Phase 1 of our European Christmas Adventure: Strasbourg!

I know that this post is well overdue, but we have spread ourselves so thin with sightseeing and walking that I have been far too exhausted at the end of every day to crank out a blog post.  However, thanks to the excellent Wifi connection at a friend's house in London where we are staying, I am able to send out this quick little update.  Actually, to begin this post, I have to give a shout-out to my iPhone.  While I am currently writing this post on my dad's little Acer computer that we brought along with us, my trusty little phone has been my lifeline to the outside world throughout the course of this trip.  Thanks to generally great Wifi connections in our hotels, I have felt close to friends and loved ones despite the several thousands of miles that separate us right now.  So thank you, iPhone :)

Moving on...I had been missing Strasbourg dearly in the two-and-a-half years since I last visited it.  I studied there a whopping three years ago (I know you older readers may take offense to this next melodramatic statement, but boy, does that make me feel old!  It feels like the study abroad stage of my life was only yesterday!).  Hopefully none of you want to punch me right now!  Allie and I visited the city at the end of our study abroad year as a day trip from Paris, and the city was certainly different in early-summer warm weather, not to mention SUNLIGHT, something  I had been severely lacking when I had left the city in December. 

When we pulled in to the train station a week ago, I felt as though I had never left.  I think that, even in my state of exhaustion (after having made it through a transatlantic flight during which I had slept little, and then a connecting flight on an itty bitty flight that would have been terrifying had I not conked out before safety instructions were even read), I had butterflies in my stomach.  I was reconnecting with a little part of myself that I had been missing over these past three years.  And I was coming back at CHRISTMAS, the part of the year when I most fell in love with Strasbourg.  Even as the weather turned gray and dismal and the temperatures plummeted, even as I wanted to rip my hair out while studying for finals in my seven (count 'em, seven!) classes, I had the Marché de Noël beckoning to me from downtown, just a short tram ride or a slightly longer walk away.

Strasbourg is the self-proclaimed Capital of Christmas, and it sure isn't afraid to flaunt it!  My mom and I dropped our bags at our hotel, and, since our room wasn't yet ready, went out again immediately to begin exploring (even if we had been able to get into our room, it would have been unwise to nap at that point).  We walked around the city for a few hours, grabbed lunch and then went back to the hotel for a little bit to crash.  Each new corner we rounded, each street we went down, felt like greeting an old friend, and I was so happy that I had gotten the chance to share this part of myself with my mom.  We did end up napping for about 2 hours, and then, with renewed resolve, walked around the city some more, at that point, blanketed in darkness. 

All of the markets are wonderful to look at during the day, but at night, once the lights are turned on...wow, what a sight to behold!  It really is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, resplendent in its Christmas glory.  Tucked away in little town squares are rows of Christmas Market stalls for as far as the eye can see.  In those stalls are young adults making crepes, which really is an art and a science; vendors selling everything from strands of Christmas lights, build-your-own nativity scenes, ornaments of every kind, the largest gingerbread cookies you have ever seen, and hot wine, among other things.  In Place Kléber, one of the main town squares sits the most beautiful (not to mention one of the tallest) Christmas trees you've ever seen, and it certainly puts the White House Christmas Tree to shame!!!  Essentially all of our time in Strasbourg was spent winding down little side streets and crossing town squares, taking in the lights, the smells, the sounds, and the general joyful spirit that you couldn't help but adopt for yourself.  To partially alter a quote from Love Actually, if ever I grow weary with the state of the world, I picture myself wandering through the Strasbourg Marché de Noël, which, for me, is, however infantile it may be, the pinnacle of joy and happiness.  People from all over the world come to this much-celebrated market, and I was overjoyed to be wandering through it with my mom.

After two full days in Strasbourg, we headed to Paris, which, since this post is getting wordy (true to form), I will have to save for another day.  Once I get home and am able to make some sense of the hundreds of pictures I've taken, I will post some of those as well, so that you can see a little of how I spent my Christmas vacation!  I hope that you all had a marvelous Christmas with family, friends, and other loved ones!

The Post In Which I Bemoan My Packing Procrastination

Okay, I just have to start by saying that I am not at all a procrastinator (in fact, when I was in college, I would set artificial deadlines for myself for days before papers and theses were due, and, damn it, I stuck to them!), but this packing for Europe thing has got me befuddled.  For those of you who know me, you know that packing light is not one of my strengths, so planning for less than 50 pounds (in fact, 45 would be preferable) is not exactly my strong suit. 

I have been so busy this week (mostly with baking, which, as I declared to my roommate during my third straight night of baking on Wednesday, I hate, which, for those of you who know me, is utter blasphemy) that I really haven't had too much time to pack. I did pick out the 7 outfits that I will be bringing for my 14 days on the Continent, and for me, it was difficult to limit myself to that many.  And sure, there are some things that I won't be able to pack until Sunday night, but I am anticipating that I will need to pack and re-pack after weighing my bag, because I refuse to let my bag be overweight.  I am determined to turn over a new leaf!!!  It could be an interesting Sunday afternoon indeed!

But, moving on to more important things, my mom and I are leaving for Strasbourg on Monday! It is surreal to me that our departure is so imminent.  I know that, when we get to Strasbourg and I am frolicking at my beloved Christmas market, it will feel as though no time has passed at all, when, in actuality, I lived there THREE YEARS ago (God, that's so depressing, to think that it's been that long!).  I know that it will be very emotional for me to reconnect with my old city, and I'm so excited that I'll get to share that with my mom before we meet up with my dad and Tim in Paris.  In the few days that I have left in the States, I will be feverishly trying to wrap up projects at work, saying goodbyes to friends, and spending lots of quality time with Dan before I leave him for two weeks :(.

Now, as far as blogging while we're on our trip, it will entirely depend on how much time I have and what the internet connectivity is like there.  My main priority is having email access to message loved ones, but, if I have the time and a strong Wifi connection, I will make every effort to pen some quick updates.  If not, you can expect a GARGANTUAN catch-up post when we return on January 1st. 

As a quick aside, something that has kept me entertained this week is the Georgetown Hipster meme. Now, being that I am not a hipster, the word meme has only come to my attention within the past week, but, for whatever reason, the outside world (obviously, people who have never set foot on this campus that is just oozing with preppy people) believes that Georgetown is a hipster school? Erm, okay then...I did look through a lot of the memes, though, and chuckle to myself, and I am thankful to this website for adding a little bit of humor to an otherwise stressful week.


I am wishing you all, my dear readers (all five of you haha) Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Favorite Christmas Movies

What would Christmas be without some Love Actually clips, right?!?

Some of my favorite scenes from the movie:

• "To me you are perfect".  I wish people actually said things like that!
• The scene when Hugh Grant sings Christmas carols thanks to the heart-meltingly adorable pleading of three little girls (sorry, terrible video quality)
• Hugh Grant dancing.  Come on, how could you not be amused by this scene?!
• And.....my all-time favorite clip from the movie (probably because I am both a hopeless romantic and a language freak) is the scene where Jamie proposes to Aurelia.

Ah, love, ain't it grand!  Dan will be watching this for the first time next weekend, and I can't wait to 1) witness his mocking laughter, and 2)see if he actually enjoys it.  Fingers crossed! 

Some of my other favorite holiday movies:

• The Holiday
• The Family Stone
• Home Alone 1 and 2
• Elf
• The Grinch (both the animated and the Jim Carrey versions)
• It's a Wonderful Life
• Muppet Christmas Carol (I just saw this on Saturday and thought it was really cute!)
• I also bought Christmas in Connecticut and White Christmas this year, so I have high hopes for those!  Gotta love the Christmas oldies!

