Wandering While The Trailer Hitch Is Put On......

So it turned out our trailer hitch needed to be replaced but thankfully the warranty covered it. However,  it left me a couple of hours in a part of the city I wasn't familiar with so I went exploring.  Spent a good amount of time in this cemetery.....

 As I get older I start to think about my final resting place and what I want that to look like.  I've come to know I don't want a picture of myself on my headstone.  Especially in my 1970's cocktail gown.

 Kind of like this little seating arrangement.  I think I like this better than your standard bench.

The worn face on this one was kind of creepy while these below seemed a bit over the top.

 Though their little windows with stained glass were pretty.  But as stained glass is meant to be really enjoyed from the inside, it sort of seemed like a waste.

 I do love little angels.....

 As this was a Catholic Cemetery I thought it odd that Helen was pretty open about her job as a palm reader.....

 Across the street from the cemetery was the National Arboretum but due to budget cuts is only open 4 days a week.  This day wasn't one of them so my photos from outside the fence will have to do.  Putting it on my list of places to go visit!

Memorial Day

Tom worked Memorial Day and started the day off early at Arlington Cemetery where the president spoke and laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns.

 Too bad he can't be taking photos when the POTUS is around!  While he was doing that I stayed home and watched the concert from the night before on PBS.  Very emotional and well done.  Then I had a nice chat with mom and dad as we plan their trip to come out here next month!

I metro'd into town to get us a place to watch the Memorial Day parade.  I got off at the Navy Memorial stop and they were preparing for some service there as well.

These flowers lined the corner....

 

Decided the stairs of the National Archive building was as good a place as any as it was right across the street from the covered viewing area and the mc's.  These people were having their photos taken before they headed off for their placement in the parade.

Cute Rosie the Riveters!

 The parade was mostly bands from different states or representing different branches of the military.

 I ended up sitting in the sun for 90 minutes before Tom got there and after about an hour of the parade we decided to walk up along the parade route rather than sitting in the hot sun.

We ended up walking to Fort McNair where the car was parked (about 2 miles) so between the sun, crowds and long day we were were beat!  Veggie burgers and sweet potato fries then into bed by 8:30.  This morning we're both sporting sunburns.  Forgot our sunscreen!

Beautiful Weekend

 My friend Beth told me she had an extra ticket to the Beautiful You women's conference over the weekend that I could use if I wanted.  I was thrilled to get it cause I love me some large groups of blessed women giving good advice.  This was a conference put on by several large churches in the district including our own NCC.

 So I met Beth at the Whole Foods just outside Foggy Bottom Metro Friday night and asked why she had an extra ticket.  Well, it turned out she had bought the ticket for herself but then found out she was getting an award so she didn't need a ticket!  It was awesome!  They honored 5 women for their service in the military or their service as a spouse.  Beth has worked as a career counselor for those getting out of the military and has housed people who need it.  She and Eric are both wonderful and a lot of fun.  We first met them doing the American Friend program as they had a Georgetown student as well.

1400 women doing a mass selfie!

We also had great seats right up front because she was an honoree.  Wonderful speakers including Priscilla Shirer & Christine Caine who I had never heard before but were both so awesome!  Very motivating and plenty of scripture.  Encouragement to be fearless and stepping out of our places of comfort to serve where we might not have ever considered serving before while trusting that God will provide us with the skills we need to honor him.  They both spoke again on Saturday, there was tons of music, lunch (they even had a veggie wrap!) then we wrapped up Saturday afternoon.

First thing Sunday morning I checked my text messages because I had been getting updates from Craig on my niece Jordan who was in labor....forever!  The baby was a couple of weeks early but aside from eventually having to take him cesarean section both mom, daddy Marc and baby Kai were fine!

                        Jess went to visit Sunday afternoon.  Poor Jordan looks wiped out!

Our Sunday was full as well.  Chris Caine who spoke at the conference also spoke at church.  Her inspiring (and convicting) message is here.  After church we had an hour before we needed to be back so we walked to Eastern Market.  Spent a good while talking with a guy who is one of the vendors.  Then we sampled some of the yummy things in the farmer's market and purchased a few things for later.

 Gigantic carrots!  Sweet peaches, yellow tomatoes and blueberries........

