Best of 2018

Best Views

Clockwise from top left: big sky sunset outside of Austin, TX; surrounded by a leafy jungle on a hike in Hawaii; late afternoon sun on a hike in Arizona; green mountain ridges in West Virginia; afternoon hammocking during a camping trip in western Maryland.

2018 was one of the wettest years on record in the DC area, so it's not too surprising that the best sunny views are from elsewhere.


Best Food

Clockwise from top left: Nutella Banana Stuffed French Toast - perfect fuel for the 35-mile bike ride that followed; Keizo's CSA ratatouille; real Japanese ramen from an un-fancy lunch counter place; Crooked Run Brewery, one of 2018's many beer flights; life-affirming nitro cold brew found in Austin during a boil-water restriction.

This category could go on and on, given my love of food and the bounty of our summer CSA. What can I say, the last sentence of the bio on the right still holds true. :-)


Best Biking

Clockwise from top left: Martha, a.k.a. Ma-chan, my new steel-frame touring bike; the W&OD trail; all smiles before a super soggy metric century ride in Delaware; participants on a social/educational ride I helped organize along the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail.

Several of my favorite moments of 2018 occurred on a bike. I now understand why the ideal number of bikes is n+1 and can see why people quit their jobs/take sabbaticals to do crazy things like ride across the country.


Best Time Spent on the Clock

Left to right: preparing for fieldwork (also known as bike riding) in Baton Rouge; team selfie after another successful Open Streets event in May (Keizo volunteered); approaching Key West to present the bicycle and pedestrian plan to the public/city staff.

Work was certainly not all fun and games in 2018. In fact, it was a super challenging and busy year with several colleagues taking jobs elsewhere, an ever changing company culture, and taking a professional certification exam. Looking back on the year as whole, it's easier to see how much I accomplished and appreciate the fun times, but in the moment most weeks felt like an endless grind.


Best Travel

Clockwise from top left: hiking in Hawaii with Kim; soaking up the sun in Long Beach with Linda; Keizo's parents' garden plot; Keizo in front of his old high school; Boston Harbor cruise; on top of Bald Knob in New Hampshire with Alexis and Andrew; Boston Pops 4th of July concert.

It's hard to find the words to describe how awesome/important/meaningful/fun/different taking a month-long vacation was. We packed in seeing a ton of different people and places with minimal disruptions in the overall plan, and had a fantastic time. Can't wait to do it again.


Best Weekend Fun

Clockwise from top left: Friendsgiving with 11 adults and 1 toddler setting a new record for the number of people in our apartment at once; Memorial Day camping "tarp"-itecture; Wales vs South Africa rugby game in DC; Jason Mraz concert; the sled lift at Blackwater Falls State Park in WV (never dragging my sled up a hill again!)

As the photos above show, plenty of fun was had and good memories were made much closer to home as well.

Thanks 2018 - it's been quite a year!

Currently - December '18

I just got back from a trip to sunny Florida, where it did not feel like December at all (sigh). But now that I'm back in the land of bare trees, heavy coats, and cold toes, I wanted to capture my thoughts about the last month of 2018.

More info

gifting - I'm looking forward to treating myself to a few things, but otherwise it's going to be a quiet Christmas around here. My family is very generous, but we're not big shoppers. Instead, we're all gifting each other the ease of not exchanging presents this year and will have a belated celebration during our next family vacation in May 2019 (destination TBD).

baking - Some of my favorite Xmas cookies and tweaking the recipe for No-Knead Bread with yummy mix-ins like kalamata olives and subbing in whole wheat flour for all-purpose. Unlike the summer months, having the oven on these days makes the kitchen the coziest place in the house to hang out in!

singing - In addition to the seasonal music that's just about everywhere, I've been listening to and singing along with Jason Mraz's "Have It All" a few mornings a week. The generous message and lines like "may you be as fascinating as a slap bracelet | may you keep the chaos and the clutter off your desk," help get the day started off right.

mailing - It's high time to get started on the New Year's cards we send each year, but in the meantime, I am loving the cards coming in from friends with photos of their growing families and funny messages.

decorating - Only a few things this year, as we're not hosting my parents and brother as we have the past two years. The tree will not be making an appearance, but the lights are up in the front windows, there's a garland on the TV stand, festive towels in the kitchen and bathroom, and mini-tree centerpiece in the middle of the dining room table.

