March Madness Ultimate Coffee Date Link Up

Welcome to the March Madness edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date Link Up!
No, you don’t have to talk about basketball, but please do share what’s going on in your life, as if we were getting together for coffee (or tea, or your favorite relaxing beverage). Deborah and I host this monthly event so we can get to know each other better and support each other in all our endeavors. Since it’s no fun to have coffee alone, make sure you leave comments on other blogs in the link up, and stop by Deborah’s before you head out. 

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March Madness – Kitchen Update

If we were having coffee, I would have to update you on my kitchen! When we last got together, I was debating kitchen appliances. Well, the Kitchen Aid suite has been ordered and my kitchen now looks like this. 

I already love the extra light coming in since they took the dining room wall out!

I was surprised that they had the kitchen completely gutted to the studs on the first day. Getting up the old floor took longer–and ended up requiring a new sub-floor–there’s always something, right? I think they will start putting in the new floor next week. Hopefully that will go smoothly.

I’m getting used to preparing rudimentary meals in our basement using our toaster oven, steamer, and microwave, but I will be so happy when I can cook for real again.

March Madness – Business Travel

Speaking of which, if we were having coffee, I would have to tell you about my April business trips–which probably will take me away right when my kitchen is done! I was planning on one trip to Europe, but now it looks like I also might be going to Seoul, Korea–which would be my first trip ever to Asia! I will be traveling with colleagues who have been before, but I’m still a bit nervous about the whole thing. Apparently I don’t need a visa for our short trip, but that’s all I’ve figured out so far. 

March Madness – Race Calendar

If we were having coffee, I would update you on my spring race calendar. Luckily none of my business trips interfere with my races, but I will be flying to Europe the evening after the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. This weekend is my first race of 2017 (the Reston 10 Miler), and then I have races almost every other weekend through March and April: NYC Half on March 19, Cherry Blossom on April 2, and GW Parkway Classic on April 23. 

Speaking of cherry blossoms, Deborah invited me to join her MRTT group for a “Moms Paint This Town” event at Muse Paintbar. I’ve always wanted to try the “guided painting” thing, and RSVP’d ASAP once I saw the picture they would be doing.

I love how everyone’s cherry blossom painting was different!

March Madness — Weather 

Speaking of March Madness and cherry blossoms, if we were having coffee I would have to tell you that our weather has been so crazy warm that the National Park Service is predicting that the cherry blossom trees will be in peak bloom March 14-17. We could set a record, since the earliest they’ve ever peaked is March 15 (in 1990).

I’ll have to do my last NYC Half training runs around the Tidal Basin to catch more views like this.

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Are you expecting any madness in your March?

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36 Responses to March Madness Ultimate Coffee Date Link Up

  1. My husband used to travel a lot for business. He’s been to Asia quite a few times — mostly Japan, but once was in Korea for like 24 hrs. Good luck!

    I’m sad I can’t make it to NYC to try to spectate. It’s just days before we leave & I have all the packing & cleaning to do — finally a weekend at home but so much to do.

    And just when I wrote the snow was gone — guess what? Well, barely half an inch. March can be mad, indeed!

  2. Ugh to living through a kitchen remodel. Why can’t it be like the Property Brothers? The end result will be worth it.

    I’d love to do the Cherry Blossom run!

  3. Good luck with that kitchen- I know it would drive me a little batty, the kitchen is like the heart of the house 🙂 The only travel I plan on for March is a quick trip to New Orleans, I hope the madness is to a minimum! LOL! Safe travels to you!

    • Coco says:

      Yeah, I’m still trying to find the right place to hang out. So far one of my husband’s work benches where we set up the basement “kitchen” is winning.

  4. vicki says:

    Hopefully the time will pass quickly on that kitchen remodel, i think being without a kitchen would be pretty hard (but worth it at the end). The hubs is a contractor, the demo phase is always the fastest.

    • Coco says:

      I guess it’s easier to tear things apart – except our floor, they had a hard time getting up the old flooring. It’s probably like old wallpaper!

  5. Marcia says:

    I hope they continue to work on your kitchen at great speed. It’ll be worth it! Your business travel sounds exciting. At least you’ll be with people who’ve been there before. Wow, cherry blossoms in March! Crazy!

  6. Wow Korea that is a lot better than some of the other places they have sent you this year! I’ve never been should be really interesting. Paint night was so much fun I would definitely do it again. Can’t wait to see what your kitchen turn out to be. Great to catch up over coffee

    • Coco says:

      Well, I won’t be doing much sight seeing — just meeting and conferencing — but hopefully I’ll see a bit of where I am!

