I am off to SOUTH AMERICA!!! And if you can't tell I'm just a little excited :)
Have a wonderful 11 days...
I'll be back with plenty of pictures and stories!
B.Hines
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Top 10 Things to Eat in Peru
In just 3 short days I will be off to SOUTH AMERICA! Are you as shocked as me that it's already go time? Half of me is in panic mode, running around like crazy, making lists, and getting everything ready; while the other half of me is all "everything will be perfect, no need to stress, just get excited!!" And I am, SO excited. Although I am worried about one minor major thing...
What in the world am I (the pickiest eater in the world) going to eat?! I am probably the most boring (and safe) eater ever. Ham sandwiches for every meal, everyday. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. I do like a good tuna melt, or piece of pizza, or chicken anything. But that about covers it. So in order to better prepare myself for what I'm getting myself into, I googled "food to eat in peru" and discovered this wonderful National Geographic article...
Y'all, I'm in trouble.
Let's take a look at some of these dishes, shall we?
Our first item on the list is called Ceviche. First off, what the heck does that mean?! I realize that we're going to be in a Spanish speaking country and that I do have a minor in Spanish, but I'm pretty sure I didn't learn that word and I have no clue what that means. And yes I'm going to feel really dumb if someone comments on this to tell me that the word is in fact English...whatever. So there's our first challenge right there, understanding what exactly it is that we'll be eating. Anyway, back to that thing called "Ceviche." Apparently, it's "raw fish marinated in citrus juice." Maybe some of you think this sounds delicious, but I'll pass. Raw fish just sounds a little gross to me.
Next on the list, Cuy. Otherwise known as...
THIS IS NOT OKAY!!! I know that cultures are different and heck some people even eat dog (again, no no no no!) but I'm sorry, I just can't. None of this "when in Rome..." nonsense. Fanny, I promise to not chow down on your ancestors while abroad, no matter how much the Peruvians try and convince me...
Another item on the list: Rocoto Relleno. Again, what?! According to National Geographic, "What appears to be a plain-old red bell pepper is actually a fiery Capsicum pubescens (at least ten times as hot as a jalapeño when raw, but boiled to reduce its thermonuclear properties), stuffed with spiced, sautéed ground beef and hard-boiled egg." I can't stand spicy stuff. My body just can't do it. If I have too much spicy mustard on my (ham) sandwhich I freak out and can't finish it. I just don't do well with spicy foods, and of course, everything seems spicy, even if a 'normal' person thinks it's not. So I don't think I'll be trying this dish.
And lastly, the most delicious sounding thing of all, Anticuchos.
Doesn't look so bad, right? Oh just wait...
"These skewers of grilled, marinated meat (much like shish kebabs) are served everywhere in Peru. While almost any meat can be prepared this way, the most traditional—and best—anticuchos are made with beef heart."
This almost sounded good, until they said they would make it with beef heart. Ehhhh, I don't know about all that. Can't you just put some chicken (non-heart) on it and call it a day?
So basically, I will either be (a) eating lots of cliff bars, bread, and rice or (b) ordering food without asking what it is. Let's hope I don't starve!
But in all seriousness, I really am excited about this trip! I think it will be amazing to be in this culture and practice my Spanish and I'm sure the food won't be that bad. ;) I'll just be counting down the days until I can have the steak in Rio, yummm...
What in the world am I (the pickiest eater in the world) going to eat?! I am probably the most boring (and safe) eater ever. Ham sandwiches for every meal, everyday. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. I do like a good tuna melt, or piece of pizza, or chicken anything. But that about covers it. So in order to better prepare myself for what I'm getting myself into, I googled "food to eat in peru" and discovered this wonderful National Geographic article...
Y'all, I'm in trouble.
Let's take a look at some of these dishes, shall we?
