Thought of the Day - Pants: Men vs Women

Today at work we were discussing men's vs women's pants and why they are not the same. Women's sizes vary from store to store while men's sizes are the same everywhere you go. Also, why do men get to have 2 sizes (the length and the width) when women only have 1? If anything, women should need the more exact sizing since their pants fit much differently than men's. It is also makes it much easier for women to buy men their pants then, since you can go to any store and know what size they are. Men don't have it that easy at all if they wanted to buy their girl a nice pair of pants. Why can't they standardize this for men and women?

Almost Friday

This week has been super busy at work but that means it's been making the days fly by. How is it already Thursday? This week has also been full of working out since when my mom was here she talked me into running a Half Marathon with her. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I said yes, but so beginth the training!

Tuesday I played pickup on the mall which was really fun. I was playing really well and the weather was just perfect out (see picture). Wednesday night my co-worker and I hit up our work gym - she ran and I did the bike for 30 minutes. Then my wonderful sister came over and brought dinner for us to eat and hang out. Tonight I'm taking a day off because it's Foreign Film Night with some of my co-workers. Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit up the gym again and then hopefully biking Saturday if it's not raining, and then soccer game on Sunday like usual.

The only question now is what race to run. I'm thinking the National Half Marathon is a good choice, it's in late March so it won't be too hot out. It's in DC so I won't have to travel (just my mom). Only problem is my mom wants a flat course which this course isn't. Maybe I can talk her into it.

I've been going a bit Groupon crazy this month - I got the deal for Whole Foods (which I used the next day) for $10 for $20, the US Weekly year subscription for $30, and I used my Pete's Apizza deal this week for lunch on the day that it expired. Nothings worse than buying a Groupon and not using it.

Today's Jersey Day at work (every Thursday during football season is Jersey Day) and I'm sporting my DC United jersey. People keep asking me if I'm going to the game tonight because I'm wearing the jersey. I respond back that I'm wearing a jersey cause it's Jersey Day and I think they think I'm nuts since I'm the only wearing a jersey today. Oh well.

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.....

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

Lobster Time

Earlier today, one of my co-workers kindly sent out an email alerting staff that the DC Lobster Truck would be in our neighborhood today for lunch. Seeing as I have yet to experience the food truck craze, and I forgot my lunch in my rush to leave in the morning, I decided to partake. Some other co-workers left earlier and said they would scope it out for us. They told us the line was long but not crazy, so we decided to venture over.

When we arrived, the line was long but not nearly as long as it gets in DC (I would think, I've never actually seen the line). While we were in line waiting, a nice gentleman informed us that there were 2 kinds of rolls - the Maine and the Connecticut. The Maine had mayo and the Connecticut had butter. At first I was going to go with butter, but then I decided to go the more classic route and go with the Maine.

Then I had to decide if I wanted to get the combo or just the roll. The combo came with potato chips and a drink and was only $3 more, so I figured if I was going to splurge on the roll, I might as well go all out. They have their own brand of Maine sodas that come in a variety of interesting flavors, and I chose the Orange Creme Soda which turned out to be an excellent choice.

After we ordered, our food came out surprisingly quick, and then we were back off to the office to eat it. The roll was so delicious and full of huge chunks of lobster - they definitely didn't skimp on that. There was some debate at the table as to which was better - the butter or the mayo, but I was extremely satisfied with my choice, especially because the mayo wasn't over-powering whatsoever. You could still taste the lobster flavor itself. With it being $18, its not something I would have very often, but it was a great treat to try on this otherwise rather dull Friday afternoon.

The line to order

Lobster Truck

Soda Selection

The roll - deliciousness

Bullet Points

I have been so busy and haven't been blogging lately. Here are some random bullet points:

• The other night the boyfriend decided to make a double decker sandwich consisting of a layer of Nutella, Strawberry Jam, and Peanut Butter. He insists it was delicious but I didn't try it. Speaking of, have you ever had a Peanut Butter Nutella Sandwich? It tastes like a Reese's Cup and is delicious.

• This past week was my sister Amy's birthday AND she moved in with fiancee (still getting used to calling him that). Lots of exciting things for her!

• I made some birthday treats for our office's monthly birthday celebration - peanut butter cookies and brownies. I also tried to make chocolate chip pecan cookies but forgot to add in the brown sugar so they didn't turn out well. I also forgot to add the brown sugar to the peanut butter cookies, but my roommate told me before I scooped out the cookies that I should look over the ingredients and make sure I didn't forget anything, so they were spared. Baking fail. However, everyone at the office loved them so it wasn't a total failure.

• My old roommate has officially moved out, and the new roommate is mostly moved in. 