My goal is also to watch A Christmas Story all the way through.  Even though it is pretty much playing 24/7 on ABC Family during the Christmas season, I have yet to see it in its entirety.

Do any of you have any Christmas movie recommendations?

Happy Weekend!
Kristen

My Crafty Christmas

This Christmas, I decided to change things up a little bit in terms of gifts.  Now, I can't give away what I gave all of my friends and family, because not everyone has received  their gifts yet, butI have to share one in particular because I thought it was especially crafty on my part.  Thanks to some inspiration from Pinterest, I decided to make a friend's wedding invitation into a Christmas ornament!  I was really pleased with the result, so here is a picture!

How I did it: I copied the invitation onto gold vellum paper, so that I could keep the original copy of the invitation.  I then cut the invitation into strips and curled the ends with scissors.  Next, I strug some clear fishing wire through a few lines (I tried to do 3-4) and then fed each of the lines into the ornament.  Once all of them were in, there was definitely some maneuvering that I had to do, but I was very pleased with the result.  I topped it off with a ribbon, and voila!  (Note: the ornament is a hard plastic one that I bought at Michael's.  It has a removable top- perfect for putting the paper into the ornament!).

One of my coworkers also gave me a recipe for Santa Hat Brownies, so of course I had to make them!  I made them last night, and was very pleased with the result!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!  I got slightly soaked when a car drove through a puddle and got me wet this morning, but luckily, I was wearing my raincoat that reminds me of those plastic ones you have when you're five, so I didn't get as wet as I could have.  Despite being a little bit soggy, I am determined that today is going to be a good day (maybe it's because we watched Elf last night and I'm just in a cheery mood.  Dan pointed out that I really resemble Buddy in a lot of ways, and I have to agree with him haha)!

Let the Festivities Begin

Much to my delight, Christmas festivities are well underway here in DC, as was evidenced in particular this weekend.  There's nothing like some good old-fashioned Christmas cheer to make a cold, dreary day just a little bit brighter.

We had quite the weekend of pre-Christmas fun here in the nation's capital...not that I wasn't in the spirit, oh, a month or so ago (a slightly embarrassing fact that Dan reminded me of the other day).  On Friday night, after an exhausting, yet rewarding week at work (I was prepping for our biggest event of the year), Lauren and I went to the annual Christmas tree lighting in Dahlgren, after which we met up with Molly for dinner at Tombs and then met up with Joelle for Lessons and Carols at Dahlgren.  As if the night could get any more Christmasy, Molly and I went home afterward and decorated our apartment for Christmas.  While it's still very much a work-in-progress, here is the general gist of it:

Christmas tree lighting in Dahlgren- Merry Hoya Christmas!

                                                       Our apartment, looking very festive!

On Saturday, Dan and I (as well as some other friends) went to our first Hoya basketball game of the year (being that none of us have tickets this year and are completely delinquent fans), thanks to a free ticket offer for faculty and staff.  I was pleasantly shocked by how amazing the seats were!  It wasn't a particularly close game, but it was great to be back at Verizon.  We were sitting next to a guy who was a Class of 1986 SFSer, so it was fun to listen to him re-live his glory days.

After the game, we decided that it was finally time, after having lived in DC for six years, for Dan to go to a Smithsonian museum.  We decided on American History, which is one of my favorite museums in the city.  We particularly liked the war exhibit (basically an exhibit dedicated to US military history) and I liked the First Lady exhibit, especially because, unlike the last time I was there, Michelle Obama's STUNNING Jason Wu Inauguration Ball dress was on display.  It was even more beautiful in person!  From there, we walked over to see the Christmas tree at the Ellipse.  While I am generally a fan of all Christmas trees, this one is not a particularly attractive one, mostly because it is a normal tree that you can't even see through the cage of lights around it.  However, it is still a Christmas tree, so I still wanted to go see it.  In addition to the primary tree, there are smaller trees for each state and territory, each bedecked in ornaments created by children of various ages from that state or territory.  It was fun to judge each of them (Massachusetts' was really disappointing, much to my chagrin).

After walking around the general Metro Center area in vain looking for places to eat, we decided to head back in the general Georgetown direction.  We had a delicious dinner at Paper Moon, followed by milkshakes at Johnny Rocket's.  Then we went home and watched Muppet Christmas Carol.  All in all, an absolutely fabulous day.  It was a nice blend of Christmasy activities and touristy ones, so I'm very grateful to Dan for being so on-board for such a jam-packed (yet fun!) Saturday!  It was the perfect way to kick off December!

 HOYA SAXA!

Looking ahead, my mom and I will be in Strasbourg in exactly TWO WEEKS!!!!! I can't wait for what promises to be an incredible trip!

Giving Thanks in 2011

2011 has been quite an exciting year for me: starting in chronological order, one of my best friends moved back to DC, I met my indescribably wonderful boyfriend, my parents moved back to DC, my best girlfriends got to be reunited several times (once in Chicago in February, and twice in DC, with trips to Austin and Chicago hopefully in the works for next year), I moved in to a wonderful new apartment, and my family is preparing for what promises to be an unforgettable European Christmas vacation.

I truly am blessed, and I try to take a moment each day to give thanks for my amazing family, my wonderful friends, my incredible boyfriend, my job, the roof over my head, my good health (other than some pesky ankle injuries) and the health of my family.  I know that Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on all of those things that we have to be thankful for, but I really do have to pinch myself every day, because I truly am blessed. When I think of all of the amazing and inspirational people in my life, it is impossible to imagine my life without any of them, so I am so grateful for each and every one of those people.

Having my family back in DC has been such a blessing.  You really can't underestimate the convenience of having your parents just a metro ride away, so I have definitely taken advantage of that (in a positive way) and have gotten to spend some quality time with them.  To know that I have an open invitation to stay there if I need a night away or a home-cooked meal is such a comfort, and I am so grateful to my parents for opening up their home to Tim and I, not to mention Dan and both Tim's and my friends.  My mom has been a saint for, among other errands, driving me all the way up to Rockville when I was still ensconced in my Comcast drama, and I could not be more grateful to her for that (did I mention that this was at rush hour?).  I look forward to all of the memories we will be able to make as a family now that we are all reunited in DC.

I feel consistently grateful for the amazing support network of friends that I have, both friends who are in DC and friends who are far away.  I am such a lucky girl, and I hope that my friends know how much I love and value them.  To those who don't live in DC, I hope they know that I am always thinking about them, even when we haven't talked in a while and all have our stresses that keep us from staying in touch as much as we once did.  I am so glad that we did get to have as many reunions this year as we did, so I look forward to many more of those next year :)

I wake up every morning and go to bed every night feeling so blessed that I met Dan.  I'm not going to gush too much in case he's reading this (I once gave him my blog URL so he could look at one of my past posts, and I don't know if he actually reads it), but he is such a sweet, loving and giving boyfriend, and I really couldn't ask for a better one.  Even if I'm having a terrible day, even a text from him, never mind actually seeing him, is enough to instantly lift my spirits, and I can honestly say that I've never been happier.  I think that, come Christmas season, he will absolutely regret having met me, what with my abounding holiday cheer, but I think he'll come out the other side just fine :)

I really can't wait for a Thanksgiving holiday of relaxing.  We'll be visiting my grandparents for a few days, and then I think we'll be back in the city, but it will be so refreshing to not have any pressing engagements!  I wish you and all of your families the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Kristen

Post "Miss Representation," Take II: Let's Talk Body Image

Obviously, no discussion of how women are represented in the media would be complete without a discussion of body image.  We are constantly bombarded with issues of [seemingly] flawlessly beautiful women who fit the bill of what Michael Kimmel, the author of Guyland, would refer to in his point that men (or, rather, young men in the 16-26 age bracket) think of the ideal woman as effortlessly perfect.  That is what these women in movies and TV and on magazine covers look like: effortlessly perfect.  They can balance all of the pressures of daily life, and still look freshfaced, thin and stylish.  Easy, right?

