I need to take more pictures...

The weekend looked something like this....

Friday, Mike and I had Dangerously Delicious pies for dinner (a strangely delicious curry tofu pie, a yummy pork bbq pie, and pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream!). I can't believe it took me this long to try Dangerously Delicious. Then we went to see the Hobbit. I won't spoil the movie for you, but there was a lot of walking and eating and Howard Shore. Gollum stole the show, per usual. The highlight of the movie for me was when Mike got a free popcorn voucher with his Regal card and, since neither of us wanted popcorn, he let me go to the cashier and tell them to give it to the next person who came to order popcorn. Popcorn is $6.00!

Of course, Gollum still creeps me out and, when Mike found that out, of course he began talking like him. Bane, Tommy Wiseau, Gollum....he's not limited by creepiness.
http://purplepond.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/gollum.jpg

Saturday involved a 7 mile run with MJJ to the TJ memorial (I'd also never been there). I had only wanted to complete 6 miles (never the overachiever in my half marathon training plan), but apparently MJJ is a track star who never trains then always outruns me. Steph W. and Josh also had scheduled a day-long LOTR (extended edition) marathon complete with 7 hobbit meals. I am distraught I was only able to attend a portion since my sisters and I always dreamed of daylong LOTR marathons, but I got to see Aragorn re-gain the throne, eat some of the best pot-roast ever, and my faith in Peter Jackson was momentarily restored.

Sunday was a Secret Santa gift exchange with the GGSS crew. Sara got me an absolutely adorable bracelet and gloves...what she does not know is that earlier that night I was searching through my jewelry for a gold bracelet because it would have gone with my outfit and I realized I didn't have one at all! Mind-reading Santa! This was also the night Noah's birthday was being celebrated with a rendition of Jesus Christ Superstar, a Broadway musical I'm unfamiliar with (what else is new?) so I was able to reprise my role as an audience member while all of my talented friends entertain me through their singing and dancing. After a lovely dinner at Emily's and discussing the Redskins' win, the weekend was over.

And here I am. Monday again. Five days until vacation. It's gray and balmy outside. DC weather as weird as ever. But Christmas is coming.

Thankful Thursday

I was convinced today was Friday. No matter how many times I was reminded it was Thursday, some part of me really wanted it to be Friday. It's not like I didn't try my hardest to make that happen. Yesterday I scheduled an appointment with a student for today and today when that student showed up, I saw that I had put them on my calendar for Friday. Sigh...

Despite it not being Friday, I woke up this morning feeling just really good and thankful. Do you ever have a morning like that? Where you wake up and you just feel like you should be thanking someone for the morning? Today was that morning for me. In fact, so much that I texted my sister Kim, "Do you ever have a morning where you wake up so thankful and happy that you have to thank someone for it?" My youngest sister Kim, God bless her, is a person I know I can always go to with my impulsive emotional rants and feelings never having to censor myself. Sometimes she responds, depending on how long my rant is, with a "you're overwhelming me again" or sometimes, like this morning, she responds in the affirmative with a "yeah".  Victory! Whenever, Kim identifies with one of my random thoughts, it means I could be on to something. Anyway, yeah, I had no reason to be feeling all thankful this morning. I accidentally set my alarm too early (thinking it was a Friday when I had to go in at 9am instead of a Thursday when I have to go in at 10am). I snoozed my alarm no fewer than 3 times which meant none of my extra sleep really counted as quality. And I had A TON of work to do today.

BUT I am so thankful for each and every one of my students. I never dreamed I could be so happy doing something that isn't "counseling", but my students teach me things I don't know every day and they challenge me in ways I haven't yet been challenged. I am so thankful for the past 4 months in which I've slowly adapted to living in a city which is, honestly, something I never thought I would do.

Maybe Christmastime will do that to you....give you random thankful moments. I had the day off on Monday and I was wandering around Chinatown exploring the city, which I feel safe enough to do in the daytime. I was stopped by a guy with the UN Refugee Agency asking for monthly donations. Well, first he tried to help me figure out how to properly work my new iphone since I looked lost, but then I asked him to tell me about what he was doing there that day and he told me about all of the refugees fleeing war and famine in the world and I had heard about Syria, but what about Mali and Somalia and all of the other stories that aren't covered by our media?

There is this other side of thankfulness. It's the recognition that you are blessed and that you have the ability to bless others.

Breakfast

"Good friendships are like breakfast. You think you’re too busy to eat breakfast, but then you find yourself exhausted and cranky halfway through the day, and discover that your attempt to save time totally backfired. In the same way, you can try to go it alone because you don’t have time or because your house is too messy to have people over, or because making new friends is like the very worst parts of dating. But halfway through a hard day or a hard week, you’ll realize in a flash that you’re breathtakingly lonely, and that the Christmas cards aren’t much company. Get up, make a phone call, buy a cheap ticket, open your front door. Because there really is nothing like good friends, like the sounds of their laughter and the tones of their voices and the things they teach us in the quietest, smallest moments." -Shauna Niequist in "Bittersweet"

For me, the Christmas season always starts out with such anticipation. I can't wait to watch all the movies (I have a set lists of Musts), bake all the cookies (well and cupcakes and muffins), and do basically all of the things they do in the movie Elf. 

