Attention Google Reader People

I changed the link to the blog. It's so new is no longer quite as new. The new link/name is: juliacbee.blogspot.com

I really have no idea if the RSS feed will update automatically, so I figured this little announcement might help all 2 of you who subscribe to this.

Cute Break

Recaps on my week-long visit to Nashville are forthcoming. In the meantime, here's a video that could melt the coldest of hearts.

Plans

The past few days have been a whirlwind of anxiety and decision-making. I'm still absorbing all the changes that are taking place, both short and long term. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Monday night was sleepless. All the confidence I'd been feeling the previous days totally evaporated, and I woke up sleep-deprived and jittery with nerves. For about 6 hours straight all I could think about was that it was TFA decision day, driving myself utterly insane in the process and maybe not the most pleasant person to be around. Around 5pm (we were told we'd find out after 8) my brain kind of just shut off, from what I imagine was a combination of fatigue and over-thinking. I told myself I wouldn't check my email until I was home after working a bit later than usual, and somehow managed to ignore that pestering red blinking coming from my phone telling me I have unread messages. Of course as soon as I get home I go right upstairs and open up my email. The first is just a general TFA email titled "Your Teach for America Application." The second, sent shortly after, was titled "Welcome to the Atlanta Corps!" At that point I just started smiling and didn't stop for approximately 5 hours, told my mom, and texted Caitlin letting her know that all our theoretical planning was actually (finally) real.

So, Atlanta it is. I'll be an elementary school teacher (curve ball!) and I'm completely thrilled. I officially accepted the offer today, and have to register for the GACE test that I'll be taking January 9th in Georgia. More flights to book! Speaking of flights - the test timing, as well as other pre-Institute work, coincides pretty terribly with my Thailand program. After thinking it over and talking with my parents, I've decided not to go to Thailand after all (sorry, gdub alumni newsletter).  I'm still visiting my family in Germany at some point in the spring, but priorities lie with TFA, so Thailand has to wait. The silver lining is that I'm getting basically all the money back that I've put into the trip so far...which is now dedicated to moving costs. Another silver lining is that I'll be at Alumni Weekend!

And yes, I'm already looking at Craigslist to see what kind of housing options there are (it's so cheap!) despite the fact that I know extremely little about Atlanta so far. And already loving the fact that Caitlin and I designated Wednesdays as Roommate Dinner at Soul Vegetarian night.  Agh. SO EXCITED!!

Jumbled

My brain's been a little chaotic the past few weeks, so I'm not going to fully flesh out these thoughts into their own entries.

- Flying to Nashville on the 23rd for a full week! I'll be joining the Dixon tribe for Thanksgiving and can't wait to meet the full extended family in all its glory. I'll also be there for Caitlin's birthday (which is, coincidentally, my half birthday) and potentially the birth of her nephew. Who said a lot can't happen in a week?

- TFA decision is rendered this Tuesday at 8pm (yeah, they give you a specific time, and yeah, it adds to the stress even more). There's not much I can say to express the general anxiety I have over the situation, so I'll leave it at this: Basket. Of. Nerves.

- I've been in a total cooking and baking frenzy lately. This past week alone I made pumpkin butter, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, chocolate chip pumpkin bread (twice), pumpkin & black bean soup [yes, I carved apart, roasted, and pureed what felt like the world's largest pumpkin], a mushroom/onion/spinach/cheese/sausage frittata, and chili. My mom went to the produce market this morning and brought me back lots of beets and a bunch of little eggplants, so I'm currently toying with the idea of some grilled eggplant pizza. Ooh, and maybe a potato-eggplant tart. I suppose cooking and following recipes calms me down when I'm stressed and distracts my racing thoughts, and I do love sending off little packages of cookies (want one? Ask. Caitlin did).

Like I suspected, this entry is just about as disjointed as my thoughts have been lately. I guess I'll end with this: always make sure that when you take a huge swig of liquid Nyquil you check the expiration date first. Didn't take this precaution last night and discovered the medicine to be quite, quite past due. The consequence? Some seriously trippy dreams. Lesson learned.

Catch Up

I think my blogging frequency is directly tied to the time I spend at a desk. Case in point: since moving back East, and especially since I started babysitting, my blog entries have been a lot more picture focused and a lot less actual writing or reflection. Now, fair warning - this entry will be generally much more introspective and much less story-centric.

I've spent the past 3 weekends straight out of town, so let's give them a quick recap in bullet point form:

AC
- Sending Tom off to Australia with lots of Roulette, 5 Hour Energy, Wawa, beer pong, and hanging out


Nashville/ATL
- Lots of driving, getting lost in Olympic Park (no, it's not easy to get lost in), GA Aquarium (shark petting, sippy-cup buying), Andre/5Hr, bachelor parties, drag queens, Pink Pony (where Caitlin fell in love), Waffle House, 6 Flags.


DC
- Wine tasting, grape stomping, Trollifying, front-loading the open bar (subsequently: dancing, mistaking Halloween props for candy, possibly Jumbo Slice) approximately 6 hours on the couch Sunday, Amsterdam falafel.

Despite (or maybe because of) being perpetually sleep-deprived over the weekends, saving less money than I thought I would, and indulging in several vices, I'm happier now than I was in San Francisco. When I first moved I told people that I was "taking a break from real life" by coming home, deciding to teach abroad, and leaving corporate America. Two months later I feel like I've actually started living again (oh melodrama, I know). I'm spending time with people I love, taking advantage of last-minute travel chances, and feeling much more like myself.

Two months from now I'll be boarding a plane to Germany and then on to Thailand only a few days later to teach English for 2.5 months and see a completely new corner of the world (anyone want to visit Thailand/SE Asia mid-March? I'm serious, talk to me). Hopefully after that I'll be spending a few much-needed weeks with my dad, stepmother, and little sisters before returning to the States, to either wherever TFA decides to send me (8 days!) or DC, most likely.

