A Few Days in the Life

So most of my days are spent working on the computer looking for jobs, but occasionally I escape for some Washington DC fun.  Here are some examples:

Tom's boss had a birthday so they put together a little surprise shindig for her at the National Press Club.  No photographs inside the club itself but I had already taken a couple before more than one person told us the policy.

The building itself was gorgeous and the club was a lot of dark wood, red leather and over stuffed chairs.  Exactly how I would have imagined it.  Low lighting and wall to wall tv sets turned to news stations as well as framed old newspaper front page headlines.

This is Ebeneezer's coffeehouse which is down the block from Union Station.  I go here Tuesday nights to meet upstairs with a small women's group from church where we discuss Sunday's sermon and how it can be applied to our daily lives.  We also have prayer for any struggles we might be having.

We walk across this park to get to the Metro.  This pix doesn't show it too well but there was a wide array of Fall color as the leaves finally started to change.

This credenza is in the lobby of our building.  Someone started leaving a few books for the taking and now the pile has started to grow.  They don't last very long.  Tom and I have found a few that we're reading.  I've decided that since I don't belong to a book group here I may just choose books from here or a similar lending table at the gym.

One night Tom got a hankering for dessert after dinner so I decided to be creative.  We have a new microwave (the apt. didn't have one) so I looked in my microwave cookbook for a good recipe.  I didn't want to make a full recipe so I did a quarter recipe of an apple crisp and put it in these ramekins.  However, not thinking.....I set the time for the full recipe and went off to put on pj's.  In a few minutes I hear Tom yelling and go in to find black smoke billowing out of the kitchen.  We opened the window to the deck but then Tom opened the front door that goes into the hallway.  By the time I got there to close it, the hall was filled with people reaching for the smoke alarm.  As I stood there in my pj's convincing them I had it under control, I realized it was the first time I had even seen some of these people.  I'm sure it was a lovely introduction.  And yes, the microwave STILL smells like smoke and the blackened apples & topping were like rocks!  Let me also say that our smoke alarm goes off with the tiniest bit of steam but black billowing smoke apparently does not warrant such a warning. The stupid thing didn't make a sound!

 I put a request on Facebook for someone with a stable home who might be willing to take in Floyd.  Within minutes a good friend offered to take him in while Nic continues to get his life together.  My friend Lori (who was in PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES with me in Layton) has him and he seems to be doing very well.  The poor thing was being shuttled from house to house (thanks to mom & dad, Craig, Eryn, Taylor & Danielle for taking turns) trying to work around everyone's schedules so being in a place where he can actually stay will be wonderful.  Lori and Dave have 2 boys and 2 other dogs and it all seems to be going well so we're keeping our fingers crossed!

 Tom and I got tickets to see WAR HORSE at The Kennedy Center.  It's one of the few plays that my theatre friends universally have loved so I found a good deal on GoldStar (like Groupon) and got us tickets.  Still pricey and very high in the second tier (hence my lovely shot of the ceiling decor) but very happy to get to see it.  The puppets are amazing, the music and direction wonderful too.  I was a little disappointed in the actor performances.  I'm thinking it was maybe because we were up so high and could barely see faces but some of the performances seemed flat.  Still, I'm glad we got to see it.  Amazing staging!

 The last couple of days I've been stranded inside the apartment while hurricane Sandy found her way through town.  Other than violent winds, in our area it was really nothing to write home about.  Tom's mom is inland of Atlantic City and lost power for a day and had a tree down but other than that his family was okay in NJ.  So sorry for all those with horrible damage.  We feel very lucky to have had power and a cozy home through the whole thing.  Tom had to work through most of it but fortunately his office is so close that it wasn't a trial to get there.