[For instance my Christmas bucket lists looks something like:

• All the movies: Elf, The Holiday, Love Actually, Muppet Christmas Carol, all of the old school Rudolphs and Frosties (except not the ones where they bring in baby new year or jack frost)
• Bake the classics: the peanut butter cookies with kisses in the middle, gingerbread, snickerdoodles, and just like all of the Christmas-decorated cupcakes I see on pinterest.
• Go look at Christmas lights!
• Find the best hot chocolate in the city! (or a really good one)
• Go see the big Christmas trees!
• Find an occasion to wear my Christmas sweater!]

Then comes the end-of-the-semester crunch. I should be used to the this by now. I've been in higher education (either as a student or now a young professional) for long enough to know that the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas is always just a blur. No, I don't have exams, but all of my students do....or they are trying to complete their theses papers in time to graduate. Thank goodness I no longer have to experience that kind of stress, but it is easy to get caught up in the stress of my students, the stress of the impending holidays (searching desperately for a way to squeeze Christmas present money from my budget), and the stress that comes with lots of traveling to see as many loved ones as possible in a short period of time. 

It's easy to let things slip by during this season: sleep, working out, breakfast, and friends to name a few things. And I can find lots of excuses. It's too dark/cold outside. I have too much to do. Too many Christmas parties to go to. Too much potluck food to cook. Too many things to pay for. However, in the midst of all of the parties and running around, I'm still stressed and still cranky and I don't know why because it's Christmas and you're supposed to be joyful and triumphant!

If there's one thing I know about myself, it's that whenever I'm really cranky it's probably because I'm hungry. (I need to snack at regular intervals for optimal functioning.) Well, I think that's why this passage from Shauna's book Bittersweet (Yes, I know I quote this author ALL the time and I'll probably never stop) has really stayed with me over the past week. Although I feel surrounded by festivity, parties, events, plans, and preparations for Christmas, I also feel a little cranky, a little irritable, a little hungry, maybe even a little lonely. I think this yearning is almost  inherent in the advent (also winter) season for me, but that it's also indicative of that I'm investing time into the wrong things. I may be spending lots of time with  people, but is it quality time? Am I being present? Christmas is not an excuse to stop being genuine, to stop investing in our family and friends because we're too concerned about what we're going to give them from Etsy or the DIY gift boards on Pinterest. We have an incredible gift to give others and ourselves already: just being present and pausing to really experience one of the most wonderful times of the year.

http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/tag/breakfast/

Fun Fact: Apparently Founding Farmers had their chicken and waffles with eggs named the Best Breakfast by Food Network a couple of years back. And now I am hungry.

Celebrate and Grow

 "When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow."- Shauna Niequist

Besides the things I am thankful for every day: my health, my family, my friends, my job, a career where I feel fulfilled and very happy, I realized how grateful I am for a few other things I don't normally think of this past week.

1. Spare keys. I almost didn't make it home for Thanksgiving due to locking myself out of my apartment (typical, I know). While the story gets a little more complicated than that, the main point is that the incident really just led to more quality time with people before leaving for home.
2. RG3. The Redskins beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. It was the best first half I've seen played the Redskins in a long time and, in spite of a rough season (as always), I've never been more proud and excited for the team.
3. Moms. My mom made the entire Thanksgiving meal for our entire family and sent me back home with tons of food. Mike's mom told me I didn't wreck Thanksgiving and was completely supportive when I had locked myself out of my apartment and delayed her departure for Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for moms.
4. Constantine Maroulis. I also had the opportunity to see Constantine Maroulis in Jekyll and Hyde at the Kennedy Center and he was amazing! The rest of the show was a little ehh, but it made me feel like a person who actually goes to see shows a lot when I could critique it a little.
5. Music. Pandora Christmas station is all I listen to at work. All day. At night I listen to WASH FM's Christmas station and I listen to Delilah talk about love and stuff in her soothing voice and the callers all make my heart so warm. I've been listening to new Paper Route lately, too, and  Relient K's Let it Snow Baby, Let it Reindeer which is a holiday staple. I'm going to a gospel Christmas concert next week put on by my university's choir and am excited for that. There are no holidays without music.

I can't believe tomorrow is December! And this Sunday is the first day of Advent!

Oh-Oh-Oh … It’s Thanksgiving.

We-We-We are gonna have a good time.

If you haven't seen this yet, you need to. Because everyone needs to see a little girl sing horribly into a turkey leg once in their lives.

So today is my last day at work before Thanksgiving break and, I must say, it's lovely being able to go through the holiday season without stressing about papers or finals. WONDERFUL. So like, I just get to eat and have fun and not go to work and that's all?! There's nothing else I SHOULD or NEED to be doing, but won't and will beat myself up for it later? What is this.....

Sadly, I won't be gorging myself on as much Thanksgiving food as I normally do: it's normally just a day-long snack fest while watching football and movies with some napping in between to mix things up. (I do normally run in the morning though!) No, this Thanksgiving I will be a little more cautious as I had the stomach flu last week and have not been feeling 100% since. I pretty much have the world's most sensitive stomach on a good day, so Thursday I will probably enjoy cooking for others more than I will sampling everything-even-the-questionable-stuff.

This past week, my friend Adam's band also released the first single off their upcoming album, CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH! It is seriously amazing stuff. Adam is so talented and I can't wait until the whole album comes out next year, just in time for spring break road trip playslists!! YES! You should check out his song and then buy it on itunes. Support local artists, for realz. Audiostrobelight's facebook page and link to their latest single!

