Spirit of America

 After three rescheduled appointments (the girl I was meeting has 4 month old twins and nanny issues) I finally met with the folks at Keller Williams in downtown DC.  I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the second half of my life, career wise.  I know it's crazy to come into a new town and start over but according to the team leader in the office, she did just that after she moved from Atlanta.  She did however say they took her real estate license because of reciprocity and she only had to re-do the state tests.  Well, when I called the testing company they apparently don't have that same reciprocity with Utah.  Great.  So now I need to do a little more research and decide if it's worth starting all over again.  It's not just having to re-license it's the financial investment that is required in starting what is basically your own business.  Hmm.

 Wednesday, Tom was going over to the DC Armory to watch the final dress rehearsal of Spirit of America.  It's an annual huge production with music, stories, video, the old guard, etc. that travels outside DC and goes someplace different every year.  It's free, but you need to have tickets and they perform it in arena type venues.

The armory was huge and it turned out to not exactly be a final dress as the lights were left on so we were able to see everyone frantically running around trying to prepare for their next entrance.  They are not trained actors, they are soldiers, but they still did a good job. Fabulous musicians and a lot of the same performances we saw at the Twilight Tattoo show.

 I grabbed a seat behind a monitor so I could see the video and photos that during a real show will be shown on a huge screen.

 At the end of the show they play all the service's theme songs and they have audience members from those services stand up.  Well, this is put on by an Army base so when THAT song played, the whole place stood up!

 The armory is right next door to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium where the Washington Redskins used to play but it looks like it's now used for soccer.  Glad I looked that up because I would have totally gone there to see the Redskins play!

Labor Day Weekend in NJ

Had a health scare with Tom's mom this week and she spent a few days in the hospital so as soon as he finished up with Coast Guard work on Saturday afternoon we took off for the 3 1/2 drive to New Jersey.  We stayed with Tom's sister Marie and then got up Sunday morning and went over to see if we could get Eleanor to go for a ride with us.

Eleanor with her beloved cat "Bows".  There was a "Buttons" at one time as well.

I love going into Eleanor's bedroom and finding one of my grandma Lola's quilts on her bed.  Mine have been used to death and are very tattered so it's nice to see one that's in great condition.

It takes quite a bit of cajoling to get her to leave her house anymore but we thought the fresh air would do her good.  She finally agreed to go see the ocean so we headed to Atlantic City and made our way through Caesar's Palace but not without first stopping at the yummy pastry and gelato bar before going out on the boardwalk.

I know.  Gorgeous, right?

One of the problems has been getting her to eat anything but she was all about a dish of chocolate gelato....and ate the whole thing!

It was overcast but still plenty warm and humid.  Tom and Marie visited the Apple Store while I walked Eleanor down the boardwalk.  Last time we tried this we didn't have the wheelchair and it was very difficult for her.  Marie's late husband had this very nice chair and it made everything so much easier!

We took a walk into the city where Eleanor had lived growing up.  After her mother died she went to live with her older sister May in Atlantic City.  Tom and his siblings remember spending a lot of time there while growing up as well, including Sunday dinners with Aunt May.  On this day Eleanor did not remember it but was still fine having her photo taken in front of it.

This is Karen, Eleanor's care taker who lives with her.  She does lots of crafts, puzzles, etc. with her and she gave me this mosaic to bring to the new apartment.

Karen's dog Cody who loves Eleanor!

After we spent the afternoon with Eleanor we headed out to Joey and Karen's boat where they had spent the weekend.  Just 30 minutes away but they spend a lot of time there with their dogs....

Yes, those ARE doggy life jackets

Joe's boat is really nice (kitchen, living area, bathroom, shower) but they're upsizing next season because they want one with two staterooms (bedrooms) as opposed to one. We got to meet a lot of their friends who they've gotten to know there on the dock and then walked across the street and had dinner  at a little place called The Patio.  Only opened seasonally then the owners take off for Florida.  Sounds like they're primarily open for all the people who dock their boats there.

The next morning we went back over to see Eleanor but she was just getting up and wasn't in the mood for going anywhere with us.  We spent a little time with her then headed to Smithville to have lunch with Tom's other brother Dennis and his wife Kathy. When I first met Tom and he took me home to meet his family we went to Smithville, which at the time was VERY run down.  We've been back many times since while the kids were growing up because there are many cute shops and they always loved the ducks that live in the pond.  However, the place as a whole was never really finished and kept up.  Well this time, it looked great!  In fact they brought in a train that goes around the property and Dennis is the one who got the train up and running for them.  The owner was actually there and came over to meet us and we told him what an awesome job he's done.  Now they have bed and breakfast lodging, lots more boutiques, restaurants, etc.  It's really wonderful.

After we had lunch with them at Costello's we wandered around Historic Smithville some more before heading back to their mom's.

Again, it took us about an hour to get Eleanor to go outside with us.  I played a matching game with her then finally Tom told her we had to get ready to go back to Washington and she agreed to go for a short walk with us.  We took her around the pond she used to walk around every day then headed to Veteran's Park.

