DC Saturday

Another post! Who would have thought I could do two in one month, much less a week? Don't answer that, please. Anyway, I often feel as though I don't take advantage of the city enough. There are so many things to do here. When do I have time to do them? On the weekends, naturally. What do I do on the weekends? Relax and recover from a week of work by hanging out around the house and sleeping and eating and reading and watching movies - my favorite past times. I always think I should do something DC-ish, but it's just so much effort to do it...at least in my mind.

This past Saturday was different. Yesterday turned into the most DC Saturday I might have had yet. It was all spontaneous. At 7pm on Friday night, I didn't think I'd be doing anything Saturday but reading and catching up on some TV I missed during the week. How wrong I was. Here's how things went...

Friday night. 8pm ish. "Okay, Kristen, I'll run the 5K with you tomorrow morning," I hear myself say. "Are you sure?!" she asks with trepidation, "it's okay if you don't want to." "No," I declare, "I should do it. What time are we leaving?" "I shouldn't tell you," she says, "because then you won't want to go...six fifteen." "6:15!!!" I cry. "No, fifty, five-oh," she says. "Fine, I"ll do it," I say. WHAAAAAAAT????? Who am I?! Seriously, what? I've never run a 5K before. I don't like waking up early. I REALLY don't like waking up early on Saturdays that are supposed to be sunny and breezy and 79 degrees and perfect. Um...

Yeaaaahhhh, about that. I walked less than half a mile of the 3.2 we had to go. That is to say, I ran most of the way. Impressed? I sure was. I had a time of 36:18...but only because Kristen let me run ahead of her at the finish line.

So that was to be the end. I was tired, I was hungry, I really really needed to shower. In the car on the ride home Kristen and Cory (pictured) started talking about the Nats game that afternoon. "Do you want to go?" they ask me. "Sure, I've never been to a Nats game before," I cry. WHAAAAT??? That means I'm doing something else on a Saturday. Who am I? (FYI, the Nats are the Washington Nationals - our MLB team.) Kristen and I get home about 10am to shower and change for the early afternoon baseball game and she listens to a message from her mom. Her mom says something along the lines of - hey I have 2 extra tickets to the White House Rose Garden tour at 10:30, you want to go? After a one minute discussion about whether it's worth it not to shower and just jet out the door again, we decide to go. Yes, we went. No shower, just a quick change, a readjustment of the pig tails, a spritz of perfume, dab of powder and some lip gloss, and we're speeding off to the city to make the tour time. We find a parking spot about a mile away from where we're supposed to be and it's about 10:15am. So guess what? We have to RUN to get there on time. I just ran a 5K!!!! And yes, I'm running again. Totally worth it, though. I mean, how could I pass up this opportunity to see things like this close up...


Glorious! I never thought I'd get so close to the White House. It was beautiful, PLUS the Marine Corps Band played the theme song from The Incredibles. And Kristen's mom and I played the game find-the-cutest-secret-service-guy-in-the-place. I won.

So after the tour it was time to head to the Nats Stadium at the Navy Yard for the game against the Florida Marlins. I was really excited. Though I couldn't care less about baseball when it's on TV, I do love the atmosphere of a game. I can enjoy just about any sport when I see it live, and this game was no exception. I got a chili dog from Hard Times (delish), walked up to the nose bleed section with the gang and enjoyed the first few innings. It was so much fun. (One thing I don't have is a picture of my farmer's tan to show you how much sun I got, but you can imagine. It was a perfect day, as I mentioned previously, but it would have been an even better day if I had been wearing a tank top instead of a cap-sleeved shirt. Blimey.)

Now, Kristen's mom loves the Nats and goes to lots of games. She's also good about working her way down into the good seats as the game progresses. We let her work her magic with one of the section ticket-checker men, and we ended up sitting about 60 or so feet behind first base. Sweet! Best baseball game I've been to by far. I'm soooo going back.

