Hair Cut

I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow at a new salon - Smitten that is attached to my apartment building.  I haven't been before and I am super nervous.  I didn't like the last salon I tried in Tyson's, so hopefully I'll like this better.  The last hair salon (which shall remain nameless) wasn't bad per-say- like she didn't f*** up my hair or anything, but she just wasn't friendly. She hated Arlington and Virginia and DC, which was kind of a buzz kill to someone new to the area, and she also never had anything nice to say about my hair- not that I have amazing hair or anything, but my stylist back in MI, Julie K, used to always compliment my hair and bring over other stylists to look at it too - such a sweetheart.  So fingers crossed tomorrow is better! My hair is insanely long right now, so I am hoping to cut some inches off- it will be a big change!  Here are some looks I love:

   

I'll have pictures afterwards tomorrow!

Fall Favorites

Happy almost Friday!!!

It's been a while since I posted again - Paul and I went to his family's hometown near Buffalo for his cousin's wedding, and this past weekend my best friend from home came to visit.  We had so much fun partying nonstop both weekends, but it was exhausting!! Now Paul is in Dallas for work, so I've spent the evening giving myself a mani/pedi, a face mask and catching up on the Real Housewives. We're looking forward to relaxing this weekend!

Even though I swore I wouldn't go shopping again - I just can't help myself. The weather might be heating up again, but I am ready for fall fashion! I get that way every year.  It's the end of summer and I am ready to wear jeans and sweaters- and then as soon as it's freezing cold I miss my summer dresses. Oh well. Here's what's on my current fall favorites list.


  
These Dolce Vita boots from Piperlime    and this blouse from J Crew


 
I'm obsessed with this Rebecca Taylor blazer.  and these J crew track pants

 
Love these J Crew shoes. And also, I would sell my first born for this Burberry coat.

So many clothes, so little time. And money. I always forget about that...

Happy Friday!

I love this quote. It always makes me just excited for the future.

 Last weekend I went to Chicago and my flight was delayed 6 hours! Six! It was terrible, but I did make some new friends while stuck at the airport.  I had a good time visiting my college friends, but it was great to go home and relax after all of the travelling I have been doing lately.  I don't know how people do this for a living constantly.  All I can think about is all the airport germs I am picking up and I just want to take a purrell bath.

I'm going to Virginia Beach with Paul this weekend to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.  I can't believe it's already been two years! We're seeing Dave Matthews Band tonight (for those of you that don't know- Paul is obsessed. He's been to like 30 DMB concerts and I've been to 4 in the last two years). Then we're spending the rest of the weekend at the beach in front of our Oceanview hotel.  I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Finally catching up

So I know I have not posted in a while - it has been an insanely busy summer.  I think the last time I wrote, Paul's mom was visiting from New York.  I happened to catch some sort of horrible summer cold/virus that weekend that left me coughing for a solid month.  It was horrible.  The next weekend I went to Urgent Care, where I was told I had coughed so hard that I bruised my ribs and burst blood vessels in my ears.  Wonderful.  They gave me a codeine prescription, which left me passed out every single night, making the next few weeks slightly blurry.  Codeine cough syrup is probably the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted by the way.

We've been loving our new apartment (I'll post pictures soon).  We've had a few barbecues on our rooftop terrace and it's been great. I am definitely loving living in Clarendon.

We also went to Charlottesville a few weeks ago to visit my Granny with my parents.  We had a great time with them Saturday, and then Sunday Paul and I spent the day checking out some vineyards in Charlottesvile.  First, we went to Dave Matthews' vineyard, Blenheim, since Paul is obsessed. It was very cute and quaint.  The winery has a gorgeous view looking out over the Blueridge (?) mountains.  The woman doing our tasting told us that Dave Matthews just purchased the surrounding 300 acres because they were going to be developed into houses, and he did not want the area to be developed and ruin the scenery. Next we went to Trump vineyards, which I did not think I was going to like - I thought it would be very tacky and over the top.  We actually found out that Donald Trump bought the winery from the Kluge family, a family that has been in the Charlottesville area for years and that my granny and mother had talked about a few times while we were visiting.  I was pleasantly surprised by the Trump winery, which is run by Donald Trump's son Eric.  Although the Trump logo was on everything possible, including a plethora of merchandise to buy that was probably unnecessary to sell at a winery, the winery still had an overall elegant vibe - not tacky like I thought.  Their wine was very good - we ended up buying three bottles.  The Trump/ Kluge winery is known for their sparkling wines, as well as a wine that is aged in a bourbon barrel. Lastly, we went to Jefferson Vineyards.  That vineyard was nice as well, but not anything special.

