Busy Lady

I realized after I posted the Love Project post that I hadn't done a weekend update.  It was a busy one, so I have lots to share!

It was a very long week last week, so I was thrilled to have planned a low-key roomie date night with Molly on Friday night.  I got home early enough to clean most of the apartment {which I had neglected for a week prior} and take down the Christmas decorations {and yes, I am aware that this happened on February 1st}. I did some baking for the Super Bowl party that I went to on Sunday, and, once Molly got home, we got takeout pizza from Pete's and then watched some Felicity.  Any Friday night that features Scott Speedman's beautiful face and megawatt smile is fine by me ;)

On Saturday morning, I was up at 7 to do my long run, and knowing that I would get to see Dan after I finished definitely helped push me through.  I was scheduled to do 14 miles, but, for a variety of reasons, ended up running almost 17.  I guess it was good preparation for my 20-miler {EEK!} that I'm doing on Friday.  The fact that I'm almost up to 20 miles freaks me out, both because that means that the race is creeping up on me {it's on March 16th, so it actually is practically around the corner}, and also because 20 miles seems like a freakishly high number to me.  In any case, I was happy to get it over with on Saturday morning.  Once I made it over to Dan's, we went over to Top Golf for a bit so he could get some practice swings in before he leaves for his Arizona golf trip on Thursday, and then made it home in time for the Hoya game.  We stuffed our faces with Maggiano's pasta since we were both starving, and, although we had planned to have a low-key night and watch Zero Dark Thirty at my place, Molly had invited some friends over, so we ended up being social and hanging out with all of them.

On Sunday, after our respective workouts, we grabbed breakfast at our favorite bagel place and then met up with Dan's parents at Verizon for the Pens-Caps game.  Leslie and Peter had promised Dan Pens tickets for his birthday, but, since the first part of the NHL season was cancelled, this was the first chance we got to go.  As always, I loved spending time with them.  They are such salt-of-the-earth people, and I always enjoy being in their presence and catching up with them.  It also happened that it was a great game, and the Pens ended up winning 6-3!  I got to sport my new Pens shirt, which I bought in the airport on my way back from my Pittsburgh business trip.  Afterward, we went home and rested for a little bit, and then Dan's roommates had a bunch of people over for a Super Bowl party.  The good food placated me enough so that I was able to sit and watch the entire game.

Last night, some girlfriends and I went to Acqua al 2 in Eastern Market for our friend Cari's birthday.  Cari studied abroad outside of Florence, so had been to the Firenze location {the third is in San Diego...kind of random U.S. locations}.  The food was unbelievable, and I think the waitress was the best waitress I had ever had.  Three of us split the Burata appetizer, which was delicious, and I ordered the Farfalline alla Zucca {bowtie pasta with pumpkin...you can take the girl out of New England, but not the New England out of the girl!}, which was absolutely divine.  Throw in a fancy cocktail and you have the recipe for an amazing dinner.  A bunch of the non-vegetarians ordered the blueberry steak, which they said was delicious as well.  Given the location of the restaurant, I had my second-consecutive late night, and I am hoping that tonight isn't a three-peat.  I am going with some friends to a showing of the play "Our Town" at Ford's Theater, which should be fun.  And then, between now and Thursday, I'm going to try to squeeze in as much quality time as possible with my guy before he leaves!!!  And then, on Thursday night, I have a date with the 4 hours of The Bachelor that I will have missed from this week.  I imagine that some baked good will be involved :)

Clean Bill of Health!!

That's right, the moment we've been waiting for!!! On Friday, Dan FINALLY, after a month-and-a-half, received a clean bill of health from his doctor! To say that the time since the accident has been draining is an understatement, so I can't emphasize enough how glad I am that he is healthy again and can move on with his life!  He had been feeling better for the previous two-and-a-half weeks prior to hearing from the doctor, but getting that final confirmation from the doctor that he is okay and can move on with his life was music to our ears!!

We celebrated on Friday night with some Mexican food, followed by a trip to Bier Baron (formerly Brickskeller, which, ever the Harry Potter dorks, we call the Bloody Baron) for Dan's first beer post-race.  I have to say, although I'm definitely not a huge drinker, it was so nice to be at a bar again! I got my favorite raspberry beer (which Dan makes fun of me mercilessly for haha, referring to it as water).  Later on, we saw Ben Affleck's new movie, "Argo." Despite the fact that I was nodding off occasionally during the movie (as I explained to Dan, I don't care how much I love a movie, if I'm tired enough, I WILL fall asleep during it), but I was really impressed.  We both realized that we knew a little bit generally about the Iran Hostage Crisis, but I had no idea that the scheme of creating a fake movie had ever taken place.  In any case, GO SEE IT!  He may not be a great actor, but Ben is a fabulous director!

On Saturday morning, I made some pancakes after my run (this has turned into something of a Saturday morning routine, which, I have to admit, I like!), and then we went over to Hains Point so that Dan could go to the driving range.  Once again, he let me hit a few balls, and, while I had a couple of whiffs (ugh, embarrassing), I hit one of them really well, so I was pleased!  They also conveniently happened to have a mini-golf course right there, so we fit in a round of mini-golf.  Boy, was I having an off-day.  Dan creamed me (again) and now I owe him a home-cooked meal (AGAIN).  Part of why I want to beat him so badly is because I want to see what he can whip up in the kitchen when forced.  Typically, I do the cooking, and he helps out/provides moral support as much as he can, which I appreciate. But I want to test him!

We lazed around on Saturday evening and watched Anchorman, before heading to dinner at District of Pi (yes, we are broken records) and meeting up wtih our friends James and Lindsay at Big Hunt.  To add to the fact that we were at a bar, we were being SOCIAL!  It was great!  On Sunday morning, Dan left to go play golf, so I did some errands after my run, and then met up with Lauren (who is in the process of moving to a WONDERFUL new apartment!) and Cari.  It was nice to close out the afternoon by hanging out with friends!

Yesterday was a particularly long day at work; I am officially in "busy season"), so all I wanted was to go home and cook.  I have noticed recently that, after a long day, cooking is such a fantastic way for me to unwind, so I have been trying to take advantage of that and try out new recipes! I employed the help of Pinterest to find a sweet treat to bake for tonight.  I can't give it away just yet, just in case Dan happens to be reading this, but let's just say that I have never made this particular baked good before.  I think he's going to love it, though!  Will post a picture the next time I post! After spending about 2.5 hours in the kitchen, during which it looked like a war zone, I got to Skype with Kate, which is always wonderful. I have really been trying to reach out to out-of-town friends lately, since I have found myself really missing them, so hopefully there will be much more where that came from!