we are tourists clapclap-clapclapclap

if you don't know what this is you are CLEARLY not a TU fan. or a friend of jackie. chips and salsa, anyone?

so, you know how in 80s movies (and probably many before and after) most japanese characters were stereotyped as crazy photographers? um, I'm pretty sure that they would've portrayed twenty-something females as the obsessive ones instead if they'd known jackie and me. for reals.

I will tell you all about the time in exhaustive detail later. for now, I will tell you that I am very tired, that I had SO MUCH FUN and that I took almost 200 pictures despite being battery-less until 1pm on saturday. this is not including the pics I took with jax's camera. yeesh!

okay, so bedtime. and maybe some unpacking. so here are some pictures to tide you over.

please note: cute new argyle sweater, late night semi-drunken jumping on the bed, the kitty on the steps of the supreme court, the capitol building between our heads and the silliest picture I have :)

also a prize to the first non-jackie person who tells me why I took this photo in georgetown. :)

ps: you need to read this. it's a forward melissa got about our president. and it is SCARY.

someone should wipe this stupid grin off my face.

why, you ask?

a) well, I'm hoping to leave for DC in the next hour and a half to two hours. and I'll see Jackie! and Adriana! And Matt and Shannon! I am SO EXCITED! Jackie and I are totally overusing that word. Like, when we've talked on the phone every fourth word is "excited!"
b) tonight (?) we will get champagne and strawberries at our hotel. something about a mixup and them delivering them to us to make up for it. yeehaw!
c) we will be having more champagne. because my sweet matt bought it for me. yeah. he showed up last night with...
1. dinner from mcalisters, including sweet tea
2. three bottles of champagne, each a different kind--one for last night, one for me and jackie and one to keep for later.
3. a copy of stardust with a cute little bow on it.
4. a big redbox of chocolates, complete with labels (otherwise I feel like it's russian roulette!) for me to take to dc incase jackie and I get hungry while we have our champagne.
5. and a very sweet card. five words and his name was all he wrote, and it still made my eyes tear up a little.
6. lost was good! I want more! now. eight is a pitifully low number. which brings me to seven...
7 the writer's strike is oh-ver. :)
8. I got to talk to my brubber adam last night, and he likes his baggu.
9. I get to listen to music on the way today. :)

I am totally useless at work and I'm leaving in 24 minutes. my goal is to complete one more page of my review for this letter. I think I'll do some when I get back on sunday. in any case, I am PUMPED!!!!!!!! DC here I come! And do call--today between 2 and 6 or Sunday between noon and 6 (I'm stopping at Ikea on the way home). I'll enjoy the chit-chat AND I'll use my little hands free earpiece doohickey.

yay yay yay!

have a faboo weekend dearies!

edison week.

I must say, it is kind of disconcerting...

when you open up an email, and it's from your best friend, and you see it's called edison week, and you open up the picture, and you see someone dressed as popeye, and you think to yourself, in order:

1. oh, I remember edison week...
2. holy crap my ten year reunion is next year.
3. hey, did we even have a day where someone would've dressed up as popeye?!?
4. wait a minute...who is this? did I go to school with this perso--
5. holy sh*t that's my little brother harvey.

in all his glory.

ps? TOTALLY going to freak out my mom when I call and say "hey, how'd harvey's popeye costume work out?" :)

daylight and maple.

y'know, I wish those two had gone together today. they're actually separate topics.

I had a donut today. for like the first time in, um, a year or more? I'm just not a donut-kind-of-girl, really--or at least I can usually resist them. I mean, unless it's a maple donut. mmmmmm maple donuts. makes me think of this life-perspective-changing trip to san diego in college. the one where it re-instilled my faith in humanity.

but that is another post for another time. except for the part that that's where I was introduced to the joy that is a maple donut.

