Just a Typical Work Day

Today, my Caps obsessed co-worker got a group of us together to go watch the Caps practice on our lunch break. (For those that don't know the Caps are the Capitals, DC's hockey team).




Then we went to Panera and ate back at the office. Not bad for a Wednesday afternoon.

I'm off to Chicago tomorrow, and won't be back in town until after New Years, so I probably won't be updating until then. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Plans Shake-Up

I leave for Chicago on Thursday December 23rd to celebrate Christmas with the family. This year there will be different, mainly because there have been snafus along the way so far:

- Not a snafu, in fact quite the opposite, but I found out last night my roommate Emily and I are randomly on the same flight out there!
- My sister and my mom are on their way back from India today, where they went for my sister's friends' wedding. They are stuck in Frankfurt, Germany for the next 3 days due to weather, so they won't be arriving home until Christmas Eve
- Another sister isn't coming home at all for Christmas. She has to work (didn't really understand the whole story on why she couldn't come), but will be spending Christmas with her boyfriend's family in Pennsylvania. She also didn't make it home for Thanksgiving due to her friends wedding.

This is the 1st year ever that we will all not be together for Christmas. It will be the start, I think, of us not all being together for the Holidays, something I am not yet prepared for.

This Just In

This Just In, and it's a BIG one! I just heard that NeNe Leakes from Real Housewives of Atlanta is PREGNANT! She is two months along (usually you don't tell people until at least 3 months, which makes me a bit skeptical). As if this story wasn't juicy enough, apparently she isn't sure who the father is - it's either her husband Gregg Leakes (who last I heard she was divorcing), or the guy she's been dating NFL player Charles Grant (pictured).

If this is true, this means that both Kim and NeNe are preggers - and both due just a few months apart! Wow!

Zoo Lights

Sunday evening I went to Zoo Lights. I had never been before so I was super excited to go. I also couldn't believe that it was FREE! The weather was a bit chilly, but other than that it was awesome. There was a petting zoo with goats, llamas, and cows, a train set, a gingerbread house competition, and of course Christmas Lights!

Here are some pictures:

Weekend Recap - Kids Edition

The weekend started off with a surprise birthday party for my friend Erin (pictured) and Sheela. They were completely shocked when they entered a room full of their friends! You're probably what this has to do with kids - the party was kid-themed, as in everything you want at your party when you were 5 - princesses, goodie bags, pin the tail on the donkey, spoons tournament, etc.

Saturday morning we were supposed to watch the Arsenal vs. Stoke City game, but due to mass amounts of snow in London, the game was postponed. So the boyfriend and I had a relaxing morning, and I helped my roommates on a mass cleaning / re-organization of the kitchen. Then we headed downtown to the Spy Museum, which was a good time. Then we went to dinner, and went a friend's house for a birthday celebration which was fun and relaxing. They just had a baby in October, so there was lots of baby-holding time (my favorite!).

Sunday I had a birthday brunch with Erin, and then headed off to watch the boyfriend's soccer game. It was fun, but cold, and they won, which was all nice, except when the other team's goalie illegally slide tackled the boyfriend while he was in mid-jump, causing him to land smack on his face on the cold turf. His face is now all busted up, mainly under his left eye, where it's swollen and scratched up. The poor thing - every time I look at him, I feel so bad for him because I know how much it hurts and how much of a wimp I would be if that happened to me. The weekend concluded with us going to Zoo Lights with my old co-worker Emily, her son Andrew, and her mom. It was so nice to catch up, and see how much Andrew has grown!

Now it's back to work, but thankfully it's a short week! I'm leaving on Thursday afternoon for Chicago, hooray! Which means, only 3 more days (now 2 1/2) and then I'm off until the New Year!

