Come on, Irene

Irene sounds so much like Eileen to me that I've had "Come on Eileen" stuck in my head for the past four days. True story.

I am beyond sure that you all know about the earthquake and hurricane that graced the east coast of the US this past week, but there was no way I could pass up writing a bit about my experience of both.

First, the earthquake on August 23rd; also mine and Scot's 4 year dating anniversary. I know, I know, we're so in love and adorable that we made the earth shake. Cute.

I was at work at the time, in a session and working on someone's back. I felt the building start to sway and wobble a bit but wasn't sure what was going on - construction, maybe? But I couldn't hear anything, I just felt the shaking. Then about 30 seconds later, the whole building really started swaying and shaking. The massage table wobbled, my client shook underneath my hands, I heard rumbling. I wasn't sure what to do - it couldn't be an earthquake.. I mean, I live in DC. We don't "do" the big earthquake thing. I figured there would be an alarm or my boss would knock on the door if it was an actual emergency.

Honestly? One of my first thoughts went to my laptop which was sitting in the waiting area at work. If the building crumbled, I'd lose my laptop and that CANNOT HAPPEN (I told you I treat that thing like it's my child).

My client and I started talking about what that could have been, when my boss finally did knock on the door. It was a 5.8 earthquake and they were evacuating the building so they could check the integrity and make sure all was ok. We scooted out, I grabbed my laptop, and we actually ended up canceling clients for the rest of the day; us massage therapists don't mess around, you see. I went home a few hours later (after the mass of traffic lessened a bit since everyone else had the same idea) and one of my cats was beyond freaked. She was crawling commando style around the apartment, puff tail and all. The other one has the memory of a goldfish and I think he was just happy I was home early to give him attention.

So that was that. Scot apparently felt some shaking and he was evacuated for all of five minutes before he was let back in his building - I was fortunate enough to get in touch with him via phone only about 10 minutes after the quake. Also? Smartphones can be a dream sometimes, because texting and the 3G network was working really well - I got most of my up-to-date info from Twitter and Facebook on my iPhone!

Life went on, things were good, nothing fell in our apartment. Then the media went nuts over Hurricane Irene and we started prepping for that. We cancelled our Saturday and Sunday clients at work, Scot and I stocked up on water and other hurricane essential items, and I watched the news constantly - more so because I have a ton of friends and family in NYC and Long Island. While DC was supposed to feel the edge of the storm, NY was supposed to get hit pretty hard. Since the town I grew up in is located only 6 miles from the southern beaches of Long Island, a lot of friends were strongly encouraged to evacuate. Of course, in the end, everything was fine - but this storm was no joke. Lots of rain, lots of wind, power outages, downed trees - both in NY and DC (and everywhere else above, below, and in between).

via

So what did we end up doing with our impromptu 3 day weekend?

On Saturday, Scot and I headed to the house (officially moving in next week!) to bring over a round of boxes and install some shelving units.

This is considered a bedroom but you can't fit a bed in here..

the owners used it as a nursery, we're using it as a massive walk-in closet!

That night, I braved the torrential downpour and fierce winds and headed via metro into DC in order to meet up with some cool cats and enjoy a $5 Hurricane drink happy hour!

So very worth it.

On Sunday, our power predictably went out (damn you, PEPCO). Fortunately, it came on a few hours later but I was already on my way back into DC for some post-hurricane brunch and soccer at Fado (Go Manchester United!). I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was outside just a day after what looked like impending doom.. but hey, I'll take it!

Sunday night we packed some more, and on Monday I had my first day of being a TA at my massage school! Scot slept in until 3pm since he is starting his evening shift (7pm - 7am) tonight.. more on that later.

And that was my crazy, adventuresome, natural disaster filled week and weekend! How was yours?!

Brush n' Blush

Way back in February, I convinced a few of my girlfriends to get a Living Social deal for this fun little place in DC called Brush N' Blush; you basically go and paint and drink wine. Um, hells yes!

Life inevitably got kind of hectic and we kind of forgot about it until I got an email a few weeks ago saying that our deal was going to expire on August 11. How the heck did August get here that fast?! Last time I checked, it was still May. Seriously - summer's almost over.. so weird.

Anyway! We frantically tried to find a day that worked for everyone and one that I could bounce out of work early to make the 7pm class. We also needed to find a day that had a good "paint topic", since the layout of the class is to basically replicate that night's chosen painting. In other words, we'd all be painting the same thing.

Lo and behold, the one night that worked for all of us was.... are you ready for it....?

Cherry blossoms!! It was fate.

