Drink Lots of H2O & Eat Your Vegetables

Happy FRIDAY! and the sun is shining bright! Hooray. Oh how I've missed you sun! :)

My work day is almost over and I could not be more excited. After work, I am metroing (one stop) to sister's place to chill out until our 6:30 dinner at Bourbon in Adams Morgan. It is a bourbon bar that allegedly has amazing food. We will find out soon enough. After dinner, we will be enjoying the nice evening with friends on the Waterfront in Georgetown celebrating a friends birthday and promotion. Good for her!

Tomorrow is the FLIP CUP TOURNAMENT at Bottom Line. Can't wait! I love events that bring good friends together, especially when they are for a good cause, such as this fundraiser for cancer.

Other than my weekend activities with friends, I don't really have much to update you all on.
Work is going great! I love love love my new job. It is challenging but I am learning a lot of real world skills that make me feel like an actual grown up. Hard to believe I have been an independent working woman for a year and a half now. Hard to believe, indeed.

The Longest Mile

Hello family and friends! My, what a busy busy week it has been!
I am finished with "Blindness" by jose saramago. It was a REALLY great book. I give it two thumbs up, and I rank it an 8.5! I definitely recommend this book!!!! Just be warned that jose's writing style is different than anything you have read. He doesn't use punctuation very often. You may read a page and a half before you see a period. Also, because of the lack of punctuation, it is sometimes difficult to figure out who is speaking because there is a running dialogue. - recommend finding a quite spot to read it or read it while zoning out to your favorite mellow jams. It is sad and depressing, while also being hopeful and aspiring!

Moving on...Yesterday we had a department outing in georgetown which was AMAZING!!!! We left work at 11 AM and headed to Pizza Paradiso for lunch. After that, we went to get pedicures and then walked to the cinema and saw "Ghost of Girlfriends Past."

If that wasn't enough, I then met kev in dupont circle where we went to dinner at Nando's. After dinner, we walked down to the white house and to the Natural History Museum to see the sea life exhibit and watch "Night at the Museum" in the IMAX theater! The movie was really cute and it was sooo very cool to see it in the Smithsonian since that is where the movie takes place. On our way to the metro after the movie, we stopped for ice cream...YUMMY! We really were kids in grown up bodies that night.

The weekend is going to be an eventful one. Kev and I are having dinner with casey anmd chad in the city and then we are going to the waterfront in georgetown to celebrate my friend's birthday.
On Saturday, kev and I are participating in a Flip Cup tournament in downtown DC for a friend's fundraiser! I am really terrible at flip cup but at least the twenty dollar entry goes to a good cause.
Sunday will be a "catch up on my sleep and recuperate" day!

Rain Rain, Go Away...

Alas, the long weekend has come to an end and the day could not be uglier. There is so much rain that is is coming down in sheets and the roads are flooded. It is also only 60 degrees. Where is the nice summer weather? Sheesh!

Recap of the weekend: Friday I did absolutely nothing. We were allowed to leave work at 3:30 which was amazing because I was a grump gus and had a bad attitude for no reason at all. I was just so exhausted from the week and the fact that us girls went out the night before. Kev picked me up and we tried to go to Target so i could pick up a few things for work but the traffic was horrendous so we turned around and went home. I cooked us an amazing dinner of lemon pepper chicken, salad, angel hair pasta, and carrots (yummy!), went for a 3 mile run, and then we ventured back to target where I spent way too much money! That night, I just lounged around and read my book while kevin went to see Terminator with his friend (I bailed due to exhaustion)!

On Saturday, I went for a 25 minute run in the morning and then made breakfast for me and kev, which consisted of eggs and turkey bacon. Saturday night was a lot of fun because we got all dressed up and went to a wedding of a girl Kevin grew up with. It was the Nelson/Delinsky wedding and was held in Georgetown at the Halcyon House, which is BEAUTIFUL! To give you a sense of the property, it is currently on the market listed at $32 million!!!! wow! The wedding was so much fun and the bride, Julie, was stunning. Her dress was the most beautiful wedding dress I have ever seen (and I watch a lot of "Who's Wedding is it Anyway", "Platinum Weddings", and "Bridezilla")!

