Top 11 of 2011

I would say that it seemed like it was just yesterday that we were ringing in 2011, but in reality it seems like it was a long time ago!


I decided to make a couple of lists to commemorate 2011.

Top 11 Books I Read During 2011 (in no particular order)

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Read it now if you haven't already.
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay by Suzanna Collins
4. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - One of the best classic novels I've ever read
5. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
6. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
7. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
8. Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee by Hoda Kotb
9. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
10. Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow
11. P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Top 11 Roadtrips of 2011 (in no particular order)

1. Maine (July) - By far this was the best roadtrip ever! I am so grateful to Patti and her family for taking me. I got to spend a week with one of my most favorite families that treat me as if I am their own!
2. Harrisonburg (April) - I had the opportunity to meet one of my tumblr friends and tour the new performing arts center. I gotto attend two of Beau's baseball games and hang out with some of my absolute favorite JMU/Harrisonburg loves.
3. Charlotte (April/May) - Though I was down there for a job interview, I got to spend time with my old roomie, my birthday twin, and my boys! And I actually got to stay in the city this time and see more of Charlotte.
4. Arlington (January) - I brought in the new year with my roomies and got to go to Tyson's, which reminds me - I need to go back there.
5. Harrisonburg (August) - I always love going to Harrisonburg for fantasy football weekend. On this particular weekend, I got to catch up with one of my MCCs, go to the book fair, and go dance like a crazy fool at The Blue Nile, which was the absolute highlight of my weekend!
6. Norfolk (May) - I traveled down to Old Dominion University, a place I always feel at home, to celebrate my little cousin's graduation! A good time as always!
7. Arlington (August) - It was my first time in Northern Virginia during the warm months in years! I had a blast walking around D.C. in the heat and visiting museums and monuments!
8. Arlington (September) - I went to D.C. for some job interviews and it was the first time I rode the metro by myself and I did it correctly!
9. Harrisonburg (October) - Homecoming 2011 was amazing! I got to surprise my favorites! And watching the game with Jim in the brand new stadium was AMAZING!
10. Arlington (February) - This trip happened so long ago that I can't remember what I did. But I do remember not having to spend Valentine's weekend alone and I got to see my Bea! I think I also went to Potomac Mills and IKEA for the first time ever!
11. Blacksburg (August) - Moving my sister into college was fun because it brought back memories of my 4 wonderful years at JMU! And I got to spend time with my Little Duke turned Hokie, Tori. 

Top 11 Moments of 2011 (In no particular order)

1. My little sister being crowned Miss DHS in March.
2. My little sister graduating as valedictorian of her high school class.
3. My cousin graduating from Old Dominion University.
4. Watching my JMU Dukes beat those Richmond Spiders as my first game in new stadium for Homecoming 2011.
5. Watching the Dinwiddie Girls Cross Country team become regular season district champs and win the district championship. And I was there every step of the way!
6. The birth of my niece, Raina...but maybe not the part where I was actually in the room for it.
7. Being invited to vacation in Maine with Patti and her family! I swear the whole week before I went I was so excited, I'd just say Maine and smile like a goober because I could not wait!
8. The Earthquake of 2011
9. Seeing Wicked at the Landmark Theater
10. Having two articles and photos published in The Progress-Index
11. That moment when they announced that there was actually was going to be football this year, which led to me drafting not one, but two fantasy football teams!

Car Trouble

When we last left off, I was leaving Arlington. It was circa 7:45 p.m. and I knew I'd be driving through some rain and storms but I was ready. I was headed towards Dinwiddie and I thought my weekend adventure was over.

I was wrong, so very wrong.

So here I am jammin' hardcore on the way home, like singing at the top of my lungs as usual. The rain was actually keeping me awake and I was making excellent time. I had just entered Hanover County and I was about 1.5 hours away from home when my check engine light came on. I was a little freaked out but my check engine light has come on before and my car was acting fine so I was like hmmm this is no big deal.

Then the red oil light came on and in the few seconds I had to think, I thought, "This is not good." Then my car just seemed like it didn't want to go so I pulled over on the side of the highway.

First I calmly called my mom, then I called her bf. I explained the situation and my whereabouts. Then I panicked. I realized I was alone, in the rain and storms, an hour and a half from home, in the dark, parked on the side of the highway. And I'd by lying if I said I didn't cry a little bit.

Then I called everyone I could think of because I needed someone to talk to because when you sit in a car alone and the wind is blowing the trees, you start imagining things that aren't there. You'll never believe the number of people who don't answer their phones at 9:45 on a Sunday night. I talked to my sister for awhile and then Mike called me back and stayed on the phone with me until my mom's boyfriend finally got there.