I can't even tell you how much fun this was. There's a teacher that guides you through, step by step, so everyone ends up with a relatively similar painting at the end. You bring your own wine and snacks, so everything might start getting a little fuzzy, but that's ok - artistic expression exists for a reason, people!

So we went in, suited up, got our paints, and claimed a table.

The wine and snacks were busted out immediately, of course.

We snuck in a bottle SkinnyGirl too, since no liquor is technically allowed ;)

Then we got to painting!

Are you impressed with my mad sky skillz?

You can see some sneak peaks above, but here's our final results:

Class photo!

And yes, some go-getter painted their background a different color. #overachiever

And of course, we celebrated with a whipped cream pineapple shot afterwards.

Have you tried that stuff? So good!

It was the perfect girl's night out, and if you live in the DC area? Hit that place up! We might make it a sort of regular thing.. thank goodness I'm moving into a house with LOTS of wall room to hang things... muahahaha.

Updates and brain dump and beer, oh my!

Thank you all for your wonderful, kind words of support about my grammy - just your thoughts, comments and prayers have definitely helped. Big hugs and thanks for each and every one of you!

Now it's time for a little update. I mentioned that life has been nuts, and I just need to do a brain dump of sorts. And lists are fun. Obvs.

1. Work has been crazy, but in a good way. I'm starting to teach two classes - one is called Massage 101, where I instruct two people (generally couples) basic massage techniques so they feel more comfortable giving each other bodywork. Sure, shoulder rubs and foot rubs are great, but this class gives people 'advanced' basic, worthwhile techniques that they can carry over and use in their own home. This class wasn't too hard to prepare since I interned with the Level 1 students at my school last year and was able to draw a lot of the material from there. I taught my first class to an older couple today, and it was actually a lot of fun!

The other class I'm teaching is called Relaxation 101 - this one is a bit more complicated since I was asked to/volunteered to create 'new' material for it. By 'new', I mean that I had to recreate the class based off of the description that it would be a 'restorative stretch and yoga class for partners.' We originally had someone teaching the class, but apparently some things got a little sketchy and she left before I had a chance to sit in on her class or get training from her. A fellow coworker took the class once.. so that's all I had to go with. I've been spending the past few weeks coming up with a blend of stretches, restorative yoga poses, meditation, massage and partner work that accommodates the most flexible bodies to the most stiff. It was a challenge, for sure. I finally had my first Relaxation 101 class with two sisters last week, and I am happy to report that it went rather well! I definitely have to fine tune it again for another private class this week, but I absolutely love teaching it.

2. All that new work made me stressy for a while. I mean.. we're charging $200 for those classes (for 2 people). That's a lot of money. So the content has to be good. No pressure.

3. I also volunteered to somehow create an intake form that clients would fill out on an iPad, and then have the information sent to a database of some sort. I have made VERY little progress here. If you know anything, I could seriously use your help! Right now, I'm just having fun playing with an iPad and pretending it's mine ;)

This was my makeshift "work" desk at home. That's as professional as I get.

4. Because of all the aforementioned work things, I had to give up interning at DC United. Sure, it was a great experience.. but I wasn't getting paid and wasn't able to perform up to capacity for my full time job that does pay. Plus the hours sucked. Oh well.

5. I. Need. A. Vacation. I really can't wait until Scot and I go upstate New York. 5 more days!

6. A date was finally decided for my grammy's memorial service.. long story short, the day we'll be driving back from New York, we'll be going straight to the airport down in Maryland, fly down to Florida, stay for a day and a half, fly back, then finally drive home. Phew.

7. Last but not least (for now).. we tasted our first batch of home brew!!

It was SO TASTY. And.. it may already be gone. All 5 gallons of it. In our defense, Scot gave a bunch of bottles away to the guys he works with. But.. we did drink a lot of it. We currently have a 2nd batch of a dark Russian stout carbonating away in bottles, and a 3rd batch of a Belgian whit beer going through it's first fermentation. Beer for everyone, huzzah!

Das Brew, part 2!

So when we last saw our first batch of home brew, it was fermenting in the big ol' ale pail, with Scot eagerly awaiting.

It was supposed to be done fermenting after 6 days, in which you have the option of bottling right then and there or doing a double fermentation. We opted for the latter for several reasons.

1. Double fermentation = higher alcohol content. Yes, please.

2. There would be A LOT of residual yeast and residue in the bottles if we didn't filter/transfer the brew into a glass carboy for another 2 weeks. Like this..

..would all be in the bottled beer. Ew. No.

So we transferred the once fermented beer from the ale pail..

