the traditional Chinese meal of a bowl white rice and a huge glass of water. The Congee was a soup made with rice and broth that turns creamy from the starch in the rice, sort of like the texture of instant oatmeal. I didn’t realize that the black and brown chunks in it weren’t mushrooms but they were the eggs until AFTER I ate a few. I then asked the waitress what preserved eggs are and she proceeded to tell me that a couple years ago they were probably put aside and preserved. DUH, Becky…PRESERVED! Hmmmmmm….not sure that she gave the best explanation but she caught my attention after saying A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO!! Overall the soup wasn’t too bad but quite rich and I couldn’t stomach more than a half of a cup. Then it was on to the intestine. In order to do a few different “shots” for filming I needed to eat a few pieces. The flavor was that of the sauce it was in which was sort of a bean oyster sauce, not very good so it did NOT help. It was pretty chewy and fatty and took a little while to break down. There was no way I was going to sit there and continue to chew for 10 minutes on one piece so swallowing was the alternative. I made it through! I think the busboy was a little surprised to see that our plates were still pretty full except our rice bowls and we didn’t need a to-go box when we left. After that we were pretty exhausted and a little out of sorts so we called it a “wrap.” I would say it was successful first go at it.

Oh Brother...

Me and my bro Zach and I and the Tatum crew

Had a good weekend! My big bro Zach came out on a spur of the moment visit on his way back to Montana from South Carolina. He came on Saturday morning after I did my 18 mile training run for the marathon coming up. Let me tell ya...I was one tired girl that day. AND between the rain, my clothes, and the mileage I managed to rub about a 1/3 of my skin off. Not fun walking around and sweating the rest of the day. Chaffing is deadly. I hit the road the road that morning in the pouring rain at 5am and met up with my friend Meg for part of it. The rain stopped after about 45 minutes but my clothes remained stuck to my body the rest of the almost 3 hour run. Actually felt pretty successful afterward.

Zach arrived right after and we walked around the city a bit, checked out Wrigley Field, had a little Chicago pizza (without passing out beforehand in need of food), and then hung out at the condo. It was so great to spend time with him since I don't get to very often. We ended the evening with a little wine and visit with Sari after having dinner at the little Tapas resturant in our building. Sunday we met our cousins out in the suburbs for church and a picnic. I love spending time with them and they were excited to meet Zach and visit most of the day. It was all to short but fun before I had to drop him off at the Airport that night. And another week of work began.

Lil catchup

Man, I'm getting a little behind on here. Mostly been working alot including a fun weekend day at Lollapalooza, a big Music Festival with headliners such as Lady Gaga, Green Day, and Soundgarden. It was pretty crazy of course with tens of thousands of people and lots of alcohol and drugs around. Not my scene too much but was cool to be in the VIP lounge for work handing out snacks to the Artists and their guests. I wasn't there when some of the big artists were there but it was still nice to have access to all the good places. One crazy thing is that I did run into two girls that I worked with last summer at summer camp. So unbelievable considering that many people in a HUGE park with 7 or 8 stages all around. It was great to visit with them.
Other news.....
I am once again signed up for the Chicago Marathon so have been spending alot of time running. On Saturdays I have been going to my cousins and hanging out and spending the night so I can run with Shelli. It has been so awesome to become such close friends with her and her family.
My brother is coming here on Saturday for a night so I am really excited about that and will update the blog from that.
I am working on my plans for the end of the year including my trip to Germany and possibly more travel.
Still moving with my big project venture which will take more shape next week.

Now you should be a little more caught up but expect to hear some big things coming up :)
Talk to you soon!