I'm a pretty lucky person, at least when it comes to the traveling that I am able to do - and again, at least within the 2009 year. Sometimes when I'm just feeling sorry for myself about my job that I really can't stand, the location where I live, or for really no good reason at all other than a little self-pity, it's very necessary to take a step back and review all the good in the year. For me, I travel when I need that reminder of what "freedom" feels like. My job holds me back in so many ways that the second I get onto the open road or into an airplane I become a completely different person - someone that I used to be before corporate America stole my sense of freedom. Anyway, I've been incredibly fortunate this year to be able to do a lot of traveling. After thinking about it for awhile recently, I think that I've taken more flights this year than almost any other year of my life.
January - March: No flights - Though I did move into a new apartment, attend President Obama's Inauguration concert, celebrate my birthday with dear friends, travel to the Poconos for a weekend, get to have a weekend visit with Ang, my college roommate, and attend the DC Cherry Blossom Festival - to name a few things.
April - Flight to Ft. Lauderdale - 4 days in the sun with some fantastic friends. April was also the month of my very first Coldplay concert. Also started a new job in this month which definitely freed up my weekends!
May - Again, no flights (and the only month until the present where that is the case) - however, I did get to spend a long weekend in NYC and see my best friend graduate from law school; enjoy time on the lake/boat in Annapolis; go to a few bbqs; attend the Vintage Virginia Annual Wine Festival; and visit Shenandoah National Park for the first time ever.
June - June was hectic. No two ways about it. June started off with my flight of the month to Iowa so a wonderful weekend spent at our good family friend's 50th Anniversary Party; visiting with Amy (also in IA); Roadtrip to NY to see Dave Matthews Band; Relay for Life; and a Red Sox/Nationals baseball game in DC.
July - Flight of this month was to home in NY. My cousin got married and it was great to catch up with all the family and meet my newest cousin. I also managed to roadtrip to North Carolina for a long weekend to see Ang; attend an 80's cover band; say goodbye to a good friend moving away; visit the Annapolis beach/outlet shopping; and numerous wonderful nights and bottles of wine over the Bachelorette spent with good friends.
August - This was the big kahuna of flights for the year - SAN FRANCISCO. One word: amazing. August is still young but I've also taken a weekend roadtrip to Rehoboth Beach to see my godmother and her family. It has also held a weekend camping/tubing trip in the Shenadoah National Park region as well as holding the record for the month of the largest bruises I've ever had in my entire life. (Note to self: cliff jumping never ends well.) It'll also contain a baseball game and a couple of birthday celebrations.
The fall is still yet to come but September already has at least two weekends away and the flight of that month will be home to NY for Labor Day weekend. It'll also contain at least one weekend trip to Philly and possible another DMB concert. My flight of the month for October will most likely be to Boston to explore the next chapter of life for me - grad school. It will also hold a weekend roadtrip to NJ for my first "friend" wedding. So weird. November will be a long weekend spent in CT/NYC for ThanksChristmas and December will home again for the holidays and the looming due dates of grad school applications. Scary, but exhilarating all at once.
It's tough to think of how quickly a year can go by. It seems like we were just celebrating last Christmas and now the summer is almost over. I am so lucky....so very lucky.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
It's all in the lyrics
I'm sitting here studying for my GREs with my iTunes library on shuffle and felt compelled to write this - not because I'm procrastinating (which I am...) but because it just struck me as funny. Funny how a single song can play and bring you right back to a particular moment in time, or a specific person. A few examples - no judging allowed on my music libary:
1) "Hardest Thing" (98 Degrees) reminds me of my best friend from high school and today. Though Jenn's favorite band was always the Backstreet Boys, any boy-band from that era make me think of her.
2) "She Will Be Loved" (Maroon 5), "This Year's Love" (David Grey), "From Such Great Heights" (The Postal Service), "Cop Stop" (Gavin DeGraw), "100 Years" (Five For Fighting), "Where Does the Good Go?" (Tegan & Sara) - ALL remind me of ex-boyfriends, crushes, or break-ups. Yet, they are still some of my all time favorites. Funny how that works...
3) "Bad Day" (Daniel Powter) is the song that will put me over the edge after a particularly rough day. Sometimes I even play it when I can feel myself becoming gloomy and in need of a good cry.
4) Alternatively, "Beautiful Day" (U2) can lift my mood at any moment.
5) Anything James Taylor reminds me of my very first concert with my Dad when I was 10.
6) "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (Whitney Houston) reminds me of Klondike Kate's 80's night over my senior year of college when Christine and I used to tear up the dance floor with each other during the song - even though we both had boyfriends and they would be there with us, we always managed to ditch them for this song.
7) "Ants Marching" and "The Christmas Song" (DMB) were the best live songs of my very first Dave concert...and the better part was the entire arena singing along to them. They will forever remind me also of my freshman college roommate, Leah, who introduced me to Dave and also my friend Pat who knows the lyrics and chords to pretty much every Dave song out there.