Our first item on the list is called Ceviche. First off, what the heck does that mean?! I realize that we're going to be in a Spanish speaking country and that I do have a minor in Spanish, but I'm pretty sure I didn't learn that word and I have no clue what that means. And yes I'm going to feel really dumb if someone comments on this to tell me that the word is in fact English...whatever. So there's our first challenge right there, understanding what exactly it is that we'll be eating. Anyway, back to that thing called "Ceviche." Apparently, it's "raw fish marinated in citrus juice." Maybe some of you think this sounds delicious, but I'll pass. Raw fish just sounds a little gross to me.
Next on the list, Cuy. Otherwise known as...
 |
| Yes this would be my adorable guinea pig, Fanny. |
Another item on the list: Rocoto Relleno. Again, what?! According to National Geographic, "What appears to be a plain-old red bell pepper is actually a fiery Capsicum pubescens (at least ten times as hot as a jalapeño when raw, but boiled to reduce its thermonuclear properties), stuffed with spiced, sautéed ground beef and hard-boiled egg." I can't stand spicy stuff. My body just can't do it. If I have too much spicy mustard on my (ham) sandwhich I freak out and can't finish it. I just don't do well with spicy foods, and of course, everything seems spicy, even if a 'normal' person thinks it's not. So I don't think I'll be trying this dish.
And lastly, the most delicious sounding thing of all, Anticuchos.
 |
| Source |
"These skewers of grilled, marinated meat (much like shish kebabs) are served everywhere in Peru. While almost any meat can be prepared this way, the most traditional—and best—anticuchos are made with beef heart."
This almost sounded good, until they said they would make it with beef heart. Ehhhh, I don't know about all that. Can't you just put some chicken (non-heart) on it and call it a day?
So basically, I will either be (a) eating lots of cliff bars, bread, and rice or (b) ordering food without asking what it is. Let's hope I don't starve!
But in all seriousness, I really am excited about this trip! I think it will be amazing to be in this culture and practice my Spanish and I'm sure the food won't be that bad. ;) I'll just be counting down the days until I can have the steak in Rio, yummm...
Happy Tuesday!
B.Hines
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Half Marathon #2!
This past Sunday I ran my 2nd half marathon, the RunRaleigh Half. Although I had officially already ran a half marathon, this one was more of the "real deal." No Disney characters to stop and take pictures with, no magic from running through Disney World, no exciting distractions...just me, my ipod, and 13.1 miles. Oh, and 1,000 other people.
Can you find me?
Hint: I'm the creep in the blue in the left corner...
This was the first ever RunRaleigh half and I really liked it. It was really small (especially compared to the Disney Princess Half - there were 20,000 people for that!) and the course wasn't too bad either. We started in Cameron Village, one of the local shopping areas, and then continued on out past NC State, Pullen Park, Downtown Raleigh, and lastly the Raleigh greenways.
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Mile 4: Clearly I was still excited at this point...or maybe it was just encouraging seeing my mom and step-dad :)
The last few miles started to get tough. The sun was out and it was hot! There were also a few hills towards the end and my legs just did not want to move. But, I pushed on through it and ended up finishing at 2 hours exactly! Although personally I think it may have been under 2 hours... ;)
I set a PR (although that wasn't too hard to do) and it felt SO good! I really wanted to get 2 hours or a little under 2 hours, and I did it! I didn't really set out to really push myself in the beginning though, I was just running it to see what I could do. I started out at that pace and it felt good so I just kept with it! I know it's not even super fast...but it's good enough for me, for now. ;)
Lovely awkward pose weeee.
Receiving the medal is the best part of the whole race. :)
And now for the results!
Official Time: 2:01:02 - 13.1 miles
Garmin Time: 2:00:24 - 13.2 miles (not completely sure where that extra .1 mile came from?)
And as far as rankings go...
35th out of 91 women aged 20-24 (top 38.5%)
8th out of 27 women aged 22 (top 30%)
128th out of all 548 women (top 23%)
My step dad calculated all of this for me and I've gotta say, for my first "real" half-marathon, I'm pretty proud :)
Now about that full marathon I signed up for in October....I think I'm going to die.
