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