It's Friday, I'm...going on a roadtrip!

B and I are off to Niagara Falls for the weekend. We got a sweet package deal on a room and tickets for attractions and lunch, and I'm pretty excited. I've been before but can't wait to see it through B's eyes as it's his first time. Photos to come! Have a lovely weekend-and if you live in the Washington, D.C. Metro area, stay cool, my friends.

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I'm so full of milkshake.

I hope I don't get home to find all the boys in my yard...(haha I crack myself up)

But seriously, I had a Potbelly's milkshake at lunch. Malty, vanilla-y, creamy goodness that clocked in at a whopping 751 calories. Which I will be forcing myself to work off with a hard-core elliptical interval workout at the gym tonight, because that is egregious but so very worth it (sometimes. B may disagree).



Workout motivation.

If you haven't been to Potbelly's you need to go (it's an emerging chain). They make great toasted sandwiches. Pair it with a milkshake for the ultimate experience or be conscientious and stick with the sandwich. Either way it's worth it.

I experimented with layers this morning and this is what I ended up with:

Not too shabby.

But I have to say I loved my outfit from yesterday:

Side buttons! I love them. Love details in unexpected places.

Still, I don't know if I can beat my pjs from last night:

One of B's t-shirts. He stayed at his parents' last night. And while I missed him, I also had the best night's sleep in weeks. I'm not sure what that says about our relationship...

...but I'm sure the 7 hours on the road tomorrow will prove just how well we work together and enjoy each other's company. Can't wait to get out of town! Especially since it's going to be in the 100 degrees here this weekend. No thank you.



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Seven Kittens and Topknots.

Link to watch seven kittens live stream. You're Welcome.

Also, I'd like for my hair to do this:

Via A Cup of Jo

but I have to wait for it to get a bit longer first. Though switching to sulfate-free shampoo seems to be paying off, note to self.

B is gone tonight = lame.

Dinner with my dad tonight = excellent.

So I guess that balances out into an okay evening.

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Grati-Tuesday.

My (parents') doggie, Belle.



My sweet girl, sittin' like a princess.



Another year sans cavities (thanks for instilling good dental hygiene habits, Mom and Dad!)

Watching NASCAR with my grandparents (I don't even follow NASCAR or understand what's going on beyond cars going in circles, but they get so excited about it and that's nice to see).

A weekend worth looking forward to.

Storms that roll in and leave the weather better than when they came.

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Adventures in Juicing.

B and I were inspired to get a juicer by the film Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. It seemed like a good way to get an extra shot of fruits and vegetables every now and then. So I went out and bought this little beauty:



Buuuuut because I have little patience, B was the one to set it up.



Diligently reading the instructions.



For our inaugural juice we chose the Morning Energizer, which includes apples, beets, ginger, carrots and lemon. I had never even bought ginger or beets before so I knew it would be interesting and possibly allergic reaction inducing.

I'm not gonna lie, it smelled a little funny. And it looked like this:



Interesting.



My reaction is: it's not bad. It tastes a bit like dirt, but I'd drink it.

B's reaction: You can have it.



Not a fan of the Morning Energizer.



I brought it in to work to have with my breakfast and taste-tested it on some coworkers. Their reactions:



Mildly not disgusted!



They agreed with me that it was, at best, not bad. I couldn't stomach all of it this morning so I saved some for tomorrow. But I feel healthy! Maybe next time we'll try one with more fruit.

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Pizza. Beer. Woods.

Friday = pizza (always half pineapple, half chicken) and beer (B picked up Landshark 'cause he remembered I liked it the other day. Sweet!)

And then Saturday we tried to work off our splurge meal with a hike in the local park.

Plus we booked a rather impromptu trip to Niagara Falls for this coming weekend! Personally, I'm hoping for a nice, low-key and romantic weekend. But who knows? The theme for this week is: take things as they come and see life as an adventure!

Plus I bought a maxi-skirt and a juicer and am excited to debut both soon.



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I am Covered in Baby Spit-up.

And I love it. Well, not the spit-up specifically, but I love babies, and they come with spit-up and drool and such, and that's okay with me. When I was feeling led to serve my church in some way, I knew it would be in the nursery. I love taking care of babies, and I've been doing it since I was 12. Further, I love making parents feel like it's okay for them to take some time for themselves, be it at church or on a date. I love them being able to know their infant is well cared for and loved. Today in the nursery I was caring for an A-dorable 5 month old. He fussed, and sometimes wailed, and then he spit-up on me four times. But I thought to myself, I love you anyway, and I coddled and bounced and loved on him until I figured out how to settle him down. And really, is there anything sweeter than snuggling a happy infant? I think not.