  7. i did my first painting with a twist this week also, so much!! seems like you have lots of exciting trips coming up esp Seoul. It’s on my list to visit. have a lovely weekend.

  8. Laura Bowers says:

    Wow, Korea, that’s going to be awesome! Have fun! And my friends and I are going to do the Cherry Blossom 10-miler for the first time. Can’t wait!

    Thanks for the link up! 🙂

    • Coco says:

      I hope we have good weather for Cherry Blossom! Especially since it looks like the blossoms will be fading.
      Thanks for linking up!

  9. Sounds like the kitchen is moving right along – can’t wait to see your pictures when its’s done!

    I think Korea would be an amazing place to visit! Nice to be going with people who have been before.

    Thanks for the link-up!

  10. Your “kitchen” 😉

    I can’t remember if I knew you were running NYC but I’d love to meet you IRL! It is such a fun race. It will be interesting to see what the weather is. You never know what you’re going to get (same as DC in March I imagine.) I just realized that Friday of that weekend is St Patrick’s Day. Not to be a Debbie Downer but I HATE St. Patrick’s Day in NYC. #shitshow. I may stay in NJ and come in on Saturday. We’ll see!

    • Coco says:

      Ah, good point on St. Patrick’s Day. We are taking the train up on Saturday, so we will miss that extra dose of craziness. I’d love to meet up — I think we’re staying at the Hilton sort of near Central Park.

  11. Good luck tomorrow in the Reston 10-Miler! Have fun and enjoy those Reston hills! 😉

    Your kitchen is coming along nicely and how great that they were able to take out a wall to open up the space. Won’t it be fantastic to be back in it cooking “soon.” What’s the first thing you’re going to make?

    Thanks for the linkup!

  12. Well as of last week our dish washer killed over. It was time only 21 years young. I’m kind of excited about going to look for a new one.
    Love those painting parties. It makes everyone look like a bona-fide artist!! Thank you for the link up glad I could join in.

    • Coco says:

      Oh, we had to get a new dishwasher soon after we moved into this house. So many options, but which ones CLEAN the dishes?? I hope you find a good one!

  13. Barrie says:

    Those blossoms are gorgeous! We will probably have snow here in New England-lol! Your kitchen will be wonderful with all that light- how nice for you! Exciting to go to Seoul as well- so many wonderful things to look forward to this month for you!

    • Coco says:

      Thanks. It got good light before but this will be better – especially after cooking in the basement for 8 weeks!

  14. Clarinda says:

    I can’t even imagine how excited you must be about getting your kitchen finished! I think a remodel like that would be TOUGH! 🙂 But so worth it in the end.

    How lucky that your travel plans don’t conflict with your race scheduled. #priorities lol. Pretty cool that you get a trip to Europe and Korea, though. I’ve never been to either, so I’d be a little nervous, too.

    • Coco says:

      Yeah, I’m getting more nervous as my colleagues decide to arrive on different days …. I’m told there’s a bus from the airport to my hotel. #Help

  15. Laura says:

    How exciting to get to go to Korea! I hope to make it to Asia someday… although the plane ride there sounds pretty brutal. Those cherry blossom paintings turned out awesome!

    • Coco says:

      I think it’s a 13 hour flight from Detroit. My flight to Europe will be 10 hours to Sweden, so that will be good preparation?

  16. Wow, Korea! I’ve never been to Asia, so it will be interesting to hear how it goes for you. I’ll have to watch your blog posts.
    I’ve heard the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run is a great race, it’s on my list to go run one day. Oh, and that NYC Half as well. After I run the NYC Marathon for the second time this year, I will try to go back when I can to do some of the NYRR halfs.

    • Coco says:

      I hope I get to see some of the sights in Korea. It’s a quick business trip. Cherry Blossom is a great race — especially when it coincides with the actual cherry blossoms being in bloom.

  17. Wow – you really get around!! 🙂 Love the cherry blossoms – I used to live in DC and they are so pretty when in bloom.

  18. The kitchen reno sounds so exciting! Look forward to seeing how it turns out! I hope you have a great time on your Korea trip. I’ve never been!

    Oh and the cherry blossoms…I guess they’ll be looking pretty good this weekend for RNR DC! Love your paintings too…I think I’d be too stressed out for one of those classes, lol!

    • Coco says:

      I think that’s where the wine comes in. 😉
      Oh, I forgot about the RNR course — hopefully whatever blossoms peeked out last week survived the frigid weekend.

  19. Love following your kitchen progress, so exciting. I hope you get to go to Asia. Just got back after 3 weeks of business travel and there is no place like it in Europe or the US that compare. Enjoy ! And I hope that the NYC half is still on this weekend despite the major storm. I have no race plans yet, I need to get going !

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