The Perfect Valentine's Day!!!

Oh boy, did yesterday ever exceed my wildest expectations!!! Even though Dan is admittedly not a fan of Valentine's Day, he really went above and beyond to make yesterday special for me, for which I was so grateful.  I felt like a princess all day long!

I woke up and opened my valentine from my parents (which had my dad written ALL over it!  I knew he had picked out the little kiddie card, complete with mirror, and I later confirmed that fact with my mom).  It was a great way to start the day.

 If you know my dad, you'll know that this was obviously his doing!

I then got to put on the DRESS!!!! In a size that fit me almost perfectly (as you can see in the picture below, it billowed out a little bit at the waist, partly because of the pockets- yes, pockets!- but partly because it was not a tall-size dress.  However, I'm not complaining!)!  It did get a little dicey with the corset top after a 4-course dinner, but all in all, it was a very comfortable dress, not to mention in my very favorite color.  The fluorescent lights in my bathroom make the dress look much darker (and the mirror also makes my face look distorted?), when the color was actually called Spiced Wine, slightly more burgundy in tone, although still definitely purple.  It definitely got the thumbs-up from Dan!

I was really excited for our fancy dinner all day at work, and then, in the mid-afternoon, I got a phone call saying that there was a delivery for me but that they couldn't get on to campus.  Call me dense, but I assumed it was a proof I had ordered from our printer, even though one of my coworkers chimed in that it was probably flowers.  "No,there's no way," I replied, because I wasn't expecting flowers at all.  But sure enough, when I emerged from my meeting, the beautiful bouquet below was waiting for me.  The flowers were such a wonderful surprise, and the bouquet was definitely the envy of all of the women in my office :)

 So beautiful...and thoughtful!

We hung out at Dan's for a bit before we headed over to Georgetown for our DELICIOUS dinner, and I got the card pictured below.  On the inside, it says, "I love it when you talk nerdy to me, Valentine".  Haha so corny, but perfect (he is a big fan of puns).  He said he picked that one because he groaned in agony when he read it.  And he wrote the sweetest message, so that was maybe my favorite part of the entire day!  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of his card before I gave it to him, but I can still describe it: on the outside was a heart, enveloped in flames, that said HOT, and, on the inside of the card, was another heart, that one reading FOR YOU.  And the best part...it WHISTLED!!!!!! I joked that I should have made him open it at the restaurant, but, then again, that would have been mean ;)  It just occurred to me that we didn't actually pick a winner of the card contest, but his card was so funny that I joked that I would start calling him Scruffy-Looking Nerfherder.

Our dinner was absolutely fabulous!  By the time we left, we were both definitely in a food coma, so I would say that it was a job well done by Ristorante Piccolo.  For my FOUR courses (yeah, I can't eat that much food), I ordered: a beet and goat cheese salad with a lemony vinaigrette; risotto with mushrooms; red snapper with spinach and potatoes; and strawberry tiramisu.  Dan ordered: mozzarella, tomato and pesto salad; pasta with crabmeat; a filet with asparagus and mashed potatoes; and canoli.  The food was outstanding, and I knew it was good because I, the queen of sweets, didn't even put a dent in my dessert!  We were sitting at a table tucked away by the front window of the restaurant, so we had a great view of everything that was happening outside, not to mention in the very well-decorated (maybe excessively so?) restaurant.  Did I mention that a roving musician was also wandering around?  Oh yes.

All in all, it was a perfect first Valentine's Day together, but I reassured Dan that next year, we can just stay at home, cook dinner, and do something perfectly low-key.  I would never ask him to re-create this Valentine's Day, but I am so grateful that he did the whole song and dance for me.  What a lucky girl I am...but, then again, I feel that way every day, not just on Valentine's Day :)

Weekend Round-Up

I was just thinking, as I was doing some journaling this morning before work, that I really have been setting the bar high these past few weekends.  I have genuinely enjoyed everything I have been doing, as well as the company that I have been keeping, so the combination has made February an enjoyable month so far!

