mid-month thanks.

As I sit here wallowing in self pity over my slightly higher number on the scale this morning (yes, again. WTF), I come across countless posts in my Reader about what others are thankful for. It is, after all, the month of Thanksgiving (which you know unless you've been living under a rock), so it seems appropriate. So, I've decided to stop being a whiny brat and list the things I'm thankful for. I may not be at goal quite yet, and my hair looks something awful today, but that doesn't mean my life is over. So here are a few things I'm thankful for:

1. My parents. I moved out 3 weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure we're both pretending like it was some awesome decision while (not-so) secretly wishing we still saw each other every day and possibly still lived under one roof. My dad might try to deny this, but trust me - that email from him after not speaking for roughly 36 hours that says 'you never call anymore' would beg to differ. They've been so wonderful this past year (and really the past 26) while I've gotten back on my feet and into the adult world.

2. My boyfriend, who I yelled at this morning for not doing dishes even though there wasn't really time last night, thus projecting my frustrations about my weigh in onto the poor soul. I'm amazed he still loves me, but I'm oh-so-grateful.

3. My health. I know it may not be perfect, but all things considered it's pretty damn good. Sure I may be overweight, but I have normal blood pressure and cholesterol, no diseases or disorders (unless you count my compulsive need to have a dust-free screen on the radio in my car), and I rarely ever get sick. That's nothing to sneeze at (har har).

4. My LTE ladies. We're about to celebrate our two year (!!!) anniversary of the day we all came together as the most awesomely rad support system in the history of the WW message boards. I've met a few of these ladies in real life, and I have to say they're even cooler in person! It's so, so valuable having a support system of people who are going through/have been through the same struggles you're facing. It's equally valuable being able to help people who are where you were at one point, and helping them through based on your past experiences. 

5. My brother. He loves me so much he moved into an apartment in the same complex as me! Now I can continue to get my fix of talking for hours on end about the restaurant world. 

6. The doggies. For making me feel so happy and loves when I'm having even the crappiest of days. They're just bundles of love and fluff!

7. My travel opportunities. I feel like these (especially my year in London) have shaped my life in such a big way. I'm so thankful I've had the chances I have to travel all over the States and Europe (and a little Latin America), and been able to experience so many different cultures. 

8. My childhood. Ok, so maybe this could be lumped in with family, but whatever. My blog! I think how you grow up/are raised has a huge effect on who you turn out to be as an adult. I think my childhood has helped me become someone who appreciates the things they have, who spends (relatively) frugally even if there's money on the table, who has a very comfortable, relaxed relationship with their family but still has respect for them, and puts a high value on sticking to commitments (as much as I hated that one as a kid).

9. My job. Not something to be taken for granted.

10. My readers! Thanks for listening to my ramblings for the past year+ (wow, I'm old). You keep me from  having to talk to myself, and I'm ever so grateful for that.

vacation is sexy, part 1 (one).

August marks the month I'm not in one place for more than a few days at a time because I planned all of my vacations within 3 weeks of each other. See, when I was working at the restaurant, I specifically planned my trips so they wouldn't interfere with anybody else's, because I'm selfless and awesome like that. Also (read more so) because there was little to no chance of getting my vacation approved if I tried to take it at the same time as someone who had already put in their request. When I switched jobs, I felt infinitely bad that I had all this vacation planned during the campus' busy season. No one takes vacation in August. Woops. Thankfully, new boss was super understanding since I already had everything planned, so I'm still good to go (yay).

 

Anyhoo. 

Last week was vacation numero uno (one). My family packed up Thursday afternoon and left for five days of lazy relaxing awesomeness at this place:

 

I got a new camera. Can you tell? Infinite excitement! I'm playing with perspectives and focus and whatnot, so you'll probably see a ton more pictures with a ton more awesomeness.

As per usual, the first thing we talked about was what we wanted to do. My response was the same as it has been every.single.time. we've gone to the beach for the last oh, 15 years or so: I want to eat crabs! Seriously, I don't know why they bother asking what I want to do. I'm so predictable. I want to lay around and be lazy, I want to be outside and get a tan, I want to catch up on my sleep and puzzles, and I want to eat crabs. And maybe do some shopping at the outlets. Fantastic. 

