a day in the life ...

Many hats

2008-03-13T18:14:00.002-04:00

I've come down with some sort of stomach bug. It's hard to be a mom, a wife, a colleague, a daughter, a sister, or a friend when you are sick. Actually, it's kind of hard to be all of those things when you are well--but especially hard when you just want to curl up into a ball and sleep and moan and cry. But--either good or bad, I have responsiblities. I have Aden to nurse, I have work emails to check, I have a house to keep somewhat tidy, I have my family and friends calling to check in and chat....it's a lot on one plate. It's a lot of hats to wear. I am hoping to feel better soon!

2007-a look back

2008-01-04T11:44:00.000-05:00

Last year I did a review of the year that passed, and since I haven't blogged in ages, thought I'd try to blog with this past year's excitement.

January: Al and I ring in the new year at our place with a pot-luck dinner. In mid-January, Al and I went to Lake Anna for a long weekend with ShepDC to celebrate her 30th birthday.

February: I took a girl's road trip to NC to visit Dr. Booth before she went to Iraq for a 6 month stint. Al and I also found out we were expecting on 2/23!

March: Al and I start to share our exciting news. Lots of changes ensue at work (got a new supervisor and my mentor left).

April: Al and I host our first seder. We also volunteer for Crew Invitational-I was on the finish line as always. Although this year it was SNOWING (SNOWING!) during the races. Brrrr. My friend Betsy (from Portland, OR) came to town for a visit and Al and I went to Richmond for my Uncle Maurice's 60th birthday, where we get to tell my grandma she is going to be a great grandma.

May: Went to Charlottesville to meet my parents for Mother's Day brunch at the Boars Head Inn-at this point, I was starting to show. We also traveled to Memphis to see my friend Shannon and her boyfriend Rich and give a wave to Elvis. And, we had a weekend of the crew boys visiting for a 10 year reunion.

June: We find out we are having a little girl. And in the category of "weird things you have to do once"-we went to the Air Guitar Competition at the 9:30 club with Al's cousin Hannah.

July: Vegas, baby, Vegas.

August: Off to Connecticut for Debbie's 60th birthday celebration and then to Wrightsville Beach for some R&R.

September: I celebrate my 31st birthday; Maggie has a baby shower for me and lil Whoopi. We also find out we've got a breached baby on our hands.

October: Silliness ensues to try to get baby to flip-doesn't work, so we go in for c-section on10/15....Aden Sydney Goldberg is born and I get another love in my life. Al and I get Aden donned up for her first Halloween, where she goes as a pea in the pod and we go as her farmers.

November: Al and I host Thanksgiving at our house-David, Paul and Erika join. Bob and Debbie meet Aden for the first time; I join PACE.

December: Aden celebrates her first Hannukah, and I get to experience "single motherhood" with Al working crazy hours. We go to Roanoke for a long visit with GP and Big K and then come back to DC for Bob and Debbie to visit.

January: New Year again! We went over to Paul and Erika's for a lovely dinner, and Aden woke up at the stroke of midnight. Brilliant baby!

Ann Coulter, please shut up

2007-10-12T11:03:00.000-04:00

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003657196

Seriously. Why is this woman still on the air? Why does someone like Imus get read the riot act, and nobody blinks when she says that "Jews need to be perfected by becoming Christians?" I mean, I don't get it. Can anyone tell me?

My favorite is that just last week she was saying that women shouldn't vote.

Really, Ann, please just stop embarrasing yourself and women---if we didn't have rights to vote, you likely wouldn't have a job, so stuff it.

A walk on the breach...

2007-10-06T11:35:00.000-04:00

So, turns out lil G is breached. I guess she doesn't like standing on her head-who could blame her? I'm 37 weeks pregnant, so at this point, I don't think she'll be turning. There is always hope. We've been doing all sorts of silly things to get her to move-yoga positions, acupunture, playing music, shining lights, doing inversions, putting ice on my belly. I guess she's just stubborn and headstrong like her mom. We'll continue to do our tricks, and should know by Monday for sure if she's turned herself around. If she hasn't, it's looking more likely that we'll have to do a c-section. Ick.

Aside from that-everything is trucking along. Trying to wrap up at work and get my ducks in a row so that I can be out for four months. I've been begging them to bring on a temp for weeks, and I will finally get one next week, but that sure doesn't leave a lot of time for training. I did have my review, and proud to brag that I got a "Superior" rating yet again-woop, woop!

We have been ever social the past few weeks-celebrating my birthday, and just trying to get in as much friend time as we can. Also, I knitted my first hat-a baby's hat for the lil dutchess. It's super cute-I'll have to take a picture and post it on the blog. Tonight we have a wedding to hit-should be fun, but my feet are so swollen! I went to shop for shoes at Pay Less out of desperation, but no luck there. I guess I'll just have to shove my dinosaur's feet into something and hope for the best.

That's it for this end of the world......

34 weeks down, 6 to go

2007-09-14T12:10:00.000-04:00

Al and I have been keeping busy getting ready for baby "Whoopi's" big appearance.

At the end of August, we went to Wrightsville beach for a week with my family-I've been going to Wrightsville since I was about 3. It's pretty low key-lots of reading, walking, board games, swimming, etc. Despite the added weight and being in my final trimester, I was able to walk the loop every morning-which is 2.5 miles. Of course, it was not a speed walk by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't too bad for a pregnant lady.

We came back Labor Day weekend, and got the nursery all prettied up and ready. Of course, when we picked the first round of paint, what we thought was lavendar looked more like Barney purple. So, Al had to go back to the paint store and look at those wee lil swatches to find a more suitable lavendar. Luckily, we had success on the second round, but damn paint is expensive.

The following weekend (Sept 8), my friend Maggie held a baby shower for me at her house. The weekend was filled with family from all over and a lot of wonderful friends. It was kind of like a wedding in that it was totally overhelming to have so many people around. Plus, having that many Jewish moms all in one room-while hysterical-can make your head spin.

Mags did an awesome job-there were cute pics out of both Al and I as babies, and a onesie station, where all my friends could decorate onesies with cute little messages on them-my personal favorite is the I love Sting onesie!

Anyway, the day was wonderful, and it was so special to have so much of my family around me, including "Whoopi's" grandmas and 2 of her 3 great grandmas. Our baby will be well dressed after this shower-lots of beautiful outfits and all in pink too! (good thing Al and I both look decent in pink)

After the shower, my family went out later that evening to Maggiano's for dinner. A full day. My grandma S. was in her typical form of barraging people with uncomfortable questions and making herself the center of the spotlight. And, grandma A. kept telling me how tired I was-even though I wasn't.

All in all, it was a great weekend, and a wonderful way to get ready for our new arrival.

Since then, Al and I have started our birthing and baby skills classes. Of course, Al, being the jokester that he is, has had quite a good time lifting the play doll by the feet, suffocating her with the swaddle blanket, making fun of the "heeeee" breathing, etc. Only a good sign of things to come, I'm sure!!!

But for now, we have about 6 weeks left to practice....

Welcome back Dr. Booth!

2007-08-21T13:34:00.000-04:00

A heartfelt welcome back to our friend Dr. Booth, who just returned from a 6 month stint in Iraq. We are thrilled to have you back safe and sound. We love you!

Vegas, baby

2007-08-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

Well, as they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I have a few tales I can share from our trip two weeks ago.....

We got in on Friday night, and made our way to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino-starting our weekend-long "baby-moon" with a 2 am snack of waffles (for me) and a grilled cheese sammy and tomato soup for Big A. The next morning, we got up, strolled down to the "beach" and sat out by Mandalay's wave pool. So, it was Al, me and about 100 kids in the wave pool body surfing on the waves. It was a total blast-we had such a great time playing around and relaxing. After a few hours of fun in the sun, we went for lunch at "Borders Grill," restaurant of Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniber of Food Network's Two Hot Tamales. Unfortunately, the two Hot Tamales' restaurant wasn't so hot-but we were overlooking the pool, with misters blowing on us, and it was just great to be away spending time with each other.

After lunch, we strolled around the Mandalay Place stores, and then headed back to the pool for a bit. That evening-we dined at Fleur de Lys, restaurant of Chef Hubert Keller (if you watch Top Chef, he's been a celebrity chef guest). I opted for the three course dinner, and Al for the 4-I thought mine was definitely tasty-but for what it was worth, was a bit underwhelmed. I guess we are just loyal to that Michel Richard! After dinner, we made our way to the Rio for a night with Penn and Teller. Their show was great-they are totally hilarious and worth every penny. After the show, both Penn and Teller stay around and great their guests and take photos. With Penn, Al asked if we could get "a photo with the hand on the big belly," so I put my hand on Penn's belly-he was a pretty good sport about it!

After the show, we stuck around for a little while to watch the tables and put our money on a few hands of craps. I had no idea what we were doing-but I guess that's why they call it gambling!

The next day, we went back to the wave pool for a bit, and then off to the Mandalay's Shark Reef, which was a really cool aquarium. We were on and off the beach throughout the day, just making the most of our vaca. That night, we went to see Cirque de Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio Hotel. O is basically focused on synchro-swimming and a lot of tricks around a tank of water. Having seen another Cirque, our expectations were high. Lots of friends had built it up as the end all, be all show, but honestly, it just didn't do it for me. I didn't love the music, and wasn't overwhelmed by the talent. Some portions were good, but overall, it wasn't mind blowing. After O, we went to watch the fountains dance to "Viva Las Vegas" and then hit Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill restaurant and got some yummy apps to snack on before retiring.

On the last day, we hit Mandalay pool one last time, and then went to the spa for day-long spa appointments. After the spa, we went to the Mirage to catch another Cirque show-Love-which uses Beatles tracks for all of the performances. A FAR better Cirque show than O. Great sound, lots of energy, and the baby was dancing up a storm to the Beatles. After the show, we headed to the airport, and caught the red eye back home.

While it was sad to leave our vacation behind, it was the perfect amount of time for us and the perfect place for us to enjoy some of the last of our days before entering the joys of parenthood.

Viva Las Vegas

2007-07-11T16:02:00.000-04:00

The Mr. and I have planned our babymoon-one last big, all-out hurrah that the two of us can enjoy before the bambina (who keeps kicking me as I type this!) arrives. Now, keep in mind we are going to the beach with my family at the end of August-so that ruled out any beach-type vacations. And, I don't have enough vacation time to do anything but a long weekend. So, where could we go that has good deals, and that we could feel satisfied after being there for a long weekend? That's right-Vegas, baby.

We're heading out at the end of July and have reservations at the Mandalay Bay. The plan is to take in 2 Cirque de Soleil shows (O and Love), see Penn and Teller, go to the spa, and take a dip or two in Mandalay's wave pool. Yes, a bit unconventional for a pregnant woman-but that's how we roll. We like going where our whims take us. I've never been to Vegas, and I can't wait to check it off the list-pregnant or not.

Will post pics and a recap after our trip.

Until then-Viva Las Vegas!

It's a......

2007-06-13T12:07:00.001-04:00

To Air is Human

2007-06-07T09:54:00.001-04:00

Last night, Al, Hannah (Al's cousin), and I went to witness one of the most hilarious contests on the planet-US AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIP! That's right! Now, in case you think this is a joke, let me reassure you, there are very strict rules about air guitaring. And, suprisingly, few people have what is considered to be "airness" while playing the air guitar. What can I say? It definitely takes a certain je ne sais quoi to be a US Air Guitar Champion. We definitely saw some interesting looks, and some bad-ass air guitar playing. The champion goes to New York to compete, and then off to Finland for the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.

It was important to applaud talented players, because, after all, they ARE representing USA!! You can't just send anyone to the air guitar world championships!

It was a spectacular night, although I was highly disappointed that no girls entered. I think if I had gotten up there with my bad-ass rendition of Welcome to The Jungle, I would have won! (Plus the being pregnant thing helps).

Alas, not guitar for me. As they said in the biz, "if i can't play air guitar, then I don't want air."

Walking in Memphis

2007-05-29T17:06:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went to Memphis to visit with our friends Shannon and Rich. What a fun town-and more pork than I thought ever possible!

We arrived to the home of the blues on Friday and went straight to Rendevous, a local hotspot for dry-rub ribs and bbq nachos! Yes, that's right, bbq nachos-with pulled pork and dry rub seasoning along w/ bbq sauce, nachos sauce and jalapenos-the most heavenly thing I think ever invented. After Rendevous, we walked down to Beale Street-which reminded me a little of New Orleans with all of the open containers, and street performers-not quite as wild as Bourbon, but still lively and shakin'. We watched the kids doing flips down the street (seriously-these kids were pretty talented. Listened to some live music and stopped at Pat O'Briens for Hurricanes along the way (well, not me sadly).

Saturday morning we went to the Memphis Farmer's Market-more live music and cute food stalls. There was a live bluegrassy type of band playing all string instruments. I felt like running to a field, taking my shoes off and dancing. One of the musicions was a really cool elder gentleman in a barbershop type hat clanging what looked to be wooden spoons together. Awesome!

After that, we went home and cleaned up and walked over to Fino's Italian deli for some yummy sammys. Along the way, we caught some interesting sites-like a truck advertising for a single man, and a yard with astro turf as lawn.

After lunch-off to Sun Studio-where Elvis was discovered, and where several musicians have come to play-Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, U2, Liz Phair, etc. It was a short, but really cool tour-neat to see where a lot of no names first got their big breaks.

That evening we went down to the river (the mighty Mississippi) for Symphony by Sunset-an evening of symphony music (which included the theme from Star Wars), the Temptations, and a fireworks show. Shannon and Rich picked up some of Gus' world famous chicken for the evening-and I'll be damned if that wasn't some of the best fried chicken this southerner has ever had. Mmmmm!

On Sunday, Al and I headed to Graceland for a morning tour. Even saw an impersonator along the way. I'm happy to report the Graceland is just as tacky as it was a few years ago. Elvis had some interesting taste-and we're suspecting the King was a might bit kinky too, given the fur bed and some of the interesting accoutrement on display. After Graceland, we met up with Shannon and Rich-for you guessed it-more bbq at a restaurant called Central. This time, in the form of a sandwich. I thought it was very tasty-and loved their mac & cheese side.

After that, we went to Mud Island to see the scale version of the Mississippi-it's carved throughout a Park, and you can wade your way through the scale version. A cool way (literally!) to spend a hot day.

That night, Rich cooked us up a tasty dinner (and a healthy one too!) and we spent the evening relaxing by the (not so hot), hot-tub.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, and nice to get away. I dug Memphis-it's love of music and southern hospitality. No Reverend Greene this visit, but maybe next time....

Catching up

2007-05-16T19:48:00.000-04:00

After my New Years resolution, I've managed to totally slack off on the blogging-but not without good reason. We've been busy since February-and so here's a quick recap of what's been going on....

February:

-Al and I find out that I'm pregnant!! (for those of you finding out via blog-my apologies, I tried reaching out to as many of you as possible by phone or email to share the news before blogging about it.) Our due date is October 25, which just happens to be our 4 year anniversary. We are going to find out what we are having in June. Luckily, no morning sickness, and only a little bit of naseua.

March:

-Dinner with lots of friends-it was definitely hard keeping the pregnancy a secret!

-Travel to Roanoke to give my parents the good news.

April:

-Al and I host our first "seder" with my brother, his girlfriend Elise, and our friends Paul and Erika attending. Elijah the prophet didn't show up and drink his wine, but luckily Al also refrained from drinking Elijah's wine this year.

-Al and I did our yearly GW Invitational volunteer shtick--while I didn't go to GW or row, I feel like one of the "Crew" gang, so I always try to help out at the races. Of course, this year, it was snowing in the morning before my shift. Brrr! It was not a fun 5 hours, made only worst by the fact that I couldn't enjoy cocktails afterwards to warm up!

-Al's parents came to DC and we got to share the news with them-and Al's dad, in turn, managed to announce it to practially the entire restaurant-including the water boy who didn't speak a word of English! During their stay, I came down with a miserable stomach flu, so I was mostly locked up in our room for the rest of their stay.

-Went to Richmond to celebrate my Uncle's 60th b-day. Here's a pic of me with all my boy cousins (I'm the only girl.) Also, got to tell my grandma that she's going to be a great-grandma.

-My friend Betsy from Portland came into town for a friend's bridal shower, so I got to spend a day with her. It had been a year since we had last seen each other-so lots of catching up to do. We hit the Jasper Johns exhibit in the Smithsonain, then up to Dupont Circle for lunch, then a shopping spree at Filenes, followed by drinks on the patio at a neighborhood bar, and then dinner at Zaytinya. Phew! The next morning, we hit the Eastern Market-this was before the big fire happened, so I'm glad we got a chance to go there while everything was still normal.

May:
-Al's friends we all in town for their 10 year Crew Reunion. 3 "bachelors" staying with us-all have wives/girlfriends, but all came stag, so they decided to crash with us. We had a busy weekend-a picnic, a banquet, and a Sunday brunch, filled with tons of laughing and getting to see alot of friends' babies and kiddies.

-Participated in Mags and Andy's "Yardapooloza" yard sale-Al and I only made $45, but we decided that our "wares" didn't fit the clientele's needs.

-Went to Charlottesville (Boarshead Inn) to meet my parents and grandma for Mother's Day. My grandma spent the better part of the day crying being "overcome with joy."

This weekend, we are off to see my friend Shannon and her boyfriend Rich in Memphis-so looking forward to a weekend of bbq, music, and good times with great friends.

More to come about livin' large with baby on the way....and, of course, a baby blog to come. Stay tuned!

hokies

2007-04-17T11:55:00.000-04:00

tragedy strikes

2007-04-16T17:17:00.000-04:00

I'm in such shock and awe about the news surrounding my alma mater, Virginia Tech. More than 31 students have dies in a tragic, horrible, senseless shooting. As an alumni, I just can't even believe this happened at my university...somewhere I always felt safe and protected. I can't stop thinking about the students and faculty there-you all are truly in my thoughts an prayers.

While Columbine and this shooting were both truly horrific, I hope that in this shooting, there is a lesson to us all. A wakeup call to decision makers to tighten up gun control laws. A warning to schools and universities to be VIGILANT-reach out to students before it is too late and tragedy strikes. It is also a sad reminder to us all to not take anything for granted-every day in life is sacred, and you never know what life will hand you.

Peace be with you Virginia Tech students and faculty. May you find your inner strength in a truly tragic ordeal.

Five for Friday (a bit late....)

2007-03-24T19:21:00.000-04:00

This past week was jam packed-attended the Arctic rally on Tuesday and got to hear John Kerry speak along with several other Senators and Representatives (although Kerry was the big draw). Work has been crazy-we've hired a new person to fill my old supervisor's role who will be starting in a week (I may not have blogged about it since I was in denial, but my supervisor left a few weeks ago for a job at WWF), so we've been busy trying to get ready for her to start. Plus, we had a full day training on building relationships with donors on Thursday-for the training we had to take this DISC personality assessment-which I have to say is probably the worst "personality" test I've ever taken. I don't think that anybody in the training felt that their DISC outcome really represented who they are, or how they interact with donors. The training itself was good, but I just think if you are going to do a personality test, do one that is a little more accurate. For example, the test said I'm both an introvert AND and extrovert. I'm a "just the facts person" and a "big picture person." I just think that is crap. At least for Meyers Briggs, you can see where you fall on the line of introvert vs. extrovert, but you aren't both. (at least I don't think so....).

Moving on.....last night we went to our friend Colleen's to watch some March Madness. I normally wouldn't care, but this year I entered into my first bracket, and I'm tied for #2 right now. I hope I win-momma needs a new pair o' shoes!

On to the five for Friday (or Saturday as it were)....while the bracket winnings would be a mere $100, I'll go with the "what would I do if I won $1 million-the sky is the limit!" list: (why not?)

1. I would probably invest in a house that had a yard so that I could get #2 on my list....
2. Buy a dog
3. Go on a shopping spree
4. Buy a Prius
5. Go with Al to the Inn at Little Washington

(#6 would be make a donation to Virginia Tech to support the English Studies Study Abroad program that I participated in, #7 would be to invest in a personal trainer, #8 would be get a cleaning service, #9 would be take a trip, and #10 would be to put away for a rainy day).

Friday already!

2007-03-16T10:15:00.000-04:00

Thank goodness it's Friday. This week just seemed to drag on, didn't it? Anyway, time for the fabulous five for Friday. I'm going to play anywhere but here-it's rainy out, and there are about a billion places I wish I could be right now....so, five places I wish I was instead of the office on a rainy day:

1. England-yes, it would be rainy, but it's England, and I love it no matter what the weather.
2. Australia-what I wouldn't give to be diving the coral reef right now. Or stolling Bondi beach. Or eating Australian cuisine. Mmmm.
3. Carribean-would love to lay on the beach, read a book, and dive into the crystal blue waters. And eat fritters. Yummy.
4. Vermont-I know it would be cold, but I had such a lovely time when we were there and could go for a cup of cocoa in front of the fire.
5. Africa-would love to be on a safari hanging with the animals.

Five for...Wednesday

2007-03-14T10:29:00.000-04:00

I missed doing the Five for Friday last week. So, I'm going to make up for it today. While I love having more hours of daylight now, I'm still bitter at Bush that this is his "big energy plan." The man is pushing for drilling in the Arctic, but apparently, having three more weeks of DLS is supposed to save the world of its energy crisis!

So, I'm going with five things you can actually do to help the planet. These are taken from the Inconvenient Truth website-which I highly advise checking out! If you try one, let me know:

1. Install a programmable thermostat-it will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

2. Only run your dishwasher when there’s a full load and use the energy-saving setting, you can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

3. Buy recycled paper products-it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.

4. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen-frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce and require more packaging.

5. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible-avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Click here to find transit options in your area.

Five for Friday

2007-03-02T16:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, in order to (ahem) encourage more blogging as part of the New Year's resolution, I'm going to do a five for Friday. Kind of a top five books, top five songs, top five foods I'm digging now, top five dream destinations, whatever! The world is my oyster. That is where you come in...it would be lovely if my readers would post suggestions for categories, but since you all are more the silent crowd (echoooooooo, echooooooo!!!), I guess I'm on my own. But suggestions are welcome. I'm begging here people-please don't make me!

Five Favorite Animals!
1. Golden Retriever/Dogs
2. Panda!!!
3. Penguins
4. Elephants
5. Red Panda

Rude Much?

