January 30, 2015

January Finds

I always love it when bloggers post lists of all of the cool and interesting things they've found on the internet over the past week. I've tried to write them once or twice but it's never really worked. This week, I want to try something different. I've been compiling a list of all the interesting things I've found on the internet this month. So, here you go. Enjoy!

My friend Caitlin posted 10 things she learned while making macarons. Goodness it's a process! I can't wait to try!

The Secret History of Women in the Senate. I mentioned yesterday that I've been watching Alpha House. I had no idea that the bathroom thing (there not being enough women's bathrooms in the Senate chamber) was real. Until 2008, women couldn't swim in the Senate pool because some of the Senators liked to swim naked. What?!

Buzzfeed's Clean Eating Challenge. I read some of the comments and apparently, the grocery list cost upwards of $200 for some people per week. That being said, the recipes look great and while, I don't know that I'm up for taking the challenge, I might incorporate some of these meals into my diet...but who knows, I never rule out a good challenge!

This weekly meal plan from Two Peas in Their Pod. The Goat Cheese Lemon Pasta and Broccoli Grilled Cheese are delicious!

That's all I've got for you. Long gone are the days when I was in a job that I was so bored at, I felt like I reached the end of the internet. So why don't you tell me what you've been reading! Leave a comment and I just might throw it into next month's post!

Happy Friday!

January 29, 2015

Currently...

Feeling... ready for the weekend. My weekend at Sundance wore me out and every morning this week has been a struggle.

Reading... The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory. I've finally gotten around to the last book in this series, which I've been reading for a few months now. This one follows the rise of Henry VIII after the death of his father, Henry VII (whom I hated).


I finished Americanah last week and loved it. It was so intriguing.

Listening to... Invisibilia on NPR. It premiered a few weeks ago but I only started last week. It's interesting. It's about what we, as humans, think about and what goes through our minds.


Watching... Network TV. We just got an antenna in our new place but I haven't watched Network TV since we moved into our new place so I've got a lot to catch up on. I started with New Girl, Mindy Project and Downton Abbey but I'm not quite caught up. The series finale of Parenthood was on last week and I missed the entire rest of the season, so I need to catch up on that and Scandal came back last week.

Thinking about... my 2015 travel plans. With tax season upon us, I'm thinking of turning my return into a nice little vacation.

Working on... my blog. I had started a makeover back in October and never got around to finishing it. Tack it on to my February Goals list!

Loving... work. Last week, I took a trip to one of the military bases to get a little bit more of an inside look into what we do and it was awesome. I also finally feel like I'm doing what I came here to do, rather than just getting situated and it's great.

Needing... to clean my apartment. It's a little bit disastrous, and we still have a few unpacked bags all over the place.

Excited about... The Pilot's birthday this weekend! 

January 28, 2015

Wedding Pictures: Formals on the National Mall

Before The Pilot and I got engaged, I always wondered in the back of my mind where we would get married. I knew I didn't want to get married in either of the places I grew up (Texas or New Jersey) because it would mean that one half of my family would have to travel.

Within two months of moving to DC, I knew that I wanted to get married in DC. When we got engaged at the World War II Memorial, we both agreed as soon as we started planning our wedding that we wanted to take our photos around the monuments. I think you'll agree we made the right decision once you take a look for yourself!

I mentioned last week that it stopped raining just as our ceremony ended. It was still pretty cloudy out when we headed to our first stop, but the weather looked like it was going to clear up. Renting an Old Town Trolley to transport us around for pictures was probably my favorite idea! It seated 35 people so our we packed it with the whole family!




Our first stop was the Capitol building. It was supposed to be under scaffolding by the time we got married, but they had barely started and I was so happy! What's more iconic to a DC wedding than the United States Capitol Building?

Fun fact...my mom made my flower girl's dress too!
Us with my 'maids. 
Us with the guys...I love this picture!
The Pilot and me with my dad and all six of my siblings. 
Love.
I had mentioned before that most of our family and wedding party hadn't been to DC before our wedding so taking pictures on the monuments was the perfect way for them to really get to see DC and still be part of the wedding!


This is easily one of my favorites.
Our ceremony ended at 3pm and our cocktail hour was at 5:30. Most couples skip their cocktail hour, but there was no way we were doing that, so from the time we got to the Mall to the time we needed to be at the cocktail hour was about 2 hours. Most people told me that wouldn't be a long enough window but they were so wrong! It was the perfect amount of time to hit up our favorite monuments! We did all of the shots with the bridal party at the Capitol and then made our way to the World War II Memorial where we got engaged.






Once we finished at the WWII Memorial, we walked across and made our way up to the Washington Monument.

This was by far my favorite part of our wedding. Our photographers hung back a little bit, giving us time to just be together. Once we got to the Monument, we snapped a few posed pictures, and then Chris just told us to go have fun, make each other laugh and be ourselves, and those are some of the most perfect pictures from the day. 








So, there you have it! Our sometimes formal, sometimes not so formal wedding photos around the National Mall!



January 26, 2015

Love/Don't Love

1. I had such a relaxing weekend. I ran, I lounged, I saw friends, I drank beer. It was awesome. Love. 
2. Even though I started my job 3 weeks ago (today!), I wasn't scheduled for Orientation until this week. Today was a long day. Informative, but so, so long! Don't Love. 
3. Despite all of that, it's a pretty short week for me. Adventure awaits. Love.

