Sprint triathlon

I just completed my first ever sprint triathlon! It took place on the fourth floor of the Westin hotel here in Pittsburgh. All indoors! It was pretty weird...and I'm pretty sure the 25 lengths they had us do in the pool (which was 18 yards each length) didn't add up to 500 meters. Hmmmm haha

But it was awesome! We did the swim first, then the airdyne bike, then the treadmill run. We barely did any training for it, so it was an absolute miracle that we finished....let alone got 5th and 6th place out of the women. Then again, only about 15 women competed...haha. 

Annie and I right before the swim

About to jump on the airdyne bikes. Aren't the shirts they gave us super cute??

I can't figure out why Annie won't look at the camera. She said its because she was looking at how bad her hair looked haha

After the whole thing. Can you tell we were pretty wasted by our shiny foreheads?

I love training for things, like the half marathon I did with my bestie Sarah a couple of years ago. It's pretty much the only way I can motivate myself to exercise, even though I really do love to exercise. I think it's mostly the early morning thing. Bleh.

I want to train for another race before I leave on my mission. I'm planning on doing the midnight New Years 5K run in Central Park with my best friends from Japan Ali Beavers and Kathryn Germano, but that's totally weak sauce, so I need to find something else to do.

Asian night at the Hohl residence

Annie and I were inspired recently to make home-made sushi. I also really wanted to experiment making my favorite Thai dish called pad see ew, so we decided to invite over the guys I played with at the show and have an Asian night! My pad see ew didn't turn out how I expected, but it was still edible!

We even listened to Japanese and Korean music while we were preparing our dishes! Here are some pictures from the night

Annie and Henry.

Don't these look legit!?

Bea didn't seem to like them too much

Mmmmmm eeel. My favorite.

Tim on the left holding Clementine and James no the right.

Tough samarai warrior faces

There's my pad see ew in the green bowl.

This was James' first time EVER trying sushi, so I had to capture his emotions.

Taking his first bite

Tasting....

He loves it! haha

 

 

 

Rihanna-inspired wedding??

I am in LOVE with the color scheme in Rihanna's "Only girl in the world" video. I think it would be such a cool color theme for a wedding. Not that I should be thinking about that right now or anything, haha.
 
I especially love the shot where she's surrounded by all of the really rich colored flowers. But I also love the random giant balloons and her bright organge/red hair. So pretty!

Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World)

 The colors are actually really obnoxious on their own, but in a small space, like a really small garden setting (which is where I would want my reception to be), I think it would be absolutely gorgeous. I love the huge swing idea, too, and oversized flowers.

Try to disregard all of the nakedness....but she's wearing white for the whole video...which helps me imagine how it would look for a wedding :) haha.

I'm sure by the time I get married I'll think this is a hideous idea, but it doesn't hurt to dream, right? 

Opening for Tim Ruff at Papa J's Centro

On Saturday night I played a gig at a bar in Pittsburgh called Papa J's Centro. A musician named Tim Ruff is promoting the release of his album and asked me to open for him after hearing me play at an open mic. 

Playing this gig made me so nostalgic for my 'And Everything Nice' days with Zack

It was a great night! Annie and I started the night out dancing our little tails off at a real Indian new years celebration at one of our neighbors houses, which got me into the perfect giddy mood to perform!

Annie and I right before I went on

I didn't get any pictures of me performing on my own because Justin was video taping the whole thing, but here are some of me with Tim Ruff singing "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait, and "Falling Slowly" by The Swell Season.

The venue was pretty small, but I loved it because the crowd was really friendly and interactive.

I played 7 songs, two of which were originals, and 3 of which were duets with Annie. I had so much fun singing with her!

A guy named James played right before me and he was AMAZING, so we're all hoping to do another show together soon.

The Organic Life

I am currently being converted to the organic life

Almost everything my sister eats is either from her own garden or some random farm on the outskirts of town

At first I thought she was crazy

But the food is so delicious

I think I might adopt this way of life someday

Every other week or so we go to a dairy farm and get a ton of fresh milk

Then we bring it home and make jars and jars of homemade yogurt 

Nobody is even there when we go. You just take what you want and leave money in a little box for what you took.

Looks pretty fun, right? 

And delicious.

Bratula

Halloween is my favorite holiday, but this is about as dressed up as I got this year. 

My sister dubbed my costume, "Bratula"

Clementine as a duck

Our giant pumpkin

This has nothing to do with Halloween. But this is why you should never fall asleep with gum in your mouth

Bea as a bee. I could die she's so adorable.

My favorite costume this year

Halloween was pretty fun this year even though I didn't dress up or go to a haunted house :)

The results of my first open mic!

So my sister is signed up for couch surfing, which is where you can find people online and stay on their couch when you're going out of town, and in return you let people do the same at your house. It's a really great deal because you don't have to pay for lodgings, and you even get fed breakfast! It's also a great way to meet some really interesting people and have a little adventure!

This past week we had a great couch surfing experience. A musician named Jessica Ripka was in Pittsburgh for a radio show interview and she picked my sister's place for her couch surfing destination! (My sister has tons of info on how much we love music, so that's probably why she picked us). So for two days we had this amazing musician serenading us on the piano. It was PURE HEAVEN.

But here's the best part. She was playing at an open mic at a place called Club Cafe one night and invited me to go along with her to play a song or two! So I brought my guitar and played a song called "Sunshine" that my friend Zack Kuykendall wrote and is on our CD. Jessica played two songs and she did amazing. I was so excited because it was my first ever open mic and I didn't mess up too bad or anything, and it was a really welcoming and friendly crowd.

But, oh, it gets better! After I played a guy named Tim Ruff approached me and told me he was putting on a show on Saturday night but that his opening act had fallen through, and asked me if I could be his opening act!!!! Can you imagine my excitement?! I was practically bursting with happiness when I told him i definitely could.

So now here I am at home this week freaking out practicing for my very first show. I am playing a half hour set, which requires about 6 or 7 songs, two of which I am bringing my sister up to sing duets with me. Tim Ruff also asked me if I could sing two duets with him: "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait, and "Falling Slowly" by the Swell Season. Luckily I know both of those songs really well!

I'm sooooo excited! Wish me luck!