Coffee and a Conversation
As Told Over Brunch is a home for intelligent discourse from the twenty-something perspective - so the stuff you gossip about over mimosas on Sunday morning or over takeout on your friend's couch when happy hour ends too early. We love chatting about our lives, whether it be the relationships we’re building (or destroying), lessons we've learned at work, struggles at school, growing pains we've felt, or even the food we’re talking over.
A few weeks ago, As Told Over Brunch's one-year birthday passed us by quietly. We didn't make much fanfare because 1.) we sorta forgot in the holiday chaos and then it was a day too late (oops) and 2.) we've been planning a big event since September and wanted its announcement to be our celebration.
Either way, you can still send us birthday cards with Starbucks or gift cards if you want to help us celebrate our baby blog's birthday.
I recently broke up with Gold's Gym Willow Lawn, which leaves me in search of my newest gym relationship. My three criteria are: cheap, geographically convenient and has ellipticals, treadmills and some weight machines. That's about it. After doing a lot of Google searching:
I've been an unwilling patron of the Gold's Gym at Willow Lawn for the past two year. I say unwilling because I got locked into a contract that made it nearly impossible for me to leave. Rather than paying a meager $9.99/month with no contract, plus 3 months free, like they have been advertising on a billboard right next to my house, I pay $29.99/ month with a two year contract and 0 months free.
I pass it every day to get home.
My anger began when I started going to yoga (isn't it ironic) and they don't cap the classes. Nor do they have a door-lock policy where you have to show up on time or not be allowed in. So not only is the class passed what I would consider capacity, but they continue to let people cram in halfway through class. How can I focus on relaxing when I'm getting jostled during my sun salutations?
Read MoreThis brunch review is a long time coming. Since meeting a chef like two years ago from Heritage, I knew I needed to try their brunch. I managed to dine there twice for dinner, which also peaked my brunch interest. Dinner was fabulous both times, plus their drinks are incredible too. To say my expectations were high when I stepped in on Sunday for brunch would be accurate. I expected my mind to be blown.
Of course we didn't have reservations, because I just don't roll like that (aka don't have my life together enough for reservations), but were able to grab a seat at the bar. We were greeted promptly with water and menus. Since I am brunch-obsessed, I had already looked at the menu the night before and narrowed my selection down to the the big hot mess (did they name it after me?) or the duck hash.
Read MoreDisclaimer: This might be painful for anyone who is a fan of Star Wars, or it might be hilarious. I’m not quite sure.
My old roommate had never seen Harry Potter before, and I was about ready to rule her off as a valid human being because of it. Then she binge-watched them all and she became socially acceptable again. Apparently, anyone who has seen Star Wars thinks the same thing of me, since I hadn’t seen any of them (technically I saw one with baby Anakin but I slept through it so I don't count it). The same old roommate volunteered to watch them all with me, but we didn’t quite know where to get all the videos. Cazey said he would bring us back them all from home post-holiday break, so that gave us hope we’d make it into the real world shortly.
However, he wasn’t quite fast enough. Over my Christmas break, my dad wanted to go see Start Wars: The Force Awakens. As a man who hasn’t been in a movie theater since Spy Kids, you can’t say no to him when he actually wants to go see a movie. So the night before, he gave me some general plot points – plus I had some basic pop-culture knowledge – and I felt informed enough to make it through the movie.
Read MoreAmong the never-ending list of things Cazey doesn't like, New Years Eve and New Years Resolutions both make the list. I definitely agree with him on his thoughts about New Years Eve, as it's a ton of hype for just one night. I don't really have it in me to dress up in a dress that all this holiday bulking is probably going to make really tight on me, just to overpay to get into a club that is usually free, and then get jostled the whole night in an overcrowded space.
But I digress. What I'm really here for is to support New Year's Resolutions.
Read MoreSigh. Driving back to Richmond was as bad as expected, considering the Sunday after Christmas ranks as one of the most trafficked day of the year. My sister -- bless her -- drove me back to Richmond and it took an additional 2-3 hours because of gridlock.
With all that time on the road, I had quite a lot of time to think. Today's mixings bore nothing emotionally complex or thoughtfully deep, but noted all the same. In no particular order, here are some of the thoughts that bubbled in my brain.
Read MoreConsidering The Camel is located in a distant backyard of the first house I lived in in Richmond, I find it rather insane that this was my first time eating here. My ex-roommate and I were in search of a brunch place with cheap mimosa pitcher in Richmond, and found out that The Camel fit our criteria. Since neither of us had been, it seemed like the perfect idea.
We wandered in around 11 AM and were happy to find plenty of open seats. We picked two seats at the bar, and ordered our pitcher of mimosa. It was a good mimosa, but favored more orange juice than I usually pour myself (although it is probably illegal to make mimosas like I make myself).
Read MoreThis year I helped run a charity drive. We were raising money and collecting toys for Toys for Tots for about three weeks. Every day we would take the money and lock it up, even though there's really no reason to be nervous about it, it's money for charity. No one would take it. I thought it was more just a safety precaution, you know, a CYA (cover your ass) moment.
Yes, that's right, someone stole money that was supposed to buy toys for underprivileged children for Christmas.
Read MoreI recently made the long journey from Richmond to Connecticut, a trek that has historically never went well for me. But this time, it was different. Instead of fighting with shitty flights, or overnight train rides or sitting in traffic alone, my roommate and I worked our schedules so that we could drive home together. The pro of this is multifaceted: it's always great to have a road companion, her car is new and she had a podcast planned out for us.
I could have gone either way originally on the podcast. On the pro side, I've never listened to one before so it would be interesting, but on the con side I've never listened to one and thought it could make me sleepy. However, we got it started. She popped on the first season of Serial.
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