My Musings on Olympics Week 1

I am a total and complete sucker for the Olympics.  If you're looking for me during the fortnight, I am most likely watching the various events. Or watching fabulous videos like this one related to the Games.  Well done, swim team, well done.  It has always been a tradition in my family to all congregate around the TV and watch the Olympics, and, partly because I love sports and general and also thanks to the intense patriotic spirit of the Games, I get REALLY into it.  I will gladly watch things like volleyball and table tennis, sports that even I, the sports-lover, would not ordinarily watch.

As I think I have said before, I loved watching Olympic swimming even before I met Dan, but I was looking forward to watching swimming with him so I can hear some of his expertise (in terms of pace, strength of form, etc.).  Well, it has been so much fun, because we both REALLY get into it!!  Unfortunately for the Americans, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte have both been huge disappointments, and I would like to attribute it to the fact that they both seem like enormous douchebags and that this is just them getting their comeuppance.  The 4x100 relay was absolutely heartbreaking, and, while Agnel swam an incredible anchor leg of the relay (and is generally having a fantastic Olympic showing), it was a shame that our boys couldn't pull off the win, particularly because everything up to Ryan's anchor leg was very impressive.  To turn to the women for a minute, I love watching Missy Franklin swim.  She seems like the sweetest, most genuine person on the team, and I was beyond thrilled to watch her win her first-ever gold medal last night in the 100 back.  I absolutely teared up when she won.  Not even embarrassed.

I'm just going to hate on NBC for a moment here.  It is nearly impossible to avoid results for the late sessions (which, thanks to the NBC-mandated tape delay, don't air until 8pm EST), particularly since the results are plastered on the landing page of their website.  I knew ahead of time that Missy was going to win her race last night, because, when I had been trying to look up the story about the American tennis player (Ryan Harrison) who threw an embarrassing temper tantrum, I couldn't avoid the huge picture of Missy on the NBC homepage in all of her Olympic glory.  However, I watched swimming last night while trying to pretend that I hadn't seen the result (especially since I didn't want to ruin it for Dan, who had consciously avoided news outlets all day so as not to have the results spoiled).  However, in the commercial break moments before she was set to race in the 100 back final, NBC just had to ruin everything by airing a commercial for today's airing of the Today Show in which Missy is reunited with her parents post-gold medal swim.  The viewer knew that the 100 back was the only final she was swimming that night, and so the end was spoiled.  Dan was livid, understandably so, and I admit that I was pretty peeved too.  If you're going to make us wait hours afterward to watch a race, NBC, DO NOT ruin the result for us two minutes before the race.  That was just uncalled for.

Rant over.  Other than that, we have been watching some women's beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, men's and women's rowing, synchronized diving, some women's soccer (we saw the play where Abby Wambach was sucker-punched by a Colombian player.  Luckily, I read today that the latter was suspended), gymnastics, and even a few moments of fencing. My goodness, these few weeks are just so EXCITING!!!!!!!! I'm looking forward to more swimming for the rest of the week, and mildly anticipating the start of track and field next week.

I will hopefully post about our jam-packed weekend sometime in the next few days!  Again, this week has been really hectic in terms of trying to wrap up loose ends before my vacation (which happens to coincide with when our web updates will go live).  I hope you're all having a good week and enjoying the Olympics!  U-S-A!! U-S-A!! U-S-A!!

Okay, I've been a bad blogger...

Gulp, sorry for the absence from the blogosphere this week...Things are really getting hectic at work this week (as in, I feel like I haven't left my desk this week, I have been getting in early and have not been taking a lunch), and will probably remain that way until I go on vacation in a few weeks.  And then, in typical me fashion, I have completely booked all of my nights after work, meaning that I am too exhausted when I get home from work to blog.

However, today is a little bit more chill, and is also a fake Friday for me!  I'm taking tomorrow off to recharge (I will most likely spend much of the day by the pool with my mom) and prepare for an early weekend of birthday festivities.  As I mentioned, we are going to a top-secret location tomorrow night for part of Dan's birthday present, and then we are getting together with two of his (and now my) friends on Saturday night, which should be great.  I know that I will come out of this weekend exhausted, so I think that the extra day tomorrow will be just what the doctor ordered.