Tuesday Tip

When we were in New York, the boyfriend and I popped into Crumbs Bakery to get a quick snack while we took refuge from the rain. Since Crumbs Bakery has opened up in DC (I know of one that opened up downtown by Metro Center, and another one is opening up very soon in Clarendon), I've heard great things about it but hadn't yet tried it. Seeing as I wasn't very hungry, the boyfriend decided to get a Black and White Cookie, and given the size of the cookie, I said I would just have a few bites of his cookie. After taking just one bite of the cookie, I couldn't stop eating it. After I devoured way more than half of the cookie, I went back for another one for us to split, and I also got some tea (pictured). The tea was insanely hot when I first got it, but that was my only complaint. It was amazing and delicious, but more importantly had this super fancy lid where there's a piece that slides over the whole for drinking, which might have accounted for the hotness. Basically, you have to go to Crumbs Bakery if you've never been before. But don't be mad at me when you can't stop eating all their food there.

Teen Mom 2 Preview

I was reading People Online (getting the dirt on Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds), when I stumbled this article discussing the new stars of Teen Mom 2:

• CHELSEA: Raising a daughter, Aubree. Chelsea is still involved with her baby's father, Adam, but it's a tumultuous relationship – and one that Chelsea's friends and family would like to see end. A popular softball star, Chelsea dropped out of high school during her senior year while she was pregnant. The show will follow Chelsea as she moves into a new place with her best friend and dreams of enrolling in beauty school.

• JENELLE: Raising a son, Jace. The father is completely out of the picture, leaving Jenelle to rely on her own mother, Barbara, for parenting help. Jenelle is a party girl, and has trouble reconciling that part of her life with her mothering duties. Eventually, Barbara takes matters into her own hands and sues her daughter for custody of Jace. Meanwhile, Jenelle enrolls in college courses, works to support herself.

• KAILYN: Raising a son, Isaac. Kailyn's boyfriend Jo and his family supported her throughout the pregnancy and even took her in after Kailyn's mother left her with no place to go. But when Kailyn and Jo's relationship suffers, she moves into the basement as she juggles two part-time jobs and a full course load at community college.

• LEAH: Raising twin girls, Alianna and Aleeah. Leah has been trying to make things work with the girls' father, Corey, but they broke up after she cheated on him with an ex-boyfriend. When Leah discovers that one of the babies is dealing with health issues, her bond with Corey strengthens and they try to reconcile.

Teen Mom 2 premieres Jan. 11 (10 p.m. ET) on MTV.

This Just In

I was chatting with my friend Jenna earlier when she informed me that Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds are splitting up. I was so surprised! I'm personally not a huge Scarlett Johansson fan, I think she is a good actress and all that, but that she is only pretty when she is supposed to be playing a normal person (because compared to a normal person, she is pretty), and that when she is all dressed up she doesn't look nearly as good.

I think she got married way too young (she was 24). They claim that they "grew apart", especially since they have spent most of their marriage apart due to their careers. I'm sad that they split up, I always hate to hear of marriages not working out....but this means Ryan Reynolds is available!

In other news, Jenna also informed me that Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron have broken up. People tell me I'm wrong about this, but I've always believed their relationship has just been a sham. I'm not sure if it's cause I think he's gay and therefore wouldn't be dating a girl, or that they are way too into themselves to ever have a real relationship with another person, or that they just would never date each other. Not sure what it is, but I've always felt this way. So, I'm not very surprised to hear that have broken up, but that's probably just me.

My Travels: New York Addition

As promised, I have a recap and pictures from my trip to New York:

We got to the bus stop early, so we waited around for a bit:


But, we got the best seats in the house (top row, front seat). Going through the Lincoln Tunnel:


This was the view from our hotel room. Yup, that's the Chrysler Building!


Saturday morning, we rode the subway:


Hooray, we made it to our destination:


Which was the Brooklyn Bridge:


After taking our obligatory jumping pictures:



We shopped, ate, walked around, and stumbled upon this:


And then we hit up the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree:


And Times Square:


The next day, it was pouring rain, so we tried to spend most of it indoors. We went to Madison Square Garden and saw the Knicks take on the Nuggets (I'm sporting a Knicks shirt I picked up at the NBA store the day before):


I think this picture sums up the trip:


All in all it was an amazing time! Many thanks to my little sis for making it all happen, you're the best! Hope you enjoyed the recap!

Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. So today isn't exactly raining, but I awoke to a dusting of snow this morning, so that counts, right? Anyway, New York was so much fun! I will update tomorrow (hopefully) with pictures and all that we did. After being on vacation all weekend, it was so hard to get up this morning. Good thing I have no plans tonight so I will be lounging and relaxing.

Off to the Big Apple

The boyfriend and I are headed to New York City tonight after work. So excited and really can't wait! I will have updates and pictures upon my return.

Bike Collecting

Last year for my birthday, my boyfriend bought me a bike. A vintage cruiser bike with fenders and a rack:


At the time, he had a vintage road bike:


But after seeing me on my cruiser, he decided he wanted on too:


Then, I decided I wanted a road bike, so I bought a Terry bike:


Finally, the boyfriend decided he wanted to build a fixed gear bike (and yes, he really did build this thing from scratch):


Wonder how long until I decide I want a fixed gear...

While we're walking down memory lane, a year ago today I was at my 1st week at my last job (which I ended up hating) and am so thankful that I now have my current job (that I plan on staying at for a long time). 3 years ago today, I was prepping for my move from Cleveland to DC. Taking a huge gamble on quitting my 1st job out of college to move to DC only knowing 2 people, and moving here with no job lined up. 3 years later, it's all worked out wonderfully - after bopping around a bit, I have an awesome job that I love, a wonderful boyfriend I would have never met if I hadn't moved (or would we...), an awesome group of friends, and of course 3 amazing roommates. Wonder where I'll be 3 years from today?

Interesting Article

I read this very interesting on tbd this morning all about stolen iPhones: http://www.tbd.com/articles/2010/12/stolen-iphones-got-robbed-sorry-you-re-on-your-own-37111.html

The gist of the article is that people are getting their iPhones stolen from them in the DC area, mostly from people either on or near a metro station (or sometimes just walking down the street), with the phone being snatched out of their hand. The article then goes to explain that neither ATT nor Apple seem to be doing anything to stop this. They conclude that if either company took any step towards making reported stolen iPhones unable to be reactivated, then this would eliminate these thieves being able to sell these phones in the black market, and iPhone crimes would significantly decrease.

Makes sense, and you're probably wondering why they haven't taken any steps to thwart this underground market. Well, let's say you're on the metro and next thing you know the doors are closing and your phone is being ripped out of your hand and then the doors shut and you can't chase after the thief. What do you do? Go buy another phone for $600 (like I did). Apple now makes more money. Then what happens to your stolen phone. It gets wiped clean, and sold to someone who sells it to someone else. They go to ATT and start a plan, 2-year minimum. ATT now makes more money. Seems like the perfect scheme to me. And to top matters off, I was one of those suckers.

Is it Friday Yet?

Ugh this week has been rough. Not anything in particular bad happened, just a whole lot of blah. After an unseasonably warm fall, it suddenly turned to winter this week - highs in the low 30s, but with a wind chill in the 10s. You feel like you are going to blown over when you are walking outside, and you can hear the wind just howling outside and shaking our house (it's actually kinda scary). My bedroom has 2 sets of windows. 1 set has the heater under it, and the other set is right next to my bed and has the A/C unit in it. Every time the wind blows, I can feel it blowing right into my room (my thermometer says its 59 degrees in my room) . I thought it was coming in through the A/C unit, so I hung a blanket up over it to help block the wind. Well, that only partially helped, but it seems to be the entire window that is actually leaking air. I purchased film for my windows that is supposed to help with this very issue, but it won't be here for a few days. In the meantime, I pulled my bed out into the middle of the room to be farther away from the draft, which made for a much better night's sleep. Needless to say, I wish I was here right now:


Tonight I'm going to my 2nd kickboxing class, and I'm super excited to kick some butt there. I just hope I'm not as sore as last time.

