me blog of kittens and win

black pants prance

2011-12-29T14:45:00.001-05:00

I hate black pants.

I hardly ever wear them. I think the last time I wore black pants was at least 2 years ago. I own 2 pairs that I never wear. For Christmas, Dad took me and brother shopping. He bought me some new work pants and insisted that I needed black pants. Fine. The other 2 I own don't fit me anymore anyway, so I should probably get a new pair. And then I started thinking maybe, I'll even wear them because really, I shouldn't hate black pants. Maybe it's all in my head.

So today, I wore my new black pants to work.

I hate black pants.

When I put them on this morning I thought to myself, ugh these black pants make me feel like I'm working. Which, obviously, they are for work. But feeling like work adds dread to the day. Then, I'm sitting at my desk and notice there is a smudge of dust or something on my pant leg. Black pants get dirty SO FAST. There is fuzz and dust, everything just sticks to them. Then I look homeless and filthy because my black pants attract everything!

The only upside is that they're really comfortable. And I will probably wear them again since they were a present, but I'll still hate them.

this is my house

2011-12-16T18:04:00.002-05:00

Everyone knows that Hufflepuff is the worst house at Hogwarts. Fact. It just is. Are there any characters that you can name from that house? Any at all? Go ahead and try.

Yah, I didn't think so. But there is one. And she was in the first movie for all of a few seconds, which is when she was sorted into Hufflepuff. (If you can name that ONE without looking it up or watching the scene, I'll send you something fantastic)

One of my favorite bloggers (@TheBloggess) posted about how she's going to Hogwarts this weekend, a birthday present for her daughter. She stated that of course her family had been sorted into houses and she was sorted into Hufflepuff. Damn right! Finally I'm in good company!

the metro that never stopped

2011-12-16T17:42:00.002-05:00

I tried to share this amazing story with Brendan and my brother, but I'm not sure that either were all too entertained. I however, was, and so was Brie. Exactly.

Scene. Packed metro car on a Friday evening with numerous people impatiently waiting to get their way home.

"Something is wrong with the train. As soon as we adjust it we'll be on our way."

Okay, interesting. Hoping for a non-eventful ride home, we move along shortly after this announcement. Nothing at Foggy Bottom, then we're in Rosslyn.

"This train is not stopping at Clarendon. There is a train 3 minutes behind this one that will stop. This train is not stopping at Clarendon."

Nice. That means one less stop for me before I head home. Next stop, Courthouse.

"The doors aren't working right. You should see a red light above the door. If you don't can you just, shove the door?"

Umm, probably not the best idea. But the guy next to me decides that it IS a good idea, so he starts shoving the door. The red light wasn't on, and didn't turn on, however, the train started moving. Safe? Probably not, but the door appeared shut and we were moving. We're rolling through Clarendon, horn blasting every few feet.

"This train is not stopping, not stopping. This train is not stopping in Clarendon, not stopping. This train is not stopping"

Continuously! As we roll through the station. At this point I'm dying and I can't find anyone else near me half as entertained. I feel like I'm in a Speed movie, I want Keanu Reeves to be on the train with me so I can scream out "OH MY GOD! This train is NOT STOPPING!!"

I restrained myself from yelling, which I mostly regret now. I can only imagine what the rest of the ride was like, I only had to survive 4 stops. I wonder how many people would've laughed, or screamed with me, maybe in real terror, or how many wouldn't have noticed anything at all.

End Scene.

let's go to KOKOMO

2011-08-19T07:38:00.003-04:00

A phone call came in at work and the user id said, KOKOMO. And I'm thinking, let's go to KOKOMO! Thinking about the beach boys song and how lovely that sounds, only to discover that KOKOMO doesn't actually exist as a beach and is really a town in Indiana.

Yes I went to maps.google.com and typed "Kokomo" and Indiana is what I got. I zoomed out a bunch to see where it was located in relation to me in DC and it's essentially slapped in the middle of Indiana.

Now really, Indiana. No one wants to go to Indiana. And if you do, there has to be some significantly amazing reason to do so. Which doesn't exist, so really... no. No one wants to go.

Despite this I was interested in seeing if maybe we could actually want to go to KOKOMO. So I googled it and found the city website. Ginger asked me to see if there was anything interesting there that might convince us to plan an imaginary trip to Kokomo. I found a link for historical sites, landmarks, and museums, and briefly read through the list of what this city had to offer; a covered bridge, a museum, a stump, chief kokomo, and old ben - an incredibly massive cow, who is no longer alive. I was intrigued by the "Chief Kokomo" so decided to read more about this guy.

Cheif Kokomo is who the town is named after, clearly. He is surrounded in legend and myth and a lot of what they state on the website seems well, legend. It's not well documented, as the historian in me would prefer, so I took it as local lore that the lovely people hold dear to their hearts. It's an interesting tale that adds something to this city that is not really a beach or anything like the beach boys sing about. I'm all about local lore and legend, so this little story redeemed KOKOMO a bit in my heart.

A little from the website "One vicious story about Chief Kokomo is that he was nothing but a "coon-hunting, root digging old redskin" who was shiftless, atrociouisly lazy, and given to beating up his squaw every time he over-indulged in strong drink, which was often." Apparently the town at the time reflected the "ornery" characteristics of Kokomo, and hence a city is born.

ALSO I found they had a link for visitors that says "Kokomo Beach" and I was like oh ok! Maybe they DO have a beach after all! And it's not all a lie.. no. It's still a lie. Welcome to Kokomo Beach Family Aquatic Center. It's a pool. I mean, it does have some water slides and they look fun but, still not a beach.

No offense to the city and all I'm sure it has become, but it was disappointing to find out that when I dream of going to Kokomo, it's not nearly as amazing as I thought it would be.

revenge of the crohns

2011-08-14T19:26:00.001-04:00

After two relatively flare free years, I finally had to cave in and make a doctors appointment last week. I had a mini flare in December (around the same time as finals, thank you very little stress), but was able to clear it up on my own. I was delaying, hoping that it would pass on its own, but it only got worse. I'll spare any of the details, just know that crohn's is incredibly painful and miserable. Life for the past 3-4 weeks has been depressing, frustrating and lonely, but it's hard to do otherwise when your body is painfully demanding. I've literally been a lump in my bed, very lame.

Since it had been a long time I expected that my doctor would want to schedule some tests, colonoscopy, endoscopy, blood, etc. The endoscopy and blood tests would be cake, it's the other one I dread. Not that the procedure itself is bad, you're entirely knocked out the entire time. Just the day before the test you're on a clear liquid diet and then that night after starving all day you have to take/drink the most disgusting liquids ever, which of course result in numerous trips to the bathroom. It's incredibly difficult not to throw up the soapy liquid, which you're expected to drink an ENTIRE gallon of before midnight. The whole day before is torture. And this is me leaving out the worst bits.

Anyway, I was incredibly surprised when after a basic examination my doctor decided to only prescribe Prednisone for the next month, oh steroid how I love thee, and no tests! He also wrote me a new prescription to replace the monthly medication I've been on the last 2.5 years. Pentasa has been costing me anywhere from $400-600/month, and supposedly this new medication (I'll pick it up within the next 2 weeks) will cost less. It's a generic brand that is a bit of a higher dose so I'll only have to take 3 pills 3 times a day (total of 3!), instead of 2 pills 3 times a day (total of 6). Less pills? Yes please! I do however have to go back for a follow up appointment in October, so there's a chance that he'll want to run some tests then. Hopefully not, but I know that I probably should.. despite how much I really don't want to.

I've been taking the Prednisone and the Pentasa for about 4 days and I feel SO much better! Also, the one positive thing throughout this latest flare, I managed NOT to lose any weight! I'm holding strong at 116lbs!! (That's almost 25lbs I've managed to gain since May 2009 :D) I'll taper the Prednisone and will finish that on Sept 2nd. Which is perfect timing. I hope that by then, if not before, everything will be back to working order. There are big things coming in September that I need to be in good health for :)

this ring are master of them all

2011-08-11T19:52:00.000-04:00

My dad had been thinking about different graduation presents to get me once I'd acquired my Masters in History. When he got his masters from MIT my grandfather bought him a really fancy watch. He didn't think that I would care very much for a watch so instead he gave me an option.

Would I like a necklace, or a ring?

This was an easy decision. A necklace you can only wear sometimes, depending on the occasion, event, clothes, etc. A ring you can wear all the time! This was the best choice.

Over the Christmas holiday we had gone to various jewelers to see the various options and find something that I would like. I decided on a sapphire stone, but that's about as far as we got. For the past few months dad has been trying to find a ring, while also starting new job and moving into a new house. But finally at the end of July he called me to ask for my ring size! He'd randomly decided to go into a jeweler with my uncle while they were out in Morristown running errands and managed to find the perfect graduation ring! He had to get it sized, but promised to send it to me soon. And then on Wednesday I received notification from FedEx that they tried to deliver but no one was home to sign for it, so they left with my ring! Sooo sad. Luckily, Jonna came home Wednesday from her trip to upstate NY and was home Thursday to sign for the package!

As soon as I got home from work I ran into the house to find the box. I used my keys to open it, finding scissors would've taken too long, and found a little silver bag, and INSIDE that bag was a little white box, and inside THAT box was a little brown box, and inside the box was my RING! Hooray graduation ring is here!! I tried it on and it fit perfectly. It's a simple setting, the middle stone is an oval sapphire with two small diamonds set on either side. I love my present and have worn it everyday since it arrived :) Thank you Dadds for the best present, it's perfect!!

emilia moves in!

2011-07-20T22:57:00.001-04:00

After patiently waiting a few weeks, Emilia flew in from Houston with her boyfriend Chris to officially move into Chez Quebec!

She flew in around noon on Tuesday the 19th, so unfortunately Jonna and I weren't at home to welcome her to the house. Despite our being at lame work, she was able to get into the house without any issue. She had a few boxes and suitcases, but not much else. She expects to get a lot of furniture and things over the next few weeks. We had a blow up mattress for her to borrow for a few nights as she works on getting settled. She doesn't start work until the last week of July, so she has some time to explore the area before getting down to it!

I'm very excited to have the house officially full. It was a long process to find another roommate, which was unexpected. But we definitely made the right choice :) Look forward to future posts of our house of awesome people!

this is how we celebrate

2011-07-16T22:51:00.005-04:00

Since Jonna was out of town for her birthday, she decided to arrange a little gathering of people later in the week. She wanted to try out a new restaurant on Washington Blvd, Mala Tang, and afterward go out bowling at Ft. Myer. She invited a large group of people and only expected less than half to be able to come to dinner, however 17 people were able to join in the celebration!

We all met at Mala Tang and had no idea what we were getting into. The concept behind the restaurant is really neat and probably better for smaller groups (as we learned). We only had one waitress for the entire table, it made for a very slow meal. The main course at Mala Tang is a sichuan hot pot. Each person has their own little pot to cook various meats, fish, veggies, and starches. Sarah and I decided to share a pot, and we found that it was a really good idea. There was sooo much food there was no way either of us would've finished one on our one. We didn't even come close to finishing the one we shared! Everyone shared veggies, meats, and more, there was food everywhere. When we finished they brought out a little fruit platter with a candle for Jonna and we all sang happy birthday!

By the time everyone was full and ready to go, it took almost an entire hour for the waitress to get our checks in order. Although we were incredibly appreciative that they split the checks between people/couples, they double charged gratuity on multiple bills. Those few bills she had to bring back and fix. By the time we were finally finished eating AND paying, it was almost 11pm. Dinner had lasted 4 hours! It was a lot of fun and delicious, it just took a long time. The bowling ally closes at midnight, so bowling was no longer an option for the night. Instead we went to a bar for a few drinks to finish the night. We had so much food, drinks, and fun. It was a true birthday celebration of me Jonna!

jonna has bday

2011-07-11T22:50:00.004-04:00

Jonna had to go to Ithaca for a wedding the weekend of her birthday. This left me home alone and unable to celebrate her birthday with her appropriately so I decided that I wanted to bake her something for when she came home. She was returning on her birthday so what better than to bake a cake!

This is what I think of every time someone says something about baking a cake, it's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake?! And now that we're all distracted.. let's bake a cake!

For my birthday Amy gave me a cookbook filled with many of her own baking recipes. I decided what better time to try something new? I decided to make a rhubarb upside-down cake. The recipe was pretty easy to follow and I only had to call Amy once to verify the first step of the recipe. I made a pretty design of rhubarb into massive amounts of brown sugar and butter, covered it in a very light cake batter (like angel food cake) and popped it into the oven. I waited 40 mins.. 50 mins.. 60 mins, and the cake was supposed to be done after 50-55 mins, but the knife still wasn't coming out clean. Around 65-70 mins I called Amy again because I was concerned for my poor cake. I figured it had to be done cooking by now and pulled it out of the oven and flipped it! over onto a plate - check out that delicious picture. I couldn't tell if it was completely done cooking, but it was too late to go back now! I'd already flipped it upside-down. She said it sounded perfectly fine, so I stopped fretting and left it out for when Jonna came home. (Turns out our oven is broken so I was right to be concerned about the long time it took to bake, the bottom heating element isn't working. So we can essentially broil everything, it's the new bake).

Jonna came home after a really long drive and was ready for bed. I managed to get her to try the cake before she popped into bed, and it was a great success! It was so moist, sweet, and delicious. I packed a piece for me and Jonna to bring to work the next day, it was her birthday cake that we enjoyed all week long :P

game of thrones

2011-07-10T22:50:00.005-04:00

I spent most of the weekend being lazy and had heard a lot of good things about Game of Thrones, a show on HBO. I heard it was a storyline that would appeal to me because it had a gamer type feel and it's situated comparatively to what we know to be the dark ages. Any period piece tends to grab my attention and I decided to give this show a try.

Well, as HBO does best, I was incredibly hooked. I think what I love best about this show is that no one is safe. And what I mean is, any character at any time can die (just like real life, *gasp*). Typically with shows and movies you're pretty sure that the main characters (at least most of them) will make it through whatever trials and tribulations they are given. So although some situations are more stressful than others, you feel somewhat relived knowing that nothing could really possibly happen to them. This is not the case in Game of Thrones. This style that George RR. Martin takes in his books adds significantly to the series. I felt the reality of living and fighting to survive and felt with the characters when they realized how much they had lost, when they failed, suffered, and the amazement when they some how managed to endure. Despite becoming attached to certain characters and losing them throughout the first season, I wouldn't change this approach. I felt more involved and more aware of how difficult life once was for our ancestors, sometimes I'm such a historian nerd :)

I won't give away any specifics, but I do recommend this show to others who enjoy sci-fi/fantasy/medieval themes. I definitely look forward to the next season!

pool side with manders

2011-07-10T22:49:00.002-04:00

One of the only ways to beat the heat in DC summer, is to relax poolside. Amanda decided she wanted to go to Signal Hill Water Park in Manassas, VA with her daughter and invited me to come along. We decided to make a poolside picnic to enjoy while we were at the pool. We had a pretty impressive spread of snacks, drinks, and summer salads. Amanda made a pasta salad, pb&j sammiches, packed chips, and I brought along cookies, grapes, and caprese salad (made with fresh tomtoes and basil from Jonna and my CSA). Amanda's au pair, Maria, came along with us to join in on the fun.

Signal Hill Water Park is essentially, a water park for kids. Kit is just about 6 months old, so not able to play on her own, but the water park is still fun and has lots to offer parents (and their friends!) We found a shaded spot and set up our picnic blanket and lunch. Maria agreed to watch Kit for an hour or two, while Amanda and I grabbed tubes and enjoyed the lazy river. All around the kiddie pool area there is a lazy river, absolutely perfect. Amanda and I just laid in the tubes and floated around in circles, chatting away and waved to Kit and Maria every time we passed them.

Once we'd had our fill of the river (which really we didn't want to stop, but it was Maria's turn for lazy river-ing) we got out to take Kit to sit around and splash in the kiddie pool. At the same time it was "break time" for the kids, which meant 15 minutes where the kids are called out of the pool to give them and also the lifeguards a break. However, this doesn't apply to adults 18 and over. So of course, Amanda and I decided to play in the kiddie pool area. The two of us, grown adults, were running around the pirate island themed water slides and having a blast! We tried each and every slide and determined the one in the main structure with the palm tree was the best. It's pretty awesome being an adult and acting like a kid!

Once the 15 minutes were up, we took Kit into the pool. She didn't seem to know what to make of all the water and kids running around. We're not sure if she liked it or hated it, but we enjoyed the cool water and sunshine regardless. After a few hours we decided it was time to head out and get some ice cream! Deliciously homemade ice cream from a local shop ended our pool day perfectly.

happy birthday america

2011-07-05T15:01:00.002-04:00

After dropping off Brendan for his flight, I drove back home to meet up with Jonna, brother, Alicia, and Kristen to head to Evan's for a 4th of July BBQ. Evan has prime viewing of the DC fireworks from his rooftop balcony. We did however decide to leave his condo before the fireworks mostly because it was a work night and we didn't want to get trapped in the city with all the people. I know it's rather lame, but really we should've also had the 5th off from work too. I had a long busy weekend, and I was good without fireworks. I could hear them from the house though later that night. And they did have them on tv.. :)

There were many peoples at Evan's for the 4th, and lots of delicious food. It was a true "grown up" event. It had the typical grilling fare, but also amazing side dishes such as 3 bean salad, mozza-tomato-basil deliciousness, homemade guac, chocolate cake, lemon bars, strawberry salad.. there was an intense amount of food and drink! I felt so grown up to be enjoying food of such high caliber at a BBQ. The company was divided between upstairs on the balcony and downstairs in the living room. A group of us were hiding under the canopy from the sun, enjoying chilled white wine, snacks, and good conversation. Occasionally dancing around to music provided by Kristen's phone. When we were ready to head back to Arlington, we headed downstairs and found everyone else sitting around the television watching Independence Day. While yes, this is not the best movie of all time, it does have its entertaining moments. But apparently while watching the movie, various people would ad-lib lines and modify the storyline. We didn't understand the humor behind this game walking into the middle of the antics, or why they decided to watch this movie to begin with, so it made it pretty easy to say goodbye and head home. A bonus for leaving Evan's early, I got to have Rita's on the cab ride home! A delicious blend of ice and frozen custard, so refreshing.

Hopefully next year Evan will host a 4th BBQ again and I'll be less lame and stay to enjoy the firework show. I definitely enjoyed all the food and left fat and content, happy birthday America!

seattle comes to DC

2011-07-04T22:48:00.011-04:00

Memorial weekend as I'm moving into my new house, I got the best phone call. I answered the phone and Brendan says, can you pick me up at 7:30am at Dulles Airport on July 2nd? Hell yes!! Now all we needed to do was get through June, but at least we had an official countdown!

As background to this most anticipated date and understanding why a flight and countdown were in order is that for the last almost 3 months we have been talking, skyping, texting, all forms of possible communication between here and Seattle. We were definitely over due for a visit. Why is my Brendan in Seattle? Well, he's waiting on a start date for a job, but should be living here come September or October, fingers crossed. I found and emailed Brendan on OKCupid, mostly because he is well, hot (and yes his profile did also entertain me). But also because I've lived in DC almost 6 years and thought in the least maybe I could offer some insight to his questions on living here in the city. He replied back to my email.. and we've been in constant communication ever since.

Many of my friends and family were concerned for this meeting, mostly hoping that Brendan wouldn't arrive only to kidnap and kill me. I didn't have any concern for my safety, but would continuously strive to ensure them that he is such a good boy and would do no harm. I am entirely blessed and lucky to have friends and family who love and care for me so very very much. In the end my friends liked Brendan very much (even dear brother shared some sort of positive sentiment) and agreed that he is not at all, creepy (thanks Alicia :P).

July 1st finally arrived and we were both incredibly excited. We both planned our days completely to keep busy before his flight would arrive early the next day. Of course it started with work, then I met up with a large group of friends to see the Nationals play the Pirates. It was incredibly hot, as DC does best. Jonna was convinced to come to the game as well, which worked out well because we both wanted to leave the game before it was over. Mostly to avoid the packed metro, but also because I needed to get to bed so that I could wake up early to head to the airport! Jonna and I managed to get seats on the train and made our very own dance party, sunglasses on the metro thanks to constant flickering lights and a personal interpretation of a song that I'll never remember the name of. When I was heading home, Brendan was heading to the Marlins game in Seattle. He was enjoying stadium food and beer while I was heading to bed. While I was sleeping, Brendan went to the airport and boarded a plane which would take him straight to me!

I woke up early Saturday and headed to Dulles and waited not too patiently for Brendan. What felt like foreeeeeever he finally appeared and I ran and jumped into his arms and squeeeezed sooo tight, and he kissed me :) (aww first kiss) Finally he was here in DC, even if only for a short 2 days, incredibly happy. I knew straight away the first place that I would take Brendan was for bagel breakfast! After teasing about how amazingly delicious these bagels are I had to let him taste for himself. Of course breakfast was approved, because anyone who has had bagel breakfast at Brooklyn Bagels knows they're the best. When we were leaving the bagel place we realized how tired he was from working the entire day before and boarding a red eye flight, as he almost fell on an unsuspecting woman sitting next to us outside. Brendan is a big boy at 6'1 and would've crushed the poor girl! Luckily he managed to catch himself and we decided our next plan of action would be to head down to Rosslyn to check on the status of his hotel room, since he clearly needed a nap. His room wasn't ready so I decided we'd take a walk down to the park by the entrance to 395. We stopped for some Starbucks, in hopes it would help perk him up and made it to the park. It was early enough that it wasn't too hot yet and we enjoyed the comforts of the shade at the park. One of Brendan's first new discoveries of DC was cicadas. Apparently, they don't exist in Seattle. We were relaxing in the park and they were doing as they do, which is make really loud noises from the trees. I've always grown up hearing cicadas and recognized that this meant it was summertime and hot! He asked me WHAT that ridiculous noise was and I said, a bug. He was amazed that a bug could make such a racket. Of course I looked up a picture for him to see how ugly they are, and informed him he should get used to the sound.

