Fun Fall Things

Sad, abandoned little blog :( I didn't mean to leave you alone for so long! You even have a half-written post just waiting to be finished (it's on Nashville, yeeeehaw!). Have no fear, I'll get back into the swing of things one of these days!

However, today is just a quick post about all things fall and what I LOVE about this particular season:

• Football is back as is tailgatin'
  
• Boots. Boots. All types of boots.
• Pumpkin Spiced Lattes from Starbucks
• Actually anything that has pumpkin flavor
  
• Oranges, Browns, Yellows
• Fires in the the fireplaces
• Chilli
• Halloween!
• Gearing up for the Holiday Season

YAY FALL :)

*tried posting pics and blogger isn't letting me format then, argh.

A (quick!) Visit to the Big Apple

While I do not travel too much with my job, I have been able to go to a few cool places (Las Vegas last year!), however most are on the East Coast. A few weeks ago we traveled up to NYC to visit our friends at Time Warner Cable. I was PUMPED. Sadly, I regret to inform all you NYC-lovers, I have never been there during the Spring or Summer! So all my visions of NYC are from the cold, wet, not-very-forgiving falls and winters. Needless to say I was excited to see NYC in early September.

I took the 6am train from DC up to NYC and was greeted with gray skies and well-below normal weather...excuse me, WHAT? It was Fall already!! Argh. I had hoped for some time to walk around pre and post meeting to see Central Park, Bryant Park*, etc. but was back on the train before I knew it. Blast. Anyway, this just clearly means I need to get my booty back up to the big apple and spend more than 8 hrs there :)

*NYC Fashion Week was underway!! Also, Oprah was on her way to Central Park for a live taping. Who wouldn't want to walk around those two places??

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Sad Times

DANG. Look who has dropped the ball on this blog during Sept! Yeesh, you'd think I was busy at work or something (written very sarcastically)! New posts will include:

• Wine Festivals (yum)
• NYC
• Nashville

When life ain't so crazy, I'll be back, yo.

Water Water EVERYWHERE!

I grew up going to the lake and beach each summer (Lake Gaston on the VA/NC Border, the OBX, and most recently Pawelys Island). And I was lucky enough to end my summer on the water, too! This past weekend (labor day!!) a group of 22 of us packed up our cars and headed OTD ("outside the district") for some fun lake-side at Deep Creek Lake. One of our good friend's family owns a beautiful house there, and surprisingly we all had somewhere to sleep! It actually felt a lot like adult camp, hahaha. Some of "Camp Sunset Pointe" activities included:

• s'mores by the fire
• wake boarding (for the brave, I've tired before and I do not regret missing out on this activity!)
• water skiing
• boat trips
• corn hole, "bags"
• college-football trivia
• cooking
• and the most anticipated activity, the end of "camp" dance!

We were all so happy and lucky to have been able to do this last weekend. It was a much needed break from it all! :)

Back to School! But not for me :(

I am not going to lie, now that I'm out of college, the end of summer doesn't have quite the same excitement it used to have*. There are definitely times when I regret not going back to graduate school**, but I've come to realize (from my friends who are in school now) that graduate school is not really anything like undergraduate school (one can wish, right?)!! Is it wrong to wish I was shopping for textbooks, paper, pens, and finalizing my schedule right now!? The funny thing is, I am 100% positive I am not the only one who feels this way this time of the year. Both my mom and my aunt (both are 'Hoos) said they still feel that ping of back-to-school-blues. I have to justify this feeling of sadness/jealously with the fact that I LOVED my elementary, middle school, high school, and college - I know not everyone feels the same way about their alma maters.



*except it means the start of FOOTBALL!!!!! Go 'Hoos!
**don't get me wrong, would love to go get my graduate degree in something! But "what" is the answer, and my parents won't let me accrue debt just because I want to go back to school :)

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Putting the " :) " In Yogurt

YUM-O-YOGURT.

Sometimes it just makes sense to switch it up, and that's exactly what my boss did today for our weekly meeting. It's a beautiful August day, 80 & sunny, no humidity. On the flipside, our office is about 60 and freezing! So my boss made the executive decision to have our weekly meeting outside! But first, we got Yogen Fruz. It's all part of the tart-yogurt trend that has been taking off in DC for a year or so, and i love it. I could probably eat it every day.

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My go-to is tart yogurt (plain), blackberries, raspberries, and chocolate chips. But at Yogen Fruz you can create your own flavors(!!) This is a totally new concept for me, and I was a little too overwhelmed to create a flavor on the spot, but you betcha next time I will :)

I can honestly say it was the BEST meeting we've had. Yes, being outside and eating yogurt was completely awesome, but we all really listened to what our team members were saying, instead of doing work/checking emails on our own. I think next week's team meeting will include trying the many different coffee places we have around us!

