That's Funny, Put It In The Blog

It Had Better Stop Raining.

2011-09-07T12:25:00.004-04:00

Because you know what I am trying today??! Get excited.

http://www.dcdragonboat.org/

I was supposed to join my work and gym buddy for an evening at the gym. Instead, she decided to bring me to her new hobby, dragon boat. It's going to be hilarious. Luckily, I have had a tetanus booster so I am not too afraid of falling in the water.

I just wish it would stop raining and that I could wrassle up the care to get out of my PJs already.

Do you think they will let me row in slippers?

huh

2011-08-30T21:43:00.001-04:00

So. In addition to losing my job. I just received the three following things:

1. A parking ticket. My 3rd. EVER. For yes, my stupidity, but still. Annoying.

2. A cable bill charging me tons of late fees for when their payment site went down and didn't process my automatic payment. Also, I don't have a converter. Stop trying to sneak in false sneaky ass charges.

3. Oh yes. And a threatening letter from the DC government. It seems my mortgage company has not been paying any of my taxes. I now have a massive interest charge and at least a $700 fine. What the hell are they doing with all my money? Are mortgage payments actually the new Ponzi scheme??!!

Great. Just great.

oh yeah.

2011-08-09T21:55:00.002-04:00

Except then I got laid off. So I no longer haz progress; I haz free time. And a mortgage.

So, I will do as I normally do, and plan some vacations and day drink for a bit while I wrap my head around having to start another job search a meager 14 months after the last one. yay.

Progress. I haz it.

2011-06-29T11:50:00.004-04:00

As some of you may or may not know, I have been having really really ridiculous problems with Washington Gas Company. Just ridiculous, overcharging, accusations of lying, bad meter readings etc etc. I finally, after 6 months of frustrating phone calls, no real answers and no progress, gave up. I filed an official complaint with the city.

Having never gone through this process before, I wasn't expecting much, if anything, from this illustrious city of lazy. But. BUT. Within one hour, I received a phone call from my 'caseworker' Lawrence (fist bump to you, good sir) and an email confirming our conversation and next steps.

6 months with the gas company. 1 hour to get the city started on it. For as much as I have zero faith in the mayor, it's nice to remember that there are people in this city who do work for its constituents, and take pride in that work. It's about damned time.

What am I Doing Today?

2011-06-16T10:54:00.001-04:00

Updating my resume. That's what. It seems the 'workforce reduction' will start in September and the policy is 'last in, first out'.

*sigh*

It Ain't Fresh Air...But It'll Do

2011-06-15T13:43:00.003-04:00

I finally had my open house and completely forgot to take pictures. You will just have to imagine it. I will say that thanks to my friends and neighbors, my bar is quite stocked. I think that I should have a few more parties just to fit all the wine into my bar/cabinet.

Today at work, my work gma is not here. That means that we can leave the horrible overhead florescent lights off and just have the nice natural light from the windows. I know that I am lucky to have windows in my office but I always complain that the lights are on when we don't need them. Today? No problem. And my lunch was awesome. This bodes well for the rest of the week.

guess what?

2011-06-02T20:18:00.003-04:00

The humidity has broken and my summer roomie made me tacos for dinner. This is going to be a great summer.

wwwwwaaahhhhhhh....

2011-05-29T09:46:00.005-04:00

Do you ever have a meal where you feel like you have been eating forever but the food never seems to diminish?

That is how I feel about having a house. I unpack a box. And another one seems to appear. I fix something, and of course, something else breaks.

I now have moths. Wool moths, not food moths. I think they came out of the storage unit. I killed 7 of them this morning. There is no good way to get rid of these things, they have banned those chemicals. I am feeling somewhat defeated but productive this weekend. I am off to caulk some windows and putty other ones. Also, my summer flattie is moving in. I hope she performs amusing antics.

Then, I need a burger and a beer. I think it's only fair.

Friday the 13th

2011-05-13T14:44:00.003-04:00

I didn't even realize it was Friday the 13th. I should have known.

My first clue was when I threw my travel mug into my gym bag. Like I do every morning; except today was a special day. Today, I forgot to put the rubber gasket back in the top. And what I actually did, was put part of the top of my coffee and turn it upside down in my gym bag while I put on my shoes. I was really surprised that my coffee was so aromatic today. I could smell it all over the house! Squee! Great! Delicious coffee. Until I saw the puddle forming under my gym bag. *sigh*

Then, I went out for lunch. Yay! Fun! Friday! SAT. IN. TRAFFIC. Not just slow moving, but stopped dead in the middle of a bridge, not moving, not nuttin'. So i get back to the office really late to find out that my boss has been looking for me. Twice, he came by and I wasn't there. This does not look good.

So I find him. And he tells me that he just quit his job. FFFFFFF*********CCCCCCCKKKKKK. This is not good. At all. My boss is the only person who keeps me sane here. Also, he wants me to move into my work dad's team. My work dad. I can't work like that. I am going to have to find a new job. I was really looking forward to a nice weekend. Instead, I will be redoing my resume.

Happy Friday the 13th. I should have seen this coming.

White Whine.

2011-04-27T14:47:00.004-04:00

Why is planning a vacation so difficult? I feel like maybe because the last time I went away, I was told where to go and when and wasn't really given a choice. Now, I have input. And I have to pay. And that shit is expensive.

My sister and I are going on vacation together this year. I don't think we have ever done a sister vacation. We have visited each other, gone hiking. But in each others respective towns. Now, we are going away. And we seem to have opinions about where to go and stay and...and...and.

Am I the only person who has angst about this? Although I am very pleased to have frequent flier miles because these plane tickets are killing me.

That being said, any suggestions for things to do in Rio?

Misstep Part 2

2011-04-19T12:45:00.001-04:00

Dear Work:

Thank you so much for offering us an extra admin leave day for all of our hard work and dedication. I like how we can use it on Friday, the 22nd, or Monday, the 25th.

The Jews are not fooled by this ploy.

hmmm...

2011-04-19T09:10:00.002-04:00

It's apparently Pretzel Month in the work cafeteria. They have so thoughtfully paired it with Passover on their advertisements. Me thinks this is a misstep.

Dying.

2011-04-13T15:47:00.003-04:00

My colleague Emily just offered up Eleanor Roosevelt as a polar opposite to Britney Spears.

Where does she come up with this stuff? I should also mention that it came up following a discussion of people dressed as anime characters and Japanese girls dressed as baby dolls.

If you can figure out the train of thought, please let me know.

Morning Haiku: Back in the Habit

2011-04-13T10:30:00.002-04:00

Colleagues, Hi, welcome.
Critical Thinking Skills now.
Try, You might like it.

Weather, Gloomy, Blah.
Food trucks hiding, I'm hungry.
Work Cafe. Sigh. Gross.

Does this Count?

2011-04-06T16:15:00.002-04:00

Kim and I just picked out Easter candy for the office with Sec. Sebelius. Does that count as a celeb sighting? Should I have suggested that perhaps she should be buying carrots and such for the office instead...you know, people might talk.

SQUEEE!!

2011-04-05T08:33:00.003-04:00

I just had my first work celebrity sighting. Now, I used to have a job where I would randomly see celebrities all the time. I don't know why. I guess it's from traveling so much that I would see random people in the airport, at the hotel (I am looking at your Chicago Bulls. Tallest. Celeb. Sighting. Ever.), in restaurants.

Here? Not so much. I think it's because my office is so far removed from the hustle and bustle of campus. I even missed Bono coming to campus. How do you miss Bono??

Today, my luck has changed. As I was walking to work, through campus, I saw, the one, the only, the venerable, and one of my all time faves, Mr. Kevin Spacey. Not 3 ft away from me. I stopped. I did a double take. Then I grinned and kept walking, knowing very well that if I were to introduce myself, it would come out very wrong as it normally does. So I kept to myself and decided that this was going to be my sign that my luck will change.

I know it's BS. But again, just go with it.

PSA

2011-04-02T08:44:00.004-04:00

My PSA for you all today: Don't buy a house. Just don't. Or if you do, get some serious homeowners and make sure your inspection is done after a heavy rain.

Things I have discovered this week:

1. A huge leak in the guest bedroom coming from an old chimney that doesn't connect anymore.

2. A mini leak in the living room.

3. Huge cracks in the grout causing water to leak behind the tiles in both bathrooms.

4. My cold water pipes shake horribly. And it's not a question of bracing the pipes, it's a question of knocking into walls. SERIOUS walls.

This? Is not what I had imagined. Not what I signed up for when I bought this house.

I suggest you all just move back in with your parents.

Update: I just did my taxes. EVERYBODY SHOULD BUY A HOUSE. GO. Do it now.

Happy Birthday Failure

2011-03-28T09:14:00.002-04:00

Dear Metro. Happy 35th Birthday. I have to say, from early days as a mini commuter rail to these recent years of being....a larger commuter rail that is generally unhelpful and sometimes kills people. You have truly grown. I have to wonder that if I am in as bad shape as metro is at 35, someone would put me in a home...or just out of my misery. I am going to suggest that now that Metro has passed its quarter-life crisis and has moved forward as an adult, that it consider getting. its. shit. together. Happy Birthday Metro. Grow up.

Channeling Tom Selleck

2011-03-26T22:00:00.005-04:00

So the whole grade was on a field trip this week and one of the other teachers overheard a conversation between one of my students and one of her students. See, one of my students already appears to have a mustache. He has very dark hair, which also makes his facial hair darker. The conversation went like this...

Student 1: Dude, you totally have a mustache!

Student 2: Yep, you'll get one someday, when you're older.

My colleague said what was the most hysterical part was that he said it in such a cool way. Like he was the cool older kid giving the younger kid advice. The other boy thought he was the coolest kid ever. The girls in 2nd grade are all crazy in love with him. I guess a mustache still has that air of cool, even in second grade. I guess ladies do still fall for older boys-or at least older looking ones. Maybe we learn many of life's lessons in 2nd grade...

Fin.

2011-03-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

Dear Work Dad, I SWEAR.
In one ear, out the other.
Shut up, listen, learn.

Poetry Week

2011-03-24T10:42:00.004-04:00

There once was a girl named Roozer,
Coffee she wanted, before she works like a Doozer.
She went to a new shop,
To try the new slop,
And ended up spilling like a loser.

(just pretend it works).

Your Government Dollars At Work

2011-03-23T09:00:00.007-04:00

Do you know why I had to work late yesterday? This is why:

You may now insert any GOP, Congress = 3-ring circus, elephant as GOP with a painted woman on top jokes here. I'll wait.

It was an awesome day for the elephant parade. For those who are unaware, once a year, when the circus comes to town, they have to get the animals from the train depot to the Verizon Center. And they do this by walking them through the streets like a mini parade. And it's awesome. And heartbreaking at the same time. The elephants look so sad. And they are dressed up and it's weird. I don't go to the circus. I think they are cruel. But I wanted to have a bit of hope that maybe the animals felt happy walking down the city streets, even for 30 minutes, thinking they were strutting it on a nice spring day. On another note, doesn't it look like a couple of these people are fleeing??! Like there is going to be a stampede??
In other news, Metro would like to let every know that they are going to focus on a smaller number of important issues they think are important to the public. Like escalators. I would put to them that most people would be happy to settle for the trains running without crashing into each other. Maybe that's just me.

Morning Haiku

2011-03-21T08:34:00.001-04:00

Dear Metro, my friend
Had I known, I would have walked.
Thirty Minutes. Two Stops. Sigh.

