Funnier than usual

I don't remember the exact exchange (and it was most definitely inappropriate) but the scene in our apartment circa 1:00 a.m. this morning had the two of us laughing on the couch, taking a break from work.

"My we are punchy," I noted.

"Yes, we are funnier than usual," responded Greg, and his turn of phrase made me laugh all over again.

Archival footage from my old apartment - and again, not exactly sure why we were laughing

So that is where we are at this point in the week - in the throes of my applications and his final project for a class - sleep deprived and funnier than usual. Very glad to have this guy around this week and every week.

Homestretch!

Touches of the season in two cities

This year marks my 6th Christmas season in DC and as my cab pulled into Union Station this morning, I was reminded of one of my favorite pieces of the season here, namely, the beautiful wreaths that hang over the entry to the station at this time of year.  These decorations have been the same for the last six years and yet they always surprise and delight me the first time I see them - a clear sign that the holiday season is here!

I am in Baltimore today and walking down from Penn Station I was similarly enchanted on this gloomy day by the illuminated snowflakes and christmas wreaths hanging from the lamposts on either side of the street.  It is really fun to see glimpses of the seasonal traditions in another city as a weekly visitor.

Little joys like these are helping me to maintain my sanity during another stressful week of application craziness.  I have TWO applications due within the next week, one this Friday and one next Monday.  I have a lot of material to draw and definitely feel that these applications are significantly more manageable than the first, but I know it's still going to be an intense little stretch here.

I hope your Tuesdays are going well and that you are also finding small bits of the season that make your days bright!

Thanksgiving in Pictures

I had such a wonderful long weekend at home, which I think is best captured by some snapshots from the weekend.  We had amazing meals, great conversations, watched movies and lots of college football, drank many glasses of wine and celebrated my parents' anniversary with dear family friends.  I can't wait to be home again in a few short weeks.  For now here is the weekend in pictures:

Pug cuddles during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Perfectly golden turkey fresh from the oven

My adorable parents making gravy

Thanksgiving table - complete with turkey butter sculpture

Canine cleanup crew - this barely needed to be washed

"Baby" brother and a cat who never met a fleece blanket he didn't love

 All 5 of us at the anniversary party

Hokie colored flowers from Greg for the UVA-VT game + touch of Cavalier Pride

Late night glasses of wine on the last night home

It is always hard to leave home but it is also so, so nice to come home to this apartment and to Greg and Leo, which balances things out.  I hope that you all had lovely holidays and that your week is off to a good start!  So excited the holiday season is here!

Home

I realized on the bus ride yesterday that I had somehow not been home since Christmas last year.  I cannot believe it has been that long.  I saw my family at regular intervals between graduations, moving Russ into his apartment and various other trips, which I believe is why the fact that I had not been home to this wonderful house for nearly a year managed to escape my attention until now.

Home.

It is so good to be here.  There were huevos rancheros for breakfast and (of course) a full, hot pot of coffee when I came downstairs this morning to set up my office for the day.  Now I get to work at the table in the sunroom across from my dad, who is definitely my favorite co-worker yet.

Taking care of business

Mom just left to grab Russ from the train station and then the clan will be complete...all seven of us in the same place for the first time since May! I appreciate that fact more and more each year.  Tonight I'm grabbing an early drink with my friend Alix - who I have now known for 22 years (!) - and then settling in to a cozy night at home with the entire family.

One final bit of news - I got invited to interview at Berkeley and Greg and I booked flights this morning for a trip out in mid-December! Still pinching myself on that one and pretty much bursting with thankfulness all around today.  Safe travels to all who are heading home today and Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Post-application & weekend report

Hello! It feels so good to be back after the craziness of last week.  It was a rather painful and sleep deprived process but I am proud to say that I have submitted my first business school application and feel very happy with the overall package.  I have several more to do over the next couple of months but getting over the hump with this first one was an important step and I think the others will follow much more easily.  For now I'm keeping my fingers crossed about this one.

via

I spent almost the entire weekend in Old Town, Alexandria, which is an area where I always mean to spend more time. It is absolutely charming and was the ideal back drop for two days spent hunting for the perfect wedding dress for my dear Katie.  There were many beautiful options to choose from but I think we finally found the main contender yesterday afternoon.  It was so fun to spend the weekend watching her play dress up and moving one step closer to visualizing that big day coming up in July.

Sadly, the one casualty of the weekend was my phone, which somehow managed to get stolen on Saturday night.  Apart from the general sadness over it being stolen in the first place, it seems that my photo stream was not properly backing up so I may have lost many of my pictures, though I'm working to see if there is something to be done on that front.  A new phone will arrive at my parents' house tomorrow, just a few hours before I do, so it is really not so bad after all.

I hope your weekends were lovely and theft-free! Also, can you believe it is Thanksgiving this week? I can't wait to be on the bus home tomorrow evening.

