Blahhhhhgggggg

thanks, presidents!!!

2012-02-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

this was the first monday holiday i've taken off in a while. i have no clue why i worked those stupid holidays in the first place, because today was amazing!! the weather was perfect, to start. some highlights:

-great run this morning

-target without a crowd

-cleaning the house with lp

-weebay's first dog park (ugh, so cute)

-tacos

if this is what monday holidays are like, sign me up.

Phone Dump

2012-02-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

weebay is starting to like baths only a tiny bit now

mongolian bbq with my baby!!

weebay loves dogs, people and cars. this makes for long walks (light on the walking, heavy on the sitting)

this dough

plus these inside was delish!

color changing abraham lincoln cup is how you know you live in dc

happy bday mike!

listen up!

2012-02-17T12:11:00.001-08:00

right now i'm digging on lady singers. there are times when i feel like (sorry ladies!!) the ladies in music really suck it, but lately there are some awesome chicks with great voices. a few of my favs......

FIRST AID KIT

first off, how flipping adorable are these ladies???? so cute. and they're swedish (which i adore). but more than both of those things, they have the most beautiful voices. if you listen to their album, you will not know they are swedish. in fact, lp thought they were southern. southern swedish girls?!?!? awesome. their music is hauntingly beautiful, complete with guitars, flutes and the most wonderful harmonies. think, fleet foxes as ladies. love lovey love.

TENNIS

i love fun bands with happy music (duh) and this band is so fun. they sound like those scenes in movies where a girl and a guy are playing on the beach, splashing in the ocean, laughing in the sand. it's the kind of music that makes me want to turn up the volume, open my sunroof and drive to.....virginia. well, that's about as far as i'm willing to drive right now.

SHARON VAN ETTEN

i love a lady with a dusky, mumbly voice. um, that doesn't sound right. do ya'll know cat power? awesome singer/songwriter and this little lady sings in a similar way. great lyrics and her voice is that wonderful, deeper sound that so few can get away with. plus, she seems like a fun chick to hang out with.

my boyfriend is a ninja in the kitchen

2012-02-14T17:38:00.000-08:00

lp and i don't really celebrate valentines day. i don't say that as a cynical lady who hates all things associated with love and holidays, but it's just us. i would feel silly if we did something fancy (and so would lp), we hate crowds and more than any of that, we celebrate our love everyday. now, if that doesn't sound hokey i don't know what does!!! but it's true. we do special things regularly, like go to a nice dinner or get a bottle of champagne or buy flowers for the house. that being said, we do have a valentines day tradition- we cook dinner, have a drink and watch tv or a movie. lately, i've become obsessed with pinterest (ohmylooitsinsane) and i came up with a way to incorporate lp into my obsession. every week we are having what i call "the top chef iron kitchen ninja" competition. i pick a meal based on pinterest and get all the ingredients and then the day of, he looks at the recipe and cooks it. if you know us, you know that i do not ever cook. it scares me and stresses me out and i hate it. but i do love to pick out recipes and eat and lp likes to cook, so it's all good. tonight was the first challenge and he really did a wonderful job!!! i mean, i did a great job of picking everything out, but since he cooked it, i do have to give him the kitchen ninja credit. when i came home, i sat down with the little rascal as i answered some emails. he helped.

i looked over and saw not one....

not two......

but three bunches of flowers.

ugh, he's amazing. the last ones were personal favorites, as i hate roses and these are not roses but at the same time are reminiscent of roses. so pretty and that man is so sweet. in the kitchen, this was happening.
weebay and i waited patiently for the food to be finished. he slept. (i want to eat those little wrinkles for dinner)

i drank wine.

until it was done. um, can you see the deliciousness??? i feel like my selection was spot on and of course, his cooking was perfect!

garlic balsamic pork tenderloin, mashed cauliflower and parmesan green beans

we finished the evening with a family walk, which weebay is getting much better with!! i hope you all had as great an evening as i did!!! (ps- you can find all the recipes on my pinterest)

phone dump

2012-02-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

we had a great week and weekend. one of my regular quotes is "this is my favorite day." while some may argue that i have already said it so many times that it has lost value, i say "psssh." when i'm having a great day, it truly is my favorite day at that time. i'm definitely a glass-half-full kind of lady. i look for rainbows when it rains, i never count down how many days i have left when i'm on vacation, i forget how many days are in a weekend, i love the mornings because it means the start of a new day- i'm a ridiculous optimist. so, that being said, this was my favorite week.

weebay got a sweater to help him stop shivering

i get to dress up at work

we are working on climbing the stairs (he can climb two now!)

our friend tim is in town from africa, so we all went to thai xing- yum!!! adorable valentine's day decor

so much food!!

random books on the shelves of the house

even more food!

saturday, we had people come over and i made s'mores cookies (thanks pinterest!!)

weebay loved playing with everyone and then proceeded to pass out

lp made me blueberry banana pancakes this morning- ohmyloo!!!

my boss gave me the 'old' keurig from work (it was less than a year old!) and i love it.

hair do's

2012-02-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

i will not lie- my hair did not look like this. i took the "tutorial" below and modified it to make it work for my hair. and let me just say, both lp AND our friend (a boy!) we went to dinner with, complimented my hair!!! so, here's what i was attempting:

but what i ended up doing was pinning up the top section of my hair for a minute. i split the lower half of my hair into two twisty buns, back combed the top portion and then pinned it back into another bun in between the other two buns. i probably should have taken a picture but i was in a hurry and forgot. my point to all this was really that you actually CAN do something with your dirty, messy hair besides just a topknot (which is my go-to!!!)!

Born to run

2012-02-08T06:43:00.001-08:00

i used to think i was not a runner. i hated it. for years. when i was in grad school, i went through a really bad break up. like, the not eating, crying all the time, drinking bottles (yes, plural) of wine for dinner kind of break up. anyway, one day i got really angry (don't you just love that part of the break up???) and i went to the gym to lift weights. i went to the gym a lot at that time, as i had nothing better to do, but i was a walk-on-the-treadmill kind of gal. so i hopped up on the treadmill and i walked. as i walked, i wanted to go faster so i upped the speed a little, then a little more, then a little more. pretty soon i was at a sprint and it felt good. now, i didn't last too long, but that didn't matter. the next day, i ran a little longer, then longer and then longer. when i (finally) finished grad school and moved back to austin, the weather was so great that one day i decided to run outside and let me tell you, huge difference!!! from that time on, i was a 'runner.' i put that in quotes because i am NOT a marathon runner, a half marathon runner, a triathelete, a 10k-er, a 5k-er- none of that. i run for as long as i feel like it, then walk for a bit, then run more, then walk more. some days i run for 20 minutes before i stop, some days i run for 5 minutes. the point is, that i really enjoy it. it's not even just running- i love working out period. weights, running, elliptical, yoga. i'm on it. like a puppy, if i go without exercise, i kind of freak out. anywho, i thought i'd let you guys know what keeps me going when i'm running (or working out period).

first up, the clothes. i know a lot of people think it doesn't matter what you wear. i am here to tell you that is absolutely untrue. i used to wear ratty old sorority shirts and old shorts and i felt 'meh.' lp convinced me to try out some real workout clothing and just see what i thought. here's what i think: when i look good and feel comfortable, i'm more likely to keep going with my workout. right now, it's silly cold here so i've been layering my look. some pieces i like when i work out:

Born to run by megancmoore featuring a yoga activewear

1. running top: i don't personally wear the pink one, but i have it in another color and i LOVE it. it's from lululemon and one of my favorite parts is that it has a cuff that you pull over your hands to keep them warm. it's the best best best!!

2. pants: i typically prefer yoga pants, but i'll do a running tight also. the main thing it that they need to be a thick enough material to keep your tush warm.

3. sports bra: always prefer the skinnier, y-type bras. they don't dig into my shoulders as much and i appreciate that.

4. top: under my running top, i do a sports tank. now, this is really important for me, as i have a very long torso. i like these tanks to be l-o-n-g. i need it to cover my tummy because gross. i do not want my tummy hanging out.

5. shoes: i love brooks. it's my brand of choice for sure. light and sturdy and they help with the fact that i roll out on the edges of my feet.

6. ear warmer- a must. it's saved my running this winter. when my ears get cold, i get a cold headache so this is a life saver!

next thing: music. this is the hardest thing in the world and it's something i am constantly updating. i have recently realized that there are a lot of songs that i love working out to that i never listen to when i'm driving around or walking down the street or riding the metro. i do have some songs that are really keeping me going recently though:

1. straight outta compton (n.w.a): i know, sounds kind of hard core, right? ha! i have to say, it's really easy to keep running when easy e gets to his part and you just wanna say "hell yea!!!"

2. monster (kanye west): nicki minaj's part on this is awe-some and the whole song makes me just wanna beat someone up.

3. when they fight, they fight (the generationals): love this band and this song always makes lp and i dance. it also pumps me up.

4. toxic (britney spears): yeah, that's right.

5. 20 dollar (m.i.a.): there are actually a few m.i.a songs i love to run to, but this is the one that's been doing it recently.

6. the way i are (timbaland): he's a hoot.

7. lisztomania (phoenix)

8. l.e.s. artistes (santigold)

9. grolondic edit (of montreal)

10. anything off the kanye west jay z album

11. personal jesus (depeche mode): try it!!!

12. break ya neck (busta rhymes)

13. hello (martin solveig)

14. song 2 blur

15. i'm confused (handsome furs)

there are many more, but this is just the list i have in my head. hope it helps!!!!

my favorite things

2012-02-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

after we come back from a trip, lp and i always crave certain foods from particular restaurants so i thought i'd come up with some of our favorite places to eat:

1. amsterdam falafel- i really like falafel and this place is, hands down, the best place to get it. it's all you can get there, in fact. they have fresh, made to order falafels and a great DIY topping bar, which i appreciate.