2007-02-20T16:56:00.000-05:00

Why is it that people feel the right to be rude in the morning? Better yet, why do people feel it's actually OK to push their way around on the metro on the way to work? You know what? We are ALL trying to get to work in one piece. And alot of you (in fact a good majority) are not hourly, you are salary. So, what is your rush--is your life going to end if you take the train that is DIRECTLY behind the crammed one you are so desperate to get onto? I'll bet you anything that the next train has room, and you will only be about 5 minutes behind the one that you are holding up because you refuse to move the hell away from the closing doors.

This morning I thought I was just going to lose it. A man who was walking with his wife actually pushed me into the cement wall. Yes. Pushed me. So, I pushed back, because oddly enough, I don't like being pushed into walls. He starts yelling at me (oh yes!! this is true!) that I shouldn't be pushing him, and that he is trying to follow his wife. Okay, first, not to be rude, but your wife isn't a small lady. I'm sure if you got separated for a minute, you'd friggin' find her. Second of all-YOU pushed ME! I was simply self defending. I told him such, to which he replied with "I'm trying to follow my wife!!!" So I yelled, "well, you don't have to be a dick about it, we are all trying to walk here." And then, the words that came out of his mouth were icing on the cake: "You do not want to push me, because I'm bigger than you and in the end I'll win."

Yes, this asshole who was huge was threatening all 5'3 of me. All I could yell back was "I think it's horrible that you would threaten a woman." And walked away. I had about a billion things in mind to say, but I didn't. I wish I had. I think it's nice Mr. Asswipe that you want to take the metro with your wife, but it's rush hour, and you need to acknowledge that there are about 500 other people milling about, and that pushing a girl that is less than half your size and weight is a dick move. So there!

And for you other metro takers, be nice-because I may look small, but I'm not afraid to stand up for myself and tell you where to shove it.

Boobs and babies

2007-02-13T21:41:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago, I took a road trip with three of my GW girlfriends down to Fayettville, NC to visit our dear friend Boothie, who will be enroute to Iraq in a number of days, leaving behind her hubby and two darling twin new borns. So, picture this--a five hour car ride down to North Cackalacky with the girls-talking about what else??? Babies. And, also opening the Schwarz bag-o-fun car goodies along the way (Mad Libs, cats cradle string, mini band instruments, the works).

So, we get to B's house, and meet the twinkies (fraternal). Later, 3 more GW gals shuffle in, one of whom is carrying in her 4 month old baby. So, there are 8 of us gals, two of whom have babies, and one who is about 4 1/2 months pregnant. You can imagine the focus of the conversation. At one point, someone compared our get together to a fraternity party-throw-up everywhere, boobs popping out, and inevitably there is always somebody crying or hungry. Not too far off the mark. While I definitely love kids and babies, three was more than enough to go around, and admittedly, made one look like a breeze!

After some baby lovin' and chit chat, it got to be about 7 pm, and I swear it felt like 10:30. I have a new appreciation as to why mom's are always so wiped out. You all get major kudos.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and reassured me that I have some know how when it comes to lil ones. But, it did set that biological clock back a little bit! Still, it was reassuring to know that all of us are somewhat clueless, and that when the time comes, I'll have a sympathetic group who has stumbled their way through to success.

Pics of the weekend and Booth's scary, scary kitties can be found here.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Mall

2007-01-23T22:34:00.000-05:00

So, I decided to take myself shoe shopping this past weekend-I haven't bought myself work shoes in about 4 years, (I know, I'm not the typical "woman with a billion pairs of shoes,") so it was high time to treat myself to some new ones. I got myself a little zipcar and drove on out to Tysons to begin the hunt. But, a funny thing happened on the way to the mall. My feet shrunk. Yes, crazy, I know, but it's true. My feet are already pretty small as it is, but I've consistently run about a 6 1/2...hard to find, but possible. But, as I was trying on shoes, the 6 1/2's seemed like I was a little girl playing dress up in her mom's shoes--they simply didn't fit!

I decided to go down to size 6, and see if those worked, and still, I needed the shoe pads in order to make them fit. It's official though, I am now the floor sample girl. I've been reduced to buying whatever is out on the floor-something I'm sure hundreds of people may have stuck their feet in....I don't get the new shiny in a box pair--no, no! I get the floor sample-and not even at a reduced cost! I mean, if you buy the sample furniture on the floor, it's for sale, is it not? This is an injustice! I'm here to fight for the rights of small feet-because given this latest event, it seems as though my feet are getting tinier. It couldn't be my hips or my butt, nooo....it's my feet. Gah! Sometimes the world is just so unfair.

Cabin Fever

2007-01-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, the Mr. and I headed out of town to celebrate shepdc's 30th birthday extravanganza at Lake Anna. Mr. Shepdc and I went to Tech together (i hung out with his fraternity throughout my college days), so it was heartwarming to be included in shepdc's festivities, especially since the Mr. and I are so fond of her!

This trip was perfect for the ADD in me-because there was always someone around to play a game with, take a walk with, jump trampoline with, etc. And plenty of time to read my new book (Blink) as well. Lots of vino throughout the weekend, and at one point, a few of the people decided to polar bear it into the lake-which was following by loud screeching, and a lightning fast run to the hot tub. It was an awesome weekend away, and I enjoyed meeting some new folks and getting to spend time with shepdc and mr. shepdc, and having some time to decompress. Now if I could only do it more often....

2006 in review

2007-01-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

Now that we've kicked off 2007, a quick look at all that happened in 2006:

January: Al and I ring in the new year first at Katie and Matt's, followed by meeting up with my friends from high school and new friend Colleen at Rosa Mexicana. At the end of the month, Al and I decide to travel East, and buy tickets spontaneously to go to Japan.

February: Our friend Kristen from California comes in for a quick visit-while she's in DC for work, we got a full weekend in, including a trip to the Corcoran to see the Warhol exhibit, and of course the annual Super Bowl activities at the Russell's household.

March: Al and I take off to Japan! Highlights include seeing the big Buddha, dining with perfect strangers under the most magnificent cherry trees in Tokyo, diving with amazing people in Okinawa, strolling the path of philosophy in Kyoto, a delicious french/japanese meal, bath time with old japanese ladies, and karaoking with new friends Jez and Emma.

April: We head to Roanoke, and get to spend time with some of my favorite great aunts and uncles. Tons of great food, laughter, and tears.

May: Off to NYC to see the Odd Couple with Al's family, and spend some time with our friend Mangan in Jersey getting drunk out of our minds and singing along to Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer. Good times! At the end of May, my girlfriends Bets, D, Shannon, and Kat all come in to town for a girl's weekend extravaganza.

June: Mom and Dad come to town and we accidentally take them to a gay line dancing club.

July: We head to Utah for Clay and Nicole's wedding. While we are there, I get to go horseback riding, and Al and I get to attend a fantastic concert and go hot air ballooning.

August: Al has jaw surgery. And then has it again. And then returns to the hospital for an ulcer. His jaw is wired shut for nine weeks. I realize my friends and family are the most amazing people in the world! Our friends Josh, Jenny, Erik, and Ilona all breeze through town, but it's good to see our friends faces, and makes us feel loved. We also get some Boothy time in as well.

September: I turn 30. My friend Colleen hosts a girls night out for me to celebrate. Al still has jaw wired shut.

October: Al throws me a Spytastic Surprise 30th, which is attended by friends and family from near and far. Again, I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have such great people in my life. Al becomes unwired about 10 minutes after our last guest leaves (of course!). At the end of the month, Al and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary by going to DC's 1st Annual Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival. We also host our annual pumpkin carving party.

November: Have my review at work-get a "Superior" rating! Al and I got to experience our first Cirque du Soleil, and I went to an incredible Acoustic African concert. We went to CT for Thanksgiving for a blink of an eye, and came back to a fun weekend in DC with our friends Katie, Hillier, and Ilona all in town from Boston. Nov 30th, we celebrated Al's 32nd.

December: What a busy month! Holiday parties galore, a weekend in Roanoke with my family, and then birthday celebrations with friends. On Dec 31, we had potluck dinner at our house and had about 13 people total over. Drank lots of yummy kir royal.

January: My supervisor gave her notice, and Al has some sort of stomach ailment, not sure what though. Can only hope the year improves!

Grown up moment

2007-01-03T13:34:00.000-05:00

So, recently I have been put in a kind of weird situation-I don't want to get into it too much, but basically one of my friend's spouses has put me in the middle of a very private battle between the two of them. First, I live thousands of miles away from this friend, so I'm not quite sure why their spouse feels the need to involve me. I talk to this friend maybe 4-5 times a year-birthdays, holidays, and the random check in. But their spouse has been sending some pretty harsh emails, and quite frankly, not something an outsider like me should be receiving. I'm not going to pass judgement, there are 3 sides to every story, but honestly, I just don't want to be in the middle, and shouldn't be for that matter.

As I was talking it over with Al, it was another "wow, we really are adults" moment, when you realize that the people getting separated and divorced or having marital problems are no longer our parents' friends, but are our friends. Sometimes I wish I could reach out to college kids who get engaged right away and say, do you realize what "I do" really means? It's not just having the dream wedding (albeit, that part is nice), it's so much more-it's retirement accounts, wills, family obligations, sickness, health, adventure, extreme happiness, moments of discontent all wrapped into one. So, wait. Breathe. Enjoy life, learn who you are before settling into something that may or may not fit you. See the forest through the trees.

Look Who's Cooking!

2007-01-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

That's right, it's me. Due to the ceremonies for Gerald Ford, I had today off, so I decided to make a fancy shmancy dinner for Al (who had to work). After hours of pouring over recipes (that new Gourmet book is huge--you could seriously hurt someone with it!), I reserved my lil Zip Car, and zipped my way to Virginia to stock up on some fresh tuna, and then started to prep. Now, most of you may know, my husband is the chef in our household, and I'm the mere "sous chef." I do cook every so often, but even when I make something and we have friends over, they mostly see Al at the helm, and compliment him for a lovely meal, making me feel like chopped liver (so, make that be a note to any of you who come over for a meal ever...I do a fair share of work, but someone has to chat to the guests!). Without Al though, I am a bit skittish around the kitchen, and don't have the most confidence when coming up with a meal. Nevertheless, I took the bull by the horns, and ended up making an asian tuna salad with pickled cucumbers, and a side of white beans mixed with red peppers and garlic. It was quite tasty, and the presentation turned out just how I had hoped! Yay me!

Tomorrow, Al and I return to sketchy yoga. Stay tuned.

Con Mis Amigos

2007-01-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

The past few years, NY eve has been a bit lackluster-not that they haven't been fun, but it just seems to take so much more energy to get everyone to commit to anything. When I was little, new years always seemed so much fun, and I could never understand why my (or Maggie's) parents were asleep before the stroke of midnight. Of course, over the past few years, it's been a struggle to stay up to watch Dick Clark count down.

Leading up to New Years, we went out on Saturday to walk through Brookside Garden of Lights (filled with more than 600,000 lights, with tons of special effects) with our friends Paul and Erika, and Paul's sister, niece and nephew. I bought us all these fun 3D glasses that make shapes out of the lights-such as snowflakes and santas, and for the Jewish contingency-we had dreidels and stars of David. After our walk through the gardens, Al and I drove back home and hit a local Ethopian restaurant for some grub.

You know when you are in a restaurant and sitting next to someone and you start listening in to their conversation? For some reason, I coldn't seem to tune out the conversation next to me no matter how hard I tried. It was two girls out, and one was just being such a show off that she's had Ethopian food before and going on and on about what to eat and how many times she's been to the restaurant, and which beer is good, etc. And the thing is, when I go to a restaurant I haven't been to, and I want to know what is good, I tend to ask the person I'm with (assuming they've been there before), and I get a brief run down of what to try. But, this woman just went on and on. And, when they were getting full, she kept saying "two minute break! two minute break!" I guess maybe I just get annoyed easily, I just get irked by show-offy braggy types. Yes, yes, we all get that you've been here before and know how to moderate your eating by two-minute breaks. Sheeeeesh. More eating, less pontificating on the herbs of Ethopian cuisine.

Anyways, New Years Eve-we had a pot-luck get together at our place. I literally sent out an email on Wednesday offering a place to hang out for those last minute planners like Al and myself, and we ended up with 13 people at our place. See, noone is really getting psyched for New Years anymore. Why is it that a holiday centered around champagne is so lackluster? Well, we had quite a spread, and ended up retiring around 1:30ish. Not bad...but not exactly a rager. Anyhoooo...a happy new year to you all!

The most random blog ever

2006-12-29T10:15:00.000-05:00

New Year's Resolution #1: improve on the whole "blogging" thing-blog more often.
New Year's Resolution #2: keep to New Year's Resolution #1.

So, since last blog, Al and I checked out a yoga class. One of his coworkers told him about this "free yoga class," so we decided to check it out. I've done yoga only a handful of times, but I'm not great at it. I can't quite figure out where I need to be for each pose, or if I'm doing it right-plus, I'm clumsy as all hell. Anyways, we arrive at this sketchy sketchy place called the People's Media Center, filled with a few computers circa 1990. Ok, not exactly "zen." Then, we got down into the basement of said sketchy place to our yoga class. Mostly, yoga studios are fairly warm to make your limbs all limber-like. But, since we were in a basement, and not in a proper studio, it was damn cold. So, there we were spread out on our towels (no yoga mats for us), for 2 hours practicing our "cold" yoga. It was actually enjoyable though, and for once I felt as though I was doing it right, despite the chattering teeth from the cold. I think we'll likely go again......but this time with a sweater or two.

For the holidays, we trekked down to Roaonoke. It's a bit of a mix for me going home-I love being with my family and enjoy the board games, cups of hot tea, visits to the gym, the movies, etc, but most of my friend's families have moved from Roanoke, and those whose families are still there live in DC area anyways--so I don't get the chance to catch up with old friends when we go home. But, I digress...

We got back on Tuesday, and have been busy bees since. Birthday dinner out w/ our friend Mir on Tuesday, and then dinner out again for our friend Paul on Wednesday. Paul's b-day was a blast-we went to Bistroit du Coin (a great lil French restaurant in Dupont Cir), and Erika split up the couples so that we could all meet new friends. I loved where I was sitting-had a great time, and laughed so hard that no sound came out.

Erika came up with these clever table cards saying "to your left is so and so, ask them about such and such." It was a really great way to start a conversation. I wish every party I went to people could walk around with these cards-so fun! Anyways, as a result of the card, my neighbors learned about my "alter ego" Judy. Whenever Paul gets drunk, he starts calling me Judy....and so my new friends wanted to know all about Judy, and decided to take it one more step and deem me Judy G (as in Ali G.). It's one of those "you had to be there" moments, but hilarious. Judy G was in full force and tearing up the hizzzouse.

Anyways.....I also found out that Will's (who was sitting next to me) grandma lived in the same town that I did study abroad in (Patcham, right outside of Brighton), and was only a mere 2 blocks from my host family. He knew all the same pubs that I hung out at and everything. It made me want to go back to England (as if the movie the Holiday wasn't enough....). So, Jez and Emma, and Simon---if you're reading this, prep yourselves. I'm going to plan a visit (with newly jawed Al in tow).

After dinner, we headed to Chinatown to meet our friend O'Malls in from Philly and also meet his girlfriend. What a fun evening. I love city living. Make sure to check out our pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNGTZs3ZOGHs

Chain Gang

2006-12-04T16:31:00.000-05:00

Work has been crazy busy the past few weeks. Crazy! So, I haven't had time to blog, much less come up with many blogworthy tales....Here's a quick blurb of life lately....

Thanksgiving was quick-up and back to CT in about 26 hours. I definitely missed my family and all of our traditions-but we'll get to see them at the end of the month, and it was good to get our QT in with Al's fam (most of which involved sitting and figuring out our plans for the day--I tease---sort of).

Post Turkey day was a blast. The evening we got in we went out for a delish Ethopian dinner w/ friends followed by a long game night (2 am!). So fun. I just love game night! The next day we ran around doing holiday shopping and then met up with Andy, Mags, and Ilona for Belgium din-din followed by foozeball and pool. And, Sunday night some friends had us over for a yummy chilli dinner---biked on over there and home. DC after Turkey Day is the best. The city is empty and I love it.

This past week was Al's b-day. He's been burning the midnight oil too, so we were pretty low key. Ended up going for dinner Thursday night, and then celebrated all throughout the weekend, including a bowling night. I bowled the worst game in the world, but did enjoy coming up with fun names for all of the bowlers. Loved seeing the words "The Godfather" flash up on the big screen every time Al got a spare or strike! Hee Hee!

Spent the better part of the week and weekend cooking-enchiladas, brazilian stew, roasted chicken, tons of baked goods. Maybe one of these days someone will compliment me rather than assuming Al is the only cook in our household...b/c let me just tell you, I rock the enchiladas. Rock them!

Culture Club

2006-11-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

Do you remember the first time you realized that there were other cultures and countries that existed besides your own? I vividly remember that point in my life where I realized that there were other people with different languages and traditions than my own---and I remember thinking how cool it was that we all coexisted on one planet, and all had something different to bring to each other. I have always been lucky to have parents who embraced different cultures themselves, and never discouraged us from learning about them. That's one thing I think I LOVE about living in DC. You never have to hunt down an opportunity to do something really unique and different-it's all at your fingertips.

The past few weeks, we've gotten a chance to do tons of great cultural things...I just love it. On Nov 9th, Al and I went with our friend Colleen to see our first Cirque du Soleil (Corteo), which was incredible. Those people can do some pretty amazing things with their bodies, and are extremely talented. My favorite part was the jugglers though....I guess I'm easy to please--while the other performances definitely required a great deal of skill and agility, I still found myself liking the juggling act the best. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't necessarily easy, but compared to what the others were doing, it was not as strenous. But, I still loved it.

Then, over the weekend, our friend Christina took me to an Acoustic Africa concert that featured 3 African performers-Habib Koite from Mali, Vusi Mahlasela from South Africa, and Dobet Gnahore from Ivory Coast. It was AMAZING! Before the concert, Christina had given me CDs of 2 of the performers, but seeing the performance live was very moving. The three artists harmonized together beautifully and there were all sorts of people in the audience of every shade and culture. At one point, when the performers were really jamming, someone from the audience hopped up on stage and started sprinkling money on top of Habib Koite. Christina informed me that an African tradition is to sprinkle money on a performer so that you can dance with them. Before long, there were about 10 people on the stage putting their dollars above each of the performers. Quite a sight! The woman performer Dobet was a fantastic dancer-weaving in traditional dances of her tribe into her music. Awesome!

This past weekend we just took in the city, and hit the National Portrait Gallery. I have never been-wasn't my cup of tea, but I'm glad we went. I guess I just prefer other types of other art- impressionists, landscapes, photography, not so much portraits. After that, we went for Thai and caught a movie in Chinatown-Stranger than Fiction-which I definitely recommend. Great cast, good story.

Glad to be out and about, and enjoying all the opportunities the city has to offer. Always good to know that there are things out in the world that can bring you some perspective on your own life.

Tastes Like Chicken

2006-11-01T17:12:00.000-05:00

Now that Al's jaw is unwired, he's back baby! He's been able to eat pizza, burgers, steak--with the exception of a huge hoagie, he can pretty much handle everything, so...I decided to take it one step further. Let him try something REALLY unique.

So, anyway, when I found out about DC's 1st Annual Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival, I thought...sure, why not? I bought Al and I tix-and we went on 10/25 (which happened to be our 3 year wedding anniversary, so it was perfect!)

Over the course of my life, my travels have me to some pretty interesting places, and I've been brave enough to try some pretty exotic foods (no, I'm not a vegetarian, and yes, you may want to skip this blog if you are.). My motto is that I will try anything once with a few exceptions to the rule. So far I've had kangaroo, crocodile, haggis (sheep's stomach), squid guts, sea anenome, goose liver, pigeon (squab), escargot, goya (bitter melon), octopus, caviar, buffalo, oxtail, shad roe, cow's tongue and who knows what else.

I was pretty open-minded going into this. I think I tried almost everything-and why not?

So, for the night, we feasted on:

Rattlesnake Gumbo with Sassafras Scented Rice
Pink Peppercorn and Wattleseed Crusted Ostrich Leg Roast with Diablo Hollandaise
Veal Kidney with a Dijon Mustard Sauce - 100 King Restaurant
Hindbeh Bil Zayt (sautéed Dandelion Leaves in olive oil with garlic, parsley, and caramelized onions)
Nut Crusted Sweetbreads with Pomegranate Syrup
Buckwheat Blini with American Caviar and Crème Fraiche
Jerk Frog Legs with Jamaican Spices
Barolo Braised Veal Cheek with Shropshire" Orange" Blue
"Bacon and Eggs": House Cured Berkshire Pork Belly with Fried Quails Egg
Terrine de Tête de Veau
Boudin Rouge, Black Mission Fig and Goat Cheese Strudel
Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Braised Pigs Feet,
Crostini of Beef Tongue
Llama Slider with Bleu Cheese and Rosemary Red Onion Jam
Grilled Cayman Tail (crocodile) with Smoked Tomato and Basil Butter
Olive Oil Braised Octopus with Cici (garbanzos) and Lemony Vinaigrette
Crostata di Formaggi. Erborinato di Pecora Cheese Tartlet: cave aged raw sheep's milk cheese with natural bluing. Robiola La Rossa Cheese Tartlet: Cow and sheep mixed milk cheese wrapped in cherry leaves that are macerated in grappa
Beef Bone Marrow and Liver Parfait
Veal Kidney in the Style of Peking

Spytastic!

2006-10-09T10:51:00.000-04:00

Before I launch into my most wonderful spytastic 30th birthday, first thing's first. Al's jaw is officially unwired! We went first thing this morning, and it's already a huge difference-he can talk more clearly, and can breathe more easily....we're so excited!!!!! (if you can't tell by the amount of exclamation marks).

So....where to begin? (Note: this is a long blog, print out, and read on your commute.....) Friday I ended up working from home for the day. We had an early out for the long weekend, and the weather was miserable out, so no point in going in. During the day, I got a call from Al telling me about a break-in that happened that morning in our neighborhood, so I was a bit freaked out working from home. Anyway, I had a hair appt at 4 pm, so I headed out to my appt., and called Al afterwards to pick me up-but he wasn't able to b/c he "was not in DC". I had not idea where he was, so I cabbed on home, and as I go to open the door, I notice it is now unlocked, and the alarm is off (which is not how I had left it). Turns out my brother-in-law Marc was the first of many surprises for the weekend. Shortly after catching up w/ Marc, Al got home and before I knew it, the doorbell rang, and my friends Sylvie and Jarrod (from Michigan) were here, with their baby Deidrea in tow. The birthday weekend celebration had officially begun!