Luckily his room was ready shortly after, he was able to nap and clean up from his long evening. I enjoyed watching Zoolander while I waited. We decided to first grab some food before heading to Arlington Cemetary. We stopped at Hell Burger, which I had never eaten at before, and ate some seriously massive delicious burgers. We hopped the metro, where Brendan got to use his new (thanks to Ginger!) metro card, and experience the DC metro for the first time. I haven't been to the Arlington Cemetery since I went many years ago in 8th grade. My only wish was for it not to be SO hot. We walked around and explored the cemetery, saw JFK's eternal flame, and even managed to catch a changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Having a better appreciation for history, I think I appreciated it a lot more now than I did many years ago. It was really neat to see graves from the civil war and all the hidden gardens, tombs, and statues. The sun was beating us up so we decided to head down to Pentagon City and grab some drinks to perk up. We decided not to spend the rest of the day rushing around, since he will be moving here in the near future, and just enjoy the day at a slow pace, and not in the hot sun! I never fare well in ridiculous heat and humidity so we ended up watching a movie at the hotel and fell asleep rather early. (but did wake up to text Jonna and let her know that I will still well and alive :P)

I woke up abruptly around 5am because there was an intense thunderstorm. I think it was louder and brighter than usual because we were in Rosslyn and up on the 9th floor. So the sound was just vibrating off the buildings and the lightening was intense! I woke up, which woke Brendan up, and he was concerned why I was up so early. I said, "well.." and waited a few seconds hoping that it would thunder again. Once he realized what was going on, he woke right up and ran over to the window like a little kid on Christmas morning. He opened the curtains all the way so we could enjoy the storm, apparently our storms here in DC are rather impressive to this Seattle boy :P

Since we had crashed so early we woke up pretty early (even despite the storm). We decided we'd spend today exploring the area so Brendan could get an idea of where he might like to live, and just to see what DC has to offer. We first stopped for breakfast at O'Sullivans. They have my second favorite brunch options in VA. We were the only people at the pub and very thoroughly enjoyed a delicious breakfast. After, we stopped at my house, so he could see our Chez Quebec, and meet Jonna. We hung around the house for a bit and relaxed in the AC before we meandered over to brothers apt. He met brother and his roommates and we hung around there for a few hours enjoying the shade and delicious drinks in the backyard. We left brother's to explore Springfield, VA since this is near where Brendan will be working, and he is considering finding a place to live there. After we finished exploring Springfield we drove back to Arlington to pick up Jonna, Alicia, and some bags of ice from the gas station before heading to Kristen and Jay's for a 4th of July BBQ. We met up with Kristen, Jay, Todd, Mia, and Ben for food and refreshments. While we were enjoying delicious foods, the sky turned really dark and ominous. Randomly Kristen shouted out "I'm very concerned about the weather right now!" and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her, then we laughed because her concern was so immediate and intense. But we started packing things up and rushing everything into the laundry room of their building and luckily made it inside just before another massive thunderstorm hit Arlington. Torrential rain, high winds knocked a few large branches off trees in front of their complex. Their apt building lost power, but we decided until the weather calmed down we would venture upstairs into the apartment. Once the weather finally cleared we went back outside to check out the damage from the storm and enjoy more BBQing. It was later in the afternoon so bugs were out, including lightening bugs, which Brendan had never seen before. I caught a few for him to check out up close. I continually felt like a little kid throughout the whole weekend sharing all these new discoveries with Brendan! The temperature had cooled down immensely after the storm which was an amazing break from the humidity and heat. We decided to leave the BBQ early and metro into DC to check out some of the monuments and the white house. My friend Bob had suggested we explore DC at night instead of during the day for many reasons some of which being, significantly less people to get in the way, and the sun is gone so you're not melting. There aren't many shady spots on the National Mall, so I embraced this idea and Brendan agreed. We metroed into the city and walked around the Washington monument and the WWII monument. Because of all the fireworks and hoopla that was set up for the 4th the next day, a lot of the other monuments were blocked off. We did wander around and manage to get in front of the white house, just in time for the lights to turn off at 11pm. We still hung around the gate, chatted it up with a few security guards, and waved to the people with sniper rifles that we believe were watching us. Since nothing else was available to us, we decided to hop the metro and head back to Rosslyn. We enjoyed a late night pizza and watched a movie together, enjoying the last of the day.

Unfortunately, even though it was the 4th of July, Brendan had to catch a plane back home to Seattle. We woke up a little late and being a holiday, nothing was available for breakfast without causing him to miss his flight (which really wasn't MY concern). Instead we drove to Dulles where I dropped him off with a big hug and kiss, and sent him on his way back home. Sooo sad that he had to go back to Seattle for an undetermined amount of time before I'd get to see him again. I think the worst part is just not knowing when. But it will be soon, hopefully before the year is out. Until then, our first meeting/playing was a huge success! And we'll continue to use all means of communication until we can be together again, which will have to do.

roommate #3

2011-06-28T08:33:00.001-04:00

After meeting numerous people who were interested in our 3rd bedroom, we finally offered the basement bedroom to Sam. A nice boy from Seattle who works for the government. He was away on a business trip somewhere down South, so we emailed him the application. He replied that he was interested in living in our house and would mail out the application and check for the credit check the next day and that we should expect to receive it Monday. However, Monday came and went, and nothing in the mail from Sam. Tuesdays mail arrived, and still no mail from Sam. I emailed him requesting that he verify his status and left a voicemail as well. Sam has disappeared. We never heard from Sam again, and so we began the search for a roommate, again.

The timing was bad as I was headed out of town to visit my dad with brother and help him get settled into his new house in Jersey. We decided to have people over Friday evening before we headed up to dadds, and Jonna went to H St to celebrate Evan's 29th birthday. We ended up having 8 people stop by the house. This viewing was significantly better than any previous attempt. There were multiple people that we liked and had a difficult time making a decision. In the end, we finally made a decision. AND HOORAY!! Emelia accepted our offer! She's a mid-20s environmental engineer from Houston, TX, who is incredibly friendly and energetic, and will be moving in at the end of the month. She is moving to Arlington, VA from Texas, so she's completely new to the area and very excited. Can't wait to have her move in and settled and have everyone meet her!

tipsy artist

2011-06-28T08:28:00.004-04:00

A few months ago Jen sent out an email about a Groupon for a Tipsy Artist session at a paint studio in Bethesda, MD. Barbara, Summer, Jen, and I each bought one session and were able to set a date to paint and play together!

The general idea behind the Tipsy Artist, is that while during the class you not only learn and practice the basic tips, tools, and techniques behind painting, but also drink your favorite choice of beverage at the same time! Of course, what better to combine the idea of alcohol with anything to get more business. Unfortunately since the class was in Bethesda, I wasn't able to enjoy a delicious glass of wine, but still enjoyed the class regardless. The weather was incredibly humid and stormy, but we managed to make it on time. Summer and I met up at Jen's and we carpooled over and met up with Barbara.

The studio had turned off the air conditioning for some terrible reason, it was rather humid and hot inside. We were led upstairs and instructed to enjoy ourselves and pick out a picture that we'd like to use as a template for our canvas. After much switching around and contemplation we each picked out a picture to paint. I think that we each managed to pick something that spoke to our personalities. Summer picked a picture of a tree with stars on a landscape (but picture more like monet style), Barbara picked a picture with two penguins and a little baby penguin, Jen picked a picture that was incredibly colorful and flowy (like rolling hills), and I picked a picture with flowers and the sun. The class was smaller than usual (only 2 other girls besides us), which made it significantly better. The instructor was friendly and really chatty, but it wasn't annoying. He liked to make conversation while we attempted to paint. It was incredibly relaxing and fun. We listened to music, enjoyed some snacks, and excellent company. By the end we each had a completed work of art! They weren't exactly like the original pictures we used for inspiration, but instead our own interpretation. I wish the studio were closer to home, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't sign up for another session!

playing in the backyard

2011-06-27T08:26:00.005-04:00

Even though Robin had just recently moved to NYC, she was coming down to visit and get a few last minute things settled in DC. Her visit inspired a s'mores night in our backyard!

Mia offered to provide the fixins (chocolate, graham, marshmallows - of course), and Jonna and I invited people over to enjoy our yard and fire pit. Our new patio set had arrived the week before, which was perfect timing. We had a large table with chairs set up and ready for our friends. Robin, Kristen, Alicia, Ben, Stephanie, Mia, Jay, Jonna, and I enjoyed wine, snacks, and s'mores. Eventually we decided to order Thai for dinner, it was a late dinner. It seems as a group we take a long time to make a decision. But more importantly, since our house is just outside the range of various favorite delivery places, it's taking a while to find new places to order from that will leave us just as satisfied. This one was meh, as not everyone was happy with their order. (My pad thai was really yummy though, and made great leftovers) The search continues!

We were quickly able to start up a little fire in our glorious firepit, which smelled wonderfully and helped keep the bugs away. After we finished dinner we all surrounded the fire and made numerous delicious melty chocolately s'mores, mmm :P We had a deliciously fun time playing in the backyard. I'm so excited to have a house and yard where friends want to be!

dadds new location

2011-06-26T08:29:00.006-04:00

Dad and I made a deal, so brother and I drove up to Jersey late Friday night to help him move in and get settled over the weekend. We arrived after 1am and were really, really, tired. Since it was dark we couldn't see much of the house. We took a quick tour of the inside and claimed our rooms. I was a nice dear sister and let brother have the bed. I slept on a blow up mattress, and love that almost every room has a ceiling fan with a remote control. When Trading Spaces was a big deal on TLC the designers always wanted to remove the ceiling fan. I didn't see what the big deal was, but the homeowners always stated that they were going to re-install a ceiling fan ASAP. I've never had a ceiling fan in any houses that I've lived in, but once Billy installed two in his townhouse last year, I fell in love with ceiling fans. Typically the existing fans weren't much to look at, but the designers on Trading Spaces should've just upgraded to better/quieter fans! I went to bed comfortably cool to the sounds of a whirring fan, it was wonderful.

Dad had numerous people stopping by the house early Saturday, but was nice enough to let me and brother sleep in a bit. The construction crew, cable guy, home security guy, and random guy that transported dadds motorcycle were expected throughout the day. A lot of work needs to be done on the house. The previous owners were content to let the house exist without taking care of it. Dad had every room stripped of wall paper and painted - he even got my bathroom redone at my request :) Since the house is made of birch shingles, it had to be pressure washed with a detergent before staining the house to try to protect and improve the house. He's also having the shutters repainted a dark green instead of yellow. There are numerous other tasks that he's fixing at the house, but that's most of what was happening while we were there.

Brother and I ran to the local market and picked up a bunch of food and snacks, to make breakfast and enjoy. I had brought frozen chicken divan and the ingredients needed to make a delicious crock pot chili! I figured since he'd just moved into the house his cabinets would be bare and I could help provide some food for his first week at the new house. Brother cooked some omelets (even I ate some) that were mostly delicious (they would say very delicious) before we got down to work. We unwrapped and unpacked the kitchen, family room, and dining room throughout the weekend. Brother helped dad set up the stereo, while I provided moral support from the comfy couch. We didn't do any exploring in NJ, but stayed around the house. We did take a break Saturday night to eat dinner, relax, and watch a movie. We watched Robin Hood, with Russel Crow, it was really good! Funny and quirky, much more realistic than most versions of Robin Hood. It's basically the story of how Robin Hood came to be and why. I recommend it!

Dad let us sleep in a bit again on Sunday, while the construction continued on throughout the house. We convinced brother to make more omelets (we didn't have any maple syrup left from Grandpa Barry's sugar shack to make pancakes) and got back to work. Dad was really glad for the help, and I'm really glad we were able to help get him settled. He's moved a lot the past few years and I'm sure it's significantly better to have company (and yummy food) during the process. Hopefully our next trip up will have the house and dad a bit more settled, so we can explore the town and do less work :P But even though most of the weekend was spent unpacking it's always great to get time with dad (and brother too).

robin says goodbye

2011-06-19T08:30:00.007-04:00

After living in the DC area for a few years, Robin decided it's time to move back to NYC. Her dear friends who love her (and will miss her) so very much decided to throw a surprise going away party. Alicia, Kristen, and Jonna secretly used our wine classes by Evan as a distraction from the actual purpose of getting together on Saturday. She thought we were doing a white wine and would meet up with friends afterward on H St.

Evan was nice enough to allow the girls to host Robin's party at his apartment (which Jonna and I decided he allowed because he knew that meant we would arrive early to clean his place, the bum!) Many people arrived between 7-730 before Kristen, Jay, Alicia arrived with Robin. We were all hanging out on Evan's deck and had him close the window shades in an attempt to hide. Well that didn't really work, but Robin WAS very surprised and happy. We spent a few hours at the house eating some of Robin's favorite foods, which included sushi from Cafe Asia, pizza, spinach artichoke dip, and a homemade cookie cake baked and decorated by Jonna (and a little penmanship by Alicia). After we headed to H St Country Club to play and meet up with more of Robins friends. We played a few rounds of skeeball and danced around the bar. The entire night was a lot of fun, and a good way to send Robin off to NYC. Jonna, Evan, and I left everyone at the bar sometime between 1-2am (I think) and we crashed at Evan's place for the night. Evan inhaled a GIANT piece of french bread slopped with spinach artichoke dip that was left out from earlier. He lolephanted to bed, while we laughed and eventually also passed out.

Robin will be very missed, but luckily she is only in NYC and close by for visits :)

more wine please

2011-06-05T08:31:00.006-04:00

Every year VA provides us lushes with a fantastic summer event, the Virginia Wine Fest! Just because Jonna and I just moved into a house doesn't mean we don't feel 100% comfortable abandoning everything that needs to be done in order to drink massive amounts of wine; because we did.

Throughout the move and the next week Jonna had a terrrrrible chest cold, so she decided that she wasn't going to take the bus to the fest in Centerville. Instead she decided to drive out a little later in the morning, and Alicia decided to join her. Brother and I headed to Bailey's in Ballston to eat a quick breakfast and potentially meet up with friends. Leo found us and we ran into Michelle and her friend Shawndel. Kristen, Jay, and Robin were also at the bar but I failed to find them before everyone was corralled onto the 12 buses leaving from one of the many bar pick up point locations. Brittany had bought her ticket for the buses in Clarendon, but we met her at the field once we finally arrived.

We first ran into a giant bouncy obstacle course, which I of course had to test out and enjoy. I managed pretty well considering I was wearing a dress, I probably only flashed a few people. Michelle joined me briefly, but then we were pulled off the bouncy fun because it was time for wine. No offense to VA, but I'm really not a huge fan of its wine. Of course I still taste many different types from various wineries, but never really came out completely satisfied. I tend to stay far away from the whites as they're typically far too sweet for my liking. A few tastings had a sangria mix, which was a nice change up. Eventually we ran into Kristen, Jay, Robin, and peoples and agreed to meet up again later for lunch and a bottle (or two) of wine. The day was hot, but not too hot. Kind of like a Goldilocks kind of day. Brother, Varun, Brittany, and I saw a magic show that was pretty impressive. The magician was entertaining and made fun of himself for being a magician, which I think added to his performance. Afterward we met up with Jonna, Robin, Alicia, Kristen, Jay, and Todd to enjoy the music and sun. Around 5pm Jonna decided she was going to drive back home and offered to take the girls back with her. So instead of leaving on the bus at 6pm, the 5 of us piled into Jonna's car for the drive back to Arlington.

Once we arrived at Chez Quebec, we decided to continue the wine fest in our own fashion. Initially this started as enjoying more bottles of wine, then we added some snacks, and more wine. Eventually we got really hungry and ordered delicious pizzas to go along with our wine. We are in the process of looking for a backyard patio set and fire pit, but until then we have a few random chairs and a tiny little table. We also used my tiny shower clock radio for music and entertainment, which turned into musical interpretations by the lovely Kristen, Robin, and Alicia. At some point I brought out my old dance costumes, pompoms from highschool, and my graduation cap/gown, to share with the group. Everyone picked out costumes and started dancing around the yard in random colors and costumes while singing. Best impromptu dance party! We didn't last long after that, it had been a long long day in the sunshine while drinking wine. Wine fest was a huge success.

moving by the power of dadds

2011-05-30T08:27:00.008-04:00

Since Jonna had convinced her dad to help her move into our new house, I decided to try to convince my dad to help me move too! Luckily we were able to come to an agreement; he helps me move if brother and I help him move and unpack at his new house in New Jersey at the end of June. This is a fair deal, and we agreed!

I decided to move into the house on Saturday of memorial weekend and Jonna would move in on Sunday. It's a really good thing I changed the day I moved in because if we were both moving in at the same time it would have been ridiculous chaos! Instead it was organized chaos :) (and brother wasn't able to help on Sunday, more man power is better) Since we were showing the house to a few potential roommates that day, Varun was nice enough to pick up the UHaul for me and meet up with dad and brother at my old apartment to pack up all my things into the truck. They managed to pack everything into the truck in less than an hour. I think I did a pretty well packing and organizing! They just as quickly unloaded my stuff into the house. We spent the rest of the day moving stuff around, unpacking, and getting settled.

Sunday, dad and I had a delicious bagel breakfast from Brooklyn Bagel and relaxed outside in the sunshine. We made it home in time to help unload a few last things of Jonna's. Despite all the moving of large furniture upstairs only one window was broken, thanks Ben! :P We spent more of this day unpacking and getting settled. Dad was a huge help with the kitchen and my bedroom. John Clark taught me and Jonna how to start the lawn mower and weed whacker. He also explained all the varied poisons he'd provided us for killing weeds and bugs. We had a lot of people over the house enjoying the glorious backyard and all the space we have. Robin, Alicia, Ben, and Kristen (and Cosmo!) were all a lot of help, and nice company while we worked around the house. We didn't do much else Sunday night because I wasn't feeling well and needed to sleep, stupid lame high maintenance body, but dad went over to hang out with brother once he got home from reffing soccer. Tywanna and Jeff did stop by in the evening with a giant bucket filled with fresh strawberries too.

Brother and dad were up really late, so when I was up really early Monday, I took advantage of the time to go back to my old apartment and clean. When I arrived it was relatively clean. I cleaned half of the bathroom I shared with Elizabeth, I cleaned/vacuumed my bedroom, the living room, and removed everything else that was mine from the apartment. I emptied my food from the fridge, and considered my part of the cleaning complete. There was a lot of stuff randomly strewn about the apartment, I'm assuming it was Elizabeth's or her boyfriends things. Regardless, Shana and I did our part and separated on good terms. Once I left Heatherton lane for the last time, I met up with dad and brother. We decided, despite the intense heat, we would play mini golf. Brother and dad tied, of course. On the way back we stopped to enjoy a delicious Slurpee from 7-11. I haven't had one of those in a really long time. I combined Fanta Cherry and Coke! Sugar overload! We went to brother's for the rest of the evening where his roommate BP was making pulled pork, and a bunch of other delicious foods. Their neighbors from upstairs had purchased an inflatable pool, which we all enjoyed while relaxing on our last night of the long weekend. Moving is a really long process, but I'm glad I was able to take a break from unpacking on Monday to get some fun time in with dad and brother. I'm excited to see dad again at the end of June, even though it's for more moving and unpacking, it's always the best to have time with my dad!

I couldn't be happier with my new house, except having a 3rd roommate - that would add to my happiness! Saving money and all. Its been so nice living with Jonna and having a roommate (and friend!) who interacts/plays/laughs with me. I wish we could afford to live just the two of us in the house, but I think we made the right decision taking the upstairs to share between us. Once we get more settled we'll have lots of bbqs and people over, so look forward to more exciting adventures from Chez Quebec :)

weekend with momz

2011-05-22T11:49:00.004-04:00

Not only was mom in town for my graduation, but also through the weekend. Brother and I got to see mom twice in the same month! Which has been unheard of since I left for college fall of 2000.

On Friday both brother and I had to work, so mom decided she would also work from the comfort of her hotel room. She had brought her work laptop with her and got settled in her room at the desk and comfy chair. After work I walked straight from the metro to the hotel. I had planned ahead and packed a bag of everything I needed. My apartment was literally a 5 minute walk down the street, but I didn't even want to make that much effort! I was still sick and really tired from the busy events of the week. We convinced Varun and brother to meet up at the hotel for dinner and a movie, and to play some Guillotene.

Saturday morning mom and I were really lazy and slowly got ready for the day. I walked back to my apartment to shower and get ready. I picked up mom, brother, and Keila for an adventure day! Not an adventure as in exploring DC, but as in shopping! Mom likes to spoil us when she can, and we take full advantage. Brother had just moved into a new apartment and needed various things. His previous place was furnished, so he needed a bed, sheets and things, etc. We jumped around various mattresses at Searsm and bought about a thousand pillows. I needed some too! Mom bought me a new tv for a graduation present (woohoo!) and some random odds and ends from Bed Bath and Beyond. Brother is officially set for his new apartment (minus the curtain I still have yet to hem, working on that..). We went to Vapiano for dinner before going to the movies to see the latest Pirates movie. We always seem to time seeing these movies when mom is in town, and we couldn't break the tradition.