On Sunday, I cleaned the downstairs and Kev went golfing with friends. I went to the eye doctor to get a new prescription of contacts and they charge me $100 even though i have insurance because apparently my insurance doesn't cover exams for contacts since it is a "nice to have not need to have." I thought that was a bunch of crock. Also, insurance doesn't cover my contacts so I opted for the cheaper option of ordering them from 1800contacts and saved $40!!!! My insurance sucks! i don't even know why I am one of the "lucky" ones that is insured when my insurance doesn't ever cover the things I need it to cover. It is so annoying. I did a little shopping and got three pairs of shoes--one pair is hot pink, one is purple, and one is bright red! They are adorable. On Sunday night, we enjoyed great food at a dinner party at Kevin's parents' house. After our bellies were full, we went home to relax until it was time to go to our midnight concert. Kevin and I got sucked into watching a special on BBC America about Brothers and Sisters who are in love and in relationships with each other. It was so very sad and depressing. It was definitely an eye opener and interesting to see another perspective. After the program was over, we rushed downtown to see The National perform at the 9:30 club for the midnight show. Why did we ever think that was a good idea--we were exhausted. We left at 1:15 and they were still playing. I was falling asleep standing up--believe it or not! I tried my best to rally and I put on a good face to try and fool Kevin but in the end, he just wanted to get us home to get some rest.

Then yesterday was really relaxing. It rained cats and dogs so we stayed inside and sat around in our underwear (my favorite thing in the whole wide world). Kevin worked all day while I watched documentaries of murders and crimes right next to him. We then got ready and met our friends at Steamers to eat crabs in Maryland. SO FUN! While everyone was busy cracking over these big ol crabs, my friend Amanda and I were enjoying Snow Crab Legs. Man o Man, it is a lot of work to get to the edible part. After dinner, Kevin and I returned home to chill some more. I Tivoed the Bachelorette ( I had no idea it was even on for the new series), took a shower, and then went to bed to finish up Blindness. The book isn't finished yet, but I only have 12 pages left so it will be done tonight! Look for the review to be posted in the next day or so...

I'm A Riot...

Friday Friday...today is Friday, which also means a long overdue Jeans Casual Day at work. Thank goodness for denim!:)

I am afraid I may be struggling this afternoon after a night out with the Girls. It was such a blast. We threw Jordan a surprise birthday happy hour and she was thoroughly surprised so mission accomplished!!!! We held the happy hour at a place in Dupont Circle called Stars Bistro where they had half price appetizers, $5 martinis, & $5 margaritas. We then left the restaurant to finish our small party at Front Page (our Thursday night go to). Casey and Chad met us out there where we shared a shot for J's Bday and we celebrated with $3 coronas and lots of laughter and dancing. I am the old fart who had to leave everyone behind at 9:30pm to make my way home to find my bed so that I could make my 6AM wake up time.

It was nice once I got home because Kev and I talked about my night, we found out he doesn't have to travel to Los Angeles this next week for work like we thought, and then we played with the doggies. Penny and Joey were really getting after each other. She was pulling all of his hair out and he tried to squish her by sitting on her. I swear that one of these days, those two are really going to hurt one another.

Tonight isn't going to be too wild as we only have a movie planned after a quick run and dinner. Kev and I are going to try to see "Terminator." It didn't get very good reviews but the previews we saw last week won us over.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day because we have Body Pump workout at the gym at 10AM and then we have errands to run before we get ready for Julie's wedding (Kevin's childhood friend). She is getting married in Georgetown, which means it is going to BEAUTIFUL and lots of fun because the majority of people attending are in their late 20's and early 30's, which means everyone will be looking for a fun time and to let their hair down. Kev and I are then going to rest up on Sunday for our midnight concert at the 9:30 club to see The National. Hooray!:) I am hoping that grilling out is in our near future because I am really dreaming of a fresh salad, corn on the cob, turkey burgers, and grilled vegetables. Yummy!!!!

