Quality Recess

As August is coming to a close very quickly, I just wanted to say that this summer recess treated me very well. Some of my co-workers were giving me a hard time today about never coming into work on Fridays in August. They are happy that I'm "gracing them" with my presence tomorrow. Meanwhile, my boss is still out on vacation through the first few days of September...

My trip back to the Midwest was absolutely fabulous. I don't think I took more than maybe 10 seconds to relax just so I could fit everyone/everything into a few short days, but that's just how I roll these days. I still wasn't able to meet up with a few important people, so I'm already making promises for when I'm back at Christmastime. My tickets are already booked! Start getting excited now :)

Last weekend at Smith Mountain Lake was an enjoyable way to celebrate my 24th birthday. The 5 hour drive each way wasn't ideal, but I survived. My friends and I went to a wine tasting event at the marina. We were by far the youngest crew there, but we all had a good time. Maybe we'll be hitting up a few more of Virginia's wineries in the future.

I concluded my week long birthday celebrations with my kickball team last night. Some of the guys like to joke that woman have an expiration date at 25 years-old, and they warned me that I was dangerously close now. I don't feel any older than I did at the beginning of the month, but I guess that's how it always is. We won our first game and everyone loved my birthday brownies, so it was a successful evening.

Even though August is coming to a close, it appears as though my "fun" schedule won't be coming to an end. Here's what I have in store for September...

*Opera in the Outfield (http://tiny.cc/yKz77)

*Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew (http://www.shakespearetheatre.org)

*Walking with the Dinosaurs (www.dinosaurlive.com)

*Weekend fall retreat through church

*Kickball on Wednesdays

Wardrobe at Work

While walking into my roommate's bedroom last week to show off my mid-week Macy's shopping spree purchases, Cat immediately said, "That looks like an AJ dress!" before I even got to showing her the dress I wore to work yesterday.

Background info: I like to wear things that are unique. Not everyone would wear or could pull off some of the things that I choose, but that's the point. My pre-DC work wardrobe was a bit drab, and I've been trying to liven it up.

So I came to work yesterday wearing my "AJ dress" and got mixed reactions. Carolyn thought the dress was really fun but admitted she could never pull it off. My boss Barbara , however, asked me if I had made the dress. When I replied no, she asked if I had painted the fabric of the dress to make it "look like that." I didn't know whether to be flattered or offended. (Sidenote: Carolyn & Barbara are both in their 60s.)

Fast forward to today...I decided to wear my flower headband that I purchased for Gold Cup. It's good-sized and purple, so it definitely makes a statement. Again, Carolyn said she was a fan and Barbara threw out another crazy comment. She said, "What is that in your hair? You look like you could be a Vegas showgirl." Flattered or offended? I'm going with offended this time, especially after two comments of this nature two days in a row.

The upside: I guess I succeeded in spicing up my wardrobe!

Summer Update

It's been quite some time since you all last heard from me, so I thought I'd do a quick summer recap...

I spent the Fourth of July in Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg learning the history of how our nation came about. Very fitting for the holiday! The original Jamestown settlement was very historic and I loved all the fun facts. Weird I know, but that's just me! And our fireworks show in Williamsburg had FOUR finales, which made for an awesome end to the day. Then I spent the night in a hotel in Richmond with my church small group girls. It was our first official overnight extravaganza together. Everything went smoothly minus the faulty air conditioner in our room that kept Michele awake and the rain the next morning that prevented us from having any fun in Richmond. Over the weekend journey, I learned that I get car fatigue after only about 2 hours in a car. I've become a creature of public transit. It's my life now.

For most of the remainder of July, I hung out around home (with the exception of a serious kickball tournament, a sprained thumb from playing catch with a football, and several Cubs/Nats games) while many of my friends went on numerous vacations. It was a little disheartening at times, especially when I spent several Friday nights alone in my apartment. Alone time is good for everyone, but I can only handle it in small portions. So I am happy to report that August was/is/will be quite a busy time for me.

I attended a housewarming party for friends the first Saturday of the month, and also met another one of my roommate's college friends. Still haven't met one that I didn't like!

Last weekend I went on my first coastal beach vacation. It was our second small group getaway, but this was on a much grander scale. We stayed in one of the girls' grandfather's beach house that was literally a five minute walk from the ocean. The weather was perfect the entire time we were there (including hot enough to make us want to drive home yesterday). I happily have no intense sunburn to report :) My favorite part of the weekend was watching the sunrise over the ocean and seeing a whole slew of dolphins. It was well worth waking up in the 5 o'clock hour!

This coming weekend I will be traveling to Omaha/the farm/Des Moines to celebrate birthdays (my niece Lexi's, mine, and my mom's) and see friends. As always, I can hardly wait to spend time with loved ones that are a thousand miles away from DC. And, I can't wait to use my new carry-on bag...it's extremely adorable :)

And next weekend, a few of my friends and I rented a lake house in Virginia somewhere (4 hours away, I'm told) to celebrate my birthday and get away from the city. We may do some boating, hiking in waterfalls, and/or visiting wineries. All sound intriguing to me, so I'm hoping for a great birthday weekend.

Finally, kickball will be starting up again at the end of the month. I'm excited to get back together with the whole team again, as it's been hard to round everyone up during the summer. And I am still deciding on whether or not I'll be going to Vegas over Columbus Day weekend for the big tournament we qualified for last season. Although I've never been, and I feel like this would be a fun group to go with, I'm a little nervous about the money situation. If only it weren't so expensive to fly...