End of Day 9 - Mood: exhausted, stressed

Well, the ceiling has been painted, the oven has been installed, and the island is taking shape (it even has two trash bins in it!) The couple of little things I noticed last night have been fixed (cabinet door not shutting properly), and I think that they are going to be able to do the countertop template on Friday, and they are going to install the floor tomorrow. That ought to be interesting.

Thankfully, I'm on my way to FL for the weekend, to DH's condo, which has a functioning kitchen. I'm so excited about having a kitchen sink again I am beside myself. Tonight I washed the dishes that I had inside of a giant black trash bag in the laundry sink in the basement. It worked out okay - although it was pretty disgusting. Anyway, I even washed the blackberry crisp dish - so that's good.

Here are today's pics:


An overview - painted ceiling!


Look, trash cans!


Check out the oven!


The island

A eulogy for my twenties

Well, we're here, faster than I ever expected. Today is the last day of my twenties; as of tomorrow I will have officially entered my thirties.

I'm not feeling too much nostalgia. The twenties were what they were, I don't know whether I would necessarily say they were the best period of my life (what am I comparing it against - my teens? Ugh), but there were some enjoyable moments.

High points:
- Graduating from Dickinson
- Meeting my DH
- Discovering St. John in the USVI
- Discovering Maine
- Seeing Mt. St. Helens
- Year in Germany
- Internships at the GHI and NASA
- Spending time in Italy (particularly Venice and Tuscany)
- Traveling in Europe (although there are some pretty low points in that period - Prague, I'm looking at you!)
- Fishing in the FL Keys with my grandfather
- Learning to SCUBA dive

I'm sure that's not an exhaustive list, and there are some glaring omissions (for example, I don't relly consider my wedding day a high point; I love DH, but the day itself was unrelenting drama). But it really does reflect what is important to me - discovering new places and returning to favorites, my relationship with DH and my grandfather, challenging and interesting jobs, etc.

As for wishes for my thirties - here's what I am hoping I will accomplish:

- Many, many SCUBA dives
- Getting out of college debt
- Seeing New Zealand, a Polynesian island, and somewhere in Central America
- Buying a Volkswagen Beetle convertible
- Traveling somewhere new at least every other year

Gosh, it really doesn't sound like much. I just want to stay healthy - emotionally and mentally as well as physically. I know that there will be some low points - there were certainly a few in my twenties - but that's just a part of life.

Anyway, I feel like I should be more retrospective and contemplative about this "major" life event, but I'm not really feeling it. Ask me again in a week, then we'll see what happens.

By the way, I had someone ask me about a week ago if I was a student intern. That's just great. I know that I look young, but jeez.

End of Day 8 - Mood: tired, bored, buyer's remorse?

So, there's been dramatic progress in my kitchen since renovation began last Tuesday, and as much as I hated my old kitchen, all this change is pretty intimidating. Nothing is finished yet, but having the new cabinets in a partially finished kitchen really makes them look awful. I have to remind myself that nothing is finished yet, that the door that seems a little out of square and isn't shutting completely is going to be fixed, that the 4 different colors on the wall will eventually be hidden behind one gleaming coat of new paint, and that the dusty, icky floor will be covered over.

Two-to-three weeks from now, I am sure that I will be saying that it is the finishing touches that really make the kitchen remodel worthwhile. The glossy black toekicks, the neat lighting, etc... all the little details that won't be there until the very end. Right now, I am looking at the mess in the kitchen, the mess in my living room, the mess in my dining room, the mess in my garage, and I am thinking about the mayhem and upheaval that this remodel has wrought, and I am wondering if it was all worth it.

I tend to cycle through emotions rather quickly - I am an emotional roller coaster under the best of circumstances - but right now I am so ready to be in Florida, relaxing with DH and living in a condo with a functioning kitchen.

So here is today's progress:


Look at all these new cabinets!


Think of all the stuff that is going to fill them


This is where I'll have a kitchen sink again.... someday


Nice close up of the chimney hood.

End of Day 7 / Week 1 - Mood: annoyed, impatient

Alright. I'm done with this whole kitchen renovation thing. I'm ready for it to be done.

Here are some pics of what was done today:



Look ma! Cabinets!

Good news is that I finally bought lighting today... here's what I bought;

This is the chandelier over the kitchen table...


This is two of the three pendant lights for over the island...


And this is the third pendant light for over the island

You've got to be f&%king kidding me - Part 2

So, here's the lastest from the NHC.


Note that the pink X marks where I am going to be on Thursday.

Of course the good news is that the storm is likely to be up in GA on Thursday when I fly in.

The bad news is that if it knocks out power in the area, my ice cream cake is going to melt in DH's freezer.

The good news is that the seas might calm down enough by Monday to go diving.

The bad news is that it is going to be hell flying through or around that muthafarking storm.

Grrrrrr.

You've got to be f&*king kidding me

About a month ago, I posted this, where I noted that a friggin' hurricane was aiming right for PBC (Palm Beach County) the single weekend I was supposed to go down. It roughed up the seas quite a bit, but the storm was killed by the mountains in Cuba or something and it never materialized in FL.

Well, here's my first trip back down to FL since then... and here's the latest f'ing forecast from the NHC. WTF? How is this possible?



If Ernesto screws up my 30th birthday weekend, I'm going to be royally pissed. There's just nothing more I can say about that.
At the very least, this storm is going to make my Thursday afternoon flight a bumpy one.

End of Day 6 - Mood: Stable, anxious

So, the poor kitchen guys are working all weekend. They were here yesterday at 7 am, and the appliance delivery guys were here at 7:30. I got a friggin' parking ticket for parking across the street for less than 12 hours while the contractor and delivery guys were doing their thing in my driveway, which pissed me off to no end. By 930 I was on my way to Leesburg, where I shopped until my credit card dropped. I spent almost $500 on clothes for myself - that's more than I've ever spent on myself in one go ever! Even including my wedding dress! Crazy.