Also, the boyfriend and I are headed to New York City to celebrate our 1 1/2 year anniversary! I'm so excited to see the city decked out in Christmas. This is all thanks to my wonderful sister who let me use her hotel points for *2 free nights* in a hotel in downtown NYC. Can you believe this! I really can't wait!

Birthday Weekend Recap

I have so much to update on, but I was so busy last week. I had the most fabulous rest of my birthday week!

Tuesday was the birthday, and Wednesday night I went to my 1st kick-boxing class. They told me to come in for an intro class, where I would learn the proper techniques, but then surprised me when I got there by saying that I would attending the hour long class, which I was totally mentally unprepared for. The class itself was awesome - a nice mix of pushing you, but not pushing you too hard where you just want to give up. And learning some awesome self-defense while getting a good workout is an added bonus. The only drawback was I was so sore. My thighs were burning after the workout, and it hurt to bend over all week. But I plan on going again this Wednesday, so wish me luck!

Thursday was my company's Holiday Party. We left work a bit early to attend a cooking class. We had a demonstration, and then broke up into teams of 4 (randomly assigned), and then cooked 6 different dishes (Trout Deviled Eggs, Phyllo Samosas, Veggie Pot-stickers, Warm Potato Salad (made with sweet potatoes), Bread Pudding, and Tiramisu). It was such a fun time. Then we went to the hotel next door for drinks, and then my co-worker Heather and I had enough food and drinks, so we headed home. It was such a fun time, and a great bonding experience for the group. And, best of all, we got snazzy aprons with our company's name on them.

Friday was my company's 1st Annual Day of Service, and by "day" of service, they actually meant 2 hours. We got to choose between 3 preojcts: cleaning up a stream we adopted, throwing a Holiday Party at a daycare for 4 year olds, or making care packages for the troops. The stream clean-up sounded like fun, but it was a high of 39 that day so that was out. The care packages sounded like fun, but it meant staying back at the office, and I love little kids, so I signed up for the daycare. The daycare was for under-privileged kids whose parents couldn't afford regular day care. Not only the kids but the teachers were so happy to see us! We had them color pictures, create snowflakes which they decorated, and had a pizza party. It was so much fun, but kids are so exhausting to be around. We were only there for 2 hours, but I was wiped afterward. We came back to the office and my boss treated our group to lunch. Then I did a bit of work, and was off for the rest of the afternoon. Every Friday should be like that!

Friday night I wanted to watch Miami University play in the MAC Championship game, so I invited a few friends over. After a few cancellations and the boyfriend having to work late, it ended up being me and my roommate Emily for the majority of the night, which was super fun. Thanks again for celebrating with me Emily. And Miami won, which was awesome! Hooray!

Saturday I was supposed to go watch the boyfriend play in his soccer team's Championship Tournament, but it was way too cold to sit outside, so I opted to just sleep all day and not get out of bed until 2pm. The boyfriend's team is always in 1st place in their division. They always make it to the championships, but can never win to take home all the glory. I thought this would be their year, but it wasn't (they got 2nd). Maybe if I had been there....

The boyfriend planned on taking me ice skating on Saturday night for a romantic date to celebrate my birthday. But, I said it was too cold, so we ended up staying in and watching movies all night, which was a great time.

For my presents, I received a Browns jersey, and the red mittens from the Vancouver Olympics. However, I ruined his gift giving surprises, because he had planned on giving me the Jersey Thursday morning, because Thursday is jersey day in the office. I told him I wasn't wearing a jersey that day because it was our Holiday Party, so I wanted to look a little nicer. He had also planned on giving me the mittens before we went ice skating on Saturday.

Sunday was my soccer teams playoff game. It was about 25 degrees outside with the wind chill, and I cannot begin to explain how cold and strong the wind was. We got our butts kicked in the game, but it was still fun, and was glad to have the boyfriend cheering me on! After the game, we unthawed at home and just watched football the rest of the day (yay Browns and Rams!)