Wrong.  What we all know deep down to be true (but, yet, what no one tells us), is that these women are, first and foremost, airbrushed.  There was one part of the movie that showed the extent to which a model was airbrushed to the point where she no longer resembled her former self, so that is a lot of what is at play here.  Not only do they have airbrushing, but many of them likely have a personal chef to cook them nutritious meals, a personal trainer to work out with them for hours upon leisurely hours (because c'est la vie of an entertainer to have lots of downtime while not working), an assistant to do all of their time-wasting errands for them, a nanny to take care of their children...the list is endless.  So NATURALLY they're going to look a little less haggard than your normal, everyday woman. 

The problem is that so many young girls and women get ideas about what they themselves should look like from the images that the media presents them with day in and day out, to the point where they begin to lose sight of what is normal, not to mention healthy.  I am the first one to admit that I have certainly felt insecure about my body (in fact, I would say that I have spent the majority of my life feeling that way, not necessarily all day every day, but it is definitely something that is more often than not in the back of my mind), and I would argue that you would be hard pressed to find a single woman who has NEVER felt insecure about any aspect of her physical appearance.  If such a woman exists, then I will worship at her feet and ask her to divulge all of her secrets to escaping self-loathing and masochism.

I am partly to blame for my own at-times negative body image.  I avidly digest every last bit of pop culture news, checking People.com and UsWeekly.com daily for the latest in the lives of the stars, so I let myself be more bombarded than most by those images (in fact, Dan brought a rare pop culture event to my attention that I wasn't aware of, and he said jokingly, "Come on People."  Okay, I deserved that).  I think that the important thing is knowing where to draw the line, understanding that those celebrities are airbrushed and have an extensive team at their beck and call to make their lives just a little bit easier.  Us mere mortals do not have that luxury.  So I know how to spot a fake like this when I see one (jeez, Photoshop much?).  The actual model is, while still thin, much healthier looking than this ad, in which her head appears bigger than her waist.  How are we supposed to break the culture of women who torture themselves to be thin when we have such prominently-featured ads as Ralph Lauren's portraying this unachievable standard.

Now,  I'm hardly the person to be preaching to the choir, but, in my experience, the best role models are those who take good care of their bodies- those women who are athletic and strong.  Yes, it is important to exercise, but it is also important to eat a well-balanced diet.  For me, I look at female distance runners and I think, 'Wow, that is what I want to look like.'  If you take care of your body, it will reward you by allowing you to do things like run marathons :)  That's what I'm aiming for next.  Of course, accepting one's body is a work of constant progress, but the less we take our cues from popular culture, the healthier our attitudes will be towards our bodies.

A Must-See for Any Woman

Last night, Molly, Lauren and I went to a screening of the film "Miss Representation," which was shown as a result of a partnership between the Alliance of Women in Media Foundation and the Women in Politics Institute at American University.  I didn't quite know what to expect going into the screening, and, admittedly, was just hoping to stay awake, considering that it has been a long week.

Let's just say that all three of us left the screening feeling really riled up.  For a quick taste of the gist of the documentary, here is the trailer.  The film discusses, with the help of representatives from the entertainment/media and political worlds (both male and female) the misrepresentation of women in the media (hence the name of the film) and how such a misrepresentation has a direct effect on the number of women in positions of authority in the entertainment, political and business spheres. 

The film was so rich in topics for discussion that I cannot possibly contain all of them in one post...which is why I have decided to dedicate several to the film.  I guess I would like to start by talking about the "Bitch vs. Whore" dichotomy, being that it is such a pervasive element of our media-driven society.  A perfect illustration of this (I was so happy that they used this clip) is a scene from the first Sex and the City movie, when Carrie and Miranda peruse the drugstore aisles.  Miranda surveys the options for Halloween costumes and says something to the effect of, "I can't believe this.  The only options for women are a witch and a sexy kitten."  Carrie responds, "You just said a mouthful there, sister." Now, I have to admit that I always chuckle a little bit when I watch that part of the movie, but it really is a telling scene in terms of how women are portrayed in the male-run media.

I should add as a caveat that I am kind of going to weave in arguments and opinions that I have formed as a result of having read Guyland, a fabulous book about the male 16-26 age bracket, because this film certainly gave supporting evidence to those claims.  For most men (though certainly not all), women are not on a spectrum, but, rather, are either a bitch (a Hilary Clinton-esque, strong and ambitious woman who is seen as a "threat" to their masculinity and ambition) or a whore (a Sarah Palin-esque piece of eye candy with not a lot going on in between the ears; despite the fact that I disagree with her politically, I was disgusted when multiple sound bytes throughout the movie saw her described as "great masturbation material.").  And, unfortunately, since men are the primary controllers and owners of media and news outlets, more often than not, the story of the whore is the one that is more pervasive. There is no space for a woman in the media who is both beautiful and competent/intelligent/accomplished, and that is a trend that sorely needs to change.

There was a clip of a news show that featured one female news anchor and a couple of male news anchors.  The clip was from the day that Paris Hilton got out of jail, and the men insisted, "Let's go to the Paris Hilton story," which the female coanchor refused to do, adding that she was there to report on one of the many real news stories of the day.  It was very telling that, ultimately, they played the Paris Hilton clip, but not before the viewer saw the female anchor with her head in her hands, shaking her head in frustration at the pigs she worked with.  I was so proud, in that moment, that she stood up for women on-air and protested that deplorable fratty behavior.

The last thing I would add is that the omnipresence of the "whore" in media- in rap music videos, in movies (even in movies like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, where Angelina Jolie's character is supposed to be a strong, independent woman, she is still a sexual object), on magazine covers and even in politics- means that it is men who judge the beauty and worth of a woman.  I hear my own brothers speak so disparagingly of women based on their appearance and perceived worth, and, even though I sometimes protest, I admit that I could do more to break that cycle of behavior. A perfect example came last night, when Molly and I stopped at the grocery store near our apartment to get milk after the movie.  There were a bunch of 13 to 14 year-old boys perusing the magazines near checkout, and we heard them point and say, "she [Mariah Carey] used to be fat."  We just shook our heads, as if to say, "And so it begins."  What we need are strong male role models who will teach boys and young men how to be respectful of women, if we ever wish to break this cycle of unacceptable behavior.  Boys need to be taught that women are not objects meant for their sexual pleasure, but, rather, complex, multidimensional human beings worthy of respect.

I will definitely be blogging more about the film either over the weekend or next week, but I will say that, if any of you have the opportunity to attend a screening of the film, I would highly recommend going.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Kristen

Good for Several Laughs

One of my favorite weekly activities is reading the New York Times' Sunday Style pages (more specifically, the Weddings and Celebrations section).  It's okay, I'm open about it.  Part of it is that I am a hopeless romantic and am obsessed with weddings, but it is also just so damn FUN to laugh at how pretentious some of the couples sound!


