Highlights of 2012

Better late than never......

You know, I can't really complain about how 2012 went.  I have my health, my loved ones a job that I like.....well, most of the time.  :-)

But....if I had to break it down to a handful of my favorite parts of 2012 these are some of them:

January 2012:

Began with dinner with some great friends. A quiet evening with plenty of food.

March 17th 2012:

Ran my first half marathon, Rock n' Roll DC half, which of the three I have run, was my best time.  I was also well prepared for it, despite the "hills."

April, Spring Break 2012:

Our first vacation with friends.  Usually we vacay solo. This time we went with two other teacher couples. Works well when you have the same schedules. We went to Jamaica, the cheapest we could find.  There are never any spring break specials, always before and after for us.

May 2012:
Ran Race for Hope, in memory of my dad with two of my best friends at their inaugural run!

June 24th 2012:

Celebrated our 6th anniversary in one of my favorite cities, NYC! We stayed at Grand Hyatt above Grand Central Station. It's super modern and super convenient to everything, we also saw Newsies!!! And, got to "meet" some of the cast members and got my pictures with them. 

August 2012 

Hit up Rehoboth beach. I heart the beach and we had so much.  Hope we can relive it again this year.

-oh yeah, and..... my dirty 30!   My bestie, Meg took the train in and we got out nails did, I also got some eyelash extensions. I felt super glamourous. 

Sold our condo!

End of September 2012

Moved into our new HOUSE!

October 2012

Got our corgi puppy, Pepe.  Gary said, as soon as we got a house we could get a corgi. He's super calm and super sweet. Love that little bundle of fur. Thankfully all the pets get along.  

Dec 31 2012

Cut down our first ever Christmas tree!

Ended the year with some great friends, the same two who we started the year with.  This time we went out to eat. Melting pot, time to loosen the belts, oh yeah, and wallets.  

Weekend update

Ahhhh....finally we've had a break in the heatwave that has been tormenting most of the east coast. Those of your who live here know.  I think Saturday reached temperatures in the 100's.  Can we say sweaty?! 

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Friday we spent the day at our friends pool- you know it's hot when you are sweating before you even sit down.  She legit lives right across the street from their pool.   Then we wined and dined at their house.  Not too shabby..... it didn't exactly look like this, there may have been A LOT more kids and no waterfall, or shrubbery and it may have been bigger and surrounded by power hungry lifeguards. 

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Saturday I worked in the morning and then Jenna, and I went out to dinner Saturday night while the boys watched UFC, Silva vs. Sonnem(sp?).  I am no UFC lover, but I did enjoy the weigh-in. It's kinda weird though they all come out in their layers of clothes and then have to strip down. I think one guy took of like 3 bottoms before he got down to his super tight boxers (can they still be called boxers if they are skin tight?!) Those guys are pretty jacked, some have muscles that I have never seen before I call them gills. 

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Anyway..... since the boys were watching half naked men fight we decided to watch half naked men "strip."  That's right, we lowered ourselves to seeing Magic Mike with Channing Tatum and Matthew Mcconaughey.  We both decided that 1) the previews were not intended for the audience viewing the movie.  You know how usually if you see a kids movie previews are directed towards kids, action movies tend to have action previews and you get the drift.  I guess there isn't a very good pairing to go with Magic Mike, but horror?! Really?! 2)  Jenna and I decided that the movie had too much "story" and dialogue- LOL!

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Prior to the movie we went out to dinner to Don Pablo's for some fruitiritas and some Mexican cuisine.  I had a frozen mango marg and she had peach. Mmmm....let me tell you after a 100 something degree day those things were refreshing, especially since it seemed as though the restaurant was lacking in the AC.  We both thought the movie started at 10:10, jokes on us, it started at 10:50, so what do 2 gals do with so much time?! Target(also noted, their AC was less than par too, we ended up sweating hardcore that night)! We ended up getting stuff for school- silly us, even though it's over a month a way. Once a teacher, always a teacher, at least where Elementary Ed is concerned. 

I may have ordered WAAAAY too much....whoops

 Spoon corn bread- super yummy, couldn't finish....super sad

 Well, at one point in the night the glass was completely full.....

 Enjoying the same meal as I, copycat!

 Note the empty theater, this was us, thankfully we were joined by several other "viewing friends."

 

Sunday was kind of a blur since I didn't get home until 2 something and had to work the early shift at 4 am Monday morning. I know right? Retail at 4 am....I actually don't mind either working the 7pm-4am or the 4am-1pm.  I get an hour break, I can listen to my own tunes and where whatevs I want and..... I get to organize, which I love to do. Plus side, it's clothing.  Sometimes it takes all my will power not to buy something.  I think I'm going to have to make a rule. I can buy 1 thing a week, or 4 things at the end of the month.

