Wednesday, August 31, 2011

365, Dinner with The Other Girls (And Jon)

I had to pick up a few things from Carter tonight and they graciously invited me over for dinner as well. On top of having pasta (my favorite) and playing with Ing, I got to see this face! She was exhausted and couldn't decide if she was laughing or crying, but this was a definite smile!

I know I owe her loyal fans an update, but I can't squeeze it in tonight. She is doing great, but stay tuned for a (slightly) more in-depth update!






Tuesday, August 30, 2011

365, Girls Dinner

I had a lovely girls night tonight with Meaghan, Katey, and Heather (friends from high school and college). I realized that the last time we were all together was 6 years ago... when did we get that old?! That is far too long, on all accounts, but it felt like we hadn't been apart for more than a few months. Maybe it is facebook and twitter keeping everyone connected without ever talking? Regardless of the reason, I had so much fun and really look forward to getting together more often!



Delicious bruschetta at La Tasca

Monday, August 29, 2011

365, Pop Tart Case

Alex and Casey got this for me last week and it does wonders keeping your pop tart in 1 piece! Thanks boys!



Sunday, August 28, 2011

Some Hurricane Photos











365, Irene Aftermath

The Clubhouse and our neighborhood escaped relatively unscathed, so Abby and I ventured over to her parent's neighborhood to check out the damage. There were lots of downed trees, and somehow they all fell without crushing houses or cars. Based on the rats nest of trees and power lines, I think it will be a few days before electricity is restored.

So glad this isn't my house!



My Pic! On the Washington Post Website!

I am LOVING this!



Saturday, August 27, 2011

365, Dry Ice for Irene

Yesterday Abby went out and bought some dry ice for our hurricane preparedness, and by tonight it was melting so we decided to have some fun in the name of science. Fun, of course, always includes me taking lots of pictures, and dry ice does some cool things!




I have played in the rain with Ingrid, Abby and I moved most of our perishables into a cooler, and I have been watching the storm out the window. So far, I don't completely and totally hate hurricane Irene!

I worked at the Fruit Box today, and let me tell you, it was SO packed you would have thought we were selling bottled water, D batteries, and toilet paper!


THIS IS SO COOL!

My picture got posted online and several people have reported seeing it on the news as well! SO EXCITING!!! http://www.wjla.com/pictures/2011/08/hurricane-irene-arrives-in-the-d-c-area/7449-516.html

If anyone finds it online anywhere else or snaps a picture while its on tv, shoot me an email!





This afternoon I went puddle-splashing with Ingrid and was able to snap a few photos with my underwater camera. I thought it was super cute and submitted it online on a whim, and ta-da!

Friday, August 26, 2011

365, Hurricane Preparedness

Our ceiling at the office tends to leak, so we were told to put our computers in our file cabinets. Of course, my giant 27 inch iMac would have nothing to do with being in a silly cabinet, so instead we wrapped it in trash bags and put it under the desk for shelter. iMac in a trash bag... it feels so wrong!

I have been following hurricane Irene online quite closely, but I think my favorite factoid is still one that I picked up yesterday: as of lunchtime yesterday, Irene was roughly 1/3 the size of the entire east coast!




In other and unrelated news, I survived the week only having caffeine once! Better than previous weeks, but still leaves room for improvement.

Oh, and the Comm Girls and I have decided that any and all weight gain can be attributed to the earthquake because we all found ourselves snacking more than usual. It's called quake weight, and I have decided that it can be blamed retroactively (similar to the animals at the zoo freaking out before the earthquake... somehow, our stomachs sensed the quake!). Been a rough few weeks? Blame it on the quake weight!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

365, Dinner with Charles

I had dinner with an old Apple buddy tonight and it was great to reconnect and catch up on life. Over the past few years I have done some design work for his company, and in addition to having dinner more often, we both hope to do some more work together in the near future.

As far as the restaurant goes, people who enjoy and appreciate good food would LOVE it! It is inside of Hotel Monaco and the ambiance of the restaurant melds nicely with the lobby. The best adjective to describe it would be swanky, but in the most positive way- in a cool, edgy, polished DC sort of way. The food all looked like it came straight out of an episode of Top Chef, including my mac and cheese and french fries. Yes, I went to a fancy restaurant and ordered macaroni and french fries, BUT, at least it wasn't off the kids menu!





Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Obligatory Earthquake Post

I don't think the earthquake was a particularly pleasant or "fun" experience for anyone, but it was quite uncomfortable for most of us who were living in the area during 9/11.

My office is an old Chinese grocery store that was converted into an industrial, loft-ish open office space. We have lots of exposed bricks, hanging light fixtures, visible metal beams, etc. The office is on a fairly busy street and it isn't completely uncommon for a loud truck to go by or feel some construction work.

When the shaking started, my first thought was, "Uh-oh... this is what it felt like when the Pentagon was hit," but then the shaking didn't stop. It suddenly became very apparent that this was something major. Like most natives of the area, "earthquake" didn't cross my mind until after the long 30-45 seconds of shaking subsided. Everyone ran to door frames, and thankfully they vocalized it because I'm not sure I would have known to do that. At one point I remember looking down at a cup of water on my desk and seeing it dance around splashing water, but it never actually tipped over. I think the sound of metal-on-metal vibrations will stick with me for a while.

Once it stopped, we discovered the minor rubble and fallen bricks, and about 5 or 10 minutes after we finally left the building. In hindsight, I have no idea why we all stayed in the office for so long! We stood outside with the rest of Chinatown for some amount of time and then went back in and returned to work.

We didn't go home early, which likely made all of our metro commutes home much smoother. WMATA has its faults, but I was very impressed by the way they handled everything. Trains were operating at 15 mph (down from the usual 50-60 mph) but I didn't have to wait long to catch a train, and it was less crowded than on a normal commute.

All in all, I'd say we were all very lucky. While a magnitude of 5.8 is pretty severe, it was far from devastating and the fact that no one was hurt is absolutely amazing. That being said, I hope to never experience something like that again!



A pretty accurate description, and I think this is my favorite (?) write-up. It sounds weird to be saying favorite when discussing accounts of an earthquake, but I lack the proper vocabulary to find a more fitting word. Loose translation: of everything that I read, this article sticks with me the most.



Because an earthquake isn't enough to set me on edge and make my commute questionable, today there was a stabbing across the street from my office at the metro. It happened around 4:40 and for a while the metro entrance and most of the roads were blocked off. Somehow, I once again lucked out on my commute and the entrance was reopened just as I was packing up. But seriously, World, please don't feel the need to continue this trend tomorrow!



365, Almost Fall (The Season)

It was a chilly 63 degrees this morning, and I hardly knew what to do! Of course, by the afternoon it was back in the upper 80's, but it was a lovely glimpse of fall. I'm so tired of wearing my summer dresses and skirts every day!



Tuesday, August 23, 2011

365, Earthquake in DC

Too tired to post my earthquake story tonight. Sure, it won't be as exciting when I finally do post it, but I'm ok with it being old news.


I think most buildings only had minor damage, if any at all. This is the worst of our damage, which is pretty darn good!



Monday, August 22, 2011

365, Pretty Day

I walked to the post office at lunch and was pleasantly surprised by the semi-cool temperature and sunny blue sky.





In other news, I failed day 1 without caffeine and had popped open a soda before 9 am. My reasoning? I overslept and I had a hockey game tonight so I would burn it off... Sounds pretty close to the logic of an addict. My revised goal is only 1 caffeinated beverage per week. Hopefully this goal lasts longer than 12 hours!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

365, Uncovered Relics

I started another cleaning binge yesterday afternoon and I finished today. Among the things uncovered in today's archaeological dig: cassette tape with my figure skating music (elementary school) game boy color (middle school), and my last cd / mp3 player before ipods (high school). I also found a corner of my room that hasn't been visible in a long time, as well as the top of one of my dressers (discovering the tops of BOTH dressers during the same cleaning binge would just be too much).





I found myself feeling really great today, and my only guess is that it has to do with sleep. I slept in pretty late, much later than I would have liked, but once I finally got up I was super productive and felt fairly cheerful. I am a chronically bad sleeper and I always go to bed early knowing it will take hours to fall asleep. My new doctor recommended I try staying up later so that my sleep is more productive and less time is spent falling asleep. In terms of raw data, this has put 1-2 hours back in my day, and this is only day 2, but so far so good! She also told me that it takes 45 HOURS for caffeine to completely leave your bloodstream, which means I am going to try to cut caffeine out of my diet. This will be painful, but I am going to try. I am also going to fail some days, but hopefully not every day.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Forgot to Post This

I uploaded this to facebook but forgot to post it here... Carter sent me this picture last week and it brightened my day, ten-fold!

