whirlwind bachelorette weekend

this weekend was all about celebrating my beautiful friend kylie and her upcoming nuptials. she's getting married on june 15th in georgia and this past weekend i headed to new jersey for her bridal shower and bachelorette weekend. her sister planned a wonderful weekend from beginning to end and the only thing that went wrong the whole time was the excessive traffic ashley and i sat in to get to new jersey friday night. we were supposed to get there in time for the bbq lindsey was hosting on friday but instead we stopped at a rest stop and i refueled with starbucks - iced coffee, turkey sandwich and cherry tomatoes and green peppers in the car. 

we finally got there and joined the other bridesmaids (one of whom i'd met, two of whom were new friends!), kylie's parents and aunt and cousin as well as kylie's brother in law for some margaritas and dessert. these cookies and cream oreo stuffed brownies along with the chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips were a huge hit. i love baking things that people love - it is really one of the most accomplished feelings i ever feel. 

we didn't stay up too late because we knew it'd be a long day on saturday. i woke up bright and early (around 5:15) but stayed in bed for a little longer before i headed out for a run. i love running through new neighborhoods and exploring new places running. i wasn't sure how long i was going to go for but i ended up feeling good and running a 10k (that extra .2 is very important). i haven't been running long distances since the nike women's half and i'm liking that. i'm enjoying the shorter runs and even though i know that i'm losing a bit of my distance-fitness i'm actually enjoying my runs and that's more important right now. i came home and foraged for breakfast while everyone else slept in a little. 

we headed out to the bridal shower venue to set everything up but lindsey and kylie's mom had gone the night before and pretty much had everything in completely perfect order. 

everything from top to bottom was so beautiful. the mason jar theme was woven seamlessly throughout and kylie was so happy when she saw everything. 

this cake was incredible - light vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream filling and a thin vanilla icing on top. i love cake. 

my road trip buddy ashley and i were pros at collecting gifts and collecting garbage while kylie opened all her gifts. we played a few games and before we knew it the shower was wrapping up and we were headed back to lindsey's to get ready for our bachelorette festivities. 

we knew we were heading into the city but kylie's dad surprised us completely with tickets to see cinderella! kylie LOVES broadway and she immediately burst into tears when he revealed the tickets. it was the perfect way to kick off our nyc evening. 

the show was amazing - i highly recommend it to anyone visiting new york!

after the show we went and got a late night dinner of mexican food. we split guacamole then i had chicken enchiladas and followed it up with carrot cake with jalapeno lime cream cheese frosting. it was amazing from start to finish and was accompanied by several margaritas with prickly pear and jalapeno (jalapeno margaritas are probably my favorite drink). so much for detoxing for two weeks - whatever, springtime is apparently the time for cocktails in my world. not going to fight it, i love a good cocktail. we ended the night (MANY hours later) at a different bar doing typical bachelorette festivities and i was a bit worse for wear this morning while ashley and i made our way back to virginia - i wasn't even hungover but i am not the type to stay out late and bounce back quickly. luckily the traffic cooperated and we made it in just 4 hours. i'm skipping the gym today because my 3 am bedtime was enough to completely wipe my energy for the day and i'm probably going to be diving into bed any minute now. 

i hope you had a great weekend and that someone out there caught up on sleep because i certainly didn't!

<3

sunrise, strawberries and salads

good morning! thank you for all the congratulations yesterday - it is sincerely appreciated and i swear half the reason i wanted to get a job offer was so i felt like i could finally post on the blog about my move. tex and i made the plan official months ago and i felt like i've been being shady ever since then. no more shade! 

speaking of no more shade, i know this picture doesn't really show it, but every morning on my way to school i get to see the sun rise over the air force memorial. it's such a zen moment for me. i've been having lots of "i will miss this about dc" moments lately (as is to be expected) and the drive i make every morning past the monuments is one of the biggest. dc is not the best city in a lot of ways (chicago is, duh) but it is really beautiful, especially at dawn and dusk. 

my mid-morning break has included a nap in the backseat of my co-workers car a few days this week and it is really pleasant. i don't actually nap but we just go hang out in the quiet and it's very soothing. i think i shall start incorporating this into my requirements for future jobs - mid-morning naptime or else!

the trails near my apartment are some of my favorite things about where i live. i went for a run on monday despite planning on taking a rest day because it was so beautiful and i really WANTED to run. i've been struggling so much with running motivation lately that i figured i should capitalize when i felt like actually going. yesterday i didn't feel like running so i rested instead. i know i've said this many times lately, but it's so nice to actually do what i feel like doing instead of what i "should" do. 

my chop't date with megan on tuesday was the highlight of my week so far, and not just because my salad was that much better when i #addedavocado (though that did help). i'm hoping to squeeze in several more of those before june 26th.  

it's OFFICIALLY strawberry season at my local giant. they have been almost 100% delicious lately instead of totally hit or miss and i have been enjoying a big bowl with breakfast every morning. i've gone through a 2 pound container since sunday. it's thursday...you do the math (or allow me, since i'm a math teacher - that's .4 lbs a day. yum.). 

what's new in your week?

