Next-level Adulting

"Next-level adulting" is a new favorite term when rising to a challenge once thought reserved for "grown-ups", but that is actually just a fact of my life now. These things are hard. Adulting is hard. But we must do the hard things, and it turns out that growing up is also SO awesome. 

Mike told you guys I'm starting a new job. Good, because I was afraid I would jinx it by mentioning it. I'm so so so exciting because I think it combines all of my strengths in coaching and mentoring college students and then focuses that on my favorite area: career counseling! My first official day at the new job is the next week, but I've been busy with other HR tasks and homework that I've given myself (reading career books mostly and making Mike take career assessments online that I can then interpret for him haha) to help prepare me for the transition. My new job is in the city, and this means Mike and I get to metro in part of the way together in the morning. Yesterday morning I went in with him and he introduced me to his bus friends who mistakenly think my name is "Kelseyah". Of course, because I hate making people feel awkward (see Blueberry Hotcake story), I will never be able to correct them now.

I've had amazing support from Mike and friends during the entire transition process. Change is never easy even when it's good change, you know? But yesterday I found a Gold's gym a few blocks from my work, I practiced my new commute and even got to meet up with Mike for the journey home, I learned to only pack what you can comfortably carry hiking miles across the city in 90 degree heat, I realized it will be much easier to meet up with friends after work, and I did not miss driving during rush hour at all!

This week Mike has a trial and I have a to-do list a mile long, but I promise I'll find time to actually enjoy my few days off. :)

Below are some pictures from the past couple of weeks! 

Mike bought me flowers the day I got the verbal offer from my job WITHOUT knowing that I was going to get it that day. He was so proud of himself, and I was so proud of him using his intuition:) I also couldn't believe it.

Zoo on the 4th of July weekend with friends. I regret not seeing the otters, but there were SO many adorable babies in strollers to watch that I forgot.

Zoo selfie.

I just love his pose in this picture:)

Our dessert from dinner at the piano-music-in-background restaurant "The Morrison Grille"! AMAZING food. This was a goat cheese cheesecake. 

Fancy drinks that we shared.

Watching Independence Day at Absi's and we introduced Meimei (Megan, who was visiting from out of town) to WiseGuys pizza.

The day after we watched Independence Day I saw this on the internet and could not stop laughing.

Sometimes Mike finished our long runs way before me and decides to take pictures of me crossing the "finish line".  I'll have you know I didn't walk at all this run!

Cute picture of Ashton and my grandma. Love this one of them both.

Ended up at Tazza kitchen this past weekend again. Their happy hour deal is hard to beat and we Ubered so that neither of us had to be date chauffeur.....we just got to relax:)

 (FYI: Finding alternative date transporation may not seem like the coolest thing ever for those who live close to a metro, but this is a GENIUS idea for us that we'll definitely be splurging on again.)

Sausage black pepper honey pizza with a wine recommended by our waiter. This pairing is not only the best food/wine pairing I can remember tasting, but this specific pizza is my new favorite in the area! I don't say this lightly, and I mean it.

After pizza, we decided to extend our date to Dairy Godmother on our summer goals list. The sorbet flavors looks good, but you only get one thing at The Dairy Godmother: custard. 

I got flavor-of-the-fay Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie and Mike got a Sundae. SO SO SO good.

Then we found a labyrinth. I quit halfway through, because I had nothing to prove to myself...unlike Mike;)

We also hit up Bed Bath and Beyond last weekend and got a grown-up fabric shower curtain and thing to hold all of our towels! I have folded the white towels neatly so that I will no longer wash my face with them and get mascara on them. I know, I'm impressed with us too.

Made it to Bodypump on Saturday (after a couple of weeks of being so crazy busy that I only had time to run outside). It was one of the best classes I've had in the area and I love the new release! 

Our annual Breakfast at Wimbledon during last Sunday's Men's finals! Mike had to leave for trial work halfway through and Roger lost, but the strawberries and Belgian waffles were delicious. Hoping for the return of cucumber sandwiches next year!

The Sound of Silence

One of the conditions of my first six months of my trial rotation (which happens to be all of my trial rotation) is that I don't talk in court. In fact, the judge doesn't even say that I am in the courtroom. There are stories of judges forcing first tours to say their names in court in order to make them uncomfortable and get them on the record, but that hasn't happened to me yet. Instead, I spend the duration of trials scribbling notes furiously and then handing them to my boss to agree or disagree appropriately. As much as I would love to talk, it actually takes a huge load of pressure off of me and allows me to learn a lot more from the proceedings than I otherwise would. This is all to say that I sat silently through my first full trial last week which I have been preparing since I arrived at the office, and it was an excellent learning experience. 

I also have another trial next week and another the week after that. So for the foreseeable future I will be talking primarily in post-it notes. 

Kelsey has the next week (except for Monday) off as a buffer before she starts her new job. Everything is official and she will be working at GW as a career coach for undergrads. I'm sure that she will talk about it more when she blogs, but I am very proud of her.

Rupert thought the flowers were for him to eat.

In spite of how busy we both have been, we have been fortunate to be able to spend time with many good friends over the past weeks. Brian and Kay have moved to the city, and we had a game night with them and Josh and Absi. We also had a Fourth of July cookout with that group plus Kacey and Megan (who is on her way to spend a year in China).

We also went to the Zoo with David and Shannon

And while we've been doing all of that, my freshman year Woodberry roommate Jake got married in Honduras. Going to his wedding the only thing that we weren't able to do this month that we wish we had been able to do. We have promised to make it up to them by going to England next year as part of our trip to see Rachel and Carson in France. 

