Memories

First of all, I am so annoyed with facebook lately. It is SO RIDICULOUSLY slow, and especially at night--when I am on it! Last night I decided to upload some old high school and early college photos. I was having so much fun reminiscing over the old photos so I thought I would upload to share with those people who had the fun with me! Facebook had other ideas. What should have taken 10 minutes took about an hour, and made me want to curb stomp my laptop. I didn't even upload all the photos I wanted because it was being so slow and I needed to go to bed.

Anywayyyy, it just made me further realize why I miss Virginia Tech so much. It was such an easy, fun, carefree time in life. Seriously, if you're in college, ENJOY IT! Do not wish time away. Do not talk about how much you can't wait to graduate. It is the best time of your life and things are a whole lot harder after college. Sure, there are good times now, and no it's not that hard, but life happens. It's just different. I also miss having so many of my friends in one place. On the other hand, I am lucky because many are in the area and I get to see them a great deal.

I got in at 7:15am today. Metro is so much more pleasant in the earlier hours, but I just hate getting up earlier than 6:45-7am. I have to leave early today though... only a little bit more to go and it's almost Thursday! Plus I get to hang out with one of those college friends in the photos tonight! Yay!

Manic Monday

It wasn't really a manic Monday, but I like that song. Once again, it was a rough morning getting out of bed, so I did what anyone else would do--I delayed my alarm from 7:15 to 7:30! My commute went surprisingly well and made my triumphant return to the office since I was out at training Wednesday through Friday of last week.

I begin my morning routine of checking my e-mails, rolling my eyes at many of them, and signing into all my accounts. This morning was a little different because I had to tell six of my coworkers a little story, including doing some impressions. So everyone gathered in my cube and I proceeded to tell this epic story, which I can't post here. SORRY! It was like story time in kindergarten minus the rice tub or nap time later. Man, you kindergarteners do not know how good you have it. Although, I have seen some people at work taking naps. That's neither here nor there though because it's on the schedule in kindergarten! Get to work people!

Commute home was special. For some reason it was unusually packed before we even rode the rails into the Commonwealth! This prompted me to be too close for comfort to about 80% of the Northern Virginia population. Not okay. Then, of course, we couldn't get the doors shut at Rosslyn! Maybe it's because we're packed on here like sardines. Train operator is copping a 'tude and said, "Move in people, we need to get these doors shut." To this I said, (out loud) or you could send trains more frequently! Then she said (not to just me, everyone), "alright, get close to your neighbors like you love them and squeeze in because we're going to have to offload this train if we can't get the doors shut!" Again, out loud, I said, "Whatever, we know you're going to offload us anyway." But! By the grace of god, that train finally went forward!! It's the little things in life. I only had one stop to go, so if we were offloading I was just going to walk!

I arrived home and started prepping dinner and then hit the streets for a 5.2 miler. My hip has been bothering me so I haven't been running a lot lately, but it wasn't that hot out so figured I should give it a try. I am happy to report I had a great run! I'll probably be using a walker tomorrow, but whatevs! Then I came home and finished preparing dinner and showered. For dinner, I present to you half cous cous and quinoa topped with BBQ tofu and of course, kale chips on the side!
Everyone talks crap on tofu (kale too for that matter), but if you season or marinate it and bake it right, it's so good. So I don't want to hear it from all you tofu haters!

Catching up

I haven't posted since Wednesday because it has been non-stop since then. I went and met a friend for drinks in DC Thursday night, which was great. On my way home I also ran into someone and had a very interesting exchange. I love when you're sober and someone else is wasted, especially when you're really not supposed to see that person wasted!

Anyway, Friday I finished with training early (super early!) so I hit the pool before the gym. Met up with my college roommate in the city again Friday night for dinner, drinks, and froyo. We went to this place Agora and it was good. It's a tapas style restaurant, which I like because you aren't served 8000 pounds of food for dinner. We had a lot of catching up to do. Once again, she is someone I wish I could see more, but it's hard because she lives in Baltimore. In the grand scheme of things, it's not that far, but life happens. Then it was Mr. Yogato for froyo, so good!