Brother had to ref all day Sunday and really early, so it was just me and mom for the day! Her flight left that afternoon so we just spent the day doing more shopping. I had a few gift cards to use and since I've gained significant weight, desperately needed new work clothes. After shopping I sent mom on her way back to Tampa. We probably won't see her next until Lisa's wedding in CT in September. But it was really great to get to spend time together and see her twice in a short amount of time :)

graduation celebration

2011-05-19T08:26:00.006-04:00

I started to feel a little under the weather, which was really bad timing because my graduation was coming up. Even though I technically finished in December, I decided that I wanted to walk the stage and make it official in a fancy cap and gown. Also, numerous friends/classmates were also graduating so I figured, why not?!

I ended up with a really bad cold. I lost my voice, could barely breathe, and had a lovely cough. It made the day a little less enjoyable, but I pushed on anyway. It was my day! Dad drove down from Jersey late in the afternoon, and mom and grams were supposed to fly up from Florida. Grandma ended up having to cancel her flight because her blood pressure was far too high and she needed to stay home and see her doctor. But mom arrived bright and early and I picked her up from the metro. We decided first to have an early lunch at Silver Diner with some delicious milkshakes, and then get a manicure. Afterward I was feeling really tired and sick, so I took a nap before I had to get ready for the ceremony. Mom went back to her hotel and I got all dressed up and walked over to wait for dad. Once he showed up we drove to campus.

I met up with my classmates, got all dressed up in my fancy cap and gown and took numerous pictures. I felt like a dinosaur in my giant green robe and stomped around rawring! Brother and Varun showed up in time to watch me walk across the stage, and proceeded to beg me to leave via text message before the entire ceremony was over. I made them sit it out and wait until it was done. It was mass chaos afterward and really difficult to find anyone. Each program in the Sciences/Humanities had an arranged area for snacks and meet and greet after. Of course, the history department was assigned to meet smack in the entrance of the auditorium, so everyone who was leaving was messed up and tangled in the entrance. Which means, I didn't get the chance to mingle with my classmates. Too many people and too hungry to fight through the crowd! We did manage a few more pictures with me and brother and my beautiful bouquet of roses from dad.

I decided that afterward I wanted to continue the celebration and go to Foccia Luna for dinner. They have the best pizza, so melty and yummy. The drive from Fairfax to Arlington was a little obnoxious but we made it and met up with Varun and Calvin, who decided to join us for dinner celebrations. Varun and brother bought me a delicious raspberry white chocolate cake! That was in true cake wreck style, it made me very happy :) And it was delicious. We ordered two very large pizzas and inhaled them. We had to cut the night short because I had to get up very early for work and I was still feeling sick, very lame.

I'm really glad I decided to walk across the stage, in my gloriously green cap and gown and white amazing hood :) So proud of myself and so glad that Dad, Mom, brother, and Varun were able to attend!

baby paul's graduation celebration

2011-05-09T08:24:00.009-04:00

My cousin Paul graduated from FSU on April 29th, and my aunt decided to invite the family down to Florida to celebrate his accomplishment. Paul received his pre-med degree and has also been accepted into a chiropractic college in Florida, which he will start this fall. He has a few more years of school and practice, but until then we celebrate!

The celebration officially started on May 2nd, but brother and I weren't able to join everyone until the evening of the 5th. In total there were 25 of us running around FL. Aunt Laura, Uncle Dan, Joe, Jessie, Logan, Dave, Steven, Bang, Aunt Flora, Flora, Mark, Gramps, and Josie all flew down from CT. Aunt Trisha had booked a suite and numerous hotel rooms at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Studios from Friday - Sunday. Sunday evening we were spending at mom and Trisha's houses until we all had flights back North around the same time Monday evening.

Mom picked us up from the airport Thursday night and when we got to her house she had chicken divan ready for us to eat :) It was perfectly warm and delicious. We went to bed relatively late, which made for a bit of a later start Friday morning. Once we had everyone up Saturday morning, packed, and ready we caravaned up to Orlando. The weather was overcast but the temperature was perfect. And that's really rare for Florida. The entire weekend ended up being sunny and warm and NOT humid - amazing! It did rain during the drive and for the first few hours we were at the hotel. But eventually it cleared and we all geared up in our bathing suits to spend the day by the pool. Mom had rented a cabana for the day, so the older generation relaxed in the shaded cabana and ordered food and drinks while the rest of us ran around and enjoyed the pool. The pool had a water slide that was fast and fun. It was Grams birthday so that night we had a group dinner and a cake to celebrate. The boys went out on the town to celebrate, read get extremely drunk, and I hung out with everyone else back in the suite. Unfortunately, both mom and Nikki weren't feeling well that night. Nikki was feeling much better in the morning, however mom was really sick the night before. So sick in fact, that I ended up sleeping in the suite. Mom ended up having to skip the day at the park and recover from her stomach bug :( Half way throughout the day, aunt Laura started feeling sick and ended up spending the rest of the day/night sick in her room. Luckily, it was only those two who were incredibly sick and it passed quickly. We were worried it would make its way through our group, but we were spared! (and it's always someone in my room who gets sick, always. There were of course others who threw up... but that was as a result of other means :P)

Since Trisha and the kids go to the parks often, she knew exactly which rides to hit. The early morning group was Trisha, Maggie, Connor, Gramps, Josie, Jessie, Joe, Logan, Nikki, Laura, Dan, and me. We decided to go to Harry Potter first because, well it's Harry Potter! That and the main attraction ride there is incredibly motion sensitive, so it's imperative to ride first before eating/drinking anything. It was SO neat, but it definitely messed with my head and stomach. I wish I wasn't so damn sensitive to motion. We rode a few more rides at Hogwarts before moving through the rest of the park. It was really neat to walk through the Hogsmeade village and see all the shops. We also enjoyed delicious butterbeer, which tasted like cream soda with butterscotch, so yummy. At the end of the day I bought peppermint frogs to enjoy at home (Stacey brought them back with her after her trip last fall and I needed them again!) Jessie, Connor, and Nikki were willing to ride almost anything, so we tended to ride a lot of the rides together.

Eventually the boys woke up and joined our group. We ran into them and dragged them along to the original Universal park. The park was closing earlier than usual because it was reserved for a graduation celebration night for some local high schools, so we didn't have much time to run around the second park. However, the park was really empty and we were able to get onto rides quickly. That and we had fast passes, thanks to staying at the Hard Rock Hotel. Our room keys doubled as fast passes at the park! We rode the Mummy ride twice in a row, it was probably my favorite ride (and one of my favorite movies) Once we had completed our day at the parks we all rounded up for dinner on the Boardwalk. We were all so exhausted from a long day of running around, the night ended up being a bit more low key.

Since we had done everything we wanted at the parks on Saturday, we decided to spend Sunday by the pool instead of a second day at the parks. It was a marvelous decision. It was sunny and gorgeous and we all got to relax and hang out together. Late afternoon we all showered up and caravaned back to Tampa. We had a delicious steak, potato dinner, and spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching movies, and working on a puzzle. Monday we did more of the same and rushed to finish the puzzle. We usually complete at least one puzzle during family trips, but this time we were slackers! Joe and mom put in the most effort, there were as usual, a few stragglers at the end.

Brother and I had an earlier flight, so mom drove us to the airport. Of course there was a delay, which we typically check before we leave but failed to do this time. So mom parked her car and we hung around the airport for a few extra hours. Eventually the rest of the group arrived and we all ran around the airport until finally it was time to board the plane and head back to DC. Since we got arrived home a few hours later than planned, Keila was awesome enough to pick us up all the way at BWI (in her crayon car) and drive us home. We managed to get a little lost in DC, it's not really possible to explain how this happened, it just did. But we made it back safely after a typical family affair. We fully celebrated Paul's graduation, thank you for being so smart and finishing your degree so we could all play and celebrate in Florida - on Trisha's dime ;) Congrats Baby Paul!!

teddy dear!

2011-05-08T08:26:00.001-04:00

My bestest gave herself a wonderful mother's day gift and had her second son today :)

We welcome with love Theodore Samuel Adamek! He is 8lbs 12 oz and 20.5 inches long. Both mom and little eaglet are doing well. He's a true Adamek boy, eats and sleeps a lot, hehe. I can't wait to get up to Boston to meet my Teddy dear and shower him with love and kisses!

eastern market pottery show

2011-04-08T08:38:00.003-04:00

Join me this Sunday, April 10th to see and purchase works of Jonna Clark's amazing talents at the Eastern Market Student Pottery Sale from 10am-5pm!!

If you can't make it, be sure to check out her pieces available online at Jonna Marissa Creation.

Hope to see you there!!

more wine please

2011-03-27T11:23:00.007-04:00

We had our 5th wine tasting with Evan and he decided to teach us about Tuscan reds. Jonna, Natalie, and I joined Evan at Total Wine before the event to pick out the delicious wine for the night. He found 7 bottles for the tasting:

Wine 1 (my favorite of the 7 we tasted)
Producer: Fratelli D'Italia
Origin: Chianti DOCG
Grape/Style: Sangiovese
Year: 2009
Est. Price: $8

Wine 2 (least favorite of the 7, and the last bottles to be drank)
Producer: Gattavecchi
Origin: Rossi di Montepulciano
Grape/Style: Sangiovese 90%, Canaiolo Nero 10%
Year: 2009
Est. Price: $15

Wine 3
Producer: Gattavecchi
Origin: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
Grape/Style: Sangiovese 90%, Canaiolo Nero 10%
Year: 2007
Est. Price: $20

Wine 4
Producer: Dievole
Origin: Chianti Classico, La Vendemmia
Grape/Style: Sangiovese 80%, 20% other red
Year: 2007
Est. Price: $25

Wine 5
Producer: Massanera
Origin: Chianti Classico, Riserva
Grape/Style: Sangiovese 80%, 20% other red
Year: 2006
Est. Price: $30

Wine 6
Producer: Castello Banfi
Origin: Brunello di Montalcino
Grape/Style: Sangiovese 100%
Year: 2004
Est. Price: $60

Wine 7
Producer: Villa Antinori
Origin: Toscana IGT
Grape/Style: Sangiovese 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%, Merlot 15%, Syrah 5%
Year: 2006
Est. Price: $16

There were at least 12 people at this event, hosted at Evan's. We arrived early to help clean and set up for the night. We decided to try a new layout in the living room/dining room area. Last time everyone was far more distracted than usual so we hoped that opening the area into one large room would help everyone focus and pay attention. Of course drinking wine will lead to distraction eventually anyway, but to at least have everyone start the event focused on the wine tasting was the goal. The open floor plan seemed to have worked, there was much discussion across the room and cross comparison of rating scales. This was our first event where we managed to finish every bottle of wine. I learned that I don't really enjoy Tuscan wines. There are definitely other types I would prefer, but that's the point of the tastings :) I posted many more pictures of the wine event on my gallery !

time with my girls

2011-03-25T11:23:00.001-04:00

Amy, Nora, and I decided that we needed another girls night! So we arranged for a long distance movie date night. Between our three schedules we finally found an evening that was free for each of us. It was Amy's turn to pick the movie and she picked Ella Enchanted (also happens to be the movie I bought her for Christmas!). I still have yet to buy a new headset so they were both annoyed with me and my poor connection. I should buy a new one while I'm thinking of it... We were all pretty chatty and missed most of the movie. It's a good thing we tend to pick movies we've already seen. I wish we could all be together in person more often, but I'll take these nights as often as I can get :) Especially since Nora is only a month away from having Teddy dear, we should plan more before the baby arrives!

what big ears you have!

2011-03-22T08:37:00.001-04:00

Since everyone knows I have a slight passion for (although nerdy) witches, vampires, werewolves, magic, fantasy, type movies and shows, it shouldn't be a surprise that I wanted to see Red Riding Hood. Aunt Laura and Rachie loved the movie, and I knew that I had to see it. Knowing also that not many people would be willing to spend the cash to see this movie I expected to venture to the theater to catch it on my own. However, my dear brother relented and joined me to see the movie! I couldn't ask for a better dear brother :) After we watched the trailers and the movie started brother said "oh god." because he remembered what movie he was dragged into seeing.

The movie was, of course, silly. But this also means that I loved it! Brother didn't hate it, but he'd never see it again. I'm a lucky sister to have such a dear brother who would spend his Friday night with his dear sister watching a lame silly movie :)

dadds new zip code

2011-03-14T08:37:00.007-04:00

Since dadds new job has moved him from lovely Portsmouth, NH to Morristown, NJ brother and I decided to take a quick drive up to visit his new home. He's temporarily living in a one bedroom apartment until the house in Portsmouth sells and he can find a new house in NJ. It was a tight squeeze with the three of us in the apartment, but we made it work. The benefit to dadds apartment was that he had a washer and dryer, that just like when I was in college, I brought a lot of dirty laundry to wash. Also, it's right in the town so everything you could possibly want is within walking distance. I have to admit, and the brat in me didn't keep me from sharing, that I wasn't entirely thrilled at the idea of dad moving to NJ. However, I've found that I'm pleasantly surprised with the town and might actually like it.

Friday night we went out to an Italian restaurant, Pazzo Pazzo, that was decent. Dadds was excited to have dinner with people he knew, so brother and I were able to provide some comfort and entertainment. We enjoyed and closed down the restaurant. Saturday we walked around Morristown and watched the St. Patrick's day parade, and the people. Dadds bought me a cupcake, deliciously red velvet, and we found an ice cream shoppe for a late breakfast/early lunch. As every good town has, there was also a pub crawl, and lots of drunken people running around in green and glorious St. Patrick's day accessories. After we had our fill of people watching, dad wanted to test drive some new cars (one of the perks of his new job). I played nice and did my best to enjoy driving around in different cars all afternoon. Brother and dad had a lot of fun comparing and discussing all the different cars, which unfortunately I couldn't tell you what they were. Just that they were fast and comfortable. Although I can say that he did finally decide on the 2011 Infinity G37. Once we got home we dressed up and went for dinner at Roots. A fancy restaurant with deliciously amazing food. Dadds ordered a deliciously earthy and dirty wine that I have to share with Jonna, if I can find it in VA. Once we were absolutely stuffed we ventured to the Frog to watch the end of the Uconn game, which of course they won! Unfortunately it was day lights saving time weekend, so we lost an hour before making our trip back to VA. We had a delicious breakfast at a local diner in Morristown and watched the Town (also finished up some laundry) and headed home. Brother and I listened to Ender's game which helped pass the time and we made it home in just over 4 hours.

Even though I've been hesitant about the switch from Boston to NYC areas, I have to admit that I might be willing to actually like NJ and it also doesn't suck living so close to my dad. This is the closest that we have lived near each other (4-5 hours) in over 8 years. So instead of a plane ride, I can just hop in my car and make quick trips any time! This works out well for the daddy's girl that I am.

visiting the boot

2011-03-07T08:36:00.015-05:00

Tywanna and Jeff were planning a trip back home to Louisiana for a friends wedding and invited me to tag along, so of course I went! I had never been in the South before. I have been to South Carolina and Florida, however these hardly count. Louisiana was new territory for me and I was very excited.

Tywanna and I left early Wednesday morning to catch our flight. This was the first flight in a long time where I wasn't traveling alone. Time passes much more quickly when you have someone to keep you company. In the airline magazine we found entertainments and managed to create little origami elephants out of dollar bills. We fed them pretzels!

Once we landed in New Orleans, it was instantly warmer and delightful. We happened to arrive during Mardis Gras festivities, but unfortunately thanks to the weather, we weren't able to partake in them. This just means I will have to visit again. I did get to enjoy all the decorations that come with Mardis Gras. Apparently there are all sorts of wreaths, streamers, beads, lights, masks, and more, for celebrating.

Jeff picked us up at the airport and we made him take us for lunch. I had my first Po-Boy, fully dressed! It had shrimp, lettuce, tomato, pickles, tartar sauce, it had everything because, it was dressed. (This is my trying to show that I learned the lingo). After we were completely full, we drove to Slidell, LA to visit Tywanna's family. On our way we crossed, the Mississippi River!!!!!!!!! My first time seeing the river, and I was excited. I took a picture of the mighty river and waved hello. I met Tywanna's parents, sister, brother, nieces, nephew, and more. We visited around the house before having dinner and ice cream. It was late and we'd had a very long day, but we had long drive to Baton Rouge before we could sleep. Jeff's parents live there and were gracious enough to put us up for a few nights.

After a restful nights sleep I met Jeff's delightful mother and briefly met his father as he was on his way out. We decided to have beignets for breakfast. They were essentially puffed fried dough, with lots and lots of powdered sugar. I wish I could eat these for breakfast everyday! We met up with Todd and Nathan, two of Jeff's friends who were also in the wedding party. The boys had to run some errands which included picking up their tux's for the wedding, so Tywanna and I confiscated the car and decided to have our own fun. First we decided to get manicures, very fancy and necessary for the wedding of course. Then we decided to go shopping at Target, Tywanna needed some essentials and I just love Target. I ended up finding The Last Unicorn on DVD and Bluray and HAD to buy it, so I did. I've been looking for this movie on DVD for a long time, I have it on VHS but no longer have the means to watch it. Once we finished shopping we met up with the boys for lunch and decided that we would leave soon to caravan to Golden Meadow, LA which was about 2+ hours South and also a Bayou.

We arrived just in time to check into the hotel and make it to the wedding rehearsal on time. The rehearsal was a private event, so I waited patiently at the hotel for the after party. The weather was overcast, rainy, and incredibly windy, so I only managed a short exploration of the area. But honestly there wasn't much to explore. We were RIGHT NEXT to the water. Like you could just walk from the door of pretty much any building and into water. No drops, or steps, or walls, just bayou. There were many shrimping boats and I found myself quoting Forrest Gump often. Once the rehearsal was over Jeff and Tywanna drove back to the hotel to pick me up. The event was catered and had different sorts of traditional food. Like jambalaya, which was delicious. There was also banana fosters made with a beignet, first time I'd ever tried it. It was sweet and tasty. I met the bride and groom and enjoyed the Cajun music in the background while everyone played and talked. Elisa and her father had built a photo booth, which was a hit at the rehearsal and the wedding. I don't know how they managed to write the software and set it all up, but it was amazing. Not only did pictures print out for people to keep, but the camera saved copies of every picture so Patrick and Elisa had digital copies of every picture. This is a way better idea than disposable cameras! The after party was in our hotel room. The boys played games and Tywanna and I entertained ourselves with TV and eventually we fell asleep.

The wedding day Tywanna and I didn't have any responsibility until 6pm and the boys had nothing to do as well but entertain themselves. Unfortunately they needed the car we were using so Tywanna and I were stranded. But, there isn't much to do other than drive around really, so we just relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. There was a cow farm outside our hotel room, so we kept company with many cows. Jeff picked us up once it was time for the wedding, and Tywanna was very glad for my company because it was a full service Catholic wedding and it was very very long. My favorite part was when they were pronounced man and wife! Hooray! The party moved to the reception hall behind the church where we were given napkins as party favors. These were flailed about while the wedding party entered the reception. They were all wearing masks or top hats and dancing around to Cajun music. Tywanna told me that this was called a "second line." The reception was pretty standard, with food, cake, dancing, and wedding traditions. After the reception was over, Elisa told Jeff to take all the alcohol with him. I grabbed what I thought was a bottle of champagne, only to be incredibly disappointed in discovering that it was a bottle of malt something that was only pretending to be champagne. However, it didn't really prevent me from drinking a good amount of the bottle. It was a celebration after all.

Saturday morning we woke up feeling better than we expected. We showered and packed up for our last day in Louisiana. Unfortunately the weather was calling for very heavy rain, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. Despite the limiting weather, we convinced Todd to join us for the day and made a stop at Nottoway plantation. It is the south's largest antebellum mansion, also used as a bed and breakfast. There were many live oak trees on the grounds and the mansion was situated very close to the Mississippi River! It was a gorgeous house with lots of history.

On our way back to Baton Rouge it rained, a lot. And not just a little rain, a lot of rain. So much that everything started flooding. Well, it seemed like flooding to me. However, Tywanna and Jeff assured me that it wasn't flooding at all. Just the typical result from rain. The rest of our drive up I referred to "flooding" with air quotes, even though to me and my Yankee definition of "flooding" the yards and streets were not simply covered with water, they were flooded!

We had dinner that night with Jeff's family, as his sister had come to visit from Alabama with her 2 kids. After dinner we had a King Cake, and Jeff's niece had the baby Jesus in her piece. The King's cake is a traditional cake enjoyed during Mardi Gras. It was kind of like a giant pastry, covered with lots of colorful sugar. We had to get up really early for our flight home and so we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and packing. We arrived home to lots of rain and brother, being the best dear brother, drove up to BWI to pick us all up. I wish we could have stayed longer, and got to explore New Orleans. Unfortunately, with the wedding and the weather we just weren't able to. Looks like I'll have to get Tywanna and Jeff to bring me back to Louisiana again!