I'll post the most recent kitchen pics shortly; the batteries in the digital camera are dead and being recharged right now. I'm getting better at finding ways to make do without having a kitchen. I made myself a latte yesterday and have been making somewhat healthy meals for myself each night. Tomorrow, however, my fridge is being moved into the garage, which isn't awful, but even more inconvienent. It is going to be a "regroup" day, apparently, between the designer and the contractor. They are going to revisit the design, make sure that it still works in the space and whatnot. It should be very interesting.

Whatever, I'm really looking forward to having this done. I haven't figured out what I want for pendant lights over the island and chandelier for over the table - a task I have been asked to complete. What a challenge!

Here are some pics!



Here's the kitchen at the end of day 5 - not much more done except for the drywall in this corner



This is the kitchen at the end of today - all the ceiling has been drywalled - phew.



Same day - different view



Same day - different view #2

And, if DH doubts the need for his side of the garage, forcing his car into the driveway, here's a pic of his side of the garage


Those are some of the new appliances and cabinets there.

End of Day 4 - Mood: Stablized, adjusted (mostly)

There haven't been any more major visible changes in the kitchen's status; I think that the electrician came by today, there are three new holes in the ceiling, and there are a lot more tools in the kitchen. The bad news is that they are going to be here at 7am tomorrow morning, which is killer. The appliances are also going to be here tomorrow - I really hope that I have enough room in the garage to store them! It's a fridge, double-oven, cooktop, and dishwasher. I'm nervous.

Tomorrow I plan to go shopping all day long! I recently received a cash bonus from work (a bonus from the government, get outta here! No really!) and I am going to do some much needed shopping for myself. Last weekend, when DH was home, we went shopping for him, and exercise that makes me so bitter. For some reason I have absolutely no problem finding unbelievable looking clothes for him that make him look fantastic. Me, on the other hand, it takes DAYS to pick out a pair of shoes.

Anyway, it should be an interesting couple of weeks. I leave for Florida on Thursday - my 30th birthday - and don't return until Tuesday morning. More importantly, after I leave the office Thursday I am away from my "normal" job until October 9th, because I will be on detail to another office. Yeah! Celebrate good times! I'm really looking forward to this change of pace.

I feel like a Scorpions song... "Winds of Change."

End of day 2 - Mood: Stable, acceptance, adjustment

Well, today was not quite as dramatic as yesterday. There was significantly less drama at the house today than yesterday. The electrician is not available until next Thursday, so there is a big pause in progress right now.

What did get done was a nice treat from the contractor. I opened the garage door when I got home and saw this:


What a nice surprise. We had talked that morning about hanging cabinets in the garage and the night before I had prepped the area for the fridge by moving all the myriad paint cans and other junk from that corner. Anyway, that's all that was accomplished today. That, and the contractor got in a round of golf with the owner of the home renovation business we used. Which is good.

I'm also substantially less stressed out than I was yesterday. I'm starting to adjust to not having a kitchen; last night I made couscous salad with a hot pot, and tonight I made chicken salad sandwiches. I'm trying to use as much disposable stuff as possible - plates and forks and whatnot - but in the end I have to dirty some stuff that I can't wash in the bathroom sink (which doesn't fit in the sink, and it's pretty gross to wash stuff in the bathroom anyway) So I am going to use a hillbilly dishwasher - I'm gonna hit Target for another rubbermade tub, and breakout the hose and dish soap. Woot! I'm collecting all the dishes that I dirty and I'll wash them this weekend!

So I am adjusting, and that's good.

End of Day 1 - Mood: Emotional, Shock

Wow. I got home and DH's car was in the driveway. Hmm. I opened the garage and ... whoa. It is totally full of cabinets - old and new. Whoa.

I'm ready to walk into the kitchen, which two days ago looked like this:


And this morning, after I had gotten all the cleaning done (and after they checked behind the oven) looked like this:


And after there was some of this:


Note: this is the electrician working on the island's power outlet. After I took this picture, he asked me not to take flash pictures while he was working, as it really gave him a fright.

I got home and my kitchen looked like this:

And so it begins...

My alarm forced me out of my dreams and into reality at 6am this morning. Today was the day that the contractors would begin tearing out my old kitchen and installing the new. Unfortunately, I hadn't really finished clearing out all of the stuff from the cabinets and dishwasher, so I had to get up, showered, dressed, and primped for the day as quickly as possible before they pulled up to the house between 630-700.

Luckily, they got there right at 700, giving me an extra half hour to get things organized. Not that there was really any hope of that. I had some dishes in the dishwasher and a few in the sink that I needed to clear out, plus some odds and ends that never really had a "category" per se that I had to find a home for.

Needless to say, the contractors were ruthless in their destruction. By the time I left for work around 800, I no longer had an island, light fixtures (both the flourescent and the chandelier over the breakfast nook were gone), upper cabinets, an oven, and a microwave/range hood. I'll post pictures when I get home tonight, but the quick pace of the demolition was suprising. I had no idea.

One thing that I wished I had had more forethought into was preparing to clear out the kitchen. DH and I spent the weekend at Target buying these giant rubbermade bins in which to store all the stuff I couldn't use while the kitchen was under construction, and then filled them - probably very inefficiently - with everything we could pull out of the cabinets. Stuff is everywhere.

I really wish that before they had started the demolition, I had taken time to:
- clean out the fridge. It's still pretty full, and I have my tiny dorm room backup upstairs. I'm really worried that everything in there is going to spoil, because they have the circuit in the kitchen off while they're working on the electric upgrades. At the very least I should have better prepared a place for it in the garage so that it could just be moved there. i think that this is going to be a very stinky mistake.

- clean out all the unwanted crap. I've got two Crock-pots, a stand mixer that I have never used and I am not even sure whether it works, some weird glasses and mugs and stuff that never get touched, and a junk drawer that I just spilled into a bag. I think that I did organize 80% of the bulk fairly well and only have what is necessary, but the remaining 20% caused me such agita last night and this morning.

- prepared some meals ahead of time. Of course this goes against the whole "cleaning out the fridge" thing, but I left so much of the kitchen drama to the last minute that I never took the time to make a few salads or something that I could have stored in tupperware containers and thrown into the little fridge. I'm really worried that I am going to come home and just not be able to deal with the amount of upheaval that this kitchen renovation is bringing into my life, and the added expense (and general unhealthiness) of take-out food is really unappealing to me right now.

