Almost Birthday WIAW

My Birthday may not be until SATURDAY, but I overindulged today to celebrate anyway :)

Now, per usual, I completely forgot about the whole WIAW thing until after breakfast. One of these days I'll actually take a picture or breakfast on a Wednesday. Breakfast included the usual, oatmeal and coffee. The oatmeal mix included almond butter and unsweetened shredded coconut.

Snacks

I had a lot of fruit today for snacks. This is mostly because I knew I would splurge tonight, plus I redeemed my FREE birthday beverage from Starbucks. Yum! I can't tell you the last time I had a skinny Mocha. It's seriously been years! I also reintroduced yogurt. Of course it was so delicious that I devoured it before snapping a pic. Oops! I think you can imagine a 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt with some white chocolate chips and fresh blueberries, right?

Lunch

Another salad. Raise your hand if you are predictable!

Dinner

For dinner, my friend Lauren took me out for a margarita and Mexican fare at Chevy's. Y'all probably think I eat out with Lauren every Wednesday, but I swear I don't (though it has been fun that we've been meeting up frequently).

She also showered me with gifts!! :) I promptly put the headband on my head (to prevent breakage, of course). Then tucked away the flowers (for my bridal shower dress) and necklaces. I can’t wait to wear one of the necklaces tomorrow. I am thinking the gold one that kind of looks like a time-turner.

Of course we also threw in a few errands. I picked up some earrings for my girls for the wedding and a little something something I made during my lunch break at work yesterday. I think they turned out pretty well!

Now I just need a frame to put them in.

I stole the idea from Julie of Peanut Butter Fingers. She made the met, engaged, married maps for her one year anniversary, but I thought it would also be a cute wedding decoration.

What splurge did you make today?

Splitting up… our new Family Unit

Did you get a little nervous there with the title? Ha! Let’s start with a little recap of today. Ok, there isn’t much to say, I am feeling a little bit better and went to dinner with the girls, yum!!! Now on to the more serious stuff.

I get asked ALL THE TIME about how Jay and I divide the holidays. I have alluded to the fact that we rotate every other, but you better believe this took some talking. And maybe a little crying on my part (eeks, so true).

Let’s just start at the beginning, in 2009 when Jay’s sister got married the week before Thanksgiving, it only seemed logical for Jay to come home with me for the holiday since we live within 50 miles of my parents. That Christmas, we split as normal and went to our own nuclear families households.

In 2010, my family was having an off year. Some family members were traveling and my mom’s kitchen was in construction mode so Thanksgiving ended up at the club. This option seemed less than appealing. Considering Jay was with my family the Thanksgiving prior, it seemed only right that I spent that Thanksgiving with his family.

I think this Thanksgiving was the turning point from Me, Me, ME to US. Don’t get me wrong (or take this the wrong way), but Jay’s family is very sweet and very very nice. It was so endearing to see how much Jay’s sisters want to stay in touch with their brother and how they all love to be together at the holidays. That being said, they had not spent many holidays apart. Yes, the five of them had somehow managed to spend all but 2 together (one when Jay was with me (which apparently doesn’t count since the wedding was the week before) and when Jay’s oldest sister went to Germany).

During Thanksgiving 2010, a few very nice comments (about how if she had known I weren’t going to be there for Christmas she would have brought my gifts to Thanksgiving) were made by Jay’s sister that made me think “uh, oh, I have a family too that I also want to spend holidays with”.

Hence a very fun car ride back from South Carolina for Jay, which was ironic considering he got my ring from his mom during that trip. What can I say, I have great timing!!

As much as that conversation may not have been fun, it was more than necessary. It started the conversation of “what happens when Jay and Sarah become a family”. That Christmas we went our separate ways, but agreed we would stay together for the Holidays come 2011.

In an attempt to be brief, we then got engaged and actually started forming our little family (of 2). 2011 hence was assumed that we would stay together.

