Random stories

Since the swine flu outbreak started, every time I go to sneeze I feel like people are watching me as if I am a carrier. It is a weird feeling. Is anyone else feeling that way or is it just me being silly?

Speaking of swine flu, this is an email I got from my mom: Swine Flu - take your Echinacea!‏ Love, Mom (the unofficial nurse)

Last night one of my bridesmaids went to look for dresses and then got measured. As the woman was measuring her, she said “Wow are you curvy!” My bridesmaid is very thin on top with a small waist, but does have big hips. Saying something like that to her was totally uncalled for and made her feel bad. I told her that I probably would have slapped the woman if she said something like that to me (even though it is completely true in my case)!

Don’t you hate when you sit and wait at a doctor’s office and then they see you for all of 5 minutes? That happened when I went to see a sports medicine doctor about my hamstring. I waited for an hour and then he literally saw me for less than 10 minutes. It was ridiculous. Maybe I had such an easy case that he didn’t need to figure out much before he handed me a prescription for physical therapy. Still. What if I had an appointment in the middle of the day and had to go back to work? At least the office could call and say that he was running late so that I wouldn’t sit in the waiting room for so long.

Taking two weeks off from running has already killed me. At my last boot camp class the trainer had us run around two tennis courts, stopping to do jump squats and crunches. As I ran I could feel the fat on my hips jiggling. Gross. Although I haven’t been working out as much as I should, I haven’t gained any weight (YET). I’m sure that I have lost muscle though! I need to get back on the working-out train (which now includes PT for my hamstring), but it can’t include running…..at least for a while.

My Verizon LG Env2 phone hasn’t been working well lately. I wanted to upgrade my phone but I wasn’t eligible quite yet and didn’t want to spend over $400 for a Blackberry. I signed up for Ebay and started bidding. Sure enough, I won an auction last week! The guy was a “power seller” which I guess means that he has great ratings and has done a bunch of transactions. Unfortunately, the day after I bought my phone, the seller switched his username and 8 negative reviews showed up. Reviews saying such things as “seller never shipped product,” “seller didn’t return messages” and “seller provided fake tracking numbers.” Awesome. So I had to submit a claim via Paypal to get my money back. Meanwhile, more negative reviews showed up and I will never get the Blackberry I won. *sigh* Luckily, I ended up talking with my mom and she is eligible for an upgrade. She doesn’t want a new phone any time soon so she got the Blackberry for me (I am paying her back) and it arrives tonight! Just in time for me to activate it and then play with it while waiting in the airport for my flight to MA tomorrow night!

Possible wedding theme??

CP and I have had some problems trying to figure out our wedding theme. Sure we will probably go with just a simple "fall" theme, but that's so boring compared to this couple below. I mean, they actually love Shrek so much that they painted themselves green and made their family members dress up in Shrek-like garb. Clearly CP and I are just not creative enough!!!!

All I can say is wow. Wow.

Story found on Best Week Ever blog here.

Bachelorette party

I’m a bit of a “planner.” I like to think of ideas, have my hands in the project and make sure that the decisions made are ones that I agree with. That’s why when I was told that I couldn’t help plan my bachelorette party, I got nervous. I like surprises, but really, I would rather know what is going on (so that I can make sure that I like it!). Ha!

My maid of honor asked for the email addresses of everyone that I wanted to invite to the bachelorette party. I included friends that I knew probably wouldn’t come (mainly because they had kids), but I went to their bachelorette party so I thought that they should at least get the invitation. I also included my friend that I talked about here because I was also inviting the rest of our mutual friends.