A Foodie's Dream

(Source)

I admit it, I am a Foodie! I love reading up on new places, trying out new recipes, and really anything that has to do with good food. I am not a good cook by any means, but I can pump a few staples (guacamole, cranberry salsa, chili, brownies). One thing I would love to do is take a few cooking classes (nothing too intense, we're not talking Iron Chef here!) and I regret having not signed up for any yet! But I am having fun experimenting on my own for the time being :)

However, I'm getting off topic. The point of this post was to discuss one of my favorite shows, TOP CHEF. It starts its 6th season tonight on Bravo and I am salivating with anticipation! This season is in Las Vegas - aka food mecca of the world. And last weekend I was fortunate enough to meet one of the "cheftestants" - DC's own Mike Isabella. He's the head chef at Zaytinya, a Greek-Turkish-Lebanese mezze restaurant downtown. It is aaamazing. My gut tells me that this guy is gonna go far this season - fingers crossed! Until then, happy cooking :)

UPDATE: the shoes

Before I forget! I wanted to update you all on those shoes I bought for my euro-adventure. I never wore them :( They hurt my feet so bad, I think I'll end up giving them to my cousin, haha. So clearly, I regret buying them, wearing them outside, and now not being able to return them. Oh well, you live & learn!

Busy Beee

Gosh, they really make you work hard after you take two weeks off of vacation! :) Sorry that it has been, um, well, WAY too long since my last post. That is coming to an end today.

I do not regret: Taking over 150 photos while I was in Italy! A quick snipit of our trip: we were in San Rocco, which is part of the larger Mount Portofino, which is just north of Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean Coast (ooh la la). We had fantastic weather all week (85 & sunny) and drank some of the best local wines and had delicious local food (think: seafood!). Rather than blabbing on and on, I think it is more fun to story tell through pictures. So, here we go....

This was what awaited us when we arrvied in San Rocco! Along with a bed to nap in, oh jet-lag.

This is the view from the patio we were staying in, looking through the gap between two other townhomes, onto the Mediterranean. It was one my of favorite views ever!

This is the view from the top of Mount Portofino. You could TWO coasts - this is looking down at Cinque Terre. And the other view looked all the way to France!

We hiked from San Rocco to Punta Ciappa. It's a "locals only" beach spot right off the rocks (but since we were staying with locals we were allowed to go!). It was a long hike, so I was happy the water was so refreshing! Mmmmm, could have stayed all day.

I couldn't get over all of the BRIGHT colors we kept seeing!! I love the purples, yellows, reds, blues, greens, etc. in this pic. (this is on the hike back to San Rocco from Punta Ciappa).

..one more pic for this post:
some of the delicious wine we had while we were over there. I took this pic so that I could remember the bottle for the next time we're over there. This wine is made in an ancient castle about 2 hours north of where we stayed. And it was out.of.this.world. :)

More pics soon!

and she's back!!

i do not regret: taking so much time off work!
i do regret: leaving this blog lonely for so long!!

I have much to post about my Italy and beach adventures but sadly, I have two weeks worth of work to catch up on AND the work just keeps coming (don't people realize that I wanted to ease back into work? I mean, c'mon now).

Until then, I'll be quality checking data, putting together presentations, and day dreaming about my next vacation :)

need to focus

I do not regret: trying hard to get all my work done before I leave for two weeks! How am I doing? Well, as you can tell by the title of this post, I'm having a very hard time focusing!

Here are the reasons why:

1. I'd rather be searching "Italy," "wine," and "beach," than "fiber internet connections" (oh yea, I work for a marketing research company in their telecom vertical. I know way too much about this industry now).
2. It's beautiful outside. And it's freezing in my office. I wish there was a way for us to work outside - like we could at UVA! There was wireless everywhere on Grounds, which came in handy on days that were just too nice to be sitting in the lib.
3. It's the middle of the afternoon. I need caffeine but I'm trying to stop drinking it so much (argh!). This time of day is the WORST (well, only when you're at work; 3:30 on the weekends/vacation is just fab).
   

Anyway, I've only got a few more things on my work to-do list before I leave tomorrow. I just need to focus! I wish "effort" counted in the real-world, I'm trying really hard to do this, but I'm just not very successful at getting it done! :)

Ice cold drinks

I leave for italy in a few days (!!!) and while I'm over-the-moon excited for my first trip ever to the Italian Riviera, I am also excited for what happens after our Italy trip - Pawleys Island!!

