Lucky to be a Washingtonian

Every spring, I fall in love all over again with this fabulous city that I call home.  Something about seeing everyone outside walking, running or biking, basking in the increasingly warmer spring sunshine and gazing at the cherry blossoms that surround the Mall brings a huge smile to my face.  It is very seldom that I do "touristy" things in DC (mostly because tourists kind of get on my nerves- seriously, stand right, walk left, people!!!!), but once a year, I try to take an excursion over to the Tidal Basin to marvel at the cherry blossoms.  The Jefferson Memorial is my favorite of the city's memorials, and seeing it surrounded by a sea of delicate pink flowers makes me love it even more.  Yesterday, Lauren and I trekked downtown after work and boy, was it worth it!  I don't think I had ever gone during peak week before, but the flowers were even more stunning than usual!  My handy little iPhone definitely served me well when photographing the beauty, and I even got to Instagram a few of the pictures (Instagram is my new obsession).

Maybe it's the fact that the flowers (and people) are all out and the weather is really pleasant, but I'm definitely in the midst of one of those "God, I'm so lucky to live here" phases.  I think that it is easy to become so driven by daily routines of going to work, class, happy hour, spending time with those you love, that it isn't always the first thing on your mind to stop and appreciate the city you live in.  But I am so, so blessed to live in a place with so many incredible cultural opportunities, and DC is definitely a place where I can see myself staying here for a long time :)  Every day, I feel like I discover something new about the city, and, when I have the opportunity to explore a new neighborhood, I try to walk there and take in all that there is to see about the neighborhood (for better or worse; a recent walk led to an uncomfortable encounter with an old man who catcalled me)

 Beautiful blossoms!

Love this city of mine!

My very favorite picture :) Thank you Instagram!

And, can't leave out the big event on Sunday...Mad Men, one of my very favorite shows, is FINALLY resuming new episodes!!!! Dan initially got me hooked on the show last spring, and I watched 4 seasons worth of episodes at a blistering pace!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Source: AMC

In the meantime, I am looking forward to lots of fun birthday weekend festivities!  Holy crow, I'm almost officially in my mid-twenties!!!!! How did this happen???

Spring Has Sprung!!!

Happy first day of spring, darlings!!!! I hope it's a beautiful day wherever all of you are (it's kind of gray here in D.C. today, and we had a freak thunderstorm at 6:30 this morning- I guess spring started with a bang, literally?)!  Sorry for being such a delinquent blogger, but I have had ZERO free time recently to churn out a post, so congrats, you get one of my signature long posts! ;)

This was definitely an eventful St. Patty's Day weekend, with lots of basketball and time with friends- literally, whenever I wasn't firmly planted on the couch watching March Madness, I was running all over creation!  Dan and I both got off of work early on Friday, and, after I met him at work, we metroed home and proceeded to watch 7 straight hours of basketball (which included a second-round win by our Hoyas...I don't want to talk about Sunday's third-round game).  Ah, March, ain't it grand!

On Saturday, I met up with Dan and his friends at around 3 for a St. Patty's pregame, after which we went to Dupont for a bit.  I have to say, I am not the hugest fan of the holiday (I have recently developed an intolerance to beer- really painful stomachaches means it's not worth it to have even one- and, due to a bad experience with Bailey's on my 21st, I refuse to touch it), partly because I am not a huge drinker, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and be festive haha.  I had a really great time with that group (one of his friends had been in Ireland for work for the past six months, so it was so nice to see him again), and then I met up with my friends for a bit afterward (for a lot of that time, I was shoving a veggie burger in my mouth- so ladylike) and then hit the sack at oh, about 10:30.  I'm not even ashamed of the fact that I'm a 90 year-old woman at heart!  Sunday was a thoroughly awful, Murphy's Law kind of day, and, after chalking it up in the loss column, I moved on, determined that the next day would be better, which it was. 

