A Plea to Mother Nature!

Please don't rain on Marathon Monday! I'll take 30 degree weather over wet sneakers, socks, and stomping through puddles. Also, I am extremely clumsy and there's a 95% chance I'll slip and break an ankle if the ground is slick. If it does rain, keep an eye out for entrant 25654 sprawled across the pavement and someone shouting, "Alicia's down!"

Deal or No Deal?!

I just received an email from Ivy Restaurant announcing a Pre-Marathon Carbo Load special.

On Sunday, April 19, Executive Chef Mark Cina is serving up bottomless bowls of spaghetti and meatballs for just $16.
Throw in a bottle of wine from our flat-priced $26 wine list and you've got yourself a complete meal for less than the cost of new running shoes.

Normally, I don't pay much attention to these offers, but I don't really see what the "deal" is. $16 is a lot of money for spaghetti and meatballs, even if you eat 2 bowls. Ivy's food is very good, but for bottomless pasta specials try "Pasta Mondays" at Cafe Porto Bello in Southie. For $9.95, you get soup, salad & bottomless pasta. Their food is excellent and the wine by the glass is usually filled to the brim. Mangia!

My Television Debut! (Not Counting the Time I was on the Jumbotron at Conte Forum)

Last Wednesday, fellow Team Eye & Ear member Dr. Dean Cestari (check out his inspirational fundraising page for HONORS here) and I met with WBZ-TV's reporter, Peg Rusconi to discuss running and caffeine. Peg and her cameraman were very nice and asked us a bunch of questions related to whether or not we drink coffee (or other caffeinated beverages) while training. I had never been interviewed for television before, and was definitely not used to being filmed.

Peg & I smiling despite the fact that it was about 30 degrees outside!

Peg wanted to get some shots of us drinking coffee, and it was hard for me to keep a straight face while sipping from the cup and sort of staring into the distance while the cameraman was about 1 foot to my left. He had to gently remind me a couple of times to "just look straight ahead" because I kept glancing at him out of the corner of my eye while drinking...

You can view the video here: http://wbztv.com/video/?id=75212@wbz.dayport.com

Go Team Eye & Ear!

"Or else Pizza is gonna send out for you!"

I was walking down East Broadway on my way to the T and thinking about how sunny days like today remind me how much I enjoy living in the city. Birds were chirping, moms were pushing their babies in strollers and toilets were on display. In a cruel twist of fate, these people had been dumped on by a toliet.
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Opening Day in Photos

Yawkey Way pregame crowd

Welcome to Opening Day!

Relaxing before the game started & it was still sort of a pleasant temperature

As we got closer to 4:05, the winds picked up and we added more layers...

Layers + beer = warming strategy

The guy next to us started doing jumping jacks... then he asked us for our leftover pizza

A friend of ours couldn't make the game, so we were the lucky ticket recipients! These seats on the Bud Deck were awesome; you get a $50 food credit with them, so we splurged on an entire pizza. When the pizza arrived, Nick used the heat emanating from the hot pie to warm his hands for a bit before chowing down. The fact that the Sox won, we got to see Beckett pitch, Pedroia and Tek hit homeruns and Papelbon save combined with being at Fenway on Opening Day was very cool. The only downside was the weather, which was also very cool; however, that's a small price to pay for such an awesome experience. Go Sox!

An Impulse Buy that I Actually Use

The "Onion Saver" was an impulse buy at the Stop & Shop in South Bay, and I'm glad I didn't talk myself out of it in the produce aisle. This thing does actually keep odors contained and the onion fresh. Plus, it's kind of a fun addition to our crisper.
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A Fundraising Success!

This post is a little late; however, I wanted to have the final tally to report before posting on the April Fool's fundraiser. Thanks to everyone's donations, $429.54 will be donated to Mass Eye and Ear! That's fantastic, and I'm so thankful for everyone who came out to support MEEI and Team Eye and Ear!

I also wanted to thank Laura at Mantra for helping to organize the event. She and the Mantra staff really went out of their way to make sure the evening was a success, and I'll definitely recommend them in the future. I'd also like to thank Kathleen at Downtown Crossing Partnership for putting me in touch with Laura.

Oh, and congratulations to Penny for winning the Dustin Pedroia photo! Penny and my mom came up from Connecticut for the event and even worked at the check-in table. I'm glad that she was able to take the photo home with her!