Washington DC Weekend

East Building, National Gallery of Art

This past weekend, I spent in Alexandria hanging out with my Dad.  It was pretty mellow but the most beautiful Fall weekend- tons of sunshine and the most perfect temperature.

How I would feel in a museum without lunch first...

On Saturday, Dad wanted to check out the East Building of the National Gallery of Art.  We took the metro into the city, which takes a little longer but it's so nice not dealing with weekend traffic and parking.  When we got off the metro, the first order of business was lunch because I was hungry.   I hadn't eaten a lot of breakfast and I had gone for a run so I would be running on fumes if we went to the museum first.  We ate outside and had burgers and beer.  It was awesome.

This is art.  It has its own security guard so people don't step on it.  I guess
that's what happens when you have art that looks like a puke-colored melted bag.

Afterwards, we headed over to the East Building.  I could tell there were some updates but overall, it looked the same.  The most noticeable thing was the sun slats over the upper skylights.  The Calder mobile is still in the grand foyer and there is a lot of colorful art well-placed throughout the open main area.  We went to see the Photography Reinvented: The Collection of Robert E. Meyerhof and Rheda Becker.  It's a temporary exhibit through March 2017 with 33 excellent modern photographs from influential artists.  My sentimental favorite is Hiroshi Sugimoto since I have fond memories of an incredibly staged exhibit of his in the Hirshhorn Museum (2006).

From the Hirshhorn Display.  It was amazing. Photo Credit

Afterwards, we headed home and tried to watch The Lobster but we didn't have any luck in renting it online.

The next day, we went out to brunch in Old Town.  I scored a sweet parking spot, so I was already feeling pretty cheerful!  We went to Virtue Feed and Grain.  Brunch was tasty but Dad definitely won with his order.  Here's a tip to me: don't order Mexical breakfasts on the East Coast, it just isn't the same.  Also, do not order a Bloody Mary at Virtue- it's watery gazpacho with vodka.  The mimosas are much better (I had a sip of Dad's!).

The rest of the day was pretty mellow.  I did some online coursework and watched football.  It was a really relaxing weekend and I was glad for the quality father-daughter time.  Oh, and the quality time with the birds.  I can't forget the surrogate children.

Bath time!

Bird Love

Newport Beach Weekend

What a great group!

 SMS and I went to Newport Beach for Columbus Day weekend.  This time, we brought along friends!  Or rather, they drove down to Newport with their 2-year old.  Never fear, they arrived sane and in one piece.  That's because they're champs!

Resolution: Work on Food Photography!  Step 1: Picture before starting to eat!

I arrived earlier in the day since I took Friday off.  I went to Wild Taco for a SoCal fix!  I ordered two tacos (lobster and kale/feta) and the roasted corn. The food was amazing and it was a gorgeous day.  I ate inside but the doors were wide-open and the ocean breeze blew through.

I walked back to the house and, after a bit of rest-and-digest, I went for a 5K run.  I discovered that SMS and I had over-estimated the distances to the first and second piers, which was very disappointing.  We thought the first pier was a 3-mile out and back but it's really just 2.5 miles.  Whah!  So, I ran a little past the first pier and turned around.  I knew I had a long run that weekend with J so I wanted to take it easy.

Then, it was off to the airport to pick up SMS.  We ate at home and a little later that evening, our friends arrived!  We had poke for dinner from Santa Monica Seafood.  It was excellent.

The next day, J and I went out for a 10-mile run.  Eeek.  I hadn't run more than 5 in awhile but I hung in there.  We ran 9:00 mile pace, which wasn't too bad.  We definitely weren't trying to push the pace so really, it was nice that 9:00 felt easy(ish).

Oh, yeah!