All I know is that a survey was sent out to try to find the best date for the party. I (of course) had input into this because while it would be nice to do it in September, the last month before the wedding is going to be hectic with vendor meetings AND one of my best friends from college is getting married in GA that month (which means a whole weekend of no wedding stuff).*

Stepping away from planning the bachelorette party is hard. I did tell my maid of honor that I didn’t want to do the “suck for a buck” thing. If you don’t know what that is, it is when the bride-to-be wears a t-shirt with candy (usually Lifesavers) taped to the shirt. Guys pay $1 to use their mouth to grab the candy off the shirt. Needless to say, CP would NOT be happy to have strange guys putting their mouth all over my body (even if there is a shirt in the way) and I would totally get skeeved out with the whole thing. Thankfully, my maid of honor knows me well enough and agreed to not make me do that. I am ready for everything else though- the veil (hey if I am not wearing one on my wedding day I might as well wear one for my bachelorette party!), the penis straws, etc. BRING. IT. ON.


*I am secretly hoping that everyone decides to do the bachelorette party on the same weekend CP is going to have his bachelor party. That way I will be too drunk to think about what he is doing!!!

Weekend wrap-up

I had a bit of an interesting weekend. Friday night started off with dinner at a Mexican restaurant with one of my friends. He and I then went to see the movie “Earth.” Because we went during the first week of its release, Disney is going to plant a tree! :-) If you have not seen the BBC/ Discovery channel “Planet Earth” shows, then I would highly recommend on going to this movie. Unfortunately, CP and I own the Blu-Ray DVDs of the show so I had seen most of the footage. Oh well.

Saturday I had full intentions on working out before heading out to the Shecky’s event, but instead watching Law and Order: SVU most of the day. I slept in until 11am (what??? I haven’t done that in forever!) and then just couldn’t motivate to do anything. That night I met up with two friends for Shecky’s Girls Night Out. We arrived a little late and were obvious newbies. We picked up out goody bags which included a number of fun things. Things such as: a full sized container of Say Yes to Carrots lotion (fantastic lotion- not greasy!), a Harlequin romance novel (ha ha ha ha), Aveeno lotion, hair styling wax, face creams, tampons, toothpaste, etc.

We made a beeline for the free alcoholic drinks, trying a new vodka with mango and passion fruit. Some designers had purses, others had jewelry, and others had shirts, dresses, tshirts, or jeans. I was surprised to see sizes from extra small to 4XL!

While I didn't buy any clothes or purse, I did find a couple of adorable pieces of jewelry. I bought the two necklaces below and a bracelet.

Baci Designs

Fontini Designs

Even if you decide not to go to a Shecky’s event you can visit the event website to check out the webpages for the different designers. Because not all of the designers make it to every city, you can buy their wares via Paypal.

A gourmet food booth did really well as there was no other food at the event. I ended up buying frozen drink mix from them- you put the mix and a bottle of wine into a ziplock bag, stick it in the freezer for a couple of hours and voila! It tastes like a frozen slushy sangria. Yum. My friend and I figured with the hot weather here in DC we can have some fun by the pool. :-)

Overall, it was fun to get some free drinks and shop with friends. Afterwards we went out to a badly-needed dinner and then out to the bar. I didn’t end up getting home until 3:30am and the next day, boy was I hungover! Thankfully the goodie bag also included Alka Seltzer Wake up Call- both a headache reliever and caffeine tablet to wake you up after a long night of drinking. It actually worked!

Stupid body

This Sunday was supposed to be the day that I ran my first 10 miler. Unfortunately, my hamstring has decided to act up and I will not be running it. But I will be going to brunch with the girls after they are done running!

Actually, I have a date with a sports medicine doctor on Monday. *sigh* My friend (a physical therapist) thinks that something is pinching a nerve so that the pains runs down my leg. Awesome.

So I guess that I will just have to drink a lot on Saturday night to numb the pain. A couple of my girlfriends and I will be going to Shecky's Girls Night Out here in DC. Has anyone been to one of these before? It wasn't expensive so we thought we would try it out (if you are interested, they have them in cities throughout the country). Supposedly, there is free alcohol, a goodie bag, and clothes, jewelry, etc. all on sale. I'll let you guys know if it is worth it!

