It's a sign

Last night, just as I was in the midst of pleasant sleeping around midnight, I heard a horrible squeal of brakes and sounds of metal crunching. A lot of metal crunching. Right outside my open window. Car alarms went off, lights went on, doors started opening...I fumbled around for my as yet unpacked glasses and headed to the window. Apparently someone* crashed into about 6 PARKED cars in front of our house. It was a total mess - cars were turned sideways and all smooshed into each other in the parking spaces, people were freaking out and calling the police...pretty much what you'd imagine. I had some trouble falling back to sleep what with the many flashing lights from cop cars and later, the spotlight from a fire truck so they could assess the damage.

Today, it struck me as a smidge funny that all those very nice cars (the closest one to my window was a newish Audi) got whacked while my crappy old Saturn, which I would happily have lost in the wreckage for a newer model, was entirely spared. I'm taking it as a sign from God that it's going to be around for a while longer.

*Okay, probably a drunk driver, but who gets wasted on a Monday night? I'm choosing to believe (for now) that it was someone who had an as yet unknown medical issue and was uninjured in the whole incident.

Breaking through my update drought...

to tell you that Anne and Mike are getting married tomorrow!

What to wear was a challenge, so I went with a black dress (gasp! so not etiquette appropriate, and I so don't care), funky tights, and, if I do say so myself, awesome gray shoes. Perhaps photos to follow should I get motivated enough.

This marks a return to attending weddings in actual Virginia proper...such a novelty to be able to drive to this one (or ride along in people's cars, as the case may be).

And then my favorite German ever is coming to DC in just a few short days. Can't wait for the weekend to begin!

Yo yo yo

**Spoiler Alert! Photos of U2 concert included! If you want to remain surprised for your own show, look away!**

I went to the U2 concert last night. It rocked, as it should, given that they are the awesomest of Rock Stars.

Today, I am totally wiped out. And we're going to the Regina Spektor concert tonight (hellooooo coffee). Rather than attempt an explanation (I always sound like a swooning 13-year old in those despite my best efforts), I'm just going to post some pictures.

The Monster of a Set, in between the Muse and U2 sets.

From Drop Box

Our crew: Jean, Gina, Heather (hidden), and Sarah

From Drop Box

Smoke machines! Here we go...

From Drop Box

Yep, that's Bono in the spotlight and on the big screen.

From Drop Box

The screen is growing! Holy crap!

From Drop Box

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" (green in dedication to people of Iran)

From Drop Box

And then the lights and the music went nuts and we were overwhelmed by the AWESOMENESS that is (always) a U2 concert. Kick ass.

From Drop Box

The End.

My twenties, in summation

Graduated from college
Got a Master's degree
Went to London for a semester
Went to Paris for a summer
Went to Paris for a semester
Went to Bath for a summer
Got my first real job
Moved to Washington, DC
Visited Edinburgh, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Los Angeles, Monaco, New York, Lyons, Grenoble, Annecy, Valence, Cardiff, Dublin, Belfast, Berlin, Seattle, Las Vegas, Boston, Charleston and many, many others
Lived with Ebony for 3 years
Lived with Gina for 4 years
Drove a car from Texas to Virginia all by myself
Learned to drive in the snow (sort of)
Chopped off my long hair
Went to wedding after wedding in Texas
Was a bridesmaid twice (both times in red!)
Became an honorary aunt
Lived in at least 14 different houses/apartments (I shudder to think how many moves that was)
Learned to really speak French
Got my first credit card
Got my first loan
Signed my first lease
Taught myself to knit and crochet
Taught myself to cook (things other than cookies and pies and lemon squares, anyway)
Decided I like olives after all (the fancy ones, anyway)
Found a church and community to belong to without my family's help
Started a blog
Attended a Presidential inauguration
Met people representing approximately 70 countries

All in all, the 20's were great. Here's to the 30's: may they be just as wonderful!