I had another wedding Saturday and a tragedy occured. I forgot my camera at my apartment so I had to use my dumb droid to take photos! Ughhhh, didn't turn out that well. Oh well. The wedding was fun and I got to catch up with a bunch of people from high school. My friend Catherine was the one getting married; have known her since 7th grade (6th for her) as our parents lived, and still do, next to each other. So please excuse the crappy quality of these photos:

And with that, another one bites the dust. Hahaha, jk!! I am good on weddings now until... SEPTEMBER! Then I have a coworker's wedding here in DC. The big one is in October when my sister gets married. I am in that one so it's obviously a lot more involved. And oh yeah, it's my sister. Speaking of which, I need to get fitted for that dress. I hate dress fittings.

Today, Logan and I attempted to go follow this trail in Harpers Ferry to the top of a mountain. We could not find parking close enough though so we just ended up going somewhere else close by. I think it was called the Chesapeake and blah blah Canal. We walked on a trail along the water, which was nice. But leaving we saw where people were up on top of the mountain overlooking the town of Harpers Ferry! It looked awesome so we're going to attempt to go again next weekend and hopefully get there early enough to get decent parking. Maybe if I didn't go out last night and get home at 2:30am I could have gotten out of bed earlier than 10am, thus letting us get to Harpers Ferry sooner. Ooops, oh well. Now I think I am going to go take my bike out for a quick ride since I haven't been on it in like a week and a half.

Kale Chips

This is a great week. I have training today through Friday, which means EASY! Of course we started late, had 38647862 breaks, hour and 15 minute lunch, and got out at 4pm instead of 4:30. I love agriculture! Plus I get to drive instead of metro, which is a nice change of pace. It normally takes me 35-40 minutes door to door on metro, but this commute is around 25 minutes door to door.

This means I had enough time for a longer workout of cardio plus lifting at the gym with plenty more time to cook a good dinner. So I decided on kale chips with a sriracha and orange fig spread mixed dip (recipe below because they're AMAZING), blueberry glaze salmon, and a zucchini bake (compliments of a shopping trip to Costco by my mama so it was frozen). The dinner was delicious!

Kale Chips with Spicy Orange Fig Dip
1 bunch of kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
Red chili flakes
Dash of salt
Lemon juice squeezed from fresh lemon

1. Cut kale off stem and into small bite-sized pieces. Clean and dry.
2. Put the kale in a bowl and toss in the above ingredients.
3. Spread the mixed kale evenly on a baking sheet.
4. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Keep a close eye on it so it doesn't burn!

For the dip mix a little over a tablespoon of the orange fig spread with maybe a teaspoon of the Sriracha depending on how spicy you like things.

Dip the chips in the dip and enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, well I don't care.

I also devoured my meal with some kombucha as well. So good, but I will admit it's an acquired taste and many people would and probably do hate it. Confession: the salmon was purchased at WTF Whole Foods already prepared in the blueberry glaze. What?! I have a job, I can't do it all. Honestly, the glaze was pretty tasteless. I will probably buy a plain one next time and season it MYSELF, thankyouverymuch!

Am I the only one?!

Okay, do these types of things happen to anyone else at grocery stores? It seems no matter where I go people either a. feel the need to talk to me or b. get in my way/annoy me.

For example, about a month ago I was eating dinner at Harris Teeter before heading down the street to tutor. I was just minding my own biz when this man says, "are you a teacher??" I responded no, I just tutor down the street. He then proceeds to go on and on and on about how it's great that I am not a teacher because they treat DC teachers like crap and it's horrible, blah blah. Okay, maybe that's true, but I am trying to eat my dinner and go. Then once that subject ended he went onto something else. He is blah blahing and says, "Oh jeez, you're trying to eat dinner and I am just babbling." I was thinking, "you're right so please shut up!" but obvi didn't want to be rude so I said, "no, it's okay." It really wasn't okay!


Tonight, Whole Foods. Clarendon. That's really all that needs to be said and you know an epic cluster-f is coming into your life. I am trying to get in and out of there as fast as possible, but I am out of quite a few things. I needed some basics like quinoa, couscous, and fresh ground peanut butter (yes, the fresh ground distinction was necessary). So anyhow, I am at the bulk bins getting the couscous, but left my basket by the quinoa. This fool starts scooping the quinoa into the bag like he is in some bulk bin competition, but this must have been his first time at WF because he completely missed half the bag. Where do you think it fell? All in my groceries and my basket!!! He says, "Oh I'm sorry. I made a huge mess, I bet this happens a lot." Umm no sir, you're just a freakin' moron. I remember my first time at the bulk bins WHEN I WAS SIX!!!! Again, I take a deep breath and say, "it's okay."