Here's a sample (created out of my own imaginary power, as well as years of reading the Sunday Style pages):


Victoria Helen Lancaster, the daughter of Philip J. Lancaster, Esq. and Veronica Lancaster of Greenwich, Connecticut, married Dr. Richard Louis Worthington III, the son of Dr. Richard Louis Worthington II and Patricia "Bunny" Worthington of Rye, New York at the bride's parents' country home in Chappaqua in a dusk ceremony on October 15th.  The Reverend Neil Weathers, an Episcopal minister and a close friend of the bride's family, officiated before 250 guests.

The bride, who will take her husband's name, is a senior associate editor at Marie Claire Magazine.  She graduated cum laude from the Yale University and runs an online jewelry boutique.  Her father is a senior partner at Walsh, Stone and Lancaster in New York, and her mother is a former event planner. 

The bridegroom is a surgical fellow in oncology at Memorial-Sloane Kettering Hospital in New York.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, where he also captained the sailing team, and attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.  His father is the retired Chief of Surgery at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, and his mother is a society contributor to The New Yorker.

The couple met at a charity regatta in Greenwich, Connecticut, when both were in school.  Mrs. Worthington, while initially unimpressed with Dr. Worthington's "cavalier" handling of his boat and its crew, was quickly won over by his charm, as well as his devotion to his medical career.

The couple lives in Manhattan.


Voilà!!!   Good thing I crack myself up, right? Somehow, my little "hobby" came to Dan's attention, and he said that Grantland, a mostly-sports (but partly-pop culture) blog that he reads, features a humorous monthly analysis of the NYT wedding announcements.  I knew that I was going to be all over this, so made him promise to send me the next one.  After I had waited anxiously, he sent me the October wedding roundup last night, as promised (really, could I ask for a better boyfriend?!).  I have not even made a dent in all of the wealth of laughs contained in this one blog post, so this, I think, will be my monthly gift that keeps on giving.

Even though I am not very far into the post, one article in particular caught my attention (I had actually seen it on the Times' website earlier in the week but hadn't had time to read it.  As it turns out, it was shockingly relevant to the blog!).  A New York man is suing his wedding photog because the last 15 minutes of the blessed event (the last dance and the bouquet toss) were not captured on film.  He is asking the photographer to pay to fly all of the guests back to NY and re-create the wedding so as to get a complete wedding picture album.  The only problem?  He and his wife got divorced a few years ago....ermmm, what?  It's nice to read things like that and know that I am not that insane (but, at the same time, it's just a bit sad to think that there ARE people that insane...and have more money than sense). 


Nothing like laughing at some wedding columns to add some humor to your day...it's the small things in life, particularly on Hump Day!!!

A Rare Food Post, and Holiday Prep

When I got out of work on Friday, I was desperately in need of a relaxing evening, so luckily, Molly and Lauren were willing to oblige.  In the spirit of trying new restaurants, we decided to wander on 14th St., and ended up stumbling upon Estadio, a Spanish restaurant.  I have tried a couple of other Spanish places in DC, and this one was, by far, my favorite.  The ambience, we decided, was very moorish, reminiscent of the architectural style and tiles of Southern Spain.  The food, too, was DELICIOUS.  I ordered Butternut Squash Soup (always a good choice), and we shared tortilla (claro), a bruschetta-like dish and manchego (again, claro).  Molly and Lauren also ordered patatas bravas, and we each got sangria.  Fantastic.  We then saw Like Crazy at E St. Cinema.  It was a decent movie- definitely not my favorite, but entertaining nonetheless- and it was just what I needed that night.

My mom and I trekked out to the outlets in Woodbridge on Saturday, partly to do some preliminary Christmas shopping, and partly to shop for a gift for my cousin's baby shower.  The outlets were an absolute ZOO, so I can't even imagine what they will be like come December (this is why I get my Christmas shopping done early, so I don't have to deal with the crowds).  A personal highlight was that I FINALLY found a camel cowl-neck sweater that I LOVE!!!! JCrew, ladies and gentlemen.  I turned around and there it was...it was like we were meant for each other haha.  There's nothing like a beautiful new sweater to make you at-peace with the coming of winter.  I wish I could convey the look of utter confusion when, after he told me that he liked my new sweater, I practically screeched at Dan, "I know!!! A camel cowl-neck sweater!".  His look was something like, "Ummm, I don't speak woman...", so, by explaining to him the words "camel" and "cowl neck", I updated his fashion vocabulary :)

On Saturday night, my parents took Tim, Dan and I out to Morton's in Georgetown, where, for the obvious reason of me being a vegetarian, I had never been.  The waiter brought out a cart containing each of their offerings, and, even though I had looked the menu up beforehand, I did not see one thing I could eat...until the very end, when he reached onto the bottom shelf of the cart and grabbed a cut of Chilean Sea Bass.  YUM YUM YUM.  My omnivorous family and my equally omnivorous boyfriend each got some sort of steak, and there were more than enough sides to go around.  Afterward, Dan and I went home and watched the LSU-Bama football game, which I was at least mildly interested in because it was such a close game.

Being that I was tired, I fell asleep watching Parks & Rec (really, you know it's bad when I fall asleep during that), and awoke at 7 a.m. to the sound of Dan's roommate BLASTING the TV in the other room.  Apparently she decided she needed some background noise, forgetting that Dan's room is right next to the living room.  So much for an extra hour of sleep courtesy of the end of daylight savings time.  I certainly had a lazy Sunday after that: we got breakfast at Martin's (yay, pumpkin pancakes!!!!!!! I promise you, the childish excitement on my part was excessive- I think Dan got a kick out of it), and, after that, the most strenuous thing I did was go for a run.  It was a good thing I did, too, after this apparent fat kid weekend.  Due to the lost sleep from the night before, which had only compounded the lost sleep that I have been building up since, oh, probably the Lake back in August, I was EXHAUSTED, and fell asleep at the grandmotherly hour of 8:15.  Yay me?

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

This is getting rambly, but I am happy to report that I have knocked two people off of my Christmas list already!  I ordered Tim's present a few weeks ago (but, thanks to UPS, the newest company on my black list, I have yet to receive it), and ordered Dan's on Friday.  I have ideas for everyone else (including the materials for a crafty homemade gifts, which I will post pictures of after the fact), so now it's just a matter of buying everything.  I want to spend December prepping for my trip, not worrying about which presents I still need to buy.  Speaking of which...in exactly six weeks, my mom and I will be leaving for Strasbourg!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeee!

Makes My Heart Melt!

I stumbled upon this post on Cup of Jo, in which she talks to guys about what is going through their head before they kiss a girl for the first time.  It is so cute how nervous some of these guys were!  It's definitely cute to see a guy get all mushy and emotionally vulnerable every once in a while :)

Trick or Treat!

No, I did not go trick-or-treating (would you believe me if I said I had, though?!  When I was taking the bus home last night, seeing all of the kiddos in their costumes in Georgetown made me want to join in!).  Never fear, though, I did dress up- TWICE!

On Friday night, we were going to a party at Dan's friend's house, and another of his friends had decided that he wanted a bunch of us to go in Batman costumes.  I was assigned Catwoman, which I was excited about because I found black pleather leggings and a black leotard (with a low, scooping back) at American Apparel.  I think the saleswoman guessed, as soon as I walked in the store dressed in my not-at-all-hipster work clothes, that I was looking for a Halloween costume, although she insisted that she wore the leotard all the time (obviously so practical).  I found some other cute accessories, and I would say that it was definitely a "cute" spin on Catwoman.  Aside from my costume, we had Batman, Batwoman, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and...drumroll please....Dan won the best costume (hands-down) with his FABULOUS fluorescent green suit that he bought to be the Riddler (he got extra points in my book for drawing question marks all over it, without whining and making me do it!).  We looked like quite a group, and definitely got some enthusiastic reactions on the Metro on the way to the party.