You might assume that I'd had quite a full day at that point and went home to (finally!) shower and rest. Nope, wrong again, lads and lassies. My final outing was to the National Mall, where "America Sings" was taking place. What's that? I don't know. All I do know is that high school choirs from across the country were on the Mall, on Earth Day, singing. I went because some good family friend of the Ryans, the Hamiltons, were representing Jenks High School at America Sings. So I saw the JHS choirs rock out like it was their job, and got to hang out with some great people on the most perfect evening this town has seen all year. By that time, of course, I was sweaty, smelly, tired, sore and very dusty from all the dirt on the Mall. I bid my farewells to the Hamiltons and got on the Metro to go back home.

I wrapped up my day in style. I got clean, ate some delicious salmon and asparagus my roommate and her boyfriend had prepared on our brand new grill, ate outside with them and another roommate to the sounds of a beautiful spring night and the light of a dozen candles. It was fabulous.

I can't believe that I did so much in one day. I did four things I'd never done before on the most gorgeous day ever and it couldn't have been more perfect. (Well, besides the not showering bit.) What fun! I'm incredibly sore now from the whole running ridiculousness, but I'm quite proud of myself for actually running a race. Never thought that would happen. I have some great shots from the White House lawn tour, some great memories from cheering on the Nats, and good conversations with friends I didn't even realize I'd get to see. Good stuff. Now don't go getting any hair brained ideas, alright? I'm not doing this again next week. Rest assured, next weekend I will be sleeping till noon, waking up for some brunch, getting back in bed and staying in my pj's all day so I can reread some Harry Potter. That's how I roll.

April Showers

It has been raining and a half around this gin joint. Whew! It is a soggy mess out there and I don't enjoy walking in it. But you know what they say, April showers...make you want to sleep all day long and reread Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and drink hot tea and maybe watch a movie or two and yes definitely be in your pajamas all day because it's just pointless to get dressed for an awesome day of laying around. Yes, they say that. Okay, I suppose "May flowers" are bandied about somewhere in that whole mix. I'll tell you what, though, April has some pretty flowers of its own. For those of you not in DC the past couple weeks, you missed the Cherry Blossom Festival and the budding of all things green. The scraggly brown winter look is gone, and all living things are parading in their spring finest. Flower fashion show, if you will.

I actually have spent half the month thus far away from DC. In fact, many of you might have seen me. That is, if you live in or around the Tulsa, OK area or the Providence, RI area. Anyone? Well, here's how things went down...

On April Fool's Day I left work early to catch the train from Union Station to BWI airport. I was flying home to hang out with the 'rents and catch Barron's big Senior piano recital. May I just say that I felt the tension leave my body in waves as I flew from the East to the Midwest? Kid you not, it is amazing how culturally different the sections of our country can be. Don't get me wrong, I love DC. Okay, maybe I just like it as more than a friend at this point, but I do feel strongly about it. It's great. However, I have definitely felt myself closing in my personal bubble and losing my patience piece by piece the longer I'm here. I haven't lost my humanity all together (let's hope) but that open friendly thing that I possessed when I moved here has morphed a little bit into a more reserved could-be-friendly-if-you-seem-nice-but-don't-act-like-a-tourist-or-I'll-judge-you thing. Anyway, on the way to Tulsa I had a layover in some Midwest city, maybe St. Louis. As soon as I stepped off the plane in that airport I could feel the difference. Little girls were hugging soldiers they didn't know and "God Bless"-ing them and taking pictures with them. People were just talking to each other and laughing - they didn't even know each other! In DC almost everyone my age has his/her iPod ear buds clamped tightly in and his/her eyes cast down in public. At that airport people were just smiling cause it felt good. YES! That's what I like, people! I was like that outsider that just smiles at the people talking and stands just a little out of the circle but almost pretends she's part of it. My laughing airport comrades didn't mind. They smiled at me and continued talking about fighter jets with other smiling strangers. It was beautiful.