Anyway, before fast-forwarding to this weekend, I should recap last weekend, since I didn't do my habitual post-weekend update.  On Friday night, Dan and I went to Liberty Tavern, one of our favorite restaurants in Clarendon, and got their insanely delicious Vermont pizza (cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, apple slices and prosciutto; I obviously got the veg version).  Dan really wants to see The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX, but, after we talked about it, we agreed that it would be better for me to watch Batman Begins first, as I have never seen any of the movies and could probably use the backstory.  Luckily, he had DVRed it when it had been on TV earlier on in the week, so I got to have a nice, quality movie night with my guy.  Truly wonderful.  Some of my favorite nights are the ones where we just relax and snuggle up to watch a movie.

On Saturday morning, we got up at 7 (I know, we're both insane) to go running.  Despite the fact that it was misting, it was nice to get outside, particularly because, after an evening storm, it was significantly cooler out.  As I was running along the river and then back into the city and around the Tidal Basin, I was just overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to call this place home.  Since it was so early, there were very few people out along the Tidal Basin, so I had it all to myself.  Once we had showered and changed, Dan and I parted ways for the weekend- he was off on a golfing outing for the day and I was going up to New York to visit my dad's side of the family.

Spending the weekend with the family really was wonderful.  I hadn't seen that side of the family since November, so a reunion was long overdue.  I always enjoy getting to see aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins, so this time certainly did not disappoint.  Just sitting around talking and enjoying each other's company brough a smile to my face. 

On Sunday, after being in the car for what felt like forever on our way home, I returned home just in time to watch the finale of The Bachelorette.  As I may have mentioned, I am minorly  completely addicted to this show, especially because so many of the guys seem to be great guys.  In the end, even though Emily didn't pick the guy who was my first preference, I was totally won over by Jef and melted when I saw him interact with her daughter.  They really do seem to work well together and seem very in love.  I hope they prove the statistics wrong!  As much as I love the show, I also realize that it is completely unrealistic and ridiculous, so I have stumbled upon several blogs that humorize it a bit.  Lincee over at I Hate Green Beans is a hoot-and-a-half, and I am consistently laughing hysterically when I read her blog. I happened upon Ashley's blog when I was trying to find a picture last night of Ryan's completely effeminate tank top when I was Skyping with Kristin last night, and found it to also be hilarious.  It's nice that people can have fun with it!!!

On Monday morning, I woke up to an esophagus in extreme pain, and that's when it occurred to me that all of the stomach discomfort that I have been experiencing lately may just be acid reflux, which, unfortunately, runs in my family.  I have spent a few days feeling pretty crummy, but I think the medication I started using is finally starting to kick in, so hopefully I'll be in tip-top shape for the weekend!  I am definitely the worst sick person ever, because I try to pretend I'm not sick and go about my exhausting routine as usual.  I'm sure it will catch up to me at some point...

This week has been busybusybusy! On Monday, Dan came over for some stir-fry that I whipped up, and we were able to successfully find some Season 4 episodes of Parks and Recreation.  I would appreciate them putting the season up on Netflix, oh, yesterday.  We managed to have a really nice night, despite the fact that Dan picked up a completely ridiculous ticket on the way to my apartment :( Poor guy.  Last night, I grabbed drinks with Dan's/my friend Lindsay at Donovan House, a really cool place on Thomas Circle. I don't think the bar itself is called Donovan House, but it is located on the pool deck of the Donovan House hotel (interesting concept, but it works).  The view from the rooftop was INREDIBLE, and, as always, I had a great time with Lindsay. We did have to wait about a half-hour for our check, which was annoying, because the employees were both struggling in general and didn't know how to work their new computer system.  Oh well, I still made it home early enough to Skype with Kristin.

I'm so, so excited about this long weekend, and I'm sure I will have many more updates next week!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well!

I Am Alive

Due to a crashed hard drive on my work computer and a loaner that is slow as molasses, I do not have the energy to blog.  However, I will hopefully post soon about my visit to see my family this past weekend in NY, my reaction to the finale of The Bachelorette, and the upcoming early-birthday festivities we have for Dan's birthday this weekend (shhhh, I told him we're going to London for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  That's not really where we're going!!).

I hope you're all having a fabulous week!

Shipping Up to Boston!

