Happy Fourth!

My Fourth of July was probably the longest Fourth of my life, but it was a good one.

The day started with my 4am alarm so I could get to work by 5:15. Crazy talk, I know. (And staying out at a pre-Fourth party until after 11 the night before didn't help, but was fun and worth the sleep deprivation.) I spent the morning putting wristbands on the general public who attended a big ceremony. I've never put wristbands on people before, and it was a little bit stressful, but I managed.

I was back home at noon, where I read, took a long nap, and read some more. Then it was time for a Fourth of July picnic on Montalto!

I invited several friends and we all went up to watch the fireworks. The neat part is you're so high that you can see fireworks happening all around, from big shows in neighboring towns to the random ones set off throughout city neighborhoods. It was lots of fun.

I got them to wear patriotic tats with me!

Old Rag

Ever since I moved to Charlottesville I've wanted to hike Old Rag. I've even had directions for getting there and a map of the hike just sitting on my desk for over two years. And today I finally did it.

My friend D picked me up and we drove the hour or so to the parking spot in the Shenandoah National Park. The hike is an 8.8 mile loop, and includes lots of scrambling around on boulders. Which was kind of fun. Luckily it was overcast and not very hot, though still humid and I was still plenty sweaty. But unluckily the overcast sky meant the views weren't really good enough for bothering with many photos. So here's what you get:

Me at the top looking over boulders and sporting a temporary tattoo.

And a slew of pistachio shells. We had many sightings on this hike.

 8.8 miles sort of seems like a lot, but it wasn't bad. Though I guess it did take us something like five hours. But a lot of time was spent waiting at log jams in tight spots among the boulders.

I'm glad I finally got out there and experienced Old Rag. I'd do it again.

Tats for the Fourth

In honor of the Fourth of July I'm wearing a fun temporary tattoo. I even got two co-workers to wear them, too! (Yes, I'm at work, but that's because my friend Celia is coming to visit later today and I'll be hanging out with her and not working the next two days. Woohoo!)

We put these on in the copy room without mirrors, so I didn't realize I placed mine right on my lovely mole-removal scar. That's hot.

geocaching adventure

For Memorial Day Josh and I wanted to do something exciting outdoors, but weren't quite up for a long hike (the original plan), so instead we broke out his new handheld GPS and went geocaching right here in Charlottesville. We printed off the coordinates for seven caches at a local park, and headed out...



We found the first one! As you can see, it was a micro cache.


Josh is recording our find.


We ran into a creek next to the river at one point and had to find our way around. This part of the park was wooded and felt like we could have been miles away in the mountains.


The GPS is kind of fun because you know what direction to go, but you don't necessarily know where the trails are. Sometimes the GPS seems confused though, and you have to wander around in clearings until it figures itself out.


We couldn't find two of them, and we bipassed one when there were people around (apparently you're supposed to be secretive about geocaching and not let "muggles" see you). But we found four, so that's exciting. Here is Josh finding another one in a tree.


People trade out little toys and other random stuff. We added this to the cache.


At a different cache, we traded a finger puppet for this sweet eraser.


All the walking and searching for two hours, plus the 90 degree heat, meant a break by the river was necessary. Here you can see my first temporary tattoo of the summer.


We also ate snacks.


Overall we had a lot of fun being outside and finding "secret" caches. It was also nice to be reminded that the river and wooded parks are so close by. It was a successful first try at geocaching, and I'm sure we'll do it again.

Saturday's tats

Today involved sleeping in, going to some second-hand stores with Josh, eating lunch and playing pool, taking a nap, running some errands, and watching a movie. Perfect day for temporary tattoos.

Montalto Challenge, WITH PICTURES!

Turns out Josh is a miracle worker and he rescued my deleted photos! I know how disappointed you all were to not see pictures of sweaty runners, so you can thank him when you get a chance. And here we go!

At the bottom of the mountain waiting to start. Notice all the trees. The lower trail part was very woodsy.


By the time we got up to Montalto it wasn't woodsy anymore. If you think this looks like a pleasant hill, just realize those lines are all switchbacks. I think if you zoom in you can see a couple walking.


Josh took this one while still running.


I came in 65th, see?


Bagpipes greeted us at the top.


Swwweeeeeaaaatttttyyyy


TJ was lookin' pretty sweaty, too.


See that white building? That's Monticello.


There I am in my brown race shirt with all the winners. Because I came in second in my age group, remember?


Hooray for a successful Montalto Challenge!

three cheers for warm weather!

Today I ran twelve miles (whew!), slapped on a whale tattoo, bought some books (and books on tape) at the library book sale, and headed to Richmond to hang out on the porch with family and dye eggs.

Pretty good day, I'd say.

dino tat in the hospital

Last Saturday was my first day living and actually hanging out in Charlottesville. Sporting a sweet temporary tattoo of a red stegosaurus, Josh and I went to the farmers market and walked around the downtown mall, stopped by an antiques warehouse, and walked around Barracks Road.

But then I got some news that sent me flying back to Richmond. Grandpa had a stroke Saturday afternoon. I don't know much about strokes or what to expect or what's normal, but things seem to be...okay. He can talk, and is clearly still Grandpa. (When he was still in the emergency room Saturday the nurse came in to ask him questions like "what day is it?" and "what's your full name?" He said his full name and then added, knowing full-well what was going on, "what, do you think I've had a stroke or something?") He walked around a little yesterday, but he will need to spend time in rehab. Today he moved out of the ICU.

So I spent the rest of the weekend in Richmond. I also went back yesterday after work and will plan to go back tomorrow. I'm glad I still live close by.

patriotic tat

So the beach trip was pretty great. Really it was one day at a water park and one day at the beach, which included the best fireworks show I think I've ever seen. Oh, and when I swam in the ocean I saw dolphins nearby, so that was pretty exciting. At least it was exciting until one dolphin appeared to jump toward me, and then I booked it for the shore.

Memorial Day "ink"

Today's temporary tattoo:

Tattitude.

This past weekend I sported a new temporary tattoo. Because I'm fun like that.

Apr. 13.

Today was my birthday. I also happen to share a birthday with Thomas Jefferson. As part of my present Josh made me some temporary tattoos, and today I wore a special one to work.



Since I'm still the new girl a few people sort of glanced at it this morning but didn't want to say anything. I think they thought it might be real (even though you can tell just from the picture it's definitely not real). One guy came up and asked about it, then seemed relieved it was fake. My boss, on the other hand, was disappointed it was only temporary and thought I was showing true dedication. Overall it was a big hit, if I do say so myself.

The folks at work also threw me a little party with cake and ice cream, which was very nice of them. Then Josh and I went out to dinner. Combined with the party my family threw on Saturday, I'd say I had a pretty good birthday.

jumbler

Only one lady at work wore a costume on Friday, so after her my flame tights and fake tattoo were the most exciting things going on.

I finally purchased some reusable bags for my grocery shopping. Yes, I am way behind on this one.

Today I ran five and a half miles. That is the longest I've run in a very long time. I'm excited to run more, but I'm sad it's dark most of the time I'm not at work. Also, I discovered I kind of like running west on Monument Avenue more than east.

I was just thinking about how the internet is going to make looking up incriminating baby pictures of friends (and enemies) so much easier for the rising generation of children. Good luck with that kids.

I'm liking the book I bought last week- Nick Hornby's Slam. I read this morning sitting in my chair next to the window with a cup of coffee, and it was very nice.

I still love public radio. Today while I ran I listened to a past episode of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me on my iPod, and when Peter Sagal announced that Garrison Keillor was going to be the guest for "Not My Job" I bit the back of my finger in excitement. No joke.