Diving holidays are just one of the many things that we must discuss in a very new family. They can cause heartbreak and pain but they can also create a lot of joy. Yes, I will never have my childhood Christmas's back (honestly I haven’t had one of those for about 6 year), but at the same time, I don’t want them back. I am happy creating new traditions and memories that now alternate between two larger families but always with my own family of 2.

How do you divide the holidays?

Cure What Ails You

After Jay and I spent some time in the Smithsonian on Saturday, we walked over to Tonic for dinner. I have been craving Tonic for a while now, so it was quite a treat to have my fill of Tater Tots.

Apparently, Jay was crazing Tater Tots too. He ordered the Tatchos (aka nachos, sub tots) and cleaned his plate before either of us even thought of taking a photo.

Later we met our friends at the W Hotel Bar, Point of View.

Jay and his PT friends are at the end of their time here in DC, so they started talking about the things they hadn’t done. Surprisingly, none of us had been to P.O.V., even though we have been meaning to since we moved here!

The view was awesome, you can easily see the Washington Monument, Jefferson and Lincoln.

Plus the bar overlooks the White House.

It is definitely worth a visit! Just be aware the drinks will cost you $15 a cocktail! Ouch! But I think the view was worth it!

Is there a bar where you live that provides an excellent view of your tow/city?

Hello November

Wow, I feel like I say this every month, but is it already November? With October behind us, let’s recap on those October Goals.

BodyPump: I wanted to attend 4 classes this month. I only attended 3 because I skipped the Wednesday before the marathon. While I always want to accomplish my goals, I am glad I decided to take last week easy.

In November, I would like to attend 4 classes again and increase my weight. I am kind of a whimp when it comes to increasing weight. I always regret not working harder when I don’t feel it the next day. In the spirit of toning up for the holidays, I am going to work hard to go up 2.5 lbs in every muscle group by the New Year. Let ‘um rip!

Yoga: My goals was to attend 2 classes. In actuality, I only attended one class, but I was a lot better about practicing Yoga on my own at home. I think my tight IT Band scare mid-October taught me a lot about the importance of stretching. The last two weeks I have incorporated at least 20 minutes of Yoga and stretching into my routine both before and after workouts. Plus, if I did skip class, I would sleep in an extra 30 minutes but still get in a solid 45 minutes of yoga. All-in-all, I am pretty satisfied with my mat tie this month.

For November, I would like to continue my devotion to the mat. For the sake of concrete numbers  would like to attend two classes this month.

Happy Hour: My goal for October was 1 per week. In reality I think I only went to 2 the entire month. How did that happen?!?! Don’t worry, I still consumed my fair share of alcohol, just not out in bars.

This month, I would like to continue to monitor my nights out to once a week. This includes Glee nights at a Friends and Wing Nights at the Bar.

Shopping: Of all my goals for October, I think I made the most progress in this category. Jay and I only have one person left in his family and one and half for my family (one person I may get a bonus gift for).

My biggest challenge this month will be finishing those darn knitting projects. One Project down, four to finish!!! I don’t why finishing projects is so hard!!

After being sick in September, I promised myself I would be better about sleep, extra vitamin C, tip-top nutrition, foam rolling (err pressing?) and listening to my body. I think I accomplished this in October. When I returned from Orlando, my cold relapsed slightly, practically causing me to make taking care of myself a October goal. While taking care of myself should always be a goal, with no big race coming I just hope to get the sleep I need to help me be the happiest I can be. (aka no sleep Sarah = angry Sarah, well rested Sarah = happy and pleasant Sarah).

Run a Marathon done and done! It feels so great to accomplish this goal. For a full recap please read this post.

So besides my comments above, what’s new in November?

My main goal this month is to continue running.

I would like to get at least a 6 mile run in every week to stay in shape until I start training for the USA Rock ‘N’ Roll Half Marathon. As I have said before, I really want to run a sub 2 hour half marathon and I really think Rock ‘N’ Roll is my chance.

I also would like to PR at the Charleston Gobble Wobble over Thanksgiving (which I am officially registered for as of TODAY)! I know I will really need to focus on speed training in the next few short weeks to accomplish this goal. But after the marathon, I am determined t reach my goal!!