2. hill country bbq- it's the ONLY place to get texas style bbq around here. it takes it's style from bbq joints close to my hometown, so of course i think it's great.

3. 7th hill pizza- yum. my two criteria for pizza are toppings and crust and this place has both. the toppings are fresh and there's a great selection. they do the wood fired style of cooking the pizza and they do it well.

4. cava- this is a mezze style restaurant, which means small plates of delicious greek style food. one of my favorite things there is this cheese that they light on FIRE!!! fun food!!!

5. thai xing-tiny restaurant operating out of a row house. downstairs- a wonderful thai cook prepares whatever his heart desires. upstairs- you eat what they bring you. and you love it.

6. chix- rotisserie style chicken in bowls or wraps or just a full chicken. plus, it's all organic and healthy and they have black beans, which is always a plus in my book.

7. marvin- chicken and waffles or mussels are the way to go here. both, if you're lucky enough to eat with a sharer. plus, it's right by my house which makes it super convenient!

8. tortilla coast- now, i will preface this by saying that there NOWHERE in dc that has tex mex as good as austin. with that being said, this is as close as i can get. pretty good margs, bob armstrong queso and veggie tacos. plus, it's affordable which is saying a lot for dc food!!!

9. pete's apizza- another pizza place!! this one delivers so it's our usual for when we want to stay home. it's so fresh that when i eat it the next day (their pizzas are HUGE!!), the crust is still perfect. again, great toppings (fresh mushrooms, artichoke, roasted red peppers)

10. shake shack- i die for this place. i'm not a burger person usually. i find most burgers too big or too greasy or too dry or just not right. this place has (in my opinion) perfect burgers, perfect fries (cripsy crinkle cut fries- are you kidding?!?!?!) and perfect shakes. you cannot go wrong with anything on their menu!!

Firsts

2012-02-03T11:17:00.001-08:00

weebay had a lot of firsts this week. typically, when we get home from work, we let him out and he runs around like a crazy monster (we call "monster mode"), biting his toys, running back and forth, jumping around- basically like a kid on the last day of school. but wednesday i got home and let him out and he was lethargic and laid around. an hour later, he booted (aka barfed but i hate that word) all over the couch. ew, gross. i cleaned it up and made him sit on the floor with me. an hour later, same thing. poor little guy was sick!!!!!

he never looks like this at night

my sleeve, covered in snot and slobber

thursday he woke up (at 345) back to normal!! hooray weebay!!! thank goodness because i was very sad when he was feeling sick. thursday night, my friend monica came over to visit him for the first time and boy was he pumped to see her!!!

wishing he could climb that tiny step up

wrinklebutt!!!! this is how he always stands if lp or i go upstairs.

he wore himself out playing. yes, he sometimes sleeps with both paws up and his eyes rolled back in head- zombie puppy!!!!

today was more firsts. i took him to the vet here in dc to get a checkup and schedule his second round of vaccinations. i decided to carry him because it's a bit of a walk and he's just not big enough to go that far by himself. so i got out a duffel bag to put him in and:
he loved it. the entire vet office fell in love with him. he was so good and let everyone pet and hold him and just loved on all of them. the vet tech even took him in the back to show everyone how adorable he is. way to go weebay!!!!

the scale was his favorite part (6.2 lbs, by the way)

we got home and went on our first walk outside. which he loved. i can see he will be a great walker, which i'm so excited about as this winter is so mild. then, we had his first bath. yikes. not so great. he FREAKED in the tub and was trying to jump out. unfortunately, he is not a good climber so this amounted to him squeaking and clawing the tub and turning into the saddest whimper ever. i've never hurried through a bath so fast!!!

pathetically sad.

Belly

2012-02-01T12:02:00.001-08:00

This guy looks like there is a water balloon in his belly. I cannot stop rubbing it!

our newest addition

2012-01-29T16:32:00.000-08:00

we weren't going to do it. we were going to wait for a few months. but then, it happened. we found the most perfect one of all and it was all over. i was looking on the internet on friday night, just looking for a breeder who might be breeding french bulldogs in the next few months. but then, i saw him. the perfect puppy. lp and i talked about it and decided that if this one puppy was still available, it was meant to be and we would get him. i emailed the breeder and heard nothing that night. i woke up saturday- nothing. i decided to call them and leave a message (i REALLY wanted this puppy)- nothing. we went and ran errands saturday and then decided to stay in that night. at 9, i was updating the blog when my phone rang. guess who-the breeder!!! the puppy was ABOUT to be sold, but she checked her email and saw that i had emailed first so she called to see if i wanted him. he was the runt of the litter and almost died when he was born- she had to carry him in a pouch for TWO WEEKS so he would get healthy. we immediately put a deposit, deciding to come visit him on sunday but leaving him there and coming back the following friday. when lp and i woke up sunday, we knew we would not be leaving the place without him. so, let me introduce you to our sweet little guy weebay (named after my favorite drug dealing, fish loving, hired killer on "the wire").

sleeping in the car

weebay!!!

love love love

our friends came over and spent some time with our little guy- which promptly tuckered him out

his favorite sleeping place

road trip....brazil style

2012-01-28T13:54:00.000-08:00

we got to brasilia, brazil on saturday morning. our friend eliardo (sweetie that he is) came to pick us up from the airport and from there, we went and took showers, ate lunch and headed out for the beach!! our road trip was taking us through brazil to a small town called caraiva.

this view did not suck

best views in the back of the car

Brazil!!!

this was probably the slowest we drove (and the speed limit was 80kph)

that night, we got to a small town. we found a motel, checked in and went to grab a snack and a beer. in the morning, we got up and had breakfast before we hit the road. it was going to be a long day, but we had a nice, big, brazilian breakfast (lots of meat, cheese, bread and lp's favorite- cheesy bread, called 'pao de queijo').

boys bathroom

girls bathroom

gas station

we hit the road and drove allllllll day, getting to caraiva late sunday night. we grabbed some beers, some food and ended up hitting some of the bars until late in the evening/morning!!! it was so much fun, there was live music and dancing and we had so much fun with eliardo. the next day, we woke up and i got to check out our pad. it was pretty spectacular......

our villa

walking around the town

caraiva taxi!!!

our place

that afternoon, we showered and walked around the town to check things out. this place is AMAZING. no cars, just donkeys and mainly just walking. it's super secluded and mainly local brazilians. there is sand, water, boats (the cutest little boats!!), drinks, food and people. we spent the next few days doing the most wonderful things- sleeping, eating, drinking, laying out, dancing, walking around. it was PERFECT.

boats!!

one of the main stretches of bars and restaurants

boats!!!

beach!

lp!!

lp and ocean

lp's favorite thing- the hammock

boats!!!

yummy pina colada

lizard

oh, this was so cool. these are trees with branches growing branches growing branches into the ground. it was one of the coolest things i've ever seen.

pretty beach

beach band.

on thursday, we got up and started driving to rio. more pics to come soon.....

RIO!!!!

2012-01-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

we left caraiva on thursday (see part one of brazil) and headed toward rio de janeiro. we drove all day thursday (well, we didn't leave until about 2 so i don't know if that qualifies as all day...) and drove through more beautiful country. seriously, brazil is every bit as gorgeous as the pictures make it out to be. we drove through open fields, mountains, forests, coastal lines- basically, every kind of terrain that brazil had to offer.

we finally got to rio friday evening. we were beat so we went and ate dinner. i wanted to go to a "brazilian" restaurant and eliardo said that restaurants like fogo de chao that served grilled meats were typical brazilian food, so that's where we went. it was a delicious food bomb and after we ate we all passed out early. saturday we went to the beach. let me tell you, rio's beaches are amazing. clean white sand, clear blue waters and tons of people.

walking up on ipanema beach

we walked up and down the beach and then headed to look around town for a bit. we stayed in ipanema and i think it was the perfect place!!! the beach was great, our hotel was close to the beach and to lots of bars and the area was really cool.

the lake in rio

that night, we went out with some of eliardo's friends. it was great!! we went to a few bars and then ended up at a samba club with a live band and everyone dancing. we ended up staying there until almost 4, going to grab some food and then to another bar!!! crazy fun times.

chopp!!!

view from the samba club- it was in the middle of a deserted alley overlooking a cathedral

samba!!!

the band

so this is the only pic of lp and me. and it's dark. and you can't see us. ugh!!

eliardo and me

eliardo's friends, sergio and sylvia

me, in the club!!

eliardo left sunday. lp and i were going to go with him, but when we got to rio, we decided it was too amazing to leave so soon. so we booked a one way flight and stayed two extra days. our last full day we had "the perfect day." it started with a trip to the beach. at the beaches, you could rent an umbrella and chairs for cheap cheap cheap so we got ourselves an umbrella and 2 chairs. lp stayed under the umbrella and i worshipped the sun right beside him. we stayed out for THREE HOURS!!!! (thank goodness for the umbrella).

beachin' it!!!

lp grabbed a coconut to drink

after the beach, we decided to grab some lunch. i did not know this but the song "girl from ipanema" was actually written in rio at a local restaurant in ipanema. we went to eat a big ol' plate of meat (like i said, brazil loves their grilled meats) and have one last caipirinha. this is the place:

we went back to our hotel and then decided to head to the botanical gardens in rio. it was really pretty and had some great views of the christ the redeemer statue.

palm trees-they had like a million kinds of palm trees

there he is....

lillies

don't go chasing waterfalls

we ended the day by going to a great restaurant by the ocean that had one of the best views of the sunset and ordered, my favorite thing, champagne. it was the perfect end to the perfect day.

the next day we left. just a side note- we go to the airport, walk up to the counter and as we are checking in, the power goes off. and it stayed off. for a while. by this time, i'm so thirsty and this airport has NO place to buy water!!!! it was so weird. anyway, here are all the people waiting without power.

mom got hitched!