The immediate future holds nights like tonight - drinking a beer on the couch, oven on (currently: an enormous pumpkin), watching Cliff Lee destroy the Yankees - and weekends like the aforementioned. The eventual future is alternately defined and unsure, but I'm perfectly content to play the waiting game for a bit, especially when it's filled with things like planning next year's hypothetical apartment (complete with napping room/corner and game night) with Caitlin. Yes, I'd say things are pretty good right now.

Life as of Late, In Pictures

Weekend in Atlantic City. Not pictured: the 17 bottles of 5 Hour Energy we bought.

Reunited and it felt so good.

We followed all directions.

Escaping DC streets for an afternoon of wine tasting...

And grape stomping.

It's all beautiful, basically.

Causes for Delay

I'm in the middle of a very fun, but very busy and somewhat hectic 10 day stretch, so excuse the lack of real posting. Last weekend contained 2 very late nights, including one in AC that ended at 5:30am. This week is ultimate (twice), some longer work hours, and my final TFA interview and its accompanying prep work. Then it's a 9pm flight to Nashville on Friday for another weekend that has a high probability of very little sleep and a lot of adventures. In short, I'm about 50% nerves and 50% anticipation. Regular posting to resume next week.

Ghosts?

I'm starting to wonder if the house my babysitting family lives in is haunted. Maybe it's just the changing of the seasons and the fact that it's a little windier and that Halloween is on the brain, but today was weird.

Normally I get to the house at 2pm, take care of some laundry, and then read until it's time to pick the kids up. Today I kept hearing this weird, distant coughing sound, as if I could hear the neighbors if the neighbors lived 10 feet from me. I was a little creeped out but didn't think much more of it and returned to my book (er, As I Lay Dying).

An hour later I was outside with Daniel while Nina was inside doing homework. Suddenly Nina rushes out and she's in a total panic. She said there was something in the house and that she didn't want to be in it alone. After a little bit of prodding she told me she kept hearing heavy breathing and coughing, and that suddenly the microwave turned on by itself, at which point she ran outside. I came into the kitchen with her and tried to reassure her that no, no one else was there and that yes, of course I'd stay inside with her while she did her homework. She was still pretty freaked out despite my efforts, and I have to admit I definitely got the heeby jeebies and felt like my stomach was tied up in a knot.

Even now I'm kind of just shuddering thinking about it. I'm not sure where I stand on ghosts or haunted houses, but either way I'm hoping this was a one-time kind of thing. Seeing as how I get scared watching crappy horror movies (ugh, The Grudge) I don't think I'd cope particularly well if I had to deal with this again. Not at all.

Clean Eating, With a Side of Fries

Lately I've found myself becoming much more vegetarian-minded. Earlier in the year I made the resolution to only eat meat about once a week, and try to have it be locally/sustainably sourced. I actually managed pretty well for the most part, lasting from the beginning of January through mid-May or so. Then summer arrived and I got admittedly lazy and wound up being more careless about what I was eating. It's not that I was eating junk all the time, I just stopped eating consciously.

The past few weeks I've made the effort to eat a lot less meat and animal products and making sure that the ones I do eat are free range, grass fed, and organic whenever possible. Even more recently I've been turning down meat in general, even if the above criteria are met, in favor of beans, quinoa, nuts (tons and tons of almond butter), and as much fresh fruit and vegetables as possible. The physical effects are obvious - I have more energy and run longer and faster - and mentally I'm more alert. I'm not sure if cutting out meat is solely to thank, but I do think that it's a result of eating cleaner. Avoiding packaged foods makes a huge difference, not only because it cuts down on the chemicals I'm eating but because it also requires me to think more about what I'm hungry for and how to prepare it. Cooking and baking also calms me down, so I gain another mental and emotional benefit.

This post stems from a conversation I had last night with a friend about his new internship. He's working at a local organization that's working on an initiative to provide greater access to healthy foods in corner stores in Philadelphia. Corner stores are notorious for the ubiquity of processed food and drink, and my friend's company is working on a business model that can convince these store owners to put healthy foods in their markets. While organic/sustainable/other buzz word products are the eventual goal, the initial aim is just to actually provide healthy options like produce in the store. This way the children who buy their breakfast at the corner store now - consisting of packaged donuts or a bag of chips - can in the future pick up an apple or yogurt instead and hopefully create a habit of healthy eating.

Personally, I think it's dismissive to say that people who struggle with obesity or who eat a lot of junk food are just "asking for it" or "lazy." Far fewer people today know how to cook than 50 years ago, largely thanks to the rise of the food industry, frozen dinners, and fast food. No one markets oranges or broccoli today - instead, it's Fanta and Doritos. The basic lack in education about how to prepare fresh foods, coupled with limited access to whole foods (the concept, not the store, especially in low income communities), is one of the key drivers to why obesity and its associated diseases like diabetes is skyrocketing in America. I realize I'm not saying anything especially groundbreaking, but I think it's a morbidly fascinating issue that's really come to light recently and is receiving a lot of positive attention through figures like Michael Pollan and Alice Waters and movies like Food, Inc.

There are two things I'll leave you with. The first is a discussion and article on the chef Jamie Oliver, who is filming a new reality TV show in Huntington, West Virginia - the "unhealthiest city in America." Read the opinion piece from Jezebel here and the full NYTimes' Magazine writeup on Jamie here. The second is that my personal exception to being mostly meatless will always, always be a cheeseburger and fries - the real kind, with grilled mushrooms & onions, Swiss, and A1. And bacon, if I'm really feeling it.