Next up, trying to get some produce. I am walking back to my basket when this lady just darts in front of me and I have to stop dead in my tracks. Okaaaaaaaaaaay. She just stands there and looks at me and I am thinking, "look lady, you have to move to the side because I CAN'T GO ANYWHERE except backwards and that's not happening!" Finally she steps to the side. Damn straight. I win all battles in Whole Foods.

Last up, man almost takes me out in the dairy aisle. I am about to reach for half & half and he swings around and almost steps right into me and says, "oh sorry." People in Northern VA have a penchant for not paying attention and thinking they're the only ones that exist in this world, but it's like a freakin' social experiment in WF. I should start calling it WTF.

The best part was my checkout. Cashier says, "oh be careful with your bag of quinoa, there's a hole in it and it's spilling." I said, "nope, some guy just spilled half his bag onto my stuff." And she said, "oh an employee or customer?" to which I responded, "customer, clearly his first time shopping at the WF bulk bins."

Back to Reality

Sorry for partying and not posting here, but I was very busy this weekend lounging on the beach, frolicking in the ocean, hanging out with my fam and some of my best friends, and enjoying a wedding. All in all it was one of the best weekends ever—one of those I will remember forever. We left around 8am on Friday and made it to Virginia Beach just a little after 11:30am. Not bad! We even got to check into the hotel then even though check-in isn't until 4pm. That's what happens when you roll with a baller like myself. Okay, so my personal assistant dad called ahead the night before and cleared it. We were on the beach by 11:30 enjoying the sun, sand, and some Coronas.

We headed up to the room around 5pm to go to Chick's for dinner. The place was hoppin' and had complementary valet even though it's a hole in the wall! Major plus for them since we all know Taylor does not frequent establishments that don't offer valet. I don't park my own Bentley. HA! Anyhow, I ran into put our name down while they valeted the car. They said 40 minutes so my dad and I went to the bar to get a drink known as the "orange crush" which was recommended to me by a few friends who are locals. It was strong and good! We got our table in about 20 minutes, which was nice since we all know I am the most impatient person alive. My dad and I split oysters on the half shell and then I had this for dinner:

Yum, fish with guac, sour cream, salsa and my fave: SWEET P fries!!

Then I met up with the groom, best man, and other friends at the bar right by the hotel, which turned into a 3:30am evening. I met up with my friend Heather who I have known since I was like 4, which was awesome.

Woke up at 8:30am to hit the beach before the wedding. The wedding ceremony was very nice and so was the reception. It was five hours long, which became very evident in pictures later in the evening when we all went to the bar. Needless to say I will be detoxing for a bit after that weekend. Anyhow, you know I tore up the dance floor. Practically an episode of "So You Think You Can Dance." Oh, and I CAN! Got to spend time with two of my best friends Robby and Shawn, which is harder to do these days. It sucks how hard you have to work to spend time with friends when you get older. It was so much easier in school when we literally saw each other day in class. Especially getting everyone in the same place at the same time. I have known them both since we were 11, and we have all stayed close through many ups, downs, different colleges, and other life events. It was a pretty nostalgic weekend. Okay, now this crap is just getting corny. Who am I?!

Lastly, it was so fun to spend a weekend with my parents and little sister. We haven't gone on a family vacation in forever and we had a blast. Please note, I have an older sister too so she was missed! Getting out of bed was extremely rough this morning. So rough that I delayed my alarm from 7:30 to 8. Then when I opened the curtains and blinds and saw it was raining, I thought "awwww hell no, I should call my boss and tell him I am not feeling well and go in late so I can sleep 2 more hours." I soldiered on though and just brewed extra coffee.

Happy Friday (for me)!!!

