Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Finally February - Our First Snow

It turns out that Punxsutawney Phil wasn't kidding on Groundhog Day when he said six more weeks of winter.

We've been having such a temperate winter so far, I simply just ignored Phil's warning. 

However, at some point last week, the weather men started talking about a possible snow-making storm system for the end of the weekend. 


Turns out Phil and the weathermen were right. It starting snowing and sticking on Sunday night, which led to our school system cancelling school for Monday (Presidents Day). Initially, the students had been scheduled to attend a half day. 

The students also got a two hour delay today, which is good because this will probably be the last snow day/delay they have this year. Especially since it's supposed to be 72 degrees on Thursday!

Personally I can't wait!

Our 4 inches of snow


Did you have Presidents Day off from work or school? What did you do? Are you a fan of snow or has this been  your kind of winter?

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Happy Presidents Day

This is going to be a very nerdy post.


Don't say you were not warned!


When I was a child, I was a huge nerd. Not to say, I've grown out of it, because I certainly haven't. I'm just better at hiding it (sometimes). Seriously if I told you some of the most embarrassing nerdy things I did as a child, I would never be able to show my face again or you guys would remind me of said embarrassing things every day for the rest of my life.


One of my nerdy obsessions as a child was presidents of the United States. I don't where and when I got this obsession but as a child I had several books on the subject. Perhaps it's because I've always had the memory for facts and dates and I've always loved U.S. History.


One of the first presidents books I owned and still own!
(Source)
As a child, one of my uncles used to come visit. I remember giving him one of my presidents' books and telling him to study it while I was at the grocery store so I could quiz him when I returned. 


Anyway I know a myriad of random presidential facts. Luckily, I've found a friend, Amanda, who loves presidents as much as I do and probably knows a lot more than I do about them. 


So in celebration of this Presidents Day, I've got a little bit of President trivia for you!



  1. Where did Thomas Jefferson go to college?
  2. Which president served the shortest term?
  3. Who was the only bachelor (never married) president?
  4. Who was the youngest person to become president?
  5. Which president appeared on the $500 bill?

If you think you know the answer, please comment below! And if you want to add some trivia for me, please do!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

My First 8K

While many of you were still in your warm beds on Sunday morning, I was preparing to take on the most challenging athletic feat of my life. 

You see, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday in preparation for the 8K I was running in Midlothian! As expected the temperature was somewhere in the low 20s with a windchill factor of oh about, 9 degrees. No big deal. 

I was already a little anxious but knowing that I would have to be running in such cold temperatures was the icing on the cake! I've only run one race in my life and that was my 5K back in October 2010.

However, the race didn't go as bad as I thought it would. Even though, it turns out that I picked one of the hilliest races that I could have picked. The first hill of the race was a monster! I wish I had a photo to show you. 


Click here for a map.

Anyway, I ran the entire race. I don't know how I did it. My official time was 53:44, which was right about what I thought it would be. 




On Sunday night, there was a pretty awesome award show going on. No, I'm not talking about the Grammy's. I'm talking about The Elby's. Wait, you've never heard of The Elby's? Do you live under a rock?

No worries because I hadn't heard of them until I was invited by a friend to attend them. And this was the inaugural year of The Elby's so there was a good reason I hadn't heard of them. The Elby's are a culinary awards show for restaurants and chefs located in Richmond, Va. 

So yes, after running an 8K in the morning, I got all dolled up and put on heels to attend The Elby's. I had an amazing time! I learned that apparently there are a ton of restaurants I need to try out.

After the awards show and the after party, we went to Can Can, a super classy restaurant in Carytown. The menu was French to me and while I couldn't bring myself to be as adventurous in my food choices as the others I was with, I had an amazing cheeseburger. I did share a pretty adventurous dessert; it was goat cheese something or other. I really should have brought my camera because it looked too pretty to eat!

All in all, it was a perfect day with my athletic accomplishment and the opportunity to attend such a classy event that same night!


