DC Phi Mu Day

The DC chapter held its first ever Phi Mu Day earlier this month. It was a great time where Phi Mus came from MD, VA, DC, PA. I got to see some of my sisters from the Tidewater Chapter that I hadn't seen since I left. We had a few speakers and had someone from Children's Miracle Network (our national philanthropy) come and speak too. We had Carnation Collection there aaaannnddd I may have spent some unnecessary money there (oooohhh wellll......there's worse things in life!).

I sure have a lot of Phi Mu stuff coming up soon! I'm going to Regional Officers Training in 2 weeks in Charlotte, NC, which I'm really excited about!!

Table centerpieces

The crowd (they are paying attention, we were encouraged to take pictures throughout the event and post to social media)

The signature drink!

So pretty!

Rose and white cupcakes!

Lambda Epsilon girls representing!

The whole crowd, around 32 people I think

The lovely Bre and Hannah

Hannah said Grace

Sarah Rose and myself

Carnation Collection goodies!!!!

Beth talking about her Phi Mu experience. Great hearing about all of the things she has been able to accomplish on the National Level.

CMN gave a speech about where the funding goes in the NICU. Some of the small things include this diaper and a special pacifier. That's an iPhone on the left for proportion. SOOOO TINY!!

Must.Keep.Running.

As I told you all last December, I accidentally signed myself up for two half marathons and a 10 miler in the span of a month and a half. Whoops. Well, I've toughed it out and finished the Shamrock Half on St. Patty's Day and the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler two weekends after that. All that's left to suffer through is the Nike Women's Half this weekend. At least I get a Tiffany's necklace out of it!

And its mostly the same course as the Cherry Blossom, I do like knowing where I'm at in relation to the course map. I don't like that I have to go to Georgetown to pick up my packet...ICK, ICK, ICK.

Oh well, I'll have to do exactly what this lady is saying on Sunday:

Green thumb?

I'm attempting to be semi-domesticated and grow a few things on my balcony! Look at me! I bought two basil plants, one red bell pepper plant and a tomato plant. We'll see if I kill these things or actually accomplish something....

I bought an actual plant holder thing, but then I realized my balcony railing was too big to hold it, so I had to MacGyver that shit with some shoe laces. I'm sure I'll get some zip ties eventually, but right now that's all I got. Hey, you can't grow up in one weekend.....

Yarn Bombing

If you've been out and about in Rosslyn, you'll notice that some of the trees have yarn around them. Weird, yes I know. According to Arlnow, its a marketing ploy to lead people to Artisphere.

Elsewhere in Rosslyn, there are some more yard bombing...the guerrilla stitch brigade that has been meeting in Artisphere weekly since October.  The brigade has brought together 130 volunteers who have contributed hundreds of hours of work to make the yarn bombs. Pretty awesome if I don't say so myself. Actually, I think one of my sorority sisters helped make some of these yarn pieces, pretty cool!

This Day in History v.36

In the summer of 2006, I did a study abroad in Bristol, England. Through ODU, I was able to do a month and a half program with 2 other ODU undergrads and about 20 other students from various universities at the University of the West of England. Even though I was the only grad students amongst many many undergrads, I still had a great experience. One of my roommates, Teresa, is actually still a really great friend who lives down the street! I've kept in contact with her since, she was even my roommate in my Mountbatten programme. I told her about the program and told her she just HAD to apply :)

Bristol is a BEAUTIFUL quaint town. Too bad we had a HORRIBLE host mother and she was a complete bitch, BUT Teresa and I still laugh about the family and the daughter's WEIRD obsession with Weezer. So weird. Wish I still had the pictures from the experience but they are burried on my other computer and are linked to an old facebook account.

Funnily enough, my great ancestor, George Clymer, one of only 6 to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, came from Bristol.

