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....

Stressed & Blessed

Women's Health recently published an article titled "How To Do One Thing at a Time."  I rolled my eyes at the idea, but decided to read on since I'm a multitasker to fault. 

The article makes some good points, but what really hits home the most is the fact that when you try to balance too much at one time, you end up not doing things as well you normally would, which can lead to greater inefficiencies.  Ring the alarm!  I totally deal with self-imposed guilt when I know I've taken too much on and stuff that's important to me starts falling through the cracks.

This is how I'd like to think of myself... gracefully managing everything that's going while still looking fab:

But in reality, I've turned into one of those people that is constantly in a tizzy.  At least once a week I have an "OMG" moment where I feel pulled in a thousand directions and get paralyzed because there's just too much going on.  I think everyone feels that way at some point (let's face it, we're all busy), but I think it hits me especially hard because I'm so good, yet so bad, at multitasking. 

The result?  I can (and do) manage it all, but it's not pretty.  I always have a hundred things on my mind, I'm constantly late or having to cancel plans because there's just one more thing I need to get done, and even when I should be focusing on one task, my mind is running a thousand miles an hour and thinking about other stuff I have going on.  To top it off, I tend to put important things like eating at sleeping at the bottom of the priority list, which leaves me feeling like crap on a daily basis.  No bueno!  It's a problem, and I know I need to keep working on slowing down and enjoying the present.

On a more positive note, just lately I've started embracing the power of "no" and recognizing when I can't take on another project, or agree to do something when I just don't have time.  It helps to be honest, and after the initial guilt, I get over it and feel much better.  And of course, writing this blog, as sporadic as it is, has helped me take a step back and think about what's going on (or not going on) in my life.  So thank you, bloggerverse, and to everyone that reads and leaves me love!

I saw a sign the other day that made me cringe.  It read "Too Blessed To Be Stressed."  It made me feel, well....unblessed.  But once I got to thinking about it, I'm actually stressed because I'm blessed.  I have great opportunities and wonderful people in my life, and even if everything does get overwhelming at times, I'm.so.lucky. 

To each their own.