As usual, this week is turning out to be really hectic.  Don't get me wrong, I am loving my FemEx class, but having that at the beginning of the week and then knowing that I won't get back until late (thanks to Metro, I haven't gotten home much before 11 after either of the previous two classes) means that I'll be running on fumes for the rest of the week, especially with that 5a.m. gym routine.  Any rational person would say that I should skip the gym for a day, but anyone who knows me is well aware that that is not an option for me.  So, after tonight, I will simply soldier on for 12 more weeks.  While I definitely like staying busy, I have felt really overwhelmed, on those other days, by how many things I want to do and how many people (Dan, my family, friends in DC, friends from afar who I want to Skype with) I want to spend time with.  If anyone has any tips on how best to manage your time so that you don't constantly feel like you're shortchanging someone in your life.

Something fun that I have to look forward to this week is going to see the cherry blossoms with a friend later on in the week!  If you have never been to D.C. or simply have never gone over to the Tidal Basin when the blossoms are in full bloom, I would highly recommend it.  Since the Festival tends to be a mob scene on the weekends (read: annoying tourists), we're hoping to avoid that somewhat by going on a weeknight after work.  We'll see how it goes!  In any case, I know the blossoms will be stunningly beautiful, so I'm looking forward to that!

And then...Saturday is my birthday!!! I'm definitely really looking forward to the celebrations this year, but it will not be the same as when all of my closest girlfriends were in town on the same weekend as my birthday for a mini-reunion.  I was spoiled last year! I know, though, that everyone will be there in spirit, and, in fact, I learned that Kate, my Birthday Week buddy, will also be going out for karaoke with friends on Saturday night! However, despite missing out-of-town friends, this is the first year that Dan will get to witness our birthday antics (we had only been dating for a few weeks when my birthday rolled around last year, and we both thought it best not to subject him to the gaggle of girls so early on), and yes, I am forcing him to go dancing :) Or maybe he's doing it willingly haha.  In any case, I am looking forward to a nice dinner at an AMAZING Italian restaurant with Dan, my parents and Tim on Friday, followed by birthday festivities on Saturday (including breaking Lent for CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell how excited I am? I have been STARVING for weeks without my sweets!).  I think it should be pretty low-key, which I so desperately need given how hectic my life has been recently.

Yearning for Spring

After an entirely unimpressive winter (seriously DC??? We had MAYBE two dustings of snow the entire winter), I am ready to break out the dresses and retire my riding boots until next fall.  We had some warm days the last few days that caused me to lose the tights (yikes, scandalous!) and trade my boots in for flats.  We'll see if the weather holds...

I have lots of exciting things that are on my radar:

• My birthday is TWO WEEKS from tomorrow!  I don't know what I'm more excited for, getting all of my friends together and going dancing, or breaking Lent and stuffing my face with cake ;)  Or going out dancing/karaoke-ing.

• March Madness!!!!!!!!!! (duh)  Despite a disappointing Hoya loss in the BET yesterday (one of the most worst meltdowns that I have ever had the displeasure of watching), I am cautiously optimistic about our chances in the NCAAs.  Our seniors have really come into their own this year, and both for their sake and my own, I would hate to see them make an early-round exit.  I will be glued to the TV come Sunday to see who the Selection Committee has us playing in the first round!

• I just signed up for my second half-marathon, after having been thwarted in my quest to run the Marine Corps Marathon (who knew that it would sell out in less than three hours? I was planning on waiting a few months to make sure my body would hold up enough to run it, but I guess that was a mistake)!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Dan and I were looking into some other races, and the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach (on September 2nd) caught my eye.  I had heard of it before, but had decided against running it in the past for whatever reason.  This time, I decided that I had to run it!!!!  Think about it, people, live music along the course!  This race was made for me! And, even better, Dan *might* run it with me (maybe I will just get all of his friends to peer pressure him into it haha), and it would be so fun to have a running buddy! What I love most about training for a race is that it gives my runs purpose.  I have (knock on wood) had great runs recently ever since my leg started feeling better, so I'm psyched to start doing long runs again!  We're hoping to run outside tomorrow, so here's hoping the weather holds up!! 

