Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, loyal readers! I hope you all had a great day stuffing your faces with friends and relatives. Here's what I was up to the last couple of days...

Mr. Handsome and I woke up early on Thursday morning to run a Half-Marathon "Tofurkey Trot!" We dressed warmly to brace the cold, windy conditions and successfully finished in shortly over 2 hours. (He designed our homemade race bibs)

After a hearty breakfast, power nap and condensed viewing of the Macy's Parade, we put on our race shirts (that Mr. Handsome designed himself) and headed to our first Thanksgiving celebration. Shortly after, we headed to our 2nd Thanksgiving event. Needless to say, we were stuffed and had to roll home.

The next day my dearest mom and grandma took me to the Kennedy Center to see The Nutcracker! (I don't understand how ballerinas bend like they do. I think they're secretly made of jello). It was a great kick-off to the holiday season.

This is the ceiling of the Kennedy Center. GORGEOUS! Bling, Bling.

And now... IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME! May you deck the halls all through December :)

Twenty-Six

Last weekend I celebrated my 26th birthday. And that is when I realized... I am old. I am as old as Meredith Blake in the Lindsay Lohan remake of the Parent Trap. I'm 10 years older than most of the Disney Princesses. OH-EM-GEE!

I've had a lot of adventures the past few weeks to celebrate my big 2-6. I've also had a lot of adventures just to have adventures & not be boring. Here are some of the things I've been up to...

On my actual birthday I made Healthy Birthday Pancakes for breakfast! (Multigrain pancakes topped with vanilla Greek yogurt, banana slices, agave nectar & SPIRINKLES).

My handsome man took me to celebrate the big 2-6 at Great Sage in Clarksville, MD. It's an all vegan restaurant with great food like the seitan w/ pepper, carrots & sweet potatoes shown above.

And there he is! Waiting for his foodz...

I also started spending my weekends volunteering at an animal shelter in Shirlington. This adorable little creature is Benjamin Buttons. Five minutes later he was sound asleep on my leg.

This little cutie is Rudy the beagle. Only five months old and ready to go home with you to cuddlez!

I had another special breakfast the other weekend at Open City Diner in Adams Morgan. The animal crackers placed on the side of all their drinks is the best signature business gimmick I've ever seen.

The big 2-6 was also celebrated w/ a tour of Port City Brewing in Alexandria. (Their beers are fantastic). This is me & Mr. Handsome post-tour in the tasting room... getting photo-bombed by our buddy, Paul.

I treated all who attended the tour w/ these pumpkin pretzel goodie-bags! Yes, I did make them myself. Not the pretzels, just the bags. Like YOU can make ribbon curls that awesome? Didn't think so.

On my actual birthday we went all the way out to Leesburg, VA and visited the lovely Tarara Winery. Because of my industry connections, we received a free tasting of six different wines!

We drank the wine while sitting on a bench and overlooking this lake right before sunset. (Cue string quartet).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Traveling

My mind and body tend to work much faster than the average human's mind and body. I am constantly on the go, both physically and mentally. I'm a planner, a do-er, a go-getter. An energizer bunny, if you will!

Unfortunately, this superpower makes it difficult to slow things dooowwwwnnn and catch my breath every once in a while. I haven't taken a vacation in quite some time and have several days of PTO saved up at work. I'm in my mid-20s and there are so many places I have yet to see. This is the time in my life when I should be traveling, going on exciting adventures and trying new things!

I therefore created a list of places I'd like to travel to in the next 5-10 years, (locally, nationally, & globally). The list also includes movies I want to see, restaurants I want to patron, and races I want to enter! Here is the list of all the places I want to travel to in the next couple of years...

Seattle, WA
Portland, OR
Boston, MA
Charleston, SC
Asheville, NC
New Orleans, LA
Austin, TX
Colorado
Hawaii
The Greenbrier in WV
London
Paris
Italy

Thirteen places full of exciting new adventures... HERE I COME!