After calming down, we all went to dinner together at Logan Tavern to catch up and visit with each other--last time I saw Sylvie and Jarrod was 2 years ago for Al's 30th dive trip, so it was such a treat to see them again, and have them be a part of the weekend, and it was great having Marc there as well, and have him join in the festivities. Dinner was pretty chill, but it was great to just catch up and have a low key evening after such an exciting start!

The next morning, Al got up early to go into work--and the rest of us agreed we would all go out to brunch to Busboys and Poets when Al got back from work. As I walk into the back room of Busboys, and I'm greeted by about 20 of my closest friends...some new, some old, some DCers, and my friend Shannon from Memphis (along with the other out of town guests mentioned above)....all having brunch and yelling "surprise!!!". I was in shock. I had NO idea we were going to have a morning surprise party (I had knowledge the birthday celebration was this weekend, but didn't know when or where, or more importantly....what.)

So, to answer the question of "what is all this????", Al (my most fabulous husband) started a flash movie he created, which explained that it was to be a Spytastic weekend-with a Scavenger Hunt!!! After watching the film, I got tapped on the shoulder, and my parents (and brother) were all standing behind me...I jumped up and totally started balling. I guess I was just so overwhelmed, and it's been a crazy few months, so the comfort of seeing family was such a relief.

Al started to launch into his speech about what the day would entail--we were all broken into color teams...green, blue, red, gray and white. We each got t-shirts for our team, which had the coolest panda spy design, done my friend(s) Jerrold Connors (with help from lovely wife Kristen). (make sure to visit http://www.alligatorboogaloo.com/, he's genious!) . We were also given spy kits including a pencil, and marker, a roll of nickels, a decoder, a list of objects to obtain, and a list of places that 3 members of the team had to take a picture in front of. Each team also got a zip car (http://www.zipcar.com/) that they would have to drive around for the day. I got to drive a Mini-Coop for the day, so I truly felt Spytastic! We also got a CD mix of "Music to Spy By", including music from Mission Impossible, James Bond, etc.

This is how it worked: we were given a list of certain places in DC to take pictures in front of and certain items to obtain (some specific to DC, some not). Each picture that was taken and each object obtained amassed a certain amount of points. We were also given a checkpoints we had to go to. Checkpoint 1 lead to the next checkpoint (but a secret decoder had to be used in order to determine the next location point. There were a total of three checkpoints that we had to go to in order to determine final checkpoint. So, in addition to getting pictures across the city and obtaining objects, we also had to go to the various checkpoints so that we could determine our final destination point (we had to be there 5 pm SHARP, and the first team there got 1,000 points!) My team was Mags (my childhood friend since 2), Sylvie and Jarrod. Hilarity ensued. We had a great day running around the city collecting items, and reenacting scenes from movies, reinacting my wedding, going to pretermined checkpoints so that we could figure out our final destination point. There was definitely smack talk going on between the teams, and a competitive vibe throughout the day. We had a great time being silly and acting like spies. Luckily, my team was able to determine the final checkpoint (we missed one of the checkpoints), but we made it to the finish line first.

On the music to spy by, there was a key decoder hidden on track 48, which helped the other teams figure out where to meat. The secret hint was "half smoke", which lead to only one place----Ben's Chilli Bowl.

We had dinner at Ben's, and then everyone went home to change. An exhausting day, truly, but the day was not over. We all met up for cocktails at Spy Lounge later that night (to continue the spy theme). While some people were tuckered out, I was impressed by those who rallied. A few people joined who were not able to be part of the scavenger hunt. At one point in the evening, my friend Diana (also from MI) walked in the door and surprised me, which was awesome!! I thought all of my surprises were over, so it was nice to have one more.

The night ended around 2, a couple of martini's down the catch, but mostly a great evening with good friends, my wonderful family, and my terrific, thoughtful husband.

I just want to say special thanks to those who made my day wonderful, not just by being there, but contributing ideas, helping Al with coordinating music to his flash invite, designing t-shirts, calling to check in, etc. It was a great day, and was the most I've laughed in the past two months. Thank you for that!!!

And, thank you to Al. You never cease to amaze me. You are so talented and creative, and a wonderful life partner. Even through a wired jaw, you continue to be so thoughtful, kind, and caring. I am truly lucky to have you as my husband, and I can't wait to have even more adventures with you.

Check out our pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNGTZs3ZOGHO

Princess Power!

2006-09-29T21:48:00.000-04:00

So, as a new, ahem, 30 year old, I've decided that I would like to be a princess when I grow up. Princesses are so pretty, and never have to clean, and they get to ride horses, and never have frizzy hair, and they always have really nice skin.

I got a good start on Wednesday(my b-day)-my husband got me a kickin camera, and my coworkers got an arrangement of flowers for me and we got to go out for lunch to one of my favorite places! After work, I met up with some girlfriends for a little soiree my friend Colleen put together. She was so clever and came up with a ton of fun drink names like "Dirty 30" and the "Jodie-rita", etc. And, she made my FAVORITE of FAVORITE cakes-yellow cake with chocolate icing. See...I'm telling you, meant to be a princess. My case was really sealed when my friend Erika walked in with a princess bag full of treats only a TRUE princess could love. (I mean, you have to really be a princess to enjoy ring pops and pretty shiny bracelets, and really cool change purses and what not.) And, my friend Emily (and Sam) got me a mani certificate...pampering fit for a.........you guessed it.

Oh, alright, I'm just day dreaming. But, it's been a rough few months, and I deserve it, right? I have to admit, it was pretty special when we told the bartender I was celebrating a "big" birthday, and they thought I was turning 21!!!

Anyways, more b-day festivities to come at some point. Stay tuned....

Ringin' in the new year

2006-09-25T16:53:00.000-04:00

It was the start of Jewish new year this weekend...happy 5767! Everybody Wang Chung tonight!

I am totally a high holidays Jew, I go to synangogue just about twice a year-for the high holidays, and sometimes I toss one in for good measure and just to make sure I'm inscribed in the Book of Life and all, but usually, I'm a two-for-one type of gal. Don't get me wrong, I love being Jewish, and I do the whole Hannukah and Passover hullabulloo, but for hitting services, right now, I'm just at the bare minimum.

Even so, I love the holidays. They are super relaxing to me, and the older I get, the more I look forward to them. I just love the few hours of sitting in service and having some quality reflection time, and just mindlessly humming the different prayers. And, even more so, I am so SO in love with the food around Jewish holidays. This year, we kicked off our holidays nicely. I made a potato and cheddar soup on Friday, and afterwards, we met up with my friend Bill for a coffee break, which was nice. On Saturday, after I hit services our friend Miriam had us over, and I swear, I almost burst into tears just thinking about the spread. It's just nice to know that no matter whose house you go to, they all have the same tradition, the same food, the same comforts you remember from being little. Following Mir's, we went to our friend Paul and Erika's for a nice end to the evening.

But, I'm excited to say one of the MOST exciting things from this weekend is that I made a pillow! Yes, as part of the quilting goal, I started with a pillow. Our friend Missy had us over for a stitch and bitch, and she totally helped me become a quilting diva--okay, well, not quite to that extent, but did I mention I made a damn pillow?

As for Al, 2 more weeks of being wired shut. Still a long road. And people still suck. Jaw surgery is not fun, so I can't imagine why people thing it is okay to say mean comments to Al about not being able to understand him, etc. Those people seriously need to get some manners, and should ask their mom's why they were brought up with poor ones. And, I can say that because I'm going to totally atone for it while I'm fasting next Sunday for Jewish high holiday round 2, Yom Kippur.

30, flirty and fun?

2006-09-20T22:38:00.000-04:00

A week from today I turn 30. I've made a resolution. I'm going to be 30, flirty and fun! Okay, maybe not flirty in the traditional sense, I just mean flirty in the fun, fabulous, youthful sense. Flirting with new hobbies, new passions, trying to stay YOUNG.

So, here's looking down 30 square in the face, and a list of things I want to do in my 30's-some are quite a reach, but you gotta have something to reach for!

Play piano-I took lessons when I was little, and would love to pick it up again.
Learn how to speak French and Yiddush
Travel to South America
Make a hallah (traditional jewish bread for sabbath)
Have kid(s)
Raft down the Grand Canyon
Take an African safari
Take more pottery lessons and make a decent bowl (not just one my mother could love!)
Learn how to make a quilt
Write a kid's book
Get promoted at work
Become involved with a synagogue
Learn to be not so self-involved
Reunite with my old camp friends
See more concerts
Go to more plays
Go camping at least once a year
See a sea horse while diving
Become a better cook
Be 30, flirty and FABULOUS

Alright 30's, I'm ready, I have a list, and I'm coming for you, ready or not!

20 days to 30

2006-09-07T09:06:00.000-04:00

The countdown begins. In 20 days, I'll be leaving my 20's behind and heading into my 30's. Everyone SWEARS 30 is so great and that they love it....and to be honest, I was looking forward to it, but now I'm kind of dreading it. I guess it's because I have been feeling old this past month, and I hate feeling old-especially when I'm typically very young at heart.

While I'm hesitant to enter the 30-zone, I'm excited to wave goodbye to 20's. It was an interesting decade, and I learned alot, but I feel more like a grown up now. 20 was all about struggling to find out who I was and define my future, and now I feel like I'm actually content, and just enjoying life (with the exception of nursing a hubby through surgery rehab).

Looking back, it's been quite a ride....I moved from small town to big city, I started my career path towards marketing/fundraising/environmental work---which got a bit off track along the way, I met my husband and FINALLY had the courage to ditch my ex (after he broke up with me about a hundred times, it was empowering that the last zinger was done by yours truly), got my belly button pierced, learned to scuba dive, bought a house, travelled to some of the most amazing places in the world, ate at some of the most amazing restaurants, got to experience wonderful amount of cultural events, and met some of my most favorite people in the world (Ilona, Sylvie and Jarrod, Simon, Betsy, Diana, Colleen, Erika and Paul, Miriam and James, Booth and Wayne, Kristen and Jerrold, Shali, Missy, Kristin and Jeff, Matt and Katie, Clay and Nicole, Anne, and Summer). (sorry if I forgot anyone!) And got BACK in touch with some of my most favorite people in the world (too big of a list, but you know who you are).

Twenties were also rough-had a few jobs and bosses I hated, lived through a terrorist attack, totalled a car, had to go through a rough ending with the ex, and lost a few good friends along the way...but, mainly, it's been quite the journey, and I guess it's time to start the next chapter.

So 20 more days of 20's....and then, we'll see what life has in store for me next.

Rainy day thoughts

2006-09-01T13:16:00.000-04:00

Found out yesterday that Al has 5 more weeks of being wired shut. This sucks big time. And lately, I've definitely felt a bit dismayed with humanity. People who don't know Al just had surgery can be pretty damn cruel--in fact, some people who do know he had surgery can be cruel too. On the other hand, we've been blessed to have our friends conintuing to stop by. In fact, we just had a friend over from San Fran the other night.

I have a cold, which is lousy. It's a long weekend, and I would love to actually just rest and relax, but that doesn't seem to be in my future any time soon. Even when I try to rest, I get bogged down with other frustrating things. I hate sounding selfish, especially when Al is going through such an ordeal, but I'm really feeling so tired, and even though I'm not there yet, I'm feeling every bit of 30. Al swears 30 is great. I don't see it as being anything great...I just feel like I've aged a lot in the last few weeks, and lost a bit of that inner child glow. I can only hope that it comes back....

Bye Bye Merl....

2006-08-29T16:31:00.000-04:00

I sold my car yesterday evening. I've had it for 8 great years, but it was time to say farewell. Living in the city, and paying for the upkeep and insurance has been a bit more than I can chew, so I bid it a safe journey into the hands of a 17-year old. Now, I have to learn to drive Al's car!

It's definitely bittersweet-I didn't have a chance to even say a proper fairwell before it was driven off into the distance, and I'm definitely sad to see it go after so many fond memories of driving to New York, Roanoke, the beach, and wherever else it's taken me. And, of course, who can forget the time I decided on its name after drinking a whole bottle of Merlot hoping Al would show some interest in me at a party!! (hence the name Merl-not for the color, but for the wine) .....Good times.

Bye bye Merl. Be good to your new owner, lil fella.

Overwhelmed.

2006-08-28T15:33:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling overwhelmed. I don't even know why. I'm not the one trying to go through recovery of a major surgery (or two for that matter!), but I feel like hell. I'm tired all the time, and I cry at the drop of a pin. Al can't seem to get full no matter how much tofu, or beans, or protein powder he puts in his purees--it's all liquid, so he never gets that content feeling of eating, he feels constantly empty. It's frustrating to him, it's heartbreaking to me....I wish I could do more, but all I can do is just be supportive, and understanding.

I'm also trying to sell my car. Another annoyance. I have to deal with calls, and emails, and questions, which is all par for the course, but I'm trying to catch up on work, and feel like this is probably the most stressful time to do something equally as stressful. I also have to find time to learn to drive a stick. Not just a regular stick, but Al's BABY. No stress....ha!

Another thing that really has weighed on me is that some asshat was making fun of the way Al talked because his jaw is wired shut. I won't say what the guy said, but it was pretty damn inconsiderate, and fucking rude, and he can just shove it for all I care. (So THERE you stupid, jobless DICK!).

Luckily, we continue to have a barrage of friends stopping by, calling, visiting. I'm thankful for that, and for the lessons of patience and kindness that I'm taking from this. (minus the name calling to ignorant jerks). I seriously need a drink. And a vacation.

Life Lessons

2006-08-24T14:49:00.000-04:00

So, after we came home from the hospital after Al's jaw surgery (Saturday, August 12), we were home for about 3 1/2 days before we went back to the hospital--Al was not getting the amount of liquids he needed because every time he drank, he would double over in stomach pain. He lost a tremendous amount of weight, and I was growing concerned. We finally listened to our instincts, and called the doctor-turns out he had developed an ulcer. So, back into the hospital for another 3 days, 2 nights to get an IV so that he could rehydrate, and also get medication to help with the ulcer.

Thank goodness for mom's....because my mom was back up for the second hospital stay, and helped a huge amount around the house-did laundry, did dishes, made food, mopped the floors-it was so nice having an extra hand and one less thing to worry about.

He's out of the hospital now, and has started to regain some weight, and is definitely more himself, but I think that the past few weeks has taught us both some lessons about each other and ourselves.

Sometimes I lean on Al too much, and I learned to lean more on myself, and I learned I have a lot more strength in difficult situations then I ever thought possible. And, I learned it's OK to cry, and it's ok to cry a lot--that is the body's way of releasing stress, and I don't have to apologize for crying in front of my friends or family, because they are awesome and understand. I also learned to appreciate Al more...appreciate all that he does, and all that he helps bring out in me. I've learned that the body is an amazing tool, that can run for quite some time on little sleep, little nourishment, and severe stress...and somehow cope. I've learned that my friends are a blessing, and I am thankful for them every day. I've learned that hospital food is yucky. And I've learned that laughing is priceless, and the only way to get through frustrating times.

And, finally, I've learned that I REALLY don't like hospitals, but then again, who does?

Moments of tenderness

2006-08-14T12:36:00.000-04:00

Al's surgery was last Wednesday, and since then, I haven't quite been able to turn off the water works. It started with finding out he needed a second surgery on Thursday-I had been prepared for one, but definitely not a second one. That threw us both off, and really set my emotions into a spiral.

I won't lie, this surgery has not been easy for us both. Al's mouth is wired shut-and it's hard for him to breath, swallow foods, and also to get sick (which happened twice). It's scary, and it's trying, and it's wiped us both out completely. I cry about every few hours, just from the stress, and frustration of trying to get him to eat, and feel normal again. He has a low attention span, often gazing into the distance. I feel at times that I'm getting a glimpse of what it might be like to be a mom, and have another being that you feel so protective of, and how much it hurts when to be helpless. It's so overwhelming.

In all of this though, I don't feel like I've been saying "well, I know who my true friends are." Instead, I've been saying, "I now know how AWESOME my friends are." Everyone has rallied, continuing to call, email, stop by. I honestly would not make it through if it wasn't for our friends. And family-Al's family has been helpful, but I've learned more about my own family, and how we come together in times like these. It makes me happy to know that my family continues to be a crutch, and would drop everything in order to help me out.

And, with Al, I've learned in our moments of tenderness how lucky I am to have such a wonderful life partner, and even though things are rough, we try to look ahead, and take each day at a time. I think this is only making us stronger, and for that, I am blessed.

Two more days...

2006-08-07T12:16:00.000-04:00

Until Al's surgery. I finally had a breakdown last night-I had been pretty calm and collected, but then I spiraled into nonsensical breakdown/pick a fight mode. I tend to do that at times that I have to be strong-I just have to distance myself when things get rough. It sounds bitchy, and of course I care---it's just that it's fight or flight for me when having to deal with matters so close to the heart-and I always chose fight. I'm just scared for him. He's so calm and collected, stating that it's all in the doctor's hands, and that he's ready. I guess I'm doing the worrying for both of us.

Tomorrow is his last supper, and Wednesday is the surgery. I will update the blog as I can. But, for now, thanks for being great friends and checking in.

Being Honest....

2006-07-26T13:43:00.000-04:00

So, while my blogs are usually a tale of what I've done over the weekend, or a place to vent over my kitchen renovations, I usually try not to unload my burdens on the web. I guess I just don't like being vulnerable.

So here I go...honestly, sometimes it's harder to put these things in words, so, why not write about it? And after this, I don't know that I'll want to talk about it, but at least you all will know what's going through my lil head, right?

Anyways, we are counting down the days for Al's jaw surgery, and while it will ultimately be for the best, I can't help but be a little scared. Scared of everything. I've known Al for 8 years now, so he's a pretty big constant in my life. I don't want to see him in pain, or have to give up his love of food for 6 weeks while he's wired shut.

And, it's weird knowing that he'll look different after the surgery. I fell for the whole package just the way he is--and it's just weird to know that he'll look different. And, also, selfishly, to know that I'm just staying the same-and that lately, I haven't been to happy with how I look either. I've had the same haircut and glasses for FOREVER, and I really want to lose some weight, but need to actually motivate myself. I like how I look in this picture. But I don't know how to get back to being that way? Gosh, this honesty thing sure does suck. Maybe I should just do a Post Secret?
Yes, if you see something there that says, "I'm afraid after my husband's surgery, he won't like how I look anymore," you'll know it's from me.

Ciao.

And the heat, my Gd, the heat!

2006-07-19T17:38:00.000-04:00

It's so damn hot in DC, it's making me cranky. Actually, it's making everybody cranky. A man body checked me on the metro yesterday, pushing me into an innocent victim-and then had the nerve to yell EXCUSE YOU! to me. Whattanass!

But, it's been a busy week despite the heat....Saturday, we went to 2 bbq's-one was a networking one that our new friend Missy invited us to--it was actually a lot of fun, and we had to pull ourselves away to go to the next one. The 2nd BBQ was a pool party of the raunchy variety. I guess I'm getting old, but I was a bit icked out by some of the goings-on in the pool.

Sunday, we had brunch with friends, and made about a bizillion kinds of stock to prepare for Jaw Surgery for Al. Tonight we're headed to Colleen's for a yummy pizza dinner, and Friday we're checking out Urbana, a new restaurant in town. No rest for the weary--and hot.

Up high on a hill....

2006-07-06T15:23:00.000-04:00

Fourth of July weekend we hit Park City, Utah, where we went for Clay and Nicole's wedding weekend extravanganza!

It was a fun-filled weekend, with never a dull moment-including the plane ride. United has this new fangled boarding system, where they give you a section (1-4) and they board according to section. I, of course, was the last section to board, and they told me as I got close to boarding that I would have to check my bag. Um, I'm going to a wedding, I have a small window of connection time, and the wedding isn't anywhere NEAR the airport. So, no---you CANNOT have my bag. Having had to live through the scare of not having a bag previously, I was not willing to part with it. And good thing too-my 1/2 hour connect turned into a 10 minute connection-and I had to bolt from my seat to the other end of the concourse wheezing my way through like a crazy person. Not fun.

So, I get to Canyons resort, which is a ski lodge in the winter, and we have a totally incredible room that our friend Laura helped hook us up with. Al was getting back from the rehearsal dinner, and declared that we would be having a party (!!) in our room. I had been up since 4 am, went to work, sprinted a mini marathon through the airport, have only had a bag of pretzels to eat since noon. I was not in the mood. Nicole's parents were the lucky onese who got to host the party, but they were awesome hosts, and made me relieved that I could come and go as I pleased, and didn't have to worry about a room full of friends.

The next morning, we were up early-Al had a golf game to get in with the groomsmen, and I couldn't get back to sleep. So, I met up with our friends Matt and Katie, Tony, and PW for a little breakfast, and then Matt, Katie, PW and I went for a horseback ride for about 1 1/2 hours. My horse's name was Max, and Max liked to trot an awful lot-I thought it was impossible to trot on hills, but Max proved me wrong. Luckily, I used to ride when I was little, so it made it a little easier to hang on while he went full trot.

That evening, we went to the base of the mountain to take the Gondala up to Clay and Nicole's wedding. On the way to the wedding, we passed a hill filled with little lambs baahing as we passed them by. The wedding was beautiful-we were all seated on a footbridge overlooking the most spectacular Aspens. Afterwards, we went inside (still up on the mountain) for the reception-wonderful food, and an incredible band-which consisted of a man on a keyboard who was the main performer and a guy on the guitar for harmony. That's it---and I have to tell you, he was an AMAZING performer. We danced and ate, and drank, fun times. Until we noticed it was lightening out-and they stopped the gondalas in lightening storms. We were stuck on the mountain much later than anticipated, and those with lil ones and babies were especially up shit's creek....no rest for the weary.

We FINALLY made it down in our PITCH black gondala. It was a fun ride down, consisting of screaming, and singing.....with the lambs in the background, of course.

The next day, Al and I got an early start and hit the gym, and met up with some friends for brunch. That night, we went to the Red Butte Gardens for a concert-the opening act was really great-a 23 year old named Reeve Carney, who sounds like a Jeff Buckley reincarnate. The main act was okay, but I really liked the opening act the best, thought he had a great voice and good vibe.

The last day, we woke up early for a hot air balloon ride over Park City with 10 others in the wedding group. We lifted off slowly, and it was amazing. As scared as I am of heights, I wasn't scared of this at all. As we touched down, I noticed that we were basically in some guy's back yard (although technically, it was public property...). I guess the owner noticed too, because he called the cops, and came out cussing every single one of us. Good times. We just drank our champagne, and they shuttled us into the van, and we left. Off to the Stew Pot for a yummy final brunch, and then home. Again, running through the airports. I hate United.