<3

everything's bigger in...42 days!

good morning treats! i am skipping wiaw again. i don't know why i even bother saying that anymore - i feel like i'll get back on the bandwagon soon but as for now, my eats are still boring (but delicious!) and i have some more exciting news for you all that trumps anything i've feasted on for the past week. well, it's exciting news for ME and i think you all are pretty solid supporters of me, so i'll assume it's exciting news for you as well. 

recognize this guy? that's tex. you might know him, i like him lots and talk about him often. he lives in houston and i live here in dc and we have spent the last year and a half spending all of our money flying to and from texas and the east coast. i've said it before and i'll say it again - long distance is NOT for the faint of heart, but it also has taught me an incredible amount about myself and made my relationship with tex unbelievably strong. he's worth every hour of flying, every penny i've spent on plane tickets and all the moments of insecurity long distance sometimes makes us feel. the good news though? all that is coming to an end in 42 short days because i'm moving to houston!

(tex's mom is VERY excited about the move too and keeps buying me texas things)

this has been absolutely the worst kept secret ever, and i hate when bloggers are super vague about stuff, so i'm sorry for being that way for the past few months. despite vagueness being annoying, it wasn't annoying enough that it canceled out my superstitious need to not jinx things, so while i was looking for a job i didn't want to share any news. not necessary anymore because yesterday i got a call that i got my dream job! i'll be teaching high school math in houston starting in august! i'm really excited about the move to high school and i know tex is too because now we're both high school math teachers. does it GET any cuter than that? i think not. 

(nerds.)

i have a lot of feelings about the move, which i'll get into a lot more over the next couple of weeks now that i finally feel okay about posting about it, but for now the only feeling i care about expressing is excitement. i cannot wait to be with my best friend everyday, to stop having a constant countdown til the next visit going and to explore a new city and make it my home - you know i've already got a list of restaurants to try.

obviously tex has been really helpful throughout this whole process - outfitting me in texas running gear, supporting me unconditionally throughout the very wide swing of emotions involved in a job search and being his wonderful self which reminds me everyday exactly why i'm making this move. 

it feels great to finally be able to share this with you all and feel free to start planning your visits to h-town because i am already excited to have visitors!

<3

recipe: dutch oven carnitas

i have had a pork tenderloin sitting in my freezer for a few weeks now and i've been meaning to do something with it. i have a lot of pork recipes pinned but many of them are crock pot recipes (the most appealing ones i have are) and i don't have a crock pot. i was craving pulled pork in a big way but wasn't sure how cooking a tenderloin in a dutch oven would work out. i did a little bit of research online and combined that knowledge with recipe inspiration from gina over at skinnytaste. i still wasn't sure how well it would work out but i was incredibly pleased with how tender and delicious this pork dish ended up. i'm used to making pulled pork with a much fattier cut of pork (um duh, that's what makes it good), but for a lighter pulled pork this was flavorful and moist {cringe}.

dutch oven carnitas

adapted from gina at skinnytaste

2 1/2 lb pork tenderloin, silverskin removed 

olive oil

8 cloves of garlic 

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 teaspoon adobo seasoning

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, plus additional liquid from can

1 bay leaf

first things first, remove the silverskin from your pork tenderloin and preheat your oven to 350. most tenderloins come in packs of two so you'll have two silverskins to remove. i left most of the rest of the fat on because i didn't want this dish to lack moisture. then, i cut the pork into large cubes. i put my dutch oven on the stove and let it get scorching hot. i poured some olive oil in my pan once it was hot (probably 1.5 T) and then seared the chunks on each side to get them nice and brown. 

while the pork is searing, cut the garlic into either chunks or slivers (it doesn't have to be small, it'll break down as it cooks) and get your spices ready. you can pre-mix them or just toss them in to taste. all my measurements are rough and i like my meat spicy so you can definitely eliminate the cayenne if that's not your style. once the pork is seared, toss in all the rest of the ingredients. do NOT drain the pork - any fat that has come into the bottom of the pan you'll want. i didn't have any chicken broth on hand so i used boiling water and a bullion cube but that worked just fine. 

