Rain Rain Go Away

The rain kind of coincides with how I feel right now. Just down. That's why I haven't blogged. Well I was also busy down in Blacksburg, which was a totally fun time. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I came back Saturday night because I had a wedding on Sunday. The wedding was also a great time. Labor Day is where is took a turn, but hopefully in time things will be better.

On another note, a brighter one, I have less than 30 days left at my current job, which makes me very happy. I am ready to move on and try something new. Sometimes I wonder if I am making the right decision, but every day at that place makes me realize that I am! Oh and more good news--my achilles tendonitis is finally better! I don't think it's 100% yet, but I have been running. And yesterday I ran the furthest I have run in like a month, 5.5 miles, which made me feel so much better. It's really hard for me to rest even though I know that's the only thing that will help most of the time.

And lastly you should check out this song by NeedToBreathe because it's awesome!

Lazy Sunday

I had a pretty low key weekend. I have been running around and going out too much and it wore me down. I feel like I have something on my schedule every day. So I stayed in Friday night because I wanted to get up at a decent hour Saturday to run 11 miles. Good decision. Then I spent the afternoon at the pool with Jon. It was freaking hot and the pool is like bath water.

One of my friends from Virginia Tech, who I have also known since elementary school, is going away to graduate school for a year at Carnegie Mellon. So his girlfriend threw him a surprise going away party Saturday night. That was fun and he was super surprised, which is always nice!

I was going to go to the beach with Logan today, but my throat has been bothering me and as I said I feel run down. So I felt bad, but I texted him last night bowing out. We're going to a wedding in August though and we will get to go to the beach then! So today was the laziest Sunday I have had in awhile and it was great. I woke up at 9:30am and made a yummy breakfast--baked peanut butter pancake. (I should have taken a picture because it was so pretty). Then I washed my sheets and did other laundry. Also cleaned my room and dropped some stuff off at Goodwill. It was a pretty productive Sunday as well.

And dinner was delicious! I haven't had kale chips in a good week so it was time for those with some ketchup and encrusted tilapia! Now is it really time to go to work again tomorrow? Boo!

Weekend Warrior

Well, my week finally turned around and I had a great weekend! So our softball game, well, we're a little rusty. We were at bat first and did okay, but then our opponent went to bat and I was playing catcher. They cracked ball after ball into the outfield. I was starting to wonder if there was a softball they couldn't knock out of the park. I am happy to say we finally dusted ourselves off and instead of getting stomped we just got crushed! Haha. They hit one home run so far out of the field it went into a parking garage! I hit at all three of my at bats, but they were lame grounders so I need to work on hitting. Oh, I made an awesome diving catch in the outfield too. It was epic. You probably saw it on SportsCenter. And I had just finished a pop sickle so the stick was still in my mouth... super safe!

Happy hour with coworkers Friday was hilarious and fun. Happy hour is great too because it makes for an early evening ;) and I was asleep by 10:45pm on a Friday night. Whatever, don't judge. Thus I was up early on Saturday to make some pancakes before going to get new running shoes and then head to the pool with my friend/coworker. Cottage cheese oatmeal pancakes are delicious. They sound gross, but they're amazing. I got new running shoes at Potomac River Running and a Nike hat since I had a 10 miler planned with my friend Kim on Sunday and it's about 3867282 degrees out every day lately. I am trying to ramp up my miles and training because I plan on running the Richmond Marathon this year. My first full marathon!! Anyhow, here's a little montage of me getting pumped for softball, new running shoes, and then all geared out for the 10 miler.


After the pool I went to bikram baptiste yoga. It's like a 100 degrees in there, but didn't matter since it's like 120 degrees outside. It was a pretty good yoga sesh, especially since I hadn't been in two weeks and it wasn't crowded at all. Kim and I ate at Boulevard Woodgrill last night and I had the seafood kabobs--yummy. Then we came back here for a chill night and watched The Guardian since we wanted to be up by 7:45am to beat the heat for the 10 miles. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yes, it was hot, and it was a lot hillier than I expected. I usually bike that route so biking hills is MUCH easier than running them. However, since I dorked it out with all my gear plus took a Gatorade G2 and a Clif Gel + caffeine I really found it to be a pretty enjoyable run. We finished in about an hour and 40 minutes and that included a few walking breaks. Pretty good training run. I like that I have the whole day ahead of me and my workout is done!

Long Weekend

So it seems like I find more time to post at the beginning of the week, and then it drops off because I get busy or caught up in doing stuff. I have been really busy the past four days meeting up with friends for lunches, happy hours, and other stuff. I have actually been off work since around 11 on Friday, which has been nice. I haven't worked a full Friday in a good three weeks and I won't this Friday either because I am going up to NYC! Winning.

So here I am on day two of my three day weekend. I hate how fast it goes! I went out Friday night and just chilled last night. Not really sure what I am doing tonight, or for the fourth yet. I don't want to do anything big because it's a Monday and I obviously have work the next day.

Oh I did yoga yesterday morning for the first time in about a month! I wish it wasn't so expensive so I could go more. There were two slight problems for this class though. One was my fault: I was just a little hungover. You'd think yoga would probably help a hangover. Well, it's about 95 degrees in there and I can tell you that it does NOT help a hangover, so no need for you to try! Secondly, it was PACKED! You know like every space covered with a mat. A little too close to my neighbors. And I try not to judge, it is yoga after all, but the chick next to me was really into her breathing and "letting it all out"!

I just finished eating homemade pancakes with coffee, and reading postsecret. Pretty much my favorite Sunday ritual.

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!