Revelation

I finally had my "ah-ha" moment (or more like a gasp- that moment of a sharp intake of breath) when flying back from Jamaica (more on that later...) on the plane and we flew over the city at night and I had my moment of "I live here!!!!!!" I loved flying back into London - even though you could never see the monuments exactly because the airports are pretty far from the city but just to see all the sparkling lights and knowing that I lived in the big city. Pretty cool that I can see my apartment building from take off too ;)

A Much Deserved Vacay

Well this is it! One more day in the office until I am officially on holiday. 7 days on the beautiful island of Jamaica! Above is the first resort we will be staying at. I'd like to take a moment to personally thank Danielle for picking a destination wedding...I've never looked more forward to a wedding. And I've gone to A LOT...trust me, I just got the 8th wedding invitation OF THE YEAR yesterday. See you all in a week!

Lots and lots of pictures to come!

Life's Little Surprises

...You take away his charge card! Har Har Har. This, and several other cute quotes, was what I found along my 10 mile run on Saturday, along with this note:

What a neat idea! It took me a few times coming across these chalk messages on the ground to realize that its a blog address! How fun! Of course I had to go home and check it out! Apparently its some lady who is running her first marathon (26.2 miles) and raising money ($26,200) for St. Judes along the way! Read about her story on her blog. I donated $10, you should too!

Other funny quotes she chalked on the ground:
Why did the coach go to the bank? To get his quarterback!
Why did the golfer change his pants? Because he got a hole-in-one!

And she even made a shot out on her blog...(ok, ok my name's not on it, but I know its me!)

Anyway, it rained on Sunday morning so I’m sure the chalk is gone by now, but I
did get one donation and nice a note!

Natural scenery along my run...

And other not so natural scenery...half naked man fishing.

It was Sept 11th so I saw lots of flags hanging on all of the buildings in Rosslyn

TGIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, is it just me or does it feel like this 4 day week has taken FOREVER? You'd think that shorter weeks would feel just like that...short. Guess not. However, the weather is BEAUTIFUL and I can't wait for this weekend. I plan on running 10 miles tomorrow (yikes!) and then having a fun girly night with Hannah and then topping the weekend off with Sunday brunch with the lovely DC Phi Mus and then hitting up the Adam's Morgan street festival. All I have to say is : TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of the fun things to look forward to:

• Making this Apple Peanut Butter Tart:

• Sunday Brunch Bunch at Firefly in DC where I will be ordering the Pop Pop French toast (Orange & vanilla dipped challah with with apple-raisin compote and maple syrup)...and many of the $1 Mimosas!
  
  


• The Adams Morgan Street Festival- DC's longest running street festival celebrates its 32nd year.
  
• And of course my upcoming (much needed) week long vacation for Danielle's wedding:
  
  

Did that really just happen?

Ha, so funny story. So I was on my long run (9.5 miles! Woooo!) on Saturday and I had gotten to about mile 4 and this guy comes up running next to me. I hear him say Hi then maybe something like how are you or something. Normal small talk on a run. Nothing out of the ordinary. So I say breathlessly say "tired!" thinking he'd just leave it at that and carry on. I still have my ipod in and I'm clearly not interested in holding a conversation...duh I'm using all of my energy to RUN not TALK. (WTF about me says I want to talk? I am constantly talked to by random people. I don't know if its because I look young or friendly, but really...somethings got to change.) Anyways, back to my story. So this random guy slows down and runs with me. Now, I'm heavily panting so I really can't hear what he was saying the whole time, coupled with accent I just kept talking hoping that it was covering whatever topic he was discussing.

I mean really, what does one talk about to a stranger on a run? These kinds of things always freak me out, because who knows who is a killer wanting to drag me into the bushes and slit my thorat...ok, ok, I've been watching too much Law and Order SVU.

So we ran together for about 5 or 10 minutes then we were parting ways and get this....HE ASKS FOR MY NUMBER. Um, I'm sorry..WHAT? SERIOUSLY??? So I randomly stutter that I just got a new corporate number and I'm not familiar with the number yet...um, my brain was muddled by running, I couldn't come up with anything more clever. So I gave him my email address instead. DUMB ASS I gave him the right one...wtf, why didn't I give him a fake one? Blame it on the heat exhaustion. Too bad he wasn't cute or my type. Well, I guess he was cute, just really really not my type. Anyways, here's to hoping he forgets it and doesn't email. So far I'm in the clear!

UPDATE: NO SUCH LUCK, HE EMAILED ME (I did not edit this, it is simply his bad grammar translation):

Hi

It’s your five minutes running partner along Potomac River. It was great running with you, hopefully we meet again for another five minutes run. How does your schedule look like this week? I would like to invite you for a cup of something and interesting conversation (after work). Clarendon or Crystal City has some wonderful café. Talk to me!! - Jeff.


UUUUUUMMMMMMM WTF??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!

Diets are Sad

I would have to agree with this advert I found in a Pret A Manger store front in London. Speaking of food, I could totally go for a tuna and cheese pastie from Eat. Too bad they only have Eat in London :( Well, its probably best for my waisteline anyways.


Back to the main story here... diets suck. Exercising sucks even more. 13 more days until its bathingsuit weather in Jamaica...so you know what that means...trying to get in shape! Conveniently enough I am training for my next half so 8 mile runs are part of the game plan anyways. UGH. At least I am not stuck with one run that I do over and over again. Last week I explored Arlington cemetary and the Iwo Jima memorial. Tomorrow I think I am going to the Lincoln memorial and I think that takes me to about 9 miles. Hopefully I wont have to elbow millions of annoying tourists like I did last week. Little did I know I was running straight into the path of hundreds of tour buses filled with old people trying to get to the Glen Beck rally. UGH.

Anyways, happy Friday and the beginning of a 3 day weekend!

Splish Splash

The Gang minus Laura Haselton who left early

And next up on the Bridal events is Bree and Andy's engagement party. Hannah and I carpooled to BFE (ok, ok, Leesburg, VA) and pulled up to the most gorgeous 3 story house with a catering van parked out front. I thought, "Well, this is going to be FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC". The caterer was cooking a pig outside...it was the BEST pork sandwhich I had in a while! P to the s- I want this house. It was absoultely gorgeous with the best decorating too. Um, I would spend all my time outside in their backyard and tiny pool. It was precious.

You all should know that I absolutely love reading blogs and if you have one, I've probably stalked it every day in hopes that you put up a post. (*Hint hint*, please post everyday. If not, every other day only when you must.) On one of the blogs I occasionally follow, I came across the cutest gift ever. Now I haven't tried to do this myself yet, but I guess I should have before I gave it as a gift...but oh well. Hope you liked it Bree. Hannah and I combined forces and gifted this little beauty along with some candy to sprinkle on top:

Its a DIY homemade icecream kit!

If you are like me, and are always looking for a new blog to follow, this one is great. I think they live in Richmond. I particularly enjoy reading about their DIY wedding that they held in their back yard. I totally want to steal their ideas, especially using the photo booth! How fun!

Anyways, back on course, I must comment on the guest list...fantastic job Bree! I got to see lots of sisters I hadn't seen in a while, which is always nice. I think these two uncandid pictures sums up the bunch:

When we see a camera, we sure know how to strike a pose.