Summer vacations with my extended family is something I look forward to 365 days a year (yes, even the days I'm on vacation I'm still looking forward to it). Some summers we're very lucky and have been able to take two vacations together (beach and lake) but most summers as of late (we're all getting older/busier boooo) we've stuck to just the beach. Pawleys Island is amazing. Situated in South Carolina, it's full of palmettos, ocean front views, and crabbing. Our days are "hectic-lazy" if that makes any sense. The mornings include about 10 pots of coffee, a few miles run/bike/walk, and then 10am-5pm we're on the beach. We take turns cooking dinner at night, and the nights you are not cooking, you are usually found on one of the many porches crabbing and enjoying a beverage. Ah, yes, which ties back into the title of this post! I am a HUGE fan of koozies/coozies/huggies whatever you want to call the foam thing you put around your soda or beer. I usually have 1 or 2 in my purse at.all.times. Because of this love, I was completely wowed by this DIY Coozie:
Is that the happiest beer you've ever SEEN? I used it at a friend's BBQ and fell in love. So, I had to copy. I went to Michaels, bought foam coozies for $.66 each, some ribbon, foam glue, and got to work. Each say "Pawleys 2009" on the bottom and I am so eager to give them out to my female relatives!! Yes, yes I should have done something for the boys, but they out number us anyway!

So, long story short, I do not regret finding my inner "do-it-yourself-gal" and making these coozies! Can't wait.

Shocking News

Yesterday we lost two great Hollywood Icons: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. It is crazy to think that they are both now a part of history. Too often our Hollywood greats have left us too soon- Elivs, Marilyn Monroe, and now Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. While we were all at least somewhat prepared for Farrah's passing (doesn't make it any easier), MJ's was a complete and utter shock to me/us! I was driving home when I first heard he was being rushed to the hospital. The radio station I was listening to, normally a Top 40 station, played "Black or White" as a way to send good vibes to the Pop King. In some ways, his passing is making us all realize just how gifted a performer he was. His personal life - well let's just say it was interesting. But what he did for music will never be forgotten.

The passing of these two icons has left me in a weird mood. Despite that, however, it is a Friday and I doubt either one of them would want people wallowing in sarrow/weird moods. For now, I am going to continue to jam out to "Beat It," "Billy Jean," and "Black or White," and enjoy it :)

new shoes

i do not regret: trying out my new walkin' shoes!

I recently purchased a pair of cute Merrell (http://www.merrell.com/) shoes for my upcoming trip to the Italian Riviera! And, seeing that we'll be doing a lot of walking in and around the town we're staying in, I knew I needed to break in these shoes. My mom has a pair and claims they are very comfy...well maybe once you break them in? After 10 mins of walking I had already torn up my heel (not surprising, though, my feet are super sensitive). Regardless, I am glad I discovered this NOW and not while abroad! I also went by CVS and bought some aweomse Band-Aid blister relief bandaids (that will for sure be coming across the Atlantic with me).

You might be wondering - Why on earth would I keep these shoes if they have already hurt my feet? Well for starters, they are cute and comfy, AND supportive. We'll be walking a few miles each day and I don't want to repeat my last Italy trip in shoes (...I only had my Jack Rogers). Also, they are waterproof and light which is great because we'll be right on the water, and the temps are going to be in the 80s! And, they weren't too expensive. I'll wear them here and there before we leave, and I bet in no time they'll feel like I'm walking on clouds.

fly away

I do not regret: signing up for Kayak's weekly emails about airline specials.

I usually do not have good luck when it comes to buying cheap airline tickets. I'll see a good deal, and then feel too indecisive about actually purchasing the ticket and before I know it the ticket has gone up an additional $100 (argh!). But not anymore! I've signed up for flight price trackers through Kayak.com. If you aren't familiar with the site, I highly suggest it (it's a travel search engine), and this week I signed up to receive weekly updates on flights from DC to Nashville! We're headed there for a late September wedding, and by gosh I am gong to get a good deal on these tickets one way of another!

rain rain go away

I regret: not listening to the weather before I went for a run this morning :-/

I thought I heard the weatherman say the showers had passed the DC-metro area, but nope. The first few minutes of my run were fine, but then WHOOSH. Down pour. Luckily it was just a short run (I'm running in the Alexandria Waterfront Festival's 10K this Saturday, so today was just a cool-down run), but still, dang, I was soaked! The rain was really coming down. Haha, oh well, we're all waterproof, right?

the best things in life are FREE

I do not regret: getting lunch at Cosi today... it was FREE.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was only free because I had my Cosi-frequent-flier card, but still, I didn't realize I had already racked up enough points for a free meal (!).

To be totally honest, I never regret walking into Cosi. The gals I work with and I are all equally obsessed with this little sandwich-soup-salad-s'more heaven. Luckily, there is a Cosi on almost every corner in Arlington/DC (phew!).

My favs include: the multigrain bread, their hummus, the Signature Salad (dressing on the side so that I can dip my multigrain bread in the dressing!), and the Fire-Roasted veggies sandwich (except with hummus, not the cheese spread). My mom's a big fan of the Buffalo chicken sandwich as well, so I can't forget that! OH- and the CTBM is delish (Chicken, tomato, basil, mozzarella).

it's Greek to me!

