I had a wonderful time in St. Lucia. Lots of pool/beach time, quality time with my sisters, an afternoon nap daily, it was awesome.
Now I’m back in DC and happy to be home. But I thought I’d come back refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. Yeah, not so much. I’m. so. tired. And all I want to do is get through the day and get back in bed. So this is all I’ve got for now. I hope to be back tomorrow or later this week with a more interesting post.
I’d love to know:
How was your week? Are you having gorgeous spring weather like we are in DC?
I’m off to St. Lucia! I’m looking forward to lots of sun, relaxation, strawberry margaritas, and quality time with my sisters. I landed in Florida last night and I’m already completely relaxed. After just one night with my sisters, I’m so glad we’re doing this.
One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to get lost in a good book so I never travel without a boatload of reading material. I got a couple books from the library, picked up a new one from Barnes and Noble, and added one from my shelf. I used a gift card from Christmas to buy the whole first season of Downton Abbey for my iPad (LOVE traveling with this!) which will be perfect if I get antsy on the plane. Mike got me a little travel kit too: a copy of Women’s Health and some peanut M&Ms. So I’m all set!
I hope I’ll be able to blog from the resort but I’m not sure if that’s in the cards. If not, I’ll be sure to share pictures when I get back!
Just got home from my second Girls on the Run practice and I’m in such a great mood. It’s funny, they say the coaches get just as much out of GOTR as the girls do. I’m surprised that so early in the season, I’m already feeling the truth of that.
Today’s lesson was all about plugging into the Girls on the Run cord and choosing to be happy, positive, upbeat instead of some other negative cords we often find attached to us. We talked about what it feels like to be plugged into the Girls on the Run cord and what that type of girl looks like. We also discussed things we can do to get us recharged when we’re feeling negative. It was cool to see what the girls listed.
It’s funny because before practice I was NOT plugged into the Girls on the Run cord. Before today’s practice, I was brainstorming posts titled “Ready to Reset” or “Too much juggling.” I called my mom crying while walking to a meeting on campus. Awesome. And when I got on the bus to go to practice I texted Mike “I’m completely drained.”
But when practice started and we started running around, I completely forgot about my crappy day.
God, it feels so good to run and play. And run for fun. This wasn’t an “oh, I wish I was skinny” run or an “if only I was a runner and enjoyed this workout” run. This was just pure, kid fun.
We ran around silly and I did leaps across the grass. We were doing wheelbarrows and a girl was holding my legs as I walked on my hands yelling “keep moving, keep moving, farther, farther, farther” and I could. not. stop. laughing. We did boats (I think) where you lean back and balance on our butt while extending your legs which is usually really hard for me and I could do them. We played Sharks and Minnows which I never played before. And I was laughing. I couldn’t believe how much I was laughing and how much fun I was having.
Now I’m totally plugged back in and excited for a productive, fun end of the week.
I’d love to know:
What do you do to recharge? How do you separate yourself from the negative, yucky plugs you find yourself attached to? I cook. I nap. I go for a walk. I call a friend. I write. I workout. I find someone to laugh with. And after today, I’m reminded that playing and being around kids makes me happy.
Hey there! Happy Monday! Have a good weekend? I certainly did! Take a look:
1. Flags blowing outside the Old Post Office Sunday afternoon
2. Scattergories with friends Saturday night
3. Sunday dinner: homemade chili
4. Browsing in Barnes and Noble (so many books I wanted to buy!)
5. Girls on the Run training on Saturday afternoon
6. Grilled veggie and goat cheese sandwich from U Street Cafe
7. Homemade bacon and spinach omelets
8. Window seat and writing at U Street Cafe
not pictured: bagel and cafe au lait at Modern Times Coffeehouse with Mike (finally caught up) and guacamole lunch with Jordan at Oyamel
We had a great time at Zach and Emily’s wedding last weekend. Blessed to be friends with each of them individually, the happiness I usually experience at a friend’s wedding was doubled for me. Zach and Emily were both so happy and so in love. It was amazing. Emily is a beautiful person but I haven’t seen her as radiant and happy as she was on her wedding day. We had a great time celebrating with them and look forward to sharing more happiness with them in the future.