Less than eight hours to go. I love the weather this week and wish it would stay like this all summer. I woke up at 6am this morning and went for a nice 5k run. I have asthma and really bad allergies so when it's too hot and the pollen is out, running outside is horrendous. When I arrived home I started to get ready and eat breakfast, which was this:


I know what you're thinking, WTF is that green stuff that looks like soup?! Well, it's a smoothie with almond milk, kefir, spinach, kale, flaxmeal, chocolate protein powder, frozen banana and mango. And you're probably thinking spinach and kale in a smoothie!? Disgusting! But you would be wrong and should try it because it is amazingly refreshing and you can't taste the veggies. Also enjoyed a kashi waffle with some sunflower seed butter and a little syrup. Lastly, some Newman's Own Vanilla Caramel coffee in a winter coffee mug. I don't discriminate with dishes just because the season changes! Also, I eat sweet potatoes year round and usually every week. I hate how they're only associated with Thanksgiving. Truly rude.

And to start your Thursday off, this is what some man said to me in the elevator at work this morning: "It's just past 8am, are you having fun yet?" Me: "Umm no, I will be at 4:30pm." To which he says, "Alright, if that's how you want to think about it." You are so right sir. Now I am going to have a blast at work sitting at a desk all day. Someone pass the Perrier. Poppin' bottles.

P.S. Please excuse the picture quality. I had to take it with my droid and lighting in the kitchen wasn't the best!

Your serve

Today was pretty uneventful other than it being that much closer to being the weekend for me. Tomorrow is my Friday! Anyhow, one of the million really annoying things about my job is that I can't have electronics in my office. It really sucks b/c I could entertain you with pictures from my day. Like the gym. I wish I could snap photos of some of those fools. And then my lunch, which I guess I could take the night before.... hmm. Today I had the most rando lunch ever, but it was delish. I had an ezekiel cinnamon raisin english muffin (if you don't know what these are you should get some asap) with Bruegger's cream cheese, a bowl of strawberries and nana, and EDAMAME! All over the place, but it's because again, my weekend starts tomorrow night since I will be headed to my parents and then down to VA beach for a mini-vacay plus wedding.

My day went by quickly, came home ate an amazing dinner then I went on my quest for white sandals. So freakin' difficult. I looked at target yesterday and they were wiped out. Guess someone beat me to the summer sandal hunt. I thought surely DSW won't let me down. WRONG! Why are there so many ugly shoes/sandals out there?! And why are all the ones I like NOT WHITE. I am not being racist, but I need white sandals, okay. It's to go with a dress. So with that fail it was onto play tennis.

My tennis game face! Ha!

Another difficult task in life. My work BFF Jon (as he likes to think of himself) has courts at his apartment. He assured me we could play there. Not so. Four courts. All taken. He says, oh there are some on the other side. Nope. Taken. So we go back to the original courts hoping someone left. No dice. However, we do notice a nice, young gentleman sitting next to a court that has a basket of balls and cones. I wondered WTF is he doing? Actually I think I said that to Jon, so I more than wondered it. Does he think the basket of balls are going to play tennis on their own? Is he going to at least hit around. So Jon asks. This man tells us he is waiting for a lesson. Well, where are they? Oh, I just wait for them to show up, he says. And what if they don't? Then the next lesson comes. And you're paying? He says yes and he is the ONLY ONE who is allowed to give lessons on these courts. OKAAAAAAAY then sir. Thanks for being a life ruiner.

Onto plan B. I find some courts using my droid (his iPhone was failing him). He claims it was more of a user error, but I think it was a combo of user/iPhone. So we meander on down to the park. Slammed with people as well! Jesus, what is this Andre Agassi day!? A court opens, but some dudes are already waiting. They take the court and proceed to rip off their shirts to play tennis in 70 degree weather. Clearly they mean business. We wait... and wait...

...and wait so I snap this photo. Please note shirtless #1

Finally a court clears. Now we lost a good half hour of tennis though. We only got a short warm up and one set in. I lost 6-2. I'm not happy about it. We're going to play a full match either Sunday or next week and it's on. I'll be bringing my Martina Navratilova self to the court this time!

