Week of Nirvana

nir·va·na  

/nərˈvänə/
Noun
  1. A transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of...
  2. Liberation of the soul from the effects of karma and from bodily existence.

Tonight, I baked a crumb cake. 


There it is. It now has a huge dent in it, and the roof of my mouth is burnt, but I'm happy.

So, so, so happy. 

This week has been probably the most stressful week in my ohm-like existence, but for good reason. And I celebrated with a crumb cake because that's the way we roll in the Ko-syth household. Relaxation comes not from a yoga mat, but from baking. Filling the kitchen with the wonderful smell of brown sugar and cinnamon and plodding around in these slippers:

Thanks to Dotty for these slippers - she knows my OCD-self too well!
OK...so why the crumb cake therapy? Oh, let me count the reasons:

1. I finished my last final of the first year of grad school tonight! Feels good to know that after 8 years of no textbooks, I can still get my NERD mojo on. Ask me anything about Bhutan's role in the global economy or NAFTA's failures as an "agreement"; drill me about regressional analysis or the Coase Theorem. I am a nerd and I absolutely love it. Bart calls me boring, but I just tell him it's a two-year phase I'm going through...and I'm now halfway there!

2. First race of the 2013 Tri season! I struggled through an asthma attack on the swim and some strong winds on the bike, but the half-marathon felt awesome and powerful...I was ticking people off who had passed me on the bike and in transition! So happy to be injury-free this year, and looking forward to Quassy Rev3 Half in June already!

1.2-mile swim: 30:32
T1: 2:01
56-mile bike: 3:01
T2: 1:31
13.1-mile run: 1:38:52
MonticelloMan Half: 5:14:35, 4th OA Female, 1st AG!


The MonticelloMan gang:
Chris was 2nd AG in the Olympic;
Bart got 3rd OA in the Half;
Katie (1st OA), the tiny Asian (4th OA), and Ellen (5th OA)
raced our way through a tough field in the women's Half! 
(this one's kinda big)
3. WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! 
Say whaaaaat?!?!

You heard me, Jorge...
I said, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! 
The minute we walked in, we fell in love. With the kitchen. Then with the bathroom. Then OH MY GOD the backyard. And the bidet in the upstairs bathroom. And the office space and the downstairs open floor plan. The garage. The garden. The hardwood floors. EVERYTHING about this new house - OUR new house - is fantastic.
The previous owner put so much love and care and heart into making this place a home and not just a house, and in a weird sense, I'm honored that the torch is passed down to us.

Both Bart and I have no idea how to maintain the garden. I mean, check out (our!!!) azaleas and driveway. The previous owner did the landscaping himself. Just looking at these pictures makes me so excited for our moving-in weekend!

I'll get used to coming home to this every day...

Yes, after long bike rides in the summer we're TOTALLY taking
advantage of our outdoor grill! 
Paradise in our backyard! 
4. I started a new job! 
That's right. My title is no longer "Intern." Goodbye, days of unpaid slavery in DC!
I started with Engility this Monday and am already loving it. My first day, I was introduced to another girl in the office as "someone who loves to eat." And later in the day, she tracked me down to tell me that every Wednesday at Engility, there's a breakfast buffet spread at 8:30 and it's the best part of her week. Oh boy, can't wait for tomorrow!

Life is just splendid right now. All this craziness this week makes me so happy.
Congratulations to all my fellow first-year grad school classmates at American University for our successful kick-off year!
Congrats to Katie, Ellen, Chris, and Bart for their smashing races at MonticelloMan this past weekend!
Congrats to my sister Phebe, who smashed her interviews for a cardiac anesthesiology fellowship!
And a congrats to the person who sold us our beautiful new home, who's opening up this place in Provincetown! 

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