Suburbanette

Rob and I signed up for our first race together!  The thing is….

• It’s indoors
• It’s only 1k
• It’s a beer walk

Judgement aside, it was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a random Sunday together. I tend to get really antsy in the winter time so we try to plan a lot of activities to keep me from going crazy.

We were given twenty tasting tickets but we could only get through half of them before giving up and crying “Mama!”. We are not the once virile, twenty-something year olds we thought we were. The 1k ended with an ultra awkward dance party where 40 year old men did the Wobble with other 40 year old men…and nobody else.

We did however discover a lot of great, new beers. A few favorites being:

• Bold Rock Virginia Apple Hard Cider
• Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale
• Scotch de Silly
• Ommegang Rare Vos
• Ommegang Witte
• Bison Chocolate Stout
• Port City IPA
• Boulevard Tripel

The day ended with a trip to Sakuramen in Dupont for a steaming hot bowl of noodle soup with our two favorite people whose names start with U’s.

The hashtag #onegirltwo jobs no longer applies to me! I am now a bonafide full-time Yelp Community Manager. This means a few  things:

#1) I will actually get to sleep more than four hours at night (I think people at my corporate full-time job were starting to think I had narcolepsy!)
#2) More regular blog posts for your enjoyment. Double the Kimberly, double the fun!
#3) I will FINALLY be able to play with the new Nintendo 3DS game I got last Thanksgiving and have been saving for a rainy day.
#4) Goodbye blazers…..helllooooo yoga pants! I’ve been rocking this pair from Lucy the most. If they are good enough for my fake BFF Mindy Kaling than they are good enough for me!

Needless to say:

Cheers to new exciting and scary territories!

Our bathroom sink was broken for a few days so Rob decided it was an opportune time to grow a beard. I think he looks handsome.

As a nurse, my mother is required to work one holiday a year.  For as long as I can remember she always has chosen Thanksgiving as her holiday.  One year, when I was about 11 or 12, my family got kind of lazy to whip up a big meal so they decided to purchase a “Thanksgiving in a Box” meal from our local Giant. It was terrible.  I made a vow to never have a gross Thanksgiving day dinner again and have been cooking for my family ever since (except the turkey — that is my dad’s pièce de résistance!).  I was always an odd child and spent a lot of my Saturday mornings watching Julia Child on PBS instead of cartoons like other normal children so I took on the challenge with gutso!

I was introduced to the magic of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup at an early age and was able to turn it into an integral part of my Thanksgiving side dishes.  But I am older and wiser now and I worry about things like sodium and preservatives so I now make all of my meals from scratch.

This year everybody’s favorite side dishes were John Legend’s Macaroni and Cheese and Alton Brown’s Green Bean Casserole.  Thanks to Chrissy Tiegan from Sodelushious for the ideas!

This year I am thankful for so many things: the ability to watch my little brothers grow into wonderful young adults, Kassie for keeping me on my toes and just giving me the opportunity to feel so loved, two sisters that I can talk to any time of the day, a new baby niece who smiled at me for the first time last week, my parents for always supporting me, not one but two awesome jobs to support my Anthropologie and nail polish addiction, Nintendo for making sure that I am never bored again, and of course my wonderful fiance Rob who reminds me how blessed I am every single day.

No matter what season having a flawless face is always in style! Here are the products that I rely on to fake a fresh, clean complexion.

#1. DDF Weightless Defense Oil-Free Hydrator SPF 45 – Despite the high price, I am addicted to this moisturizer!  It absorbs almost instantly on my skin and feels amazingly light — even under makeup!  At SPF 45, this moisturizer also has major sun protection benefits as well.

#2. Clinique All About Eyes – As I entered my late twenties, I started becoming aware of “old people problems” such as eye puffiness, fine lines, and darkness.  All About Eyes promises to aid all of that! Because eye tissue is a lot thinner than other skin on your body, I trust this product to moisturize my skin without clogging my pores. Placing this cream on my eyes is like a mini spa wake me up. It feels wonderful!

#3. Evian Mineral Water Spray – A part of me is laughing at myself for dropping eleven ducks on canned aerosol water but this water spray has become a daily addiction that I can’t live without. I have very sensitive, dry skin so a little spray in the afternoon instantly refreshes my skin and makes it feel hydrated. For a full tutorial on how to use this spray to prep, prime and set your makeup visit my friend Annie’s blog.