Since we all got in at different times Thursday night, there were no plans (the Boyfriend and I arrived around 10pm, my brother and the Girlfriend arrived around 1am). Friday morning my parents and brother played golf, so the Boyfriend was kind enough to drive with the Girlfriend and me down to the outlets for a bit of retail therapy. In my defense, I actually had a couple stores picked out that I needed to go to specifically. We ladies branched out a little (we're girls, it's what we do) and the Boyfriend went to stores better suiting him. I tried not to go overboard (I usually do the bulk of the year's shopping at the beach) since I know I'm going to do some damage in London, but I got a few great things, like this (which I'm so flippin' excited about):

A tiny bright green Kate Spade wallet! I'm totally in love with it. It's tan on the inside and the pockets are polka-dotted! My old wallet still has a special place in my heart, but it needs a break (and a trip to a repair shop). I've actually been eying this thing for about a year now.

 

After shopping we met up with the golfers for a poolside lunch.

 Brohim and Girlfriend

 Mama and Papa Bear

 Yours Truly and Boyfriend

 Sir Puppy Chester. Oh wait. He didn't go to lunch. Can you see how sad he is? It's all in the eye(s)...

Friday night we made a delicious dinner of a warm corn salad (corn, red onion, cherry tomatoes, piquillo peppers, butter and love) and seared ahi tuna. Nom!

 I love these coasters! I also love out of focus backgrounds! They make me feel artsy.

 Tuna marinading in Soy Vey. If you have never tried Soy Vey, go pick some up. Seriously.

While dinner was cooking (or rather, before we started cooking dinner) we snacked on an antipasto platter the Bro put together. Sun-dried tomatoes, two cheeses, two salamis, and gherkins.

 Then it was time to start making dinner! For the corn salad we used roughly this much onion:

 Why yes, this *is* a lame excuse for me to show off my camera skills.

 The final corn dish. Seriously, so good. Make it now.

Saturday was awesome, and kind of set the precedent for the remaining three days. I woke up at my leisure (read: when Chester decided it was time to wake up), putzed around the house for a bit (I probably read outside on the porch for a bit), and then went to the fitness center with the Boyfriend. Until this trip to the Beach House, I had never actually used the fitness center. Exercise on vacation? What's that? Well actually, it was pretty nice. The building is right next to the pool, which meant we could get in a really great workout and then spend the afternoon poolside. Perfection! I ended up doing this all four days from Saturday to Tuesday, and it's a good thing, too! We ate so much food over the course of the trip. Sure, most of it was healthy, but there was just so much of it. Also, chicken quesadillas and french fries from the club restaurant may not actually be considered healthy. 

Saturday night we just grilled a ton of veggies and ate leftover fried chicken (I didn't personally have any chicken with dinner), which was fantastic. Did I mention I ate french fries every day we were there? And still pulled off a loss at yesterday's WI? Booyah.

Sunday the family went to the beach, but I had little to no interest so the Boyfriend and I stayed around the house. We did the gym/pool thing, and went back to the house when everyone was home, in preparation for CRABS!!

 Wait, this is tomato mozzarella caprese!

 Ahhh that's better. CRABS!!! 

Crabs are a wonder food. There's barely any meat in each one, but you have to put so much effort into opening them up and finding the meat that you don't end up eating nearly as much as you would if it was already picked and sitting in front of you (possibly in the form of a crab cake). It's like built-in portion control! I'm not sure what it is about crabs, but it's one of my favorite dinners at the beach. I think it just reminds me so much of the first trips we used to take way back when. It's like, serious childhood throwback. I don't care how much work they are. They're totally worth it.

Monday was more of the same, with more delicious vegetate and seafood to feast on. I almost feel like it's blasphemous to eat any meat other than seafood while at the beach. I mean hello, the water is right there. 