2012-01-09T17:45:00.001-08:00

mom got hitched this past weekend!!! i hopped a flight to austin early friday morning and left super early sunday, so it was a whirlwind but so worth it to be there for my madre. love her!

this was actually at chris and eileen's on nye, but i forgot to post it and thought it was too cute to not put up. they made little paper lanterns to put over christmas lights. it was amazing!

gotta get my mexican food fix. love some queso and margs!

mom's flower's that her hubby made for her

i gave her a necklace with her new initials- pjl

the bride to be!!

mommy!!!

this was what i kept trying to tell her

saying their vows

riding off into the sunset.....

cake and wine- who could ask for more

after the wedding, eric and i went downtown to enjoy a lovely evening. we started at one of my favorite places, the stephen f austin hotel. if you go to austin and can stay there, do it. i love everything about it!!!

my 'brother'

our view

we shared a really big bed- lots of space between us when i woke up in the morning!

on left- my monopolova and soda, on right- eric's chilton

bear bar

it was a fun night where we went to see a friend's band, i saw lots of lovely people i hadn't seen in a while and ended with me gorging on queso at midnight (gross). a great night!!! when i got back on sunday, lp's wonderful sister and bro-in-law got us tickets to see the one woman ann richards' play. we were super excited because we heart ann richards and also because it was at the kennedy center. so although i was pooped, we headed out with blair and chris to check out the play. i'll go ahead and tell you- it was really, really, really good. she was a strong and inspirational woman and this was a humorous and loving tribute to a fine texas woman.

walking in

kennedy head. in rock.

getting ready for the show!!!

life these days

2012-01-04T17:24:00.000-08:00

being 31 is really turning my crank. as i sit here, lp is playing a computer game (nerd!) on our crazy huge super computer. what is this super computer, you may ask? well, when we moved in, the house came with a huge tv- because it was big and wired in through the wall and most people couldn't move it. my super smart amazing boyfriend decided that since we had a tv, we should take the old tv down, put ours up and then make the tv into a computer. yes, i know. he IS amazing like that. so we now have a 'super computer' (my nickname) and lp is playing some game where he makes his own country and manages it as i type and have a glass of wine. these are our typical nights and i have to say that i love them. i'm so low key these days that this all makes me so content and happy. lp has also found me my "heart station." he thinks that with internet radio, everyone has one special radio station that plays all the kinds of music you like. mine is WFMU's Ichiban Rock and Soul. now, i have, um, eclectic taste in music and i border on the side of kitsch at times, so my all time favorite music is old 50s/60s rock and rockabilly and this station is AMAZING if you like that sort of stuff. they even play old commercials about coke or "the mod squad"- so freakin' cool. so we have: me typing+glass of wine, lp on the super computer, favorite music on the stereo. can you blame me for thinking that 31 is the bees' knees????

phone dump!!!

2012-01-02T18:02:00.001-08:00

cleaning out the phone for the end of the year and found some from recently. love camera phones!!

bartender and i had the same cool kid glasses (but mine were a stronger prescription)

chris and blair and their amazing christmas attire!

some christmas ornaments grandma sent me (i love the sequins!)

my favorite treat- strawberry frozen yogurt with berries and oreos

in the crazy asian market, looking for treasures in nyc

the christmas scene at adrienne's building

peking duck in nyc on christmas eve

adrienne, me and my crazy hat

christmas eve skeeball

old fashioned register at the bakery with the best coffee in the world*

(*dubbed by me)

christmas poinsettias

christmas yatzee!!!

....and a happy new year

2011-12-30T15:09:00.000-08:00

well, it's the end of another year. i cannot believe how fast this year went!! i don't really do new year's resolutions- it's so stressful and i feel like people always pick things they are going to break- but i like to take the end of the year as a time to reflect. reflect on things i've done, things i've learned, things i wished i had done. maybe one day i'll be able to make a resolution (although i doubt it, i'm pretty bad at sticking to things!). for now, this short list will have to do!

1. i learned that africa may be one of the most beautiful places in the world. it's tragically sad that a place with some of the most wonderful people would have to suffer through hunger, rape and murder but i hope everyone gets a chance to visit africa and see the beauty of that country.

2. i wish i were a camper. i mean, i'm a one night kind of camper, but not a 3 day kind of camper. i need a shower like a some people need water.

3. i love new york city. we only went once this year and it was definitely not enough.

4. i like cold weather-surprise!!! i've been such a 'texan' my whole life-i used to thrive in the heat. this year i couldn't wait for my first chance to wear a hat, layer some clothes, build a fire.

5. i love clothes. some people kind of berate girls who are super into clothes, but i honestly love finding things i like, putting outfits together and seeing what looks good. i realized this year that i don't care and i will shop if i feel like it. (**sidenote: i'm good with my money for the most part, so this is not me saying that i will go into debt over clothing**)

6. i wish i would have gone to the beach this year. i've never been to an east coast beach ('sup atlantic ocean?) and i want to go.

7. i like when lp is gone, but i LOVE when he comes back.

8. 2 months is a little too long for him to be gone. this was the longest he's been away and by the end, i was about to move into mike's house because i was so lonely.

9. i'm ready for a dog!!!

10. i want to be a homebody, but i have a hard time telling people no. this usually leads to me not being at home. since i've turned 30, i've really started to realize that being at home makes me happy. i could sit and enjoy a clean house, with candles and lp on the couch, watching a movie. or reading a book. or talking to lp while we 'surf the net' (that sounds so stupid, doesn't it?). one of these days, i'll be able to easily stay home, with no feelings of regret or remorse.

blue and yellow

2011-12-28T16:19:00.001-08:00

blue and yellow by megancmoore featuring feather jewelry

The Row cotton tank top
€169 - jades24.com

Long top
£16 - desireclothing.co.uk

Rachel Pally long full skirt
$198 - piperlime.gap.com

Jil Sander flat shoes
$425 - net-a-porter.com

Fendi shoulder handbag
€754 - luisaviaroma.com

Alex Monroe feather jewelry
$225 - cultstatus.com.au

Monogrammed jewelry
$58 - moonandlola.com

Oval ring
$17 - bardot.com.au

happy times

2011-12-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

just a quick one: lp is home!!! hooray!! i've missed him so much and i had forgotten how nice it is to have him around. he's already made tons of messes, cooked me breakfast and made me a big fire- love love love.

Sugar plum fairies are dancing in my head

2011-12-08T12:15:00.001-08:00

Last night mike and I went to see the nutcracker. i used to go with my mom every year when i was little and i was so excited when mike said he had never been and would go with me!! it was a gorgeous theater and you could get a small glass of wine to take in with you (ballet+wine= love). the costumes and dancing were beautiful, the story was slightly different from the one in austin (ie the whole thing here takes place in dc, there are native americans and frontiermen), not better or worse, just different. but we loved it and it is now megan and mike's christmas bonding time.

decking some halls

2011-12-05T17:27:00.000-08:00

the saturday after thanksgiving, i went to help mike decorate his house. now, you all should know that mike is CRAZY about christmas. this guy has so much christmas stuff, he throws a big old christmas party every year and basically wants to wrap christmas up in a blanket and carry it around for a month. this year, he has a small front yard, which of course means decorating. our inspiration was this:

so we got up early saturday, had a big breakfast and headed first to the tree place. i love these places. every year i have a little fake tree, so the tree place feels so special to me since i never get to go there. it was a beautiful day so we walked around for a while, searching for the magical perfect tree (ps- we found it)

always touch the needles

still looking

when we finally found it, we called the guy over and he hauled it out to trim the trunk a little.

chainsaw massacre on the tree

i have no clue what this is called, but it's my favorite part!

all trussed up like a ham

next, it was time to head to home depot to get outside decorations. i love shopping for other people. it's seriously one of my favorite things. so my love of shopping and mike's love of christmas collided in a home depot spending spree!!!

the wreath- wahhhhh! christmas!!!!

green and gold garland, tiny red bows

mini christmas trees

i think it turned out great and most importantly, it was super fun!!! then it was on to the tree. here is the end result (with lights, tinsel, bubble lights, merman, crazy decorations)

merman!!

gobble gobble

2011-12-05T16:57:00.000-08:00

so for thanksgiving mike's wonderful family invited me to come over and eat with them! it was a beautiful day in the district, so i made up some pumpkin cream cheese muffins and my megwiches and walked over to mike's. yup, i could walk there- bonus!! sidenote to this- i woke up at 4 am that morning. no, not because i wanted to, but because i couldn't stop sneezing. so i popped a claritin. big mistake. allergy pills make me feel freaky in the head (a phrase i coined while on allergy meds) so when i woke back up i went running and almost got lost. back to the story. i got to mike's and everyone was there, so it was appetizer time!!!

part of the spread

mike's fabulous centerpiece

checking on the turkey

mike's singular candlestick

just cooking it up

mike and i decided to open some wine. this started me on a path to kookiness. wine+allergy meds=super freaky in the head.

mike and his family relaxing

proud turkey papa

soon enough, the turkey was done and it was time for food time!! we set the table, turned on some christmas tunes (my request) and gathered around.

mike's family pup

crazy guy who stalks mike came over

time for a rousing game of clue!!!!

favorite things

2011-11-29T04:28:00.000-08:00

1. favorite day: next friday. that's when lp gets home!!

2. favorite color: red and green!!! hooray for christmas!!

3. favorite dream: that guy up there. i cannot wait until we get back from brazil so we can get our pup. one of our friends is also going to get one so we're going to get siblings!!! i'm so excited, i want to pee my pants.

4. favorite thing to wear: boots. i just got some hunter boots and some awesome knee high boots. it's been raining constantly, so i've gotten lots of use out of the hunters and the cold front is (finally) blowing through, so looks like i'll get more use out of my other boots too!

5. favorite person to spend the weekend with: my neighbor friend mike. last weekend we decorated his house for christmas with garland, tinsel, lights and bows. it's amazing.

