october

so crazy that it is october already! time is just FLYING! crazy i've been in DC for a month now and slowly have been getting into the groove of everything. so the last week or so i haven't been as busy as i was the first few weeks but still trying to see friends as much as possible and getting out to do fun things. i made that a priority over the weekend and it was a blast! 

 friday night i went to happy hour after work with some coworkers and then mary jo and i went to see "pitch perfect" it was a lot better than i was expecting, pretty funny and the singing was fun! when i got home after midnight i had to laugh because 2 of my coworkers were over and hanging out with my roomie. i tried to stay up a bit with them but totally fell asleep on the couch! oops!

saturday i went to great falls - i've written before about my love of great falls. i went there a lot in 2011 when i was in the dc area. and saturday was also national public lands day so entrance to national parks was free! i went on a hike this time, instead of just finding a quiet place to sit and enjoy nature and it was great! the park ranger i asked about hiking totally recognized me and said it has been a while since i had been there - which made me laugh. (and maybe realize i have a national park problem, are there support groups for that?) but i enjoyed the early fall day!

great falls - up by the visitors center

hiking!

 and then saturday night was low key and just nice to chill at home! sunday morning i was up early and went for a 6 mile run. it was rough. it was the longest i've ran in a year and i need to remind myself that it is ok to be slow. it is hard for me that i can't run my pre-injury pace and i am slower by a little over a minute. but i had knee surgery in late december - 9 months ago. and i was allowed to start slowly running in march which was just about 6 months ago - and i haven't really worked out as much as i should have. i need a workout buddy to keep me motivated. the half marathon is coming up soon though - november 18th. i know i can do it and my goal is just to finish.

after my run i met up with my college friend linds! she is first person i met at wac! she is back in the dc area for her diplomat training and language classes. so happy to find out she will be in dc until the end of may for her language training and not going to her country right away! we spent the afternoon playing tourist and walking around the monuments chatting about life and everything. the last time i saw her was christmas 2009 so it was a well needed catch up! can't wait for more of these!

linds and i at the lincoln monument

the reflecting pool is back! yay!

and other than that i've been busy pinning 1,000 pink ribbons for the think pink game with the redskins this weekend! i also met up with some of the ladies and helped them pin together and then took some home with me. i won't be at the redskins game on sunday though because i'll be in nj for the giants game with my northern new jersey zetas! i'm headed home thursday after work and have a busy weekend! i took friday off to get a few errands done at home including getting a haircut - yes i know, i need to find someone new and closing a bank account in nj. and then saturday i'm going to the army football game with my parents and then sunday is think pink with the giants! so lots of fun! and i'm also looking forward to getting a few things i had sent home thinking i wouldn't need them and then my winter items that have been in nj since last spring, when i clearly didn't need them in charleston! 

and to end it here are a few pictures from my roomie's birthday last week!