 See what I mean?!?!?!?! THE SUIT

Batman crew (plus our lovely hostess, Rainbow Bright)

On Saturday night, we had some friends over to our place for a Halloween potluck.  We had two types of chili, lots of good sides, and more sweets than even we knew what to do with (my contribution was Halloween-themed cookie dough cupcakes, a recipe that I originally got from Kate).  That night, I decided to change up my costume and go with my old standby of my beloved fairy costume, which, although it looks like it was made for someone a foot shorter than me and, frankly, looks a little strange on me, I have now worn for three Halloweens because I love it so much.  After we stuffed ourselves with delicious food that all of our wonderful friends made and drank yummy pumpkin ale (among other things), we headed to Dupont and settled on Science Club, the one place we could find with no line and no cover (and, since we had gotten snow- FIRST SNOW! WOO!!!- earlier in the day and it was FREEZING, we were not in the mood to wait in line outside).  It actually had an amazing vibe- I could have done with some more Top 40s music, but it was good dance music and the drinks were reasonably priced.  All in all, a win of a night, because I got to be surrounded by some of my favorite people!

Hoyas! (plus two non-Hoyas; we also apparently self-segregated, because the Domers are not really in any of our pictures)

I can't believe it is already November!  Since I'm totally insane a big-time planner, I started my Christmas shopping last night.  I will never be that person in the mall on Christmas Eve Day, and I'm not about to apologize for it.  I like for my Christmas shopping to be leisurely and stress-free, so I've already started coming up with ideas for the people in my life so that I can buy soon.  Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited for Thanksgiving (I would say it's my second-favorite holiday after Christmas), but the Christmas season is what really turns me into a caricature of myself haha.  I can't wait to put up the tree, sing Christmas carols, bake Christmas cookies, force Dan to watch Love Actually (I totally have a trump card left over from him making me watch Zombieland, which is actually worth several chick flicks, in my opinion).  But I digress.  First things first: Thanksgiving!

Things That Relax Me

I saw this picture on BBB this morning and just had to post it.  I really am just about my most relaxed when I'm hiking, so a little nature walk like this one looks so appealing right now (especially since, even given how amazing the foliage was on our Old Rag hike a few weeks ago, it is probably that much better now!):

(via Bippity Boppity Boo)

Another relaxing thing?  My mom and I went and got massages yesterday!  I had bought Living Socials for it for Mother's Day, thinking that it would be a fun mother-daughter outing, and boy, was it ever!  For those of you who know me, I am neither a relaxed nor a Zen person, but, for whatever reason, last night I was able to completely let go and let myself be in a place of total relaxation (which I sorely needed).  Other than sitting on the dock at the Lake, I cannot think of another time when I have been that blissfully relaxed.  While I know that massages are certainly frivolous and unnecessary, I think I might have to make a pact with myself to get one once a year...

One last  update is that plans are coming along quite nicely for our family European Christmas vacation (it's very National Lampoon of us, really).  I'm already bouncing off the walls with excitement, so I can only imagine what I'll be like when we're there in less than 2 months!

Happy (almost) Friday!!!! Is this week over yet? Haha. I can't wait for all of the Halloween festivities this weekend!  I'm doing a group costume with Dan and his friends tomorrow night (I am Catwoman, as a part of the superhero/comic book character theme), and then I'm recycling my beloved fairy costume on Saturday night.  It should be a lot of fun!!!

A Very Hoya Homecoming

I have to be honest, I was not jumping up and down about Homecoming Weekend.  Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing out-of-town friends who were making their yearly pilgrimage back to the city, but the stress of all of the people I wanted to see was weighing down on me.  Add to that a week that wasn't stellar and I was not particularly psyched for the weekend.

One of the things I was really excited for was spending Homecoming with Dan, seeing as how one of the things that I love about our relationship is that shared Georgetown connection.  However, the reality is that we each have our separate groups of friends, so, naturally, our priority was going to be hanging out with our respective friends.  So we kind of took a "well, I'll see you when I see you" attitude toward the weekend, which actually ended up working out nicely.

I went to bed at the grandmotherly hour of 9:15 on Friday night, feeling completely worn out.  True to form, I followed that early bedtime up with an early morning, waking up slightly before 7 to run.  Boy, I needed it.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is nothing like the automatic mood-boosting powers of a good run! I met up with Lauren and we headed over to the tailgate, which soon turned into a mob scene (so much so that Tim, not a fan of lines or huge groups of people, turned right back around and left before he even made it into the cordoned-off area).  One thing that you're guaranteed to find at Homecoming is a boatload of Hoya spirit, with blue and gray at every turn, and it really warms my heart.

I really did miss my out-of-town girls, more so this week than I maybe typically would, because Homecoming is not only the ideal time to make small talk with people you crossed paths with at some point during your college experience, but it's also a wonderful excuse to have a no-holds-barred fun weekend with your best friends.  It was hard not to have them there, and they were certainly on my mind all weekend.

Miraculously, I was able to find Dan and his friends in the crowd, and, after hanging out with them for a bit, we went back and found my friends before heading up to the swim meet that was on campus that day.  That was my first swim meet ever, and getting to experience something that was such a big part of Dan's life really meant a lot to me.  I can genuinely say that I had a great time!

My plan was to take a power nap so I would be ready for round 2, but, thanks to an obscene amount of traffic, the bus took much longer than expected.  I had a little bit of downtime to change, but then it was time to head back to Georgetown with a group of nearly 20 friends.  It was a really fun time, and I got to see some people who I would not normally get to catch up with otherwise.  From there, a group of us walked down to the waterfront and then to the Kennedy Center to check out the views from the rooftop terrace.  We then walked back to the waterfront, where our class had its class party.  I just have to say that, whoever planned the bar night did a God-awful job (did they forget about the flooding back in April that has rendered the inside of many of the restaurants inoperable?), because it felt like it was about 40 degrees, and damn, we were freezing after being out there for about 3 hours!!!  Dan met up with us there, and, soon after, a group of us headed back to nice, warm Chadwick's, where his class party was.  We headed back about 1:30, and, as we were walking home, we were enveloped in fog on Key Bridge.  About halfway across, we could no longer see Georgetown, and boy, was it eerie!

We had a perfectly lazy Sunday (complete with the most delicious French toast ever at one of our favorite breakfast venues), which was a nice counterbalance to the hectic two days that had passed before.  Although my mind was fighting me, I couldn't help, as I rode the bus home in the middle of the afternoon, but experience an overwhelming urge to run.  So run I did!  It won't be too long before it's too freezing to run outside, so I'm taking advantage while I can.  It gave me a lot of time to reflect on how lucky I am to have the people in my life that I do.  I do give thanks for them every day, but I felt particularly lucky in light of the weekend full of reunions that I had just had.  Thank you to all of you, whether you're reading or not, for enriching my life, and I truly do feel blessed!

True to form, a few pictures from the weekend :)

 Lovely ladies at the tailgate!

With one of my favorite fellow Hoyas!

Two Months From Today...

...I will be here (in Strasbourg, that is)!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeee, so excited to drink vin chaud, eat crepes and get high on Christmas spirit with my Mom! Marché de Noël, here we come!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday!  Georgetown Homecoming is this weekend, so it should be fun to catch up with out-of-towners who I haven't seen in a while (however stressful that may prove to be!).