Now THAT was a good weekend

This weekend was rather unusual in that I was both super productive and still felt like I got of good relaxing time. Things I did/enjoyed included:

• Goodwill shopping hunt for a headboard (fail), but found three very nice clothing pieces instead. DC has great Goodwill shopping - apparently there are lots of rich people who like to donate unworn expensive clothing. Meanwhile, $5 silk J. Crew skirt for me!
• Cleaned like there was no tomorrow - my room is almost uncluttered from all those little things that I can't quite figure out where they belong yet.
• Made a framed art thingy to go over my bed. Originally was going to buy a print or something like that, but decided to try and figure out something with stuff I already had. Am pretty pleased with the result. Some of the postcards have fun stories (bought the two German ones at a museum in Bonn, Ebony sent me the New York one right before she started grad school) and others are less interesting (bought a set at the Barnes and Noble in Falls Church), but at any rate a few of them will be inspirational as places I need to get to.
• Finally scraped the cracked and ugly college stickers off my car. Southwestern was missing like 4 letters, the longhorns were looking very sad...it was time.
• Went on a 5.6 mile hike (according to the guide book) with Kandi out at Thornton Gap on Skyline drive. Today pretty much every part of my body is a little achy, but well worth it.

I also managed to get in many a viewing of Supernanny, as the Style channel was running a marathon, and I do get sucked into that show despite my childlessness. It's so cathartic.

So Happy Labor Day to you! Hope yours was also lovely and all things you wanted it to be.

Stay tuned!

House photos coming soon...still a decorating work in progress, but it will be clean since we're having some people over this weekend :). Promise they'll be up soon!

The Facebook Song

Also, funniest thing ever (totally NSFW or not for those that have issues with the f word...):


(via Mighty Girl)

Another cheesy survey thing

Although I think this one is at least a bit clever:

Using only song titles from ONE BAND/ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title.

My Life According to U2 and Coldplay (I couldn't pick!). A caveat: this is likely to interest you only if you know these songs, if at all. My apologies in advance :).

Are you a male or female: Sweetest Thing/Trouble
Describe yourself: Mysterious Ways/Green Eyes
How do you feel: Vertigo/God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
Describe where you currently live: City of Blinding Lights/In My Place
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Where the Streets Have No Name (duh)/Cemeteries of London
Your favorite form of transportation: Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?/High Speed
Your best friend(s): Magnificent/We Never Change
You and your best friends: I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight/See You Soon
What's the weather like: Window in the Skies/Shiver
Favorite time of day: Staring at the Sun/Daylight
If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/Life in Technicolor
What life is to you: One Step Closer/Strawberry Swing
Your fear: Numb/Lost!
What is the best advice you have to give: Grace/Talk
Thought for the Day: Love and Peace or Else/Everything's Not Lost
How I would like to die: Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World/Swallowed in the Sea
My soul's present condition: Love Rescue Me/Reign of Love
My motto: Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own/What If

Things I Am Looking Forward To

1. Harry Potter, tonight and again next week

2. A haircut

3. A week away from my job, starting Friday at 1-ish

4. Having our washer and dryer installed (by the time I'm home? Please oh please let it be so).

Not looking forward to:

1. Texas July heat.

2. Packing.

Great Story

A friend of mine was telling me the "how they met" story of a friend of his, and it's too great not to share.

His friend was out mowing his lawn one day, when a woman came by on a skateboard. Assuming he was the yard guy, she stopped and asked if he wouldn't mind mowing her lawn when he was finished with that one. He complied, and continued to do so every two weeks or so for a while. He charged her $11 a visit.

He also neglected to mention until much later that he is actually the public defender for the city in which they live, and as such, not a yard guy (at least professionally...). And now they are getting married.

Love it!

Whew

For a vacation weekend, I have had a LOT going 'round these parts. All good things, but definitely don't feel like I got much of a break. And the funny thing was, I literally had one thing a day planned in advance. Activities were springing up like so many mushrooms after a good rain.