There Is a Light That Shines....

The other day I had the chance to creep around my (babysitting) family's house and take pictures of the light fixtures I talked about earlier. I'm not really normally one to gush about interior design/decorating, but I thought these were too unique not to share.

Lights over the kitchen table:

Detail....

Lights over the kitchen island:

Mosaic in the hallway:

My personal favorite - fixture over the doorframe leading down into the basement:

The two re-worked chandeliers in the living room. These originally started off as classic crystal chandeliers, but the family commissioned a local artist/friend to give them quite an overhaul:

Yes, that's a whisk.

Sogno Mio

Today I started my new job working for the local family I described in a previous post. I think they're going to be totally lovely and completely hilarious.

Sogno Mio is the name of their house, and it is mind-blowing. The entire place is filled with incredible art - mostly done by my boss - and relief sculptures and amazing light fixtures. The wonderful thing is that you never feel like you're in a museum; it's all homey and warm but at the same time bursting at the seams with beauty and creativity. Everything is represented - the slightly twisted, the dream-like, the modern, the classic, and it's hard not to be inspired by the imagination and process behind each work. I'm planning on being completely creepy and doing some photo posts showing the house a bit. I promise you've never seen light fixtures like these.

Meg, the mom, is refreshingly un-suburban and un-Stepford. Well, I guess that's obvious since she's an artist, but she's so quirky, and I adore her. Today when I complimented her on the house, she replied with:

"Oh, thank you! We really tried to make it artistic. So many people's houses around here look all the same, and even people who do something trendy are still all such fucking robots!"

She called my neighbors robots. I love her.

The kids are equally delightful. I spent the better part of my day playing disc golf with Daniel, who is 5 and replaces his "r" with a "w" and who told his entire class I was a "pwofessional ultimate fwisbee" player. I really didn't have the heart to correct him. He also is totally loving ultimate and the discs I brought them, and already knows that when we throw that the "alligator chomp" is the easiest way to catch.

After some disc indoctrinating (indisctrinating?) Nina (7, applied lip gloss to her forehead and cheeks in little half-moons) and Daniel did some tree climbing while I did some majorly paranoid hovering ready to catch any small child that might lose its footing. After getting thoroughly covered in bark chips and ensuring both kids wound up feet on the ground, it was time to call it a day. If this is what work is like for the next three months, you can count me as completely satisfied.

Travels

Coming back home from an amazing weekend away (this time DC) can sometimes feel like a let-down. Going back to reality - especially when that reality means living at home - requires an adjustment to regular routines and responsibilities. That first day back can be a little rough.

What makes days like these significantly easier, however, is discovering amazing flight sales to my first love - Nashville, TN. After a last-minute gChat discussion with Caitlin, I decided to jump on the insanely low fare (non-stop and all!) and will be flying down October 23rd to see Caitlin. Not only did I promise her I'd be visiting this fall, but we also determined yesterday that we've been friends 15 years. I won't lie, it gives me the warm fuzzies knowing that 50 years from now we'll be old and grumpy together and will actually be able to say that we've been best friends since 4th grade. Clearly a visit to celebrate our anniversary is in order, and clearly I can't talk about visiting Nashville without quoting my favorite musical Nashville reference. No, it's not Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" (what is a Nashville party?!).

It's Nappy Roots' "Aw Naw" (can you catch the reference?):



I'm going to go ahead and make the bold statement that I like Nappy Roots better than Luda when it comes to Southern rappers.

I'm getting sidetracked. Nashville last time was ridiculous - roadtrips, Britney, very little sleep, and slapping people all played integral roles throughout the weekend. I anticipate this next trip to hopefully involve less slapping, equally little amounts of sleep, and lots of impromptu dance parties. 3 weeks.

A Moment to Breathe

Or more fittingly, to blog.

Tomorrow marks the 3-week point in my experiment of living at home. So far, so good. I've been working remotely for my SF company for the past few weeks, which is an exercise in patience and motivation (I just want to go outside!), but that's done next Wednesday, to no small relief I must admit.

The next day I start my new job (gig?) as a part-time babysitter/nanny for a family that lives about 10 minutes from me - by foot. When I moved home I made some personal resolutions that I wouldn't lose every aspect of my city life, and walking places was among them. I'm pleased to say I've been keeping this up pretty well. Whereas high school Julia would have driven to the gym (.75 miles), the coffee shop (.5 miles), and people's houses (varying, under a mile though), city-to-suburbs Julia is keeping up the walking pretty well.

Okay, I digressed.

The family I'm babysitting for is pretty lovely. The mother is a Philly mural artist (check some of her work out here), the dad is a commercial real estate developer, and they have 4 kids and 1 dog. It's going to be regular, set hours which is a relief, both for my bank account and my fears of being bored.

I'm also babysitting more occasionally for a few other families, including 2 little girls who I sat last Saturday. What were the major lessons I taught them that evening? Not to go into dark alleys alone, and never to pull your shirt down, point at strangers, and yell "hey boyyyys." Especially never in tandem. It's the little things, really.

Honestly, I had a big SF-retrospective post planned. Things I did, people I saw, etc etc. The motivation slipped away from me though, and now I find myself focused much more on the present and future, so I think the entry is abandoned...for now. Sometimes it takes a while to gather one's thoughts after a life shift, and this may be the case here.

I do think living at home, and especially working with kids, will result in some entertaining and blog-worthy moments. I'm already planning an entry on the neighborhood bunny, pictures and all. You're excited, I know.

Also, everyone send some good thoughts Ben's way - he's currently in the midst of the GA flooding. And Ben - living at home isn't so bad, and I fully support the decision.

..............