Currently - October '18

I don't really like starting every one of these posts with a "holy cow, it's already [month]!" vibe, but seriously, how are there only three months left in 2018? Things have been particularly busy at work lately, and Keizo has been working most Saturdays so we end up trying to squeeze a lot in on our shared day off on Sunday.

wearing - I've had switching my closet from summer to fall on my to-do list since mid-September, but it continues to be in the 80's here on a regular basis. Bored with the clothes I've been wearing all summer, I've started pulling a few things out piece by piece from the fall box. Hopefully consistently cooler weather will arrive in the next week or so and I can complete the switch.

collecting - I'm trying not to collect as much these days; we should probably have a yard sale to unload the stuff we've been collecting in storage unit that came with the apartment.

making - Chili and homemade bread for the friends that joined us for dinner last night. Both dishes were "firsts" of the season; chili hasn't been on the menu for a while, and the oven has been off limits since using it will heat up the whole apartment.

taking - On a new role at work as the result of a promotion and some personnel changes. I've been asked to consult on more projects and went to an interview for a new project last week. It's both fun and stressful at the same time.

planning - Activities for those free Sundays, which quickly fill up since there are only so many in a month. Last week it was hiking, this week was shopping and cleaning before friends came over for dinner, next week it's a bikes-n-beer tour, and we have plans for a short camping trip at the end of the month!

Currently - September '18

I'm currently starting to wonder what I should make for dinner, so this introduction is going to be even shorter than usual.

starting - Somehow it's already mid-September, so I'm starting to worry about needing to study for the AICP exam in November. The actual studying has yet to begin, unless you count the half-day prep class I took last year. Maybe tomorrow...

buying - A new carry-on suitcase, since after almost a decade of traveling together, my hot pink rollerboard is starting to come apart. Not wanting to get stranded mid-trip with a suitcase sans handle or wheels, I ordered a similar one and it arrived just in time to take on next week's work trip to Baton Rouge.

sharing - A bit about my Pitzer College experience with prospective students as an alumni interviewer. In this new-to-me role, I've had great conversations with two very bright students which made me a little nostalgic for my college days, but mostly relieved not to be a high school student these days!

reading - Two books I've picked up lately and would recommend are The Longest Date: Life as a Wife by Cindy Chupack and We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The first is an amusing, yet heartfelt reflection on marriage while the second is a collection of Coates' essays on race and the black experience for the The Atlantic during the Obama years.

recording - Progress on my goals for 2018 in my last post here.

2018 Goals: 4 months left!

I began thinking about this post in May or June as a way to check-in on my goals for the year at the halfway point, and was a little discouraged by the lack of measurable progress at that point. By waiting two months, I have more to report and a better vision for the rest of the year. Patience is a virtue, I suppose! Read the original post here.

2018 Goals

Visit Japan - We did it! This trip deserves a post of its own, but who knows when that will happen.  It took nearly 30 hours of travel plus an unplanned night in Osaka before we made it to Keizo's parents' house in Tokushima, then after a few nights with them, we took the train to the city where his sister lives, then back to his parents' before heading south to Fukuoka, the city where we met. We fit in some sightseeing and revisited a few of our favorite places, but hands down the best part was being able to spend time with people we see so rarely.

Read more than 27 books - As of today, I've finished 16 and have a few in progress. I was expecting to read more on our trip than I did, but have been making it a point to plan fewer activities and read more on the weekends since we've been back.

Train for and complete a half marathon - In a previous draft of this post, I had written about coming home from vacation excited to work on this goal. And I was inspired by a month of a lot of eating and not a lot of exercising to get back into a routine (and my clothes). However, with August being a terrible time to start running again and waking up to aching feet the mornings after even short runs, this goal no longer seems worth pursing right now. I'm still trying to run twice a week, but I'm not worrying about distance or time.

On a more fun note, I have a new bike (and my first pair of clippy-shoes) that I know will get lots of use!

Apply for and pass AICP exam - My application was accepted, and I've paid a small fortune to reserve my spot for the exam right before Thanksgiving. Now I guess I have to actually begin studying! Since this isn't exactly the most fun goal to work towards, breaking the process down into baby steps with multiple calendar reminders and an application due date right before our trip helped a lot - hitting submit felt so good after years of procrastinating!