place the lid on your dutch oven and then put into your preheated oven for 2 hours. don't take the lid off, though i promise the smell will be tempting. once two hours is up, remove the pork from the oven, take off the lid and bask in the glory of the meat. shred it using two forks (not a tough task - the meat basically falls apart) and shred any chipotles up that haven't fallen apart themselves. make sure to take the bay leaves out. 

when there's about 45 minutes left of cooking make the best part of any mexican feast: fajita style peppers and onions. the key to really good peppers and onions is cooking them SLOW and LOW. yes, 45 minutes is a long time to cook vegetables but i swear you won't regret it. i set my burner to about a 3 (out of 9) and let the pan heat up while i'm chopping my peppers and onions. i use red onions always because i like how sweet they are. once they're all chopped into strips i put some olive oil in the pan (again, probably about 1 - 1.5 T), put all the veggies in and WALK AWAY. i come back about every 5-7 minutes and toss them around. if they look like they're getting charred, turn down your stove. after about 40 minutes the onions will get amazingly caramelized and your peppers will be soft and start to darken as well. that's when they're the best. 

i ate mine like it was a chipotle salad - bed of lettuce + carnitas + tons of fajita veggies + salsa + pico de gallo + big lump of guac (lurking in the corner). i deeply regret not adding black beans to this mix but that will happen when i make it again using leftovers tonight. the recipe makes about 8 1/2 cup servings but i'll be surprised if it lasts me four meals. i definitely went back for more pork when i was done with this plate. 

let me know if you try this out - i really loved it!

<3

back to my roots

what an absolutely fabulous weekend from beginning to end. like i said before this was my last relatively free weekend from now until summer vacation and i did a pretty great job of balancing it between fun things and complete relaxation. it started on friday with a wonderful coffee date with allison in alexandria. the weather was perfect and we sat outside enjoying the sun for as long as we could before i had to jet home to get ready for my long hair's last night out.

(jess yells at me for not smiling in selfies - i can't help it - i promise i am not angry)

my co-worker and i were going out to celebrate the year being almost over. obviously we still have 5 weeks of school but between my schedule and his we weren't going to be able to go any other night so we decided to celebrate early...and celebrate we did. we went to my favorite restaurant in dc, firefly. i could eat here every single weekend and never get tired of it. 

we started with old fashioneds and rounded out the meal with a bottle of my favorite champagne (laurent perrier rose in case you're curious - this is a recent change from my old favorite veuve cliquot - i promise champagne is literally my only drink i have expensive tastes for). for dinner we split the beef tartare appetizer and some of the best rolls in the world. i know people are weirded out by eating raw beef and i used to be also but at this point in my life i'll eat almost anything and i absolutely love tartare so when we saw it on the menu we couldn't resist. 

for dinner i had lamb shoulder served over pappardelle pasta with pesto, feta and crispy mint leaves. this was so divine. it was a lot of food and pretty rich but i ate every last bite. i didn't leave room for dessert (unfortunately) but i did leave room for a few more cocktails, which i happily polished off back at a bar in arlington. overall it was a perfect way to toast the end of another school year. if anyone in dc wants to go on a date to firefly i'm down, just let me know when and i'll meet you there. 

saturday morning was a big morning. i went for a short run and then took a bridesmaid's dress to get it altered (for two weddings i'm in in june - i can wear the same dress! so pumped!) before going to get my hair done. i decided i finally was ready to go back to my brunette roots because i'm tired of having high maintenance hair with a low maintenance personality. it's a huge change but i love it and i'm excited to be brown-haired again. 

the thing about teaching middle schoolers is that they can sometimes lack tact so i was really nervous about showing up with new hair on monday. they don't mean to be mean (i don't think) but they don't mince words. i decided the best way to combat this was to bake cookies for the kids and bribe them to say nice things to me, so sunday i baked chocolate chip/peanut butter chip cookies and i have to tell you - it's been a totally successful strategy. the kids have been really sweet and my ego is still intact - i think i'm liking being dark haired more and more every second.

the other big part of my sunday involved an experiment with making pork carnitas. it was really successful and i'm glad the recipe made so much. i adapted gina's mexican slow cooker carnitas recipe to use what i had on hand (which happened to be a pork tenderloin) and a dutch oven since i don't have a crock pot. i'm going to post the recipe i used later if you guys are interested - these were really easy and REALLY good. 