Yes, I'm alive. Back safe on the East Coast, working part-time remotely for the old job and getting settled in. As of yesterday all my boxes arrived, and with the exception of needing to bring massive amounts of clothes to Goodwill and taking out the trash, my room is feeling less like storage space and more like, well, my room.

I owe posts, I know. I'll get there!

Saying Goodbye with Food

The title really says it all. When people ask me what I want to do while I'm still in San Francisco my answer usually involves eating, be it trying a new restaurant or going to one of my favorites. I think it's fair to say that my relationship (yes, relationship) with food is completely altered now that I've lived out West. I care more about eating locally and sustainably, eat less meat, and eat more organics when possible. I've researched farmers' markets in Philly, and I've carefully perused the menus of my favorite restaurants, deciding on my order days - or weeks - before I actually go.

My last dinner in the city, fittingly, will be a burrito from El Farolito. There is nothing organic or sustainable about it, but it's what I've eaten on my first visit and my first day as a resident here in San Francisco. I know I'll be happy for real slices of pizza and cheesesteaks back East, but I know I'll miss the burritos. Chipotle might be good, but it's not the real thing.

Then there are the meals I had this past weekend in Tahoe with my book club. The best pesto ever (besto, and yes, Nicole, it really was the best), countless truffles, scrambled eggs, mounds of cheese, all washed down with plenty of wine. Then there's my last (sob) book club meeting tomorrow night, where I know there'll be even more cheese, wine, and snacks. It's safe to say book club has always been about eating, and talking, and eating, and talking....I'll miss the triple cream brie, but I think I'll miss the girls more.

The last few meals I have in my remaining week here will be decadent, to say the least. There's my last work lunch tomorrow at Plouf in Belden Lane (I'll have the roasted cod, please). Dinner on Friday is at Espetus - what was that I said about eating less meat? Then there's NOPA, my hands-down favorite (hello, bacon flatbread and roasted porkchop...again with the meat thing) on Monday. Wednesday morning I'll spend my last few hours in the city drinking coffee and eating eggs at Chloe's before I get back on a plane headed East.

So yes, I think it's safe to say I'm saying my goodbyes to this city with food, but not just food. It's my goodbyes to the people I enjoy this food (enjoy so, so much) with, because what doesn't say "goodbye, and I'll miss you" like burritos, hot cups of coffee, glasses of wine, hunks of cheese, and breakfast. Nothing.

Bullet Points

Woah, yesterday was a doozy. I'm still tired from it despite 9 hours of sleep and a large serving of caffeine. In short, dentists and health insurance companies are not my friends. However, let's keep things a little light around here for now. Here are some bullet points of thoughts/things going through my head lately.

1. I can't wait to eat breakfast and lunch somewhere besides at my work desk. Cannot. Wait.
2. Along those lines, I have 7.5 work days (including today, and it's almost noon, so let's call it 7) left in the office. Squeeeee.
   
3. I will be on a plane in 2 weeks exactly. I think it's safe to say the reality of the situation is sinking in.
4. Tahoe this weekend. Sun, champagne, and an all-girls weekend. And more champagne.
5. It is 59 degrees in San Francisco. It is August 19th. You can imagine my total dismay at that particular situation.

Hmm, okay, not a really thrilling list. Wait, YES it is: see bullets 2 and 3.

Maybe it's time to crawl under my desk for a mid-morning nap....

Brighten Your Monday

Here are some things I like to do on Mondays when I'm alone in the office (9 days left, not that anyone's counting).

1. Read my two new favorite blogs:

• No Pink Jerseys. It's sports for girls, without the girly aspect. Want to know what's actually going on in football this season? Read this. Written by 5 hilarious, kick-ass girls, I see it getting big. You want to be the first to know, right? Right.
• 2birds1blog. Snort-milk-out-your-nose funny, with a DC/NY twist. That means you know it's good.

2. Listen to Pandora. Current favorites include: Lykke Li, Santigold, MGMT, and Lily Allen. They'll add a little pep to a normally dreary Monday.

3. Watch turtles have sex. Didn't see that one coming did you? It makes me feel a little dirty, but I haven't laughed that hard in a while.



4. Watch Pot Psychology. Want to see some hilarious, snarky, and stoned bloggers answer reader-submitted questions? Look no further. It's also where I found the turtle porn (God, what kind of traffic is that going to drive to this site). Example:

Do I Have To Change My Tampon Every Time I Pee? from Pot Psychology on Vimeo.

There you have it, your Monday afternoon cup of sports, sarcasm, sounds, and a little animal sex. And alliteration.

Real World DC Run-In

Before I forget, and in addition to the pictures I've been meaning to put up from Wildwood/DC, I wanted to share that while walking to Froggy's on Saturday we came across the Real World: DC cast. They were eating at La Tomate in Dupont, and we were tipped off by the multiple camera men hovering in the outdoor patio. Jenn took a picture of them, and there may or may not have been some heckling, including but not limited to comments about the camera adding 10 pounds.

Woopsie.

Apparently they've been a real pain in the ass to local DC-ers, so I don't think any of us felt all that guilty about it. I guess that's what happens when people start getting real.

100th Post? Let's Make It a Good One.

100 posts. That's a milestone, right? I guess it's only fitting that my 99th post promised big news, because I've got some. I didn't even plan on timing it with the 100th post! Okay, ready?

......