The following weekend, Paul went to Pittsburgh for a bachelor party, and I spent my weekend poolside.  I also went out with some friends from back home, which was really fun.  Then I spent Saturday with my aunt and uncle.

This past weekend, I went home to Michigan to go to the Nordstrom pre-sale with my mom.  It was wonderful.  I bought way too much, and probably cannot go shopping again until 2014. But I made some great purchases at fantastic prices.  More on that later....

Paul and I attended the Best of Washington event put on by Washingtonian magazine on Wednesday night at the National Building Museum  We had such a great time!  We definitely ate way too much food, but everything was so delicious! My favorite was the corn and crab salad from Blue Duck Tavern.

This weekend I am going to Chicago to visit all my college friends.  I am super excited to see everyone! I definitely need a weekend to just relax soon though...

Hope you are all surviving this crazy heat wave!  Woohoo summertime in the DC swampland.

Memorial Weekend

Happy Friday!!! The next best thing to a three day weekend, is a four day work week.  I also start summer hours, which means I get to leave at 1:00 pm today!!! Sadly, I am sick right now, so I plan to take a nap as soon as I get home.  Paul's mom is coming tonight, and we are really excited to show her our new place and take her around DC.  We're going to La Tasca tonight in Clarendon for sangria and tapas, and also plan to go to Bluemont Vineyard.

We spent most of last weekend unpacking, although we did manage to fit in some fun activities as well!  Friday, I finally went to the dreaded DMV, which officially is my least favorite place in the whole world, and I will do anything to never go back there. 3 hours later, I finally met a friend for a much needed drink at Proof.  I have to say I was slightly disappointed in my cocktail, which sort of tasted like strawberry salt water.  Yuck. Paul met us there, and then we went over to Jaleo, a spanish tapas place, for dinner.  Jaleo was delicious and I would definitely go back!

Saturday we went to the Kenny Chesney concert (my birthday present from Paul).  We had so much fun!! Eric Church was absolutely amazing, and Kenny was incredible!! Such a good time. Saturday morning before the concert, we got crepes and mimosas from our favorite place, Oby Lee.  Oby Lee is a coffee and wine shop with delicious crepes.  Coffee and wine- could it be any more perfect?  Actually yes- it is attached to our building.

 

mimosas and crepes from Oby Lee

  
Eric Church and Kenny Chesney!

Sunday we went to brunch at Matchbox in Eastern Market.  We shared the breakfast pizza (so good) and the berry waffle which was also good.  Unfortunately they were out of the peach mimosa I wanted to try, so I went with one that had pineapple and apples, which was decent.  After brunch, we went shopping in Eastern Market and found a cool painting of DC for our apartment.  We spent the rest of the day unpacking and then checked out Fuego in Clarendon for some tacos and margaritas.  How do I describe Fuego?  I feel like it has so much potential, and then just falls short.. The first problem was that we were seated next to a teenage couple that was blackout drunk and fighting with each other.  He actually left her there for like ten minutes and she passed out at the table.  It was EXTREMELY awkward.  They have $5 margaritas on Sunday, which is a pretty good deal.  I thought my margarita was okay, it was a little too syrupy for me, but Paul liked his. Paul got a hibiscus margarita, and mine was twisted with hibiscus and regular.  We got a few tacos to share (they are small and come with two each). They were decent, but seemed to be lacking any original flavor.  All in all, I don't know if we would go back.

We spent Monday unpacking and then went to a barbeque at Paul's friend's house Monday evening.  We also purchased a new couch from Crate and Barrel (15% off!).  It is a sectional made for apartments, so it is very compact.  It will fit perfectly in our living room, and will provide a little extra seating since we don't have room for a chair or anything.  And before you ask, no actually, we did not need a new couch. Paul hates mine for some reason (it's a little bulky) and rather than hear him complain for the next year, I gave in. Which means that I am guaranteed to win the next battle that I care more about... Relationships are all about compromise ;)  Anyway, our new couch will be here in July, and we are selling the old one on Craigslist (Let me know if you need a couch!!). '

Have a great weekend! I will post pictures of our apartment next!