On Friday night, Dan and I went out for a nice Italian dinner in Courthouse before driving over to Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, one of our favorite theaters (both because they serve food and alcohol in the theater and because tickets are $5.50. $5.50, people!  Insane!  The theater we saw Moneyball at last weekend charged us $11.50 per ticket!), to see the Muppets movie (which Dan had already seen, but was willing to see again since I wanted to see it).  We both were saying afterward that we had forgotten what it feels like to watch movies with little kids- those kiddos were chatting away!!! It wasn't annoying in the least, but there was an amusing dull murmur going on throughout the movie.  Afterward, we went to Dairy Queen to get Blizzards (we have been having some very high school-like dates recently, but I love it!!).

On Saturday night, Molly, Lauren and I went over to my parents' house for dinner, which was fantastic, as I hadn't seen my parents in a while and also got to spend time with my girlfriends.  I understand and appreciate how truly blessed I am that my parents live just a Metro ride away, and luckily they love my friends and are willing to play surrogate parents for those whose families do not live as close.  One funny moment during dinner occurred when we were looking at the website containing pictures of Jay-Z and Beyonce's new daughter, Blue Ivy.  Seeing pictures of the baby reminded me that I wanted to show my parents Facebook pictures of my cousin's newborn as well.  My dad comes over (while we are still on Blue Ivy's website) and says, "That's totally Jeff."  We all, my mom, my friends and myself, all laughed at him.  "Erm, Dad," I said, "that is Beyonce and Jay-Z's baby, not Jeff's baby."  Awkward, but amazing.

After dinner, we made plans to meet up with Dan, one of his friends and the friend's girlfriend to go bowling (which I hadn't done in about a solid decade).  It was SO MUCH FUN, although this place was out in God knows what part of Alexandria, so I certainly would not have found it on my own! Again, it was harkening back to our high school days, but it was an absolute blast.  When we left the bowling alley at around midnight, it had started to snow, and we actually encountered a really bad accident on our way home on the Beltway.  Dan, Lauren, Molly and I had to do some running around in said snow, too, when the metro entrance we were planning on using was closed.  When we woke up, there was a light dusting on the ground, which obviously made me a happy girl :)

On Sunday, we hosted our inaugural Galentine's Day brunch, which Molly got the idea for from Parks & Rec (an absolutely hilarious show and worth checking out if you have never watched it).  Our friends brought over delicious food, both sweet and savory, and it was a great group of girls, which rounded out a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

I have lots to look forward to this week, including Valentine's Day tomorrow! Update: the dress came, and fits about as well as it's going to, given the fact that it's not a tall size (and, thus, hits me a bit high for my liking).  Oh well.  I do love the dress and am pleased overall!  I can't wait to wear it (I'll try to post a picture of it so you can see the dress that I was making such a fuss about)!!!

Valentine's Day Challenge

Hello, dear readers!!! Valentine's Day is almost upon us (groan in disgust or cheer, however you feel like reacting to that).  I am personally very excited for Tuesday's blessed event, because I get to wear a cute dress (*more on this below), go out to a fancy restaurant and spend time with my love.  Sounds like a great deal, right?

I decided to make things a little bit interesting and challenge Dan to a Funny Valentine contest, in which each of us is tasked with finding the funniest (actually funny or corny will both be acceptable) Valentine's Day card.  Obviously, being that we are both competitive weirdos, he accepted, so the challenge is on.  He casually asked me last night how my search was going, and I said, "Oh, I had already found your card when I suggested the challenge.  In fact, I got a backup so I could make a game-time decision and choose between the two."  I just wanted to make him sweat a little bit ;)  My card IS actually quite corny, so I'm excited to see what he comes up with.

I was just looking around to see if anyone else had anything to say about funny valentines, and found a gold mine: the Huffington Post highlighted the best someecards Valentine's Day cards.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with someecards (or if you somehow missed out on the whole Facebook Bumper Sticker craze a few years back), they are hilariously dry and sarcastic, so, without further ado, enjoy.