That is it for this month! I am off to finish those knitting projects and watch Glee!

What goals have you set for yourself this month?

Something Borrowed

I am so glad I pre-wrote most of this post about Something Borrowed because I came home to the following text from Mary “Happy Hour at Chevy’s”. How could I resist? I had a tempo run planned, but what fun is that when my other option is margaritas? Chevy’s margaritas for $3 each… yes, I had more than one.

Yep, the margaritas won. But, another winner is Something Borrowed. I do not know what took me so long to pick up this book. I took it out of the library at some point last year and could not get into it. I honestly can’t remember how hard I tried.

Sometimes, it takes a movie to motivate me to read a book. It worked for Harry Potter and it worked for this book. After hearing such good things, finally having a consistent reading schedule and seeing it in our apartment library I finally picked up this book. I wish I had read it earlier.

Something Borrowed is about a girl who falls for her best friend’s fiancé, it is also about that long lasting childhood friendship. Where is the thin line between friendship and love and when is it time to take care of yourself?

To every girl who has a childhood best friend, you will relate to this book. You may not always agree with the main character’s actions, but you will understand her feelings. How she is torn between her friendship and herself. This is a must-beach-read, the perfect novel to get lost in on a beach or on your commute to and from work.

 

What did you think of Something Borrowed?

 

I haven’t seen the movie yet, those of you who have, does it live up to the novel?

Aria Happy Hour

It’s way past my bed time so I promise to make this post short and sweet. Tonight I met my friends Lauren and Courtney at Aria for Happy Hour. Not that we need an excuse, but tonight’s was extra special because Courtney’s boyfriend Doug and friend Sarah are both in town. Lauren’s boyfriend Tim also joined us.

Lauren is the queen of saving money. The past few weeks she has been saving Aria Drink Coupons that she collected at the Farmer’s Market at the Ronald Regan Building during Lunch.

As we all know, I also love a good deal! Besides my complimentary beer (thanks Lauren), I also got an individual sized Margarita Pizza. It was delicious, but I always forget how hard Margarita Pizza’s are to eat. I always end up eating the entire piece of Mozzarella cheese I one bite simply because I can’t bite it apart.

Next to my pizza is Lauren and Tim’s White Pizza. I didn’t have a bite but I believe them that it was good. Courtney and Doug especially liked it dipped in ketchup (what is it about my friends and ketchup?).

An added bonus to Aria Happy Hour is the Cornhole. And who doesn’t love Cornhole?

Overall it was nice to get out with friends during the week. Sometimes I get so caught up in my own life with training, sleeping and working that I forget how much fun a night out with friends can be.

How often do you get together with your friends during the week?

Cafe Luna and Drag Queen Race

First, let me apologize for the quality of photos. I did not have much to work with.

Last night, we started our evening at Cafe Luna, which is located near DuPont Circle. I was very impressed with their specials and food quality. Everything tasted soo fresh!

For Happy Hour (3-7 p.m.) we ordered $3 margaritas. And, for dinner we had the Tuesday night special, 1/2 off Burgers! Jay and I paid $30 for three drinks, two burgers, tax and tip. Plus, we left more than satisfied.

Above is my Sirloin Burger with Avocado, Sauteed Onions and Swiss Cheese. My meal only cost $6.20!!! You can't beat that!

Another fun thing about this restaurant is their bathroom. It maybe weird that I took a picture of the bathroom, but come on, isn't that awesome?

After Cafe Luna, we headed over to 17th street for the 24th Annual Drag Queen High Heel Dash. It was PACKED! This race has been occurring annually on the Tuesday before Halloween since 1986.

The dash went by soo quickly! The group I was with decided that the whole event is more about the Drag Queens strutting their stuff than the race, which is ok since we enjoyed watching them strut their stuff more than the actual race.

Below are some pictures of them strutting their stuff for your enjoyment! ;)

What unconventional traditions does your community hold for Halloween?