Home is where the heart is

Well, we did it.  We're finally moved in to our new apartment. The move was pretty stressful, so I am glad its's over.  Friday we were up until two in the morning packing and it seemed like everything that could go wrong did.  We ran out of tape twice, and both rolls of packaging material for dishes and glasses, as well as paper towel.  We ended up using toilet paper and t-shirts to finish wrapping things!  Then we ran out of boxes, so we had to go to UHaul at 7 am to buy more before the movers came.

The movers came right on time (actually a few minutes early).  We used a company called Two Marines Moving, which hires veterans from all branches of the military for their moving services.  I was a little nervous when two boys that looked younger than my brother showed up, but they did a great job!  One of them did drop a load of furniture from his dolly- resulting in a damaged dresser.  Luckily, the piece is old anyway and the damage is at the bottom.  We filed a claim, so we'll see how that goes.  Overall, they were a great price, and I thought they did a good job.

Paul and I decided that there was nothing we'd rather do less than clean out our old apartment Saturday night or Sunday, when we needed that time to unpack (we didn't take off any work for this move).  So while the movers were taking our things, I searched for cleaning companies that could come out ASAP.  I found a man named Tom on Yelp, who said he could come out Sunday afternoon, which was perfect.  So Sunday, we drove back to Peachtree and waited for Tom to show up. I'm not going to lie, he looked like Mr. Clean on steroids- bald with ginormous muscles.  He ended up charging us the high end of the quote he gave, which was a little irritating, but I figured that we could pay a little more to have someone who came out on such short notice and on a Sunday.  While he cleaned, Paul and I went furniture shopping.  We need an entertainment center and a coffee table.  We had some trouble finding things because all the furniture we saw was so big and bulky!  Nothing seemed to be made for a high-rise city apartment. We finally found a media console we liked at Bob's discount furniture, then went home to pay Tom the cleaner.  He did a decent job, but there were definitely spots I noticed that he missed.  I think that boys just don't pay as much attention to details the way that girls do. He did a pretty good job and it was great not to do it ourselves!

Later on Sunday, Paul and I decided to go to the Crate and Barrel in Tyson's Corner since we were still out there. We should have realized sooner that C&B was the perfect mix of both of our tastes (Paul likes modern and contemporary, and I like vintage and organic).  We ended up finding an entertainment center that we liked even better and a coffee table to match! More expensive than the Bob's piece, but worth it. Monday night, we walked to the C&B in Clarendon and bought it! Our new furniture will arrive next week, and then that leaves Handyman Paul to build it!  Afterwards, we walked to Boulevard Grill and had dinner to celebrate our new place and new furniture.  I love being able to walk everywhere.

Paul left yesterday to go to Dallas for a work training, so I am on my own unpacking, which was good since I definitely have way more clothes and toiletries than him.  I have a walk-closet now, which is to die for.  I have everything color-coded and organized. I'm hoping to get a lot more done tonight too (and sneak some more of my clothes into Paul's closet).  My parents are coming tomorrow to pick me up on their way to Delaware for my dad's band reunion and Paul will meet us there.  I'm so excited for them to see the place, even though it's not all unpacked yet.

 Overall, our new place feels wonderful - we have so much more space now.  Well, more but less at the same time.  We have much more living space, but less storage space. My old apartment had a linen closet, and also a food pantry, and this apartment doesn't have either, so we have to be creative with our kitchen space, and I also need to find something to store all my toiletries in.  The nice thing is that we have two bathrooms so that helps! The other thing I love so much about our apartment is how open and bright everything is.  There is constant sunlight pouring in, which is amazing, and helps detract from the construction right in front of us.  And that's another thing - we must have great windows and walls because you can barely hear the construction.  Being in a penthouse and having high ceilings is fabulous as well.  Once we are all unpacked and settled in, I will post pictures!

Packing is hell.

So I know, I haven't posted in a while.  But it's not my fault.  We got delayed in Maui an extra day (long story) and then we have spent this week packing to move into our new apartment.  The move is Saturday and I feel like we still have soooo much more to do! I want to post some pictures from Maui, but that will have to wait until we're moved in.  The following weekend we're meeting my parents in Delaware because my dad's band from the 70's/80's is reuniting.  We're pretty excited! Paul has a work training in Dallas and flies back in Friday night and since we didn't want to take two separate cars, my dad of course saved the day by offering to come pick me up!  Which also means they'll get to see the new place. It's a win-win situation.  Well, unfortunately, I have to get back to packing, so that is all for now!  Happy Wednesday!



This sums up my week perfectly :)