Hurricane Irene

After experiencing my first earthquake earlier this week, Mother Nature thought it seemed fitting to cap the weekend off with my first hurricane, Hurricane Irene. Luckily both ended up only leaving minor damage to the DC area and I am just fine.

The boyfriend and I decided to stock up on some essentials on Saturday early afternoon so we hit up the local grocery store which was packed, but not nearly as packed as the 2010 Blizzard. It started raining in the afternoon and pretty much just rained and drizzled all day long. We did venture out to Starbucks because I wanted to get out and get a change of scenery, which was fun and provided some great people watching. After that we just stayed inside all day and watched Netflix movies.

When I woke up I didn't know what I was expecting but everything was fine. The world hadn't ended, the power was on, the house was still there. It was all good. Now I can tell my grandkids about how I experienced my first Earthquake and Hurricane in the same week.

Earthquake

Earlier today I was sitting at work when all of a sudden I felt this shaking. It felt like someone was rolling a cart around overhead. Then it got even more intense and lasted for what felt like a few minutes but probably was more like 30 seconds. All my co-workers were looking around at each other silently asking "you feel that too, right?". Even though I had never been in one before, I knew what it was - an earthquake! I was thinking "I don't know what to do" when all of a sudden I heard a enormous roar - it sounded like a gigantic bookshelf crashing over.  I heard girls scream, and then the next thing I know I was running down the stairs as fast as I could for the outside. The office congregated across the street, in our fire drill meeting spot, and then everyone pulled out theirs phones confirming it was indeed an earthquake.

I tried to call my mom to tell her I was ok but the circuits weren't working. I texted my loved ones in the area to make sure they were ok too. Everyone was. Phew. Even my friend Jenna felt it all the way in Columbus (she texted to make sure I was ok). They wouldn't let us back in the building because they were making sure it was structurally sound. Turns out that wasn't a bookshelf crashing down, it was a "structural noise" - scary! A bunch of us headed over to Starbucks to kill some time. After about 45 minutes they let us back inside and my co-worker told us we could go work from home if we were shaken up. Well at my office that meant let's go out and get a drink, so I headed home to make sure all was ok on the homefront.

Only thing that was awry were some of my picture frames fell over:

Missing 2 frames

One fell forward from the quake. Other one fell behind. Neither were broken.

All better! 

So that was my first ever experience with an earthquake. I don't know if I'll be better prepared if I happen to be in one again, but I do know that I was extremely scared. I really thought the building was going to collapse.  So glad there wasn't anything more serious going on and no one was hurt! Really makes you think how it could all be over in a second.....

Get Your Act Together

Last night I was blissfully sleeping when I was awakened by my phone ringing at 5am on the dot. I looked over at it and saw that it was from a 1-800 number and my immediate reaction was to get pissed for some telemarketer calling me at an insanely early hour. Then I thought I guess I should answer since you never know.

I answer it to hear a recording from Delta Airlines telling me my flight has changed for my trip today from BWI to Detroit, but that my trip details from Detroit to Fort Wayne, Indiana "has been preserved". I was utterly confused considering that I did not book a flight for that day and certainly had no plans to be visiting Fort Wayne.

I start running through possibilities in my head about what this could possible be about. I logged into American Express to make sure no one was using my card fraudulently, but there was none. Then I remembered my sister telling me she was going to that area this weekend, but I was totally confused as to why Delta would be calling ME about it. I didn't want to call her and wake her since it was 5am so I sent her a text saying that if she was flying to Fort Wayne today she should call Delta since her flight changed. She texted me back an hour later saying "thanks" so I'm still not sure if that call was actually about her flight or what.

As a side note, Delta really needs to get their act together. What's this business about changing the flight plans for a flight 4 hours before the flight? Since I am not the one who actually booked the trip I have no idea what the original itinerary was (I only know what the new itinerary is) I can't tell what exactly changed - the airport, the flight time, the connecting city - but I do know that they should have this figured out 4 hours before the flight took off. Also, how is calling the person with an automated recording the best way to inform someone of their flight changes. If I needed to write that information down, being awoken in the middle of the night is not when I would have been able to write down the important details the recording was telling me (the recording just told me my new flight details and then hung up) - I think speaking to an actual human being, or at least having the option to, would have been most efficient.