Check out a few more pictures in my gallery!

where the wine flows like water

2011-02-27T11:42:00.005-05:00

In the Crystal City mall there was a wine race! Jonna signed up for the 3pm wine race heat and instructed others to do the same. Lindsay, Michelle, Kristen, Jonna, and I met up at the mall and signed in. We even had running bibs to wear, which was a little over the top. Jonna, Kristen, and I started the race out with delicious ice cream from Coldstone. Once Lindsay and Michelle arrived, the race began.

First we had to pick up our special wine tasting glasses and tickets. There were 20 tickets, which amounted to 20 oz of wine. At first we all thought that 20 tickets was too few. By the end of the race however, we realized it was more than enough! There were multiple stops throughout the mall that had numerous red and white wine for tasting. Jonna and Kristen kept track of the wine we liked and didn't like. Along the way we met some interesting people, which only added to the experience. One of which was a woman with very snazzy (read: terrible) white fur boots! We snuck in a picture of me with her, very spy like, so everyone could see her glorious boots. The final "finish line" was in a giant room that had at least 15 different wines available for tasting. There were also snacks and treats, which we really wished were spread more throughout the entire race. Luckily I had stolen some packets of oyster crackers from Hard Times the weekend before and stashed them in my purse. My snack saved the day! But, we could've used some food earlier on, heh. By this point we'd all had plenty of wine. There were so many people congregated in the last room, and the room had cement floors and was missing ceiling tiles (classy right?), that the noise and echoing got to be overwhelming. We decided we had successfully won the wine race, and it was time to move on!

Michelle, Lindsay, Jonna, and I went to Me Jana for some delicious dinner. We had a full day of drinking and it was exhausting! We got a few tapas plates to share and relaxed before we decided to head to the Kitty to play naked photo hunt! and continue the night. Brother decided to join the fun too! Unfortunately, naked photo hunt wasn't working so we had to play regular photo hunt, which really isn't nearly as much fun. We ended the night at Eleventh with a dance party.

I posted a few more pictures from the day in my gallery.

professional guest

2011-02-20T08:23:00.003-05:00

Tywanna invited me over Friday afternoon for some quality productivity time. She's still working on getting her Masters and I'm working on finishing my book for my history book club next week, we decided to get some work accomplished in good company. However, it was Friday afternoon and gorgeous outside, we may have gotten sidetracked.

I had to run various errands before heading to Tywanna's and picked up the few things I needed to make baked pears (Amy's recipe) and found that roses were incredibly cheap, thanks to the passing of Valentine's day. Since I've lately been reading books written during the late 1800s (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Eyre) I thought it would be fun to get some roses for us to enjoy and picked out white roses with bright pink tips, very romantical and classic. What was even more silly was that Tywanna was dressed up in a long flowy dress and top that mimicked the style of the women in these classic books. We decided to carry on our theme and watch romantic period movies while crafting.

We spent the night chatting away until we were falling asleep. I spent the night in the spare room so that Saturday morning we could wake up and continue our fun. We took a trip to Jo-Ann fabric to get more thread and fabric for Tywanna's latest sewing project and met Jeff for lunch in Clarendon. Since we had spent lots of time playing, it was time for work to be done. I left them to be productive and I headed home.

Later that night I had plans to hang out with Sherri and Spencer and see their new house in Falls Church. We enjoyed delicious wine (and potentially skunky beer) and spent hours playing with the Kinect! Their kitchen is my favorite part of the house, it's old fashioned. They were able to get their landlord to replace the floor tiling and fix a few other things before moving in. Second favorite thing is the mini kitty door they have set up in the window for Meph, he can come and go as he pleases! I had a very busy few days playing professional caller. Tywanna suggested I invest in some calling cards to leave with my friends. But in this day and age, I think a text message or email will work just as well.

jonna marissa creation

2011-02-11T20:41:00.003-05:00

For the past few years Jonna has been crafting clay and making various bowls, cups, mugs, pitchers, jewelry and more!! I am a walking advertisement to her work as I often wear a beautiful pendant she made and gave me for my birthday. I also have numerous bowls, earring holders, and even a colander that she made that I use frequently. She has recently started advertising and selling her amazing work online. Please feel free to browse, share, and buy her creative pieces. Jonna also takes requests, so feel free to let me know or send her an email!

View her talents at Jonna Marissa Creation and purchase your own unique piece!

guillotine at ihop

2011-02-10T20:28:00.003-05:00

After spending the afternoon at Pentagon City with Tywanna I metroed back to Dunn Loring to get picked up by brother and Varun and head to iHop for dinner. Why would we go to iHop? For the unlimited pancakes of course! (except that I had waffles with bananas, whipped cream, eggs, sausage, and hot chocolate, yum) That and I was bribed with games. We ordered Aquarius and Guillotine, which promptly arrived in the mail. They have yet to play Aquarius however, but we did enjoy 3 rounds of chopping off the heads of nobles while enjoying a delicious breakfast for dinner. Half the fun was trying to keep the cards clean and unsticky, which I believe was a great success. I have never ever lost so many rounds of Guillotine, it was terrible! But I did enjoy ruining the game for them by taking away nobles and ensuring negative points. Best game ever!

brother is the new 25

2011-02-07T20:04:00.007-05:00

Jonna arranged an honorary new years celebration on Saturday, which also happened to be the night before brothers big birthday. I put on my sassy shoes and dragged Stephanie into Arlington with me to meet up with people at Jonna's before venturing to Steve's bar. I convinced brother and Varun to join us after their murder mystery dinner in Dupont. As soon as I walked into the bar I saw Danny Grimes!! I haven't seen Danny for 2-ish years and it was sooooooo happy to see him. We enjoyed drinks and I made him dance with me, for old times sake.

After a few drinks (and birthday shots) we meandered over to Cafe Citron where with the secret password - we crashed a private party for someones birthday. I didn't like the music nearly as much as at Steve's bar, but continued to rock out. Once the lights flickered it was time to head home. Which, was a very very long journey. Also, riding the metro drunk is a terrrrrrrrible idea. I can't wait to move back into civilization.

Sunday was brother's birthday and the celebration continued. I remembered why I don't typically drink, dropped Stephanie off at her car, and managed to make it over to Varun's for birthday brunch on time. Varun made a "white sauce" with eggs and mustard that is slathered all over bread. It was, interesting. Which is why I made and brought over Cinnabons!! and oranges. Jonna brought over Guillotine which is the best card game that we played for hooouurs. Jonna and I won numerous games, brother and Varun were not so lucky. We spent the rest of the day eating and I napped, often. I love that brother lives here in DC now and that I can spend and celebrate his birthday with him :) Happy 25th birthday dear brother!

More pictures in my gallery of brothers celebration!

christmas in january

2011-01-31T11:10:00.006-05:00

Southwest airlines offers the best prices for air fare and occasionally the deals are just too good to pass up. Thus (hehe), I bought tickets to Boston to see my bestests and their families. My plane ride to Boston was one of the most fun times on a plane that I've ever had. For some reason it took a really long time to board the plane, we ended up leaving 30 minutes late. But I didn't even realize it until we were mid flight. I love Southwest because you can sit anywhere. I tend to look for people that aren't scary, aren't children, and don't smell. I managed an aisle seat across from a 20-something guy and a guy that looked like my roommates boyfriend (familiar face and not creepy). As I waited patiently reading my nook, another 20-something guy sat in front of me and apparently knew the guy across from me. He was interested in my awesome carry on bag and told me about some living social offer that would be perfect for my hiking bag. I told him it was the best bag for traveling because it fits easily in the overhead compartment and can hold a lot of what I need. Some other guy shoved his similar bag (but not as awesome as mine) in the overhead bin next to mine and sat next to the friendly cute guy in front of me. A few minutes later, while the flight attendants were doing their usual blah blahing, the bag rolls out of the overhead bin and onto the guy in front of me! SLAM, on his head!! And in the middle of her routine on the radio the flight attendant says, "Oh. my. god. are you ok?!" Luckily it was a soft bag and he was perfectly fine, but it was hilarious. For the rest of the flight we made fun of him and chatted away about nerdy fun topics, like video games! The flight went so quickly thanks to great entertainments of fellow passengers. The flight home was not nearly as fun. The only good thing was that the flight was half empty so I didn't have anyone sitting next to me.

Nora and Ziggy greeted me at the airport and we headed to their new home! There is SO much snow in Boston, it was amazing. Dave, Amy, Mike, and the kids were at the house already waiting for us to arrive. We ordered giant pizzas for dinner and after we decorated cupcakes to celebrate my birthday! Nora bought little party favors and sprinkles too. Everyone sang happy birthday! and ate cupcakes (mostly just the frosting). We spent the night doing adult chatty things and Dave made us watch a show about repo men and Gabriel Inglesias on comedy central WHO is one of the funniest comedians ever. He's like a cross between the stay-puff marshmallow man and a chipmunk, if you ever get the chance to hear him, DO IT. We all laughed so ridiculously much.

We spent Saturday at the Boston Science Museum running around with the kids. Since I'm a big kid like James, we had lots of fun. There were dinosaurs, xrays, lightning storms, made up mini museums, and learning. We had to leave early for Ziggy's basketball game and went back to Nora's before we had dinner at a family style Italian restaurant. Sooo much food it was delicious. After dinner we had Christmas! Nora and Amy theme shopped for me and gave me baking supplies. Amy had filled out a recipe book with all her best baking recipes, and gave me a deep dish pie pan, with pie weights, and shield. Nora coordinated a cupcake apron, baking sheet, brownie pan, and cupcake pan! I think more time will have to be spent baking delicious treats! That night once the kids were asleep we forced the boys to watch awesome girlie movies with us (Pride and Prejudice - the short version, and Princess Diaries 2 - which I didn't realize Chris Pine was in - hot!) while eating baked pears (which I now have the recipe for). Sunday we hung around the house before it was time to go our separate ways. It's always easier to leave knowing that I'll see them again soon, and much sooner than last time. Mid-March is Nora's baby shower in Albany :) I hope Southwest will have more great deals (and fun passengers) for my trip upstate.

More pictures here!

saving brother

2011-01-26T11:37:00.002-05:00

Brother was one of the lucky people trapped in traffic during THUNDERSNOW (hooooo!). He was working in DC on a survey with some coworkers and had carpooled in with them. For 3 hours brother patiently waited in a car in DC, while his coworker slowly moved toward VA. After about 3 hours brother decided he'd had enough. He waved farewell, wished his coworkers luck, and walked about a mile to the Foggy Bottom metro. Through snow and ice he walked from the metro to my apartment, where I had a delicious dinner ready.

I had lost power a few times at my apartment, but luckily never for very long - I think the longest was about 15 minutes. I love having a gas stove! Despite the dropping power, dinner continued to cook. I set up candles all around the apartment for the dark moments, thanks to the storm, so that we could walk around safely. I made breaded pork chops on the stove in chicken broth with mushrooms and onions, and mashed potatoes. It was SO good. I think the best batch I have ever made!

We watched The Road while eating and enjoying the storm. A few times we had to re-start the movie thanks to losing power. Brother spent the night on an air mattress because I wasn't going to drive anywhere until the next day. In the morning we woke up and played in the snow before I had to drop him off and get ready for work. It worked out well that I switched my hours for 12-5pm for that day so I could enjoy the snow. Hooray for snow days!

on top of spaghetti

2011-01-24T11:07:00.003-05:00

Now that I have more time available (being that I'm a Master!) I decided to make a delicious dinner and invite some people over. Stephanie, Brother, and Varun ventured to my apartment for good eats and fun. I made homemade meatballs (recipe from Nora), with pasta, garlic bread, and a fresh salad (made with grape tomtoes, cucumbers, goat cheese, and balsamic italian dressing - that I made from scratch!) For dessert we had deliciously warm brownies (also from scratch) with vanilla ice cream. We were soooo stuffed, it was amazing.

It ended up turning into a Disney themed night. No one could decide on which movie they wanted to watch, so Brother put in the Lion King. It seemed fitting after all since they had just returned from their trip to Africa. After, I decided we were watching Beauty and the Beast. While enjoying Disney we also played Clue, because it seems it's the only game I own that people want to play. I know we couldn't play Scene It because we were watching movies, but I don't know why no one ever wants to play Scattergories. I decided that I'm going to buy more/new games. I think we're a little Clued-out.

Delicious food and relaxing afternoon/evening is the best way to end a weekend. I'll have to start planning more dinners.

music to my ears

2011-01-23T11:06:00.005-05:00

For my first concert at Rams Head Live - Jen and I headed up to Baltimore to enjoy and support friends in the Fishermen and Crowded Streets. Both local bands working on making a name for themselves. The Fishermen kind of remind me of Phish, occasionally they'll jam out, I highly recommend them. Crowded Streets is a Dave Matthews cover band, an excellent one at that. (If you're interested in checking them out, their next show is at the State Theater in Falls Church, VA next Thursday February 17th).

Despite some ridiculous car fire on 495, Jen and I managed to escape the traffic jam and manuveur side streets around the back up. We made it to Rams Head just in time to see the Fishermen! There was lots of dancing and silliness, and of course pictures (it's how Jen rolls). There was some sort of bad Pearl Jam cover band, a marilyn manson look alike, and lots of long haired head banging, before Crowded Streets took the stage. We ended the night to the sounds of DMB and the musical entertainment of Bruno.

double bubble

2011-01-17T10:30:00.006-05:00

Another weekend away, but this time I was back home in CT. My dear cousin Lisa lives in London with her fiance Mikey and took a holiday to CT for some odds and ends before their wedding in September. They will next be in the States only days before the wedding. We had to cram months of preparation and celebration in the span of 3 days. Sweet success.

I arrived at Bradley Airport to be greeted by not only a large display of Hartford Whalers gear, but also a lovely welcome sign by my aunt, uncle, and grandma. Could this bratty girl be any more loved??

The boys decided to have a bachelor party of sorts for Mikey, which included a chilly snowy day at the shooting range, lots of food and drinking afterward at Danny's house in Springfield. The girls decided (thanks to Trisha) to rent a bright pink stretch limo Escalade. We filled it up with bubbly and lemoncello and drove around the town! (Despite having an incredibly busy weekend, Brie also drove up to help us celebrate and enjoy the ridiculousness of the pink limo!) Details of bachelorette parties are never meant to be shared, but I can tell you one thing... no, not even one thing ;)

Sunday was Lisa's bridal shower, which was a bit different because having to fly back home to London, she can't really open any presents. It was a showering of giftcards! I drove to the shower with Mary, Jessie, and Jess, and we got a little lost while we chatted about. I love my ladies and was so excited to get to spend more time with them before I headed back home. My cousins have excellent ladies in their lives and I'm glad they're in mine. I was the only girl for 17 years, I love the increased female company! At the shower there were games, delicious food, Pimms, and spiced carrot cake. We played the standard shower games, bingo, what's in your purse, and made wedding gowns out of toilet paper. Trisha, Mary, Jessie, and I dressed up Maggie in a one strapped mermaid style dress, complete with accessories. Of course we won :)

After the shower we spent the rest of the evening relaxing/recovering from the weekend. I headed back to DC on Monday after a successful weekend. Next time we're all together we'll be celebrating the newly married couple!

just call me elizabeth bennett

2011-01-09T11:13:00.003-05:00

After a full day of jeeping, Jason and I took a slight detour to visit the Biltmore, America's largest house. His friend had given Jason free tickets and coupons and we jumped on the chance to see the house. Unfortunately the trip was a lot shorter than I would have liked, but it was worth the stop.

We first went to the winery and tasted many wines. They weren't very good, at all. I've been entirely too spoiled by Evan when it comes to wine. However, I do often enjoy my snobbish taste! Despite my dislike, I bought 2 bottles of wine, they were inexpensive and from the Biltmore. I'm a sucker, but still will enjoy drinking them. Afterward we had lunch at the Bistro before rushing back over to the main house for our scheduled tour. We ended up having a private tour of the house, which was awesome. We learned about the Vanderbilt family and their friends who often stayed at the house in the late 1800s early 1900s. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, which I understand as a historian, but personally think is lame. Once the tour was over we walked on some of the grounds taking pictures. It was cold so that didn't last very long. We did a quick tour of the rest of the house before heading out. If at some point I could see the house and the gardens while they're in bloom I would be happy, but this will have to do for now!

a jeeping we will go

2011-01-09T09:24:00.003-05:00

Since my last trip to visit Jason was almost 2 years ago, I decided it was time to go to NC. However, he decided it was time to go jeeping in Tennessee. So after work I drove to NC, hopped into Jason's jeep and we drove to TN. Jason promised me snow, but for most of the drive we didn't see ANY snow. I was getting disappointed and shook my fist in anger, but then suddenly, it was snowing! And it was snowing a lot!!

We stayed at a creepy motel in TN and I believed we would be starring in our very own horror movie. However, we survived two nights... this time.

There were 5 jeeps and 6 people jeeping around the Callallantee trail in TN. We all met up for breakfast at McDonalds, which is usually a painful experience for me. However, the oatmeal with apples, raisins, and dried cranberries was really really yummy! And of course, I had an apple pie. Chip had to experience a McGriddle, which looked terrible and he verified tasted just as bad. But despite the interesting breakfast, we were all full and warm and ready to head into the snowy mountains.

It snowed off and on the entire day. It was one of the best days, ever. The landscape covered in a thick blanket of snow was gorgeous and calming. I really needed a weekend away and I couldn't have asked for a better view or experience. Since there was a lot of snow, most of the trails were too slick, but we attempted jeeping up them anyway. A few of the jeeps got stuck, but that just meant the boys were able to use their winches and tow ropes to pull one another out. Jason got his jeep stuck in a giant mud puddle and made a mess attempting to get out. Garland managed to get his jeep stuck on a hill, where his jeep was only being held in place by his back bumper. Otherwise his entire jeep was angled and ready to roll down. He was able to pull himself free and lower the jeep down the hill backwards. We had a delicious picnic lunch in the snowy woods and rested before taking on the mountain again. There was sammiches, delicious apples, cherries, chips, oh my! We used every ounce of daylight jeeping around the snowy mountain.

birthday 28

2011-01-02T08:45:00.000-05:00

Having my birthday on New Years Eve is interesting. Besides getting combined or leftover Christmas presents, it's a day that everyone celebrates. I decided that this year I would celebrate my birthday and that's it. There may just also happen to be a new year or change in date, but I'm going to ignore that and just celebrate my birthday. Screw you new years, it's my birthday!

I enjoyed my morning being lazy and making a delicious breakfast. I watched a few episodes of BSG (recent obsession, currently at the beginning of season 4) and got ready for the day. I wore my new blue dress and new boots! that dad bought me for Christmas. I met up with Jen for lunch at Sweet Green, yummm, and we did some shopping. I found the perfect cardigan at Mustard Seed to go with my pink dress (also Christmas present from dad), and am very excited to wear it soon. Jen had given me the perfect birthday card, a giant cupcake birthday balloon, AND a birthday sash! Now if only I had remembered to bring my birthday girl crown..

After lunch I went to Tywanna's apt to continue celebrating my birthday. Tywanna and Jeff had tons of snacks and made a gigantic delicious dinner. To top it all off we had tasty champagne and a magnificently scrumptious birthday cake - made with love by Tywanna. The SyFy channel was continuously showing Twilight Zone episodes, so we watched that for most of the night. We also played a new card game (to me) called Aquarius! Which was a lot of fun. I won numerous rounds, which rocked. It must have been birthday luck.

I had a great birthday! I had so many friends and family wish me a happy birthday all day long I felt very loved and happy. I'm incredibly spoiled and I'll take it! The rest of the weekend I crashed at Tywanna's apt and we relaxed, napped, snacked, and watched many movies. The first weekend of the year should be lazy and amazing. Doesn't compare to last year, but it was still a great birthday celebration and start to 2011!

zoo lights

2010-12-30T19:33:00.006-05:00

Throughout December, the National Zoo set up lights and scenes throughout the park. Stephanie called me up and we decided to meet up on the metro and check them out!

It was bitter cold and I was glad to have toe warmers on (birthday present from dad!). Some of the buildings were open, but since it was late a lot of the animals were sleeping. We were able to see more of the reptiles than the mammals and Stephanie made me go into the petting zoo. It smells too terribly, I hate going there. But, I did survive. They did have an alpaca named Ziggy, which I laughed at because it's the nickname for my 8 yr old nephew!

We received light sticks that blink various colors and proceeded to play with them throughout the rest of the zoo and on the metro ride home. My favorite part, besides the sticks, was the dancing trees! So talented those trees with lights. I was impressed by the many animals and scenes that were created with lights. Despite the cold we had a lot of fun exploring the zoo at night. The only disappointment was that the invertebrate exhibit wasn't open. That building has THE creepiest animals alive. For some reason it's my favorite part!! It just means we'll have to go again, but probably closer to spring when it's warmer.

I put all my pictures from the zoo lights in my gallery.

all i want for christmas, is you

2010-12-28T11:23:00.009-05:00

It was decided that Christmas would be spent up North again. This time however I would not have to drive up alone! Brother and I set out and ten hours later arrived in CT. This was the first Christmas in five years we had the entire family in CT for Christmas. Aunt Trisha, Uncle Roger, KC, Paul, Connor, Maggie drove up and Mom and Gram flew up from FL. Brother and I drove up from VA to spend the holiday at my Aunt Laura's house. The house was packed with people, which is the way I like it! Every room had something interesting/entertaining going on. There's never a dull moment when the Loughlin clan is together!

