And here we are again...

I have no excuses. I simply have not felt like blogging come Sunday mornings. I start out every Sunday with the best intentions - I'm going to get up early and I'm going to write my blog before Pony Bar. Yet every Sunday, it turns out more like this - I'm going to get up at like 11:30 am, maybeeeeeeeeeee take a shower, and then go to Pony Bar. As I tell my cat (whenever he starts his "meow until the meow-er box runs out" habit) - dat's pa-te-tic.

So hopefully I'm back in the blogging world for good this time, and hopefully it's not a repeat of last time where I blogged and then went away again for 3 weeks.

Onto some form of recap. Wooty Woot!

1) Bowling!!!!
My work ended up renting out the private room of a bowling alley (4 lanes, it's own bar, big screen TVs, etc) and took everyone over for an afternoon of "not work". It was pretty awesome, and not just because the bowling alley was 1 block from my house. I actually really like to bowl - I'm not good at it by any means (any), I just think it's a fun way to spend a day. Top that with getting on a lane with my favorite coworkers, and the completely free open bar, and the day ended up a blast.

Afterwards, a smaller group of us decided to have an after-party, so I trucked over to my local bar and grabbed Blondie and my bar friend, and we headed up a few streets in the hood and hit up a vodka bar. It was the first time Blondie had met this specific group of coworkers and they LOVED him. As they told me - "Your husband is one of us!" meaning he speaks their language (coding, networking, etc). They also LOVED my bar friend - as we ended up taking over the dance stage in the bar and having a massive dance party. Top that off with the 3rd party company we work most closely with paid our whole bar bill - seriously one of the best Fridays I've had in a long time.

Blondie left the vodka bar a bit early to grab empanadas and go home and crash. But my bar friend and I stayed until about 1 am, and then stopped for nachos and margaritas on the way home. While sitting on the patio of the mexican restaurant, my BFF from work came walking by (he had just left the after-party) so we hollered at him and he helped us eat our nachos and drink our margs. The next day I realized I had texted Blondie at 1:30 am - and it said "I'm at mexican!" That's me - so excited for food that I text my husband, who I knew was sleeping, that I was eating mexican. Awesome.

2) Asheville!!!
Last week I got sent down to Asheville, NC, for a few days. It was insanely beautiful down there. As my plane was coming in for a landing, it was just solid green and mountains everywhere you looked. They had just came through a week of storms so everything was lush and bright - it blew my mind. A coworker and I drove up into the mountains and gave a presentation to some people there (the reason I had been sent down). We got there early, and they let us talk early, so we were down over an hour ahead of when we expected to be done which was nice (and the people we presented to were so friendly, just a really great group).

After our presentation, we drove back to Asheville and checked into our hotel - which was a boutique crazy ass hotel (still a Marriott though). The whole thing was like being in some hunting lodge crossed with some bohemian chic accessories. Like the purple velvet couches situated under the chandelier made from deer antlers. Or the gigantic see through fireplace (open on all 4 sides) with the stuffed warthog beside it. LOVE. Also, Asheville has their own creamery, so we checked in to our hotel and then grabbed a seat at the bar for a cheese plate from the creamery (amaze-balls) and some wine (first we had eaten all day as we had early early flights to get into Asheville).

The next day we took off and toured Biltmore House in the morning which also blew my mind. We hiked down to the house from the parking lot, and we were just chatting and not paying attention, and all of a sudden there was the great lawn with the most massive house I've ever seen at the end of it - my coworker went "Oh. My. God. I just got goose bumps". We made the ticket lady laugh with our running commentary as we bought our tickets - I offered to give my coworker an audio tour consisting of me just repeating "It's a big house. I mean BIG. Like really big". And ticket lady couldn't keep a huge grin off her face. Just a really great trip, and one I get to repeat in 2 months! :)

3) Hair!!!
Perhaps this should've been #1. But I went in a few weeks ago, and chopped 8" of hair off. My hair guy kept saying "there are a lot of women who would hate you for doing this"; but my reasoning is that I don't take care of it. It was constantly in braids or a ponytail. So yes, chop that shit off. It's way cooler, and it looks way better. Should've done this many months ago.