Poor thing

Oh poop. One of my very good friends from law school did not pass the IL February bar. :-( It makes me wonder if not taking it last summer with the rest of us played a big part in her not passing. You can certainly lose a lot of knowledge between graduation in May and early January when you start bar classes. My friend is ridiculously smart too- she knows 5 languages and decided to pick up Russian while we were in law school!

It seriously makes me wonder how the h*ll I passed the bar?!? It also makes me feel a bit guilty as a couple of my friends that have not passed want to actually practice law…where as I have already gone inactive with my state!*

Just another reason I feel grateful that I passed the first time and will never have to take a bar exam again!


*I wasn’t planning on going inactive, but I am not an attorney or dispensing legal advice at my job. If I was to stay active, I would have to take CLE (continuing legal education) credits- which means taking time off work and would have to pay $300/ year more than I currently do in fees. I do use my legal education/ analytical thinking every day though……

Observations

Recent observations:

*Boy do I miss CP’s cooking! Earlier this week CP and I were on the phone and he asked what I had for dinner. My answer? Creamy chicken ramen and a sweet potato. How sad. I am definitely back to my college/ single eating habits. I DO know how to cook now, but I don’t want to invest in spices, cooking utensils and other things that we have at home. I’m only here for a little over two more months….

*My eating habits are not as good because I don’t have someone watching me as I eat. I went on a little bit of a binge the first weekend I was in DC. I think that it was from a lack of eating crappy foods for a while so I bought a bag of Doritos and Girl Scout Samoa-flavored ice cream. Now that I think about eating them, I get a little grossed out, but it tasted good at the time! It’s funny because when I was single I did eat fairly healthy- watching calories, etc. so I wonder if the change of behavior was from being bored?

*I also haven’t been working out as much. One of my first days here, I wrote about my 6 mile run among the monuments. I have only run one more time after that….but that is mainly because I now have a problem with my hamstring and limping the next day at work isn’t too much fun. I think partly it is because at home, it is a bit of a competition to see who can work out more or harder (albeit an unspoken competition). To combat the “not pushing myself” syndrome, I have now signed up for a two days a week boot camp class. It is a bit more expensive than I would have hoped ($99/month), but so far it has been pretty good. Knowing that I am paying for the class makes me go, even if I don’t feel like it. However, it is also not helping my hamstring, so I think that it is time to see the doctor…..

*I haven’t been able to get a good night’s sleep since I got to DC. It’s not like CP and I snuggle at night before going to sleep or anything. I don’t feel scared that people are going to break into my apartment. I’m not sure WHAT it is, but I can’t get to sleep before midnight. The past two nights I have still been up at 12:30am. That is not cool when I have to get up and be productive at work (especially when my boss is picky and tough to deal with)!

*I watch crappier tv. Because CP and I have such long commutes back in MA, my tv watching decreased because by the time we got home from the gym, made dinner, etc. we only had a chance to watch one or two shows before heading to bed. Now that I get home earlier and can’t fall asleep, I find myself watching Tough Love or Rock of Love Bus for the 10th time that week. Ugh.

Hopefully I can snap myself out of my funk to start to work out more and eat better!

Tee hee

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse.

And when you find yourself over-extended and you're stuck in a situation that you can't get out of,

There is one thing you should always remember.......

Not everyone who shows up......

Is there to help you!!!!

Recap of parents weekend

I wish I had a good story for you guys, but seriously, this weekend could not have gone any better! I am simply amazed.

Friday the flights both got in on time into NH. CP picked all of us up at the airport and we headed off to dinner. We went to Shaker Table Restaurant which is located in Canterbury, NH. At one point, there were 19 different Shaker communities in the US….the last Shakers to live on this property died in the early 1990s. Currently there is one Shaker village left in the country (in ME) with a brother and his two sisters. The community obviously won’t live on past this generation….at least I hope not (ewww).

