New Year: Resolutions and Looking Back

Hello friends!

I know not everyone is on the "new year resolution" train, but I like setting goals for myself and working towards them. In addition to the resolution to blog more regularly again, I have a few things I am hoping to accomplish:

- Run a race every month
- Get a PR in my April Half Marathon
- Graduate my Master's Program
- Finally move to NC
- Eat more veggies

What are your goals for the new year? Resolutions - yay or nay???

After being occupied with some personal matters since I last wrote, I wanted to reflect on some of the positive things that have happened since then:

I celebrated another birthday with the love of my life

 

I cheered on my favorite team...

 

I got spoiled with mint goodies from everyone for my birthday and Christmas!

 

I spent quality time at home in Minneapolis playing aunt....

 I met and loved my parents' new puppy

We also threw our annual holiday party and I traveled to Chicago per tradition for Christmas... more on those fronts in other posts.

Happy New Year! Thank you for stopping by!

(Long) Weekend Things: Halloween and Making Moves

I think I win the award for least consistent blogger as of late.

Work, school, applications, pending moves, long distance relationship, the list goes on with excuses. I created this blog as a reminder to stop and appreciate what is going on in my life, and I need to get back to that!

I made my way down to Chapel Hill this past weekend. Last time I was there earlier in the fall, it was all fun and games with a girls trip conveniently to my boy's town.

This time, it was business (but it was also Halloween so we played a little).

Maybe other long distance couples can relate, but were reaching an interesting inflection point where a lot is on the verge of happening. It's exciting, stressful, wonderful, and terrifying.

I graduate in May, he has three more years of grad school (thanks a lot PhD). So if I do not move there, were locking into a few more years of distance. Not ideal. I love NC. I love this man. My graduate degree and experience is better suited to DC, but I feel like the rest of my life is waiting for me in NC. My heart is being pulled to NC, but my stubborn, independent, and rational side says to be careful about moving for a boy (even if we have been together for 5 years!).

Are you tired yet? Yea that dialogue is getting old in my head too. So this past weekend I had a million (or like ten) informational interviews. I started the fun process of networking, discovered some avenues that could be a good fit, and started to see this move as something that could work. Baby steps people.

When I wasn't trying to play chess with my future, we made the rounds at Holiday parties. We love a good couples costume. Last year, my man and I went with this. This year, separate parties called for couples with both of my other halves.

Round 1: Average Joe's Dodgeballers

Round 2: Beauty and the Beast

(FYI: This dress was a good will find the weekend before. Best $7 I've spent in awhile)

What were you for Halloween?

Have you ever moved for someone you love?

Thanks for visiting :)

Spring Things and a Couples Circuit Workout

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Today's Workout: 40 min cross train

Monthly Health Goals - No Eating After 8:00 pm:

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I wonder if other former Track and Field athletes have a similar feeling when they walk outside in the spring and have flash backs to old track seasons. The smell of lilacs and freshly cut grass, the itch of allergies, all remind me of spring nights after school running around with my high school besties.

Spring is especially pretty in D.C., that is, once the Cherry Blossoms come out to play.

I was soaking up the gorgeous spring weather in Chapel Hill this weekend. Lots of grilling out, long walks and runs, and a little picnic too.

I made time for a little shopping, maybe its just me but I love shopping for the boy almost as much as I like shopping for myself. We got him some goodies for the spring, and I came across this robe that reminded me of last week's Wish List Wednesday...carolina blue love. 

We also put together a workout for us to do side-by-side (sorta). A couple that does circuit training together, stays together.... or something like this. We used UNC's Belk Track for this workout:

I got back to D.C. in time for a classic run around the monuments before sunset.



After a long weekend I slept like a baby dreaming about the future travels on the agenda. Tubbs just dreams about more fetch.



Bruschetta and Basketball

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Today's Workout:  4 miles easy

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Another wonderful weekend in Chapel Hill gone by too fast. I arrived later than usual due to Friday's black tie dinner, but we made the most of the time we had together.

The weather was beautiful and called for a run around campus with the pup, checking in on the Dean Dome before the big game of course.

We thought the Carolina Blue skies were a good omen, too bad the night didn't turn out in our favor.

We did some shopping, some movie watching, so chatting with friends, some vino consumption, oh and some eatting.

We had a craving for bruschetta and set off to the local Harris Tetter for the ingredients.  They were all out of fresh basil leaves so we had to go with the bottle option, not ideal, but the end result was still yummy.

Here's the recipe:

Some pics of the process:

We paired the bruschetta with some Chicken Cesear Salad. We cut the original bruschetta recipe in half and made some pretty small pieces, but still had plenty to share with the other roomies. It was a great and semi-healthy dinner for a grad school budget.

His plate (mine looked small, sad, and pathetic):

I took the MegaBus back, per usual (review to come), and the pup stayed there. I'm going through serious puppy withdrawal.

I have serious to-do's to cross off my list before girls come over tonight for a little make-up party and before I leave bright and early for Florida to spend time with my family!

Inauguration, Chapel Hill, and Mimosas

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Wednesday Workout: Barre class in Georgetown (more on this later)

Today's Workout: 5 miles with running club after work

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This was a crazy past weekend in D.C., and I missed a lot of the commotion as I escaped to Chapel Hill. Three day weekends off of work and school are hard to come by, so I try to capitalize on the opportunity when it presents itself.

Before I left town, all signs pointed towards a bustling city awaiting inauguration...

Our office is located inside the deemed "secured area" and would thus be closed on inauguration day. The police had started placing the barriers outside our office as early as Thursday.

The metro is a great tool in this city, but oh man was it packed as the crowds started filling the city.

While in Chapel Hill we made some of our usual stops.

Brunch at Top of the Hill while cheering on the basketball team. Go Heels!

Buy one - get one sushi at ShikiSushi with friends.

We spent some time in Kyle's lab as he worked on things and I studied at his desk. Looking at the station where he works always amazes me. If I were locked in his lab and my freedom depended on figuring out what he does, I would die in there. The cure for cancer could be written on those boards and I would have no idea.

Clearly I was really focused.

Here are some shots my friend Sheng, a very talented classmate from China, caught of the weekend festivities in D.C.:

(Sheng is far right in the bottom photo)

One of my good friend's was at the inaugural ball and caught this shot of Jennifer Hudson serenading the Obamas.

And here she is looking all fabulous. Check out her blog, Running Wild.

Meanwhile, looking much less fancy at Bub's....

Part of me was jealous of all the awesome events my friends were experiencing in the city, but making long distances work requires sacrifices, and I'll always take a long weekend with that guy (sorry for being mushy).

(Check back tomorrow for a FitDay update!!)