[insert homer simpson mmm here.]

anyhoodle, in the office-that-I-like, the park one, somebody brought in donuts. daylight donuts. I had a chocolate one. and I got to tell two people where daylight donuts come from--Tulsa, Oklahoma, baby! They were quite surprised. and then of course we began a convo about tornados v. hurricanes. I still say I prefer tornados. at lease people know what to do in those. here when they think a hurricane is coming people buy eleven million bottles of water. if it's really that bad? you're not going to have a sewer system. think about that.

moving on.

last night matt brought me flowers and york peppermint patties. he said I shouldn't have to wait for the flowers (and that he bought ones I'd like to photograph, and that had a carnation or two since those a frat thing for him, and I informed him it was a chi-o thing too), and that he almost bought me this HUGE heart of chocolates but would rather get me something he knew I'd enjoy. so, I gave him his boxers and his heart-shaped york peppermint patties.

we got a kick out of that.

and then we watched the two eps of last season and the first ep of this season--of LOST. because sneaky mcsneakerson has been watching LOST and not telling me so he could surprise me. cute, no? tonight out plans have changed, and he's watching ep 2 while I PACK FOR DC! and then we'll watch tonight's. while I eat a chicken fajita spud from mcalisters. apparently I like chicken fajita stuff. 'cause, y'know, my fave pizza of all is also, you guessed it--chicken fajita.

oh, and matt said this twice the night before and once last night--"do I smell a maple tree?" because I was being--wait for it--sappy.

and here, for your hallmark holiday viewing pleasure, are pics of the flowers and my cute cats. :)-- and these are the ones with my point and shoot--my dslr did even better!

also, dammitalltohell (which may be the first time I've ever typed or used that phrase) this huge jerkface is making me want to punch him. he was leaning up against my cube wall (which is attached directly to my desk), and pushing on it and moving it and tapping his fingers on it. and I'm having to listen to him talk. LOUDLY. thank the good lord he stopped when I stood up, mouth full of my lunch and said:

"any chance I could get you to stop tapping your fingers on that wall?"
and he said "maybe."
and I said "because it is directly attached to my desk. and it is moving everything. and I cannot read. please."(note that's a period. not a question mark.)

he stopped.

I said "sorry to interrupt your conversation." and sat back down. and he has stopped. and left. glory hallelujah!

other things, going bad to good:
-it hurt to sing last night. my face actually ached. I'll have to ease into that.
-the weather will not make up its mind. I go from four to three to two layers back up. yeesh.
-today is thursday.
-I got to work in the other building today.
-I will have an interview for a job in the other building in a few weeks! (and have to submit a writing sample--I think it will be my thermo/beer paper, which needs a little polishing.)
-I go to DC tomorrow!!!!!

i want to be like dublin.

these people are brills. I mean, charging for plastic bags? yes! I was pretty excited two days ago when I got points for bringing my own bag--and these points eventually add up to pennies--but I would SO rather have people have to pay for their bags.

for reals people, if you don't have reusable bags please please consider getting some. here. or here. or at the checkout line. you know that whole we didn't inherit the earth, we're borrowing it?

it's true.

also, I was looking up something I'd seen a while ago--lights out america. (and if you want to read the perspective of someone who doesn't care about the long-term impact of his existence here, go read this. ps, nuclear energy? not that scary. solar energy? 100% the thing we should do. anyway.) turns out they've decided to support the earth hour instead.

in any case, it's an hour that they ask you to turn out any nonessential lights. to save energy, to be aware, to make a point. 7pm eastern on a Saturday night. I think I'll be with Matt in Myrtle Beach, so I'm hoping we can cook dinner that night and eat by candle light. :)

and, I am the first person in the entire city of morrisville to sign up. please join me?

I am bummed that the circus has already left town. Matt was going to take me for valentine's day, as it was a fun-but-not-romantic thing to do (because, y'know, I hate valentine's day), but he had the dates mixed up. I am sure we will have fun no matter what, but I was looking forward to seeing lions and tigers and elephants--oh my!

oh, and a little boo hiss for the february, since my watch fell plumb off my wrist yesterday and the face fell off. yeesh. I need a new watch. maybe I'll be visiting fossil when I go to the mall tonight. maybe.

oh and? I forgot to tell you, but saturday before last I got to see the international space station go across the sky. it was pretty neato, gotta tell you.

gonna be filled with strawberry love.