Tuesday was home day. Sadface. As we were taking trips out to the car with our bags, Sasha decided it was time to leave. Sure, we weren't leaving for another 20 to 30 minutes, but she was ready. And when she sets her mind to something, she's really hard to dissuade. Clearly, she's a part of our family. Sasha took one of the open-door-opportunities to run out of the house and stand next to the car. And this is where she waited until we finally decided to listen to her and leave.

Oh you know, I'm just helping load the car! Can we get going please??

 

Overall the trip was fantastic. And I'm not saying "overall" in the way some people do when they mean there were some bad bits thrown in there but generally it was a good time. I mean we had a great time the whole time, in my humble (but not really) opinion. 

Because you probably haven't seen enough pictures, I'll leave you with one more, taken on the drive back. I was sitting in the backseat of my parents' car with the dogs (the Boyfriend had left the night before so he could work the next day. Boo.), and it was just too good to pass up:

Chester decided the most comfortable position for him to sleep in would be resting his head on Sasha's head. I guess all that hair makes for a comfy pillow!

puppy pictures of epic proportions. how's that for alliteration and awesomeness?

So, we're puppy-sitting this week (in case you haven't heard, which you probably have). I took 65 pictures on Sunday alone. I kid you not. This, combined with the fact that I've now figured out that uploading pictures to my Picasa account allows me to blog with photos from anywhere, means I'm going to now shower you with pictures of puppies of infinite cuteness and cuddleability (real word? Maybe...)

While we're here, I'd like to mention that I got my butt out of bed this morning and did the final 2 miles of my 5mi/wk goal! I decided that sleeping in tomorrow morning and allowing my legs to rest a little was far more important than spacing out the mileage, and really, 2 miles is nothing. It only feels like a lot because I have no interest in waking up earlier than I already do, leaving me with the problem of trying to cram 2 miles into a smaller amount of time than I'd normally take to walk/run 2 miles. Big life problems, I know. Anyhoo, the point is I finished my mileage, and tomorrow I get to sleep in. Until 7:45. Yeah, that's awesome.

And now, pictures!

Sasha, Chester and Swagger all exchange their hello's

Playtime has begun! Starting to get into it!

Puppies play by biting each other in the face. True story.

Chester grabbed hold of Swagger's tail and followed him around for a few minutes.

"Aahhhh let me go!!"

The closest to "laying still" I got all afternoon.

I may post more pictures later, since I just got a fancy new camera for my birthday from my parents. Yes, I know my birthday is in September. But, like my father, I have a habit of buying things that I want before others have the chance to get it for me. So this was a genius move on their part. The camera is awesome - I actually spent a good 20 minutes last night taking pictures of my ceiling fan in motion, and being super duper impressed by the camera's ability to make the shot look like the fan was off the whole time. It's amazing. I love it. 

Are you listening in, mom and dad? I'm appreciative!

monday, for lack of more creativity.

Today, for some reason, I felt compelled to post.

I don't have much to say, but I suppose I could do a weekend recap of some sort.

FOOD: relatively good choices, fully tracking each and every meal. Go me.

ACTIVITY: none, zip, zero. And you know what, I'm totally ok with that. I super-badly needed sleep Friday night (getting home at 2am from Harry Potter 7 part dos didn't help), and slept almost until noon on Saturday. Sunday I was up a little earlier, but had zero desire to workout.

FUN: 100%. Saturday consisted of hanging out with a few friends, and dinner with my parents that night. Sunday was chock full of family time, and the receiving of puppy Chester's brother! After watching the two of them play for hours non-stop last night, I'm exhausted. It was complete hilarity, and I have no idea how they have so much energy! They slept super well last night, which is good, because well, sleeping through the entire night is always a good thing.

I have pictures. I'll post them when they actually make it onto my computer.

This morning, I woke up bright and early and did 1.35 miles on the treadmill. Nothing major, just working on my habit of regularly running. I'm learning that 7am really doesn't deserve all the flack I give it for being so freaking early. The thing is, when I'm not working until midnight it's actually possible for me to get a decent night's sleep and wake up at 7am. Would I like to do this every day? No. But a few days a week is really no biggie. And even after only 15-20min of intervals, I feel way more awake than I ever do by snoozing the alarm an extra 15-20 minutes. Don't tell anyone this, but I don't even need my morning coffee when I work out in the morning. Revolutionary, I know.

