Saturday Sojourn: Kittens Left to Their Own Devices

I'm about to leave for Berlin and Naxos (Greece), so the kittens are being left to their own devices (and the pricey catsitter).


Here is a rare picture of them lying next to each other. It was Romeo's idea. Lucky likes her personal space. This lasted for, oh, about a second. Romeo will try to work you in trance.... turn away before it's too late!!!!

I may or may not blog over the next two weeks.

Tuesday Timewarp: These Are The Days

One of my favorite bands in college hands-down was 10,000 Maniacs. Much like R.E.M.'s Murmur was to my older brother's cohort, In My Tribe was to my friends, meaningful college pop, full of idealism. (Remember idealism?) I saw the Blind Man's Zoo tour while in college. Natalie Merchant is one of the most genuine artists I have ever seen perform.

Here's a little bit of Our Time in Eden. This particular song always inspires me to live life to its fullest. It also reminds me how popular baggy clothes and bob haircuts were in the late 80s/early 90s.

Friday Freeflow: Waiting for the Catsitter

Yes, I admit it, friends. My first decent blog post in a while...

It's Friday evening, and I am waiting to meet with the catsitter that will take care of my kittens while I go on vacation to Berlin and Naxos. Friday evening is a good time to unwind and process all the stimulus from the week... kind of like how your dreams process all the random sights and sounds from that day. Basically, Friday is the colonic of days, which is why I tend to like to sit still, so I can flush everything out of my system. It also makes me feel better to think there is a reason I'm at home talking to my cats and waiting for the catsitter.

Remember that cyclist that I featured in the blog a few weeks ago? You probably remember the photo. The ghost bike still sits at Connecticut and R Streets.

I had been talking to my boss about how I wished I could ride a bike in DC, but that the bad drivers make me nervous. He mentioned that this cyclist was struck by a garbage truck. Ugh. Wow. A helmet doesn't protect you from that.

It's getting down to the wire on So You Think You Can Dance? Can you stand it???


I know my fellow dance fans totally get it. Believe it or not, I'm so addicted that I've resorted to reading the forums on the SYTYCD? website although I don't understand the strange dialect they use there. The posts overwhelmingly include comments like "OMG! That wuz so hot!" and "Puhlease! I h8 (enter dancer's name here)!!!" Perhaps someone can e-mail me a translation.

I FINALLY reunited with one of my good gal pals from college. Amy lives in Bristow, Virginia which is about 40 miles outside of DC, with her husband Jim (also a friend from college) and their two kids. We got back in touch last summer when I was "between jobs." That was June 2007. Please note that it is now August 2008. It was great to see her, but I now realize why I sit home on Friday nights. Between kids and commutes, thirty-something people are too damned busy here to have social lives. Case in point...I am getting together with my friend (a new mom) Susan next week and I haven't seen her since, oh, last June! And then there are a couple more friends from my past: Jay, who I've been trying to meet up with for about four months, and John, a more recent project, but both have kids under 5. Surprise! Not that I want to live in kid-ville. (I don't) But I'm so over hanging with twenty-somethings. (Minus a few especially cool ones.) Albeit my boyfriend is 28, but deep-down he's 45.

Speaking of reunions, my friend Beth came to town a week ago.


One benefit to living in DC is that it is a place people visit (for work or "pleasure"), which can't be said of Salt Lake City, except for a small winter sport contingency. Beth was the most recent in a trio of friends who have had conferences in DC in 2008. (Shout outs to Erika George and her annual international law conference and Susan Rutherford and her, uh, sprinkler runoff conference or whatever it was.) Anyway, I always enjoy the visits, especially since it reminds me that I do, in fact, have friends. Come to DC!!

Ok, where is that cat sitter?

Wildcard Wednesday: Philosophical Thought of the Week

The rain dumped in buckets today. I waited for the bus for almost 25 minutes. Usually my bus (the 42) comes every ten minutes. About 20 minutes into the wait, a woman asked me, "Have you been waiting long?"

"Yes."

This being a bus stop for multiple routes, I then thought to myself, "Well that depends what you're waiting for."

And then I realized I was no longer talking about buses.

**********************************************************************

And today being the "day after," I just wanted to share this heartfelt show of support from someone in the neighborhood. I especially like the "Want change? Vote for a WOMAN." (All caps with the "female" symbol next to it.) When I first saw this sign, I thought it had been made by a kid. Then I realized that even if it weren't, it was still pretty cool.

Read the post from when I officially became a fence sitter.

Wildcard Wednesday: Prince of Petworth

My younger brother is coming to town tomorrow. In fact, he's getting on a flight in less than three hours. So I'm running around getting ready.

I was reading the blogs I regularly read and I wanted to point you to one that I love for its simplicity in its appreciation of the everyday in DC and its role as a community builder.

Check out Prince of Petworth, if you have a chance. I aspire to be this guy.