Listening Comprehension

2011-03-16T08:57:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I met some more of my neighbors while leaving for work. They introduced themselves by motioning to which church they went to on the street (there are 3). It reminded me of why I bought my house where I did. In my old neighborhood, people would NEVER come up and introduce themselves. This is maybe the 10th time it's happened to me in 3 months.

In addition to telling me about their grandkids and dog, this couple told me of the fond memories they had of my house. They told me they used to buy candy at my house. I admit. That gave me pause. I had heard from other neighbors, that my house used to be 2 apartments, one of which used to sell certain things. You know. Stuff.

And so, when this older couple said they used to buy candy at my house, I was stunned. Did they just admit that to me? Weird. And then they continued, that when they would come home from elementary school, their parents would let them run over with their pocket change. And that is when I kicked myself. My house, before it was mine, before it was a drug den, was the corner store. In the 50s. And then it all made sense. Penny CANDY. OHHHHHHH. Yeah. That I get. And I fail.

Not funny. Still in the blog.

2011-03-14T10:04:00.002-04:00

Do you know what is not funny? Having your basement flood twice in one weekend when it's not even raining. To top off an already looonnnnngggg week, I returned home Friday night and realized that while my heat was on, the radiators weren't hot. Curious. I walked into the basement to check the furnace to make sure the pilot light was not out. It was out. Because it was under a foot and a half of water. I felt so defeated.

No heat. No hot water. Great. I called the man who sold me my house (because seriously, the sump pump should last more than 3 months). He was out of town and told me to get a bucket and go buy another sump pump at home depot. So there I was, Saturday morning, unshowered, in my PJs, at the home depot just staring at the sump pumps. I picked one. The plumber came by on Saturday and said 'I am sure the floater is just blocked'. I had to resist the urge to cut and explained that I checked that before and I had to cut off the power to the house to walk down in the basement and pick up the pieces of the pump that came off in my hand. When he went down to look, he said, "oh man. This is much worse than I thought.' Indeed, good sir.

He left me a back up pump and a hose and told me to let it run and he would be back on Monday at 8 am (ha! i believed him!!!). It took 3 hours to pump the water out of the basement. I finished, went to my parents house, took a hot shower, went to bed.

When I came back the next morning, I checked the basement....annnndddd....it had flooded again. So, I hooked back up the pump. Great. Later, I met my girls for dinner in Shirlington, thinking, I hope it doesn't flood while I am gone. I get on the road to go home and I get PULLED OVER. I haven't done anything but I start to panic because I had a drink before dinner about 4 hours before. The cop comes up and tells me that my plate is pulling up on the system as fake. DC has registered my car wrong. I have never been so happy to see a Monday. The plumber is here, I have heat! This weekend however? Blew.

Housewife: Part 3

2011-03-10T09:38:00.003-05:00

So. The thing about having a week long slumber party is that it can be super awesome but also, there is the possibility that one of the guests could be somewhat non-verbal and cranky. Most of the time, that would be me. Now that it's not, I understand how people feel when they have to deal with me before I have had my coffee.

I have learned a lot with having a kid in the house. First, I put on my tights after I get downstairs or I put on shoes immediately. I will tell you, one early morning footstep into a puddle of drool will wake you up faster than you could realize.

Second, I hate Handy Manny. I mean that in the nicest way possible. I do not understand how parents, without caffeine watch/listen to kids stuff. It's rough. Much respect to them for putting up with that.

Third, I am not ready for anything remotely permanent like this in my life. It's a good thing to know about yourself.

Desperate Housewife

2011-03-06T19:25:00.002-05:00

This weekend, I played the role of a suburban housewife; a role that I did not relish but that certainly needed to be done.

The 'honey do' list that I wrote to myself included a trip to two different Costcos, thanks to my work wife, to buy a TV, a trip to Target, waiting hours for the cable guy, having my house cleaned (a true sign of a housewife of DC), and having my work wife move in for the week with her daughter. I am so excited to have guests in the house for the first time!

Kim and her daughter Lily arrived in the nasty pouring Sunday rain and Lily immediately started exploring. It's really funny to watch someone else explore your house and all the different things in it. Who knew that my dustbuster was so exciting? I'll tell you who knew. Lily.

It could be that I may update later wondering what in the world I have gotten myself into with this roommate situation but for now, it's like having a slumber party.

Housewifery for the Win!

2011-02-28T09:41:00.002-05:00

Things I accomplished this weekend:

1. Putting up a curtain rod.

That's it. And I couldn't even do it by myself. There are very few times that I am annoyed about being single but when it comes these house activities, I basically want to get pints of ben and jerry's, 7 cats, and just call it day.

The saga of the curtain rod started when my cordless drill died. Fine. I borrowed one from a co-worker. Then, I get to measuring and marking and it occurs to me that I have to straddle the top of the ladder and balance myself just to mark where the brackets will go. This does not bode well. I start drilling. Almost immediately, I hit masonry. Fantastic. I don't have them there fancy masonry drill bits and the hardware store is closed. I happen to see a crew of guys replacing the steps of the church across the street. So I put on my stupidest 'I am a girl and don't know what to do' voice and stroll over. After I explain the situation, this guy gives me their hardcore drill to use and says give it a go. I do. And nearly break my neck falling off the ladder trying to hold this thing with 2 hands while it basically shakes me like a british nanny. I give up. The guys across the street do too. So on Saturday, they came over and drilled the holes for me.

Cause I'm a girl.
Also, the curtains are 'meh'. But we won't talk about that.

From The Mouths of Babes...

2011-02-27T16:44:00.003-05:00

We recently celebrated the 100th day of school in my classroom. On the 100th day we do it up. 100th day trail mix, 100th day activities, etc., etc. I also gave them the writing prompt, When I am 100 years old life will be very different! This is what life will be like... I got so pretty awesome answers.

Answer #1:

"I'm going to get a back crack and walk slow. Have money, lots of money I say. Also have a sweet car. Also have a young girl friend and be rude. I think about skipping college. Also have a quiet life. My life is going to be fun because I'm going to have a mansion and live by myself and have a hot tub. Also the world is going to change because there is going to be lots of old people around like old me."

The best part is that when I gave the writing prompt "Do you ever want to get married? Why or Why not?" This same kid wrote that he never wants to get married because if he doesn't then he could probably do other fun stuff like go to Hawaii and have lots of love. This kid is going to be a player when he grows up. You can already see all the signs...

Answer #2

"I would have a wand attachment to my walking stick. Harry Potters worst enemy, Voldemort, would be feared throughout the land. There would be boggarts and hippagriff. We would fly on hippagriff for transportation. The cars are able to fly, if you want a car. I would be a anamagis, that means I can turn into an animal. I would be a 4 feet black dog. I would already be a professor at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. I would be defense against the dark arts teacher for 20 years. When I was 70 years younger I was a famous quiditch player- my broom would be a firebolt. "

This kids answer to the marriage question said that he never wanted to get married and that he wanted to play video games by himself all day long. This kid is going to live in his parent's basement when he grows up if he isn't careful.

There were many more humorous answers, but I truly felt like these two examples gave a glimpse into what their futures may hold...

What I Learned Today

2011-02-24T11:49:00.002-05:00

Here is what I learned this morning:

1. There is no amount of coffee that can counteract or muffle a loud coworker.
2. If the government shuts down, I still have to come to work. And I don't get paid. I have no idea how that is even legal. I am pretty sure that is a violation of some labor law.
3. Girl Scout cookies have arrived. This is the hardest time of the year.
4. If the government shuts down, the people who have shut it down will still get paid.
5. It's Thursday. I thought it was Wednesday. It's like finding 10 bucks in your pocket.

1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back...No Paula.

2011-02-22T15:04:00.003-05:00

You know what has changed my life?

Fat-free half and half. It's like I get to drink super indulgent lattes that are not so bad for me.

This weekend FLEW with a trip to the zoo and lots of eating as well as a visit by Stacey who is starting to get her cute baby bump.

However, Amber gave me a cold. I am glaring at her through this post...

Recommitting. Should be committed?

2011-02-17T11:41:00.007-05:00

Today I shared this blog with a woman in the office; it's scary. We are friends, and I hope we will still be after she reads it. It's almost as if I have divulged all my crazy before getting the engagement ring, you know?? I hope it doesn't scare her off.

That being said, I am going to commit to posting more often, not that my life is so interesting or funny but I forget sometimes that even writing things down helps think through them or at least gives you the giggles when you look back on them.

So. What has happened recently. Some neighborhood hooligans tried to steal my trash can. I mean, really? You can have it if you want. They are free. The city will give you a brand new one if you ask.

I also think I scared off my new neighbors when I told them that I left a bar because there were too many white people there. They just stared at me. But really. That's not what I meant. I meant there were only white people there and they were all dressed the same and I felt like I was in a post-apocalyptic movie. Or maybe just in Clarendon. But I don't like places that self-segregate that way. It makes me uncomfortable. I just wish I had said that out loud to my neighbors. Now they are just confused.

To catch up all 2 of you who read this blog:
Job = still boring but still employed!
House = still messy but still standing!
Family = still overseas but still standing!

I have also reaffirmed my love for Top Gear. That's the most important update of all.

Let's Recap

2011-01-28T15:57:00.010-05:00

Let's take a quick look at January, shall we?

Yep, that's a view finder. Like the one you probably had when you were about 7. They were awesome back then. Still awesome in a retro kind of way. This view finder however is linked to something not so awesome. B and I went to NY to visit Meghan. That part was awesome. We wandered around Times Square in the freezing cold, ate cupcakes, had awesome hot chocolate, had soup dumplings (how do they get the soup inside the dumplings?!) awesome brunch and a Golden Globes viewing party. We also went to see The Man With F.E.E.E.T. When you are in NY you should go see something NYish right? So, Meghan finds a write up on this show (should I call it a show? Maye more of a sketch "comedy"). It says it is written by one of the writers of the Colbert report and that it involves a view finder. Great. It will be artsy and funny and totally NY. Let's talk about what it really was- awkward, strange and not that funny. Basically it was sort of Austin Powers like. Everyone in the audience had a view finder and watched the story while someone narrated it. There was a chime sound like you hear in kids books on tape when we were supposed to change the picture. There were 3 slide sets and in between each was a "comedy" skit. Too bad they were unfunny. The only saving grace were the three skits that were a trombone quartet. Who were actually good, and funny. The worst part was that after the show (which maybe lasted for 45 minutes) people were talking to the cast about how great it was and funny it was. I refuse to believe that 3 college educated women all didn't get it. I really think those people didn't get it either and felt like it was supposed to have some deeper meaning or something and faked it so they seemed smart. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We got home from NY and had an ice storm. Which would have been awesome if it had equaled a snow day. It didn't. It got us a 2 hour delay. On a teacher work day. fail. Pretty in this picture, not pretty to drive in.

Then finally we got our big snow. The bad part? I have the flu. The other bad part? The power was out in the house for almost 2 straight days. Giant fail. So, needless to say, these pictures were taken from my couch, looking out the window. Regardless, you get the idea. All in all, this storm was a bit of a nightmare, but bonus- I didn't have to use up sick days because school was canceled :)

Ice and snow is quite the combo. This reminds me of a strange snow cone. Stare for a second, you'll see it too.

Doesn't this poor tree look sad. Like it is saying, "Please stop snowing on me."

Then there is this guy. I can't even figure out how this got made. It looks like a snow flake fell on the branch and then started collecting friends until this happened. I had to get out the telephoto lens to be sure it wasn't a piece of paper that got caught on the tree. Kinda cool.

