When the weather is perfect and you don’t want to waste the day working out in a stuffy gym, why not do an outdoor workout? Maybe find some nice scenery for a backdrop and knock out an O.F.P. (own f***ing program).
Last weekend, Lacey and I did just that. We grabbed our Bose blue-tooth speaker and a drawstring backpack that we filled with rocks to serve as extra resistance.
Below is a 30 min total body circuit workout we completed while overlooking Boise, ID on the Oregon Trail.
2 sets- incline push-ups superset with 1 min of high knees
2 sets- decline push-ups superset with 1 min of jumprope
2 sets- tricep bench dips superset with 1 min of body weight squats (we added the backpack with rocks for weight)
Lacey and I visited Rome during tourist season. Eek! That being said, it was still awesome. When we hopped off our train the first day at the Roma Termani station, we were immediately faced with the challenge of busting our way through tens of thousands of people in an attempt to get over to another metro station. When we finally made it outside the Roma Termani, there were even more people flooding the streets. There had to have been close to a million people out there. This couldn’t just be the normal tourist crowd could it? Turns out the Pope was about to do a service at St. Peter’s and the whole world was going to check it out.
Lacey and I grabbed a quick slice of margherita pizza and started making our way toward the coliseum. We figured it would be a good day to do that being that it was in the opposite direction of St. Peter’s (where the millions of people were).
the sky is so beautiful there!
Lesson learned #1 in Rome. If you can pre-purchase tickets to a tourist attraction….do it. Do it now! We stood in line for nearly 2hrs at the Coliseum. If the attraction you are buying tickets online for offers an “express pass”, I would highly recommend dropping a few extra bones on that too. When you’re traveling to an international location like Italy, your time is worth more that the extra $10 to skip the lines.
Roman Forum
From the Coliseum, we made our way to the Trevi Fountain through the Roman Forum. It too, was packed full of people. For a site like the Trevi Fountain that is kinda romantic, you won’t really get the full experience when there are 15k people smashing in to you and your spouse (another reason to dodge tourist season). I’m not even 100% sure we dropped a coin in the fountain. We more or less got there, snapped some pics and GTF outta there as fast as we could. The main reason for leaving wasn’t the crowd though. It was because I promised Lacey we could get some gelato at our next stop… the Spanish Steps.
Lesson learned #2 in Rome: Lines don’t mean shit! If you have a polite bone in your body, you’ll never get anything in a big city like Rome. After being cut in front of a dozen or so times while trying to order some gelato, I finally started putting my grown-ass American man frame to good use. Pushing my way to the front with a pissed off look on my face ended up getting the job done. At one point some lady started yelling at me in Italian. I was actually kind of excited about this because I wanted to put my newly acquired Rosetta-Stone language skills to use. She kept saying I wasn’t in the right line. I turned toward her and yelled “no lo sai! no lo sai!” She immediately backed down. The funny thing about this is that I thought I was saying “I don’t know! I don’t know!” kind of apologetically, but what I was actually saying was “YOU don’t know!!” …I’ll keep practicing. Nevertheless, the gelato was delicious, and I was Lacey’s hero.
Still annoyed from the gelato shop interaction
see all of the people in the street behind her?
Lacey and I had a nice dinner on a patio later that night and then passed the eff out after such an overwhelming first day.
post dinner, pre pass out
elevating the swollen ankles
long awaited shower!
Day 2 got off to a much calmer start. We woke up and ate the food that the B&B provided us (which was delicious and awesome). Our original plan for day 2 was to check out St. Peter’s Basilica and then pop over to the Sistine Chapel. Well, following the trend of the previous day, there was a 4hr line to get into St. Peter’s and a 3hr line to get into the Chapel. Eff! We agreed that neither of us wanted to spend 5-7hrs in line that day so we decided to pick 1 of the 2 places to visit. I had already been to both sites on a previous trip, so I left it up to Lacey to decide. She picked the Sistine Chapel. They don’t let you take pics of the famous Michelangelo painting on the ceiling of the chapel, so the best I could do was a selfie in the hallway.
my “overwhelmed by the crowds of people” face
All and all, the 2 days in Rome were amazing. We did as much as we could with the time that we had. Public transportation in Rome is incredibly easy, the food is delicious, the sites are amazing, and the sky is beautiful. For all of these reasons, I have come to the 3rd and final lesson from the trip to Rome.
Lesson learned #3: Spend at least a week in Rome. …and keep brushing up on your Rosetta-Stone.
We’ve greatly expanded our travel options by utilizing credit card reward points to cut our costs.