Lastly, I don't have the best opinion of these "automatic re-bookings" that take place. Although it wasn't a Delta flight, when my friend Jenna and I were flying to London together, we booked a flight that went from Columbus (where Jenna lives) to DC (where I live) to London. After we made the reservations, Jenna got a similar automated call (although this call came months before our flight) that Columbus to DC portion of the flight had been cancelled so they re-booked her on another flight from Columbus to DC. Only problem was the new flight arrived in DC after our flight from DC to London took off. Don't you think that's something they should be looking for when changing your flight. There ended up being no other flights from Columbus to DC that morning, so she came in the night before and then we went to the airport together so it ended up all working out but it was still quite annoying.

The End of another Era

A few weeks ago I noticed that my soccer cleats were starting to fall apart. I purchased these cleats last year from a consignment store for $5, so I wasn't too surprised. I taped them up but knew this wouldn't last too long (the tape is black so it's hard to tell). These cleats had lasted me through a summer season, a fall season, a winter season, a spring season, and most of this current summer season. So many games, so many memories!

Saturday afternoon (after watching the Arsenal game), the boyfriend and I ventured out to a soccer store in search of new cleats. After taking a measurement of my foot at the store, it was determined that I was a size 4 in kids sizes, so I was shown the kids wall of cleats to choose from. (Side note: I don't know how these soccer shoe sizes work cause I usually wear a size 5 1/2, not a 4). After trying on a few pairs, I went with these:

Since the cleats were WAY cheaper than I thought (hooray for small feet and cheap children's shoes) I also decided to get a pair of turf shoes as well (because my Sunday league plays all their games on turf fields), so I also purchased these:

To cap it all off, I also purchased the US team's kit (jersey and shorts combo) because it was also cheaper in the Youth sizes and why not. Here is the top:

All of this for around $100, not bad at all right! Great success. I wore my old cleats for the last time at my Sunday team's playoff game. We ended up loosing 1-0, but I thought it was only right to end the season with the shoes that I began it with. Can't wait to break in the new cleats tonight at pick up :)

Surprises!

Earlier this week I opened the mailbox to see this:

And when I opened it, I found that the boyfriend had made me this:

It is a photo book he made on Shutterfly of pictures from Summer 2011. It has different adventures we have had together so far this summer and it was so sweet of him to surprise me with it. He really is wonderful!

The End of an Era

Over the weekend, while riding the bus in the rain while on my way to my soccer game, I had my SmarTrip card in my hand while I was wrapping up my umbrella when the card suddenly snapped in my hand. I let out an loud gasp because although the card hadn't snapped completely in half, I knew it wouldn't work anymore.

For those of you who aren't from DC, a SmarTrip card is a reusable card that you use to board the metro and the buses in the area. I bought my card over 3 years ago when I first moved to DC and have had it ever since. I used to use it every single day, when I took the metro to work, and even now I still use it a few times a week.

Yesterday I had to pay cash for the bus in order to get home from my soccer game, something I have never done before. Today I went to CVS to buy a new card (it costs $10 but the card comes with $5 loaded on it) so I would have something to use in the meantime. As much as I complain about WMATA (the DC transportation system company), I have to give them props on their website for the SmarTrip cards. Since I already had my card registered, I just went online and reported the card as damaged and they will supposedly transfer the balance to a new card and mail the new card to me. Let's see if it really is that easy.

The Big Reveal

 So yesterday was the big day - the day of my haircut! It was such an amazing experience at the salon. My stylist had lots of good pointers for me such as when you shampoo you should rub and massage the scalp to release all the oils, and when you condition you should take your hair in sections and rub the conditioner into each section until it feels like seaweed in order to get it deep into your hair, and finally to lift the portions of hair by my roots when its drying with clips pointed straight down in order to not have the top of my hair flat by my part.

When I first sat down in the chair, I what my typical hair routine was (which is not much) and then showed him this picture for the look I was going for:

Without wetting my hair or combing it, he started cutting it. He based the length off the natural flow of my curls in order for it to look the best. At the end, he had me stand up to do the finishing touches. After the cut, he took me to the wash room where he washed my hair. This part usually hurts my neck, but this washing chair thing was super fancy and comfortable and even had a nice foot rest.

After he washed and conditioned my hair, he placed towels on the floor and had me flip my hair over onto them in order to scrunch it up and put in product. Then he used special towels to blot the hair while scrunching in order to maximum the curls. Then I sat under the heater for a bit to let my hair dry, something I had never done before.

Lastly, he used this special diffuser shaped like a hand to get it completely dry (it was already almost dry). Then he sprayed on some spray stuff to set it and I was all done! Here is the final outcome:

On the metro on my way home

Side view

The back

The best part of it all is that when I did my hair by myself this morning (without the special shampoo, conditioner, diffuser and towel) my hair still looks great. Nothing is worse than when your hair cut only looks good when you are a professional stylist (something I definitely am not). I'm so happy with it!

After the haircut I came home and made myself a delicious meal of Pasta Carbonara and green beans. I used Bethenny's Skinny Girl Recipe, but then un-skinnified it by not using soy milk, turkey bacon, or whole wheat pasta. It was super easy and super tasty.

Things That Annoy Me

• When people leave time left on the microwave (how hard is it to hit clear)
• When people (who can easily take the escalator) are waiting in line for the elevator and pretend not to notice the fact that I have my bike (and HAVE to take the elevator since bikes aren't allowed on the escalators)
• Co-workers who have extremely loud phone conversations, especially in a foreign language
• People who listen to their music so loud (or have crappy headphones) that even though they have headphones in, you can still hear their music
• When your boss tells you 15 minutes before you have to leave work for a haircut appointment that they made a change to one number on a report made up of about 20,000 numbers so you have re-do the whole thing
• Tourists who don't know how to ride the metro
• When it's raining and I want to be outside

Things That Made Me Happy Today

Things that made me happy today were:

• Getting to eat lunch with the boyfriend since he works close by now
• The fact that I can walk to work
• Although the temperature is 97 out today, it isn't muggy and humid out like it has been, and its still sunny
• The sunflowers my roommate bought
• That I can wear whatever I want to work
• That I get free food at work so I can eat breakfast for free every work day
• That I can chat with my friends on gchat 
• That I have fun plans for the rest of the week to make me get excited about since it's only Tuesday

Weekend Recap - Sporty Edition 3

Can you believe it is already August? This year is really flying by! This weekend my cousin Kevin was in town so the boyfriend and I went to dinner with my sister and her fiancee in Old Town on Friday after work. Saturday morning the boyfriend and I took Kevin all over the city - first we started out at Eastern Market, where I purchased this awesome sun hat at (and then proceeded to wear all day):

After that we swung by Good Stuff Eatery to get milkshakes, since it was so hot outside. Good Stuff is owned by Spike from Top Chef . Although the restaurant is a burger joint, their milkshakes are phenomenal. 

Next we ventured over to the DC Aquarium where they were having a shark week exhibit. Here are some photos:

Shark Week

Crocs

I like turtles

Shark

Fishies

Add caption

Kevin and I at the Aquarium

After the Aquarium we headed over to the Building Museum for Kevin to check out the LEGO Exhibit. Then, of course, we played around with the LEGO's, and the lions outside.

Lion statue

Building Museum

Taking in the architecture

The boyfriends's design

The boyfriends's design

To finish the night off, we went to the Nationals vs. Mets game

Sunday early morning the boyfriend and I had a soccer game and I was playing extremely well - I came so close to scoring a goal. Then I took a nap, relaxed, rested up and the boyfriend and I played some evening tennis after it had cooled down a bit. Unfortunately my tennis game didn't go as well as the soccer game. To cap it off, we took a late evening bike ride from DC to VA in which I had an amazing ride. I was flying down the hills and shifting gears like nobody's business. The boyfriend was very impressed. Then it was off to bed after a tiring day.