I get by with a little help from my friends

Exotic Travels

I went to New York City and had fun times with two of my best girls. I love my work schedule when I get my 3 day weekend! It makes my life come back to me. Like this:


I went to Atlanta for my cousin's wedding. I saw a lot of my crazy family. The wedding was fun and I tried a Long Island Iced Tea for the first time. Let it be known: it is not tea. This was a very classy Jewish wedding- like... something you'd see on a wedding show type classy. It made me think a lot about how I want my wedding to be. It won't really be classy at all I think, some parts will be classy, but mostly I think it will be a ho-down. I love classy, don't get me wrong, I just don't think I want to drop the kind of money that classy costs. I'd rather have a bluegrass band and like 5 kegs and a barn and some mountains and maybe a potluck. Yeaaaaah. But this wedding was really fun, everyone was very happy!


I went to the new Georgia Aquarium while I was there. It was great! They have 3 Beluga Whales and 4 Whale Sharks. They have river otters AND sea otters. There were about 8000 little kids but I managed to see what I wanted to see (the whale sharks). They are kind of hard to miss.




(There is not a whale shark in either of these pictures. You have to find out for yourself what they look like! I'm not spoiling it!!!!)

So I've been listening to some new (to me) stuff that makes for a great early-spring playlist.

M. Ward - Jailbird
M. Ward - Hi Fi
M. Ward - Never had Nobody Like You
M. Ward - Chinese Translation
Brigitte Bardot - Moi Je Joui
Animal Collective - Lion in a Coma
Fiction Family - When She's Near
The Shins - Sleeping Lessons
Feist - Sealion (Chromeo Remix)

I know I'm behind the times- when I get sad I quit listening to music, too. I'm back.

Memories Made in the Coldest Winter

I realize I have semi-abandoned this blog. I tend to do that when I get too busy (true) or when I get really sad (also true). I think I will just pick up this blog from current life- if I tried to brief the interwebs about the past two months it would be too much. Instead, I will leave you with a sort of photoblog of my absence and I will just start writing from the here and now. yaaaaay.






This past weekend my buddy A came up from Raleigh to visit! It was perfect timing because I've been super down and sad about the weather, job issues, homesickness for my boyfriend / western NC, etc. Winter is way harder than I ever expected- I've always enjoyed winter a lot. When Spring didn't suddenly appear at the end of February I was really thrown off. I'm spoiled.


So A and I went to the Library of Congress with her boyfriend F (both of them are getting their degrees in Library Science). That was pretty cool- but not as cool as the BABY GORILLA we saw at the National Zoo (!!!!!!!!!!) We also saw sleeping otters. And a cute otter statue. And PANDAS. and RED PANDAS. PANDAS!!!


We spent a lot of time in Adam's Morgan- so of course we went to Amsterdam Falafel- the most awesome food EVER. You get a pita with falafels in it that they FRY TO ORDER and then you get to put all the toppings you want on it. Oh man, I could eat that every day. It's also cheap and they have really good fries.

We walked a lot over the weekend- it makes my feet tired but it makes my legs feel good. It was so warm over the weekend and for most of today- my mood has improved a lot. Feeling a breeze on my legs is enough to change my outlook on life, if only for a little while. The entire city smells different when it warms up, maybe it's the daffodils or maybe it's the fact that I can actually smell things and my nose isn't running constantly. I cry and whine about winter in DC, I know it's nothing that bad- but we did have 8 inches of snow a week ago and I didn't have any delays in work or anything. I think that validates my crying and whining at least a little bit.

Work has been strange lately. I'm not going to say much on this most public of all venues- but I feel it must be known on my blog that the real world is not "glamorous" at all. The only glamorous part is not having homework and getting a paycheck. Realizing this and accepting it can be very difficult, and can raise many more questions and decisions to be made. I am constantly searching for happiness and ways to fake my own happiness.

Here is my current list of fake happiness (temporary happiness that fools you into short term happiness):
exercising
reeses (easter egg reeses are especially good)
hair mousse
alcohol
sunshine
surfing petfinder.com
calculating airfares
google image searching sealions or groundhogs

I can go on. I am trying to get happy- re-starting this blog is a sign of that. Spring is sure to help out: new opportunities, lots of friends to see- there is always something to be done or someone to visit. I predict some great changes coming. I am joining a kickball league. Hibernation is over!

my new city, my new friend

DC is still magical, I'm still excited all the time. I figured out where some of the city pigeons sleep: in Union Station! Those lazy bastards are still sleeping when I go to work. I also keep tabs on the gray squirrels that live/work/play near my office.

Yesterday I found a cheap last minute flight to go home for the long weekend. I was never a believer in the whole "last minute" deals but they are REAL. I'm really excited to see my mom and bring things back to the apartment. Also, the South Carolina State Fair is going on now and I GET TO GO! It's like I get fall break just like I did in college!

I have lots of things I want to write about concerning the Pentagon, since that is where I get off of the metro and get on a bus to get to/from work. My internet paranoia has truly reached new heights so I am not going to tell Pentagon stories other than the Monday morning protesters that quietly hold signs right where you get off of the escalator from the metro. I see them at 7:30AM, who knows what time they get there. One week they protested the war in Iraq, this week it was Afrocon. It's really interesting because probably 80-85% of the people who get off at the Pentagon metro on Monday morning at 7:30 work in the Pentagon, and they orchestrate wars and things, so it's a really significant place to protest something. And everyone is always brooding in the morning.

Riding to and from the Pentagon stop so much has made me realize how exciting and scary and hot it is to see all the men and women in their various uniforms going to and from work. I've seen Navy, Army, Airforce, all kinds of uniforms. It's so attractive! I don't know why!

So I guess I have to go pick out my "party shirt" for the last day of customer service week tomorrow. Good grief. At least I don't have to pack a lunch!