On St. Patrick's Day, everyone's Irish!

Hello friends! We're back with a HUGE post for you! We've been busy busy, I know I always say that but it's always true! But we're always trying to work fun things into our schedules...it's just hard to find a moment to sit down and document it all! But I have time before Becky and I leave to get some ice cream on this beautiful Spring day so let's dive right in!

53. Do a Pub Crawl
Way back around St. Patrick's Day Becky and I decided to take part in a little event known as the "Erin Express" in Philly. Now, the name of this item should have been "Ride the Erin Express" but we never actually made it onto the busses that take drunk 20 somethings around the Irish bars in Philly. We did visit a bunch of bars in Philly and we did wear all green and do a lot of Irish Car Bombs, but the busses always evaded us.

Now don't get confused, our Becky (the Go Getter Becky) was on the Erin Express but we had ANOTHER Becky with us too! So keep in mind Go Getter Becky will be referred to as "My Becky" and other Becky will be known as "Other Becky." That's how I refer to them in real life so feel free to do the same if you ever run into them.

Myself and My Becky were accompanied by Megan and Other Becky (from left to right) and we actually started our day out at the wrong Cavanaugh's in Philly, but that didn't stop My Becky and Other Becky from starting the day off right with an Irish Car Bomb at 11 a.m.

 This picture may make it seem like Other Becky is less of a champ than My Becky but she's just a slower chugger! She even kept drinking it when the Bailey's curdled. Now that is a champ.

After realizing that we were in fact at the wrong Cavanaugh's we took a cab to the real one, where the Erin Express was born.

This Cavanaugh's had the outside blocked off for dancing and drinking. It was basically one giant frat party at noon!



No stranger to frat parties, we did what any group of girls with beer who don't know anyone around them would do.....DAYANCE!

This kid didn't stop dancing the whole time. Champ.

I've since lost track of how many bars we actually went to. And how many drinks we had. And how many car bombs we did. I have proof of at least 2. 

My Becky also lost track of her wallet that day. An ordeal that took a few days to deal with until a nice lady from the cab company called her and told her they found it! After she cancelled her credit card, bought a new I.D. and lost out on $15 that a kindly samaritan charged for finding it. But all around I would say it was a very successful Pub Crawl. Maybe next year we'll actually make it on the bus.

The next day, or was it the next week? Either way it was time to continue the St. Patrick's Day celebration. Becky and I headed into Philly again. On the way I crossed something off of my own list.

54. Drink a Shamrock Shake

Call me crazy, but I'd never had one before! And we had it documented, so it has to go on the blog.

55. Go to the Philly St. Patrick's Day Parade


We got a really sweet spot at the end of the parade where all of the groups did their performances for the camera. But it was a pretty chilly day, and to be honest parades are kind of boring. We stayed for a few bagpipe performances and adorable little girls dancing, but after a few hours we decided to peace out. It was a cool tradition to take part in though, and we may have even been on TV! So still totally worth it. Oh, and we also saw the Philly Phanatic.


In case you didn't know, Saturday, April 2 was Becky and Jamie's birthday.
Happy Birthday gals!

So they had a week-long celebration which included burritos, a Phillies game and...drumroll...

56. Visit a Chocolate Bar
What's a Chocolate Bar you say? Well we went to the Naked Chocolate Bar in Philly and it's a magical place where you can eat your weight in chocolate. And we tried to.



Jamie and I each got a Strawberry Filled Chocolate Cupcake; Becky got Oreo Mousse; Becky, Jamie and Megan got hot chocolate that was basically flavored chocolate syrup (so good!) and I got a frozen chocolate drink with fruit in it for all of us to share. And share it we must because it was HUGE!

Go Getters love chocolate.

If you're concerned that we wasted our money because we couldn't possibly eat all of that chocolate, please don't be alarmed. We did:

I probably should have kept that a secret.

If you ever come across a Chocolate Bar, don't walk, RUN in! So good.

The next and last thing for our post today is something that every sports fan should do. Well I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a sports fan, but I'm getting better. It's something EVERYONE should do!

57. Tailgate a Phillies Game




This was another event for Becky and Jamie's week-long celebration. A bunch of their friends from school and home joined up with us throughout the day, and it was a long day! We did something in the morning that you can read about later this week (it's a surprise!), then tailgated the Phillies game, then went to a bowling alley in Northern Liberties (never got to bowl :/) and THEN went out in the city! It was along day, and this was just the beginning!

We played some kick ball. 

Our friend Scott locked Jamie in a Porta Potty

Shot gunned some beers

That didn't go so well.

