Oh, Salisbury

I have been to Salisbury twice for work now, and both times it has given me some new sights. Here are some of the pictures from my phone (in no particular order)-- the "real" pictures are on my work computer and will have to wait.

Breakfast #1 this morning (Hampton Inn free breakfast).

Breakfast #2 today- mini chicken biscuits with honey and tiny hash browns.

Weather posted in the elevator at the Hampton Inn. Unfortunately, it is the weather for Orlando.

All-star baseball game sign- and its on an old school reader board! (The company was once centered on such reader boards in hotels.)

The "view" from Kelly and Nathalie's room. Pretty, but not much going on in the Bury.

Not fun lugging all this stuff on the bus and metro- I blame the 4 cameras I brought.

"If you are not handicap, please open the door manually."

"Coffee is for sales people on pace."

365, Back From the 'Bury

The best part about this trip was that I didn't have to drive at all! Thanks Megan and Kelly!

365, Doesn't Everyone Travel Like This?

Kelly, Megan and I drove to Salisbury this morning for our Town Hall meeting, and luckily I am the designated photographer. I love it. In preparation, I brought, well, a few extra cameras. 

Staying in Salisbury tonight, then back to DC tomorrow.

365, Upgrade

This is my second season playing ball hockey, and I decided that I had passed the trial period and could now justify buying an inexpensive (but real!) hockey stick. Previously, I was playing with a street hockey stick (plastic foot and all) and I am sure I looked rather ridiculous. I'm short enough that I could get a junior size stick AND it was on sale, so I'm pleased with my purchase. It will certainly take some getting used to though!

So True

http://xkcd.com/911/

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there. I was a bit (ok, more than a bit) bummed to find that of the 10,000+ photos in my iphoto library right now, I only had a couple of my dad. And, they were all from last summer when he was in the hospital, so they aren't exactly happy or good photos. That needs to change. Love you Dad!

365, Kitchen Creativity

When I get creative, particularly in the kitchen, one never knows what will result. Tonight I made some noodles, and then chopped up some tomatoes and my leftover sweet and sour chicken. I topped it off with sweet and sour sauce and a little bit of catalina dressing. While it was ok, I don't think I will be working it into my regular meal rotation. At least it polished off the leftovers!

365, My Watch Finally Came!

It took a long time to find, and what seemed like an even longer time to finally arrive, but I'm loving my new watch!

Another Book Finished

Finished another book yesterday on my way to work- 50 Jobs in 50 States. Extremely interesting view into 50 very different jobs and lifestyles across America. Broken down into small chapters so it isn't hard to get to a good breaking point and put it down.

In other news, I think my eyes are finally failing me. I had reading glasses for a brief period in 3rd grade, but otherwise have been blessed with near perfect vision. I think my luck has finally run out and a visit to the optomestrist will be required in the very near future. After reading or working on the computer, my eyes HURT! It feels like my eyes keep crossing by mistake (I don't think they actually are) and the pain is reminiscent of crossing your eyes for too long when you were a kid. Needless to say, it is not comfortable!

365, Shoofly Pie

Amazing. Delicious. So yummy. I would eat it for 3 meals a day if I could. Thanks Gitsy and Poppa!

And Now, Some Photos

Luckily the power only flickered last night, but I was way too tired to post any of the pictures from the game. It was supposed to be an activity with coworkers, but 4 of the planned 7 ended up bailing for various reasons (most were valid reasons). It ended up being me, Kaitlin, and Megan.

By lunch time yesterday I had the list of concessions up on my screen so that I could plan exactly what I wanted to eat and how to spend my money. I was a bit nervous when I couldn't find the funnel cakes in the stadium, but rest assured, I found them!

It stopped raining by the time the game started, but not for long. Part way through the game someone hit a homer, and just at that moment, there was suddenly a torrential down pour. The timing was so amazing, that I looked up thinking it was a movie set and someone was dumping water.

Despite being a little soggy, a good time was had by all!

365, Nats Game

Trying to post quickly before power potentially goes out due to the storm!

365, Love My Nook!

This thing goes EVERYWHERE with me. I no longer dread waiting for public transportation because it means I get to read. This morning when I got to work I thought to myself, "Man, I can't wait until lunch time so I can read a few more pages."... One of my nerdier statements, for sure, but I'm ok with that.

365, Pulled from Retirement

I hung up my whistle and swore off coaching a couple of years ago (nothing bad happened- was just time to move on), but my neighbor begged and pleaded and somehow convinced me to coach again. The "season" only goes through July, it is 2 nights/week for 1 hour each time, and it is rec league. This translates to a relaxed and fun atmosphere, no long bus trips traveling to games, and much less intense parents. One of my players from my days of coaching the Freshman team is a coach of one of the other teams, so I feel like it has gone full circle.

I had to dig my field hockey stick out of my parents basement, but I found it!

365, Portrait Gallery

No, I didn't actually go INSIDE the Portrait Gallery, I just walked by it.

365, Trying to be Healthy

I'm trying to get back on track with healthy eating and at least a little bit of exercise, but both are painful. I went for another run today and like yesterday, I questioned what on earth was making me do this. There is a cool app called Nike+ GPS on my phone, and it tells me how long I've been running... er, moving... my average page, distance, etc. So far it is working as a decent motivation technique and I like that it keeps track of everything.

After my run I had a salad and a yogurt fruit smoothie. Believe it or not, I DO actually like salad. And yes, there is lettuce under all those toppings!

365, New Shoes

I got new running shoes today and even tried them out for a test run (I am in disbelief as well). I ran for 15 minutes (baby steps here, folks) and the good news is that my ankles and feet felt great. The bad news is that my lungs are still crappy and new shoes didn't fix it.

Hey, a girl can dream!

Sleepless Nights

I don't even have a good excuse for my sleepless nights- no crying baby to wake me up, no loud neighbors, nothing. Every so often my body decides that it doesn't need sleep (despite the fact that I am quite tired) and refuses it for more than a few hours at a time. Last night I stayed up late with the intention of sleeping in, but my intentions were denied. I woke up at 3:30am and got a snack, because I absolutely cannot fall asleep if I am hungry. I woke up again at 4:30 and this time decided to turn the tv on and maybe I could fall asleep. By 5:30 it was clear that I wasn't going to fall back asleep so I got up. I put some laundry in, went through my 800+ unread emails (ok, skimmed over might be more accurate), checked a couple things online and finished a book. Oh, this is all before 8:30. My heavy and aching eyes won a mini-battle and scored a power nap for an hour. Yes, by 9:30 in the morning I had already taken a nap. I was fairly productive and thought to myself, "so THIS is how you put more hours in the day!" I still feel tired and not rested, but I gave it a good effort.


This is the book I just finished- pretty funny. Having just read Tina Fey's book, which is HILARIOUS, other comedic autobiographies pale in comparison. Kathy Griffin has a VERY different sense of humor, and I would say it was a pretty enjoyable book if you like her humor.

365, Love It.

Yesterday's Commute

Yesterday I made sure to leave promptly at 5 pm so that I would be able to make it to my last kickball game. Metro was operating as usual until we got into the tunnel at the Pentagon, and then it stopped. And stayed stopped. Our conductor (are they still conductors, or is it a driver?) was great and kept us informed why we were stopped. Turns out their was someone at the Airport station that was having seizures, so they had to off-board and then give them medical attention. At one point the conductor said we might have to backtrack because there is already a train on the platform at the Pentagon and we were caught in between stations. By this point it is 5:30 and I am stuck in a train, underground, not moving, with possibility of being taken back to DC. I was hoping they would tell us we had to off-board in the tunnel because 1) that would be an awesome story, and 2) I would be able to catch the bus and still make it to kickball almost on-time. I went to send a message to someone on my kickball team, but realized I had no service. Awesome.

In the end, we were able to pull up to the platform and I got on the bus around 5:45. I was a couple minutes late to kickball, but luckily the other team was as well.

(All jokes aside, I hope the person requiring medical assistance was alright. My kickball game is not a big deal compared to having seizures on the metro, and I know that. )

365, More Desks

We got the rest of our desks delivered today, and it is weird to imagine the office will be full one day! Our once massive empty room is now full and hardly feels massive.

I had an interesting metro commute home today, but that story will have to wait until tomorrow.

365, Interesting Effect

Apparently dragging the phone on a lightly textured surface (my desk) while taking a photo gives you this effect. All horizontal lines become crimped while verticals remain untouched. Interesting.

365, Lodging Magazine

Our copies of the June 2011 edition of Lodging Magazine arrived today, and it was fun to turn to page 40-something and see the ad! Unfortunately, the colors are a bit off and more got trimmed from the bottom than expected, but for our first printed ad, not too shabby!

365, No Caffeine Today!

I'm trying to cut back on my daily caffeine intake (previously 1 soda and usually 1 frappuccino) for 2 reasons:

1. I think my body has become accustomed to this level of caffeine and no longer responds to it
2. I can't afford frappuccinos as often as I would like them (and, whats the point spending $5 on a drink that doesn't actually wake me up any more than having a sugary, cheaper drink?)

As far as I can tell, having a soda in the morning is pretty much a placebo at this point, so I'm trying to trick my body into thinking I have something in my system to make me more awake. Today I went to Starbucks with Kelly and got the giant size iced passion tea lemonade, sweetened, and it cost less than the smallest frap. Tomorrow I'm going to try having a powerade in a cup with ice and see if it satisfies the same craving as the tea.

Yes, I have checked, the tea is caffeine free. Yes, the sugar in the tea probably helped me feel awake, but it wasn't caffeine, so there!

Hey, I Took That Photo!

The perks of being the photographer? Not being in the photo! (link to photo gallery on WBJ site)

Weekly Roundup

Some photos and things that I meant to post this week but didn't have a chance to until now.

I posted this picture on twitter with the caption: Hey wmata you should recommend another career path for the person hanging signs. Upside down= fail.

UnsuckDCMetro is a very funny twitter user that retweets important or funny things about the metro, but they don't retweet everything. SO, it was pretty much the highlight of my week that they retweeted this!

I also have to give props to Metro for immediately responding with this:

And by the time I left for my evening commute, it was hanging the right way!

Ingrid looking fabulous at the playground.

Someone got her little buddah belly back, and we couldn't be happier!

Ingrid in one of her many "model" poses.

Happy baby and Mommy!

Going retro, wearing one of my old outfits.

Casey's cool sunglasses and me being artsy. Typical.

Meet Porkchop, or Porky for short. He was the most outstanding spectator at our soccer game, and he desperately wanted to romp with the ball.

What the heck kind of field is this?! Crab grass that wishes it was turf with part baseball field?! Talk about an identity crisis!

There might only be a few things I can make, but I know how to make a mean fruit salad!

365, Last Day of Spring Soccer

The Goal Diggers had our last game today, and we went out with a bang! I had a great time this season and got to know some really great people. Sure, my lungs didn't always cooperate, but it got me off my butt most Sunday mornings, and that was the goal! Speaking of which, I actually scored today! It wasn't exactly the prettiest goal, but I'll take it-- I was running full steam ahead as the goalie was coming toward the ball. I may or may not have run over her, but I believe the ball went from my foot, off of her shin back at me, and then from my thigh slowly over the goal line.

It was perfect weather for the game- cool and overcast. No sunburn for me!

365, Tetherball

Casey and I played tetherball tonight, and luckily I'm not nearly as serious about it as I was in my elementary years. Fortunately, this game was also far less damaging to my mouth than my infamous last game in 4th grade.

You see, one day at lunch I got nailed in the face with the ball. All of the sudden, my mouth was bleeding everywhere and I recall my opponent telling me I looked like Dracula. Fantastic. I didn't want to get the other girl in trouble (what on earth she could possibly get in trouble for, I don't know) so I didn't open my mouth for the rest of the day and made frequent trips to the bathroom to change out my wet paper towel compress. I got in the car at the end of the day, and without opening my mouth enough to see anything, told my mom we needed to go to the dentist. She asked why, and a mere flash of my smile gave the answer- my gums were purple and probably still bleeding, the inside of my lips were cut up from the impact of ball to braces, and the wire on my braces had shifted a full 90 degrees around my mouth.

It turns out that having braces at the time was my saving grace and about the only thing that kept all of my teeth from being knocked out. I had to wear a mouthguard in PE for a few weeks while my mouth healed, and I gave up my tetherball career.

Casey and I had a lot of fun goofing around and attempting to playing, but we spent most of the time doubled over with laughter.

365, Razzles

Abby had some Razzles tonight and couldn't believe I had never had one, so we took care of that! Its a candy, its a gum, its in 13 Going on 30.

Hard Work on Display

For the last 5 weeks, the other designer and I have been working on this ad campaign featuring one of our clients, Tonia. The magazines haven't arrived yet, but it's pretty cool to see it online!

Right page, Lodging Magazine

Skyscraper ad (on the right), hotelworldnetwork.com

365, We're the Best (or 1 of the finalists)

Our boss went to a breakfast this morning and we got this nifty plaque! I have a whole new perspective on these sorts of awards, but more on that another time.

365, Top Drawer

I am very excited to report that with the exception of staples, my top drawer is well stocked with necessary office supplies! Its the little things...