Can you guess?
{image via Fodors}
4. I finally finished listening to Serial and my biggest question never got answered. If Hae was missing for three weeks (in the middle of the winter), how could they possibly narrow down her time of death to 26ish minutes? What if she wasn't actually killed until two weeks later? Then, the whole trial is irrelevant. Don't Love. 
5. My office got a fancy new coffee machine today and it makes the best hot chocolate. I'm also pretty stoked because the old one dispensed approximately 4 oz of coffee...because that's enough to make you function. Not.  Love. 
6. I ran four times last week for a grand total of 16 miles. It was awesome. I haven't had a week like that since November. Best part? I had a running buddy for every mile! Once with Andrea, twice with my wedding photographer/new bff, and once with The Pilot...who also signed up for DC Rock & Roll this weekend. Love.


7. I also did yoga three times last week...for the second week in a row! I'm seriously loving these Yoga with Adrienne videos and how they're helping me build a practice. My goal is to keep practicing 3 times per week (minimum) and then increase it, and eventually do that 30 Day Challenge that I never finished when I hurt my knee! Love. 

That's what's going on in my corner of the world!
What about yours?

January 22, 2015

Currently...

Feeling... Tired, achy and sore. Between Tuesday night's yoga session and yesterday's tackle of Capitol Hill, my body is aching. It feels so good to be back at it, but man oh man, when my alarm went off this morning for yoga, I definitely went back to bed.

Reading... Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I picked it up at an adorable little "Take a book, leave a book" stand outside someone's house and started it on the Metro this morning. So far, I love it. It made my commute fly by. I've also had this book on my Amazon Wish List for awhile, so I'm excited I picked it up.


Listening to... "Hey Jude" on repeat. I've always loved The Beatles, but oddly, I had never heard this song until the movie Across the Universe came out. I love it. Side note, the cover of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" from that movie is my favorite cover of all time.


Watching... We still haven't gotten our cable hook up in our apartment so I have no idea what's on television right now. This week, I caught up on New Girl and Mindy Project on Fox, but when you have to watch those shows on the network's site, you can't watch last week's episode until after this week's episode, leaving you perpetually a week behind. No big deal, but I also need to catch up on Downton Abbey because Slate may or may not have tweeted a giant spoiler this week.

Thinking about... Serial. I finally finished it and can't stop thinking about it.

Working on... my training schedule for the Rock 'n' Roll Half. I signed up last week and started training on Monday...without a training plan. That was definitely one of my New Year's Resolutions, so that's something I need to work on this week.

Loving... work. Almost two weeks in and I'm still really happy. Things are starting to get busy too! Also, that this is my 700th blog post. I love that I've kept up this blog for almost 5 years!

Needing... to get our bedroom in shape. Our apartment is really starting to shape up nicely, and our living room is almost done but the bedroom is in bad shape. Our closet is finally finished, but there are still piles of stuff in the bedroom and no art on the walls. I guess that will be this weekend's project. Maybe I wouldn't feel so pressured to get things in order if we were in a house...the fact that we're renting, just makes me want to get it done as quickly as possible.

Excited about... weddings! I love weddings. We went from having one this year to three and I'm pretty pumped about it. Time to break out my dancing shoes!

That's what's going on in my world this week.
What about you?

January 21, 2015

Wedding Pictures: The Ceremony

When I left the hotel for the church, it was pouring...that seemingly endless kind of downpour that looks like it's going to last for days.


My mom and I rode to the church together and when we got there, she went inside and I just waited outside for a little bit watching the rain pour down and not so calmly waiting to make my way into the church.


My brother and my cousin Chris stood by the door and handed out programs. They also blocked the doors once they were closed so that no one could see me in the vestibule!



Luckily, our church was small, only about 14 pews deep so the procession moved pretty quickly. We started with grandparents, then parents, then the bridesmaids, escorted by the groomsmen, followed by the ring bearer and flower girl.



I stayed in the car, right until my little nephew walked down carrying his "Has anyone seen the rings?" sign (which I made!) and then it was time to get married!



The Pilot was waiting for me at the end of the aisle, and unfortunately we couldn't see each other since the Best Man was standing right in front of him! I pretty much ran down the aisle because I was so eager to see him.




My dad walked me down the aisle and my mom met us at the top of the aisle and my parents gave us their blessing.



As per Catholic tradition, we started the ceremony with the priest asking us if we freely and willingly came to this church to get married.


Our ceremony was exactly an hour long, which was great. Catholic weddings tend to go pretty long! Two of my sisters and The Pilot's sister all did readings and the music was beautiful. I grew up going to Catholic school so all of the songs that were sung had a special meaning to me.


After the readings and the gospel, we said our vows and exchanged rings.


And then, we were married!




As we were walking out of the church, the first thing I noticed was that it wasn't raining anymore!

A quick..."We're married!" moment.
I really didn't want a lot of formal photos in the church, but we snapped a few and were in and out of there in 10 minutes...


 ...and on our way to the National Mall for outdoor photos!


It was really important to both of us that we had a Catholic wedding. The Pilot and I were both raised Catholic and our faith is really important to both of us. Our ceremony was beautiful and I'm so happy that we were able to include so many of our family in the wedding through the ceremony. We laughed through it, we cried through it, and we enjoyed it, and once it was over, it was time to have some serious fun!

Come back next week to see my favorite photos...our formal portraits around the DC monuments!




Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...