I would love to hear if any of you have given, received, or just looked at (but been too scared to buy) any particularly funny valentines!!!

*Okay, so the dress debacle: I received a little gift from JCrew last week (a $25 gift card!) since I am a cardholder, and, given that they were also taking an extra 30% off their sale, I wanted to take advantage of it.  I found a BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL dress that I instantly fell in love with and thought I could wear for Valentine's Day.  I had been stalking my tracking information for two days (JCrew has ridiculously quick shipping.  Maybe that's why they tack on so much extra $ for shipping) and knew that it would be waiting for me when I got home last night.  The Hoyas suffered a heartbreaking overtime defeat at the hands of Cuse (booooooo) last night, so Dan and I were in a rotten mood.  But hey, at least I had my dress to look forward to!

I practically ripped it out of the box and went into the bathroom so I could put it on in front of the mirror.  But wait, it wouldn't zip all the way............? Hmmmmmmmm.  I had ordered the same size I always do in their dresses, but I was afraid this was another case of non-standardized sizing as concerns women's clothing. I seriously had to suck it in as my roommmate struggled to zip it up that last little bit.  Oh, did I mention that it has a very structured corset top?  I think I was visibly uncomfortable (but, this will matter in a minute, I was fully zipped in, and it FIT!! Kind of...) and quite obviously very disappointed, because of how excited I had been about this dress.  After trying to look it pretty in front of the mirror for a few minutes, I dejectedly walked back to my room and took it off. 

It was only then that I looked at the tag.  But wait, it was a SIZE SMALLER than what I had ordered!! A number that I never thought I would see on a dress that *kind of* fit me assuming I didn't care about breathing! Two minutes ago I had been thinking, 'Okay, Kristen, where the heck did all of this extra weight come from that you apparently gained so that your size no longer fits?'. I was feeling seriously bad about myself, and then, mere seconds later, I felt GREAT!  However, it was not realistic for me to keep a dress that only kind of (uncomfortably) fit, so I called JCrew immediately (wooo 24-hour customer service!!), and they offered to overnight me the right size (still in stock in the color I wanted! Yay!) at no extra charge, AND send me a prepaid return shipping label for the too-small dress.  I wasn't even angry, because their customer service was so fantastic!!  I may have pulled the "I was hoping to wear this dress on Valentine's Day" card in order to expedite things a little bit, but that's neither here nor there.  Fingers crossed that it makes it in time (I still haven't gotten an email saying that it's been shipped)!

Moral of the story: JCrew has amazing customer service.  Yes, they made a mistake, but they more than made up for it with their superior customer service.  THAT is how you run a business!!!

Some Love Life Humor

I stumbled upon this gem today when I was browsing the interwebs, and I just had to share!

via A Cup of Jo

Ladies, we've all been there at one point or another, right?!  The graphic made me chuckle.

A Banner Week for Women's Health

In case any of you happen to live under a rock and have not been watching the news for the past week, women's health was again at the forefront of news broadcasts and publications beginning last week, with Pfizer's announcement that it was recalling 14 lots each of Lo/Ovral-28 and generic Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol birth control tablets.  I really had no concept of how many women this recall would affect at the time, but apparently, approximately 1 million packets were recalled, because some placebo pills were accidentally intermixed with active tablets.  It will be interesting to see what the implications of this grave mistake are (my money is on more than a few lawsuits).

Then, later in the week, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, one of the most visible breast cancer organizations, with a focus on providing care for early detection, and also on honoring survivors, announced that it was withdrawing its significant financial support from the Planned Parenthood organization, which, among other activities (such as providing breast cancer screening or getting access to it elsewhere for women who would not otherwise have access), happens to be the country's leading provider of abortions.  The news spread like a wildfire via the internet, with Facebook and Twitter users and bloggers alike (myself included) voicing their opposition to or support of the foundation's decision.  Within 24 hours, the Komen Foundation's CEO rescinded the decision, but not before the abortion debate was awakened again.