I'll post some in progress pic's tonight, and I have to say that I am very appreciative of the professionalism of the crew. Hopefully the offer of fresh tomatoes from the garden will win their hearts and they'll do an extra good job. If only I had a good regular coffee maker, I'd make sure they had coffee every morning to start their day.

I'll keep you uprised of the ktichen's progress.

It's almost the weekend! Yippee

Agh! I'm so excited. Tomorrow DH is flying home for the weekend, and it's going to be very nice. The lawn will be mowed, the kitchen will have to be cleaned out in preperation for the destruction that is going to hit the house Tuesday, and the kitty litter will get scooped.

We're going to pick blackberries (the fruit, not the PDA) Saturday morning, and I've promised to make DH a blackberry cobbler to bring back with him to FL. Only, I wonder, if blackberry cobbler is going to be considered a liquid or gel, and therefore not allowed on his flight home. I mean, it gets liquidy when it cooks, then when it cools it is kind of gel-like. Hmmm. I wonder if the TSA has any guidelines on cobblers, crumbles, compotes, and crackles. I'm pretty sure that sorbets, custards, sherbets, and ice creams are right out. I think that bars, cakes, muffins, and cookies are probably okay. What about pies, turnovers, and tortes?

I'd better check with the TSA website to see if they have any advice for fresh fruit pastry travel.

Countdown to 30: 15 days left

This month is flying by much faster than I anticipated. I took a look at the calendar today and realized that there are only 15 days left in my twenties. Which I am fine with, but which also makes me think a bit.

I don't really believe that turning 30 somehow makes a lot of life options unavailable to me; I really believe that if I wanted to change my career or lifestyle or whatnot at any point here forward I certainly have the capability to do so. But all the same, it gets harder to do so as time marches on. While I've opted not to take on some of the responsibilities that many my age do (kids!), I also recognize that my primary reason for doing so is because I have other ideas for what I want to do, ideas that become responsibilities in their own right.

When I turned 25, I was newly married, about to leave my first post-college job, and about to radically change what I was doing and the trajectory I thought I was on. There were a lot of challenges working against me that year (for example: I didn't get accepted to Georgetown on my first try, moving and buying a house was a brutal process with tons of its own obstacles and pitfalls, making sure that DH had a job to move to and that I had something to do when we moved was huge ordeal as well). Five years later, I'm not 100% certain that all the decisions that I made that year were the best ones, and I don't think that I am where I thought I would be when I made those decisions.

Regardless, even if I am really not closer to being what I want to be/do (which I don't think is entirely true), I do think that I am somewhat closer to knowing what I want to be/do. As I grow older, I start acknowledging what bits of fluff in my life I can do without, what bits I don't have and want to pursue, and above all else to be thankful for all that I do have that is important to me.

11 days after my 25th birthday was September 11, 2001. I'd spent my birthday in Florida - where I was born - visiting all the sites that I knew and loved as a child. We'd flown home on Tuesday, September 4th. I hate the constant invocation of Sept. 11th as a moment that changed history. It wasn't for me; my decisions to change my life had already been made. Nevertheless, the reminder that twists of fate cut short lives with so much potential, a reminder that resonates intensely with me, pushed away the fear that accompanied any doubts I had.

I'll likely also spend part of my 30th birthday in Florida, again probably visiting somewhere that was an important part of my childhood, but also incorporating elements that are becoming an important part of who I want to be as an adult.

It's pretty exciting.

Bringing obsession to its natural conclusion

I have this thing about stuff I get obsessed with. Well, first of all, I get obsessed with things very easily, but I also have a short attention span. Hot fires burn fast and all that sort of thing.

Lately my obsession has been with the Smashing Pumpkins. I've been listening to their discography over and over again - particularly their last two albums - and I've discovered that YouTube has most of their videos posted.

Naturally, I wasn't content to watch the grainy, TV-logo videos on YouTube for long (and frankly, I don't think that I had seen any of the videos except for "Tonight, Tonight" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings") so I went out and bought their Greatest Hits Video Collection - 1991-2000. Which I have watched a million times now, commentary and videos and documentaries and all that.

Every time I watch their stuff, I fall more and more in love with their use of imagery. I'm particularly fascinated by the video for "Stand Inside Your Love," for which the images are so striking. I love the song and video more than should be considered normal. I think that I am starting to sound like a 14 year old obsessing over a Backstreet Boys video (like for Bye Bye Bye or something).

Anyway, I think that admitting that you have a problem is the first step to solving a problem. Whatever. The music and the videos rock.

Awesome new vacation ideas!

I was looking at CNN this morning and saw this little story buried on the bottom of the page about "5 'Smart' Vacation Ideas." I looked at the five suggestions, and totally fell in love with one or two of them.

In particular, I really want to go on Earthwatch.org's possible expeditions. They have ones that I'm really interested in all over the Caribbean basin. Maybe I'll help a team assess the health of coral reefs in San Salvador (where Columbus supposedly first set foot on the New World), or help with Marine Mammal surveys in the Abacos, Bahamas. Or do manatee surveys in Belize.

I'd also like to do the cooking school thing in Florence; that sounded really neat.

Way cool!

What's the hype about: Brokeback Mountain

Rather than going out to a movie, which meant subjecting my experience to the rude and immature public that frequently ruins it with cell phones and attempts to create their own MST3K, I decided to stay in and "rent" a movie through the Comcast on Demand feature. I popped popcorn, had my lime-flavored water, allowed a kitten to curl up with me, and watched "Brokeback Mountain."

What a bunch of schlock! I mean, really. The entire movie is cobbled together vignettes that seem to have little or no relation with one another. I think that Jake and Heath are utterly unbelievable (I couldn't get Toby Maguire out of my head every time Jake was on the screen, and what was with the porn 'stash - it didn't age him, it made him look ridiculous), there doesn't seem to be any logical development. What is the deal with Ennis's relationship with his daughter? Why does Heath have to talk as if his mouth was full of marbles - geez I watched Trainspotting last night and understood heavy Scottish dialect more easily than I could interpret whatever the hell Heath was mumbling. Anne Hathaway was gorg (even with the Texas blond hair) but what was the point of her?