You would never know that the girl who is so gung-ho about races now actively HATED running up until a couple of years ago.  I think that there is definitely something to be said for the power of endorphins, and I feel them much more when I'm running than with any other form of exercise.  I am the type of person who likes to challenge myself physically, so running is perfect for a masochist like me!  I also love the control running gives me over my weight.  Before I started running, my weight definitely yo-yo'ed, but now my it stays a lot more constant (even if I have those occasional cake binges, like the one I will probably be having on my birthday haha).  Because of that, I FEEL so much better all the time, and so much more in control (which, as a control freak, I love).  It is also really motivating, too, that I live in such an active city, so that, when I see other people running outside, it makes me jealous and want to run outside myself (twisted, but it's really such good motivation!).

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  I hope it's sunny and warm where you all are!

Filling My Intellectual Curiosity Void

I like my job, I do.  But one thing that has become increasingly apparent to me over my time here is that my job is not particularly intellectually stimulating, at least not in the same way that college was.  Sure, I can hone my expertise at computer programs and HTML code by attending classes and teaching myself, but that doesn't necessarily give me the same satisfaction as writing papers and engaging in thought-provoking classroom discussion.  I can virtually guarantee you that I am not alone, because nearly all of the people I know express a similar sentiment.  I have been feeling for months that I need to do something to challenge myself, and, by golly, I think I've found it.

My friend Lauren participated in a class called fem•ex, which found its origins as a women's empowerment class at UC Berkeley.  It has evolved into a grassroots organization aimed at providing women (particularly young professionals) with a safe space to discuss the questions and issues related to being a 21st-century American woman.  After hearing Lauren's glowing appraisal of the course, I couldn't resist signing up, thinking that this would be a great way to engage some incredible young women, have my beliefs challenged and challenge others' beliefs. I think that the class will also be helpful as, more and more, I am beginning to formulate my own political opinions, particularly those related to reproductive rights, women's health and women in politics. The sessions are held once a week at one of the participants' homes, and lasts 3 hours.

I just had my first class last night, and I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it! The theme for the week was Sex, Gender & Anatomy (sheesh, they had us jump right in there!), and I definitely learned a lot and appreciated the viewpoints of the other members of the class.  Next week's topic is Communication, something that I am constantly striving to improve at.  I think that this class is civil discourse at its finest, because women from all different backgrounds are able to have a civil discussion about very controversial topics. I am really excited to delve into more topics as they come along, as well as get to know this amazing and self-selecting group of women!!


To learn more about fem•ex, click here.

The Perfect Anniversary Weekend

"You're all that I want and more than I deserve.  I love you."  Okay, I have to give credit where credit is due: those were Hallmark's words, not Dan's, but he said that the sentiment conveyed in the anniversary card that he bought me perfectly phrased how he feels.  And I could not agree more with him.  Those two sentences also convey almost exactly everything I tried to in the pages-long note I wrote him about my favorite moments in the first year of our relationship.  Go figure, Hallmark wins for brevity, while still maintaining the sentiment, no less!

I'm still kind of walking on air today, even though it's Monday (and also, because of holiday weekends and travel, my first five-day work week in three weeks), because how could I not be after the completely perfect weekend that I had?  I won't bore you with too many details, but the highlights are as follows: on Friday night, we went to Saloon on U St., which is where we went for our first date.  We walked in and both immediately identified the table where we sat a year ago (sadly, there was another couple already seated there, so we had to sit elsewhere).  We rehashed our first date, blunders and all, again, which was a lot of fun.

On Saturday morning, we stopped at Blenhaim Vineyards, Dave Matthews' vineyard, on our way to Charlottesville.  If you are ever in the Charlottesville area, I would highly recommend stopping there, because they have really cheap wine tastings ($5/person), cheap additional glasses of wine ($5/glass), and then you get to keep the glass that you used for the wine tasting.  Their space is really remarkable, a very sturdy A-frame building with beams and high ceilings, and a nice little deck that we were able to sit out on because it was so pleasant outside.  It was so nice to break up our drive and enjoy some delicious wine there.