Let the training begin!
B.Hines
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Easter!
I'm about a week late with this post, but here goes...
I loooove Easter! It's one of my favorite holidays. I just love everything about the weekend and this year was no exception.
My dad came into town from Kansas City on Friday, so my brother and I got to spend the majority of the weekend with him which was nice :)
Friday night while my brother was working away at Chick-fil-a, dad took me shopping in Nordstrom! That was interesting to say the least. He claimed that I needed at least one pair of "good" jeans (which yes is probably true) and some "nice, good quality outfits." Either he just wanted to spend money on me, or he's telling me that my wardrobe sucks. I don't really care what the reason was though, it resulted in new clothes for me so I'm not complaining ;)
After our shopping extravaganza, we headed over to Chick-fil-a to visit little brother. He was just starting his break which was perfect timing, so we all got to eat together. And then after dinner I FINALLY went to go see the Hunger Games!! Dad hasn't read the books or anything, but he had heard that they were super good and of course I have been dying to see the movie after reading the books and let me just say...that movie did not disappoint! It was amazing! Although they weren't able to capture everything (that would have been a super long movie), I still think they did a great job and that it accurately represented the book. And the fact that it was all filmed in North Carolina was pretty exciting too :)
Saturday morning was the oh so exciting Raleigh Easter!!! My church, Vintage 21, held a huge Easter Egg Hunt in downtown Raleigh and it was wooonderful. 60,000 eggs, tons of balloons, inflatables, and massive amounts of people made for a pretty fun morning. I think I'll let the pictures do the talking...
The rest of the afternoon was spent back at Nordstrom, this time for my brother. I've gotta say, I had much more fun picking out clothes for him and watching him try on and model stuff than I did when it was my turn. It was much less stressful that way, maybe that sounds ridiculous...?
After brothers fun shopping experience, we headed over to Omega sports and I finally got some compression sleeves!
And yes, I put them on immediately and kept them on during our dinner at McCormick and Schmicks. I had on jeans, no one could tell :)
Easter Sunday was a wonderful day :) I woke up early and headed to church at Vintage 21 with my family. My church has 3 different campuses, one in West Raleigh, one in East Raleigh, and one in Durham, but for Easter Sunday we had one HUGE church service with everyone at the Memorial Auditorium!
Everything about this day was perfect and I'm so thankful for everything that I had to celebrate this Easter! :)
I loooove Easter! It's one of my favorite holidays. I just love everything about the weekend and this year was no exception.
My dad came into town from Kansas City on Friday, so my brother and I got to spend the majority of the weekend with him which was nice :)
Friday night while my brother was working away at Chick-fil-a, dad took me shopping in Nordstrom! That was interesting to say the least. He claimed that I needed at least one pair of "good" jeans (which yes is probably true) and some "nice, good quality outfits." Either he just wanted to spend money on me, or he's telling me that my wardrobe sucks. I don't really care what the reason was though, it resulted in new clothes for me so I'm not complaining ;)
After our shopping extravaganza, we headed over to Chick-fil-a to visit little brother. He was just starting his break which was perfect timing, so we all got to eat together. And then after dinner I FINALLY went to go see the Hunger Games!! Dad hasn't read the books or anything, but he had heard that they were super good and of course I have been dying to see the movie after reading the books and let me just say...that movie did not disappoint! It was amazing! Although they weren't able to capture everything (that would have been a super long movie), I still think they did a great job and that it accurately represented the book. And the fact that it was all filmed in North Carolina was pretty exciting too :)
Saturday morning was the oh so exciting Raleigh Easter!!! My church, Vintage 21, held a huge Easter Egg Hunt in downtown Raleigh and it was wooonderful. 60,000 eggs, tons of balloons, inflatables, and massive amounts of people made for a pretty fun morning. I think I'll let the pictures do the talking...
