^officially 1/4 of a vet!

In the past week and a half I: went to a wedding in DC. Spent time at home in the Bay Area. Moved to Nashville. Whaaat? It’s been a crazy couple of weeks to say the least. So before I start with the Nashville posts, I wanted to recap my DC trip! It was a whirlwind for sure, but so fun!

I basically went straight from my final to the airport. I was traveling alone, but my friend had a flight out around the same time as I did so we got celebratory beers.

I didn’t get to DC until midnight thanks to the time change. I slept in Saturday morning (does it count as sleeping in if you’re on the wrong time zone?) and then headed out for a few of my favorite DC things: monument run and Sweetgreen. Can you believe it’s been 4 years already since I lived there?

I mostly stayed at a hotel nearish the airport, on the blue line of the metro (which was under construction all weekend so the delays were crazyyy). For my run, I took the metro to Arlington Cemetery, and then ran from there.

^ducklings!

It was really crowded so I definitely had to walk in some sections because of all the people.

It was also quite warm and humid! I definitely missed these sights though! I ended my run at the Sweetgreen in Foggy Bottom (the area I lived). I got a beet and goat cheese salad with chicken and wild rice, and balsamic dressing. SO good.

When I got back, I picked up a rental car to drive to Maryland for the wedding. It was held about 30 minutes outside of DC, and the drive was terrifying. Look, I’m a good driver. I’ve driven in Southern California. I’ve driven in San Francisco. But this drive….not fun. The roads were confusing and the drivers were so unpredictable! I had a terrifying moment when another car swerved into my lane, nearly into me, out of nowhere. Thankfully, I arrived at the hotel safe and sound, and got myself ready to go to the black tie wedding!

It was held at a beautiful mansion. It was supposed to be outside, but minutes before we were supposed to be seated, the skies fell and it started POURING. They had a wonderful back up indoor area, and it was a beautiful, intimate ceremony!

Congratulations Jenni! We went to undergrad together and I knew this couple from the very start!

Sunday morning, I packed everything into my backpack (yes, including my floor length dress), checked out of my hotel, and dropped off my car. I decided that Sunday afternoon would be my Georgetown time (read: cupcake time), so I took the metro into Rosslyn and had a quick lunch at The Little Beet. It’s similar to Sweetgreen, but different flavors. I got a bowl with chicken, brussels sprouts with cranberries,  pickled onions, avocado white bean spread, and chimichurri sauce. It was one of their suggested bowls, and while there were a lot of flavors going in, they worked together!

I then walked across the bridge into Georgetown, straight to Baked and Wired! The Georgetown Cupcake line wasn’t too long either, and I honestly probably should have stopped there too…

I got the one gluten free cupcake option, which was vanilla with chocolate chips!

So good!

Then, I walked along the waterfront and settled on some big steps to read my book for a little bit.

At this point, the sky was getting DARK and I thought for sure I would get poured on. Somehow though, it held out. I checked back into my original hotel and relaxed for a few hours before heading out into the drizzly weather to go to Alexandria. Old Town Alexandria is super cute, and wasn’t too long of a metro ride from where I was staying. I went to Le Pain Quotidien for dinner, another place on my “must gos” for my trip. I got a chicken and mozzarella tartine on their delicious seedy GF bread.

When i saw there was a Kilwin’s in Alexandria, I knew I needed to stop. I went to one in St Charles (near St. Louis) for ice cream and it left an impression! I got the salted caramel, which comes with chocolate covered pieces of caramel! I actually ate this outside in the rain because there wasn’t anywhere inside to sit. Worth it!

After dinner and dessert, I had a relaxing night in at the hotel. When planning this trip, it was tempting to try and fit in 101 things into the short 2.5 days, but I eventually decided that I was going to be exhausted post-finals so I decided to try and make it a little more relaxing.

