One of Those Weekends...

This past weekend was one of those great October weekends that fits the season perfectly. On Saturday I took a drive down to Bridgewater, VA to visit my cousin Ali. She's a freshman at Bridgewater College. The two hour drive was gorgeous - pretty mountains, trees with leaves of orange, red, and yellow, the sun rising (because I left before it was up!)....it was just perfect.

Ali and I ate at her dining hall....which I have to say doesn't even compare to the dining hall where I went to school, and the standards weren't set very high. After brunch we wandered around the local mall for a bit where I found a fabulous dress to wear out dancing later that night. Our final stop of the visit was at the movie theater. My crazy cousin talked me into seeing Saw 6. I thought I was going to vomit within the first 5 minutes!

Saturday night, which I wrote about yesterday, I danced around Adams Morgan with P and V.

Yesterday was another perfect October day. I went with C and baby Adam to the Halloween parade in Alexandria, VA. Adam was dressed as a monkey and was absolutely adorable! I was very impressed with many of the costumes...it was a surprise to see so many Star Wars and Where the Wild Things Are costumes. One disturbing costume though, was a mother and daughter both dressed as Geisha. I found that to be a little inappropriate...

After the parade, Rachel (who we were all so happy to see since she's been so swamped lately) and I went to Pacers in Old Town so that I could pick up some new running socks and then went back to her apartment where I helped her re-organize her clothes and room. I love doing that, so to all my friends who may need help in that department, let me know! After dinner at the French Bistro in Dupont I headed home.

It was a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

The Mystery of Female Assets

Last night I was out with two of my lovely ladies, tearing up the dance floors around Adams Morgan. Around midnight we settled ourselves at Tom Tom. Regardless of where we go, there is a common theme that seems to follow us from dance floor to dance floor. We have nice assets..literally...ASSets.

It's been a long running joke with my Christopher cousins that we all (or, rather, most of us) have a shapely buttocks. It's one of our traits and we love and embrace it. However, what I can't figure out is why the men of this world have an obsession with our derrieres. Last night, with P and V, the men crowded around, leaving us with very little breathing room. While it's nice to be admired, it's another thing to be groped. We three all have pretty decent assets, but that doesn't mean we enjoy having our hips..and other areas..tugged at by strangers. My question: is it actually our assets that men love or is it the confidence of us dancing around with our assets that is a mind stimulator?

Yes, women size up the assets of men as well, but it's certainly not what attracts us to a slow wind on the floor. We admire from a distance and most of us don't reach out for a touch unless we intimately know the man. Though I will say there are those women who give us a bad rep by being extremely forward, but for me and my ladies, we tend to keep it classy.

I don't think I'll ever figure out why our assets are so desirable - but if you're a man reading this, feel free to enlighten me - for now I will leave it with mentioning that it is thoroughly exhausting when men flock the assets, especially on girls night out.

Autumn Automated

Alright, I'm aware that in my last post I committed myself to keeping up with the blog a bit better then I had been. Guess that didn't quite work out. Ahh well. Perhaps this time around I will stick with it.

Once again I find myself blazing through my favorite season on cruise control. Each moment is passing by the same way it did last year. Like autumn 2008, there's a new guy in my life who is great...better...then the last. But is there something wrong with me that I always meet people around this time? Perhaps a seasonal condition of some sort? I am breaking a few habits this season though - Halloween is fast approaching and this will be the first time in a few years that I have not trekked up to Ithaca to visit S.A....instead I might be trekking to Manhattan to visit my other S and my handful of NYC loves. Still undecided. Naturally, after Halloween comes Thanksgiving and I will NOT be going to Connecticut. Instead, the entire Christopher clan is heading to the Outer Banks for the weekend. In fact, the 23 of us that will be down there are participating in a Thanksgiving morning 5K. Let's see how competitive we get!