6. favorite piece in the house: my tree- duh. i sit here at night with only the tree on and it's so peaceful.

7. favorite food: weirdly, i've been eating apples like they are going out of style. like almost every night i have one for dinner.

8. favorite activity: yoga. been going 3-4 times a week. i think it's been balancing out my grumpiness since lp has been gone.

9. favorite toy: my new kindle fire. it's been fun!!!

10. favorite drink: english breakfast tea. cannot seem to stop drinking it!!!

count your blessings

2011-11-24T06:11:00.000-08:00

on the christmas station this morning (don't judge, been listening to it for a week) they played a little ditty by barry manilow called 'count your blessings' and it made me actually start to count my blessings. i have to admit, for as stressed as i get about money or lp being gone or whatever, i'm super blessed. here are a few of my blessings:

1. in two weeks, lp will be home. we've definitely had our fair share of being separated. i mean, when he was in grad school IN LONDON we only saw each other like every six months. this time has been a lot harder, i think because i'm so used to him being here everyday to make me laugh and hug me and make me feel good. but, i'm blessed because at least he's coming home. i do realize that some people have a significant other leave who doesn't make it back, so there's a blessing in his coming home. in two weeks.

2. my family. they are really pulling out the stops these days. my mom sent me flowers, two cards and called several times on my birthday to make sure it was a good one. she also always calls me (or picks up if i call her). kenny has sent me a card for every little holiday in the past two months to cheer me up. mark flew me to st louis to visit one weekend. i'm so lucky to have a great family.

3. our house. we've been so fortunate to find an adorable home with plenty of space for us. plus, it has a backyard and a fireplace, which are now 2 of my most prized possessions.

4. i have a job. enough said.

5. i have some really great friends. friends who send me cards, skype to see my face, take me out to cheer me up, come over to sit with me and generally just are badasses.

hope that you're all blessed and able to give thanks today for those blessings!!!

leaves, leaves, leaves!

2011-11-23T07:30:00.000-08:00

one of my favorite things about living on the east coast is the leaves. in texas, everything just goes from green to brown and back to green. but here, oh my, the leaves turn all sorts of pretty colors!! i'll admit, it can sometimes be a little annoying because eventually, there are leaves EVERYWHERE, but i still haven't lost my excitement about pretty leaves. there's a tree outside our house, which has decided to turn it's leaves a pretty yellow color and is slowing giving all the leaves to our street. this morning when i walked out, it was like it had snowed. only with leaves. (please ignore the horrible black scratches on my car)

this is the sidewalk- leaf/snow!!!!!

my car. somewhere under there.

front steps- perfect for keeping our house clean and leaf free.

this and that

2011-11-23T07:14:00.001-08:00

i've been bad at uploading photos, so although i haven't taken many recently, here are some from the summer!!! first up, the block party. so fun, so many puppies, so much food.

mike and my favorite fat pug across the street!!!

our block, the random folks, the grills- it was a success!!!

note the arbor mist (2 bottles!!!). that's the kind of hood i live in!!!!

these next ones are from when lp's sis came to visit. we walked past those darn "occupy dc" people. this was before the tents. this park now looks like woodstock.

then we went down to the capitol. it's one of the things that lp and i do when we're bored sometimes. it never really gets old seeing that big old building and thinking of all the history.

admission of guilt

2011-11-18T04:08:00.000-08:00

i'll admit it- i turned on christmas music already. i can't help it, i love christmas so much!! i think i probably got my addiction from my grandmother (shout out, grandma moore!!!) who celebrates christmas like it's her job. each room in her house used to have a christmas tree (some were tiny!!), we decorated buckets of christmas cookies and on christmas eve, someone had better get out their guitar and start belting out some christmas tunes or she was not a happy camper. i loved all of it- the glitter (GLITTER!!!), sparkles, tree decor, cookies (we all know how i love me some cookies), music- everything. as i got older, i couldn't wait until thanksgiving day. not for the turkey, which i never really eat, but because i knew the local radio station majic 95.5 would start playing christmas music and tbs would start playing christmas movies. i mean, who doesn't love 'a christmas story' - "you'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out?" all of this has led to today, when i turned on christmas music on nov 18 because i couldn't wait any longer and am contemplating putting up my tree tonight.

feelin the love

2011-11-14T16:58:00.001-08:00

update on my life: i've been busy. since lp left, i've been keeping very busy. lots of yoga and running, lots of drinks with friends and lots of sleep! a few weekends ago was halloween. mike and i (picture 1 below) went to a party at a friends' house. i hate dressing up (because i'm awful at thinking up costumes!) so i dressed up in lp's old navy clothes! the following weekend, i met up with my friend's eileen and blair (pictured below #2). eileen and i started off having lunch at a place called pearl dive, which has an indoor bocce court upstairs in the bar. OF COURSE we had to play after lunch. blair came to meet us and we sat around having delicious frozen drinks and chatting. which led to more drinks. which led to grabbing some cheese and bread at whole foods, taking it to eileen's place and having champagne! one of my favorite days!!! next up, my birhtday!! as soon in picture # 3, i got lots of flowers. lp surprised my by sending me flowers! from africa!! they're the lillies in the middle (one of my favorite flowers). he also sent a present to mike's office. such a sweetie pie! i was so surprised. on saturday, blair and chris and shawna and i all went out. blair is awesome and brought me treats- tiny glitter cowboy hats and crazy sunglasses (picture #4 and on). we had a great time!! who knew tiny hats could create such a stir? seriously, EVERYONE asked about the hats, we got free drinks and most of all, we looked hilarious. i loved it! the past few years my birthdays have involved silly accessories for the guests involved and these were great additions. enjoy the silly pics!!! ps- lp comes back in 3 1/2 weeks. countdown to commence shortly.

executive membership

2011-10-29T15:31:00.001-07:00

mike and i went to costco today. we decided to go in on a joint membership since we don't know how much either of us would use the store. it ended up that we were there for over 2 hours!!! we started off getting our cards from the fabulous herman and then headed to the food area for a delish hot dog. then it was up and down every single aisle to decide what we "needed" (ha ha!). it was a great day for it because it has been SNOWING in OCTOBER here. yes, that's right. snowing. all day.

soft and furry

2011-10-27T12:49:00.001-07:00

we're getting one of these when we get back from brazil and i can't stop thinking about him. how can you resist those short legs and that chubby tummy? i just want to bite him!

i bless the rains down in africa

2011-10-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

lp is gone again and although it's not as bad as last time, i miss him. so i have compiled a list of ten of my favorite things about him.

1. he loves me, crazy and all

2. he hugs me when i've had a rough day/am stressed out/get over stimulated

3. he makes me laugh all the time

4. he dances with me in the mornings when we get ready

5. he cooks me dinner anytime i want (or will get me dinner if he doesn't feel like cooking)

6. he kisses me all the time

7. he likes to go all over the world with me

8. he lets me make lists of things for us to do

9. he can fix anything in our house

10. he loves me, crazy and all

choices, choices, choices

2011-10-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

it's been busy here in our house lately. about 3 weeks ago, our block had a block party. it was so much fun! we had the street blocked off and everyone pulled coolers, chairs, grills and food out to the street. there were games and talking and all kinds of fun neighborhood-y stuff going on.

the following week, lp and i started our painting. we began on friday and it took us all the way until sunday to finish and even then we weren't completely done (the people who painted the house before us painted the half bathroom blood red, like murder bathroom. they also decided to paint the ceiling red, then paint over one coat of white so when we were done painting it turned out we needed to paint the ceiling.) it was not as bad as i thought it would be. we painted and painted and painted all day, everyday, for like 10-12 hours. it was exhausting, but so worth it in the end. our house was in dire need of a paint job (they had chosen hideous colors!) so we're much happier about it all now.

last weekend, lp's sister came to town. it was a BEAUTIFUL weekend- weather in the 70s, sunny, breezy. gorgeous. we ended up going to the mlk memorial and the roosevelt memorial on friday, which was really great. saturday, she and i went shopping while lp watched the longhorns get whooped by ou and then we had people over for drinks. sunday, we went to see a movie and then to the zoo. it was a great weekend.

lp just left for africa for 8 weeks. it's going to be a long 2 months, but maybe i'll be blogging more. so far, i've been the most productive person in the world. finishing painting, sweeping the backyard, re-potting plants- you know, that stuff. we will see how this all goes!!

fall loves

2011-10-04T17:25:00.001-07:00

i'm so obsessed with fall right now. i can't stop thinking about midi-skirts, sweaters, boots, scarves and all things fall related. one day, this outfit will be mine.....(well, probably not, but it can't hurt to dream!)

fall loves by megancmoore featuring metal bangles

Madewell merino wool sweater
$68 - madewell.com

Madewell long tiered skirt
$145 - madewell.com

Madewell wedge heel boots
$215 - madewell.com

Mulberry leather shoulder bag
$1,405 - mytheresa.com

H M metal bangle
£6.99 - hm.com

Madewell beaded jewelry
$75 - madewell.com

Madewell sunglasses
$134 - madewell.com

girls in white dresses.....

2011-09-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

i have a lot of days where i say "this is my favorite thing ever" so i have decided to compile a list of my favorite things. for today.

1. my favorite color: right now it's green, like the green that has popped up all over our back yard because of the rain. it's like NEON green and i'm kind of in love with it.

2. my favorite day of the week: sunday. it's when lp and i lay in bed and talk, read or watch tv. so cozy!

3. my favorite neighborhood: ours, of course!!! our block had a block party last weekend and i think it was just about the best thing ever.

4. my favorite clothing item: grandpa sweater. since i was in high school and found my first one at goodwill, i will always fall in love with a comfy grandpa sweater to wear with great jeans.

5. my favorite person: lp, of course. he's super awesome. we're about to paint this weekend and he's really been stepping it up in the home improvement department, which i adore.