Monthly Goals

• Try a new restaurant - (8) Blue Duck Tavern, Tail Up Goat, Lina's, Tico, Indigo, Tortas Tacos and Tequila, Shouk, Purple Patch

• Host a meal at our house - (5) Kimchi Nabe / Olympics Opening Ceremony, Ramen Night, St. Patrick's Day Brunch, Easter Breakfast, Brunch w/ cousins

• Do a project around the house - (2 complete, started on several...) Rug for bedroom - done; bought more houseplants and have mostly found homes for them; bought canvases for DIY art - still in plastic; made hexagonal shelves - sitting in the closet; new comforter purchased, but still a bit too warm to use.

• Volunteer - (4) City Blossoms School Yard Garden, iCanShine bike camp, alumni interviewer, plans for more gardening

• Visit a museum - (4) Renwick Gallery, National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Capital Trolley Museum, Freer Sackler Art Gallery

Weekly

• Work on blog post - For someone who struggles to publish even one short post a month, this is a pretty ambitious goal. I need a break from the computer in the evenings after spending almost all of my day at work in front of one, and I almost always underestimate the time it takes to put together a decent post. I would like to document more of our travel and return to this blog's roots with some recipe posts, but it's hard for me to make blogging a priority.

• Go to the gym - Our early gym dedication waned entirely once the weather got warmer and the days got longer. I've been back a few times this past month, and will probably go more consistently as it gets colder and darker, but unless there's a really good deal when it comes time to renew, my gym days are probably numbered.

Currently - August '18

After traveling for most of July, my last week or so has been spent trying to get back to my normal routines: work, chores, exercising, and joining the monthly "Currently" link-up a few days late. :-) Please stop by Anne's blog to see what others are up to this month.

Naruto, Japan

following - I'm not sure that completing one workout from a 12-week half marathon training plan really counts as following, but I intend to complete many more and finish my first half at the Baltimore Running Festival in October.

ordering - To help with the goal outlined above, I'll need some new shoes, running and otherwise. My feet have been letting me know they're not so happy walking around in flats and flat sandals with zero arch support; any recommendations for non-running shoes with good arch support would be appreciated!

pinning - "Vegetable-forward" recipes and houseplant collections; too bad we have very little natural light in our apartment.

watching - Just finished all the episodes of Jane the Virgin available on Netflix, including the shocking ending of Season 4! I have my fingers crossed that Season 5 isn't too far off, and would also really like to see more seasons of the Great British Baking Show.

counting - The time has come to add up what we spent on our month long trip in July so we have a baseline for future adventures. Since this was the first trip back to Japan for Keizo in three years and we initially spent less on plane tickets that I thought we would, we spent pretty freely while we were traveling with more dinners out and nights spent in hotels I wasn't necessarily anticipating. All in all though, we couldn't have asked for a better trip and I think we're both already looking forward to the next one.

Currently - June '18

Kudos to Anne and Sarah for the prompts (and being so prompt!)

traveling - Since the beginning of May, we've been camping twice, and I've had two trips to Ohio for work. No wonder nothing is getting checked off of my list of to-dos around the house! Things have been a bit calmer the past two weekends, and we only have one more at home before we're gone for a month.

grilling - After a few test-runs in the cast iron skillet at home, "chilaquiles" have become our go-to camping breakfast. I also "grilled" up a tasty quesadilla lunch last weekend with cheddar, apples, spinach and a swipe of sriracha mayo.

exploring - Murals and new DC neighborhoods with other enthusiastic, rule-following bicyclists on a mural ride hosted by WABA.

planting - At the beginning of the month, I finally replanted house plants that were purchased at the end of April. Then they sat on the kitchen table for about two weeks before I moved them to their current homes on a shelf, on the desk, and on the dresser in the bedroom. At least they're all still alive!

playing - I've been really into cover songs lately; acoustic to help focus at work, and Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox for kitchen karaoke/dance parties.