My car would not start so we decided to leave it there until the next day when it was much lighter. Bad idea. Turns out the state police like to tow cars. At the owner's expense.

Which is how my car came to be in Ashland, Va in a state police impound. Poor Betsy.

Long story short, things have only gotten worse since then. My car would not start the next day when we went to get it. We had it towed to a mechanic who let us know my car wasn't working because the timing belt went bad.

Well when they finally put the new timing belt on, it turns out my engine is bad. So that's the story of how I came to be broken down on the side of the road alone (nbd - only the 3rd time that that's happened to me) and without a car during the busiest week of my summer.

Just Another Lazy Sunday?

So you know how Sunday is supposed to be that day where you just relax? Well my Sunday in Arlington was just the opposite!

This was mine and Mike's conversation on Sunday morning.

Mike: So what should we do today?
Me: We should go see something.
Mike: Like a thing?
Me: Yeah.

Crazy thing is, we knew exactly what we meant (for once!). But before we decided what we were gonna do, we needed the energy! So off to lunch at Pete's New Haven Style Apizza (apparently "apizza" is pronounced "ah-beetz"). They had really cool sodas at this place. I had cheese ravioli which was good! And then Mike and I split a cannoli, which I was super excited about cuz there had been a cannoli on Bones the night before, and I said I wanted one then!

After lunch, we made our plan for the day! We were gonna head to the National Geographic Museum and then the huge Forever 21 in D.C.

First we headed to the National Geographic Museum, which I'd never been to before. We looked at an exhibit on Macchu Pichu and then looked at all the photos surrounding the building which were awesome. The photos made me a little sad because I'm never gonna be that awesome!

Then we headed to H&M and Forever 21. I bought a new tank top and a much needed belt from Forever 21! Then we decided to head towards the Washington Monument, because Mike said it'd be awesome to get photos of the Washington Monument while laying down with our feet against it!

On the way to the Washington Monument, we walked by some of the sights of the D.C.: Ford's Theatre (where Lincoln was shot), the house where Lincoln died (seriously that's what the sign said - idk if it has a name), the Hard Rock Cafe and the FBI Building.

Ford's Theatre



The house where Lincoln died

On our way to the Washington Monument, we decided to cut through the Smithsonian of Natural History. Which was an awesome idea since I've never been there. Mike wanted to see the ocean exhibit so we took a look at that. Then we saw the signs of all the exhibits that were being shown and needless to say, our "cut through" was lost on two museum nerds like ourselves.

First I wanted to see the Hope Diamond, so I stood around waiting to taking a picture of it. Then we headed to the exhibit on photos of animals. Then they had a really interesting on race and whether we're all as different as we think. Then we went to the butterfly exhibit, but you had to pay to go in the butterfly room which was sad because Mike really wanted to high five a butterfly. Then we got sucked into the gift shop for awhile!

After we finally finished our "cut through," we finally headed towards the Washington Monument. We attempted to find a shady spot, with no luck; btw it was super hot! We laid down and looked up!

The Washington Monument from the ground!



Me, trying to shield Mike and I from the sun!

After that, we headed back to the metro to head back to Arlington to decide what to do for dinner. We decided on cheeseburgers from Ray's Hell Burgers, which was amazing! I wish I wasn't so hungry that I woulda taken a photo of my burger before I started eating it.

Then we headed back to the apt as my Arlington/weekend adventure was coming to an end...

...Or was it?




Running and its Rewards

Back to my weekend in Arlington.

When we woke up on Saturday, Mike decided that he wanted to go running and was doing his best to convince me to go. If you know me, I'm not exactly what I'd call an athlete. Sometimes I'll get in athletic moods; just not often.

However, I don't like being told that I can't do something. Mike offered me four options, one of which was staying home to shower while he went running. That was a good option. Did I take it? No, of course not; let's be honest.

So we take option C, I think, which involves driving to Teddy's Roosevelt's island to run the trails there. Mind you, I was wearing what I wore for pajamas and I was starving! But Mike promised me breakfast if I ran for like twenty minutes. That's doable, right?

It was going...well...if that's what you call it; I'm trying to keep breathing and not fall over and Mike is like, look at the plaque about birds. I stopped briefly to get water and I'm pretty sure that everyone is judging my non-athleticism and my outfit.