Last Tuesday I gave notice at my job. August 28th is my last day in the office, and it's looking like September 1 will be my last full day as a resident of the West Coast. September 2 I'm flying back to Philly, where I'll be living at home through the end of December before I head to Asia and Europe for the first half of next year. Good LORD it feels good writing that. Of course, this isn't news to many of you, as I shared the news far and wide this weekend in DC, and I've been wanting to share (blog) about this for a bit, but of course had to wait til it's all official. Let me just say it again though:

I'm SO EXCITED! I feel there's been a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It took me a while to make the definite decision, but ever since I made up my mind that I'm moving home I've become increasingly convinced that I'm doing the right thing. Needless to say my mother is thrilled, as is my wallet for no longer having to pay rent, food, etc. I'm also thrilled to be back East, where I can make easy trips to DC, NYC, Boston, and beyond, eat as much Wawa as I wanna, and play PADA fall league!

Yes, this is a great 100th post. I'll post some recaps of Wildwood and some pictures of this weekend soon, but I thought it only fitting to share the big news as soon as possible. West Coast, it's been a good run. East Coast, I <3 you.

I Know!

It's been forever. I promise, in 3 days I'll have a lot to tell the 4 of you who still read this.

Menagerie

My house is currently filled with animals. There's Mona the cat, whom we all know and love. The fish, who I feed when Chris is out of town. And now there's Lucy and Zeus, the two dogs I'm watching for 10 days.

These aren't little toy poodles/mini dogs, these are some DOGS. Lucy is a big German Shepherd/Lab mutt, and Zeus is a Brittany Spaniel. Lucy is adorable, quiet, loves to snuggle, and farts/twitches in her sleep. Zeus is high strung and needy. Oh, and a terror. Yesterday morning I walked downstairs to let them out and saw something out of the corner of my eye. What was it? The kitchen trash scattered everywhere, peppered with puddles of piss.

I cannot explain to you my level of anger as I mopped up dog pee at 7:30am on a Monday morning. Needless to say, Zeus knew I was pissed when I put him, his blanket, and a bowl of water outside for the day. I emailed my roommates telling them to ignore the incessant whining, and crossed my fingers he'd learned his lesson. This morning it was the bathroom trash, and no pee. I guess it's an improvement.

They leave Sunday, and while I could keep Lucy forever and not complain, I'll be happy to see Zeus go. Is that awful?

Home

I've been home for almost the past week now, and I leave tomorrow. This is the longest I've been here in nearly 2 years, and I miss it. It didn't really hit me when I was in college (for obvious reasons), and while I knew on some abstract level that I miss home since living in SF, the reality of it didn't fully sink in until these past few days. It's not just the creature comforts that I miss, although living rent-free with a full kitchen has its obvious perks. I miss the sense of familiarity, using not street names but muscle memory to drive around my neighborhood, and the overall sense of calm. I do love living in cities, but I can't deny that escaping to the suburbs has its benefits every once in a while. It's quieter here (right now I hear birds, a distant lawnmower, and my curtains rippling in the breeze), and greener. No, not greener. Lusher. Juicier. It rained the first few days I was here and the yard was vibrant, soft grass underfoot and splashes of flowers.

There isn't much of a purpose to this post. I'm happy to be home, and I think next time I'll allow less time to pass before I return again.

An Adventure in Urban Hiking

On days like today, living in a city can be stifling. Don't get me wrong - I love city living and all it has to offer. On days like today, though, I have an urge to get out. The sun is shining, the sky blue, and though it might be a tad windy (as San Francisco has the tendency to be), it's the kind of day where I want to be out in the country, far away from honking horns and city lights. Alas, I'm a car-less city dweller, so it seems my options could be limited. I love Golden Gate Park, but sometimes it's also nice to see something a little different. Yesterday I used The Google to see what kind of in-city hiking San Francisco has to offer, and stumbled across Glen Canyon Park. Aptly named, the park is a lush, green canyon tucked just behind Noe Valley (my neighborhood) with a short little trail, and only a mere mile away from my house (up some steep steep hills).

This morning Adam and I set out after a quick breakfast, armed with my camera and a full Nalgene (side note: for a delicious breakfast make some rolled oats with water, add a dash of milk, some raw honey, a healthy sprinkling of cinnamon, and some slivered almonds). We made our way down Diamond Heights, where the park greeted us at the bottom of the hill. The trail started at the road, and only a few hundred meters in the cars and city sounds disappeared. Instead, we found ourselves on a green trail running alongside a tiny stream. There were beautiful wildflowers, buzzing bees, and the trail varied from a sun-bathed, wide path to a shady trail only large enough for one person.


The trail isn't very long, and after a brief hike we came out onto the side of the canyon, peppered with snake holes and boulders large enough to sit (and pose) on.


After wandering around the edge of the canyon, we made our way back onto the main street, where we discovered the best-kept Safeway in the city and had a feast of meatballs, feta orzo salad, and fresh strawberries. We ate in a playground adjacent to the Safeway that looked out onto the canyon, and after a bit of lounging made our way back home. The rest of the afternoon consisted of a nap, a long walk, and a bit of Sunday evening grocery shopping. I also made some delicious (if I do say so myself) and cheap (really, maybe $2 for all of it) black bean burgers. Interested? Here's the recipe:

1 can black beans, rinsed (more or less, scaled to how many people you're trying to feed)
~ 1/3 cup uncooked rolled oats
Garlic (however much you see fit, but I recommend a healthy serving)
The juice of 1/2 a lime
Chopped cilantro (again, however much you see fit)
A bit of black pepper

Mash all ingredients together until 3/4 of the beans are mashed up and the oats are sticking to the black beans
Make patties with your hands (this made 5 small-medium sized burgers)
Heat a large skillet and add a bit of olive oil
Cook the burgers in the skillet, about 5 minutes on each side
*If you like, add a slice of cheese in the last 2 minutes of cooking
Enjoy with some sliced red onions, lettuce, tomato, dijon mustard and ketchup


To keep this from turning into a total marathon blog post, I'll wind things down. Both the burgers and the urban hiking will be repeated in the future. The burgers with some mozzarella cooked inside, and urban hikes at the Land's End Trail and Lake Merced, both here in SF. Ah, escapism.

