What’s Up Wednesday: September 2015

Oh hey, what’s up? This link up happens the last Wednesday of every month with the same list of questions and is hosted by The Larson Lingo, Mix & Match Family and Pinterest Told Me To.

What I’m Eating This Week…
September was a bit unexpectedly busy and stressful, so I just really didn’t feel like spending too much time in the kitchen. This month was a lot of my quick go-to meals that are easy to prepare. I did try a couple of new restaurants though. Jaleo is a Spanish Tapas place in Gallery Place/Chinatown that was amazing!! I went there for a girls night with a few I know through work and there wasn’t a plate we didn’t like. We wrapped up the evening at Oyamel just right across the street for salt foam margaritas. I’m not big on the coarse salt margs are usually served with, but these were so different and so good!

Another place I tried was the Mitsitam Cafe at the American Indian History Museum. I think all of the Smithsonian’s have some type of cafeteria/food option, but the only other one I had eaten at before had a pretty standard menu. This one though had different stations and menus that reflected on native food from different Indian regions in the Western Hemisphere, so think “Northern Woodlands”, “Meso America”, “Northwest Indian,” etc.

What I’m Reminiscing About…

Our family friend posted this picture this week of Kelli, who is 10 years old and totally owning her first season showing livestock in 4-H.

My sister and I were Kelli and her brother Vance’s main baby sitters from the time they born, they even picked up on my sisters name for me “Sissy” for a while. One of the saddest things for me was to leave for college and not get to watch them grow up. All of these pictures from her first show season almost made me tear up because she looks so grown up (and almost taller then me) doing this…

And its so hard to believe that its been 6 years ago since she was doing this…

But the little girl in this picture will always be my favorite. Love you Kelli Bean!

What I’m Loving…

Pieces of home. Even at (almost!) 25, I still have waves of bad homesickness. The past week or so has been particularly strong. This month was a little overwhelming in a lot of ways and I’ve been talking a lot about home because I was making plans for Christmas vacation. My family has had some pretty hilarious group text chats and everyone just has so much going on in their lives that I wish I was closer for. So Snapchats like this one my sister sent me and t-shirts like the one my childhood bestie Kari sent me, are what get me through some days

What I’ve Been Up To…
 
I started out the month in Guatemala, and each week that followed was full of lots of unexpected things at work. The fact that the month is over blows my mind a little bit. There’s always a few evening happy hours and work events, so honestly I’ve been pretty tired and definitely more than ok with my lazy weekends. The really exciting thing is that K-State football watch party’s have started and I am enjoying spending some of my Saturday in a bar full of purple-clad people.

What I’m Dreading…

Well I’ve been really excited about fall, but the other day my boss and I were in the District for a meeting and grabbed some lunch at a food truck. I start talking about how nice it is that we can enjoy our lunch outside and he immediately responds, “Yes, and that just means that winter is next.”

Thanks Eeyore, I was trying to forget about that part for now…

What I’m Working On…

I finally got my own separate office at work so I am working on making the space my own. I added some fun fall decorations and am making a burlap wreath for it that I will share some time soon!

What I’m Excited About…

My kicked off my new “The Road I Traveled” series this week and I received a lot of interest and some good feedback! I am really excited to see how this project can evolve. A special thanks to my friends Jancey, Jordan, Megan and Lance for helping me work through some of my ideas!

Read the introductory post HERE.
Read my first post featuring yours truly HERE.

What I’m Watching…

I said last month that I have been working my way through Friends on Netflix from start to finish. The problem is I only have 6 episodes left in the last season and now I am avoiding them. I don’t want it to end!!

Last week was fall premiere week, and I was excited for some of my favorites to be back on. I’m not committed to watching everything in real time, so anything I miss I’ll catch up on later on Hulu or the specific network’s sites. Right now my fall shows are Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder and Criminal Minds. I kind of half-watch, half-listen to The Voice. I enjoy the coaches’ banter and like hearing good covers, but that is just SO MUCH time to commit to a show two nights a week! Usually if I miss an episode completely I’ll just watch the performances and highlight reels on YouTube. The only new show that I’ve checked out the pilot of is Blood & Oil. I wasn’t super impressed but I might give it a few more chances. There are a few others I like such as Gotham, Castle and NCIS: LA but again, I just think its a little unhealthy to spend that much time in front of the TV, so I’ll catch up on those later on a lazy Sunday or while I’m cleaning my apartment.

What I’m Reading…
I’ll recap my September reading list next week during Molly and Katie’s Bookworm Wednesday link-up.

What I’m Listening To…

Well this week I’ve mainly had Thomas Rhett’s new album “Tangled Up” on replay. You’ll hear more about that on this week’s Friday Jam Session.

But be sure to catch up on all of my September Friday Jam Sessions…

Vol. 16: September 4
Vol. 17: September 11
Vol. 18: September 18
Vol. 19: September 25

What I’m Wearing…

Thunderstorms have made a few afternoons a bit humid, but for the most part it is officially scarf weather here!

I don’t really make a habit of taking pictures of my outfits because I don’t see myself as that much of a fashionista. I was, however, proud of these outfits and took the pictures to send to my friend Megan…so I guess why not share here. The grey suede booties from Express are my new favorite and I’m excited to try them with different looks. The red Gap pants are my very first colored skinny pants. I’ve tried many on over the past few years but I was never brave enough. The cream sweater in the second picture is from The Limited and my other new favorite fall piece. It is really soft and actually is split from the buttons on the shoulder down to where you can see that it is uneven. Obviously I thought it was cute when I bought it, but didn’t notice that the extra tag said it was apart of the “Scandal’s Olivia Pope” inspired line. Now I love it even more!

What I’m Doing This Weekend…
So far just planning on watching these boys in their first conference match up of the season. We are 3-0, but I’d still say that the season has started up bit shaky. This weekend’s game against Oklahoma State should give us a better idea how the rest of the season might pan out.

What I’m Looking Forward to Next Month…
 Ah, I love October! I mean, who doesn’t love their birthday month….

So because I’ve traveled somewhere almost every month since I moved to D.C., I figured, why not continue the streak… Or it was more like I just really missed my Kansas friends and after being a K-State football season ticket holder for the past six years, I couldn’t imagine not going to a single game! I have a three-day weekend coming up with Columbus Day so I am taking advantage of it for a quick trip to the heartland. I have A LOT packed in but I am really excited!

This Month’s Bonus Question: What’s Your Favorite Halloween Tradition…

I’m not a huge Halloween fan. I have this weird phobia of people wearing masks and costumes that hide their face and growing up it was always freezing in Oregon by October 31 so we had to get creative with layers in our costumes to stay warm. In college though, the scholarship house that I lived in my freshman and sophomore year had a really cool philanthropy tradition. The guys from the men’s scholarship house were auctioned off to us girls (I was the auctioneer one year!) and we were in charge of dressing them up for Halloween. We would then go out and trick-or-treat for canned goods that we would then donate, along with the money to the local food drive. Typically girls would group together and pool their money, and it was always really funny to see boyfriends go for a really high price because everyone kept bidding up even though it was kind of an unspoken rule that no one else would buy them. The best part though, was costumes themes. My freshman year our guys were the Spice Girls and we were their groupies. And my sophomore year we were all a box of crayons.

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Well, that’s what’s up this Wednesday!
Cheers!