The Great Move

If I ever thought I was somehow shielded from the "real world" at any point, now I know I'm deep in it. You never feel so adult as when you pack up your things to move semi-cross country, dragging your worldly possessions (including a cantankerous old Sentra) across states to start, or re-start, your life back home. Granted, this is a new chapter for me, but in a way it almost feels like an old chapter. At least, it's a familiar one. That's why I'm back. I had a taste for Tulsa that wasn't squelched for long by the fine frenzy of Washington, DC. However, I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning...

A few things have happened since you heard from me last. For one, Christmas 2010 happened, and Christmas 2010 changed everything. As many of you know, I chose to go home early to be with the family after my grandmother's passing. Due to this unexpected turn of events, I rearranged my social schedule for the week so I could meet with a couple former coworkers from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa. We met for coffee the night I flew into Tulsa. Afterward I came home and said to my Mom, "How do you feel about me moving back to Tulsa in a month?" I wasn't just saying this for funzies. I was coming back in a month.

Ever since late October I had been feeling a pull from middle America. These twinges were no stranger to me, so I thought I could ignore it, see my family for Christmas, and get back to life in DC, no problem. Not so much. Okay, so in late November I decided that when I went back for Christmas I'd casually mention to my former co-workers that I was ready to move back and did they know of any jobs in the area? By the time I'd re-booked my ticket home in light of the family stuff, I was more than ready to come home, but I thought it might take a bit. I mean, I was secretly hoping it wouldn't take months, but I knew that my time table wasn't necessarily the right one, and I was willing to negotiate. Turns out I didn't need to. I came home that first night in town with plans to move back by the end of January.

WHAM! Okay, I know I said that I wanted it to happen quickly but how was I going to handle it happening so quickly??? First, I needed to get an official job offer so I could give notice at work. Check. I also really needed to find a house replacement so I wouldn't leave my roommates high and dry. Easy, turns out. I sent one email to a friend and within an hour that was settled. Then...I just needed to pack, get my brother a ticket to DC so he could drive back with me and reserve a U-Haul and tow dolly to transport all my stuff. Check, check, check, etc. Things happened so quickly and relatively effortlessly that there was no way I could attribute my success to anyone other than God.

Granted, in the mean time I had fun. I enjoyed "last rites" with my friends, coworkers and roommates, traveled to Austin for the christening of my goddaughter (picture!), and was showered with affection by the people I was leaving. Definitely didn't deserve all that.

So on my birthday, January 23rd, my roommates and I loaded up my U-Haul and the next day my brother and I drove back to Tulsa. Weird. You know how things can happen so quickly that they don't feel real? That's kinda how things were for me. Even now, 9 days into being home, I still feel a little like I'm just here visiting. I'm eating giant portions of food cause that's what I do when I come home for vacation. I'm reading lots of Harry Potter cause that's what I do when I come home for vacation. Except, I'm also calling friends and making plans for future engagements that still involve Tulsa. I get emails from my new work place to which I respond...cause I'm staying here. I'm looking into gym memberships. Just weird.

Weird, that is, but good. I am so excited to be back. I'm back within driving distance of so many people I love. I'm back to a pace of life and work that I love. I'm back where my friends are having kids - I get to be an "Auntie"! But of course, my departure from DC was bittersweet. There are many things about that city I'll miss. I'm going to list them here because this, my friends, shall be my homage to DC. It's going to be about things because the people I miss were told about it separately. But the city itself, it's unlike any other place I've lived.

I'm going to miss...

• walking into the Natural History Museum before it opens in the morning, strolling past the giant elephant as the cleaning crew washes the floor and the security guards check the doors before opening to the masses
• leaving the Castle and looking to my right - the Capitol - and to my left - the Washington Monument
• running around the Tidal Basin and waving hi to Jefferson's monument as I pass
• spending July 4th on the Mall or at the Iwo Jima memorial, watching the greatest fireworks display you've ever seen
• blueberry buckwheat pancakes at Eastern Market
• driving along the George Washington Memorial Parkway at night when the monuments are all lit up and glowing
• stepping on the Metro and hearing three different languages being spoken on one car
• Teaism
• touring the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Art, where some of my favorite paintings live
• watching movies set in DC and saying, "I know where that is! I live there!"