I'm not going to sugarcoat this; I am not happy to be back in DC and back to my everyday routine.  I had the most fabulous weekend imaginable in Boston, and a large part of me wanted to evade returning to reality and just stay there forever.

Dan and I got to our hotel shortly before 10 on Thursday night, and, wanting both to explore and get a snack, we ventured out to Newbury Street, where we were luckily able to find an ice cream place open.  I got a cup of DELICIOUS black raspberry ice cream with blueberry pieces and white and dark chocolate chunks.  Seriously, people.  DIVINE.  I woke up early-ish on Friday morning to go for a little jog at the hotel gym, and it was such a bad run that I should have just let myself sleep in, as Dan had done.  Afterward, we grabbed breakfast at a little place in the neighborhood and then walked to our first stop of the day, America's Most Beloved Ballpark (a.k.a. Fenway).  I was very grateful to Dan for indulging me on that one, and, luckily for him, I did not make him go on a tour (I have been on two myself and have been to the ballpark numerous times for games, so I didn't think it was necessary).  From there, we walked downtown, through Copley Square and then through the Public Gardens and the Commons.  Poor Dan...since he has never been subjected to a vacation with my family, he has never experienced our ten-mile walking days (seriously, there were days when we walked that far in Europe).  He is a very active guy, but all of that walking can take a lot out of the most in-shape people!

America's Most Beloved Ballpark

New England Aquarium



We finally ended up at Government Center, where we toured the Aquarium (which we both loved) and went to an IMAX movie which was, strangely, narrated by Jim Carrey (neither of us could get over this fact).  Before we headed in to the movie, each of us gobbled down a grilled cheese that we had bought at a food truck. It was my first food truck experience, and it was delicious!  After the movie, I agreed (and, after all of that walking, it wasn't too difficult to convince me!) to take the T back to the hotel.  Over the course of the weekend, the consensus was that, as much as we may complain about the Metro (and, while we were gone, Metro experienced two total system outages, which would have left me spitting tacks had I been riding.  But I digress), the T is so far inferior.  T trains are dirty, noisy, not well ventilated, unannounced (there is no board with a schedule of trains) and poorly planned (the arrangement of the lines does not make too much sense, and, due to the layout of the stations, you often have to pay twice if you are switching lines).  However, the T got us where we needed to go, so, for the course of the weekend, it served its purpose.  We showered and changed before meeting up with Dan's sister Emily for dinner in the North End. 

Emily was the lone member of Dan's immediate family who I had not yet met, and, when we saw his parents a few weeks ago and I told his mom how excited I was to go visit Emily, she assured me that Dan had been getting pressure from both sides to make this trip happen.  I really liked Emily a lot and instantly felt comfortable around her, which was not at all surprising, given how much I love Dan's entire family, and the three of us had a really nice weekend together. We started off with a fantastic dinner at this little hole-in-the-wall Italian place in the North End (that description could apply to any of the restaurants in the North End, actually) and then gelato from Mike's Pastry (the gelato line was nonexistent, as opposed to the crowded mess of a cannoli line, so we opted for the gelato).  We then went to a bar in the Government Center area that was fun, albeit way too loud; we could barely hear ourselves think above the music, much less have a sustained conversation!!

On Saturday morning, Dan and I, in keeping with his race plan (in true fashion, I am not doing a race plan, which will simply mean that I'll run slower than Dan haha), went for an eight-mile run around the city.  It was probably the best I've felt this year while running outside, and we got to see a huge swatch of the city in the process.  Our pace was actually faster than my half-marathon pace from last year, so I was pleased about that.  However, afterward I immediately started feeling sick to my stomach (the same actually happened after my half), and I struggled through breakfast.  I could barely speak (and, thus, was not my normal bubbly self) because I felt so awful, and was getting up every five minutes to run to the bathroom.  Poor Dan was practically eating breakfast by himself, and I felt so guilty :(  At one point, I walked back from the bathroom and hit my head on a low-hanging tree branch.  I initially started laughing but, as a delayed reaction, was tearing up, both from bonking my head and from how crappy my stomach felt.  Dan, great guy that he is, suggested that we go back to the hotel and rest for a bit, and, after conking out for an hour, I felt significantly better.

