California!

The Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach, CA

This Memorial Day weekend was great! Matt and I took a quick trip out to California. My very good friend Molly got married on Saturday in Monterey. Molly and I met in first grade in Mrs. Andrews' class (I have trouble believing this was over 20 years ago). We also grew up in the same neighborhood. I don't think there were many days that we spent apart as kids. Obviously, I couldn't imagine not attending her wedding.  The wedding was beautiful, and it was great getting to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time.

Molly and I

I have always wanted to travel down Route 1 in California. We took the oppotunity to do a little of that as well. It is just gorgeous. I don't think any of the pictures do it justice. I have a whole bunch posted on Facebook if you are interested. Matt really wanted to go to the Hearst Castle. We were going to make that our last stop and turn around point, but there was a rock slide and we never made it. On our Route 1 day I also found out I had pink eye. Naturally I would get pink eye for the first time ever on a vacation, but I was just glad it wasn't something else. We also took a trip on 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach. This was also amazing. I highly recommend both of these drives.

Bixby Bridge, Route 1

I hope to visit California again someday. It was a beautiful trip, next time I hope it can be for a longer time.

 

 

 

Reading Suggestions, Please!

Summer is coming! Some days I actually believe this statement to be false, but looking at the calendar June 17th is in fact on it's way. Hallelujah! What I need from you (yes, you who reads my blog without being a legit follower) is some reading suggestions. I am currently finishing a series I have been working on since about Christmas (with some randoms in between), but I will need some good reads for the summer. Just to give you an idea of what I like...my favorite author ever is Jodi Picoult, hands down, no contest. I have read every book, though, and anxiously wait for March every year to read her new book the day it comes out. This said, I will still read most anything with a good story line. It can be a kid's book too...novel, not so much pictures :) So, please, please leave some comments with good books to read. Thanks friends!

Recipe of the Week!

Fruit Kabobs!

I am almost ashamed to use this as a recipe of the week, but I'm going to have to deal. At least they are cute. I promise next week I will be back on track with my recipes. But in keeping with my GOTR theme from yesterday I wanted to post my kabobs. I made these for the girls after we did our practice 5K at school last month. They went over well. Obviously, you can use whatever fruit you would like, but I wanted to go for a rainbow to keep things as girly as possible. I used strawberries, cantalope, banana (I really wanted pineapple, but didn't feel like doing the cutting), kiwi, and purple grapes. Enjoy!

Girls on the Run

Most of our team waiting for the 5K to begin

I would like to begin this post with a disclaimer. I am not a runner. In fact, I hate running. So when I was approached by a parent (now a co-worker) from school to start a Girls on the Run team I pretty much wanted to do anything to get out of it. It was one more thing to do and something I didn't even like. All this being said...I am beyond thankful that this is something I was talked in to. Bennett started it's first GOTR team this spring and it has been one of the things that makes me happy to go to work (even if I had to be at practice at 7:30 on Tuesday mornings for the last 10 weeks). It helps that I couldn't have asked for 20 better third through fifth graders to work with.

For those of you who haven't heard of GOTR, it's a running program for 3rd through 5th grade girls that incorporates lessons about friendship, self-esteem, bullying, and leadership with training for a 5K that the girls run together at the end of the season. We had a great group at the beginning and I can't believe how much the girls have enjoyed it. I feel like I'm rambling, but I really can't say enough good things about this program.

These are some pictures from our 5K at GMU last weekend. Every girl finished and we were definitely the  best dressed team. Today we finished with a celebration. We will continue in the fall with two Bennett teams (so 40 girls) because of the success and amazing feedback from parents. I'm really excited! Can you tell?