Radion Photography
Lacey and I love to travel. It seems the more we do it, the more the addiction grows. The only problem with this is that Lacey and I are on a fairly tight budget each month. So how are we going to be able to pay our bills, put money into retirement, and travel all over the world? It’s simple, by getting as much free travel as possible through credit card bonus points.
Disclaimer: If you have a tough time paying your monthly bills on time already, this is NOT a road you want to head down.
Now, assuming that those of you who are still reading are super responsible and organized, I’ll give you a glimpse into how all of this works. Credit card companies reward those who sign up for their cards and spend a certain amount of money over a certain amount of time with tens of thousands of bonus points. These bonus points can be used for flights, hotels, rental cars, event tickets, and many other perks depending on the card you sign up for. That being said, 1 credit card sign up bonus most likely won’t get you an entire vacation (flights/hotels) for free, you will need to sign up for a few different cards that partner with each other and stack those bonus points together to put towards your end vacation goal.
Sound overwhelming already? It’s not as confusing as it may seem. In fact, I’m willing to bet that once you educate yourself on how easy this can be, you’ll be kicking yourself for not getting involved in this sooner. It does take a while to understand the strategy behind this process, and Lacey and I are by no means experts, but luckily there are plenty of helpful resources out there to help you get started. Our favorite points blog is ThePointsGuy.com
When we tell people of our involvement in the credit card points game, the first question we get is “but doesn’t that wreck your credit?” I’ll be honest, if you don’t pay your monthly statement balance every month, on time, this will destroy your credit. On the flip side, if you pay your bills on time and educate yourself on the other factors that effect your credit score, your credit score should and will improve.
So as you get more involved with our blog and see the places Lacey and I are visiting, you’ll know that we likely spent 6 or more months planning and stacking credit card points in order to make the trip possible. We are not millionaires and could by no means afford to travel as often as we do if it weren’t for getting a lot of it for free through points redemption.
Even if you only get a free flight to your vacation destination, that is likely $500 or more that you saved and can now use to enjoy an extra excursion or two. Maybe you’ll finally be able to order that expensive bottle of wine at dinner like you always wanted to. Little differences like this will make or break your overall travel experience.
Our extra budget usually goes towards dessert
Lacey and I are currently stacking Hilton Honors points in hopes of earning a highly discounted (if not completely free) stay in their over the water bungalows in Moorea, Tahiti next year. We have a long ways to go, but are hopeful that one day we’ll get there! Stay tuned for posts with updates on this planning process.
We stayed in the pink building on the far left on the 2nd floor.
Lacey and I spent a brief, yet wonderful 2 days in the Cinque Terre as a layover stop between Rome and Milan during our trip to Italy. The 5 towns of the Cinque Terre (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore) were once regarded as a few of the best kept secrets in Italy. It seems like the world has caught on as it was pretty much flooded with tourists while we were there. The 5 towns are very unique in that they are all self sustaining farming and fishing communities. Cars are not allowed in the towns themselves, except for the occasional delivery truck or two. There is a walkway/trail connecting each of the towns if you’re looking for some exercise. If walking isn’t your thing (you shouldn’t go to Europe) you can hop on a train along the coastline that stops in each of the 5 towns.
If you’re a foodie, you’ll find world class seafood dishes from nearly every restaurant in these towns. Lacey and I were pleased to find some amazing pizza and gelato shops as well.
The best part of this brief trip for us was (besides getting engaged of course) the hike through the Cinque Terre National Park from Monterosso to Vernazza. The scenery was seriously like being in a real life fairy tale. Check out the pics below for proof.
Travel Tips:
Spend a few extra bucks and get a room with a view of the Mediterranean
Wear running shoes if you’re going to hike through the National Park. There is some fairly technical terrain in spots
Stop by “Edi’s” laundromat in Riomaggiore. Edi himself frequents this location and has many hook-ups through out the town from hotel rooms to restaurants. He’s also happy to share his homemade limoncello with travelers 🙂
Downtown Riomaggiore
Walkable coastline
Monterosso Beach
Beautiful girl with some not so bad flowers behind her
Lacey was excited to “burn some calories.”
Vernazza
Behind Riomaggiore
Captain America pose
Men husk: Ansvaret for dit helbred ligger hos dig og din læge. Vi skriver klik ikke recepter, vi kommer med anbefalinger. Stol på vores mening eller ej – det er op til dig.
View from the top of the Willis Tower in downtown Chicago, IL.