So, there you have it. January in a nut shell.

A Little More

2011-01-08T11:57:00.007-05:00

We've had a tiny bit of snow. Tiny. Too tiny. Remember this from last year?

Our beautiful snow storm. People called it "Snowmageddon." I called it wonderful. I love this stuff. There's none of that around here this year. We have had two little tiny snows. This morning it snowed. I slept through the whole thing. Right through it. Apparently, it was beautiful. I did wake up and snap a few quick shots of it.

It's a good thing I did, because it has already melted away.

A Beautiful Break

2011-01-03T19:50:00.008-05:00

The alarm went off this morning. very early. and loud. I needed a few more hours to soak up what was left of my break. It was a busy time, but a beautiful time. Like this beautiful little baby,

Nick's sweet little niece. She has the best little giggle. It was pretty wonderful to spend her first Christmas with her. He marked the occasion by giving her this...

What was also beautiful was this amazing little bed and breakfast that Nick took me to. It was my super awesome Christmas gift.

There was also a very beautiful fire place. it had a roaring fire pretty much non stop.

and yummy breakfasts, a cute little town and a fancy french restaurant. Some how I didn't manage to get a picture of these things. I did get a nice, be it a little cheesy, photo of us in front of the inn...

I also managed to not get any pictures of the actual Christmas or New Years celebrations. I am unsure how I managed this as I managed to take about 120 pictures of that cute little baby...

Regardless of my lack of photos, there are a lot of beautiful holiday memories. Too bad vacations have to end.

Christmas Cheer!

2010-12-08T11:50:00.002-05:00

This morning on my way to work, it was cold and I was marginally grumpy. When I switched trains at Metro Center, an older man got on my metro car. Instead of sitting down, he stood in the middle of the car, opened a song book and sang Christmas carols for the next 5 stops. Opera style. He was good and it was really cute. It's not often that I see people smile on the metro in the morning.

A hard day's (night's?) work.

2010-12-03T18:48:00.005-05:00

Today on my commute to work, I was on the metro with a woman. A certain kind of woman.

She was of an older profession, for argument's sake, let's say....the oldest profession.

Now, I would think that normally, one wouldn't be able to tell, in a city like DC, if someone were an escort. But this lady? Was not what I would describe as an escort. She looked, to be charitable, lacier. With what she was wearing at 7:30 in the morning clearly at the end of her workday, she looked...well...cold.

I guess pimps don't share their fur-lined coats.

And for my next mini review...

2010-12-03T15:52:00.004-05:00

Today, the pie truck came to work. A truck. That brings pie. I'll let you think about that for a minute.

Now, since we already had birthday goings-on in the office, I opted for a savory slice for lunch. It ruled. Hooray for Dangerously Delicious Pies and it's truck. Also, its brick and mortar shop is a couple of blocks from my new digs. This could mean a rough test of my willpower.

Cupcakes Can Fail??!

2010-12-02T11:02:00.004-05:00

I don't know if this counts as a review, but the NYC cupcake DC transplant Crumbs?? SUCKS. I went last night to take a colleague for a birthday cupcake and it was horrible. Their cupcakes were stale, like the consistency of cornbread it had been sitting out so long. I have to say, for $4 a cupcake, I expect it to be fresh. It was ridiculous. I took 2 bites. That's it. And for a fat kid, I think that says a lot.

Yikes.

2010-11-17T10:47:00.005-05:00

I bought a house. I don't know when I decided that I could be an adult. It's a little scary. It's actually a lot scary.

http://slideshow.mris.com/slideshow.cfm?ListingKey=90188880758

Okkkaayyyy....

2010-11-16T16:02:00.003-05:00

I was walking out of the ladies room at work the other day and a man stopped me in the hall. I thought he was lost. It turns out, I was wrong.

"Excuse me, miss??"
"Yes?"
"Did you wash your hands?"
"Uhhhh...yes. Yes, I did."
"Ok. Thanks."

Seriously?? Seriously. I am an adult. I wash my hands. Also, even if I were the type of person who didn't, how is that any of your business random stranger in the hallway. Ew. And mind your business.

On my commute today, the metro was delayed (shocking, I know) and PACKED. Luckily, while being kicked and shoved into the car, I was thrown against a REALLY good looking guy. Is it wrong that I wanted to use the 'too short to hold on to the bar' excuse to cuddle with him? Would that have been wrong?

Where Are All The Good Eggs?!

2010-10-30T15:40:00.003-04:00

Lots of reviews. Sadly, they are mostly bad. Think of it as my way of showing my love and keeping you away from all that is gross. Let's starts with the good...

Pupatella:
I like me some pizza, and this place had pretty delish pizza. I'll give it a 4 out 5. Only a 4 because the service was a little slow for my taste. That could be because I was so hungry that it felt like it took forever... The place is also pretty small, so once it got crowded it was loud and and hard to walk through. I would honestly do take out rather than eat in. I had a tomato and artichoke pizza and Becca had some duck, and fancy stuff white pizza that she said was yum. I think my pizza could have used a little more flavor, but the crust was fantastic. I say give it a go if you're into pizza.

now to the bad...

La Cote D'or:
My mother wanted to go to this frenchie restaurant for her birthday. This place belongs on an episode of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. It was horrible. The decor was old looking. The clientele for that matter was old, minus Becca and I. The food makes me think they have not changed or updated their menu in 25 years. I ordered a tuna steak salad. It was a handful of lettuce with 4 tomato slices and some strips of overcooked tuna. I make a better tuna salad with no culinary training. It was honestly expensive for what it was. I will never eat at this place again. Neither should you. I give it a 0 out of 5.

Lyon Hall, again:
We tried dinner. Still not good. This is a place to go for little appetizers, but not a meal.

Poste Moderne in the Hotel Monaco
2 out of 5. The service was awful. The food was okay, but it was not good enough to make up for the bad service. Please, please, please restaurants of the world learn to poach an egg. My egg was over cooked and freezing cold. I am telling you I think the last time I had a good poached egg was when Nick cooked one for me. I can not fly to Hawaii every time I would like a poached egg. Where, oh, where are the well poached eggs in this city? Beyond that I really didn't feel that this place offered anything on their menu that I couldn't get at a million other restaurants in the area for less and with more friendly and attentive service. I do not see myself returning here.

On a happy note, it is Halloween weekend. We had a Halloween parade at work yesterday and the best costume in my class? A pigeon. Complete with a tracking bracelet around the ankle. When I asked the child why a pigeon, she said because they are scary, they peck. Well put kiddo, those little disease carrying pests are scary.

You Could Drink Whole Milk If You Wanted To

2010-09-21T19:30:00.003-04:00

My funny for the day happened at Starbucks this morning. The guy working at the cash register repeated my order to the barista and I was pretty sure that he forgot to say skim milk, so I was watching to make sure skim went into the steaming cup. It didn't. I told the barista that it was supposed to be skim milk rather than what he put in. He looked at me and said, "You know it's only 2%, that's not too bad for you." I agreed, but told him that I really preferred skim milk. He looked at me and said, "Why? You're skinny." I thanked him and insisted that skim milk is still what I need. Then he looked me up and down and said, "In fact, I would give you whole milk."

I got Napoleon Dynamited. awesome.

Our First Review! (and some funny stuff)

2010-09-12T17:57:00.004-04:00

So we have decided that since we eat out every now and then (eh hem, or constantly) that we should start sharing our culinary wins and fails. So today we being with a double win.

Win #1 : Lyon Hall. We had brunch at this super Frenchie restaurant this afternoon, and if I am being honest I will give it a medium win. Like maybe a 3.75 out of 5. I had a version of eggs benedict- poached eggs on top of autumn squash, spinach and mushrooms on a piece of baguette. It was supposed to have some brown butter hollandaise on top, but I did it without. Everything my eggs was on was amazing and delicious. My poached eggs were over done and I am a HUGE stickler about properly poached eggs. So, that made me sad. I do want to give the place a go for dinner because I think the dinner menu looks yum. Today was only their second day doing brunch so they get a slight pass on my eggs. Also, these guys are responsible for Liberty Tavern, of which I am a fan, so I am putting some trust in them.

Win #2: Bake Shop. This is a BIG win. I'm talking 5 out of 5. Look how cute that cupcake is! Being the connoisseur of cupcakes that I am I had to try this place out. We got a six pack of cupcakes (buy 5 get one free BTW!) to try out. I personally had the apple cake cupcake. I want to eat this everyday. I also bought some vanilla cream pies that looked delish to send away as a gift. The cupcakes are the perfect size and they have the perfect cupcake to icing ratio. Beyond the cupcake being awesome the people at the shop are super awesome. The girl who was working was super friendly and even gave us an extra chocolate/peanut butter cookie. sweet. Go here and have a cupcake. You will be glad you did.

Now for the funny. So, Becca decided she wanted infused vodka for her birthday. So we went to the ABC store to get some vodka. The guy who works at the store was KILLING ME! We get up to the counter to buy our stuff and he tells Meghan, Becca and I that we all look to young to buy alcohol (normally a compliment) because none of us have on wedding rings. He then informs us that he could find us some nice men and we can leave our names, phone numbers and addresses for this purpose. Um, what? He says he will get us a tall, medium and short variety for our respective heights. He offers me a 7 foot tall guy he knows and when I tell him I have a boyfriend he offers the 7 footer up to Becca. More conspired in the conversation, including him telling stories about tall men and short women that he knows have worked out (apparently he thought this would help convince Becca). I don't even know what to say about this encounter. It was hilarious.

So, eat (at the above), drink (the guy at the ABC store can get you a date as well) and be merry. Not a bad day at all.

Back to Real Life

2010-09-06T21:55:00.004-04:00

This was a perfect DC weekend. Went for a nice long hike up Old Rag...

Went shopping, got the hair and nails did. Walked around the city in fantastic weather (with a couple stops for sushi and frozen yogurt). All the fun things that should be in a summer ending weekend. A weekend that reminded me, again, how great living in the DC area can be.

A good way to say goodbye to summer, because tomorrow is the first day of school. Back to real life. Sad to see the summer go, but YAY for a new school year! (did I just out dork myself?)

Pretty? Slow? Pretty Slow?

2010-09-01T09:06:00.005-04:00

Today, on my way to work, people were complimenting me...the starbucks guy, the shoe shine guy. It was nice...but then I started to wonder.

1. Should I wear this dress every day now?
2. Should I be sure to look in the mirror on the other days...did I miss something damaging?
3. Why is everyone speaking to me slowly?
4. Do they think I am...slow...ly?

It's thrown off my day. Don't get me wrong, it was nice. But it made me think. And I don't care for thinking this early in the day.

On My Mind

2010-08-24T23:46:00.012-04:00

Hawaii, I miss you...

Taking it Back....Way Back

2010-08-23T10:57:00.005-04:00

I would like to politely ask the people at work to 'save the drama for your mama'. Yes. I said it (typed it?). I have no idea when it became ok to yell at each other in the office. I don't want to hear it, I don't think it's professional, please do not involve me or talk to me about 'your side'. Sit down. Do your work. That is all.

Also? Ambieishome!Ambieishome!Ambieishome!Ambieishome!Ambieishome!

The Last Aloha

2010-08-18T15:30:00.015-04:00

Crazy how fast 7 weeks can go. Crazy that I have 3 1/2 days left in Hawaii. 3 1/2 people! What?!
My last few weeks in Hawaii have been pretty fun though, take a look...

