Spa Stories

I got my nails done today at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa, thanks to a valentine's day gift certificate from Matt.

I found myself trying to entertain the nail salon lady with my nail polish story from highschool. It goes like this..

It was my senior year homecoming dance, and I had an a-line velvet dress picked out months before the dance. By the time the dance rolled around, I decided I didn't like the style anymore and wanted something more fitted. My mom (on the day of homecoming), ripped it apart and sewed it just like I wanted it, which was no easy task. To make the look complete, I had some sort of press-on nail tips that I had applied myself and painted. As good old Brian (in from Radford) was about to pick me up, I noticed I had chipped a nail, so I got the nail polish remover out.....that's where things go bad.

I dumped the bottle of nail polish remover down the front of my velvet dress, on to my cherry wood desk, and on to the carpet. Needless to say, it was a mess and the nail polish remover ruined everything it touched. It literally ate a hole through my dress. After screams, drama and tears, I managed to pull myself together and put on my dress from the previous year (I know, a major fashion no-no). My parents were very supportive (after they made me take a picture with the dress). However, I was never again allowed to use nail polish products in the house. My Dad would send me outside with newspaper any time I wanted to do my nails.

So, I tend to avoid doing my nails myself, which made Matt's gift such a treat!

Meatloaf, Meatloaf, Double Beat Loaf

I made Grandma Rose's meatloaf last night. I know meatloaf gets a bad rap, but I have to say it was tasty and moist! Don't knock it until you try it.

Ingredients:
*1.5 - 2.0 of ground beef, veal, pork
*2 tsp salt (1 per pound)
*Fresh parsley
*1 large sauteed onion
*1 egg per pound
*.5 cup bread crumbs
*2 lbs carrots
*5 potatoes

Directions:
*Mix meat, salt, parsley, onion, breadcrumbs and egg
*Firm into a loaf and place in roaster
*Place peeled potatoes and carrots around loaf
*Salt and pepper veggies
*Add sauteed onion around loaf (parsley too)
*Add margarine around loaf
*Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, 325 for 60 minutes covered

Stalker

I'm usually one to pay close attention to office (and especially bathroom) etiquette, but for some reason I felt compelled to TALK to somebody while I was in the ladies bathroom last week. I heard a coworker come in (while I was in a stall) and by the time I got out, she was in her stall. So, while I was washing my hands, I addressed her to talk about an e-mail she had sent me that I had not replied to yet. I just don't know what came over me. What bad etiquette!

She sent me this later that day...

Show me Sexy, Show me Surprised

Happy Birthday Lis!

I know I'll probably get in trouble for posting this gem, but it is just a classic example of Lisa's entertaining presence. When she isn't making us laugh, she's running, bowling, swimming, biking, golfing and not to mention always being a supportive friend.

Rachel, Lisa and I maybe have 100 variations of this picture, but it never stops us from documenting the time any of us are together.


We had 'planned' to celebrate Lisa's birthday on Saturday at a vineyard, but Sergio suggested we shake things up for her this year. On Friday, we managed to host a surprise party at their place without her getting suspicious (i think), otherwise her acting was flawless. I am never one to be 'on time' for surprise parties, but since I was co-hosting, I made an exception. I was impressed with everyone's effort to get there before the birthday girl, because it was so nice to have a dark room full of people waiting for Lis' arrival. After being relieved her apartment wasn't getting robbed, she enjoyed her celebration.


This was Matt's first outing since getting sick with pneumonia over two weeks ago, so I was happy to see him finally acting himself (and eating saugage dip).

Sore

The Army Ten Miler was brutal.

However, I would like to commend Lisa on her positive attitude yesterday morning because she has a reputation for getting cranky and confrontational before races. The last time we did the ATM, we were not speaking by the time we lined up on the start line. About 10 seconds before the gun went off, she quickly apologized and we made up. Anyway, yesterday morning was a different story, and she even greeted me with some fresh brewed coffee.

But, it was sort of ironic that Lisa lost her timing chip before we even got to the start line. She is quite the competitive tracker and had no way to find out what her race time was.

So, here are my excuses for why my performance was not stellar:

*I could not fall asleep Saturday night. It was 3am and my mind would not shut off..
*The temperature peaked yesterday at 91 with high humidity, which are not ideal conditions for hitting the pavement for ten miles.
*There was a check point this year before runners could line up at the start, and Lisa and I were forced to put our ipods in a baggage check. I NEVER run without my ipod, so my running musical sound track of the Rocky Theme and the Sound of Music was non-existent.
*I'm 30.
*Did I mention it was HOT, Africa HOT!

It was still very rewarding to cross the finish line knowing I managed to run the whole time. There were moments I ALMOST considered walking for a bit.

And thanks very much to Eileen for coming out to cheer us on!

Summer Camp

For our last Big Blue outing with our dear roommie Flauta, we headed to West Virginia for kayaking, camping and hiking (I mean outlet shopping..hey it was a big outdoorsie weekend). There was so much blog material from this weekend, I never got around to posting these goodies from August.

Ang had been planning for our roommate weekend and got us all aviators during her recent visit to Korea.

We left the planning up to Ang and instead of doing a nice relaxing beer tubing tour, Ang had us all kayaking in our own little "duckies" down the Shenandoah river. I think we underestimated how hungry and cranky you can get after 4 hours of paddling and carrying the "duckie" boats up the side of a mountain to be loaded on a bus with annoying drunk tubers.

We shared some good memories sitting around the camp fire (Ang is the ultimate fire starter). We weren't roughing it too much and stayed in cute little tree houses. Of course, Big Blue had to leave its mark. I felt like this was a scene straight out of summer camp.

This picture makes me giggle.

We spent the next day touring Harper's Ferry, and instead of hiking we opted for some outlet shopping in Hagerstown. We topped the evening off at the Steele household for a wonderful dinner. They really know how to entertain, and it gave us one more opportunity to hear more of Laura's embarrassing childhood stories. So Flauta has this doll....

I think we sent Flauta off to Milwaukee with a bang and she is already kicking butt in law school. Here are a few other fun Big Blue photos.

Cramming for the ATM

The Army Ten Miler is looming...it's 6 days away!

I did an 80 minute run last night so I'm hoping that will serve as adequate distance training. As I was finishing up my single digit mileage run (huffing and puffing), I thought about the new roomie (Eileen) and Kelly who are both training for the Marine Corps Marathon and felt so lame. I think Kelly even backed out of doing the ATM because it wasn't long enough of a run for her training schedule. That is hard core.

And speaking of the new roommate, she is great but I can't stop singing the "Come on Eileen" song in my head (or maybe out loud) every time I say her name. It's been 2 months...I hope this wears off.