I realize this post is a bit disjointed and I apologize. I don't really know how to express myself honestly when it comes to this Great Move. I've been living in Adult Land and continuously riding its Roller Coaster of Emotions this last month and a half. I have no idea what this chapter will bring. I don't know how long it will last or what event will catapult me into the next one. I do know that I'm glad to be home. I'm excited to rebuild relationships that I've neglected for the past four and a half years. I look forward to reacquainting myself with my city. And I'd thought I'd be done with this blog when I moved. My life in the big city is done, so what do I have to write about? We'll see. Vamos a ver. All I know is I'm still in the real world and that's not ending any time soon. Why wouldn't I chronicle my wacky, amusing (I hope) and sometimes painful adjustments to life in T-town. I'm still an adult, right? Ugh, right.

"Hands On The Wall" Project

I had quite a busy weekend. This should come as a shock to those of you who know me well. A busy weekend for me generally means getting out of the house once to go to church or the store or something. It generally does NOT mean trying new restaurants, checking out the night life in my neighborhood, touring Virginia wine country, traipsing around the Tidal Basin with my camera for a house project or taking a rug someone threw out on the street. However, this past weekend I did all those things. Who am I?

This past week was Restaurant Week in DC. Participating eateries establish prix fix menus and the foodies and non-foodies alike flock to these places to sample the city's finest. Friday night, a couple roommates and I headed to Dupont Circle to try out Firefly. Deeeelish! I had some superb heirloom tomato gazpacho, a delectable wild mushroom and summer squash casserole, and finished the meal with a perfectly sweet apple brown betty. After eating such a good dinner we girls couldn't really sit on our laurels and waste a happy stomach, so we went back to Clarendon and made friends with strangers who'd also decided to take advantage of Arlington nightlife. I have to tell you, going out after 10pm makes for some fascinating people watching. Plus, I'm getting too old for this stuff. I can't remember the last time I stayed out till 4 in the morning. I'm not 17 anymore. (Disclaimer - that was a joke. I meant to say I'm not 13 anymore.)

Saturday. We got a late start. Surprised? Don't give me any cheek. Well, we did get a late start on our drive out to Leesburg, VA, to visit some Loudon County (Lo.Co.) wineries. Our first stop was to my roomie B's mother ship, her childhood home. We met her mom, got some fresh veggies and zucchini bread to take home and headed off to Lo.Co. First stop, Fabbioli Cellars. Second stop, Lost Creek Winery. Last stop, Tarara Winery. Lost Creek was my least favorite, just so you know. The other two were great and I recommend them to a friend. Anyway, on to the most important stuff - the post winery Leesburg/Lucketts tour. Immediately after we left Tarara we stopped by a cluster of antiques stores that were just to die for. The furniture was unique, the shabby chic was fabulous and the prices were not astronomical. So I totally splurged and bought this wooden frame. You antiquers know what I'm talking about - you don't NEED it but you'll most definitely find a good use for it in your house...or in the future house of your dreams. Who needs a reason to buy a good antique? Am I right or am I right?

Anyway, we finished up the Lo.Co. tour with a stop at Farmer Johns, a local farmers market with the best fruit, vegetables and homemade sauces around. Farmer John was there and we chatted him up for a while. We got back to Clarendon about 7 or 7:30 and decided the night was still young. Sure, we were exhausted but we'd already had a weekend's worth of spontaneous adventures and that just didn't happen to be enough. We were determined to have a good meal, go pick up a movie and spend the rest of the night lying around. Um...yeahhhhh.