While Lacey was busy in Wisconsin performing matron-of-honor- duties last week, I decided to check out Chicago, IL for a day. Being that I only had 1 day to burn, I needed to come up with a plan to make sure I experienced as much as I could. If Chicago were water, I was going to drink it through a fire hose. If Chicago were a beer, I was about to shotgun it.
Step 1: See the entire city
I only had an hour or 2 to complete this step, so I went to the tallest building in the city for help. The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower).
The Skydeck “Ledge” was an experience I’ll never forget. 103 stories down.
Step 2: Eat Chicago Style Pizza – Gino’s East
Being from Idaho, I’ve only had rip-off versions of Chicago Style pizza. It was time to experience the real thing. I left the Willis Tower and hopped a bus to the legendary Gino’s East pizza joint. Not only was it the best pizza I’ve had in my life, it was one of the cooler restaurant atmospheres I’ve ever seen. You didn’t need to hear any of the stories to know that there was a ton of history behind this place. My only regret is that I didn’t take a white-out pen to write my name on the wall. …you’ll see what I mean in the images below. Side note, did anyone else know Chicago Style pizza puts the sauce on top of the cheese? How’s your mind? Blown? Mine too.
Men husk: Ansvaret for dit helbred ligger hos klik dig og din læge. Vi skriver ikke recepter, vi kommer med anbefalinger. Stol på vores mening eller ej – det er op til dig.
Line outside of Gino’s East in Chicago.
I would have written “Mat 8-7-15, Lacey M.I.A.”
I can usually finish half a pizza by myself. At Gino’s East, I was done after 2 slices.
Row of celebrity pictures/autographs upstairs near the bathrooms.
Step 3: Experience Wrigley Field
Even if you’re not a baseball fan, go see the Cubs play at Wrigley Field. This is one of the most beautiful and historic parks left standing. Take someone you care about, because you’re going to want to reminisce about this day with them down the road. Eat a hot dog, grab a beer, interact with some inspired locals. Once you see the Cubs play (and hopefully win) at Wrigley Field, you can head home from your vacation with a strong understanding of what this city and its people are all about. The 7th inning stretch “take me out to the ballgame” performance from the 35k+ fans on hand was one of the coolest things I think I’ll ever witness.
I felt proud of my ex-teammate Jon Lester as I saw his image covering the stadium
6 rows behind the Cubs dugout.
Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson shagging batting practice.
A guy in front of me got DRILLED by a foul ball.
Conclusion:
Chicago is a beautiful city. Public transportation is easy to use (even for me). The next time I go, I want to hit up the Field Museum to see the T-Rex fossil. I also hear there is a world famous cup-cake joint somewhere in the city. The only thing I wish were different about the above mentioned trip was that I didn’t have my partner in crime with me. Lacey would love this city.
One of my final views of the city as I waited for my train to Milwaukee.
Make the wedding cake party in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Let me preface this post by giving you a little background on Mat, and me and funfetti cake. It is our favorite flavor (funfetti counts as a flavor!) of cake, and was long before we met each other. For Mat’s first birthday we celebrated together (six years ago!) I made, with help from my friend Rachel, a double-layer funfetti cake. Anytime we are asked to bring an item for a potluck, you better believe it’s either a funfetti cake or funfetti cupcakes.
When it came to picking out our wedding cake, we discussed how we usually don’t like the taste of fancy cakes, and desserts from Mexico are never sweet enough for me. We were bummed that we were going to have to spend so much money on cake that we wouldn’t even want to eat. We both wished we could have a funfetti wedding cake, but I doubt any bakeries in Mexico (or anywhere probably) specialize in a flavor that is from a box. That’s when Mat came up with the most brilliant idea-we should make our own wedding cake! Not only make it ourselves, but involve the wedding guests and make it into a party! A “Make the Cake” party.
My grandmother, who sadly wasn’t able to travel for the wedding, is known for her cooking and baking skills. She made my parents’ wedding cake as well as several other family members’. She let us borrow her cake plates, cake tiers, pastry bags and frosting tips, which made our wedding cake that much more special and sentimental!
Mat packed the boxes of cake mix and frosting in his carry on bag (which didn’t go over well with security) and we purchased the eggs and oil in Mexico. It worked out well because the kitchen in the villa had two ovens! We decided to do the baking the night before the wedding, after the rehearsal dinner. That way, wedding guests could participate in the party if they wanted. This turned out to be SO much fun, and the rowdiest party of the week!
Rachel helped me make a funfetti cake for Mat six years ago, and she helped us make our funfetti wedding cake!