6. my favorite food: babybel cheese. peeling off the wrapper and that red wax is one of the highlights of my day.

7. my favorite flower: lillies are really doing it for me right now. i seem to buy some almost every week at the store.

8. my favorite way to look at the world: my camera(s). i still love taking pictures and seeing what turns out. i'm on the hunt for a cool polaroid camera, although the film is achingly expensive.

9. my favorite drink: home made decaf coffee with that new naturals coffeemate. delish!

10. my favorite future thing: our fireplace. i can't wait to use it. you can believe that the first snap of true cold and i'm all out fire lady, complete with s'mores and wine and movies.

having nothing to do this summer sure was busy

2011-09-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

so this summer has been crazy. i've been not working very much but somehow we've been super busy anyway. so here's my summer life!!!

1. this is what i see almost every day when i drive to work. dude. it's kind of awe inspiring.

2. we discovered a hole in the wall, authentic thai restaurant. it's in a basement, it's a fixed price and you don't order, the guy just cooks you what he feels like. and it's amazing. clearly, aaricka and kyle gave it 2 thumbs up.

3. we went to see my morning jacket. for the hundreth time. they are one of our favorite bands and we all car pooled out to merriweather to see the show. i drank adult sno-cones (sno-cone with vodka!!), kyle let us ruin his shirt during the show, there was nasa beer bear and we all got sweaty and danced.

4. we went to west virginia for lp's family reunion. it was breathtakingly gorgeous (of course i forgot to bring my good camera). there was a gold tournament and i got to drive the golf cart. hooray!!! i found a sweet koozie in the gift shop ("if someone offers you a life, take it!) and we got to drive all through the mountains. i wanna go back!!

5. we had an earthquake. and then a hurricane 2 days later. lp and i threw a party for the 'hurriquake'

6. dc has an abundance of all-you-can-eat-and-drink places. on labor day weekend, we went to one. it was pretty good but we were STUFFED.

7. i just got back from acl. it was super great. as always. the weather was decent. i always say 'this is my last year' (because i'm getting old) but then i love it so much!!!

just like home

2011-08-07T15:00:00.001-07:00

About two blocks from our house is a tack joint. I couldn't be happier. As they also sell my favorite soda- jarritos grapefruit soda! Nothing better than this drink, ice cold, on a hot day.

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new digs

2011-08-05T13:29:00.001-07:00

So, we've moved. Here are some pics of our hood and this awesome new side table/wine rack that my sweet grandma helped us purchase (thanks gma!)

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too much fun, too little time

2011-06-22T16:59:00.001-07:00

a few weekends ago, i flew to dallas to meet up with some of my favorite people in the world. it had been a while since i saw two of my favorite people- kristen and eric!!! eric picked me up and we headed to the w where we were staying. as soon as we checked in, eric and i hit the pool while we waited for kristen. with a margarita. fabulous!!! after kristen arrived, we got ready and headed for a drink before dinner.

champagne with my girl

three muskateers

we headed to dinner at monicas to meet up with some friends from tech. oh texas, how i missed you!!! queso, $3 margaritas, good salsa- you do not find these things on the east coast. i enjoyed the margaritas a little too much and almost needed a nap in the bathroom, but i rallied back and made it through the meal and to the next bar.

kellie, kristen and me

chris, alicia and eric

almost needed a nap!!!

after dinner, we met up with our friend gabe and headed to the gay bars!! we did a little dancing, a little drinking and tried to do a little karaoke (but the wait to sing was too long!!). it was a fun filled evening, ended by me telling everyone we all needed to go home. when did i become such an old lady?!?!?!?!

gabe, eric and me

kellie and gabe

eric, kellie and gabe

gabe and kristen

best face ever!!! got a pic JUST as eric dropped his beer. classic!!!!!

i guess that's a little more normal

right before i told everyone i needed to go home

the crew!!!

after the bar, eric, kristen and i went back to talk and just hang out by ourselves. we were staying across from the american airlines center. so close i decided to take a pic to show how close we were. silly idea.
the next day, we got manicures and pedicures, ate brunch, went to the pool and gossiped all day. it was great! that night we got ready and went to dinner at cyclone anaya's (more mexican!). our waiter was possibly the most offensive human ever. his 'jokes' ranged from racist to sexist, offending everyone at our table. blech. but our faces in the second pic below kind of sums it up:

"what did he just say?!?!?!"

after, we had a few drinks and had fun. pretty much just having fun being together!!!

jello shots for a cause!

random guy wanted us to take pictures with him. weird.

one of my favorite pics of the weekend!!

the end of the night came and i went to bed early (as usual). when kristen and eric came to the room, this is how they found me:
passed out. as usual.

shake shack

2011-06-05T14:22:00.001-07:00

we went to shake shack today. i had a strawberry milkshake and it was DELICIOUS. their fries are those crinkle cut fries and they're super crispy- love it. i would highly recommend that if you're ever close to a shake shack, you go in and eat there!!!

rain rain go away

2011-05-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

i'm so tired of the rain here. it's been raining for years (well, maybe it just feels like years) and i've decided that the rain makes me feel several ways:

1. tired: i can't get out of bed, i just want to lay around and running? forget about it! today i slept through my alarm (i guess i more hit the snooze while i was half asleep as the alarm was going off 15 min after i had set it)

2. stir crazy: am i restless? hungry? tired? bored? antsy? i don't know!!! i don't know how to manage myself being cooped up in a house all day, much less for two days.

3. overly sensitive: we went to look at a new apartment on saturday and it wasn't great- not horrible, just not for us. this threw me into a deep depression and ended with a dramatic "we'll never find a place to live and we'll be homeless" i think if lp were prone to violence, he would have slapped me.

in closing, please stop raining, dc. i'm tired of it and i have things to do and i want to ride my bike and go places that are outside instead of staying in all day wondering when it will rain.

it's been absolutely lovely here

2011-05-04T16:40:00.000-07:00

it's been delightful here! it warmed up finally and although it's been raining (a lot!), when it's been sunny, i've LOVED the weather. saturday, blair and i decided to get a mani and go running around town. we started out with a manicure and champagne, grabbed a drink and then go shopping for a bit. after we shopped, we decided to get some guacamole and a drink.

blair had sangria. a whole pitcher!

i had a paloma- i miss jarritos so much!!!!

after drinks, guac and an enchilada, we headed over to the science club, where lp met us for a bit.

yesterday, i met the "all star crew" (lp's nickname for us) at bullfeathers for a few drinks. it was so warm outside, although a little windy, so we sat on the patio.

shea, me, perry, mrc, whit, stacey

mrc and whit

shea and me!!!

me and perry

it was great to sit outside and chat with my ladies. today is cold and rainy, so i hope that it goes back to the warm weather soon!!!!

Easter

2011-05-04T16:35:00.001-07:00

easter day was beautiful here! it was in the 80's and sunny- no rain for once!! i had been wanting to go to chili's (or really any mid-priced chain restaurant) for a while. dc has lots of great restaurants, but they're all pricey and nice and unique. i was hankering for a mediocre meal at a reasonable price and i LOVE chili's for that, so we called some of our friends and headed out to arlington. that would be where the closest chili's is located. we walked up and there was an outside seating area! i was in heaven!!! we all sat outside and ordered margaritas and queso and had a long, leisurely meal at chili's.

eileen, jj, lp and chris

after we finished, we headed back to our place for a few more cocktails and patio time. it was a lovely day!!!!

happiness....

2011-04-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

5 things that are making me happy today:

1. a little girl told me i looked like an angel

2. lp made me twice baked potatoes

3. it's warm out again-hooray!!!!

4. i have some weekend plans

5. one of my clients' mom gave me these flowers because she said that she thought i would like them. and i do.

Hot and cold

2011-03-26T09:20:00.001-07:00

last friday it was 78. this friday it was 45. i miss the warmth. desperately! although i'm quite happy to have 4 distinct seasons and be living in this part of the country for now, i will say that by march i'm so stinking ready for it to warm up that i can't hardly stand it. even just the 60's. so mother nature, if you're listening to this, WARM UP! it's supposed to snow tomorrow, so i'm readying our fireplace for one more fire this year (fingers crossed!). ugh. anyway, as last week was sooooo beautiful and springy (really, spring in the district is absolutely gorgeous and i highly recommend everyone check it out once), there was lots to be done outside. like meeting up at cap lounge for an early happy hour on the patio!!!

stacey, me, shea, whitney

on friday i ran allllll over town in the warmth. from NW to SE to chinatown to dupont circle, i was out in the weather. poor lp was home because i accidentally got him sick, so i was on my own, which is sometimes really fun. i was just listening to music, bopping around on the metro, went the wrong way because i was not paying attention to where i was, all with a smile on my face. man, i miss that warm weather.

last saturday was my last saturday to work-hooray! although i signed up for it and don't regret the money, i'm so happy to have my time back to myself. so last night i made a reservation at the new texas style bbq place here! (sidenote: it was definitely the first time i've ever made a reservation for bbq. i think this is hilarious. ) it was pretty good. we had pitchers of shiner and beans and bbq and all the goodness of texas as all 8 of us were from texas!

this place was PACKED!

afterwards, we decided to have a few drinks at a dive bar. after all, i was celebrating not working the next day!!

jj, lp, ko (the kings of initials)

attempting to dance on a table before lp chastised me

smelling his head (i do this about 3-4 times a day)

jj didn't want to smell it

it was a great night! great to be back with friends, great to know i didn't have to work the next day and just great to be where i am!!!!

