District

DC is a great place to live. I think one of the best places in the Nation if ranked by things to do. I have been here several times growing up, lets just say it has been a while. I have lived here for 2 1/2 years and haven't really take the time to see the local sights or what is within a decent driving distance. But now since my days are numbered I am in overdrive trying to visit all the places that have been on the list but not checked off yet.

I toured DC. My sights were:
Tangy Sweet (my first time I had the yogurt was in California). I stopped by the Portrait Gallery but it wasn't open yet. So pressed forward.



Walked down E Street past Judiciary Square to Union Station. Not the safest route to take through the district but it could have been worse. The huge courthouse on the right and an assortment of people streaming in and out of the buildings.
Union Station at one point was the largest train stations in the US. It is a beautiful building. There is all kinds of shops in that place.


The National Postal Museum


Supreme Court which I can't tell you now any of the Justices nor the Chief Justice. What I do remember are the 3 parts of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary. I couldn't remember when the intern asked the group. I've since forgotten since I learned it in high school and don't really follow politics or government now, but that will be remedied.

Library of Congress. The highlight of my day. The most beautiful building in DC in my opinion. Before I leave I intend on getting a library card and doing some research before I head out of DC.

Jack and Coke

Anyone know what I am referring to when I say 'Jack and Coke.' Let me tell you a little story on how I discovered Jack and Coke.

If you get a drink in a small glass, with a small red straw and a lime on the side which could look like coke but has a faded caramel color...don't be fooled.


Does this look suspicious to you?

I went out to eat with a new friend, Brian to a place that was highly recommended on Yelp. He loves refering to this rating website and used it to find the Thai place we went to another day. The Restuarant is called Vapiano. We found ourselves a little table in this noisy bistro setting, which had a few bizarre painting on the wall amongst more tasteful pieces. We were chatting away, and having a great time. Brian offered to go get me a drink from the bar. (The restuarant was based on a interesting concept; each person is given a credit card which they charge all their purchases on and then you return it to the hostess to pay your bill before you leave. You don't have someone waiting on you.)




Brian got me a drink, a diet coke on the rocks. I looked at it for a minute. Squeezed the lime into it and thought...'hmmm...usually my diet coke doesn't usually come with lime unless I ask for it but whatever' I mix the lime and take a sip from my little red straw. 'Ughhh that is a really bad lime.' Immediately sending burning sensation, and heat to my head, throat, and stomach. I don't stop there. No I take another sip, and this time the light goes on in my head. 'This is not a diet coke. This has alcohol in it.' 'I think I feel ill.' Shocked Brian takes it back to the bar and asks what drink he was given. He returns with a diet Coke and says, 'Jack and Coke.' I guess 'Diet Coke' could sound like 'Jack and Coke.' My head and stomach were repulsed by the sensation it left behind.

What a way to begin, whiskey! I felt like someone had poured me a cup of rubbing alcohol down my throat. Jack is 40% alcohol. Such nasty stuff!!!! I will never be a drinker. Not only is it for religious reasons but now also by experience.

There you go, always new firsts to be told.

Tuesday's with Simone

What a delightful day! Any day is thoroughly enjoyable when I don't have to report to work.

Gym. Book. TV premier from DVR. The Event. The Chase. Shop. Great Harvest Bread.

Sushi. Used to hate that stuff. Now I adore it. Couple friends from church, Naomi and Kate, and I would make sushi our little treat regularly until Kate left for the summer, and Naomi went to Law School at UVA (amazing girls! both are doing such awesome things with their lives, and then there is me)

Swetchken Knudel. Plum/Prune & Apricot Dumpling. My first year attempting to make it on my own. Not that hard but definitely wouldn't do it just to make a one person serving. I made about 30. So the dough is made from potato & flour. You flatten out the dough to 1/2 inch thick, and wrap it around a de-pitted fruit with sugar cube inserted. Then you put it in boiling water for a few minutes, remove, pour breadcrumbs, and sugar over it. Wallah! The best things ever! Sushi is light, I thought, and this is a good day to make them.

Solitude and otherwise

I have so many things to write about all the time I don't understand how people keep up with it. Especially single life, no offense to those that are married but I believe that single people have so many personal things going on compared to those that are married (especially those without children).

I am reading the Hunger Games. About well let's say last winter about the time Mike and I started having some troubles, Jen my friend from home recommended this really good book to me. I blew it off but now finally 9 months later and 1 less boyfriend I am reading it. Initially I couldn't get into it. Now I am in book 2 frustrated. About halfway through it. I am battling with the reality of human nature, and truly how cruel people can be. It is fiction of course but controlling people, working them to death doesn't real fall far from our ancestery. Yet I don't generalize and I do think some people are more good than others, yes I know that is poor grammar. I don't believe that people are inherently good, I may have stated that earlier but I've said it again. Yet I believe in goodness, and I believe that our circumstances can help us in the development of something greater than mediocrity. There love the book but struggle with human nature.


My roommate shared this clip of a scene from Hunger Games. I am so excited they are going to make a movie out of it. I hope it doesn't destroy all my imagination has built it up to be.