We stopped off at our ADORABLE B&B (patting myself on the back for yet another great find haha), which came complete with a working fireplace, maybe the part of the room that I was the most excited about :-)  We headed out to the Spanish/tapas restaurant that we had planned to go to for dinner, only to find that, in addition to not accepting reservations, had a wait of 18 parties.  Woof.  We quickly abandoned that idea, and actually had a difficult time selecting a restaurant given the lack of variety (this is when I began to feel guilty about my vegetarianism...but not enough so to eat meat).  We finally settled on a French restaurant called Bizou, which turned out to be delicious.

After dinner, we went back to the B&B, relaxed by the fire, sipped the champagne that my parents had given us, and chatted about how lucky we are (anniversaries definitely bring out feelings like that, even more so than usual- and, for those of you who know me, you'll know that I am never shy about my feelings).  It really was the perfect night, and we both agreed that it was so special that we had gotten to take the time out of our busy lives and celebrate the past year of our relationship. 

On Sunday, we had breakfast at the B&B, and the very sweet proprietor congratulated us again on our anniversary, which we very much appreciated.  Then, we stopped off at UVA and walked around campus for a bit (Dan had never been, and my dad and I went once when I was looking at colleges...7 years ago...yikes, I feel old!).  Then, we drove over to Monticello, which ended up being a great tour, despite the fact that it was freezing on top of the mountain.  TJ sure was a visionary!

I kept saying as we drove home that I didn't want the weekend to end, and, while Dan agreed, he pointed out that part of what has made our trips so special is that they break up real life (yeah, yeah, I guess the novelty of it would wear off eventually haha).  But I think the important thing that I try to keep in mind is that, while our trips and special occasions have been so wonderful and meaningful, every day with Dan has been special.  You know you're lucky when an evening spent at the phone store with your half-asleep boyfriend (yeah, that happened the day after Dan returned to DC after having driven through the night from NJ after Hurricane Irene.  Oh, yes, and his phone also broke, hence the AT&T store) is as wonderful as a weekend away in Charlottesville.  Merely being in his presence is enough to make me smile, so I am very aware of how fortunate I am in that respect.  I couldn't have imagined a better anniversary weekend, and I can't wait to see what this next year of our relationship holds!  I know I had trouble condensing my list of my favorite moments/days from our first year, because there were so many things that I loved!

Yet Another Reason Why I Love Georgetown

A short time ago, I blogged about women's health and about how, in the months preceding the 2012 presidential election, my views on the social issues that are coming to light in the context of the election are becoming increasingly clear to me.  The thing that frustrates me the most in the debates over contraception, abortion and a woman's place in the workforce is that women seem to be losing our agency in the debate. 

This past week, Sandra Fluke, a third-year Georgetown Law student and a former president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice, was embroiled in a very public attack on her character after she testified before a Democratic mock panel in support of HHS' proposed mandate that would require all employers, even the religiously affiliated, to provide free access to contraception for their employees.  In response, Ms. Fluke was lambasted by Rush Limbaugh, in my opinion one of the most deplorable human beings on the face of the earth, who has made a career out of spewing off inflammatory comments in order to elicit a response.  His comments are not fit to be repeated here, and, in fact, I had a great deal of difficulty making it through the videos and articles I read detailing his response.  His comments were not only a direct and inappropriate attack on Ms. Fluke's character, but also an attack on all women.

News sources quickly picked up the story, and such an uproar was caused that many lawmakers even wrote a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, urging him and the rest of Republican senior leadership to reprimand Mr. Limbaugh for his disgusting comments.  Now, I would agree that the letter was very extreme, but, despite the fact that Mr. Limbaugh is protected under the law to freely express himself, his comments never should have been made.  He insulted a woman he had no knowledge of, calling her a "slut" for wanting free access to contraception (a very costly drug treatment if not covered by insurance)...but then saying that, if she wants to have so much sex, she should at least videotape it and put it on the internet for the viewing pleasure of others.  Way to make yourself look good, Rush.

