Photographers we are not.
In an effort to, uh, give up two-a-days, we went hiking in Great Falls on the fourth of July. It was surprisingly cool out, so we packed up snacks and headed out.
I look a little miserable in all the photos, but I swear it was fun! The weird thing about Great Falls is that it advertises all these hiking trails, but most of them aren’t more than two miles. So we did two overlapping trails in one direction, toward the scenic overlooks, and then we started on a longer one in the opposite direction. We ended up leaving the Great Falls park and heading into another national park directly above it.
The whole experience was muggy and warm. But we were under a canopy of trees for the most part, so we avoided direct sunlight, which is CRUCIAL for this Jergens fake tan fan.
I know, it looks like that’s my natural color. But I swear to you, I’m really several shades lighter than this.
Does anyone know how to get this stuff to stay on your hands? Also, is there a farmer’s tan equivalent term for when your hands are a different color from the rest of you? Piano player’s tan? This is not a look I recommend, by the way.
Halfway through the hike I realized I’d forgotten to cancel my noon yoga class, so I was the moron stopped on the side of trail holding Adam’s iPhone up in the air to get reception and cancel my class. Alas, I was too late. Oh well.
We took about 20 photos on this hike and I swear, only half of them were usable. We are terrible photographers. We took a series of photos in which we are standing directly IN FRONT of the falls, rather than to the side, so that you can see both us and the falls. We are BLOCKING THE FALLS. Then I took a series of photos of Adam in front of the Potomac River, in which a canoe looks like it’s sailing into his head … and then out of it in the next shot.
Off to the gym! HIIT today instead of yoga. There may have been a glass or three of wine consumed after a long hard Friday at work. Yoga is lovely, but I’m craving a real sweat. Plus I just pulled some Vegan with a Vengeance Raspberry-Chocolate Chip Blondies out of the oven in preparation for a Wii gathering tonight.
To sweat!
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Tags: D.C., exercise, vegan
Props to Amma and Dalai Lama!
It’s been a long day. Meetings, crazy emails and frantic planning at work. I came home this afternoon and just collapsed. Then I ate fro yo and too much toast and chocolate-covered almonds. I went to the gym for the second time today (I CANNOT STOP THE TWO-A-DAYS…at least not while I am on these mega stress/toast kicks). I watched That 70′s Show, which still makes me laugh. I snapped at my husband. Crazy stress makes me crazy cranky. For some reason I am 29 years old with no good coping mechanisms for this kind of thing.
Amma is in D.C. So is the Dalai Lama. Every yoga class I’ve attended this week, the teacher has gone on and on about what a spiritual time this is in D.C. We should all be so happy! Hugs from Amma! Spiritual guidance from Dalai Lama! But it’s almost 100 degrees in D.C., I am cranky and tired, and I am not feeling the spiritual love here.
Then I accidentally found out that my favorite yoga teacher is back in D.C. after three months of traveling in India, and she’s teaching on Saturday! And my Saturday plans were already switched to Sunday, so I can go to the class!
So this is good! Not so spiritual, but hey, a good piece of news nonetheless! Thank you, Amma! Thank you, Dalai Lama! You two are clearly looking out for me.
I cannot wait to roll around on my pretty blue mat on the dirty studio floor five flights up from the street in Dupont Circle on Saturday. It will drive me all through tomorrow. That and all these raspberries in my fridge.
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Tags: D.C., exercise, food, stress, yoga
Just a little lung stretching.
I just up and started doing wheel last Friday. I don’t know why I’ve always been so scared of it. I can stand on my head for Christ’s sake, why did I think I couldn’t stand on my feet and hands? I guess I was afraid that I’d either a) attempt it in front of a class of 40 people also attempting to do a deep back bend and fail, thus leading to the inevitable laughter of all those deeply focused yogis noticing and laughing at me or b) I’d hurt myself. I’m not sure.
Thursday afternoon, after running five miles (after months of not being able to consecutive miles without pain), I was stretching and feeling pretty strong. And then I just pushed up into it. I did it three times during Saturday’s class and twice more today. It feels great. It’s the deepest stretch I’ve ever felt across the front of my body. It made me feel completely capable and in control.
I’ve been doing yoga off and on since 2002. I’m such a pussy sometimes.
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Tags: control, wheel, yoga
Fighting off the crazy.