Dinner was good and the wine flowed pretty freely. It didn’t seem awkward at all between CP’s dad and mom which was surprising and CP’s mom’s new husband was on his best behavior all weekend long. The only funny thing that night was CP’s grandmother became a little tipsy after drinking some wine and kept telling people to “shut their mouth” and also was threatening to get up on the table and dance!! After dinner CP, my parents and I drove up to the Inn where we are having our ceremony and reception and stayed the night.

Saturday night everyone converged again for the tasting. We want our wedding food to be something different- not just chicken or beef. Because we are working with a small Inn, the chef (and owner) is very amenable to our possible menu suggestions. We tried two different soups- a red pepper bisque and a curried pumpkin. After a vote of 6-3, the red pepper bisque won out. The main course was a tasting of swordfish with a spicy salsa on top, lamb with some kind of reduction sauce, and duck with a cherry sauce. All were delicious.

Everyone agreed on the swordfish which is definitely what I will be having on our wedding night! The problem is the other dish. Some of the people coming to the wedding will want a “safe” choice as not everyone likes fish (we will have a vegetarian option too). The lamb was seriously good, but I guess it cools quickly and on an October night, it would be hard for the servers to keep it warm from the walk from the kitchen to the tent. The duck was also good, but CP and I are worried that people might shy away from duck. It is OUR wedding, but we don’t want our guests to get the vegetarian option simply because they don’t like fish and are afraid of duck. The chef did throw out the possibility of doing a rolled pork dish, stuffed with cheese and spinach. We might go with that, but we’ll see.

After the tasting, CP’s mom and husband left because they had a long drive back to their house. CP’s dad and girlfriend stayed at the Inn with us, drinking and talking for another couple of hours.

Overall, a great weekend. No embarrassing fights, no crying, and best of all, I got to see CP! Our “alone time” was limited, but we will see each other again in 12 days when I fly back to MA for our scuba diving certification check out dives. I also get to see Fuzzy Britches whom I haven’t seen in almost a month so I can’t wait to spend some time with her!

The big meeting

First off, I am SO EXCITED to see CP around 5pm tonight (barring any flight delays). YAY! I will be giving him a big fat kiss (or two)!

Secondly, this is the BIG weekend. As in, this is the weekend that my parents meet CP's parents. YIKES! We don't have much planned for the weekend, but hopefully they become better acquinted over the short weekend so that it won't be as awkward at the wedding.

Tonight we plan on all going out to dinner. As in, all 8 of us. As I have spoken about before, CP's parents are divorced. His mom is newly remarried to a guy that we don't particular like, and his dad has had the same girlfriend for the past 10 years. And....uhhh....that girlfriend is the woman that CP's dad cheated on his mom with to start their divorce. Awkward.

CP's mom and the girlfriend haven't seen each other in over 10 years. Their first and only meeting was at CP's college graduation. CP said it was the most awkward party EVER. Who knows? Maybe the years that have passed by have mellowed out the awkwardness. Or, an already awkward situation could be made even worse by throwing my parents into the mix!!!

We don't have too much planned for Saturday during the day, but that night we are headed up to the Inn where we are having our ceremony and reception to do our tasting. We are crossing our fingers that the food is good!!! We will also be tasting a bunch of wine to figure out what we want to serve at the wedding....hopefully that leads to more conversation instead of drunk fighting!

Cross your fingers that our parents all get along!!!

Congratulations!

Congratulations sir….you teabagged yourself. That is quite a feat.

Making work interesting...

Well, two weeks into my new gig here down in DC, and it has been a very interesting experience. My supervisor while I am down here is the main reason for that. Let me tell you some stories about him:

*On the first day as we were discussing upcoming projects that he wanted me to work on, he mentioned that too many people in the office have personal conversations when they should be working. He then proceeded to tell me that he “doesn’t have any personal pictures in his office because they invite personal conversations.” Umm okay. So does that mean I shouldn’t put up my personal pictures that I brought down with me????