Friday, February 10, 2012

Finally Some Winter Weather



Oh hey winter weather. How nice of you to stop by.

NOT!

Remember how I said I'm not a fan of cold weather.  Remember how I was so excited about how warm the weather was the other week when I had a day off.

This is the forecast for Midlothian, Va. (from Weather.com), for the next 10 days.


TodayFeb 10Sat11Sun12Mon13Tue14Wed15Thu16Fri17Sat18Sun19
Partly CloudyMostly Cloudy / WindSunnyPartly CloudyFew ShowersPartly CloudyMostly SunnyPartly CloudyScattered ShowersAM Clouds / PM Sun
Partly CloudyMostly Cloudy / WindSunnyPartly CloudyFew ShowersPartly CloudyMostly SunnyPartly CloudyScattered ShowersAM Clouds / PM Sun
58°FHigh51°45°54°51°59°61°60°59°55°
38°Low24°25°34°35°38°41°36°36°35°
See the lowest temperature in the next ten days. It's on Sunday. The high temperature is going to be 45 degrees! See how after this weekend, the temperature significantly gets warmer.

It's just my luck that on Sunday I'll be running my 8K (it was one of my new year's resolutions). At 8:30 in the morning. Just imagine how cold it will be that morning if 45 degrees is the high of the day!

I just hope I finish the race! Without freezing to death! I'll let you know how it goes!

Do you have any tips for running in the cold?

Monday, February 6, 2012

Top 4 Commercials of Superbowl XLVI

I'm a big fan of Superbowls. I can tell you where I was and who I was rooting for all Superbowls since 2007.

This year I was pulling for the Patriots. However, that didn't work out so well. 

On another note, this Superbowl was definitely a boring game until the excitement of the last two minutes.

Early on, I decided that since the game was so boring that I would start keeping a list of the best commercials of Superbowl XLVI.

Here's what I came up with:


This commercial was just so awkward and random, but I couldn't stop laughing. "That's my confidence talking." I mean, what the heck does that mean! Anyway, it was funny nonetheless.


A bull dog and moonwalking. Need I say more?

Doritos always have awesome Superbowl commercials! Another hilarious commercial with a dog, but what makes it even better was that this commercial was created by a JMU alum! GO DUKES!


Best commercial ever! That's all I can say!

What did you think of the Superbowl? What was your favorite Superbowl commercial?

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

My Semiannual Trip to the Movies

According to The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 2005, the average American between the ages of 18 and 29 sees 7.9 movies in the theater every year. Overall, the average American sees 4.7 movies at the theater in a year.


Granted those statistics are about seven years old but that is beside the point. It's relevant because I am positive I go to the movie theater less frequently than most Americans. I think I only went to see 3 movies last year.


I'm not a huge fan of going to the movie theater. Here are my reasons:


  1. I think tickets are entirely overpriced! It costs $10.50 for a ticket. Trust me, there are few movies that I need to pay $10.50 to see rather than wait to buy them on DVD for $20 and watch it as many times as I want. 
  2. I hate sitting still that long, not being able to talk, and not being able to pause the movie when I want. 
  3. Also, I'm that girl who's never seen most movies you will name (don't believe me? read here). Basically I watch the same types of films all the time.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to spend time a couple of my Dinwiddie friends! I hadn't seen Amanda, Chris, and Eric since May. Well that night, Chris, Eric, and Karleigh talked me into going to the movies, a rarity for me. 

Anyway, we went and saw Red Tails, which I knew nothing about going into the theater. It turned out to be a really good movie. First of all, it's about World War II and I love history. It follows the lives of a couple of African American Tuskegee airmen fighting in Europe.

Here's the trailer so you can see for yourself:



The only thing that sucked was we had to sit in the very first row since the theater was so very crowded. 


So, the first month of 2012 has passed and I've already been to the movies once! Let's see how many more times I'll go this year!


What and when was the last movie you saw in theaters? Do you enjoy going to the movie theater?