I have discussed abortion, and the pro-choice/pro-life debate with many of my friends, and I think each of us, no matter which side of the argument we fall on, has a problem with the language that is used in the debate.  I personally identify with the pro-choice argument, because I believe that it should be a woman's right to choose how to respond if she accidentally becomes pregnant, whether by consensual sex or by the act of rape.  I honestly do not know what I would do were I to find myself in that situation (and I hope that I never do), but I think it is my right to exercise control over my own body.  I say all of this with a caveat: while I am pro-choice, I also do not believe that women should go around having lots of random, unprotected sex and then, in the event that they do become pregnant, get an abortion. However, going back to how important language is in the construction of this debate, just because I identify with pro-choicers does not at all that I am pro-death or anti-life.  That, I believe, is where the problem lies.
I was just reading responses to an editorial in the New York Times regarding the Catholic Church and its strict pro-life stance (to the extent that Catholic institutions, such as the one I graduated from and now work for will not provide methods of birth control to employees or patients.  This means that, for example, were a woman whose doctor practices in a Catholic hospital be prescribed birth control, she could not fill the prescription in the hotel's pharmacy).  What I noticed, as I was reading these responses, was that all of them came from MEN.  Check it out.  Ladies, whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, I think we should all be able to agree that what we do with our bodies should not be dictated by a man, much less an organization whose entire leadership is MALE.  I am a practicing Catholic, and I certainly do not want my church's leadership, much less my government or my employer, to dictate my reproductive health.

I know that this is WAYYYYYYYY more political than I ever get on my blog, but this issue has really been on my mind a lot in the past week, so I wanted to get my thoughts out there.  I think that it is vitally important for all women, no matter what their political leanings, to be effective advocates for their own health, and the current news items that I have highlighted in this post further solidify that sentiment in my mind.  Please know that I respect any and all opinions that all of my readers have on this subject, because, as many have said, this really is the biggest and most divisive issue in American politics today, and it is certainly not black and white. I fully encourage you to voice any differing opinions that you may have here!

A Very D.C. Weekend

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  I know I did! 

Last week was sort of a slow week after the event we had had the previous weekend.  So, by the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I needed it to be the weekend so desperately that the minutes seemed to tick by.  On Friday night, Dan and I went to our favorite Chinese place in Rosslyn (which always provides the guarantee of enough leftovers for a second meal!) and then went to see Moneyball at the Avalon Theater in Chevy Chase.  I had never been to the Avalon before, and it is a really beautiful old theater that, after having been closed for some time, was able to re-open thanks to popular demand about ten years ago.  Being that we are both big-time baseball fans, we really loved the movie (I was even able to overlook my dislike of Brad Pitt), and I was positively beaming towards the end of the movie when Billy Beane travels to Fenway to meet with John Henry prior to the fateful 2003 season (effing Aaron Boone).  I really do miss New England, as well as the chance to visit America's Most Beloved Ballpark once or twice a year.  Anyway, after the movie, we went to this ADORABLE diner just down the block from the theater that was straight out of the 1950s and got milkshakes.  It felt reminiscent of a high school date night...mostly because the majority of the people there were high schoolers haha.  It was the perfect way to spend what I called our 11 monthiversary (I honestly can't believe it has been so long! Time flies when you're having fun!)!

On Saturday, we headed down to the Sculpture Garden to go ice skating (despite my impression that ice skating merely lasted for the Christmas season, the rink is actually open until March!).  Dan said that he would probably be a little rusty, since he hadn't skated in three years or so.  Well...he completely wiped the floor (er, ice) with me, and I went just a few months ago!  I couldn't believe his modesty.  We somehow avoided getting sideswiped by a guy who had no business being on the ice (seriously, he wiped out each time he moved!) and, thanks to a nice catch on Dan's part, we were fall-free! 