Started Friday off by sleeping in (yay!), then meeting Ashley and her boy for lunch (at Lost Dog). Super yum. Then Lyndsay and I headed to a $5 movie at the favorite movie dive that is conveniently within walking distance of my new place. We intended to see "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" - terrible idea, I know, but we were looking for girly fluff, and it was only $5... - but there was this weird mix-up with the movie getting delivered and so we ended up seeing "I Love You, Man" for free instead. So the girly cheap outing turned into an even cheaper dude movie, which I thought was totally appropriate for the two of us. Then Kandi called me and wanted to try a new recipe, and even offered to come and make it at my house for dinner. Who am I to turn down service like that?!

On Saturday I felt very disciplined and patriotic and whatnot because I got up at a decent hour and headed up to the National Cathedral to go to an organ concert with Kandi. Now, a smart person that has lived in DC for five years now might think to check about road closures before heading out on July 4, but not me! Just headed right along my merry way, which of course meant massive unforeseen detours, but I still made it all in time. And the concert was okay - sort of boring, but free! - and then Kandi made me ricotta cheese pancakes with sweet cherries, and that really sealed the goodness of the morning. So really the main activity of my weekend was Kandi feeding me and then I filled in the rest with lesser plans :).

That night I was co-hosting a party for a group of Namibian and South African HIV/AIDS activists that I'm doing a program for at work, because they needed a place to spend their 4th, and being as we couldn't find anyone to host them, we had to just do it ourselves. I ended up having a really nice time with them all, and somewhere along the way might have agreed to take an HIV test so they could see how it all goes down in the U.S. I kept telling them that it really wasn't something that I needed to do based on my lifestyle, but they were fairly relentless, and all things being equal, if they want to see what happens, I'm game. So I'll keep you all posted on our field trip to the Walt Whitman clinic or wherever one goes for such things.

After it was all said and done, my co-hostess asked if we should now break out the hard stuff, and so then for the first time in my life I drink a single malt scotch straight up (or neat, I suppose, since I do know some terminology). Must have been all the horrid bourbon tasting in Louisville, because I didn't even flinch with it. I felt like such a bad ass - like I should also being smoking a cigar or something. Pretty awesome.

And then today I worked in the two-year old nursery, as I am wont to do on the first Sunday of the month. I intended to come home, maybe meet up with Ash again, get some chores finished, and then head to the evening service, but instead started reading a book and then woke up on my couch about 30 minutes after the service started. So apparently the busyness took more out of me than I thought.

Well, thank you if you've put up with me for this long in such a rambling post. Hope you had great 4th!

Hey look guys, a post without a video embed! Unbelievable!!

I'll give you some time to compose yourself.
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I will readily admit that this is a procrastination post. I have lots of work to do, and despite getting plenty of sleep last night, I cannot for the life of me wake up and get motivated to attack my task list. So I'm just going to give you a summary of the random things I've been thinking about in the last couple of days/hours.

- I woke up this morning humming Country Grammar by Nelly. I mean, What. The. Hell?

- With all the MJ music playing all over the place, I was recently reminded of my favorite MJ-related moment: Ebony, Joi, and I, on shoestring budget vacation to Italy in 1999, and one of the mini-orchestras in the Piazza San Marco started playing "Billie Jean." We freaked out, and then started dancing. Awesome.

- I find it sort of interesting that I've developed a reputation for being funny. I mean, I have my moments, but I want to reply with, "if you think I'm funny, you should really meet my friends." I think a good sense of humor totally is developed by being around hilarious people - it sort of sharpens you, you know? So I'd like to thank all of you that helped me along the way, I couldn't have gotten here without you (sniff). And consider this my official acknowledgement of stealing your bits and passing them off as my own with no credit. Most of you live out of state anyway, so no harm done I'm sure :).