We had dinner, alright. But then as we were walking to the Hollywood Video in Courthouse we passed Velocity Five, this "sports restaurant" with an outdoor dining area. We had already walked past the entrance when we heard the strains of a singer/songwriter strumming away on his guitar. We walked a little closer. Yup, definitely good. Okay, we walked back to the entrance and went inside for a little listen. This guy was good. Jason Masi is his name. We sang along to "Sweet Caroline (Bum Bum Bummmm!!)", chatted him up after his set and finally went to the video store to pick up the classic Cher movie Mermaids. But our night didn't end there. As we were walking back we passed by this Irish pub that usually has a good guitar player slash singer on the weekends. We were in the mood for music, so we ended up going there for a couple hours, listening to a guy named Damien Wolf (?) do his thing and chatting up the locals. No, we never watched the movie. I can't guarantee we'll watch it before it must be returned on Thursday. Oops!

So that was Saturday. Sunday dawned bright and early and I headed to the movie theater for church :). The kids were just wild. I didn't really help calm them down so much as I was giving horsey rides and flipping them around in the air and generally making them scream so loudly that I had to tell them that I was the "quiet monster". I might have holes in my jeans from chasing 3 year-olds on my hands and knees for so long. Sunday afternoon I returned to my domicile eager to change into my comfy clothes and read all day long - maybe in my bed, maybe on the couch or maybe on the back porch. None of the above were to be had, good people. Kristen came home and we went to check out the newest boutique in the neighborhood, Current. It's a chic consignment shop that has my name written all over it. I didn't purchase anything but rest assured that I will be back there with cash in hand as soon as possible.

Anyhoo, on our return we decided that it was time to do little DIY decorating. (Shout out to Laurel.) Above the couch in our living room are five hanging frames. Before last night, in each of the frames was a portrait of an original 925 roommate wearing Groucho Marx glasses. This would be great except for the fact that only two of those original roommates still occupy the house. We'd been talking about replacing the pictures with something else for a while and yesterday we finally did. Our first idea was to take pictures of cool buildings/monuments in DC and replace the portraits with architectural shots. However, Kristen came up with an even better plan. We decided to do a "Hands On The Wall" project. We went down to the Tidal Basin area and walked around to all the top monuments featuring statues. We took shots of the hands of these statues at various angles and used those shots above our couch to make the coolest pictures-above-the-couch thing ever. Here's a sampling of the 200+ pictures we took.

George Mason Memorial

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

FDR Memorial - Eleanor Roosevelt

FDR Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

The Three Soldiers Statue

(These men overlook the Vietnam Wall - legend has it that they are ghosts, returning to the wall to see which of their comrades has died.)

Vietnam Women's Memorial

Albert Einstein Memorial - National Academy of Sciences

Iwo Jima Memorial

The lighting wasn't great for the final memorial we visited, Iwo Jima, but we got some good shots and the top five ended up on our wall. The winners are (from Left): FDR, Eleanor, 3 Soldiers, Albert and George Mason. I supplied FDR and George, Kristen captured the rest so those pictures aren't on my blog.

Final "Hands On The Wall"

There's another story within this photo project story that involves a rug. Here it is...

Kristen and I walked to Walgreen's at 9:30pm last night so we could pick up our prints for the frames. (We'd already sent them to be printed via the magnificent Internet.) Anyway, on our way to the store we noticed a rug rolled up outside a home. Kristen said, "Do you want this?" I said, "Sure, if you do." We took a look at it and determined that if it was still there on our walk back to the house we'd take it home with us.

It was there. So we carried a rolled up rug down the street towards our house. We even made some new friends out of the deal. It's hard not to draw attention to oneself when one is carrying a giant rug down the street at 10pm at night, after all. Anyway, our plan is to clean up this rug and put it in our living room. With that AND the "Hands On The Wall" wall, our living room will be complete! Huzzah!

Rug we got on the way to Wallgreen's

So there you have it, folks. That was my weekend. In fact, I'm exhausted just thinking about it. It was a blast, all in all. New faces, new places, new food, new friends. Glorious. Now it's Monday and I'm left with the happy memories of a weekend well spent. It's a good way to start the week :).