~from the movie waitress

man, that's a cute movie. a sweet movie. bittersweet really. and some day, if I have a daughter, I hope I can take one look at her and say "we are going to have so much fun." I'm ashamed to admit it made me a little bit teary...

overall, this weekend wasn't what I expected. not even a little.

friday night's little dinner turned into a wee-hours-of-the-night sharefest. sometimes you need those. sometimes you just get thirsty. whatever the case was, me and my wine-drinking self enjoyed it.

we also played with my camera. and I took this lovely one of the gobes. :)

saturday after going to the WRONG place to pick up my cookies I had fun buying myself some tulips and taking pictures of them before going to nicole and dave's. see? tulips.

and then I got to take pictures of n & d and their little baby lucas. he is a cutie! we tried lots of poses and takes and got some I really like. here are some of my favorites. I'll put more up on my photography blog. :) oh, and she told me about these kids--reusable straws from c&b. she gave me a set (people always love 'em so she keeps some on hand) and you can only get them on ebay right now but I'll keep an eye out for them this summer. BRILLIANT idea.

next was chili and beer at elizabeth and dave's place. I LOVE the way they've painted their home, and they have such cute things. and they are so much fun. I like it that we get to hang out occasionally and get along so well, but that we don't feel pressured when we don't have time to see each other, if that makes sense. it's a positive, for sure!

oh and I realized this weekend that it's a good thing I take my time making decisions--because I've come to the conclusions that under no circumstances do I want a coffee table without that bottom shelf. there's nothing wrong with them, they just aren't for me. in my opinion they make that piece of furniture less functional, and if you know me at all, you know I'm all about function. and efficiency. and if I have the option, the coffee table with the bottom shelf is more functional and efficient. so there. :)

so, yeah, keeping an eye out for that.

and about lent:

we sang a song today called "lonesome valley." it almost made me cry. it's funny because I was thinking about the concept all week and didn't realize that it's 'cause I heard this on wednesday...sometimes you have to walk that lonesome valley. nobody else can do it for you. you have to walk it by yourself. or you'll never get through it.

man do I know what that's about.

and then tonight was youth. a random dude came to try to "help out" though he was technically unwelcome, which was SUPER awkward (we have a whole policy about having to have background checks and stuff) especially because he kinda makes some people, including me, uncomfy.

and after talking to matt I think I might not be working with the youth next year. I mean, I'll help them out or be an alternate or whatever, and I haven't made this decision, but matt was so so right when he pointed this out: youth frustrates the bejeezes out of me. and if I'm going to give up some things once my terms end, perhaps this should be highest on the list. because it rarely makes me happy.

like today at practice I was all "hey, I know y'all might not've understood it, but let's use my spreadsheet idea to practice, k? I mean, it couldn't hurt to at least try--y'see, there are groups of skits that can practice at the same time and have exactly none of the same cast members. brills, right? and easy as pie."

I was told "it is impossible for us to not have overlap" despite my telling him no, I have a degree in data analysis, I think I've got this one covered. and one of the other leaders just took all of the people in her skits and had them go to the other room, not telling us what she was doing (ps? this woman is the wife of the man who said overlap was unavoidable."