We watched a few movies, played games, and ate a lot of food throughout the weekend. The adults were up before the kids and forced us all awake and out of bed/floor/couch/air mattresses to open Christmas presents. At some point it switched and now the adults wake up before the kids, it's terrible! Luckily, we all could go back to sleep once presents were opened. We watched The Other Guys, which was much funnier than I was expecting, and played a few rounds of comedy movie scene it. The boys were undefeated.. for now. After a huge and delicious Ham dinner, for dessert we had birthday cake! Mom picked up an ice cream cake (my favorite) AND a red velvet cheesecake (my 2nd favorite). I had to have large pieces of both! I recorded my birthday song from the best family I could ever ask for :) It's pretty horrible, everyone is off key and loud of course. I wouldn't have it any other way!!

The day after, brother and I headed to NH for Christmas with dad. Unknown to me, Andrew was going to catch a ride up with us! I have a tiny car, and we were packed in tight! It was great to see Aunt Frances when she dropped off Andrew, I only wish we had more time to visit with her before we had to go. We decided to drive up to NH at the start of the blizzard so it took about 4 hours to get to dads. Luckily we reached a point where we were ahead of the storm, and detoured around the traffic. We arrived in NH and waited for the blizzard to catch up, and it did! Glorious white Christmas, round 2. Dad decided we were having lobster for dinner, which was awesome. I hadn't had lobster in a long time, so delicious. Uncle Kelly made us watch The Box after dinner, and it was a terrible movie. Don't. Ever. See. It.

Brother had to leave early Monday to head back down to DC. He had a flight Tuesday to Africa for his hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Of course we had driven my car, and of course it was still snowing heavily, so it made for an interesting drive. But luckily he made it back safely. I stayed an extra day in Portsmouth with Dad and we went to the mall to shop for Christmas presents. I got a bunch of new clothes and boots!

I was very lucky that my flight only had an hour delay, otherwise I didn't have any other issues getting home. I sat patiently and read my new Nook! the entire time. There were a lot of other flights that had problems thanks to the snow, but I made it home without any problems and before midnight. It was a great Christmas - I got to see a lot of my family and relax. The best Christmas present would have to be receiving my Master's degree :)

free time

2010-12-22T11:20:00.002-05:00

So I immediately decided to take advantage of my new free time. Instead of sleeping, I wanted to go play! After work Stephanie and I met up at the Portrait Gallery in DC to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit. First we had lunch at Vapiano! and meandered our way over to the gallery when we were finished. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to take pictures of the art work, but that just means everyone has to get over to the gallery before it ends on January 2nd. Also, this doesn't mean that I didn't want to try to take pictures anyway. Stephanie didn't want to get kicked out the museum and forbade me to take pictures too. I personally think that would be a funny story, getting kicked out of a museum, but I behaved. The works were lent by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas from their personal collection. It was neat that the exhibit included some of their reasons for liking the work and why they purchased particular paintings. I really liked the sketched painting of the girl on the stairs and the one with the mother in the teal nightgown and her daughter at the dressing table. (I tried to find these online but gave up quickly. You'll just have to go to the exhibit and see them yourself).

reception

2010-12-21T11:01:00.002-05:00

Apparently this is the first year that George Mason offered a winter graduate reception. I decided I would go because, why not? Unfortunately, this stupid reception was scheduled for a Monday night from 4-530pm. Thanks George Mason for scheduling this event at the most inconvenient time ever.

Luckily, Stephanie offered to pretend to be my family and join me at the event. Dave had also graduated and he had decided to check out the event too. I'm not sure if I convinced him to go, but I was glad that he and Angie came. There was a lot of food and people at the reception. They had alumni pins for the graduates, and that was it. GM encourages all its graduates to participate in the spring ceremony for graduation, which I haven't decided yet if I'll go. I hope to have my glorious diploma in my hands before then anyhow. The President and Provost gave nice little speeches, and we wished there was alcohol available to really enjoy the reception, hehe. Afterward Stephanie and I had a mini-celebration. There will be more celebrating after the holiday season!! Until then, I'm DONE. :D

i are MASTER of history

2010-12-20T10:39:00.000-05:00

After what seemed like an unending semester, it actually ended. And with it, I received my Masters degree in History. I spent months of my life in constant company of the witches of Salem and the works of the men that lived and experienced the hysteria. I had written a 40 paged paper on the changing perception of people in Salem and how these changes mimic the 5 stages of grief. I am incredibly proud of my work and that I received an A- in the class :D (If anyone is interested in reading my final, let me know! I promise it's not boring, heh)

Random fun facts: the Salem witch hunt lasted around 9 months and all of those who were executed for witchcraft were hanged, not burnt. European witches however were burnt at the stake, leave it to Europe to make punishment more terrifying.

I finished my time at George Mason with straight As, and kicked it in the face! An A for my internship, and A- in Clio Wired, to go along with my A- for my research seminar. It feels SO good. It's really hard to describe. I'm still realizing that I've finished and that I don't have to go back to class and homework next month.

What's next? A lot! But at least now it's on my schedule and my time. I think first I'll try to catch up on all the sleep I've lost in the past year. And then lots of celebrating! I think this is the best Christmas present I can give myself :)

here we go

2010-09-05T18:45:00.002-04:00

I finally finished my internship AND my internship blog!!

Thank you to everyone who followed along. I hope you enjoyed reading through my experience as much as I enjoyed living it and writing about it.

Now it's back to classes and homework! But at least it's my final semester as a Grad student at George Mason University :)

play time

2010-09-04T19:03:00.004-04:00

It's now September and I realized I hadn't played one round of mini golf. I told Billy that Friday night I'd like to play before the summer is officially over. We rounded up a bunch of people and made our way to Alexandria.

First Billy and I had dinner at Macaroni Grill with Spencer, Shade, and Summer. Once we were completely full we made our way over to Top Golf. Jin Ah, brother, and Varun joined us shortly after dinner. We decided to play the mountain course, which is the green course. It was rather difficult and filled with treacherous rocks and streams of crazy abnormal blue. It took a long time to play with such a large group of people but it was worth the wait. (Not a wait for us, wait for people behind us - bahaha). For once we made it an early night, which meant we got home around 1am. I'm sad that I only played mini golf ONCE this entire summer! But, next summer I will have a lot more free time to play.

have iPhone

2010-08-29T18:57:00.002-04:00

With brother's move to VA, we decided to change our cell phone plan. As of today I am no longer on verizon and am an AT&T customer with a brand new iPhone 4!! Who doesn't love new toys??

This means I have a new phone number, despite my protests and numerous wasted hours of attempts to keep my Rochester phone number. After living in VA over 5 years I suppose it's about time. So if you can't reach me, but you want to, let me know and I can provide my new digits!

here comes brother!

2010-08-15T18:51:00.002-04:00

It's official - Brother has a job and is living in VA! He moved down Sunday and into an apartment very close to work and close to me! I think this is more of a benefit for me, as I love getting to spend time with him. I think he enjoys it too, but might not admit it.

Welcome brother, I couldn't be happier to have you living in the DC area with me :)

surprise!

2010-08-02T11:25:00.004-04:00

I finally finished a long summer of class and Billy asked me if I wanted to get lunch with him on Friday to celebrate. He isn't often in the Tyson's office so I was very excited to have this chance! I metroed home from work and he picked me up and we headed out to lunch. I asked him "so where are we going for lunch?" and he said "I really want to go to Panera." Well, I've never really known anyone to really want to go to Panera, but I hadn't been in a while and I don't hate their food so I figured ok, sounds good! It's probably a really good thing that I'm not too picky (maybe sometimes). I could've really been difficult for Billy if I didn't want to go to Panera because apparently there was a specific reason he wanted to go.

We walk into Panera and head toward the counter. Billy takes out his phone and selects camera and starts to record a video. I said to him "why are you recording a video?" and then this happens:

Amy and Nora flew down to DC to surprise me for a long weekend!! With the help of Billy, they sneakily created an elaborate plan to surprise me. Well after the end of a summer semester and not having seen my bestests since December, I was clearly, emotional :P They had planned the entire weekend. Billy had bought them tickets to come with us to see Legwarmers that night too!

We had lunch (not at Panera, we ended up going to Noodles and Co) and then Billy had to go back to work. We ended up going to Ballston, I had a hair appointment set for a few weeks and they were very nice enough to let me keep my appointment, while they wandered around the mall looking for outfits for the concert. Afterward, we got all dressed up in our 80s garb and headed out for dinner and a show! We were all pretty tired after a long day (esp since they had a long travel day that started early and with delays) but we still enjoyed the concert.

Nora and Amy had booked a hotel in Tyson's for the weekend so we all had a mini get away! Saturday we had breakfast at Silver Diner and ordered giant milkshakes, great way to start the day with a sugar high! We spent the day shopping, pampering ourselves with pedicures, and dragged Amy to see Eclipse! Amy shook her head and laughed at us the entire time, and we bought her a giant slushee for being a good sport.

They had to leave early afternoon on Sunday so we took our time relaxing and walking around Old Town Alexandria. The weather was sunny and gorgeous and not too hot! We actually took some pictures of the 3 of us (which we always forget to do - Amy tell Mike me wants le pictures!) and then headed to the airport where we had big hugs and sad goodbyes.

It was THE BEST SURPRISE and I had an amazing weekend with my ladies. I'm so lucky to have such a sweet (and sneaky) boyfriend and fabulously wonderful best friends!!!

school's out for summer

2010-07-27T10:15:00.001-04:00

I am incredibly excited to be done with my summer class. I finished with a B, which is the lowest grade I've gotten thus far. All I can say is, it is really difficult to do homework over the summer. Incredibly glad that it's the last summer class that I will ever have to take.

I have plans to do, absolutely nothing! Other than finish my internship, work, and enjoy my freedom! Until it all starts again in the fall...

dc dinner in marrakesh

2010-07-24T18:08:00.006-04:00

Billy arranged a dinner out for a group of friends at an interesting restaurant in DC. He had been there once before and was excited to share the experience!

The restaurant is called Marrakesh and is a reservation only restaurant. I was very excited to go having experienced authentic Moroccan cuisine this past February. I was mostly excited for the pastille, which is a delicious sweet chicken type pastry.

We met up with Felix, Summer, Shade, Sherri, and Spencer and were seated on benches that were covered with rugs. The seating wasn't too comfortable. By the end of the meal everyone was ready to stand up, the rugs were a bit itchy too since they were made with wool. The food was really good, not authentic good, but tasty. They don't have any utensils, but they do provide towels and water to wash your hands with at the table. It wasn't incredibly classy. Everyone made a crumbly mess, but enjoyed themselves despite the lack of utensils. They do use them in Morocco, so I'm not really sure why they didn't have them at the restaurant. During dinner there was a belly dancer who performed a series of amazing dances. She was cute and really talented. The meal was ended with delicious authentic Moroccan mint tea. That was probably my favorite part. As the food was really good, it didn't compare to my trip to Africa. I was a little snobby about it to myself, but I didn't say anything to anyone during dinner. I didn't want to ruin the fun that everyone was having and the enjoyment of the meal.

We wouldn't go back to the restaurant because it was cash or personal check only and they included an 18 or 20% gratuity in the bill. But overall we had a lot of fun and enjoyed experiencing something new.

There are a few more pictures in my gallery from dinner :)

ceiling fan install

2010-07-16T08:21:00.003-04:00

Over the 4th of July weekend, Billy bought two new ceiling fans to install in his townhouse . Lowe's was having a 20% off Hunter fan sale, and one of the two fans he liked was included in the discount. We had to take advantage of the sale!

This week Billy built and hung up one of the fans in his living room all by himself! My uncle Dan was helpful and provided over-the-phone assistance for understanding the wiring between the fan and the ceiling. Most importantly Billy didn't electrocute himself. Despite the delay of installing the fan blades that refused to behave; Friday night we enjoyed the comfortable breeze and silence of a gorgeous new fan.

midterm grade

2010-07-14T08:18:00.003-04:00

Some how I managed a B+ on my midterm - I think the professor was being generous, but I'll take it!

Now only a class presentation, critical review, and a final exam left before I can enjoy my summer. (Which includes unpacking and finishing moving into my new apartment, despite that I've lived there over a month now.. and fun. I will definitely have fun before fall semester starts!)

jonna have birthday

2010-07-11T08:16:00.003-04:00

To celebrate Jonna's 26th birthday she organized a wine tour in the VA countryside. The day started warm, muggy, and rainy. But as the limo drove us out of the city and into the middle of no where, the skies cleared and it became sunny, hot, and gorgeous.

We had the limo packed with drinks and snacks, which helped pass the time. We stopped at 4 different wineries before we had to head back to Arlington. Most of the wine wasn't very good unfortunately. The second place we stopped was probably the best. We were able to taste a wine they hadn't released yet, which is the only bottle I bought. We had a picnic lunch here as well and enjoyed the sunshine.

They continued the party after the tour ended at Alicia and Robin's apartment, but I had to be a lame responsible student and go home to finish working on my outline for class discussion that week. Overall I think Jonna was disappointed because the company that she arranged the tour through hadn't been truthful about some of the pricing and options. But we managed to have a lot of fun despite the set backs and drank a whole lot of wine!

4th of july

2010-07-06T11:37:00.005-04:00

Unfortunately my holiday weekend was mostly lame due to having to complete a midterm that was due the Tuesday following the 4th of July weekend. This kept me from heading up to CT to be with all my family at the lake house and limited me to research and writing for 4 days. One of the only things that kept me going was knowing that this would be my last summer class and once I reach August, everything will be different.

Despite spending the majority of my time being productive, I did take half of July 4th off to relax and enjoy celebrating American independence. I went over to Billy's and helped him stain the deck for a little bit before we got ready to head to Arlington to meet up with Shade and Summer at the Iwo Jima memorial to watch the DC fireworks. It wasn't as packed with people by the memorial as it had been previous years I had gone to watch the fireworks. I think every year the show seems shorter, but it could just be that I really like fireworks and I never want them to end! I tried to take pictures of the fireworks and ended up with a couple good ones that I posted in my gallery. Like this one with the heart! You can see the Washington Monument in the background too!

I was incredibly happy to spend the 4th with Billy. We had met on the 4th a year ago so it meant a lot to be able to spend another 4th together. After we saw the DC fireworks we headed back to Centreville to light some of our own. We drove back toward his townhouse in the same housing complex by a pond. Well, it used to be a pond. It was all dried up for some reason, but we decided to light fireworks on the walkway around the "pond" anyway. It was really fun lighting fireworks for just us as the audience; they were big, bright, and colorful! After Billy lit each shell he would run back to where I was standing and wrap his arms around me before it launched so that we could watch them fill the sky with color together. It was a fun private showing. :)

legend of n3il

2010-06-30T12:00:00.002-04:00

After lots of waiting and patience, after the amazing discovery of seasons 1 and 2 almost a year ago, the long awaited return of link is near!

Watch the trailer for Legend of Neil season 3!! Unveiled July 24th!!

And if you haven't experienced the first two seasons, do it now.

jen's 30th bday beach weekend

2010-06-27T11:59:00.008-04:00

For the 4th year in a row, Jen decided to rent a beach house and invite all her friends to help celebrate her 30th birthday in beach style!

Billy and I drove up late Thursday night after I was released from class. The drive didn't take too long which was excellent. We did stop and get snacks along the way, enjoyed the stars, uninterrupted time together, and arrived around 2am. Molly, Bruno, Jen, Billy, Summer, Shade, Phil, Barbara, and Ari were playing Trivia Pursuit DVD addition when we arrived. Apparently they had been playing for a really long time because they were all desperate to have the game finished. I won it for the girls with my answer of "pineapple" (The shape of sponge bob's house).

Additional people had showed up that weren't accounted for, which left me and Billy to share a room with Summer and Shade. Sleepover! was awesome. What was less awesome was having to squeeze into a twin size top bunk with Billy. It made moving around a bit difficult but at least the bed wasn't too uncomfortable. And it was fun sharing a room and playing around. Eventually Molly let us take over her room once Bruno headed back to VA, which was greatly appreciated. Especially since it made putting Billy to bed a lot easier was he was sleeeeeeepy, and maybe a little drunk too.

We spent Friday and Saturday enjoying the beach and sun. It wasn't too crowded Friday and on Saturday Mike invited us all to enjoy the private beach at his families beach house. We had the entire beach to ourselves which made for a lot of playing room. Unfortunately I had a lot of homework to do, but I still enjoyed the location. Change of scenery for reading is excellent. There were numerous jellyfish in the ocean so I didn't really get into swimming much. But the water was cool and enjoyable, from the shore.

Friday night we celebrated Jen's birthday as a group. We went to the Green Turtle on the boardwalk and had dinner before running around playing games and winning stuffed animals. There was the horse race, skeeball and of course bumper cars! Dinner had taken longer than we had expected so our time on the boardwalk was cut short. But we managed a good haul of stuffed animals to take back to the house with us. I won the horse race and picked out a light brown horse. Billy and I named him Murphy and he is very squishy and soft. And of course, Billy bought me my favorite orange/vanilla twist ice cream cone! Rehoboth is the only place I ever enjoy this delicious treat.

After packing up and picking up around the beach house everyone headed back home. Shade, Summer, Billy, and I decided to stop at the go-karts and bumper boats before heading back to VA. It was incredibly hot. I didn't drive any of the go-karts but enjoyed watching Shade, Summer, and Billy play. I did join in on the bumper boats where we got incredibly soaked and it felt amazing. Billy and Shade had a bumper boat-off, where it was just the two of them in the entire pool bumping around and spraying one another with the water guns attached to the boat. They both won because they were both drenched and entirely happy. It's excellent getting to play like kids :)

We stopped and enjoyed delicious Coldstone ice cream as our last act during Jen's beach weekend. The drive home went quickly and soon we were relaxing and enjoying pizza in comfortable air conditioning. We had a blast at the beach and in celebrating Jen's entry into a new decade! (Thanks Jen for hosting such a fabulous event and for turning another year older!)

Check out more pictures from beach weekend!

pirate murder mystery

2010-06-20T11:25:00.003-04:00

Billy's coworker Ben and his wife Nora hosted a pirate murder mystery party! Each guest received a character list and suggestion of attire to wear to the party. It was like a themed dress up party of clue!

Billy was Bill Greasepalms, a local merchant that despised pirates. I was Jessi Chumbucket, a wench at the local inn. The name is horrible and everyone laughed - but it makes sense. I was a wench after all (she gets around).

Spencer was Merciless Morgan, a pirate that everyone hated or had problems with. Sherri was Antonia Napier, the governor's beautiful daughter. Spencer won best acting, as he was in character almost the entire time. And Sherri won best dressed!

I guessed that Merciless Morgan would be killed because so many people distrusted and hated him, and I was right! He was brutally stabbed on the toilet! It was the only room where people weren't conversing and it would be inconspicuous. Then Spencer played a dead pirate, haunting around the party. I didn't guess who the killer was though. Billy and I were both wrong. Sherri however was right! She guessed it was her lover Sealegs Sam. He was trying to hide his past and Merciless Morgan was a threat!

There was an immense amount of food, drinks, and pirate booty. Everyone had dressed up perfectly which added to the enjoyment and atmosphere of the party. I wish I had felt better to be more engaged during the game, but it was still a lot of fun. This was the second time Nora and Ben hosted a murder mystery party and they will likely do it again!

More pictures in my gallery!

ears

2010-06-18T11:16:00.002-04:00

Wednesday night I had attempted to drive back to Arlington to meet up with Jonna and pick up mail from my old apartment. However, I didn't make it very far. I felt incredibly dizzy and my vision was blurry. I managed to slowly drive home and park and went straight to bed. All of Thursday I didn't feel any better so I went to the health center on campus. Apparently I had an inner ear infection, joyous. The only good thing about that was the doctor told me not to go to class that night and rest. So I went to bed around 6pm and it was glorious.

The ear infection made life complicated for about 5 days. I couldn't drive anywhere and it was really difficult to focus and concentrate without feeling sick from the motion and dizziness. While medication is helpful for my ears, it also made my Crohn's flare, which is typical. Increase of white blood cells causes increase of stomach pain and other lousy symptoms. I'm grateful that Billy was willing to pick me up, drive me around, and take care of me while I was sick. Hopefully it should pass quickly and then I'll be able to deal with my continued hectic schedule - at least be able to drive again!

please excuse my lack of free time

2010-06-16T09:52:00.000-04:00

Everything is incredibly busy. The move went really well. Jonna, Varun, and Billy are amazing for helping me move in such a short amount of time. I'd be completely lost without them! However, I am now living in a land of boxes. I unpacked most things, but left a lot still to be moved and unpacked. Thanks to school, work, internship, homework - life! I probably won't really get settled into the new apartment until August.

My commute to work has increased about 30-40 minutes which also means I have to wake up and head out earlier. I wake up between 4:30-5am and leave the apartment no later than 6:10am. I stroll about 10 minutes to the metro where I wait about 4 minutes for the train. 25-30 minutes later I arrive in DC and walk 10 minutes to work. The schedule seems to work out pretty well. Ever since I've moved I've been on time or early to work! It does make my days longer however. Three times a week I have my internship after work from 1-1:30 until 5pm and twice a week after that I have class from 7:20 - 10pm. Long days! I'm looking forward to August.

brief visitors

2010-06-12T09:40:00.004-04:00

Mom, Aunt Trisha, Connor, and Maggie are staying in CT for 6 weeks this summer. They rented a gorgeous house and left Florida on June 11th to drive up to CT. They had planned an over night stop in VA which I was very excited for. Unfortunately they were delayed.

