Trip to Cumberland and Marathon Training Updates

This past weekend, Mike and I headed to Cumberland to see his family and celebrate Leslie's birthday. On our drive up Friday night, we stopped by an El Salvadorian restaurant for dinner. I'd been wanting to try "pupusas" for a while. They are a signature dish of El Salvador that is a handmade corn tortilla stuffed with beans, cheese, and sometimes pork. They were so delicious!

Pupusa Pic.

The next morning, Mike and I had a long run the next morning, so we woke up early to beat the heat. It was a beautiful 10 miles along the C&O canal, but still very hot and sweaty. We made sure to do plenty of stretching and cooling down after.

This was when I took a walking break:)

The Cumberland

Amphitheatre at the start of our route.

We look much better than I felt.

Later that day we went to the mall and went shopping. And Leslie, Linda, and Rachel rode around on these little automatic zoo animals that you could ride around the mall. You'll have to go to Leslie's Facebook for those gems. That night, we went out to The Henhouse which has amazing crabs, fried chicken, and of course, chicken noodle soup. I know Mike already posted about this, but the table did get to witness how ineffective I am at ordering. 

On our drive home, we ended up passing several vineyards in a row and ended up saying "alright, if we see 3 more, we have to stop at the 3rd one". And we did, so we did. 

I made Mike take a picture with a view of the mountains in the background. 

It was our first wine tasting together.

This was the point where we wanted to move in. 

Grapes!

As for marathon training updates, we're up to 13/14 miles on the weekends and are trying really hard to 1) eat a lot of good running fuel, 2) drink a ton of water, 3) rest and recover. I've also started putting my personal training knowledge to good use in designing exercises that will support our marathon recover. The kick I'm on right now is exercises that focus on the glutes (butt) and hamstrings (back of thigh) that will help support us during our longer runs. Mike even agreed to come with me to the gym on Monday so I can practice training by taking him through a sample workout:) I know my mom gets worried with me running such long distance, but we are staying as cool as possible, drinking lots of water, and running in areas with lots of others runners:) Let's just hope we can stay injury free for another 2 months!

Will and Adam, Sur La Table, Etc...

Alright, where did we leave off?

The weekend after Hamilton, Our friends Will (second from right) and Adam (not pictured) celebrated their 30th birthdays in DC at a place called the Bier Baron. I do not know where the rest of the pictures from this night went, but I'm sure they existed.  Was wonderful to catch up with some of our W&M friends!

And speaking of W&M friends...

Meimei came back from China!

I can't believe it has already been a year since she left.  Josh and Kelsey and I took her out to Lavagna, where we had pasta and meats and cheeses and other things that are sort of harder to find in China.  

And speaking of food...

Kelsey and I went to a couple of cooking classes at Sur la Table.

We learned how to deep fry fish...

and also how to make this stuff, which was probably better than the fish.

And we've been running a lot, even though it is very very hot, because we are still training for our marathon in October.

We also ran up in Maryland, where we went last weekend to celebrate Mom's birthday.

And we saw Nanny and Papa Buck at a restaurant! I'm so glad they got to witness Kelsey's patent-pending ordering technique.

Journey to Hamilton!

In October of 2015 all of our musical theater friends started deliriously ranting about a musical called "Hamilton," which we thought was a little silly given the fact that it was a musical about a treasury secretary who wrote a lot and was killed in a duel (which I only knew from a 90's "Got Milk" commercial).  Then we started listening to the music.  I bought the album almost immediately and started my own delirious ranting about the musical.  I also bought tickets for the next available (at normal ticket prices) weekend show in NYC, which happened to be in July 2016.  So that's where we went earlier this month.

Used credit card rewards points for a first class ticket from DC.  It did not get us there any faster than taking a bus, but now both of us can say we've flown first class exactly once.

And other credit card points for two nights at the nicest hotel I've stayed at in NYC and probably anywhere else.  Kelsey complains sometimes when I hand her a new card to use every few months, but I think she is starting to appreciate some of the benefits.

Hotel bathroom, with heated floors...

...and a TV embedded in the bathroom mirror so you could watch TV while taking a bath...

...and a little place to hold your tea.

On our way to the show!

Kelsey said she was not throwing away her guac, which was both funny and topical.

Finally outside the Richard Rodgers theater!