*My second day we had the weekly all-staff meeting. It was my second day and I wasn’t well-versed in the issues so when my boss went around the room asking for questions, I said that I didn’t have any at the time. He said, “oh that’s a shame. I was hoping for something insightful.” HUH?

*I was instructed to do a 40 hour online training to get certification in a specific area so that I could do more around the office. The 40 hours is a “suggested” time frame of how long it would take to do all of the courses. In one 8 ½ hour day (including lunch) I did 12 “suggested” hours of training. Yet when my boss came by and asked how I was doing, his response was “that’s it? I would have thought you would be done by now.” What kind of ridiculous expectations does this guy have of me?????

*I wrote a memo for someone higher up in the company for my supervisor. Thankfully, he liked it but then when we were in a meeting with the higher-ups he totally took credit for it and other projects I had worked on!

*While in a meeting with another supervisor, he started making fun of someone’s work ethic (someone that works for him). I didn’t particularly think that it was appropriate in front of me, but I guess he thinks it is okay because I am only around for 3 months? He also sighed and looked very unhappy when told that another woman was out that day because she had a doctor appointment. It turns out that this woman has major issues that she is dealing with and had a CAT-scan that day- which I know he knew about.

Everyone in the office does not like him and makes fun of him and his managing approach. It’s kind of sad really because he is very smart….he just doesn’t know how to motivate his employees and actually manage.

There are more stories to tell, but I don’t want to bore you guys. CP had a word for my boss- douche. I kind of have to agree. However, I am only here for 2 ½ months* and I do think that the experience is going to be a good one (regardless of my boss). I suspect that when I leave on June 30th he isn’t the type to give out hugs like my supervisor up north did when I left though!!!


*My boss said last week that he is going to try to have me stay for 180 days instead of just 90. I told him that he would have to clear it with CP! Essentially....that won’t happen.

Weird dreams

I have been having some very odd dreams. Here is what my mind has recently subjected me to while I have been asleep:

*A dream about CP's parents and my parents meeting (which they will be doing for the FIRST TIME this weekend). My mom became really bitchy and stormed off halfway through the dinner....something that my mom would never do in real life. Also, even though it was supposed to be a meeting of the parents, CP's cousins and his wife showed up. I had supposedly met them before, but didn't remember them. They became all huffy about it and then hated me. Let's just say that the meeting didn't go well.

*A dream that as CP and I walked into the tent for our reception, I looked around and realized that I had planned an ugly wedding. Nothing went together and the whole place was too busy. Awesome.

*Saturday night I had a dream that I was watching tv and saw CP getting interviewed by a reporter (they showed footage of him....*ahem* naked and drunk). I'm not sure what went down but he was telling this reporter lies in order to get out of trouble. He told the reporter that he was a dancer at PS27 (which in my dream was a male strip club) and that he just finished having sex with the guy standing next to him an hour before (maybe this was his alibi?). When I confronted him (in the dream) about seeing him on tv and the stories that he made up, he just started laughing and thought it was hilarious.....probably because he got away with whatever he did after making up lies that were complete nonsense.

So clearly my wedding nightmares have continued. The first two dreams at least make some sense, but this last one??? Has me a bit stumped. Does this mean that I am worried about what CP is doing up in MA while I am down here in DC? Because CP was at his dad's house Saturday night for the holiday weekend....

Spa Week

For those of you lucky folks in 17 states (and DC and Canada!) this week is Spa Week! At participating salons, you can get treatments such as facials, manicures and pedicures, massages, etc. for only $50!! Check out the link above to see if there are appointments available in your state. I will be getting a facial with a friend on Wednesday here in DC! :-)

Also, for those of you in DC, this week is Thai Restaurant Week in celebration of the Thai New Year. There is a 10% off coupon at the link above and price fixe menus at the restaurants. I will be joining some friends to check out Asia Nine. :-)

Business travel

I have decided that being the person on the business trip is the easier of the two roles. I don’t have to deal with the bills, taking out the dog, cleaning our house, mowing the lawn, making dinner*, etc. I don’t have to spend two hours in the car commuting. Although CP has the comforts of home (sleeping in our bed, using our own things, etc), this has been much easier on me that I thought it would be.