On another note, I have some bad news. I told you all that I would finish my two books over the Outer Banks trip but that did not happen. I was too distracted to read Blindness, seeing as it has no punctuation and you really have to pay attention. Although, I did finish The Giver, which was much deeper than I remembered. It was a fast read but a very sad story. For anyone wanting to re-read this book, I would highly recommend you do so.

A weird story I want to share before I go is that a friend of mine named Maya, who is also a member of the Metrotextuals, was going to The Gables in Woodley Park (where Casey lives) to walk her best friend's dog. Casey was leaving as Maya was walking in so Casey held the door open. Having never met or seen Casey, Maya approached her and said, "Is Vanessa Pierrard your twin because you look exactly like her?" Needless to say, Casey was a little freaked but then Maya explained that she was my friend and so on and so forth. I got a kick out of this little story when I heard it. So funny! It is proof that we really do live in a very small world!

Time is Slipping Away...

It is Thursday! Wow, how on Earth did that happen. It really crept up on me. Typically the week before a long weekend is slow as a snail but this week it has gone in the blink of an eye.

I want to apologize for my lack of posts. I have been extremely busy with my new job. Yesterday I worked 6:15 AM to 5:40 pm. Then Kevin and I went to the grocery store, I cooked us dinner and ew finished around 8:30pm. I got ready for bed and read "Blindess" until I got tired and was asleep by 9:15, only to return back to work at 7:30 this morning. sheesh!!! I am excited that the weather is beautiful and that the long weekend that is fast approaching will be a fun one.

not much else to post! Until next time...

Good afternoon to everyone. I know it has awhile since my last post with our incentive trip to OBX and me starting my new job. I have been incredibly busy, therefore this will be a short post today. I have been training the past two days from the time I come in until the time I leave in the evening, which makes the day go fast but also makes me really tired. How tired? Well I went to bed at 8pm last night! I was exhausted! I did receive my company card and a brand new laptop yesterday so life is good. I am about to book travel to Dallas and Chicago because I have two meetings the week of June 8th. Dallas is June 8th and 9th and Chicago is the 11th and 12th. That is going to be a hectic, but fun week.

Our OBX incentive trip to Duck, NC was amazing. We all had such a blast! We laid out during the days and played games at night. The highlights were as follows: keg stands, flip cup tournaments, beer pong, karaoke, lots of great food, margaritas by the pool, late night dips in the ocean, and lots of girl bonding time. Would you believe that I didn't take a single picture. not one! wow. I am terrible.

Well time to get back to work...I will post more once my days are not so filled up with meetings and training.

Music is My Favorite Mistress

So Carrie Prejean gets to keep her crown. boo! I will not say anymore about this issue because i am tired of talking about this dumb broad. Watch this clip and just know that I agree with Keith Olbermann 100%.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwkTAzcToic

On a separate note: Today is my last day in Marketing in the Academies. Starting Monday, May 18th, I will be a Meetings Planner in the Meetings Department. I have waited many months for this job to open and I was very fortunate to receive the job offer because it is a very coveted, competitive position in the company. It is really surreal. I am so very sad to leave my team because the Academies girls have become some of my closest friends but I am excited to further my career and be doing something new because I was starting to be really disengaged in the Marketing world after being in it for 16 months.