We took the T out to BC to meet up with Emily, and, after getting a tour of campus and of her apartment, we went out for yet ANOTHER Italian meal (we were sitting on Emily's couch discussing what we wanted to do for dinner, and, when she finally conceded that she wouldn't be at all opposed to another Italian dinner, I felt okay chiming in that I could definitely have some more pasta).  Again, the dinner was delicious although we had a bit of a bizarre situation when it came time to order dessert. Being that we had all just gorged ourselves on pasta, we were not in the mood to order dessert, but then our waitress brought us out some tiramisu! We all looked at each other and laughed, since we had not ordered dessert, and we wondered if she was forcing dessert on us, only to charge us for it.  After a few minutes of wondering aloud, we decided to go for it, and it was actually delicious.  Sufficiently stuffed at that point, we walked to a pub that had great Belgian beer.  We had lots of time to just chat, and I can't overstate how great a time I had.  Dan and Emily are VERY close, so it was very sweet to witness the interaction between the two of them.  She was so incredibly sweet to me as well, which made it so much easier on me.  I'm so glad that I finally got to meet her, and hopefully I'll see a lot more of her in the future!!

The delightful siblings

On Sunday, we were pretty lazy, heading back to Newbury Street for brunch at around 11.  We then walked back to the Commons through the Beacon Hill neighborhood, and back to the Government Center area. Once there, we walked through Faneuil Hall and the surrounding markets before heading to Ye Olde Union Oyster House to get Dan some clam chowder (or chowdah, as the locals call it; and yes, I did intermittently speak in an annoying accent that resembled a Boston accent over the course of the weekend).  Feeling sufficiently stuffed, we returned to the hotel, grabbed our bags and began our journey home.

Beacon Hill

I was actually pretty gloomy when I got home, because our wonderful weekend was over.  I said to Dan in the airport yesterday that I often feel very sad when our trips, in which we spend a lot of concentrated time together and go on lots of adventures, are over.  He "awwww"ed me and told me that our trips are so special because we don't go on them all the time, which I agree with.  If we could afford to travel all the time, our trips might not seem as special, so for now, until we win the lottery, I am perfectly happy to take the occasional trip.  As we were taking one of our sitting breaks yesterday, I told him that he is a wonderful travel buddy, because he is so easygoing (and, as I mentioned before, so am I, but only when I'm traveling haha) and doesn't have a specific timetable or agenda.  That is my preference when I travel; I definitely prefer to wander around and get lost on side streets rather than stick to tourist traps.  I look forward to hopefully taking many more trips together in the future (our next one is over Labor Day weekend for our half-marathon!!), as well as hopefully getting many more chances to spend time with his family!

T-minus 5 hours...

...until I get to leave work to head to the bus...and then to the Metro...and then to Union Station...and then to the airport...and then to BOSTON (God, I hate BWI! Planes, trains and automobiles to get to our final destination!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have not been able to sit still all day, so I'm sure I'll be a pleasure to sit next to on the flight haha.  Poor Dan.  He has never seen me in my New England element before.  We will not be traveling to the painfully boring charming little town where I grew up, but Boston is a close second in terms of hometown visits.  I think I will look something like this all weekend.  But seriously...

When I next post, I will hopefully have lots of fun stories and beautiful pictures to share (disclaimer: it may take me a while to weed through the ungodly large quantities of photos I will likely take.  One of my friends, while we were tubing last weekend, compared me to MacGyver because of how readily available my camera is. Yes, I brought my camera tubing, and stored it in a plastic sandwich baggie to keep it safe.  What's it to you??).  I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Pictures From My Busy Week!

As promised...

4th of July fireworks as seen from Dan's apartment!

Yes, it was really that hot...Dan and I at a 4th of July barbecue

Stacey and Jamie floating down the river

Love this one of us!

The lovely Ms. Lauren

Wonderful friends, new and old!

Night out at Policy with Lauren, Jamie and Stef

COLDPLAY CONCERT!!!!!!

Weekend Roundup: Melting

As of yesterday, the DC area had had 11 DAYS STRAIGHT of 95-degree-plus heat, but I am happy to report that, today, it is a cool 79 degrees.  I LOVE IT!!!!  Anyway, this weekend was absolutely incredible, so I apologize in advance for the really long post!