Our garden continues in its awesomeness. These tomatoes are gorgeous, and were promptly eaten by the birds. Fail. Net= smart move.

Look at my rockstar. He has pods! Pods that will soon be ready to harvest. When I am in VA. That's okay though, he still rocks.

I went to this beautiful beach. I got badly sunburned. I seriously look like I have some strange skin disease. Off in the distance we saw the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, (they are filming the next one here now) but I didn't have my good camera with me so I couldn't get a picture of it. The beach is a good second best.

Nick took me to a super fancy brunch at a fancy hotel. We still talk about the food because it was that good. The hotel also had lots of fish and turtles and DOLPHINS. Awesome.

I want to rub his belly. Is the weird?

Then we went hiking. We saw a crashed helicopter. It was being filmed the next day for an episode of Hawaii 5-O. We hiked through lots and lots of mud. I have not seen that much mud since the rainy season in Kenya. There was also a waterfall, and bamboo forest and very cool trees like this one.

This is us at the top- don't we look sweaty? Too bad you can't see our feet, it would help you believe that I am not over exaggerating about the mud.

This past Sunday we went on another hike. Ka'ena is the westernmost tip of the island. It is one of the more beautiful hikes I have done. I took lots of pictures. Nick patiently stood there while I took lots of pictures. He's a nice guy like that.

Can you see me? I am standing on this arch. Looking slightly awkward. There were some closer ups taken. Like I said, looking slightly awkward, so instead take in the scenery.

The coolest part, minus the majesty and beauty, is that the point is a natural area reserve. Albatrosses nest there. In holes in the sand. It is very hard to take a picture of a bird in a deep hole. I tried and failed. There are also monk seals. They are cute, and fat and lazy. Nick said I was not allowed to go and hug them.

I have no complaints, it has been a pretty amazing summer. I've seen and done some pretty cool things, met some pretty great people, and grown to love it here. So, Aloha for now Hawaii- but I'll be back.

It happens THAT often??

2010-08-06T09:55:00.002-04:00

I recently went to buy some new running clothes and ended up ordering them to be delivered as my size was not in stock. Fast forward a few days later and I am wonder where my stuff is already??!! I find the tracking number and look online to figure out what the problem could be. Train derailment. TRAIN DERAILMENT. I didn't realize that it happens often enough that UPS has an exception code for it on their tracking system.

Also, why are my shorts traveling by train?

My New Favorite

2010-08-04T19:23:00.013-04:00

This may be my new favorite place. I know, I have all of Oahu at my fingertips, and I choose to love Nick's backyard. I like to keep ya guessing. But seriously, it is pretty hard not to be in love with this backyard now that we have planted a little garden. Yours truly has a black thumb. I kill house plants. I once even killed a cactus. I didn't think you could do that, but I did. Lucky for me, Nick has better luck in growing things. I'll give you a sample of photos of some of the plants, because I am guessing pictures of every plant is not as exciting to most of you as it is to me.

Like this plumeria tree. It reminds me of Mombasa. That makes me smile.

Yep, those are limes. How cool is that?

Some green onions:

Some oregano:

Some thyme:

Yep, I am painting the names of the herbs on the pots. I am cheesy like that.

Cute cherry tomatoes. We have some big tomatoes too, but these are cuter and currently more colorful.

This is my rockstar. The soybean plant. I picked him out on a whim. He was small and kind of weak looking and now he is rocking the garden. Seriously, everyday he gets bigger and more awesome. I do kind of worry he will soon take over the other plants.

The best part of this garden is something you can't see in these photos. My very wonderful and handy boyfriend built a lovely sitting area complete with fire pit and tiki torches that is surrounded by our little garden. Not only do I love that I can come out and pick fresh herbs every night for dinner (and maybe even a cocktail, yep there is mint out there too) but it is also a peaceful place to read a book during the day. By night, it is place for us to relax around the fire and enjoy a glass of wine and some conversation. What could be better than that?

Some days we even get a view like this...

Now you see why this, in the midst of so much beauty, is one of my favorite places to be.

Who's Next?

2010-08-04T19:06:00.013-04:00

What could be better than being in Hawaii? How about a friend visiting you in Hawaii-because that's a kind of super awesome. Nick took off for Japan for a week to get his work on, and Meghan came to visit and get her "celebration of life vacation" (aka ignoring her 30th birthday)on. We did some serious exploring, had a spa day, and found majesty and serenity...

In sunset dinner picnics...

beautiful beaches...

crystal blue waters...

crazy rock formations...

The Spitting Cave of Portlock. I am not making that up. It is a real place. It is AMAZING. Bonus, you sound like you visited something out of Harry Potter. awesome.

The Valley of The Temples. We went to this one. We found serenity.

and majesty.

and beautiful statues.

We even saw sea turtles while hanging on the beach.

This is just a taste of our vacation people. I didn't even show you the tropical drinks and hammocks. This too could be yours. Who wants to come visit next?

hmmmm....Work?

2010-07-04T20:45:00.002-04:00

I started my new job this week. One of the first things that happened was that my boss resigned. So...I sat at my new desk and organized myself, ordered furniture, played on the internet and tried to generally look busy. I am not too sure what exactly is going to happen when I get in next week. Thank Moses for the long weekend. And I suppose it's a good thing that my resume is still up to date.

Hello.

2010-05-20T14:34:00.000-04:00

Interviewing. Woot.

Speechless

2010-04-09T23:24:00.012-04:00

I don't even have the words to describe my trip to Hawaii. Beautiful? Awesome? Amazing? Incredible? None of these adjectives seem to do it justice, so I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

Going Green

2010-03-17T18:03:00.005-04:00

Hello people out there. Yes, yes, it has been over a month since my last post. I'm sure all three of you that read this blog are very excited that I have gotten my act together to post again. Look at the cookies I chose to break my silence for; don't they look like they're growing mold? Fear not, I did not bake cookies and leave them out to mold. These my friends are a tribute to the most green and drunk of days, St. Patrick's Day. Since drinking at work is generally frowned upon, these cookies had to hit the spot.

So how do you party it up at the old elementary school? You pretend a leprechaun has attacked the classroom and caused all sorts of mischief. You take random things out of every child's desk and stick it in a different child's desk. You leave little green notes hidden around the classroom from the leprechaun that lead the kids on a hunt for these cookies. Yeah, we party like rock stars in elementary school.

So, there you have it. Green chocolate chip cookies, beautiful weather and a leprechaun to boot. Happy St. Patty's Day!

A Change of Heart

2010-02-13T17:04:00.008-05:00

I have never been much for Valentine's Day. You see, I'm really not that type of girl. To me it is a day made up by smart people in some greeting card PR department to trick smart people like you and me into believing they need flowers and cards and candy. Those smart PR people got into to cahoots with the flower and candy people and they all jacked up the price of their respective products feeding into the idea that they are a must for all of us to have. Let me let you in on a secret people, I lived in Kenya, the country where the majority of the worlds roses come from and they do not cost $60+ a dozen. They really cost about $4 a dozen. Talk about inflation. BTW men of the world, roses are generic and lack creativity. Tulips and irises however do not.

I don't awww at sweet moments in girlie movies like other girls might. I usually roll my eyes, or burst out laughing and go into some rant about how cheesy and unrealistic it is.

I don't fall for pick up lines. It is rare that anyone actually tries to use them on me, but I have in fact actually laughed in a guy's face once for attempting. I felt really badly about afterward. Okay maybe I didn't, but who thinks those things actually work anyway? I may be what you would call cynical when it comes to this kinda stuff.

Right, so why am I telling you all this? Don't worry, you have not stumbled onto one of those complaining blogs whose point is to hate on this holiday. The reason I am telling you all of this is to intensify the impact of the next sentence. This all may be changing for me. When these beautiful flowers found themselves at the front desk of my building last night AND they were for me, I became one of the girls I make fun of. I gushed and awwed and got all girlie. Then I grabbed my phone and gushed and awwed to the sender. I shocked even myself with how easily I was converted into a gushy girl. I guess deep down I want pretty flowers on Valentine's Day just as much as the next girl. Who knew?

Just don't expect me to be crying at Titanic anytime soon, a girl has her limits.

Passing The Time

2010-02-09T11:07:00.006-05:00

Day 5 people. We are on day 5 of the snowstorm. I have been stuck in my apartment for 5 days. Okay, I ventured out for a short bit a few times, but basically I have been in my apartment. Alone. Soon I will start talking to myself. This must end. However, we are supposed to get 10-20 more inches of snow over the next 2 days. So, better learn to make the best of it.

So, as you can expect I have been baking away. In fact, I'll even admit to being a huge dork and say that I have been spending many minutes (fine, hours) searching for new recipes. A girls got to amuse herself somehow. Also, blueberries were on sale at the grocery store and I had to use those bad boys up before they went bad. First up- blueberry scones:

don't let these fool you, even though they look like cookies, they are actually scones. If you like a softer scone these are your cup of tea (or coffee, respectively). As always, Joy comes through. Then last night I baked up some oatmeal blueberry muffins. That's right, I was feeling a little healthy (or maybe a little guilty about the amount of munching in front of the TV I have been doing). Healthy and delish!

What to bake next?

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-04T21:54:00.005-05:00

Look at yesterday. Wasn't yesterday pretty? Don't you just kinda want to throw on your boots and mittens and go make snow angels like a little kid? Look how fluffy it all was...

Well it all melted about two hours after I took these photos. It stuck around just long enough to get me the day off of school (which will now be made up on teacher workday-FAIL). So now this storms big brother is going to plow through tomorrow and Saturday and dump upwards of 20 inches of snow. Okay, we can we be honest about this? When did I start living in the artic? Also, why can't people in DC handle snow? The grocery store tonight (at 8:45 PM) was a scary, scary place. The produce? Cleaned out. The meat section? Cleaned out. I mean I was there for coffee, cheese and crackers (the essentials of course) so I was not too worried, but WOW. People are all whacked out and trying to run each other over with shopping carts. Chill people, just chill. Embrace the beauty of the snow, the beauty of sleeping in, and the beauty of hot chocolate. Bonus- school canceled tomorrow ALREADY, without an ounce of snow yet. It truly is a winter wonderland.

Taking A Day

2010-01-21T18:00:00.006-05:00

I work. I work a lot. I am so often at work, or doing work, that I have a serious problem. We've discussed it before. I have a hard time relaxing. If you know me I may have fooled you, I am often thinking about the work I have to do when you think I am relaxing. I know how awful this sounds, and I am working on it. So in my attempt to take a break from work I took a day. Okay, it was a holiday so I didn't have to go to work, but I actually didn't even think about work. Sometimes the little things put life into perspective. Like taking a day to spend some time with a friend. Lucky for me this friend also likes to take pictures...

Taking pictures and enjoying an unseasonably beautiful day. That may work. Buying yourself flowers-

That will work too, everyone needs flowers now and then.

This-

this always seems to work. Sometimes you just need to take a day for yourself. Throw work by the wayside and indulge in the little things. There is always time to freak out about the work that you didn't get done tomorrow...