Via LadyHudd on Etsy

If I don't go get some baby snuggle time, I start wanting an infant of my own. And since we are nowhere near that stage of our lives, B is happy to send me off to get my fix...even if he doesn't understand it. But look at that Disney baby! How could you not need to snuggle it?

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It's Friday, I'm...on a Segway!

Last night I came home to a sweet note from B.  



"I love you and our life together. I know everything is going to work out for the better."



I made the overnight oats from Peanut Butter Fingers for my office breakfast. I think next time it needs some fruit. Also pictured is my awesome, BPA free Mickey Mouse water bottle.



And then this afternoon there were Segway demonstrations outside the museum. Clearly I had to try, even though I think everyone looks their dorkiest riding them. I mean, have you ever seen anyone who looks cool riding a Segway? There are always packs of Segway tours rolling their way around the city. I'm not sure how they see the sights when most of them are spending their tour spinning in circles.

Look at me go!



Segway-ing was a lot easier than I thought, though apparently I have a tendency to go too fast. I do that in the car too, so it's not really surprising.

B and I are planning a quiet night at home and I'm excited to relax and then, the best part, SLEEP IN tomorrow! I love sleep, and I love having the time to savor my cup of coffee in Saturday morning. Here's hoping it rains this afternoon like it's supposed to and the suffocating heat washes away so we can get outside.

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Girls and Guns

Hangin' around the museum with my coworkers.

Bond. James Bond.



Andrew Jackson's dueling pistols.





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Cures for Feeling Sorry for Yourself

Yesterday I was feeling really down. Stuck on the ladder of life, if you will. Went to sleep, had weird dreams and woke up feeling even more down. It is also the kind of hot today where sweat rolls down your back from just standing outside, and that's never happiness-inducing. But now I'm feeling better, and I will share with you my secrets for lifting one's mood.

1. Dress like Minnie Mouse, or at the very least wear something that makes you happy.



When I saw this Minnie-style skirt on ModCloth I had to have it.

2. Remember that you can't do everything, but you can do something. Walking out of my apartment this morning, I noticed that both sides of the road were covered with newspaper pages. A football field's worth of road looked like the newspaper man had gotten very, very upset, torn up his newspapers and thrown them out the window. And I was all, this is awful, who is going to have to clean this up? And then I realized that, while I couldn't clean up the whole stretch of road, I could pick up some of the papers that lined my route to the train. It made me feel good to have at least done something, even though it didn't come close to solving the problem, rather than perpetuating it by ignoring it.

3. Get yourself some good coffee. Sugar and caffeine are great mood boosters. They also make me a little manic, which my coworkers enjoy.


On the suggestion of Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers, I tried a misto. Liked that it was cheaper than my usual fancy drink of choice, but I should've added a flavored shot. Next time.


4. See a poster about sending aid to refugees and remember that you have been incredibly blessed compared to much of the world. Realize you are being selfish by feeling sorry for yourself and feel grateful for all that you do have.




Not the poster I saw, but it makes the point. Via

  And then you can go on about your day with the appropriate attitude. Any other mood-boosting suggestions?

Addendum: God is really trying to tell me something today. Came across this and it gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling that people are, in general, good at heart, and that we are all in this life together. The best things we can do are help each other out every now and then and put a smile on someone's face.

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Biking.

B is what could be considered a cyclist. I know how to ride a bike. Do we see the subtle difference? B has a mountain bike, a road bike, an industrial strength helmet and the shorts with the pads in the butt. I have a bike my parents won in a raffle 10 years ago that is painted like a brown cow and I don't own a helmet.

So every time B would be all, "We should go cycling on the C+O trail sometime." I'd be all, "Mmhmm, that would be a nice theoretical trip that I'm going to pretend I want to do then not commit to actually doing." But eventually, because I love him and because I recognize that he goes places with me that he doesn't get excited about, we went.

It was kind of muddy but otherwise a beautiful fall day and it turned out I had a great time. I'd even like to go again-but not until next fall, because it is currently hot as blazes outside and I don't play that. Moral of the story is: Bethanee, do more things B wants to do. You might actually enjoy them, and you will make him happy. And I do so like to see him happy.