Monday Money Shot: Beignets and Bachelors

In another birthday post... here is the money shot I wanted. It's not the strawberries, but I think the beignets, the candle, and the "Happy Birthday" in chocolate icing takes the cake! Way to go to my Sweetie for giving me not one surprise dessert, but TWO! Even better is that he did partly because he knew I needed the photo for my blog.

The beignets didn't rival Cafe Du Monde. (My choice, not Wood's.) Though I highly recommend the pecan tart.

Ok, I'll confess that right now I have the finale of The Bachelor on in the background. I have extremely mixed feelings about this show. It's like watching a car crash. Something is so ridiculous about 22 year old women feeling so desperate about getting married, so convinced that they have met the man they want to marry, that I take pleasure in it for its complete disconnect from reality. The sad thing though is that it's not far from reality and that a lot of people get in bad marriages because of that kind of delusion.

That said, I'm hoping Matt asks Shane to marry him.

Friday Farewells: A Few of My Favorite Things

Red Ginger closed on Wednesday for good.

And my iPod is toast.

Monday Musing: Realization

I blog too much.

In yoga today, we had this meditation where we were walking in our favorite natural place (mine was some woodsy place near a beach), and then an animal that we considered kindly (for me, it was a little tabby kitten) brought us a message written on a piece of paper.

We were supposed to ask ourselves a question and then look at the piece of paper for the answer.

My question was: How can I be happy?

The answer read: Just be.

Wildcard Wednesday: Girlfriends

I moved to DC 15 months ago. I haven't dedicated a lot of time to making friends for a number of reasons. I'm busy, I'm happy, and I have many of the most amazing friends on the planet, they just happen to live far away.

Some days their distance takes a toll. When I hear people in my office heading out to lunch or grabbing a drink after work, I think of how badly I'd love to be able to do the same with a close girlfriend.

Here's to us!!! You know who you are!

Monday Mallardy: Chatty Girls

Wood and I caught Mr. and Ms. Mallard hanging out in a fountain near the U.S. Navy Memorial. I love how they make the city their own. After all, it was 80 degrees out. Time for a swim.

I don't know what Ms. Mallard is chatting about in this pic, but the Mr. doesn't seem particularly engaged. Perhaps he is thinking about sex or food. I guess gendered relationships are universal across the species. My girl cat Lucky is quite a chatty catty, too. Romeo on the other hand is very cuddly, but not very talkative, but sometimes I think that's because he's the big, sweet, slow boy in the class. (And he's quick to pounce on Lucky but as he is neutered, I'm not sure if he understands why he pounces.)

Wood can attest to my regularly talking his ear off, and he's a good sport about it, God bless him.

Thrilling Thursday: Warm Weather Arrives

Wood and I had a lovely impromptu get together with his mom, her friend Peter, and her neighbor Amy on the roof of his mom's building. We ate salad, pasta and pizza and enjoyed it with a glass of wine under a terrific sunset followed by a gorgeous nearly full moon. The evening was perfect. On days like this, you realize that life is good.

Sadly, I didn't take any pics. Was too in the moment, I suppose.

Instead, here's a fun pic of Wood and I from last Wednesday's big blowout 25th Anniversary Party for my company.I met more celebrities that night than I could imagine, but that's "the biz"!

Saturday/Sunday Scenarios: States, Scientology and Suburbs

Notes from this weekend.

On Friday, my galpal Jessica and I had dinner at a great little Peruvian joint Inti. Half-way through our shared flan, I realized it had become a miniature custard version of the United States (including Hawaii!)

Saturday, on our way through Dupont Circle, Wood and I encountered a lively anti-Scientology protest. As you might guess, taking place in front of the Church of Scientology at 20th and R St.

Sunday, Wood and I went on a field trip to the end of the Orange Line in Vienna to meet up with his pal James to look at bikes at REI and have a hearty burger at Five Guys. James rather innocently described the area as having "everything you need" since the new construction everywhere you looked had a Safeway and Blockbuster and a Romano's Macaroni Grill within a stone's throw. Throughout the day, Wood and I had been contemplating our possible future home base and decided it definitely was NOT going to be in Fairfax County. I'm thankful every day that my sweet and amazing boyfriend have the same sensibilities and aversions in this regard.

Upon returning to "the District," we were approached at a bus stop by a woman who asked us, "What do you think about the European colonization's effect on the African mind?" We discussed it with her as well as a native Chinese guy who was in town on vacation where he lives (San Francisco). As odd as it was, we decided the daily assault was preferable over the slow death of the strip mall.

Friday Fantasy: The West

On my way to work, I engaged in my pretty regular fantasy of returning to my roots on the West Coast. When I imagine my perfect place like when we're asked to do a visualization in yoga class, my mind always retrieves an image of me somewhere near a beach in Southern California.

It's a little strange since, I'm not from SoCal but NoCal. Maybe it's because my earliest memories of vacations (and hence, adventure) usually involved going on a car trip down South. Or perhaps, it's because I am a swimmer and the water near LA-LA-land has always been more inviting. Then, again, anywhere in the sunny Golden State makes me happy.