Tonight I'm revisiting Graffiato, this time with dear friend B. Awesome-amazing-totally cool brother got us seats at the counter in his section, so we'll be dining while watching the chefs at work! Extreme awesomeness. Tonight I'm hoping to try the super trufflicious pizza on the menu (Countryman). It just sounds to.die.for.

Maybe I'll update once I'm out of my expected food coma.

Maybe.

updates and such.

Today marked the first day of the second week of the second challenge round of OP2OVERCOME. Mouthful? Maybe. I started my second challenge last Friday (well I started it earlier and then reset because I was failing hard), and made it through an entire week. The challenge? Run or walk 5 miles each week. 5 measly miles. Being the fantastic procrastinator I am, I waited until Wednesday to even start the mileage. That gave me a whopping 2 days to fit workouts somewhere into my schedule. Did I mention I hadn't been running in days weeks months? Awesome.

Wednesday I got my butt out of bed early and did 1.75 miles of running and walking intervals. I wanted to die. Yesterday, I did 2.25 miles before work and wanted to die less. Actually, I would venture to say it even felt good. On my lunch break, instead of being a lump and sitting in front of my computer on the internetz, I went for a walk. 1 mile. BAM! 5 miles done. This week, I have no intention of procrastinating. But then again, who ever does?

Last week I had a slight massive gain, which I attributed to copious amounts of sodium (bacon cheese fries. nommmm) the night before. Whatever, it'll come off by next WI. Right?

Kind of. This morning I was down .6lbs, which is like, 20% of what I gained last week (See? I told you it was massive). In the correct general downward direction? Yes. Leaving me slightly disappointed? Only slightly. Here's the thing - I did really well this week. Like, really well. I pre-tracked every day, I got in more activity than I have in a long time, and I've been drinking water like I'm a fish. I'll take the new weight and go from here. I know, I know. I say that almost every week. But really guys, I think I'm in a good place right now. 

And now, since we all know posts without pictures are lame, I'll leave you with some puppy Chester love. It's amazing how much he's grown the past few weeks! It's also amazing that he listens. Does he still chew on my hand like it's a bone? Sure. But he stays when I tell him to, he goes in his crate when I tell him to, and he comes when I call. That, my friends, is progress. Also, it's really stinkin' cute when I sit on the floor and he walks up to me with a toy, sits in my lap and goes to town on said toy. I love having puppy blanket.

Puppy Chester says "Why are you staring at me? I'm just trying to enjoy myself behind this here chair. I love wedging into small corners!"

pretty sure i was supposed to tell you about truckeroo, and then i forgot..

What the heck is truckaroo, you ask? 

Pure awesomeness, I tell you!

Food trucks, if you're been living under a rock, are this year's "it" thing. Sure, they've always been around (usually in the form of a little cart downtown that serves questionable-looking hot dogs, Polish (not polished) sausages, and the safer choices of bottled drinks and chips. Now you can find anything from barbeque to mac and cheese to lobster rolls (if you live in the DC area, just follow @foodtruckfiesta for daily maps of truck locations! It's fantastic). Lines tend to be a little on the long side, so plan accordingly. If you're like me, planning accordingly means purposely picking the truck with the longest line. That's usually where the best food is. True foodie right here.

On the first Friday of each month, 15-20 food trucks gather in one fenced off area just off the metro near Nationals stadium, and open their...windows...from 11am-9pm. The first Friday of June my brother, his girlfriend and I trekked down to the event to check it out. As much as I love trying new foods, my schedule doesn't necessarily allow for a lot of lunching downtown, which unfortunately cuts down on my number of food truck experiences. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that. (See how much I trust you?)