Mr. and Mrs. S Go to "Warshington"

2006-06-19T18:05:00.000-04:00

It's funny when you grow up, and your parents kind of stop being "parents" in the traditional sense, and actually become your friends. Even though you can revert back to having that parent-child relationship every so often, you start to not notice the gap anymore, and have more equal footing. Of course, that doesn't keep me from telling my dad not to watch his old western shows, because he had always said "when it's your roof, you can make the decisions..." and now those words have come to haunt him.

My parents came to "Warshington" as my mom calls it, to visit last weekend, and had a fun-filled, action packed weekend. And for two people who live in a small town, (and having grown up there myself), I'm always suprised at how well they handle themselves in situations that aren't the norm for lil ole' Roanoke.

On Friday, we decided to go out to dinner in Capital Hill to a restaurant called Sonoma-a California-type cuisine restaurant with delcious wines, yummy cheese boards, and really simple-fresh food. Two bottles of wine later-everyone was feeling pretty happy, and enjoying their meals. Al and I had been invited to our friend Daniel's birthday party, which was also on the Hill-and since everyone seemed in good spirits-and my parents had met Daniel and his partner Michael before, we asked them to come along. We walked up to the bar-Remington's, I paid the cover, and we walked in. It took about 2.5 seconds to look around take in all the men in muscle shirts and cowboy hats to realize I had taken my parents to a gay bar--and not just a gay bar, but a LINE dancing gay bar.

My parents are pretty liberal compared to some of the people in Roanoke, VA-but even this was a bit eye opening of an experience for them. Luckily, they had a great time, stayed for a drink, and admired the line dancing, which I have to say was excellent. It was a fun night, and I have to give my parents major kudos for being such open-minded people.

The next day, I took my mom with me to go to my workout class-it's mostly African American women in my class, who just bring a huge amount of life to the class-they cheer, they laugh, and they totally make fun of me, but it's so much fun. Mom got a taste of the women yelling at her-which was another new one in her book-but again, she was gracious and took it in stride.

Meanwhile, my dad went with Al to go work out in the morning as well. After our respective workouts, we came home-I briefly met up with my friend Shannon and her boyfriend Richard, in town from Memphis.

And after that, we went to the Yankees vs. Nationals game. Even though I'm a Nats fan, for this game, I cheered on the Yankees, since my family are all Yankee fans. I was surprised at the number of Yankee fans at the game, but even more surprised at the language of some of the Nats. fans to the Yankees. As soon as the Nationals started to win, this one guy starts yelling "F*$% YOU!" over and over again to us Yankee fans--and of course, right in front of his 3 year old kid...nice role model. Sad day for the Yankees-but it was a neck and neck game, and one of the more exciting ones we've been to in awhile.

We went for a quick, easy dinner at Busboys and Poets, and then came home for a not so rousing game of Trivial Pursuit-with Al majorily kicking our butts. At one point, I answered a question wrong, and trying to copy the guy from the game, my mom starts yelling (jokingly) "You F#$(!!" My family and I just looked at each other and started rolling with laughter...to funny. I miss the days of sitting around with my family and laughing until I cry.

It was a good weekend, wrapped up with a nice brunch for dad.

And, of course, a lesson in researching bars BEFORE taking your parents to them...

Shhh...it's a secret

2006-06-12T13:15:00.000-04:00

Maybe you've heard of PostSecret, maybe you haven't. Either way, I truly think it's a fascinating idea.

It all started with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He started handing out postcards to strangers, asking them to write down a secret that they have never told anyone and mail it to him anonymously. Astounded by the results, and the amount of people who have secrets, and the caliber of secrets that were being shared, Frank put together a collection of these postcards into a book called PostSecret.

I have to confess that I don't actually own the book, but I do check the website, where he posts new postcards once a week (www.postsecret.blogspot.com). It feels a bit voyeuristic, but I have to admit that it gives me some comfort to know that everyone has secrets--no matter how big or small, and that they have a creative outlet to let their secret go.

I often think about what would my secret be if I submitted one? I'm a pretty open person, but I think everyone has a secret to keep--whether it be a fear, or something you think about yourself, or a confession of something silly that you did when you were little, but that you just can't quite forgive yourself for...or maybe even a secret wish...anything.

What would yours be? Think about it.

It's the freakin' weekend baby...

2006-06-01T12:05:00.000-04:00

I love Memorial Day. After a long stretch of no long holidays since February, nothin' says lovin' like a long weekend.

And this one was done in style--my friends Betsy and Diana (who I used to work at TNC with), Diana's friend Shannon, and Katherine all came to town for a girls weekend. Al went to CT for some family obligations, so it was just us ladies for the weekend.

Saturday, was up bright and early to pick up D and Shannon from the airport-and we basically started drinking soon thereafter. The initial plan was to hit a winery, but it looked like rain, so we hunkered down for some brunch along with Betsy and her friend Chas. Before I knew it, the bloody marys were being far too kind to me, and so-we decided not to get in a car and drive, but to just keep on drinkin. And, we did. On to Dupont, then to Sequioa's by the Potomac. Went home for a quick cat nap, and did it all again in the evening.

We hit Raku for dinner, and then got our groove on at the Black Cat. Al and I went dancing in NYC, but aside from that, I haven't been dancing in a wicked long time, so I let my hair down, and hit the dance floor so hard that my feet felt on fire later that night. We had a total blast drinking, dancing, and after that, grabbing a quick bite at Ben's before tucking in at 4 am.

Slept in, got up and hit Eastern Market after I made the ladies a super-easy-cheesy hungover breakfast. After Eastern Market, we headed to Georgetown-for you guessed it-more eating and drinking. Met up with some friends that I hadn't seen in literally about 4 years or so, so that was cool. Nice catching up, and hanging out by the water. Another late night-getting home at lord knows when.

Got up early the next day for our Memorial Day cookout. Al was coming back in town, and I wanted to do something special for the girls, so we had a big Mem Day bbq, complete with ribs, chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, coleslaw, cornbread, rice crispy treats, cookies (from our totally awesome friends Erika and Paul) and the total fun ending of cotton candy! FUN! Al and I basically cooked all day, so no rest for the weary.

The bbq was a success, at some point we counted about 40 people-which includes Al's buddy Joe from Jury Duty, who took it upon himself to invite 5 of his friends without asking first. If he had just asked, no biggie, but he didn't, and he and his friends proceeded to stand in front of our buffet table warding off anyone else who wanted a rib, or a deviled egg. Whatever-I just found that so annoying-I don't mind meeting new people, but just ask for crying out loud.

It was a fun weekend-and nice to have some girl's time, but I'm so tired. I guess I'm not the dancing queen I thought I could be. That's okay, I'm quite content to go back to being a bit more low key-that's what makes it much more fun to be wild every blue moon. But for now, chill nights and wine over dinner are the way of life for me.

Check out our weekend pics if you'd like: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNGTZs3ZOGGK

Give 'em the bird!

2006-05-22T11:30:00.000-04:00

I had a traumatic experience this weekend. It may sound like I'm joking, but I assure you, this is no joking matter.

On Saturday morning, I left my house early to go work out. I felt a strange woooosh sound by my head as I was locking the door. I thought it was weird, but I wasn't certain what it was. I forgot my water bottle in the house, so when I went back to unlock the door, I felt it again. I saw a bird perched on our gate, and thought that there was just no way it could have been the bird woooshing at my head. I grabbed the water bottle-confident that I was just sleepy and imagining the whole thing-and went out the front door again. There was no mistaking it, the bird was dive-bombing me!!

What you have to understand is I'm TERRIFIED of birds. Not just even a little. I'm talking major fear. Is there a word for having a bird fear???

I've had many-a-bird incidents, and they freak me out. Once, a gaggle of geese all started hissing at me as I was walking along a path that was by water. I feared for my life as they all came toward me hissing aggressively. Then, in Australia, Al and I went to a wildlife habitat, where an ostrich-like-bird made a B line for me and literally started chasing me. So, with this bird dive-bombing me, I was totally petrified.

After I came home from working out, the bird attacked me again. I yelled for Al to come help me, because I was so scared. This bird was being really aggressive, and wasn't even letting me get in my front door. I figured out that it must be building a nest, or have babies or something, but still, I was just minding my own business---until it started provoking me. I grabbed our hose in my panic, and started spraying at it wildly. I'm sure I was a sight for the neighbors. I'm not sure what looked more crazy-me with the hose, or the bird attacking me.

I made it inside, unscathed, and began calling Animal Control. This bird was literally making me feel like a captive in my home-I couldn't escape because I feared it would attack. Animal Control was not helpful. They told me that unless the bird was dead or injured (or endangered) they would not come. Hellooooo--your name is Animal Control-aren't you supposed to "control" crazy animals?? I work for an environmental agency, and I can understand and appreciate not wanting to disturb wildlife, and that it's their home, they are just protecting their nest, but as I later came to find out, the bird is attacking ALL of my neighbors. People are feeling a bit apprehensive about being outside because of this crazy bird. To me, that is definitely a reason for Animal Control to come out!

On Sunday, I was lucky, and the bird left me alone--it was still out there, and still diving at people, but maybe the hosing off helped a little bit. Of course, it probably helped that I started carrying a tennis racket every time I left the house for protection. I had to laugh when Al suggested we rent "The Birds" as a tribute to my experience. No thanks-I've had enough to last me awhile.

Garden State

2006-05-17T13:18:00.000-04:00

So, we made our way up to NYC last Friday-well, we didn't stay in NYC, but we were lucky enough to crash with Al's friend Mangan who lives in Hoboken in a totally decked-out batchelor pad-complete with view of Statue of Liberty, a huge flat screen tv, and a booming stero system.

We got up early on Saturday, and made our way into Manhattan to meet up with Al's parent, his brother, and his brother's girlfriend. We were pretty close to Times Square, so we walked around a little bit, but basically, kept finding ourselves wondering what to do next. NY is just to hard with a group of 6 who are trying to kill time in small pockets-we had about an hour to kill before lunch, after lunch, and after the play. Anyways, we settled on an early lunch since we had pretty much exhausted Times Square, so went to the Stage Deli for lunch-and got sandwiches the size of our face. And free pickles, which made Al happy.

After that, we wandered around some more, killing time before the play (The Odd Couple) started. Finally, we made our way to the theatre....luckily the whole cast was present, no stand-ins for our show. I have to make a confession-I still have a junior high school girl crush on Matthew Broderick. I can't seem to see him as anything other than Ferris Bueller. The play was hilarious, and Nathan Lane's timing was incredible.

After the play, we waited outside the stage door to see if we could meet any of the actors. Only one came out-Mike Starr-who was really cool, and made the time to talk to everyone. So, that was my brush with fame this trip. It seems every time we go to NY, we see someone famous, so it's always good to keep that streak running.

We were left with the same scenario of trying to find something to do after the play and before dinner-so more walking around Times Square. We finally went to dinner at an Italian restaurant Tony's Di Napoli-and had a huge family style dinner, followed by a super yummy strawberry shortcake...mmmm!

After that, we parted ways with Al's family, and met up with Mangan to head back into Hoboken. We decided to head out and hit the bar scene with Mangan, his "lady friend" Marcella, and Marcella's friends Ian and Shannon. Hoboken is a HUGE singles scene, and has a ton of adorable bars and restaurants. We were lined up to head into this super cute bar, and I could hear the tunes the DJ was spinning-which were all awesome. Until we got in there. He changed from whatever it was he was playing to hard core rap/hip hop, so I proceeded to drink. A lot. And, then, the 80's music started to play, and I just love the 80's. So, after several Bon Jovi songs, and vodka tonics later, I was loving life.

We stumbled next door to grab a late night snack, and went home to crash. I just love rockin' out in the Garden State.

You give love a bad name....

2006-05-08T17:09:00.000-04:00

Okay, not YOU, per say...but lame pick up lines most certainly do give love a bad name.

Al and I were invited to a Hootenanny this past weekend-complete with live blue-grass music, and animal heads adorning the walls. The last time we went to the Hootenanny-everyone got into it-checked gingham as far as the eye could see, and cowboy hats and boots galore.

We had dressed accordingly for this party as well-with Al donning a Sheriff's/cowboy cap and a glue-on mustache, and me with a "howdy" shirt lined with rhinestones (oh yeah), and a kids bow and arrow set. If you must ask, we went with the cowboys AND "native americans" motif, trying to represent all hootenanny attendees. (when in DC, best to be PC)

Of course, this Hootenanny was a less enthusiastic crowd, leaving myself and the sheriff the only folks in full garb. Not to worry, we're champs, we like to make assess of ourselves as much as possible.

We had brought our friend Jess with us, and she brought along a few other single gals for the ride. After the Hootenanny trailed off, we decided to go to Tony and Joe's-which is a waterfront bar on the Potomac. Let me tell you-it's one thing to walk into a Hootenanny with the outfits we had on, but quite another to walk into a Georgetown bar filled with folks who had just come back from the horse races.

I quickly found that a kid's bow and arrow set is sure-fire (pun intended) way of getting a pick-up line. I heard everything from "Are you playing cupid tonight?" to "Is this a batchelorette party?" to "Ummm, can you tell me why on earth you have a bow and arrow?". My quote of the night was "What? Haven't you ever seen a girl in a bar carrying a bow and arrow before? Geez!"
And, after a few beers later, it was, "Howdy y'all, there's a new sheriff in town!" (having stolen Al's hat from him at this point.)

If you are single and ready to mingle, my best advice is to bring a random prop with you that will lead to interesting conversation. And, if you are married, and not doing the single thing, you can at least feel uber cool toting a bow and arrow set!

New York State of Mind

2006-04-25T13:05:00.000-04:00

I have a confession--I'm a southerner with Yankee blood. Don't get me wrong. I love me some fried chicken, mashed taters, cole slaaaaaw, grits, biscuits and gravy, dumplings, etc....but, I found my Yankee side this past weekend.

The Mr. and I did a road trip home to good ole' Roanoke, Virginia-star city of the south and home to the Texas Tavern-to visit with my parents and some relatives from my mom's side of the family that were visiting.

While none of them live in NYC now, my grandparents, great aunts and uncles all hail from the Bronx. And, this past weekend, I got a chance to reunite with several of them-listening to sex jokes, and stories about their escapades growing up, etc. We laughed, we cried, it was better than Cats.

I love that my grandparents and aunts and uncles all grew up in the same neighborhood-half of the time when they are telling stories, you have no idea if they are talking about a relative or a friend or both-since they all were friends and ended up all being related through marriage--so maybe there is a bit of southern blood in my family after all?

We found out all sorts of interesting facts and weird stories that just kept on coming-a few relatives were bigamists and started new families-so we may have relatives out there that we don't know about, and my great great grandparents got divorced-when nobody else was doing so.....all very bizarre.

The visit was a bit bittersweet-my grandma is going to be moving into an assisted living community soon, and has decided to clean house. And while I'm happy she's made the decision to move-it's the last piece of Roanoke that I can return to that is filled with memories. My parents moved out of the house I grew up in, and my aunt and uncle moved away-so grandma's is the last place that is filled with those sweet memories of playing cards, listening to records, glancing at the Norman Rockwell prints, thumbing through old photos and setting up a "store" and selling my grandparent's own seashells back to them.

It's sad to wave goodbye to that. It's heartbreaking to take some of grandma's records that I grew to love--and know that listening to them will never quite be the same as it was. I guess that is what everyone in my family discovered this weekend-things just arent' the way they were. They ALL used to vacation together. All of the cousins would be together every summer...but you grow up, things change, people move--and nothing is the same.

But, one thing hasn't changed, and that's the feeling I get when I get to spend time with all of these relatives--the feeling of being complete, laughing until your sides hurt, and being a part of something so sweet that words can't even capture the amount of love you feel. I'll always take it---even if it means being part Yankee. Sorry General Lee.

Lasting Impressions

2006-04-14T12:23:00.000-04:00

So, now that I'm back, and have had some time to gain some perspective, I wanted to share some observations, impressions, etc from our trip. The landscape was pretty well described in all of the blogs-so I'm not focusing on how pretty the sakura were (cherry trees), or how lovely the Zen gardens were--these are more cultural notes than anything. And, yes, they are generalizations, and maybe even seem a bit rude, but it's just such a different culture, it's hard not to pick out the extremes.

Sing us a song...
-No, I'm not talking Karaoke. One of the things that I loved was how all of the Japanese people in the restaurants, shops, etc, would sing song hello, and if you did or didn't buy anything they would thank you in the same sing-songy manner. A lot of the times when we were listening to people speak, it sounded like song--which is probably why the Japanese language is so hard to learn, is because of the "melody" for certain words that can make what you are saying vary so much.

Humbly yours.
-One of my favorite things about Japan was how humble everyone seemed to be. The bowing became second nature, and I found it very sweet and humbling as well. Not only was everyone most humble and gracious, but almost everyone who we asked for help in getting around sincerely tried to be helpful. We often got walked to our destinations, or if someone saw us staring at a map, they'd come over to help. If they spoke English, they always asked how we were enjoying our stay in their country. While a lot of people seemed cold in their business suits, and their serious work faces, most of the people we were able to converse with were quite lovely and welcoming. It made me want to really go out of my way to be as welcoming to visitors to DC.

Fish, seaweed, and sesame, oh my.
-Because we live in DC, we are no stranger to ethnic foods-Ethopian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietanamese, etc....and I just love Asian food, so I thought that Japanese food would not bring that much of a mystery. But, we have definitely Americanized the Japanese food here. Sushi was not as easy to find as we had thought-instead, sashimi seemed to be the norm. And every restaurant seemed to smell of fish and seaweed-mostly because that's the basis for all of their sauces. So, one minute I'd be hungry, and then after entering the restaurant, I'd quickly lose my appetite-just because the smell was so strong and intense--even if the food was somewhat mild, that fish smell was overpowering. Another thing that threw me off was texture-there are a lot of mushy, slimy, jelly-like substances in the Japanese culture-and after awhile, you just want something that has a crunch to it....which is why we fell in love with grilled sesame treats with soy sauce--but that too was wrapped in nori--we couldn't escape the wrath of the seaweed!

Never heard of it
-So, the typical joke about Japanese pronounciation, not too far off the mark. The "l's" and "r's" in words sometimes get a bit jumbled. One day at the market, we were pointing to different fish, asking what they were. We mostly got the Japanese names, but sometimes the store owner would attempt English. So, one was pointing to the fish "butterfish" or "snapper" which we got right away. Then, she said a few Japanese names-saba (mackerel), toro (tuna). And "frounder." We thought that was the Japanese name...until we realized it was flounder. Oh well.

Hi-tech, hi-speed, high-intensity
Everything in Japan is so technilogically advance. All the TVs are HDTV, and the advertisements are just on a completely different level--they are everywhere and everything is an advert. One of the nice things about technology, is that everyone is text-crazy there. Talking on the phone is not allowed on the Japanese trains, so most of the time, people are just texting away. If someone does talk on the phone in public, they cover their mouths to be polite. It is so much nicer than having to listen to someone's phone conversation.

Everything seems to move pretty quickly in Japan-which is probably why the technology is so rapidly advancing. The people move quite fast, and if you don't move, you often find an elbow planted in your rib. It's not out of rudeness-but these people have somewhere they want to be, and if you are in their way, that is your problem, not theirs. No excuse me's, no niceities-just a firmly planted elbow. One of our guides told us we should just elbow back, because that's what people do!!!

The trains are also fast-between the bullet trains, and the regular subway trains, we hardly ever had to wait for a train. In DC, there can sometimes be up to a 15 minute wait for off-peak hours. I think our longest wait in Japan was 5 minutes at most.

Buddha Kitty:
So, one of the biggest things in Japan are the cartoon characters. Hello Kitty is EVERYWHERE. Pens, charms, bracelets, purses, on every sort of souvenier you could imagine. Also big are the mon-chi-chi's (remember those???). But, the Japanese use these little cartoons for everything, and people just eat it up, and can't get enough of their Hello Kitty. I think Hello Kitty may beat out Buddha. Except for my charm, which has Hello Kitty on the lap of Buddha-which effin rocks!

Bathroom Humor:
-Public bathrooms: The one blessing and curse to Tokyo and Kyoto are that there are tons of public restrooms, so you never have to worry about being a tourist and finding a place to "go" because they are located practically everywhere, including the subway. And, while this is a relief, most of the public toilets are not. For some reason, the "Eastern" toilets are just a big hole in the ground-and there may or may not be toilet paper. But, there certainly is no soap, and no hand towels to dry your hands from the COLD water. I finally learned how to scout out the Western toilets, but as the saying goes, when ya gotta go....

-Hotel and restaurant bathrooms: okay, not to get obsessed with toilet talk, but the hotel and restaurant bathrooms made up for the icky public ones. Most of them had heated seats, and offered to play "music" or "flushing sounds" while you went about your business. One bathroom was so fancy that when you opened the door to the restroom, the lid to the toilet popped up, and when you flushed, it went back down. Now that's a fancy toilet!

The Long Life and Smoking Conondrum
-I can't get over how many elderly people there are in Japan. And, most of them are active. I rarely saw canes, or wheelchairs. Most of them walk around with each other at a pretty fast pace, and stay insanely busy. My father's mother walks several miles a day, but she has nothing on the Japanese. I couldn't get over how many train stations had stairs--and not just a small set-I mean, these huge stairwells, and no escalator or elevator in sight. None. So, these older folks were almost forced to be in shape, because they had no choice not to be. And yet, everyone smokes in Japan. How can people live so long when surrounded by so much smoke? It's still a mystery.

And Pachinko is it's name-o
We went, we saw, we didn't understand the obsession with Pachinko. Gambling is not allowed in Japan, so instead, they allow pachinko, which is a mix between pinball of sorts, and a slot machine. I couldn't really figure the whole thing out, but I guess you get a set amount of these steel balls the size of a marble to play with, and then if you win, you get a whole bunch more of the little marbles, which you eventually exchange into a prize (not money since gambling is not allowed). You take your little prize conveniently next store to a small short, and sell your "prize" for money. And that is the magic of pachinko. It's loud, it's smoke filled, it's pachinko.

The Long and the (very) Short of It
-Now that we are back, I feel so short-it was nice being average size, if even for a little while.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures. I'm happy we were able to go, and while it was utterly crazy, I think it only makes us better travellers in the end. And, it opens out minds to something bigger in this world, which is always quite nice.