I don't know, maybe I'm missing all kinds of hidden messages or something, but this was a terrible movie. There were so many logical inconsistencies (what, they didn't fish at all? You've got to be kidding me) and there was no logic as to why we had to jump from scene to scene (what was the point of the waitress character?).

Ugh. What a bunch of tripe.

Oh yeah, once you forget how crappy the story and the characters are, then there is the uber-annoying music. UBER annoying music that seemed to say "Gay moment ahead;" the entire movie seemed to be so conscious of it's "progressiveness" that it had to shout it at every opportunity. Look, here's a real progressive movie because we feature two gay men as main characters. Whatever.

What do you when it's gorgeous outside? Housecleaning of course!

It's fabulous outside, no humidity and moderate temperatures. I've got all the windows open, and there are great fresh breezes blowing through some of the stale corners of the house. Instead of being outside and enjoying the bliss that is this mid-August weather, I'm totally cleaning house. Top to bottom, all rooms. I've got so much trash in the hallway ready to take out it's simply insane.

How do I keep motivated to keep cleaning 'til every room is open house ready? I burn myself a CD of songs that will keep me going. A little Pumpkins (keeping with recent obsession), some old U2, some Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, and some fluffy weird spanish music thrown in for a little upbeat rhythm (I love the songs from the Kill Bill soundtrack and Bamboleo by the Gypsy Kings). Of course, I couldn't fit everything that I wanted on one CD, which annoyed me because I had sequenced the order quite specifically - making sure that transitions between songs made sense. So now I have a break in my playlist right in the middle - grr. Of course, it took about an hour and a half to create said playlist (called "Housecleaning in iTunes) and burn it onto a CD; time that I might have used to, you know, actually clean. Eh. Whatever.

Since DH is coming home next weekend I thought it might be nice to have him come home to a house cleaner than when he left. Not that that is too hard of a goal to accomplish. We're just not very neat people.

The cats, needless to say, are very confused.

When does driving 3.1 miles take 44 minutes?

Answer: When the MontCo police are too stupid to close a two lane road where there is an opportunity to detour, thereby making everyone drive up to the scene of the drama, turn around, and go back exactly the way they came to a stoplight where people could just have turned left and not wasted 20 minutes of their life. Nevermind that the drama occured just beyond another detour option - but since they closed that as well they screwed those of us who know the back roads enough to know how to get around.

As I was getting into the elevator to come home this evening, someone said to me "why do you look so down? It's Friday?"

"It's not Friday until I walk in my door." I replied. After a half-hour train delay and a 44 minute drive home (as opposed to my normal 7 minutes), I had no idea how prescient I can be.

Here's a picture of a cute kitty.

It's a post about nothing

It's a show about nothing!

So, yeah, whatever. Nothing really is going on right now. Work stinks (nothing new there), DH is still in Florida (nothing new there), the garden is growing out of control (nothing new there) my kitties are crazy and don't let me sleep a full night through (nothing new there), and I'm generally just gettin' by.

I'm kinda lookin' forward to the weekend. I don't have any plans, but that's kind of the best part. After running around for the last few weekends, it'll be nice to take some time and get some housework done, catch up on yardwork, "me" time. Nothing new there.

So yeah, at this point my life would make a real good show about nothing. Exciting, eh.

What do you mean my weekend's over?

So here it is, Sunday night. I fly back to DC tomorrow morning, and then it's another two weeks before DH and I are together again. How the time flies! So sad.

At least this was a good weekend! Saturday we went snorkeling at John MacArthur Park on Singer Island. It was a gorgeous location, lots of rocks in the water for some fun snorkeling. I'm looking forward to the wintertime and kayaking in the natural estuary there. We saw lots of flying mullet in the estuary too! That afternoon, after doing DH's weekly chores (grocery shopping, etc) we relaxed by the pool for a little while.

Today we rented a bike for me and rode all over Palm Beach. We got caught in a Florida rainstorm while at the Palm Beach Inlet, got soaking wet, and once the sun came out starting sweating again. Both Saturday and Sunday we had lunch at Too Jays, a fantastic South Florida deli chain. I cannot recommend the shrimp salad enough. It's awesome. Again, we closed the afternoon with a bit of time by the pool.

Since renting a bike costs $25 every day, we found a $50 bike advertised on Craigslist and bought it. It needs some air in the tires and maybe a little WD-40 on the gears, brakes, and chain - but it's better than nothing. We can probably sell it when DH comes home for that much, so it'll be a wash.

Anyway, being down here this weekend I have walked at least 7 miles, biked about 8, and god knows how much swimming I've done.. I exercise far more here than I do at home. It's really a shame.

New Office Webisode!

It's Friday, and unless I watch "The Office" Thursday nights I forget that they post the webisodes on Thursdays. And seeing as I was sitting in Reagan National Airport last night an hour and a half longer than I expected to because of flight delays on USAir (grrrr) I missed the rerun last night. Luckily I remembered to watch today!

It's still not as funny as the first couple of episodes, but there is a moment when I just bust out laughing. Watch it for yourself and see if you can keep your composure.

BTW, I love USAir's flights to/from DCA from/to PBI - but these delays are starting to piss me off. The airport is just not an interesting enough place to spend an additional 1.5 hours - in addition to the hour pre-departure!

Anyway, I'm here in Palm Beach now, watching the intercoastal go from perfectly calm to an intermittant chop and knowing that this is totally going to ruin any chance that I have for snorkeling this weekend. Grrrr.

P.S. Since this is the view from DH's condo, I think that I can deal with airplane delays. Edited to add photo

Now boarding, USAir Flight to Palm Beach International

Yeah! After weeks of waiting, I'm finally on my way back to Florida to visit DH. Of course, there's been a little excitement with Tropical Storm Chris in the general vicinity; in fact, for a short time yesterday as he looked like he was going to gear up and be somebody, there was a chance that I would be in Tampa on Friday getting ready to fly into the hurricane. But, Chris died out, the flights to investigate the storm have been canceled, and now I'll neither get to go on my first hurricane flight, nor will I be able to go diving (seas are anticipated to be rough because of the east winds) So poopers... foiled on both accounts. I'll likely not even get to do any snorkeling with the rough surf either.

