Now on HGTV.com...A Capitol Hill Calamity?

Okay, okay...I promise not to write another blog post about our House Hunters episode, but I just wanted to post this as an fyi...


Some of our friends and family STILL haven't seen our episode yet. Can you believe it? Some don't have cable (the horror!) and others have simply missed all the times it has aired (It has seriously been on twice a month since it first aired in August).


HGTV.com recently posted our episode on their website, under their videos section.  Our show is titled, "Capitol Hill Calamity," which kind of reminds of me Looney Tunes for some reason.


Now you can share the ups and downs, the joys and pains, etc. of our home search from any computer, anytime!  Or at least until they get sick of us and take our video down ;)


Anyway, I have posted it below for your viewing pleasure :)




Courtesy of HGTV

Fall Leaf Collection

Although I love the fact that our street is lined with beautiful maple trees, the arrival of Fall brings the laborious and continuous raking of autumn leaves.  To assist with the huge accumulation of leaves, the District schedules periodic leaf pick-up dates.

Below is our front yard covered in leaves:

Our yard isn't that big, but boy does it pile up with the leaves!  Here is some leaf-raking progress...

 


Afterwards we usually put the leaves in recyclable bags and put them in our tree box.  Piling the leaves in the treebox will suffice for pick up, but we're always worried that since we do not have a fence, the leaves may blow back into our yard :/ Better safe than sorry.





Here comes the city trucks to pick up the leaves...





And now our sidewalks are leaf-free until the next leaf pick up date.

How does your neighborhood collect leaves?  Do you put them in the large paper bags, too?  Or maybe you use a lawnmower or leaf blower to keep your leaves in check?

Race Review: Nike Women's Half Marathon 2011

The big race has come and gone so here's my review of the 2011 Nike Women's Half Marathon. 

We arrived early Friday morning (due to a flight that was delayed four hours due to weather!) and headed to the expo a few hours later. Luckily, our hotel was located really close to the expo in Union Square (which also happened to be the starting line of the race) so it wasn't that difficult to get there.


The expo was unlike most expos I have been to in the past. Typically, you check in and you get your number, finishers shirt, and swag bag. Here, you got your number and your swag bag, but you didn't get your finishers shirt. It was a bummer that you didn't get to see what the shirt looked like, but according to the check-in staff you would receive it upon crossing the finish line.


Another difference about this expo was that the focus was more on the race's sponsors, as opposed to getting the last minute items for your racing needs. We got to sample all different types of Gatorade products, Pom Lite juices, and various Safeway snacks. We also got to see the latest and greatest in Nike products; like the $350 reflective jacket seen on me and my sisters below. However, my sister wanted a hydration belt and my friend M., from LA, who was also running the race needed a knee brace. There was a tiny kiosk outside of the tent that sold overpriced energy gels and such, but we eneded up going to Niketown and the Sports Basement.

Now, for the review of the actual race!

The pre-race hysteria, lol

The start time for the race was a bright and early 7AM. I usually prefer earlier start times because it doesn't get so hot as the race progresses. As soon as we got to the start area it was chaos. There was a backup of people around the port-o-potties and the bag drop-off area. I typically try to go to the bathroom before and not have anything to drop off for this exact reason, however, my sister and M. both needed to drop of their bags and it was a madhouse trying to get the bags to the bus that would be dropping it off at the finish line. We found out after standing in the mob of people for about 15 minutes that we could have avoided the crowd by taking the side streets. Oh well, you live you learn.

Pre-race group shot!

Once we were in our corral we heard several female empowerment songs blasting (namely, Beyonce's "Who Run the World (Girls)") and then off we went. I'm not to clear on the geography of the race route but we started through downtown and then we headed toward Fisherman's Wharf then headed toward Presidio seeing all the sights along the way. It was funny because the night before Justin's cousins took us on this route in their car so it was nice to see all the sights we had seen the night before during the day. The not so funny part was that we were running, not driving. Lol, just kidding...but really, miles 7-10 were killer. All uphill. Now I did a bit of hill training before this race (Does the hill interval button on the treadmill count?), however, nothing could prepare me for the San Francisco hills. I don't even think hills like that exist in the DC metro area...maybe out in the boonies somewhere....