Entry is free, and you get a bracelet if you're 21+ because this party ain't for kids. Except kids are all over the place. Start 'em young! (On the food trucks, not the adult beverages. Clearly.) We walked around for a few minutes and decided to divide and concquer the lines. I chose this one (the one on the right):

It may not seem like much, but the line was literally a good 50ish people when I stepped in, and took about 20-30min to get through. The truck is TaKorean, which serves Korean barbeque tacos. They have 3 types on the menu at all times - bulgogi (marinated beef ribs), tofu and chicken. That day they also had a special marinated pork. You can get them either singly or in sets of 3, and it's totally kosher to mix and match. I picked up 6 of these bad boys and did a combo of the 4 proteins so we could try each. The beef was the winner among all three judges, with the pork coming in a close second. 

While I was waiting in line at TaKorean, my brother and his girlfriend went around to a pie truck, a barbeque truck, and a mac and cheese truck. The pie was decent but nothing to write home about. The barbeque was pretty tasty! The star of the show was definitely the mac and cheese though, from CapMac. We tried their classic, which has loads of cheddar cheese, some pimiento for a little kick, and crumbled cheez-its on top for crunch. The second kind we tried was a goat cheese mac with a *gasp* pea pesto! If you know anything about me, it's the fact that I hate peas. With a passion. So much so that I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this a bajillion times. Here's the kicker....I liked it. 

*Pause for effect*

I LIKED IT! My brother ordered it for me because all I saw was the name, which said everything about goat cheese and nothing about peas. Me finding out about the peas would have entailed one of the following: A) me reading the description of said mac, or B) my brother telling me about the peas, because he read the description. Neither happened. Halfway through I found a part of a pea shell, and realized what had happened. Of course my brother was laughing hysterically because this is exactly how we used to get him to eat things as a kid (I never had this issue, because I'd eat anything. Except peas). Yes, he found this hysterical. Somewhere, on that day, you may have seen a pig flying or possibly hell freezing over. That would be why.

To finish off our well-rounded meals, we stopped at the popsicle truck. As soon as I saw strawberry-rhubarb on the menu, I was sold. I checked to make sure there were no peas (har har) and went for it. Brother and girlfriend got chocolate, kind of like fudgsicles.

So excited for our pops!

The pop truck was even giving away leis! So Girlfriend and I each got one in colors that matched our dresses.

We then tied them in knots so they looked kind of like bow ties. We're so awesome.

All in all, it was a super fun afternoon, and something I would definitely go to again. And you should come, too.

*takes a deep breath*

You'll understand that deep breath in just a second, I promise.

I haven't written in a couple weeks. Partially because I'm lazy, but 99% because this is what has happened in my life these past few weeks (ready, go!):

• I developed super severe laryngitis and had to work through it. I was almost as useless as a mime for a few days.
• I went to the doctor for said laryngitis because it stuck around for 4-5 days, so I wanted to make sure it wasn't something more.
• I got antibiotics for the sinus infection the doctor found while I was there for the laryngitis.
• I worked some more.
• I ate a lot of soup with my mom, who couldn't chew anything. Like, nothing. Literally.
• I came home from work with a 100* fever last week.
• I had an absolutely useless interview.
• I cried about it, I slept it off, and then went to the hospital with my parents so my mom could get her mouth fixed (she's fine, folks!)
• I started running a fever again at the hospital.
• I finally went back to the doctor on Sunday because I had a 104 fever, only to find out I'm pretty allergic to the antibiotics I was taking. Awesome!
• I'm now on day off number 5, after getting my last two shifts covered. It's actually been kind of nice.
• I ate some more soup with my mom. Lots of orange soup. We seem to have an affinity for orange soups.

Basically, the last couple weeks have been all sorts of awesome. As far as WW goes, I didn't track at all from the time we left for the hospital on Friday until last night (and I actually put in everything from the weekend yesterday). I came up super short Saturday and Sunday, which is probably a huge reason (that and the boat loads of water I drank) for my 5.6lb loss yesterday morning. Now if only I could keep it off...

Countdown to my next 5k = roughly 6 weeks. Am I prepared? Not in the slightest. As soon as I don't look like I have a bad bout of sun poisoning, I think I'll go for a run.

