Sunday Social

1. What do you miss most about being a kid? Being carefree....summers were spent sleeping in and being lazy, and during the school year, you think the worst thing in the world is having to study for a test or wearing the wrong outfit or getting a zit.

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it? In high school, my best friend and I had to interview someone for the yearbook...he had gone to another country (Puerto Rico, maybe?) and had a pen pal named Miguel. His friend wanted to be in the yearbook story, so he said he also had a pen pal, named Padupa. My friend started calling me Padupa, which turned into Padoops, and was ultimately shortened to Pad. My best friends still call me Pad to this day!

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess? I don't really remember! I like playing Four Square in elementary school, but I don't even really remember how you play.

4. What did you want to be when you grew up? An author!

5. Did you participate in any school activities? Cheerleading in middle school for a year, then co-editor of the yearbook in high school. Probably other things too but now I forget!

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about? When I was trying to do something as a surprise, I'd tell my parents not to look at what I was doing, and then I'd turn around and say, "Keep on don't looking!"

Weekend Recap

This weekend went by WAY too fast, but it was a pretty good one! Friday after work, I went by the mall to do a little shopping, while I was waiting for Josh to get home. Friday nights have become our official "date nights," although we don't have children (technically I consider our dogs to be our babies though!), so really every night is date night, I suppose. But we take Friday night to go out to a more expensive dinner and dessert, and not allow ourselves to feel guilty for spending extra money or ingesting extra calories! So far we've gone to the same restaurant both Fridays...Firebirds, a wood-fire grill restaurant. Not sure if you all have been there, but it's amazingly delicious. I always get the same thing...the grilled chicken, which is technically smothered in a jack cheese sauce but I get it plain (I can only allow myself to indulge in but SO many extra calories so I try to draw the line somewhere!), and with the steamed veggies on the side. They also have a really good salad that comes with chicken, pecans, apples, and cranberries. I get that if we ever go for lunch. Josh has tried several different steak dishes there, and his favorite is the Blue Cheese steak. Highly recommend the restaurant if you all have one near you! Afterwards, we walk down to Pinkberry for a yummy frozen yogurt dessert! They currently have Peanut Butter back in stock which is my absolute favorite, so I have to take advantage of it while it's there! Next up is Butter Pecan, which I'm intrigued to try, SO LONG as it doesn't replace Peanut Butter! So that was how we spent our Friday night :)

Saturday, we got up and decided to drive out to Reston for lunch at Rio Grande. Not one of my all-time favorite restaurants, but not bad. More importantly, they have outdoor seating and it was a beautiful day, so we wanted to take advantage of it! So we sat outside and enjoyed chips and salsa, yummy chicken tamales for me and beef enchiladas for Josh. Stuffed ourselves silly while we were at it, so when we got home, I decided to continue to enjoy the weather, and walked up to Kohl's and Michael's. I purposely didn't bring any money so I wouldn't be tempted, but I walked around and window-shopped at Kohl's, then went across the street to Michael's. Now that it's getting towards Fall (really feels like it with the weather we've been having lately), the decorations are slowly coming out, which is one of my favorite parts of all the different seasons. So I wandered around Michael's looking at the decorations and smelling the candles, like Pumpkin Spice, Blackberry Cobbler, and Autumn Wreath.  I headed back home once I was finished at the stores, and Josh wanted to walk to CVS so we headed up there. I ended up getting in 6 miles worth of exercise so I didn't feel quite so guilty for indulging in those chips and salsa! When we got back home from CVS, I finished up some laundry and then just watched TV until I fell asleep.

Sunday was pretty similar to Saturday...woke up and got ready, then we headed to lunch at Don Pablo's. I had been craving it, but since they don't have outdoor seating, we had chosen to eat at Rio Grande the day before. However, Sunday was a rainy, gloomy day so it worked out perfectly, although once again, those chips and salsa got the best of me! I used to have amazing willpower and I wouldn't eat a single chip at Mexican restaurants, but I've had trouble finding my motivation lately! I love the chips there though, and the grilled chicken is amazing, so I got that with double black beans on the side. After we were done eating, we came home and watched TV for a bit, then headed out to Manassas to run an errand. We got back home around 6:15pm, so I decided that since it had stopped raining, I might as well take advantage and try to get in some final weekend exercise. So I walked to the post office, the bank, and the grocery store. It was after 8pm when I got home, so as with the night before, I just watched TV until it was time for bed. Went to bed WAY too late, and I definitely paid the price today! Maybe it would be better to hit the hay around 9pm tonight instead of 11pm, seeing as how I get up at 4:00 in the morning!

