Island Livin'

Now back to where we left off. As I was gathering my things to leave my weekend in the 'burg, I received another invitation for another trip away. 

This trip I was invited to would take me back to Maine. 

And that's how I ended up in a car on a Friday, with my best friend, Patti; her fiancee, Ben; and his little sister, Hannah. If you remember, this would be my second trip up to Maine as I spent time on the island with Patti back in 2011. I couldn't wait to go back!

Meanwhile, it was Ben and Hannah's first trip to Maine. But don't you worry, I had my fair share of Maine first times. 

For instance, my first Fluffernutter. For my friends who are from the Southern regions of the United States and aren't quite sure what a Fluffernutter is, let me fill you in. It's a sandwich with peanut and marshmallow fluff. Yeah, I was skeptical at first. But it's actually not that bad. Not sure it actually should constitute as a lunch sandwich though. 

Also, my first lobster roll. There are actually no words to describe this.

But while there were many firsts, I also revisited a few of my favorite spots!

For instance, the popcorn store! We also ate at Dry Dock again, which I think is a must-eat place in Maine. 

Anyway it was a great time! I can't wait to be back on the island again!

Back in the 'Burg

Hello all,

So in my last post, I talked about finally taking a day off. I refused to take a day off until I had actual plans because sitting around my house, trying not to check my work email wasn't going to do it for me. So where did I end up, you ask?

Harrisonburg, of course. (You can take the girl out of JMU, but you can't take the JMU out of the girl).

On Friday after the Fourth of July, I packed my bags and headed up to the 'burg. Because Jeremy had to work until late afternoon, I decided to burn sometime at the Book Fair. 

Never been to the Book Fair? You are missing out. The Green Valley Book Fair comes to down for three weeks at a time about 6 times a year. I've been visiting the book fair since my sophomore year of college back in 2007. They sell books of all subjects for 60 to 90 percent off retail prices. I could seriously spend hours there. I left there with a novel, a cookbook, and two books for my niece. 

Another major highlight of the weekend was helping Jeremy with a website for Packsaddle Ridge Golf Club by playing photographer. It was so great to have a reason to get back behind my camera. I got some awesome photos and tons of compliments. I'll post the link the website once it is finished.

iPhone shot

The other highlight was the feast we prepared on Saturday after being at the golf course all day. Jeremy and I came home and got to cooking! We had shrimp and chicken kabobs with green and red peppers, rice, pasta salad, and fried squash. A couple of friends joined us and we ate until we were stuffed and then we sat around the nice, warm bonfire, listening to some 90's music.

Dinner by the citronella light!

All in all, it was an amazing weekend! But hey, that was only the start to my travels this summer. Keep up!

Happy Birthday, America!

Hi friends and fellow Americans!

If you've been a loyal reader, you know my obsession with the 4th of July. It's one of my five favorite holidays (My Birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Groundhogs Day are the other 4 in case you were wondering). If you didn't know, please see past posts here and here.

Two days prior to Independence Day, I celebrated one year at my job! It's crazy how long ago that seems and how it also seems like it was just yesterday. In celebration of Independence Day, my one year anniversary with my job and because I've been just so darn stressed, I turned this past week into a 3 day work week.

The Outfit

On the 4th, I headed down to Colonial Heights to spend the holiday with the family, which turned out to be the best idea ever. Instead of the typical hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, we had steak and salmon -- yum!

The Food

After letting all that good food settle, watching (and playing) Jeopardy with the family, and introducing one of my uncles to Duck Dynasty, we headed out to Target to shop and watch the fireworks! Just like last year, my niece who is now 21 months old loved the fireworks. In fact, she mentioned that a couple of times. 

The Fireworks

All in all, it was a great start to my long weekend, which you'll hear about soon! Stay tuned!

How do you celebrate the 4th of July?

Off Balance

I'm going to write about something that has been weighing on my mind for quite some time. In fact, I thought I had already written this post months ago, due to the fact that it's been a struggle for me for that long. What is it?, you ask. 

Work/Life Balance.

Source

And the simple fact that I have no balance. I have been in an awful mood lately. I've been letting the stress of work get to me and not leaving it in the office. That makes it hard for me to be myself outside of work when I'm always pissed off at work things. 

I've decided to make a list of all the things that I can do to improve my work/life balance. I'm open to any suggestions you may have as well.

• Exercise --Exercise produces endorphins, endorphins make you happy and happy people don't hate their jobs. 
• One of my coworkers and I decide to go to the body combat class every Monday. So far, it's been great. Mondays are one of the worst days of the week for me (who does like Mondays?!?) so getting to sweat it out at the gym after work totally makes me feel better after a long day of work.
• Also, I recently relocated to the city (yay -- more on that later!) and everyone here is so active. At all times of the day, there are people of every shape, age and size running the streets of Richmond. I put my shoes to the pavement and ran 1.25 very flat (my favorite) miles down the road to see my sister at the gym on Saturday morning. I felt so great after that.
• Relaxation -- This weekend, I decided I was going to really focus on myself and get myself back to me center. I spent time just being alone, listening to music and reading. There really is nothing else like getting lost in a book. 
• Get your zzz's -- Being in a new place was not conducive to my sleep. Trust me, I was much more irritable when I hadn't been getting in sleep, which made the stress of work a lot worse. 
• Friends -- Sometimes you really just need to vent to a good friend who won't judge you. I hadn't talked to my best friend in awhile and talking to her on the phone about how stressed work was making me made me feel a lot or better.
• Leave work at work -- Or on the other hand, don't vent. I have tried to stop talking about work when I'm not there. I had this really bad habit of checking my work email when I was at home. Then I would stress all evening about things I couldn't take care of until the next day. 
• Hobbies -- Work has been draining me; however, sometimes you just need to remember to do the things you love. I'm excited about the warmer weather because I want to take my camera out and get some good photos of my new surroundings!
• And when all else fails -- use those vacations days you've got saved up. 