I am trying super hard not to act like a crazy person.
My grandmother got sick. I flew to the Philippines for work (with my parents’ blessing). My grandmother passed away. I felt crazy. I pretended it didn’t happen so I could function at work overseas for three weeks.
I ate some of the grossest vegetarian food in the world.
I also ate a lot of Krispy Kreme, because that’s what our guide thought American businesswomen liked to eat. I ate more donuts in three weeks than I had in the previous 15 years.
I saw some of the most gorgeous beaches in the world.
I still felt awful about everything.
When I got back from the Philippines, I learned that my grandmother’s funeral wasn’t for six weeks. There was nothing to do, so we just waited. Then a terrible rainy day came and we went to the funeral home, where the funeral director accidentally left the casket open, despite our request it be closed. There were dolphin statues everywhere. The walls were covered in cracked paint. We went to Arlington National Cemetery and it poured and poured. The wind was so rough that it slammed the plastic awning we were standing under against a metal pole over and over again throughout the service. We couldn’t hear the minister.
Afterward, my husband, sister and I went out for vegan nachos. We all had to work the next day. Not exactly a cure-all.
I started to feel crazier. I worked out twice a day. I did yoga seven days a week. I did cardio seven days a week. I was obsessed with what I was eating. I felt faint a lot. I became convinced I had all kinds of nutritional deficiencies. I went to two conferences focused entirely on food (for work). I ate a lot of cheesecake samples and room service. I came home and did a juice fast just because. I had a terrible time coming off it. I couldn’t eat enough calories for days and then suddenly I couldn’t stop eating.
I went to the Philippines in February. In this whole time, my weight has never fluctuated more than five pounds. I made myself completely miserable with food in either direction and I stayed right where I was. I’m a perfectly healthy weight.
Now I’m just trying to feel less crazy about it.
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Tags: exercise, food, Philippines, Travel
Earlier this month, our engagement announcement appeared in the Washington Post. We were surprised and a little embarrassed that so many people saw it. I don’t know, I guess thought no one would see a wedding announcement in a nationally distributed newspaper?
The good part arrived yesterday though. A few days ago I got my credit card statement and found that the Washington Post had charged me $17 in addition to the fairly, erm, pricey cost of running a wedding announcement. I was kind of annoyed and made a mental note to call. Then I received this in the mail:
Yes, it’s our engagement announcement! On a weird plastic plaque!
I did not order this. And seeing as the company charged me an extra $17 on top of the agreed-upon announcement cost, I’m pretty sure we PAID for the piece of plastic. The best part was the letter that came with it:
Can you read that? Can you maximize the photo? I did the best I could. This is a letter from a member of the Washington Post staff thanking me for choosing the Washington Post “for this important announcement.”
“Today you are receiving a keepsake version of your loved one’s death notice. This Memorial Plaque is designed to serve as a long-standing remembrance of your loved one’s death notice or In Memoriam.”
Something tells me they sent the wrong letter. I just hope some more poor person who did pay for a loved one’s death notice didn’t receive a letter congratulating them on his or her engagement.
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Tags: engagement, Washington Post
In exchange for watching 30 Rock with him, I have agreed to let Adam go out in the snow flurries and buy us bagels for breakfast. I know, I am so very generous. Of course, normally I force him to eat my homemade oatmeal, so he may actually think he is getting a bargain.
Now I am watching the snow flurries and hoping they don’t get worse. I have two wedding-dress appointments today in Virginia. And as much as I really seriously honestly do not want to go (dresses are fun but I have not had a day without appointments or work since before Christmas), I want to get them over with so I can order a damn dress already.
Tomorrow? Nothing but Big Love.
Season 3 finale. First three episodes of Season 4. And who knows? Maybe I’ll make my inauguration day vegan shepherds pie (Veganomicon version).
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Tags: food, TV, vegan
Lentil burgers for dinner.
Of Montreal was tremendous. A greatest hits show. Not too many theatrics, a new song off the upcoming album (SPOKEN VERSES) and there were only a couple really tall dudes standing in front of me.
However, I’d like to take this post to discuss the aromas of a concert venue.
Smell #1: Beer.
Smell #2: Sweat.
Smell #3: Meat sandwiches.
