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.  

October So Far

Have been a tad under the weather for a couple of weeks.  Cough, sore throat, flu symptoms.....you know, the usual Fall stuff.  We did go up to New Jersey over the long Columbus Day weekend to do some work around Tom's sister's place.  She still has branches down from the big storm so while she was out running Tom's mom to her hair appt. we worked in the yard.  It was nice to be on a tractor mower again.  I always loved cutting our grass at home.....lawn therapy, I call it.  So I did that while Tom cut the trees up and then we made piles of wood for her.

 Dennis brought his saw over so Tom could use it but of course we ended up making 3 different trips to Home Depot for new blades and other asst. trinkets.  Have come to the conclusion it's impossible to do home repairs tasks without at least 2 trips to hardware stores.

Tom's nephew Dennis, wife Karen and son Sean.

 We got to spend some time on Sunday with Tom's mom so it was nice to share a pizza and cannoli's around the kitchen table with family.

Tom has also been trying to set up wireless speakers for Marie as well so we've been shopping electronic stores.  Yawn.  If I was smart, I'd go to one of the other bazillion stores in the Pentagon City Mall but since I haven't had a real hankering for shopping, I just wandered around watching Tom speak in a language I don't understand nor care to.

 The Washington Nationals were in the play-offs so there has been a lot of excitement in the city (especially our neighborhood) around the Nats.  Unfortunately they lost to the Cardinals in the 5th game in a heartbreaking 9th inning so the fans have returned to their homes to devote their energies to the Redskins.

You have to drive out to Maryland or Virginia to find a big hardware store so we found this place near the Eastern Market. VERY crowded inside with very small aisles.  So much so I had to step outside while Tom got what he was looking for.  Thought I was going to have some sort of claustrophobic melt down.

Saturday night we had our first night of entertaining in our new place with some old friends.  Tom met them at the Metro then they came over for dinner and lots of good conversation.  We're lucky to have old friends in a new place.

Washington Nationals

Have discovered several websites like Groupon offering great prices on local events.  Took advantage of one to see the second to the last Nationals game of the regular season.  The $18 ticket price also included a $6 food credit so we got dinner at the park for $2!  Woo hoo!  Yes, I love a bargain.  The stadium is a 20 minute walk from our apartment so we didn't have to fight crowds on the metro OR take the car.  WE LOVE THAT!

Me and Thomas Jefferson

The President Mascots crack me up.  Especially when they have a foot race inside the stadium

Stadium Art

Our seats were right by the Phillies bullpen so people were coming down all night hoping to get tossed a ball.  Many did!

It rained on and off throughout the game but not enough to call it or make us miserable.  In fact, temperature was great.  Love the sights and sounds of a ballpark!

The game itself was a snoozer (Nats lost 2-0), however, the Braves lost their game to the Pirates, thus giving the Nationals their first NL East title since MLB came back to DC.  I've never seen a crowd so happy after a loss!  Fun times!

A Walking Tour

Friday afternoon I walked over and met Tom at his office then we walked just a few doors down on base to the General's house where he was hosting an Oktoberfest party. Yummy brats & fixin's and got to meet some great people.

Costume winners!

The general and his wife welcome us.  Wish I could have photographed the inside of this awesome, historical house right on the Potomac!

It also happened to be the general's birthday so they surprised him with a cake

 Saturday was the Southwest neighborhood festival.  There were rummage sales, food stands, live music, art displays and all sorts of things throughout our streets.  We hooked up with the walking tour that was showcasing history and the "renewal of urban renewal".  Our particular neighborhood has gone through a major makeover in the past few years and our tour guide walked us through some of the areas and explained what they used to be as opposed to what they are now.

This was how it looked in 1958

This is a wall that is all that's left of what used to be a neighborhood courtyard with water features providing a community outdoor meeting place.

 Our guide had all kinds of interesting information.  You'll notice our address 905 6th St. SW has our quadrant SW attached to it.  Any address in the District of Columbia has either NE, NW, SE, SW attached to it so you know which quadrant you are looking for.  The same address could exist in all 4 quadrants so it can get VERY confusing!  The SW is the smallest of the quadrants with only 16,000 people living here.  That makes us feel a little more like a neighborhood.  Ours is the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood.  We're in the same "ward"(that's what they call their voting districts) as the Capitol.

This area used to be home to a lot of the projects which housed the very poor.  There are still sections that need cleaning up but the difficulty comes in the how to clean up without displacing people from their homes and all they can afford.  This seems to be a continuing problem.

This is the Arena Stage at the Mead Center which is right next door to our apartment complex.  It went through a major renovation that was completed in 2010.  The original theatre which was made completely of cement had been declared a historical landmark so they couldn't mess with it in anyway.  The architect ended up building this beautiful sweeping glass design that wraps around the original building.

We took a tour of the building with Chad Bauman, who is the associate executive director.

 This ship is in Molly Smith's (artistic director) office.  It was made for her by the architect Bing Thom to represent their adventure in making the renovation work.  From the outside you can see inside through the glass to all the offices, costume and scene shops.

This little farm stand is right across the street from us on Saturday's at the SW duck pond.

It was late afternoon when we finished our tours so we continued our walk over to the waterfront & fish market to get our lunch/dinner.  Every kind of fresh fish imaginable but we opted for fresh crab which they steam and season right there for you while you wait.  You get your dozen crabs in a double brown paper bag then put inside a plastic bag so you have someplace to dispose of your shells.  We sat on the edge of the water and took a good long time cracking and cleaning and with our bare hands!  Two days later my fingers are still sore from claw punctures!  We'll go better prepared next time with paper towels, shell crackers, picks and wipes. Yummy, but very labor intensive.

Our Place

 Close to being wrapped up with finishing touches on the apartment.  Was beyond bugged when I came home and found that Comcast guy had had to wire the entire place so yeah, we've got this cable running along the ceiling throughout the place.  I flipped out and demanded that Tom have him come back and re-do it, but apparently none of the cable hook ups along the floor were for Comcast so he had to do it this way.  I'm now in the process of trying to think of a crafty way to cover this one over the front door up because it bugs me the most.  I suppose this is the downside of apartment living.  If it had been a home I could have demanded he run it under the carpet but apparently here that's not an option.  Grrrr.

 No microwave in the kitchen so we had to buy one and something to put it on.  Got this cute cart at IKEA and I put it together.

Another IKEA piece whereI built the individual pieces, then Tom and I put the whole unit together

Living Room

Master Bed

Dining Area

View from deck

Opposite view from deck.  At night that tip of the Capitol is lit and really stands out!

2nd Bedroom

We've admired an artist at the Eastern Market (Pridon Goisashvili) who does a lot of paintings of monuments in DC but I especially love the colors he uses.  We decided on this piece (a print; couldn't afford an original) to use in the living room.