I do NOT regret: my inner sorority girl.

I'll admit it- there are a few (read: a lot) of shows that I am addicted to! Some are dramas (LOST, Brothers & Sisters), reality (American Idol, Bachelorette), and some are just plain guilty pleasures. One of these tv guilty pleasures is ABC Family's "Greek." By gosh by golly it is SO GOOD. There are a few reasons I'm addicted:

• Two of the shows writers are from UVA (my alma mater, go 'hoos!), and so it is rumored that the Greek system on "Greek" is modeled off of our Greek system (from what I can tell, the show is almost an exact replica of our Greek system - except we didn't get that into Greek-Week, sigh).
• The characters remind me of MY college friends! Like the best friend that is always up for anything or the fraternity boys who will put 4hrs into planning into a party but only 40 mins into their coursework.
  
• The plot is verrrry easy to relate to! Most shows are a little too over-the-top (could an icicle reeeeally puncture your abdomen, Dr. Yang?), but "Greek" hits home on some of the things we all went through in college.
• It makes me feel like I'M back in college. Honestly, I am not sure how I am already old enough to be a college graduate!? And this show brings back a great-nostalgic feeling for not just UVA, but for my Greek home Pi Beta Phi!
  

Anyway - I HIGHLY recommend this little show. Last night was the season finale, but it comes back in August! Can I get a Wa-hoo-wah!!?? :)

http://abcfamily.go.com/abcfamily/path/section_Shows+Greek/page_Detail

bright, fun colors

I sometimes regret walking in J.Crew...

...because I never leave without making a purchase.

A little backgroud - almost every winter break we were back from college, my sister and I worked at J.Crew and man-oh-man did my wardrobe become FULL of their stuff. Don't get me wrong, we luckily got an awesome discount, but I truly fell in love with their stuff. Probably because they use bright patterns, bold colors, and are not afraid to mix and match! Regardless, working there started my addiction and it's hard to stop now!

Well today found me wondering into the J.Crew that is literally on the first floor of my office (how I have been able to show any restraint is beyond me). Anyhoo, they are having a great summer-sale right now so I don't feel too much buyer's remorse :) Check it out! http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Navigation/Sale.jsp

free food

I do NOT regret: Asking the backyard BBQ guy for a pork sandwich!

This week we went to the Taylor Swift-Kellie Pickler-Gloriana concert at Merriweather Post. While we missed the two opening acts, we caught Taylor and she rocked it! But this post isn't about her :) After the concert, while our friends were buying tshirts (yes we're all in our 20s, but we're never too old for a good concert tshirt!), my sister and I patiently waited. In our rush from running from the parking lot to get to the concert on time we hadn't eaten much of a dinner, and I was getting hungry! I noticed that there was someone still shutting down the "Background BBQ" stand and I asked my sister if she thought I should go ask for a sandwich. She answered "why not? Never hurts to ask!" Welp, that's just what I did. I asked him if there were any sandwiches left, to which he said "sure, have a Pork BBQ sandwich." SCORE!! My fav! But, of course, I had no cash (just my c.card) to pay him. He didn't mind, he just asked that I "pay it forward."

I still haven't quite "paid it forward" yet - but I will and I'll let you know when I do!

feeling hot hot HOT

I regret: adding so many jalapeno seeds into my salsa!

This week, I tried out a few new recipes. One was for hummus (yummm) and the other was for salsa. I am obsessed with salsa. If I am at a Mexican restaurant and they serve baskets of chips & salsa, it's hard for me to hit the "off" button. While I enjoy most salsas, my favorite type of salsa is Jack's Special: http://www.gardenfreshsalsa.com/products.asp. So I tried to find a recipe that sounded similar.

The recipe I ended up trying was from epicurious.com, and received RAVE reviews. It was the "Essential Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa," ole! Here is a link to the recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Essential-Chopped-Tomato-Serrano-Salsa-Salsa-Mexicana-Classica-14992

While making it, my sister told me to be cautious with the jalapenos' seeds (our grocery store didn't carry/I couldn't find Serrano peppers!), because honestly it's hard to judge how hot those little seeds can be. HOT-DAMN. The salsa made our mouths feel like they were on FIRE. Even though I only used 1/2 of the seeds from one of the jalapenos, it was too much! Next time, 1/4 of the seeds? :)

well well well, look who is blogging

Hi! Don't make fun, but it has been my dream to have a blog (!). And I've finally done it! My vision for this blog is ever changing, but I know this is a place I'd like to share things that I:

• Regret
• Sometimes Regret
• Do NOT regret

I will try to post something each day that falls into one of the above three categories. Some days I imagine my posts will be short, others might be long-anecdotes. Who knows! We shall see.

Let's jump right to it: I regret not starting a blog sooner! Who knew it would be this fun/easy :)