Afterwards, we showered up and headed out for Sidecar donuts.  SMS and I had heard so much about them and we've tried to go a few times without success.  This trip, we were determined to try them.  We lucked out with the line, which was short when we arrived but completely mushroomed while we were there.  I ordered a LOT of donuts, but I shared them with people then and when we visited SMS' grandfather later that evening.  The donuts were really delicious.  I also ordered a nitro-draft cold brew coffee which was excellent.  Oh man, I would spend a lot of money if that was available at home (and it probably is, I'm just not going to do the research because it is a pricy cup of coffee!).

We went to the beach and had so much fun.  The weather was unseasonably warm all weekend so we were able to go in the ocean every day.  Even SMS tolerated it.  We rode waves and had the best time.    We got a little bit of sun but we had two umbrellas from the house so I was (mostly) good about sun exposure.  No inadvertent burns this time, yeah!

There's a Duffy Boat in the background.  Sorry, pics are limited from this excursion!

We went out on a Duffy boat that evening and toured the Newport Beach harbor.  It was such a beautiful day and the houses on the water are spectacular.  We also had great company on the boat so I was distracted from the scenery a lot of the time.

Sunset at the marina

Auto Ferry entrance

Afterwards, we decided to take the Auto Ferry across the water.  SMS has a funny story regarding the differences in child and adult perspectives.  He remembers the ferry being a big excursion, a really big deal.  As an adult, when he realized that it was a super short trip quite close to the house, he was surprised that he had such a different memory of it.  The ferry was super cool and felt very retro.  J's kid pitched a fit on the ferry because he was really upset that we weren't on the ferry and we had promised we would go on a boat.  We tried pointing out that, at that very moment, we were on the water but he wasn't having any of it.  Adults are filthy liars, obviously.  We think that he couldn't reconcile the fact that cars can go on boats but really, who knows what 2 year olds are thinking sometimes.  By the way, even when he's borderline losing it, J's kid is awesome.

For dinner, we had boardwalk food after riding the Newport Pier ferris wheel.  It's very small but moves at a slightly disconcerting clip so I'm glad we went on it.

Ok, this pic is before eating but it still doesn't look all that appetizing...

The next day was more beach time and family obligation time.  We went to EAT Chow for brunch, which was another breakfast winner.  I got the breakfast enchiladas, one with tomatillo sauce and one with mole.  Delicious!  Afterwards, SMS and I went to visit each of his grandfathers while J and family went to Irvine to visit cousins.  We watched the debate that night and then headed off to bed.

Bingo!  This looks better...right?

Monday, I dropped SMS off at the airport since he wanted to go to work that day.  What a high-roller, taking the plane to commute to work!  I went to Alta and got a coffee and Bueno Bowl for breakfast.  We cleaned up the house and then J and fam took off.  I went for a run, brief swim and then headed off to the airport myself.  What a great weekend!

Running Notes!

Guess what?  I made it into the Boston Marathon!  Yes, remember this race?  Well, the Boston Qualifying (BQ) time for my age group is 3:40 but in the last few years (2012, 2014-2016), a person had to run faster than the qualifying time to actually be accepted.  This apparently causes a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth on internet forums.  

This year, the time to beat was 2:09 faster than the qualifying time.  Since I ran 2:50 under the qualifying time, I was in!  Hooray!  I'm really excited to run with my favorite training partner again and it should be a great weekend in April.  There's a lot of training between now and then, though!

Stolen from the Internet!  Maybe I should get on Pintrest.  "Pinned" sounds better!

I'll start a 16 week plan right after Christmas.  My plan for the Fall is to do more strength and interval training for speed before I head into a Winter of increasing distances. I'm going to use my 21 Day Fix Extreme DVDs and throw some running into the mix, 2-3 times a week.  

Bright blue marshmallow clouds!

I'm also nervous because for the first time since high school, I switched shoe brands!  I want to try the Hoka One One Clifton 3s, which are really padded but apparently, are still able to move in a streamlined-feeling way.  Here's hoping!  I will let you know.  They compared favorably to my trusty Asics and since I'm not getting any younger, I figured impact-reducing shoes could only help.  Unless I get shin splints.  And then I would be very sad.