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| Instagram: blhines2 :) |
The rest of the afternoon was spent back at Nordstrom, this time for my brother. I've gotta say, I had much more fun picking out clothes for him and watching him try on and model stuff than I did when it was my turn. It was much less stressful that way, maybe that sounds ridiculous...?
After brothers fun shopping experience, we headed over to Omega sports and I finally got some compression sleeves!
And yes, I put them on immediately and kept them on during our dinner at McCormick and Schmicks. I had on jeans, no one could tell :)
Easter Sunday was a wonderful day :) I woke up early and headed to church at Vintage 21 with my family. My church has 3 different campuses, one in West Raleigh, one in East Raleigh, and one in Durham, but for Easter Sunday we had one HUGE church service with everyone at the Memorial Auditorium!
It's a gorgeous building and the actual auditorium is incredible!
That morning I was in charge of getting some shots of everything going on before and during the service, much like I was for the Easter Egg Hunt. I had a blast! I loved meeting new people, talking with friends, and just the overall JOY that filled the building on Easter morning!
My brother, mom, and I after the service :)
When church was over, we all headed back to the house for a deeeelicious breakfast, lots of relaxing in the sun and plenty of picture taking! But don't worry I won't bore you with all of the pictures, just a few...
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| Brother and I are silly |
Everything about this day was perfect and I'm so thankful for everything that I had to celebrate this Easter! :)
Happy Friday!!
B.Hines
Friday, April 6, 2012
Good Friday
When I was younger I always wondered why today was called "GOOD" Friday. What was good about it? Jesus DIED today. We mocked and we crucified the son of God, how could that be good?
But it's so much more than that. No, it wasn't good that we were (and still are) so sinful and undeserving, but it is SO good that Jesus loves us all so much that he would die for us. All along his journey to Jerusalem Jesus knew what was going to happen to him once there, and yet he still came. He allowed insults to be hurled at him, he allowed the world to mock him, he allowed the crowd to crucify him. And he didn't run away. He didn't fight back. He didn't turn away in fear...because he loves us. Our sin was (is) so strong and his love so deep, that he would suffer through crucifixion on a cross for us, so that we may live in freedom. And I think that is so good! And it doesn't stop there, because he rose again 3 days later... :)
Easter weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year! I love the celebration, the time with family, the cooking, the Easter egg hunts, the pastel colors, the spring weather, the love, and the freedom that has been given to us!
But it's so much more than that. No, it wasn't good that we were (and still are) so sinful and undeserving, but it is SO good that Jesus loves us all so much that he would die for us. All along his journey to Jerusalem Jesus knew what was going to happen to him once there, and yet he still came. He allowed insults to be hurled at him, he allowed the world to mock him, he allowed the crowd to crucify him. And he didn't run away. He didn't fight back. He didn't turn away in fear...because he loves us. Our sin was (is) so strong and his love so deep, that he would suffer through crucifixion on a cross for us, so that we may live in freedom. And I think that is so good! And it doesn't stop there, because he rose again 3 days later... :)
Easter weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year! I love the celebration, the time with family, the cooking, the Easter egg hunts, the pastel colors, the spring weather, the love, and the freedom that has been given to us!
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter, celebrating with those you love!
Happy GOOD Friday!
B.Hines
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
I did something kind of crazy
I may or may not have signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon in October.
After only running one half marathon.
Knowing that training would take place during the miserable North Carolina Summer heat.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!
Clearly I've gone insane.
But, even though I'm realizing just how miserable this training is going to be (I went on a 5 mile run, at 6pm in MARCH and I was already dying of heat...this Summer is going to be intense), I'm still SO excited to run this marathon!
I've only heard great things about it, and I've heard that it's a good one to do for a first timer. It's also in DC which will be really neat! What's up monuments? And, as an added bonus, my cousin and his wife are also running the marathon! Of course, they're in the Air Force and have run probably 1,000 marathons...but hey, at least I'll have family there.
I guess I'd better start practicing my "OORAH!" ;)
B.Hines
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