Twitterpated

January is a really big month for birthdays. Last weekend, there were 4 separate birthday parties in one night, and this weekend, there were even more- including my own!

But why so many in January? What's going on in April that leads to so many winter babies? I was shocked to learn that most of my friends don't remember Bambi's sex ed lesson where he and Thumper learn the horrible truth about what happens when you become "Twitterpated." Owl dutifully explains that this confusing state of affairs happens each and every spring. And it can happen to anyone!! Oh, Owl, your words are so very wise, as all my January birthday buddies and I can confirm!

Needless to say, I turned 25 this weekend and it felt great. Meredith took me out to brunch at Coco Sala, and the food was so good that I wanted to cry. The s'mores French toast can hardly be called "breakfast," and it took every once of my willpower not to demolish our flatbread smothered in hash browns, cheese, bacon, and chicken sausage in five minutes. I highly recommend this place for brunch, I don't think it gets enough credit in DC's elite brunch scene, but it has yet to disappoint.

Saturday night we hosted close to 40 people for a birthday house party. Meredith themed it "Tori's favorite things" and decked out the place with dinosaurs, baseball paraphernalia and puppies. The star of the night was a buffalo chicken dip that made the whole house smell like heaven. Everyone seemed to have a great night, and I felt so lucky to be surrounded by so many friends!

In other news, life at my new job has been lovely. I have a funny and kind boss, and great coworkers. Trinity is a pretty special place and I've had the chance to meet and work with students, have lunch with professors, enjoy the amazing gym, and generally feel that my efforts to fundraise here are going towards an important cause. THIS ARTICLE is a really great profile of Trinity's history and work, and if you read it I think you'll see how well it connects to what I was doing here with Teach For America and how it dovetails nicely with my desire to live and work my faith.

More updates as they arrive. Peace and love!

A Beautiful Start to 2012

2012 is off to a great start. Here's a short list of my goals for 2012, and my progress on them thus far:

1. See Third Eye Blind Live in Concert!! Ok, that wasn't a real resolution. I am embarrassed to confess that New Year's Eve marked the third time I've seen Third Eye Blind in concert, which is two times too many for a washed-up 90's band. But you know what, until I get sick of screaming that classic lyric: "I believe in the sand beneath my toes!" I don't really feel bad about it. We made sure this year to avoid past mistakes of arriving late, abusing the open bar, or being part of an awkward crowd. This year was about having fun with people who we care about the most. Kate Pennington joined us from Denver, and of course we had handsome men in tow to join about 7,000 other DC-twentysomethings at the Washington Hilton.

2. Try Mussels at Granville Moore's on H St! When Katie Hornstein visited me the first weekend of January, we made getting dinner at this H St gem a priority. Too bad they don't take reservations and there was a 2 1/2 hour wait! It's gonna be a little while before I have the patience to wait around for these mollusks, even if they do beat out Bobby Flay on national TV. A more reasonable resolution: Grab mussels at nearby Belga Cafe (AWESOME), and start spelling "mussels" right (my sister informed me I had been spelling it MUSCLES in my plan-making text messages. Oops.)

3. Train for a 5k: But only AFTER my birthday celebrations are over. Jason made that goal difficult this weekend by treating me to an early birthday dinner of the best Italian food in DC, followed by tickets to Billy Elliot at the Kennedy Center! You know the food is amazing when Bill takes Hill there for Valentine's day. Hey, at least we walked from downtown Georgetown to the Kennedy Center. Baby steps?

4. Complete "Grown up" Living Room Remodel: Three cheers to Dulles, VA for having every furniture warehouse known to man within a 3 mile radius! Three jeers to every furniture manufacturer in America for making so much ugly, expensive crap to sift through! What's a girl gotta do to get a 3-cushion, beige sectional at a reasonable price these days? After an extensive search today, I'm happy to report I'm the new owner of a probably-too-big-for-the-living-room-but-whatever-so-were-all-our-Christmas-trees-growing-up-and-they-were-still-awesome couch!

5. Appreciate more Art and Culture: Does getting hooked on LOST count?

On Tuesday, I start my new job at Trinity Washington University, where I'm joining the Advancement team. I'm so excited. More on that next week!

Peace and Love,

Tori