Snaps from a Saturday in Sperryville

Inspired by a tip from Refinery 29, BF and I trekked to Sperryville, VA this weekend for what was billed as a "wine and oyster festival."  Sperryville is a rural town nestled under the Shenendoah mountains.  While it was an hour and a half away from D.C., the promise of two of my favorite consumables was more than sufficient to get my butt in gear.

We had a fabulous time, no thanks at all to the oysters and wine portion of the day.

When one hears the word "festival," doesn't one typically visualize variety?  Unfortunately, the Sperryville meaning is different, and the oyster selection consisted of two types of raw Virginia oysters, and one offering of steamed oysters.  No salt!  No cocktail sauce!  I prefer vinegar on my oysters anyway (which they had), but it would have been nice to have options.

Also, the wine portion of the festival consisted of four different types of wine from two different vineyards.

Yeah...a bit of a let-down.

Fortunately, the other offerings at the Sperryville River Arts center delivered!  We enjoyed some local barbeque, checked out a large antique mall...

Amazing bright blue sectional sofa at the antique mall.  (words cannot explain how bright blue this was IRL.)

I got a funky 1950's soup tureen with matching ladle for $13.

...and we toured an operating whisky distillery!

The Copper Fox distillery.

Our tour guide---a brother in law of the family.

Barley, after it is "malted" (i.e., soaked in water for three days so that it just begins to germinate, generating alcohol.  As one of the distillery operators said, it's soaked just long enough for the barley to "think it's going to have a nice happy little life.")

Next, the barley goes into a kiln where it is smoked.  The floor of this room is perforated, and underneath is a wood furnace that heats the barley over three days.

This cat, along with several others, was introduced to us as a "mouser cat," i.e., the distillery's all-organic pest extermination system.

Sniffing the fermenting barley.  It gives off a mostly sweet smell, until you stick your nose past some invisible line, past which the sweet fermenting smell turns into a sour, bubbly, sinus-clearing sensation that goes from your nose all the way up into your brain.  It was funny to see people's initial reactions once they felt that sensation---mainly iterations of "Oh HELL no."

Aging whisky.

The distillery invented something they call the "Waxamatic 2011," which turns the whisky bottles once they are labeled and dipped in hot wax.  It's a bit of a makeshift invention; you can see that parts of it are held together by rubber bands. 

The turning is required, partially because otherwise they will infringe on Maker's Mark's trademark dripping wax --- they were actually issued a cease and desist letter for a few bottles that accidentally dried in a drip pattern --- and partially because the turning wax creates a "C" on the cap, which represents their name, "Copper Fox Distillery":

All in all, a fun and educational afternoon in Virginia!

How was your weekend?

It's Sunday Runday! Let's Talk Scheduling.

Welcome to Sunday Runday! This is a weekly series of posts relating to running and race training, all leading up to our group race day (see here).

This week's post:  Finding the Time for Training

There's no grand design or insight for today's Sunday Runday; I'd like to hear more about how you're finding the time to fit running into your daily life.

If you're following Hal Higdon's 8k plan or something similar, then you're probably working out nearly every day.  So tell me:

• Do you work out at the same time every day, or do you mix up your workout time depending on your schedule?

• How do you plan your day around your workout, if you do at all?

• Are you a morning person or an evening person?

I've been a bit all over the place in my training times---some days, I run in the mornings before work, sometimes I find time to take a short break after lunch, and other times I find myself running before dinner or even well afterwards.  I love getting my workout out of the way in the morning, but it's just SO HARD to wake up sometimes!  Given the choice between working out and sleeping in for another twenty minutes....well, it's not hard.

(Image)

One thing that's been working pretty well for me is to integrate my longer cross-training sessions into an errand.  On cross-training days I have been riding my bike to work, which is about a 30 minute ride.  There are showers at the office, so I just need to bring in my clothes and makeup.  I have a feeling my outfits on these days will be all over the place, depending on whether I had time to properly try things on!  Still, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone; it makes me feel like I'm being healthy AND EXTRA-productive.

I've gotta say, I am really enjoying the 8k distance.  An 8k is long enough for me at my current level of fitness that I can't just "wing it," but it's also short enough that my training runs aren't too intimidating.  Last week, it got to be 11:30pm one day and I still hadn't done my two miler...but knowing that it would only take me about twenty minutes encouraged me to just go and knock the darn thing out.

I suspect my laissez faire attitude towards scheduling will have to change soon, as my schedule is about to change dramatically.  More on that in a few weeks.

In the meantime---dish!  Tell us how you're making it work.

Anthro Forecast: Hoo Boy

Uh oh.

If these pieces are any indication, my budgetary goals may be in trouble in the months to come.















Is anything in Anthropologie's current line-up jumping out at you? The dress offerings are calling my name!

Friday (quasi) Funday: The Things I Can Control...But Don't

This week, I got an unexpected email from man-friend with whom I'd mostly lost touch.  He asked me what was new in my life, and I gave him a quick update (law firm, same BF as the last time he and I spoke).  I expected him to return with a similarly brief run-down of his own life, but instead he surprised me with this humdinger:

I wrote because there is someone using your picture on a fake Jdate profile. Yes I'm on Jdate. No comments. Ha

I wanted to forward you the link because that's not right, yo.