As You Wish

2010-01-17T00:19:00.006-05:00

So, of course, it's pretty clear that I like to bake. It's also pretty clear that I like to show you what I bake. You read this blog, you know what I am talking about. So I'll let you in on a little secret-I'm a bit of a people pleaser. That's right, I have an issue with trying to do things to make people happy. What does this have to do with anything you may be asking, well I have recently discovered that this people pleasing has found its way into my baking. Now, in some ways this kinda sucks because baking is my release. It's one way I relieve stress and being worried about people being pleased with my cooking has a bit of a chance of taking that away. Then again, who am I kidding, of course I want you to like it. Of course I am baking it just as much for you as I am for my stress relief. Sure I am starting to realize that I seem to be the last one to figure this out. That being said I am a sucker for people asking me to bake them something. I can't say no and I sit on pins and needles waiting to know if it past the test. This was my most recent request- Apple cake. I'd never been asked to make an apple cake before. In fact I could probably count on one hand the amount of times in my life that I have had an apple cake. But, I'm always up for something new so I gave it ago. If photos could talk...

It just looks yummy...

I thought it was delish! Then again as a people pleaser- I really hope that for the recipient, it past the test...

Hello Old Friend

2010-01-06T14:07:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile ol' blog; since before I went on vacation. And by vacation, I mean that I went to see my family. I would share some photos with you but our camera was stolen the night before we left Vietnam. That being said, I highly suggest everyone visit Vietnam at some point in their lives, I definitely plan on going back. Aside from the heavy reliance on fish, the food is awesome, the people are massively friendly and the country is still relatively unspoiled of factories/pollution (I'm looking sternly at you China).

So now that I am back and un-jet-lagged and have clean clothes, I wonder why I actually needed a vacation. I didn't. I don't have a job and so don't really need a break from anything or anyone. Except one thing. Cover letters. I have been on the job hunt seriously for about 2.5 days now and it is NOT fun, it feels like an eternity. I can think of few things in life that I hate more than writing cover letters except personal statements which is why I just can't bring myself to apply to grad school.

I wonder why it is that no one likes to write these things. We all know what they are going to say...and to me a cover letter is redundant. I used to HATE getting them when people would apply for jobs in my department. I know why you sent me your resume. Am I the only one who thinks these things are wildly inefficient?? Or maybe just need some more coffee and less grumpy. Or a vacation.

Merry Christmas Mom

2009-12-22T00:45:00.009-05:00

I love my mom. She's pretty great- as evident from this blog, a little quirky, but great. One thing that is great about her is that she will support my little hobbies. My mom will tell me I am a great photographer- people they call it a hobby for a reason, I do it for fun and not because I am all that good at it. Regardless of my photo taking skill (or lack there of) she loves them. Don't you love how all moms think their kid's work is great?It's like those horrible finger paintings you brought home in pre-K that your mom ooohed and ahhhed over-the phrase "only a mother could love" comes to mind (btw my pre-K finger painting is STILL on the fridge). So let's call these my 29 year old version of finger paintings shall we? Anyway, when it's come to thinking up creative Christmas presents, the last two years I have turned to my cameras. Betty, my 35mm film SLR, pulled out some lovely animals on Kenyan safari that now grace my mothers stairwell. Kate, my spiffy digital SLR, helped me pull these out for this years photo gift. Now my mother may be a lot of things, but tech savvy she is not- blog? what's that? Right, so I can freely share these with you with no chance that she will stumble upon them. My mother went to the National Cathedral for high school, and loves it, so the subject was an easy choice. Seriously how could you not love the Cathedral? The architecture is GORGEOUS. I had planned to take these Saturday and then whoops, 2 feet of snow. So, Becca humored me and tagged along while I shot these. 1. It was freezing. FREEZING outside. I have never taken pictures so fast in my life- I barely had enough feeling in my fingers to adjust my camera settings! 2. I don't care how busy you are, photos at the brightest time of day outside are never as great as photos later in the afternoon. oops. 3. Becca deserves Starbucks for a week.

So here is a sample of the 120 pics I took (see why Becca deserves Starbucks?). I hope you enjoy them, better yet, I hope my mom does.

Tis the Season

2009-12-19T17:00:00.005-05:00

So here it is, the week in photos...

SNOW!!!!! Not just a little snow, but like 2 feet of snow. It's awesome. It's beautiful. It is keeping me from finishing my Christmas shopping. I keep thinking it is going to slow but it just keeps snowing harder. LOVE it.

I finally got my tree this week! There are pine needles all over my car, my house, my apartment building-it's worth it though. Thank goodness for Becca helping me get and decorate the tree, clearly it makes sense to make your Jewish best friend help you with this task. We named the tree Spike. Girl tree, boy name. yes, I do know that it s strange that I have named the tree. yes, I know it is also strange that I have assigned it a gender. If your looking for normalcy, read a different blog :)

Some more sights of happy Christmasness in my house...

and just because I can... yeah, she may kill me. True evidence that Becca is a tree hugger.

Yep, you see it right, she's wearing a tree branch in her hair.

Hello Winter

2009-12-05T15:49:00.005-05:00

Isn't it pretty? I LOVE the snow! I was pretty excited yesterday when the weather report called for flurries. I was not however expecting this. I will also admit that I was not super excited this morning when the snow was pouring down and I was outside running a 5k. Oh yes, I was up at 5:45 a.m. to run in the snow. See my school participates in this great program called Girls On The Run. 3rd-5th grade girls practice after school once a week with the goal of running the 5k reindeer romp race. It promotes healthy living and self-confidence and it's a great sense of accomplishment for the girls. Right, why was I there? Clearly I am not in 5th grade. Well, each girl has a buddy runner along for some encouragement, meaning teachers and parents volunteer to get their run on. I totally feel for my little buddy runner because I know I can be all types of annoying when I snap into encouraging cheerleader mode. Sometime I have to much energy and excitement for my own good. If I was 8 years old, cold and tired of running I would have wanted to kill me. Running in the snow may be freezing cold (my toes are still recovering) but it is quite beautiful.

After I made it home and had a very hot shower and some much needed coffee I headed to the kitchen. I have been dying to make these chocolate peppermint bark cookies that I found in my Bon Appetit this month. I vowed not to start in on the Christmas cookies until December (I mean the magazine came last month, that is self control!) and today was a PERFECT kick off to the holiday baking season. So forget the fact that I really need a nap. Forget the fact that I have a research paper due on Wednesday. The need for cookies did (as it should) take priority.

Man Christmas cookies I am so glad it is time for you because you taste AMAZING. So long pumpkin, you've been replaced. Hey there winter, it's so nice to see you again.

Ms. Independent

2009-12-02T19:27:00.003-05:00

It's a very rare occasion that I ask for help. Just ask Becca, she can back me up on this. She'll probably even tell you the story about the time I got food poisoning. I don't like to do it. Why ask others to do what you can do yourself? I attribute this to my strong sense of independence. Others liken it to the behavior of a stubborn two year old who has to do everything by themselves. Regardless of what you think it is, it is just part of who I am. Take it or leave it, because clearly at this age I'm not changing. I will admit there is one circumstance in which I am tempted to ask for some help and that is when I am sick. I said tempted, doesn't mean I do it. No one likes being sick, but when you are in constant motion like I am the idea of having to spend two days in bed is HORRIBLE. This however was my fate this week. Two days of no work, no leaving my apartment, and hardly leaving the comfort of my bed. I am going stir crazy. Thank goodness I am going back to work tomorrow. When I am sick I want 4 things (and sadly none of them is my mommy, she is not so good around sick). 1. Mac and Cheese 2. Soup 3. Movies 4. Vicks Vaporub (that stuff is magic I tell you). Mac and Cheese - check. Movies-double check. Vaporub-triple check. Soup- fail. No soup in the whole joint. No problem, I can make my own. Which I did. This may in fact be my new sick day soup. The only problem was that I had to make it. When you don't have one of those boyfriend or husband things or even a nursing mother around you have to learn to fend for yourself. So I mustered up what was left of my strength and put this together. I also immediately passed out when I was done eating. Who knew that cooking could take so much out of a sick person? I don't know, but between you and me this soup may be what helped me on my way to healing. I didn't even need any help.

Curry Pumpkin Soup
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons curry powder
3 cups chicken broth
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 1/2 cups condensed milk
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white sugar

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground ginger

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of onion
salt and pepper to taste
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until browned. Stir in flour and curry powder until smooth. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble. Gradually whisk in broth, and cook until thickened. Add the onion and cook for about a minute. Stir in pumpkin and milk. Season with soy sauce, sugar,cumin, ginger, salt, and pepper. Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.

* I found a version of this recipe online and adapted it to my liking. I never got the flour/curry to be smooth and so I added the broth right away to prevent burning. The original recipe is sans the ginger, cumin, onions and garlic and uses less curry. It also uses half and half and 4 cups of veg. broth and 29 ounces of pumpkin.*

On My Days Off

2009-11-25T21:28:00.006-05:00

I know, I know, I'm blogging a little too much this week. I admit it, I have no idea what to do with free time. Some people know how to relax, I know how to multi-task. You may look forward to a day off to sit back and read a book, watch a movie, (insert your relaxing activity here). I look forward to days off because I can run errands, and clean my house, and try a new recipe. It's a sickness, I am aware of it, maybe some day I will seek help-but not today. After my obligatory errands (side note- Target what is up with all the Christmas stuff AND Christmas music today? Let Thanksgiving have its glory please) I went home to try out a recipe I have been dying to try, biscotti. Strange for me because I am not a biscotti type girl. They are crunchy and hard, I usually under bake my cookies a bit so they are soft and chewy. That being said I am always up for something new and these looked good.

The recipe was for vanilla biscotti, but I give you vanilla cranberry biscotti with white chocolate cinnamon almond drizzle. I know what your thinking, too many flavors right? Sometimes, I can't control my ideas and in this case it paid off- YUMMY. I will admit they took what seemed like forever to make, so I doubt they will make it into the regular rotation in my kitchen. They may however find themselves on a future day off to-do list.

Let's Talk Turkey

2009-11-23T20:06:00.004-05:00

I know, two posts in two days! Don't get used to it people, it will probably never happen again. I felt that should share the cute little guys below with you. I make these every year for my class, and the kids always seem to like them (honestly I think they are pretty awesome too).

Can you say sugar high and a room full of 7/8 year olds?

Oh the many uses for a Ritz cracker...

It's like a small, sugary (little creepy) army...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

2009-11-22T19:25:00.012-05:00

I think I may love pumpkin just a little too much. It is border line obsessive. I have pumpkin coffee mate in my morning coffee. There is pumpkin air freshener in my house. I have been baking with pumpkin for weeks now. I literally have stockpiled pumpkin (the rumored shortage sent me into a panic!). So, to be completely predictable, I give you my weekend of pumpkin. Of course I baked- seriously people, I can't help myself. One thing I love about this time of year is that the cheesy Christmas movies start playing. I love them. They are awful and cheesy and have horrible actors in them, but I love them. Is it strange that it is not yet Thanksgiving and they are already showing? Of course. Does it give me good background to bake to? Um, duh. I watched a particularly AWFUL set (yes I said set, part one AND part two) of movies last night starring Kathy Irelan (I now know why she has faded into the background). Wasted hours of my life. The only thing that saved my night was this cake:

Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Oh my yummy. I had to eat one piece and put the rest in Tupperware to take this to work tomorrow because I could take. this. cake. down. Maybe not as spicy as I normally like my pumpkin to be, but I think it may find its way into my pumpkin recipe rotation. I topped off my bad TV movie weekend with a stellar flick starring the queen of bad Lifetime dramas, Ms. Tori Spelling. Again, I sought solace in my kitchen. (I am aware that I can turn these horrors off, but they are like train wreck, you can't turn away). I whipped up some pumpkin pasta that I found here. I also decided that I wanted this recipe to be for Curried Pumpkin Pasta, so I added some curry powder (curry may also be on my list of obsessions). Again, I could not get it spicy enough so I was adding curry, and pepper flakes like crazy, but it may be worth it if you like pumpkin.