23 - A Birthday in Pictures

The dinner crowd.

I harbor secret dreams of being a food photographer.

Frothy, delicious tequila.

Candle success!

With our newest friends in the most depressing (but awesome) bar on Earth.

14 years don't lie.

What got us through the next day.

Milestones

This past week, and the next couple of days, hold a lot of personal milestones for me. Well, maybe not a lot. Three, to be specific. Then again, three milestones in 10 days is pretty good, I'd say.

The first milestone is my 1 year anniversary here in San Francisco, which was this past Sunday. Thinking back on that first day, filled with frantic dashes to look at housing, an A's game, and collapsing into bed in the house on Bryant Street, I am amazed by how quickly time has passed. This past year has seen some good, some bad, and its fair share of sadness. While I spend a lot of my time looking to the exciting events in the future, I must pause and reflect on the shifts and happenings of this past year. Living here has changed parts of me, has made me appreciate what the East Coast does (and does not) offer, and has given me new friendships and experiences I would not have had otherwise. I'm proud to have made it to this milestone - as many of you know, and as older blog entries show, this move wasn't always the easiest for me. Life, of course, still has its ups and downs, but I made it a year as a stranger in a new city.

The second milestone is my birthday. 23! I know, so young, but for me it's an exciting age - through college, into "real life," with responsibilities and bills to pay and a desk in an office. Not necessarily what dreams are made of, but it's independence. I'm happy to leave 22 behind, honestly. I made it a year out of college, survived a move and managed to keep my job, but 23 will be better. Every year, probably, will always be better, but 23 has goals to keep, places to see, even more change. I don't know where it will take me, or where I'll be a year from now, but I think I'm okay with that. More than okay; I welcome it.

My last milestone comes next Monday - my 366th day at work. One year! I stuck it out, and will continue to stick it out for a little while yet. No major failures, enough successes, and a persistent alarm clock. I think that's the winning combination. Much of this milestone is similar to my 1-year-in-SF milestone, but I couldn't leave it ignored. A celebration will be in order, likely in the form of an enormous cup of coffee and a deliciously gooey breakfast pastry.

There we have it - a few happy accomplishments on the life calendar. And for those of you who I won't see on my birthday - I miss you! and I'm thinking about you, always.

CTown and NSolo

Wouldn't that make a great name for a band? It's even better for a pair of newlyweds. Feast your eyes on photos from this weekend:

Packed in the car, part 3 of 17.

Mmm, pork.

Best self-timer picture ever. Way to be good-looking, guys.

At the service.

At the hotel restaurant, where we drink $4 margaritas, ate appetizers, and prepared for a night of debauchery.

Please realize that there are no other pictures from after the reception until the following morning, leaving a 12 hour photo gap that erases any evidence of the fact that we went to Silk City (part diner, part dance club - only on the East Coast), danced 3 hours straight, went to Wawa at 3am, that Audrey had to go to the hospital, or that Matt didn't come back to the hotel and showed up the following morning in his clothes from the night before. Ahem. Glorious.

Roadblocks

I meant to update this sooner, but sometimes life gets in the way. Example: a glorious weekend in Philly for Carissa's wedding, and then catch swine flu (okay, not really, but it was flu) on the flight home and feeling on the wrong side of ill since Sunday night. Oh well, back at work, and already ready for the weekend (if every week was a 3-day work week, I'd be a happy girl).

I want to save my wedding recap for when I have a little more time (so 3pm tomorrow afternoon) and after I send some kiddos the pictures from the weekend.

HOWEVER, I do have a shiny spot of good news that is very unexpected and totally welcomed - I'm getting a raise at work! I had my quarterly review today, and since this one is more on the informal side I wasn't expecting much more beyond "do this, not that, and good work with this." Instead, I got frozen yogurt with Pam (green tea and lychee, YUM) and was told that I'll be getting a raise soon. HIYO! Didn't expect this at all. At. All. I'm thrilled.

Lastly, my birthday is 2 weeks (!!) from Saturday. I think I'm going to order some cupcakes to bring to dinner. I'm definitely going with 6 red velvet, but what should the other 6 be? I'm leaning towards: Snickerdoodle, Latte, or (wildcard!) Orange Creamsicle. Help me decide people - which one would you want?

Stand By Me

I love this video so much.

Bored? At Work?

Here, let these distract and entertain you:

www.textsfromlastnight.com - I try to avoid laughing loudly when I'm alone at my desk on a daily basis thanks to this site. Recent example:

(678): why did i wake up with a kid named Raphael in my bed this morning?
(770): I dont know but you did call last night to tell me you found the last ninja turtle

www.overheardintheoffice.com - Thanks to Caitlin for reminding me of this site. Here's a good one:

Engineer: Damn, I'm tired. I was up all night with a case of the number threes.
VP: Number threes?
Engineer: You know, when you think you have to go number two, but actually you have to puke in the bathtub.

Also check out www.overheardinnewyork.com and www.overheardatthebeach.com for similar boredom-killing goodness.

Another big favorite of mine is www.jezebel.com. Read this if you're a woman or if you're a guy who appreciates snark.

Lastly, if you haven't set up an RSS feed or something through Google Reader, do it now. It gets you through those long days (like today, it seems). Anyone have other suggestions? I know about FML, and I refuse to promote it.

Grainy Eyelids

Where is this extreme exhaustion suddenly coming from? I barely kept my head from hitting the desk all day today. Was it 2 workouts yesterday? I don't think I'm in that bad shape. Ugh, regardless, it is extremely frustrating to go through the entire day so tired all I want to do is sleep, but knowing that I can't realistically go to bed til about 10pm - I want to avoid waking up in the middle of the night as best as possible. Also, didn't go to volunteering today. They tell us to stay away when we don't feel well, so if I'm coming down with something then hooray for being safe! And if not, hooray for more sleep!

