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

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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!