Currently - May '18

Let's get right down to it, shall we? Many thanks to Anne and Carrie for the prompts!

celebrating - finally purchasing tickets to go to Japan! We've been talking about it for years, lining up time off from work for months, and then last week, pulled the trigger and bought tickets. We'll be gone for almost a month, making multiple stops to see friends and family along the way; New Hampshire, Japan, Hawaii and California here we come!

creating - trendy tassel earrings at a Crafts & Conversation workshop. For a very reasonable fee, all attendees received snacks and drink, a set of tools to take home, materials to make two pairs of earrings and tutorial. The event was really well organized, and the tools to take home were an unexpected bonus.

wearing - fewer layers and skirts/dresses without tights. :-) Temperatures reached close to 90*F this past week, and are predicted to be back up in that range next weekend. So far I'm loving it; it's been a long time since I've been warm all day and I am soaking up all of the Vitamin D I can get.

sharing - although I baked a batch of cookies over the weekend, there were only enough for about half of my office, so I've been keeping them to myself instead of sharing them. Maybe next time...

going - camping next weekend. Though it's probably only going to be one night, it will still be nice to get out of the city and partake in some "nature bathing."

Currently - April '18

I feel like I blinked and completely missed the beginning of April; how are we halfway through the month already? Too late to link-up with Anne and Jessica, but here it goes anyway:

showering - at work a few times last week in an effort to cut a few minutes off of my morning routine. I've been bike commuting more, so showering at work means one less outfit change, but the real difference is that I'm much less inclined to zone out in the hot water when I'm not at home.

cultivating - ideas for projects around the house and yard. Maybe someday I will actually get around to doing them.

expecting - it to be warmer outside. Why do I still expect this, seven years after moving to the east coast?

making - vegetarian meal plans for the month of April. Towards the end of March I felt like my eating habits were starting to slip and a dietary "challenge" similar to dry January was in order. I momentarily considered Whole30 (at least one person at work always seems to be on it) but decided to go with something less restrictive for my mental sanity/enjoyment.

buying - a few new spring items to refresh my wardrobe - bright coral flats and a yellow blouse. Last weekend I put away most of the sweaters and put together my "spring capsule." I really like having fewer options to ponder in the mornings, and switching items out seasonally does make old things feel fresh and new again.

Currently - March '18

Farewell February, and hello! March with your longer days and the official start of spring. It's nice to see you again. It's also nice to be linking up with Anne and Sarah for another Currently post.

Old Rag

planning - Upcoming travel, some for fun and more for work. We're hoping to go camping at the end of March, and I have two work trips coming up in April. With the weather getting nicer, I'm itching to plan all of the outdoor things too - bike rides, baseball games, picnics...

seeing - We saw Early Man last weekend, and have put together a list of the movies at the DC Environmental Film Festival we want to see in the coming weeks. The DCEFF has become an annual tradition, but choosing films from the impressive line-up doesn't get any easier!

making - A St. Patrick's Day lunch next weekend. After hosting an Olympics Opening Ceremony watch party with a Korean-inspired menu, I am all about the theme meals. It makes deciding what to serve easier (and for next week, Giant has done all the planning for me!)

pretending - To enjoy networking and business development. There have been a lot of changes at work in the last month, from a reorganization at the highest levels of the company to my favorite people leaving to pursue other opportunities. Both create a lot of opportunity for me to advance, and a big part of that is expanding my professional network and helping pursue new projects. Fake it 'til you make it, right?

wearing - It's definitely time to get some of my more spring-like clothes out of hiding, but March weather can be quite challenging to predict. Blooming plants and allergies don't necessarily equal warmth. There are still more thick socks and sweaters ahead than I care to admit (even as I'm wearing a down vest and wool slippers to type this).

Currently - February '18

It's currently raining outside, making it a pretty good time to cozy up with a warm beverage and check some things off my to-do list indoors. One of those things is finishing up this post! Please stop by Anne in Residence to see what others are up to this month.

finishing - Dry January (or maybe not). I went out for drinks with some co-workers last Friday, and it was really nice to be out and about again. But, I overdid it and had a pretty rough time of it on Saturday. Either way, a month of not drinking was a good way to reset after the indulgences of the holidays.

subscribing - We subscribe to the Sunday edition of The Washington Post, as well as a pretty strict recycling policy that last week's goes in the bin as soon as the next one arrives. Most weeks, this means the only sections that get read are the magazine and the comics, but I really enjoy being able to linger over coffee with the paper on weekends.

wishlisting - The company I work for rewards employees who bike or walk to work with their choice of gift cards every six months. In the latest round, I picked Crate & Barrel in the hopes of finding some salad plates that match what we already have, and Zappos, because online shopping is better with free shipping and returns! Looking forward to having some "free" money to spend when cute shoe season arrives.

watching - The hours of daylight increase again. There was still light in the sky when I left work yesterday! Spring is coming!

hearting - The satisfaction of turning some of my recent pins into reality. I put together these hexagonal shelves last month, and made this delicious brownie pizza for the Super Bowl.