Recap:

A few weeks ago I was in Greece and Italy. It was fantastic! Steph, Janine and I spent 3 days in Athens and the island of Aegina and then flew to Italy for the remainder of the trip. Basing ourselves in Rome, we did day trips to Florence and Capri. Can you say B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!?? I was blessed by the Pope, drank a lot of wine and Mythos, ate delicious (and interesting) food, and had an incredible trip. Since I've been back stateside, I've caught up with friends, attended a wonderful Christopher family dinner with uncle Dave as the guest of honor, and have been pretty busy at work. My world is hectic and crazy, but I love it.

Life in the Fast Lane

OK OK...I know...I've been horrible at keeping up with blogging this year. I swear to do better. Cross my heart.

The first five months of 2009 have flown by. Work (the not-so-new job as I've been here for 6 months now....wow...) has been incredibly busy. On top of longer work weeks, there have been a lot of family weekends, friends visiting, visiting friends, and trying to find a happy place in the midst of the chaos.

Here's a catchup of my life in a nutshell:

• Two more weddings I'm a bridesmaid in (seriously, no on else ask me until I'm engaged, unless you're my friend S...I refuse to turn in 27 Dresses)
• Mr. Florida came back into my life for a brief period - he missed me. It won't ever work, so I had to cut ties
• I'm about 92% sure I dated a hit man
• My summer is filled with other people's special days - weddings, bachelorette parties, bridal showers, etc.
• My Anna Wintour is visiting me in two weeks and I can't wait
• If one more family member asks if I'm "seeing anyone special" I will scream
• I saw Brit Brit in March - sadly, she focused on her Blackout album which we all know was awful, instead of her fabulous Circus album
• I ran a 5K in May and want to do another
• I hired back my personal trainer to whip me into shape; now if only they could shape my personal life as well
• I just booked a trip to Greece and Italy for October....and I wish it was tomorrow

So, there you have it. You are caught up. I promise to do my part in updating A Charmed Life if you promise to continue reading.

Child Proof

I think children are wonderful. I love my little cousins and my friends' babies. I'm excited to have a child in the future. However, it is completely unacceptable for parents to let their kids run wild and free in stores.

1. It's an easy place to lose a child
2. If you are letting your kids out of the stroller or out of the child leashes (which, FYI, I think are GREAT) then WATCH them. Don't let them pester shoppers.

This past Saturday I went to Target in search of new workout clothes. Arms loaded, I strolled into the changing room extremely happy that it wasn't crowded. Target was having a phenomenal sale and I knew it would take a while for me to try everything on. I was halfway through my pile of clothes when screaming children came running into the changing room. The grandmother was gabbing loudly on the phone, baby on hip, while her daughter (the children's mother) tried clothes on a few doors down from me. OK, so it's not so bad that the kids are running and screaming - I can deal with that for a bit - though it does speak volumes about the parenting style as not one word was uttered from the grandmother's mouth to calm the kids down. But then, I hear a giggle and look down. A 4 year old is peaking under my door. I said "oh, you have the wrong room," and the child ran away.

It happened a second time, and on the third time - as I was putting my clothes back on - I see the child once again through the mirror. Now I'm angry. Watch your kids parents and authority figures! If it were my little cousins peeking at me, that's fine. But to have strangers doing that, I think it's completely inappropriate and parents should be teaching their kids how to behave in stores.

I calmly, yet loudly, said in a sweet voice "You shouldn't be looking under peoples doors" - The kid ran away again and I stepped out of my dressing room. When I glimpsed the state of the grandmother I just knew those children were lost causes. She was a 38-40 year old grandmother watching her daughters 4 kids. Something is wrong with this picture......

My Give a Damn's Busted

Dating is absolutely, one hundred percent, without a doubt.....A challenge. A thrill. A nightmare. A laugh. A I-Don't-Know-What-The-Hell-Is-Going-On at times.


Monday night I was out with my friend Erin for dinner and drinks at the Daily Grill - in which we were working at getting Erin over a sad breakup - and we hopped over to the Front Page for an after dinner drink. The Front Page is great on week nights - the weekends are just full of horny co-eds - so it was exactly what we expected when we showed up: not too crowded, available seats at the bar and a few tables, quiet music, and a friendly bartender.