Because Kevin shares my love of music and our favorite past time is concerts, we have a few upcoming shows that I am very excited about, which include:

5/24/09: The National
6/08/09: Andrew Bird & The Decemberists
6/09/09: Tv on the Radio

my new obsession is the Ting Tings Radio Station on pandora. Check it out. My friend Jordan was playing it at her house the other night and it is very addicting. It is a compilation of all the female bands I adore, as well as a few male bands with similar sounds. If you want to check it out, go to www.Pandora.com, set up an account and create a new station. Don't fret because it does a great job of walking you through the steps. When it asks for an artist, type in "Ting Tings." It will then start to play and compile similar bands/songs. Awesome!

Some bands you will hear:

• The Ting Tings
• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Lily Allen
• Kate Walsh
• The Killers
• Pete Bjorn
• The Sounds
• CSS
• Franz Ferdinand
• Metric
• MGMT

...just to name a few. Get excited because you know I am!

Also, I wanted to alert you all that because of my incentive trip to the Outer Banks, NC, I will not have access to internet, therefore will not be blogging until Monday morning (the first day on my new job)! I hope you can all deal! :)

Until next time my friends and family--Go Naked! Adopt a hairless dog! :)

Troubled Beauty Queens

You all know what today is...Taco Tuesday! But because of Mandy's Bday celebration at The Melting Pot, I will be passing up on tacos for today. but hooray for fondue and fun.

Last night I watched "the boy in the striped pajamas" and if you are emotional, please refrain from watching it. It was quite possibly one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. In fact, I watched it downstairs and when it ended, I had to go upstairs with a tear stained face for some company and to talk about the depth of the film.

To sum it up, it is a film about a German boy who befriends a Jewish boy in a concentration camp that is located right behind their house. The problem with the friendship is that the German boy's father is the lead soldier of the concentration camp who tells his son that Jews are not people and restricts his son from speaking to anyone in striped pajamas. If you want to know more information about it, watch the trailer.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5FU-yDC-uI



I also started this month's book club book called, "Blindness" by Jose Saramago, which is a page turner. It is a sci fi fiction but one that makes you think, "What if I look up from this page and can't see anything?" It is freaky! I am not that far into it but will keep you all updated on the book and if you are lucky, maybe offer it as a recommendation.



In the in between time, I am also re-reading "The Giver" on my Kindle (best present ever from my lovely sis). It is a book I read in high school but wasn't particularly fond of but some girls at work keep talking about how it was one of their favorite books so I am giving it another shot (very unusual for me!). so far so good. It is a really fast read so hopefully by the end of the weekend I will be finished with both so that I can provide reviews! I bet you are wondering how i will read two books in a week? Well it helps that we are going to The Outer Banks in North Carolina Thursday so in between the 7 hour bus ride there, beach time, and the ride back, there is not a single reason I could think of to not have those books finished by then.



A couple of things that are on my mind include:

• New York Law making homeless people pay rent


• Carrie Prejean

I read in the news yesterday that New York is holding people in homeless shelters accountable to paying rent if they are making wages, no matter how little. They interviewed a woman named Princess who was talking about the little income she makes and how it doesn't even support food for her child so she doesn't understand how she is supposed to pay $300 a month in rent. To me, this doesn't make sense because if she could afford to pay rent, she probably wouldn't be in a homeless shelter. I am curious to see how long they enforce this "law" of homeless people paying a portion of their earnings to cover shelter costs because it seems that it would be more of a reason for homeless people to stay homeless and not get/keep a job if they are not allowed to keep all of their small earnings.

This Carrie Prejean broad is on my last nerve. If you saw me everyday, you would know that she is all I can talk about. I find her to be very irritating because she is a liar and a person who is using all the hype to become famous (or should I say infamous) instead of being a spokeswoman for California. Every time she speaks, she gets caught up in a lie. Please Carrie, just tell the truth! Today we find out if Donald Trump is going to make her resign from her title as Miss California (fingers crossed he does)! Donald, if i can ask of one favor, it would be to learn from your mistake of allowing Tara Conner (the drug addict) to finish her reign as Miss USA and dethrone Carrie. She has had too many chances and you need to use your famous phrase, "You're Fired!"