The Real World: InISH

Initiative. (Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth a little bit.) Ahem...re-try...initiative. Whew, barely got through that one. You know it's there. You know you have to take it. Alright, I know I have to take it. As an adult you always have to do things on your own and find opportunities on your own. What's the deal with that? I mean, in every aspect of everything we're supposed to be self-starters and go-getters. And I don't mean the big stuff, I mean the little stuff. Things to do on a Friday night, plans for the weekend, finding creative outlets, blah blah-blah-blah blah blah!

Childhood is cake. I mean, parents are always good for suggesting activities. All you have to do is whine, "I'm boooored," and they're right there with opportunities to combat boredom. Who cares that they say it in an exasperated tone. Who cares that you probably whined to them five minutes ago about the very same boredom problem. (Yeesh, say "boredom" more.) They'll still tell you to "go read a book" or "play outside" or "make me dinner." They give you some help. Alas, you can't quite pull that off as a grown up. Any time lately that I've said, "I'm boooored," in the most annoying tone possible, people have just said, "yeah" like they didn't care or rolled their eyes or something. I resent this. What do you mean I have to do stuff on my own? Why am I not set up with a free life coach for life or a free career counselor for life or a free scheduler/assistant for life? I had those things when I was a kid. I had those things when I was in high school, kind of. I had those things when I was in college, kind of. I had those things when I graduated college and lived with my parents whilst working full time for a year, kind of. I had those things in grad school, kind of. I had help!

See how I whine? It's a hard knock life for us grown ups. If we want to be active and productive and creative we have to take initiative and find outlets on our own. Gag me with a shovel. I don't know if I fully realized that when I graduated and moved up here. Sure, I knew that there would be some self-starting on my part because I didn't know many people and I was new to everything. However, I didn't realize how much time it would take up, trying to have a life. Don't get me wrong, being a bum is my all-time favorite course of action, but I can't do that all the time. Even I have my limits.

There's been a little trial and error in the initiative department over the past year. I've joined a community orchestra and subsequently become disillusioned with the community orchestra. I've joined a church and volunteered to help out with the pre-K kids who constantly attempt to break my back when they see me on Sundays. I've joined Bible studies and tried to share my feelings about life without sounding like a broken record. I've given serious thought to training for a 10K or something and subsequently decided that such ideas were ludicrous and I'd best stick to running on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I've joined the gym and taken some gym-ish classes. (Not to depress you) But now that the summer's wrapping up I feel a new wave of pressure for more initiatives to commence. Hence, I joined a meetup group at www.meetup.com for musicians in the DC area - it's a chamber music group that meets a couple times a month to sight read stuff and practice some stuff...I don't know, I just joined and haven't been to a meeting yet. I plan on participating in another small group through my church this fall. But you know, none of these things quite fulfill my desire to be involved around here. I mean, that's plenty, and even those obligations will tax my patience to the limit. Why do I have to go to a meeting again, I'll think to myself, I just went to one a month ago! However, I will still feel the need to do more around the city, taking full advantage of all opportunities while I'm here.

Solution - blogs. Not my blog, DC blogs. A friend of mine introduced me to a couple good blogs that will give me all the coolest things to do in the city for young professionals. (e.g. dcist.com and welovedc.com) Um, no, I will not be doing all these things. I'll venture a guess at the average number of things I'll do per month - .5 - yes, half a thing per month. I just think it's great that I'm even informing myself of things to do around the city. That's step one! Much more initiative and I just might have that throw-up-in-my-mouth problem again. I can't get too crazy.

Ugh, I'm exhausted. That just exhausted me even thinking about all that nonsense. I really need someone to just tell me where to go, put all necessary cash and ID cards in my pocket so I can enjoy myself, dress me so I don't have to decide what to wear, and give me transportation to and from said activity/ies. Is that too much to ask??? The answer is no. The answer is NO.

I realize that I find much of the nitty gritty in the real world to be something that warrants a lot of complaint. I didn't know all this was going to be necessary. Warning, anyone? Probably more so now than ever I feel like a petulant child, stomping my foot because things aren't exactly the way I thought they'd be. Eh, what else can you do as a self-starting initiative-taking 20-something? That's basically the story of our lives and anyone who says differently is selling something. You older folk, you've been there. You younger folk, good luck.