• My friend Jenna is coming to visit this weekend and I am SOOO excited to see her! I haven't seen her since our London trip and it's been way too long.

• This weekend is the 4th of July - how is it July already? I can't wait to have a long weekend though.

• At work today we have a foosball tournament, a welcome lunch for a new employee, and a going away happy hour for an employee leaving. How I am supposed to get any work done is beyond me.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was such a good time! Friday night, I met up with my friend Jesica at Jazz in the Garden. Jesica had just gotten back from Afghanistan, and I'm so happy she made it home safely! After Jazz in the Garden, the boyfriend and I chilled at home.

Since my sister was out of town for a wedding, she let me borrow the car for the weekend! Saturday morning the boyfriend and I headed out super early to go fishing! We went back to Great Falls, at this Sandy Cove area we had saw the week before. We caught a fish this time!! It was big old catfish, which we let go after we caught it.

     

After fishing, we met up with my friend Beryl, and since I had the car, I helped her move her stuff into her new apartment. Then, we all headed out to Target where I got so much good stuff - including new shoes, a yoga mat, a new front door mat, supplies for S'mores, some awesome Toy Story band aids, and a few other very important necessities. When we got back from Target I wasn't feeling well - I had a throbbing headache, so the boyfriend and I just decided to stay in. 

Sunday morning, after sleeping in a bit, we drove over to the Tennis store to pick up my racket. They had to string it for me so I couldn't take it home last time I was there. The guy even gave me a free case to go with it. Have I mentioned how awesome there the guy is! Check them out at Tennis Zone! Then I was off to my soccer game, the 1st one of the Summer League. It was so incredibly hot out for the game! There is zero shade on the field, and its a turf field which means that the heat radiates up from the ground, making it feel like your feet are on fire when you are running around. We ended up loosing 6-4, but it was a really close match and I think we only lost because they had a lot more subs than we did. After my game, I was off to watch the boyfriend play his game. It was his Sunday league's playoff game, but they ended up loosing as well. After the loss, we headed home to clean ourselves up. Then we had a nice dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and then home. It was quite the packed, fun-filled weekend!

This week will be super busy since we are planning on going to the Nationals game on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then leaving Friday for vacation!

Short Week Blues

This week is short due to having Monday off for Memorial Day, but it seems to be dragging on and on! After spending an amazingly fun and relaxing weekend at the beach, this week seems to be going as slow as possible.

View from our room at the beach

Today was my boss's last day at work, and my one of roommates decided that she wasn't going to re-sign the lease so now we have 30 days to find someone new. Also, tomorrow is the boyfriends birthday! It totally sneaked up on me, but I was able to come up with some birthday gift and surprises for him so hopefully it will all work out!

Luck Is On My Side

This week has been pretty crazy for since my boss put in his two weeks. This means I will be taking over the majority of the reporting that he used to do, so I've been super busy trying to thoroughly learn all these new reports while he is still here for me to ask questions. Talk about being thrown in the deep end! I just hope I swim and not sink after he leaves.

In other news, I went to an event for with my friend Julie at a ritzy hair salon in Friendship Heights on Tuesday night. We basically went for the freebies, but they had a raffle which we entered and I was the 1st name picked! I won a free haircut which I'm super excited about!

Tonight I'm off to the Tennis store to see if I like the racket that they ordered for me, and then packing for the beach! I cannot wait for the long weekend!

Royalty

When I was London I brought back a few of these flags for my sisters and my friends from work.

I could only get a certain number of flags, and one of co-workers Lisa expressed interest in having one, so I enlisted the skills of the boyfriend to re-make the flag with Lisa's head in place of Kate's on the flag. He is amazing at Photoshop and the flags came out amazing looking (I used some straws at work to complete the flag look), and I decorated her desk with the flags. She loved it and says she is never taking the flags down. Big thanks to the boyfriend for his great work!

Out and About

After taking a hiatus last week while sick, I was back in action this week! Monday night I went to happy hour with my co-worker, Tuesday night my sister had me over for dinner, Wednesday night I went over to a friends for a pizza party, and last night I went to a District Sports Happy Hour. The boyfriend and I play in a distric sports league soccer (in different leagues though), and the happy hour was for a good cause - to benefit Street Soccer USA which aims to end homelessness through sports. For a "suggested donation of $10" you got a drink ticket, a raffle ticket and a Georgetown Cupcake. The boyfriend and I both tried the Cookies and Creme cupcake and it was very delicious - it tasted like an oreo milkshake, but in cake form.

