Rocktober

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

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

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

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....

Want to see pics? Visit: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNGTZs3ZOH7A

And this is why I'm totally Type A

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?

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

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

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...