Fall in the Blogosphere

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Bippity Boppity Boo is my all-time favorite blog.  Her aesthetic is, in many senses, shockingly similar to my own, so I have taken to checking the blog every day to see what beautiful new photos she has posted.  Today, I just discovered Seasonal Love, another blog that BBB links to that is utterly fabulous in its total devotion to beautiful seasonal pictures.  So you could say that today has been a good day so far!

I wanted to just post a few fall photos from both blogs, being that fall is my favorite season.  Enjoy!

 Apple-picking.  Just lovely. (via Bippity Boppity Boo)

My dream is to live in a house like this one.  (via Bippity Boppity Boo)

(via Seasonal Love) 

Anyone? Fall leaves? There is not a season in Paris that is not perfect! (via Seasonal Love)

This makes me so happy (both because it is so sweet and because it is so fall-like with all of the plaid)! (via Seasonal Love) 

I love the pop of color with the red umbrella (via Seasonal Love)

Pumpkin pie.  Tis the season :)  (via Seasonal Love)

October Catch-Up

I have been very remiss in posting lately, because, well, life has gotten pretty hectic.  I did get the chance, though to escape the frenetic pace of the city the past two weekends, so wanted to write about those.

My grandpa's 80th birthday was over Columbus Day weekend, so, despite, some unexpected health issues for Grampsy, the majority of the family gathered at their house for part of the long weekend.  It was wonderful to see my mom's side of the family (as well as spend the weekend with my little family of four).  We hadn't all gotten together in a while, so I was happy as a clam to catch up with everyone, especially my uncle Kevin, who lives in Colorado and who I don't see very often.  My dad, two of my uncles, one of my cousins and I went on a great 7-mile hike near Grammy and Grampsy's house, and God knows I'm a total sucker for a nice hike and some pretty foliage.  It's the New Englander in me :)

This weekend was Dan's and my much-anticipated getaway, making this my second straight weekend in the Shenandoahs.  Luckily, Dan had given in to my nagging agreed to go hiking (his first time!) with me. I had kept my fingers crossed all week for decent weather, since one of our objectives was hiking Old Rag.  We braved the traffic and, not two hours from the city, arrived at our home for the weekend, the charming Mayneview B&B.  We quickly headed down to Main St. to find something to eat, as one of the owners of the B&B told us, "this is a small town, so things close early."

We woke up bright and early (6:45- good thing we're both morning people!) to leave for Old Rag, since it was about a 40-minute drive from the B&B and we were told that the parking lot fills up early.  It was a fantastic 9-mile hike (including the walk to and from the parking lot).  I was puzzled at first that it had been described as a "very difficult" hike, since the uphill wasn't overly strenuous.  But then we came to the rock scaramble part of the hike, which looks something like this person's photo at times.  It was quite challenging, especially considering that it had rained for three days prior to our hike.  There was one particular rock that we had to take one-at-a-time, meaning that there was a bit of a traffic jam.  However, the fact that other people were around worked in our favor, considering the fact that, due to the presence of only one foothold to grab onto with your hand and no traction on the slippery rock, you really needed another person to hoist you up.  Thank God for Dan being able to drag me up the rock, because I certainly would not have been able to do it on my own, what with my two-year-old-esque arm strength.

Luckily, after a difficult climb up (the rock scramble had to have lasted at least an hour), the downhill was relatively uneventful.  Whereas one false step could have resulted in serious injury on the rock scramble, we had a leisurely trek down the mountain.  In fact, the last 2.5 miles were easy breezy, as they were along a road.  All in all, the hike took us about 4.5 hours, including stoppage time, so we made excellent time!  Yay us!  I think that hiking, particularly difficult hikes like that one, is terrific for couples, and we definitely felt a sense of shared accomplishment afterward.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we went to the B&B and crashed for a few hours because we were EXHAUSTED!  After exploring Luray, which took about a half-hour, we decided that we might as well have a light early dinner and go back to the B&B, because we were both still relatively lethargic at that point.  After some more lounge time, we decided that a dip in the hot tub (with our Virginia red wine that we had bought) would be the perfect remedy for our aching muscles, which it did turn out to be.  Then, we played a heated game of Monopoly (go figure, with two uber-competitive people), and relaxed in our room some more.  In case you hadn't guessed, the theme of Saturday (post-hike, that is) was relaxation.

On Sunday, after enjoying a delicious breakfast at the B&B, we toured the Luray Caverns, which were really spectacular (although I'm still not convinced that they were worth the $23 entrance fee).  We then drove up to see my grandparents, and had lunch with Grammy, my uncle Kevin and my cousin Amy.  I was excited to introduce Dan to that side of the family, and have really felt so fortunate throughout our relationship that he has been so open to spending time with my family and friends (as I am open to spending time with HIS family and friends, by extension).  From there, we drove home, and so ended our wonderful weekend away.  It was the first time we had gone away together for the weekend, and hopefully there will be many more trips like that in the future!

Here are some pictures from our hike:

 Are you jealous? :)

 There is NO question that fall is my favorite season

We survived!  At this point, it was really windy, so we really should have taken a picture at the base of the mountain to celebrate not having been blown off the peak!

Post-Weekend Reflections

This weekend, it truly started to feel like fall (yay!) in the District, and, I'll admit it, I wore my puffer coat to Whole Foods yesterday.  Even though this weekend was certainly exhausting, I came away from it feeling like it had been one of the better weekends I've had in recent memory.

On Friday night, Dan and I went to dinner at Grillfish, where I had been for happy hour but had never eaten.  I was blown away by the amazing grilled fish (get it? HAHA) that we each got.  That is definitely on my list to go back to in the future, especially since I am trying to incorporate more fish into my diet (I also had a mind-blowingly fantastic Branzino (Mediterranean Sea Bass) dish last weekend when my parents and I went out to dinner in Old Town).  Anyway, then we spent some time with his friends...which led to potentially the worst hangover I think I've ever had the next day.  Oh well, at least we had fun...

On Saturday, some friends came over to celebrate Molly's birthday, and then we went out to Brass Monkey, our old mainstay.  Shockingly (and, for those of you who know us, this truly IS shocking), we did not sing a SINGLE karaoke song.  We just danced.  And several of us, who had all had a rough night the night before, didn't drink, so sobriety certainly made us see Admo through a different lens.  One thing I just have to rant about is the following: so, for those of you who know me, I am a tall girl (6'0", to be exact), which I am, for the most part, secure with.  However, I don't like to be defined by my height, and can be self-conscious about it at times, so it's not an attribute that I need to have pointed out to me on a consistent basis.  So there I was, dancing with my little insular group of friends, when this guy, who had been eyeing our group creepily for about 20 minutes, approached me and said, "I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the height." I stopped listening for a few seconds, so don't know what he said in the interim, but then he finished by saying, "I hope you have a good time." 

Okay, if there are any guys reading, I'm about to do you a big favor by giving you some insider advice: if a girl has a physical attribute that she would EVER have a chance of being self-conscious about, DO NOT comment on it.  If a girl is tall, chances are she's heard it before, and, frankly, does not need to be reminded of that fact.  Oh, and I should mention that this girl is also (very happily) in a relationship, so, even if she had been flattered by your misguided remark, your pickup line would not have worked anyway.  There it is.  HOWEVER, one thing I will give him credit for is that he broke into a group of about 10 people (I was under the impression that guys didn't attempt to break into groups of more than three.  I guess I underestimated this guy).  IF I were not happily in a relationship and IF he hadn't blown his chance with that pathetic excuse for a pickup line, I MIGHT have appreciated his courage...maybe.