Karoake at last

2006-04-10T21:35:00.000-04:00

Saturday, April 8
Our last full day in Japan. We decided to do a small day trip to Arashiyama, about 20 minutes from Kyoto by train. The main draw to Arashiyama is the dense bamboo forests. It was my first time in a bamboo forest, and it was amazing. The trees are absolutely gorgeous, but my favorite part was when they would blow in the wind. The trees are so much taller than I expected and extremely bendable, so all of the trees curve in the same direction and make a fantastic hollow banging sound when the wind blows. The path is aligned with shrines and temples, so we stopped off at Tenryuji Temple, which was built in 1339, and rated as one of Japan’s top five Zen temples.

The gardens surrounding the temple are breathtaking—the gardens-designed by Muso Soseki, the temple's founding abbot-are mostly made of moss, which is the traditional design of Zen gardens, sprinkled with beautiful ponds and cherry trees throughout. It was a really nice walk, and the path through the garden to us back to the center of the adorable little town where we enjoyed warm tofu in soy sauce with ginger and green onion on top followed by cherry blossom ice cream. Delicious!

After our day trip, we headed back and made plans to meet up with our British friends Jez and Emma for a night out. We headed to Kushya, which is like a Japanese tapas restaurant. We enjoyed several rounds of tasty little skewered appetizers. They cooked some of the meat with grape branches and a charcoal fire—pretty cool. The food was good, but the company even better. We had a great time and enjoyed our new friends company over a couple rounds of beer. A few beers later, we decided it would be the ideal time to get our Karaoke on.

We wondered the streets looking for the Karaoke bar that the waitress told us was close by. Several blocks later, I looked up and said a HUGE neon sign that read KARAOKE. The guys, in their somewhat drunken oblivion didn’t see it, so I had to point out the obvious. There was our mecca.

The karaoke bar smelled of drugs and beer. We got a small room (as I mentioned in previous blog, karaoke is not done in front of a large crowd) and ordered another round of beers, with an extra one for Emma, who wanted to be just about any other place than where we were.

We originally decided to get the room for ½ an hour, just to say that we did it, but 1 ½ later, we finally finished up after several bad impressions of ABBA, Kenny Rogers, Sir Mixalot, Beastie Boys, Beatles, Pixies, and Cyndi Lauper. It was a total laugh, and even Emma got into it after her 2 beers-so MVP to Emma for being an awesome sport!!!

Kyoto closes down pretty early so we hailed a cab home, and settled in for our last night before leaving for DC.

Final Japan blog to come: overall observations.

Memoirs of a Geisha vs. Iron Chef

2006-04-10T00:02:00.000-04:00

Friday April 6, 2006
Early morning wake up for our morning tour of Kyoto. The drinks from the night before weren’t helping us get up any faster, but we made it in time for our tour.
First stop-Nijo Castle, were the Tokugawa shogunate ruled from.

It’s hard to believe that only 100 years ago, people were walking around in samurai garb and silk robes before they were influenced by the west. When you walk through the castle, the floor makes a funny squeaking sound. Al and I tried guessing why the floors were so noisy-poor craftsmanship? Preparing for an earthquake? No, instead the floors squeaked as part of a nightingale alarm system, so that if anyone entered the castle at night-time, the squeaking of the floors would give them away--even a tip toe would result in the floors making their chirping noises.

FridayThe Golden Pavilion (Rokoun-ji Temple) was our next stop. This one definitely one of my favorite stops on out of all of the tours, the temple was originally built by the third shogun of Ashikaga, so that he could indulge in the peaceful, serene setting. After his death, it was made into a Zen temple in accordance to his will (yes, even back then people had bequests!) The temple is surrounded by a zen garden, which really does impart a bit of tranquility to the passer-bys.

Our final stop on the tour was the Imperial Palace, which is only open to the public two weeks out of the year, and we just happen to be here during one of those two weeks. The palace housed 2 emperors before the emperor Meiji moved the capital to Tokyo. Due to the unique time of visiting this palace, the place was absolutely packed, and so we only got a quick glimpse of the emperor’s seat before being pushed forward in line.

After the tour, Al and I decided to head to the Nishiki Food Market, which is basically several blocks of food stalls selling all sorts of strange, weird concoctions. We stopped at a few stalls along the way, trying some different fish, skewers, etc, and made our way to Gion, which is where all of the geisha are. We saw a few of the geisha in their day-time wear, which was pretty cool.

Our feet grew tired after several hours on foot hauling our back packs, so we headed back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for dinner-our concierge had made reservations, but we had no idea what we would be getting ourselves into. We found out that we would be going to Ogawa’s, which is a French/Kyoto nouvelle type restaurant.

We arrived at the restaurant, which was tucked behind a small alleyway, and we were led to the chef’s table. For those of you who know my husband and what a foodie he is, sitting at the chef’s table is an experience met with great appreciation. We sat down in front of Chef Ogawa, and we started with the first course (I had ordered the 6 course meal, Al got the 8). It was a little gelatin mold of asparagus and lobster, topped with a warm crab sauce. It was divine! Manna from the heavens! The next course was a tempura of asparagus and monkfish in a rich buttery ssauce with balsamic vinegar. Yum! We were presented course after course-plates of slightly kissed to the flame tuna tartarar, foe gras, an adorable copper pot of anchioves, leeks, shoots, and onions, with a crunchy delicious top. My favorites were a bamboo shoot consume, and the kobe beef that we had for our entrée-as Al said, it was so tender, you could cut it with a chopstick—and it was our first time with the real deal Kobe beef, not the American “Kobe” beef.
After dinner, we were presented a tray of desserts, and we could choose as many as we wanted for dessert. For those who know how much I love cake and sweets, this was music to my ears. But, I was stuffed from such a large dinner, so I only chose two (which sounds like a lot, but had I not been full, I could have done more). I was dumb, fat, and happy after dinner. It was by far the best meal on our trip yet.

We talked with the chef throughout dinner, and he was great—very funny, and made our experience even more delightful. We spoke a little about cooking differences, and types of cuisines, especially among the big time chef’s. We told Ogawa that in our minds, he was truly meant to be Iron Chef (I should know, I watch every damn night—oh crap, I might be missing it now), which I think flattered him quite a bit. After dinner the chef kindly helped us with our jackets and walked us to the door, AND, we got a 90 degree bow, which we had learned from our reading and our tours is a great honor. He and Al exchanged business cards, and the whole thing was so charming--we'll definitely remmond it for our friends.

After dinner, Al and I strolled the canal nearby, packed with people snapping photos of the cherry trees in the night-time. On our stroll, I got to see a Geisha—the real deal, all made up and everything, with her escort for the evening. So cool!!!

The last day: Bamboo forest, the last night would be complete without including Karaoke—how could one say no???

Follow the Path of Philosophy...

2006-04-08T02:37:00.000-04:00

Thursday, April 6, 2006
As we awoke in our ryokan, our bodies were absolutely as stiff as a board from our thin futons. We were a bit nervous about our breakfast after our dinner experience.

Our maid (I’m not sure what else to call them, so I guess that works.) arrived promptly at 7:30 with our breakfast. This time, the meal was a little bit better than the night before, but not my cup of tea. Al enjoyed it a bit more than I did, since he likes the more savory soup and fish and rice breakfast, whereas if you give me a bowl of cereal, that’s all I really need.

We finished up our meal, and made our way to the next hotel-Hotel Brighton. Since we were there too early to check in, we made fast friends with the concierge asking for recommendations before our 1:00 pm tour. She recommended a walk along the Path of Philosophy, which is adorned by beautiful cherry trees and lined by temples and shrines all up and down the path.

The walk was about an hour and a half long, and worth every second. Kyoto is so peaceful-even with all of the tourists here for the cherry blossoms, the peace and tranquility just fills the air. We enjoyed our walk, stopping along the way to the little shops off of the path, as well as grabbing an ice cream along the way-green tea and cherry blossom swirl—delicious!! We stopped at a shrine or two intermittently, and did the traditional washing of the hands, swirling incense to our heads, bowing, clapping twice, bowing again. The sun was shining, and it was a perfect way to forget our ryokan experience, and embrace the Kyoto culture.

After our walk, we made our way to join the tour, but I got hungry to the point of grumpy, so we quickly found a little soba noodle place to grab a quick bowl of noodles before meeting up with the group.

We finally met up with our group, and as we were about to board the bus, we started talking to a couple-a British fellow named Jez (who looks like Quentin Tarrentino), and a Scot named Emma (who looks like British local celeb Lorraine Kelly).

Our first stop on the tour was the Heian Shrine, also featured in the movie Lost in Translation. This is a Shinto Shrine, dedicated to the first and last emperors that reigned from Kyoto, Emperor Kammu and Emperor Komei. Behind the shrine’s main building is a series of gardens, filled with beautiful weeping cherry trees, and little cement stepping stones, allowing you to walk across the ponds. Even packed with people, it was inspiring.

Our next stop was at a National Trasure, Sanjusangen-do, a Buddhist temple. The principal images of the temple are the 1001 statues of the Buddhist deity-made up of 1,000 standing statues, and 1 gigantic seated statue of Buddha (the National Treasure). The statues were almost eerie, but also hypnotic in the same sense.

Our final stop on the tour was the Kiyomizu Temple, a Buddhist temple built into a steep hillside with 139 giant pillars supporting part of its main hall. And it really is supported by these pillars-not a single nail can be found. One of the sayings in Kyoto is “I have jumped from the Kiyomizu”, which loosely translates into doing something a bit daring, or taking a chance. The view from the temple was beautiful as we looked over the peaceful city of Kyoto.

After our tour finished, we decided to grab drinks with our new British pals, Jez and Emma. We headed back to the area they were staying, and went up to the food court across the street from their hotel. Emma and I were feeling a bit picky-we needed a bit of a break from anything slimy, fried, or with noodles. We walked past a pizza place, and it just called our name. We decided that pizza and beer sounded too good to pass up, and Al and I were curious about how the Japanese prepared their pizza anyways.

I ordered a Margherita pizza and Jez and Emma ordered a sausage pizza, thinking it would be something like pepperoni, but what they got was little hot dogs cut up on their pizza. It wasn’t really bad, but quite funny. The next round of ordering went better-the pizzas were thin, and we were all hungry from a day on our feet, so we ordered a minced meat pizza, which was quite good.

After dinner, Al and I were setting in with perma-grin, and so we went to Emma and Jez’s hotel bar with them to continue drinking. Al and I had to be up early the next day for a tour, so we ended the night after one more round.

The next day-Kyoto by day, and the most blog-worthy food experience yet. Stay tuned!

Lost in Translation

2006-04-07T09:55:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Our stay had come to an end in Okinawa, so we boarded an early shuttle to the airport, and checked in for our flight bound to Kyoto.

We arrived to the Osaka airport late afternoon, and luckily we were right on time for the hour long bus ride to Kyoto, which is the more traditional city in Japan. If you’ve read Memoirs of a Geisha, this is where it took place.

We decided to book a ryokan for a one-night stay, which is a traditional Japanese inn-with tatami mats for floors, an onsen for bath (public bath), futons for beds, and a traditional Japanese dinner and Japanese breakfast. We quickly found our way on the Kyoto subway, and made it to the ryokan—where nobody spoke a word of English. I’m totally fine with people not speaking English-we are not America, and we were staying in a Japanese traditional inn. What I’m not comfortable with is people laughing at me because I’m different and trying to learn their culture, which is what happened in the ryokan. The Japanese have mostly been very humble, welcoming people—and it was surprising that in the one traditional setting, I found the people to be the most unwelcoming. Perhaps it was because I speak very little Japanese (I've picked up a few phrases, but still....)

After checking in, we went to our room-which basically were tatami mats, and to little chairs on the floor and a table. We assumed our futons would be put out later, like Fodor’s had mentioned (but at this point, I was not entirely trusting Fodor’s.). We knew we’d be eating shortly, so I decided to throw on my robe, and head to the onsen (a public bath-same sex only). Of course, I had no idea what to do once I reached the onsen. I desperately looked around trying to emulate others, but all I got was laughter and some women not so discreetly pointing at me. I just shrugged and continued-determined to have the experience we paid for. From what I could glean, you are supposed to sit on a small stool and wash yourself completely-shampoo, soap, etc, before entering the onsen.

I washed myself off and entered the onsen-which is a hot, hot pool of water. And there I sat, with all of me for the world to see and make fun of.

After the bath, I returned to our room to have dinner, which is served in one’s room in the ryokan. Our “maid” brought our food promptly at 8, and we had no idea what we were about to eat. Each dish looked utterly different than any of the foods we’ve been exposed to on our trip so far-with the exception of the sashimi and rice. But, there were all of these other dishes that we had no idea what they were, and while they were beautifully presented, this dinner would prove to be a light one. Al and I are pretty adventurous eaters, claiming to try most things once (with the exception of a few things, but we’re fairly open minded), so we did try a bit of everything, but could not eat most of it. I think that the pictures of the food speaks for itself, as well as our reaction to it.

Once we “finished” our dinner, our tables were cleared and our futons were set out. It was about 9:15 pm. I left the room to briefly wash my face, and returned to Al passed out on his futon. So, this was our much anticipated experience…and while it was nice to do something so traditional, sleeping in a room that reaked of smoke, and having a somewhat uncomfortable encounter, I was relieved to have only booked this hotel one night-the rest of our time would be spent in another hotel in Kyoto.

Next day: breakfast at the ryokan, a tour day in Kyoto, and drinking with some cool Brits.

Japanese Spa

2006-04-06T18:13:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

We slept in after a long day and a hard work out on our bodies. We finally decided that we wanted to try to get to the Aquarium for the day until we found out that it was about 2 hours by bus, and getting home would prove to be difficult.

A woman by the name of Heetumi at the front desk took pity on our situation, and tried to help us find something nearby to do. All of a sudden, I had a brainstorm—my joints were killing me from diving, and Maggie had always told me about how cheap spas are when she travels in Asia. Inspired, I asked for information on local spas, and we hit the jackpot. We found a spa offering a 3 hour treatment for the same cost as a 50 minute massage in DC. Plus—no tipping in Japan—bonus!

We had some time to kill prior to our spa treatment, and Heetumi recommended the American Village-which would at least be close to the spa, and would provide us with something to do rather than stare at hotel walls while we waited.

We headed to the American Village, and promptly found that we were, in fact, the only Americans IN the American Village. Basically, it’s just a hodge podge of stuff-some of it American fashion for kids in Okinawa trying to emulate American fashion. We struck it lucky though, and found some cool t-shirts and such- Al had been on a rampage making me stop at every possible store that sells t-shirts so that he could get a cool one. I am so relieved we finally found some. I totally dug the stores at American Village-like the punk stores in Tokyo, they are all blasting 80’s music as loudly as possible. I had to keep from doing my own impromptu Karaoke on the spot.

After shopping, we grabbed a quick bowl of Taco Rice-another one of Fodor’s “excellent” recommendations. I’m seriously going to email Fodor’s after this trip and tell them where to shove it.

Anyways, the taco rice-not so original. Basically, it’s like nachos—only instead of the nachos, they use rice. Not really a mind bender.

After Taco Rice we headed to the spa. We walked in to a huge tacky fountain lit up by green and red flood lights. Niiiiiice. We looked around, and there were a ton of Americans there getting treatments-GI wives mostly, and another American couple.

We settled into our 3 hour treatment. I first started with a facial, which was lovely—one of the best I’ve had. After that—75 minute massage-which was good until someone started blaring a TV in the background. And, then a body scrub. I had no idea what a scrub was, but it’s basically like an exfoliating treatment-and doesn’t feel so great when you have a bit of a burn from diving the day before.

After our treatment, we ran into Heetumi as we left the spa, and she helped us order dinner at another traditional Okinawa restaurant. Al got pork with ginger and I got champura, which is a mix of tofu, egg, cabbage, pork, and a spam-like product.

We were pretty zonked after our spa treatment, so we made it an early night after our dinner out.

Next stop--Kyoto

Fear Factor-Okinawa style

2006-04-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

Sunday April 2 and Monday April 3, 2006 Okinawa

We set out from our hotel in Tokyo on Sunday to Okinawa, where we would be diving. After making our way to the airport, and trying to figure out which of the 30+ ANA gates to check into, we figured it out, and made our way. Our plane departed about an hour later than scheduled, and it was totally packed (and it was a 747!!). We touched down in Okinawa, and could immediately tell the difference in weather.

Okinawa is very different than many areas in Japan in that their dialect and foods are very strongly influenced by China, but they also have the influence of Japan as well. It’s a tremendously unique place-although some of its uniqueness is taken away from the concrete jungles of military bases.

We arrived at our Hotel Grand Mer ridiculously late (our shuttle bus had to wait for another person to arrive, whose plane was also late.), and there weren’t any restaurants nearby our hotel. So, we meandered our way up to the hotel’s bar and just had some bar food to sustain us until the next day.

The next morning, we woke up at 6 to grab a quick breakfast and meet our dive guide for the day Otis, of Okinawa Ocean Divers (http://www.oodt.jp/english/index.html). We met up with 4 other divers-Juko, Kayode, Miyumi (all from various cities in Japan), and Marco (Finnish and a dead ringer for Kurt Cobain--no pun intended) and began making our way to the Keramas islands-which are about an hour away from Naha. The Keramas are a bit like the Florida Keys, and are a series of chain of islands that stem off of the main island of Okinawa. The boat ride was extremely choppy, and I had to battle some serious sea sickness. We finally made it to our first dive spot-which was a beginner dive-mostly for everyone to build up their comfort level with diving. We fed the fish some sausages, which allowed us to see a lot of tropical fish swimming past our face. The dive was a calm one-got to see a stone fish (deadly), a few sea snakes (also deadly-and first time seeing snakes too!), and sea cucumbers.

The water was pretty cold, and we were shivering on the boat en route to our next stop, which was a coral bed. The coral here is beautiful, and I’ve never seen anything like it. It is most similar to what we’ve seen in Australia, but completely different in size, shape, colors, etc. It doesn’t have as much of the vibrant colors as the Great Barrier Reef, but the amount of life on the corals is astounding and heartwarming. We got to see a ton of tropical fish on this dive-lots of anemone fish (think Nemo), angel fish, parrot fish, sea urchins, flat worms (my first time seeing one), a small shark. Lots of really cool nooks and crannies to look in.

After our dive, we tried to warm up in the sun, and enjoyed a nice bento box of Okinawan cuisine-pork, rice, potato cakes, tofu, and goya (this is a really big thing in Okinawa-looks like a cucumber and super bitter!) After we finished eating, we did our final drift dive to Turtle Reef. With our body temps lowered after the first two dives, this dive was especially cold. A great dive though-tons of reef and tropical fishies—and a SEA TURTLE!! If any of you know about our experience diving, Al and I typically miss the turtles when diving, so I was super psyched to have seen one!

We headed back to the dive shop, agreeing to meet up with everyone later for a traditional Okinawan dinner. After our taxi driver got lost on the way…we finally arrived at our destination-Satto. Almost everyone had made it out, including Miho, Otis’ wife.

Our bodies were tired from diving, and we were ravenous. Luckily-we were in good hands, and Otis and Miho were tremendous hosts. They started ordering, and we just sat back in enjoying dish after dish, laughing our way through dinner. We sat next to Otis, Miyumi (one of the divers) and Marco. Miyumi was totally sweet-she is from Tokyo, and her English is impeccable. Marco is from Finland, and his English was also quite good, so we were able to converse with everyone. After a beer and Sake later, we realized Marco looked like Kurt Cobain, and he started joking that he WAS in fact Kurt, and still alive. We laughed about a lot of cultural differences, and had a great time over our beer and endless amounts of food.

Here is a list of things we enjoyed (not for the faint at heart):
Shima Rakyo-green onions with fried onion shavings on top
Sashimi-included parrot fish, octopus, tuna, squid, scallop
Ceaser Salad-made of goya and fresh sunny side up egg. Super Yummy!!
Goya Pizza-pizza with the bitter goya on top—surprisingly good.
Takowas-Octopus guts with daikon
Tofu-yo-The restaurants homemade tofu that had been soaked in Awamora (alcohol) for two weeks. Tasted like blue cheese soaked in port—a bit strong, and not very tasty.
Rafu Tei-pork with hot mustard—the Okinawans take their pork super duper fatty, so lots of yummy pork fat.
Soki w/ Garlic-pork with a tremendous amount of garlic on top (my dad would have enjoyed!)
Potato w/ muchi (pounded rice) and cheese—Super good!
Umi Budo Salad-sea caviar/sea grapes. Mmm!
California Roll-tuna, avocado, crab eggs
Orion Beer-Okinwa beer
Shima Dofu-warm, smokey tofu with giner, green union and soy sauce-my favorite dish!
Shito-Sake
And to finish off, we had a lovely lemon ice.

The next day....Japanese spa! Woo hoo!

Bright lights, big city

2006-04-02T17:38:00.000-04:00

Saturday, April 1
We headed back to Asakusa to check out the side street arcades and cute little stores. There are a ton of street vendors making all sorts of interesting foods in Asakusa-one of our favorites are the cooked sesame crackers dipped in soy sauce and wrapped in nori (seaweed). Another favorite is the warm bean cake-basically a sweet batter filled with beans in an iron cast of some sort of fun shape-like a kabuki mask, or a fish, etc. Best eaten while warm and super yummy. After wondering afound a bit, we set out to get some tempura (which is a specialty of this particular area). Fodor’s had promised a cheap lunch at Aoi Marushin, the largest tempura restaurant in Tokyo. The tempura part true enough, and largest tempura restaurant seems likely, but it was not cheap. Afterwards, we made our way to the restaurant district Kappabashi, where we looked at all of the many chopsticks, rice cookers, pots and pans, sushi containers, and Japanese knives available for Japanese restauranteers.

After that, we went to Shinjuku, which is one of the busiest train stations in the city. Almost every type of train runs into this station-it’s like the Union Station/Grand Central Station of Japan, and when you exit, it is like being in the middle of Times Square. The streets are just a sea of people and it seems impossible to cross with about 1000 Japanese people all in a hurry heading your way, but somehow you are able to make it across the street unscathed and in one piece.

We walked around Shinjuku a bit, passing by the arcades full of weird games for all ages. We stopped at one arcade, where they had this wheel that you spin, and you win a ticket. Al and I decided to give it a try, and won a ticket, but then had no idea what to do with it. We had a pretty good laugh trying to figure it out. While trying to figure it all out, I looked up to see the weirdest commercial playing over and over again with these creepy dancing dolls—it was an ad for some sort of eel pasta or something, and I’m not sure what the creepy dancing dolls had to do with it, but it was mesmerizing and frightening all at once. Words can’t even begin to describe.