I know pumpkin has been all over the blog for a while now, but have no fear I am all about Christmas as soon as December strikes. Ahhh, gingerbread...

I Heart N.Y.?!

2009-11-12T20:34:00.016-05:00

I know, I know, the title threw you for a loop didn't it? Yes, this self proclaimed hater who for years has been trash talking all that is New York, is singing a different tune. Now, in my own defense I began to cast aside my hateful ways a few summers ago during a short visit, but let's be honest, I am not so easily wooed. So when my wonderful roommate suggested that a group of us take a trip to the Statue of Liberty to make the trek up to the crown, I was feeling a little wishy washy. I knew I had to make the trip, I mean it did sound like a pretty cool thing to do, but I usually find myself more stressed out when I go to NY for a break then I did before I left. Well people here it is in writing, I was wrong. Yes, I said it and now you have proof. I had fun, and lots of it. I actually took the day off work (gasp) and headed up early morning to spend some time with my homegirl Erin. Quite possibly one of the craziest people I know, and quite possibly one of the most fun people I know. I knew 2 things: 1. I was going to be up very late that night. 2. There would be a bar involved. Check to both. When I say late I mean LATE, as in I got home at 3:30. This evening was also made better by my friend Sheila coming into to town from Boston for this adventure and my homegirl Meghan trainin' it in from Astoria for the night. Good times that night, SOOOO tired the next morning when I met the rest of my group for the statue. I did get to see this...
Kinda cool huh? I highly recommend the trip to the crown-do it, just do it. They are going to close it down and then you will wish you had listened to me...just climb up these...

We tried to make it to Ellis Island, but alas it was closed due to a power outage-FAIL. So Sheila and I went and got these instead...
I love you Billy's Bakery. Check it out. These were yummy and the frosting was perfect. Love, love, love. Did I say love enough? Had one (eh hem, 2) of these, explored times square in all its glory, and took in a show. Nice.
I think I have always pushed back at New York, because as you may well know, I love DC. I think it is such a beautiful city. New York is like a piece by Crash, it's loud, colorful and intriguing. You can't help but find it interesting. D.C. on the other hand is all green grass and cherry blossoms, historical buildings and beautiful architecture. Sorry, I am probably putting DC on an unnecessary pedestal. Believe me I see its faults (metro I'm looking at you). I guess I had to learn to love the differences.
So New York, you have won me over. I can't wait til we meet again.

WIN!

2009-11-05T23:07:00.003-05:00

Today, when I was leaving the gym, there was a woman of 'a certain age' wandering around up the block. She didn't quite seem in full control of her faculties. As I got closer to her, she turned and saw me, pulled out a blue sparkly recorder, and started playing. And then...she followed me up the block, Pied Piper style and piped me back to my house. It was awesome. And really weird at the same time.

I always wanted my own troubadour (troubairitz?). I figure this was the closest I am going to get. I wonder if tomorrow she will play me Three Blind Mice...or Hot Crossed Buns. I bet she takes requests.

Halloween=FAIL.

2009-11-02T20:58:00.003-05:00

Fail, I say, FAIL. Sort of. Halloween and I can't quite figure out how we feel about each other. I love cute little kids dressed up in all sorts of cute little costumes. I like candy (because who doesn't?). I love scary movies (bring on the fright!). I am not a huge fan of the dressing up. In theory I like the idea, but I never have the time or the energy to really do it well. Plus, for what? I am not gonna get too creative to go to work. I can't remember the last time I went to a Halloween party. The last time I went out for Halloween (Georgetown is a BADDDD idea) I wanted to die. I kinda like seeing how creative adults can get with costumes, but I do not like how stupid they get when they are all drunk and yelling all over my neighborhood when I am trying to sleep. So, I was not to incredibly excited about Halloween this year. I did however persevere. So I put on a zebra costume and headed to school (and by costume I mean that put on a cute dress that had a zebra print top and some zebra ears). Kids=CRAZY. Also, whoever thought it was a good idea to take an entire school full of children through a nursing home should have thought for 2 seconds. Taking one high risk group (for swine flu) into another high risk group =Fail. On Saturday Becca and I did do something that I will keep off the fail list. We went to roller derby. Yes, think the movie Whip it. I have to admit that it was so strange it was awesome. DC Roller girls get a thumbs up. I secretly (I guess not so much of a secret if you put it on a blog) want to join a roller derby team. I dressed up as a witch, which Becca gave a fail. Apparently looked only "goth" and not like a witch. We followed up by trying a new place for Indian food. Which got a mini fail. It was so-so. All this was topped off with us trying to watch a scary movie. FAIL. Sarah Michelle Geller and Sarah Chalke do not provide good horror flick material.

So, Halloween this year I give you a FAIL. Maybe next year we'll see eye to eye.

A Few Recommendations

2009-10-25T09:29:00.007-04:00

Hi, my name is Amber, and I'm a bakeaholic. I know, I know, this is a little deja-vu, but what can I say I have an addictive personality. After baking up a batch of these AMAZING yummy, yummy pumpkin butterscotch cookies last weekend-

I vowed to take a baking break. 1 week, no oven. Easy enough right? Alas, my kitchen was calling me. I hear you kitchen, couldn't give me a rest huh? Well I gave in of course ( like I said addictive personality). So, I give you recommendation #1: Listen to your kitchen. Embrace your love of pumpkin. Bake these cookies ASAP (you can thank me later).

Plus I have a brand new addiction that needed some love, my apron. Of course I've had an apron for a while but I just recently got this new baby. After ordering one for my friend Grace as a wedding gift I had to have my own. Ahhh, but how to make an apron match my personality? You find an awesome, creative Etsy seller who will help find the perfect material and make you something adorable like this...

Recommendation #2: Keep things around that make you happy. Look cute while you cook. Above all else go quickly to http://www.sweetmelissa0901.etsy.com/ (or look up Sew Adorable) and ask Melissa to make you something that is guaranteed to make you smile.

So, back to my lack of ability to handle my addictions. I did it, I baked. I'll let you in on a little secret people, I will never be one of those skinny girls. Reason being, I love food. I don't mean I like food, I eat it because I have to, I mean I LOVE food. I love to cook it, bake it, eat it, research it. Love. So, I will take weight proportionate to height any day if it means I get to have yummy treats like these-

Imagine my surprise when I went to find my recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin bread and it was MISSING?! (note to self , just sticking your recipes into the organizer willy nilly is a very good way to loose them) So I decided to seek inspiration on the Internet and found these chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. Yum! Recommendation #3: Find some inspiration. I usually get mine from here, here, here and here. Hopefully I inspired you to bake these muffins. (note, if you do make these. I cut the white sugar by 1/8 of a cup and added an 1/8 of a cup of brown sugar. I also added and extra 1/4 a tsp. of the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)

Recommendation #4: Enjoy your weekends. They go by too fast. Clearly they are better when you add something baked, something cute, a little inspiration, a few pictures and anything pumpkin flavored.

You know what is not funny?

2009-10-20T12:52:00.003-04:00

Waiting in the Chinese visa office for 2 hours only to be told that they refuse to process a visa on a non-US passport. Really?? Really.

Folks, this is DC. There are probably a lot of non-Americans "per capita" here. And also, you have done it the last 4 times, your website says you do it, there are even fees for it. Please do not lie to my face and waste my time. It makes me cranky and that waiting room smells bad.

Plus, I didn't have my coffee. You suck. And I'll see you again tomorrow.

YAY for FALL!!!

2009-10-08T08:24:00.009-04:00

It's finally here people, the season I have been waiting for, it's Fall! It is wake up in morning and grab a jacket weather. It is also "I can't figure out what to put on in the morning" weather (does it make sense to wear a sweater and flip flops?). I have started to notice one of my favorite sights in the whole wide world, changing leaves. This was followed by two more of my favorite things- parent teacher conferences and a three day weekend. Why would I enjoy parent teacher conferences you may ask? It gives me two days to have a break. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but sometimes I need a day or two to regroup. A day or two where no one is expecting me to be on and peppy and the supreme problem solver. So after my super conferences were over and I was feeling pretty confident (funny how a few nice comments from parents can make me feel like I'm on cloud nine) I headed home to start my weekend. I tired to cram as many of the things I love into one weekend, and managed to do a pretty good job of it. So, step #1- Go to the movies. Julie & Julia was cute and made me wanna start cooking at 11:30 at night (don't worry, I didn't) Step #2-get my bake on. That's right I took a trip to the grocery store and bought no less than 4 cans of pumpkin (because it is the season and one should always have emergency break glass pumpkin around) and a few bags of chocolate chips. Nothing says fall to me like the smell of something baking in my oven. I busted out a batch of these (and I have to say, they are kick ass)...

Then I got to spend an entire evening by myself, relaxing. I was greatly rewarded by this out my window-

It looked like this, AND it was chilly outside- heaven. Step #3- Hiking!!!!!! Old Rag round two for Becca and I. The weather was prefect for hiking, the views were insane and the rock scrambles were awesome. I will not even try to say that I'm not a little sore, but it was 100% worth it. I would do that hike every weekend. Might I add that I think hikers are just such nice people. We had quite a few nice little chats along the way, and I am very greatful to the nice guy that lent me a hand in tackling a rock that was a little too tall for either Becca or I to tackle solo. So, here is a little taste...
We finished the hike and headed down to Charlottesville for the night to hang out with Mike. Had a little Mexican food, a few laughs, and some more chilly weather. Nice. The drive home was filled with lots more of one of my favorite sights...
I know it won't last for long, but I'll take every bit of fall I can get.

Let It Go

2009-09-28T20:19:00.002-04:00

Sometimes you just gotta let it go. You have to choose sanity over stubborn pride.(yes, I just admitted I was stubborn, you may never see those words again) So, I'll say it- I quit,threw in the towel, said enough is enough. I am no quitter mind you- I will be miserable and stick it out. I am just stubborn enough that I will finish just to prove to myself that I can. Too bad that this trait can also drive me to madness. So I dropped one of my classes. I needed to have a life again. I needed to not take a class that I didn't need just because I had signed up for it. So tonight I came home instead of going to class until 10 pm and went for a run. A run! I haven't run in weeks because of my schedule. I did laundry! I cleaned my poor fish's bowl! Ah, the small joys in life.

In addition, for those who are interested, here are the answers to the second grade words:
limowseen: limousine
jrigs : drinks
toylit :toilet
epresate: appreciate
soshl stues: social studies
spogete: spaghetti
(this is a book title) Bunnicula metts egbra lincrow: Bunnicula meets Abraham Lincoln
engrideeinds: ingredients
osom :awesome
vendrile : Benedryl
pukks : pumpkins
broanw: brown
dusnat: does not
exersis: exercise

Preeettttyyyy.

2009-09-28T16:47:00.001-04:00

I bought a Mac today. It is so pretty. And I actually like using it, it's not painful at ALL (ahem. I am looking at you microsoft word).

Toys are great.

Are You Smarter Then A Second Grader?

2009-09-26T21:23:00.003-04:00

I hope so. So, I have been staring at either my computer screen or my plan book or various teaching manuals for 8 hours. 8. I think I may be going blind from the staring. My eyes hurt, I have a headache and I am realizing more and more every day just how cool I am (it's Saturday night people and I'm writing lesson plans, wow I am so cool, don't you wanna be my friend?).