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.

It Might As Well Be Spring

"I'm as restless as a willow in a wind storm. I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a striiiiiing!" Ah, State Fair. Haven't seen it in a hot minute. Nonetheless, the lyrics hold true. Who's with me? Would spring just get here already?! No, don't tell me that it'll soon be hot and I'll be wishing for cooler temperatures blah blah blah. I won't be. I'm ready for jacket-less weather and sunny evenings. I want to sit on my front porch after work and wave to passers-by as they walk past 925.

Last weekend was divine. Temperatures were in the mid-70s and all of DC was abuzz. That's one thing about this place - everyone and their dog is super active. I've never seen so many runners and play-in-the-parkers in my life. It's rubbing off on me a little, I must admit. Example: Saturday morning my roommate and I woke up at 9 (I know, I was shocked, too) to go run around the Tidal Basin in DC. The cherry blossoms aren't out yet, but it was nice and the promise of spring was in the air. Plus, it was so cool to run past the FDR memorial, the Jefferson memorial, the George Mason (who is that exactly?) memorial and all the ducks in the water. People were out playing soccer, flag football, ultimate frisbee and generally just running around. I saw bikers, rollerbladers, those couples who run with their streamlined running strollers, and even some people in suits. In a fit of insanity I said to Kristen, "We should do this every Saturday!" In a fit of even greater insanity she said, "Yeah!" Oh great.

Today the high is 50 degrees, and that saddens me greatly. Better than it was two weeks ago, sure, but not better than it was two days ago. Granted, I know that the real winter is over. Technically it's not over till March 20th, but we had that one "big" winter snow last week and now things will only get less snowy from here. No, I didn't get a snow day. I did get a 2 hour delayed arrival, but that's not as exciting as it sounds. It means I got 2 extra hours of sleep but still had to get up and trudge through 4 inches of snow to reach the metro station. Unpleasant, to say the least.

You know what I realized? I'll tell you. Winter is depressing. No, wait, hear me out. There are some real highlights: Christmas, New Year's (debatable), MLK day, my birthday and President's Day (now that I get government holidays). But other than that...nada. It's cold, it's often wet, it's dark, and it's just downright depressing. I'm not just spit balling here, either. It's a sociological thing. It's especially sad when you're spending your first real world winter away from home. Boo! (I wasn't trying to startle you, I was just expressing my displeasure with the situation.) Anyway, I think it's pretty funny that I realized most of the dispiritedness I've been feeling over the past couple months can be 99% attributed to the season. Weird, right?

No more, though. Now I am so excited and spirits are high. I've already made a list of things to do once the weather gets good enough. I'm pumped about the spring and summer and all the fun stuff I'll get to do. For example, as a celebration of spring and the joy I feel at the offing of it, my brother will perform a few well chosen pieces on the piano at his university. Some may call it a "senior recital," but I know the truth. It's a "Happy Spring, Gillian!" concert. Barron, I accept. That will be my first celebration - attending the recital in April. After that, who knows? This will be my first spring in DC and I know there is a lot going on here during those months. (Hmmm, I wonder if there's a cherry blossom festival in Japan, too? Laurel, please confirm.) Interesting. Gotta say, I will miss going to the races in Lexington. Keeneland was a blast last year. That's okay, new place, new things to do. I probably won't win as much money as I did last spring, but I can sacrifice. I wasn't a very good race better anyway. I'm told choosing a horse cause it's pretty isn't exactly scientific. Don't worry, I looked at the odds, too. I digress.

In other news, I can't keep up with all the books I have on hold at the library. Why do I do this? I think I'm out of things to read, so I put 9 books on hold and 4 of them come in at once. Then I have too much to read. Also, the latest season of "Dancing With The Stars" started last night so I'm a happy camper. I think there's a mouse in the house, so I'm counting on one of my roommates to take care of that business. Also, in all my excitement about spring there's one thing I can't seem to work up the will to do: spring cleaning. Oh, and I did my taxes all by myself. Cheers. So things are pretty much steady here. We've already discussed the weather. Other things...work is good. Home is good. Church is good. Miscellaneous items - good. Now all I need to do is get used to this spring forward time and I'll be golden. That's the latest here. Bye bye.