Once we walked around Shinjuku, we then headed to Shibuya—which has the giant telecom screen as seen in Lost In Translation. Al and I have definitely noticed that advertising is on such a different level than at home—almost everything has an advertisement of some kind-be it neon, a full screen of advertisements on a building, handouts at the subways, everything is so much more advanced as far as marketing goes. And, the technology—amazing. Everything is HDTV, and the cell phones, cameras, etc. are just mind blowing.

Shibuya was another huge area filled with an endless amount of people, all meeting up to hit the karaoke bars. Al and I have yet to go karoaking, b/c it is not like in the US where you sing to a group of strangers. Instead, you are supposed to get a group of your friends together and a get a room for karaoking, but since Al and I haven’t really met anyone to go out with, we decided it best not to pay a bunch of money to just serenade each other. But hopefully we’ll get a chance to do so in Okinawa—which is our next stop.

.

Seeing Buddha

2006-04-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

Friday-March 31.
After another sleepless night, we woke up again super early to hit the Tsujiki fish market-the market typically opens around 5 am for the fish auction to local restaurant vendors, but if you ask around, half of the people will tell you it is open to the public, and half will tell you it isn’t.

Since I was not willing to leave the hotel and get our busy day started at 4 am, I decided to believe the second half-and just think that it wasn’t upon to the public. But, we did get up at 6, out the door at 6:45, and made our way to the market around 7:45. The streets of Tsujiki are filled with fisherman and local workers just getting off of the night shift hunched over their sushi, or bowl of noodles. Paving the streets to the fish market, there are tons and tons of stores selling everything under the sun-Japanese knives, paper, ceramics, and a TON of fish-smoked, dried, fresh, etc.

We made it to the fish market by 8, and it was still buzzing with activity. Carts are zooming by left and right with the fish purveyors delivering fish and moving their wares from one side of the market to the other. This is not a typical tourist area-so they do not slow down for the Caucasians, they just continue mulling about their business, and it’s up to each person to make sure they don’t get run over by these carts. The carts nipped right past our noses a few times, but luckily, Al and I were there to yank each other back.

As we meandered through the fish market, it was totally fascinating. There were people hacking away at the biggest fish heads I have ever seen. The pictures can only do it justice-if I tried to describe how big it was, it would only seem like a fishing legend. In some of the stalls, they needed a hacksaw to get through the thickness of the fish. At one stall, we stopped to look at the beautiful tuna, and one of the older gentleman handed us a piece of freshly cut tuna sashimi. “Toro?” he offered. Of course! It was one of the most succulent pieces of sashimi I’ve ever had.

Another thing we noticed were the men hacking away small bits of meat from these huge fish. It wasn’t until we left the market that we realized that they were bonito pieces, which were to be fried and smoked and eventually used to make dashi, or the basis for misos, sauces, etc. Almost EVERYTHING seems to smell or taste like bonito.

We walked through the maze of the Tsujiki streets, freezing to the core. It was a super cold day out, and while we had on our layers, the wind whipped right through to the core. While everyone (including the guide books) recommends sushi while in Tsujiki, we just couldn’t stomach sushi that early-especially as cold as we were. We settled on a nice bowl of noodles in a delicious thick broth. Mmmm!

After the fish market, we decided to do a trip to Hase to see the temple Kotoku-in’s Great Buddha. We traveled about an hour outside of Tokyo to get to the Buddha, and he was a sight to see. Sitting at about 37 feet with cherry blossoms all around, this bronze statue was everything I had hoped it would be. We even got to walk inside his belly! Cool!!!!

We walked around Hase a little bit-it’s a super cute town, and it was nice to get away from the buzz of Tokyo for a few hours. After walking around, we made our way back to Tokyo, and headed to Harajuku. This is the infamous area that all of the teenyboppers in their baby doll dresses hang out. The fashion here is totally different than most of Tokyo (with the exception of Shinjuku and Shibuya which are both relatively close). Most of what we had seen in Tokyo up to this point had been business men and women wearing suits-but it was cool to see the punk rock side of Japan. Lots of hairdye, piercings, neon, and thigh highs.

After walking around for a full day, we retired back to the hotel early and I ended up passing out (finally) and caught up on some much needed sleep.

Turning Japanese

2006-03-31T17:27:00.000-05:00

Touched down in Osaka Japan about 4 days ago, and it's been a whirlwind of activity since.

The night before departing, I got very little sleep in all of my excitement, but figured I would catch up on my sleep on the 13+ hours of travel time that we were logging en route to Osaka.

The plane ride was fairly smooth albeit a total wack job sitting behind us (of course) that had taken some serious drugs to fall asleep-so much so that the stewardesses could not wake him up to so much as buckle his seatbelt for take off.

Touched down in Osaka at around 5:15 pm, and made our way through customs, and found our way to the baggage forwarding service. Since we are doing a great deal of travel around Japan, and the spaces on trains are limited (plus, we packed a lot of different clothes to accomodate for the different areas we'd be visiting), we decided to forward one of our bags to Okinawa, and the other to our hotel in Tokyo-leaving us with one small suitcase for both of us to share. Since we know about 5 words in Japanese, and the baggage service people knew just about as much English, we just hoped we would meet up with our bags again and wouldn't be left to the same outfit for 2 weeks.

After checking our bags, we tried to figure out our way to the hotel via the rail station. I'm thankful that I made a printout that indicated which stop to get off at because the people at the "Tourist Information Desk" at the airport would have had us getting off at completely the wrong place. So, several "sumi-masen's" (excuse me's) later, we found our hotel. By this point it's about 8, and we are so exhausted from travel and so hungry. We wearily walked around the 'hood of our hotel, looking for food. Sushi?? No sushi restaurants apparently nearby. We found a cute little restaurant that was basically a small counter and a small table in the back. The table was packed of smoking business men (which I have noticed is the norm in Japan so far), and 2 men at the counter, one of whom was a ringer for the Japan’s version of Jerry Garcia.

We opened the menu-all Japanese. No pictures, and no plastic food to point to. Al and I shrugged and he yelled out Omikase! to the chef-which mean's chef's choice. About 6 courses later, we realized the chef/bartender/bus boy/waiter was making us a full Japanese meal. Our eyes glazed over--tofu, followed by sashimi, followed by an omelet, followed by seared tuna, followed by noodles, followed by fish. We finally motioned that we had enough, and went back to our TINY little room. I was thankful that we had fowarded our bags, because there was barely room for us in the room let alone our bags.

Woke up the next day after another restless night, and did a bit of touring around Osaka-went to the Osaka-jo palace. and went to Osaka-jo, a castle in Osaka that is one of Hideyoshi Toyotojmi’s finest buildings built in 1583.

From the castle, we went to Umeda to go look at the HEP 5 stores and get a bite to eat. We sat down in an Udon restaurant, but my jet lag caught up with me, and I wasn’t hungry, I was just a big grump. I didn’t eat my meal—I just was at the point of exhaustion that I could not stomach anything at all. With the exception of a McDonalds cheeseburger. I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s in 2 years, and chose our trip in Japan to break that habit. I think my body just needed some nourishment, and fish stock and noodles (which was about all we could find in Osaka) just wouldn't cut it.

After that, we decided it would be best just to make our way to Tokyo. We boarded the Shinkasen train, and I was able to finally catch a few zzz's on the train. The ride was about 3 hours, but really comfortable.

We arrived in Tokyo, again having to battle the rail way system. There is the JR line and the subway, and the two were mind boggling on such little sleep. We got ourselves pretty turned around, and literally about 2 hours later found our hotel. After stopping several people and bowing about 100 times to say thank you to everyone who helped us, we made it to our hotel.

The experience on the rail was interesting-lots of people wear masks here-very germaphobic, and EVERYONE is texting on their cute little phones. Also, everyone has a charm on their phones, very reminiscent of the charm bracelets of the 80's, including the men. I of course have snatched up a Hello Kitty charm for myself. How could I resist??

We settled into our hotel-found a quick bento box dinner. Stumbling our way back home, we walked through our hotel's beautiful garden surrounded by the magnificent cherry trees (which totally beat DC's by every stretch of the imagination.). As we wondered through, we ran into a group of Japanese men and women dining outside under a tree. They were laughing and having a great time, and before I knew it, they had asked us to join them! We sat with them drinking whiskey, eating fruit, and trying to understand each other. From what I could glean, they were here for a high school reunion. The whole encounter was hysterical, and they wanted to know all about us and how we were liking Japan. They were so hospitable, and we enjoyed sitting with them.

After drinks we tried again to sleep-but no luck. The next day we woke up early for our tour-which was a full day of Tokyo sights.

Our day included a visit to the Tokyo tower (14 feet taller than Eiffel Tower), a tea ceremony at Happo-en Gardens(which was very lovely, and quite a unique ritual to take part in), a barbecue lunch (think Benihana without the twirling of the knives and the tossing of shrimp in your mouth). After that, we went to the Imperial Palace Plaza (home of the Emperor), followed by a river cruise on the Sumida River. We ended the tour at the Asakusa Kannon Temple-the oldest and most popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo. After the tour, Al and I opted to head to Ginza-the shopping district.

The department stores are known for their food stalls on the bottom level, and so we decided to check out the stores and the food stalls-which was amazing.

Anyways, this has run on long enough, will blog about the next day soon. For now, we are having a great time, and adjusting to the culture. We've somewhat figured out the train system, and have learned to laugh at oursleves a great deal.

More to come...sayonara.

'Roids

2006-03-23T17:08:00.000-05:00

So, I'm about 3 1/2 days out from our trip to Japan, and I've come down with a nasty sinus infection. I went to the Doctor, who decided that antibiotics just wouldn't do the trick. Nope. Instead, I'm on steroids. Yep, you heard it here. No, my voice hasn't deepend, and the muscles aren't bulging, but I am on steroids to help clear out my system. I hope it works, because I really don't want to have to worry about ear or sinus problems on a 13 hour flight--that is just not fun.

Until then, I'm being a total anti-socialite, and going home early from work, and not going out at all-not for happy hour, not to meet up with friends, not to even see my little brother-all in the name of healing. So, hopefully I'll get better by Monday. Wish me well!

In the Deep

2006-03-10T10:12:00.000-05:00

Al and I rented the movie Crash earlier this week-and if you haven't yet seen it, it's an absolute must. It's probably one of the best films that I've seen in years. I can't even find the words to describe it--it was a mix of emotions-happy, sad, anger, heartbreak, acceptance---all in one. The movie was powerful, and thought provoking, and made me realize my own weaknesses when it comes to ethnic stereotypes-including my own religion.

Living in DC, and being explosed to a mix of races, it's good to be reminded that we are all just people, trying to make sense of our lives. We all have our baggage-no matter what the color of our skin. And, sometimes, there are people who are an embarrassment to our race, our religion, or our country--I know that when I travel and see Americans acting obnoxiously, I just want to scream--"YOU are the reason that Americans have this kind of a reputation".

What it comes down to is that we are all responsible for our actions. And all of those actions-no matter how big or small impact others. We are all part of this planet, which is bigger than ourselves. And, sometimes, we need to be reminded of that by crashing into others, just for that wake up call in life.

This movie definitely was a wonderful reminder to try to be more tolerant of all people. That everyone is connected by a small thread.

We're all in the deep.

February Sweeps

2006-02-16T16:48:00.001-05:00

End of January/beginning of February hasn't been too shabby. Counting down our days until the big trip to JAPAN! We've got the whole thing booked, and now, just waiting for take off......vroooom!

At the end of January, got my 6 month review, which started out as, "This is the kind of review that everyone would love to have...." In the words of Sally Field, "You LIKE me, you REALLY like me!!"

Meanwhile, at my last job, they are laying people off left and right, and those who aren't being fired are quiting. Phew, glad I got out of there when I did.

Beginning of February was pretty sweet--started off with my friend Kristen from sunny San Fran coming to visit prior to her TNC conference. We had a nice weekend-went to the Corcoran to see the Andy Warhol exhibit, walked to the WWII memorial, and around my hood.

Sunday night, Kristen was initiated into our yearly Super Bowl ritual--which is held at Matt and Katie's house. Now, when I say ritual, I'm not kidding. There are all sorts of weird rules and rituals, and what have you...that seem to never get old. For example, all of the foods must fit one of the following categories: 1) fried, 2) orange in color or 3) contain alcohol of some sort. Sometimes it's all 3.

The other traditions are just as silly. Each year, Al's on wing duty, this guy Elliot makes a "burn the hell out of your colon" chilli, P.W. makes jello shots (sooo darn tasty-how does he do it????), and Bradis is on the fry-daddy. We have to draw names out of a hat, and drink whenever that player is mentioned or on screen. Since I had Kristen with me and I was driving, I was able to bow out of the drinking game (which helped prevent a hangover on Monday), but I still got shit for it.

Anyways, Kristen was privvy to all the festivities, and it was fun having her there. Lil Schwarz came along too, but this year, didn't fare so well in the poker match prior to the game. (insert liquor in the front, poker in the rear joke here....)

Last weekend was good times--on Friday, we had Colleen over to watch the opening ceremonies of Olympics, and made some yummy homemade pizzas. On Sat, went for the morning workout. It started to snow mid-afternoon, but that didn't keep Al and I from taking a nice long stroll in the snow to get to our friend Christina's for the monthly wine tasting party. This time-Merlot blends. I brought my own white, since I'm off the reds for awhile. Walked back home in the snow, which was so pretty--loved having a quiet DC night in the snow.

Sunday, our lovely friend Ilona came over for brunch, and spent the rest of the day kicking back and relaxing.

V-day was fun-got a lovely arrangement of flowers, and made a terrific lobstah dinner with Al. He's my lobster for life (awwwww...)

Which leads me to present--have a sinus infection (yuck), but friend Booth is in town (YAY!), so will be hanging out with her and the gang this weekend.

That's all for now--leave a comment, show some love.

My Space

2006-02-07T16:20:00.000-05:00

Around November, I decided to sign up for My Space. I thought at the time I might be a little old, and maybe out of the "my space" league. It is teaming with youngsters, who are all single, and ready to mingle...which, is no longer yours truly. But, today made myspace all worth it. My friend Jen, (more fondly nicknamed Bubba) who I worked at Camp Friendship with added me as her "friend". And from that, all of a sudden, I was linking into other camp friend's profiles, and getting back in touch with people I haven't really seen or been in touch with for about 7 or 8 years, but often think about, and definitely remember fondly. And, while some of them may not remember me, it's pretty damn cool because I remember them, and it just triggered a whole stream of memories of that time in my life, which still to this day has had a tremendous impact on me. While my ex (Jason) got me into the whole CF thing, it was these friends that made it the experience that it was, and ultimately, the person that I've become.

It also made me realize how much growing up we've all done since that time. And, how much has changed, but through it all, the fondness of these people has stayed the same.

Check out my "myspace" account--would love to reconnect with more friends..
http://www.myspace.com/jodievt

Cult of Personality

2006-01-27T13:38:00.000-05:00

Your Personality Profile

You are dreamy, peaceful, and young at heart.Optimistic and caring, you tend to see the best in people.You tend to be always smiling - and making others smile.
You are shy and intelligent... and a very hard worker.You're also funny, but many people don't see your funny side.Your subtle dry humor leaves your close friends in stitches.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Do you agree with the above????

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

2006-01-09T17:33:00.000-05:00

Happy New Years! I guess since we recently rung in the New Years, I can still blog about what we did, right?

Starting on Friday night (Dec 30), we were invited to our friend Christina's for a wine tasting party. This is the 2nd one she has had, and I've grown quite fond of them--we pick a theme for the night (i.e. Syrah's, Zinfandels, etc), and everyone brings a bottle that fits within the theme. This time, we did Zin's. And, basically, the tasting consists of drinking lots of different wines, and then writing up your review of the wine. At the beginning of the night, everyone is a wine show-off--"hint of cherry" or "bouquet of plum", and then later in the night we show our true level of drunkeness by descriptions like "I taste bologna" or "this taste like monkey's ass".

On Saturday, Al and I recouperated, and then, that night we first headed to Matt and Katie's house. Since M&K are new parents, they were kind enough to host and have everyone to their place. We all brought a mish-mash of food and wine. So, we had another wine tasting--but not as organized as the one the night before. This was more of a "bring a wine, and we'll all try each of them and score them and get drunk". Started with white wine, then to sherry, then to champagne, back to whites....and that was just the start of the night.

My friend Shannon and her boyfriend Rich were in town from Memphis, so we left the potluck (not before enjoying the chocolate fondue), and met up with Shannon, Rich, Shan's friend Colleen, and 2 other friends of ours from high school-Beth and Michelle. We were at Rosa Mexicano--where I had champagne (again), pomegranite margaritas, and Al was downing tequila shots. Mmmm, tequila. Needless to say, the next morning was rough--and we had offered to host brunch. I wasn't as bad off as Al was, but it was a long morning--especially since we had to get up relatively early to cook, only to have the guest of honors be an hour late (sorry Shan, you get crap for being late to your own brunch!!!)

So, that was New Years. And, to make things really zany, Al and I finally decided on our trip for the spring. We were originally looking into Belize, or somewhere Central America and beachy, but somehow started talking about Asia, and found out we could get there for the same amount as Central America/Mexico. So, we bought the tix on Friday, and we are headed to Japan!!! In celebration, we went for sushi, and got Lost in Translation this past weekend (which is HILARIOUS, and probably will be even more so after the trip).

I can't really focus on anything else going on, since that is pretty huge, but I cannot wait to go, it's going to be insane. And, even better, can't wait to blog and journal about it. Domo Arigato.....

Buns of Steel

2005-12-22T11:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, so if that last post was harsh, I'm sorry....but, the blog is for honesty--sometimes brutal, sometimes sweet. That day, was feeling moody, and thank goodness I had a blog to take it out on.

Anyway, about a month ago, I decided to get myself back in shape. After the 75+ meals out due to the kitchen renovation---well, let's just say shopping wasn't very pretty. Well, it was pretty--pretty, depressing.

So, I decided to look for a workout class-I just can't do machines, I need someone telling me what to do for an hour. I like being mindless and having someone else guide me. After some heavy reconnaissance, I found this church..(bear with me) down the street from where I live that offers workout classes in the evenings and on Saturday morning. They do step, some weights, and a little jazzercise, etc. And, it's not through the church, just held there--which is weird at first, but doesn't even phase me any more.

I've been going for about a month now, and love it. My class is mostly africa-american women, who have such a good time--it's so contagious. They hoot and hollar, and really get into it--and of course, give me a bit of a heckling whenever I can't keep the beat (which, is often). But, I totally love it, love making an ass out of myself--and hey, my abs and butt are looking better...and I'm having fun doing it. The only downside is that I have to wake up early on Saturdays, and constantly have songs by the Backstreet Boys running through my head, but, if that's the only downside, I'll take it.

blah, blah, blah, do you care?, blah, blah, blah

2005-12-19T14:53:00.000-05:00

It's holiday time---which means time to make the rounds, hit the parties, see many friends, and, of course, meet the other coworkers, friends, acquaintances of your host. Luckily, I know people at most of the parties we've attended, and can just throw myself into hour long conversations with people who I genuinely want to catch up with and hear how they are doing.

But, then, there is often the occasion where you are introduced to that one person you, "just have to meet!" because your host has "told so-and-so all about you!!". So, there you are, stuck in a conversation, hemming and hawing, trying to figure out what to say other than the not-so-brilliant "oh, yes, I've heard so much about you" small talk.

What gets me though (and, let's be honest, it is just a pet peeve of mine in general) are the constant-talkers, the one uppers, and the braggers. The one uppers: You have a story to tell--they have one that's EVEN BETTER! The constat talkers: They have a story to tell, and when you think they are done you try to tell a story or share a little about yourself, and they just keep on going telling a new story.. not even giving you a chance to talk, or much less asking you anything about yourself. As I walk away from these conversations, I wonder what opinion these people have formed of me, since they only really seem to be talking to themselves. The braggers: Everything they do and own is "fabulous" or a "must-try"--they don't care if what you've done is kinda cool, because they could do it better, and faster, and more fabulous than you could ever do it, so why bother?

And, another thing...is brevity. Please, when sharing a story with a stranger, be brief. I don't need details, I need the Cliff Notes version. I don't need the thesis and synopsis of your life, I just need the summary. Also, please only tell the story once. ONCE! Not multiple times. Gah.

But, to those of you whom I do know, I have no fear, and if I need you to cut it short, or if I've heard it, I'll tell you. But, if I don't know you, please, please....make it speedy, make it humble, and make it only a one time deal.

Greetings from Schwarzberg

2005-12-14T12:15:00.000-05:00

I admit it, I love celebrity gossip. If there is a new US magazine on the stands when I go to the store, I shamelessly grab it. But, there is a new trend emerging...and to be honest, I'm not so sure about my love of these magazines any more. The trend is to combine the names of any 2 celebrities dating--it was cute for Bennifer. But, now we've got TomKat, Vaughniston, Garfleck..it's just annoying. And not creative in the very least. Come on you rag writers--give me something a little bit more interesting that just running 2 names together...and now there are some real stretches out there, and I just can't stand it. I may have to give up my love for these magazines entirely...if I read one more name combo, I'm on strike.

For now, this is Schwarzberg signing out....

Trust me on the sunscreen

2005-11-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite songs/quotes and good fodder:

By Baz Luhrmann

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

Eating Out

2005-11-07T17:05:00.000-05:00

Now that the kitchen project has come to an end---it's time for my Blog Awards for the Best and Worst of our eating out experiences. We ate at about 70 places, but now, it's hard to remember all of them...I'll try my best!:

Best:
Best Overall: Doug Fir--cute surroundings, great drinks, fabulous company, yummy food, and cheap.

Best Pizza: Busboys and Poets

Best Wait Staff: Rosemary's Thyme

Best Brunch: Merriweather's in Oregon

Best Burger: Doug Fir in Oregon

Best Steak: Frankie Rolands, Roanoke, VA

Best Seafood Dinner: Boca Bay in Wilmington, NC

Favorite new neighborhood restaurant: Al Crostino

Best summertime meal: Maggie and Andy's gazpacho and scallop and shrimp with mango

Best presentation: Ilona's tri-tomato salad and corn chowder

Favorite cheap eats/place to eat when drunk: Amesterdam Falafel House

Most hilarious conversation over dinner: with Ron and Jessica at Rosemary's Thyme

Most interesting intellectual conversation over dinner: with Maggie and Andy about Guns, Germs and Steel over dinner at their house

Hostess with the mostest: Katie Russell--3 days after having her baby

Best interactive meal: Bethesda Crab House

Biggest Diamond in the Ruff: The Islander

Best Oysters: Hanks Oysters

Best Match of Trivial Pursuit: At Ilona's house over Thai food

Best mix of strangers at a cocktail party: Brent and Robert's

Cutest restaurant: Tao of Tea in Portland, OR and Merriweathers also in Portland, OR

Favorite Standby: Logan Tavern

Best cocktails: Cafe Atlantico

Best BBQ: Flips!