Sunday, I got to see Breaking Dawn with Steph (strange sense of closure!) and I've discovered my favorite snack and meal (thus far!) in Chinatown. The best snack ever is an Angel Food smoothie with no sugar from Smoothie King and the best dinner ever is an avocado, tomato, and swiss cheese crepe from the crepe place in Chinatown. (Though this is like the only crepe I've tried from there, I still think it's the best!) The guys who run the crepe stand are super sweet, too. Actually paella from La Tasca could probably rival the crepe, but anyway.......

My grand plans for Thanksgiving are as follows: Middle sis in in NYC and came down this past weekend to visit (leaving behind a lovely black bomber jacket accidentally) so she sadly won't be home:( Youngest sis will be house-sitting part of the time:(, but her and I have prioritized watching The Santa Clause together while she's home. Lauren (one of my best friends from elementary/middle/high school....we were cheer captains together) and I are going to watch Love Actually and catch up on all of the things that close friends catch up on when they haven't seen each other for a while. I also plan on watching the Redskins beat the Cowboys! Hopefully, I will be cooking with my mom all day learning her tricks of the trade since I realized I don't yet know how to make an apple pie from scratch and real apple pies are pretty crucial to my existence. I want to be self-sufficient and able to bake an apple pie should I find myself in a moment of need and/or desperation. Friday, I am going to the Kennedy Center with Mike's family so that should be fun and I'll let you know how that goes.

Expect a post of things I am thankful for in a few days because, ultimately, that's what Thanksgiving is about and my favorite part of the holiday.

Once We Were Perfect Strangers...

Show week was hard for me considering it was also student registration at work. I saw 3 of the 4 performances and helped usher all 4 nights. I was tired a lot, but every night would get a sympathetic rush of adrenaline for all of the actors and actresses in the show.

As promised, some pictures from the show!

"Mister John Jasper!!!" 

Never knew Noah could get so creepy. I hope this isn't what Davia has to put up with.

I heart Bazzard.

I also need to update some of my show superlatives after seeing the show two more times after I saw it with Mike's mother.

Favorite song in the show: Overtaking Perfect Strangers and Writing on the Wall is the dark horse of songs, the creepy "Moonfall". I tried not to listen to the lyrics of Moonfall since they creeped me out, but Moonfall's reprise and Jasper's Confession both had themes of the song. I thought the song was one of the most interesting and beautiful of the show.

Favorite lines of the show: Obviously, I'm biased. But I'm sure you would get similar findings if you polled the audience. Mike's/Bazzard's lines "The goose is cooked" and "Mister John Jasper!!!" were my favorite in the show. No matter how many times I saw it, I always lost it on those lines and the audience loved him! (No wonder Bazzard was voted Detective 3 out of 4 nights.) Other favorite lines, when Goo calls out the Chairman: "It's not normal, it doesn't happen to every guy, and it IS a BIG DEAL." Also Princess Puffer: "I had 'im when 'e was fourteen. You ain't 'ad better since, 'ave you? Oh...'e ain't 'ad any since."

Favorite moment of the show: Goo's dog, Nori, played a role in the show during one of Goo's lines and she was so adorable. Everyone loved her, well, them both.

Best method acting: Noah/John Jasper is a great actor and actually really creepy. He never missed any of his lines and managed to be funny despite his creepiness.

Best cockney accent: Princess Puffer/Meg has had me talking in a British accent still.

Favorite character: DURDLES as played by Josh. Most of the show for me was spent clapping, laughing, or shouting "Durdles!" very loudly and obnoxiously. Josh is the funniest ever.

Some of the best parts of the show were just being able to spend time with friends  and people visiting from out of town. Friday night, Mike's grandma and Brian came to the show and there was also a formal party I got dressed up for. I love having an excuse to dress up.

Mike and I all dress up for the formal party. Before the muttonchops went.

Saturday: The next morning I got breakfast with Mike's grandparents, Brian, and Mike. I ordered the crab eggs benedict while everyone else got the buffet. I'm such a rebel. Saturday Absi arrived and Josh and Brian and Mike and I got to hang out with her until the show. We went to the portrait gallery and got crepes/smoothies. (My avocado, swiss, and tomato crepe was ohmigawdsogood.) Then Absi and I went to meet Ben at the Gibson, a speakeasy in DC that had the ultimate ambience and was like a step back in time. The Gibson is truly an experience worth paying a little extra on drinks for. Absi and I both got champagne cocktails (Unicorn Tears and the Pampered Mousse). My Unicorn Tears had gin in it and I actually liked it! I had to leave early to usher at the show again and Kelly and Alex were waiting there to help me. I had begged them for some help ushering and both agreed instantly and were actually there before me. I have the best friends ever. After the show (the only in which Mike wasn't Detective, but was a Lover instead), the House manager Patrick gave me the sweetest card thanking me for ushering all 4 nights.....so thoughtful of him and I've now pledged my allegiance to house managing. The final party was at Josh and Steph's new place and it felt like junior prom with the lights and decorations, only with really awesome food (per usual anytime Steph is around).

Sunday: You would think the magic of the weekend would have ended after the show, but Sunday I spent a magical afternoon with Netflix and my bed and then Sunday evening  Mike and I also got to have dinner (beef stew and red wine) with Jessie and her boyfriend Duncan.

<3:

I'm mostly a stranger to the theater. The only theater and performance experience I have is from ballet when I was a young girl, church fine arts productions, The Princess Bride in high school, and working the box office one semester in college. I guess that is some experience, but performing is not my thing. I don't like being watched, I get horrible stage-fright, I'm introverted, and I get self-conscious in front of a group of people. But, I have decided that, despite not really being a theater person, theater people are my kind of people.