A co-worker lives in St. Mary's county. We talked recently about how there are Omish community's down there (down south Maryland). I decided that I would make a day trip out of it.

I drove about an hour South. I was a nice drive and it became more beautiful the further away from civilization I got. The Omish part wasn't that great. I don't have GPS since my car is finally in the shop being fixed (another story) so I didn't see any Omish communities but little areas of tables set up where they sell their goods. I purchased some tomatoes, wax beans, peppers, and a big butternut squash.

I continued further south. I decided since I was already down here just to keep driving. I drove all the way to Pointlook out. It was once a camp for the military during the Revolutionary/Civil Wars. At the point a base was developed that looked like spokes on a bike (16 building converging to a middle building). Of course none of this remains but old drawings were posted. There is a lighthouse in its place (and a map of all the lighthouses in Maryland, which is quite a few). It is also a state park and a place were people come to swim and picnic during the summer. In the early 1900 there was a resort along the Point which eventually got torn down because of erosion and weather.





I can't forget to mention a Birthday Pizza party for Matt that I atttended after I got back from St. Mary's County and a Body Attack workout with Erin. Great guy with great pizza ideas! Kiebasa with saurkaut, cheese!!! Amazing! Dessert was suppose to be goat cheese, strawberries with honey glaze (no goat cheese but it was still good). Good times! Chatting with new and old friends. I love my friends. They are the highlights to my life.

Annapolis again.
A short trip again to Annapolis. This time we toured the State Capital. Walked around the quaint streets of old row houses. Artists were out in the town with their eisles,brushes, and paletts. St. Mary, the county I just visited as well as town, was once the capital but moved to Annapolis which could have been named Ann Arundel Henrietta Town per those that lead the area.
The Capital building is pretty cool building. The old part is currently being restored to appear it is did wen Washington was there. This is the place Washington came and gave his resignation. The dome made from Cyprus (which termites don't eat). The dome is the original structure. There are no nails holding the dome together because when it was being built the King put a tax on nails.
We ate ice cream at Annapolis ice cream. The noteworthy flavor was the Peanutbutter Oreo. Amazing to my pallate. We ran around the Naval Academy briefly, saw the William Paca house (one of the signers of the Declaration of Independance), St. Johns College, St. Mary's Church, and the Dock.
There was a free teal/mint green wingback chair that we tried to fit in my rental car. But no direction we tried would it fit in. Just barely. I was sad that we couldn't bring this back for Erin and her room.
We had a good time. Although heading home was a disaster. I got her home late and now I sit here.




Love my life :)

Renaissance that

It happens...
Yep so my car is now officially a junkier. I drive around embarrassed by the disfigured body she has. A dented door, discolored spots (from sap that never really came off no matter how hard I tried), fender scraped, hood dented, dented bumper because other driver's parallel parking jobs. Upon entering my vehicle the embarrassed continues. It is high time I get it detailed, shampooed and de-junked. I still don't take the appearance that I live out of my car but I've have Rollerblades, blankets, softball, 7eleven cups, beach chair, some magazines, loose Cd's, papers that all clutter the vehicle as well as the dirt, pebbles, leaves that have accumulated since last fall. My car is a good example of my life, disorganized and maybe even a little disheveled but I love it, my life that is, not my car.

I having been complaining recently that I can't find people to do all the random things that I want to do. I wanted to go to a Monster Truck rally a while back but I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go. This time I wanted to go to a Renaissance festival in Maryland. It is held annually for 6 weeks in Maryland out near Annapolis.

Thanks to my two dear friends that wanted to come with me. We drove through a more beautiful part of Maryland along back roads to our destination. When I parked the car and walked toward the entrance I could tell I was going to love it! People dressed in costume, some talking in accents. I was in for some real entertainment here.



Can you tell me, are pirates Renaissance? There is many in pirate attire but I don't really know if it is from that era.




The food was amazing or the variety of it! Anything fried, they had it. And they also had in all in Scottish version, or everything had a wooden plaque hammered next to it saying "Scottish"... Fried cheese, fried bread, fried macaroni & cheese, fried pickles (which was my favorite by far), fried ice cream, fried candy bars, turkey legs (which we bought but didn't get the right ones-fried instead of larger smoked ones. Smoothies, hamburgers, ice cream, sorbet, kabobs...I shouldn't have eaten before I got there and enjoyed more food.





There were comedy shows, plays, tight rope acts, jousting, sword fighting (with an awesome beer song), fight school (which talked about different weapons how they were developed, used, and then demonstrated a mock fight with the said weapon), and Caber toss (throwing hug logs and succeeding if you could get them flipped over after you tossed it).





There were shops that sold wooden swords, your renaissance attire, floral headdresses, candles, beeswax items, lotions, boots, and decorative items.




This is an annual festival so all the building are there year round, not like the usual fairgrounds that gets torn down after the event is over. The festival runs for 6 weeks or more into October. The location was perfect too, away from the city in the countryside of Maryland.