A picture of the set!

This also happened to be the day that many of the original cast were starring in their last show: including Lin Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., and Philippa Soo. We were so grateful to see all of them live!

Set at intermission.  People were hugging strangers and crying.  Kelsey was already out of tears at this point.

And that night we went to see Waitress, which probably would have won Best Musical had it been competing against anything other than Hamilton.

To sum up, we are super spoiled and all of our coworkers and friends hated us for very legitimate reasons.

4th of July Weekend

The 4th of July weekend, Mike was on duty and, while we couldn't travel far, we did have time to take a quick trip out to see my family. 

We woke up early to get on the road and were treated to a....flat tire.... as soon as we got on the highway! We were also in a rental car which complicated the situation. 

Fortunately, things that would normally overwhelm me and send me into meltdown mode, are where Mike excels. He immediately started calling our roadside assistance which we didn't even need because VDOT showed up right away and fixed us up...for free! I'm not sure if they always do that or they just had time and felt bad watching js trying to use a baby car jack, but so grateful for their help. Taxes in action!

When we finally made it to Warrenton, we were a little late for brunch with my dad, but met up with him, my sister Courrney, and my nephew Ashton for now lunch at Hidden Jules, a hidden jewel on Main Streetnin Warrenton. They have the best "healthier" food. I think I had mango chicken salad on rye with a giant fresh pressed juice and Mike had a Reuben with a ginger kombucha (carbonated fermented tea) from on tap. The kombucha will play a role later in Saturday as well.

After lunch, we walked around a Fair Trade store we definitely want to visit again and got coffee and free samples from Great Harvest. Yay for almond milk lattes and free samples. Then we headed back to my mom's house in Bealeton. We watched some tennis (Wimbledon), Ashton went down for a nap, we hung out with my grandma and ate wasabi peas, then Mike started trying to talk me into going kombucha tasting at the brewery that had made our kombucha. Apparently they had a tasting room open nearby. We looked up the location and hours, found it wasn't too far, and talked my mom into joining us (since Rick (my stepdad)) had graciously offered to stay with Ashton.

We had to drive several back roads to find a little spot in the country where a winery, brewery, some antique stores, and markets had all set up shop. Then, if you know Mike, we tasted everything. It was delicious, and cheaper than the kind we usually buy in Trader Joe's, so we walked away with two gallons (thanks Mom!). If you're still wondering what kombucha is, it tastes kind of sour like apple cider vinegar, but you can also brew different flavors. It's extremely refreshing and has a very tiny alcohol content.

When we got back to the house, I had plans to make a potato salad, but Ashton was also up from his nap, so we figured it might be fun to get him involved. I need a quarter cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice, so Mike took a lot of careful time to engage Ashton in the lemon squeezing and getting the seeds out. Even though we ended up having to supplement the lemon juice because a lot of it got spilled, it was worth it to see him feel so accomplished and get these great pictures out of it:)

Knives are for grown ups!

Tiny hands are best for getting seeds.

We ended up spending the night and leaving early the next morning to get some work done before the 4th of July holiday the next day!

We were fortunate to be able to join Absi and her family in their apartment in Rosslyn where you have a great view of the fireworks. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and most of our pictures were hazy, but that's often how it goes with DC summer. We also brought some of our kombucha to the party because now we're owning our weirdness apparently:)

Beau & Jen, Charleston, Litchfield2016

Three Fridays ago I tricked Kelsey into getting on a plane again and we flew to Palm Beach.  The humidity was such that my glasses would fog up, blinding me, every time I took a step outside. It was for a good cause, though, because Beau and Jen got married!

And I got to give Beau away. That's how this works, right?

It rained a bit before the wedding, but then cleared up and was a perfect (super humid) night.

And the Flagler Museum made the reception very classy.

Kels and I clean up alright, too.

Beau and I have known each other for fifteen years as this September, and I was delighted and terrified to serve as his best man.  I had a lot of good memories to mine for my speech, some of which I am sure were corrupted by time and had nothing to do with anything that actually happened. 

The next morning, I tricked Kels again and we got on another plane to Charleston. We wandered around for hours, Kels bought a hat, we ate oysters three different ways, and found an ice-cream sandwich shop staffed by a classically trained trumpet player (who also makes surprisingly good ice cream sandwiches). 