Tom's dad has a brick there so we wheeled her around to see if she could find it.  She did...with a little help.  She's just so much more alert during and after a walk but it takes a lot of time and patience to get her to go.  It will be really hard when the weather changes.

Got her home and settled then ran back to Marie's to get our stuff before heading out to the holiday traffic.  Fortunately it wasn't too bad except for the back up at the toll booths but we took advantage of  a Rita's Italian Ice Gelati and got home around 8:30. Busy but fun weekend!

August Wrap Up in DC

 Tom has thrown in a few Coast Guard Reserve duties along with his new regular job since we've been here.  We are very fortunate that Coast Guard headquarters is right down the street from Fort McNair so he can easily get there.  He also got to take an orientation bus tour they give to newcomers and got a "backstage" look at many of DC's sites.  Apparently the tour guide mentioned 3 ghosts who supposedly live at McNair including Mary Surratt......remember that whole Lincoln conspiracy?

My week has been spent wrapping up my Utah Real Estate continuing ed online (Passed with 97%, thank you very much) and trying to use online tools to A) design a lay out for the new apartment's furniture and B) put last year's blog in a book.  Struggling with both as I can't remember exactly what the apartment looks like even though I have a sketch outline, those online tools never work as easily as they pretend and I can't remember what furniture we had sent and won't know for sure until it arrives at said apartment on Friday the 7th.  Blog book difficulties a result of deciding how much time I want to put into layout.  Do I want to make it cute or just get the dang thing on paper?  Sort of why I turned to blogging rather than scrap booking.  Oh well, I can always work on that later.

 Week wrapped up with a 2 hour catch up session over lunch in Union Station with my friend Dalliss.  You met her back in October when I was last in DC.  Old friend from Utah who now lives just down the street from cousin Vicky in Virginia.  Have committed to making the most of our time here AND making time to see each other.  Just because you're suddenly closer in proximity doesn't necessarily mean you see any more of each other......right Michele?  When cousin Michele moved to Centerville which is 10 minutes from my Farmington house....we rarely saw any more of each other than when she was living out of state. Crazy!

Last night we met up with our friend David who had come down from NYC to see our other friend Victoria Mallory as Anna in The King and I at Wolf Trap.  I threw together a pre-show picnic that we enjoyed on the lawn while Vicky's husband Mark, entertained some clients he had joining him.  Nice to just relax and catch up.

The show was beautiful!  I wish I could have taken photos during the show as the drops, set and costumes were just exquisite.  The show originated in Virginia Beach and will go from here to Atlanta.  Each city has it's own orchestra and casts locals in the children's roles.  Yikes!  Can't imagine coming into a show like that with all new kidlets AND a new orchestra.  They were all terrific though. Stunningly beautiful voices...there just is nothing like old musicals!  Acoustics were wonderful as well and better yet....at half hour pre-show they sell half price tickets for military so we got good seats for a steal!

 We waited after for Vicky to get out of her giant hoop skirt so we could say a quick hello.  She has 4 shows in the next 2 days and it's a vocally demanding role so she had to make it quick.  It was lovely to see her on stage again and by hanging around after we missed all the post show traffic!

David, Vicky and Mark

Another weekend

We decided to go walk around our new neighborhood Friday night so hopped on the Metro and headed over there.  I'd read that there was a local church who hosted live Jazz every Friday night from 6-9 so we went over to check it out. (They have Blues night on Mondays as well) $5 to get in and it was already packed!  An interesting mix of people and the music was great.  Was especially good once a female vocalist joined them and the pianist was awesome.  A little Jazz goes a long way with me however, and once I tired of people watching I was ready to head out.  It happened to coincide with intermission so it was all good.

 Down in the basement they have the performance televised on the wall and they serve what looked like really good soul food!  Fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, deep fried whiting, collard greens, red velvet cake, the list went on and on.  We'll definitely come back when we're not cleansing (see below)!

 Then we walked across the street to where our new apartment will be.  We think it's the second corner balcony from the top but we're not positive.  Then we just wandered......

I had just been testing on some real estate issues having to do with HUD and here was the building.  I think I deserve extra credit!  

  Slept in Saturday then headed to the gym for a good workout.
We've been doing a detoxing cleanse diet all week which has consisted of all clean food.  Morning smoothies, small snacks, lots of water, main solid meal at lunch, a blended soup for dinner, then 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. It really hasn't been bad and all the recipes are from my Healthy Body Healthy Life group I met in Alabama.  Very good recipes actually and discovered a few wonderful new things like brown rice pasta!  Love that! I like whole wheat pasta as well but the texture of the rice pasta is more like regular.
We did a little shopping then came home, crashed and watched some movies.

 After church on Sunday we took a little walk through the Eastern Market, grabbed a bite then headed back to our soon to be neighborhood.  I was meeting up with an actress friend from Salt Lake who just got here to get her Masters degree at American University and Tom was going into the office for a bit.  After Shannon and I caught up (we live 7 Metro stops away from each other on the Green Line) I walked down the street to his office (boy, is THAT nice) and caught up on some phone calls while he finished up.  All and all, a relaxing weekend with crazy weather!  Rainy, then hot and humid, then overcast and cooler, then humid....by the time we got home late this afternoon....downpour!