Most creative menu: Cafe Atlantico

Best at anticipating when we are too tired to cook and inviting us over: Ron and Jessica

Favorite lunch place: Tabard Inn

Most favorite place we DIDNT go to: Zaytanya

Best grilled cheese: 18th & U Duplex

Best chain for brunch: Harry's Tap Room

Best chain for dinner: Legal Sea Foods

Best post-wisdom teeth extraction place to eat: Lauriol Plaza

Worst:
Worst overall: Morton's

Worst meal for the wait: Pasta Mia

Worst steak: Morton's Steakhouse

Worst waitstaff: Pasta Mia

Biggest let down: Morton's Steakhouse

Worst seafood: Leopold's in Gtown

Filthiest: 4 Sisters (saw a mouse in the house!)

Worst take out: Simply Home

Worst at trying to be something it's not: Tobaq

Most absent-minded wait staff: Busboys and Poets

Worst burger: Full Sail, Portland, OR

Most inconsistent: Beacon Bar and Grill

Worst brunch: Saint Ex

Worst place we AVOIDED: Bucco di Beppo (pucko and crapo!)

Worst place for soup when you are sick: Sala Thai

Rocktober

2005-10-30T11:46:00.000-05:00

Man, October was a busy month. So busy, we've renamed it Rocktober--first we had my birthday party at the beginning of October, and then, weekends filled with food, friends, and fun--bowling, pumpkin carving parties, anniversary celebration, etc.

I can't believe it's already November. For Thanksgiving this year, we're having Al's family and my family come together at our house. I'm not quite sure where we are going to put everyone, but I have decided to start drinking possibly as early as Tuesday.

Will let you know how it goes.

Lessons my friends have taught me

2005-10-19T15:17:00.000-04:00

My friend Diana has started blogging, and did a wonderful blog of lessons learned from friends. I thought it was a great idea, and having learned so many lessons from all of you....here are just a few lessons....

Patience is a virtue, unless it involves kitchen renovation, or frustrating classes.-Al

Best friends are the greatest treasure in the world. And best friends who are like sisters are even better.-Maggie

One can never, ever have enough cheese. Or steak.-Liz

It’s okay to watch teenager and reality shows –Ilona

It’s not the quantity of friends, it’s the quality-Betsy

You know true love once you find it-Al

It’s best to get piercings with your friends there.-Diana and Betsy

Champagne goes with EVERYTHING-Ilona

If no one else in the room will laugh at my jokes or listen to my story, I know that my husband will even if he’s heard it 100 times-Al

Girl scout cookies and baths with your girlfriends are a must-Maggie and Liz

There is always someone with a different opinion-Andy

If you laugh loudly, your friends can find you anywhere-Mags

Never stray from who you are-Kat

It’s important to have a friend who is a good listener, a good story teller, and most of all, great with puns-Bill

The best correspondence is anything other than e-mail-Arielle

Getting butter on someone’s nose is funny, unless it’s your own-Dyer

Behind every sweet, kind-hearted girl, there is a wild side-Mir

Dance until dawn-Diana

Being romantic in small ways as well as big-Al

It’s fun to sing with your friends at weddings-Maggie, Liz, Ilona

Go everywhere, do everything, see everyone.-Booth

A good friend is someone who lets you puke in there bushes-Betsy

Sitting on a bus, in a two-seater with four people is not comfortable-Shannon V.

Everyone has a question to be answered and a high school crush-Martin

Always be up for an adventure-Kristin/Jeff

Sometimes self-involved people make me smile, especially when they admit they are self-involved-Beth

Make sure everybody is having a good time-Katie

When the beer is out, the party is not over. It just means you need more beer-Matt

When things have you down, go to Ibiza. -Simon

Glass is not a solid. Or a liquid. I’m not really sure what it is-Ron and Jessica

It’s fun making sugar cookies with strangers-Andrea

Always go for falafel after drinking-Paul

Always have a funny story to tell- Erika

Never doubt the kindness of strangers. And the beauty of the ukulele.-Kristen and Jerrold

Always make new friends when traveling-Sylvie and Jarrod

Relax-PW

Writing is therapeutic for the soul, even if no one is reading it-Jenna

There is no point in having pie, if you can’t have a pie eating contest-everyone on Al’s birthday scuba trip

It's annoying when people get REALLY loud when they are drunk-Clay

There's a bit of Forrest and Bubba in all of us-Jennifer B.

Be the most generous, supportive, loving friend you can be -Al

Only your best friends can interpret drunk mutterings like "I'll pathuuu!"-Maggie

Sarcastic people are not so bad-Brandeis

Live, love, laugh-myself.

Things to celebrate

2005-10-09T21:01:00.000-04:00

The past few things have been full of things to celebrate-Paul and Erika's wedding, the kitchen completion, my birthday, Maggie's birthday, and the Jewish new year.

Paul and Erika's wedding was in New Hampshire, right on the coast, and was absolutely lovely. Al knew both Paul and Erika at GW, but from completely different circles--so it was a super fun wedding for him, knowing people on both sides of the wedding party. We did our best to mix the two sides, and make sure we got to hang out with everyone. Since we flew into Boston, and Alex was kind enough to pick us up, Al and I were car-less, but it made the weekend so much fun. We basically we're reduced to becoming car-sluts, and bummed rides with different people for every ride that we needed that weekend: Alex, Ryan, Christine & Wayne, Shali and Scott, Kristin and Jeff, and John and Louise (who is an exact doppleganger for our friend Jess in Italy).

The wedding was great, and tied in a lot of Paul and Erika's Africa experience into the evening. Both Erika and Paul looked absolutely wonderful, and chose an AMAZING setting-we were right on the ocean under a huge tent for the reception-totally beautiful.

After we got home, we had a few more days of kitchen work ahead of us, and the bulk of it is now done. Our whole house was in disarray--but we're back to normal, and I feel a lot better now. In fact, I just made use of our kitchen and baked two apple pies, how industrious. The last part that we have left is choosing a backsplash and paint colors, but Al and I have a bit of kitchen planning fatigue, so I think we'll hold off for a little while.

The exciting part of getting the kitchen done was that we were able to to have my birthday party at the house. Al went all out and made a fantastic spread of food (boy, we missed cooking!!!)--including the highlight--chocolate fondue-yumm. It was so nice to have another weekend of great food and friends, and have so many fantastic people over to our house--it had been far too long! That night, Christine crashed at our place, and the next day we made brunch and had Erika, Paul, and Tumbo come over and join us. It was another huge spread--but what can I say, we missed cooking!

After we cleaned up, I crashed, and slept for about 2 1/2 hours, and after that, went over to Ron's for taco night and to say goodbye before he left for San Diego. I hate losing such cool neighbors, and new friends, but that's all part of the cycle I guess.

That's about it here--the next thing on the list to celebrate---2 year anniversary!

Our whole house was in disarray--but now, we're back to normal, and I feel a lot better now. In fact, I just made use of our kitchen and baked two apple pies, how industrious.

Bar Brawls and other OR adventures

2005-09-13T19:46:00.000-04:00

I've realized that I've been going out a lot lately--I'm not sure if it's living in the city, or not having a kitchen--and therefore being forced to be social or what, but I've definitely been getting my drink on lately.

Over Labor Day, Al and I headed to Portland, OR to hang out with my friend Betsy (who I know from my days at The Nature Conservancy). I've never been to the PNW (Pacific Northwest), so.....we decided to take a quick trip out West.

We left DC at about 4 am, and got into OR around 11 am, and Al's friend Zach (the one who calls me every name but Jodie) picked us up and drove us around Oregon. It's an adorable city, very green, and environmentally friendly--also a lot smaller than I had anticipated. We stopped for lunch at Lompoc Brewery (Portland is the land o' many breweries and coffee shops!), but no beers for lunch since we knew it would be a late night.

After that, we drove to Betsy's office, got her keys, and went to her apartment, which is in a historic building located close to 23rd (or as locals call is trendy-third or Nob Hill), a cute little shopping district with boutiques and restaurants. Al and I wandered around, and found an amazing chocolatier, Moonstruck, which provided the chocolates for the Academy Awards...and seriously, I bought some for my coworkers, and they thought it was manna from heaven.

Betsy was able to get out of work early, so we walked around for a few minutes, and then made our way over to the Big Pink (nickname of Oregon's tallest building) to grab drinks at the City Grill-which overlooks the city. The bar was totally packed---and we started our drinking frenzy--with yummy dirty martinis for me and Bets and grey goose and tonic for Big Al. Zach and his girlfriend ended up meeting up with us, catching a few drinks, and then onto the next bar...

The next bar was by far one of the coolest bars that I've ever been to--called Doug Fir. It looks a bit like a hunting lounge with these kind of 60's accents--it sounds sort of tacky, but it's totally hip and adorable. At this point, we all had a fairly good buzz on, and my hunger kicked in, so I ordered a burger--and I'm not sure if it was me being hungry, or drunk, but it was seriously one of the best burgers ever. I made it until about 11 pm and then crashed---but since that was 2 am our time, I figured that wasn't too bad.

The next day (Saturday), we grabbed breakfast in the gardens of a quaint restaurant Merriweather's, and then headed to Washington Park, walked through the rose garden, and took in the view of the city. After that, we drove around some of Portland, ultimately ending up in the Pearl--which is the more artsy section of town. There was an art show going on, so we took some time to walk through the art show--which brought in artists from all up and down the pacific coast.

That night, we went to out for dinner and met up with Betsy's sister Amy and brother in law Ryan, as well as Zach and his sister Alice. After dinner--we went for martinis, and then off for dancing at a club called Aura. When we walked in, it was rap central, but Betsy talked some sense into the DJ, and he started playing more normal dance music. So, while we were out dancing, there was a group of drunk girls that were basically falling all over the place, and one almost fell on me. I put my hands up to kind of shield myself from her falling on me, and all of a sudden, this drunk girl got all up in my face trying to start a fight. Before I know it, Amy (who is my height) starts yelling at the drunk girl to bring it on, and I was thinking to myself, "okay, we are getting ready to roll now". But, luckily, Alice was with us (who is about six feet tall) and put some fear into the drunk girls, but it was pretty hysterical.

Sunday, we hiked around the Columbia Gorge, and went on several waterfall hikes. After the Gorge, we went to Hood River to the Full Sail Brewery for a few beers, and to watch the wind surfers on the water.

That night, we took it easy and went for dinner at an organic restaurant called the Tao of Tea, and then headed back to DC early the next morning. All in all, it was a great trip, and Betsy was the hostess with the mostest. Portland was a fun city to visit--and we were able to cram in a lot in a short amount of time,b ut there is still plenty to do when we return....

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And this is why I'm totally Type A

2005-09-01T17:32:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. To quickly update:

Kitchen renovation supposed to be done a month ago--still going on and massively behind. I gave Taw a talking to that helped for a little while, but I think I will have to have another one of my breathe fire and invoke the devil conversations with him.
Went to beach with family and Al for a week--v. fun, but I don't understand why men feel the compulsive need to communicate through movie quotes, or watch Cramer's Mad Money 15 times a day.
Al got braces, and is starting his jaw process--he should have jaw surgery one year from now.
Went to Erika's batchelorette party where I found out that my husband is a legend! Actually, had a smashing good time and was only walking distance from home-how I love living in DC. Can't wait for the weddding which will be wicked fun and will include an absurd amount of drunkeness.
I still love my job, and thank the lord I found something with such fabulous people and such a great cause
I'm very sad about the hurricane and cannot watch anymore tv coverage because it makes me want to cry.
I'm going to visit my friend Betsy tomorrow!

Okay, so anyway....back to me being a Type A...when I left my old company I had tons of vacation time, 50 hours to be exact. So, imagine my suprise a 55 days later (which, according to DC is against the law--you are supposed to be paid out 7 days after leaving!!), I only got paid for 26 hours. I sent an e-mail to my former company telling them their oversight only to get into one of the longest and most tedious e-mail battles ever. They said I had taken vacation time that I didn't take, and one of the days they sighted as vacation was a day that I was at a conference THEY paid for. Luckily, I'm totally type A, and keep an insane amount of information (okay so even though I hated working at a law firm, it totally paid off) on hand, and was able to finally get them to back down and grudgingly admit that they were WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Ahhhhhh.

The restaurant visits and coaxing of friends to have us over continues....I'm sick of eating out, but at the end of our kitchen journey, I'll put together a best and worst of list.

That's it from here. Safe and happy labor day....

What's On Your Mind?

2005-08-04T07:05:00.000-04:00

Paging Dr. Freud...

Have you noticed that what used to be considered freudian slips, and the taboo things that nobody would dare say has now become the norm?

Seriously. The other day, I was walking home, and a man asked me if I had any african american heritage. I figured he was asking because my hair was super frizzy that day because of the humidity. But, no, he was asking because of my ass. Nice.

Another day, I was biking home, and I cut to the left side of the street so that I could take a left turn. The car coming behind me was quite a ways back, so I felt okay cutting to the left, until he rolled down his window and yelled, "Get some training wheels!" That one got a pleasant response from me of "Go f#$% yourself."

And, just so much as yesterday, I was again, walking to work, and a homeless man says to me, "Baby you look so pretty all dressed up, even if it's a hand-me down." Seriously? Get a life. My outfit--not a hand-me down and fit fine. Possible he was just pissed I didn't give him money, but I definitely won't in the future for sure.

Even customer service seems to have gone down the drain. Al has been having work done on his car, and the woman who is in charge of his case has basically lied to him. She lied about the work that was done, about extending the waranty, etc. When we took it to her supervisor, he was a royal horses ass.

While it's great to have free speech, I just wish people would think more before opening their trap.

Life Happens

2005-07-30T22:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been so slack in writing...ever have a time in your life, where nothing in particular is keeping you busy, but you are just busy letting life happen around you, and you get so wrapped up into daily conundrums that you kind of forget to connect to people outside your immediate daily sphere? I call that "Life Happens", and that's where things have been lately.

As for the kitchen project..still going, albeit it with a lot of problems. Tao (cabinet maker/thai restaurant owner) decided to build the cabinets about 6 inches shorter than what was in our contract, and installed them in our house. When we came home, I was in tears...I couldn't even reach the bottom shelf of the cabinets because they were shorter than what they should have been. We had to call him, and have him revise to our specifications. So, that puts us behind by at least a week.

And, the countertops were also cut wrong, and had to be redone, but they are finally ready, and have been installed, and our appliances are plugged in..so even though we're still using paper plates, and don't have all the cabinets installed, we've been able to cook a little bit at home (although we have to eat standing, since we don't have anywhere to sit--all of our furniture is covered in plastic right now).

Aside from the kitchen project...work is great. I'm really happy, and I feel really at home. I feel as though I know enough about environment, fundraising, and database to get by and be successful, but feel like it's a challenge since I don't know about grant or foundations. I feel that everyone is really genuine, and really easy to connect with...which is what I was definitely looking for.

And for the past few weekends Al, David, and I went to Roanoke last weekend to surprise my mom for her birthday--it was fun to be with my family and get away from the kitchen for a little while. I went with my mom to a jazzercise class, and ended up really liking it--I was a total klutz, and fell all over myself, but I works up a serious sweat...which I needed after eating out so much! We also went to see Wedding Crashers, and I would just like to profess my love for Vince Vaughn. Adorable.

Last night, we had an anti-shower for friends Matt and Katie, who are having a baby any day now. They didn't really want a big shower or anything, so we just had everyone meet up for crabs at the Bethesda Crab House (a favorite of mine for crabs). We did the 2 hour all you can eat, which was fun, but I felt so gross afterwards...we were covered in Old Bay seasoning.

That's about it here, but thanks for being patient for me to blog. In the immortal words of John Lennon, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

Tree Huggin

2005-07-19T20:56:00.000-04:00

I'm back doing environment work, and for now, couldn't be happier. I think part of it is being with people who I have common interests with, and part of it is that the people are so welcoming. It's been eye-opening, and really made me realize that the right work environment does truly matter. I feel myself smiling all day...and actually excited to go into work. It's been a long time since I've done that. Word is that I was a bit of a trend setter at my old job, as several others have followed suit and gave their notice after I left.

For now, I'm still in training mode, so I'm a bit overwhelmed taking in names, information, systems, processes. I feel like I have all pieces of the puzzle, but now I'm just trying to put it all together.

In other news...kitchen renovation still continues. Counters get put on tomorrow. I'm sick of eating out--and what makes it harder is that Al had his wisdom teeth out on Friday, so we're limited to places with soft foods. Tonight I got to initiate Al into Pasta Mia. We waited an hour and a half to get our food after being seated, so I think it was a bit of a let down to Al...no matter how darn good the pasta was. Oh well.

Off to hug a tree...

A rose by any other name...

2005-07-12T17:10:00.000-04:00

I start the new job tomorrow!! I'm a bit nervous, but I feel like I've started so many new jobs, I should be an old pro.

We tried to have a pretty relaxing, low key weekend. On Saturday, I went to my cousin Debra's to catch up with her, and play with her sons Evan (5) and Jared (2) at the pool. Jared was so adorable, but couldn't quite grasp my name, so for the entire day I was Josie. Josie this and Josie that. But, he was pretty easy to please, and laughed at everything I did, so I found Josie agreeable since I was so gosh darn funny.

I know it's well known that people love hearing their name...but I realized that people do not like hearing their name butchered...2 year olds okay, other people not so much. My contractor--calls me Judy. Al's friend Zach, prefers Joanie. Beyond that, I found that I also get irritated when people call me by my nicknames when they don't know me very well. Some friends call me Jodes, Jode, Schwarzy, Schwarzy-Goldberg. But, not just anyone can use my nicknames. I don't know the suitable amount of time that I mustg know someone before they can call me a nickname, but I'd say long enough for me to feel comfortable with a nickname.

Okay, now that I've obsessed over that, the eating out thing has grown tiresome. Saturday, our friend Kristin had us over for a cookout, and Sunday, we met up with Luke and Stacey for falafel in Adam's Morgan. Al and I tried to go to Pasta Mia again last week--and again that guy is closed--this time until July 19. I give up. Tonight, we go to Katie and Matt's house for fajitas.

Wish me luck on the new job tomorrow.

-Joanie

Day #6 without a kitchen

2005-07-08T09:57:00.000-04:00

Last night we went to Wine and Design in Georgetown. It's located in Cady's Alley, which is lined by several design stores.

The design stores that participate stay open late, have light snacks, and of course, wine. It was cool to walk around, and see what the trends are...we are heading back to the 50's and 70's--a lot of shag, and a lot of 50's knock offs.

Afterwards, Al and I dined at Leopold's---it's a European-esque restaurant and felt very reminiscent of places we dined at in Switzerland, but not as good in my opinion.

Today is my last day at OMP, and next Wednesday I start the new job...aeiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Kitchen Renovation

2005-07-07T11:40:00.000-04:00

Before

After

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I remember a simpler time

2005-07-07T11:25:00.000-04:00

I remember a simpler time,
when the grass was green, the sun did shine
but every since the towers crumbled,
the floor shook, the walls tumbled,
things just haven't been the same.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/07/AR2005070700261.html

Can I get some Pad Thai with that?

2005-07-06T10:00:00.000-04:00

The man who is making our cabinets is also the owner and cook of a Thai carry-out restaurant. Are we crazy....well, take a look at this article, and you tell me.

http://restaurants.washingtoncitypaper.com/hungry.php?week=20050701

Day #3 without a kitchen

2005-07-05T11:07:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, July 2, we embarked on Kitchen Renovation. We knocked down, we destroyed, we disassembled. We now have no cabinets, no countertop, no running water in the kitchen, and after today, will have no appliances. It's already day 3 and I'm sick of having no kitchen.

We'll be eating out a lot--so I'll try to blog about what we're hitting. It'll be like a supersize me experiment--how much weight can I gain from Kitchen being renovated?

It took Al, David (my brother) and I about 5 hours to take everything down, and about another hour to clean up. I was smart enough to think ahead though, and scheduled Al and I for massages on Sunday. While it felt amazing at the time, my neck is now majorily sore. I thought massages were suppoed to loosen you up, but my neck hurt so much last night, that I had to go to sleep just to stop it from hurting so much.

After our massages, we went to our friend Brandeis' for a pool party and BBQ. Brandeis had invited Matt, Katie, PW, and about 30 girls and maybe 3 guys from the Thompson Boat House Rowing team. (Al used to do crew, and a lot of his friends still coach or are involved).

I had a totally "I'm Old!" moment while hanging out with these 20-year olds. The kids--not so bright these days. If you stand by a pool, at a pool party, you are going to be thrown in. No exception....unless you are of course me, and not 20, then the guys actually listen to you when you say, "don't throw me in!" It helps, I found, if you have a Coach bag on hand as well.

I didn't end up getting in the pool, or getting thrown in. Al got thrown in, and threw some girl in--in her white t-shirt and jeans. She kept saying how pissed she was, but then she stayed in the water for about an hour....so guess she couldn't have been that pissed.

Last night, we tried so desperately to find food--we literally tried 5 restaurants and a sketchy bbq joint, but to no avail....everyone was closing early for the 4th. We finally grabbed a hot dog and fries at Ben's Chili Bowl and walked up the hill to see the fireworks---we have this huge hill right up the street from where we live, and you can see the fireworks not only on the National Mall, but shooting off over all of DC--Capital Hill, Alexandria, Dupont Circle, etc. Alot of people were their from our neighborhood who we knew--guess we weren't the only ones with that good idea!

More to come on Kitchen Renovation, and stay tuned for places we are going. And if you have a kitchen, invite us over, we'll even cook for YOU!

Missing Utah boy found alive

2005-06-21T17:03:00.000-04:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8276685/?GT1=6657

I'm so glad this little boy was found!

Vacation...all I ever wanted

2005-06-13T16:50:00.000-04:00

The Mr. and I are trying to plan a week long trip...thinking late August. Looking for something that offers a mix of relaxation, yummy food, and a little bit of adventure, without breaking the bank. Suggestions???

