Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Our Road Trip So Far… D.C. and North Carolina

by Kristen in charleston, go raw, green juice, java green, lincoln memorial, new moon, road trip, vegan essentials, washington monument, white house, whole foods market

Hi everyone! We’ve been on the road for two days now and I thought I’d share some photos and tidbits.

While we ventured our way to Washington D.C., we stopped at Trader Joe’s (score!) for a potty break, to walk around (doctor’s orders to get out of the car every two hours), and to load up on a couple goodies and some water.

One of the things my husband likes to include in his diet to help him build / maintain muscle is vegan protein powders. We ran out of our Sun Warrior Sprouted Rice protein the night before we left NY, so we grabbed this at one of the many health food stores.

So, while we were in the parking lot at Trader Joe’s, I took our two protein shaker bottles and made us each a shake. It was quite tasty. Note to self: If it’s windy outside, be sure to have the car doors closed when scooping out the protein powder.

We kept on our way to D.C. It was my first time there (gasp!). And, being a foodie, our first stop was… Java Green (chuckling as I think to myself that our first stop wasn’t to see the White House or the Lincoln Memorial… no, not for me… it was food related).

At Java Green, I had their delicious Spicy Green Juice. The sizes I had to choose from were “Tall” “Grande” “Venti” and “Giant” (I chuckled at the Starbucks’ lingo, except for the “giant” of course, which is the size I eagerly chose). The ingredients were kale, spinach, lemon, ginger, cayenne, and agave. It was very spicy but it was oh-so-yummy! Even later that night while we were walking around the windy, chilly city, my tummy felt so warm inside!

Here is the Washington Monument

Here is the Lincoln Memorial (I was pretty much speechless here)

Here is the White House

We stayed the night in Tyson’s Corner which is outside of D.C. and took off the following morning and stopped at Whole Foods Market for food.

We selected a few organic apples – YUM!

I also saw these at Whole Foods Market. They’re by Go Raw. And, let me say… these are FUN. The crunch they give is great. The pow of ginger is awesome. The hint of sweetness is delightful. Hmmm – loved them and wished I had bought another bag. I’ve since heard from my Facebook friends that the Pizza flavor is extra awesome, so if I see those on the road, I’ll be sure to give them a try. These kinds of things make great road trip snacks.

We decided that we’d drive to Wilmington, North Carolina and stop for the night. One of the reasons we chose that city is because Google Maps (via iPhone) told us there were a couple of Whole Foods Markets there, which one of the goals of our road trip is to hit many of them so we can stay stocked with fresh organic produce, food, and snacks. Well, the spot that Google Maps directed us to was smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. I couldn’t help but giggle as we drove closer and closer to the alleged spot for WF, saying, “It sure would be weird here in the middle of the neighborhood, but hey, what do I know?”

So, we’ll hit up the WF in Charleston, SC tomorrow.

Lastly, the road trip has flown by so far. What would you expect though? We’re listening to New Moon. (My husband is into it, too.)

My Kindle 2 Love Affair – Travel Rocks With Kindle 2

by Kristen in kindle 2, new moon, team edward, twilight

I love my Kindle 2. And, let me tell you, I had no idea I’d love it this much. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited when my husband bought it for me on Valentine’s Day, but I was excited because I simply thought it was cool. I had no idea I’d love it this much. Even so… truth be told… I was a teeny bit skeptical at first. I figured that for non-fiction I wouldn’t use it much (which is mostly what I read, except for, ehem… TWILIGHT SERIES! (We already bought our opening night tickets for New Moon… but I digress… sorry).

I thought non-fiction wouldn’t be ideal on the Kindle 2 because I like to highlight and tab the heck out of my books. I use stickers. I use glitter pens. I tab my books with post it notes. But! I took a chance for this trip to New York. I decided to buy a non-fiction book for my Kindle 2 that was too heavy to bring on the trip, and would you believe, it was actually more expensive than the paper version? I took the leap though and bought it. I’m so happy I did. Not only do I not have to lug around a heavy-ass book but I can indeed HIGHLIGHT (although it’s a boring gray color, that’s OK because my fear of not being able to mark things well in a Kindle 2 book are gone). My kindle has a highlighting function that keeps everything I highlight in a special section that I can easily refer to anytime, which I have found I actually like even more than highlighting in books. Go figure. The picture above is my Kindle 2 with the animal-friendly carrying case my husband also bought me.

Trust me, the Kindle 2 is awesome. I LOVE IT. I’m forever hooked. My only regret is that I wish I had figured this out before I bought a butt load of pregnancy / vaccine / birth books in print. That picture only shows about half of them. Oh well… At least I can offer those to my blog readers when I’m done with them (if anyone is interested).

See how thin it is? The Kindle 2 is nothing short of awesome. It’s light. It holds tons of books. It fits in my hemp purse. It’s easy to read on and use. It can even read the book out loud to you (or you can use headphones). And, there are so many more great things about it. This is one very cool gift for the upcoming holidays for either yourself or a loved one. It ROCKS! I will definitely carry my Kindle 2 around every where I go. For sure.

Do any of you have a Kindle? Are you loving it as much as I am?