How do you balance your work life with your personal life?

Becoming a Richmonder

I think I am slowly becoming a city girl. If you know me in real life, this can be surprising. Traffic stresses me out. One way streets freak me out. 

I've been working in Richmond since July so this is bound to happen. And pretty soon, it'll be a lot more official.

Since the weather has gotten warmer, I've been spending a lot of time in Richmond. A couple of months ago, my middle school/high school/college friend, Tori and I did the canal walk. It was amazing! I learned so much about the history of Richmond and the James River. Best of all, I got some amazing photos.

A couple of weeks later, I spent a Sunday with my sister at the Virginia Fine Arts Museum in Richmond. I had been to the VMFA many times but my sister is an Art History major so she has class there all of the time. She has so much knowledge about the place so I learned a ton.

Have you gone exploring in your hometown or city lately? What have you seen or learned?

Monument Avenue 10K: A Two Time Finisher

I have been so MIA. I apologize profusely. But let's get to the real point of this post.

As you know earlier this year, I joined the gym. What you may not know is that I fail miserably at the gym. At least at the part that was supposed to help me train for the Monument Avenue 10K. I can't stand running on a treadmill. Everytime I ran outside, my calf cramped up, my knee would hurt and my foot would go numb. Not a good recipe for beating my time from last year.

My sister, Dani, was also training for a half marathon. So she was out running 10 miles at a time and I was struggling to run 10 minutes. On the morning of April 13, 2013, my goal was simply to finish the race. I gave up on my sub-65, beat-my-time-from-last-year. I just wanted to finish the race which seemed impossible.

Pre race faces!

The weather was much nicer this year for the race. A lot sunnier and even too hot at times. I attempted to start my RunKeeper app when I crossed the starting line so I could track my progress. Unfortunately it did not start. So I just ran. I started looking at the clock on my phone and after 1 mile, I realized I was running at a 10 minute mile pace. I had to pee but I decided I could ignore that for awhile. After 2 miles, I was still running at a 10 minute miles pace. Stopping to pee was out of the question. And my calf? It felt great.

Are you ready to know how it ended? Are you sure you're ready?

I RAN 6 MINUTES AND 20 SECONDS FASTER THAN LAST YEAR! (63:21)

Post race smiles!

I still don't know how I did it but I am happy. I was 2 minutes slower than Dani down to the second!

I'm still ecstatic I'm looking at sub-60 for next year; if I can get off my lazy butt! :)

Tell me about a time that you accomplished a goal that you thought was impossible.

neVer forgeT 4.16.07

Six years ago on April 16, 2007, there were thirty two people who went to campus. Two hours away, I did the exact same thing. Those thirty two people never returned.

I will never forget April 16, 2007. I was a freshman at James Madison University. My freshman year was coming to a close and I was finally getting used to being so far away from home. It was a Monday, which meant I had my Spanish class at 9:05 and my literature class at 10:10. My 11:15 writing class was cancelled because we were having individual conferences with my professor about our final papers.

After my literature class, I went back to my dorm and signed on AIM. I instant messaged my RA upstairs and asked what he was doing. He wrote back, "I'm watching the news. Someone got shot at Tech." I replied back, "I have friends at Tech." He said, "Everyone does."

I tell my roommate Rachael that there was a shooting at Virginia Tech and she asks where that is. She was from Pennsylvania. I tell her that it is just two short hours down the highway. 

I head towards the dining hall to meet my friend Jessica for lunch. I meet her somewhere between the dining halls and I tell her there was a shooting at Tech and that one person has died. We get in line, grab some foods, and sit down to watch the televisions in Top Dog.

Jessica looks at the TV and looks at me and asks me what I said about it just being one person who had passed away because the headline on the television said 10. I told no, it was just 1. She said "No, it says 10 casualties. Doesn't that mean ten people dead?"

I look at the TV and see the increased count. I think, "What in the world is going on here?" I noticed that the dining hall was way too quiet for a Monday lunch hour. Usually people would be shouting to friends and talking about what they had done that past weekend.

I look behind me and notice that almost no one is in line for food. People are just standing around behind those seated at the tables; their eyes were glued to the televisions. This image is burned in my mind.

I called my mother because I talked to her every day of my freshman year and I was surprised she had not called me. Dinwiddie schools were on Spring Break so she had actually just woken up. When she answered the phone, I asked why she had not called me. She was confused. "Mom, there was a shooting at Virginia Tech."

Jessica begins attempting to call our high school friend, Sarah to no avail. I comfort her by telling her that I am sure everyone is trying to get in touch with everyone so phone calls probably were not going through. 

I remember going to work that day at the library and not doing any work at all. I sat on my computer refreshing the news pages of various websites, watching horrified as the number of those who passed away kept rising. I stayed on Facebook, watching as all my Virginia Tech friends changed their profile pictures to the remembrance ribbon. If they changed their profile pictures, I knew they were okay. 

On April 16, 2007, though I was two hours away from the place where that tragedy took place, my way of life was threatened. The world was not a safe place. Those people all went to campus that day, not knowing it would be their last. A handful of the 32 that lost their lives that day were freshman at Virginia Tech. They were just like me, starting out their education, careers and what was supposed to be the best four years of their lives.

Six years ago and I still remember so much from that day. Six years ago and I am still shocked for this tragedy took place. Six years ago today and my heart still hurts for the Hokies.

4.16.07 neVer forgeT