Monday, today well I worked until 1pm. Oh and get this...not only was it raining when I got up(though much welcomed), but my car wouldn't start- ahh battery. Thankfully my wonderfully loving husband drove me at 3:30 en la manana to work.  Bonus points for him today! After work I zonked......and rightly so.  When I woke up from my coma I forced myself to run.  It's the first time in awhile I felt like I could step outside and not immediately feel weighted down by the humidity and heat.  I did 3 miles, which wasn't too bad.  I will slowly get back to 10-11 miles before Sept.  I've got time right?! 

The hubs was working, so after I showered I biked over to his restaurant and hung out for awhile(total biking 3 miles). I didn't even sweat biking. It was breezy and a perfect summer night.  Tonight's weather reminds me of the beach--- which I was there right now.  

Hope you had a splendid weekend and stayed cool!  

Weekend Update

 Don't you love how my weekend updates come midweek?
I'm just leaving you hanging. 


Friday:

I left school as soon as the kiddos left and headed to my friend Jenna's house.  We were going to pick up our race packets and bibs in Annapolis and were hoping that we wouldn't hit traffic.  The Expo was at a hotel and was fairly small, they had muscle milk, ING, the bike doctor, skirt sports, cytomex and some other cute vendors.  The bags looked like messenger bags and the technical shirts were black.  I restrained myself from buying cute running skirts which I don't need and instead bought a running hat that I did need.  My head is quite small and so hats sometimes look weird, or I have to pull them so tight that they aren't able to attach again, bummer.  But I found this cute Brookes Hot Pink/black running hat.  Winning!

There were apparently tornado warnings/watches in our area. We were supposed to get some big storms and we did. We had thunder and lightning and heavy downpour.  The sky got real dark, some people started pulling off the road even before it started to rain.  As soon as I got back to Jenna's I took off for home,  My SIL and her boyfriend were coming down spur of the moment for the weekend.  I wanted to beat them home, but got backed up in traffic for about 30 minutes. Reason.....there was some major flooding on the road. 
This I was not a fan of....my poor lil VW golf...I drive a low rider

Saturday:

Race Day: Zooma Half, see post from yesterday

After the race I napped, seems to be what I typically do after a race.  Not to mention I was up at 4:45 for the 7:00 AM race so I was tired! 

Saturday night we had our International Dinner, the theme being Germany.  The hosts supplied, a cheese platter, beer brats, a plethora of German beers and wine. We also had red cabbage, sauerkraut, onions and potatoes.  I provided the dessert of course.....I made apple strudel.  It's funny, everyone was amazed that I was still walking after a half marathon and that I cooked.  I am usually fine the day of the race, it's the day AFTER the race that my body really hates me.  

Sunday:

Sleeping in was on the agenda.

Then we all headed over to Eastern Market for brunch at Boxcar Tavern.  DC is quite the brunch city, but maybe most cities are, we just aren't in them frequently enough.  We've never been to that restaurant before and since it was such a beautiful day we (mainly I) wanted to sit outside.  We didn't get outside seating, but we did get to sit in the gigantic open window and people watch and enjoy the fresh air.  

Gary got scrambled eggs, home fries, fresh fruit and bacon.

I had an open faced french dip sandwich with a side of fries.

SIL-Jess, had a bacon and bleu burger with a side of fries

Chris had poached eggs benedict and a side of home fries 
Sorry- he ate it too quickly!
 
I looove big hats!  I also love accessories- sunglasses? Yes Please!

Then we walked around Eastern Market. LOVE this place. On Saturdays it is local artists selling paintings, jewelry, clothes, etc. There are also local farms that sell their fruits and veggies too.  Sundays are the best because there are all those vendors plus a flea market.  We've purchased many items for our home at Eastern Market, some things are just so unique.  People are so creative!  There are also food vendors too. One of my favorite, In a Pickle.  If you don't like pickled foods then this is not a stop you should visit, but if you do, hit that place up! You can sample all their different types, hot and spicy, dill, sour, wasabi and horseradish.  You can also get 3 pickles on a stick for $2.00!

True Wuv                                 Ballerina skirts!

Food- of course, I couldn't stay away from that....

People, you will be proud, I DID not buy ANYTHING! Wait, that's a lie, I got a homemade strawberry lemonade. YUM!

Here's for you Daddy!

Hobby of the Day: Running

Sooooo this is Meg and T's first run/race ever.  They have been super nervous. These are some things I heard this weekend:

 "My run is basically a walk."  "What if I pass out?"  "If I fall down, just keep going." 