 

Hopefully I won't have to wear all this next time. As hot as I may look...

comfort food of infinite fabulosity

Today, it's raining. I would pout, but I've heard I have a terrible pout. Seriously. I try, and my mom wonders how I could possibly be her child. Y'all should see her pout. It's freaking fantastic. You really feel her pain.

Anyway. It's a really gross day today, which would be really horrible if I had to go to work, but fortunately I have the day off. So I can pout at the rain and stay inside all day sipping on my homemade mocha. Delicious.

Gross days are perfect for comfort food. You know, those few items that just make you feel...happy. If you're having a sad day or a cold day or a lazy day (or really any kind of day), these foods comfort you. They're different for every person. Maybe not every person. I'm sure some people have the same comfort foods. In my family, homemade popcorn is definitely a comfort food. It reminds me of rainy afternoons at the house when my mom would randomly make popcorn. She doesn't cook a ton of things, but she certainly makes a mean bowl of popcorn. I'm talking, pot on the stove, kernels in oil, melted butter on top, fresh twist of salt, bowl of popcorn. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Today is totally a popcorn day. Popcorn goes really well with hot chocolate. So of course, we have to have both (well, hot chocolate in the form of a mug of half hot chocolate, half coffee). Who doesn't want popcorn and hot chocolate for lunch?

mom's popcorn
(I may or may not be making up these measurements. You have been warned):

a few tbsp popcorn kernels (2T makes roughly 4-5c popped)
a few tsp butter (depending on how buttery you like it)
1-2tsp oil (I like to use canola because it's low in flavor)
salt (real, coarse, grinder salt. Not table salt. Table salt is frowned upon unless you're baking)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat (preferably one that has 2 handles) (we set the gas stove to just shy of medium, actually)- our popcorn pot (yes we have a pot specifically for popcorn) is about 9-10" (measured very accurately by comparing it to a sheet of paper with labels for holiday cards). ((((((a few extra parentheses for good measure))))))
Throw a couple kernels at the start to measure the heat of the oil. Once small bubbles start to appear around the kernels, the oil is ready! To fill the pot with popped popcorn, dump in enough kernels to cover the bottom. If you're good with self control, measure out a couple tbsp (I believe one WW serving is 3c popped). I'm not, so I prefer the dump-a-bunch-in-and-see-what-happens method.
Cover the pot! If you don't you'll have popcorn everywhere.
Once the popcorn really gets going (after a couple minutes), shake the pot (this is where the 2 handles comes in handy). Make sure to wear oven mitts as the lid will be hot. Shaking just moves everything around and reduces the likelihood of burning your popcorn.
Let it go for a few more minutes until there's about 3 seconds between each pop (just like in the microwave).
Turn off the burner and let the pot sit for a minute to reduce the chance of rogue kernels popping at you while you dump out the popcorn into your bowl.
Pour popcorn into an appropriately-sized bowl.
Put pot back on the stove and turn on. Maybe medium-low to medium heat.
Put butter into pot and melt. I like to leave it in a little extra to brown the butter, but that's personal preference. (when you tip the pot the foam in the butter will be brown. And it smells different).
Pour butter over popcorn.
Pour a little popcorn back into the pot to get up any remaining butter. Oh, the gluttony!
Grind salt over popcorn and give it a good stir. A lot of salt will go straight to the bottom so you may need a little more than you usually use. Tip: less salt will fall to the bottom if you butter the popcorn first!
enjoy.

mr hippo loves popcorn!

i'm alive, i swear! v3.0

I could tell you I've been busy, but that's only a partial truth. Somehow I manage to fill my time with mostly unproductive activities and I'm surprised at the end of almost every day thinking 'where has the day gone? Crap'. I haven't even uploaded pictures from the past few weeks onto my computer. Actually, I'm doing that right now. Because at this point, I'm not even sure what I have on my camera.

Want the skinny on my life? I'm working here and there at the restaurant. I'm job searching. I'm attempting to consistently run, which has proven a slight fail over the last few weeks (because I'm just so busy), but I really need to improve on that because this habit of not running and then running for a week before a race is going to get pretty old, pretty fast. I'm making a mess in my room like a college student, and sometimes cleaning it up. Yeah, my life is just that interesting.

