Oh yes, it's happening

My new house. Booyah! Though the essence of the 925 Girls lives on, three of us will now be known as the 107 Girls. I'm excited about it. I mean, how cute is this house?! Plus, it has a front porch swing and...my favorite feature...a doorbell that you crank to ring. That's right! You turn the key-like apparatus and it literally rings a bell. No electricity needed. Ah, sweet charm and quaint-ness. Well, it's all cute now when it's empty and I haven't had to lift anything heavy. Just wait till tomorrow when I'm practically dead from the exhaustion of moving. Or maybe wait until tonight when I'm cleaning the place and all its crevices before the big move. Okay, don't wait till tonight. Tonight's going to be awesome. I'm going to be sliding on the hard wood floors in my socks, jamming out to my favorite tunes and cleaning, fun-style. Call me weird (not out loud, thankyouverymuch), but I'm looking forward to it a wee bit. As for the move and life in the new digs...I'll let you know. Mmmkay bye!

Sightseeing Without A Camera

I know, I know. What's the point of blogging about things you've seen if you can't prove you've seen them? Well I'll tell you. The point is...I'm bored and I feel like blogging, K? Mmmkay.

As you might recall from previous posts, my roommates and I are all on a frantic search for new digs. We have to vacate the sweet 925 premises as soon as possible, so we've been viewing houses and emailing potential landlords and sending email after email to each other in attempts to get this thing settled! Ack! Well, we think we've found a place, but I'm not going to blog on that until it actually happens and the ink on the lease is dry. Until then, let me tell you why the stress of finding new housing led to an incredibly relaxing and wonderful weekend.

You know when you're super stressed and you just can't handle it so you decide you need to spend money to make the pain go away? No? That doesn't happen to you? I don't believe you. It happened to me on Saturday. I was talking with Roomie K about housing and we went from hero to zero in T minus 2. In other words, we got all frustrated and overwhelmed as we tried to figure out the housing crisis (not the nation's housing crisis, thank you). "I think we need pedicures," says K, "You want to?" Who am I to slap a good-suggestion-horse on the flanks? (???!!!) Of course I said yes! So we two-stepped on down to Modern Day Spa and got ourselves some pedicures. And they weren't just a buff and polish situation, either. No, no - we got the foot and calf massage and the hot water and all the buffing and then some more massaging and all that awesomeness. And then they painted my nails a delightful color that I like to call "Cranberries and Creme." I'm sure O.P.I. likes to call it something else, but I didn't take the opportunity to look at the label. Creativity wins.

After the pedicure we got a bite and walked home in the rain. Yes, the rain that suddenly fled the sky on some secret mission to pelt Arlington to death. Soaked. So that was relaxing weekend activity number one. Now are you ready to hear how I not only pampered myself but did something awesome for my body as well? Well we'll get to that in a second. Let's start with Sunday morning.

Sunday dawned clear, crisp and bright. I went to church, watched the tots for a bit during children's church (they were crazy!) and came home. Wait, back up. How about them tots? The toddlers? As we were understaffed yesterday, I had about 8 kids to myself and a few of them were NOT happy. I was running around like a fiend, some child on hip at all times, singing songs and making finger puppets sing opera-style to get these kids to dry their eyes and play like civilized 1, 2 and 3-year olds. Not the easiest job in the world. Those kids never cease to find great entertainment in pulling my hair and hitting me in the face with Brio tracks and trying to shove finger puppets in my mouth. Oh, they also like to turn on the TV and scream when they hear the loud static it makes when it doesn't get a signal. Ack! Alright, I love the little boogers. They're all cute and stuff and they generally seem to like me so I can't complain.

Anyway, on to the part where I impress you. Yesterday was the Marine Corps Marathon.

................Okay, I can't do it. I was trying to find a way to make it seem like I ran the marathon and stuff, but I have no words to even begin to craft that kind of falsehood. Suffice it to say that Roomie K and I went running yesterday and passed a LOT of people who in fact HAD run the Marine Corps Marathon and they all looked near death and we applauded them as well we could whilst jogging past them at a brisk pace. Yes, we jogged (on our 2 mile run) past people who'd just run 26 miles. How's that for feeling like a dud? Blerg. I mean, most of the people I saw were at least 20 years older than me. Maybe that's what inspired me to not be my usual wimp self and keep up the pace for as long as I did. And I'll tell you, I impressed myself by keeping up with Roomie K. I'm usually the one who says, "Let's walk now....and again.....and again." But yesterday was different. I wanted to keep going! Hey, how can you not get a little extra running energy when it's an absolutely gorgeous day and you're running over the Potomac and by the Lincoln Memorial, up the reflecting pool and to the WWII Memorial? I mean, right?! Then when you reach the WWII Memorial maybe you run up to the Virginia post and high five it. That's right, you don't high five your running buddy, you high five the memorial. But no, I won't be doing that again soon. I'm so sore today I can barely function. Cut to me never, ever running a marathon. Mind over matter, you say? Yeah well my mind says heck-to-the-no and I'm sticking to it.

Okay, now we're finally to the sightseeing part of the weekend. After our run which, to be honest, afforded some good monument/memorial sightseeing, Roomie K suggested we stop by the Pentagon to see the Pentagon Memorial for 9/11. That was amazing. Sobering, for sure. I didn't have my camera and I was kicking myself. (Not literally cause that would be weird.) I metaphorically kicked myself again when we decided to stop at the Air Force Memorial because that is probably my favorite (or second favorite - I can't decide) memorial in the city. The three spires that represent planes speeding off in flight - pure awesome. I kept making plane noises with my mouth and shooting my cupped palm off in the air to trace the spires. Shoooooop! Seriously, did that probably ten times. I was like a little kid in that place. A stinky little kid, mind you, because this was right after a run. Ew. I again wished for my camera but my "Accio camera" spell wasn't working properly. Gotta work on the swish and flick motion, I guess. (If you're confused, read Harry Potter #4.)

