I Breathe Deep for My Mom 2013

Soon after I found out about my mom's cancer (less than 48 hours before she died) I started following Lungevity on social media. Lungevity Foundation is dedicated to funding lung cancer research and supporting those affected by lung cancer. Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. And in 2012, my mom was one of them.

While I was in San Diego, I had decided that I wanted to take part in the Lungevity Breathe Deep 5k. It ended up working out perfectly. Because of my recent move to the East Coast, I was happy that my family wanted to take part in Breathe Deep DC which took place on the National Mall on November 2nd.

It was a blustery, cold morning and this California Girl could barely handle it! Talk about a wake-up call! Luckily, my favorite weatherman Doug Kammerer made an appearance AND my niece was attached to my hip, literally, which added some extra warmth :)

You know you're cold when you will gladly carry your three-year-old niece during a leg of a 5k just so she can keep you warm/you can move a little faster ;) The sun finally started to peek through as we neared the Lincoln Memorial. I explained to my niece, Aubrey, that Mr. Lincoln lives there and she asked, "Well… can I go in and hug him?" :)

We each wore a sticker that day that said, "I breathe deep for________" and mine read, "My Mom :)" It was a wonderful experience to be there in our nation's capitol with many other people and families whose lives have been affected by this horrible cancer. To see survivors there. To see the pictures of those lost. To see the smiles and hope from coming together for a cause. It was a beautiful weekend.

I told Aubrey that "Grammie" was waiting for us at the finish line but that we couldn't see her, we just had to wave up to the sky. I know my mom was there, waiting for us, cheering us on.

Not just that day but everyday, I breathe deep for My Mom.

#DreamDay

I have a dream that...

We will live in a world of love, no matter your skin color or who you love.

Every person will have the freedom and opportunities to find their purpose and live it.

A cure for cancer and AIDS will be found.

Animal abuse of all kinds will end.

Every child will feel safe in the presence of strangers and in the arms of family.

Our planet - its air, water, and land will be cared for and kept clean.

Peace will be found.

Living today in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

For his March on Washington.

For his courage, strength, and example.

For his dream.

What do you dream?

Cherishing Home

As I write this, I lie in my childhood bedroom. A room that has changed as I have, yet always welcomes me despite which country, state, or lifestyle I am returning from. I felt the same way as I landed at Reagan National Airport this morning in DC, with the Washington Monument being repaired in the background. I felt as though I had never really left.

I was home.

Although San Diego has been made into my home now, my DC suburban town will always be my hometown. These streets will always know my name. And I will always have the stories to cherish and memories to reflect back on during the times when life leaves me feeling alone.

I am home.

And for the first time ever, I feel homesick while here in my hometown. I miss this being my house. My room. My bed. I miss the colors of the wall and the sound my feet make as they race up the hardwood stairs. I miss the memories of Mom throughout the house. I already feel the pain of having to say "see you later" to these things in just a few short days.

But while I can, I shall cherish them. And what ever it is that you have today, I hope you cherish it too.

I am home.

I am home.

I am home.

Wishing a Happy Birthday today to the most amazing man I know, my Dad!

Dupont & Occoquan Weekend

This past weekend was a great one! I really can't tell you how much I appreciate weekends. Work has been wearing on me and while I also worked most of the weekend [but on After Sunset jewelry!] I also had the chance to have a little fun :)

Saturday started off with a Metro trip into DC for the day. I used to take the Metro into work everyday for my first job out of college [and one of the best jobs I've had yet!] There's something about traveling alone in busy cities that I just love so much. The people watching, the chance to just chill out and listen to music...it's just nice for a change!

So, I put on my teal skinnies, grabbed my Metro SmarTrip card, and jumped on the train to meet up with Raquel! I just adore her and we always have a blast when we meet up! Delicious food and shopping are always involved. You can tell we are bloggers :)

We ended up on the same train and met up in Dupont Circle. Dupont is a fun little neighborhood in DC full of cute shops and eateries. The Metro station there also has the longest escalator. Note to tourists: If you are going to stand instead of walk, move to the right!

Yep, straight up into the sky!

We started off at Cosi for some yummy lunch outside. I got the turkey & brie sandwich... yum!