Played some games

Aaaaand killed Jamie's car by leaving the radio on all day!

But if you're going to kill your battery, you may as well do it at a tailgate, someone is BOUND to have jumper cables!

We grossly overestimated how much beer we would need for the day, Becky thought seven 30-packs was necessary, but the huge spread of food didn't go to waste. (Neither did the beer, we're planning a party!)

And it all packed away neatly!

We didn't actually get to go to the game, but there's no rules against that. We still represent Philly.

Molly only kisses Phillies fans.

Okay guys, that's it for today! And don't worry you won't have to wait so long for the next post, I'll be updating later this week with the other thing we did on Saturday. It's very exciting! 

So look forward to that, and until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.

Love Always,

The Go Getters

I'm reading: On St. Patrick's Day, everyone's Irish!

I love your sushi roll, hotter than wasabi

Konnichiwa friends! Sorry we've kept you in suspense waiting for an update, but we're back finally!

Today we did something we've talked a lot about doing but never had the time to do...

52. Roll your own sushi


First we had to get supplies. We already had the rice vinegar, chopsticks and wasabi, but we had to venture to the grocery store to get the rest. Surprisingly enough our local Shop Rite had pickled ginger and nori (the seaweed used to roll it up) but there were nooooo avocados. Well okay, there were avocados but they were pretty green. Then we went to Acme and their avocados were at the opposite of the spectrum and way passed their prime. We also stopped at the new local organic food store in town...which doesn't actually carry any produce. But after our fourth stop at the second Shop Rite we finally got some avocados that looked edible.


Mmmm doesn't that all look so good?

So we boiled up some rice


And made the rice vinegar mixture stuff

(Our oven's pretty old so we had to manually light the burner for the mixture)


Becky peeled and cut up the veggies

Mmm this is making me hungry all over again!

We were feeling pretty ambitious so we decided to make some tempura batter as well!

We fried up some sweet potatoes and avocados




























And then got to rolling!


Becky's first attempt didn't go so well. We added too much rice and it turned out HUGE


But really that's not a bad problem to have.


Then it was my turn


My attempt was only slightly more successful because I had learned from Becky's mistakes. But my rolls weren't very tightly rolled and ended up being a little messy. Delicious...but messy.

Between the two of us we made 7 different rolls.

  Becky's cucumber, imitation crab and avocado tempura

 My avocado and sweet potato tempura

 Becky's sweet potato tempura and imitation crab meat

Plus I made a roll of cucumber, avocado and cream cheese; avocado tempura, cream cheese and cucumber; Becky's california roll; and one more combination I can't think of. Then we put it all together:


I know exactly what you're thinking, "What?! No way you girls did this for the first time and it came out looking this good!" Yes it was our first time and yes, it does look amazing!

Close up glamour shot.

And yes, most importantly, it did taste amazing.

Even my Mom got in on the action. When we asked if she wanted to try a piece she responded with "I thought you'd never ask!"

This day will go down as the sushi massacre

Don't worry, the leftovers didn't go to waste. Jamie was upset that we didn't invite her (because she was babysitting) and we brought the rest for her to finish off. She even told us that if we had better rolling skills, it may have been the best sushi she's ever had. So I'd say this was a success, wouldn't you?

Oh, and as a fair warning to everyone: the wasabi that comes in the tubes that you can buy at the store is VERY SPICY. It may cause your eyes to water, your sinuses to clear and a lot of yelling. You have been warned.

Anyway, since we did so well making sushi we decided that we should try other cultural dishes. If anyone has any recommendations (or would like to join us!) we're always open for suggestions. 

I think that's all of the fun we have for today. So until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.

Love always,

The Go Getters

I'm reading: I love your sushi roll, hotter than wasabi

Polar Bear Plunge 2011!

Welcome back everyone! We hope we didn't keep you in too much suspense trying to guess what our next adventure would be. So without further ado let's get to it!

Yesterday we took a road trip down to Lewes, Delaware for the 2011 Polar Bear Plunge! We each had to raise $50 to support the Special Olympics but ended up giving them almost an extra $50 each because they didn't have our fundraising pages updated and we wanted our free sweatshirts. Plus it's for a good cause, so you can't complain!

 

bam. check that out.

So yesterday around 9 a.m. myself, Becky, Jamie and our friend Eamonn piled into Jamie's car for what would become a very eventful road trip.