..into the carboy, like so:

 

It's actually pretty neat watching the beer go from one container to the other. The little pump nozzle thingy has some cool pressurizer thingamabob (these are very technical terms, obvs) so that you just pump it once, and it keeps sucking the beer up from the pail and pouring it into the glass carboy - no effort required. Neato!

The brew then sat in the carboy for another two-ish weeks, doin' its thang. Once our calendar said it was done fermenting, we bottled that shiz!

First, the brew had to be moved into yet another ale pail, but this one with a spigot to make bottling easier.

Before you can bottle it, however, you have add a mix of priming sugar and boiling water - the sugar is what gives the brew its carbonation in the bottles!



Once all beer has been transferred and sugars have been added, you use the fun pump nozzle thingy with the pressurizer thingamabob to fill the bottles. You also try (and fail) at not getting beer all over the floor.

You can then create an assembly line and have the man do the bottle capping.

Box it up, and wait two more weeks for the carbonation to kick in!

 We should be able to finally crack open a bottle of this summer ale in about a week - I seriously hope it's not gross. And that it has bubbles and tastes like summery ale-y perfection!

Recap dump.

First off, Tullifer is doing better - our normal vet said that nothing is physically wrong with him and the issue is most likely neurological in nature. He's still straining to go to the bathroom a bit, but it is MUCH better than it was a few days ago. Alas, I truly have a neurotic cat. Thank you for all the kind thoughts and well wishes for him!

So the point of this post is that I've learned I am completely terrible at recaps. So much has gone on in the past few weeks, I have taken so many pictures.. and they're all just sitting on my computer. Chillin'. Like they got nowhere to be. Like my blog doesn't exist for that reason.

Ugh. Lame.

So, for your Wednesday, I am treating you all to a massive brain/photo dump. Huzzah!

First off, Scot and I went to a local Greek festival a few weeks back. It was an abnormally gorgeous day in DC, and anything Greek related gets Scot and I all warm and fuzzy inside. Bring on the gyros and vino!

About a week later, Scot insisted on bringing me to this burger joint called BGR (can you tell I base my life around food?). Um.. best. turkey burger. ever. I inhaled that shiz.

Man I'm sexy when I'm swallowing my food whole, no?

Later that same week, I went to the National Harbor to meet up with none other than Em, Maria, and the lovely Hannah!! We went to Rosa Mexicano, where we got margaritas, guac, and some tasty taco-tacos (again with the food).

Oh, and of course we got a picture together!! These ladies are all seriously thebomb.com. Oh yes, I went there.

The next night, I went out for a bit with Gaby and Braden, aka my Mexico amigos.

Crazy times in the DC 'burbs, let me tell you. Sometimes I feel too old to be going out clubbin', but it can just be oh so much fun!

So the day after that (which would the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, for those of you who are keeping track), we headed up to Long Island to help celebrate Scot's grandfather's 90th birthday!

Future sis-in-law Shannon and grandpops

Grandpops and cousins

More cousins..

It was really nice to able to attend this, as I finally got to meet a lot of Scot's extended family that I always heard about, but never actually met. It was also great to see the future in-laws again; I'm super lucky that I get to marry into such a wonderful family!

Scot and sis Shannon

Typical Scot/niece/nephew brawl

We stayed with my dad and stepmom while on Long Island, since they actually only live about a half hour from Scot's extended family and the fiesta location. It was great to see part of my own family as well, of course!

The following week was a bit more tame after a jam-packed Memorial Day weekend, but I still kept busy seeing friends from near and far. Tuesday was super hot, so I invited some peeps over for some turkey burgers, pool time, and daiquiris.

Good times with good people, for sure! However, the highlight of last week was actually completely unexpected.. I was on my way to work Wednesday morning when I got a random text from my friend Steve, who lives in Philly. I probably haven't seen this guy in about 3 or 4 years? Nuts. He mentioned that he was going to be at the Nats vs Phils baseball game that afternoon, followed by some drinks at McFadden's in DC. As luck would have it, I had a VERY slow shift that day and was totally able to meet up with him and his friends for a bit in the early evening! SO random, but so much fun.

(I do have to admit that I was having slight conniptions over the fact that the bar was full of Phillies fans - apparently it was a Philly bus trip to go see the game or something. If you know me, you know I love the Mets. Hence, I hate the Phillies. Blech.)

So there you have it - most of the highlights of the past 3 weeks of my life, all wrapped into one post. Life's clearly been a bit hectic and crazy, but I'm loving it!! Hope your springs and early summers are just as dy.no.mite!