So there. It's boring, but it's my life. Actually, it's not boring. It was a really fun and eventful weekend. Now my task is to pack up my house ASAP and get things ready to move this weekend...if all goes well. Providing I get a moment to catch my breath you'll be hearing from me next week about the move and maybe I'll have some pictures of the new place.

Maybe.

Update-A-Matey!

I'm back. Phew! That's right, after what seems like the longest hiatus ever (though I know it's not) I am back in business. Blogville, Blogchestertonfieldville. And I'm the mayor. Or I'm on the city council or something. Whatever.

Anyway, there are a few updates I care to share. These are some big ones so brace yourselves. My boss quit. Yes, I told you that she would be quitting, and she did. Wait - I should reread the last post - maybe she'd already quit when I wrote last. It doesn't matter, I've now officially had two weeks of work without my boss and it's been insane. I've recited Philippians 4:13 so much to myself I might as well get it tattooed on my forehead. As I mentioned previously, our fiscal year ended September 30th. This means that all the museums are sending us thick packets of gift forms to record in our system, more than we get at any other time of year besides December 30th. Marlene and I have done pretty well holding down the fort, I think, but it's hard not having my boss around to bounce ideas off of or go to with pesky questions that need answers immediately. Now I have to go to her boss and he doesn't always know what I'm talking about. All in all, it could be worse. I haven't drowned in all the paperwork yet, and the only impending moment of possible doom I can see on the horizon will be when we do fiscal year reports. Don't worry, the old boss is coming back around to guide us through the process. But what about next month when she's not around? It takes forever to hire people around here so I'm sure my co-worker and I are going to have to do reports by our lonesome at least until the new year. At least. Yipes.

Big change #2: 925 house will be disbanded by the end of the year. Yes, my landlord and the building contractor worked out a deal. He got the permit from the county to build two houses on the 925 lot and he will be purchasing the house from my landlord. For those of you who never got to see the house, I couldn't be more sorry. It was magnificent. The last person who will ever get to see 925 intact will be my friend Michelle who's coming to visit this weekend. The rest of you will just have to look at pictures from my previous posts and mourn the loss of the thing you didn't know was as awesome as it was. That's right, MOURN. I sure am. So now comes the big annoying part of it all - moving. Gotta find a new place. Gotta move into that new place. Have 90 days to do so. And oh my goodness do I HATE moving. Yes, I used the "H" word and I meant it! But whatever, I'm sure we'll find a great new place to live and we'll make it just as much a home as 925 ever was. Oh horse apples...I forgot about the basement and how much junk is down there that doesn't belong to a single roommate here. All the old ones moved out and left their stuff. Yard sale!

So those are the two big things going on. I'd been planning on doing some job searching and option-looking, but that's all on the back burner right now. Things just got a little too crazy for me to focus on anything else. Except, of course, Fall.

That's right, I focus on Fall because it's awesome. It's finally sweater weather around here and at night we have the heat on. Granted, it's on pretty low but it's still on. I bought a pair of house shoes this weekend. And they're amazing. So, how have I celebrated Fall?

First off, I had a three day weekend this past weekend. Miraculous. Turns out Columbus was kind of a meany and not very culturally sensitive, but at least I got a day off because of him. Thanks, man. Remember the roommate I replaced? Kate? Well she was in town this weekend. And when company arrives, you gotta pull out the big guns. So the 925 girls flew into a Fall frenzy. On Saturday morning we all breakfasted together and then drove off to Breaux Vineyards in Somewhere, VA. Loudon County, I think. LoCo. Anyway, we tasted some wines, feasted on gumbo, baguettes and cheese, and listened to a homegrown band play songs everyone but me seemed to know. It was fun. Then we zipped over to Crooked Run Orchards for some good old fashioned apple and pumpkin picking. We saw people making apple butter, we tried our hand at "Guess-That-Carcass" and I got nothing right. We climbed apple trees and ate the fruit right off the tree. I constantly wanted to burst out into "People Will Say We're In Love" from Oklahoma, but I resisted. That would have been weird.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. We're trying to figure out what to do with the ungodly amount of apples we have in our kitchen. Kristen and I made a crostata on Sunday, but that only got rid of four apples. I probably need to make about 3 apple pies and that will take care of it. But that sounds like something I really don't want to do. Too bad I don't have a juicer. This is the one time of year I'd use it. Anyway, I'll let you know what other apple thingies I make - or not - before the apples rot.

So there's that! Oh, yesterday I went to the Foundation Center offices downtown to take a "Proposal Writing Basics" class. It was informative. I learned what constitutes a grant proposal and how much time and effort it takes to write one. Juuuuuuuust great. Maybe someday I'll get the chance. Oh, you want to know how I've lived here for about a year and a half and don't know this city at all? I was supposed to exit at Farragut West yesterday, NOT Foggy Bottom. The metro stops are right next to each other, and I was to take the Farragut West stop. Right? Then why did I get off at Foggy Bottom? And why when I got to the street level did I wonder why I was at 23rd and Eye St. instead of 17th and Eye St.? Yup, I walked the blocks to 17th and Eye so that I could slip into the back row of the class about 5 minutes late. Horse apples!!!

Anyway, here's what's to come: my roommates and me looking for a new house, my boss-bosses hopefully hiring me a new boss (no, I do not want that job, ever), me convincing myself that it's not too cold to walk the 5 minutes to the gym so I can keep in shape as it gets colder and colder every day. I just got a flyer from the Washington Ballet letting me know I could get half price Nutcracker tickets right now. So, naturally, I'm already excited about the holidays. But for now, I'm enjoying Fall. And that's your update, matey!