Aunt Trisha's car decided it didn't want to keep the front left tire and blew. It didn't just get a flat tire, it exploded. The impact blew off the front bumper and the side view mirror. There were wires and all kinds of things broken with the van. She decided to ditch the van and buy a new car. She picked out a cherry red 2010 Intrepid. It's very pretty and smooth. In an amazingly short amount of time they were on the road again and in VA around 9:30pm.

I met with them at the hotel where we played around and ordered pizza. They were all very tired from the long 2 days of driving and car adventures that everyone fell asleep around 11pm. We made plans to meet up in the morning to have a bagel breakfast before I started moving from Arlington to Vienna.

Bright and early everyone showed up at my apartment. Jonna, Varun, and Billy joined us all for breakfast too. It was a delicious last bagel breakfast as an Arlingtonian. Mom brought me some delicious homemade cookies too. Around 11:30am mom, Trisha, and the kids headed out and we started my move to Heatherton Lane!

I'm hoping to get up to CT before their 6 weeks are up and am also excited to see them on their return drive back home.

A few more pictures taken by Maggie here!

bosox in baltimore

2010-06-06T11:35:00.004-04:00

Billy organized a day trip up to Baltimore the first weekend of June to watch the Red Sox destroy the Oriole's. We had a large group of people drive up to spend the day enjoying baseball. I think we ended up with more Oriole's fans, but the company was worth the mixed fan base. Billy and I drove up to meet up with and have lunch with Kate, Shade, Summer, Varun, and Stephanie. We went to Houlihan's and ate more food than we thought was possible. This caused everyone to be incredibly full and limited the amount of drinking. Jen, Craig and Donielle met up with us after lunch as well as Zach and Lynn and 3 of his friends at Pickles Pub before going into Camden Yards for the game. The day was hot and it only sprinkled a little bit, which was welcomed with the heat. The Red Sox won! and we all had a lot of fun playing in Camden Yards.

Before the game, Billy and I had gone to the hotel we booked for the night (just a short 10 minute walk up Gay St from the harbor!) but we were too early to check into our room. They did provide us an assigned parking space despite not having our room ready which we were excited about. At the game Billy called the hotel to verify we could check in late after the game or after we went out to the bars in Baltimore. Turns out, they gave away our room. Which is just amazing considering we had a parking spot! All they offered us was another room - 15 minutes away. Obviously this doesn't work. Instead we turned down the room and drove back to Virginia. A frustrating end to a good day.

But on Monday, the manager of the Holiday Inn Express made up for their mistake. They offered us 2 free nights stay at their hotel! We now have a free place to stay in Baltimore and plan on making trips up to take advantage of this and see if they can truly redeem themselves for their mistake.

More pictures here!

internship

2010-05-24T21:46:00.002-04:00

As part of my internship I'm required to document the daily events of my experience. I've decided to document it through blogging. I created an additional blog that's devoted specifically to my internship and my path to becoming an archivist.

For your reading pleasure - intern heavly!

I will be updating it daily (at least I'm supposed to be). Some days might be boring, others might be interesting. Hopefully more will be entertaining. Suggestions or ideas are welcomed as well.

grades

2010-05-15T21:53:00.002-04:00

Well the grades are in and I think I've managed pretty well!!

B+, A and A-

Check me out :)

2 more semesters to go until I'm a MASTER (have a Masters, whichever) - I can't wait!!

/semester

2010-05-13T11:18:00.005-04:00

I finished and handed in all my finals Monday night - now I'm just waiting on grades. Rather impatiently I might add.

The end of this semester is a big deal because it's the last time I'll have to take 3 classes at once. I can't WAIT to have only two classes to handle. I've heard the research seminar is hard work like taking 2 classes for the price of one, but at least its the same topic and professor.

This week I'm catching up on life, like bills, laundry, cleaning, and getting ready for the summer semester and moving. Ugh, moving. Oh and playing Plants v Zombies, which is only one of the best games ever.

Next week I start my summer internship which means I'll be working from 7-5pm. But at least from 1:30-5pm I'll be doing work that I love! I've been able to continue my internship at GW Special Collections Research Center working on the Riggs family papers. Until then, I will take advantage of every free second that I have being carefree and having fun!!

iphone smash

2010-05-07T16:09:00.005-04:00

Friday night Billy had a group of people over to enjoy his new deck and BBQ in the cool spring air. While we were hanging out, Billy received a text message and while in the process of checking his phone it slipped out of his hand and lightly tapped on his beer bottle. This tiny little insignificant movement, smashed the entire screen of his phone.

And made Billy very sad.

Luckily, its still been working! But eventually he will have to drop about $100 to get it fixed.

car update

2010-05-01T15:54:00.002-04:00

Its been 3 or 4 weeks since I picked up my car and almost 500 miles which meant time for an oil change. With a baby engine I have to take very good care of my car, and most importantly ensure that I can maintain the warranty.

What I had noticed the past few weeks was that my engine was running hot. Sometimes while driving I've had to blast the heat to cool down my engine, which makes for a warm spring drive rather uncomfortable. Not only that, my check engine light decided to say hello for a day and a half and my coolant light joined in on the fun.

Luckily, no problems! The mechanic said there was an air pocket in my coolant and they flushed that out, changed my oil and ran a diagnostic on my engine and discovered a sensor they didn't replace was bad. All for zero charge! I like free. The engine is happy and so is my car :)

i want a dragon

2010-04-29T15:03:00.006-04:00

A much deserved break was in order and Billy and I went to see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D on IMAX!

Highly recommended movie, esp in 3D. The main character Hiccup reminded me a lot my of cousin Connor. (He's such a nerd - love you Con!)

Of course there are amazing flight sequences that you know eventually will be implemented as a ride at some theme park, but the movie is entirely thrilling and exciting.

And now, I want my very own dragon to fly around on. I could be this chick, yaaah :)

bridal expo

2010-04-18T12:45:00.003-04:00

My classmate and friend Stacey recently became engaged (congrats Stacey!) and asked that Tywanna and I join her at a bridal expo that was being hosted on campus at the Patriot Center. The wedding will be next summer and in Texas, so she was mostly curious and wanted to go to look around for ideas. Unfortunately Tywanna wasn't able to join us, but Stacey and I went anyway. She had scored 2 free tickets, which rocked even more!

We were only there about an hour, checking out booths and tasting cakes. She didn't want to look at or try on any dresses since she has a lot of time to browse and think about what she'd like. It wasn't as packed as I thought it was going to be, or filled with any crazy brides. I wasn't expecting many men to be there, but there were a bunch. We had a lot of fun walking around and checking out bridal details. I really liked looking at the different invitation designs, and the photographs, but mostly enjoyed eating the cakes. There are some pretty good bakers in the DC area. Hopefully it didn't stress Stacey out more. Luckily, she has a lot of time to get things settled and soon will be back home in Texas for a bit with her bridal party and fiance where she can get more accomplished. Not bad for a first bridal expo experience, we had fun and got some delicious treats out of it!

go ninja, go ninja, go!

2010-04-14T12:38:00.002-04:00

After class I DROVE (woo car!) to Billy's to relax before starting it all again Thursday. Billy was finishing up taxes and I found Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the movie! on tv. This is what we watched. I was impressed that I still had most of the movie memorized. Memory space in my brain that could probably be better used for other useful bits of knowledge. I think I fell asleep toward the end, but I remember how awesome this movie is and it was a nice break to end the school week. Go ninja, go ninja, gooo!

have car

2010-04-13T12:35:00.002-04:00

I finally, finally was able to pick up my car today. Of course the day I could, it was raining. And not just a little raining, a lot of raining. So that made the drive less enjoyable and more frustrating. I have to get used to the new clutch and am a bit more cautious and paranoid now. Hopefully soon I'll get comfortable with my car again. Happy to have my car back though. Free to go where I like :) Yay for happy me and happy car!!

this is how it's done

2010-04-09T17:18:00.003-04:00

I was expecting to pick up my car early Saturday morning, April 10th. But at 4:55pm on April 9th I get a call from the mechanic, "you can't pick up your car tomorrow, we need another part. We're hoping by next Monday or Tuesday." By this point its been almost a month, it's the third or fourth random unexpected part they've "needed" for my car. How am I supposed to know if they're being truthful? So now I'm really frustrated and upset. I've gone almost a month without a car, bummed rides from many people (Billy, Tina, Stacey, Tywanna and hubby, and Jonna - you rock!) and had the expectation to get my car back three or four times only to find out AGAIN, it's not ready. On top of that, I have no idea how much they're going to charge me, and foresaw no additional help from my dad with the mechanic. (To his credit he IS in NH and incredibly busy, so it's difficult) But leaves me feeling really miserable, confused and frustrated. On top of this, of course I'm swamped with homework and have now lost all concentration.

Billy calls me to solidify plans for dinner and I tell him about my car. Unexpectedly, he says the most amazing things ever. He told me tomorrow he will talk with Sean and they will call the mechanic and figure out what the deal is with my car. He said I no longer have to worry about it because he will take care of everything. He is going to pick me up and take me out to dinner, where we will meet up with Shade and Summer and have a great time. He requested I not think or worry about the car and focus on having a good time, forget about the car, and school and he will figure everything out tomorrow.

I honestly didn't know what to say other than, ok. So, I did as he asked. He picked me up and we went out to dinner in Shirlington with Shade and Summer, and had a great evening. Afterward we went to their apartment to play Sequence! (which is an awesome game and of course, Summer and I kicked the boys butts!) We then relaxed and played Rock Band, and sometime after 1am Billy and I came back to my apartment.

Saturday morning, Billy took care of everything. He called Sean and gave him all the details. Sean called the mechanic and verified everything that was happening and eased my anxieties. They managed to get the mechanic to lower the price, and early next week I would have my car back. I can't really describe how I felt having Billy take care of me like that. It was amazing that he offered or even demanded to help, without my asking. It was one of the best moments I've experienced. I'm incredibly grateful and thankful for him.

easter

2010-04-04T16:59:00.001-04:00

Easter turned out better than I was expecting. First, Billy agreed to have bagel breakfast with me. For some reason he's not really a huge fan of the bagel shop. But I told him I was going to pick up bagels and he would get one and like it. When I came back from the bagel shop, I found Billy playing Plants v Zombies on my laptop. This is a game that Zach had recommended I play, and even provided the files for me! It is incredibly addicting, and I'm sad that I haven't been able to play thanks to school. (always in the way!! heh) I'm incredibly entertained that while Billy was using my laptop he happened to see the folder on my desktop and started playing out of curiosity. Well, instantly he was also addicted. Later that night I had to send him the files so he could continue to play at home on his laptop. To which, now he has already beaten the game AND started playing the mini-games and growing his zen garden. I'm so jealous. I can't wait to finish the semester so I can play more!

Billy kept me company for part of the the day while I did research for my cultural production paper, before he went home to have Easter dinner with his family. He was very sweet to invite me over to join them, but I had to continue working on my paper. I was going to go to Jonna's to have Easter dinner with her, but unfortunately felt too stressed to leave my spot of tormen, um homework. She was the sweetest ever and offered to come to my place to keep me company and cook Easter dinner AND dessert. I think I was so stressed about my paper and so grateful that I cried a little, I'm so lucky to have Jonna in my life! While at the grocery store she found fruity pebbles CUPCAKES - which we snacked on. Oddly it tasted similarly to cuppycakes, but crunchy. For dinner she made a delicious pasta with asparagus, pine nuts, garlic, and chicken. I ate a lot and it was amazing. For dessert she made a frozen chocolate banana cheesecake pie. There isn't one thing wrong with that dessert. It's cold, refreshing and melts in your mouth. Unfortunately I had to subject Jonna to the musical Bye Bye Birdie since it's what my paper was about and in it I referred to various scenes and songs. It made her sleepy, and sometime after 11pm she headed home.

All in all my Easter was significantly better than I was expecting :) (and I got a B+ on my paper which isn't too bad!)

spring has sprung

2010-04-03T16:40:00.005-04:00

Cherry blossoms are everywhere!! Last year I didn't get to see the cherry blossoms, due to cold, rain and school, so I was very excited when Billy told me that he and Shade were organizing a gathering of people to go. Saturday morning the weather was perfect, warm, and sunny, and it continued to be throughout the rest of the day. We left late afternoon and drove into the city. Driving wasn't the best idea, but metroing wasn't a good idea either. After a lot of wandering and calling, we finally met up with Shade, Summer, Jen, Paul, Jen, Billy, and Felix and wandered around the trees for a little over an hour. There were of course, hordes of people, but we managed to sneak in a few nice pictures and enjoy the scenery. My favorite part was getting my picture taken surrounded by daffodils! (well, one of my favorite parts. The day was too awesome to have just one favorite). Then billy and I had to run back to the car before the meter ran out, which of course we made it without a ticket or incident.

Afterward, a bunch of us went to the National Harbor to play at a dueling piano bar. First we managed to scavenge some dinner from the buffet at the Gaylord hotel, which was deliciously amazing and included a very impressive dessert bar. Then Shade, Summer, Spencer, Sherry, Paul, Jen, Billy and I shuffled over to Bobby McKeys. The bar was fun, but it wasn't really much of a dueling piano bar. They mostly played together which was entertaining, but I still think the piano bar in Baltimore was much better. It gets more exciting when the pianists battle it out to music. It's kind of like a real life musical that way. Two separate gangs or something. Giant towers of beer were ordered and consumed, which included flashing lights on top and a mini tap at the bottom. Shade and Paul made a diabolical plan, in which Spencer was called up on stage with many (interesting) women and did the hokey pokey. He showed us what it's all about, clap clap.

It was a great afternoon and evening that I thoroughly enjoyed NOT doing homework and getting face time with great people! I'm looking forward to the summer and more exciting nights to explore new places.

I've posted all these pictures on FB, once finals are over I'll move some to my gallery as well.

fail chicken divan

2010-04-02T10:22:00.000-04:00

After a really long week, and still not having a car, Billy picked me up at the Vienna metro. I was tired and hungry and we decided to stop at the grocery store to buy snacks and the mixings needed to make Chicken Divan.

It was already after 8pm so we decided to try to speed up the process by cooking the chicken on the stove. Well first, the chicken should've been cut into smaller pieces, so it really actually took longer than normal. And then it didn't taste right. I think it's because we grilled/fried the chicken on the stove so it didn't absorb the spices and flavors like it normally would when it's baked in the oven. Billy thinks it's because he was trying to be a little more healthy and bought fat free mayonnaise. Either way, it wasn't very good. I didn't think it was possible to make Chicken Divan that didn't taste good! But we definitely managed to do it. It was edible and really it tasted OK, but it was much too salty for me so I couldn't eat much of it. Luckily, we had also bought my favorite flavored ice cream (Ben and Jerry's Dublin Mudslide) at the grocery store. Which made up for everything :)

connor's 7th grade trip to DC

2010-03-30T10:04:00.000-04:00

My cousin Connor lives in Tampa FL and his 7th grade class took their required field trip to Washington, DC. My Uncle Roger, played chaperon to the kids for the few days they were exploring VA and DC. They called me up and we arranged to meet up when they had a few free hours to explore on their own. I metroed after work to the Smithsonian stop and hung around the National Mall waiting for their bus to arrive. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and I got to enjoy the magnolia's as well at the Smithsonian Castle garden. The day was chilly and windy, but the sun made it a little warm and tolerable.

My uncle had a few kids in tow along with him and Connor and they decided to check out the Air and Space Museum. There were thousands of people wandering around the National Mall and inside the museum. Everything was a fight, to push and shove in order to play/read exhibits. There were a few new exhibits since I had been last, which was neat to see and explore. They had a section about flight attendants from the 1960s and 70s and the requirements to be one of these beautys in the sky. The kids wanted to play on the flight simulators, so I hung out and played on Connor's DS while I waited. Those things make me so sick to my stomach! Connor bought some freeze dried ice cream, which is still just as gross as I remember, and some dog tags. He got "Connor Jaynes Playstation Master" on his tags, which is super lame and I made fun of him for getting it.

I left around 4:30pm because I had to metro home to have dinner and get ready for class. It was fun to see my cousin and uncle and play around in the museum :) I didn't have to pay a thing to visit with my family - I think they should come to visit me more often!

billy's beer pong tourny

2010-03-28T13:09:00.003-04:00

Billy hosted a beer pong tournament, complete with trophy's for the winning team. There were a lot of dudes and a lot of beer. I didn't participate in the contest, but did enjoy a cherry Lambic (split with Sherri) and watching the numerous teams play. He set up his entire garage with two tables, a giant cooler and a white board with a bracket for the event. (I organized the snacks, because I need them always, yum) The final round consisted of a 3 tiered beer pong challenge. Billy's brother, Ben, and his friend Matt won the cash and the trophy's. It was a looong afternoon, as I realized these tournaments take forever. Jen and I had to make a trip to the grocery store because everything was eaten and more food and snacks were needed. Don't worry, there was plenty of beer though. That never ran out! Afterward, some people stayed over to hang out, continue drinking and play games. Everyone had a lot of fun, and a lot of beer. Clean up the next day was interesting, but I think that means it was a successful event!

games galore

2010-03-21T12:09:00.004-04:00

Jen decided it had been a while since our last board game night, and promptly scheduled an event. It was a bit last minute for a lot of people, but there was still a pretty good sized group who made it. Dustin and Nancy came down from Baltimore, Shade, Summer, Billy and I drove up from VA and joined Jen, Billy and Ari in Bethesda for games!

We first played Cranium Pop 5 (my nemesis). I typically won't play this game without Jonna (she is the ultimate guesser), but I promised I wouldn't complain since I was too excited for a night out and a break from homework. We divided up the teams, boys vs girls. Ari was napping at this point, so we had an even number per team. Of course the girls won, but the boys did have a slight come back. The last few rounds were tense! Afterward we played Who Knew, where Ari joined us. It was fun trying to guess what people like. There are points, but it matters less who wins, also I forget who did win. I know that it wasn't me and Summer though. Once we finished that game, Shade and Summer taught us Kemp. It's a card game with partners. The game is similar to that of spoons. Everyone starts with 4 cards in their hand, and 4 cards face up on the table. For each card you pick up, you put one face up on the table. The object of the game is to get 4 of a kind and secretly signal your partner when you have a complete set. If you do, your partner has to say "Kemp!" and then you win. But, at the same time, you can trick others to try to guess when you have Kemp so they lose points. Billy and I rocked at this game and won (by a lot)!

It's really awesome having a bunch of friends that enjoy getting together for some games and competitive fun! (and getting a break from homework!)

relaxing night

2010-03-20T11:58:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it gets lonely sitting alone for hours on end doing homework. I always love it when Jonna asks me over to do homework and have dinner. This night, she made my favorite dish!! Spinach pasta with curry,tomtoes, apples and chicken. All the flavors together are just so delicious, and the apples crunch adds a little zing!

That same night some of my Grad friends were getting together for happy hour at Rockbottom. I got out of my internship late and vouched for doing homework at home instead of trying to rush over, when Jonna called me and invited me over. Stephanie was hoping to meet up with people late, but when she arrived no one was there! We're not sure if they left early or what, but instead we invited Stephanie over to Jonna's and the 3 of us enjoyed dinner and great company, while I managed to also get some homework done. Relaxing Friday nights are pretty awesome after a long work/school week :)

car :(

2010-03-15T09:43:00.000-04:00

I swear that I'm not stupid when it comes to cars. Sure I can't recognize all models, types etc, but I do know the important basics. My dad made sure to teach me 10 years ago! (I'm getting oooold. hah). Apparently, I had forgotten the importance and meaning of the oil light. I thought that it meant, "hey! it's time to change my oil!" and not "hey! I have no oil, pull over now before you hurt me!"

The light had come on Sunday and I didn't drive it again until Tuesday night. It was spring break and I had driven out to Billy's - also, Susan and I had lost power at the apartment and it wasn't expected to turn back on until after 8pm so Billy invited me over to hang out and provide electricity so I could continue to work on homework. I had decided to take the car in Wednesday after work to get the oil changed. IF I had taken it in Monday like I was initially planning, my poor car would never have broken, but my dad also thinks since it had over 100k and is 11 years old, there was something else wrong with my car that would make it lose oil so quickly. Either way, I'm still pretty sure a lot of it is my fault :(

At 5:15am I head out from Billy's and start my drive home, on 66E my car died. At mile marker 56! There were a lot of cars, and a lot of traffic. I luckily managed to glide my car over to the break down lane, and cry. I didn't have time to deal with a broken car, and had so much work to get done for class the next week (2 papers and a presentation). But I called AAA to tow my car to the Saturn dealer in Fairfax by campus and called Billy to pick me up. About an hour later, my car was on its way to the dealer and Billy dropped me off at home.

Apparently the Saturn dealership had closed. So now, I can't call anyone and have no idea where my car is. Luckily a Subaru dealer bought the Saturn dealer (since they don't even make cars anymore) and were able to work on GM cars, and called me 30 mins later to let me know they had my car. They asked what had happened and said they'd run some tests and call me back later. Their professional diagnosis "It has an internal failure." Um, yes. Thank you. I didn't get my car towed to you because it was working, I brought it to you because I ALREADY KNEW THAT! So they charged me $95 for nothing.