4) BOOK OF MORMOM!!!
On my bucket list for NYC - and finally we went. The Book of Mormon in this situation refers to a play written by the creators of South Park. It has been SOLD OUT since it opened 3 years ago. And it has won every major Tony you can win for a musical. We finally bit the bullet and bought some tickets off stubhub. And went last Sunday. It was worth every penny we spent on the tickets - I laughed so hard I almost peed myself. The musical concerns 2 mormon missionaries who were sent to Africa to convert. One guy was the "good guy" who everyone thought would excel at converting people; the other guy was the "screw up" who ended up kicking ass at converting but only because he lied about everything. I was dying the entire time - so funny. Blondie even bought a show t-shirt he liked it so much (which for a musical is REALLY saying something).

5) 4th of July!!!
This is also a sad thing - but my building friend invited us up for 4th of July for one last chance to view fireworks from his balcony. Him and his partner are moving back to California next month so we won't get to do this next year. The fireworks rocked - again something Macys does really well. I love watching them, and then love people watching as millions stream out of the viewing areas and back up the streets while I drink beer on a patio already at home. And I love living in NYC and the fireworks every year remind me of how much that means to me.

6) World War Z!!!
Just go. Amazing. Swarming zombies FTW.

7) Exercise!!!
I'm on a mission. I have been kicking ass and taking names these past few weeks - from getting 2 miles in at 5.5 mph pace the entire time (that's my normal running pace and I've been having a horrible time trying to get back there); to my first full hour run yesterday in almost 2 years (it felt great, which made me realize that if I can do an hour and feel fine, I'm totes mcgoats not pushing myself hard enough on my 30 min runs during the week); to "bricks". For anyone that does triathalons, what I'm about to describe is not a brick workout - I'm not trying to make it sound better, just not sure what term to describe it with. But basically it's the bike for whatever amount (5 miles, 10 miles, 30 minutes, whatever) and then for me a .5 mile run at a steady pace. So today I did 10 miles on the bike in 38:43 between levels 8 and 12, and then .5 miles at a 5.8 mph pace. It doesn't sound like much I know but it's helping me kill my other workouts right now. I feel good, so I'm going with it. Endorphins bitches, it's what's for dinner.

8) Hooters!!!
Haha. I'm so lame. I've been craving some Hooters for a few weeks now. After my hour run yesterday, it's all I could think about. Luckily Blondie was in (he also did an hour run yesterday), so we walked 1.2 miles up to Hooters (in 90 degree heat with 1000000% humidity - we were soaked with sweat when we go to Hooters; also, does that count for 2 workouts for the day?) and split a bunch of wings and some beers. Afterwards, we hit up a street festival and wandered through there for a bit, before pulling off to go to House of Brews for some mid afternoon refreshments. Then it was home to peel off sweaty clothing, and collapse. And my Hooters craving is now gone.

9) 10 Year Anniversary!!!
Blondie and I have finally decided on our 10-year anniversary plans! We are going back to where it all started and hitting up Las Vegas in October. We are going to spend 4 days there - renew our vows at The Little White Wedding Chapel drive-thru (where we got married); relax by the pool; gamble; drink. And then it will be off to either Sedona or Havasu for 3 days to end our trip. So excited we are going to do this! I'm looking forward to a week off with my Blondie!

10) Upcoming Travel!!!
I have the following trips planned coming up - off the Jersey/PA border 4 times over the next 3 weeks; KY in August; Jersey/PA border beginning of Sept; Asheville twice in 2 weeks in beginning of Sept; AK at end of Sept for MG's wedding; Poughkeepsie (sp?) beginning of Oct for a former coworker's wedding; Vegas mid Oct for our 10 year anniversary; and then not moving for the last 2 months of the year. It's a LOT of travel, but I'm totally looking forward to it!

So that's it. Hopefully I will get my head out of my ass next weekend and not let this blog go 3 weeks in a row anymore. Go me for doing the bare minimum.

--K