Sunday Solace: Intro. to Social Dance

Dance classes can make or break a couple. In Wood and my case, I think it did both. We started our Intro. to Social Dance (a.k.a. Ballroom) class the Saturday before last. While we sailed through class number one with relative ease, class two became more challenging and by its end, Wood and I were not happy dancers.

Of course, we didn't immediately pinpoint our frustration on the teacher who had been late for both classes, effectively cheating us out of 1/4 of our dance time, adding to the pressure of learning something new in a rush, but named each other and stepping on eachothers' feet/getting one's feet stepped on as the culprit. It is so easy to blame the other with something so intimate as partner dancing. And it just melted down from there.

After said meltdown, and I won't go into the gory details, we took a deep breath and did a pretty decent job of pressing the reset button on our evening. After dinner at one of our favorite unpresumptuous restaurants Astor Cafe and dessert at the even less fancy Baskin-Robbins, we ended up finding the perfect place to try out our new moves---at the bus stop! (Yet again, public transportation creeps into my blog.) We then practiced in our sockfeet in the foyer of Wood's apartment building, so that even if we DID step on eachothers' feet, it didn't hurt as much. And it was a metaphor for our general increased forgiveness for eachothers' imperfections.

They don't let you take pictures inside the studio, probably because of the delicate partner relations that happen there.

Thursday Thought: Emotional Math

This is how I feel right now.

For most of today, I was feeling pretty ok. And how you feel seems to be made up of a bunch of little moments and how they add up (or subtract) from your daily experience.

For example:

I went out last night to a black tie event with some co-workers, and we had a lot of fun. (+5)

I got a message from my boyfriend last night, (+10)
but didn't get to say good night to him. (-5)

I was able to extend my "blow out" so my hair looked nice today (+3)

My boss and I worked productively on a project that we're about to finish (+3)

The vendors I work with and my staff were all very responsive today (+2)

I ate left over red beans and rice and my boss shared his sweet potato fries with me (+2)

My college friend Amy who lives in Virginia e-mailed me. (+5)

I had some miscommunications with two people at work (-2), but then were resolved (+1)

My boyfriend called me at work (+5)

I got thanked for my work in front of the entire company. (+5)

Someone was inconsiderate to me at work (-5). And continued to be (-5).

I got through my day's "to do" list. (+3)

It got really cold and rainy (-3).

My Metrorail "Smartbenefits" were not very smart and credited me for $80 instead of the $100 that come out of my paycheck. (-5)

I had to use a super small locker at the gym (-2) and there were no hangers for our coats (-1). But the staff was very courteous (+2)

Our Zumba instructor was almost an hour late (-3) but a bunch of the regulars rallied and taught the class (+2).

I missed the 42 bus by about 1 minute (-2), but another one came withing 5 minutes (+2)

I got home to my sweet kittens whom I love.(+10) I'm sad that I haven't seen my boyfriend in a few days. (-8)

I figured out a blog topic and still have time to cook dinner and watch the two episodes of Law & Order I taped last night. (+5)

So, you can see that my day peaked at around 3 in the afternoon when my day had a score of 34. Then it started losing considerable points, declining to a low of about 15 when I got to the gym where it started to turn around. Now with my cuddly kittens, dinner, and L&O imminent, I've bounced back to about a 24.

Wildcard Wednesday: Mr. and Mrs. Mallard

Yesterday, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard found themselves sitting near the bus stop at Farragut Square, far from a nice pond. I don't think they had Metrocards, so it was pretty clear that they weren't waiting for the 42 like I was. They were lost. They quacked, they wandered in circles... The bus came and I didn't see what happened to them. I'm pretty sure they continued on their directionless journey, never straying for more than a few feet from each other, as each other was all they had.

Courage

Tonight in Zumba class, there was a guy. Yeah, a man was taking my dance class. Now, besides Diego, our instructor, I have only ever seen two guys in class. One is obviously gay, and one is obviously black. And they are regulars, too.

This was a white, perhaps straight (if dance skills are an indicator) MALE. He had a look of sheer panic moments before class started. He was looking around, for another man, any other man, but it was wall-to-wall girls.

We started our warm-up, and I had a flash forward of what the next 59 minutes would be like for him. We women forget that early dance classes (ballet and tap, even a little African in 3rd grade, for me) and a lifetime of Jazzercise and step aerobics have trained us in the basic moves and the ability to follow along. Add to that, being more relational, we are generally more aware of other people within our space, a quality that adds to our dance skills.

So, my friend in the row behind me, the male, performed about how I expected he would, and I commend him for staying for the entire class, despite how his every move violated all of the rules of dance classes. I was actually impressed with his ability to be so off the mark. I found myself smiling to myself a lot.

The sandpiper in the image above embodies the reality of stepping into something bigger than you (here, the ocean) and then having it nearly envelop you lest you run, and then having the courage to wander back towards it. I watched this little bird as I was enjoying the scenery near Capitola Wharf.

This guy, should he return to the class, which he might, is like the sandpiper.

Some days I feel like the sandpiper.