Between the anniversary party earlier today and babysitting the girls tonight, I have gotten in a much needed fix. 2 weeks is too long to go without seeing them! (Yes, I am spoiled by living so close.)




365, 60 Years?!

Today we celebrated my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary- saying holy cow just doesn't do it justice! Congrats, Gitsy and Poppa!



Some More Books

Finished 3 books while on vacation- a sign it was a good vacation!


It Sucked and Then I Cried is absolutely hilarious. Funniest book I have read since Bossypants, which gets my highest mark.





I'm pretty sure Kicking Up Dirt was written for a middle-school (or younger, these days) reading level, but I found it interesting anyway, especially since I worked with 2 deaf people at the Fruit Box.





Now that I am hooked on reading everything in ebook format on my Nook, I tend to avoid "real" books like the plague. My Mom got me The Happiness Project as a physical book, and I am glad to report I read it, and it was quite good. More along the lines of a psychology project / documentary than a novel, but that is up my alley!



Thursday, August 18, 2011

365, Old School

A very old iPod box discovered in the GR tonight, from around 2005 or 2006. I could figure it out for sure without too much work, but I want to go to bed more than I want to research an ipod box.



Wednesday, August 17, 2011

365, Rainbow Desk

Having a rainbow greet me most mornings isn't the worst way to start the day...




Tuesday, August 16, 2011

365, Tuesday

Discovered these while packing for Fishers. Not grown-up at all... luckily they are broken so I don't feel as bad throwing them out.




365, Rainy Day (8/15/11)

One of my favorite thing about the house that the Chesters rent is the awesome porch. I'm not normally a fan of rain, but a rainy day on Fishers means curling up with a good book and playing endless rounds of games. A great way to end our trip!



365, Dinner at The Pequot (8/14/11)

Yes, that is a Shirley Temple, but it looks cooler than it usually does!



365, Grilling Girls (8/13/11)

The girls made dinner on Saturday night... Abby and Megan grilled (I, of course, documented accordingly) and I made mac and cheese. Complicated meal? No. Tasty and enjoyed by all? Yes.



365, The Lake (8/12/11)

We briefly went kayaking on the lake, and the colors were gorgeous!


365, Ferry to Fishers (8/11/11)

My mom found these super cute canvas bags for us the day before we left for Fishers, and they were perfect for carrying everything that didn't fit in our suitcases!

[Taken on the ferry between New London, CT and Fishers Island, NY]



Wednesday, August 10, 2011

365- Caffeine Coma, Anyone?

I think the only thing that kept me out of a caffeine coma was my constant intake of sugar throughout the day, capped off by an afternoon trip to Ritas (where they had Bubblicious flavored italian ice!). 




Tomorrow morning my mom and I head up to Fishers Island to join the Chesters, and we can't wait! Internet connectivity is a bit of an unknown, so its very possible there will be a mass 365 posting when I return.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

365, Hello Delicious

Reason # 65764 why Amy is awesome: She brought 4 cupcakes for the Comm girls! I channeled my inner Ingrid and chose the Princess flavored one, which ended up being vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream frosting. It was the perfect afternoon pick-me-up.

Thanks Amy!



Monday, August 8, 2011

365, Surprise Visitor!

Rob surprised me with a visit today, and I couldn't have been more excited! Admins for life!



Sunday, August 7, 2011

365, Bottomless Bowl

I woke up feeling sick this morning, and couldn't seem to shake it all day. I forced myself to eat a bowl of ramen tonight, and I swear, the bowl was bottomless. Sometimes I would like a bottomless bowl, but I just wanted to be done! I definitely had flashbacks of sitting at the dinner table for hours on end until I finished my food...


But Wait, There's More

I Have a Thing for Sitting in Boxes (Apparently)

Found these pictures a while ago and have been meaning to post them... It looks like my enjoyment (?) of sitting in large boxes dates back to 1988 and I never quite grew out of it. Always a Kidd?





Saturday, August 6, 2011

Girls at the Beach House Again

Carter sent these yesterday... My personal favorite is the one of them both reading books. I've been so busy the last 2 weeks that I haven't seen them in person and it's killing me!