Quick hello

Hello friends! I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend (and long one some cases).  I wanted to pop in with a quick note that posting will be light this week because, per usual, I am running up against a deadline.  In this case, it is for my first b-school application, which is due at midnight on Thursday.  EEK!

Hello handsome

Until  I click "submit" on Thursday, there will be a little stretch of radio silence here, so for now I will leave you with this picture of Leo, who always seems to sense when I'm stressed and loyally assumes his post, curled up on the bed in the office, to keep an eye on me.  Bless his sweet little soul.  I hope your weeks are less stressful and your time management is more skilled than mine!

Founding Farmers

On Election Eve, Greg and I treated ourselves to dinner at Founding Farmers to celebrate three years together.  It had been on our list of restaurants to try forever and I'm so glad we finally made it happen.  It may have been a Monday night, but the restaurant was bustling and definitely seemed like the place to be.

Fantastic craft beers & cocktails + chalkboard paint? Love it.

Founding Farmers is all about well-sourced, made from scratch, eco-friendly cooking and the meal was absolutely fantastic. To start, I strongly recommend the "Smears, Dips and Table Breads," which involves fantastic grilled bread, Green Goddess Dip, Romesco Sauce and Pimiento Cheese.  Simple and rustic and yet incredibly elevated in terms of flavor - can you tell I'm still thinking about it?  We followed that up with an enormous chef's salad (Greg), scallops with butternut squash risotto (me), and per our server's recommendation, finished things up with an amazing order of beignets, complete with raspberry, caramel and chocolate dipping sauce.

A little blurry, but had to share . . . seriously, this is not to be missed!

All is all, the experience totally exceeded our expectations.  Beyond the delicious food and drinks, the service was wonderful and personal.  I had mentioned that we were celebrating in the open table reservation and at the end of the meal we learned that the restaurant had bought our first round of drinks as a result! It was such a nice and unexpected gift.  I have heard that brunch is also fantastic, so I think it is safe to say that we will be back soon to investigate . . .

Happy Friday everyone and have a wonderful weekend!

November 6th

As I mentioned yesterday, November 6th held a lot meaning for my family beyond the election.  It also marked my parents' 30th wedding anniversary, which is a pretty incredible milestone. Since November 6, 1982, they moved to Australia and back, bought their first (and forever) home, had 4 amazing (ahem) children plus one adoptive Norwegian daughter, more pets than I can count (including hamsters, birds, fish, gerbils, hermit crabs, etc. beyond the cats and dogs), made many important career moves and supported each other through the loss of too many loved ones. Through it all, they have remained each others' best friends and managed to stay incredibly in love.

My beautiful parents

They got engaged after a year of friendship and just 4 months of dating on July 4, 1982 and were married 4 months later.  As the saying goes, "when you know, you know," and in this case, they truly did. My dad still calls my mom his girlfriend from time to time and I remember correcting him when I was little, reminding him that she was in fact his wife.  Now that I'm older, I understand the sentiment.  Through 30 years of ups and downs, they have never lost that original twinkle and it has been an incredible example for me and all of my siblings of what a loving relationship looks like.  They have set the bar very high but also provided the model for how to clear it, which is really an amazing gift.

Mom and Dad - thank you for loving each other through all of these years and for beginning our family 30 years ago yesterday. Happy Anniversary and cheers to many, many more happy years together!

P.S. - I am SO glad that America gave you the gift you were hoping for!

VOTE!

As I have noted before, I am quite the political nerd so take a breath and brace yourselves for a quick post about the beauty of democracy and the importance of today. . .

We got up very early this morning, coffee in hand, to head across the street to the neighborhood elementary school to cast our ballots.  Voting is such a simple act and yet such an empowering one, particularly every four years in big elections like this. With all the money in politics and all the talking heads it is easy to lose sight sometimes of how amazingly equal we are on this day - no matter where you live, how much money you earn, what race or ethnicity you are or how many years of school have under your belt - each person gets one vote.

Turnout is looking good so far in Arlington, VA!

Certainly you can argue that certain votes "count" more than others in the electoral college system and I definitely understand this having voted in Connecticut and the District of Columbia up until now, but this simple fact of one vote is still pretty amazing in my book.  It is a privilege that many people unfortunately take for granted even as people around the world die every day striving for the chance to get it.  Which is why, though I certainly have strong political leanings, I implore absolutely every person over the age of 18, Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, Green, or other, to get out and vote today.  I truly mean that. Let your voice be heard and be an active part of the ongoing dialogue in this country!

Very satisfied little voter

We are heading into Dupont this evening to watch the returns at a bar with friends and hopefully celebrate some good news.  However, as corny as it sounds, whether or not your preferred candidate comes out on top, it is important to remember that our country wins no matter what as it celebrates a fair, peaceful election in which as many voices are heard as possible.  It is a very special thing.

