UMW Homecoming

Nostalgia [no-stal-juh]
- Noun.  Meaning a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

Last weekend, Sarah (the newly minted Mrs.) and I ventured down to Fredericksburg for Mary Washington's homecoming.  It's a tradition for us to return to our alma mater in the fall, and even though we don't have a football team, everyone seems to rally around our soccer and rugby teams and drink like we do. 

While we didn't see many familiar faces, it was comforting to be in a place that makes me reflect back on what I remember as a really happy time in my life (I probably would have argued that if you would have asked the 20 year old me, but we live and we learn).  The school is definitely in expansion and revamp mode, and everything is much more squeaky clean than what I remember.  But at the heart of it, it's still MWC.  Or UMW.  Mdub.

This year's homecoming shirts read "RUN UMW" as a play off the RUN DMC logo.  Sarah and I got the RUN DMC connection but didn't really get the whole point of it.  Apparently, neither did the undergrads, because we passed a group talking about the shirts and overheard "Yeah, we don't really know, but I guess there's this group called RUN DMC that were rappers or something."  Crap, I'm officially old.

We wandered down campus walk, which brought a flood of emotions my way.  I kept telling Sarah that I didn't know whether to smile or start crying.  I'm a mess!  Any who, I held it together, and just enjoyed wandering around and thinking back on the good old days....the days when we actually had time to treat friends like friends, and there was always of circle of people around to turn to when shit hit the fan.  Sigh.  Sometimes I just want to go back to those simpler days, and to appreciate the close-knit community that I took for granted for so long.

The foliage was ridiculously pretty.  I love fall!

In 2004, our beloved Mary Washington College turned into the University of Mary Washington.  One of the only standing MWC symbols is on the front gate:

This clock tower was added after we graduated (2007?).  It adds a bit of prestige, I suppose.

Then we passed Trinkle Hall.  It was one of the only buildings that stayed open 24 hours.  Quite a few memories of all-nighter exhaustedness.

And a stop at the student bulletin, where we discovered that WALE (a popular rapper from the DC area) was the homecoming concert performer!  We didn't stay for it, but that's pretty legit.

Sarah checking things out (and being ridiculously photogenic, as usual).

And last, but not least, Lee Hall.  The home to our bookstore, the charming ballroom, and a ton of other student services.  The place has been overhauled, and the book store now takes up almost the entire first floor and has a ton more stuff that we used to have.  And the ballroom?  It's gone, and now broken up into offices and meeting rooms.  A little bit sad.  The building still looks the same from the outside though (sorry for the shadows, I'm still grasping the whole metering concept).

After wandering around downtown for a bit, we headed to Carrabba's for dinner (yum).  All in all, I had a fabulous day, and it was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and back to my "roots".  :)

TGIF, Like Whoa.

This pretty much sums up my day so far:

Yes, tape dispensers really do have sand in the bottom. And yes, sometimes they do just suddenly spring a leak all over your desk.  Sigh.

In happier news, I'd like to wish Ms. JB a very happy birthday. And also Mr. Foot. Love you both!

Have a great weekend.

Just Do It

I came across this video last night and it totally inspired me.  I even got my lazy ass out of bed this morning for a 6:30 spin class.  Miracles do happen! 

Check it out.  I got a little teary eyed towards the end... I'm a total sap.

"If you want to do it... all you have to do is do it."  Check out Ben's blog at http://bendoeslife.tumblr.com/.  Amazing.

It's Officially Fall When...

... I make my first batch of turkey chili and pumpkin bread!  Both of which I did this weekend.

It was kinda like senior year, only funner! 

And as a result, I also spent a couple hours doing this:



I've been a total slacker about working out over the past couple of months, so I'm trying to get back into a routine (story of my life).  I think the cooler weather helps though.  Does anyone else feel that way?  It's way easier for me to motivate myself when it's not nasty hot outside!

Well, I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  I'm off to finish up some school work and watch some football.  Let's go Redskins!

True Lemon Love

Since I like to make an occasional shameless plug, like here and here, I have another one for the archives.  Meet my flavor the week, True Lemon:

How'd we meet?  Let's just say my office is little bit instant coffee-tea-miscellaneous other drinks-soup obsessed, and we keep up with the trends.  See what I mean? 

We actually replaced our fabulous Starbucks machine with Flavia.  As in powdered coffee.  Don't be jealous.  Anywho, I took one look at the newcomer, and after being slightly skeeved out by the idea of "crystallized lemon" I came around and decided to give it a go.  It can't be any worse than the Spring Vegetable Instant Soup in the background, right?

Each True Lemon serving is about the size of a sugar packet, and has no calories, carbs, or sugar.  And it's not an artificial sweetener, so there's none of that scary chemical stuff that I consume way too much of already (thank you, Diet Coke habit).

I'm really not a fan of plain water, so I decided to add one packet to my 24 oz. Camelbak, in hopes of actually wanting to drink water throughout the day.  A few shakes and apprehensive sips later... success!  This stuff is good, and it has just enough flavor to make water not boring. 

The box also says that you can use it for baking and such.  I think I'll stick to jazzing-up my water for right now, but you never know where this new relationship might take me.  Love makes us do crazy things.

Perfection

Remember a few months back when I blogged about my new found obsession with all things stationary?  Particularly with personalized stationary?  Well a few weeks later I was having brunch with the fabulous Mrs. Foot, and she surprised me with...

The best stationary gift EVER!

I finally had a chance to write a couple of notes this past weekend, and using my personalized Cooper inspired stationary made my day.  They are perfection!  So a big thank you to Mrs. Foot for the fabulous gift, and for being such a thoughtful friend.  Love you to pieces!

Beach Bound

Can it be December already??  I just booked my flight to Grand Cayman for our family vacation, and I know time is going to creep by until then.

The Caymans are sooo pretty.  Check out that sky!

I've been to Grand Cayman twice, but only for day trips as part of a cruise, so I'm excited to spend a whole week on the island. 

The big attraction is Stingray City, which I did both times I was there.  It's an incredible experience to be crystal clear water and surrounded by dozens of huge stingrays, but probably not something I'll pay to do again (it's expensive!).  Plus, I'm afraid I'll step on one of those buggers and die a Crocodile Steve-like death.  No thank you!

This time around, I definitely want to do some sea kayaking and more snorkling, and maybe even some rock climbing if I can workout my fear of heights.  Or maybe I'll just spend my days laying out on the beach and doing absolutely nothing.  Sounds like a good plan to me.

And something else Grand Cayman is known for: jewelry!  It's a huge diamond import center and you can get some serious bargain shopping done.  And ya'll know how much I love to shop....