Then we watched Hamilton win all the awards.

On Monday we drove up to Litchfield, where I had a special surprise for some folks at the beach...

Ben! All the way from Japan!

After I found out that Ben could come, we went to extreme lengths to make sure that no one else would find out.  

**BREAK**

At this point in the blog, Kelsey is taking over due to Mike recovering from his eye surgery. He's doing well, he just can't look at computer screens:) Anyway, where were we? Oh, yeah....I can't believe Mike kept the secret of Ben joining us for several months. Apparently this is something he was working out while we were on our Europe trip. I'm so grateful Ben was able to the beach (this gives us hope for next year too!) and the quality of our hangout time and cocktails benefited from his presence.

Our first night, Ween and Roberta were visiting for an evening and took everyone out for a seafood dinner! Glad we ended up getting a picture of the whole group:) Jen, Ross, and Brian had yet to arrive at the beach. They would join on Thursday after I was already gone.

Our waitress had great picture-taking skills.

And I made Mike practice his photography skills with our fancy camera. Here's an example.

Ben making cocktails back at the house on our first night. He should be on a cocktail edition of Top Chef.

The group waiting for dinner at one of the traditional spots: The Fish House.

I was no longer at the beach when this photo was taken, but I definitely cried when I saw it. Apparently where the future Paljug child is expected to swing.  (Mike edit: this picture was 100% calculated to make Kelsey cry.  There was no other reason for it.)

Sunset on the first evening

Great picture of pregnant Kay

**BREAK**

At this point it has been five days since Mike's eye surgery and so I (Mike) am taking back over to finish this blog.  Everything is very blurry, but I can sort of/kind of see.  Any errors on the blog for the next several months will be blamed on my PRK procedure and the slow process of the top layer of my eye growing back and smoothing itself out.  

VA & NC & Marathon Training

Summer travel season is in full swing! In the past few weeks, Mike and I have visited my family in VA, Mike's family in NC, attended a wedding for Beau and Jen in Florida, had a brief stay in Charleston, and spent some time at our favorite beach in South Carolina. Since I'm currently at the beach in South Carolina listening to the boys play board games in the background (I'm very particular about my board games), we'll save the recap from that trip for another blog.

Memorial Day in VA:

We were blessed to be able to have some extra time off over the weekend to see friends and family and remember the ultimate sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. Highlights of the weekend included getting to babysit Ashton, a wonderful snack spread of smoked salmon from Wegmans and other goodies, and getting to spend time with family even though it was short.

A Memorial Day ceremony I attended at GW where we had an amazing speaker and a jazz saxophonist playing the National Anthem.

Our neighbors never miss a holiday.

Courtney and Ashton at the pool at my mom's house during Memorial Day Weekend.

Rick let Ashton sit on the tractor.

I brought Ashton a special marshmallow treat of one of his favorite TV show characters.

Too cute!

Weekend in NC:

We spent the weekend after that traveling down to NC where we spent some time with Mike's family. We don't have any pictures that I know of besides this one on a cloudy day walk in Burlington, but that's because we were bring good and trying to minimize time on our phones:) I'll have to get Mike to pack his nice camera next time! Highlights of the trip included Ween's cooking (as usual), seeing Rachel who is back from France for good!, taking a yoga class with Leslie (Mike declined), and just getting to see everyone even though it was a short trip.

Probably not a good idea:

So, Mike and I are both officially signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October. Mike is running with some Navy friends, and I am running with GW to raise money and awareness for cancer research. I was so nervous about signing up for this race, but I am inspired by stories of those who run and why they run/the causes that they run for. Below are two instructors from Mike and I's spinning classes who inspired me to sign up for the race.

Nicole was signed up to run IronMan France which is a triathalon that includes a full marathon for the running portion. Unfortunately, she got in a bike accident right before the race and has to be off the bike for a while, but she has already made plans to try again next year and has shown grace and positivity throughout the entire thing!

Robin ran a 100-mile ultra-marathon a month or so ago! She is a former lawyer who left her job to inspire others through fitness. She has a great story and a book coming out soon!

SO I guess we're going for it then. Training for me starts on June 26th and for Mike it starts a week after. We've been getting a couple of runs in at the beach to make sure we're good to go. You know we'll be providing you all with training updates along the way!