We figured out that neither of us had ever been to the National Archives so, since we were mere steps away, we hopped on over there...and lasted about 15 minutes.  The Archives are not all that extensive, and our attention spans were certainly not helped by our aching legs.  After I made a quick hot chocolate run (my body really couldn't keep heat in if it tried), we headed home and said our goodbyes until the Super Bowl party that Dan and his roommates were having, and I was left to contemplate all of the fun DC things we had done within the first 24 hours of the weekend's start.  Go us!!!

On Saturday night, we went out to Adams Morgan (more specifically, to our favorite bar there, Brass Monkey) for LOTS and LOTS of dancing.  It was fantastic, exactly what I needed (although, by the end of the night, with the combination of skating for 1.5 hours, running for nearly an hour and dancing for God knows how many hours, my legs were crying), and it was a great night out with friends!

On Sunday, Molly and I went to Mass in Georgetown, followed by brunch at, you guessed it, Tombs (we had initially decided on Chadwicks, but then both confessed that we both really wanted coffee cake!).  After running some errands, I headed over to Dan's for some football (which we all know I love...not.  I did argue to him, though, that for a girl, that's not bad, given that I love every other major sport, which he agreed with) and food (more specifically, cake! (and guac...and chips...and veggie crisps)).  It was the perfect end to the week (other than the fact that all of those insufferable New York fans have yet another reason to be insufferable), and, on the bus ride home, I actually ran into one of my old roommates, who is still a very close friend, so that made my trip home feel a lot shorter!

I hope everyone is having a very happy Monday!  With the blue, blue sky that I can look out on from my office, I wish I was playing outside right now :(

Decompression Weekend

As I said in the last post, I worked myself into the ground at work the past two weeks, so I was more than ready for a fun and relaxing weekend in Pittsburgh to recharge the batteries.  Once we knew for sure that I could go, I could finally get bouncing-off-the-walls excited about it!

We ended up getting on the road a bit earlier than I had anticipated, since I got to leave work on-time, so we were in Pittsburgh by about 10:30 on Friday night.  We sat around chatting with Dan's parents for a while, and I got a tour of their house before we crashed.  Over the course of the weekend, I came to realize that being at the R family's house made me really nostalgic for my own childhood home in Massachusetts.  Sure, I love the house that my parents moved into in Virginia, and I know that they're loving being in the DC area, but it's kind of sad not to have that childhood home to go home to over the holidays.  A townhouse can only feel like "home" to a certain extent, so I guess being in the house this weekend reminded me of that.

I woke up on Saturday morning much more rested, and Dan drove me around town to give me the grand tour of his hometown.  Though it was significantly larger than Longmeadow, it still had that small town charm about it, so it reminded me a lot of home.  I got to see the first house Dan lived in, the house where his dad grew up, all of the schools that he went to, and a bunch of other places around town.  After a delicious lunch that his mom whipped up for us, we drove over to Mt. Washington, which boasts beautiful, scenic views of downtown Pittsburgh.  However, when we were up there, it started hailing, which, when accompanied by strong winds, had us running back to the car.  We drove around the South Side, the city's bar district, before driving over to Oakland, more specifically, to Pitt's campus, where our Hoyas ended up suffering a depressing defeat at the hands of the Panthers.  After licking our wounds for a reasonable amount of time, we met up with some of Dan's high school friends at a bar in his hometown.

On Sunday morning, we went out to breakfast at a wonderful local diner with Dan's parents.  We got DELICIOUS hotcakes (pancakes with almost crepe-like thinness, mine rolled with cream cheese and blueberries), and then settled in back home to watch most of the Australian Open men's final.  We said our goodbyes shortly after 1 and were back on the road.

When we got home last night, I felt completely rejuvenated emotionally.  I had spent a fantastic weekend with my wonderful boyfriend and his family, who have been nothing but welcoming and sweet to me since I met them.  I feel so at-ease around them that I almost forget that it's not my own parents that I'm hanging out with, and I definitely count myself lucky in that respect!  Hopefully we'll be able to make another trip up there sometime soon, particularly when the weather is nicer :)