<3 

work it out 5.13 - 5.19

i didn't write a post about my workouts last week, sorry for the slacking. between getting home from san diego late sunday night and a rather busy week at school, it slipped my mind. i still managed to fit in some workouts this week but honestly is has felt SO nice to be a little more go with the flow with my workouts lately. since i'm not training for anything right now pretty much the only thing i have on my plan are the best body bootcamp workouts. i've been taking 2 days of rest per week for the last three weeks and i'm feeling great. i've also been generally going on shorter runs and haven't run long since the nike women's half. i'm enjoying it for now and i think i'll stick with my single-digit mileage runs for a few weeks before i start trying to up that mileage for anything. 

here's what my week looked like last week...

monday - rest

tuesday - 20 minutes elliptical / workout a 

wednesday - run date with allison OR 20 minutes elliptical / workout b

thursday  - whatever i don't do wednesday 5 mile run

friday - 20 minutes elliptical / workout c  rest

saturday - 2.5 mile run

sunday - 20 minutes steady state cardio / workout c 

i planned on doing workout c on saturday but ended up not wanting to mess up my freshly cut hair. i did a quick run in the morning before realizing i didn't have time to get workout c in before i started on my epic list of errands/appointments that i had to run so i was going to split my workout up and finish c later. whoops. going with the flow!

(resting)

i really loved phase 3 of best body bootcamp. the heavier lifting was different for me and workout c was a super fun circuit and got me SO sweaty. i am excited for phase 4 and cannot believe that another round of bootcamp is coming to a close in two weeks. this was my 3rd round of bootcamp and i said it before: i'll keep doing this as long as tina offers it. 

here's the plan for this week:

monday - rest

tuesday - 20 minute sprints / workout a 

wednesday - 5 mile run

thursday  - 20 minute sprints / workout b

friday - 5 mile run (in the AM...sooooo maybe)

saturday - if i don't run friday i'll run saturday in new jersey (going for a bridal shower/bachelorette party for my friend kylie!)

sunday - 20 minutes steady state / workout c after i get home from jerz.

i might not run friday or saturday and i'm pretty okay with that. might be a 4 day workout week for me. nice to feel so nice about that. it's been a long time coming but i'm getting to a place where i'm stressing a lot less about trying to work out 6 days a week. that wasn't making for a very happy molly and i'm all about the happiness right now. 

what are your workout plans this week?

<3

friday free for all

i'm getting to the point where i think my blog is just pictures, a description of what's in them with very little rhyme or reason and some ramblings sprinkled throughout. that's okay by me as long as it's okay by you. i really liked doing the day in the life post because that's how i started the blog (almost a year ago OMG) but i can't really do those often because my days are exactly the same for the most part and that would be incredibly dull. 

happy friday to you all - fun plans for anyone this weekend? i don't have much on the table besides dinner and cocktails with my coworker tonight (where i plan to awkwardly run into allison because dc is apparently super small and the blogging world is even smaller), an appointment to tame this lion's mane that's been a long time coming and maybe some running. maybe not.  

as for the random rambles - i think i could drink cholula. seriously, i will put that shit on anything, particularly vegetables. i grew up dipping my cucumbers in ranch dressing and i'd be lying to you if i said i still don't like that better than hot sauce, but if i had a bottle of ranch in my fridge i'd probably take it to the face too often so instead i spice the cucumbers up with my favorite mexican condiment. so. good. 

hayley is the best. she sent caitlin and i these amazing tanks to congratulate us on our recent half marathon conquerings and honestly it's all i can do not to wear it everyday. i can't wait til some future moment where we can wear them all together. i am a little confused why every macho man in the weight room was giving me strange looks during my bootcamp workout the other day when i wore this because clearly this tank top is awesome. 

i sent my mom a batch of rosemary pine nut cookies for mother's day. the trader joe's checkout guy was asking me what i was making when i stopped in for just rosemary, pine nuts and heavy cream and when i told him he said the cookies sounded weird. whatever, i know what my mom likes and i know she'll love them. they're martha stewart and that gal knows her way around a cookie so i trust that laurel will be pleased. 

it's my little brother's birthday today. he somehow managed to survive til 26 - i'm a little shocked myself, but certainly pleased. i get to see him in less than a month at my older brother's wedding (don't even get me STARTED on how excited i am for that) and i can't wait. even more than that i can't wait for the fourth of july. it's my favorite weekend of the year and tex and i just made plane ticket reservations to go home for it. i wasn't sure we'd be able to because my parents are selling their house (WEEPING) but so far the real estate market is cooperating with me and it hasn't sold yet. for my parent's sake i hope it does, but for me this means one last hurrah at the beach this summer with most of my favorite people in the world.

i'm off to tackle this day. i'd be lying if i said old fashioneds weren't going to be the main motivator in getting to 4:30. old fashioneds and coffee that is. i've got an after work date with this lady that i'm pretty enthusiastically counting down towards. it's world lupus day today and so please lend your support to allison and all those who are coping today (and everyday, but particularly today)!

<3