We chatted, caught up, and talked about Vampire Diaries. The usual :)

Then, we had to grab fro yo because that's just what Raquel and I do when we get together, ha. The place we went to was really not worth mentioning. They had more of a sorbet than fro yo and it kind of started to melt right away. It was tasty though, so it hit the spot.

We took our fro yo and headed across the street to one of Raquel's favorite little boutiques, Lou Lou.

DC ladies - if you love jewelry [like I do!] you must head on over to this adorable shop. It is filled to the brim with the cutest designs and organized by color. Perfect, right?

I scored these bad boys:

Do the pair on the right match my blog perfectly, or what? :) So sunsetty!

Raquel and I had a blast. Be sure to go say "hi" if you haven't already!

Here we are outside of Lou Lou:

Later, I took my dad out to dinner for his birthday [which was on Wednesday!]

There's an old, little town down the road from my house called Occoquan that's right on the Potomac River and they have a delicious restaurant on the water, Madigan's.

Fun moment for me: As our waitress walked up to greet us, before she even told us her name, she said, "I love your necklace!" It happened to be one of the new designs I've been working on for After Sunset and it pretty much just made my night. She was the sweetest and who knows... maybe she'll be rocking an After Sunset piece soon ;)

Our meal there was amazing. I had to go with the coconut crusted Mahi with a pina colada sauce and my dad got the Rib-eye.

'Twas amazing. So was the crab dip that we got as an appetizer. Go big or go home, right?

I'm grateful for all the dad/daughter dates we've been able to have since I've been back on the East Coast and since my Mom passed away. We sure miss her.

It was a productive weekend but there's always more to do so it will be a busy week!

I am getting really, really excited to share my new After Sunset designs with you all!

[If you follow me on Instagram, you already got a sneak peak! @chelseasunset]

What did you do this weekend? :)

The Weekend Wore Me Out

You're supposed to feel refreshed after the weekend, right? Well, I don't. I feel the exact opposite actually. Worn-out, tired, drained, blah. Hardly had a moment to just breathe and right now, breathing is what I need most. Lesson learned.

The weekend started off by leaving straight from work to meet up with a friend. We had dinner and then headed to the movies to see 21 Jump Street. Well, when we went to get tickets, the movie had been "cancelled" so we had to wait another hour to see it. Luckily, the weather was nice so we walked around and explored some new shops including a designer consignment store. Awesome! Still walked away empty-handed.

After the movie, we walked over to Pinkberry because I was craving fro-yo. Like Georgetown Cupcake, the line at Pinkberry in the DC area also wraps around the building. We waited for about 20 minutes before I got my yummy blood orange fro-yo with strawberries and blueberries! 

Saturday day was spent getting miscellaneous things done [because isn’t that what every Saturday is for?] I had to make a trip to my storage unit to pick up a few things. I do not enjoy going there. Would you enjoy this horror movie-esque place?

Saturday night was spent in DC with Raquel for dinner at Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro in Chinatown. We had tried to go there just over a month ago before catching a movie but the wait had been too long. This time, they told us the wait would be an hour. Fiiiine. So, about fifteen minutes into our wait, we're chatting and taking pictures of the pretty bonfire outside and Raquel smacks the "pager" and says something along the lines of, "hurry up already!" Well, guess what - the pager goes off right then! Go figure!

The menu had a little bit of everything but since we were at this fancy-schmancy pizza bistro, we both went with pizza. We may or may not have finished every piece AND ordered their chocolate chip bread pudding. It's tough to say :)

Sunday was a pretty typical Sunday with church, family, and visiting my Mom's grave. It was the latest I have probably ever visited a cemetery. The sun was almost completely gone but, you know what? It still wasn’t creepy. I just feel a calmness whenever I’m there.

There’s my little niecey being all fascinated with the old rocking chair. She can put a smile on anyone’s face :)

So, looking back on that busy weekend makes me even more exhausted than I already am. I really need to start setting aside time to just regroup and recharge [didn’t I JUST write a Journey Forward post about this?] Come Friday at 3:00, the weekend always sounds refreshing and much-needed but when you jam-pack your schedule, it ends up being just as hectic as the work week :( I’m working on that. What did you do this weekend?

DC Kind of Friendship

It’s been a fun-filled week of getting together with friends! That makes me really happy and this post might get a little sentimental. But, you know what? I don’t mind it because this time of year is about giving and being thankful for what we have. Out of the many, many things I’m thankful for this holiday season, friends are definitely at the top of my list.