Anyway, after a nice night of dancing, I woke up bright and early to get on the first Metro train to go watch a 10K Dan was running downtown.  When I got to Metro Center, the Blue/Orange line boards were blank, which was not a good sign, so I opted to run from there to East/West Potomac Park to the race's start.  I luckily made it a few minutes before the start and, since it was a relatively small race, I easily found Dan (and he was able to spot me before he sped off).  It could not have been more than 50 degrees, but, since I had planned to run home afterward, I was at least semi-appropriately dressed in running pants, and a tee, my half-marathon long-sleeved tee and an 80s throwback Georgetown Crew sweatshirt, so it really could have been worse.  Dan finished 22nd overall with a great time of 38:12 and won second place in his age group!  I was so overwhelmingly proud of him, and, despite the sleep lost in getting there for the start, I was so glad that I had been able to share that with him.  I told him that maybe, one day, I'll be fast enough so I can run with him, because it would be fun to be one of those couples that runs together :)

After we went back to Dan's apartment for a little bit (we needed to get inside and warm up after immediately after the race, because we were huddling together for warmth and shaking like leaves as the age bracked winners' names were read off), I ran home.  It was my first time running up Wisconsin, and let's just say that that hill kicked my ASS!  As in sore abs and legs for the rest of teh day.  Once you get past the Russian Embassy, it completely evens out, but until then, I felt like I was barely moving faster than a walk.  Nonetheless, I always feel, when I run outside, that I am so fortunate to live in a city that is so active.  In fact, DC is the second most active city in the country (WOOOO!!!!!), so you will always see people outside walking, running, biking and the like.  Add to that the fact that there are a ton of races every weekend and you have a recipe for an amazing city to call home.

And so, I am announcing right here and now (so that I can be held accountable for this decision) that next year, I would like to run the Marine Corps Marathon (barring any serious injury haha).  It's something I've been thinking seriously about for a while now, but I really think it would be such a wonderful thing for me to do.  Since I ran my half-marathon, I have felt antsy and have wanted to find another fitness goal to work towards.  So I figure that, while I'm still young and am in reasonably good shape, I should take advantage of all of the endorphins that are bringing me to this crazy conclusion and just do it.  Please remind me of that when I complain next summer of the 20-milers I will be running over the weekends :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and thanks to all of you who made this such a special weekend for me!  This weekend, I have a family party to look forward to in Virginia, and the following weekend, Dan and I are going on our weekend trip!!!!!!  Then, Homecoming is the weekend after that, and then Halloween is rounding out this busy month.  Sheesh, October is already booked solid, but I could not be more excited for this month!

Okay, maybe guys have it tough too (plus new blogs!!!)

So yesterday, after much heavy hinting on my part, Dan asked if I wanted to go shoe shopping with him.  DID I EVER!!!!!!  I envisioned us perusing the aisles of some cute little shoe store (errr, department store.  This is Pentagon City we're talking about) and agreeing on the same shoe choice for him.  One of my coworkers and I promptly enlisted the help of the interwebs to learn more about the options that guys have for dress shoes, and were horrified by the search results that Google Images provided us with.  This sad set of images, along with shoe scanning, one of my favorite Metro activities, has led me to believe that guys really do have terrible dress shoe options.  I am FULLY in support of Oxfords (and, in fact, badly want a pair of the female version), and loafers (for men my dad's age), but other than that, you would be hard-pressed to find a pair of men's dress shoes that did not make me cringe.

Fortunately, for all parties involved, it turned out that Dan just wanted a pair of new running shoes, so I was able to put my fears of any potential shoe disagreements aside.  I wholeheartedly approved of the pair he chose (the neon ones we both thought were awesome unfortunately did not come in his size, so he settled for a pair of blue and gray ones...which I obviously would never complain about).  Crisis averted.

But this got me to thinking about men's clothing in general.  My friends and I spend a lot of time bemoaning the fact that there is no such thing as size standardization in women's clothing.  You could be a size 2 in one store and a size 6 in another (or even a different size within the SAME store!).  I thought that men had it easy.  However, from talking to Dan and a guy friend of mine, I learned that it might not be as easy as I once thought.  Dan complained that dress shirts are often "billowy" on him, which would certainly frustrate me, and the friend complained that his shoulders are too wide to find a shirt that he's not either swimming in or having his circulation be cut off by.  I give men very little sympathy for what they have to "go through" compared to what they do.  Please, we'll always have childbirth and periods.  Game over.  But I did find myself feeling a little bit bad for guys.  No one's body, male or female, is ever going to perfectly fit in the same size clothing in every store, so shopping will forever be a frustrating venture.

In other news, this week has been a good one for me because I have found some new blogs to follow!!!! I am really starting to love lifestyle blogs, because, even if I don't know the blogger personally, there is almost always something that they write that resonates with me.  One that I've quickly gotten obsessed with is A Single Girl Doing Single Things.  I have been looking for entertaining DC bloggers, and Kate and her friends, who also blog, are fantastic.  Kate, a 30 year-old singleton originally from New England (yay!) blogs mostly about the at-times frustrating plight of dating in DC.  I related to so much of what she said, because, even though I am happily in a relationship now, I have certainly had my moments of frustration in my lifetime.  Kate's conversations with her girlfriends about dating, hookups, relationships and breakups so closely resemble conversations that any group of girlfriends, mine included, have.  She is very honest and real, and that's part of what I love about the blog.  She also names the places she and her girlfriends go out to, as well as where she goes on dates, so that has given me some good ideas of places to try myself! She had a particularly funny guest blogger post that I just had to share with all of you, because it left me in stitches!

Anyway, I hope you all have a marvelous weekend, and enjoy this more fall-like weather!
Kristen

Me, A-Z!!!!!!

I found this cute little A - Z quiz on Katie's Pencil Box, a blog that I just discovered today and am officially obsessed with.  I would highly encourage you all to check it out, because she has some beautiful pictures and fun posts.  As I'm trying to blog more frequently, as a nice little outlet for myself, as well as to make this more of a lifestyle blog than a personal update blog, I decided to incorporate the quiz into today's post.  Anyway, here are my quiz answers!

A. Age: 23
B. Bed size: Full!  I have finally graduated from, as Lauren calls it, the Twin Bed of my Youth!  I hardly know what to do with all of this extra space!
C. Chore that you hate: Is it weird to say that I don't hate doing chores?
D. Dogs: Unfortunately, I am allergic, but love dogs, as long as they don't jump on me or get in my way when I'm trying to walk
E. Essential start to your day: A nice, long 5 a.m. run
F. Favorite color: Any shade of purple or seafoam green
G. Gold or Silver: Gold all the way (white gold for the engagement ring that I will hopefully someday have).  However, my most prized possession is a silver charm bracelet.
H. Height: 6’0″
I. Instruments you play: I took piano lessons for years as a child, but have always played best by ear
J. Job title: Marketing and Events Coordinator, Georgetown Full-Time MBA Admissions Office
K. Kids: Not yet, but I can’t wait to be a mom (hopefully of four!) someday.
L. Live: The fabulous Washington, DC
M. Mother’s name: Nancy
N. Nicknames: My dad calls me Sweet Pea and Boo Boo, my mom calls me Lass, and my grandpa calls me PC (for pin cushion; I had such severe jaundice when I was born that I was carted back and forth to the hospital for lots of tests, hence the pins- or more aptly, needles)
O. Overnight hospital stays: None.
P. Pet peeves: Bad grammar, people who do not clean up after themselves, Metro delays, people who make no effort to do their jobs well (ahem, Comcast, health insurance, leasing office, I'm talking to you), closed-minded people (particularly common in DC, especially as it relates to politics)
Q. Quote from a movie: "I love that after I spend day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." ~When Harry Met Sally
R. Right or left handed: Lefty (WOO! Unique 10%)
S. Siblings: 1 younger brother (although I always tell people that I have 3 brothers and a sister, because I consider Jack, Caki and Patrick to be my siblings as well)
U. Underwear: I have recently been finding really cute lacy pairs from Anthropologie and VS
V. Vegetable you hate: Mushrooms (technically a fungus, though)
W. What makes you run late: I don't run late.  EVER (unless the Metro is experiencing delays, which it often is).  Although my boyfriend might tell you that, on our first date, I was two or three minutes late because my bus was running behind.  Needless to say,  I arrived very dissheveled, red-faced from a power walk and extremely apologetic.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Sinus (I got sinus infections a fair amount as a teenager), ankle (once when I broke it as a child and once this summer when I sprained it)
Y. Yummy food that you make: Anything baked (cookies are my specialty, but I've also made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes, fruit crumbles, pies, cakes from scrats, etc.)
Z. Zoo animal: Pandas.  So freaking cute, not to mention playful