It is hard to believe that the last time Mike was in a show, I barely knew all of these people. Over the past 3 shows, I've gradually gotten to know everyone better and know my life just wouldn't be complete without them in it. Mike is often referred to (by himself and others) as a "gateway friend". He introduces people who get along wonderfully until the friendship is sustainable on its own without Mike needing to be the glue. I mean, we still let him hang around, though. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to get closer to the people I've met over the past year. So thanks to everyone who welcomed me into their lives and then decided to keep me.

Heart full.

Opening Night

The Mystery of Edwin Drood opened last night at Georgetown University Law Center. Mike's mom was visiting so I rushed to meet up with her as soon as I got off work. Mike's mom and I reminisced and there was a very hilarious typical Kelsey moment when Leslie was telling me about her day and I mistook the word valet for ballet leading me to interpret a very different story from the one she was telling and to go off on a tangent about my own personal ballet experience. It had been a long day.

Anyway, I got pinned as an usher with my official usher badge and there was even free wine and beer for audience members. Last time I saw Mike and his friends in a play, I was just beginning to get to know them. Now that they are basically family, it made the show that much more amazing. I laughed throughout the entire show and so did everyone around me. Mike was voted the role of the detective and sang a solo (thanks to overwhelming audience favor due to his campaigning prior to the show), Jessie was voted as the murderer, and Emily and Meg were the lovers. I can't wait to see if the audience vote changes each night!

Favorites from the show:

• Hair/Makeup/Costumes! Sara did an awesome job on hair and makeup and anyone else involved did incredible work. 
• I love the songs Writing on the Wall and Perfect Strangers. 
• Josh Litten.
• The audience! The audience was great last night and the actors really help to put everyone at ease and make it a really awesome interactive experience.

I thought it would be do-able to usher and see the show every night/hang out with everyone after while also waking up to go to work each morning. It has proven very difficult. Every night of the show seems like such a rush of adrenaline, but this morning I was so tired I could cry. I don't know how the people who are actually in the show do it and all of them have full-time jobs or are in law school.

Anyway, if you're in the DC area, you can still get tickets for Thurs-Sat shows. All are at 8pm on the GULC campus. I will be ushering for all of them.

Link to tickets: http://www.goldstar.com/events/washington-dc/the-mystery-of-edwin-drood

Hopefully I'll have show pictures to add later!

Art, Argo, Lavagna

Friday night, I went to see Argo. I have not kept my dislike of Ben Affleck a secret, but people kept telling me the movie was awesome and a friend wanted to see it so I figured I'd give it a shot. It was amazing. One of those movies where you leave feeling really satisfied at the end. The movie is about the Iranian hostage crisis which, if you stopped paying attention in AP U.S. history after the Cold War like I did, was a huge deal. After the recent tragedy at the U.S. embassy in Libya, I think the movie was especially relevant too. Definitely worth going to see.

After Argo, I stopped by Georgetown's Gilbert and Sullivan Society rehearsal for Drood, getting there just in time to hear Mike sing. Mike sings well, but not really unless he's on stage or unless someone's playing a piano. Given my recent string of failures in getting him to sing White Christmas for me, this was a real treat. Also: the show's going to be awesome. It's a Choose-You-Own-Ending style musical based on the only unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. lots of Cockney accents, comedy, and fun.

After rehearsal, Mike and I also caught up on our new Netflix obsession: Legend of the Seeker. It is guilty pleasure FANTASY reminiscent of LOTR, but with really pretty people instead of hobbits. Much of the dialogue makes me laugh, but I'm unable to stop watching. So that has taken precedence over Doctor Who for the time being.

Saturday, I spent some time at the American Museum of Art/The National Portrait Gallery. This is my second favorite museum in the city, my first love being the National Gallery of Art, of course. Whenever I start to feel trapped or crowded by the city, I like to spend a few hours in a museum and remind myself that I am so lucky to have so much culture and history at my fingertips whenever I want and within walking distance. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that outing.

My favorite statue in the American Museum of Art.

My favorit painting. It's huge and if I stand really close to it, I feel like I'm in Montana.

Third floor. 

There is a secret wing on the third floor where they have free tea and coffee Thurs-Sat 11am-3:30pm.  Free coffee attracts so many different kinds of people. 

One of my favorite pieces in the modern art wing.

Love this.

More modern art. So real.

After the art museum, I met up with Mike who had been hard at work in the library, and we made pesto chicken pasta for dinner. When we got back to his house he gave me some of his mail to open (because he had gotten some packages that I figured he was just too lazy to open). When I opened the first box, it was a DVD of The Santa Clause, which was only the movie I had been talking about/quoting every day for the past week! The second box was a yoga mat since the floor at my apartment is so hard I need two mats to do yoga comfortably. It's safe to say that Mike is the best present giver ever. However, anyone who will put up with watching The Santa Clause with me while I quote most of it knowing full well that me having the DVD will probably make this a regular occurrence, is a keeper.

On Sunday, Kelly and Alex invited us to Lavagna, one of up-and-coming brunch places in DC. Kelly read a Lavagna review on a blog and told me about their $10 bottomless mimosas and locally-sourced menu. I mean, she had me at bottomless mimosas, but I couldn't wait to try their food either. For some reason, Mike got a wine glass rather than a champagne flute for his mimosa and that led to mimosas twice the size of everyone else's. I can't take him anywhere.