But on to a funnier note (because there has got to be a bright note somewhere in here.) I have collected a list of my favorite spellings of the week. So I decided for fun I would post them and see if anyone can figure them out. Some are easy to decipher, but just funny. Some will leave you scratching your head. Heck people, this may be a weekly occurring post just because it makes me laugh. So, enjoy...

limowseen
jrigs
toylit
epresate
soshl stues
spogete
(this is a book title) Bunnicula metts egbra lincrow
engrideeinds
osom
vendrile
pukks
broanw
dusnat
exersis

Speaking of Sidearms...

2009-09-25T12:52:00.003-04:00

So, I recently met a woman at a Starbucks from the great state of Tennessee. She was taking a break from the courthouse where her husband was being arraigned for bringing a LOADED gun (not sure why I felt the need to emphasize), into a museum in DC. Really? Really. I can understand why you may not know the permit/carry laws in each state...but I can't figure out why you thought you needed to bring your gun on vacation. To a place that recently had a museum shooting, and might just be the tiniest bit sensitive to you bringing a handgun. But hey, kudos on un-holstering and putting it on the x-ray belt before going through the metal detectors. I think your defense lawyer can definitely use that one.

What's the Point?

2009-09-23T19:19:00.003-04:00

I went to a job fair today. And honestly, I don't get it. I have never been to one before so I printed out some resumes, threw on a suit and thought I would give it a shot. Annndddd....I don't get it. There were about 5-8 booths of people telling you just to go to the website to look for open jobs. When I asked about certain jobs, descriptions, work life etc. I got really quizzical looks and responses such as, "I don't really know, I am just a recruiter." No offense, but isn't it your job to know the answers to these types of questions? Really, I wasted a suit. And some paper. And $4 in parking.

That being said, at least the FBI recruiter took my resume, wrote something on it, and put it in a file. Not sure if that's good or bad but I'm pretty sure, I won't be allowed a sidearm.

All I Want...

2009-09-22T20:15:00.003-04:00

Is to have a day to clean my house. A day to sit in bed and read a book. A day to sleep. I just want to sleep. I am exhausted and the only funny part about it is that I can hardly form a sentence, causing me to say funny things to my students. May I add that my day today involved a parent showing up at my classroom door at 4:45 tonight to chat. This was not a scheduled visit. Why on Earth do people think it is okay to show up, unannounced, to my job? Do I show up at your office, unannounced, well past your work hours, to discuss your child? No, I don't. You should not do it either. The kicker? Tomorrow is back to school night and none of the questions were so important that they could not wait until tomorrow. ugh.

Quote of The Week

2009-09-14T19:29:00.003-04:00

Can't believe I forgot to post this last week and I was just retelling this story and I thought, "That's Funny, I should put it in the blog." So, I was discussing the famous Americans that we will be studying this year with my class. We get to Martin Luther King Jr. and I ask the children what they know about him. One of my students responds, "He helped save us from a second civil war which would have been way worse than the first one because we have advanced weaponry now." Um, I teach second grade. Where on earth did the kid come up with that sentence? Awesome.

Party Like A Grade School Teacher

2009-09-13T00:28:00.004-04:00

Teachers are a strange breed of people. Maybe it is the fact that we spend all day being nice. Maybe it is the fact that we also say words like "potty" and phrases like "use your words" on a daily basis. Could possibly be that we have parents breathing down our necks constantly (some are CRAZY). Could also be that we spend our entire day in a room with loads of children asking us a zillion questions. Whatever the reason may be I tend to find that teachers are closet party people. I know parents want to believe that teachers go home and bake cookies (and some of us do) but we also know how to go out and have a good time. Believe me, some kids will drive you to need a drink on a Friday. So, I organized a happy hour on Friday. Not because my class is driving me to drink, they are actually pretty great so far. I thought it would be a good way to get to know some of my co-workers. I may have gotten more than I bargained for. It was a good time all in all, but one of my co-workers def. was hittin' the Sake bombs and gettin' her party on. It was actually kinda funny, but I will never be able to look at her the same at work. It's like finding out the Bruce Wayne is Batman, you can't look at him the same after he has revealed his secret side. Poor Becca got dragged out to witness all the glory that was happy hour. She also kindly helped smuggle me out of the bar when the same co-worker started to get a little pushy with the booze and insistent on bar hopping. So, I went home, be it a bit tipsy, and fell asleep on my couch at...10 pm. We tried to watch a movie, but there was no way I was gonna make it. Do I know how to party or what?

Back To School, Back To School...

2009-09-08T20:10:00.003-04:00

I am exhausted. Could fall into bed and stay there for weeks type of exhausted. I forget how tired I am after the first day of school. I have been talking all.day.long. All day. My throat is already sore. It kind of makes me laugh a little because in general I think I talk a lot, but apparently not as much as I think I do. My students are going to be an interesting bunch this year. They range from cute and sweet as can be to extremely obnoxious and unable to follow a single instruction. Some hard days lay ahead I can see it already. Let the party begin.

Life, I miss you.

2009-09-03T22:39:00.002-04:00

The past week has been a hot mess. Late nights at work and late nights in class, you have become my life. Have I seen the gym? no. Have I cooked a single bit of food in my kitchen? no. Have I spoken to anyone that I don't work with? Barely. (poor Becca was subjected to helping me in my classroom today). I am tired. My brain is chock full of way to much new information. My sleep schedule is all over the place. Did I mention that I was tired?

I really miss being a lady of leisure.

How Easy It Is To Forget

2009-08-28T19:20:00.002-04:00

I love being a teacher. It really is a great job. I also love back to school time. I LOVE back to school shopping. I love getting new things for my classroom. New markers, pencils, containers, etc. etc. What I do have a love/hate relationship with is the setting up of my classroom. I know that all of you in the non-teaching world think this is crazy because it couldn't possibly take that much time. How very wrong you would be. VERY WRONG. It take hours and hours, days and DAYS. This part I do not love. It is exhausting. I do very much love the result. I love when it is all done and I can stand back with pride and gaze upon its beauty (because honestly it will only look that nice for about two days before the kids make a mess). What I did not like about today was that I spent four hours at work and felt like I got very little done. The problem? My classroom may not be my classroom. All week I have had the fact that I may get moved into a different class- my current room down stairs, my possible new room upstairs-looming over my head. Today I was informed that I would be moving into the classroom next door so I spent my whole day moving stuff from one classroom into the room next door and then moving what was already in that room to the other (confusing way to say it, but I just switched stuff). I don't know what I am going to do if I get to work on Monday and I am told to then move it all upstairs. It could still happen. If one more kindergartner adds then we add a new kindergarten class and then classrooms shift. I don't know if I will be able to move it all over again, at least without crying.

Gaynor Hopkins, Eat Your Heart Out!

2009-08-25T13:26:00.002-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, today, the painters are in the house despackling and respackling the bathroom and hallway (confidential to my upstairs neighbor: Try plumbers). Let me tell you right here and now, you cannot truly call yourself a citizen of this world until you hear a sing-a-long of Total Eclipse of the Heart en espagnol.

It's magical.

A Hiking We Will Go...

2009-08-20T21:09:00.003-04:00

Websters says:

Hike (verb): to walk or march a great distance, esp. through rural areas, for pleasure, exercise, military training, or the like.

Urban Dictionary (just for fun, I looked it up) says:
hiking: 1. walking where it's okay to pee. 2. To crack a joke on someone or something. ex:Yo, they was hiking this dude down about his clothes. 3.A common euphemism for having sex/having an affair. This term was popularized by Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who went missing for several days and informed the public he was hiking 4. outdoors, that is, usually not on your property. This is impossible in urban areas, because being undetected is a top priority 5.when you and your girlfriend hang out in the middle of the night while naked (or the guy can wear boxers). Ex: Me and Jenny were hiking last night and it was phat.

* I didn't make these up I took the definitions, and their examples straight off the site.

wow, urban dictionary, you sure know how to ruin a word. We went hiking, in the Websters dictionary definition way, this morning. Which made me SOOOO happy because I LOOOVE to hike. I have this thing about having to get away from DC every once in a while. The NOVA/DC area can really bog you down sometimes. Too much traffic, too many people, just too much everything. One thing I really like about where I live is that a good get away is never too far away. I've been wanting to hike Old Rag all summer, but alas most of my friends work all week and I won't do longer hikes alone. Lucky for me, Becca is a good friend. Becca is a great best friend who will let me wake her up at 6:30 a.m. so that she can sit in a car and try to read my messy handwriting and bad directions. (best line of the day? Becca at 6:45 a.m. - "I love you, but I don't like you right now.") A good friend who will deal with me stopping twice to make sure I am going the right way because I am pretty sure but not 100% (I blame google maps, worst directions EVER.) A friend that will deal with me repeatedly pointing out the beautiful view. A friend who put up with swarms of bugs that kept attacking her, and some pretty nasty heat and humidity. For me, it was a great day. A good hike that wasn't hard, but wasn't so easy that I felt like I was taking a stroll, you had to work for it a bit. A good drive and plenty of singing at the top of my lungs. Bonus: lunch in a very cute little town. Minus: we could not find a dairy queen (why are they not everywhere?!).

Yay for a fun day, boo that it was probably one of my last fun times of the summer. As of Monday, I am a working girl again.

R.N.Y.C.

2009-08-18T20:52:00.002-04:00

I know that it's been awhile since I've posted on this thing. I guess about a month. A few reasons for this:
1. I am using my parent's computer and while I am not ashamed of anything I write on here, I really don't want to have to explain it, talk about, create blogs for my parents etc. etc.
2. I didn't really think that I had anything to share. No funny stories, just moving and trying to fit all my stuff back in the apartment already filled with stuff.
3.I am lazy.

The past few days, I have been in Florida visiting some old friends who I haven't seen for awhile. They have spawned a cute little kid with pigtails since I saw them last, moved houses, and it was great to kick back with some wine and great to catch up with them.

Most importantly, it was great that Ape took me to the Redneck Yacht Club. For those of you who do not know this song, I suggest you look it up, at least for the lyrics. The video from YouTube is basically what it looked like...except there were more muscle tees and fewer attractive people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsGOX7DMVCg
I met someone with a mullet and a Dale Earnhardt Jr. koozie named Darryl. He's my new boyfriend. As soon as I can figure out how to get the pictures off my camera, I will post the pics of PVC pipe anchors and fully clothed rednecks named Bo and Bud hanging out drinking Natty Light.

I felt like a cultural anthropologist.