Out of Office

That's how I've felt for the past two weeks. I mentally checked out of the office on or around Monday, December 15th, and I haven't gone back. Well, I'm here right now, technically...blogging...at my desk, but still! Mental vacay. This was a busy December, both in the office and out. (And that's not counting the things I had on my calendar but totally skipped.) Why is it that when we reach adulthood the holidays are a lot more overwhelming but without all that childish excitement? Well, I still consider myself capable of childish excitement, but it seems harder and harder to drum up when so many other things interfere. I thwarted the busyness to the best of my ability this month and managed to fill my cup with Christmas cheer despite it all!

First of all, let's talk about the Nutcracker. LOVE IT! It's definitely my favorite ballet. How can it not be, I've seen it close to ten times. This year I went all out for the Washington Ballet's Nutcracker, and it was amazing. Please keep in mind that I have the best going-to-the-ballet-shoes of all time. Why, you ask? Because they look like toe shoes. They're pink and satin-y and they have ribbons that lace around my ankles. They're also freakishly tall and really hard to walk in. Ugh. Even Dr. Scholls can't make these shoes as comfortable as my Merrills. Oh well, they look good...and as long as I take careful, measured steps they feel mostly good. Pair them with a sleek black dress and viola! I'm ready to go. Two of my roommates and I cabbed it downtown to have a leisurely pre-ballet dinner at Chef Geoff's before the show. And I mean leisurely. Don't try to make reservations less than 36 hours in advance of show night, cause then you'll have to eat at 4:30. Seriously, don't do it. The ballet started at 7, so we got there with plenty of time for appeteazies, first courses, second courses, and desserts. It was gooooood. Best butternut squash ravioli of my life. Best ravioli of my life, for that matter. Despite the excellence of the food, libation and merriment at Chef Geoff's, the real magic started when the curtain rose in the Warner Theater at 7pm. Have you been there? The theater is gorgeous. I was breathless throughout the show. One thing I love about the Nutcracker is that it's adaptable. Parts of the story can be worked to fit the tastes of the musical director. I've seen it performed maybe 4 different ways. In Tulsa it's set in 1920's Paris. Septime Webre's setting (for the Washington Ballet) was more traditional - the family home of Clara and Fritz and their parents with the tree that grows and the toys that dance. However, the second half of the show was very D.C.-oriented, and it was splendid. The nutcracker prince was George Washington. The Waltz of the Flowers was performed by the Cherry Blossoms. The Arabian Dance was more of an Anacostian Tribal dance. (Don't ask me who the Anacostians were. All I know is that Anacostia is a stop somewhere on the metro line.) Clara and Drosselmeyer's nephew were transported to their magical kingdom via riverboat. What a delight! I didn't want the evening to end. Luckily, the route home took us right by the National Christmas tree, so the night was Christmas-complete.

Let us not forget that I experienced two incredible shows in D.C. over the past couple weeks. I not only saw the Nutcracker, but I saw the revival of West Side Story at the National Theater. Wow! Forget Tony, I'll never stop saying (read: singing) Maria. Good times, people, good times. So there were other events that kept me busy: Christmas parties, orchestra concerts, visitors, Christmas shopping and family band concerts. Okay, not a family band, per say, but more of a member of my family in a band playing a show. Confused? My cousin Shara's band, My Brightest Diamond (see link at right for sweet deets), came through DC on tour. So I got to spend a cold rainy Thursday night listening to great music with strangers, friends and family. It was awesome. I would also like to give a shout out to Clare & The Reasons, who opened for MBD. They are so good. Loved every moment. Besides that, I played two WMPA concerts that were fun, caught up with friends who were passing through town, and prepared to leave for home.

