so THAT's where they come from?

spotted in DC.

government

"A 'government of the people, for the people and by the people' can be no better than the people."

-- Laura Ingalls Wilder

This quote seems to apply today as much as it applied when Laura wrote it.

today.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.”

Chinese proverb

DRP

On Monday, hubby and I decided to try a new restaurant. We trekked out to a new neighborhood that we hadn't visited very often and picked a place that looked good.  Happy coincidence! We stumbled upon a pizzeria that had delicious pizza and a claim to fame: Obama has picked up pizza there before.  It's called Del Ray Pizzeria.

We ordered the "barack my world" pizza (yes, that's a thing) and watched the preview to hockey games that evening and had a positively lovely time.

Doesn't it look tasty?  We ate two thirds of the pizza and took the rest home for one of us to have for lunch the next day.  Win all around.

i did it!

I ran my first real* 5k on Saturday!  I started running in the first week of April and used a training plan on my miCoach app after picking out a small-ish, local 5k.  A couple of weeks in, I set myself a goal time to work toward and kept at it.

On Saturday, I beat my goal time!  I ran with a friend who pushed me to make sure I got it done. I know my time is pretty slow compared to the super experienced runners, and I was even beat by a few little ones under the age of 12.  However, before April 1, I hadn't run in almost two years, so it's taking a while to get back in the swing of things, and I was never a very good runner.

Feeling pretty accomplished. Gave myself yesterday and today off.  Now to set a new goal time and get started on training for the next 5k!

New 5k PR: 33:11

*I ran a 5k about a year and a half ago, but I didnt hardly train for it at all and was roped into participating at the last minute. I consider the 5k this week as my first real 5k because it's the first one I trained for and set a goal time for.

springtime

"Always in the springtime I want to build a house."

-- Laura Ingalls Wilder

birthday weekend

Last weekend was hubby's birthday!  He spent days trying to think about what he wanted to do to celebrate, and in the end, he wanted to travel, even if it was only a little.  We haven't been on a roadtrip in months, and we haven't really travelled in forever, either.  The last time was Christmas, and before that....our honeymoon.  For two people who love travel as much as we do... that's a bit depressing.

Husband picked out a town (Charlottesville, VA), and we made plans.  I decided to show you guys a few picture from the trip.  Don't judge me too harshly; they're cellphone pictures.  I had my camera, but at the one or two places it would have been awesome to take it, I accidentally left it in the car. C'est la vie.  Next time I'll do better, I promise. 

(This post is longer than most. Sorry! But I couldn't resist sharing!)

We woke up pretty early, went on our long Saturday run (usually we run separately because of schedules and such, but this was a treat!), showered, and booked it out the door.

First stop: Barboursville Vineyards! Time to taste some wine and pick out a bottle to save for a special occassion. After some deliberation, the choice was, of course, a bottle of husband's favorite wine: Octagon.

We took a few minutes after our splurge to walk around the Barboursville ruins, which I had never seen before. The mister gave me a brief history of the place, and we puttered around the ruins of the old governor's house.

Now that we were on the move, we decided to go big, and headed to Monticello! It's one of husband's favorite places, and neither of us had been since high school. 

We bought tickets and did a tour of the house, then walked around the gardens for a while.  I've always loved Jefferson's gardens.  They're a cross between a cutting garden and a free-for-all and a well-manicured lawn, which is how he wanted them.  He liked English gardens and French food and beautiful things.  And books. Can't forget the books.

 

(not a terribly wonderful picture of me, but it was windy and it's the only one we're both in from Monticello)

That night we had dinner at a local pub/grill place, walked around the UVA campus a little, and headed back to the hotel to relax.  We'd had a long day.

Sunday morning, we slept in a little, got breakfast in the hotel, and headed to do some exploring.  The downtown stores and shops and such weren't open, yet, so we found a coffee shop and planted ourselves.  It was called Mudhouse.  It was a little bit coffee-snob-y, but when I asked for coffee recommendations, the cashier definitely knew what he was talking about.  Apparently, he'd had seven cups of coffee and multiple espressos already (and it was 10.30 in the morning)!  The art on the wall was a bit strange, but the delicious french pressed Costa Rican coffee more than compensated. 

We decided to head to another vineyard for the early part of the afternoon and then come back to the historic downtown area of Charlottesville later.  We chose a vineyard neither of us had ever been to: First Colony Winery.  The people there were very nice, and we enjoyed tasting new wines. The winery recently changed owners, and they're updating their tasting house area.  The road to get to the winery is not paved (yay gravel and sand?), which made life a bit more exciting.

Afterwards, we headed back to Charlottesville, kicked around the historic downtown for a bit, checked out the nice shops and the other coffeehouse (yes. too much coffee.), then decided to grab some Taco Bell for dinner and head home.

We had such a good time!  By the time I made it home, the tiny car we had rented had given me some pretty awful back troubles, but other than that, the weekend was wonderful.  A birthday celebration worthy of the occassion.

news: triclosan strikes back.

A few months ago, I posted a study I found on Mother Earth News and in the Smithsonian Magazine about triclosan and its effects. I was a little horrified and resolved not to use soaps marks "antibacterial" anymore.  I don't know if you've tried looking at soap ingredient labels, but they aren't there on most brands, and I don't want to accidentally be using triclosan on my dishes and hands. All "antibacterial" soaps left our home! (And we didn't even really notice the difference, to be honest.  I do most of the necessity shopping, and Husband hasn't said anything.)

Well, Friday morning on my commute to work, I saw a blurb in the metro newspaper about triclosan.  When I got a chance, I looked up the longer version of the story and thought I would share it with you.

A few lovely snippets:

"It’s a chemical that’s been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby’s basinet.

But federal health regulators are just now deciding whether triclosan — the germ-killing ingredient found in an estimated 75 percent of antibacterial liquid soaps and body washes sold in the U.S. — is ineffective, or worse, harmful."

"The FDA’s website currently states that 'the agency does not have evidence that triclosan in antibacterial soaps and body washes provides any benefit over washing with regular soap and water.'"



Find the full story here.

How crazy that it's just now being fully researched!

tea and coffee

"Moreover the British are as inept at making coffee as the Americans are at making tea. [...] Perhaps there should be an exchange of missionaries between the two countries."

-- John Seymour

carrot update!

 

They're doing so well! Don't you think?  A few more of the seeds germinated than I expected, so the bottle is going to be a bit crowded, I believe. But, oh well.  It's only the first attempt.

 

(In case you missed it, here's the original post on the carrots.)