Hello Summer in DC

Ever since we got back from the beach, the weather has been so typical of DC during the summer. Hot, sticky, sweltering humidity during the day and thunderstorms just in time for the evening commute. I still do love summer in this area, though. There are SO many different events going on every weekend. There are outdoor movies, race events, farmers markets, and lots of opportunities for outdoor recreation. I went ahead and made a list of things I want to take advantage of this summer in DC:

Kels and Mike:

• date night at a restaurant with piano music (Mike got us reservations at this little restaurant in Old Town that is supposed to have live piano music!)
• spend a morning at a farmer's market and get things to cook for dinner (whatever looks good)
• kayaking!
• hiking (we were supposed to go with Kelly and Alex this weekend, but got rained out so we'll have to reschedule)
• Because we've had SUCH a craving for good sushi: http://www.sushicapitol.com/
• go to a trivia night!
• make time to visit the zoo and museums
• movies to see: Inside Out and Trainwreck 
• obviously: http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-dairy-godmother-alexandria

Just Kels:

• Summer Cleaning
• Outdoor Yoga 
• Having Tea with Kay and Absi (one of my coworkers recently got brunch at a fancy tea room and it sounded so amazing!)

Here are some pics from the past couple of weeks!

Success Team Reunion (my old coworkers) at The Big Board on H Street. Alicia just moved to Colorado last week! :(

Mike and I attempting to be healthy. We've been trying to abstain from sweets and alcohol since the beach, and while we haven't been perfect, we've DEFINITELY been chopping a ton of veggies every week.

Mike and I tried this new restaurant near our gym, Tazza Kitchen. They had amazing guac and happy hour specials. The pictures came out blurry because the humidity that night was unbelievable and the thunderstorm luckily ended right as we dinner did.

Mike's bourbon drink was amazing!

Post-storm picture. Mike was driving while I was photographer.

After our 6-mile run today! I ran without stopping to walk at all! 

While babysitting the other day, the family's cat decided it wanted to perch on my shoulder. It was too hilarious.

Flower Mike got me that I had to take to work because Rupe tried to eat one:)

View from a weekday morning run. Found a new route:)

Still missing the beach, though:)

Just Scroll Down to Look at the Bird

This post will cover up to June 16th or so, and will mostly feature pictures. First, some pictures from a visit with our nephew Ashton:

His mommy woke him up when we got there so he was a little unhappy.

But coloring with Auntie Kulsy (his pronunciation, not mine) made him happy.

And he joined Uncle Mike in the time-honored tradition of bashing toy cars into one another.

After that, we went to the beach. 

The view from the house.

The view of Kelsey's view.

Us at the butterfly gardens!

The whole beach week 2015 crew. Beau and I realized during this beach week that this was the tenth consecutive year that we have gone to the beach together. Lots of ten year anniversaries this year.

Traditional skewers for grilling.

Traditional people not actually grilling but sitting near the grill to pretend as though they were helping in some way.

The actual grilling (done by Brian, who slowly wrested control from the incompetent grillers (me) over the years).

Traditional poker.

Oh, and this bird at the Brookgreen Gardens Zoo.

Now scroll down for more of the bird.

Best picture I've taken so far.

Extraverted and Introverted Weekends

Memorial Day Weekend Mike and I had people staying at our house, multiple events planned, and we were basically going the whole weekend. As the more introverted of the two of us (I will probably never believe Mike is an introvert actually), I told Mike beforehand that I would probably need to be a hermit the following weekend and he understood. So this past weekend we just chilled and went to the movies to see Pitch Perfect (WHICH WAS AMAZING), walked around Eastern Market a little, and then possibly saw the best GoT episode of all time on Sunday evening. Here are pictures from the past couple of weekends!

Friday evening started with a cocktail at Ambar while waiting for our friends to show up. I have yet to find a better happy hour than Ambar.

Friday night of Memorial Day weekend.
Double date in Barracks Row with a Marine JAG and his girlfriend who went to WM.
We got to see a Marine Corps parade INSIDE the barracks! Super awesome!

This is the Marine Corps mascot. He was a huge celebrity after the show, so I had to snap a paparazzi pic of him.

Marching onto the field right before we saw rifle routines!

Of course we got milkshakes at Ted's after the show and our waiter ended up bringing us 3 poptarts instead of one for the wait! The salted caramel pop-tart was the best. I had a plain vanilla milkshake and Mike had smores.

Memorial Day cookout at Jeff and Sara's. When Sara was sitting on Jeff's lap it made for the best picture.

Pretty sunset over the Pentagon one evening as I was picking Mike up from metro.

Me freaking out on Facetime with Ashton when he said my name "Kuh-ee" for the first time!

Also: we got a new camera! See previous post.

Mike Gets a Camera

It has been a very busy week. Many of our trials are finally coming up and we were given three new cases. The good news is that I have leave next week. I offered to do some work while gone since I knew our team would be busy, and my boss yelled at me to never offer to do work on leave again. Fair enough.

I have never owned a camera that was anything better than a point-and-shoot, and the last standalone one of those that I had died or was lost back in the 2005 era. So I decided recently that I was just going to buy a nice DSLR camera and learn about photography. 

And annoy Kelsey

And annoy Rupert

And annoy Kelsey some more

And again

And take pictures of Union Station

And whatever this building is

And the Supreme Court

And the Supreme Court again

And our patio area which we may have to weed...

And Rupert.

It is a fun learning process. I now know lots of things about F-stops and ISOs and shutter speeds that I did not know a week ago. Hopefully the qualify of photos on this blog will increase along with my experience.