recently

So I've really been neglecting my blog - it is sad that I'm just not up for writing as much as I used to. I've been doing this for over a decade and have made so many friends but it just seems as we are getting older posts are coming less and less frequently. I'm not saying goodbye yet - but once a month posts are most likely my new reality...  

So what have I been up to...              

                                                               

Back in March - Chance and I went to Kentucky! It was a new state #35 for me! We had a fun weekend around Lousiville and going to National Parks & drinking bourbon!

We went to Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP and Mammoth Cave National Park! National Parks 91 and 92 for me!

 The real reason for our trip was to Maker's Mark though.  We got to pick up his bottles and got to dip them and a special label! I signed up and so in 7 years my bottles will be ready!

 We had a great long weekend away and it was a fun trip! We were pretty quiet for a few weekends as well - just working around the house and enjoying lazy weekends. The last weekend in March was Zeta Day - I went down to Norfolk area to celebrate with all the Virginia ZTAs! And since there were two National Parks sites - I had to go visit them! And 5 of the 9 ZTA founders are buried near the Norfolk area. So I went to visit 3 of them. That was a really cool experience.

Visiting 3 of my ZTA founder's graves in Virginia!

National Parks 93 & 94! Fort Monroe and Colonial NHP - which is Jamestown & Yorktown! 

fun with some of my NOVA ZTA sisters! 

And now that it is getting warm out - we are going to the range! Which makes me happy! A few weeks ago we had a great day out at the range!

some fun with a shotgun! 

Last weekend I took advantage of the 70 degree weather and went to National Park #95 - Cedar Creek & Belle Grove NHP! It was a gorgeous day! 

 And this weekend was quiet - just enjoyed a relaxing weekend. We finally started to hang up some pictures on the walls! And Saturday night had a fun night grilling out at a friend's house! I'm excited for the Spring weather to finally hopefully be here.

How are things with you?

new house!

So the last few weeks have been super busy! I can't believe it has been over  a month since I last wrote. But the big news is we closed on the house February 28th! The day they told us we'd close  - which we were shocked by. We were told 90 days from when they broke ground and it was 91 days. Pretty impressive especially since we've had a crazy winter - and we didn't know we were having closing until about 2 hours prior to heading there! 

And I didn't have internet in my apartment since mid February and it took us until Monday to get internet at the house - so that explains most of my absence. 

So here are a few pictures from the last month. There aren't too many of the house right now since it is still kinda crazy. It is looking pretty good - but still SO many boxes! 

the house! - ignore the ladder and once spring comes we'll get grass!

front door 

most of the main floor - family room, sunroom, edge of kitchen

All I wanted to do the night we closed was a cartwheel    

kitchen - most complete area in the house! 

the living room - we installed the surround sound last weekend! 

they let me cut holes in the wall to help with the install! 

keys! 

yay backpacking! 

 So besides the house - life is good. My new commute kinda stinks but the house is worth it. I'm now about an hour away from work with the fun traffic in the area. The weekend of Jan 22 we went backpacking & camped. It was a super nice day - 60s and sunny!! and it was a little chilly at night - right above freezing. But it was still fun and I was excited to get to use my hammock and a few other pieces of winter gear. It was the first time in 5 years since I left Ireland I used my heavy duty hiking boots and they were needed for the 8+ inches of snow we hiked in and the mud in the places were the snow had melted!

my hammock - SO much better than a tent

<3 td="">

And on President's Day we went to Mt. Vernon to say hi to George! 

 

 So lots going on - but so many awesome things! I'll try to be better with posting. We are off to Kentucky this weekend for an adventure. I've never been - so yay for state #35!

february

So it is February 10th already?! Time is just flying by. And while I haven't been super busy, I've been enjoying myself. 

So most of my weekends involve heading over the the bf's on Friday after work, where we just relax and hang out and often go to bed early. Saturday we usually are doing something - I like to have something fun to look forward to. On Sunday we go out to the house to see the progress in the morning, then end up doing something or just relaxing before heading back to my place Sunday evening. It has been a nice little routine since December. I can't wait though for when I'm not packing my tote bag for the weekend!  So let's start with the more recent stuff and work out way back. 

House pictures from Sunday! Cabinets are installed, we are painted and all the trim is done. It is really starting to look like a home. They were doing the siding on Sunday when we were there. I love going out on Sunday to see the work that was done the week prior. The hardwoods and counters should be going in this week! 

Family room, kitchen and entry from sunroom

Siding is going up!

 Saturday we were up in Pennsylvania for the Great American Outdoors show. It was pretty cool to see all the different outdoor vendors and we spent some time in the firearms part and ran into a few of Chance's friends working. But the cool part was the Brantley Gilbert concert. Saturday night NRA Country put on a concert - there are a bunch of country artists who are with NRA Country. And we saw Cheryl LuQuire, Nate Hosie and Brantley Gilbert. It was a great concert! We were right up there in the VIP section. 

The week was pretty busy - Thursday night I had Zeta and on Wednesday met up with my friend Amy for dinner. Last Sunday I also had a few friends over for the Super Bowl which was a fun night despite the boring game...

Last Saturday Chance and I went to Manassas Battlefield. I am SO excited to be living down the road from here and will be driving through it all the time. 

Stone House from the Battlefield. 

I love this shot of the Stonewall Jackson statue with the farm in the background on the battlefield. 