Butting in

2005-06-10T13:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I took the metro to work, and as I exited I noticed a guy and a girl in a screaming match in front of the metro. I tried not to eavesdrop, but as I was walking away I heard the guy yell, "Do you know how much money I make? Do you know what you're passing up?"

I turned around to see what was happening, and this guy was literally not letting the woman get past him. She would step to the right, and he would then step to the right, and hold his hands out blocking her from moving past him. He continued to yell at her in the middle of the metro station.

I was shocked at the number of people who just walked by, and didn't do anything. I know it wasn't any of my business, but I walked over to the woman, and tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was okay. She smiled and said she was, and thanked me for my concern. The guy started saying something to me but I just walked away.

I just hate guys like that who flaunt there money, and think that people are going to bow down to them because they have money. I think the far more attractive approach is to act confident, and get people to date you or befriend you because you are kind, considerate and have your act together.

I don't know. Maybe it was silly to butt in, but oh well. I'd probably do it again.

If the answer's no...can I change your mind?

2005-06-06T16:37:00.000-04:00

Killers Concert NYC

On Friday night, Al and I drove up to NYC to hit the Killers Concert in Central Park on Saturday. My brother, David, has been doing work up in NYC, so we met up with him at his hotel, and then hit a diner for some greasy grilled cheese around midnight, and then off to bed.

On Saturday, did the typical shopping excursion of hitting Soho, and walking around the city. We later met up with our friend Eric, and his friend Betsy, who we had bought tix for. Of course, when we asked Eric initially if he had wanted to go to see the Killers with us, he had an enthusiastic response of “Yes! I love that song Mr. Rightguard!” Um, I think he meant Mr. Brightside, but you know, a nice deodorant song works as well I suppose.

At some point of meeting up, Eric unveils this packet of papers stapled together…which are the lyrics to ALL of the Killers songs. Not only did Eric go on Lyrics.com for the lyrics, he copied and pasted them into a Word Document, and printed them out to bring to the concert. I was laughing so hard at this point, I was almost crying.

We walked over to the Park, and met up with David’s friend Shannon, and sat around Central Park mixing a few drinks before going in for the show. It was super hot, and the first band, Louis XIV was good, but it was too hard to get into because it was so hot. Finally, before the Killers went on, the sun started to set, so it cooled off.

I think we were definitely some of the oldest people at the concert, but it was surprisingly chill—no mosh pits or body surfers—but not without lack of effort on Al or Eric’s part. At one point in the concert, I look over at Eric, and he’s doubled over the lyrics print out singing along as he’s reading the words. That got some great laughs from the people around us, who didn’t quite know what to make of him.

After the concert, I was about ready to cry because my feet hurt so badly from walking all day, and then standing for the concert. After grabbing a bite to eat downtown, we headed back to our hotel, and crashed.

On Sunday, we hit Barney’s---didn’t really get anything, but I just love Barney’s and seeing what the fashions are, and what designers are doing. And then, off to home.

It was a nice weekend to get away—especially now that the humidity is just starting to set in. The city is starting to get expensive again…which is good and bad. Good that it’s recovered from 9/11, but bad b/c I used to be able to find deals there, and couldn’t this go round.

One thing I will say, is that I loved NY more this time around because I’m getting more comfortable with living in a city, and getting around a city, and didn’t find it as confusing.

Take ME Out to the Ball Game

2005-06-03T10:01:00.000-04:00

I got to go to my very first Nationals baseball game last night! Our friend Amanda won tickets, and got some super sweet seats about 5 rows up from the third base line. We were so close I felt like I could reach out and touch the players.

The Nationals ended up pulling out a win against the Braves. There we a ton of great plays by each team, and an exciting game. The National fans are all so enthusiastic...I think it's fantastic that baseball has returned to DC.

One of the highlights of the night was that the "Real Men of Genius" Bud-Light singer was there, and did a special DC Nationals song for Bud Light. It was hysterical...all of these girls ran up to him and got autographs and pictures. It was the one time I wish I had a cell phone with a camera, just because it was so funny.

Tonight...off to NYC to catch the Killers in Central Park on Saturday. Yeah baby!

Long Weekends

2005-06-01T14:04:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh. I just love long weekends. I sometimes wish that America had more of the European mentality--more holidays, and more vacation time allowed AND encouraged. I think my batteries would recharge much more if I had more long weekends....

This past weekend was just relaxing. Al and I ended up staying in DC--which I've never done for Memorial Day. We typically go out of town, but this year, we stayed around. My parents were supposed to come into town, but my grandma's (mom's mom) blood pressure was up, and she had to go to the hospital--so they weren't able to make it. Grandma is out of the hospital now, and back at home.

And, I have to say, I loved being DC over the long weekend--not too many people are here, and it feels like you have the whole city to yourself.

This was a totally Natalie Portman weekend. On Friday, I biked on up to Adams Morgan, and rented Garden State (which I really enjoyed, and have to give major kudos to Zach Braff for writing, directing and starring in it. 2 thumbs up.) and Star Wars 2, so that we mentally prepare ourselves to see Star Wars 3. I had forgotten how cheesy that movie is. And, while Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor are nice to look at, the dialogue is overly simplistic, and the love story is just so painfully annoying.

On Saturday, my other grandma (Dad's mom) was in town for a wedding, so I met up with her, brought her over to the house, and had lunch with her, Al and David. I love my grandma, but I swear, sometimes I just don't know where on earth she came from. In some ways, she's the typical Jewish grandma--she loves to worry, and has the guilt thing down. But, mostly, her social graces are so left field, I just spend most of my time visiting with her wondering how my dad turned out so normal.

She complimented my brother on a having a steady job, and supporting himself, and complimented me on having a husband who supports me. I was like...um, I DO have a job, and a house, and do pretty well on my own. I hesitated to remind her that she also had a job when she was married....

After lunch, I showed grandma the neighborhood, and of course, ran into a neighbor, who she asked how much he had paid for his house. I should have take that bet with my brother. I totally would have bet under 3 hours before she asked about the cost of houses in the neighborhood. Damn.

In the evening, I had a hankering for Pasta Mia (I've missed it so), so Al and I walked to Adams Morgan, only to find it closed. Damn it...I swear that guy only closes it when I want to go, this is the 3rd time it's happened to me.

We opted for a cute little Indian restaurant with seats outside. I got a samosa and some sort of spinach/cheese concoction that was good, but really filling. I think that the waiter was insulted I didn't eat more. I loved sitting outside, and people watching. The HOGS were in town this weekend, lining their bikes up and down the street, and meeting at the various bars.

Oh, I love Adams Morgan, mostly because it always makes me think of hanging out with Betsy and Diana. I totally miss going out and dancing, and going to the Common Share, for my $2 shots before going to Heaven and Hell for 80's night. Now, I'm more of a martini or wine girl if I get a drink...and I'm a total vodka snob...so that make me uber sophisticated?

On Sunday, we ran around town--doing the things we never seem to have time to do, and found that the people at Lowes are the biggest morons in the world. I never thought I'd say this, but I like Home Depot better--but even more than that...I'm loving the little local hardware stores, because the people there know their stuff, and the boys are cute.

Sunday night, biked on over to see a late night showing of Star Wars in Chinatown. Far better than the first 2 combined.

Monday--just did work around the house. We are starting to go into kitchen renovation mode, so I'm sure I'll be complaining about that soon.

That was my weekend. Next on the blog: 25 things I want to do in my lifetime.

Funny....

Ponderings of the day.

2005-05-27T11:16:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with Mags, and I blurted out "well, whatever, I guess it wasn't meant to be--everything always happens for a reason."

Mags and I discussed this--as she had said the same thing to our friend Lizzie a few nights prior. Her husband, who I guess overheard said something like, "men so don't go by that philosophy, if something doesn't work out, shit happens, we don't agonize if it was meant to be or not. And if it works out, we just got lucky."

This got me thinking.....do things happen for a reason, or is that a nice fall-back excuse that women like to give to themselves when things aren't working out?

If you don't get a follow-up date with a guy--it wasn't meant to be. If the job interview doesn't work out-wasn't meant to be. Is Fate really working in our favor, or is it just something we tell ourselves so that the sting doesn't hurt quite so much?

While I'm not sure if things do or don't happen because they are or aren't meant to be, I do think things happen for a reason. This is basic science--where there is a cause, there is an effect.

I honestly believe I met Al as a cause and effect. I was supposed to go see my ex-boyfriend that weekend (who I was still seeing--although I believe he was seeing someone else at this point, so who really knows). I got in a fight with my ex, and my friend Shannon (who was in town visiting) had made plans to go with Michelle to Kings Dominion with some of Michelle's coworkers Clay and Jerry, and Clay's roomate---who turned out to be Al. Since I was down in the dumps that my plans to see the ex fell through, I got invited along for the day with Shannon and Michelle--which is when I met Al. I literally called my mom the next day and told her I met the man I was going to marry....of course, we didn't start dating until 2 1/2 year later, but I digress. Who's to say that if I had met Al at ANY other time, that I would've given him the same attention, and thought of him as a possibility?

Anyway...those are my philosophical thoughts today.

Let me know yours.

Bookends

2005-05-23T15:16:00.000-04:00

“Long ago it must be, I have a photograph....preserve your memories, they're all that's left you” -Simon & Garfunkel, Bookends

My best friend Maggie just got married this past weekend. I was the matron of honor, and it was truly a beautiful wedding--and my first outdoor wedding too!

Leading up to the wedding.....Friday night, there was a rehearsal dinner at Alexander's in Roanoke. Andy's brother Chris, and sister Margaret "Julianne" Moore put together a film documenting the life of Andy and Maggie. Of course, yours truly got all weepy during the movie--I can't help it, I've known Maggie since I was 2, and she's the closest thing I have to a sister, so it got me a little choked up--it's the end of an era, and the beginning of another. Goodbye to those little girls with pigtails...and hello to new adventures...being wives, owning homes, growing up. I can only hope was have many more years of memories down the road.

Afterwards, the crew headed to Awful Arthurs, which lived up to it's name. I swear, doesn't Roanoke have any decent bars??? And no, Corned Beef & Co does NOT count....I only frequent there because I know I'll run into someone I know.

Saturday, we went to the salon--gossiped about celebs while having our hair done. Then, off to the Meyer house to get ready. The ceremony was lovely, and I maintained the standing position, which was a great success.

The weather held out--and the sun shined down for the ceremony and reception. Durring dinner, the groomsmen went in search of the buried Maker's Mark to toast the weather gods for making it such a beautiful day.

Dinner included shrimp and grits--my personal favorite! Yum. After dinner--we did toasts, and I actually made it through WITHOUT crying. Thank you very much. Then..the band got up to play, and congratulated "Maggie and JOE, and their new marriage". I'm not sure who this Joe character is, but the band kept congratulating him and Maggie all night long. The funniest thing is, Andy was the one who had HIRED the band!

Several drinks later, the bridemaids rallied, and took our show on the road, and got up on stage to sing Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. Johnny must have turned in his grave, it was so out of tune...

It was a momentous weekend, so here's to you Maggie and Joe, may you have many years of happiness......

50 Things About Me...You May or May Not Know

2005-05-18T09:09:00.000-04:00

1. I am a PADI Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver
2. My favorite soft drink is Diet Cherry Coke
3. I was born on the bicentenial, even though I can't spell it.
4. If there was ever a movie about me, I would want Keri Russell to play me.
5. I believe in ghosts, and have gone on 5 ghost tours.
6. I was an extra in Dirty Dancing, and got to meet Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze.
7. My second and third toe on each foot are slightly webbed together--I used to think they were freakish, now I think they are cute.
8. My maternal grandma and David Broder are first cousins.
9. When I was little, I fell out of a moving car.
10. Swimming is one of my favorite things in the world.
11. I used to write poetry under the pen name Moon Lawerence.
12. I hate cheesecake. It doesn't matter who makes it, or what's on it.
13. I eat bagels with butter instead of cream cheese.
14. I studied in England and Scotland for a summer. If I could, I would move to London.
15. I am a Libra, and while I can see both sides of the story, once I have an opinion, I stick with it.
16. I have known my best friend since I was 2 years old.
17. The day after I met Al, I called my mom and told her I had met my future husband. I was even seeing someone else at that time.
18. I often have premonitions that come true (see above).
19. My paternal grandparents are Holocaust survivors. I went to Dachau, which is one of the camps my grandma was in.
20. My one desire is to write a children's book.
21. Golden Retrievers are my favorite type of dog.
22. I own all of the Harry Potter books and movies, and have the next book that's due out this summer on pre-order. I have also read each book twice.
23. I love bluegrass music, British pop music, and 80's music. I also have a love for anything that's just unique and tells a great story.
24. I could feel my house shake on September 11, when the plane crashed into the Pentagon.
25. I have taken a cake decorating class. Al's cakes were prettier than mine.
26. I drank too much wine at my cousin's wedding and passed out---I was a bridesmaid in the wedding.
27. When I was little, I wrote a letter to Judy Blume. She even wrote me back.
28. I really love super-hero movies, and the Star Wars movies.
29. I love vinegar on my fries. Is there any other way?
30. I know the Greek and Hebrew alphabets.
31. I think that the word poop is funny.
32. I am extremely superstitious.
33. I once went to an S&M club with my girlfriends.
34. I believe in reincarnation and karma.
35. I don't like getting roses--I used to, but I'm over it.
36. The one dish I make well is eggplant parmesan.
37. The first concert was a Neil Diamond concert.
38. Sometimes, when I clean, I like to wear a tiarra, and pretend I'm a princess who has been forced to clean.
39. I totally bombed the SATs when I was in high school.
40. I am part of Toastmasters International-and have completed the Competant Level of Toastmasters.
41. I am allergic to red wine.
42. I have taken the following hobby classes, but have mastered none of these: photography, pottery, kayaking, and rock wall climbing.
43. I didn't really like college or my sorority.
44. I know the words to almost every song in Fiddler on the Roof.
45. My belly-button is pierced.
46. One of my favorite smells is right after it has rained on a warm day.
47. I am afraid of heights, but love to challenge my fear.
48. On single every trip I take--via plane, train, automobile, I always sing "We're Off to See the Wizard" from Wizard of Oz. My mom and brother do this as well.
49. I used to be on a kickball team.
50. I have a slight obsession with Sting.

Just Another Day in DC

2005-05-12T09:17:00.000-04:00

Confused Fliers Trigger Capital Scare-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051100887.html

Is it sad that we are becoming accustomed to terrorist threats? Just yesterday, I was sitting at work, and an e-mail came across my screen "WHITE HOUSE AND CAPITOL EVACUATED!"

As I sat there, I heard people contiuing to type, and not a lot of commotion around me. I thought to myself, "self, there must not be anything wrong if noone is panicking or screaming."

I think it's just sad that this mentality has become so ingrained in us in just a few short years. 3 years ago, everyone would have freaked out with an e-mail like this on their screen, and now, it's just business as usual in DC.

When did reality start becoming so real?

Eye of the Tiger

2005-05-09T14:58:00.000-04:00

Posted by Hello

I've been using the bike--although, I have to admit, I'm not the most graceful person on a bike, but I'm still having fun. Al got a bike this weekend, so on Sunday, we biked into Georgetown and got a bite to eat, and walked around to the different stores. What a beautiful day.

So, in addition to biking, I was motivated by my hubby's new 6 pack to start doing some sit ups in the mornings. At first, I could only do 2. I'm not even joking. 2. How sad is that?

Now, I'm up to 60. The stomach is starting to feel a bit tighter, and so now I've added pushups to the daily routine. I can do about 10 girly ones right now, but that's okay.

I'm kinda getting into the being in shape thing. Makes me want to actually work out a bit. Or not.

Girls just wanna have...

2005-04-19T13:54:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been so slack on the blogging.

Al and I've been working so hard on the house, and work's been crazy. Doesn't help that I moved offices again. I am just waiting for that red swingline stapler. Any day now...

Last weekend, I had Maggie's batchelorette extravanganza. I'm the matron of honor for her and Andy's wedding, so I decided that while the boys were away (Atlantic City), the girls should play. And, I have to say, that I'm the luckiest girl, because my kick ass husband helped me cook and clean all week for the soiree.

Liz came in town early Friday, and since Al had helped me all week, we were able to hang out, catch up, and of course, go to Ben's for grease, and Cake Love for a tasty after treat. Yep, the healthy lifestyle went out the window for the weekend.

Friday night, the girls came over, and I had a table of apps, and charged Ilona with making the drinks (and, she makes a devilishly delicious cosmo). It ended up being a very small, but sweet group of 7 of us. After many cosmos, cheese platters, and dances in my living room later, we hit Adams Mill to meet up with Andy's batchelor party.

I'm proud of the ladies, because we made it later than the boys. Of course, I got little sleep, and so when the party continued into Saturday, I was dragging the heels a bit.

I got up early with Ilona to help get ready for breakfast and our trip to a cabin I reserved in Berkeley Springs, WV. It was only about a 2 hour drive - we went through some wacky weather as we headed up to the mountains. Rain, wind, hail....

After we got settled in the cabin, we headed out to Berkeley Springs state park. Berk. Springs is known for their fresh spring water, which several of the local spas use for bath treatments due to all of the minerals in the water. I can't even type about this next experience without cracking up....

So, Ilona made reservations for us all to take a "Roman Bath", so that we get to experience this mineral water first hand. So all six of us (the 5 bridesmaids plus Maggie), put on our bathing suits (which is just not fun in April), and we go into this little pool, that's super hot (102 degrees), and basically all just sit there together. As the time wears on, we all start getting kinda dizzy and loopy in our sweat box pool. We barely made it the 20 minutes that we were supposed to, but afterwards, the hangover was gone!

That night, for dinner, we decided to check out this place Maria's, which the 15 year old boys who ran the Roman Bath had recommended. (Disclaimer: this next part is not meant to be derogatory, and apologies if it comes out that way): As we enter, we each slowly start to feel this sense of discomfort. Everyone is looking at us, and there are statues, paintings, dolls, etc of Jesus and Mary everywhere. Now, in normal circumstance, I would feel slightly out of place, being Jewish and all, but since it's the first night of Passover, and we are a group of girls out for a fun night, the Jesus and Mother Mary thing was uber uncomfortable.

We got the hell outta dodge, and instead went to this cute little restaurant down the road call Tarri's. Had some nice wine with dinner, discussed our worst dates, and went home to play a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit.

Next morning, we woke up to snow (yes, snow in WV in APRIL!!!). We watched our girlie movies, and then, went for a nice brunch before hitting the road home.

I was exhausted from the weekend, but it was nice to get away, and have some girl time.

Biker Chick

2005-04-13T10:03:00.000-04:00

Posted by Hello

Last week was so much fun, but such a blur!

I FINALLY got a bike...a belated birthday present from Al (and yes, my birthday is in September, but in his defense, he bought me a wetsuit for Hannukah, so I can't be too upset!!!).
The last time I rode a bike was in Germany, which was a few years ago, so it's been awhile. And, I had many beers in me at the time, so I wasn't too aware of my surroundings.

So, when shopping for this bike, I felt like a complete ditz. The poor guy at REI kept grabbing bike after bike for me. No, too big; no, not girly enough; no the handlebars are weird...

Finally, as the sales associate was at about his wits end, a light went off in his head, and he went in back to grab the most perfect of perfect bikes for me. It's a total teenager's bike, with flowers on it and everything. I LOVE IT! I just need a bell and I'm all set, ding ding!

As for the rest of the week.....Wednesday night, I invited friends to a happy hour at Hotel Helix. My friend Betsy had introduced me to Helix awhile back, and with the weather so nice out, I couldn't resist having a happy hour on the deck. About 8 people ended up coming, most of whom are friends who I've known since I was 2 years old, but haven't seen in forever. Mags and I bagged work early to grab some seats outside, and Mags was already a little tipsy from a happy hour at work. By the time everyone got there, Mags and I were already a good bit ahead of everyone, but it was all in good fun.

Thursday, Al and I got invited to a wine tasting at the Charlie Palmer's restaurant on Capitol Hill, which was another Style magazine event. There were small apps being passed, and 2 white wines, and 3 reds for tasting. The wines (I could only have the whites), and apps were delicious, and it was a fun way to spend the evening, and check out a new DC restaurant.

Friday, my mom was in town--she and Sam's mom, Eileen were hosting a shower for Mags on Saturday. Some of Al's friends were also in town for their alumni duties at the GW Crew Invitational. Mom and I had a nice dinner out, and enjoyed catching up (Dad was home due to last stretch of tax season). And, at 3 am, I was awoken by my wonderful hubby stumbling into bed, and again 2 hours later when he got up to head to the crew races.

Saturday, was BEAUTIFUL out. Maggie's shower was fun. There were about 12 people that ended up coming, and it was a nice luncheon. Afterwards, my mom and I headed down to the water and met up with David, and Ilona to watch the remainder of the raises. We got some seats at the bar Sequioa's, which has a patio right on the Potomac river, grabbed some beer, and enjoyed a lovely afternoon. Got to catch up with a lot of people I haven't seen in a few months, and enjoyed the day. Can't beat it.

Sunday, after brunch, I took my bike for a spin. I've never biked in a city before, but I love it. It's so much fun! I'm going to try taking it to work tomorrow, and I'm kind of nervous, but I have a helmet, and I'm going to try to go a little early so I can be careful of cars. I'm not the most graceful person in the world.

What do you think, am I biker-chic material???

6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

2005-04-05T16:55:00.000-04:00

Posted by Hello

Everybody cut, everybody cut....everbody cut Footloose!

So, I've loosely been playing the Kevin Bacon game since I can remember, to determine if I could get within 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. The closest I've come was meeting Jennifer Grey on the set of Dirty Dancing, who was in Ferris Bueller's Day off with Matthew Broderick, who is married to Sarah Jessica Parker who was in Footloose with Kevin Bacon. So, what's that, like 4?

I finally topped myself about 2 weeks ago. Al got tickets for a "inside-the-actor's" studio type presentation with John Lithgow. We went with our friends Bill and Shannon, and sat so close, we could see his striped shoes. Bill and I were dying to ask questions like "Mr. Lithgow, could you please do that voice from Shrek?" or "Mr. Lithgow, why were you so mean to Harry in Harry and the Hendersons?" or my personal favorite from Al, "Mr. Lithgow, do you know the Muffin Man?"

We didn't get to ask questions, but I did secure an autograph afterwards. AND....since John Lithgow was in Footloose with Kevin Bacon, I'm now only a mere 2 degrees from Kevin Bacon.

Plus, Al's best friend is his dobbleganger, does that count?