Maybe it is because I am working instead of in law school this time around….meaning that I have less free time so that means less time to sit and think about how much I miss CP. Maybe it is because this time around we know that we have more of a say in when the traveler flies home.** Maybe it is because I know that come July, I will definitely be back in MA (we never had any idea how long CP’s travel would last….turns out it just didn’t stop until we moved out east!). Maybe I finally put my big girl pants on and have learned to suck it up. Or maybe I am more secure in our relationship what with the ring on my left hand (KIDDING).

Whatever it is, I am certainly missing CP, but I know that we can get through this. Of course we have already had a few phone calls where one of us has had a bad day and isn’t very talkative on the phone. CP has been working 11-12 hour days as it is so he hasn’t been responding to emails and is exhausted on his drive home.

I just have to make it to Friday and then I will get to see CP all weekend long!!!!

*Ordering out is really easy here in DC compared to the two pizza places that deliver in our small town. Also, I get money for my meals so I don't feel as bad if I order out once in a while.
**A couple of times (especially when CP was in Puerto Rico) he couldn’t come home at all for the weekend. He didn’t have any control over whether he worked over the weekend or not.

Months late

I know that I am waaaay behind the curve on this, but I finally saw the Sex in the City movie.

When it came out this summer I couldn't find anyone to go see it with me as CP and I had just moved to NH to live with his mom as I studied for the bar. The only people I knew (and not that well) were CP's male friends and I sure wasn't able to convince CP to go to the movie with me!

So I pouted because I couldn't head to the movie with my girlfriends back west, drink martinis, and generally have a good time. Well, after watching the movie, I don't think that I missed out on anything. The movie was overdramatic and overacted through much of it. I really enjoyed the show and was very disappointed. Supposedly they are thinking about doing another movie....hopefully it is better than this one!!!

If you guys saw it (which I know most people have)....what did you think about it?

Friends?

How do you know when you no longer want to friends with someone? What do you do when you have a large number of friends in common so if you suddenly weren't friends with this person it would be weird?

These are the questions that I am currently pondering. My friend CS is someone that I have spoken about before here and here. We first met each other in college when we lived on the same freshman hall together. We became close friends despite the fact she is from Jersey. ;-) We have taken trips together, cried over boys together, and have been there for each other for over 10 years.

However, CS started to change after getting her MBA. I guess she always had it in her- she used to say things like "when I get an engagement ring it has to be bigger than the last one given to a woman in my family." I used to laugh it off. But then she got her MBA and her true colors came out. She brags about her Dooney & Bourke purses, she brags about her $300 rain boots, she flashes her diamond & sapphire ring that "her daddy gave her." I hate people like that. I don't want to be friends with someone like that.

The next problem with our friendship is her on-again, off-again boyfriend. This girl is SO SMART. And yet? The boyfriend that has been around for FIVE YEARS that NONE of us have ever met? Let's just say she deserves better. She has a grad school degree....he hasn't finished his undergrad degree. She doesn't have kids.....he has twin daughters from a "pity f*ck" with a friend of his (he's not even smart enough to use a condom!!!). She wants to get married some day.....he doesn't ever want to get married. He was living with his kids' mother, saying that "of course" he was sleeping on the couch and not in bed with her, that living with her was just to save money.....but CS found text messages from the mother evidencing otherwise. CS says that she loves him while he is away in Iraq....and then goes and sleeps with her landlord and five other guys.

They have broken up and gotten back together so many times that we can't keep track. They are back on again and have been for a couple of months- but she didn't tell us until recently because she knows that we don't approve.

I am a blunt person. I like to think that my friends appreciate that I tell them the truth. I told CS that I think that she could do better. Many others have told her the same thing. But I think that it has strained our relationship.