Last Friday night, I had a little dinner date. In case you don’t know, when I started this blog, I was living in Salt Lake City. Life was quite different for me then. Being from the DC area, there were many places in Utah that we didn’t have back at home. Cafe Rio was one of those places.

It was a fun, little Mexican food chain {people compared it to Chipotle, but, c’mon… they’re nothing alike} and everyone in Utah was obsessed with it. I thought it was good but Chipotle still had my vote. Let’s be honest – nothing can beat their rice.

So, anyway… I move back to the DC area and find out Cafe Rio is opening up. Nowhere else on the East Coast but here. Obviously I had to go. So, I did. And it was tasty. The service was much, much slower because the employees figured everyone was a novice and actually had to explain what “everything” entailed when they asked if I wanted “everything” on my salad. Clearly, I didn’t want cilantro or chips.

We devoured our food. And talked about how freakishly weird it was to be in a place in Falls Church, VA that felt like Utah. Thanks, but no thanks.

Earlier this week, I met up in DC with the ever-so-lovely Ashley. We picked a place in Chinatown called La Tasca which we ended up falling in love with! First of all, the place was decorated for Christmas SO beautifully! There were garland, lights, and Christmas trees perfectly placed throughout the restaurant. La Tasca has an amazing happy hour including a wide array of tapas – so whether you drink or not, there’s no excuse not to go to this place! $3.00 for any tapas dish!

Ashley and I talked for hours and realized we both shared a love for two of the same men – Ryan Gosling {obviously you should know he and I are dating by now} and Nick Markakis {Orioles all the way!} We also talked about our love for the DC area and reality television, more specifically The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Also, our birthdays are coming up and they’re only two days apart. Go January birthdays!

Ashley is SUCH an amazing girl! She’s super close to becoming a teacher and her passion and love for kids is so heart-warming. She is the kind of person you could see from the other side of the room and want to be friends with. Ashley is such a genuinely sweet person who knows what she wants out of life and isn’t afraid to go after it. Pretty inspiring if you ask me!

Then, last night was girls’ night with Whitney and Erica. To say that we had a blast would be an understatement. First, we have Whitney who is the exact opposite of me. She made this clear after I made the most random comment about how I would eat SpaghettiOs after cheer practice growing up. I was probably wearing my slap bracelet at the time as well. Don’t get me wrong, Whit ate SpaghettiOs too. She just didn’t cheer. Perhaps she wore a slap bracelet. Here’s where I get all serious again:

Whitney has been an amazing friend to me since day night one. Because we are complete opposites, she balances me out. I can go to her for advice on anything {and you better believe I do} because I know her logic will even out my emotion. She’s been a constant support during this period of change for me. She makes it a point to keep up with everything going on in my life and update me with everything going on with hers – pretty much on a daily basis. It might not seem like a big deal but, to me, that’s HUGE! With all that’s going on in everyone’s lives today, most people find excuses not to talk or catch up. Not the case with her and it means the world. She’s awesome.

So, Erica and I discovered pretty early on that we were both on the more introverted side of things. Hard to believe, I know. Especially when you get me, her, and Whitney talking together. We are also both IN LOVE with San Francisco and plan to move there someday {hopefully sooner rather than later!} Erica has fun and amazing stories about traveling and living abroad and hearing her enthusiasm for beautiful European countries definitely re-ignited my desire to travel the world! Is it not amazing to have someone who gets you excited about all that life has to offer? I think it is!

So, Erica and I went over to Whitney’s where they got me to watch some of Inglourious Basterds, I taught them a few words in Polish, Whitney told love stories, and Erica made us want to go to Germany in Oktober. She’s been there, done that.

I literally could not believe it when I saw the clock after getting in my car to drive home. It was nearly midnight. That’s when you know you had a good time on a Wednesday night!

But, you know what I truly learned from this week? Friends are such a blessing. Whether you’ve known them all your life or met them yesterday – having someone you can laugh with, joke with, dream with, and plan with makes any bad day better. The even better part? Each person that you meet brings out something different in you. Maybe they bring out your odd sense of humor, or your love for music, or just help you see things in a new light.

I’m grateful for these three ladies that have brought lots of smiles and laughs into my life this past week.
I’m grateful for my other friends in the area and for my friends {new and old} around the globe!
Here’s to more laughter and memories!