Until You Drop

2009-08-17T18:25:00.005-04:00

Hi, my name is Amber, and I'm a shopaholic. (I imagine you fellow shoppers responding with the typical AA type response, but I also imagine most of you non-shopaholics are rolling your eyes and shaking your heads) It is a shameful part of my life, but I am. I have sadly been known to participate in retail therapy. Yes, I have used shopping to make myself feel better. Yes, I know that is sad. I decided I needed some new clothes for work. I know what you are thinking- by "needed" does she actually really mean "wanted"? No, I really did need some new clothes because 90% of what I own is either not appropriate to wear to work, or too big for me. So I decided to head to the Leesburg Outlets because I knew I needed to do some considerable amounts of shopping. Here is my thing when it comes to shopping, I HATE to have to search for a good deal. I am not one of those people who will sift through the sale rack until I find that $5 skirt. I find it annoying and honestly I would rather pay full price than waste the time and energy. I do however LOVE a bargain. This is why I love outlets- everything is on sale, but the stores are still nicely organized so I don't have to do a ton of digging. I can still fully enjoy my shopping experience. Another thing about me and shopping, I probably should not be allowed to do it alone. Now I don't shop like many girls out there. I know what I like and I make decisions quickly. So I will often shop alone to avoid having to spend hours with a friend who will try on everything in the store and make me give my opinion on it all- it takes forever. There are however a few friends who I know I can shop with and I should be forced to always take them along. Reason being that I need someone there to tell me no. If I ever do get married, I feel for the man because he will have to tame the shopping beast. I need someone to tell me to put it down, you don't need that 4th pair of jeans, even if they do only cost $35. I say this because although I do love to shop, I am also a guilty shopper. I think that this is in part due to my time in Kenya. I do my shopping, get all excited about my purchases, and then get in the car and feel like a horrible human being for spending all that money on something as stupid as clothing. I notice that every once in a while I will have an experience that makes me stop and realize how easily I have slipped back into my old habits. Experiences that make me realize how much has changed in the year I have been back. How I used to stop and really think about making a purchase because I had constant visual reminders of how that money could be better spent, but now I just hand over my credit card because I can. Not should, but can. So I came home with my shopping bags (I will not admit here how many that was) and decided I had to give away at least once piece of clothing currently in my closet for every piece I bought. Does this make it better? No. Is this probably just my way of justifying the choices I made today? Most likely. But, at least it's a start.

Cali, Baby, Cali

2009-08-13T17:54:00.008-04:00

Where do I even begin? Maybe with how this all came about- let us take a walk down memory lane shall we? So, this has been a particularly yucky year for me, topped off by a mini-sort of-midlife-crisis surrounding my 29th birthday (which in hindsight seems ridiculous now). My solution was to find some thrilling adventure to liven things up a bit. Now, I know I may not seem the thrill seeking type but do not let my preppy looks deceive you. I love a thrill. Give me any adventure and I'm there. Throw me out of a plane, send me down a river, I'll take it. Tell me I can't, won't or shouldn't and I'll be even more likely to do it- and just to one up you, I'll do it first. This need for adventure drives my poor mother crazy, but I figure you only get to live once right? I got it in my head that bungee jumping was what I needed to tackle next and I was determined to do it. So, mission #1: find someone willing to do this with me (because adventure is never as fun alone). Sadly most of friends are not the thrill seeking types, so I could easily check almost all of my female friends off the list of possibilities. Boys, however, are more likely to take you up on this type of adventure. Mission #1 was completed; Mike was in and I didn't even have to do any convincing- now that's my kind of friend. Mission #2: How many activities can you cram into 4 days? Well, if you're us, quite a few. So in four days we hit Stockton, Yosemite, Gold Country, Jumped off a bridge and San Francisco. So here are a few comments on each:

-Stockton: looks like this when you look it up on line. This is what it is really like. (read the crime section) Our hotel was on the same line as the Bates Motel. I thought we were going to get jacked in the night. Take my advice and avoid like the plague. Do not convince yourself that driving half way to Yosemite after being on a plane is smarter than just driving the whole way- in this case it was not.

-Yosemite: Is beautiful. My love of photography was on overload. Big trees, big rock formations, curvy roads. Apparently there were also bears, which we could not find anywhere. I wish there had been more time to see it all. Only downside was people everywhere.

-Gold County: is interesting. There are some cute little towns but it seems as though they haven't quiet figured out how to really make them all that interesting. The area is pretty and very peaceful, and historic.

-Bungee Jumping: is excellent. It is a total rush. Where we jumped was remote and beautiful. It was a feeling I will never forget and hope to repeat. I got a little banged up, pretty much due to user error, but nothing too bad and very worth it.

-San Francisco: is a pretty cool city. It seems like 90% of the city has an amazing view that I am admittedly jealous of. I would hate to drive/park there, no doubt about it. Although I saw so much of the city, again I wish I had had more time there.

Then came the problem of trying to decide which pictures to post here. Too many good ones, and posting pictures of the bungee were a no go. So hopefully these will do... (you have to click on the collage to really get a good look)

So, all in all, I give California an A. Bungee jumping definitely A++++. Now I just have to figure out what adventure to tackle next...

It Ain't Pretty

2009-08-02T19:31:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I find myself in a funk for no good reason, like today. I have every reason to be in a good mood. I just returned from a good evening with friends that included watching the Red Sox win and pie, what else could a girl ask for? Instead I found myself grumpy. (my guess is actually lack of caffeine. Darn you coffee what have you done to me?!) This can go one of two ways for me: Way #1: I recognize and do something to slap myself out of it quickly OR Way #2: It's probably better for me to spend the day alone because no one is going to want to be around my mood. So, I got out of the house and tried #1. Nope, didn't cut it today. So, I resigned to #2. Having to do that only worsened the mood. This can only lead to things like stubbing my toe and spilling an entire bottle of water down the front of my shirt. Ugh, is it bedtime yet? Let's try out tomorrow please.

Then came dinner. Although I love to cook when I am in a mood all I want to do is grab a bowl of ice cream and call it a day. My psyche may thank me today for that decision, my butt won't thank me tomorrow- and I'm only trying to have one bad day thank you, so no. Also, I have a fridge full of food and leave shortly for vacay. So, I grumped my way into the kitchen to make myself a batch of what I like to call "everything in my fridge." Is it pretty? No. Would I serve this to you if you came to my house for dinner? Not on your life. Did it taste fantastic? You better believe it. Did it get me out of my funk? Oddly, yes. I may not be good at a lot of things, but I can figure out how to make something out of seemingly a whole lot of nothing. Tonight, I can make chickpeas and a banana pepper work together like no one else. There is something about a culinary success that turns my day around. I suddenly have the energy to rejoin society without telling everyone off.

Too bad it's now 8:30 at night.

Summer of Love

2009-07-23T21:39:00.007-04:00

Let's combine some things I love:

a. farms

b. fresh fruit

c. being outdoors

d. taking pictures

This list, although not a list of all my loves, (because that could go on for pages) makes for a day of happiness. So when Sheila suggested that we head out to a farm in Poolsville, MD to do some blackberry and peach picking, you know I was shouting yes!

The day had an ominous beginning-it POURED down rain. It poured down rain and the we sat in traffic. We forged on. We drive and drive, it rains and rains. Until we come upon the farm where the sky was blue and the sun was shining. Amen, that's what I'm talkin' about. The farm was beautiful, and as you can see the picking was good. I mean these are some of the best blackberries I have ever put in my mouth.

On our way home we took a detour and stopped to see a field of sunflowers. I mean a sunflower field the size of a football field. It was something straight out of Everything Is Illuminated.

Next mission: making use of the fruits of my labor. Blackberry and Peach cobbler here I come...

A Saturday Done Right

2009-07-18T21:04:00.007-04:00

Sometimes a lazy Saturday can result in a whole lot of nothing. However, when it is 85 degrees without a bit of humidity in the middle of July, you better get your tush outside and do something. So I grabbed Kate and headed to one of my favorite places to rest and enjoy nature.

And the results were worth the effort. A little sunshine, a few photos (who am I kidding I took over 100) and this lazy Saturday had a purpose.

and that's how Saturday is done!

For Shame

2009-07-17T22:42:00.005-04:00

There are only 3 reasons in which it is appropriate to buy an US Weekly (or other trashy magazine).

1. Travel. Great for plane rides or car trips.

2. 7th grade sleepovers (or 29 year old reenactments of 7th grade sleepovers)

3. Really bad days. (usually prompted by work or comments from your mother, okay maybe my mother)

Why did I buy one today? I am literally that bored. So bored that going to the grocery store was an exciting part of my day (okay, I always love going to the grocery store). So bored that when I spotted the promise of Jessica getting dumped by Tony and possibly getting back with Nick, and yet another Jon and Kate Plus 8 scandal, I caved.

I need to quickly read something with a reading level greater than 5th grade so I can redeem myself.

And, This is My Life.

2009-07-13T19:15:00.002-04:00

My mother suggested to me that I look into Match.com and even though I asked her to stop she continued to plead her case for about 5 minutes or so.

I think that says it all.

Show A Little Love

2009-07-12T15:31:00.002-04:00

So I was very lucky today to get to spend some time volunteering at the Arlington Food Assistance Center. I have to tell you I LOVED it! Our job was to go to the farmer's market and take any donations of unsold food. I was so incredibly impressed with how very generous the vendors were- a few of whom gave us upwards of 20 crates full of veggies. When all was said and done about 1,200+ pounds of food. We then took it back to the center and spent the rest of the afternoon sorting and bagging the vegetables into family sized portions. During the week families who have been referred to the center can come to shop for groceries. I think it was definitely a good reminder for me that my little Arlington bubble isn't all that Arlington is.

Final thoughts:
1. If you are looking for a place to volunteer, please check this place out.
2. In fact, just click on the above link and check it out.
3. Farmer's market farmers of Arlington, you are so awesome.

Someone Please...

2009-07-09T17:20:00.003-04:00

explain to me why it is that people can not disciple their kids. I was in Target today buying a birthday gift for my nephew and there were kids everywhere-yelling. Now, as a teacher, I can handle the yelling kids. What I can not handle is the parents that do NOTHING to stop it. Case in point, I watched a child sit in his stroller and scream, AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS, for no less than 25 minutes. 25 minutes. 25 MINUTES! The mother just kept handing him toys and asking him if this was what he wanted. Really? Turn around and tell your kid to stop and if he doesn't remove him from the toy section and leave the store. Is this a hard conclusion to come to? I mean I came close to walking over to the child and telling him to shut it myself. The thing is these kids end up in my classroom a few years down the line and then they spend their days telling me no.

Get on board parents of the world. Do you hear me? Learn to tell your children "no" and "knock it off" and stop breeding little over indulged hellions.

On the plus side I made my first batch of summer sun tea. YAY for summer!

Ten Steps To A Perfect Holiday Weekend

2009-07-05T18:10:00.007-04:00

Oh how I love a holiday weekend! I have always loved this holiday weekend in particular. There is just something about the 4th of July! People hanging out eating, drinking and being merry. Then of course there are the fireworks- it really just is such a happy holiday. So here is how I have a pretty fantastic holiday weekend:
1. Grab my new camera (who I have named Kate), some coffee to go and a friend (Kara) and head to Old Town to take some picture (a few samples above).
2. Head to a baseball game with a good friend (Mike). Bonus if, like this one, it is followed by fireworks. Bummer if, like this one, the home team loses.
3. Eat good food. Lots and lots of good food.
4. Watch the fireworks with good friends (Stacey,Ben, Mike,Meghan and Sarah) on the roof my apartment building while my drunk neighbors sing the Star Spangled Banner.
5. Eat apple pie like every good American should- make mine a la mode.

6. Cook a good breakfast for my friends. (and watch a little tennis history while we're at it)

7. Bake my very first angel food cake from scratch. Vow to never bake one out of a box again after I have tasted it.

8. Celebrate my roommate's birthday (Sarah) by heading out to Ray's The Steaks.

9. Order the Steak Diablo, (you'll thank me later) and enjoy some good laughs.

10. Head home with my friends (Grace, Sarah, Danny, Ellie, Kara and Chris) to enjoy some of the aforementioned cake with a little touch of strawberries and cool whip.

This weekend was the stuff good summers are made of. Further reminders that life is good!

London Heat Wave?

2009-07-02T10:13:00.000-04:00

dude. it's like 85 here. I don't think so folks. But here is a little taste of what life will be like in the next 10-20 years without air-con. So I suggest working on it.