Mike and his VIP treatment Mimosa.

Mike and Alex each got the Biscuit Egg Sausage Gravy with italian sausage. Meat is not my thing, but, trust me when I say that it's the best sausage gravy and biscuits you will ever have. And I'm from the South. Kelly got the Veggie Frittata which looked amazing. I got the Mascarpone Pancakes with honey nutella mascarpone. If you only get one thing there, it must be these pancakes. They tasted like warm buttery christmas in your mouth. The mimosas and coffee were delicious and so was the conversation. I threw out the idea of a Williamsburg reunion  for NYE sometime soon with much support. Alex and I talked about the football games later that day, and Mike chimed in with his analysis of the footballs and how "his team" the Panthers were going to beat the Redskins. Because the Panthers had a 1-6 record and the Redskins were OVERDUE for a win and I get super defensive of my team, I told Mike that the Panthers winning would put our relationship in jeopardy. Bad news: the Redskins were slaughtered and I'm not dealing with it well. Good news: Mike and I are trying to work things out.

All in all, a success of a weekend!

This week is not only election week, but registration week for my students so work will be crazy, but it is also crazy for a lot of my friends who work on Capitol Hill or who are starring in GGSS's The Mysterious Case of Edwin Drood which opens this week or who do both. Show weeks mean a little more stress, a ton of fun, and looking forward to the day when Mike finally gets to shave his muttonchops!

Happy election/show/registration week and GO VOTE!

Zombies, Halloween, Frankenstorm!

Well today was my first day back to work after a long wonderful 4-day weekend. Saturday morning, Mike and I participated in the Run For Your Lives Zombie 5K as zombies. (We initially signed up for this race in March, so I'm glad we followed our good feeling about the relationship.) We were up before the sun, again, for a running event, but this time we just got to scare people for 3 hours instead of running 6 miles. I thought the event was surprisingly well organized for being in the middle of nowhere outside of Baltimore with over 10,000 runners. The 5k was an obstacle course with runners being chased by zombies (us). If they lost all 3 of their flags, they were dead. Mike and I got our clothes all torn and messed up and then got makeup done. I'm pretty sure my makeup artist was recruited at the last minute to help push people through the queue (it was running behind schedule) as he just splotched dots of blood all over my face and called it a day. It was fuhreezing, but so much fun! I was the worst zombie ever and Mike was the best zombie ever. I could not keep a straight face hardly at all while going after runners, but I got better as the day went on.

Earlier in the day when I was incapable of keeping a straight face.

After the zombie race, we had planned to run in the 5k, but we were already exhausted from 3 hours of zombie-ing and I had hurt a tendon in my foot or something. Plus all of the runners had to swim through a river, crawl in a mud pit, and dunk in a pool at the finish and we had to get back to DC for a Halloween party and wouldn't have time to shower or clean off before getting in the car. Five Guys and frozen yogurt sounded like a much better idea so we did that instead. Tip: dunk your fries in the malt vinegar THEN in the ketchup.


Back in DC, we immediately started getting ready for the Halloween party hosted by Jeff, Mike, and Noah. Muttonchop Mike had no choice other than Wolverine so I had no choice other than Rogue.

Alex (Johnny Cash), Selena (Risky Business), and Moi.

Wolverine & Rogue and two awesome photobombers.

So on Sunday, there was this thing called the Frankenstorm to deal with. Luckily, it worked out to where I could spend the Hurricane having a Hurrication Party with the best people ever in NE. There was fondue, brownies, Netflix, and I had no work to do! Unlike people who are in school and can always do more work or read ahead, I got to do absolutely nothing except for reading for fun, cooking, and watching Netflix:) We did not even lose power once.

My sister in NYC was okay and, even though my family in NOVA just got power back this evening, I'm so grateful that things weren't worse here. My thoughts and prayers are with those who got the worst of Sandy.

Today, as evidenced by my out-of-character productivity, I was actually excited to get back to work. Let's hope that continues. Two more days till another weekend:)

Hashtags and Falafel

Bye Bye Debate Season

I will not miss debate season because the debates taught me anything. If anything, they taught me that apparently no one thinks they can win an election by being honest or genuine and that style>content. So what will I miss about debate season?

The Debate Crew. The first and third debates I watched at Alex's house with some of my favorite people. We ate, drank, laughed, and tweeted our way through the awkward. They also saved me a lot of fact-checking because my friends are smart;) Kylie and Adam made it up for the 3rd debate and I hadn't seen them in so long. It was wonderful. I would honestly not mind debates every week if it meant I also got to get together with this favorite bunch of people. Also for everyone wondering who came up with that brilliant hashtag #welcometocandyland, yeah it was yours truly. (You cannot tell me that you don't feel good every time someone favorites your tweet or uses your hashtag. It's the little things.) #nobabies2012 will always have the top hashtag spot in my twitterverse.

Running

An impulsive decision was made this past Saturday (after a Bodypump class that I talked the boyfriend into doing with me) that we wanted to run to Amsterdam Falafel. We had done it once before, but I think I whined less this time until we got to the huge hill leading to the main street in Adams Morgan. We walked back and I was so sore the next day, but I think it was worth it for falafel and to not have to drive through the city. 