My First-Ever Blate

This weekend I went on my first-ever BLATE!! {aka blog-date!} I’m so excited to be back in the DC area so whenever I “meet” fellow DC bloggers, it pretty much makes my day. However, Raquel and I have been following each other’s blogs since before I moved :) We’ve been wanting to meet up since I’ve been back in the area and finally, this weekend we did! Raquel blogs over at Dream Out Loud, so, if you haven’t yet, go pay her a visit and say hi!

We met downtown in DC and started our blate off with lunch at Five Guys! Yum :) Five Guys started in Virginia so it’s always been a favorite local spot when you’re in the mood for something greasy!

Is she the cutest thing or what? So, while we were ordering food and gabbing away we realized that, sure enough, we were wearing the SAME nail polish! Get out of town, right?

See? True story. Great minds think alike :) Or, great bloggers perhaps?

After lunch, we did some shopping at stores like F21, H&M, and Zara {another first for me}. We were far too overwhelmed with the 3-story F21 to take any pictures but I promise you, we both walked away with some cute purchases after the shopping madness! The weather was absolutely perfect so we decided to just walk around and enjoy the beautiful city!

That church was built in the 1700’s. What a beauty!

Then, we ventured over to Chinatown :)

After about ten tries at getting a picture of the two of us with the archway, this was the best one. Please pardon the hair all astray :) It was a breezy day in the District!

We knew the weather was still too perfect to end the evening there, so we chowed down on some tasty fro-yo! I tried the pumpkin flavor and it was delish!

We were pretty tired from all the walking so, we found ourselves a nice place to relax – Ford’s Theatre {where President Lincoln was shot}

We walked back to the Metro station where we said our goodbyes {but, not for long hopefully!}

I’ve seen other “blaters” say it too – blogger turned real life friends are the greatest! It’s such a cool and unique thing to get to know someone through their blog and then as soon as you meet, you just click instantly!

Raquel is such a sweet girl {with killer fashion sense, might I add!} I had so much fun on our blate and can’t wait for the next one!

Have you gone on a blate yet?

First Week Back Home

Between the long road trip home posts and link-ups, I’ve barely had any time to write about what I’ve been up to AFTER the move back to the East Coast! Let me first start off by saying I have really missed home. There are things that I hear or see now that are so familiar and wonderful and I tell myself, “remember this!” I know after a while, it’s easy to take for granted the things around us. But, the truth is – once you have those things taken away from you {especially for a year and a half} you learn to appreciate them and love them and never want to let them go.

The first full weekend I was back home, I went out for an evening in Georgetown, a beautiful section of DC just along the Potomac River.

First, was a fancy little meal at Paper Moon – an Italian restaurant where I ordered the Greek Salad. Makes sense, right? The inside decor was beautiful with lush tapestries and RED VELVET. Gorgeous! The atmosphere made me feel like I was right there in Italy!

{via} and {via}

After that, I was able to enjoy some beautiful sights of the city I love so much. DC has so much to offer, no matter the time of day or year! I love the old brick buildings and sidewalks, the shutters, the bridges, the waterways, the stone, the personality. and the history of Georgetown.

I love the charm of the old houses in Georgetown, each with their own color. I wish I had been able to get more pictures! Next time :)

The next day, I met up with my friend Ashlyn for a Starbucks date where we chatted for 3 hours!! It was a long overdue meet-up where we chatted about life, boys, blogging, sorority stuff, etc. Unfortunately, after all the gabbing, we were too distracted to get a picture together but here’s what I wore/my first pic back in VA!! {Recognize the leaf earrings? Told ya I wear them ALL the time!}

All of that came the weekend after Hurricane Irene hit. Luckily, the worst we had was downed branches and the loss of power for 12 hours. It could have been much worse! Tropical Storm Lee is another story which you’ll see later.

I also enjoyed one of my favorite foods that can only be found at the grocery store Wegmans {which does not exist in Utah! The main reason I moved ;) I kid. I kid.}

A spinach and feta cheese veggie burger with a side of cucumber and tomato. What more do I need in life other than Greek yogurt? ;)

So, there’s my brief synopsis of the first week back in Northern VA/DC! I’m excited to start sharing more of my new life here with you all!