On Friday night, Dan and I had a really relaxing night at home.  We went to Maggiano's for dinner, since we were both in the mood for some good pasta, and then got Frozen Yo on the way home.  He recognized that we had been watching a lot of his type of movies (a.k.a. not chick flicks or romantic dramas), so he said that it was my turn to pick a movie.  I had innumerable ways in which I could have tortured him, but I went with 500 Days of Summer, because it is definitely not your typical love story.  While I don't think it was his favorite movie of all time, he chose to grin and bear it, and admitted that it was not terrible.

On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early so that the two of us and Lauren could drive out to Harpers Ferry, where we were meeting up with a group of friends (there were 16 of us in total!) to go whitewater tubing.  It was supposed to be about 105 degrees on Saturday, so I was definitely apprehensive about both getting sunburned and getting heatstroke.  However, despite the fact that I used 15 sunscreen, which was the lowest denomination among our group, I did not get burned at all, and it was actually surprisingly refreshing out on the water!  As we stood around waiting to get bused down to the river, I was sweating like a pig and was starting to regret the decision, but, once we were in the water, I felt 100 times better.  So we floated down the Potomac for a few hours, stopping occasionally to eat and drink, and, while the "whitewater" part of the trip left a lot to be desired (those were some pretty meager waterfalls), I had a fantastic time.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend such an unbearably hot day, because I certainly would not have wanted to spend the day outside otherwise! 

On Saturday evening, Dan had made plans with friends, so I met up with the tubing group at Churchkey for a light dinner.  Like most places in DC, the air conditioning was apparently not working, so we were all sweltering.  After we finished eating, we walked down the street to Policy, my new favorite place.  Because we got there so early, we were able to get a large booth for all of us.  We ended up leaving relatively early, shortly after the dancing started, because we were all exhausted (and some of us injured) from tubing earlier on in the day, but it was a nice, relaxing night out.

Lauren and I had planned to meet up with my parents on Sunday morning to go to the Titanic exhibit at the National Geographic Museum.  It was my first time at the museum, and the exhibit was interesting.  We all agreed at the end that we had hoped to see more artifacts from the wreckage.  The information there was all very interesting, but we thought that it could have been better visually.  We checked out the samurai exhibit afterward, which didn't really interest any of us, and then a photo exhibit, which was very moving.  All of the photos were from stories that had been published in the magazine in 2011, but these particular photos were not published.  The one series that moved me the most was about child brides in Yemen. In one photo, a girl, whose age was not provided but who was described as "pre-pubescent", sat with her noticeably older husband and their four children.  In another, a woman sat with her husband, who she married when she was six and he was twenty-five.  I wanted to vomit upon looking at those photos, because it is truly tragic to me that, in this day and age, child brides still exist.

We grabbed some lunch after checking out the exhibits, and then I headed over to Dan's.  And THEN came one of the most anticipated moments of my summer to date: THE COLDPLAY CONCERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My wonderful Dan got the tickets for me for Christmas, and I think it was my most anticipated Christmas gift ever!  I had built the concert up a lot, since it was three years in the making for me (for those of you who know me, you'll recall the time when some friends and I were thwarted in our attempt to go to a Coldplay concert), and it really did not disappoint.  They are incredible entertainers, and I was belting out all of the lyrics and dancing around like a crazy person, not at all caring what anyone thought.  Dan could see the glee written all over my face, and I was so grateful for that amazingly thoughtful gift.  We got home much later than we normally would on a Sunday night, but, once again, we dodged a pretty nasty thunderstorm by about 10 minutes.  Jeez louise, I hope we keep this streak going!  I was having a hard time falling asleep, and was jumping every time I heard a large clap of thunder, so Dan made sure I was okay before attempting to fall asleep himself.  I am very lucky :)

I will post pictures of this epic weekend tomorrow, and I look forward to updating you all on our travels to Boston!  We leave on Thursday, and I'm pinching myself.  I told Dan last night that, as much as I was in my element last night, I will be like that ALL WEEKEND when we're back in my beloved Bay State!

Also, I usually take a look at the readership stats for this blog, mostly to see which topics seem to get the most hits (but maybe a little bit to reassure myself that people actually are reading haha), so thanks for making this gal feel good with that last post!! When I checked this morning, 18 people had read it!  I mostly blog for myself, to have a record of sorts, but it sure does help when you know that other people are finding some value in it!