Metro PSA Etiquette

I forgot to tell you that I will also post a lot about metro. Metro woes. I have a love/hate relationship with metro that leans heavily toward the hate side. I swear if my employer didn't pay for it I would commute with my bike. Lord knows I'd get to work faster--sweatier--but faster. Let's take yesterday afternoon for example of why I hate metro. Train rolls up and it's packed. Typical, it's the orange crush of terror (orange line). I squeeze my way on and try to get comfortable for my 10-20 minute ride. Why such a range in times, you ask? Well because it could be smooth sailing, err tracking, or we could stop in a tunnel, hold at a station, offload at a station, spend five minutes trying to close the doors, have a passenger shoe on the track preventing us from moving forward, or someone could even choose to end their life by jumping in front of the train. These are real life stories people!! Tales of the metro.

And I digress. Back to yesterday. This dumb biaaaa finds it necessary to lean on one of the vertical poles. This is very problematic for other riders because we need to hold that pole! After all, you never know if the train conductor today is texting, drunk, asleep, or all of the above. Sometimes that train comes to a screeching halt for no reason and I need a pole so I don't go flying down the aisle. The train gets more crowded and she continues to lean. (Lean backkkk, remember that rap song?!) I could hold the pole and have her sweaty shirt/back touch my hand or hold it higher and her hair would be touching my hand. Neither are acceptable so I take my life into my hands and hope for the best.

Source: Unsuck DC Metro

Issue number two: Old man will not stop staring at me. CREEPY. And I mean old, like a grandpa. He wasn't even trying to hide it and I was throwing up in my mouth a little.

Issue number three: GETTING OFF THE TRAIN. OH MY GOD PEOPLE. When 3897642624 people are on the train and 237674 are trying to get off you MUST, I REPEAT MUST, step off the mothereffing train so that we can get off. But noooo, you people try to shift, move, duck, stand instead of just stepping off the train. This leads me to yell, "STEP OFF THE TRAIN PEOPLE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GET BACK ON." I know you have to ride the train out to your awesome home in the awesome suburbia that is Fairfax County and get home to little Jack and Jill, but believe it or not it's just easier and you will still get there if you step off the train. It will be a lot smoother for everyone else, especially me, and that's what is most important, right?

There are a lot more issues, but that's for another day. This is all happened in one commute so I think that's all I will talk about for today. BTW, I almost took a picture of the dumb b leaning on the pole so I could post it here for you people. I didn't. I majorly regret this decision.

Bring it back

Okay first of all, please excuse the horrendous color scheme on previous posts. I need to work on fixing that. Secondly, clearly I have not written in awhile--like almost three years. Well that changes today: Taylo in the back yo is back!

So let's see. What am I going to write about here? Well back in 2008, I didn't like running anywhere. Not even to food, alcohol, the beach, the bar, a Hokie football game. I mean, let's be honest: we used to have to run in high school for tennis and as soon as I was out of the coach's sight it was time to WALK! Now, I love running. I'm obsessed. If I ever cannot, for some reason, run, well it will be an ugly day. So, what I am trying to tell you is that I will probably talk about running here.

What else? Yoga. I have only recently gotten into that, but I am really liking it too. Specifically baptiste yoga. Still, running is my number one fave.

Also, I might post about cooking, baking, eating, restaurants, whatevs. Then lastly, but MOST CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, I will talk about Virginia Tech as I am still unhealthily obsessed with everything Virginia Tech. Football, basketball, visits back to campus, Enter Sandman, college friends parties, tailgating, VT clothing, alum gatherings, Hokie weddings, etc. It NEVER STOPS AND IT NEVER WILL! If you have a problem with this, I suggest your eyes find something else to read.

And my old posts, they're probably going to be different because obviously that was a different time in my life. I was only 22/23 and still young and naive. Now I am so much older (26!), so mature, worldly, and all that bullshit. Also, some of my old posts allude to something I was so excited about. I guess the good news is that I am doing what I was so excited about. The bad news is it was cool at first, but I am over it now, and can honestly say I am the complete opposite of what I once was about it. When I started I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I seriously was so beyond excited and grateful. Now I cannot wait to sprint the hell out of here and just move on. I am not as bad as I was this past Fall/Winter so hopefully I don't bitch too much, but just be forewarned: I will refer to it and it will most likely, not be positive!

So glad you're here. Everyone is welcome, until you piss me off. Haha, jk. Kinda.