Happy Hour Adventures

It was only fitting to go to my first after work happy hour with Kelly, my person. If you don't know what person means, then you didn't go through a Grey's obsession phase like I did in undergrad. Technically my first after work happy hour was with her boyfriend, Alex, at the Pug, but I drank diet soda and vented stress to him while he watched a DC United game so I don't know if that really counts. Kelly and I met at Union Station and she had white wine while I drank blood orange bellinis. We talked about all the things you talk to your person about when you haven't had person time in a while: families, dads, friends, work, money, relationships, 'remember when' stories, everyone who has gotten married or pregnant since we last spoke, and getting a house together.....the usual. Of course, we had to have an adventure getting back to NE after. It involved waiting for a bus, walking to meet another bus, me remembering I left my bag at the bar, waiting in line for a cab...I think Alex was relieved when we finally showed up. We were tired, but so happy and I suppose that's the point of a happy hour.

This Weekend

I am running a Zombie 5k this weekend. I will both be a zombie and running from zombies so that should be fun and/or terrifying. I also have to go to a Halloween party and dress up as something. I am still not decided between Rogue, Glinda the Good Witch, a cheerleader (I stole my sister's old high school uniform), or I don't know....I'm bad at the costume thing.

This Is How You Do a 10K

This past weekend, Mike, Kelly, Alex, and I roadtripped to West Virginia for a 10k race in Harper's Ferry. This was actually the first race I had signed up for since last December's Christmastown Dash and, despite the lack of training and 5am wake-up time, I was super excited. DC has no mountains so Fall here just doesn't have the same Fall feeling that being in the mountains brings. Well, we were definitely in the mountains.

The Oatmeal Bowl: I was trying very hard to be extra prepared for the race so I may have made an entire giant bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter, milk, and raisins to take along with us in the car. It was not in tupperware or anything. I seriously just rolled up to their car with a bowl of oatmeal in tow. Pretty silly after realizing Kelly and Alex had packed bagels and cream cheese, but I ate all of my oatmeal for the whole grains which would keep me full and energized far into the race! I may have been made fun of, but I think my pace speaks for itself:)

Backseat kids so excited to be up at 5am!

Even though we gave ourselves extra time to get to the race by leaving super early on Saturday morning, we were a little stressed out when Alex's GPS stopped working due to lack of cell service and  the race organization's instructions seemed like they weren't really written for people coming from out of town. Oh well, we made it to the starting line, woke ourselves up a little more in the 30 degree weather, and I had time to chug some coffee down quickly before the race began!

Me chugging coffee while Alex gets pumped up.

Also crucial to this entire day was each of us downloading a playlist that Mike had made for the group so we could sync it with our run. That way, even if we got separated with our different paces, we would still feel like we were running together. (We had a few close calls where we thought one of us had downloaded it incorrectly, but we all managed to get the entire playlist.) Running to a synced playlist has been on my to-do list for a while now so I was extremely excited for this!

Harper's Ferry 10K Epic Mix:


Theme from Requiem for a Dream       6:31  
We're All In This Together               3:56 High School Musical  
Born To Run                                       4:32 Bruce Springsteen
Be A Man                                       3:30 Mulan
Chariots of Fire                               3:34
Eye of the Tiger                               4:11 Rocky
Run This Town                               4:36 Rihanna and Kanye
I Ran                                               3:57 A Flock of Seagulls
Shake It Out                                       4:38 Florence + The Machine
Go the Distance                               4:33 Michael Bolton
Stronger                                               4:26 Kanye West
Time is Running Out                       3:56 Muse
I'll Run                                               3:49 The Cab
Neverending Story                               3:41 Limahl
Survivor                                               4:09 Destiny's Child
We are the Champions                       3:11 Queen

I obviously was the one who suggest the Flo-Flo song which had been perfectly placed because I hit it almost halfway through my race. The Cab's "I'll Run" was a complete surprise to me. This was the first hit song from a band I showed Alex when we were in undergrad.....one of the few bands I have actually introduced Alex to rather than the other way around:) I almost mentioned adding this song to Mike, but figured no one would have it. Thankfully, Alex suggested it! It's one of my favorite running songs and it came on while I was in my last mile. I crossed the finished line as that song ended:)

Impressions Before and During Race: It was a GORGEOUS course. It was more cold than any of my training runs in DC (under 40 degrees the whole time). I was wearing fleece leggings, a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, and a running half-zip. I got hot on top about a quarter through the race, but just rolled up my sleeves.

Results: This is the link to the results website where you can view the full results. I got 5th place in my age group (20-29...hard to believe I'm right in the middle of that) out of 66 women! What is really interesting/funny is that Mike also got exactly 5th place in his age group (20-29 males). I averaged 8:22/mile which I believe is faster than my pace in any other previous race. Mike averaged 7:43/mile. I definitely ran more than him leading up to the race, but I'm telling myself he is just naturally talented at...everything....so I shouldn't feel bad. :)

Team Harper's ferry 10k Roadtrip:) Reppin WM and DC!

KELSEY HUTCHESON

DIVISION:  10K

Gender:  F         Age:  25

Finish Time:   51:53.5

Pace:    8:22

Age Rank:    5 F-20 to 29

Impressions After Race: I attribute my awesome race time to the amazing playlist (I've always said with the right playlist, I would run forever), to really great racing company, to the cold (makes you want to run faster to keep warm, I think), to great scenery, to the caffeine I drank right before running, and to the oatmeal I had for breakfast of course.