Here are the past blogs I have written:

This Day in History v.1: Oxford Street Christmas Lights

This Day in History v.2: Beginning of This Day in History

This Day in History v.3: Paris, France

This Day in History v.4: Chinese New Year

This Day in History v.5: Pancake Day

This Day in History v.6: Berlin, Germany

This Day in History v.7: Ireland

This Day in History v.8: Platform 9 3/4

This Day in History v.9: Croatia

This Day in History v.10: Rome, Italy

This Day in History v.11: Scotland

This Day in History v.12: Stockholm, Sweden

This Day in History v.13: Cinque Terre, Italy

This Day in History v.14: A Look Back at the Beginning

This Day in History v.15: Notting Hill Carnival

This Day in History v.16: The Breakfast Club

This Day in History v.17: Australia Day

This Day in History v.18: Trafalgar Square

This Day in History v.19: Red Telephone Box

This Day in History v.20: Primrose Hill

This Day in History v.21: Look Both Ways

This Day in History v.22: Kings Head Theater

This Day in History v.23: Tower of London

This Day in History v.24: Cambridge, England

This Day in History v.25: Mountbatten

This Day in History v.26: Dorset, England

This Day in History v.27: Canada Gates

This Day in History v.28: Piccadilly Circus

This Day in History v.29: Stonehenge

This Day in History v.30: Guy Fawkes Day

This Day in History v.31: Cultural Sunday
This Day in History v.32: Bath, England
This Day in History v.33: Greenich, England
This Day in History v.34 Portbobello Market
This Day in History v.35: Big Ben

I Run Because I Can

(Source)

I am so sad over the attack in Boston. Those who were killed or injured are in my heart and thoughts. I can't imagine the time, effort and emotions that go into training for this monumental moment to have it marred by the act of one (or many) selfish people. My thoughts and prayers for those who can have a speedy recovery.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

As the 2nd of 3 big races I'm running this spring, I'll just say this one wasn't too bad. Not freezing like the Shamrock Half and not as hot as it looks like the Nike Half is going to be, it was, as in Goldilocks and the Three Bears "just right". Granted, I didn't train for this one either, at least I could keep telling myself at various mile markers, "well at least its not X+3.1 more miles." I wont be able to do that in 2 weeks when I run my last half. I signed up as a team and got some other D.C. Phi Mu girls to run the race too!

I do really enjoy running this particular race. Its is my second year running it, and even though I finished about 6 minutes slower this year, all in all, it wasn't too bad. As always, I had commentary running through my head. Never a race goes by that I'm not complaining in my head about this or that. But it did help to have lots of spectators cheering everyone on and having the funniest signs I've ever seen, e.g., "Only 9.5 miles to go"(at the .5 mile mark), "Holler if you're not wearing underpants". I love when spectators make it fun!

And then we followed it up with a boozy brunch at my favorite place with my favorite people!

Race day packet pick up was in the National Building Museum

My bib and corral

Of course I had to carbo-load the night before. The BF and I tried out a new FANTASTIC restaurant called Pupatella. It's in a random shopping center a little past Ballston. The pizza was amazing, well mine was more so than the BFs. I got the meatball pizza and it literally melted in my mouth!

You can see the scaffolding they are putting up in order to fix the cracks from the earth quake back in 2011. I hope they fix it and deem it safe again because I've always wanted to go to the top but never got a chance and they closed the monument after it sustained $15 million dollars worth of damage. Hopefully it will re-open in 2014.

Betsy and I before the race

Miracle of miracles, we finished.

A Little Bob Marley in Your Life

Ha! Isn't this great?!?! This was spotted near the Convention Center in D.C..

A Barrel of Laughs

This game is seriously the best.game.EVER!!! If you haven't played it yet, then you are seriously missing out! You can purchase on Amazon and get it in 2 days if you have Amazon Prime like I do. It really is a game for horrible people!

Have you played it yet?

Easter Weekend

For Easter weekend, I went to Dewey Beach, Delaware to my boyfriend's grandparent's beach house. I absolutely love his family, they are a HOOT. I was able to get out of work early so we made it to the beach by 5PM on Friday. I ate SO much and drank SO much that often I made myself sick...stupid indigestion! At least I counter set that by making us run 4 miles on Saturday. Followed by a bike run and MAN my legs were on FIRE. I love riding Granny's pink bike with streamers and a FREAKING BASKET!! What more can you ask for?!?!?! If I could ride that bike every day I would be a happy camper! I absolutely love Dewey, its a great small town with a big heart!

We went on a few mile bike ride, to which my legs BURNED after my 4 mile run. But we had this beautiful view to help ease the pain!

This family knows how to do Easter right! Vuve champagne, BACON, curry, the works!!!