Here's the course map and the elevation guide:





Despite all the hills that I wasn't quite ready for, it was an enjoyable race. There were a lot of water and Gatorade stations along the way. Music blasting and a lot crowd encouragement (especially from Team in Training who sponsored this face). There were energy chew stations, a Neutrogena sunblock station, and of course the Ghiardelli Chocolate Mile (which I think came at mile 12?). I couldn't eat the chocolate right at that moment but I tucked it in my hydration belt for later.

The post-race party was pretty cool. Upon crossing the finish line you got handed a Tiffany's finisher's necklace (the whole reason why I ran this race ;) and a finishers shirt (a bright yellow tech shirt, perfect for night running). There were a lot of free goodies such as bananas, bagels, Gatorade recovery drink, and my favorite--chocolate milk!

Judy with cute fireman and Tiffany's box! 

One drawback I should point out is that the race starts and finishes in different places so getting back to your hotel is kind of tricky. Find a friend or hail a cab because with all the post-race traffic it'll take a while to get home!


To sum it up, I had a great time in San Francisco running the Nike Women's Half Marathon. I would definitely do it again, but I would maybe do more hill training next time!

Free Louie!

Our dog Louie is about six months old now and I must say that he is a fatty. Typically male french bulldogs top out at about 25 lbs maximum (females are much smaller). Louie is only six months old and he's already 21 lbs. We aren't over feeding him (we only feed him two cups of kibble a day), nor do we let him graze throughout the day (he finishes his food promptly). We don't give him many treats, I just think he's big for his age. Husky, big boned call it what you will, LOL.

Anyway, he is outgrowing the crate we first got him and our dog walkers started to notice. "Why don't you take him out of the crate during the day?" they would write in their dogwalker log. (I was getting this vision of our dog walkers wearing "Free Louie" t-shirts, in the same vein as the Jersey Shore "Free Snooki" shirts.) Not wanting to be bad "pet parents" we decided to think it over.  Hmmm...he was getting a little squished in the crate and he seems pretty well-behaved, so why don't we give it a shot?  As a test, my sister and I went out for a run.  We let Louie out of his crate and closed the door to the living room. A little over an hour later we returned and found him sitting there happily. No accidents or damage to be seen.

After that successful test run, Justin and I decided to leave him out of crate for a day...and boy do we regret it.

Yes, that is our coffee table and yes, he has gnawed each corner down beyond recognition. He also chewed the wooden handle to the La-Z-Boy. No wooden object was safe from his wrath.

In conclusion the "Free Louie" saga is over and he is staying in the crate. No "ifs," "ands," or "buts." We're just going to buy him a bigger crate so disasters like this don't happen again.

A Tale of Two Races: Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure and The Navy 5-Miler

Here are some synapses of races I ran over the summer.

Ready, Set, Go!

Haha, just kidding...

The Race for the Cure came in early June shortly after the Derby Mini-Marathon and my training definitely fell by the wayside. Needless to say, for this "quick" 5k (my first to date) I was a tired, hot and sweaty mess. Blah. The best thing about it was, obviously the cause, but the energy was great as well. The race started off with a pep rally of sorts by the founder of Susan G. Komen and seeing all the tribute shirts on runners was very inspiring. It wasn't very scenic for being in the heart of DC (maybe I'm comparing it to the Cherry Blossom a little too much?).  It meandered between federal buildings, which aren't that cool to look at, but of course we ran by the Washington Monument which I think is a must for any DC race.