Immediately after the race, we were directed to free pizza, bagels, bananas, oranges, and drinks courtesy of the racing organization. I didn't eat pizza because I just felt I couldn't stomach it, but I had two Panera bagels (they had cinnamon crunch!). Also, we immediately sought out our free beer from the beer garden offered after the race. It was hosted by a Bavarian-style in on the top of a hillside in the area with a crazy good view of Harper's Ferry. I got a Bud Light because I couldn't think about drinking a darker beer right after a race and because the Bud Light guy seemed nice. The sun toasted me back to post-race warmth levels and sitting on that hillside drinking beer in the sun with endorphins flowing through my blood was seriously one of the most peaceful and rewarding moments I have in my memory. It made the 6 miles so worth it.

Step 1) Register. Step 2) Beer.

After the race and driving back to DC, we obviously we were all dead, but we had managed to run 6 miles and chase them with beer before noon! I felt like I didn't have to do anything because I had already been so productive. (Note to self: You should do the waking-up-super-early-to-run thing more. I know you won't. But you should.)

Mike, Kelly, Alex, and I already have our eyes set on our next race. A Tower of Terror 10-miler at Disney next Fall?!?! Guess I'd better start committing to those morning runs.

Much-needed weekend of rest coming up. Hope everyone has a great one!

What I'm Thankful for this Thursday

1) Gray, dreary fall days. Kim took this picture of me after the Trucktoberfest we went to in September. It was obviously not cool enough for Fall yet, but it was starting to get dreary. Any other time of the year, gray/dreary days make me emo and tired. They still make me tired in the Fall, but I love the color mix of bright leaves and gray skies in the Fall, especially when wet leaves are matted to the ground like the aftermath of a party. It feels like someone laid out a confetti path for you to run or walk on.

Town Mouse.

2) Sharing meals.  Over a week ago, I was randomly invited over to Mike's house for Brie burgers with caramelized onions (cooked outside on the grill) and cheesy scalloped potatoes. When I went home this past weekend, I cooked Shauna's recipe from her book and it turned out amazing! Although, I think it could have been better if it wasn't my first time cooking meat. Rick (my stepdad) stepped in to help me at the last-minute and also sent me back to DC with a care package of soup and brownie mix! The Monday after I got back into the city, Mike and I went to a Columbus Day dinner party at his friend Margaret's where she served sweet potato casserole and  cheese fondue (I cut the apples!). There is something about preparing and sharing food with others that I think brings people together and I've recently become very thankful for those moments because they are something very special.

3) Les Mills classes. When I went home, I had the opportunity to go to BodyPump and BodyFlow after not having been able to do fitness classes for a while. I think sometimes you don't realize how much you've missed something until you get to experience the rush of it again. The BodyFlow class I took (Les Mills version of tai chi/yoga/pilates combo class) featured "Somebody that I Used to Know", "Paradise", "Shake It Out", and "Your Song". I could not have picked a more perfect playlist if I had choreographed the class myself and I am certain that was a sign to find time and money to fit these classes back into my own life.

4) Boyfriends who know what they're doing. The closet story: You know when Mr. Big gives Carrie her own huge closet or buys the house with it or something? Well, my boyfriend built me a closet. When my plastic costume rack posing as a closet broke, I was just like "Wah, we can't fix it" and Mike the Builder was like "Yes, I can". Then we went to Home Depot where he picked out all of the things that we needed like:  raw materials! Like screws and wood and stuff. And then I went upstairs to cook a frozen pizza because that's the only thing I felt like I had control over in the moment. Even when I came downstairs and did my best to distract his building project, I found out I had a brand new walk-in closet with space enough for all of my things!:) The tire pressure story: Believe it or not, this same man also found it in his heart to assist me with a chore I'd been complaining for the past 2 weeks I did not know how to complete: filling up my tires with air. It involved two things I didn't have: a tire pressure gauge and quarters. We went to Auto Zone for the gauge and to a gas station where he swiftly fixed all of my tires and did his best to give me a tutorial at the same time. He even let me take the caps off the tire thingies where you put the air in so that I felt useful!

Yay!

5) Nice parking attendants/drivers. The plan was to go to another Les Mills class on Columbus day and keep my workout streak alive, but I got a little too confident in my city navigation skills and could not find street parking downtown anywhere. I guess I should have known considering the Gold's Gym was right near the Capitol Building. I opted for a parking garage thinking either they wouldn't charge because it was a holiday or they couldn't charge that much considering I was only going to be there for one class. Right? Wrong. It was $16.00 for an hour and 15 min when I left the garage. The parking attendant was actually super nice and, upon seeing I was distraught to pay that much, explained how that is the way that the business makes its money and so on. Even if it still pained me to pay that much just to park somewhere, having someone just empathize takes a little bit of the sting out of it. Also, DC drivers never ever let you in when you are driving and need to merge in front of them, but today a man saw me and let me go in front of him and I really appreciated that.

6) Yard sales. I spent $10.00 in cash at a yard sale when I was home and got 2 gorgeous pillows, a side table, a toothbrush holder, a trash can, a mirror, and a shirt. Also the other day when I was running with Mike, I also found a table! Yay for yard sales.


7) Music. I have not had a lot of time to listen to a ton of new music lately, but I plan on changing that. Other than working out, I think listening to music is the thing which has the strongest positive effect on my mood. It is even harder to separate the two when you consider that I'm often listening to music while working out. Lately I've been into Mumford and Sons' 'Babel', rediscovering Coldplay's 'Mylo Xyloto' that I didn't care for when it came out, and putting Bon Iver on repeat while I'm at work. I have also weirdly been into watching The Voice on television, though I can' remember the last time I watched a singing competition show.