I even talked to the old head of youth about it today--I mean, not to brag, but what I put together with a few clicks of an excel sheet was pretty damn fantastic--it brought order and efficiency and it eliminated guesswork. and we're short on practice time so it made A LOT of sense. ugh. I mean, I know our dinner theatre will be awesome, but REALLY?!? ugh.

anyway, yeah. who knew that my lenten observation might be to end a church activity, eh? whatever...

week ahead: least favorite holiday, football, cookie delivery andandAND--DC!

well you must be a girl with shoes like that

~the fratellis

so, if you're a cake fan, and if you find them upbeat and fun, I think you'll like the fratellis too. They happened to be in my cd player this morning (I don't think the cd has come out since summer) and it was a pleasant surprise when I turned of the radio. :)

I am now officially caught up on LOST. I liked it. I find it confusing, but I like it. And I'm wondering if the stuff Hurley drew is an easter-egg-ee thing? and the polar bear? huh? I did have fun looking at these though...people really get caught up in this show!

also, I finally finally checked out my camera last night. I have good news and bad news.

good news: the lenses that dana gave me fit! this means I have the 18-55 IS lens that I bought myself AND a 70-300 lens from dana. I'm pretty sure the third lens is also an 18-55 but not IS, though. I will be keeping it however since I still want to use film from time to time.

bad news: something is already broken. there's this little button that releases the CF memory card, and it's already kaput. I'm taking it in tomorrow. Also, I cannot for the life of me get the damn flash to turn off. I'll be taking most of my pictures outdoors anyway, but for reals, this is ANNOYING!

tomorrow after I take pictures of nicole and lucas and dave I'll be taking the camera in for repair. oh, and I also intend to go buy myself some pretty flowers (tulips or gerberas, most likely) and take pictures with BOTH of my cameras to compare. I am SO excited about taking pictures with my camera though (well, once I fully figure it out!). But yay!

in exactly one week I will be on my way to DC! hooray!

stop, drop and roll doesn't work in hell.

yeah. my pastor said that. jokingly, clearly. but HI-larious.

so me? I'm an IDIOT. okay, well maybe not an idiot. but yeah. idiot.

last night, after girl scouts, choir practice, the ash wednesday service and going to ross dress for less (which was pretty amusing since people kept doing double takes, what with me having a cross of ashes on my forehead and all) and after talking to jessica for a while, I sat down to watch lost. yes, from LAST week.

I hit "list," went to the newest Lost and hit play.

I spent the first hour reading the little captions and watching the episode. You might be familiar with it, by the way--it was Through the Looking Glass. And it was not the new one.

Yes, that's right my friends, I watched two hours of Lost last night--Lost I'd already seen, with details I already knew. It didn't even phase me at first--I recalled Jackie saying something about the first hour being a recap, and so I just kept watching.

until about one and a half hours in, when I saw "lost season premiere in 1 day!" in the lower right hand corner. at that point I figured I might as well finish this one. starting a new one woulda been stoooopid. I never would've gone to sleep.

but yeah. still haven't seen the premiere. silly little me.

le sigh.

next on the agenda: go to the other set of offices to talk about the work I'll be doing for their department. I. Am. Pumped!

also (to be read in sing-songy voice): eight days until dee-cee, dee-cee with jack-ie. :)

goats eat oats and does eat oats...

yeah, got that stuck in my head last night. all the sudden I started singing it. huh?!? very odd, very odd. just all out of the blue I find myself singing a nursery rhyme I haven't heard in years...

today I made a non-work related spreadsheet detailing our skits, our cast members and explaining which skits could practice at the same time without overlapping for our dinner theatre. it is BEAUTIFUL. I just used some techno-whizmo-gizmo to change it so I could put it on here, just for you. good lord I am a nerd! they didn't believe me when I said I was going to do this. oh, ye of little faith.

last night matt and I watched bloodsport. I'd never seen it before, and I must say it was kind of good--well, for a van damme movie. I mean, the action scenes were neat. The only bad part were the high-waisted pants and the low-cut shirt--even I don't like to show that much cleavage!

tonight: girl scouts. and ash wednesday service. and visiting the ross dress for less near-ish to my church. and catching up on tv (aka watching lost, please don't hate on me for not getting to it yet, I'll be watching tomorrow too, okay?!?). I also hope to spend at least ten minutes putting away laundry. just ten. ten a day. that's not too much to ask, is it?

and environmental thing to accomplish #1: buy silverware from goodwill. keep at work. never have to use a plastic utensil again.