soundtrack for the night: the head and the heart "the head and the heart"

back in the swing of things

2011-03-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

*warning:first post in a long time without pics. hope it's not too mundane.*

so here i am, finally writing about the things in my life and i gotta say, i've been pretty boring lately. this week i've been feeling "not so great" (i hate saying i'm sick, so this is my stock phrase) and it's made me have little pity parties for myself. the first thing i've realized is that i need it to get warmer here. i'm DYING for a glimmer of warmth (c'mon, i'm only asking for high 50's here!!) as i believe i may have S.A.D-you know, that thing that makes people get all mopey when it's cold and grey for too long. so spring, i'm calling you out of hiding in the NE. get your booty out here! second, i also need to start taking pictures again. in fact, the other night, lp and i were making a delicious dinner (spinach and cheese ravioli in a light tomato sauce with bread and some champagne) and i went to try to take some pics and my battery was dead! this means it has been too long since i've taken pics. i've also realized that i'm old (30 has hit me and i'm exhausted all the time) but i need to remember to still get out sometimes and enjoy the city even more. but really, i blame it all on the weather.

in other news, i've been working six days a week. financially- great move. mentally-worst. idea. ever. it's been draining and i'm constantly tired and i never have time to do anything and my friday nights are the same as my monday nights BUUUUUUUT-i made a lot of money. is it worth it? not for me. i originally did it because after africa, i knew i'd be broke and wanted to make up the money i spent (i'm really tight with money that i make!). what i forgot was that i've always valued my time, my friendships and my life experiences over money. i mean, would i have been doing what i do if i were in it for the money? so, lesson learned. i can hack a saturday here or there, but overall, working this much is not for me. in fact, i think i'm going to try and work friday mornings only starting this summer!

hope everyone has a healthy and happy week! i've decided to start doing a 'soundtrack' for some of my posts, like what i'm listening to at that moment or what songs are in my head or whatever. so today's soundtrack moment is a band called the morning benders and their album "big echo" - check it out, ya'll!

they went to city hall and got married

2011-03-04T17:40:00.001-08:00

the other weekend our good friends mike and kalinda got married! we're so happy for them and it was such a great wedding! of course, lp and i couldn't get away from work for long enough (and afford a hotel room for more than 2 nights) so it was a short trip. boooo! friday we got in and kristen and eric came to pick us up from the airport. lp and i ran up to get ready and met them downstairs to go to the rehearsal.

big k and me!

of course, our flight was so late that we missed the rehearsal, so we went straight to the dinner. it was so great to see everyone, and mainly to see our two dear friends so happy! i was the maid of honor and although you'd think i'd have 100 pics with the bride, i have none. i apologize for my lack of pics, but i was super busy taking care of stuff and bossing people around. anyway, the dinner was so fun!

me and eric (note my rockin' blue shoes!)

after the dinner, we all went to the w for a few drinks. i've been on champagne kick and luckily, my soul mate kristen was on board the champagne train, so we indulged a little at the w!

cheers!

after the w, we decided to meet more friends at another bar downtown. i finally had to say goodnight around 1, but we had fun talking, laughing and telling stories until then!

the malibu girls came around with shots (yuck!)

kristen and i had a photo shoot-here's me with my kewl malibu hat

this was my model pose

blue steel

the next day i made it to breakfast with the parents and then it was wedding stuff all day. i was so happy that i had the chance to be with one of my dearest friends on her big day (plus, i got to boss so many people around-which i LOVE). the wedding was so beautiful! it was on the balcony of the mayor's office at city hall and was absolutely perfect for the wedding. after the wedding, we headed downtown for the reception but were a little early so we ran over to the dizzy rooster for a quick drink. yeah, i said the dizzy rooster. home of 18 year olds, shots and dancing on bars. we were definitely the "old people" this night.

shots!

me and dacyl

me, eric and kristen (unfortunately you cannot see my shoes, which were gold, glitter, 5in stilletos. and awesome.)

glad i brought lp's groomsman gift-a flask

we (thankfully) had to leave for the reception and enjoyed sunglasses, hats, photo booths, open bar, friends and music!

kristen, eric, me, meghan (i was all about the thumbs up)

me and gabe

me and black kellie (don't get offended, that's her nickname!)

the reception shut down and of course having the friends i have, we all decided that we weren't ready to go home! so off to another location for more stories, laughs and drinks!

eric, me, ace

lp and i finally left, because our flight was at 9 am! agh! it was pretty miserable, but at least we were home at a decent time. it was a great weekend and a great wedding!!!

and the rest.....

2011-02-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

where were we....oh yes. we had just left timbuctu. when we arrived back in bamako, lp and i promptly took the longest (and best) showers ever. it was glorious. words cannot describe a steaming hot shower after 3 days of cold showers and then 3 days in the desert- bask in the thought. we ate a HUGE lunch (all i requested were veggies. that's it) and we watched a movie with tim, then went to bed early. also glorious- sleeping in a bed after basically camping for a week. on monday, lp and i did absolutely nothing. we woke up late, ate breakfast (that the cook made for us!), and laid out at the pool pretty much all morning/early afternoon. we showered (2nd best shower ever) and then walked to the store to get a beer and then back to laying out and reading. that night we all went to dinner at a great little outdoor place where i had fish and fries - that was one of my staples in mali. the next day, lp and i decided to go to kangaba, which was supposed to be a hiking/camping area. tim let us borrow the car and as we drove we saw the greatest place in the world:

(it says "no stress" and "pirate club" on the sides)

the day was really hazy so this is what we saw when we hiked

the next day we decided to meet tim for lunch at one his favorite places. this place had yams that were smashed and mashed into dough-like balls and then covered with a sauce (peanut or spicy tomato). you then tore off pieces of the dough ball and dipped it in the sauce. pretty good but really weird texture. anyway, they gave us some water:
yup, it was in a bag. hilarious. you had to tear it open with your teeth and then suck the water out. after that lp and i went to the national park and museum. it was pretty and we stuck around for a little while and then went back to tim's to hang out and read more. the next day (thursday) tim took off work and he, lp, cheik and i went to a fancy french restaurant. it was pretty adorable and had interesting things to eat, like porcupine. that's what i ate. seriously. it was pretty good. no spikes. and the restaurant was super cute!

inside (yes, we were the only people there. cheik called and told them we wanted to come for lunch, so they opened for us. so vip.)

these were the "christmas trees" that were all over. it was totally made of tinsel. of course, i loved it.

there were also lots of animals around outside. like a monkey.

after lunch, we went to cheik's village and his family home. it was small but pretty (like a lot of the other landscape around!).

his family house

backyard

the rooster that lived there

cheik's brother, tim and cheik

as you can tell, it was very rustic. it was also very cool that we got to go to the village, as there aren't too many white people (or "toubob's" as we're called there) that get to visit. when we got home, my feet were KILLING me with itching. apparently because about a million mosquitoes bit me.
on friday, we left around noon and flew to senegal, where we had an 8 hour layover. we left the airport and tim's friend's came and took us to their house where we hung out for a while. then lp and i went to find a late dinner on the beach. fresh fish!!
the end of our story is that we got to the airport and were almost first in line but our emailed itinerary didn't have our full names on it, so we had to run around to a get an actual ticket. when we got it, we'd obviously lost our place in line and ended up getting the WORST seats (the sucky middle seats-yuck!). we got on the plane and they came to ask lp to come look at our bag- because we had batteries in a flashlight. are you kidding? when we finally get home, our luggage is not there to meet us (of course). luckily, it got here the next day, but we were glad to get home!!!!!

timbuctu

2011-02-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

sorry it's been so long, but here we go again.....

wednesday january 5, 2011: we wake up EARLY. tim had arranged for us to catch a ride with 2 girls who were friends of people he worked with. they had paid for a guide up to timbuctu and for the festival and there was room in the car for lp and i, so we got in (sidenote: this part of the trip was so lucky for us. it was apparently really hard to find a ride if you weren't with a tour group). so we get up and get in a land cruiser with these 2 girls, our driver and his cousin/brother/whoever in the back. our drive takes us down a dirt/sand/rocky/bumpy road that is probably the WORST drive i've ever heard of or been on in my entire life. picture us going about 60 mph, through bumps and potholes, sand, rocks, all that for 6 hours. my bottom flew out of my seat a few times (I WORE MY SEATBELT!!!) and if i had a weaker stomach, i would have lost it several times. finally we come to a long road with water on either side-the road into timbuctu! we have to drive down this road and take a ferry over to get to the city, but of course there's a huge line for the ferry so we get out and look around.

the road

the line for the ferry

the houses where the people who sold stuff on the road lived

donkeys

our ride

the rumor was that we would have to wait for anywhere from 1 to 4 hours for the ferry. luckily though, our driver knew "people" and got us to the front of the line (VIP, ya'll!). i thought we'd get to take this cute little boat over:
but he got us and our luggage on the ferry first and off we went!!!

this little girl was inching up on lp. i almost had to fight her. ha!

timbuctu!

our driver drops us off at our hotel and it is great!! we went in a had dinner (oh, we hadn't eaten since like 9 am. it was about 6 by this time) and it so good! we ate roasted chicken and french fries with a beer. it was the perfect end to the day!

after meal tea they always serve. it's brewed 3 times and it is super sweet. i couldn't stop drinking it.

the next day our driver was supposed to come get us at around 11, show us around and take us to the festival. he showed up at 12:30 and by 2 we still hadn't eaten. we were super angry and had it out with him, which ended up in our favor. we ate lunch (or whatever you call a meal at 3 pm) and then headed out to the festival. when we pulled up, there are people and camels everywhere!

our tour guide, abu

we are shown to our tent and then lp and i are on our own. in the desert. in timbuctu. we speak NO french and mali is a francophone country, so this is the part i'm worried about. luckily, everyone was so so so sweet and nice and many of the people spoke "a little" english. let's just say that their "little bit" was waaaaayyy more than my "little bit"! we had a guard for our tent who we made friends with really quick to make sure nobody messed with our stuff. his name was nana.

lp, mohammoud, nana

the tents

our tent!!! note the thing in the background to the right. that was one of our "toilets" - a hole in the ground

sunset in the desert

our chefs

Tuareg's. these are a group of nomadic people who live in the desert. as they often travel, they use camels. well, actually dromedaries, which is a camel with one hump.