Excuse me, it's now time for me to 1. eat cereal for dinner because I'm too tired to cook; 2. take a bubble bath; 3. watch RHNYC; 4. fall asleep. Maybe I'll throw in a glass of wine somewhere there for good measure.

The Netflist

I just spent a little time at work updating my Netflix list (ie, the Netflist). I think I've got some good classics in there, as well as some better new movies, but what am I missing?


Hmm. That picture is smaller than I hoped it'd be.

Also, what are your book suggestions? The past three I've read are: Trail of Crumbs, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and Water for Elephants. I loved all three, for all different reasons. I also plan on doing a review of the three in the coming days, so stay tuned for that.

Also....

My Twitter feed had to be taken down from the blog. I had to lock my actual account because of wanting to keep some people out, and that resulted in the irritating Twitter pop-up on this site. So bye bye Twitter.

Yikes

I've really neglected the blog lately.

Honestly I haven't had much motivation to write. The past several weeks have been stressful and slow-going, and I often found myself overwhelmed with everything that's been happening.

Regardless, I need to get back on the blog wagon if I want anyone to keep reading this thing...although I'm almost at le blog's one year anniversary! How things have changed.

So what can I write about to keep you all entertained for a bit? It might have to be bullet points again, because we all know how much I love them.

• I am 10 days away from completing 2 (TWO!) of my new year's resolutions. Yes, the ones that I didn't post to the blog. Here's a hint: it involves running and money. Let's leave it at that.
• I'm going to Philly in May! I'll be there for my lovely captain-from-freshman-year Carissa's wedding and I am thrilllllled. Sadly my mom won't be there when I'm in town, but I get to be back in PHILLY. East Coast, I miss you. Give me your humid (weather), your seasons (changing), your Wawa yearning to be eaten. If I could return to you today that wouldn't be soon enough. Patience. Patience.
• Caitlin is coming for my 23rd birthday. In a word: squeeeeeeeeee. I don't think we've been this good about visiting since......ever? Since I moved from Nashville?
  
• BLAIRE is making the trek out from B-more and is visiting over 4th of July!! My button will see everything this city on a hill has to offer, and I forsee many nights of LOTR marathons.
• Wildwood! July 25th/26th. I'm going. Are you?

Hmm, that seems to be the laundry list of life events lately. Tonight is my second night of volunteering at UCSF. Last week that consisted of playing foosball and Rock Band, and it seems to be a fair indication of how things will run the next several months.

Okay, dear readers, I'm signing off. I promise we'll make this updating thing run a lot smoother. Really, I do.

Bullet Points

Because I'm still working my way up to real posts again.

- Mini-triathlon. Happening...well, I need to register. But I'm buying my training suit this weekend, so that's saying something, right?
- Went to Vegas last week for work and saw Steve Forbes give a talk. Take heart, he says, the banking crisis will be over in the fall. Conservative agenda notwithstanding, he's a surprisingly entertaining guy.
- Did a little PR for my mom and landed her an interview with an autism blogger!
- Debating the merits of joining a fun coed team out here. I'm looking for yall's advice on this one - to play, or not to play?
- Volunteering in the Teen Lounge at UCSF Children's Hospital starting in 10 days. Nervous, but mainly excited.

These are the little things taking up my days lately. The past couple weeks have had some heavier happenings, but I don't really have the energy or desire to write about them right now. It's bullet points for now, but we'll be back into real writing soon.

My Favorite Picture of One of My Favorite Nights, With One of My Favorite People

I miss you, I love you, and I will never forget you.

Neglect

My poor little blog, I'm neglecting you. It's not personal, I swear. The past few weeks have been busy with various distractions, happenings, and trips, and I just need to get my thoughts in order a little bit more. After that we can reunite and catch up. Can you be patient a little longer?

Want A Free Magazine and Help Support the Print Media?

https://www.timecmg.com/mine/

You're welcome.

Sprint Triathlon

I think I'm going to do one. There's a womens-only one taking place in Santa Cruz in September, with very doable distances (1/4 mile swim, 11 mile bike ride, 2.5 mile run) that Ashley will hopefully be doing with me. I. Am. Pumped. Has anyone done one? Any tips/hints/experiences you have to share?

Also, I'll be putting up more photos from Nashville in the next couple weeks. I realize my posts lately have been very picture heavy, and not very writing heavy, so I'm looking to change that.

This'll do for now though.

Nashville Part 1: Britney. Or, an Experiment in Sleep Deprivation.

You think I'm kidding? From 3am CST Thursday morning until 3am CST SATURDAY morning I slept 5 hours. And this is the beginning of that story....

Let's fast forward through the boring parts. Plane, Nashville.

CAITLIN! For those of you who don't know, Caitlin is my sista-from-another-mister. We adore each other and have long-term plans to open a B&B in Vermont and adopt some brown babies. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. Here we are, ready to depart:


Oh, wassup Georgia? Thanks for being the most traffic-heinous state ever.


This is for all you haters. Like it or not, Britney is back. We were about 10 rows back, and it was one of the best concerts I've been to. Acrobats, pyrotechnics, and seeing Ms. Spears make a public recovery from what was surely a traumatic psychotic break made the whole trip worth it. And for those of you who still mock me - 1. I want to see you get back on your feet the way she did in just a year; and 2. it's my blog and I'll write what I want to.


My 12-year old self is SO EXCITED about "Baby One More Time" (okay, my 22-year old self is too. Also, signs you've aged = not being able to elicit the same primal screams I did 10 years ago).