Overall, it was a nice weekend! I hope you all had a great weekend as well...I know my weekend recaps have been pretty boring lately, but in the upcoming weeks I will have much more to update about, so just hang in there, my loyal readers!

Sunday Social

1. What is something you've always wanted to do, but are afraid of? To be honest, there is nothing really huge on my bucket list. I'm terrified of heights, so I have absolutely NO interest in skydiving or rock climbing up the side of a huge mountain, or anything like that. But I've done a few things in the past that I was scared to do.... for example, I HATE hate hate roller coasters, but Josh and I went to Disney World on our honeymoon and he made me promise him that I would ride all the rides, so I agreed and I kept my promise! So I rode every roller coaster he rode. And at Kings Dominion, Morgan really wanted to ride the Drop Zone (a 305-foot drop) but no one else wanted to, so I was a good stepmother and sucked it up and rode it with her, which I will never, ever do again for the rest of my life!

Getting ride to go up....

We did it!

2. Where do you see yourself in five years? In 5 years Morgan will be 19 years old (holy moly), so chances are pretty good that Josh and I will be living somewhere far, far away from Virginia! Probably settling into our new home, most likely in Texas.

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2013? Nothing really specific. Josh and I are trying to finish up our summer bucket list, and we're making one for the Fall and also the Christmas holiday season, so probably just crossing things off our list! I'm more excited about 2014. We decided this has been our rebuilding year, and next year will be a much better one!

4. What are your hopes for your blog? I partly write it so I can get things off my chest, just kind of as a way to de-stress, but I also hope people read it and enjoy finding out more about me and my life, just as I like to find out about other people through THEIR blogs!

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city? Definitely not! It's been a great place to settle down for the past 5 years, as well as the next 4-5 years, but definitely not where we will be forever (see #2).

6. What is your morning routine? 4am - hit snooze, 4:15am - get up, let the dogs out, 4:25am - get in the shower, 4:55am - brush my teeth, do my makeup, comb my hair, get dressed, put the dogs in their crates, 5:30am - leave for work.

Sunday Social

1. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? As a kid, I wanted to be an author. As I got older, it turned into a magazine editor, but always something with writing. Then I majored in Psychology, and I now work in IT. Go figure.

2. What was your favorite way to kill time as a kid? I didn't have satellite TV until I was in eighth grade, so TV was out of the question because it was nothing but boring soap operas. Although as I got older, I did like watching Maury every morning in the summer. But I liked doing Word Searches, and when my friends came over, we would either play My Littlest Pet Shop (when they actually WERE little...now the things are huge!), office, or restaurant. And I loved reading so I was always reading the latest Babysitters Club book.

3. When did you get your first cell phone? About 2 months before I turned 20, right before my junior year of college.

4. What is your favorite magazine to read? I'm a total sucker for gossip magazines so I read Us Weekly, Life & Style Weekly, In Touch Weekly, and OK! Magazine every week, either at the gym or before bed.

5. What is the one random object people would be surprised to find in your purse? I've been getting a lot better about keeping my purse cleaned and organized, so I basically just have my wallet, my phone, and my keys! Nothing too random.

Photo Dump!

I received a CD this past weekend from my sister, with photos she and my brother-in-law took while we were at the beach. I plan on creating my own CDs to send to my family, full of the pictures I took, which may take a few CDs since I took over 500 pictures! But they got some great ones that I'm really glad to get! Here are some of them for your viewing pleasure :)

Enjoying crabs!

Puzzle time...my dad LOVES puzzles

My dad's face when we arrived!