No matter, at least I'll be with DH for a few short days before coming back to the drama that is my job.

This is all you'll see of me come 5pm tonight:

Stuff I'd like to share

Here are three pictures I finally remembered to take today. This is the Discovery Channel's way of celebrating Shark Week.





Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up.

Arrrghhh!

As many of you may know, DH and I are awaiting major renovations to our kitchen. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting forEVER for just some dates around when the work is going to start. It was my belief/understanding/assumption that since the cabinets were scheduled to be delivered on August 16, work would have to begin at least a week beforehand; since the floors, tearout, electrical, plumbing, and other assorted prep work needed to be done in advance of installing the cabinets.

I've been trying for weeks! to get a timeframe nailed down for this whole mess, thinking that this was the case. I finally called the owner of the business today and got an answer! Apparently, they don't even think about beginning work until all the cabinets have been delivered and they are sure that nothing major is missing or damaged. Well, that's a far sight more detail than I think that I have gotten thus far. And it is kind of a major relief, too. I thought that I was going crazy!

So the project that we had hoped would start in June or at least have finished by September won't start until mid-August and probably won't finish until late October (6-8 week long project). Which is fine... but I really wished that I could have known this information about two weeks ago.

Grrrrrr.

Personal weather forecast: HOT HOT HOT, then a little breezy

Well, as anyone living on the Eastern Seaboard knows, it's hotter than hell out there. Today I brought my little $10 Target fan into work top get some air circulating in my cube. It's very nice. The weather is supposed to be blistering until Thursday, which is when I leave for Florida to visit DH.

I really was looking forward to this weekend - some fun in the sun on the beach, or maybe even a dive or two. Then I hear the news that a new Tropical Storm (Chris) has formed and is scheduled to make landfall near my beloved St John. And the five day forecasted track...



I'm headed for the pink "X." Isn't that just great?

Countdown to 30!

So, I turn 30 on Aug. 31st. A milestone birthday, for in particular. My mother died one month after her 30th birthday (22 years ago today actually). I look at that and think, wow, I barely know who I am and what I want, I can't imagine having it all cut so short. To me, 30 means no more 20s; I'll no longer be part of the age group that includes 21 year olds, which is nice. There's no age barriers anymore - at least not until I want to start enjoying senior discounts when I get to be 55. My 30s should be a time where I get out of early-adulthood debt (i.e. college/student loan debt). It should be a time where I develop my adult identity; who I will be and what I will believe in. I should be starting to plant the seeds of an actual career, rather than just stringing together a series of jobs. I'll travel more, see more exotic places, and start building a financial foundation to get me there!

I'm totally looking forward to my 30s. But I also recognize that there are only 30 days left before I cross that threshhold, so I am going to take the time to think about what the good things about one's twenties are.

The beginning is always the best place to start; so where was I when I turned 20? Hmmm. I almost forgot! I was in Luxemburg, I'm pretty sure, just about to travel to Mannheim, Germany, for a 1 month intensive German school before beginning my year-long study in Bremen, Germanty. Gosh. What a long way I've come. I remember being both naive and unfettered. We thought nothing of dragging our stuff all over the place from the airport to the train station to some little 1* hotel we found in our Let's Go guide. Wow. I had no idea what that year in Germany was going to do to me when I turned 20.

I hope my 30s are just as exciting!

LOST!

After finally getting home from work at 930 Friday night, I was ready to begin the weekend. A friend and I had planned a trip to the beach for Saturday - so Saturday morning I found myself running around like a crazy person trying to get all the chores I had planned to take care of Friday night finished. My friend and I had planned to leave between 10-12, but both he and I got caught up in weekend needs, so we instead decided to head up to Harper Ferry and Martinsburg, thinking that we would escape the heat of the city in the mountains. No such luck,

Harper's Ferry was nice enough, a bit Disneyfied with "perfectly preserved" examples of 19th century life performing for the throbbing hoardes of sweaty, whiny tourists. We hung around for about an hour before moving on. Our next stop was Martinsburg!

We had been told by a former colleague of ours at the GHI that Martinsburg was a cute little town. Well, it certainly was cute - but it was dead! We got there around 5pm, and all the stores had closed up and there was no one on the street. We breezed through town and headed for Shepherdstown.

I had been to Shepherdstown for a gov't training class and remembered that there had been a cute little town there... so off er went. And boy was I happy we decided to stop! The town of Shepherdstown is similar to a lot of other old, small towns, but since it is also the home of Shepherd College, it was lively, with lots of open shops and things going on. We stopped at the Lucky Dog Cafe, the perfect independent college-town coffee shop, where I had- no joke - the best vanilla latte of my life. It was perfection. It was an awesome place.

There was a little art gallery with a show of art by the local college students. Most of it was pretty trite, but there was one piece that was quite nice. Anyway, we walked around the town, looking at the old buildings and churches, just enjoying the energy in this town that was absent in so many others. It is a trip I am looking forward to making again.

The real highlight (lowlight) of the trip was us getting hideously lost on our way home. We missed the turn out of Shepherdtown that would have taken us over the bridge over the Potomac and into Sharpsburg, MD - where the battle of Antietam was fought - and back towards Frederick. We ended up on these small little country roads along the river, which wasn't so bad until they turned inland, and we had no idea how to get back to civilization. We were about as lost as we could be - luckily we had just filled the gas tank. We drove for nearly 45 minutes before truly starting to get worried. The sun was fading fast, and the very last thing we wanted was to be on these back roads after dark.


Where we got lost

Finally, after trying several turns and not being able to find a proper highway, I called DH to see if he could help us out with Google Maps or something. In the end (of course, since I am writing this from home) we did find our way - but somehow we had traveled south fom Shepherdstown all the way back south of Charlestown on these convoluted back roads.