On another note, today is also the 30th wedding anniversary of the two people who made me the enthusiastic little politico that am I - my parents.  More on that tomorrow, but I will end this little love letter to democracy with the fact that I love you both so much and thank you for the wonderful example you have set in my life, both in this regard and countless others.

Weekend Report

The weekend was a great mix of fun and productivity.  It was great to get out of the apartment and see so many friends and I also got a real start on my first application and can finally see the pieces coming together.

Frank wore his dapper argyle sweater especially for the occasion

It started off with game night at Katie and Ben's.  It was such a fun group of people, including a couple that I had not seen in forever, and the only thing that could have made it better would have been having Greg there. A very rowdy and competitive game of Cranium followed by Cards Against Humanity started the weekend off with a lot of belly laughs, which is about as good as it gets.

Me & Russ

Saturday-day was filled with essay outlining and resume edits, which happily led up to a fun night with my brother.  We grabbed hot chocolates for a chilly walk across the bridge into Georgetown before heading to campus for the a capella concert.  I have to say that every time I go to a concert like that one I am stunned by the incredible talent. People that you just pass on the street each day have these unbelievable voices tucked away.  A few of them are even Russ' dear friends and people I completely adore!  They made us very proud.  

From the roof of The Brixton

After the concert we headed over to Adams Morgan to grab fries at Amsterdam Falafel and a drink at Jack Rose, which is one of Russ' favorite haunts on that strip.  From there we headed to The Brixton, which I had been hearing about ever since it opened, and which is definitely is worthy of the buzz.  We headed up to the heated rooftop and decided to treat ourselves to one of their fantastic cocktails.  Russ had their delicious take on Pimm's Cup and I had the Riot Sling, which involved gin, Early Grey, lemon, honey and ginger beer.  From there I grabbed a cab home to turn in for a blissful extra hour of sleep.  It was a great night and struck the perfect balance between being out and about and yet still being tame enough to wake up in good shape for application work on Sunday morning.

I spent the first half of the day at a coffee shop working and the second half catching up with Greg and getting a jump on the week ahead.  I had a great weekend on my own but was so happy when he walked through the door at 3:30 with his own weekend report to share. 

I hope your weekends were wonderful that you are all geared up for a great week ahead, including getting out to the polls tomorrow!  I know I am pumped to be a swing state voter for the first time ever and plan to take full advantage of it. Have a great Monday!

November Friday

Happy Friday everyone!  We have finally reached the end of this rather odd week and started a new month, November, which seems both shocking and a long time coming.  We had a few friends over last night and were talking about how we couldn't believe that Election Day is actually next Tuesday but that it also seems like this campaign has gone on foreeeever.  The consensus was that we pretty much all feel like this little girl, who NPR personally apologized to.

Rifle Paper Co. Calendar

Greg is out of town this weekend and I am filling my days with business school essays (yes, this is the third week in a row I have said that - I am serious this time since we are now under the two week mark on the first deadline) and my nights with fun plans.  Tonight is game night at Katie & Ben's, complete with Katie's famous mushroom stuffed baked brie, and tomorrow includes an a capella concert and night on the town with my brother.  I'll definitely miss my main squeeze, but sometimes I enjoy having a couple days apart purely for the fun of catching up and comparing notes afterwards.

I hope you all have a similarly lovely November weekends ahead...enjoy them!

Spicy Peanut Butter Caramel Popcorn

Are you sold yet?  My mouth waters from the description alone!  I discovered this recipe last fall (where else but The Kitchn?) and have made it countless times since.  It is a perfect snack for cold weather, particularly when it is a warm and a little gooey, fresh off the stove.  It is also a cinch to make - about 15 minutes tops.

I whipped it up for the first time this fall to take to Lindsey's party and it definitely won't be the last time I make it this season.  A few quick notes:

• The recipe contains instructions for popping popcorn on the stove top, which you can definitely do if you like, but I have always used microwave popcorn and it works perfectly. I like to get one of the non-buttery natural kinds for this particular recipe, like Orville Redenbacher's Tender White.
• For the peanut butter, definitely get one with no sugar added, like Jif Natural or another type of natural peanut butter (I like Jif because it's smooth)
• The recipe lists Sriracha as a suggested addition and I definitely recommend it.  That slight zing of heat really balances out the flavors.  I still add the vanilla as well because I like the flavor.  I usually end up adding a little more than a teaspoon of Sriracha, but just go with your own taste buds on this one.  The key is that you can always add a bit more, but you can't take it away once it's in there, so add gradually.
• If you want to replicate that fresh-off-the stove gooeyness, you can pop this in the microwave in short bursts to warm it back up a little.

I hope this becomes a new fall/winter favorite for you all as well.  It has become a snacking staple around here when it's chilly!