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Appomattox Surrender Furniture

Credit: Political History, Division of Social History, National Museum of American History

This morning I got to help take these off exhibit for photographing. Grant sat in the leather backed chair and Lee in the cane backed chair. They didn't really need me to take them off, since it turned out they had more hands than they thought they would, but I wasn't going to miss out on it. This is the kind of thing that I LOVE about my job.

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Desire.



By Epicurious on Etsy



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Grati-Tuesday

Headbands on bad hair days (read: most days).

Flip-flops and painted toes.

Imak SmartGloves for days when I do nothing but type. I need that extra wrist support or my fingers ache!

Waking up next to my man after a night apart.

Cool summer evenings.



Oh, those summer nights...on the Outer Banks.



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My AT Friend.

"One Speed" and our friend S on a trail several years ago. One I was willing to do, unlike the AT.

Our friend that passed through on the Appalachian Trail (trail name "One Speed) has his own blog chronicling his experiences. And he wrote nice things about the little tour I gave him! See it here.

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This used to be me.

This used to be me:

I used to be a competitive figure skater (I wasn't, like, Olympics great, but I was competitive!).

And this is where I spent, oh, I would estimate at least half of my time from ages 6 to about 20.

And now it's gone. It closed about 4 years ago. I don't care to remember the exact date or year, honestly, because it really, really sucked when it closed. Like a sucker punch. It was out of the blue, and the owners, whom we had seen as family for years, only gave us a few weeks' notice. And just like that, the place that I had gone almost daily to train, but more importantly to see my friends and my loving, supportive coach, where I had my first job, where I taught little children how to skate, was closed to me. I went back a few weeks later while they were cleaning the rink out. The electricity was off and the ice was melting. The building fell into foreclosure and was auctioned off recently. They tried to auction the trophies my teams had won over the years, but a few of the coaches talked them into giving them up for free, argueing that they didn't belong to the rink, but to the skaters.

Overnight, nothing was the same. The friendships I built there are for the most part still in place, but more difficult to maintain, and not as close, as we no longer have the touchstone of work or practice to force us to stop and spend time together, and our outside interests are so divergent. I still skate every few weeks or so, but having taken a few years off I'm almost embarrassed at my deteriorated abilities. 

Maybe it was good. A sort of forcible leaving of the nest. It pushed me to define who I was outside of "a figure skater". Still, I dream about it. In most of my dreams it has re-opened as an ice rink again, and I'm able to go back to coaching, and bring B around and show him off and help him understand this place that played such a big part in creating who I am. The only thing that makes the dreams stop is to take myself skating again-to stand in the middle of the rink, feel the cold, listen to the quiet, and feel at peace. Then I go home to the things and people that define my life now, and I am happy. 

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How much do YOU pay for underwear?

I was leafing through Marie Claire's July issue and noticed that on one page they were featuring cashmere underwear. For $495. That's egregious. If you pay that much for your underwear I cannot be your friend. Even if you can afford something like that, which I clearly can't (I've never spent that much on one item of clothing in my life, and that's clothing people are actually going to see), aren't there better things you could do with the $475 you could save by buying regularly priced underwear (several pairs even!)? Feed the hungry, sponsor a kid in a third world nation, anything? No, you butt needs cashmere? I guess we can't be friends then. Too bad, as you sure are one stylish lady.

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Father's Day Part Deux

An excellent after-church activity at my parents': Father's Day donut, caramel vanilla coffee, green juice and magazines.

The little bro and I grilled out for our parents.

My mama and her other daughter, Belle.

The man of the hour, and a man of few words, my dad.

Low key,

gorgeous weather,

family.

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Father's Day Weekend Part I

What a beautiful weekend we had here!

Friday evening I went out with "my B's"-B my boyfriend and B my younger brother.  We went to Uno's Chicago Grill for the first time.



Crunchy chicken wrap and roasted veggie leftovers!



Little did we know that on your first visit to Uno's they give you a gift bag!  Apples, a coupon, and Starburst candies.  Not sure where they came up with that combo, but it was still exciting to get a gift bag, and that's two less apples I have to buy at the grocery store this week.

Saturday we went to B's youngest bro's girlfriend's graduation party.

Pretzels and beer.



B's nephew enjoying the grass on his toesies.



Yours truly.

Best part: the kick-ass cake they had. I love me some cake, and I have high standards that were definitely met (especially hard to do since the cake had fondant on it-and I generally despise fondant. But it worked this time!).

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