Anyway, it was an adventure!

I can't believe that I am still here!

Well, it is almost 730, the last train home leaves at 728, and I am still at work! Can you believe it? No, of course not. The amount of resources devoted to this mess of a project is unbelievable, and I can't believe that we are wasting our (my) time trying to get it right.

I am really ready to go home now.. maybe I can get out of here by 830.

Feelin' lucky, punk?

Yeah! I brought two wardrobe boxes to a girlfriend to night to help her move this weekend, and I thought that I was going to be too late to see the new episode of Project Runway. Lucky me - it doesn't start until 10pm, so no worries.

This week I also set up the first of my two rotations; this will be just a month-long detail with NESDIS, who coincedently rejected me the first time I interviewed as a PMF. Well, maybe rejected is a little harsh - they were forced to offer the position to a veteran with Veteran's Preference, who ended up screwing them over, so whatever. It's in their International and Interagency affairs office, which will finally give me the opportunity to use the g.d. $50k degree I just got.

So, things seem like their slowly getting better. This weekend I am going to the beach with a friend on Saturday; Sunday I am going to celebrate Jeffro's moving in with CC with a lil' cookout!

Just 1.5 weeks left before I see DH again! Yeah!

Such a party girl

Well, here is it, 11:30am, and I've just woken up. Unbelievable. I didn't get home until about 2:00 last night. But it was a very good night. A girlfriend and I successfully managed to get tickets to "Lunch," which was a lot more drama than I anticipated. I really thought that the Capital Fringe Festival was going to be a big thing downtown with lots of advertisements, flyers, etc around the area (in the general vicinity of Gallery Place). It took us forever to find the "festival" box office, and when we did they told us they stopped selling tickets 2 hours before the show. Well frick.. the venue box office didn't open until one hour before the show, so we had to haul our butts over there and wait (cause there were only 5 tickets left). There went our plans to get something to drink and eat before the show.

To make a long story short, we got tickets (we were the only ones in line who did), the show was fantastic and perfectly (scarily so) captured eighth grade cafeteria politics (except these kids were a lot more cognescent of sex than I was in eighth grade). It was a piece of musical theatre - which surprised me - but it was really good. Very entertaining.

We met a couple of guys at the show that Andrea had met at a party some months earlier and after the show we all headed out to Jaleo for a few drinks and tapas. It was a really good time, just some really fun conversation and stuff. They guys left around midnight, so my girlfriend and I chatted a while longer, before we jumped onto the Metro and traveled home.

If you have the chance to catch "Lunch," be sure to do so. It is very, very entertaining.

The healing power of ... curry?

I'm having a rough week. It's another two weeks before I see DH again, there's tons of drama at work, I'm hitting roadblocks trying to set up my rotations, and I've worked more hours at work this week than I cared to.

That being said, I came home tonight feeling pretty bleak. Emotionally paralyzed really. Just down and not feeling very inspired to do anything but crawl into bed and go to sleep (another issue I've been having problems with lately).

I had considered, earlier in the afternoon, getting myself some take-out Indian food. By the time I got home (the train was late, I forgot to get the telephone # for my favorite Indian take-out joint, etc) I was nearly too tired to bother. But, in the face of great laziness; I made the call and ordered myself Chicken Tikka Masala and Garlic Naan.

I have discovered the great restorative powers of yummy Indian food. Suddenly, after a scrumptious bowl of Tikka Masala and rice, with some very garlicky naan, my spirits lifted. I feel happier, my seratonin levels are rising, and the world doesn't seem to grim.

So my prescription for those days where feeling down in the dumps? A yummy order of Chicken Tikka Masala from my favorite joint, India Palace in Germantown. It won't cure what ails ya, but it tastes so good you'll forget about your troubles for while.

Intriguing...

This week is the beginning of the Capital Fringe Festival - which showcases art that is decidedly out of the mainstream. I'm really intrigued by the concept; and there is one show that I would really like to see.

"Lunch" is supposedly an imitation of what 8th grade lunch was like for the average American kid. It sounds totally like something that a bunch of middle school rejects might produce as therapy for their experience. It's decidedly healthier and less destructive than a Columbine-style outburst, that's for sure. I'm going to try and get to a performance, for my own therapy as a middle school reject.

There's so much going on though, it's hard to narrow down what looks most interesting. It's going to be a rainy weekend supposedly, so thats kinda bummer. Eh. Gotta keep busy.

P.S. Oooh - found another show I'd like to see: "One-man Star Wars Trilogy"; the first three Star Wars movies (the originals) in 75 mins by one man. A definite must see. It doesn't start until Wednesday, though.

New Office Webisode!

OOOh! Almost didn't realize that today meant a new Office webisode! It's not as funny as the Phyllis one, but it's amusing.

Still no resolution on the Pam / Jim drama. What were you thinking?

Here's a cute kitty picture to entertain you.

Wild "Erika

To say that this has been a long week would be a massive understatement. I just want the week to end, but I have so much work on my plate that it feels like either Friday will come too soon or come too late. I've taken the late train home almost every day this week, sat in endless meetings with no conclusion to problems... just more ideas to consider. It has to be the least effective and efficient work environment I have ever been in. Nothing ever gets done... things just get swished around endlessly like clothes in a wash cycle. I am also desperately trying to set up my rotation with my dream office... but I just found out today that there is likely going to be a real conflict with my obligations to my home office. I need to spend most of August figuring out a way that I can get the work in my office done long before it is due so that I am free to pursue my rotation, but it isn't looking good.

The garden is growing out of control, and suprisingly today I found a cucumber growing on one of the four vines I planted. It was a nice suprise, because those vines had really struggled when I first planted them. The tomatoes, when they start to ripen, are going to be out of control. I probably shouldn't have planted 5 tomato plants... but in my defense they support three different types of tomatoes: beefsteaks, romas, and cherries. Ugh. It's going to be a lot of tomatoes.

The kitties are crazy and I am not sleeping well. I seem to wake up every two hours on cue. Maybe it's stress from work, maybe it's just the craziness of life, maybe it's missing DH. Anyway, it's all good.