Then Mike trips over like a stump on our way down to look at the water and I stop. Apparently stopping when your heart is beating that fast is NOT a good idea. Mike decides he's okay to keep going. I, on the other hand, am about to pass out. Which is soon followed by me feeling nauseous. So here I am squatting on the ground praying that I don't throw up on my Sperry's (did I not mention that Mike convinced me to go running in my Sperry's) and in front of a boy! Definitely one of the top five most unattractive moments of my life.

I finally regain my sense of normalcy and we decide to walk back to the car. Turns out I made it to 16 minutes of running! We walked by the Teddy Roosevelt statue on the way out. But I was still feeling to icky to enjoy the monument part (or any part) of the island.

We headed back to the apartment for much needed showers and then we headed to Metro 29 Diner for my running reward breakfast! By the way, if you're really hungry you should go there for breakfast because they give you a ton of food. It's a little too much if you almost died from running earlier that day but I ate as much as I could!

Then we headed to Pentagon City mall because it was on my list and I bought my fantasy football outfit for the following weekend! I think the rest of the afternoon included naps, getting frozen yogurt at Red Mango, going to Barnes and Noble, watching Bones, and getting ready again!

After lots of begging, I convinced Mike that we should go to Thai at Corner for dinner because I've loved their chicken fried rice since I had it back in December when I visited! (I was milking that "Remember that time this morning when you almost killed me.")

After dinner (which was wayyy yummy as expected!), we explored the nightlife of Arlington and met up with Tyler, Thomas, Dianna, Shane, and Bea, all of whom are some of my favorite JMU people!

Truckeroo

Do you ever have friends that you want to hang out with but they are so busy that it takes forever to make plans with them? I have friends like that.

I've been trying to hang out with Mike since June but he's soooooo popular and in such high demand that he just now finally had a free weekend. So on Friday morning I headed up to Arlington.

Except I decided to make a pit stop and eat lunch with Patti in Ladysmith! So I met her at Subway and we run into her best friend Leslee and her family, whom I've heard so much about in the last four years! It was cool to finally get to meet them.

After a long lunch break (I couldn't bear to leave Patti even though I'll see her this weekend, hopefully!), I got back on the road and finally got to Arlington around 3.

Anyway someone had worked all morning (obvs not me cuz I'm jobless) so in lieu of a nap (cuz I woulda slept hardcore and we never would have made our evening plans), we hit the pool! It was uber hot there but we laid out, attempted to read, watch some crazy rabbits hop around, and got in the water for a bit.

After the pool, showers, and some resting, we finally decided to head to Truckeroo. What's Truckeroo, you ask? Well it's a monthly food truck festival held near Nationals stadium.

I must admit I had no idea what to expect but Mike was really excited about it! So we got on the metro and headed that way. And then began the standing in lines. We stood in line at the ATM. We stood in line to get in the festival.

Once we got in there, it was unbelievingly overwhelming. The food trucks were arranged in a circle around the venue, there were lines going every which way, and way more people than I was expecting, which made it hard to see what different food trucks were there. Mike kept asking me what I wanted and I couldn't decide or see what was there.

We finally settled on the BBQ Bus!

We both opted for pulled pork sandwiches, though Mike chose to have pickled onions on his. I think they look like worms (see below). I also forgot people put cole slaw on BBQ sandwiches but it wasn't that bad like that. We choked down on pulled pork sandwiches without drinks while sitting on the ground! They were good!! =]

Mike's pulled pork sandwich

We finally found sodas and then we decided on a cupcake truck for dessert! I had a lemon cupcake and Mike had a snickerdoodle cupcake. They were delicious and we devoured them; that's why there are no photos of them! 

And that concludes our first Truckeroo experience! =]

Playing catch up!

New site, same me! I've decided to give Blogger a try. I think it will allow me to customize my blog a little differently than Tumblr allows so let's see how this works!

Because of all sorts of reasons, I am so far behind on blogging. So let me try and play catch up!

1. Since my last real post, I turned 23 (on 4/23). I had a pretty low key birthday, but I think that's what happens when you get old! I did get some really nice presents though!
2. I had my interview in Charlotte for the TEACH Charlotte program (5/1). I stayed the weekend with my sophomore roommate, Nikki and had the pleasure of visiting with Daniel, Meghan, Jeremy, and Mike while I was down there.



Bank of America building in Charlotte, NC

3. My cousin, Travis graduated from Old Dominion University (5/7)! I had the opportunity to go to his graduation ceremony and hang out with him, Alicia, Santana, Sam, and Frankie. A good time down at ODU as always.



Travis and I at his graduation



Those are the major things that happened a loooong time ago that I needed to catch up on. Everything else is fairly recent and can probably get its own personal post!

Any advice on how I can be less of an epic fail at blogging? I'm open to all ideas!