I really do worry about CS. I think that she has completely put up a barrier to all of her friends, only giving us certain information and putting on a front. I wish I knew how to help her, but I don't think that she wants help.

Is this why I don't feel like we are friends anymore? Is this why I am not really excited that she is coming down to DC (not necessarily to see me) and would rather run my race than hang out with her? Isn't that a sign that I no longer want to be friends? How do you even distance yourself when you have a bunch of mutual friends?? Maybe she has already done that on her own?

Does this mean that I am abandoning her when she needs me?

I'm an idiot

So I chipped my tooth yesterday at work. One of my FRONT teeth. It's not awful but I feel silly and it is jagged which means I want to run my tongue over it constantly... you know, just to check and make sure I really AM that stupid. I'm surprised it hasn't led to me cutting my tongue on the tooth.

It was a stupid move on my part. I didn't see a staple remover anywhere in sight and needed to remove said staple to get a document copied. So I bit on the staple and tried to take the papers off. Bad move.

I have had a bond on the tooth since age 5 when I first chipped it- my sister and I were chasing each other around the house, I slipped and hit my tooth on the tile floor. I had just gotten my adult tooth so my mom got upset when I chipped it. I wasn't too upset, telling her "don't worry mom. This one will fall out and then my new one will come in!" If I only knew.....

Because the tooth didn't break too close to the root, I have had a bond on it ever since. When I was younger, I broke that bond a couple of times- for instance licking a metal ice cream scooper. However the current bond has basically held since high school. Maybe it was time to get a new one anyway?

A nearby dentist couldn't me see yesterday so I had to sit in a meeting with my supervisor and another higher up in the company looking like an a**hole. Awesome. I'm about to head over to the dentist in a few minutes, but I don't think that my dental insurance covers this.... Hopefully it won't be too expensive.


*UPDATE*
My tooth is fixed! YAY! AND my insurance paid for 90% of the bill. Thank goodness!

Good news

Not only did I hear that my promotion and raise finally came through (woo hoo!!!), but the federal stimulus bill is also adding money to my paycheck (as of April 1st). Thanks President Obama!

First weekend in DC

This weekend was a fun first weekend in DC. Friday night my maid of honor J and I tried to hit a bridal store in an effort to check out bridesmaid dresses, but didn't check the hours so ended up having only five minutes to look around the store. Whoops. J has now left for a short vacation so hopefully we can get back to the bridal store later this week.

Saturday morning I woke up and headed over to a friend's house for pre-Cherry Blossom Parade mimosas. We unfortunately missed the Grand Marshal of the parade, Alex Trebek, but had fun watching the last hour or so anyway. From there we fought crowds near the Tidal Basin and had a late lunch. The sun and the early drinking completely wiped me out. At least my weird tan lines have faded away!!

Yesterday I had to run some errands, including stopping by one of my favorite stores DSW. I ended up buying more than I originally went in for (that place is like Target!!). My purchases:

I seem to walk around a lot at work these days and my current work shoes are hurting my knees. I'm hoping these will be a bit better...

Every year I get a new pair of Tevas. They are the MOST comfortable flip flops for my feet.

I didn't go into DSW for these shoes, but as soon as I saw them, I thought that they would be perfect for my commuting walk both here in DC and when I get back to MA. They are seriously comfortable and I don't have to lace them up every morning!

So I need a new purse for the spring/ summer. I bought this purse, but I am not completely sold on it. What do you guys think?

First week in DC thoughts

My first week in DC is over. My thoughts on how it went:

*My new coworkers informed me that no one drinks the tap water in DC. Huh? One woman gave me bottled water on my first day and told me to get a Brita for my apartment. She said that she refuses to drink tap water and has for 40 years. My question to her is....does she drink the water at restaurants? I can't imagine that restaurants in DC are using bottled water at every table....

*Every time I visit I forget how steep the escalators are! My first day I was holding a box of documents and was seriously scared that I was going to fall down the stairs. I am going to need to be very careful after drinking!