8) "We Were Only Freshman" - Freshman Year of college. Nicole's photo montages. Enough said.
I love driving at night by myself with my music blaring and singing my lungs out with no one around to judge. That's my confession of the day.
1) "Hardest Thing" (98 Degrees) reminds me of my best friend from high school and today. Though Jenn's favorite band was always the Backstreet Boys, any boy-band from that era make me think of her.
2) "She Will Be Loved" (Maroon 5), "This Year's Love" (David Grey), "From Such Great Heights" (The Postal Service), "Cop Stop" (Gavin DeGraw), "100 Years" (Five For Fighting), "Where Does the Good Go?" (Tegan & Sara) - ALL remind me of ex-boyfriends, crushes, or break-ups. Yet, they are still some of my all time favorites. Funny how that works...
3) "Bad Day" (Daniel Powter) is the song that will put me over the edge after a particularly rough day. Sometimes I even play it when I can feel myself becoming gloomy and in need of a good cry.
4) Alternatively, "Beautiful Day" (U2) can lift my mood at any moment.
5) Anything James Taylor reminds me of my very first concert with my Dad when I was 10.
6) "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (Whitney Houston) reminds me of Klondike Kate's 80's night over my senior year of college when Christine and I used to tear up the dance floor with each other during the song - even though we both had boyfriends and they would be there with us, we always managed to ditch them for this song.
7) "Ants Marching" and "The Christmas Song" (DMB) were the best live songs of my very first Dave concert...and the better part was the entire arena singing along to them. They will forever remind me also of my freshman college roommate, Leah, who introduced me to Dave and also my friend Pat who knows the lyrics and chords to pretty much every Dave song out there.
8) "We Were Only Freshman" - Freshman Year of college. Nicole's photo montages. Enough said.
I love driving at night by myself with my music blaring and singing my lungs out with no one around to judge. That's my confession of the day.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
What did she just say?
I wish I had a video camera to record all the stupid and ridiculous moments or comments that occur at my job or are said on a daily basis.
As a sidenote, I eat when I'm stressed. It's a bad habit, but since lunch I've consumed:
As a sidenote, I eat when I'm stressed. It's a bad habit, but since lunch I've consumed:
- Chicken Nuggets
- A package of M&M's
- A package of Sweet Tarts (yes, leftover Valentine's Day candy is my friend)
- An apple
- A bag of Triscuits
- A pack of laughing cow cheese
- A bag of Chex Mix
- Handful of Skittles
That is all.
Monday, February 16, 2009
New Start
Here's an attempt at a new blog, one that can be kept up with on a more regular basis. Who knows what will happen but I suppose we'll find out!
Couple of thoughts:
1) It's really random and awkward when people you haven't talked with in years (as in approximately 6 - at a minimum) manage to find you on facebook and strike up conversations as if there weren't 6+ years and thousands of experiences that separate you from the person you were in the start of high school. Perhaps if you'd actually known the person in the first place, it'd be less awkward.
2) Today is President's Day which is awesome for several reasons. Obviously #1 is because Lincoln was a pretty cool dude but a close second would be that today just so happens to be a holiday on Marriott's limited listing of days off...no work today! A relatively close third is that Ford's Theater re-opens from renovations today (whoa, lots of "re-s" all in one sentence). It's been closed down for the past 1.5 years that I've lived in D.C. and it will be neat to see the completed work since the first time I was inside of it comes with a lot of memories from a Washington, D.C. trip with my dad when I was 10.
3) Saw Burnt Sienna play on Saturday night at the Clarendon Ballroom - not for Valentine's Day, but for KK's birthday. They were just as good as I remembered from them playing at Deer Park throughout my last year of college and mug nights.
4) GREs are exactly 2 weeks from today. At this time on March 2nd, I'll be taking the exam that will determine what happens with the next 3 years of my life. Scary.
Couple of thoughts:
1) It's really random and awkward when people you haven't talked with in years (as in approximately 6 - at a minimum) manage to find you on facebook and strike up conversations as if there weren't 6+ years and thousands of experiences that separate you from the person you were in the start of high school. Perhaps if you'd actually known the person in the first place, it'd be less awkward.
2) Today is President's Day which is awesome for several reasons. Obviously #1 is because Lincoln was a pretty cool dude but a close second would be that today just so happens to be a holiday on Marriott's limited listing of days off...no work today! A relatively close third is that Ford's Theater re-opens from renovations today (whoa, lots of "re-s" all in one sentence). It's been closed down for the past 1.5 years that I've lived in D.C. and it will be neat to see the completed work since the first time I was inside of it comes with a lot of memories from a Washington, D.C. trip with my dad when I was 10.
3) Saw Burnt Sienna play on Saturday night at the Clarendon Ballroom - not for Valentine's Day, but for KK's birthday. They were just as good as I remembered from them playing at Deer Park throughout my last year of college and mug nights.
4) GREs are exactly 2 weeks from today. At this time on March 2nd, I'll be taking the exam that will determine what happens with the next 3 years of my life. Scary.
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