that's the moon up top!

we ate dinner before the festival started. dinner (and lunch) was typically rice or couscous with a vegetable sauce. and dirt. i really dislike couscous and i'm not hot on rice, so during the festival i was not very pumped about the food. anyway, we ate and then headed down to the festival. the music started around 9 or 10 each night, and lasted until about 2 am. it was super cold at night, even colder than we had expected, but luckily they lit fires around the music area and our sweet guide got us blankets from somewhere (i don't know where and i don't really like to think about it, but it was a dirty time in my life so i wasn't too concerned at the time).

fire

band

the next few days were all pretty much the same: wake up around 7-8, eat breakfast (bread and jam), come back to tent and take morning nap, wake up, walk around for a bit, eat lunch, take after-lunch nap, get up, walk around for a bit (or read in tent), eat dinner, go to concert, come back and go to sleep. here are some highlight photos:

our restroom

some of the other tents

mid-afternoon performance at our lunch tent. yeah, we ate with the VIP's!

oh! one afternoon lp and i got to take a camel ride!!! it was so much fun for me, as i had wanted to do it since i heard about camels being there. we were able to go out for about 45 minutes! it was scary and fun!

getting on my camel

yay! we're riding camels!

backside camels

sand, sand, sand. and one lone man.

low flying planes

the kids entertained themselves by flipping down the dunes. i'm jealous i was too old to participate.

our "beds"

oh yeah, i also forgot there was a camel race one day. i didn't know camels raced, but apparently they do and we got to see it. i will tell you that camels are not that fast, so this race was not the most thrilling thing in the world, however, it was something to do!

here they come!

after three days of being in the desert, peeing in a hole, not showering, sweating, dancing, and just generally being dirty, i was ready to take a shower. i mean, i smelled terrible. luckily, we had a hook up and got a seat on one of the only 2 flights to bamako that sunday (when the festival was over). the girls we had ridden up there with had to take a 2 day car ride back to bamako!!! needless to say, i was so happy to get on a plane that would take me to a shower in an hour. we got our boarding passes and i was a little nervous:

it's definitely the first time i've had a boarding pass with no name, but we ended up getting on the flight and back to bamako. as i've said, we smelled pretty bad and when tim picked us up i tried to tell him this. about 5 minutes into the car ride, he let us know that we really did smell as bad as we had thought. showers were our first activity at the house!! more on the rest of the trip next post!

Note:

2011-01-25T10:45:00.000-08:00

part 2 of dogon is underneath the first part. i had so many pics that i started with the 2nd part and it ended up posting first....anyway, just keep scrolling if you care about the 2nd part!

Dogon Country-Part 1

2011-01-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

Monday Jan 3, 2011: after a breakfast of bread and jam, we woke up early on monday morning and headed out to meet up with our guide in dogon country. while we were waiting for our guide, i looked around our hotel......

goats. lots of goats.

tiny lizards.

cows love gas stations

when he showed up, we started our drive through the gorgeous mountains in dogon. we came up to the first village on our drive and saw some kids driving-what else-a donkey cart. one of them turned around when i took out my camera and waited for me to take an adorable picture:

motorcycles in the mountains

lp and meg in the mountains

tim, lp and meg-the three muskateers!

when we got out, i started taking pictures. there were a few kids around and every time i took a picture, i would show it to them. i have never seen kids get so excited about seeing themselves in a picture! this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. the joy that they had was enough to make me want to continue taking pictures!!

view from the top of a cliff

one of my favorite things in africa was that the women strapped their babies on their lower backs/top of their bottoms. when the mothers were busy, the little girls would take responsibility for the babies

and how did they carry the babies?

lp called them my posse

convenient store

mashing up some millet

scary ladder

one of the best moments was rounding a corner and seeing what kids in a small village with no electricity do for fun:

they slide down the smooth part of a rock, like a slide. one after another, they slid like it was a water slide. luckily, lp got a video!!!

lp took a turn on the slide!!

a mud mosque

cliff dwelling

the women and children all take turns going to the stream at the bottom of the mountain for their water supply. they have to fill up tubs of water and then hike them back up the mountain, carrying the tubs on their heads. tim and lp both took a turn.

fresh water stream

after the village, we drove down towards the village. there were some amazing stone formations on the way.

part 2 of dogon-coming up!!!!

Dogon Country-Part 2

2011-01-18T15:35:00.001-08:00

Monday Jan 3, 2011 (continued): after our trip to the village, we headed back to have lunch and meet up with a family who would be joining us for the rest of our day. we had a typical lunch-rice with tomato sauce.

after lunch, we met up with a couple and their 3 little girls (i think they were 5, 8 and 10). sidenote: i thought that it would be a real pain having kids on this trip but these kids were AMAZING! they hiked around, climbed, walked, sat and never complained. i think their parents should write a book on how to teach kids to be well behaved. back to the day-we drove to our next stop in dogon. the drive was through a canyon-type area and it was gorgeous.

after about 30 minutes, we came to another village. this one had houses actually built into the cliffs. they were so tiny, it's hard to believe that people would actually ever live there, but we'll go with it.
this is a view from the bottom of the cliff. we climbed up and checked out the houses a little closer.

carvings on the walls

we headed back down the cliff and drove further to a campsite for the night. it was an open, walled in area with a choice of rooftop sleeping or a small, doorless room. we chose the rooftop so we could look at the stars. in hindsight, this was a terrible decision. the stars were great for the 5 minutes i looked at them, but the donkeys having sex all night was not a great way to sleep. i have never heard such loud noises. tim had warned us about the donkeys, but i really thought it wouldn't be a big deal. it was horrible. i can still hear it in my head. needless to say, none of us slept too well due to the noises.

our 'beds'

the camp area

when we woke up, it was time for breakfast. most of the time, you get bread and jam for breakfast. this morning, we got peanut butter!!!!! i was in heaven, as i LOVE peanut butter! the peanuts in mali were really good. they were small (guess they don't put chemicals on their peanuts to make them huge) but they had a great flavor. anyway, i had like 3 pieces of bread with peanut butter. oink.

after breakfast, we drove further into the village and started a hike up the cliffs. our guide told us to just bring a bottle of water and acted like it would be an easy hike. we hiked for about 4 1/2 hours up and back.

halfway up the cliffs!

these were my most favorite trees. they were all over this area and i just thought they looked really cool.

here we are-middle of nowhere together.

village kids watching us

some friends i made

if you're bothered by naked kids, skip this picture! this kid started following us and we were trying to get a good picture of this turtle because the village gave the turtle all of their food to taste and make sure it was ok to eat! too funny. you can tell by this sweet child that most of the villagers we met were pretty malnourished by his skinny legs and distended belly. many of the kids also had a reddish tinge to their hair, which i was told is also a sign of malnourishment. not to bring anyone down, but just wanted everyone to know that that's what we were seeing for 2 days.

just climbing rocks!

tim up top and lp to the right. it was the highest spot around!!

we then hiked back down. it was so sunny and warm and of course i hadn't brought more sunscreen because we didn't know we would be gone for so long, so i got a little burned on the hike down. by the time we got to where we would eat lunch (rice and tomato sauce) we were all so thirsty that we gulped down a liter of water in like a minute! we took a short rest after lunch and headed to where they were having a celebration. i don't know why they were doing it, but there was some dancing people so we stayed to have a look.

tim, lp and i had to leave early because we were trying to make it to sevare before it got too dark. we drove back and stayed at the hotel we had been a few days. lp and i had to get up early (6:30) the next day to drive to timbuctu, so we said goodbye to tim and went to bed early.

Africa-Bamako

2011-01-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

we just got back from an AWESOME trip to mali!! we were there for 2 weeks, so i will blog about them, but they're getting broken up into different posts (too much to tell and waaaayyyyy too many pics!).

Friday Dec. 31, 2010: we flew out the day before and arrived in bamako (the capitol of mali) on the 31st. lp and i were so exhausted from the plane and very little sleep, so when tim picked us up we went straight to his house. his housekeeper-yes, i said housekeeper-had made us some delicious food to eat for lunch. the thing i loved the most (and had several other times over the trip) was wajila (sp?). it's this dough that's cooked in oil and then covered with a spicy tomato sauce. simple and i ate it up!! anyway, after we ate, lp and i had to take a nap. we woke up, got ready and headed to tim's friend's house for nye. he was such a nice guy and had a sweet family and we had a great night at his house-and then at the club late night!!!

lp, tim, me

how freakin' cute is this kid? he was so sweet and adorable!

the fam-tim, mada, their son, and cheick

me and some of the ladies (they are clearly way fancier than i am)

after we hung out at their house, we decided to go to the club. it was crazy. lots of dancing and drinks and dancing.

me and lp

cheick and me

lp took this pic. a fight almost happened. i was not happy.

Saturday Jan 1, 2011: we did nothing. watched a movie, drove around, ate pizza, got cash, watched another movie, ate rotisserie chicken, slept

the cops!!

a bus-they stop when they see people on the side of the road, pack as many people in as possible and drive like crazy people.

huh?

lots of trash in mali. people just throw trash on the ground. it's so hard to see and not say anything!!!

the niger

roads

Sunday Jan 2, 2011: on sunday, we woke up early and left to head up to sevare. we would be going to dogon country (more on that later) and it was about 6 hours up to sevare, so we had to leave early. we stopped for lunch on the way:
(mom-it was rice with a fish in a tomato sauce. you will hear this meal alot-it's common and cheap and easy to make, so we ate it a lot)

donkey cart!!!

road to nowhere

we finally got to sevare and got a room at a hotel there. luckily, it had hot water and ac. we had no idea it was the last time for that for a week!!!