Quick Visit

Yesterday my mom flew to DC for the day. She had a meeting downtown in the morning so I left early from work to meet up with her. It actually turned out to be a nice day after some serious downpours. We decided to walk around Georgetown and do some window (and actual) shopping. We both also got our first Georgetown Cupcake (aka DC Cupcakes on TLC)! Now, I am not a huge cupcake fan, but these were pretty decent. We ate the hibiscus mango and the salted carmel at the store. The other ones are still sitting in the kitchen so I will let you know about those later. It was also nice that it was a random Tuesday afternoon and the typically ridiculous line was minimal. Later that evening we met Matt at Founding Farmers for dinner. I highly recommend this spot. The food was very good. They had a lot of options. And the price was not outrageous.

I've got a lot more to update on...including a very quick and easy recipe of the week and my first Girls on the Run team. I'm hoping to get this blog a little more regular again since work is a little more under control this week. Have a good Wednesday!

How Pinteresting!

Alright, I've been a little bit of a slacker this week with my blog. This is a direct result of me not being a slacker at work. It was a CRAZY week. That fire incident was just the start of it. Frankly, I can't wait til June 17th and it's not coming fast enough. So I'm now coming to terms with not having a recipe of the week for the first time since I started the blog. Although if you check out my Pinterest page you might find a delicious recipe picture on my "appetite board".

I discovered Pinterest on my friend Rachel's blog a few months ago. I decided I would try it out since it's so fitting being that my newest ambition is to be an internet superstar. I was very disappointed to learn that I had to wait for an account. It took a couple weeks, but I finally got my invitation to join Pinterest. Now I'm sure you are wondering what this is all about. You know when you are beebopping around the internet and you come across a picture of something that looks delicious, or pretty, or gives you a good idea? Well pinterest helps you remember where you found that picture. You simply pin the picture to one of your boards so you can easily find it when you find the time to make your idea a reality.

I recommend it because I use to hate when I would find something and then not be able to find it again when I wanted it. It's also fun to look at everyone else's pins. So get signed up for an account and happy pinning!

A Little 911

If you know me and my work life well, you know the thing I dislike most about my job is being crisis chair. It involves way too much prep and what ifs and is way too high maintanence in my opinion. Well today at least I can say I haven't been prepping and answering what if's for nothing...today we called 911. Not only this, but I was temporarily in charge of BES. Both administrators were out this morning which leaves me first in command. Naturally calling 911 is what this resorts to. To make what I could turn into a long, harrowing, dramatic tale into a short story I will tell you the brief facts...I was walking down the hall and smelled smoke and I couldn't find it. A kindergarten teacher spotted it coming out of the boys' bathroom. I took off running and had the secretaries call 911 and I pulled the fire alarm. Everyone got out safely and the fire department came. Yay! Turns out an exhaust fan had overheated in the ceiling. We were outside waiting for about an hour. The kids were so great. I leave you with one last picture of me trying to be in charge.

Recipe of the Week!

Simple Salmon Salad

I love salad. Yum. And in 709, salmon is a common night's dinner. This night I put the two together. I prefer spinach leaves for my salad, but obviously anything will do. I add roma tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion. Then for a little extra flavor walnuts and craisins. I typically do blue cheese crumbles, but this particular night I did feta, which was good, but blue cheese is still my favorite. My salad dressing of choice is always balsamic vinegar. I LOVE vinegar! And as for the salmon it's just baked in the oven. Like I said, SIMPLE salmon salad :)

Camping

Campsite
(you can see our tent in the background)

This past weekend we went camping. Yes, I occasionally make an appearance at a campground. The first time I ever went camping I think was 23, in Rocky Mountain National Park, accompanied by 50 high schoolers. I was also in charge. Ridiculous if you ask me...I thought I was going to die, or at least be at fault for the death of a minor, but I ended up loving it. And everyone survived. My stipulations for camping include that there must be a flush toilet and it can only be for one night (although I'm hoping to work up to two nights at some point). This year we tried Prince William Forest Park. It was nice. They had a bike trail too, so we put our new bike rack to use and brought those with us as well. Talk about anxiety...driving on 495 and 95 with a lot of bike strapped on the back...yikes! Here are some other pictures from the event!

My smore

Matt and his fire