I need a vacation!

Gimme a break!

It's been unbelievably busy at work... what with trying to wrap up some projects that I (feel like) have been working on forever, and then every day is a new fire drill. I don't know whether we need more people, or less drama, or a little of both.

Anyway - it's Project Runway night! Don't forget to tune in to Bravo to watch the second episode at 10 (if you missed the first epi - it's on right before the new one). Great show people.. I'm tellin' ya!

It's three weeks before my next trip to FL to visit DH.

I'll keep this short... I'm too busy to write any more!

I need a man!!!

I'd like to think of myself as a liberated woman... not needing a man to get along in life and whatnot. Well, after tonight I say forget it!

Sunday is trash night, and laundry night, and the general time in which the house should be put in order for the upcoming week. I've done laundry - no real drama there. I scooped kitty poop- which I absolutely hate doing since its smelly and makes me feel a little ill - but I did it. I collected all the trash from the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the laundry area (so much lint).

Then I went out to the garage to put it in the can to drag to the curb. Now I admit, it's been a few weeks since we've put the trash out. We just don't produce that much trash. It's been in the garage for two weeks - because we got a little reminder from the HOA (a newsletter, really, but that reminder was on the front page) that the trash cans should be in the garage.

Well I lifted off the lid and a SWARM of flies flew up and scared the ever loving you-know-what out of me. And it was gross... I mean I know what flies do with trash. Ick ick ick. So I slammed the lid back down on the can, dragged it VERY quickly to the curb, and found giant black plastic bags in which to put the rest of the trash,

EEEEEEWWWWWW. I abhor taking the trash out. That is the man's job and I am not too proud to scream it from the mountains. Men are necessary to kill bugs, fix things, and take out the trash! So, since DH isn't around, I'll just have to find an ersatz husband who can perform these household duties.

My skin is still crawling. EEEEWWWW.

Lil' Miss Socialite

Oy! What a busy Saturday! I was up bright an early trying to work off these extra pounds I've accumulated by running - a very very bad idea when the temps are around 80 and the humidity is around 90! I cannot recomment this to anyone, particularly if you are as out of shape as I apparently am. Then, I got to go blueberry picking in the still steamy and hot sunshine with Jeffro and CC - I gathered about 4 pounds of berries for myself; which going by past history should last about 3.5 days. I'm going to anti-oxident myself to death!

After spending a nice day with them (with lunch at the Amish market - go ahead and try it!), I quickly showered (boy did I need it) and changed to meet with my dear friend Christoph and spend the evening in Bethesda. We had coffee at Cosi and saw Pirates of the Caribbean (awful sequel - why must Hollywood kill the golden goose?) and topped it off with a nightcap at RiRa.

On Pirates of the Caribbean... I enjoyed the first movie despite my it not being my normal movie fare - it was fun and lively and the story was pretty interesting. The second movie is a hot mess stuffing every plot twist and turn and character and cameo into a way too long movie with way too many special effects and unexplained myths and mysteries. I didn't know anything about the legend of the Flying Dutchman, other than the fact that it was the subject of an Wagnerian opera. And from what I've read, it doesn't much matter since they make everything up in the movie to suit their "story." That movie could really have benefitted from a vicious editor. At least 35% of the movie and a few characters could have been chopped with no impact. Also - the movie tried WAY too hard to end with a cliffhanger so that it would lead to yet another sequel. This was sort of the same problem with the Two Towers, but not really since only this movie and the final were imagined as sequels - the original was not. Hollywood successfully ruins another interesting possiblity by going over the top. Shocking, I know.

I got home around 1 am last night, which for me is quite remarkable. I think that that is the latest I've been up since college. Wow. I really am getting old!

Almost free!

Here it is, 4:30 on Friday. When I get home, it will be just me! No FIL, no DH. Kitties will be there though. And some dishes. And probably some ants, since they were all over the place this morning. And lots of laundry. And a messy bathroom. And a messy bedroom.

Hmm. Not quite as peaceful as I had hoped.

Oh well. Tomorrow I will get a boatload of blueberries, maybe see a movie with an old friend. It's all good. Sunday I'l resign myself to housekeeping, although with no one there I can blast music as loud as I can stand and entertain myself that way.

Tonight I'll have some coffee. And some dinner. And play with the kitties. And puruse the garden. Maybe watch a movie.

I'm just glad that the lawn doesn't need to be mowed.

Message from DH to Jeffro and CC

Here's a special message from DH to you!

Gotta love technology

It's amazing what technology can do for relationships these days. One of the major issues every freshman in college goes through (or at least used to) was the agony of not being able to talk or see their high school sweetheart. This inevitably leads to the Thanksgiving decision - do you stay together or do you split up. (Hmm, I might have a history there).

Anyway, with the prevalence and relative cheapness of cell phones (heck, I remember spending $60 a month just to talk to my high school sweetheart for 30 minutes every weekend) the whole phone chat is now moot. And of course text chats allow one to "talk" real time, but both of these are a bit impersonal. Where's the joy from seeing your loved one smile?

Enter in video chats! DH's new MacbookPro has a camera built ito the computer (and I think that the new, but less expensive iBooks or whatever they are called now have them too) and we (well, he anyway, I don't have a camera for my computer) can chat with video! We tried it for the first time tonight - and it was totally cool to see DH's facial expression as he listened to my 101 inane stories of the day (My ride on the flooring forklift; the hot-almost-having-a-heart-attack delivery guy; the kitties running in the backyard; Henry eating catnip right out of the little thing, etc).

So that was nice. I don't know whether this technology would have saved my relationship with my high school sweetheart, but it certainly makes DH's being in Florida a little easier to bear.

Office Webisodes!

You want resolution. Wait until September. No resolution for you!


I am a total Office addict (US only, I never seem to be able to catch the BBC Office episodes). Well starting today you can watch Office "webisodes" on NBC.com. There's two available now, and a new one will be released each Thursday.

Naturally, there's no Pam or Jim, because they can't give away what's going to happen there! Run, Jim, Run! She's too much drama for you!