The Best Birthday Ever

2010-11-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

this past week was my 30th birthday. wowser. i have to admit, i was not at all concerned about turning 30. just didn't seem like a big deal to me. my actual birthday was really sweet-all the well wishes, sweet cards and great gifts (yup, i'm saying it. i like getting gifts.). friday was what i was really looking forward to. eric was coming into town and all my friends here were going to meet me out at a bar close to our house. fun! so eric came into town and we had fun that day-eating lunch, getting pedicures, getting my hair done and having a cocktail. i went home, got ready and lp took me to where we were all going to dinner for the night so we could have a drink before dinner. as we sat there, he told me "eric and i have one more surprise for you" which i thought would be like a cupcake or something. wrong. it was our other best friend kristen!!!! they had all conspired to surprise me by having kristen come in without me having any idea. i started crying. apparently that's what i do when i'm 30. it was absolutely the best surprise i've ever had. after having a drink, we went down for dinner at marvin! great mussels (or if you're kristen, chicken and waffles).

birthday girl

my favorite people in the world

my sweeties

after dinner, we headed to the bar to meet up with everyone else. i had picked up some party hats for the occasion. one of my better ideas.

jj and me, ready for fun

stacey, bob, pete and chris-note the hats

pete loved his house

even chris took a break from law school to come out for my birthday! i feel so special.

eileen made me some sweet glasses- "birthday broad"

yea, i also bought those party blower things too.

the bar let us hook up our ipod so of course my party turned into a dance party. just the way it should.

birthday broad

just dancin'

i had to take a break. kristen gave me a pep talk to get back in the groove.

bob and i are gangsta'

booty shakin'

blair has a couple of these shots floating around

we decided to head to another place where there was live music so we could do some more dancing. eric, kristen, lp, blair, chris and perry and i all headed out, where more dancing was done and somehow a bottle of veuve was ordered- and drank out of plastic cups.

just peeking in the shot here

the next day, lp, eric, kristen and i headed over to brunch at tabard inn. tasty. from there, we went to the jefferson memorial to check out old jefferson. thankfully, both eric and kristen had been to dc before, so after the memorial, we decided to head down to the water to hang out for a little while. after hanging out, kristen and i did some light shopping and then we all went to get ready for dinner. that night we went to cava, which has tasty greek food!
after dinner, we wandered around and went to a few places to hang out for the night. the next morning, i decided that we should go to maryland for crabs! eric, kristen and blair had never been, so i piled everyone in the car and we headed out to annapolis to eat some crabs!

eric getting his crab on!

blair was really good at getting the crab meat.

lp's contribution was building this hammer tower.

that night, kristen, eric and i went to the w rooftop where there is a great view of the city and had a few drinks. it was honestly the best birthday i've had yet. i've never felt so loved and cared for and am so thankful for all of the sweet and caring people in my life.

Book it!- update

2010-11-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

k-rab, this update is for you as you have been so diligent in posting to your blog (which i LOVE reading!!). finished the room and let me tell ya, it is sad. not the story itself, as it's told from a 5 year old's point of view, but the meaning behind all of the things he knows and doesn't know. kind of makes you want to punch all those creeps in the world who do things like this. BUT, that being said, it's good. i read it in about a day and a half. lp got me a kindle for my birthday, so i am now able to buy books with the click of a button (yikes!) and carry all my books with me in one little handy-dandy piece of machinery. let's see if i can stay out of debt to amazon!!

Book it!

2010-10-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

i have always been a total book nerd. always. maybe it's because i was an only child, maybe it's in my genes- who knows, but i LOVE reading. as i started college, my reading slowed down (oh who am i kidding. i stopped reading because i was studying ALL the time) but after college i started reading again. now it kind of comes in waves where i'll read a lot and then i won't read much for a while. lately, i've been a reading machine. like, can't hardly put books down. and i've read a lot of really good books, so i thought i'd let ya'll in on what i'm putting my nose in:

1. The Hunger Games series (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay)

oh. my. gaaaaahhhhh. these books are so good. i think i read them in like 2 days or something. they are young adult novels (don't judge) but they are really really really good. not sappy, super well written and very insightful. if you are looking for some great books, these are your choice.

2. The Passage

this is another book about the future, but much different than the hunger games series. it involves a little girl, mutated vampire-like humans and a future society. it's long and it spans many decades and is definitely worth the read.

3. Freedom

this book is not about the future, and actually it starts in the past. it's the story of a family and the paths they each take and the effects they all have on each other. i read this book and then found out that it is now on oprah's book club! so if ya don't believe me, trust oprah!

4. Super Sad True Love Story

this was probably my least favorite book of late, although it does have an interesting take on our culture and future. i would say read, but i would also say to read these other books first.

i am still in the middle of my reading craze, so i have more books here to read! my future readings will include:

Room

Cutting For Stone

One Day

Never Let Me Go (i've seen this movie so i know the plot, but i'm the kind of book dork who loves reading the book even if i've seen the movie)

happy reading, ya'll!!!!

my girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the tiiiiiimmmmeee

2010-10-18T16:08:00.001-07:00

soooooo, i'm back. for a minute. in my defense, i've been so freakin' busy lately! engagement parties, bachelorette parties, birthday parties, more bachelorette parties=exhausted me. since i haven't posted, i'll try to keep this as chronologically accurate as possible.

first up was our friends chris and eileen's engagement party. these two are super awesome people, a super awesome couple and i cannot wait to go to their wedding THIS WEEKEND!

here's the bride and i (i love me some sunglasses)

the sweet bride and groom

kyle just loves america

bean bag toss!!!

this was the scariest squirrel i've ever seen. he was laying down and we thought he was dead, then he got up and staggered around slowly and scurried into a trash can. ugh!!!

group pic (thanks to the self timer!)

a few weeks later, i went with eileen to get her wedding dress. the highlight of this trip for all of us was that the shop was next to a chili's and if there's one thing this girl loves is a chili's!!!

a few weeks later, i headed home for my BF kalinda's bachelorette party. my friends richard and cory are in a band and luckily they were playing that friday night! they started playing literally the week after i left for dc, and i'd never seen them play so i was PUMPED to go see them! and they rocked!

me and bethers!

"siblings"

the next day i headed out to the lake for the party. lp's sweet aunts let me use their lakehouse for the party, which was the sweetest thing in the whole world! i 'decorated' (aka throw some stuff from party city on the table) and got everything ready for the bride-to-be!

the bride's beautiful veil-ha ha!!

beth really loves whiskey.

our "man" for the evening

a few weeks after that, lp and i decided to head to nyc for his cousin rachel's birthday. i barely took any pictures, but we had a blast, stayed out too late, ate too much, drank too much and just had a great time. here's the birthday girl with her cake substitute-chips ahoy and reese's.
the week after was eileen's bach party. it was also a blast with fun games, fun ladies and dancing! eileen and i and some other girls had gone to a burlesque show a few months ago and she thought it would be fun to attempt to make pasties for her party. i totally gave up on the ones i was going to make for her-bird boobies.

jude's were the clear winner.

so that's it for now. i should have many more stories coming up as it's my 30th birthday, thanksgiving, christmas and then lp and i are going to africa on dec 30!!!!

bikes, bikes, friends and moving

2010-08-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

it's been forever and a half, right? well, i've been busy! so busy that i'm just now getting the time to sit and write about some of this stuff, but i have been out of this blogging business for so long that i can't even catch ya'll up with one post! this will have to do for now and hopefully i'll get it together and get back to blogging more.

summer started with me getting a bike. it's awesome- gold, 3 speed, fenders, basket, made in about 1970 probably! ha, i definitely got a "loved" bike, but i LOVE it so much. anyway, i got this bike because this is a big ol' bike town and i wanted to start riding to places that were a little too far to walk to but not so far i needed to drive. so the bike is here and it's cool and gold and i just love it. lp and i have taken a few bike rides to see some cool stuff!

group yoga at the washington monument

the green machine is one of his old roomies spare bikes

crabs!

seafood city- name says it all

another day, we headed out to the rolling thunder. this is a once a year thing here where vets get on their bikes and ride around the city. there's a specified path and it is so loud that it really does sound like thunder!

for the fourth of july, we stayed here and lp's cousins came to visit! of course, i got deathly sick. like no voice, sore throat, super tired and run down- the doctor said "viral throat infection" which meant no meds for me, just some lousy ibuprofen. needless to say, i took many naps and wasn't able to participate in ALL the fun, but i did hang in there pretty well for a sick chick.

will (one of the cousins) and lp

nicole (adrienne and rachel's roomie) and adrienne (another cousin)

rachel (cousin), me, adrienne, and nicole

for the fourth, we went up on lp's roof and were able to see the fireworks on the mall. it was a great way to see them- best fireworks and no crowds!

lp and i also made it out to st louis to visit mark and candie. i took like 3 pictures.

lp and i also moved in together. woo! moving was quite an ordeal, but we're in and almost done fixing the place up. more pics when it's done, but for now, here's what i look at when i walk out my front door.

we moved into a basement/ground floor "apartment" of a row house that has been renovated. we're at the bottom (it's technically only 2 steps down from the sidewalk so i hate saying basement apartment), a dude is above us and our landlady lives on the top 2 floors. our landlady loves plants and flowers and so she's kept her outdoor plants on our front patio and she waters them and takes care of them and we just look at how pretty they are!

lp and i went to see arcade fire the other night. they're one of my favorite bands EVER and i've seen them 4 or 5 times and i just LOVE THEM!!! it was out at merriweather, which is a nice outdoor venue so we sat outside and listened to a great band!

a few saturdays ago, i met up with my friend brian and invited my other friend blair along to enjoy some lovely daytime fun. we started with margs at lauriol plaza and then blair and i went to get manicures, have a cocktail at circa and then visited brian at the bar he works at!! it was a long day!

brian, blair, me

just visiting brian at his job!

it's been a LONG summer, but it's coming to an end (thank goodness) so hopefully things will start getting calmer!!!