Pirate Scott

Morgan and Laura:

Brittney, Nicholas, and Laura:

Scott and Laura:

Katie and Laura:

Katie and Scott:

 Morgan and Trevor:

Laura and Grandpa:

Scott:

Scott and Nicholas:

Scott and Nicholas:

Laura and Morgan:

 Meredith:

My parents:

Michael and Cheryl:

Josh, Andrew, Meredith, and Brittney:

Making sushi:

Parasailing:

Lighthouse:

Fourth of July:

Weekend Recap

This weekend was fairly low-key, but nice! Friday after work, I walked to Wal-mart to pick up a couple of things, and took the long way there and back so I could get as much exercise as possible. I think it ended up being about 4.5 miles total, so I felt a little better about the spinach lasagna I indulged in for lunch! By the time I made it back, Josh had gotten home so we had dinner, watched TV (we like to watch TV series on DVD, and right now we are re-watching all the episodes of 24 in honor of it coming back for a miniseries next Spring), and just relaxed for the night!

Saturday - The day started and ended as a dreary, gray day, unfortunately. Not what you want for a weekend day! Nevertheless, I walked to the gym and did my usual Saturday morning workout - spin class, treadmill, weights, and sauna - and when I left the gym it was still drizzly but it felt great because I was so sweaty from the gym. So I didn't mind walking in the rain for the return trip home! After I got showered and ready for the day, Josh and I headed up to lunch, and then hurried back before it started to pour. I relaxed for a bit and did laundry and watched TV, then once it stopped raining, I decided to walk up to Kohl's, Target, and Petsmart to run errands. I took the umbrella just in case but I ended up not needing it, luckily. And shockingly, the crowds were not bad at all at the stores, considering it was tax-free back-to-school shopping weekend! By the time I finally got home, it was around 7:30pm so we cooked dinner and watched TV, and then I was in bed by 9:30pm because I was wore out from the day!

Sunday - I wanted to get up and go to the gym early in the day, but I was up most of the night with a horrible headache, so I ended up oversleeping once I finally took some Advil around 6:30am. So unfortunately, that didn't happen! But it was my mom's birthday so we had planned to go down to Beaverdam to celebrate with my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law. We left around noon, and thanks to the wonderful I-95 traffic, we didn't get there until 3pm, but better late than never! We were hoping to arrive about 2pm, but it's always hard to measure ETA when you have to take the interstate. We enjoyed the weather on the patio for a bit, then we headed inside to a yummy meal of grilled chicken, salmon, brats, hamburgers, potato salad, pasta salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, and of course birthday cake for dessert! We had a great time hanging out and watching my mom open presents. We headed back home about 5pm, and as is normal for a Sunday evening, of course we hit traffic once again on the way home! We got back about 8pm, so not too bad at all. I felt like I needed to get a little exercise to work off that birthday cake, so I walked down to the post office to mail some bills, and then decided to walk the long way back home around Leesburg, which took about an hour. It was late in the evening so the weather had cooled off a bit which was nice, but it was also a little scary walking by myself at 10:00 at night, especially with several of the street lights not working! But I survived, thanks to the flashlight app on my phone haha! I do have to admit I *might* have mistaken a tree for someone lurking in the yard and jumped about 2 feet in the air though!! That was about it for the weekend....it was a good one, and now that Monday is over, we're one day closer to the next one!

Meredith, Andrew, me, Josh

My mom opening presents from Andrew and Meredith:

Josh smelling the soaps from Andrew and Meredith:

Opening the big present from my dad:

A new TV!

So excited!

Looking at the photo book I made from the beach trip:

Cake! My dad didn't have a # 2, so he did 6 and two 1s, to equal 62 lol...not 611 years old:

 Blowing out the candles:

Sunday Social

1. What are 3 items you can't live without on a daily basis (water, food, shelter, and clothes don't count)? My iPhone, my debit card (even though there's no money on it half the time!), and....hmm, I don't know about the third one! Does toothpaste count?

2. What is your all-time favorite book? Why? In the past I would've said The Catcher in the Rye, because that's always been my favorite book, but I haven't read it in so long that I probably couldn't even tell you what it's about anymore. So instead I'm going to say Chill Factor by Sandra Brown, I could (and have!) read that over and over.

3. What is something you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2013? I'm trying really hard to work on being happier and more carefree, and it's very difficult (mentally) to accomplish that but I'm trying! Also, trying to lose at least 10 pounds lol.

4. If you could go back and relive any year of your life, which year would it be? Hmmm...probably any of the 4 years I was in college. I had a great time in college and I wish I had appreciated the lack of responsibility more!

5. What do you wish people knew about you without you having to tell them? That I take things more personally than I probably should.