December Recap

The past month has been hectic to say the least. All my bullet points in the last post came true, and then some. But it is the most wonderful time of the year and amidst all the long days and stress was a lot of good as well.

My mom and sister came up for a weekend for fun Christmas shopping and activities. We were lucky enough to score a White House tour and got to see it all decked out for the Obama's first Christmas. This is my second time seeing the WH at Christmas and it was even better than the last.

Outside the WH after the tour

We also stopped by the National Christmas tree, the Newseum, and just did some talking, shopping, and laughing.

Melissa and me at the National Christmas tree

The next week was my work Christmas party. I took the roommate as my date -- and then made her pose in front of our Christmas tree -- and we ate a ton, drank a little, and got lost in Maryland. Fun for all.

The next weekend I left for home, just as a crazy blizzard turned a good portion of the east coast into a not-quite winter wonderland. When I left Saturday there was already about 8 inches on the ground and it just kept falling as I made my way through Virginia and to my sweet Carolina. It took me eight hours on the train instead of four, but I made it.

Accumulating snow at Union Station

Statue on Capitol just barely visible through the snow

View from train in Alexandria

The next day we celebrated Christmas with the nieces, and spent the evening playing with their new gift: Rock Band. I've never played rock band before and I think that's for the best. I had fun but to say I'm awful would be an understatement. I possess the triple threat of anti-musical ability: lack of coordination, rhythm, and tune. Therefore, I should never be let near a musical instrument. Never ever.

Joe Cool

Actual Christmas came a few days later and we were all spoiled beyond what we deserve, as usual. To say I am blessed doesn't begin to cover it.

To cap off the week was a day I live for every year: the annual reunion of my best friends from college. It gets sweeter and sweeter every year, harder and harder to say goodbye, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
Tomorrow is CHAPEL HILL for Franklin Street dining and shopping, walking on campus, and of course, Tar Heel basketball!!

Democracy at its finest

I love this photo from the official White House Flickr photostream:

Blackberrys, cell phones and communications devices are tagged with post-its during a briefing on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Cabinet Room 3/26/09. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.

Commenters below the photo point out two things:

1. As high tech as the devices are, they still resort to post-its notes to identify them.
2. How amazingly fun it would be to mix-up the post-its and therefore the phones?

Seriously, I amuse myself entirely too much envisioning what would happen if they were switched. What if Schumer had got Specter's right before he switched parties and saw that he had an "I Love Nancy Pelosi" background and had just purchased the book Why Daddy is a Democrat? (Although now I realize the post-it I thought said Specter actually says Cantor. Damn. I would be the person to get fired from the White House for mixing up the post-its not even intentionally.)

And it looks like the fourth or fifth one down from the top is a digital camera. Someone has clearly been watching some ANTM and wants some fierce photos in the cabinet room. (It goes without saying that I'd have the same intentions. After the business was done, of course. No disrespect.)

I'm kind of obsessed with this photostream now. I really think that no matter your political beliefs, the pictures posted are interesting and offer a glimpse into West Wing dealings that we don't often get.

Visit to the big house

On Sunday I got up at the should-be-illegal time of 7 a.m.* in order to stand in line at the White House for a ticket to their bi-annual grounds tour. I had never heard of this before, but after reading about it on the DCist, knew I must see what it was all about. So to the other end of Pennsylvania I went, yet again. Twenty-five minutes after entering the line, I had my ticket, a grumbling stomach, droopy eyes, and three hours to kill. Ugh.

After a trip to Starbucks and a nap in front of the Washington Monument, where a security guard woke me to make sure I wasn't dead, finally, I was off to the president's humble abode with free reign to...stick to the path, stay off the grass, and try not to draw the attention of the many, many Secret Service agents standing grimly about. (Even though there was a really cute one I wouldn't have minded attracting the attention of, but I'm thinking that only would have happened if a felony was involved. And I'm just not that desperate for a date. Yet.)

It was absolutely wonderful, in a subdued, lazy Sunday, surrounded by trees and flowers sort of way. But it's exactly this type of thing that is why I live in a city in the first place. I will definitely be back.

I have finally decided to use a Flickr account and hope to slowly move the approximate 10 other online albums I have to here. I have so many pictures I never share because it takes so long to upload them here, so hopefully this will help me be less lazy. So go here to see some from Sunday's tour. Titles on all, captions on most. The first few might be kind of boring, but they get better, I think.


*I don't get up until at least 8 a.m. for work. In the words of my roomie: "You get up insanely late for a working person." Yes, I do, just another reason why I love my job. (I might have already posted that quote on here but it makes me laugh.)

Home sweet home (ish)

I left all of this...

...to come home to three days of drear. Some sun, some blue sky, but mostly just gray. Here is my artistic interpretation of the past few days:
All the same, all gray.

Today, however, in protest of the lack of color in my life, I went to see the Obama-dictated green water in the fountains at the White House. I know, it doesn't take much to get me excited. But I do love fountains, and I love color, so to the other end of Penn Ave I went. My camera phone, however, was not capable of recognizing the green water. But I did see it in person, and it was green. Go here to see that I'm not lying.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! More on the cruise later when I've had more than four hours of sleep. Oh insomnia, it has been 10 years, can you please leave me alone, please?

Saturday in DC

I had a good day last Saturday...

I started at the Archives, but the line was too long and too full of children, so I went to sit by the skating rink at the sculpture garden.

But I realized I was only accelerating my trip to Hell by laughing at people falling, and made myself leave. Pit stop at bookstore, then walked to the Renwick Galley, passing by the White House:

I had never been to this gallery and really like it. It’s quite small, but nice so as to not be overwhelmed by so many pieces. They have “American crafts,” so there were highly skilled quilts or woodwork, really my type of gallery.

I then walked to the Portrait Gallery/Art Museum. The American Art Museum, in conjunction with the Renwick, made a mural of Presidents Obama and Lincoln in honor of Presidents’ day. However, it wasn’t just any mural, it was made out of 5,000 cupcakes.

They were giving them away when they were done, which is how I came to have a volunteer ask, “Obama nose?,” and then hand over two exceptionally delicious cupcakes. The little girl beside me got "the twinkle in his eye." I contemplated knocking her down for them but again, no need to accelerate the express train to hell.
And just to make it clear, and to be perfectly honest, if someone said they were making a mural out of Stalin and Lenin with 5,000 cupcakes, and you could get some free after 5 p.m., I'd be there too. But unlike the Obama and Lincoln cupcakes, which tasted like freedom, I assume Stalin and Lenin ones would taste a bit more tyrannical, with maybe some of the blood of the workers thrown in for good measure.

(I was pointing this out to try and make me sound less like a raging liberal for eating Obama cupcakes, but I don’t think it worked. Besides, he's president now, so it's just being a good patriot.)

La Maison Blanche

In preparation of a year of new things, today I did a new thing. I went inside the White House. Yes, despite my voting record and the fact that I own Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto," they let me in so I could see the Christmas decorations. I'm still on cloud nine about it. Full details, plus pictures of the lovely SNOW that covered our area this week, in next entry. Lovely weekend wishes for everyone!