Erin and I planted ourselves on bar stools and ordered beer on tap. Engrossed in our conversation, I didn't notice the man near me who kept glancing my way. After 20 minutes, he finally interrupted our discussion and began engaging us in conversation. He was very nice and polite, mildly attractive, good job, and from Paris. I was intrigued by him, but he really wasn't my type physically. Oh, and he was waiting for a friend - translation - date, to arrive. Once she arrived, Mr. Paris continued talking to me and Erin, including his date in the conversation. After a while I had to use the restroom. I excused myself and walked downstairs to the bathroom. When I emerged, I found Mr. Paris waiting for me. Shock!

He followed me to the bathroom.

Seriously?

He asked me when he could see me again. I replied "you're here on a date."

To that, he said "yes, but it's you I want to see, not her."

Again, seriously????

The end result was that I told him that I sometimes come in for happy hour and that maybe I would see him again. Next stop was to tell Erin that we were leaving. And Erin, having witnessed Mr. Paris follow me downstairs, had already closed out our tab and had my jacket in hand.

Around this same time that Mr. Paris was picking me up while he was on a date with someone else, Mr. Florida has been slowly entering my life again. I received several emails and finally, about 15 text messages one night where he spelled out his feelings and why he deserved a second chance. The killer was that he let himself get drunk in order to spill his feelings and chose the cop-out method of using text messaging rather than having the decency to call me....flash back to when he Joe Jonas'd me. Honestly, that ship has sailed - I realized in our time apart that it would never ever in a million years work out. Therefore, while I've had time to digest and evaluate my life and feelings, he's remained dependent on the idea of me in his life....probably because I disappeared from it so quickly. Smart women know that when someone hurts you, you do what you have to in order to be OK and survive. I assume that the percentage of women that actually fall into the "smart daters" category can be limited to about 25%. I'd like to consider myself a happy part of that percentage....though tears are shed and the heart aches, you have to move on and be happy for you and only you.

Simply put, dating and living in a world where technology is at our finger tips making pick ups and dating multiple people (and being sneaky at it for that matter) so convenient and easy, is not healthy. It's one big challenge. One big game. One big I-Don't-Know-What-The-Hell-Is-Going-On.

My give a damn is busted.

A Balancing Act

I love to work out. Seriously work out - going from one cardio to the next, using free weights because I like the open motion of it, kickboxing, body sculpt and pilates. I've recently started doing yoga again - and when I say again, what I really mean is that I used to do it on the rare occasion and now I'm making a focused effort to practice it - but I must say, there's a reason why I never stuck with it in the beginning, which I remembered the other night. My friend Carissa is an excellent yoga instructor and I'm taking her class in Old Town Alexandria. I love the way my body feels while practicing yoga...it's really a wonderful workout....but the slowness drives me crazy. I truly try my best to concentrate and be one with myself while in class, but for someone who is on the go constantly, I have a difficult time taking it down a few notches.

But I think what drives me crazy the most is that I have absolutely ZERO balance. I've never had balance in my entire life. It's terrible when you can't even do the tree pose for only a minute.

Balance has been afflicting me ever since I can remember. I can barely walk in a straight line completely sober - and ask me to draw a straight line on paper and I will laugh at you. I constantly bump into walls, have difficulty navigating around corners in my own house and sometimes when I'm just standing still (on both feet, nothing in my hands) I feel myself tilting off to one side unexpectedly. It's amazing that I can actually work out in the gym and play sports....funny how that works out, huh?

Lately, balance in my life doesn't just relate to my ability to stand and function properly, but to the juggling contest I seem to be in with myself. The past few months have proven to be a challenge when it comes to fitting things into my schedule. I'm balancing a demanding job, family, friends, exercise, weddings, birthdays and "fun" time into a schedule that seems to consistently grow teenier each year. I think I'm doing an OK job of it, but god...if only my schedule could open up a bit more. I suppose this is a life lesson though - as we grow older balancing the many aspects of our lives become more of a challenge and we simply must adapt if we don't want to end up on Xanax....which I must admit that I'm not completely opposed to taking right now:)

With everything, I weigh the pros and cons.....I will continue to take yoga because I love the changes in my body as a result of it and hopefully one day I will be able to hold my tree pose without stumbling.