#4. Laura Mercier Foundation Primer – Working long days means I need to make sure that my makeup stays put for hours at a time. Laura Mercier’s primer ensures that my makeup is working double time with no paid time off! I like the fact that this primer has added vitamins A, C, and E added to give my skin that extra nutrition boost.

#5. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer - Believe the hype. This product consistently makes “Best of…” lists over and over again — and with good reason! It is a virtually foul proof way to ensure that your skin has a healthy, glowing and even looking complexion.  I apply with my hands or with MAC’s #187 Duo Fibre brush.

#6. MAC Prep + Prime Eye – This impulse buy is now my holy grail to avoiding eye makeup from sliding all over the place which is not sexy. At all.

What products do you have in your beauty arsenal?

Cupcakes & Cashmere‘s Emily Schulman and I. We have the same smile.

My new Nintendo 3DS with an XL screen! So helpful when collecting extra Koopa shells and coins on my Mario missions!

My little brothers turned 13 year old! They are also both officially taller than me.

Everything is coming up Milhouse at Baltimore’s Yelp-i-con!

Fitting beer for an Election Night Watch Party with the boy.

Pink lights in remembrance of those who have passed from breast cancer at the TigerLily EmPower Ball.

The Sweetest Thing at Todd Thrasher’s Bar TNT

Two haute dumplings at NoVa Fashion Week

Proste! Reston’s Oktoberfest

Rockin’ that pink lipstick with my sister Kat

I have spent two years lusting over the Clarisonic and it’s finally mine all mine! Check back soon for a full review.

“Oh yeah, well you’re a virgin who can’t drive!”

The ultimate diss, but ten years ago that was me. I was also very insecure, very sheltered, and very spoiled. My favorite color was pink and I was in lurve with John Mayer. His music was the soundtrack of my life and my heart. I was a college freshman whose dreams revolved around great hair, making the world a better place, and possibly becoming a lawyer (as inspired by Legally Blonde…she made it look so easy and so much fun). At that time, I had no idea that I was a hot commodity. When guys flirted with me I was pretty sure that it was because they had a bet with their best friend to give me a makeover and  turn me into prom queen by the end of the year since I was so horribly dorky (can you tell I spent a lot of my time watching teen rom-coms?).

Fast forward ten autumns, and I still feel very much like that wide eyed optimistic girl from college. Only I’m not. I’m more serious now. I know what it is to take care of others and take care of myself. And I know what it is like to be unconditionally loved. I am still insecure, but with Rob I feel like everything is going to be okay. He pushes me, he understands me, and he takes care of me. That great hair I had? Well, I basically had a patch of peach fuzz on my head when we started dating due to the chemotherapy treatments I received for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. While most guys wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole, he was always there for me. When I was going through a rough time with my family, he was my rock to make sure that I stayed sane while everybody else leaned on me for support. He pushed me to get active on Yelp and start my own blog. He always has my back and I know I can trust him with anything. He knows that he can lean on me too, which is a one of the best feelings in the world. He takes my mom to dinner, he plays football with my brothers, ping pong with my dad, beer pong with my brother-in-law, and tea party with me niece.

And I am getting married to him on August 17, 2013!

I took my little brothers shopping for their new middle school wardrobe and I couldn’t help but pick up a little something for myself. I’m hoping this versatile booty will take me far and wide on a few new adventures.

Nine West | Feminity 

It has been approximately seven or so years since I was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease, a type of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system. I was treated for approximately six months with a mixture of chemotherapy and radiation. My regular scans have been showing up clear and everything has been pretty peachy keen for the most part. I recently did some routine blood work when they discovered that my thyroid levels have been operating on the slow side. The doctor referred me to a specialist who decided to monitor my levels for a while to decide what the next course of action should be. I just received the news that the next course of action is to start treating it with medicine.

It should not be a big deal, I just will need to take a pill every day for the rest of my life. It will help with all the classic slow thyroid symptoms I have been having such as: being cold all the time, tiredness, and weight gain. They believe that my thyroid problems are a direct effect from the radiation I had to my neck and chest area. I had always known that this would be a possibility but it was something that I did not think I would have to worry about so soon. I’m pretty bummed, especially when I found out that I have to start limiting my intake of seaweed. Trader Joe’s dried seaweed snacks are my jam!

On the bright side, maybe I will lose weight for my wedding?!?!