Traveling by Train

Seeing and hearing trains always makes me think of my grandparents. The train tracks were practically in their front yard (no literally, it was there front yard then BAM train tracks!). My mom used to tell me stories of how they as kids would hear the train coming, go outside, and wave to the conductors and hope that they would throw out goodies like magazines, which they often did.

It's amazing to think how long the train has been utilized in America. While not as long or as extensive as Europe, Amtrak is pretty sweet. It's a nice, easy way to travel. Only drawback is that their bathrooms as seldom clean. I get it boys, it's hard to aim when the train is moving, but come on, sit down!!!

Overall, I've had pleasant experiences using Amtrak. I load up my iPad with movies, eat snacks and drink wine juice boxes and before I know it, I'm there! Only once was I forced to sit in front of a screaming/talkative 4 year old who kept kicking my chair...and I had a KILLER hangover, he was lucky I didn't reach around and tell him to shut up and sit down. He was all over my chair and I quite bitchingly moved my chair to its seatback position and the child went flying. Teach that little shit (and his grandmother who didn't make him stop) a lesson. There is a reason I don't have children, I'd be in CPS all the time!

I traveled on Amtrak two weekends in a row recently. The first was over Memorial Day weekend (there was NO way I was getting on 95 South at any point of the weekend) to Newport News and the second one was last week when I went to Raleigh for my bestie's wedding!

Here were a few pictures I took:

The Masonic Temple in Alexandria

I forget how BIG trains are. This was right before it blew its horn and I nearly peed in my pants!!

The beautiful Alexandria station in VA.

I love the look and feel of the tracks and the smell of trains, reminds me of childhood!

 

The BEST way to travel: coffee, cheese, boxed wine and Reese! I watched several movies over my trips and this one was super cute, called This Means War. Total chick flick!

Foodie Friday

I love Fridays. I mean, who doesn't? I decided to share a few of the things I've been up to in the kitchen lately.

First up, I got these strawberries from the local grocery store. Just LOOK at the size of those strawberries, they're unnatural!!!

p.s. They didn't taste very good either.

Recently I tried out something that turned out FANTASTIC!!!  I chopped up peppers (red, yellow, and green), sausages, mushrooms, added in some parsley, garlic, and onions and VOILA! Ok, not so much voila because it took like 45 minutes to cook, but still. Turned out pretty yummy.

 

End product...yummy!!! 

This is my attempt at re-creating a dish from my beloved Rockola Grill that I worked at for 7 years. Its pasta covered in alfredo sauce (with a heavy heavy shake of cajun seasoning), bbq covered chicken, diced tomatos and cheese. The cheese hadn't melted yet in the picture.

This is when I made a curry vegetable stirfry. I'm starving just thinking about all this food!!!

Bachlorette Party in Carolina Beach, NC

After an almost 8 hour drive from DC to Carolina Beach, NC I was more than ready to get out of the car and parrrrtay with my friends. The weather was warm, skies were blue and we had a house on the water...what more can you ask for? The house's view of the ocean was AMAZING. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the view! The weekend went WAY too fast but I had a blast with the girls! I would have taken more pictures but I was too busy drinking and having fun.

 

 A sign at a Virgina rest stop

 

First sign saying I've reached NC! Half way there! And yes, I stopped the car along the highway and took the picture. In my defense, this sign was on the pull off to the rest stop.

 

 Now I'm really in the south.

 

Not sure what this was but it was a HUGE Budweiser place in NC

 

 

Allllllmost there!

 

FINALLY! Check out that view!

We celebrated immediately with a very LARGE margarita!

 

And the next day with FRESH HOMEMADE donuts!!!

 

BEST SHIT EVERRRRRRRRRRRR

CaBi Member

Well, I did it! I finally became a member of Capital Bikeshare! I first wrote about CaBi last September and I finally joined last week when they put a station right outside of my apartment building!I got a spify key fob in the mail and took my initial ride the next day. Boy, let me tell you how out of practice I am riding a bike! Its pitiful!

What is Capital Bikshare (CaBi)? Well, according to their website:

Capital Bikeshare puts over 1525+ bicycles at your fingertips. You can choose any of the 160+ stations across Washington, D.C. and Arlington, VA and return it to any station near your destination. Check out a bike for your trip to work, Metro, run errands, go shopping, or visit friends and family. Join Capital Bikeshare for 24 hours, 3 days, 30 days, or a year, and have access to our fleet of bikes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The first 30 minutes of each trip are free. Each additional 30 minutes incurs an additional fee.

For a mere $75.00 a year I have access to bike stations all over DC and Arlington and for the first 30 minutes my ride is free! There is even an app for my iPhone to tell me where stations are, how many bikes are there, and how many open slots there are for me to return the bike. Pretty cool, huh? Its very easy to use, however, I did have to look up how to get the bike out of the station...I felt pretty stupid...ha! But once I figured that I had to pull up on the seat, not pull back the handlebars, I was ready to go! There is even a basket with an elastic band to hold my purse in place.

CaBi just announced they had their 2 millionth ride! They reached 1 million rides back in September and in a short 8 month times pan they had another 1 million rides. Awesome!

Bicycling magazine recently announced that both DC & Arlington were on their 2012 list of "America's Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities". D.C. was ranked 4th, while Arlington was ranked 23rd.

IT'S TIIIIIIIIME!!!!

MY BESTIE IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!! I'm scheduling this post because I'm already in Raleigh waiting to celebrate the marriage of Nikki and James! I'm SO excited. I remember meeting James and thinking WHOA that's a big scary dude. But in reality, he's just a big teddy bear and I'm SO glad that Nikki met the man of her dreams and is going to live happily ever after! We've both been through some hard times over the past decade (wow, I think I've known each other for over 14 years now...damn we're old) but I'm glad she's finally happy!

So in preparation, here are some of the reasons I love this girl:

 I tagged this ONCE and FB has decided to put it as our friendship picture. Of ALL the pictures we've been tagged in FB decided on this one. Oh the irony.

p.s.- Thank GOD facebook wasn't around when we were in high school. I'll let those memories be in people's heads, there's no need for there to be digital proof of our bad haircuts, clothing, or whatever else embarrassing thing we did.