The week prior I was a busy girl - I attempted to country line dane with some friends. Let's just say it was pretty funny! I was super impressed with the good people! Also hung out with friends a few times which was fun. 

Chance and I celebrated our year anniversary at the end of January. We just went out to dinner and exchanged gifts this week. I got him 2 cast iron pans he wanted- the boy loves his bacon. And he got me a heated blanket - which I'm curled up in right now. I think it might be the best invention ever.

And I'm currently watching the Olympics - but I'm just not that into it. I'm watching for the skiing - though I know the results. It is the first thing I do in the morning - check the skiing to see how the Americans do.  But I just love watching it - and I have a few other times this year. But I'm just not into all the other events. Oh well!

Hope you have  a great week!

january

January has been a pretty quiet month. Not much going on, which I'm ok with. It has been nice to just relax. I've hung out with friends a few times and the boy and I have gone out to the house a few times. But for the most part our weekends have been really low key. The weather has been pretty weird here - it was SO cold a few weeks ago and then gorgeous this weekend and today the DC area is in the middle of about 6 inches of snow! But with the holiday yesterday we both had a day off - so after going to check out the house we went hiking. We just went and did a quick local hike at Chapman's Mill. It is a pretty easy hike about 7 miles round trip. But it has gorgeous views of the mountains in the distance.  

It was so nice yesterday - but pretty chilly and windy at the top. Graham came with us and once we got to the top we had a nice picnic lunch complete with hot tea & coffee! Which was great since it was windy! 

Pretty views of Virginia

Enjoying the view from the top

And today I had off from work - was able to do some work from home. But it was nice to be able to sit on the couch in yoga pants and watch the snow fall.

It was crazy that this was all going on a year ago. A crazy few days, but so much fun!

2013

So 2013. An amazing year for me. I had a few awesome opportunities professionally that challenged me. I fell in love. Had a few awesome adventures. Traveled. Went to 29 new National Parks. Enjoyed life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 To capture the essence of 2013 I've picked a few of my favorite photos from 2013 to illustrate my year. So here we go:

January: one word INAUGURATION. That's what January was to me. Prepping for the biggest thing in my professional career so far! And a few days after I agreed to go on a date with a boy and that date has changed everything.

Roomie & I on inauguration morning

Speaking to approx 1500 HS students

February: A busyish month with not a lot of pictures. A training for work and then a week in Indy. Lots of date nights and dinners with friends! 

 

Channeling my inner Leslie Knope in Indy

My loves!

March: TRAVEL - I was home for 5 days all month. And 3 of those days were spent with Chance skiing. I was working in Columbus, Westchester, Albany & Orlando. It was a crazy month. A lot of National Parks visited!

World's largest basket in Ohio

airport fun

One of many National Parks visited in March

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day in NYC with Meg & Suz. I've known them both since elementary school!

 April: Still some travels. A conference in Columbia, SC plus a few needed days in Charleston seeing Amy and enjoying all my favorite places! Went home to say goodbye to the house I grew up in as my parents were moving. Went backpacking with the boy and his friends!

Charleston

backpacking in GW & Jefferson National Forest

home

May: Fun travel! And enjoying not working 24/7! Went to Cali for Mary's wedding! Lots of adventure on that trip! Charleston for Amy's grad school graduation! A fun bachelorette in Chestertown! Seeing friends and enjoying spring! 

Cabrillo National Historic Site

Congrats Mary!

Congrats Amy!

Chestertown fun!

 June: starting to pick up again before traveling for 6 weeks. A fun hike at Harper's Ferry with Chance. The little brother graduating from high school! And starting 3 weeks in Colorado for a conference!

Harper's Ferry from the hike

family

enjoying an afternoon off at one of my favorite places in Boulder while in Colorado! 

 July: work, work, work. Was in Colorado, NJ & North Carolina for the month working conferences. At times extremely challenging but it was a big learning experience for me. And I turned 28!

happy birthday America from Colorado

a quiet moment in NC

happy birthday! my staff made me a birthday fort!

 August: So apparently I didn't do much in August. After the 6 weeks I was gone I just wanted to relax! Though Chance met my parents!

one of the few things I did in August

September: a busy month - but lots of fun! A crew reunion for Megan's wedding. Chance and I went camping on Assateague for a few days, Suz came to see me and we played in DC and I went home to see my parents. 

Crew ladies! 

all of the ponies! 

Suz and I visiting TJ

Momma and I at Sandy Hook

Probably my favorite picture all year at Gettysburg!

October: The highlight was running 200 miles through Tennessee with an amazing team! Ragnar was one of the coolest things I've ever done! A panda-cam Halloween and  a super wet weekend camping!

George's Girls! After 200 miles through Tennessee in 29 hours! 

Halloween fun! 

November: Helped Gamma Beta celebrate 75 years of sisterhood and said goodbye to my grandfather who passed away at 84.

My chapter's chain in the ZTA chain of chapters - we are the 75th link! 

December: Lots of baking, celebrating Christmas, National Parking and ending 2013 with Chance. 

O Christmas Tree

Happy New Year

the house - as of the end of December

A day of National Parks fun

So 2013 was pretty awesome. Travel wise I went to 16 states. No new ones in 2013. I did go to 29 new National Parks and around 58 National Parks this year.  I can't wait for my 2014 adventures! I just hope 2014 is as good as 2013!