BEGPARDON??

He sent me a link, and yep, this is definitively NOT my old Jdate profile from 2006 that I probably never deleted (no comments.  ha):

The picture was probably pulled from this post.  I mean, I'm at least flattered that this fraudster used a relatively decent picture of me and described me as "intelligent" in the "About Me" section.  (Thanks!)  Also, I appreciate this person shaving almost 5 years off my age.  (Much obliged!)

Edit: As soon as I found out about the profile, I called JDate and they immediately removed it.

I suppose it's good to have reminders periodically that the stuff I put on my blog stays out in the internet ether, and I can't control what people do with it once they find it.  Certainly, one can never be too safe.  (See, e.g., here.)  Of course, there may come a point when I'm no longer willing to take those risks, or when my job precludes me from continuing with this fun hobby.  For now, though, I'd like to keep on chugging.

So, while I'd like to curse the fact that I can't control the behavior of others, it's not like I've done a bang-up job of controlling my own behavior, either.

A Non-Exhaustive List of the Things I Could Control, But Do Not:

• My excited facial expression every time someone with a mail cart walks by my office ("ONLINE PURCHASE DELIVERY???")
• The fact that my alarm clock is consistently set for an hour later than it should be (or, alternatively, the number of times I hit the snooze alarm).
• My coworkers' visibility access to my Facebook page.
• The number of times per day I check:  google reader; email; online storefronts.
• My open animosity towards a few people in our weekly poker game.
• The fact that I do not own: solid navy pumps; a sturdy black raincoat; a navy blue blazer, et al.
• My love of Asian Pear crisps (actually, this may not be within my control).
• The obscene number of blogs in my google reader (and still growing).
• The pile of clothes on my "list on eBay" shelf.  (See also, the pile of returns still to be made in my office).

There.

Actually, I'm not sure if I feel better or worse!

Two Ways (Squared): Wily Sweater and Bovary Dress

Okay, you guys are completely hilarious.  Your responses to yesterday's poll (also here) had me laughing all day.  Unfortunately, it was the kind of laughter I couldn't really share with anybody else, because it's hard to start conversations with, "This funny thing happened on my blog today."  Believe me, I've tried.  Those conversations fail with a special type of awkwardness.

I do love that ridiculous bunny hat, but I'm willing to admit that I may be wearing my craycray glasses given the overwhelming crush of popular opinion:

I'll put the $45 towards something a bit more---let's just say---wearable on an every day basis.  If you were one of the 16 people who liked it, though, keep checking back at ASOS for my hat to pop back into stock!  ::evil grin::

Speaking of wearable on a daily basis, allow me to continue clearing out some of my backlog of outfit photos (pre-New Year's resolution) with somewhat of a "Two Ways" squared:  a crossover between the Wily Sweater and the Bovary Dress.

Let's meet the characters, shall we?

First, the Wily Sweater.  I included this piece in my last round of "Use it or Lose it" items.  As I'm sure you can imagine from the fact that there are two very different and relatively strong patterns on this sweater, it's a bit hard to work into an outfit.  Cute with self-contained layers, but not a magical goes-with-anything piece by any means.  I didn't use the sweater within the time frame, but I did wear it shortly afterwards on a weekend:

(Anthro Wily Sweater (M); Pure + Good Tee (S); AG Stevie Cords (28); J.Crew Factory Tortoise Pumps (9.5 -- up .5 size; flea market necklace)

Next, allow me to re-introduce the Bovary Dress.  You two have already met.

(An Anthro explosion: Anthropologie Bovary Dress (4 -- sized down one size); Anthropologie Wreathen Blouse (S); Anthropologie Shadowsleeve Cardigan (M); Anthropologie Gift Bow Belt (L); Anthropologie Bowtied Lacerta Mary Janes (8.5 -- down .5 size); Kate Spade "It Takes All Sorts" Necklace; J.Crew bracelet, Amazon Crawford Boyfriend Watch in Rose Gold (here))

I love the length and feel of the Bovary dress.  The delicate pattern is so pretty, and the elastic all over the place makes it supremely comfortable for a day of sitting at my desk.  (The straps are a little pull-y, but it's not terribly distracting.)  The draping of the bodice is flattering over the torso and stomach, even for those of us unfortunate enough to sport baby bumps when definitively not with child.

However, with the low-cut sweetheart neckline, the only way it's work-appropriate is with some significant layering.  So what better match-up, I ask you, than a dress in need of layers and a cardigan bringing two of its own to the table?

(Wily Sweater, Bovary Dress, Anthropologie Airy Weave Pullover (S); Seychelles Hamburg Pumps (9, TTS) (here, or here in pewter for only $20!!); Lela Rowe Necklace ($5 in NYC sample sale); earrings via Filene's Basement circa 2007)

To make the transition from work (boobs = detrimental distraction) to poker (boobs = helpful distraction), I took off the pullover.

Viola! 

See?  Backlogs can be fun!