"I only ran a mile recently."  

However, my ladies did GREAT! We ended up leaving around 8:20 metro tends to run super slow on race days and the metro did not disappoint. We ended up with a 15 minute wait and of course we had a bag to check and didn't know where that was. 

 We were sporting our homemade t's, purple nail polish and purple bows.

Pre-Race: Smiling So far

 All the runners started had already started before we made it up to the line and then we had to dodge all the walkers, dogs, children and strollers.  I will say that many a stroller ran past me.  Gary took off and we never saw him again, until the end. T, Meg and I stayed together in the beginning. T took off maybe a little faster than she should have, could have been the adrenaline.  You do also seem to use a lot more energy dodging around people.  We stayed together for a little over a mile and then we lost Meg.  I felt bad because I was supposed to be pacing them, have NEVER done that before. It's kinda hard to pace two people at the same time when they don't run the same pace.  I ended up sticking with T. At about 2 miles there was a water station, I didn't really need it, but I grabbed a cup, pinched it and drank down a few sips.  Right around the Capital T kind of hit her wall, but she never stopped running.  I kept looking back and asking her if she was ok.  We hit mile 3 and we had .1 left. I told her we were gonna "push" it to the end, sprint it out for the last tenth.  SO proud of her! Once I crossed the line Gary was waiting there for us,  I sprinted back over the railing to go back and find Meg.  She really wasn't all that far behind us.  I found her and we sprinted over the finish line together! 

Still Smiling even After.....

We didn't get timing chips for this race.  Gary ran about a 27 and T and I did around 33/34 and Meg did 37.  This was their first PR which means next time they will do even better.  It means so much to me that they all ran this with me, especially since Gary and T have never met my dad.  I hope I am making him proud!

Then we got some nummies, Pop chips, water, bagels, banana, Dole yogurt/fruit bites and popsicles.  I think we forgot that we had brunch reservations.  We hung out for a little while and then we headed up to The Hamilton for brunch.  

Cheers to our Victory!

Fried Chicken with bacon and sausage gravy on a biscuit

Quiche with asparagus and mushrooms

Breakfast burrito

If you pace, do you run in front of them or behind? Isn't their job to try and keep up with you, or do you push them from behind?

Besties Part 2

Cinco de Mayo vs. Avengers

Saturday was a ridiculously fun filled packed day from the time we woke up until the time we got home at around 1 am! I know, for some of you 1 is nothing, for this chica it's crazy. I am usually a 9:00-9:30 during the week and 11:00-12:00 on the weekends. If Gary is playing hockey and I don't go I'm in bed by 11 or earlier depending on how I'm feeling.

We got up Saturday and immediately started to make our t-shirts for Race for Hope. The Race for Hope is to raise money for Brain Cancer Research.  This is a race near and dear to my heart since my father passed away from one when I was 15.  T and I had bought pink sparkly iron on numbers for the back of our shirts. We bought purple puffy paint and additional iron on paper.  Purple was one of my dad's favorite colors.  I ironed on all the numbers, 19 for T, 83 for Meg, 2 for Gary and 97 for me, the year my father passed.  I wrote my maiden name at the top of the numbers, Maxwell.  Gary made breakfast while all this hulabaloo was going on. He made pancakes and Meg made the sausages, while T cut out all the numbers for me.  

We had planned on going to the phillies game. Go PHILS! They were playing that Washington Nationals, who are doing surprisingly well this season, so far.  I should have bought the tickets earlier, stupid me, we got to the ticket window and the guy goes I have a nice boxed air conditioned seat for y'all.  Cost=$540....um, NO Thanks! There was nothing for less than 100 and while I love my Phils, I don't love them THAT much....so off to a bar. This was ok because the Capitals were playing the Rangers too at the same time, so this made Gary happy and we were among fans.  The results- Phils lost and Caps won, so I guess it was good that we didn't go to the game, plus we saved a lot more money too.

Dinner was at Lola's another Barracks Row favorite. We had wanted to go to a Mexican Restaurant, after all it was Cinco de Mayo.  There was a great Mariachi band playing on the street at the two Mexican Restaurants, but the wait was waaay too long. Instead we got cupcakes and macarons at The Sweet Lobby, if you watch Cupcake Wars you will know this name because they won that episode!  I got the salted caramel macaron (melts in your mouth yummy!) and the spicy chili chocolate (the spice gave it some extra heat but it worked so well together-as if they would sell something that didn't). T got the pear and goat cheese (I did not get to sample this).  Meg got a s'mores cupcake, me hazelnut and T got the Asian Spice that had a chocolate surprise in the middle and also won on Cupcake Wars.  While I LOVE their macarons, I am not 100% sold on their cupcakes, I guess I will just have to try them all:-)

We had had margaritas at Lola's, can you guess which one is mine? 