and this made me laugh AND made me sad at the same time. poor little kitten!

super. fat. tsunami.

so those are all words to describe today. my, what a day it has been!

primaries (though sadly not one in NC, we wait until may), talking about political stuff with a friend, sorting out some organizational drama and trying to get some work done...

speaking of work, it's getting even more likely that I'm going to do somework for these people, at least temporarily. and this means I'll get to get a taste of what they do before I actually apply for the position I mentioned here. we've gone from talking about possibilities to talking about charge numbers...yay!

and I picked up my camera yesterday--they didn't ask me for a receipt or anything! so go to your local camera shop and see if they'll let you pick up a camera, k? um, don't. but still. couldn't believe that. anyway, I am pretty excited about that, and hopefully I'll get to use it soon. I have everything I need but I think I want to buy some flowers and take pictures of them. A double treat for myself!

so as I imagine you know, tomorrow begins the season of lent. I've been trying to think of what to do...I gave up worrying, which was quite a success actually (seriously people I used to worry WAY more) and last year I gave up procrastination, and that has at least helped me oodles too. I mean, at least it meant I took the GRE.

but this year I'm maybe going to give up TWO things, sorta kinda. one is overscheduling. because, well, I do. and I need to make time for me, but I also need to make time for church stuff. I mean, y'all know I do a lot of church stuff. but this month I'm doing a CRAZY amount of church stuff. And I need to make sure that giving all this time doesn't make me resentful. recently I've been a little "ugh, I have to go to what?!?" and that's not right. I WANT to be a youth leader. I ENJOY it. and I LIKE singing in the choir (even though I'm not quite ready for it health wise, but I'm pretty close!). I'm GLAD to be on the youth council and communications committee.

the answer is not to cut these things out. the answer is to change the way I think about them. let's see how this goes for forty days. ironic that I can complain on sundays, no?

and then also? I'm going to go on a carbon fast. Oh no, not a no-carbon thing, that's kind of impossible. but look, there's something you can do every day...and if some of these don't apply or you already do it then substitute as necessary.

and the fact that the methodist church says "duh" on their website when describing list? uh-maaaze-ing. :)

i'm feeling lucky.

sometimes when I'm using picasa and I'm adjusting photos, I hit that little "I'm Feeling Lucky" button and think "you know what? I am feeling lucky." (I mean, not that I believe in luck as in happenstance and coincidence, but as in fortunate, you bet. see: this explanation.)

cheesy? yes. was I looking at a picture of matt and me? guilty as charged. do I care? nope.

anyway, yeah. so I was making pictures tinier so I could put 'em on my blog, and thinking about all of these fun people I know and have met here and it's not that I'm in a particularly good mood (actually I'm really tired and my cheeks and forehead are achy, which means it's time for more tylenol) but it was a nice realization.

and that, my friends, is how to write a run-on sentence. :)

seriously though, I had a really good weekend. friday night was one of those nights where you have so much fun at a friend's place that you end up not realizing how late you were there. we had uno's pizza, lots of beer and shots of some kind of honey jagermeister stuff. we played pool at luke and julie's apt and even made a new "friend" fred, who was SUPER high when he wandered into the pool room and was anxiously awaiting 420. yes, really. he was quite disappointed to find out that we were only drinking beer.

yeesh.

so after lots of sleep matt and I made some breakfast, and then I went straight back to sleep! I slept for as long as I possibly could--and even opted not to go pick up my camera because it meant I could sleep another half hour. yikes.

then it was off to porter's for jamie's birthday--there were LOTS of people there. specifically lots of girls with cameras! ha! I can guarantee you I took fewer pictures than the average person. maybe half or a third as many? no kidding.

we got to sit in the VIP section of haven, and I actually had fun--for the first time ever at that bar. I used to HATE it. so anyway, here are the pics.

one of my favorites is this one--everyone in this one but the birthday girl is a KD. how fun is that? the one on the top right I just met this weekend! I'm such a little recruiter too, bet you'll see her at a future alumnae association event...