 After we ran the connection table at church we headed downtown to see the Rolling Thunder who were riding into town.  We heard them before we saw them!  We walked in front of the capitol where they were still preparing for the annual Memorial Day Concert.  Then got some shots as we followed the biker's route around the city.

Love the thumbs up from the little guy in the red!

 The Arts and Industries building is still being re-habbed but is just gorgeous.  We were pooped so hopped the Metro at Smithsonian back to Eastern Market then grabbed a Sofrita (tofu) salad at Chipotle to take out.  Crashed at home.  Beat.

A Saturday Change of Plans

We started out Saturday with the intent of riding our bikes to Georgetown from Waterfront Metro to watch the Dragonboat Race Festival, but the closer we got the more violent, fast and filled with junk the river became.  Before we even got there we were pretty sure they were going to be unable to hold them and sure enough, that was the case.  The water was just filled with big logs and pieces of wood and chunks of earth. We'd had a hard, hard rain the day before and they were still dealing with flooding issues further up the road.

 So we still headed to Georgetown and just about killed me riding the hills there!  Rode around the University campus and through downtown but there were WAY too many cars and it felt dangerous so we headed into town past the Lincoln Memorial.  There's always plenty to see and lots of great people watching.  We listened to a speaker who was leading a breast cancer awareness rally...

.... The Washington Monument just re-opened and there were singing rangers near there entertaining the kids.

 We stopped on the National Mall to eat the lunch we'd packed and there was a group just gearing up for a Benghazi protest march.  Happy to live in a place where you can do this peacefully but the guys in the masks were creeping me out!

I'm pretty sure this kid was sorry he let this guy start talking to him....because he went on and on and on...

 We headed back to our old neighborhood and saw this lady sitting on the overpass.  I've seen her several times before but Tom wanted to go back and get a photo.  Her name is Katya and she comes over daily to feed the birds.  There were corn kernels thrown about but she also brings them peanuts as a special treat.  She said she spends a fortune in food but she loves the birds.  In fact after we had been there a few minutes she said the birds wouldn't come to her if we were there and we were spoiling her time with them.  Um, okay.  At least she was honest!  So we hopped back on our bikes and pedaled off.

We took a new route to Anacostia Metro over the bridge by Nats stadium.  Tom forgot to turn his GPS back on after lunch but we probably rode about 15-20 miles.  Spent the rest of the afternoon & evening recupera.....er, relaxing and watching movies.  Another great Saturday!

The Downside of Veganism

"Beef" pot pie with chopped spinach, celery & radish salad

So we've 17 full days under our belt (and above) of vegan eating.  This week I decided to throw in some vegan-esque food to try it out.  That means fake food.  Well, not fake, but soy based then seasoned to taste like say...meat.  Or different proteins made to appear and taste like cheese.  I do have to say the tofu sour cream was pretty awesome.  But the others.....meh.  For instance I made these beef pot pies...that I ended up picking the "beef" out of.  Tom liked it better than I did. The substitutes are okay in a bind but I'm finding I really just prefer the real thing when it comes to clean eating. 

Yesterday we wanted a snack after a long bike ride.  Went with nachos with "cheese" (kind of tasted like Cheez Whiz and had kind of a weird texture) which Tom didn't mind but I preferred the tofu "sour cream" and homemade salsa.

The other downside is the cost.  Holy cow!  To buy the specialty stuff you have to go hunting and Whole Foods is a good source.  But these TWO bags of groceries ran me $80!!!  I know.  Crazy.  I also bought a couple of vegan muffins for us to try and again....$2 each.  Good, but expensive.  We also were out running errands one night much later than we anticipated so we stopped at Wegman's Market to take advantage of their buffet bars so we could handpick what we would eat.  I ended up with mostly asian and Tom with indian food.  I was awake all night with it sitting in my stomach!  

 So I'm going back to mostly concentrating on the good old fashioned fresh veggies and fruit. They taste better and make me feel better!  Overall we feel awesome, have tons of energy and the weight is coming down very gradually.....

Japanese Sweet Potato and Spring Mix Salad

Ratatouille Pie, Green Beans & Salad

Whole Wheat pasta & veggies with strawberry spinach salad and whole wheat roll