Then I proceed to call numerous mechanics to see if anyone would run more tests to more specifically diagnose the problem and provide me options. One guy was a complete asshole. Another guy laughed at me, and one was nicer and said they would take a look for free. I felt pretty miserable and took a break from calling mechanics. I talked with Jen online some and she said her Billy goes to a mechanic in Gaithersburg that she has used, who they both like and 2 of his friends work there as well. So I decided to give them a call. I spoke with Phil, who was amazing. He was so friendly and nice and didn't treat me like an idiot female. He had a tow company pick up my car, and said they would check it out for free.

And not surprisingly, I killed my motor. He said he wanted to investigate options and prices for a new/refurbished/used engine and would let me know what the options were. We decided (mostly my dad) that we would go for the refurbished engine. That means, it has 0 miles, 100k/3 year warranty - all parts and labor included, and increases the value of my car. They also have to replace my clutch, and with my AAA I get $100 off. So we're looking at around $3500 to fix my car (probably +/- $500). And now the waiting begins. I miss my car :(

portrait gallery

2010-03-07T09:27:00.002-05:00

I've never been to the National Portrait Gallery in China Town, but I have walked past it many times. Stephanie has been interning at the gallery and invited me to come visit when she was done with work to give me a tour! Also, I hadn't seen her since the end of fall semester, which is a stupid long time, and we needed to hang out!

I met up with her around 3:30pm, stuffed my coat into a locker and we were on our way. She gave me the full and complete tour! It was a lot of fun seeing portraits of people from our history, and actually knowing who they were and why having their portrait hanging in this museum was notable. She told me stories about some of the people, and we talked about the project she's working on. We made fun of the modern exhibits, because we don't appreciate them and their ridiculousness, and I saw all the portraits of our American Presidents. She was very excited to show me a specific portrait of Charles Peale. Anyone who had museum studies with us last semester knows - that I hate him. So she was entertained to share that with me :) And even though I hate him, I did appreciate the sentiment heh.

After we were finished with my private tour, we went to Vapiano (vampire) for dinner. We chat, chat, chatted for a few hours before I had to get back to homework and she was ready to head home and do nothing! (Having the schedules we have, doing nothing is the best anyone could ask for!) I'm working on bugging Stephanie more. It's less convienient now that we don't have any classes together, and she thinks she's so smart graduating this spring. BUT I'm hoping she gets a job in the DC area so she can stay local and move closer to the city!

cuppycakes with varun

2010-03-05T17:50:00.002-05:00

While I was in Morocco, Varun found a new cupcake bakery. He knew that he didn't want to go alone, and patiently waited for me to come back from my trip to take me along! We decided to also have dinner, which was Chipotle, which sometimes is exactly what you want. I drove to his apartment and then we headed out to Fairfax. It was quite the journey for cupcakes from Arlington.

The bakery is called Cupcakes Actually. I honestly think it's an odd name choice, but there it is. Varun bought many cupcakes to share with April and Mikaela after I went back home, and I bought 2. I bought red velvet and chocolate dipped in chocolate. Varun and I split the red velvet and it was OK. I think since was just before closing it was just good, and not amazing. I saved my other cupcake for the next day, but Varun shared his flourless chocolate cupcake with me. And let me tell you, that cupcake was amaaaazing. It melted in my mouth! I didn't know it was possible for cupcakes to do that! We decided we will have to make a trip out to Fairfax again to try more flavors, as they were apparently worth the drive.

internship processing

2010-03-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

I officially started my internship, and jumped right into it!

I'm learning the steps to processing a collection and started by creating a list of the items I found in each of the 10 boxes. The boxes range in size, and contain a wide range of materials. My favorite part of this collection are the correspondences. There are numerous letters that were written during World War II, and it's just amazing to read and hold these letters. Most of them were written in 1942-1945 and are in pretty good condition. Some of the letters are caked in dirt, and knowing that they were a part of the war is amazing to me. I haven't tried reading those yet, since they are dirty. I have to figure out how to salvage them from the dried mud. The oldest item I found was an accounting book from 1783. It was crumbling and falling apart, but I managed to get through some of the book and read its contents. There were also a series of diaries written by Thomas Riggs ranging from 1903-1913. He wrote normal every day facts like, I have the chicken pox and mom has quarantined me to my room. Read such and such book today. Saw these people, and went to town, etc. It's fascinating how something as simple as a diary can be so valuable and interesting.

The next steps involve creating a processing plan, and then figuring out how to store and preserve all these items. Wish me luck! I'm having a blast :)

The neat thing about being an unpaid intern, is that I can read anything and take my time. I can lose myself in the letters and photos and enjoy every moment processing the Riggs Family papers.

return to flemings

2010-03-01T17:59:00.001-05:00

Billy's company holiday party was at a restaurant called Flemings, in Tysons Corner. At the time they had given us $25 gift cards for our next visit, which expired February 28th. Shade and Summer some how managed to remember the cards were expiring and invited Spencer, Sherry, Billy and me to have dinner Sunday night.

Flemings is kind of like Ray's the Steaks, except there is also seafood, and a lot of it. I'm not really a fan of seafood, but they have a wide variety of meat and sides for the eating. The food was delicious, just as it was in December. We had steak and lots of sides. Billy got the special Flemings potatoes, and I got mushrooms (of course). We also had dessert, which Billy and I shared a chocolate lava cake and a slice of walnut caramel pie. We were all incredibly stuffed once we left. I have a lot of fun hanging out with Shade, Summer, Spencer and Sherry (sad that Sherry will be in Kenya soon for 2 months!) and am glad that they remembered about the gift cards! They were very handy once we received the check heh.

tagged with lasers

2010-02-27T17:29:00.002-05:00

The week after getting home from Morocco was tough. It took me a few days to get back into the EST, and I also managed to catch a chest cold. I have no doubt it was from either the bus, train, or the 4 flights I took to get home. It was pretty minor but of course as a result, I couldn't really talk. Billy's coworker Shade had planned a laser tag event! Friday night and I felt fine despite my voice and tagged along (ha ha) to dominate. Shade, Summer, a friend that lives in their building, Sherry, Spencer, Paul's girlfriend (I'm sorry I can't remember her name!), Jen, Billy, Billy Ho and I met up to play unlimited rounds of laser tag.

The place was packed with kids of all ages. It took over an hour before we got our first game in. But as it got later in the night, we were able to play more and wait a lot less time. Luckily they had video games to keep our attention while we waited. They've updated the technology since I played last (which I think was Brett's birthday party many years ago) and had a snazzy informational video we had to watch, every time before we played. I didn't have much for a voice, so I was pretty quiet and sneaky running around and shooting people. We had a lot of fun! We decided that next time we would rent out the place for the night and play a lot of games with friends instead of strangers.

Afterward we went to Shade and Summers apartment aaannnd I don't really remember what we did. I know we stopped at 7-11 to get some beer, and Billy got me a delicious hot chocolate to soothe my frog like throat. This is also when I took some cough medicine, which made me sleepy. I remember the Olympics were on tv and we were all hanging out and chatting. At some point I fell asleep on Billy on one of the nicest couches. I remember hearing people talking, I think they played Pictionary for a while. Shade and Billy dominated so it ended quickly. At some point I was sound asleep, and Billy decided we would stay the night at their apartment. I woke up on an air mattress next to Billy which he apparently he carried me to while I slept and I didn't even notice!

The next morning (although I think it was after noon), Shade and Summer made us a delicious breakfast. We had eggs, bacon and homemade biscuits and gravy! I told Shade about my uncle Roger's chocolate gravy recipe, which is amazing, and he said he'd be willing to try it out. We left around 2-3pm, to which they napped, and Billy and I continued to his place to nap. It was a lazy Saturday :) I clearly didn't get much homework done that day, but I made up for it Sunday.

tangier 02.19-21.10

2010-02-21T09:40:00.028-05:00

We started our day with excitement. We were headed to our next destination! Had a delicious last breakfast in Fes, grabbed some cabs and headed to the train station. And then we found out, the train isn't running to Tangier. It had been raining sooo much, that the train tracks were flooded and covered with mud and dirt and debris. After some translating and maneuvering, we determined that the train was running as far as Kenitra and from there we could take a bus the 3-4 hours further to Tangier. At this point we were mostly concerned with making it back to Marrakesh the night of February 20th in order to catch our first flight toward heading home early the 21st. We decided to risk it, and figured we would take the bus from Tangier and hop the overnight train at Kenitra and pray we make it to Marrakesh on time. Worst case, we buy new tickets and fly from Tangier. Eric and Brie were the masterminds while Janine and I went along for the ride.

We hop the train, and play Harry Potter style again. It was raining, of course. But the sky was so dark on one side of the train, and incredibly sunny on the other. The landscape was absolutely amazing, and we even saw a rainbow. The train moved incredibly slowly, as the water level was high and there were men manually digging out the train tracks. We kept ourselves busy, had snacks, and then it was time to get off the train. Well, so we thought. Apparently Kenitra has two stops, and we ended up getting off at the wrong one. What happened was, we rushed to get off the train. The train started moving before we could get off. Eric hopped off, Janine hopped off, the train is speeding up, I hop off, take a few steps and completely fall and slide along the train platform, and of course after me Brie hops off and lands perfectly. I completely suck! I felt like a huge idiot. My knees had already been impairing my ability to keep up I really didn't need cuts and bruises to add on to it. I blame all the heavy bags I was carrying and that I was off balance. I know that Eric took a picture of me afterward, and Janine was being a mom and cleaning my wounds. It was an experience and one that only I could pull off! So after my trip (har har) we hopped on another train, to get to the next station that we should've gotten off at, and I successfully got off that train without any incident.

We caught the bus which amazingly ended up being not that bad. Also, there wasn't a bathroom on the bus, so another good reason to dehydrate hah. It was packed with people, but it wasn't incredibly smelly or gross. It was rather comfortable, although tiny. Also, apparently the bus driver will pull over and stop if you are hungry and have left your sandwich in your bag under the bus. Because that's what he did, pulled over so this lady could get her sandwich. She was thrilled, the rest of us were confused. We arrived late in Tangier and caught a cab to our final hostel. It was gooorgeeeoousss, and warm. Had clean bathrooms, and showers with shower curtains! (all the others were just a drain and a slight ceramic tiled base. It was really interesting trying to shower without getting everything wet. Also because most of the shower heads weren't attached to the wall. And I think that the shower in Fes was electrocuting me because every time I adjusted the water temperature my entire arm was pins and needles and felt odd. Probably also bad that I was standing in a puddle of water.) After we ran around the hostel and took pictures, we were famished and decided to go hunting for food.

Tangier is the most modern of the 3 cities, so they have places open late and alcohol. We wandered down by the pier for a while and eventually found a place to eat, and by that point we were so hungry we ate everything we could think of to order. We didn't get back to the hostel until around midnight and we immediately crashed. Our final day in Morocco was going to be incredibly busy because we had to see anything and everything in Tangier before we headed home.

I woke up and showered in the most amazing shower, and headed to the top floor for breakfast. It was a gorgeously amazing day. The sun was shining, the weather was warmer (going to be in the 60s again, with some rain. Brie said "partly cloudy" to which my response was "that means it'll be partly sunny!") and we had an amazing view from our table. We met with our guide in the lobby, his name is Mustafa (Mufasa- ish. It always made me think of the Lion King). And he had an action packed day planned for us. Mustafa was incredibly nice, had a great sense of humor, and by the end of the day we had all bonded with him. He even gave Eric his own scarf that he had admired so much, it was very sweet. We started driving around in a van and saw a few mosques, and local houses. Tangier is actually very similar to California. It's on the coast and just incredibly gorgeous. We went to a lighthouse that doesn't have electricity. There is a family that lives there and has to manually light a fire at the top of the lighthouse for boats on the water. Pretty crazy. The view from the lighthouse was looking out over the ocean. It was breezy and sunny and just perfect. Afterward, we got to RIDE CAMELS! (be careful, they spit!) Brie was incredibly excited as she didn't expect to get to ride camels or even really see any (other than the one Eric ate). We all got to ride camels and have a walk along the beach. It was really bumpy, and when the camel stood up or laid down, it was like going up and down on a seesaw. We went to Hercules' Grotto, which is a cave made mostly by water over a long long time. Mustafa took us to the local Casaba (rock the casaba!) which is mostly just businesses and residences and a few shops. For lunch he took us to a local place, that tourists would never go. The food was absolutely delicious. Everything we ate in Morocco was amazing, and also amazing that none of us had gotten sick during the trip. We went to a museum where they had significantly better preservation methods. They also had the best presentation of artifacts. We went to the Continental Hotel, which supposedly was where the movie Casablanca was filmed after. They even said they had the piano from the movie there, but I'm not entirely sure. I'll have to watch the movie again to verify. That evening we had coffee on the roof of the hostel, enjoying the view and relaxing before we began our trip back home. Mustafa joined us and we chatted with him about Morocco and what he thought of his home.

Luckily our entire trip home was pretty uneventful. Loooong, as over 24 hours long, but at least uneventful. We took the bus to Kenitra and got into the train station around midnight. Our train left at 2 or 3AM, and all we could do was sit around and wait. It was chilly and uncomfortable, but we entertained ourselves while we waited. Once we got onto the train and found our sleeper car, Brie and I changed into PJs and sprawled out. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep almost immediately. I'm pretty lucky where I can fall asleep just about anywhere. The train ride was at least 7 hours, and I did actually have to use the bathroom on the train this time. BUT luckily, it wasn't as bad as I feared. It even had toilet paper! Our train arrived around 8am in Marrakesh and we rushed (and I managed not to fall off the train) to catch a cab and get to the airport. The airport was really annoying. We were tired and people were being pushy. We had more luggage going home and Eric was trying to not have to check anything. We ended up having to check a few bags and I was stopped at the security gate because they thought my bag was too big. In reality, I'm just small and my bag was the perfect size. I told them 3 times that I wasn't going to check my bag and they were going to let me through, and they finally did. Then through security they searched through my entire bag and asked me if I had fire. Really, fire. In my bag. Of course I didn't have fire in my bag, and they eventually let me through. Again at the gate, to get onto the plane I was stopped. By this point, I really wanted out of Morocco. She told me I had to check my bag, I told her no I didn't, 3 times. Apparently repeating something 3 times is the magic number in Morocco because she let me through. Finally we boarded the first plane to Barcelona, and on the way onto the plane I notice Mike was in front of me. Mike was our friend from Ireland who also stayed at our first hostel in Marrakesh. He also ended up sitting next to Eric, small world! We caught up with him (and my bag fit perfectly on the plane mind you, like I knew it would) and enjoyed a slightly turbulent flight to Spain.

We had a few hours in Barcelona before we had to board our next plane to Paris. We got food, and it was amazing. Even for airport food, by that point we were so hungry and my snack supply was low. We also, washed our faces and brushed our teeth. It's the little things that make life good. And, being able to drink from the faucet was also refreshing, having clean bathrooms, toilet paper and soap! I ended up sitting in business class to Paris, and had the entire row to myself. It was comfy and I did more reading for class. Eric came up to visit with me for a bit, and there was a baby in the seat in front of me, but she was cute and almost quiet. Went spent probably about an hour in Paris, which was so sad. Soooo close! And most of that time was spent walking to the gate and getting our bags searched about 3 times before getting on the next plane, where apparently my seat was in business class, which might as well been first class honestly. I had a giant seat that reclined, a special dinner and champagne and drinks and you name it I had it! I felt kind of badly because Brie, Eric and Janine were all the way in the back, and I was lonely without them. I found that when you spend so much time with people, being alone again sucks. At least the guy who sat next to me was really friendly and we had fun chatting and watching movies. During some of the flight to NY I snuck back and hung out with Brie, Eric and Janine. Brie and Eric were drunk and dressed up as super heroes! using blankets and eye covers and it was a lot of fun. Once we landed in NY I had to run off the plane and through customs, I had less than an hour to catch my next flight to DC. My knees were screaming in pain with every step but I managed to make it onto the plane. I slept the entire flight home (which was only about an hour). The moment I got home I threw out my sneakers, put all my clothes in my hamper and showered. I slept about 3-4 hours and showered again before heading into work. It was amazing to be back in a clean shower, clean clothes and in my bed!

This was an AMAZING FABULOUS WONDERFUL trip and I had the best time. I can't believe how well everything worked out and how well the 4 of us managed to get along. We laughed soo hard and soo often throughout the entire trip, my abs were incredibly sore. I love all the pictures and the memories and am incredibly grateful I was able to go to Spain and Africa with Brie, Eric and Janine.

View more pictures from Tangier here! and Brie ROCKS (the casaba) for helping me with corrections!! D8>

fes 02.17-19.10

2010-02-19T23:10:00.015-05:00

We spent most of our time in and around Fes. The train ride took 7+ hours from Marrakesh to Fes. We were Harry Potter stylin' (again) on the train. It wasn't nearly as nice as the Hogwarts Express however, and occasionally we had to share our car with random people. I got yelled at in French once by a women who was angry that I put my feet up on the seat. I should've thought about it more with the differences in cultures, we're pretty sure I insulted her. So I think whatever it was she yelled at me was probably deserved. She said it so fast and stern I couldn't pick up anything. I also blame getting up at 3:30am for my lack of thinking. Besides that, the train ride was uneventful. I slept some, listened to music and played DS. I managed not to use the bathroom on the train at all! (which we tried to avoid as much as possible - using bathrooms. The end result was that the 4 of us pretty much dehydrated ourselves silly. But if you saw the bathrooms and smelled the things we smelled, I'm pretty sure you would too!)

Once we arrived in Fes we cabbed to the Medina. Luckily at this city, they send someone from the hostel to meet you and bring you back. That way, no one will harass you and it was greatly appreciated. We instantly liked Fes waaaaay better than Marrakesh. It was cleaner (except for donkey droppings all over the place), the people were much less harassing, still a lot of people and bikes on the roads but NO motorcycles. It is amazing how much more relaxing and enjoyable Fes was just because of not having one mode of transportation continually buzzing around you. It had rained the entire first day, which was our trip on the train and getting settled into Fes. It was decided that once we got to the hostel and got settled in our rooms, that I was going to stay at the hostel while Eric, Janine and Brie went to explore Fes. My left knee was feeling really painful this day and really needed a rest. I wasn't going to be missing out on a lot since we were planning on hiring a guide a few days later. Of course our room was on the 3rd floor, and going down stairs was entirely painful, it took me a few minutes usually, but slowbot always made it down!

So Eric, Janine and Brie went to explore Fes, in the rain. I did homework (seriously, I did. I brought some reading along for my classes) and then took a very nice nap. The 3 returned after a few hours and brought snacks! They found delicious pastries on the street, and cornbread cut in half slathered in honey and cheese - it was amazing. I would eat this everyday for breakfast while we were in Fes. Warm, fresh baked bread mind you, oh yes. That night we found a local "club" more like a bar. But the 4 of us were sooo happy to go. It was clean, warm, they actually had alcohol, food and a European flare. We each felt a little like we were back at home, and after a long day of traveling and being in the rain, we were happy to have that little bit of comfort. We spent the rest of the night in Eric's room; relaxing, filling out postcards, listening to music, watching tv and I made it rain Durhams (Moroccan monies).

We claimed a grand taxi for all of Thursday to explore the area around Fes. Our driver took us first to Meknes, then to Moulay Idriss and finally with the gorgeous setting sun and end of our day trip, Volubilis. Meknes was a bit more modern and filled with people. We saw a giant gate to a mosque and explored a museum. This museum was slightly better than the ones we saw in Marrakesh. I believe they did however use thumbtacks, THUMBTACKS, to pin a very old hand written Koran to a billboard. Yah. Heartbreaking! We didn't spent much time in Meknes because we really wanted to get to Volubilis before dark. Moulay Idriss is a small town built kind of in a mountain and 5km (less than 5 miles!) from Volubilis. We hired a guide to take us on a tour of Moulay Idriss, where they really had the most amazing view. The only downside, we had to climb up a lot of stairs, a lot of stairs. Remember my knee? Right. Going back down was a slow process for me. Janine was sweet to be my human crutch and help me walk down the hundreds of stairs, and Eric and Brie had amazing patience for my slowbot-ness. And of course documented it, they love me. The guide offered to get me a donkey (although I'm sure he wasn't serious) and told me not to worry because Volubilis was very flat, hah. He bought us some fresh oranges from one of their markets to take with us when we left. And finally, the place we were all waiting for, Volubilis.