I do not have a particularly discerning sense of smell. But I’m really good at detecting meat smells. I can smell fish that my fiance ate for lunch yesterday. For some reason, concerts — more so than subways or gyms, both common areas for co-mingled, erm, people aromas — are the absolute worst for meat smells.
It makes me goddamn crazy.
Filed under: D.C., Music | 1 Comment
Tags: 9:30 Club, food, Music, vegan
A list of woes.
I am too tired for paragraphs.
Woe 1: I was using an unfamiliar cleanser this afternoon and somehow bleached a couple drops on the knee of a pair of new work pants. Generally I am not an accident-prone purpose, so this really pissed me off. I just need to get over it and move on, but gah a;lsjfasf when I become so Type A about shit?
Woe 2: Last night we stayed up to watch the State of the Union … and then a random episode of something. And then my alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. this morning. After I’d only been asleep 5 hours and 45 minutes. Unfortunately, I’m more of a 9-hours-a-night girl. So I hate everything right now. Except conjunctions and prepositions.
Woe 3: My stomach is eating itself and my dinner partner is not arriving for another hour. I need a cold vegetable sandwich poste-hast!
Woe 4: My apartment needs to be dusted again. Why so much dust, building? I don’t open my windows, I don’t run the heat or the air, so explain to me: Where is is all the dirt coming from?!
Woe 5: The last time I saw of Montreal, their show was pretty lifeless, although filled with lots of props and costumes and spectacle-ness or whatever. I’m a little apprehensive about tonight. Plus I’m sleepy.
Woe 6: I ran out of sparkling water.
Woe 7: My back is killing me thanks to wedding-planning stress. For serious, people. Lamest woe ever.
So my woes are on the small side, relatively speaking. Everything just seems worse when you’re tired.
Also, I haven’t watched Law & Order (ANY OF THEM) in two weeks. The last SVU I watched (weeks ago) blew. Take that, Mike Post.
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Tags: 9:30 Club, D.C., Music, of montreal
Tyler showed me the most amazing thing in the world this morning. Of Montreal and Solange Knowles covering “I Want You Back.” MY MIND IS BLOWN.
Kevin, what’s with the beard? KEEP IT FOR THURSDAY SO I CAN GET A CLOSER LOOK.
And B.P., watch out. Kelly and I will be in our usual positions, three rows back on your left-hand side.
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Tags: D.C., Music, of montreal
Pancakes for One in D.C.
Someone’s been translating my page with both Google and Babelfish. This is endlessly funny to me. I bet you anything it’s Portuguese Belle & Sebastian fans. You have no idea how many of them there are.
Back in 2000, I spent a lot of time on Napster. It was my first semester of college, I didn’t really have any friends and I couldn’t remember where the dining hall was half the time (I was one of those no-common-sense people until I was about 22 years old), so there wasn’t much else for me to do until Snood was released during second semester of my freshman year.
Anyway, this Brazilian kid started instant messaging me about Belle & Sebastian. At that point I had a ton of then-unreleased tracks (“Lord Anthony,” “Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son“) and live shows. The kid, whose name escapes me, downloaded everything I had and kept telling me to download this song called “My Favorite Boxer” by of Montreal. I liked it, but I wasn’t crazy impressed, and so the Brazilian kid made me download all of Cherry Peel. It was just a coincidence when the band came to my college the following year. And the year after that. And the year after that. I’d seen of Montreal more than five times by the time I graduated from undergrad and a full ten times by the time I left grad school. Since originally downloading Cherry Peel on Napster almost ten years ago, I’ve bought countless Montreal CDs, T-shirts and concert tickets. I’ve seen them perform live more than I have any other band.
I’ve actually lost count now. When I see them this Thursday at the 9:30 club, it’ll have been somewhere between 12 and 15 times. Here’s hoping I see them perform “Pancakes for One” again someday.
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Tags: 9:30 Club, Belle & Sebastian, Music, of montreal
Recent Entries
- Photographers we are not.
- Props to Amma and Dalai Lama!
- Just a little lung stretching.
- Fighting off the crazy.
- In Memoriam, happy engagement. Potato, tomato, whatever.
- All I want to do is watch Big Love.
- Lentil burgers for dinner.
- A list of woes.
- Of Montreal/I want you back/Solange/meltdown
- Pancakes for One in D.C.
- Blogging fits.
