I think I owe a few

Here's a few pictures around the front yard. (These might be some of the last green for this season).

Anniversary

Mark and I just celebrated our 8th year together.

We spent the weekend in DC where we are very much in love with the cafe culture.
Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures. But we did enjoy a delicious dinner at Mezza Luna--a tapas restaurant--on Friday night. Then we went to some random bar next to the restaurant and it turned out to be a fantastic little place where we sipped excellent beverages (Cosmo for me) and people watched out the second story window.

On Saturday, we walked down to Dupont circle for some iced coffee and (new to me) an Iced Green Tea Latte (very interesting, and, I think, good) at Starbucks. We sat outside in the sun and discussed business politics for a long time. It was so nice to just talk and sit out side. (Cafe culture!). We rode the metro around a bit, shopped for quite a while, ate a very impressive lunch at Panera Bread (try their new pizzas after 4:00pm--Wow!), and finished up the night at some clubs up on U-street.

We had to head back early to work at the farmer's market this morning, but we still had a really great time.

Fall?

Today I woke up to a beautiful (almost Spring-like) rain.
It has been deathly hot here, muggy, icky, for months. I wasn't expecting this light, refreshing rain today. I wonder if fall is on its way already? It's so nice.

My New Job

I am really enjoying my new job. It's amazing that I am paid to just spend time with people, read people, and coach people. It is also amazing how exhausting that can be. Last night after two delicious and much-desired beers, I just about cried my heart out watching an episode of ROME, in which my favorite character lost everything he cared about. Mark is such a sweetie, just smiling and listening as I sobbed and blabbered on about poor Pullo.
This morning I feel greatly rested and more optimistic about Pullo's future :)

One of the most exciting things about my new job, that I have been able to capture on camera, is my new dress code. For the last 3 years or so, I have been assigned a polo shirt and jeans as my uniform. While, yes, this is quite comfortable, it really doesn't do much for a girl's self esteem.

So here are a few pics of my grown up feeling self in business casual:
















This is my first day of work. I drove out to a place about 3 hours from my house and stayed in a hotel for several days of training. The camera is in my trunk and I am pretending to be getting something out, lest someone walk by in the parking lot and suspect I am taking a picture of myself on my first day of work.

















Here, I am feeling proud for two reasons. (1) my new outfit, and (2) I'm so grown up that my company actually puts me up in a hotel! And a pretty nice one, at that. Yes, I realize how unexciting this may be to you all, but after working for small companies my whole life, I'm feeling pretty darn cool right about now.
















I'm starting to realize these pictures aren't very exciting. But I wanted to share something of my new experiences.