What IS Volubilis? Well, it's ancient Roman ruins. A brief description: It is a North African archaeological site, located near Fès in the Jebel Zerhoun Plain of Morocco. Under the Mauretanian king JubaII in the 1st century bc and the 1st century ad, Volubilis became a flourishing centre of late Hellenistic culture. Annexed to Rome about ad 44, it was made a municipium (a community that exercised partial rights of Roman citizenship) as a reward for supporting Rome during the revolt of Aedmon, and it became the chief inland city of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana... in other words, these ruins are OLD. And amazing. We really couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. It was sunny and the warmest we'd felt yet (mid 60s). We hired a tour guide who told us the history of the mosaics and the ruins, and made jokes. He was pretty funny, catering to us crazy Americans. We were able to get the best pictures with the sun shining and the sun set. Our drive back to Fes was in the dark, but we'd had a very long and amazing day. Once we were back in Fes, we decided to head out for dinner and went to Cafe Clock, so Eric could eat a camel burger. It was giant and he let me taste some, and it tasted a lot like venison. Cafe Clock is very European, so it was clean and the food was amazing. We spent a few hours that night enjoying the food and warmth, and finished the night on the roof top admiring the view of Fes at night and enjoying delicious desserts with mint tea. We also made friends with a stray cat (there were many cats everywhere) and named it after the only Moroccan word we learned which was cactus (don't ask me to spell it in Arabic, because I can't)

On Friday we arranged for a tour of Fes, our last full day. Our tour guide Aziz strolled by the hostel with his American fiance (who was entertaining. She was really demanding and always calling Aziz and yelling why wasn't he done touring and with her instead!) and we arranged to meet up once we'd gotten some breakfast. A girl who was staying in our hostel from Finland (I think..) and now I can't even remember her name, awful! Joined us for part of the tour. It was her first day and our last, so she quickly got bored of our antics and Eric's desire for shopping. I feel like this day was a whirlwind. We walked a lot, and I did my best to keep up, and saw a lot. Aziz made sure to show us the real Fes, and we met a lot of people. Eric bought 4 teapots from this one guy, who kept offering us tea and snacks, which were pretty good. Aziz's aunt hosts international students in her home, and he brought us to her house for a deliciously amazing home cooked lunch. We bought all kinds of things on our tour of Fes, blankets, ceramics, leather bags and of course the tea pots. We saw a tannery, which smelled AWFUL. There were mint leaves that Brie found that didn't even help mask the disgusting smell (even when inserted directly into nose). Our trip to see ceramics was one of my favorite parts of the day. We got to see the entire process for the pottery they make in Fes, which is the best in Morocco. Once we were in the ceramic shop it was really difficult to decide what to buy! There were soo many gorgeous pieces. It was a really really long day, and Brie and I were glad when the tour was over. We were hungry and tired, desired warmth and dry clothes. It was always raining! We went to Cafe Clock again that night to enjoy some food and relax. We decided that instead of waking up early to catch the train to Tangier, we would sleep in a little and take our time, have a delicious breakfast, say goodbye to Fes and gear up for our final destination in Morocco.

For many more pictures from our adventures at/around Fes, Brie has them all posted in 3 albums here!

marrakesh 02.14-17.10

2010-02-17T11:05:00.012-05:00

We were immediately thrown into the thick of Morocco. We hopped into a cab and headed over to the hostel we were staying in. Of course the roads inside the old city were much too small for the cab, we had to walk the rest of the way to the hostel. Immediately we were swarmed by men who wanted to help us and show us where to go. But this, is what maps are for! (and also maps don't demand money when you've reached your destination). The 5 of us are carrying our stuff, which results in drawing a lot of attention from the locals. We are already obviously tourists, hello blond hair, but the bags just make it worse. Two dudes followed us around for a while "guiding us" and we try to avoid them. Doesn't work. Brie had her blackberry and we used GPS to find our hostel. We ended up not having to pay the two dudes, but the entire first hour of being in Morocco was a bit stressful. It was nice to be inside the hostel and away from the pushy people outside. This hostel was called Equity Point. It was really gorgeous and large. Janine, Brie and I had almost a private suite. Our second night we had a guest, Andrew from Australia, who seemed friendly and nice. Unlucky for him the next day we left at 3AM and made a bunch of noise, but at least he was able to sleep once we left. Brie and I slept upstairs, and Janine took one of the beds on the first level. Everywhere we went there were stairs. This proved to be a nightmare to my poor knees, and the creation of slowbot!

We were starving and Eric had gotten better local maps and directions, so we were ready to head out and explore Marrakesh. We took pictures of the hostel and of the way to get back to the hostel for when we were done exploring. But even though we did this, both nights we got lost. The second night wasn't as bad as the first night though. We wandered foreeevvveeerr. I honestly don't know how long, but we walked back and forth, up and down, left and right, these souks are like a maze and incredibly difficult to navigate. A lot of the souks look the same, which didn't help us either. What also made Marrakesh difficult was on these tiny roads in the city there are cars, vans, donkeys, cats, motorcycles, bikes, people; all moving about in every direction. It was seriously amazing that none of us were hurt. People zoom past with 1-2 people per tiny motorcycle, push carts filled with crap into everything, we were constantly pulling at each other to ensure we weren't in the way of passing traffic.

The food was pretty good in Marrakesh. They had delicious and interesting shakes, like Avocado juice. Which was creamy and yum. Looked kind of like bad eggnog or something, very odd coloring. For dinner the first night we tried a pastilla - with squaaab (pigeon) - and it was amaaazing (the only weird thing is the bones were still on the squab, so it made it interesting to eat). A pastilla is a pie which combines sweet and salty flavors; a combination of crisp layers of the crêpe-like dough, savory meat slow-cooked in broth and spices and shredded, and a crunchy layer of toasted and ground almonds, cinnamon, and sugar. I think pastilla was my favorite dish. I had another one in Tangier, but with chicken, and it was so sweet and flavorful. The pastries we got from the street were mostly good, a few were meh. But the coconut, chocolate, pistachio was delicious. The next morning we had an amazing home made breakfast at the hostel. There were doughnut type pastries, bread with cheese and jam and delicious fresh squeezed orange juice. We were very disappointed we couldn't enjoy another breakfast at Equity Point. We left far too early the next morning. Our second night we ate in the main square with some people from the hostel, Mike, Vladamir, and Corrin. Brie and I shared chicken and veggie kabobs and Eric ate pancreas with Ed and Corrin. Grooosss. This was also the night that Mike was told "you are everything that is stupid!" by one of the vendors because we were ignoring them. We used this phrase often throughout the rest of our trip, and even upon returning home. It's pretty amazing, it includes anything and everything. How can you argue with that?

We spent a lot of time wandering the souks and contemplating buying things. I did buy some spices for Jonna and a pashmina for myself. It is orange and has a very ornate design. We decided to wait to buy more items since we still had a lot of time left in Morocco. In the market we also saw a snake charmer, which Brie was very excited about. I took her and Eric's pictures with the snakes, but was content to take pictures and watch.

In Marrakesh we saw a lot of really old buildings, tombs, museums and a school. Brie took many pictures, which are amazing, of everything that we saw. I of course, don't remember the names of things to share. The best part of Marrakesh was the university. It was incredibly detailed and old, and it was the best because we were able to run around and take fun pictures. It was like Harry Potter at Hogwarts, and we pretended to be schoolmates. At one of the museums there was a tile "well". It wasn't a real well because it wasn't deep, but we played The Ring, and pretended to have 7 days. The museums mostly made me sad. They were really neat, because most of them were in old homes that used to be palaces. They were really interesting themselves as a building, it was additional bonus that there was history included inside. What made me sad, was the method of preservation and the state of their collection. Everything is just sitting out, maaaybe in a glass case. And even then, it's definitely not temperature controlled. It does get ridiculously hot and gross in Marrakesh, and just thinking about how these pieces of their history are actively being destroyed. Obviously they have limited means and knowledge in how to best preserve and maintain a museum, but still.

We were pretty tired of all the rain and the pushy people and the souks, so we were glad when it was time to move on to Fes. We packed up everything and headed out around 3:30AM to head to the train station to catch our 7+ hour train ride to Fes!

For many more pictures from Marrakesh, Brie has them all posted here!

the beginning: barcelona 02.11-14.10

2010-02-14T12:07:00.009-05:00

The snow created some problems for the beginning of my trip to Barcelona and Morocco. My flight on Thursday was canceled, of course. This was a very big deal. Eric came to my rescue, and made a bunch of phone calls and managed to book me on a new flight to JFK. Unfortunately, this flight was from BWI (just over an hour from my apartment). The metro and buses weren't running to the airport, and my car was completely buried from 2 consecutive snow storms, and I wasn't about to try to shovel it out (I left for my trip with my car completely covered and trapped, and when I returned there was only a slight pile of snow left that took me less than 30 minutes to clear). Billy saved the day! And got permission to leave work to drive me to BWI to catch my flight, he said he'd do anything I needed to get me to my flight :) We made it to BWI without any problems and I was off to JFK.

Wandered around that airport to board my next flight to Barcelona. This was a red-eye flight, and I watched The Invention of Lying before napping for the rest of the flight. I woke up a few times, but overall the flight was uneventful and uncomfortable, which makes it a good flight. I arrived in Barcelona around 7AM (+6 hour time difference). I expected Brie, Eric and Janine to arrive a few hours after me, except they didn't. After waiting around for a few hours and trying to figure out where the hell their flight was, I decided to call Brie's cell phone and hope that she had it on. Luckily, she did! They were in Madrid, and were expected to arrive in Barcelona around 2:45PM. At this point it was around noon, so I had a few more hours to myself, in the airport. I made some friends with people who worked at the airport, had lunch, napped and played Legend of Zelda on my DS. I found the gate they would be arriving and FINALLY they arrived!

And we were off! We left the airport and found the bus that would take us into the city, so we could find our hostel for the next 2 nights. We found it pretty easily and once we got settled, set out to explore Barcelona. First, it was colder than I was expecting. I was glad I brought my hat! I hadn't had much time before leaving to do as much research and preparing as I should have, thanks to school (and the fact that I was blowing off class for a week, and my trying to keep up with each class schedule so I wouldn't be behind once I was back home) but I managed just fine. We mostly walked around that night, ate tapas for dinner and started our montage of pictures. We explored also to a local bar with a live jazz band, which was pretty hoppin'. I had forgotten that we are spoiled Americans, and everyone in Barcelona can smoke wherever they want. By the end of the show, we all smelled of delicious cigarette smoke and beer, but was worth it as we all really enjoyed the music.

The next morning I woke up last and had to rush to get ready. Eric and Brie told me they forgot to wake me up, and I sleep really soundly so I didn't hear a thing. But they were nice to wait for me before heading out to breakfast. I didn't pack my rain jacket to bring with me as we headed out for the day, and this turned out to be a really bad idea. It was drizzling, but not too badly initially that I didn't think I'd need it. We set out for a full day of walking and exploring of Barcelona. I bought a new pair of hobo gloves that were only 1 euro. We explored churches, parks and buildings. We bought delicious food at this very large outdoor market. I had a warm and toasty crepe with some sort of meat, cheese and tomato. By the end of the day it started raining more consistently, and my left knee started being a pain, literally. We decided to try for a restaurant that had been recommended to us and hopped the metro. There was a parade in honor of Carnival at the metro stop, and also wintry mix - sleet, rain, etc. This is where I really wished I had my rain jacket. Limping to the restaurant, I am now soaking wet and irritated with my knee, and we find the restaurant is closed. Not only that, but the metro is packed from people watching the parade and wanting to escape the awful weather. More hobbling along to another metro, we finally make it back to the area where our hostel was. We ate deliciously warm foods, as we were starving by this point, and were glad to be back inside with warmth and dry clothes. We had to get up early to head to the airport for our flight to Marrakesh, so we stayed in and prepped for our next destination.

We decided to get breakfast at the airport and arrived pretty early. We had delicious fresh orange juice (yes, at the airport!) and croissants and fruit. I bought a pretty red watch from the airport, as I had extra euros and I wanted it (at the time I didn't realize how loudly this watch "tick, tocks" I guess that makes it a successful watch?). The flight was pretty quick and we excitedly landed in Africa! I wish I had spent more time brushing up on my French skills before we went, but I think I managed well enough to get us by. Upon leaving the airport, we quickly began our next destination adventure!

For many more pictures from Barcelona, Brie has them all posted here!

have snow, more!

2010-02-10T09:50:00.000-05:00

As if one snow storm wasn't enough, meteorologists called for another 10"-18" the following Tuesday. The DC metro area barely had time to recover from the first snow storm of 2'-4', before being slammed again with more snow!

Again, would've been more excited about all this snow had it not canceled the entire week of classes at George Mason, and also canceled and impacted my initial flight to JFK for my trip to Barcelona and Morocco. Ok, so I was excited to not have class. And instead of using that time wisely, I definitely relaxed and enjoyed the snow and company!

The orange line had just been reopened past Ballston (above ground lines), and I took advantage of this as I metroed out to Vienna where Billy picked me up after work. We prepared ourselves for another snowed in evening and Wednesday! We both worked from his townhouse that Wednesday, in pajamas and comfort. I finished working at noon, and made a french toast brunch for me and Billy. I did also manage to get some reading done, as after my trip I had to lead class discussion and wanted to have as much work done as possible, and Billy had to work an entire day so I had to keep busy without being too distracting! The rest of the evening we enjoyed my class being canceled, and not having anywhere to go.

I definitely welcome more snow to DC.. next year, but now I'm ready to welcome spring and warmth.

snowy south

2010-02-08T09:44:00.010-05:00

Abnormal for the South (and yes I do consider DC, MD and VA the South for many reasons, one of which being they exist below the Mason Dixie Line!) we received forecasts of snow, and lots of it! Friday afternoon I hopped the metro, not wanting to risk taking my car, to Vienna where Billy picked me up. It was later in the afternoon and it had already started snowing significantly. Before getting snowed in at Billy's townhouse, we stopped quickly at the grocery store, which was mostly empty of all food, to pick up some snacks and items for the weekend and for superbowl on Sunday. That night I made Chicken Divan, and it was warm and delicious. It was a perfect night for relaxing and nesting while watching the snow fall.

Saturday morning it was still snowing and piling up fast! Once the snow slowed down we decided to get dressed up in our snow gear and play in the snow. Billy has a Tahoe with excellent ability to destroy snow, so we decided to free his truck and drive around the neighborhood. We also went to the grocery store for some snacks and much desired hot chocolate mix. On the way, Craig tied an extension cord to the back of Billy's Tahoe and skied to the store behind the truck. He took the speed bumps with great ease and style! Saturday was also Sean's birthday, and the boys had planned on a night out at the bars to celebrate. Seeing as how we were all snowed in, their bar choices were limited. They did however manage to find a bar, and set out for a night of fun. I stayed at Billy's in warmth, unfortunately doing homework, but waiting for the boys to call me when they were ready to be picked up. I ended up only picking up Billy from the bar, as on our way out Sean and Ryan were distracted and intent on staying longer.

Sunday morning was sunny and beautiful. I enjoyed taking pictures and watching Billy shovel his driveway while I worked on more homework. Sean and Ryan showed up with delicious doughnuts for breakfast, and the rest of the day we spent relaxing and waiting for the superbowl. A bunch of people were able to make it through the snow and watch the superbowl at Billy's. There were a lot of snacks, good food and beer for everyone, and luckily no one was stranded before or after the game. Spencer and Sherry braved the snow to enjoy warm showers, as Spencer's apartment had been without power since Friday evening.

It was very tricky getting back home after the storm, to which I found my car completely buried in snow, and trapped (my car is the one covered in snow on the left, with many feet of snow trailing behind). I haven't seen this much snow since living in Rochester, NY and it was a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind storms like this happening in DC more often, with the exception that DC, MD and VA don't know how to deal with all the snow and it caused the entire city to close down, and mess with my class schedule. But I enjoyed the weekend with billy and all the snow, and it was worth the chaos it caused!

More pictures in my gallery!

internship assignment

2010-02-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

For my archives class we were given the option of selecting a topic and writing a paper OR selecting a practicum and writing a paper about that experience. Since my desire is to work in archives, of course I would pick the practicum! (even though it means I lose even more time in my busy schedule)

I've worked on digital archives before at Pratt&Whitney and Sony Pictures in LA, so I was hoping for an internship that allowed me to work hands on with documents and things. I received an email from my professor with my assignment and I couldn't be more excited!! I'm going to meet with Jenny, who will be my supervisor and start hours after my trip to Morocco.

Here is a description of what I'll be doing!!! I can't wait to get started!! :D

George Washington University's Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) hold the Riggs Family Papers and recently received some additional materials from the Riggs family. The Riggs family has been a prominent Washington family for two centuries. The new materials include account books, diaries, glass plate negatives, photographs, and artifacts. We are seeking a practicum student to survey the materials, arrange and properly house them with guidance from the ManuscriptsLibrarian, and to add the new data to our existing finding aid.

delicious breakfast

2010-02-01T16:50:00.002-05:00

Jonna texted me Sunday mid morning asking to join her for breakfast at the Boulevard Wood Grill. She'd heard great things and was in the mood to go, so why not?! Billy and I walked up and met Jonna at the restaurant, for what was an amazing breakfast. The silly thing, I've lived in Arlington for almost 5 years now (wow, really?) and never been to this restaurant. It's wicked close to my apartment and I've heard really good things, it's really a shame that its taken me this long to go. The wait wasn't too bad for a Sunday brunch, but even if it was, it would've been well worth it!

Jonna and I both got the delicious grand hotel french toast, it was soo crunchy and oozing with syrup. Billy had some sort of omelet egg thing, that I don't really remember because it didn't sound appetizing at all (sometimes I wish I liked eggs more). He also had a bloody mary that arrived with a spiced shrimp. It was a very relaxing brunch, and I'd definitely go again! But it's a bit more on the pricey side, so I'll save it for special occasions.

long distance movie night #2

2010-01-29T16:45:00.002-05:00

Nora, Amy and I decided to have another long distance movie night! Nora picked the movie, Mamma Mia. Amy and I had both seen it before when I went up to VT early February last year, but both wanted to watch it again with Nora. We decided to watch it with lyrics so we could also sing along. I love these nights because I get a break from school and also time with my bestests. Not sure when the next movie night will be, but it's Amy's turn to pick out a movie!!

This is my favorite song from the movie :) Enjoy!

crowded streets and mongolian barbeque

2010-01-25T09:58:00.002-05:00

Without much of a plan, at last minute it was decided to head out to Fairfax to the bar Fat Tuesdays to see Crowded Streets (Dave Matthews cover band). The main reason we drove out to Fairfax, was because Bruno plays in this band, so we went out to support the group and have a good time. Jen and Billy drove down from MD, and I met up with Billy Ho, Ryan and Sean in Centreville and we carpooled over. It's a really good thing we drove over in Billy's car, because by the end of the night I had to get the three boys into the car and back to Billy's.

The band was really good! I've slowly found myself liking Dave Matthews more and more. And of course, it's always entertaining to watch Bruno play. Molly and a few of their friends were also there, and we joined them. There was an eclectic group of people at the bar, and they provided much entertainment. Billy Ho, Billy, Sean and Ryan were content to spend the night drinking and of course doing shots. So by the time it was last call, they were all trashed. Jen was lucky and only had to manage Billy, I had these three boys and knew it would be entertaining.

Some how I managed to get Billy Ho, Sean and Ryan into the car. We were close to George Mason campus so I knew a long route to 66W to get to Billy's, but I didn't know how to get there by side roads (Braddock Rd). I should probably still learn how to do that, but typically in my car I at least have my GPS. So I started out with Billy's instruction, and shortly after they request a stop so they can pee. Once they've all piled back into the car, Billy passes out in the front seat, Sean keeps requesting we stop for cigarettes and Ryan makes a few phone calls (that he shouldn't have made). Of the four of us, Billy is the only one who knows the area, I have no idea where I'm going, and he's out cold. You'd think, having three iPhones in the car someone would be able to use the map to figure out where we are and how to get to Billy's. No, they don't. It doesn't help Sean and Ryan are drunk, but on top of that they wouldn't give me one of their phones so that I could use the map program (Billy has been teaching me how to use the map!). So after driving around Fairfax, we manage to get back to where we started, about 30 minutes later. I decide I'm taking the long route since everything else was failing. I stopped at the gas station down the road from campus and Sean and Ryan jumped inside to get cigarettes and snacks. Back on the road, Billy is still sleeping and Sean and Ryan are arguing and making fun of each other. They are still concerned we're lost and don't believe that I know where I am, but at this point I did (amazingly). We finally make it back to Billy's and Sean and Ryan help me wake up Billy and get him inside. Earlier in the week I had made chicken divan and kept the leftovers at Billy's, and it made for a delicious snack. We all ate and they decided it was a good idea to do another shot, and I laughed at them (definitely not a good idea). Billy didn't want to do another, so he ran upstairs to safety. I got Ryan and Sean settled with blankets and pillows and went to bed.

In the morning, I'm pretty sure Billy and Sean were still drunk. Ryan however, felt miserable. He showered and we decided to head out for breakfast. On the way to breakfast, Ryan really wasn't doing too hot. We had to make a stop, behind some buildings in a parking lot, so he could throw up. I left the car and watched and laughed from a safe distance while Billy and Sean teased Ryan and video taped him. They played the video over and over again, and their favorite part was when Billy asked Ryan if he wanted some mongolian barbeque, he instantly vomited. They were all highly entertained. Billy is supposed to upload the video, but I don't think that he has yet. We finally decided on Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and headed back to Billy's to lay around for the rest of the day (while I did homework).

What was very sweet was that the three of them were very appreciative and thanked me for taking care of them all night. Despite their antics, I had a really great and memorable time.

eatz

2010-01-23T08:11:00.002-05:00

Jonna invited me over Friday evening to help make dinner and to also keep company while I do homework. She's pretty awesome for letting me hang around and do work, I'm not very entertaining with my nose stuck in a book.

First I made a giant cup (more like a bowl) of delicious tea. We decided to make a pork tenderloin, coated in bread crumbs and chopped almonds. This was the first time she was able to use her new gorgeous food processor. There was also home made applesauce, garbanzo bean salad and couscous. Laurie came over also, with her pup. Dinner was amazing (of course because Jonna was cooking it, I only help a little heh) and the night was relaxing. My free nights conflict with Jonna's free nights, so it's going to be a little difficult trying to find time to make dinner but I'm sure we'll find a way! And I really should start to take pictures of the food we make again, so delicious :P