And now for something completely different!

my fab parentals at their anniversary dinner at Volt a few weeks back

the other side of the table - me and my brother, and our complimentary muffins!

These pictures may or may not serve as a precursor for pictures to come this weekend. Thanksgiving tomorrow is at our house, and we'll have 29 people in attendance! My dad has been planning the menu for 3 weeks. We have family emails on almost a daily basis about it. I kid you not, people. His entire family will be in town, and I'm super stoked. In fact, instead of blogging I should really be getting ready for cooking palooza. We have to go out for our Starbucks first, though! I'm sure he'll come upstairs any minute and ask why I'm not ready. Maybe if I tell him I'm talking about him he won't mind so much? We'll see.

I'll try and remember to take pics of the copious amounts of food we will inevitably have tomorrow. I may not be able to restrain myself from eating it too fast, though. Just sayin'.

top o' the mornin' to ya!

Ok, so it's not actually morning. But I feel like if I'm going to post about Dublin, I should be in Irish mode, or something like that. I even had green nails for the trip! Unintentionally, of course. But still. Kind of fun.

So Dublin was great! Getting there was quite an experience, since I didn't necessarily take into account the time we would have to wake up when I booked our 8:10am flight...We were up bright and early at 4am to trek to the airport! Ouch. But we had a seamless morning of travel, which is always nice!


On the bus from the airport to city center. Happy faces!




Oh yeah. Let me introduce you to my brother! Did I mention he was coming to visit? What's that you say? Only about a million times? Oh. Right. Well, that's him!


You know how I love to eat? Well so does Jarrad. You know what Jarrad loves to eat? Bread.


Look at all that bread! He actually went to a cafe in the airport and asked for an entire baguette. They looked at him like he was crazy! Because he is, a little. That one baguette would have made 3 sandwiches, and he ate it all! Ok, I helped a little. It was pretty good bread.



nom nom nom






So once we got into the city, the bread had worn off. We decided to start off our day with a wonderfully nutritious meal...


See? Strawberry-rhubarb tart from the Queen of Tarts cafe! It's got my fruit servings! And there was a dollop of whipped cream on the side, which totally counts as dairy. Right? Yeah...

Regardless, it was delicious!







Jarrad had a chocolate fudge cake, which was pretty delish, too.













After our delicious and nutritious "lunch", we walked around the city for a bit. When we travel, we like to wander and explore and find things while wandering and exploring. No real plans, no real touristy stuff (for the most part), just lots of walking and food. We made two exceptions on this trip: Trinity College and the Guinness Storehouse. The Trinity campus was beautiful! And the Guinness tour was actually really cool. It was self-guided, which made it feel more like a museum exhibit and less like a tourist trap. 5 floors of Guinness history and brewing process, which is interesting in and of itself, but enhanced when you're touring with someone (aka Jarrad) who took beer brewing as a class in college. Jealous much?


Oh and the best part? Each entry ticket comes with a free pint at the Gravity Bar, on the top level of the building with a fantastic view of the city! They even make your beer pretty for you!

How cool is that? They put a shamrock design in your beer! You don't even notice them drawing it, they're that skilled. The coolest part about the shamrock was that we could still see it as the glass was drained! For some reason this was fascinating.






In the spirit of really wanting to go home (and being exhausted from wandering all day), we opted for the simplicity and convenience of NY-style pizza for dinner.

It was fabulous.

Don't worry, we ate plenty of classic Irish food as well! I just don't have pictures. Apparently eating this pizza was far more entertaining to me. I guess that makes sense, since we were eating NY pizza (yes, it's the same Ray's as NYC!) in Ireland.

Awesome.


All in all, a great trip! And if anyone ever goes to Dublin and is looking for a hostel, we stayed at the Four Courts hostel, which was pretty fab!

Ok, I'm tired of writing. And I have to feed my brother. He's on my top bunk and doesn't really feel like getting up. Go figure.

why today is a good day

I'm a generally happy person.