and then yesterday.
went to church, got supplies for the superbowl (to make puppy chow. mmmmm puppy chow.) and then took a nap for as long as I possibly could until youth and then the actual superbowl. I am so surprised that the giants won! but I have to say it was a good game. and that I wore green. y'know, for the packers.

tonight I will *finally* pic up my camera, and on saturday afternoon I'll be doing my first photo shoot with it, taking pictures of dave and nicole and their little baby luke! I am REALLY excited!

if you're the praying type...

or the warm-fuzzy sending type,
or the thinking good thoughts type,
or the positive vibe directing type,
or any other kind of applicable type,

...I'd like to make a request. my friends, the d*dds, are going through a miserable time. shannon, the wife (the husband tom is my former coworker) has been battling cancer. she had stage 4 melanoma about twelve years ago, but it was removed from her back and she was given the all clear. then last august they found more melanoma in her lung, and though they removed it successfully, they then found lesions in her brain. and despite two types of treatment, she now has bigger brain lesions with swelling and multiple spots in her abdomen, and today the doctor said that in six months she expects it to be a hospice situation.

they are incredible, positive and loving people and they have two precious boys that they've adopted in the past few years. and shannon has already had more than her fair share of medical battles--before this latest one started.

I know that we can't make things happen, but I also know it doesn't hurt to ask. At the very least, to ask for comfort and strength as they continue to wage this war. Their next stop is a hospital in NYC, where she will try a non-FDA-approved drug that is approved for "compassionate use."

i'm not into "it'll do for now."

hellllloooooooooooo, february!

so, as it was last year, it is a cold icky day. only, um, no snow. but I did get to have soup in a bowl for lunch, and I like that part. and since I'm trying this new don't-hate-on-february thing I will instead say "thank goodness it is friday."

also, I am a TERRIBLE Lost fan. I didn't watch it last night. I meant to reserve that evening, but instead I hung out with my friend jamie, at takeout sushi, drank champagne and watched Rent. And sang along. :)

and since Matt is going to attempt to play catch-up with Lost I am going to be a little behind at the beginning. I told him I HAD to watch the season premiere, and I'll totally be doing that tomorrow, but I may try to hold off so he can get up to where I am. I don't know how well this will work. The other alternative is for me to watch all the episodes with him as they come out.

I do believe I've found a coffee table I want to purchase. the ones I almost bought last week got sold, but there were other options online and I liked this one more. I need to make sure I won't be disappointed that I don't have a bottom shelf on the coffee table, but overall, I think it'll be quite nice, quite nice. we shall see.

and a little title-related-tangent, because I said it to a friend of mine today. I'm not an "it'll do for now" kind of person. I mean, I am occasionally, I guess, but in general, I'm not. case in point: coffee table, camera, green winter jacket, paintings, photographs, nasal saline, etc. he pointed out to me that he feels his time is worth enough that he's not going to spend lots of it thinking things out like I do--that he thinks a little and then goes for it. I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist.

and it's not that he's wrong--not only is he very right for him, but I also totally see his point. It's just that I wasn't raised like that. One of the bazillion lessons I learned growing up is you want the best deal for your money, and you better be happy with what you're getting. and you need to not make decisions (especially ones that have some type of impact on your day-to-day life) all willy nilly.

I admit that sometimes I do that. I'll up and decide to do this or that--but most of the time I've thought about it many a time before, and the only "up and decide" part is the actual decision to take action. Like my first tattoo, which I'd debated a million times and then just decided to do one day (much to the chagrin of my mother and then-fiance).

anyway, I was thinking of that.

and, um, here's the finished puzzle, finally, and some gratuitous pictures of my cats. because, well, they may seem unnecessary to you, but I thought gobi and hazel were pretty damn cute, and I couldn't resist. and for the record, NO, I didn't put gobi in a plastic bag, he LOVES them and it's darn near impossible to keep him away.

and the video? it's just for fun. man oh man, I love my kitty cats.