So that takes care of the out-of-office stuff. Want to know about the in-the-office stuff? Well, prepare yourself. I was an office elf. Blerg. I thought I was signing up for the set-up committee. No, in fact I was signing up for the holiday party planning committee. Rookie mistake. I commandeered the gift exchange portion of the party. I recruited invaluable help from a couple coworkers, but I had to manage the whole shebang, and it was torturous. "Gillian, send out a mass email with the rules for the game so people can be prepared." No problem, done. "Um, wow, Gillian, send us ANOTHER Smithsonian email. Those rules were like a book." All lies, there were three sentences to the whole email. "I never read that email, how do we play this game again?" "Gillian, explain the rules to everyone before we start." ARGH! I will not be elffing next year. No, no, no.

On the bright side, my office won the door decorating contest. We re-themed the "12 Days of Christmas" as the "12 Months of (the Donor Fundraising) Campaign". As you can see from the picture, we showcased each of the 12 months with lyrics and visual representation. But that didn't win us the prize. We also included an audio representation. We sang, well I didn't as I was accompanying on the violin, and recorded ourselves on a digital voice recorder we taped to the door. That's what won us the prize. People kept walking by, pressing the play button and listening to us squawk out the 12 months of campaign. What a treat for the ears after the 5th time, really.

So there you have it. In a nutshell, that's what kept me busy this month. That and reading some really good books, watching some great movies (Marley & Me was phenom), and baking chocolate chip cookies. Plus, I had 5 fabulous days with my family in Tulsa, and now I'm back at the office (supposedly) scrambling to enter all the gifts before our year-end deadline. Well, I will be scrambling again shortly. I needed a break from the scramble. It's hard to go back to work after spending such good times with the fam. I really didn't feel like coming back to the District. Next year I'm taking more time off. Don't feel too sorry for me, though. The fun doesn't stop once Christmas ends. There's still New Years Day, my 4-day weekend including MLK Day and Inauguration Day, my birthday weekend, and so much more. January's going to be good. I can feel it.

Welcome, 2009. Make me proud.

Whirlwind Week

Whew, it's been a while. Busy busy, people. Busy busy. Alas, it's Monday again and I'm sleepy. That always happens on Mondays.

I don't have a great deal to report, but here's a little of my-past-week-in-a-nutshell for you. Work: going well. The entry, the reporting, the reconciling, the clean up. It's all good. Don't know if I told you, but I'm on track to do a little professional development in the coming year by way of a gift processing/database management conference. Yes, my first conference. This won't happen for a while, mind you, but I've never traveled for work before and it's quite exciting. I digress. The most exciting thing about work this past week was that it all helped lead me up to the weekend. My friend Sarah from Trinity (and UK) was flying in Friday evening and we were going to spend the whole weekend celebrating our sweet reunion (and her birthday, which is in a couple weeks). Since her plane was arriving at 6pm, I really didn't want to drive in crazy traffic to BWI airport. Therefore, I needed to leave work early Friday to catch the MARC train to the airport. I worked out a deal with my boss and, like the good employee that I am, I stayed late Monday-Thursday of last week so that I could leave early on Friday.

Ah, riding the MARC train. I've done it once before when I met a friend in Baltimore, and it's not too complicated a thing. Well, apparently in DC getting anywhere for me is complicated. I got to Union Station by Metro just fine. Metro's old hat by now. I got to Union Station and almost bought myself an AMTRAK ticket instead of a MARC ticket. Luckily I realized my mistake before I pressed "confirm." Then, I tried to get on the wrong train leaving the station. I knew I was taking the Penn Line north to BWI. I knew that a train going to BWI was leaving in 20 minutes, but THEN I saw a sign for another Penn Line train leaving in 4 minutes and I thought, well might as well catch an earlier train. Thank goodness I asked an employee if that was the best idea. "No. This train doesn't stop at BWI." Okay then. Now, fyi, everyone stands in this roped area and waits for the platforms to be posted for their respective trains. Once a platform pops up on the screen, there is a mad dash towards it so people can get the best seat possible. This is helpful for those of us who don't really know what we're doing. That way we can just follow the crowd and hopefully end up in the right place. Gate A, Platform 9. Done-zo. I was out the door with those people as fast as I could shove myself through the throng. Far north end of platform, far north end of platform. Wait, people are getting on the various cars and there are less and less people in front of me going to the north end of the platform. Ooo! There's someone with a bag - must be going to BWI. I'll follow her. Okay, I'm on the train and I'm going to ask her if this train goes to BWI. Before I can get out the words, she asks me, "Is this the right train for BWI?" Oh crap. "Um, actually I was going to ask you the same thing. I'll go ask these other women behind me." Walk, walk, walk. "Is this the train to BWI?" "I sure hope so," the woman says. I reported the good tidings to my fellow confusee and sat down. Yes, I was on the right train. However, I wasn't in the right car. BLERG! The conductor punches my ticket and tells me I have to go two cars back to get off at BWI. Oh the intricacies of riding the rail! Fine. I go back two cars. This turned out to be quite nice, because I got to sit behind this young couple speaking to one another in rapid French. I picked out a few phrases..."pas du tout" (not at all)...wait, maybe I just picked out the one phrase. Can't remember. Anyway, I made it to the BWI stop. Got off the train. Walked around the parking garage for five minutes until I realized that I had to take a shuttle from the garage to the airport. And then, finally, I arrived at BWI.