Here's N. and I in front of the Washington Monument:

  

And now in front of the Capitol Building:

The post-race was pretty neat as there were several vendors from Honest Tea (Me thirsty!) to Yoplait (free smoothies!) to Old Navy (free flip-flops, don't mind if I do!) giving out their pink wares. It was a bit crowded but what do you expect from a huge race like this?

Overall, I would say it was a good race. Highly organized and an energized atmosphere.

Now for the Navy 5-Miler.  With a little bit more training under my belt (but not enough hill training as I would soon find out) I thought I would be a little more prepared for this race than the last. Me and this race got off to bad start since I arrived late (due to a 20 minute long metro transfer). So while I was running from the metro to the start line, runners were already running past me. Wah, wah. That pretty much turned my Navy 5-miler in to a Navy 6-miler.

Anyway, once I was officially up and running (i.e.: official tracked) I started my merry way around the course. On a scale of 1-10, the scenery of this race ranks pretty low, maybe a three? The most scenic thing is the Pentagon building itself. Other than that you are running up and down exit ramps. Yup, highway exit ramps which explains the hills. The worst hill of the race, however, wasn't on an exit ramp, but near Arlington Cemetery. It was a huge hill that must have been a least a half mile (maybe that's not huge to people, but it is too me!). But with every hill, going down it was a-ok. :)

I met up with N. after I finished and we took the pic seen below (with our finisher coins!). Yay us!

The post race snacks were pretty good and consisted of apples, bananas, muffins, and cookies. The variety was a definite plus! I'm not sure if I would do this race again, but if someone else wanted to do it, I think I would consider it.

Take a Peek, At the Leak (In Our Living Room)

With all the rain that the hurricanes and tropical storms brought this summer, who would have thought the leak in our ceiling would come from another source...the air conditioner. Or more specifically, the window unit air conditioner in our master bedroom (which just so happened to be above our living room).

Basically, the window unit in our bedroom leaked through the walls, all the way down to living room, causing the water damaged walls you see in these pictures. Yes, Justin was pissed, cursing the fact that we do not have central air, but what can you do?

We have since replaced the leaky window unit, with a much noisier one, but we won't be needing it for long anyways since it's getting cooler. Although we are curious to know whether the leak caused wood rot in our walls I don't think we're ready to demo the wall to find out. Yes, we are playing the "ignorance is bliss" card, but in the meantime we'll just patch up the water damaged part of the living room wall and call it a day.

Week 19 (and beyond!): The Finished Product

After watching Justin and I on House Hunters many of you have asked about the kitchen.


"Did you finish the renovation?"


Yes, we finished filming in March and the kitchen was finished in late-April.


"Did Justin get the dream kitchen he always wanted?"


I would say, "yes." It offers enough room for the two of us and more. When he's cooking and I'm doing the dishes we don't get in each other's way, which is good. Of course, this is our first home so we do good with the space we have, however, there is always room for more kitchen space in the future.


Now without further ado, our kitchen!


Of course it features the stainless steel appliance suite that I discussed here.


To review a bit...here is the kitchen plan from Ikea:

And some pictures of the progress:


The old dining room leading to the kitchen

 Our pseudo-housewarming party (before the demo)

 

After the demo...

Building the addition from the ground up....

Framing the new kitchen

Then the drywall...

Then the paint...

Then the floor...

And then..drumroll please! 


Our kitchen now...yay! Yes, I didn't tidy, deal with it :p

Justin making dinner, yum!

Louie wants his close-up...

One of my favorite things about our kitchen is the lighting.  Recessed, in-cabinet, and under-cabinet lighting...the whole she-bang :)

ps...notice the fancy blinds on our big kitchen window. We got those professionally installed. I'll probably be doing a post about all the window treatments in our house sometime in the future (I hope!).

And the piece de resistance! The fridge--which I loved and picked! Love the bottom freezer.  No more frozen meats dropping on my foot. That's never happened to you?

C'est fini! (French for "It's finished!") For now... :)