<----See? That picture just screams happy. Or neurotic. Take your pick.




Today though, I have reasons (see the "s"? There's more than one!) why I'm happy.

Why are you happy today, Adie?

Glad you asked! Although honestly, I was going to tell you regardless of whether or not you asked! Because you see, it's my blog. I do what I want! (Cue song: It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....cry if I want to...except I won't cry. Because I'm happy, remember?)

Reason 1: I have officially accomplished my goal of completing all school work before my brother gets here on Tuesday! This may not sound like such a big deal to you, but it really kind of is. I'm like, really good at procrastinating. I also seem to pick the courses where all of the work is due in the last week, so I tend to just live in the computer lab at uni for the last week of classes. I feel so much more productive getting everything done in a few long days than spreading work out over 8 weeks. Is that weird? Maybe. But it's how I roll. And I don't see any of my professors complaining. But this term I got started early! And now, heading into week 7 of 8, I have every.last.assignment.done. No exams, no presentations, nada. Yep, I'm awesome.

Reason 1.1: My brother gets here on Tuesday!

Reason 2: I had potatoes for breakfast and lunch today. That's right, twice!

But Adie, that doesn't really fulfill your GHGs very well, does it?

Well no. But I'm usually pretty good at cramming them into dinner. And anyway, I really, really needed potatoes. See, potatoes are my favorite food. Somehow I went like, 2 weeks without potatoes in my flat (adie = lazy bum). Except that I found a few small ones in my cupboard last night that I totally didn't think I had. But seriously, I was going through withdrawal! I almost forgot just how much I love potatoes. Almost.

Reason 3: I started packing today, and suddenly the fact that I'm going home in 13 days is way more real than it was say, yesterday. Sure, I've been counting down for like 2 months, but it still felt so far away. I live here. What do you mean I have to pack up all of my things and go somewhere else for 6 weeks?? I was discussing this with my friend Lauren the other day, how it will be so weird to go back to our Stateside lives when really we don't feel like there has ever been anything other than where we are now.

But Adie, you said you were listing reasons you were happy today? This doesn't sound happy

I'm getting there! Patience is a virtue, you know.

Really, I'm super duper incredibly unbelievably excited to go home. I'm pretty good at dealing with distance for lengthy periods of time, so most of the time I had the concept of "home" tucked neatly away in the back of my mind. Now, it's kind of all I can think about. I think seeing suitcases on my floor with stuff in them (instead of under my bed) really made it.....real. I packed all of the stuff I knew I wouldn't be needing for my last 2ish months in London. Ya know, winter clothes, Harry Potter books, that kind of stuff. So far I have one suitcase filled, and another about halfway. I'll save the rest of that space for summer clothes. Because I need to wear something while I'm home! And not just anything, but my super fashionable London clothing (which really isn't much different than what I normally wear, I just bought it in London. But shhhhhh).

Reason 4: I discovered this blog. This girl is friggin' hilarious. And I want to share her with the world. Because I stayed up an extra few hours last night reading her blog. I especially like the pictures. I count this in reasons I'm happy today because I spent all morning reading. So there.

And that's why I'm happy today.

happy dad's day!

<----my dad, and some random person I swear I've never seen in my life. I'm in a different country from my dad. This makes me sad. (Look at me, I made a rhyme!) Some people may think I'm crazy, but I really kind of need to talk to him like, every day. Yes, I'm 25 and an adult. But also, I love my parents. So if that makes me crazy, so be it. I would like to take a moment and thank my dad for a few things: *for always apologizing first *for passing on a teensy bit of neurosis before traveling, which has spread to pretty much every aspect of my life.
*for being an awesome cook (he's modest so he won't admit this, but really he's pretty dang good) and teaching me how to be a total foodie.
*for teaching me how to spend money while complaining about not having any.
*for the hilarious conversation, quick wit and sending text messages at the dinner table.
*for always looking out for me, even when it seemed at the time as though he just wanted to make my life miserable.
*for putting up with me for 25 years. Although let's face it, we both know he loves it.

Love ya dad!