P.S. I just saw the actress who plays Angela on the local news. Wow, she's cute when not in drab frumpy character!
P.P.S. It's gotta be Creed.

What's that kitty up to?

Hmmmm, what's Eliza looking at?


Oh - how cute!

Working from home

So today I have the luxury of working from home. I've called into a conference call, read some of the 200 pages of documents that I brought home with me (nothing confidential - no worries) and lugged 9 boxes of hardwood flooring (each weighing 55 pounds). It sounds like it isn't that heavy, but when its 12 feet long it's more awkward than dead weight. Whatever, it's in the living room now, ready to be installed in the new kitchen.

It's nice to be working from home. The commute is great, the amenities and catering are top notch, and there's entertainment in the form of kitties. Now if only I had access to all the stuff I saved on my desktop of my computer at work, I'd be set.

Yippee! Project Runway 3 starts tonight!

The divine Tim Gunn

I am NOT a big fan of reality TV shows, but make exceptions for the (three-time Emmy winning) Amazing Race and Project Runway. I just started watching PR last year and was totally sucked in. I still haven't seen all of Season 1, but that's okay. I'm quite anxious to see who the divine Tim Gunn is forced to say "we're going to have to ask you to leave" to.

The things I love most about Project Runway are that these people have to have a modicum of talent to succeed, and Tim Gunn. The hosts of these shows are typically so vapid and shallow; Tim Gunn is sharp, witty, and gives a "no holds barred" approach to his criticism, which is so refreshing. Plus the judges are usually critical rather than condescending.

Tonight, Bravo 10pm. Hopefully these thunderstorms will stay far enough afield to keep my cable up!

The more you know...

Can I finally get some relaxation over here? Since my fridge was empty, I stopped by Trader Joe's to get groceries last night ($107 worth - just to illustrate how desperately empty my fridge was). I really wanted to make a big fruit salad, so I bought a big watermelon and a cantaloupe. The chick at the register asked if I minded if she packed the bags heavy. Realizing that I no longer have someone to help carry this stuff to the car - I said heavy and fewer is better than lighter and more.

So all my groceries are stuffed into three bags, except for the watermelon and the cantaloupe. The girl at the register asks me if I need help getting this stuff into my car - and I'm all like, nah, I can handle it.

It took me no fewer than THREE trips back and forth from the cart (they keep them corralled in near the door) to get all this stuff in my trunk. Argh - it was so hot and humid. The main challenge was the damn watermelon and canteloupe. They were the reason for my last trip, since they wouldn't go in a bag and they were too awkward to balance with bags.

The lesson here is to always accept help if you have two large melons.

Finding my "rhythm"

Argh... so frustrating to be off-rhythm. This morning I realized that all the milk in the fridge was past its expiration date, that I had no English muffins for breakfast (no cereal either - see milk situation) and worst of all, no coffee (again, related to milk situation).

I've got to get things back in order. I see a fun trip to TJs today to fill up my empty fridge. Luckily there is an Einstein bagel place directly in my path from the train to work. Unfortunately I've been stopping there far too frequently (three times in the past week!) for a bagel and coffee.

Finally, I have a splinter in the bottom of my foot from walking barefoot on my back deck. I got it out - but it hurts like something awful. Naturally I'm wearing higher heels today, which makes the pressure on the sore spot fairly intense. Argh.

First night "alone"

Ugh. After a grueling long day, a horrendous flight (made so enjoyable by the three women who WOULD NOT SHUT UP on a 7am flight) and a exhausting evening with my dad the endless storyteller and my father-in-law, captive audience, it's finally time to be alone. After a short and sweet phone chat with DH (who hasn't set up his own internet service yet - so no audio chat for us) I have some time alone.

Except for the alone part. I'm actually looking forward to Friday night, when FIL will return home and I'll get the house to myself. There is so much cleaning that needs to be done; the kitchen is a mess, the bathroom is ugly, kitty poop needs scooping. I just don't have the energy to get it done tonight. I'm just going to crawl into bed and drop dead asleep.

It's going to be a long week.

On the bright side, I harvested my first vegetable from the garden tonight! A zucchini that apparently took steroids over the weekend - it was only 4 inches Friday - was a little over-ready for picking tonight; the darn thing was almost 12 inches. I basted it with cracked pepper and olive oil and grilled it with a leftover eggplant half, some leftover baby bella mushrooms, and two small onions. Yummy.

Okay... time for bed. Yawn.

Just my ... luck?

Pic of the accident scene this morning


What a weird morning. I have a major project due at work today - so I had planned to come in early (since I was waking up early to finish packing for this weekend and see DH off anyway). I'm just about to gather my things together to leave when I catch a report on the news that alerts me to the fact that a freight train hit a garbage truck in Gaithersburg (the stop right after mine) and that the MARC Brunswick line had suspended service.

Great! Now I had to drive to the Metro station, park there all weekend long, pay to get out, remember to get off at Rockville on the way home Monday, spend an hour going from Shady Grove to Silver Spring with all my stuff... etc. I was NOT a happy camper.

Which led me to get going a little bit faster than I would normally have, now that I had a 60 minute ride rather than a 25 minute ride to work. I shoved my suitcase in the trunk, pulled out, and got on the highway (hearing train whistles in the distance, but figuring that it was just trapped trains already on the tracks) on my way to METRO.

I get on 270S and see TWO helicopters hovering over the accident scene (figures) and then WTOP reports that the Brunswick line is operating again, albiet with up to 1 hr delay. Hmmm. So I take a chance and get off and drive right back to my train station. I pull into my spot, pull the trunk latch to get my stuff out of the trunk, and realize that it doesn't "release" - it feels like the trunk has... why yes, I did forget to shut the trunk! Brilliant! Luckily I didn't have panties strewn all over 270!

I get my stuff and make my way to the track.. hoping that I won't wait too long. Lo and behold, an announcement comes over the PA that a train is just departing Germantown - my wait is only 6 minutes! I get to work at a very respectable 8:00 - after getting a decent poppy seed bagel from Einsteins and a putrid vanilla latte from Starbucks (truly putrid.)

I don't even want to think about what adventures this evening might hold.