And Tulsa, oh Tulsa. My home sweet home. How I missed thee. It's so great to be home, but also so frustrating. I want to give everyone I know serious quality time when I'm home for a visit, but I never have time to do and see as much as I want. I suppose I'd just have to move back home to make that happen. (I can hear a few prayers going up to God for just that right now, MOM. hee hee). Anyhoozen, thanks to Barron's recital, I got an even more inclusive Tulsa reunion than I'd imagined possible. And seeing the family wasn't too shabby, either. Good people.
(Disclaimer: I didn't get pictures with all my dear friends and family, which I deeply regret.) So Barron rocked the house on Saturday night. Well, he also rocked it on Friday afternoon. Mom and I headed up to OU for the awards ceremony for special smarties, and Barron cleaned house a little bit. However, I will not say more because as his sister I must keep him humble at all times (clapclapclapclapclap!). It's always fun to see people you care about excel at something they care about, and everyone at the recital was proud of that lil' tyke. Good job, B!

So, next on the list of Gillian's Travels was Providence, RI. I went there on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution to learn all I could about gift processing and keeping alumni and donor records. Well, I'd never been to a conference before and I generally enjoyed this one. First off, I knew a lot more about the subject that I thought I would. I've only been in gift processing full time for less than a year (10ish months), so I thought I'd be less educated than other attendees on the rules and best practices for doing gift entry and keeping donor records. Luckily, I have a boss who's taught me so much about the subject that I felt like I knew more than a lot of my peers, some of whom have been doing this longer than I have. It's nothing juicy - IRS regulations and standards for gift acceptance and crediting donors, etc. - but it's all very important to the job of a gift processor. It was great to meet other people in my profession and hear the triumphs and struggles they had at their jobs. I'm not much for networking. That is, I haven't done it very much in my career...yet. However, it was pretty easy to talk with others who knew what I was going through and had a lot of the same issues I do at my job. Plus, it gave me some ideas about what I want my job to look like in the future. Plus-plus, let's face it, I had a per diem from work so I enjoyed some good meals, saw a wee bit of the city on my walks to the downtown mall :), had a sweet hotel room with a glorious TV set and the conference was in the same hotel where I was staying. I couldn't ask for more.

So now I'm back home. DC home, that is. Work is keeping me busy, I'm done with orchestra for the remainder of the season, I'm doing pilates once a week and it's kicking me bum, matey. And Friday my roommates and I are having a Spring Cleaning Party plus pizza and a movie. Who can resist that! Oh, Easter! Easter was a delight. Church was great, I helped out with the little kiddies (some of whom tried my patience quite frequently) and I ate Easter dinner with my roommate's family and some of their close friends. All in all, lovely.

It's funny - it seems like just yesterday I was so excited that spring was here and now it feels like summer is rushing toward me at a furious pace. I know there's still much of spring left to go, but how did it get to be mid-April already??? Where did the time go?! Oh well, let it fly. I laugh in it's face and continue to wish for long naps and Saturdays.

Membership

God really has a sense of humor. Or maybe a great I-told-you-so attitude. For example, my life. As you may or may not know I really like living here in DC. Okay, okay, the DC metro area - I do technically reside in Virginia. Despite the fact that everyone and their dog is always exercising and tourists crowd my metro stops, I'm a big fan of this city. However, this winter I did go through the proverbial "winter slump" wherein I questioned my compatibility with Washington, District of Columbia. You know, the age old "Am I in the right place" and "Did I miss something along the way" questions we often ask ourselves. It was a downer. So, naturally, I start asking God these questions. I'm all, "Sup, God, sup?" He's like, "Wait for it!" I'm all, "Riiiiiight, how about now?" He's like, "Wait forrrrr iiiitttt!" And BAM! Roasted.