However enraged I may have been by Limbaugh's rampage against Ms. Fluke, I could not have been more pleased by the response of politicians and of the Georgetown community.  President Obama called Ms. Fluke personally, and not only applauded her for taking a very public stand on an issue she is so clearly passionate about, but also reassured her that her family (which, I learned from an interview she conducted, is of a different political persuasion than she is) should be proud of her, contrary to what Limbaugh had suggested.  Point for Barack.  Then, John J. DeGioia, the President of Georgetown University, circulated an email to the campus community voicing his strong support for Ms. Fluke's respecful civil discourse, calling for everyone in the campus community to engage in such discourse, even if they are of a different opinion.  I was truly touched by his statement, because, being that President DeGioia is the president of the country's pre-eminent Catholic and Jesuit university, he is required to side with the Church on certain moral issues (even if those beliefs may not align with his own).  So, even if he does not personally agree with what Ms. Fluke is proposing, his strong support for her as a person and for her right to express her own personal beliefs brought tears to my eyes.  The president of a Catholic and Jesuit organization is not the first person I would have pegged to release a statement of that kind, but I think that it was truly significant, and, in a way, I believe it confirmed the fact that women should be their own agents, their health should not be dictated by men.  Point for DeGioia (and for the Jesuits).  Hoya Saxa.  I am so overwhelmingly proud of my University, and of Sandra Fluke for taking a stand that is so important to me as well.

For further analysis of President DeGioia's letter, I think that Jon Meacham did a very nice job. 

Post about anniversary weekend to follow :-)

A Very Special Day

I confess, I just stared at my computer screen for five minutes, trying to figure out how I wanted to write this post.  I have been anticipating March 3 for weeks (okay, maybe months) now, and even though it is almost upon us, I still have difficulty finding the words to describe what I'm feeling right now.

A year ago tomorrow (March 3), I went on a first date with a guy.  I was running slightly late (thanks to my bus) and, when faced with the choice to walk or metro to the bar where we had agreed to meet, I put my trust in my long legs to get me there more quickly.  A 20-minute power walk later, I arrived at Saloon, feeling (and looking, I'm sure!) like a hot mess, and apologized profusely, insisting that I am never late (I know that everyone always says that, but, in my case, it could not be more accurate).  We had a great first date- no, the best first date I've ever been on- complete with easy conversation and lots of laughter, and, at the end of the night, when he kissed me goodbye before scampering off the Metro, I had an inkling that he could be someone special. Somehow, despite some spilled water on my part (I think I was still recovering from my power walk) and the slight (less than 5 minutes) lateness, he still liked me enough to hang out again...thank God!  We were even joking the other day that it is a wonder that we went out again, being that we were both probably miserable from being in the middle of our Lenten deprivation (he gives up all soda and I give up all sweets, a huge sacrifice for both of us!)!

A year later, I have gone on many a date with Dan, but he still manages to bring a smile to my face every day, in a way that no one else can.  When I came back from Texas on Tuesday night, we were reunited in the cafe of the Whole Foods near my apartment, and I thought my face would break from how broadly I was smiling.  I am generally a happy person, but my happiness has shot through the roof since meeting Dan, and for that I am eternally grateful.  Speaking of grateful, the word gratitude is a word that has entered my daily vernacular since we started dating.  I give so much thanks every day for the fact that he came into my life, and I can't imagine my life without him.  I don't want to gush too much, because I know that he reads occasionally (and I don't want to embarrass him!), but he really does make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world :)

I can't wait to celebrate our anniversary this weekend!  Tonight, we're planning on going back to Saloon, the site of our first date.  On Saturday, we're taking a little trip to Charlottesville, where we're staying in an adorable B&B and visiting a winery (Dave Matthews' winery!) and Monticello.  I think it will be the perfect way to commemorate the past 366 (gotta include Leap Day) days, and I'm sure I'll have thoughts and pictures to share when we get home!