Monday, my flight left in the afternoon so I didn’t have a ton of time to do things. Since it was Memorial Day and Murph is legitimately one of my favorite Crossfit workouts, I decided to drop back into Crossfit Foggy Bottom to do it. That was my box when I lived in DC, and although I don’t think any of the same people were there, it was good to be back! The interesting part of this Crossfit is that it’s in the basement of a fancy hotel! That made the running of Murph a little more interesting…we had to run through the locker room and then the hotel lobby, and up stairs to go outside! I wasn’t super concerned about my time, I just wanted to do the workout, so the time difference as a result was fine. This workout is a great reminder to remember those who have served and lost their lives.

The workout went well for me. it just doesn’t crush me in the same way it used to. Plus, my pull ups just get better every year. I maintained sets of 5 until the very last round. And my legs didn’t feel quite as heavy on the second run as they have in the past! I think one of the worst Murphs I had was when I did it with a semi-broken foot (the boot came off later that week)….I hadn’t squatted at all in a month or so, and 300 squats after all that time off….ouch.

Thanks to the humidity and 100 pull ups, I was a sweaty chalk monster at the end!

This Crossfit is part of a gym with fancy showers, so I was able to get cleaned up there before traveling!

I made a couple more stops before arriving at the airport. First off, Sweetgreen one more time! I got the Guacamole Greens and subbed sweet potatoes for the onions.

And the final stop? Shake Shack. Their frozen custard is SO good. When I was in Philadelphia in the middle of winter, I ventured into sub-freezing temperatures at night just to get some! I got the vanilla concrete with hot fudge.

Then, it was back home for 4 short days!

Nashville recap coming soon!

Here’s their version:

And mine:

Serves 3

Ingredients:

3 handfuls of arugula and baby kale or kale

1 medium heirloom tomato, chopped

1.5 cups fresh watermelon, chopped

1 cucumber, chopped

1/4 cup spicy sunflower seeds

1/3 cup feta

8 oz chicken

1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped

Champagne Vinaigrette

Toss all ingredients together and enjoy!

Don’t know how to cube a watermelon? Be on the lookout for a tutorial!

In other photo worthy food news, I’m enjoying the last of the summer’s figs! I LOVE figs, and I’ve had a lot of fig eating to cram into the last 2 weeks I’ve been home in CA. Yesterday morning, I enjoyed them with fancy vanilla yogurt.

If it’s in a jar, it’s automatically fancy. Fact. But then the jar was tiny and I couldn’t fit enough figs in, so I poured everything into a bowl and topped it with sun butter. Perfection.

Minus the recipe, nothing has really been photo worthy. This may have something to do with a new Costco purchase-sea salt caramel and chocolate pretzel clusters. Oh yes. Buy them. Or don’t. It’s a huge bag and so, so addictive.

One thing photo worthy I suppose is my shoes.

I think I kind of like that model of shoes, you think? I decided to take a family photo because my oldest two pairs are going off to the Goodwill. I actually got a new pair when I went to the running store because my foot doctor told me I needed good shoes. After a full running/walking/shape of my foot analysis, they brought out…the same shoe I’ve loved for years. Seriously-I’ve worn these shoes since my sophomore year of high school (almost 5 years if you’re keeping track). I had no idea they were the same model when I got my first pair of this year’s version, and was shocked to find the new shoes I had loved were the same as my old ones I loved! I’ve had at least 3 running store workers analyze me and pick out the same shoes so I think it’s safe to say they’re good for me!

Ok. I promise I’ll get to the recipe now! This recipe is a knock-off of one of the Sweetgreen’s salads I had all summer. I don’t even feel a little bit bad about copying their recipe given the nearest Sweetgreen is 3000 miles away. This salad is based off of the Guacamole Greens salad they had, which was the one I got most often. I tasted like fresh guacamole!

Here’s their version:

And mine:

Guacamole Salad

Serves 3

Ingredients:

8 oz cooked chicken (two small breasts)

1 medium tomato

1/4 c chopped cilantro

1 small red onion

1.5-2 avocados

1 c crushed tortilla chips

3 handfuls of lettuce

For the dressing:

3 T lime juice

2 T olive oil

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

Shred the chicken, mash the avocado, mix up the dressing, and toss all ingredients together.

Throw on a sombrero and enjoy!