So you know how to get over feeling unsettled? Join things. That's right. I started off easy, I joined (in conjunction with a couple roommates) a wine club. Okay, okay, enough with the gasps of shock. I'm not a wino. I took a Tuesday off work a week ago and these roomies and I tootled through the Virginia countryside to a local winery. The owner is a friend of one of my roommates, so we thought we'd say hi, taste a bit o' wine, and tootle back home for an evening of relaxation and Dancing With The Stars. Au contraire, ma cherie! We ended up joining the club. I stood there, swirling this glass of wine, smelling it, taking teeny sips - you know, basically pretending that I knew what I was doing - and asking question about the "finish" and stuff. Gag. Like I know anything about it. Oh well, I'm now a wine club member. I don't even know what that means. As you'll see in the rest of my tales, membership just happens to me. It's not something I plan on, generally. It's an accident.

Okay, part deux, and this is going in chronological order. I joined a church. Now, let me make this clear, this was not an accidental membership situation...though that would be funny. Hahaha, mental picture. Anyhoo! I've been visiting the DC Metro Church since the new year began, and have enjoyed it very much. I joined a small group almost right away - good peeps. I go on Sundays - learning a lot. However, that was about the extent of my involvement. I kept thinking about joining or serving or something, but never got around to doing it. THEN on more than one Sunday the pastor mentioned membership. He's all, most of us are only in DC for a short period of time or at least don't know how long we'll be here but it's important to get planted in a community blah blah blah. This was my exact though, "Grrrrr." So I started really thinking about joining, what with the conviction and all. The church has one membership reception a month and I thought to myself, Why don't I just skip the March one cause I'm so very busy (not!) and wait another month so I can really evaluate things blahdebleepbloopers. THEN I'm sitting at small group the night before the March membership reception. OF COURSE my leaders are all, "Pastor David wanted us to remind you all about the membership reception and that if you're at all thinking of joining the church you can go just to get information" blah blah blah. Oh great. I said, "Oh, I didn't R.S.V.P. yesterday by the deadline, so I don't think I can go." OF COURSE they say, "Oh that's no problem, we can just give your name to them." Thwarted at every turn! Apparently God isn't intimidated by my stubbornness. I should remember that. Okay, so I went. A couple people I knew were there, and I met a couple new people. I thought, I'll just get some information on this and give it some good month-long prayer time. Yeah, right. I'm a member now. Oh, and I'm also a Children's Ministry volunteer. Unh huh, that's right. (Had my first Sunday with the kids three days ago. They pretended they were baby tigers. I kept locking them in their "safari cage". It was great.)

Part three, and this you're going to laugh at. (Yes, I ended that sentence in a prepozish. Sue me.) Hahaha, mental picture. Okay, last Friday night my roommate Kristen and I were just casually strolling through our neighborhood, headed to this new French eatery we wanted to try. Naturally, on the way we pass the gym. "I think I'm going to have to join the gym," says Kristen, "but probably not till the end of the summer." "Yes," I agree, "I've been thinking about it for a couple months now and I really need to join, too." Innocent chatter, of course. "Do you want to stop in real quick and just see what kind of membership specials they have," she inquires. "Um, sure yeah," I say, quite casually. We walk in and approach the desk. "We don't want to join today," Kristen tells the employee quite firmly, "we just want to get some information." Half an hour later, we're members. Um, how did that happen? Don't worry, we talked them into giving us a super deal. But, um, again...how did that happen? Sheesh!

So there you have it. These things happen in threes, apparently. Don't ever say, "Sup, God, sup?" Cause he'll say, "Bam! Roasted!" I'm not gonna lie, I'm enjoying the fruits (literally and figuratively) of my DC-plantedness. I'm sore from my first couple forays to the gym (I suppose that means progress...it better cause that pilates class schooled me), I'm getting more involved in church, and there are some very nice wines to be had from Rappahannock Cellars. Anyway, I guess that means I'm making this my home for real, getting all plugged in and stuff. Who knows how long I'll be hear, could be another year or 5 or 20. But whilst I'm here, I feel good about it. Spring.

P.S. Pretty soon you'll be seeing some pictures again on posts. I haven't taken any pictures lately, but there will be some prime opportunities soon. It's spring, first of all, and the cherry blossoms are out here. Also, I'll be attending my brother's senior piano recital this Saturday and what's more picture-worthy than that???