Then after we headed to see the Avengers. If you haven't seen it, GO! While I don't really follow comics I do enjoy the super hero movies.  I don't really like Spiderman, but maybe that's because I didn't like who starred in the movie. The new one does look a little interesting, but not necessarily movie worthy.  Movies are so expensive, we have to be very selective.  The teens there and some of the adults spend some serious money though, snacks, drinks, hot food, candy, it's super crazy.  There were some very humorous parts in that movie. I guess I can do a movie review later.  

When we got home at like 11:45 we still had to finish our t-shirts. Add something to the fronts and finish our iron ons.  I ironed on a picture of my dad and black eyed susans (what he used to call me "his little black eyed susan"), T ironed on cherry pie, one of my dad's favorites, Gary ironed on a fractal (he was a physics teacher) and Meg ironed on an ice cream cone (because he took us out for ice cream) and a skink (because he taught her about them) if you don't know what that is, look it up.   

We also added the verse: Isaiah 45:5

We ended up going to bed around 1:30-2:00 which is crazy if you have a run the next day and have to be up at like 7:30, but since it wasn't a long run and it wasn't supposed to be too hot and I wasn't going for a PR, I guess it was ok.  Was I tired the next day? HECK YES! 

P.S.  Run like Grl is giving away Aspaeris Pivot Shorts which are AMAZING! Check out her site and enter!

Besties Weekend Part 1

This past weekend I was blessed to have my two best friends come and visit.

My one bestie, Teresa, came in on Wednesday and my other bestie, Meg, came in Friday afternoon. Both of these girls were in my wedding and I have known them for like EVER and they mean the world to me!  I wish that we lived closer together, but am thankful for all the times that we do get to spend together. Because Teresa came so early it meant that she would get to come into my school and meet my kiddos and help out and also teach a lesson!  So exciting! 

Gary made dinner for us Wednesday night, grilled chicken and avocado lettuce wraps (my idea) with a side of quinoa- my new favorite food! Then T and I went off to step class.  We sweated and stepped and "Around the Worlded."

Thursday T and I went to school and she hopefully enjoyed it. I hope that I looked the part of a good teacher. LOL.  T is a dietitian and so she taught the kiddos a nutrition lesson.  Apparently the food pyramid is no longer in use, it is now myplate.gov.  She read the story, Vegetable Soup, by Lois Ehlert and then we made a nutritious snack. We called it, "Eating a Rainbow." Not to get mistaken with the skittles commercial "Taste the Rainbow." T had pre-bagged up, chopped red peppers, carrots, corn, cucumber and chopped red cabbage.  We spread cream cheese on whole wheat wraps and then gave each student a task, to add salt, pepper, Italian spices and veggies.  Then we rolled it all up- RAINBOW! Some of my kiddos loved it, some didn't like it, but at least they tried it which was the important part. Some asked for seconds. I know that it made T happy and I was so pleased with their behavior and willingness to try!

 

I Love to be organized!

We came home and just chilaxed and talked- something the two of us are great at.  Then we went to a Tupperware party at my good friend Jenna's house. I know what you're thinking, Tupperware? But really it's not the same as it used to be. There are fun bright colors and you can cook in a lot of them and they have a lifetime guarantee.  We got play money for different things that we did, which we could use to buy auctioned off freebies at the end. You know teacher's love freebies! Tupperware is not cheap stuff, but neither is Pampered Chef, but at least they have some good deals.  I purchased the yellow topped vegetable and fruit containers that help to lengthen the life of my products so that they don't go to waste.  It was a lot of fun. Jenna was the hostess with the "mostess." She served wine, cheese, crackers, veggies and strawberries. And for those of you who read me, You know I LOVE cheese!

One of our MANY snacks!

Friday- I took off from work and T and I ran some errands, picked up t-shirts and materials to make shirts for the 5K run on Sunday.  Then we went to lunch at Shawafel down on H street. So yummy. I got my usually, spit roasted chicken with coleslaw, garlic toum, french fries and pickles.  The fries are on the wrap, if you haven't been, GO! 

Meg arrived at 5:30 so we went to pick her up.  Then we hung out before dinner and then walked down to H street again and Gary went to Shawafel and us girlies went to Rita's Water Ice.....Gelati? Yes Please!

Cheers to the Girls- Drinking the hubbies Beer