Ringing in 2012!

Is Wednesday morning too late to post a weekend recap? What if Tuesday was really like Monday? No, you want to hear all the details of my four-day weekend? Good, because I want to tell you.

New Year's Eve Eve Eve


I woke up on Thursday morning and told Josh Happy New Year's Eve Eve Eve. Actually, no, that was Christmas Eve Eve Eve. But whatever.

My weekend started on Thursday because I saved my floating holiday for the very last day of the year and took Friday off. The celebration began with the second annual Zoo Lights run with Hadley and Nikki.

Last year, Nikki and I tricked Hadley into running through the zoo with us one night in the dark, which she'd sworn she was terrified to do. But, being the most festive, christmas-loving person I know, she was won over pretty instantaneously. The adventure was just as fun this time around.

More than just the trees were lit up. I promise.

New Year's Eve Eve


I met Nikki for a yoga class in Adam's Morgan. This was my third yoga class ever and it was both our first time at Stroga. We were signed up for Power Vinyasa and I had no clue what to expect. I was mostly just excited to get my sweat on and to see the inside of this studio, which I'd heard such great things about. The space definitely lived up to all the hype. It was beautiful and old, kind of like being in a room in Europe. Maybe.

Via

The yoga wasn't so bad either. I was less weirded out by the "ohm" then I normally am. I felt the burn in different body parts several times throughout the class and I'm always a fan of that. I also felt very stretched out and relaxed at the end. But I need to work on the whole breathing thing. And the spirituality thing. The instructor kept telling us to focus our energy on a goal for the afternoon. My only goal was to have a good lunch and hangout sesh with Nikki at Tryst after class.

I must have done a good job focusing my energy on our fun lunch, because we had it. We caught up on a lot of important life matters and we also made fantastical racing plans.

Friday night, Josh and I met my parents at a family friends house for dinner. Their daughter, Marlee, was my best friend growing up. We shared a babysitter and we were basically sisters. She lives in Chicago now and I don't see her nearly enough but it is always so fun when I do. So Friday was pretty great. So great that I was too distracted to photograph every minute of it. Or any minute of it.

Marlee and I circa Christmas 2004

New Year's Eve


Nikki and I met for a run on at 8am in Woodley Park. She is in her second round of marathon training through Fleet Feet and had a 12 mile run on her schedule. But I was in no shape for 12 miles so we decided that I'd join her for about 8. Having had a good share of wine the night before, and having woken up awkwardly in the night, I was feeling a little sluggish and worried about keeping up. But Nikki's asthma was bothering her and she was also tired so we, at least, were in the same boat. We were surprised at how empty the trails were for 8am on a Saturday morning and we talked about how hard this run felt for both of us. Because this wasn't a particularly fun run, I felt bad leaving Nikki to do the last 4.5 miles by herself but I had accepted a frisbee invite for later that morning so I bailed out at mile 7.5.

I came home, drank hot chocolate, felt instantly nauseous, slept for an hour, and then reluctantly rode my bike back to Rock Creek Park for the last frisbee game of 2011. It turned into the last 4 frisbee games of 2011. 

I alternated between being lazy and being intensely competitive. It was December 31 and I was hot in shorts and long sleeves. The sun was shining big and it ended up being a lot of fun.

You can't tell by the look on any of our faces, but we were having fun.

Josh and I spent the rest of the afternoon melting what seemed like gallons of chocolate in our kitchen, still in our sweaty clothes, and then accidentally burning ourselves in it like 20 times. We are obviously top notch chefs.

New Year's Eve Night


The last few hours of 2011 were spent at an intimate little dinner party with three other couples, eating an impressively delicious feast that we all contributed to making.

This holiday had become far too stressful and the last thing that any of us wanted to do was pay a lot of money to go to an "open bar" and get really drunk. This was seriously the most perfect alternative.

We sat around a table talking and drinking for hours, counted down to midnight and shared champagne, and played beer pong.

Our hosts were pretty awesome, too.

Then Josh and I walked the 1.5 miles home at 3 am and it was so not cold that it almost made me sweat.

New Year's Day


This was the first New Years day in probably like eight years that I have not been hungover. I think I deserve a medal for that. Still, I was all about being lazy on January 1. The only thing I left home for all day was my 5k walk with Josh around the city and through the Zoo Lights.

And, hungover or not, my motto on New Years Day apparently remains "GIVE ME NACHOS." Or, "I'll make us nachos for dinner, Josh. They'll be kick ass, as usual."

Last Day Before Work


So Monday I woke up with that bleh kind of feeling you get the day before going back to work after a long time away. Even though I'd only been away four days. But the bleh was pretty much annihilated immediately by my excitement over the Florida bowl game and, very much more so, the fact that I'd see Sam, one of my good friends from college who I hadn't kept in the best touch with and hadn't seen since 2009. She was in DC for New Years so we got to spend the afternoon together and it was glorious.

I look so awkward in this photo.

She lives in LA and is so ridiculously humble about the fact that she works for famous people and hangs out with famous people and is basically famous. Obviously, I'm not humble about it. It was really, really awesome to see her.

But then she left and the weekend was over. Before bed, Josh and I and talked about next summer and how I am so uncontrollably excited about it but that I'm pretty much ignoring the fact that we'll be away from each other for two months. That part will be hard. But good too because our hearts will have plenty of time to grow even fonder. Also, he might get to live in a cleaner apartment because I won't be here to screw around with it.

We also contemplated whether bears will chase humans while they're riding bikes. I sure as hell hope not. Not that I want them creeping up on my while I'm sleeping either. I'd like to avoid bears in all scenarios, if possible. And on that note, I fell asleep and the weekend was over.

I feel like I got enough exercise on Thursday, Friday, and (mainly) Saturday that it makes up for my lack of sweating on Sunday and Monday. But what you don't know is that today is January 4th and I have not run, biked, or sweat yet this year. Because it is so ridiculously cold so last night I just didn't run. Gasp- I hibernated. I'm hoping that if I write it down on my blog, I will be committed and tonight, no matter how many degrees below freezing the air is, I will be forced to lace up my shoes and take my sweat glands for a ride. Stay tuned.


I hope you all had a wonderful time ringing in the new year! Did you do anything special? Do you have a New Year's Eve or New Year's Day tradition? Or a traditional food? Do you know if bears have been known to chase humans on their bikes?? Any insight would be very comforting.