Monday Monday

Happy Monday! I would normally never put those two words in the same sentence but today is different because of a short work week and lots of things on my social agenda. I am most excited that my workday will end at 5 on Wednesday so that we can gear up for our departure to the Outer Banks at 8:30 Thursday morning. Hooray!

Wednesday is my dear friend Amanda's "Mandy" birthday and we will be helping her celebrate it at The Melting Pot for ladies night, which happens to be tomorrow. We have a group of 10 and we are looking forward to eating, drinking, and being merry to help her have fun turning "23."

Wednesday night Kevin and I are having date night, which will involve dinner and a movie. As weird as it is, I REALLY want to see Earth, which is a documentary about our planet and the effect we humans have on it changing. I am thinking it will be really informative and educational. We shall see!

So the weekend was amazing! Kevin and I had a good time with our friends on Friday night watching the Caps game and then my Saturday shopping adventure was a huge success. Would you believe that I got everything I said I wanted to get which includes a suit, work dresses, capris, and a nice pair of khakis. I got some great deals and never really felt the usual buyer's remorse. I am really proud of my purchases and feel like i got a good start on building a "working woman's" wardrobe."

That night, we attended Elizabeth's party which was a lot of fun too. It was really cool how we all coordinated and showed up at the party together. Especially since we arrived fashionably late with 3 cases of beer, ice, tubs, and brownies. We definitely made a scene. Imagine that!

Kevin and I celebrated Mother's Day with his family by hiking and eating dinner together. Hiking was really fun because we were able to bring all three dogs and they seemed to have really good time exploring. I was really happy they went with us until last night when I noticed that they both were covered in red splotches. Would you believe that they were both covered in Poison Ivy!!?!!? Who knew? I covered them in Chickweed salve, which is an herbal cure all and it worked like a charm. We woke up today to see that it has faded a bit and did not spread to us or the rest of their bodies. Thank goodness.

Little Lolitas

It's Friday! hooray:) Luckily this has been a fast week--thanks to my busy social calendar! Wednesday night was our Metrotextual Book Club Meeting where we discussed "Lolita" and found out our new book is "Blindness." I didn't particularly like the book because of his writing style, not to mention that the book was all about pedophilia. I was a little thrown off when someone called it a "love story" because I don't agree that a 40 year old man bribing and sleeping with an eleven year old girl is a love story by any stretch of the imagination but to each their own.

Story Time: Last night, the girls and I went to a happy hour to grab their famous $5 martinis. We went with the intent of getting one, maybe two drinks. Well with the gossip and discussion, two martinis turned into 6 and two shots. wow! I was aiming to be home by 8, but 8 turned into 1AM! wow! It is amazing how time flies when you are having fun. I love those girls! I had so much fun. Now we are gearing up for an extended lunch at a chicken place called Nando's (so YUMMY!) and a work happy hour at 5pm (hooray for ending the work half an hour early).

This weekend is going to be a busy one. Kevin and I are hanging out with friends downtown tonight to watch sports then tomorrow I am waking up bright and early to go on a shopping extravanza with the girls. I can not wait! I have not been shopping in a very long time and I need suits and pants for my new position. I am hoping i will find a lot and save a lot seeing as we are going to an outlet mall in Maryland. Then once we return from shopping, us girls are going to my friend Jordan's house to get all dolled up so that we can make a grand entrancce to our boss's birthday celebration--"cinco de haas!" Hooray for a Girls' Day.

Sunday is Mother's Day! Happy early Mother's Day Mom!!!! I am so glad you are mine, even though i share you with Casey and Frank:) mom will be in chicago with casey (good luck at your race on Saturday sis and Chad!). Lucky for them that they get to share mom's special day together. Kevin and I will be here in DC spending some time with his mama hiking, biking, and eating. Us and the "Rat Dogs" and Joey!