Part of the reason the weekend was so great was because we didn’t have to worry about money or how we were going to pay for things this weekend. No, a wedding fairy didn’t come down and make the weekend free. We planned ahead for occasions like this in our 2012 budget. While we want to attack our debt and try to save a little bit of money, we don’t want to forgo life events and sharing in special, happy times with friends to do so. We now allocate money each month for upcoming weddings and other celebrations. We call this line in our budget our “participation in life” fund. Because we planned ahead, we didn’t have to worry about where money for gas, meals, tolls, the hotel, and gift would come from or put these things on a credit card.
Happy Friday! I don’t have anything profound to say today so I’m just going to share a list of random things on my mind.
I’m excited to see my mom this weekend. We’ll spend some time together tomorrow afternoon and I’m really looking forward to it.
Being able to wear jeans to work on Fridays makes my day. I currently only have one pair of work pants, I only have black tights but only have brown shoes that are appropriate to wear with skirts so I’m so happy I can just wear jeans today.
I felt like a million bucks running on the treadmill this morning. I almost got back in bed but didn’t so instead of lifting told myself I’d just walk on the treadmill. But when Blackoutcame on my iPod I got super pumped up and ran to the beat of the song. I knew I bought that song for a reason! I only ran for the duration of that one song but I had goosebumps while doing so, I was so in the zone.
I’ve been spending my lunch breaks this week with this cute guy. I almost kinda fell asleep on Wednesday while we cuddling on the couch. I wish I had a couch to sit on and a window to look out for every lunch break. However, I’m not that excited for our time today because there’s a little bit of a mess on the carpet that I have to clean up.
Zach and Emily are getting married on Sunday! We’re headed up to Long Island to see them tie the knot. It’s going to be a great time. Can’t wait to see how pretty Emily looks.
When I randomly woke up at 4 am this morning, I heard a baby crying in the apartment above ours and I thought “oh, those poor parents.” Then I wanted to stick a note under their door saying something like “don’t worry, it won’t be like this for long” or “you can get through this” or some other encouraging thing. Or bake a lasagna or something. Since I don’t know these people, the above things would be weird. So instead I just sent them some calm, relaxing thoughts and happy baby wishes. I also tried to turn our alarm off pretty quickly just in case the baby could hear it 🙂
Also looking forward to going to “the D” with my girlfriends from home tomorrow night!
Plans for tonight: post about Valentine’s Day and schedule to post tomorrow morning, finish cake balls to bring home for our families, and pack.
Looking forward to some nice long car rides with Mike this weekend and the good talks we usually have during them.
Talk to me:
Have you felt like a million bucks recently? What are you looking forward to this weekend?
Sitting across from my best friends at breakfast Sunday morning, I’m struck by how beautiful they all are and how lucky I am to have them in my life. Yes, they are all pretty women, I’ve always known that. But over the past year or so I’ve realized that my friends are all around beautiful people: they are strong, smart, funny, kind, driven, loyal, caring, comforting people and my life wouldn’t be the same without them in it.
In high school and through college I think I took my friends for granted–often opting to spend time Mike and his friends instead of my girlfriends. It’s not until I graduated from college and moved away from them all that I realized how precious friendships are, how much girlfriends add to your life.
We had an amazing weekend together. Planned about a month ago to celebrate Jordyn’s birthday and her return to the east coast (she moved from LA to DC in January), we were all so looking forward to the girl time. We each had our own reasons for looking forward to the trip, and I think it was exactly what we needed.
The girls got to DC on Friday night and the grown-up slumber party began with dinner at my apartment. (I made this.) Having us all around my kitchen table was a bit surreal. If it was in a movie a slow happy song would play as the camera slowly pans over each of our faces as we smile, throw our heads back in laughter, and raise our glasses for a toast. It’s crazy to think that we’re all adults now and our conversations focus on work, serious relationships, being moms some day, finances, goals, and dreams.
Saturday morning my living room was covered in air mattresses, blankets, and luggage just like my bedroom was in middle school when these slumber parties began. I made my favorite pancakes and we went to my favorite yoga class. We got back around lunchtime and Mike made us all homemade pizza. Then we just veged in our gym clothes for the afternoon, read magazines, books, took naps, watched a movie. Because we really didn’t have to do anything. We just wanted to be together.
We put ourselves together on Saturday night for a night out on the town. We had an 8 o’clock reservation at Zaytinya and after two sketchy cab rides we all arrived at our destination. We shared a few carafes of the Pom Fili (white wine, vodka, and pomegranate juice) and sampled a lot of menu items: salads, fritters, spreads, meats. We left dinner with happy hearts and happy bellies.