 

 

We started out happy and care free. We played the movie game, the rules of which are as follows:

1. One person starts the game by naming any actor/actress or movie

2. If the first person named an actor/actress, the next person has to name a movie that actor was in.

If the first person named a movie, the next person has to name an actor/actress that was in said movie.

3. The third person continues the cycle going around the circle naming an actor, then a movie, then an actor, then a movie. Think of it as the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game. 

4. If you do not know an actor that was in the aforementioned movie or cannot think of a movie that said actor was in, you can challenge the person before you to see if they can come up with anything. If they beat your challenge, you get an M, but if they can't come up with anything either, then they get an M. Each incorrect response warrants another letter, similar to the basketball game HORSE, until all but one person ends up with MOVIES.

It's a really fun game...I hope you play it next time you go on a road trip!

So the beginning of the trip was all fun and games...until we realized we were lost. Now I'm not one to point fingers...but Jamie probably should have had the GPS actually directing us somewhere, and Becky, as co-pilot, should have been paying attention to where we were going considering she's been to the Delaware beaches the most. Again, I'm not one to place the blame on anyone...but we did end up closer to D.C. than to Rehoboth Beach and went about 2 hours out of our way.

After some sibling rivalry and a lot of yelling, Becky put the address into the GPS and we attempted to get back on track.

 

Unfortunately, in our eagerness to arrive at the beach in time for the plunge at 1 o'clock, Jamie didn't see the cop waiting on the side of the road (even though I said "Jamie, there's a cop up there") and we ended up getting pulled over.

 

The funny part is, the cop blew his transmission trying to pull us over! And we explained to him that we were late to a charity vent, and it was Eamonn's birthday! But the cop would have none of it, even though he seemed like a jolly fellow, he still gave us 2 tickets for basically the same thing. One for going 17 miles over the speed limit, and a second for excessive speeding. Call me crazy but I think those are the same thing, we didn't need 2 tickets. He was just trying to pay for his blown transmission.

To make a long story short, we didn't make it to the plunge on time. It started at 1, and as you can see, we were still in the car at that point.

 

Then Becky's bladder nearly exploded and she had to literally run into Taco Bell before she peed her sweatpants.

This is her pre-plunge outfit of sweatpants, a bandana and rain boots.

Fear not though my friends, we did eventually make it to the beach! And we stripped down to our bathing suits and customized polar bear plunge shirts and asked a nice man to take pictures for us!

 

He even took pictures of us running in and out of the water. He went above and beyond his duties as an innocent bystander.

Oh, I can finally say it:
51. Do the Polar Bear Plunge!

 

 Without any time to think about what we were actually about to do, we linked hands and headed toward the ocean. As you can see, Jamie was the smart one who let go when Eamonn started running too fast.

 

He held onto Becky and I until the last minute when a wave was coming and pulled both of us down into the water. I lost my balance and fell head first into the FREEZING cold water. I don't really remember anything except that I was cold and the only thing I cared about was getting back out of the water.

 

We survived the Polar Bear Plunge! Nobody's heart stopped, nobody got pneumonia or frost bite and it was actually a lot of fun!

Survivors!

 

The Go Getters!

Eamonn and Becky ended up dragging Jamie back into the water again for another dip because she only went in up to her knees! What a baby, I think they got her in all the way up to her butt.

Once we were all out we immediately put on sweatshirts, robes and towels, whatever we had handy to get warm again. The weather was actually pretty pleasant and warm for February, but the water was less forgiving.

 

This is the face of hypothermia setting in.

After a quick and complicated costume change, we were pretty much back to a regular body temperature. But having missed the registration, we decided to try to find someone in charge who could take our money and give us our sweatshirts.

 

They were really nice and we caught them just as they were packing up. We told them about the cop pulling us over and jumping in by ourselves and wanting to make sure that they got all of our money. I think they appreciated our spirit.

After all the hooplah we tried to take Eamonn to Hooters, after all it was his birthday. And I could have crossed it off the list too because I've never been there! But alas, to our dismay, it was closed. :(

 
Eamonn took it pretty hard.

But we ended up going to Grotto's pizza instead...and they were good sports about doing something super cheezy for Eamonn's birthday. They surprised him with a song and a balloon when he walked out of the bathroom! It was definitely better than anything you could get from Hooters, right?

Well Eamonn looks pretty happy about it.

 

Then it was a long drive back home to Jersey for the Super Bowl party at Jamie's house. And we vowed that next year we wouldn't get lost and we would actually make it to the BIG PLUNGE. But we'll see, I think our way was more fun anyway.

So until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.

Love Always,

The Go Getters

 

I'm reading: Polar Bear Plunge 2011!