8) This Weekend. This weekend hasn't even happened yet. However, Mike, Kelly, Alex, and I are running a 10k in beautiful Harper's Ferry and I already know I will be incredibly thankful for surviving those 6.2 miles:)

The Exciting News I Got Yesterday!

Well, if you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed me tweeting about some random recipe assignment and not really known what I was talking about.

Kelsey ‏@kelsnoel 

You can also pre-order her book here: http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Wine-Finding-Community-Around/dp/0310328179 … Apparently I get my name in it as an official recipe tester!:)#breadandwine

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26 SepKelsey ‏@kelsnoel 

AH! I get to test a recipe for @sniequist's "Bread & Wine" (my favorite author's upcoming book)! Many will benefit from this assignment.

I think it was Tuesday that my favorite author (who I follow on Twitter and quote a lot everywhere) tweeted a link to her blog calling for recipe testers for her upcoming book.

I have been looking forward to this book (which is her first cookbook-ish book with recipes) since I knew she was working on it and of course I jumped at the chance to participate. Also: I say "cookbook-ish" it will also include Shauna's essays and stories that I have come to love this author for. Most of the recipes I believe will share a story around them. Anyway, I found out yesterday that I get to be one of the testers (here is how Shauna chose them)! I didn't make a request for a special type of recipe, though I did her assistant know I'm a total newb when it comes to cooking meat. I think that is why she sent me a recipe for meat:)......a recipe for pork tenderloin that sounds amazing. And, though I fear I may mess it up, I am so excited to give feedback on the recipe and to hopefully have a yummy meal to share and enjoy!

I won't include the specific recipe title or the recipe because I want to respect Shauna's work and the book is not due out until April of next year, but I will link to the pre-order of the book here!

I was first introduced to Shauna Niequist by Megan who blogs at Casita Cory. Megan was actually also the first person to introduce me to Donald Miller, another one of my favorite authors, in a Tribe Cheerleading small group my freshman year. When I was in graduate school, Megan (who was working in Williamsburg and a part-time fitness instructor at the Rec) started another small group with some fitness instructors and undergrad girls. We read Shauna's first book, Cold Tangerines, together and discussed it every Wednesday over Trader Joe's snacks and coffee. In the craziness of graduate school, something about Shauna's writing healed me and gave me a place to think about what really mattered and to ask myself the hard questions without needing to find immediate answers to them. Shauna's writing is described as this on her website: "Shauna writes about the beautiful and broken moments of everyday life--friendship, family, faith, food, marriage, love, babies, books, celebration, heartache, and all the other things that shape us, delight us, and reveal to us the heart of God." Unlike any style of writing I've ever experienced before, her voice is extremely genuine, comforting, and honest. Her books always re-center me whenever I'm feeling out of balance.

This past Christmas, when my sister asked what I wanted for Christmas, Shauna's 2nd book, Bittersweet, was what I asked for. It has been a slower read than Cold Tangerines mostly because a lot of it is about motherhood, but I still read it whenever I need a self-care moment and, when I am done with it, I may go back and reread Cold Tangerines.

I will leave you with one of my favorite essays from Shauna in her book Bittersweet called Twenty-Five:
http://www.iamaxis.org/twenty-five/


Weekend is so close!

Food Trucks and Adventures in Adulthood

This past weekend was a grand one. After work, my youngest sister arrived bringing me lots of goodies from home like coats! (yay fall wordrobe), books, and framed pictures to hang up in my space (some prints of photos she has taken). I know. She's the best.

After her arrival, we immediately headed to Trucktoberfest (a gathering of DC food trucks outside Union Market (a DC Farmers' Market)). We met Alex and Mike there who were already well into their 2nd course. They had already also discovered that sharing is the best way to experience a food truck festival. That way you get to try lots of things:) So Kim and I had some catching up to do. Before the day was over, between all of us, we had tried pork barbeque, a chorizo sausage sub, mango lassi, chicken tacos, ice cream cookie sandwiches, an apple cider float, and beer.

The boys devouring our ice cream cookie sandwiches. My favorite combination was gingersnap with black cherry ice cream.

Aviators....

I think we got extra ice cream because Mike knew the guy who runs the cookie truck. Yay!

Then the ice cream melted. Then Mike told someone to drink it. No takers, so Mike did the job himself.

One apple cider float. Four straws.

On Sunday, I had an adventure taking Rupert to the vet. His tummy had not been feeling well. I hate driving to new places in the city. Rupert hates the vet. It was a recipe for an adventure. 

Mommy, why you do this?

Thankfully, I found the Petsmart okay. There's even a parking garage undereath it! And even though, the trip with Rupert was a little chaotic, I was rewarded by finding a Trader Joe's across the street from the Petsmart! And now I know where the nearest Trader Joe's is to my house. It's technically in Maryland, but that's okay.

Rupert and my Wren building blanket. We were both exhausted after that trip.

Monday was my day off and I went to the doctor as well as the DMV. If you think going to the DMV is bad, it is a whole other bad thing in DC. There is a long story (about how I ended up at the DMV without my cell phone because I thought the police officer was telling me phones weren't allowed inside the building when actually she was probably talking about the swiss army knife on my keychain) that I won't go into that much because it was just so so silly. I did get time to read a book without the distraction of a cell phone, though, and I did get my parking pass for the next 6 months (of course the price was $35.00 higher than listed on the website).

In other news, I had something really exciting happen to me today that I'll hopefully have time to blog about in my next blog post! Get excited:)