Birthday Bash...Triple Threat...Golden Day

Birthday Partay!
Steve had a brilliant birthday idea. Rollerskating! Yes! I actually had been wanting to skate but I didn't think that people would drive the distance to participate. But when he said he was going to have a skate party, and on my birthday, I joined forces with him. My other friend Sergio had emailed me about doing a mutual party, so it was the three of us. The Triple Threat!




I wanted it to be 80's themed so I put that on the invite. Funny thing, in attendance few were awesome enough to dress 80's. But my roommates and I made tie dye shirts, which come to find out is sooo hot right now. I have seen tie dye everywhere since the night of my party. What goes around always come back around in relation to fashion.


The Skate rink was in a shady area of town. Just to give you an idea of the area, cops patrolled the area to keep smug out. I believe there also was metal detectors at the entrance. My friends and I were the only white folk there. The music was R&B/blues. Stuff I've never heard, and the songs were incredibly long. It was a serious place. Most people that attended were regulars to adult skate night. You had to watch yourself while skating because if you weren't going fast enough they would warn you to skate in the middle cause you were ridin' to slow.

I had a brilliant time. I am glad that I decided to do this versus something else. I think everyone had a good time.



It is my Golden Birthday this year. For all you that don't know what that is let me explain. Once in a life time your age will be the same as your date of birth, i.e. 28 on the 28th. Which is what mine is. It is bound to be a good year, and I was determined to have a memorable birthday party. Since I was the only girl in my family I got to have a birthday party almost every year. I was spoiled in that sense. For my siblings they got to have a party every other year. I had a lot of good parties, but this one needed to be the best. It ended up being the best with the exception of a few missing friends.

Then I left for Pittsburgh early the next morning for the real bday. I wanted to be able to see the kiddos and chill at my brother's place since I wasn't going to be there for Labor Day. We had fun. Played at the frog pond, museum, got ice cream, went to the strip, cooked good food, had an ice cream cake (coconut), attended an outdoor concert. I am excited to move there, I think they are too.

La Bois...my home

I finally got a job. I say finally because I've applied to so many places and hadn't heard back from any of them. Talk about stress. What if I couldn't get a job, and only had my home health position which isn't my favorite thing and hardly enough funds to make it by.
The catch of the job, which is perfect for my life plans at this point, is a 13 week contract. So Oct 30th I will be done. I have been feeling restless once again but this time I'm pretty certain. Goal until next Spring...safe money. The tentative plan, because nothing is ever certain: move to Pittsburgh in January. Work in Pittsburgh until end April. Journey back to Boise via the scenic route...hit all the random places across the Midwest that I've never been to but really wanted to see. Then travel around Europe until I meet up with Josh in July and help Cindy with the kids during Josh's fellowships for a few months. After that, travel until I run out of money. :) Great idea right but I really need someone to travel with as well. So if you read this and are interested in traveling...anywhere let me know and I'll plan on meeting you next Winter.
Okay so back to Boise. Once I had this contract under the belt and knew I was going to start August 2nd as well as a new tenant moving in to my room I decided it was high time I made it home for a visit. I was home for 13 days. It was when I didn't want to come back to DC that I knew something just wasn't quite right. I wanted to stay at home and be with my family and friends I had locally. I love home. I can't say I would want to live there permanently but I love it.
To my fortune Danny and Kate were coming home that same weekend and changed their plans to be there earlier so they would be in Boise longer than originally planned. Just for me. Tender.
We went to a Music Festival, which had Macy Gray, Bret Michael's, and N'Sync (I believe). It was just fun to be out with the thousands of other people for the concert. It was scorching hot that day as well so the lines for drinks let alone food was so long. We ended up getting a slushie of sorts from a ghetto stand. There wasn't a line at this stand if that says something.
We walked around the Farmers Market downtown Saturday morning.



We floated the Boise River. Ice cold, and frigid come to mind when I think of that day. Overcast, 10% chance of rain, and freezing water all not a good combination. But fun.


Danny and Kate have gotten into Lost. They were watching season 5 and wanted to finish it while at home. Since I was there and wanted to spend a lot of time with them I read and watched the summaries for Lost Seasons 1-4. So I was caught up with them.
We road bikes. Man I love my road bike. I didn't realize the ease of the ride until I picked up my old junker. Our neighbor, Michele also let us borrow her tandem. Mom and I took a spin on that as well. I loved it! Not for every ride but occasionally it would be fun. Today was hot, unfortunately we didn't plan our weekend right.

I also visited with old friends, ate good food...too much good food, slept, worked out with my friend Jen, and went boating.







Friends: Pat & Corey; Pete & with new little baby; Becky, Hillary, & Joanie; Jamie, Amber, Mandi, Jen, & Andrea; Liz. I read, watched TV, and enjoyed my beautiful house. Man I really appreciate how nice my mom always kept our house.


Saw Salt, & Inception which I snuck in a huge milk shake. Kudos to me.

Went to a Basque festival in Boise, Dollar movie, and Golden Spoon as a date with my parents.



Now back to work and reality...