Real Life Resolutions vol. 3

Enough is enough! January 2018 is more than 3/4 of the way through and I have yet to post my goals for the year.

Those of you who have been following along for a while will recognize many of these goals from last year's post. But please also notice the ones that have become habits at this point, clearing the way for some new ones!

Weekly - Continue meal planning and setting up my 5-minute journal every week.

• Work on a blog post - The total number of 2BB posts last year was in the single digits. I can/want to do better!
• Go to the gym - NEW! Wrapped up in this goal are smaller ones, like learning how to use the weight machines and balancing out the left (weaker) and right (dominant) sides of my body.

Monthly - Continue updating the wall calendar and monitoring the budget every month.

• Try a new restaurant - There was no problem meeting this goal last year, but it's too fun not to include again!
• Host a meal at our house - We hosted more meals in 2017 that we ever had before, but we can still do more to up our hosting game.
• Do a project around the house - Nearly 18 months in this apartment, and the walls are still pretty bare. We also just picked up a small rug for the bedroom, and since neither of us can stop commenting about what an improvement it is over the cold, bare floor, this goal has a lot of potential to boost happiness throughout the year.
• Volunteer - The observant reader will notice that this has moved from weekly to monthly to be more realistic.
• Visit a museum - DC has a ton, and most of them are free! In fact, I could probably just visit the National Gallery of Art twelve times and still not see everything.

2018

• Read more than 27 books - Since 27 was the total for 2017.
• Train for and complete a half marathon - Mostly this means stay healthy and avoid injuries through race day (and then maybe never running again; we'll see how it goes).
• Apply for and pass the AICP Exam - How does one find the motivation to write essays, study and take a professional exam during her free time outside of work? First things first, setting my own deadlines for each of the steps in the application process well in advance of the June deadline.
• Visit Japan! - Keizo and I are thinking big and starting to lay the groundwork for an epic Pacific Rim adventure. Please send good vibes our way to help us pull it off!

There are so many other things I want to do this year (make kombucha! buy a new bike! go camping! see concerts! repeat our favorite things from last year!) but making this list has helped me set up a good foundation and refocus my energies on the bigger goals I struggled to accomplish last year. I didn't choose a word for 2017, but this year's word is LOVE - showing more love for myself and those around me, and doing more things that I love with the people that I love, to create a life that I love.

Here's to 2018!

2017 in a few words and pictures

January

• We bundled up and went on a cold hike in Harper's Ferry, WV. Little did we know we'd be returning in the fall (by bicycle no less!)
• I made a pussy hat and went to the Women's March. Seeing all of the the marchers who came in from out of town and the flood of photos from across the world on social media was really inspiring. 

February

• Got to catch up with my best friend from 3rd grade while she was in town for a conference. We met up at the National Gallery of Art before getting dinner downtown. I can't believe we've known each other for ~25 years (and have been pen pals since college)!
• Accepted two awards from the Charlottesville, VA Planning Commission for working on their street design guidelines. There was about five hours of driving involved for a two minute award ceremony, but hey, I don't win awards every day!
• Keizo made some delicious slow cooker carnitas. The last line of the bio on the right is still true - we eat really well.

March

• Started the month with a PR in the St. Pat's 10K.
• Spent a week at home in Arizona for a friend's wedding. Went hiking among the wildflowers and enjoyed t-shirt weather while it was still very much winter on the east coast.

April

• Checked out Artomatic, an enormous open art show housed in an empty office building.
• Spent time outside with Keizo and the air couch.
• Cooked traditional Japanese bento box lunches. Seriously, these things take the two of us about two hours to put together, so it's only a once or twice a year thing.