Tina, Jordyn, me, Leslie, Bridget
Next, we headed to POV at the W Hotel just a quick walk away from the restaurant. We felt pretty baller walking in and when we got to our table I was so excited we were there. POV, the rooftop bar, is one of my favorite places in the city and I’d been wanting to take girlfriends there for a while.
Unfortunately, our stay was short-lived. As we began ordering our first drinks, the server said “did anyone tell you about the policy?” “No,” we said, “what policy?” “It’s a $50 per person minimum or you have to do bottle service.” WHAT?!?! Since we were all pretty full and not wanting to spend $60 on drinks alone, we left our table and headed back to my neighborhood. We had a drink at a neighborhood bar before coming back to my apartment, making Pillsbury cinnamon buns, and going to bed.
And so quickly it was Sunday morning. Of course, I had to take my friends to my favorite breakfast place: Open City in Woodley Park. As we chat over coffee, I get a bit emotional at the joy of the experience and wish that I could be surrounded by these girls all the time. These are girls I’ve liked since middle school but have come to truly admire in the past few years. Luckily, the conversation quickly turns to when we can have another weekend like this and we brainstorm places we can travel together.
As I gave them hugs at the train station, I had to fight back tears. I really hate to see them go.
Luckily, one’s still here for good and we’re already planning our next girls weekend.
I’m back from a long weekend in Florida with my friend Lauren. We planned this trip in the fall and I was so looking forward to the girl time and the sunny weather. We had a great weekend: went for long walks in the morning, did quite a bit of shopping, ate good food, and just talked a lot. As always, it was so good to spend quality time with her.
I love spending time with my girlfriends and I think it’s really important for men and women to have time with their guy friends and girlfriends on a regular basis. I’ve said before that I think spending time with girlfriends is good for the soul and I truly believe that.
When you’re in a relationship, it’s really important to prioritize your friendships and have girl time and guy time. Honestly, I’m having a hard time articulating why this is important but believe me, it is. It’s good for me to talk and talk and talk with a girlfriend over a glass of wine and dinner. And it’s good for my husband to chat with a buddy over beers and wings.
Because I value and crave girl time so much, I wonder if I may have isolated my husband from my friends. In the past, friends would ask if Mike was coming along and I’d say “nah” because I just wanted the girl time and quality time with my friend. Now that we’re married I truly do want my friends to know my husband and my husband to know my friends. But I still crave the girl time so I’m not sure how I’ll find that balance.
I’d love to know:
Can you articulate why girl time and guy is so important? (I’m hoping you’ll have the words that are escaping me at the moment.)
How can I bring my husband and my friends together?
Favorite lines: “I’m strong, yeah I’m steady” and “In my heart I’m believing that I can see how I can live what I’m dreaming” Perfect mantras for the gym, and for life.
Favorite lines: “Step to the beat of my heart” and “Smile for me.” Make my heart melt. And great for the gym.
2. I’m loving smoothies right now. In November one of my goals was to eat one fruit and one veggie per day. Check off that fruit!
Favorite recipes:
Mixed berry–1 cup low fat plain yogurt, 1 cup frozen mixed berries, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, and 1/2 tbsp sugar (though add to your taste) in the blender.
Strawberry Peach–1 cup low fat plain yogurt, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen peaches, 1/4 cup milk, and honey to taste (my taste is 1 tbsp) in the blender. Each of these makes one.
3. Inspired by Jess‘ post about writing a letter to herself, I’m working on my intentions for 2012, thinking about where I want to be come January 1, 2013, and what I want my life to look like. I’m really enjoying this exercise; it makes me hopeful for what 2012 will bring.
4. I’m looking forward to driving home with Mike today and belting singing Christmas songs.
5. I really want to make this pomegranate vanilla sangria. I’m brainstorming events I could make this for. Any ideas?
6. One of your intentions for 2012 should be to make some of Jessica’s recipes. I’m not kidding.
7. I’m about halfway through The Hunger Games and I’m really enjoying it so far. I just got to the part where the games begin.
8. This tea is my go-to when I feel like I’m getting sick. It’s like a miracle worker. Knocks a cold right out.
9. I’m loving all of my readers. Thank you for reading and commenting!
10. Speaking of my readers: Before we knew that our bites were coming from bed bugs, I wanted to post a picture of the bites and see if any of you knew what they might be. Mike said that was gross and unless I could prove there were some doctors in my readership, he wouldn’t let me post pictures of his bites. So, who are you? What do you do? Any doctors out there?
I’d love to know:
What are you up to? What are you excited about these days?