Happy Hump Day!!!
Kristen

Perfect for Fall

I am currently lusting after these Tory Burch boots, which I will not be buying anytime soon.  Also, for whatever reason, a camel cowl neck sweater with lots of chunky gold jewelry sounds divine right now.  I started using Polyvore to piece together outfits, which is a lot of fun!  Hopefully my boards will start looking more sophisticated as I get the hang of it! 

Perfect for Fall by kristenbautz featuring long sleeve sweaters

Wait, you thought this would be easy?!?!?

I am in the midst of a particularly nasty Comcast issue that has dragged on for weeks and weeks, and yesterday, after my mom and I drove 45 minutes (in DC rush hour traffic-apparently the worst in the US, by the way, with 3 days spent in traffic annually) each way to get to the Comcast service center very far out in Montgomery County, I got to thinking about all of the things they don't tell you about adulthood.

Overall, I have been content with my general easing in to adulthood (not that I proclaim to be there just yet), but there are certain hassles that I was certainly not anticipating. I would be interetsed to hear some other frustrations (as well as victories!) that you have experienced, should you be of the same age bracket as myself. Health insurance. A necessary evil, in my opinion, one of those things that is really useful to have should you get sick, but, let's face it, a pain in the ass otherwise. Some things I love about insurance: only having to pay a $15 copay for a doctor's visit; getting most procedures (including a recent X-ray that ruled out broken bones when I broke my ankle over the summer. Due to a hospital mixup, I received a $282 bill and nearly had a heart attack, but after a quick call to the hospital, got everything sorted out and learned that insurance will pay in full...phew!) covered, if not entirely then at a very high percentage; getting prescriptions for a very reasonable amount of money. Just the simple fact of being insured makes me feel a whole lot better about life, because, if something were to happen, I would be covered. Of course, there are some things that I hate about health insurance. In between graduating college and finding a full-time job, I was on a COBRA plan under my parents' old insurance. During that time, I had regular (and rather pricey) appointments for which I had to file a claim for partial reimbursement. I filed the claim in October, and let's just say that it took me until this past April to see that money, after many phone calls and an incredible amount of confusion over which service (Aetna or Cigna) covered the visits. Claims are not fun, I'll just put it that way. That gave me more than my fair share of headaches, so I was more than happy to close the book on that nightmare.

Another source of frustration has been the leasing office for my new apartment. It took me about a month-and-a-half to get my lease, and that was only after sending the leasing agent, who I had not actually spoken to because she does not return phone calls and is apparently never in the office, an angry email in which I chastised her for handling this unprofessionally, that I got a lease (it was in my inbox not 20 minutes later). I still have an issue that I have been following up with her on, but I'm hoping to get that resolved soon, and, compared to not having a lease to sign, it is a less pressing issue.

The Comcast fiasco has been going on for five or six weeks, and essentially involves problems with equipment that is unaccounted for (mostly because the technician was so moronic that he could not recognize Comcast equipment and because they are charging us- or, more specifically, me- for equipment that I do not believe I was ever in possession of. Needless to say, it has been a frustrating back-and-forth that has involved me calling them nearly every morning before work and wanting to bash my head into a wall because I cannot get a consistent answer from these people. I cannot wait to put this behind me and go back to being my usual cheerful self!!!

Believe it or not, there ARE some positives to being a semi-adult. Financial independence is a huge one for me, particularly considering that, throughout college, I was financially dependent on my parents. Being able to make my own money is such a fulfilling feeling (although, when you consider that much of it goes to taxes and the Metro, you can't help but cringe a little bit). Having free time on the weekends to do whatever I want, as opposed to studying, is wonderful, and is also a major reason why I am postponing going to grad school for at least a couple of years. I like having free time to spend with my friends, family and boyfriend and not feel guilty for having spent that time with them rather than doing homework. And honestly, I try to tell myself, after all of these phone calls and emails with Comcast, my insurance company and the leasing office, that this is just an indoctrination into the world of adults, and that I'm learning life skills in the process.

Grammar Police

Given the omnipresence of social media (blogs, Facebook and the like) in my life, I have begun to take note of some common grammatical errors. Now, I certainly don't proclaim to know all that there is to know about grammar, but there are certain things that get under my skin. For many of these errors, I think, 'Shouldn't you have learned this in middle school?!?'

But I digress. I thought I would give a little list of some common errors that I have seen, and also share an interesting site called Grammar Girl, a blog about grammar that I think I, and the rest of America, could learn a good deal from.

Here are my "favorite" (I can't really say that they are my favorites, because they make me cringe whenever I see or hear them, but you get my point):
1) Your/you're: Okay, people, I can guarantee that we ALL learned this in elementary school. The eternal question of whether to contract or not contract...It annoys me to no end when I see "I hope your having a good day" (which I do, with alarming frequency, on Facebook in particular). Okay, "your" is a possessive pronoun or adjective, depending on how it is being used. "You're," obviously the more appropriate choice in this situation, is a contraction of "you are". Done.
2) There/they're/their: Sort of along the same lines as the previous entry. "There" is an adverb (a.k.a. modifies a verb), "they're" is a contraction for "they are" and "their" is a possessive pronoun. To say, "Their going to the beach today" is incorrect.
3) Using apostrophes to make words plural makes me want to cry. When I read, "two medium pizza's" on a menu, I tense up a little bit. Adding an apostrophe makes a word POSSESSIVE, NOT PLURAL(also, if a word ends in a -z, which my last name happens to, or an -s you add -es to make it plural).
4) The dreaded double conditional: This probably bothers me mostly because of how hard the tenses were drilled into my mind in my Spanish and French classes. Certain tenses may be paired together, and others may not. Something that I have recently noticed people saying is, "If I would have known______, I would have done ______". This is called using a double conditional. If the speaker used the past perfect tense in the first verb clause, the sentence would be correct, and would read something like, "If I HAD known ______, I would have done ______".
5) A funny/sad? anecdote: I received an email from a teaching agency that read, "We want to insure that you have all of the information you need...," or something to that effect. Ensure, people, ENSURE. INSURE is for insurance. And this was from a teaching agency...sheesh!

How about all of you? Are there grammatical errors that make your blood boil? Or am I just neurotic? (I acknowledge that the latter is quite probable.)