We were getting a little bit bored, since we didn't know anyone at the happy hour, but then the raffle began! The very first raffle ticket that was picked was one of ours!!! It was for a Prince of Petworth t-shirt, which is very coincidental considering just an hour earlier the boyfriend and I were discussing the blog. The shirt is size XL which kind of sucks since its definitely not my size, but its still fun to win things anyways!

Prince of Petworth t-shirt won at raffle

After the high of winning, we decided to hang out around, just on the off chance that we could win something with our second raffle ticket. They had handed out all the prizes (more t-shirts, DC United tickets which I really wanted, etc), and then the Georgetown Cupcake guy comes through the crowd with 4 dozen boxes of cupcakes, which I presume were leftovers from handing them out earlier. They pull a ticket for the 1st box and its was our second ticket's number!!! What were the odds of winning twice! I told the boyfriend to take them into work, but he said it was donut day so I should take them, which I did. I was so excited to tell everyone that I won them in a raffle! Great way to start off the weekend!

Afternoon Treat

Today was one of those days and I needed a little afternoon pick-me-up. I was in luck because this week Starbucks is having a Frappuccino Happy Hour from 3-5pm, where all Frappuccinos are half price. I picked me up a Decaf Caramal Frappuccino and am in heaven sipping away on ever since. Yummm. I would upload a picture of me and my frap, but I forgot my phone (told you it was one of those days) so this generic one will have to do. You better hurry though because the happy hour ends May 15th!

Review: Cakepops

Yesterday while on a quick break from work, my co-worker Amy and I took a nice little stroll over to Starbucks. While I was waiting to place my drink order, I noticed they had some new little treats, all bite-sized and looking delicious. Recently, Starbucks rolled out a new line of food items called Starbucks Petites, which are all bite sized treats that all are under 200 calories and under $2.

It wasn't until about a month ago that I had ever heard of cakepops, but ever since then the term seems to be popping up everywhere! Cakepops are basically cake batter balled up and then covered in icing. They are then decorated in a variety of cute and colorful ways, making them a fun little bite-sized treat. 

Starbucks offered 3 different flavors - Birthday Cake, Tiramisu, and Rocky Road. Not wanting to chance it, I asked the barista what his favorite flavor was and went with that - Rocky Road:

Overall, I thought it was definitely delicious, similar to a brownie but more cake-like. I was expecting the frosting to be a bit firmer so was initally surprised by how soft and mashable the entire thing was. Overall, it was a nice combination of being delicious but not too rich or sweet. You can get them at your local Starbucks, or try to make them yourself (http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/how-to-make-cake-pops-078637 and http://www.bakerella.com/category/pops-bites/cake-pops/).

Friday and Sunshine!

Today is Friday and its going to be almost 80 degrees today :)

After having 3 painfully slow days at work earlier in the week, yesterday was a crazy long day for me - and the timing couldn't have been worse. It was St. Patrick's Day, and since I am 1/8 Irish, I really wanted to get in the spirit. Every hour at work they raffled off prizes (I didn't win anything), we had a pizza party for lunch, and tables were set up so everyone could watch the basketball games. Many of my co-workers started happy hour during lunch time, and our actual work happy hour started at 5. Meanwhile, during all of the festivities, I was at my desk working away on a report and power point presentation. I even had to work late, which I rarely ever have to.

I'm not complaining since I love my job and the work that I do, I just wish that I had been able to partake in the festivities that were occurring. Also, much thanks to the boyfriend who came over just to watch me stress out and work.

Anyways, enough of me complaining. Today is Friday! And I have the whole weekend ahead of fun activities. I'm running a 5k on Sunday with co-workers, and meeting up with friends on Saturday. Can't wait!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

So I have been slacking and haven't posted anything all week! I have some updates - the roofers came out to look at the roof and determined that it needs to be replaced because it is so damaged. This is great except that they can't come back out for about 3 weeks. Did I mention it's raining out right now. Sigh.

I've been enjoying my break from soccer - it's between the Winter and Spring leagues right now, but my Sunday Spring league starts back up on Sunday. In the meantime I've been busy with kick-boxing and yoga. I've also started a diet - not an actual diet like no carbs or anything like that. Just a general, trying to eat healthier, diet. I'm also trying to stick to Bethenny's advice of "you can eat everything, just not at once", meaning if I want a Girl Scout Cookies, I will eat 1, instead of 4.

Not much else to report on, except work has been surprisingly busy this week, which has been nice. Not too busy where I'm stressed that I can't get everything done, but just busy enough where my days are full. This has been a nice change and I'm hoping it stays this way.

Besides that I just can't wait for the Spring weather to get here. So over this rain and cold weather. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to talk about next time!