*Here in DC, the work day doesn't start until 8:30 or 9am (for some people 9:30!) at my office. The fact that I get into work at 8am means that I am one of the first people in the office. Coming in at 8am up north means I am one of the late arrivals to work. Interesting.

*I am a bit terrified of my supervisor down here. He is a stern man, probably about 6'5" and completely no nonsense. I will have to rein in my silly jokes! And no watercooler talk....

*I found out that I would have to pay for the gym at work, so it's a no go. I would rather use the free gym at my apartment and my Wii Fit. Save money!

*CP has decided that the best time to talk is during his drive home. When he used to travel, I used to get annoyed because he would be checking his email, watching tv, etc. while we talked. That led to a lot of "huh?" questions because he wouldn't be paying attention. So, this way he just has to focus on driving and talking to me.

*CP and I have also already had our first bad conversation. He was tired, I was annoyed at my ipod, etc. I hate when we have those conversations. But I have to tell myself that

*CP used to come back from traveling and after a while, I noticed that he ate really fast. Now I know why. Sitting by yourself at a restaurant isn't fun....it's lonely. I had three nights at a hotel before I could move into my apartment last week and the dinner choices were scarce. That meant no people watching.....and shoving food down so that I could go hide in my hotel room the rest of the night.

*I think that although I complained about coming down here, my time in DC is going to be worthwhile. Two women from an office in the west coast city I used to live in just happened to be in the office last week. They have two positions opening soon and were hard-core recruiting me for them!

Beautiful run...

After Nilsa's comment on the distances that I should run each week to get ready for my 10 mile race, I set out on Tuesday to run as far as I could. My hotel is in Arlington (right near the cemetery) and it was a beautiful 60 degree sunny day. I decided to follow some of the other runners ahead of me since I didn't know where I was going.

Every time I started to feel tired, I would check out the scenery around me and become invigorated. Running past places such as the Lincoln Memorial....

.....the new World War II memorial.....

......and around the Washington Monument.....

(not my pictures)

.....was awesome. Tourists were out in full force (Cherry Blossom festival is this weekend) so I did have to do some dodging and weaving during my run. Totally worth it though.

I wasn't sure how far I would be able to run on the pavement as it IS easier to run on a treadmill, but I was going steady on mile 6 and.....suddenly my ipod froze. Noooooooooo!!!! I didn't know what to do! My ipod nano is less than a year old and I bought it solely for the Nike+ program. I started to walk, hoping that frantically pushing buttons, then turning the ipod off, then removing the ipod receiver, would work. Nothing. I ended up walking the rest of the way back to my hotel, completely dejected....but also thinking that if it was totally broken, maybe I could upgrade to an itouch????

Lucky, a friend alerted me to the "reset" option and I was able to fix it last night. I'm not sure how I could have trained for this upcoming race without my ipod!!!

So, while the end of the run was frustrating, I still made it 6 miles on a lovely day. :-)
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Update on this post: my bridesmaid got her period! YAY!

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On another note, my post from yesterday was not an April Fool's joke.

New diet help?

Recently, on my favorite radio program, I stumbled upon an interview with Cassandra Forsythe, a PhD candidate at the University of CT in exercise science and nutrition. The interview intrigued me because she has a new book out ("Women's Health: The Perfect Body Diet"). In the book, she talks about using glucomannan as a dietary supplement to make you feel full.

Forsythe recommends adding 2 grams of glucomannan (derived from an Asian yam) to any foods you eat that have a semi-fluid consistency a day. (Glucomannan apparently expands up to 100 times its own weight in water.) The glucomannan makes to feel fuller, thus leading to you eating less. In the interview she did mention that glucomannan has been around, but she recommends breaking up the capsule and adding it directly into the food for more of the "full" feeling.

Has anyone heard/ done this themselves? I'm thinking about trying it out to see if it helps with my weight loss. If I do, I will let you guys know what I think!