Rain Rain Go Away

So today's blog is about things I do not like. I will be discussing the following:

1. The rain in the district




2. Kings of Leon comments in Rolling Stone Magazine




3. Doctor Expenses

Believe it or not, it is still raining in the district. wow. It has been a very long time since the sun has peeked through the clouds and I do not like it. The weather is now in the low sixties,which feels cool compared to the low 90 degree weather we were blessed with two weekends ago. I can never decide what to wear in the morning to commute to work because in my mile walk my pants seem to get soaking wet and muddy from the splash up but my legs freeze when I wear skirts or dresses. I can't win!

Kings of Leon was the feature of Rolling Stone Magazine in the May 2009 issue and I was very excited to see this issue in the mailbox. Of course it was a couple of weeks before I had an opportunity to read their spread because I was finished up a book, "The Almost Moon", starting my book club book, "Lolita", and defeating Kung Fu Panda on XBox 360. Anyway, once i read their story, I wish I hadn't. It made me so very mad! So mad that I don't know if i will ever buy another ticket to see them again (and I have seen them twice)! Why am I so fired up you ask? Well because in the very end of the interview, they talk about how they could have had #1 hits that put them on the charts way before "Sex on Fire" (I agree because I LOVE all of their albums), but that they were very selective because they didn't want soccer moms rocking out to their tunes. Then he went on to say, "blah, blah blah, I don't even like the type of people who come to our shows." What?!?! i am a little confused. The "people" who come to their shows are the ones who allow them to live the life of the rich and famous. How does he know he doesn't like the people? Has he ever met us? No! What a jerk! This is why I am questioning if I will continue to support them or not!

Now the third complaint--DOCTOR BILLS! wow. Last week was very tough on my check book because penny got her yearly shots and then had to go back the next day because she had an allergic reaction to the rabies shot and had to be put on pain killers and benedryl, which also cost me an arm and a leg. Then Penny cut her little arm in the yard on who-knows-what had to be rushed to the vet to get sutures. Even though I would spend a million dollars on her should I ever have to because I love her dearly, I shelled out more than I make in a week! yikes! Then, as if my week couldn't get anymore expensive, i went to the dentist to get a retainer and it turns out, the thing was twice as much as they told me and insurance doesn't cover a single cent of it. go figure! I checked the insurance website today and it says a million different things. Somewhere it says it will cover it until I am 25, another says until 23, then another section says not at all. I guess they chose to not cover it at all. Sheesh! So much for being one of the "lucky" insured gals. Doesn't seem to be too helpful!

Now I am not completely mad and upset because I do have things to be happy about. Casey picked me up at lunch today and we ate lunch at "Potbelly's." YUMMY! It was nice to see her and catch up because even though we live in the same city, our social lives keep getting in the way of our sister time. Another thing I am happy about is the man in my life, Kevin. Yesterday (5-04) we celebrated our one year. For our anniversary, he got me a beautiful sterling silver bracelet from Tiffany's that is just like the picture below but is my initial instead of x & o. I am one lucky gal:)

Peace & Love

Rosa & the $12 Guacamole

TGIF! Goodness this has been one very long week. Tonight Kev is taking me to Rosa Mexicano in Penn Quarter to celebrate my new job. Hooray! This place is super duper expensive--we are talking $12 for guac. wow! It is also a place you have to pay for chips & salsa. Weird. I haven't been since Kevin took me on the night of my 23rd birthday!

Not sure what else the rest of the weekend has in store for me. Kevin is taking me out for another celebration dinner on Sunday. This time we are celebrating our one year anniversary, which isn't officially until Monday, May 4th. It just seems so crazy to me because in one sense i feel like we've known each other our whole lives and in the other sense, i can't believe it has been an entire year. Especially considering that we have lived together for 8 months already!!!! I know, I know...I can't really fathom being with someone for only 4 months before moving in together either but it happened and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

I am one lucky gal...