A Good Day

Today I'm having a great day for no apparent reason. I was walking to work when some little girl was running by me on her way to school and she stops and says "hi". I said hi back and then she stopped again and turned and says "you're pretty" and I responded with thank you. Such an innocent little comment, but so nice to hear.

Once a month I have to do this report at work that is a lot of data entry. I have to pull the numbers in for a bunch of other reports, and it's very important that I get every single line item exactly right. It's really confusing to know if you are entering in the correct data, since sometimes there's multiple line items on one report that need to be combined into a single line item on my report. Anyways, today's the lucky day, and usually I get stressed about it, since I don't want to mess up, but I just finished and am feeling very confident about the numbers.

My boss today trained me on how to make the Financial Reports for the Quarterly Board Meetings. This means that the reports that I make will be sent directly to our Board of Directors, which is very exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. I'm glad to be getting more exposure and high-level reporting opportunities.

Arsenal played Leyton Orient today in the FA Cup, which is a make-up game after tying with them in the last game. After loosing tragically in the last few minutes of the Carling Cup, they really needed a win here. And they did! They were really giving it to Leyton, dominating the game, and beating them 5-0, trying to make up for their lost last week.

Tonight I have soccer, and hopefully my good day will continue at the game!

March Already!

How is it March already! This year is really flying by. No new news to report on the leaky roof from yesterday. My canker sore is starting to feel a bit better - I think the ice cream I had yesterday really helped. Today seems to be dragging on and on, but I have happy hour after work which I am very excited about.

My Wednesday night soccer team made clinched the last spot in the play-offs, and the first round starts tomorrow. We are playing the team we played at our previous game, in which we should have won but ended up tying 2-2. I'm worried that we're going to beat them and then have another game the next week. Mentally I got in my head that this Winter League is over, and now I am just not looking forward to these upcoming games. Plus, they're all the way out in the middle of nowhere, which is not easy for me to get to. I can't just not go, since we really need girls (with me going, we have the bare minimum number of girls), and if we don't have enough girls, we have to play down a man, which is just double the punishment, and I don't want to screw my team over like that. Oh well, guess I'll just suck it up and go and maybe even have fun.

Productive Day at Work

So it's Friday afternoon and I'm sitting here counting down the hours and minutes until I can leave work and have the glorious weekend begin. My sister is out of town and she let me borrow her car, so now I have all this freedom at my fingertips!

First, let me start with some celebratory news - I got a raise at work! They love me so much over here! Hooray! It was effective Jan 1, so this paycheck included all my retro-active pay so my paycheck was extra happy this time!

Speaking of paychecks, I was thinking about how much money I pay in rent, and I calculated it out that I pay about 32% of my take-home pay to rent. Now, this number is skewed a lot because I am basing it off of my paycheck amount, which includes my deductions for things like flexible spending and my 401k - which I try to put a lot into, but more on that later.

Anyways, I got to thinking - what is a normal percentage of my take-home pay to spend on rent for a 20something? I think 50% is way too much, especially if you are one of those people who are never home. I also think it's always a good thing to live well below your means, but what is the norm?

Is it Friday Yet?

Even though this week was a short week (I had Monday off for President's Day), I feel like it's been dragging on and on and on. I had soccer last night, all the way out in the middle of nowhere (I got a ride and it took us an hour and 15 minutes to get there, and I ran onto the field seconds before the game started). Even though it's a Wednesday night league, we have a game tonight to make up for a missed game due to snow. Tonight is our last game (unless we make the playoffs, which seems unlikely), and these back-to-back games (we had the same thing last week) are killer. I'm excited to have 2 weeks off before the Spring season starts (when I signed up for both a Wednesday night league and a Sunday league).

Weekend Recap - 3Day Edition

This LONG weekend was great! Friday I got off work early, and the weather was amazing - 70 and sunny. The boyfriend came over and we just chilled at home with my roommates. Saturday we hung out with my old roommate and her husband, met their new cat, and had a nice time catching up. Sunday we went to the American basketball game (the boyfriend's neighbor works for AU and got us free tickets). The game was very intense, came down to the last minute, and American won! But more importantly it was bobble head night, so we made sure to get there early to get ours. Monday I had off for President's Day and I was in super clean / re-organize / de-clutter mode. I donated 2 huge boxes of stuff to Goodwill (and thanks to my roommate for taking me there) and I feel so much better. I did all my laundry and everything has a place, which is such a nice feeling. See below for some pictures:

The middle shelf had been full of my hardcover books, which I moved out to the unused bookshelf in the family room. Now the bookshelf looks a lot less cluttered:


I re-organized my entire closet:


The boyfriend and I at the AU basketball game: