OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

It SNOWED 3 inches at the summit of Big Mountain yesterday. I kid you not. WHOOOO, SKI SEASON!!!!!!!!! The rest of the pics are facebook.

Speaking of Swings & Misses

I got to go to a baseball game last night! One of the attorneys here was giving up his tickets to last night's Cubs/Nats match-up for free. I was first to respond and snagged the tickets. He asked me if I was a Cubs Fan or a Nats Fan: I'm really just a beer and baseball fan (though I do love me some Ryan Zimmerman). I LOVE the game day atmosphere, I love the new stadium, I love the crowd, I love the Bull Pen (the bar, not, you know, the actually pitching warm-up area though that is fine too). I love that I can get Hard Times and 5 Guys and Ben's all within 25 yards of each other. I love that guy who is the Head Nats pack dude (saw him in person last night!). I also got to take an old college friend and new DC-ite last night. She hadn't been to the stadium before and I'm glad I got to introduce her to the best sports venue in DC. We had a good time catching up, hanging out, and vaguely watching the game. I didn't look up to check the score till the 8th inning and it was 1-0 Cubs. Perhaps if I had continued to not pay attention the Nats would have had a shot. As soon as I actually started watching the game the Cubs scored three runs. I got home just in time to catch the newest episode of Top Chef-DC, which in my opinion has been a total BOTCH. Talk about a miss. Last night's challenge was pretty good though. The Chef-testants had to serve up-scale ballpark food at Nationals Park! Three of the Nationals (Adam Dunn and two guys who are not Steven Strausburg or Ryan Zimmerman) were part of the challenge and sampled all the dishes. They weren't part of judges table though...too bad. It was a good challenge IMHO because it FELT like DC for once instead of "Top Chef [Insert Generic City Here]." My only constructive criticism is that I would have liked to see a few more wide shots of the stadium in order to give a better sense of the location. I would've liked to see a little more Red Porch and a little less Tom Collichio's bald head (Sidenote: I saw a Wealth channel travel show episode from the '90s and Tom had HAIR). Also, Padma should never wear jerseys. It does not work for her. But what of her wardrobe HAS worked for her this season? I couldn't stay awake to see who won/was eliminated. Did anyone see?

Swing and a Miss

[husband] very rarely has a miss in the kitchen. In the 5 years I've been eating his cooking and baking, I can only think of one thing: he makes an amazing warm, German-style potato salad that is dressed with red wine vinegar and a smidge of oil. He doesn't like vinegar though so he's never really tasted it and he's less familiar with the properties of various vinegars. We were out of RWV when he made it once, and subbed in balsamic. It was pretty ugly. [Husband] made some crock pot chili the other day, and I wouldn't say it was a total miss, but, it's just a fact: pork does not go in chili. It just doesn't work. We had a whole pork tenderloin (like the big guy that is requires to hands to lift out of the meat case), which was cut up into a delicious pork roast and then the rest was braised in the crock pot to make chili. It doesn't matter how you season it, or what you put in it. Chili plus pork ends up tasting like some kind of over-sugared bbq stew. I love bbq, but this is not appetizing. We have a chili cook-off each year (used to be at my old house, now it's hosted by one of the former roommates, elsewhere) and one of the original chili cook-off contestants is OBSESSED with getting as much meat as possible in his chili. I think his 2008 entry had 4 pounds of meat in it, two of which were bacon. Sorry, that's not chili, it's bbq stew. (Didn't help that it had a whole bottle of actual bbq sauce in it. Sweet bbq sauce). Now, I'll take a nice pork and black bean stew with some Cuban flavors in it. YUM. And you can even call it chili if you want. But chili seasoning plus pork. No.

Amazing

I just got an email from our church. One of the fall fellowship activities is the Good Shepherd Fantasy Football League. Awesome. x2. I might have to join.

Yesss...

Today was a phenomanlly great day at work. I have worked here for four years (nearly) and never felt the need to say that. I *might* love my job today. For once. *I might also get to drink on the job sometimes. full disclosure.

I am le Tired

It's Tuesday morning in the middle of the payperiod and I have worked 79 hours (and 10 minutes). I don't even have kids. I don't even have a DOG. How do people do this????

Heaven

Heaven is a ceiling fan in your bedroom. Sigh. I went away for the weekend and came home to a ceiling fan in the master of our house. We've been talking about putting one up there since we moved upstairs. We're used to living in the basement where it's typically a cool 67 or so. We have not adjusted well to sleeping in 72-74 degrees upstairs. An need to fix an unrelated electrical issue sped up the installation and now I have my own little piece of heaven on earth on the second story of my house. The best part about the fan (after it's mere existence) is that I did not have to shop for, deal with, think about the fan at all. It was all taken care of by my lovely other half. I can't wait to go home tonight and get snuggled under the covers and bask in the glory of the ceiling fan, it's white noise, and excellent breeze. yessssss.

MY Confession

There have a been a lot of posts titled "Confessions" or something along those lines. I'll join the party. Here's my confession (this would probably make a good postsecret): I'm curious about leggings. I KNOW. But there it is. Can you still respect me?

New Haven Pizza = Win

I didn't make it both pizza places, just Frank Pepe's, but it was delicious! The crust is crisp but chewy at the same time and the edges are just a little charred, which I was skeptical of, but it actually gives a nice flavor contrast to the rest of the crust. The sauce was definetly my favorite part. It's very simple-just tomatoes and my guess is salt and oregano. And it think with chunks of tomato rather than being smooth like most other pizza sauces. If you want cheese (other than the little bit of shaved parm on top) you have torder it "with mozarella." Kind of reminds me of ordering a cheese steak in Philly (with or without? I'm definately withoutn just a little provolone and hot sauce for me please!). I had my pizza with mozarella, garlic and brocolli. I think I'm already anticipating the jerk pizza at Seacrets next week and jumped at brocolli as a topping when I saw it on the menu last night. After a delicious dinner I got the grand tour of Yale from an alumnae. The architecture is AMAZING! I'd really like to get a book (or at least do some internet research) on the buildings because I'm curious about original buildings, when things were built the original layout of the campus, etc. Of course I was very much comparing it to William & Mary in my mind and look for cornerstones for dedication dates (oh, 1893? That one's a youngin'). Even in the dark, the campus was very impressive and the buildings were very cool. If only I'd had the motivation to get up and go for a run on Wednesday morning to check it out in the light.

PIZZA (or Apizza?)

I'm on the train on the way to New Haven for recruiting tomorrow. New Haven has it's own distinct and famous pizza style so that's first on my to do list when the train get's in. I mean, I forgot my Jillian DVD and my Citrix token, so it's not like I have anything else to do. The opportunity to try New Haven pizza is so exiciting to me because 1) I like food 2) I like food that pairs well with beer 3) last year I got to eat at Mystic Pizza in Mystic, Connecticut (I KNOW! And they are playing the movie on all their TVs all the time!) 4) I am going to Chicago in October and will get to try yet ANOTHER style of pizza I'm not familiar with. I've had pizza in NYC too, but haven't been to any notable pizza spots that I'm aware of. Here's the definition of New Haven Apizza from Serious Eats:

New Haven style: Cooked in a coal oven, has a very crisp crust that is thin but still typically thicker than New York pizzas. Marked by a characteristic oblong shape, often served on a sheet of waxed paper atop a plastic cafeteria tray. Thought to be the place where clam pizza was developed (Frank Pepe's). The two biggies here are Sally's and Pepe's, but there are others (notably Modern) with their adherents. New Haven partisans often argue that pizza was invented here, but I believe NYC has them beat on this claim.

Sally's and Frank Pepe's seem to be the restaurants of record for New Haven Pizza. They're just about a block apart so maybe I'll try them both. ;P

Whoa!

• I saw an ad for "Melissa & Joey" on tv last night. Apparently this is not a joke. Melissa Joan Hart, I would expect this from Joey Lawrence, but not from you. I will probably need to watch at least one episode.
• I got up early to be at work early because I have to leave to go to work early. Getting to work early +(forgetting 4 things for overnight trip)=might as well gotten in to work at my normal time.
• Despite the fact that it's 85 and 1172% humidity today I saw a SWEATER on the metro. An honest to God sweater, not a summer knit, and a TURTLENECK. You can't make it be fall! YOU CAN'T MAKE IT BE FALL!
• I read a rumor that a Dave & Buster's will replace the ESPN Zone that recently closed right underneath my office. I can't wait to see what kind of tour buses and mid-western tourists that gem attracts. My office suite is actually close enough that we can hear the giant tour groups singing "wheels on the bus" or whatever when they are standing outside waiting for their tables.

Even My Muffin Top Hurts

I'm on a serious mission to fit into this dress I bought the first week in February specifically for a wedding that is about 30ish days away. When I bought the dress, I was a little snug around the hips, but otherwise fine. I was either delirious and delusional that day or I really did gain 10 pounds the two weeks we were snowed in that month because the dress does NOT fit. I have worn it to 3 weddings this year and it was a struggle to squeeze into it. The next wedding is a family wedding, which means the photos will be around for awhile, so I'd like to look and feel a little more comfortable in this dress (which is otherwise fabulous...other than being too small). I've been making some ok progress and decided to step it up bit by doing the 30 Day Shred everyday till the wedding. My copy is currently on long term loan, so I just headed to Target to pick up another copy. BUT THEY WERE OUT. Ugh. So I picked up No More Trouble Zones instead, which I have also heard good things about. Except I get in line, and they were totally breaking the "if there are more than two customer's in line we open a new line" rule yesterday, and realize I have "Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism" and it's a 40 minute workout! What? I came for my 20 minutes shreds and I getting 40 minutes? I mean I want to look good, but this is a big time commitment. Quick evaluation of the register situation reconfirms that hell no, I am not getting of line to walk all across the store again. And it's 5:55 and I'm supposed to be in Silver Spring at 6:30 and still have to stop and buy ice cream. Sold. It might be 40 minutes, but it's a great workout. We have about 2 square feet of open space in our bedroom and that was enough. And you don't even need weights for this one like you do for the Shred (but you could use them if you wanted to make it extra tough). If you've done the shred, you'll be familiar with a few of the moves, but it's different enough to keep it interesting. It's hard too. It's like level three shred hard. And I'm not kidding when I say that even my muffin top was sore today.

Since I know at least one other person (other than me) is reading, I will post just for you.

I read a great article on the NY Times Website yesterday called "But Will It Make You Happy?" The article started off with an anecdote illustrating the recent trend of extreme personal down-sizing, and how in this economy, so many people are discovering in a very tangible way that things don't bring happiness. It then moved on to discuss recent research on what types of purchases actually DO bring happiness. Generally, if an item has the ability to let us participate in an enjoyable activity (golf clubs or a pair of running shoes) then that purchase actually does have the power to provide longer term happiness. And purchases that provide us with an experience (plane tickets to an fun destination) which allow us to enjoy and experience AND give us something to look back on fondly can also bring more happiness than an impulse purchase of shoes. The article was really great and gave me some more perspective on something I'd been thinking about for awhile. I've recently been trying to do two things (and have had some success): 1) NOT buy starbucks/coffeee out and 2) not buy lunch out. Neither of these things make me happy. At all. Maybe for like 2 seconds, but basically, no. But when I'm not blowing $50 a week on lunch and coffee, and I see that I actually can afford to go out and do X or pay to do C, I am pretty happy about that experience. When I was wedding planning I saw a number of articles and websites that advised picking the three aspects of the wedding that meant the most to you and spend your time and money on that and let the rest of it go. I think that's somewhat applicable in life too. Find out what you really want to spend your time and money doing and focus on that. Oh, the article also said, you get far more enjoyment out of planning and saving for something because you get to anticipate it that just purchasing something immediately. The example they gave was planning a trip in advance versus purchasing last minute deal vacations. I'm going to try REALLY hard to remember this every time I want to spend money on something ridiculous, impulsive or unplanned. Check out the article here.

Good Advice

I'm a total advice column freak and I read Carolyn Hax religiously. She had a great column on Sunday and the main take-away (for me anyway) was a solid one: friendships are dynamic. People change, circumstances change, things change, and so our relationships change, but it doesn't diminish them or us or make the good times any less good.

Son of a....

...I logged into my timecard this morning to put in my time for Friday (and Saturday...ugh) and discovered that I never hit submit and hence ALL of my painstakingly entered time for the last two weeks was ERASED. GAH. I loathe doing my timecard. It matters not that without it I don't get paid, I HATE it. And I'm convinced if anyone here knew how many hours I spend wrestling with it (not to mention reconstructing my lunch hours from my sent box) the Powers that Be would insist I do my timecard on MY OWN TIME. Also, I glanced at the clock to see how much longer I had to wait til lunch and it's only 9:48. Son of a...I'm hungry.

Fresh Start with a New Blog

I've gotten more diligent lately about keeping up with other people's blogs and relaly enjoy the ability to keep up with everyone and their adventures. I decided to start fresh with a less running focused blog (there will still be running though) and write about my own day-to-day "adventures."