- I've decided that I'm going to learn some rudimentary German, after trying to do so in grad school with the able help of my German housemate (hi, Dani!). Sadly finals and generally having too much fun got in the way of my tutorials. My work has Rosetta stone software for loaning, and now that my computer is updated enough to handle it (thanks, Jer!), I'm ready to attempt it again.

- Seriously, isn't it time for the new Harry Potter movie YET?! It was supposed to be in November, then in June. I know I'm acting like a 6 year old, but I'm so ready to see this movie. Hurry up and get here, release date!

- I started my new job in DC exactly 5 years ago yesterday, which means either the 26th or the 27th was officially 5 years of having lived in the DC area (I can't remember if I moved here on a Saturday or Sunday...Saturday seems most likely). So much has happened in five years, and yet so much seems remarkably the same. Life is weird.

Happy Monday to you all. And now the caffeine has kicked in, so I'm buzzed to and ready to be productive! Here we go!

for Joi

Because it's the only Sunny Day Real Estate song I know, and I have fond memories of Albert and Jonathan switching to "elf voice" about minute 2:



I hope the concert reunion is everything you dreamed it would be.

Or the Starbucks...

Okay, this is so lame. And true. And I love it so much. Thanks Anne!

Regarding Twitter

I don't really care if you're on it or not, but I am quite tired of people telling me that Twitter is boring. "I don't care what someone ate for lunch..." or "It gets old really quickly..." is frequently brought up to me.

Here's the thing: it's only as interesting as the people you follow and their updates. If your friends are boring, I think we both know whose fault that is. And it's not Twitter's.

Daily Show, Still the Best!

ASU, you are taking yourself way too seriously...and now the DS will take you down. Hard.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Arizona State Snubs Obama
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Gina's and My Week in Review

The Most Fun:
Shag
Rice Krispy treats

Not the Most Fun:
Packing
Moving
Unpacking

Songs I've Been Rather Obsessive About Lately

(Part II, see here for I). Some favorite lyrics included for this round.

Still - Great Lake Swimmers
"I'm still tuned to an instrument of greater and unknown design, I'm still looking for direction, some kind of sign..."

The Aspidistra Flies - Stars

Blue and Gold Print - Mates of State
"We're just a little bit lost, inside our houses. We're just a little unkept, out in the streets..."

Kudos to Great Lake Swimmers for the double appearance!

Today is such a do-over sort of day

As in, can I please just start this one again?

I'm solacing myself by having cheese (Montchevre, Le Cabrie...think goat's cheese flavor with brie texture) and fancy bread for lunch. With herbal tea, which in any right universe would be something MUCH stronger.

Still haven't found a house. Two possibilities and we will probably KNOW by tomorrow. Which still keeps me a little on the stressed side of things.

A Long Overdue Check-In

(Whew, pardon me while I clear off the dust around here...)

So what to tell about? This last weekend was Easter, and it was a good one. Ginger and James and the ever-adorable Daniel were in town after visiting grandparents. Babies grow so fast! I can't believe how much more mobile he is from the last time I saw him. Not quite crawling yet, but doing this army crawl one arm scootch that moves him along pretty well. He also has the most awesome hair, like, ever:

From Drop Box

That mohawk is all-natural, baby.

Gina and I are still in the throes of house hunting (with some help from Kandi thrown in...two bedroom? three bedroom? these are the questions...), and honestly I am so over it today. Perhaps tomorrow I will wake up with newfound enthusiasm, but we've been doing this for a month and half now, and it's just not any fun anymore. Also, SO MANY places we've seen don't have dishwashers in the kitchen. Not to a total brat, but come on people, what kind of place are you trying to rent here with no dishwasher? If I was checking out studios in the Village I would not be at all surprised to find no extra appliances, but I live in the suburbs. Dishwashers should be a GIVEN.

Mostly that is what's new around here...house hunting, friend-enjoying, etc. Oh, and I totally rocked eggs benedict for Easter brunch, so that was pretty awesome too.