You know those scenes from Love Actually at Heathrow airport? The ones of actual people greeting loved ones at the arrival gate? Well, that's what was in my head the whole time I was standing at the arrival gate, waiting for Sarah. I hadn't seen her since our friends' wedding in May, so we did the whole jump-up-and-down, clap-our-hands, squeal-like-little-girls, hug-80-times thing that people do when they're super excited to see each other. We drew stares. And smiles, of course. I am happy to report that we had no mishaps on our train ride home to Clarendon. It was smooth sailing all the way.

The rest of the weekend was a blur. I remember it all, thank you very much. It was a blur because it went by so quickly! Way too quickly for my taste. Honestly, I was a bit nervous about being the hostess in a city I don't know very well. I wanted to show Sarah DC and all the excitement it has to offer, but I didn't even know all the excitement it has to offer. Well, luckily we were both in an adventurous mood and explored the city together. And what good luck we had! We had DC-intuition every time we decided to try something new. On that note, we ate at this great French Caribbean restaurant in Dupont that I recommend to all. It's on P street. Cafe Troupe or something? I don't know! Look it up! Anyway, it was fun. Another Trinity alum lives in the city and was celebrating his birthday on Saturday night, so we got to hang out with him and it was delightful. Impromptu birthday festivities lead to good times. It wasn't so much impromptu for him, of course. But for us, it was practically a surprise party cause we didn't see it coming until it happened.

Overall, the weekend was a success. Good times, good friends, new friends, good food, good music. Noodle salad. (As Good As It Gets reference? Anyone?) I was so sad to see Sarah go, but I got to see her for about half an hour longer than we'd planned because I got lost THREE TIMES driving to the airport on Sunday. 3X. That, plus the three traffic jams we ran into, was not awesome. I don't usually get lost so badly, and it was pretty annoying that I made the same loop twice. When you're trying to get on 295 N, it's best not to take the 295 S ramp. I'm just saying. Fortunately, Sarah had her trusty work-given Blackberry with its GPS. So we eventually found our way. And I even got her to the airport on time, left for orchestra, had to stop and get gas, didn't get lost on the way to Alexandria for rehearsal, and made it there just 10 minutes late. Good, no? I think so. And for those of you visiting in the future, I now know how to get to BWI. I can't promise it will be perfect next time (sorry, Amanda), but it will be a lot less lost! Actually, now that I know to take the left fork like I'm getting on 95, I'm good! Stupid highway signs...or lack thereof.

So there you have it. Oh, for future reference, when I say that I don't have much to report don't believe me. Apparently I'll eek out every detail of an event to give you the most post possible :). It's what I do. I'm wordy. Deal. Now it's Monday again and the past three days seem like a dream. A beautiful dream. And I didn't even take any pictures to memorialize it. Yes, I had my camera. Yes, I forgot to use it. So you must be content with my fascinating description of these things. ha.

Have a good week, my friends. I miss you all!