My wheels for the week!

Part of the bike bath we explored

THE STARBOARD!!!!

First (and maybe last) grapefruit crush of the year! I'm crushed...hahahaha I'm so funny :)

They had a new fire pit outside to keep our toesies warm! True story, at first I HATED these TOMS. I really wanted to like them, I really did. But I didn't like most of the TOMS colors but I loved these pink ones, but damn if they didn't look just like my skin tone. BUT I gave them a shot and now I LOVE them. I feel so hipster in them and I embrace it. I just bought two more!!! My company, Big Daddy D, gives us 40% off! I guess we did some work with them and it now enables us for the discount...dunno, but I'll take it! Btdubs, in case you didn't know, when you buy one pair of TOMS, they donate a pair to a child in need! Oh and amazingly enough, you can WASH these shoes when they get dirty!

Then we went on a bar crawl at the Oyster House. This is a very yummy Rum Punch. They have an amazing happy hour. I didn't realize how preppy I looked in this outfit.

The kids had their Easter baskets, and THIS was the adult basket!

There is SO much food at this house!

Mama's Donut Bites

OMFGeeeeeee if you are in the DC area, you have to follow Mama's Donut Bites and follow that pink truck! I was quite skeptical one morning walking to Rosslyn for a meeting and I passed by the truck to take a peek. Yes I was skeptical but I tried them anyways! And I'm glad I did!

Mama's Donut Bites makes very delicious HOT mini-donuts, while you wait! Don't let the grease on the bag scare you away because they are totally worth it! There's even a topping bar!!! YESSSSS FAT KID HEAVEN!!! Their toppings include:

~Homemade Raspberry Preserves
~Dark Chocolate Sauce
~White Chocolate Sauce
~Vanilla Icing
~Caramel
~Cinnamon-Vanilla Whipped Cream
~Clover Honey
~Cinnamon & Sugar
~Powdered Sugar
~Rainbow Sprinkles and much more!

According to FB, throughout the year, they feature seasonal donuts with local, seasonal ingredients such as the classic Apple-Cider Donut Bites; made with local apple cider and fresh apples then tossed in a delicious cinnamon-sugar mixture. 

My mouth is salivating right now! Give them a shot if you see them around!

This Day in History v.35

 One of the most iconic sites of London is Big Ben! You may not know that the name "Big Ben" only references the bell in the tower, not the actual clock tower. The clock tower is next to the Parliament and was built in 1858. You can see the London Eye in the background as well!

I just figured out that I could have climbed to the top of the tower and I'm sad I never did this. *Sigh*, the things you wish you would have known! Big Ben has its own website!

 Me in front of the clock

The clock at night! Hannah and I in front of it, along with a double-decker red bus!

Here are the past blogs I have written:

This Day in History v.1: Oxford Street Christmas Lights

This Day in History v.2: Beginning of This Day in History

This Day in History v.3: Paris, France

This Day in History v.4: Chinese New Year

This Day in History v.5: Pancake Day

This Day in History v.6: Berlin, Germany

This Day in History v.7: Ireland

This Day in History v.8: Platform 9 3/4

This Day in History v.9: Croatia

This Day in History v.10: Rome, Italy

This Day in History v.11: Scotland

This Day in History v.12: Stockholm, Sweden

This Day in History v.13: Cinque Terre, Italy

This Day in History v.14: A Look Back at the Beginning

This Day in History v.15: Notting Hill Carnival

This Day in History v.16: The Breakfast Club

This Day in History v.17: Australia Day

This Day in History v.18: Trafalgar Square

This Day in History v.19: Red Telephone Box

This Day in History v.20: Primrose Hill

This Day in History v.21: Look Both Ways

This Day in History v.22: Kings Head Theater

This Day in History v.23: Tower of London

This Day in History v.24: Cambridge, England

This Day in History v.25: Mountbatten

This Day in History v.26: Dorset, England

This Day in History v.27: Canada Gates

This Day in History v.28: Piccadilly Circus

This Day in History v.29: Stonehenge

This Day in History v.30: Guy Fawkes Day

This Day in History v.31: Cultural Sunday
This Day in History v.32: Bath, England
This Day in History v.33: Greenwich, England
This Day in History v.34: Portobello Road