May

• Technically it was the last weekend in April, but I went to California for my 10-year college reunion. The reunion itself was not that special, but spending a long weekend with one of my best friends was one of the highlights of 2017.
• Literally hours after I got back from California, I flew to Key West for work. It's tough job, but someone has to do it.
• Plantar fasciitis derailed my plans to run a half marathon in early June. Before getting injured, I had made it most of the way through the training plan, including a 10-mile run from Silver Spring, MD to the Mall in Downtown DC.

June

• We hosted my parents and brother while they were in town for a cousin's wedding. We all cleaned up nicely and enjoyed celebrating on a rooftop in Arlington with fantastic views of the city skyline.
• I made the first of several batches of pickles. We could barely keep up with all of the cucumbers and radishes we received from our CSA this year.
• I went to Austin, TX for a contract kick-off meeting. This was just the first of four trips in 2017 for a big project I am co-leading at work.

 

July

• Patriotic breakfast on the 4th. Taking only Tuesday off from work felt a little weird at first, but turned out awesome in the end; truly a bonus day to do just the fun stuff followed by a short 3-day work week.
• We went to Open Farm day at Spiral Path Farm to see where our CSA veggies come from.
• Keizo and I took our first camping trip, just the two of us over his birthday weekend. It rained, but we managed to stay pretty dry.

August

• After the summer company picnic, 3:00 PM 'office planks' became a thing. We're still doing it a few times a week.
• We watched the solar eclipse from the top of a parking garage near my office.
• I saw 'The Hive' exhibit at the National Building Museum.

September

• We spent Labor Day exploring Ft. McHenry, Fells Point, the Inner Harbor and Federal Hill neighborhoods of Baltimore.
• I took a last ride on the Georgetown Branch Trail between Silver Spring and Bethesda before it closed abruptly for Purple Line construction.
• Keizo treated me to a day doing nothing and delicious, homemade chocolate cake for my 32nd birthday.

October

• I'm sure we did other things in October, but our first bike camping trip was certainly the most memorable. Four of us rode ~150 miles to Harper's Ferry, WV and back in a weekend. I was expecting to be sore and miserable afterwards, but finishing the last 15 miles from Great Falls, MD to the metro in cold rain was the worst part, hands down.

November

• My third trip to Austin took place in early November; this time I stayed for a week with several co-workers and actually got to see things other than the airport, hotel and conference rooms. Apart from one salad at lunch, I don't think I ate a vegetable all week.
• Not pictured: spending the week of Thanksgiving at my parents' in Arizona and meeting my brother's new girlfriend. 

December

• I started the month strong (perhaps because I had a week to relax at home for Thanksgiving), making holiday treats to mail to faraway friends in time for Christmas. 
• We enjoyed hosting my parents and brother for Christmas the second year in a row. Lucky for them, they left right before the polar vortex and two weeks of sub-freezing temperatures.
• The tree in Downtown Silver Spring had a sustainability theme this year, covered with bikes and LED lights. I still think the year it was decorated with food and giant faux take-out boxes was my favorite.

Currently - January '18

Happy New Year! The end of 2017 was packed with work deadlines, social engagements and hosting family for the holidays, so it's been nice that the first week of 2018 has been a bit quieter, giving me time to reflect on the past year and work on my first blog post in three months. Linking up with Anne and others again to share what I am up to currently.

starting - Going to the gym. A new Planet Fitness opened a block from my office, offering a $99/year deal through the end of December, so I asked Keizo to meet me after work last week and we both signed up. We've been twice since then, and my goal is to go at least once a week, especially while the winter weather continues.

hoping - To travel more with Keizo this year. In 2017, Keizo dropped me off and picked me up at the airport several times for work trips, but he only made it inside twice, both for trips to Arizona to see my family. We're overdue for a trip to see his family in Japan, but I also hope we can do a few trips closer to home (like our fun long weekend in New Orleans two years ago).

scheduling - I signed up for a 10K the first weekend in March, so last week I copied Hal Higdon's training plan into my calendar. The running starts in earnest this week; hopefully the weather will cooperate enough (i.e. with temperatures above freezing) to allow me to train outside!

reading - On a recent trip to the library, I picked up Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple. I read Where'd You Go, Bernadette last year, and hope this one will be equally enjoyable.

playing - We spent New Year's Eve with friends who introduced us to two new games: Exploding Kittens and Codewords. I preferred the latter; it was easier to learn, and more fun with a large group of people. I didn't get the chance to be the spy master...maybe next time!