Post-show we meet Mr. Ben Spears at a club, Masquerade. We think this is "da club", but when we pull up after the scariest cab ride ever we are confronted with goths everywhere. Gee, we didn't stand out at all. The club was in this scary abandoned warehouse, with a distinct "I'm in a slasher movie" feel. Too bad we ended up having the time of our lives dancing up a storm right alongside the glowstick artists and hoodrats. For evidence of our mirth, as well as club clientele, please see:


We stay out til last call and crash at Ben's. Ben! (Yeah, their neon sign was not up to snuff)


Ben had to be up super early (read: 5am) that morning, so after a blissful 2.5 hours of sleep we awake and begin the long journey back to Nashtown. What's a roadtrip without 6am Cracker Barrel?


At 9am we roll into Caitlin's driveway after a rousing sing-a-long to N'Sync (debut album, if anyone cares) and encountering mounted deer at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

Best 24 hours of my life.


Stay tuned for Part 2: The Slap Heard 'Round the World.

Soon, I Promise

Pictures and a recap of the weekend in ATL/Nashville will happen soon, but unfortunately I got slammed at work and have been crashing early these past few days. This is just a reassurance that the posts will actually happen soon.

In the meantime though, I have to give a huge thank you to Ben for being the best host and entertainer ever last weekend. Think goths and hoodrats.

New Haus.

I'm really proud of myself. I got these up about 2 months faster than at my old place.

My room from the bathroom.


Room from the corner looking towards the bathroom.


Bathroom. Er, yeah, still organizing that one. Blaire, see your picture?


Super cozy living room.


Mmm, kitchen.


Also, here is a picture of Mona:


Her left ear is permanently folded in half because she got in a fight with a rattlesnake. I'm going to go ahead and say that's one of her 9 lives right there. My roommate's friend found her in the desert, and now she's the attention-whore of the house. She also likes to play with random bits she finds on the floor. Example?




Look familiar?



That's right.

Rundown

The past week was insanely busy. I took a bunch of pictures, and will be giving a more detailed writeup of various activities soon, but in the interest of posting on a somewhat regular basis here's a quick rundown of what the past week has looked like:

- Getting settled in the new house
- NightLife at the Academy of Sciences
- Karaoke Friday night
- 4 hour UCSF volunteer training session Saturday AM (as painful as you can imagine it would be)
- Returning to my brunette-ness
- Almost going out, but bailing due to the day's roughness and calling it an early(ish) night
- Desperately trying to find an outfit for BRITNEY, happening Thursday night if anyone cares.

It's a short week for me - I fly out at 1am Thursday morning and land in Tennessee at 9am. Shenanigans ensue.

Like a Middle School Dance

That's how the division was on the live-blogging idea. Boys v. girls. Well here's something to make you both happy - I didn't watch (hence, no living blogging) last night because I got caught up in Planet Earth instead. However, it might still happen. Depends on my levels of dedication (nowhere near Alex's Gossip Girl liveblogging).

Anyways, many thanks to Ben, Nicole, Caitlin, and Ruddiger for the blogging feedback. Ben, I hear you on the matter of breaking up content-rich posts - look for a change there. Dan, just to make you happy, I'll be putting on pictures of Mona the cat. I'm also thinking of doing a video comparison of her and Will Ferrel. It works. Wait for it. And Nicole and Caitlin, I'll do my best to satisfy your RHNYC fix.

In other, briefer news, I had an interview at UCSF this morning for a volunteering position in the Child Life Services Dept. If all goes as planned, and I get my IDs/fingerprinting/training sessions sorted out, I'll begin a weekly volunteering stint working mostly with teens for a couple hours on the weekend. I'm really excited for the opportunity. I feel like it can be difficult to create a connection to a new community, which SF still is to me. I'm optimistic that becoming involved at the hospital will give me a greater sense of belonging here - my friends are my social web, and work is work, but I think creating a richer community network will instill a greater sense of belonging here. Fingers crossed!

What's Your Opinion

Should I start live-blogging Real Housewives of NYC? It is, after all, one of the more ridiculous shows on TV, and I'm starting to feel like I could add some sort of other dimension/layer to the blog.

Actually, let's open it up in general - what do you all want to see more of? Mundane recaps? Photos? Videos? Links? Leave it in the comments.

Let's Take A Poll

How old do you think this kid is? 10? 14? An awkward and underdeveloped 18?



Love it.

PS. Watch the whole thing.

Twitter Time

So last week I took the plunge and joined Twitter. What more could I want than for people to get a microblogged look at what I'm eating, what I'm thinking, and what I'm doing throughout the day? And yeah, it's way easier to update that to sit down and write a full blog post between meetings at work.

So, shameless plug time:

www.twitter.com/juliabee

You know you want to.

Stump

One of my favorite things is a dog show. Specifically, the Westminster Kennel Club that just happened. If you're with me when I'm watching this you can find me either ridiculing the more ridiculous breeds or cracking up at an equally hilarious and adorable dog. Stump, this year's Best in Show, is no exception.



What an old man dog.

Sap

I cannot wait to see Flippa again.

Many Good Things

Despite my last post, many happy, positive things have happened in my life lately. I'm going to do this out in bullet points for the sake of clarity, brevity, and keeping you, my loyal reader(s), from slapping your forehead onto your keyboard.

• I got a promotion! And a raise! I wasn't utterly surprised, but still completely flattered and pleased, especially given the pickle our government and economy is currently in. I am now a "Junior Associate" and have a happy little pay bump that'll make saving up a bit easier. What am I saving up for....?
• This time next year I will be in Thailand for a 10 week program that will 1. get me TEFL certified and 2. allow me to teach English in a community center in Ao Luk, Thailand. I applied a few weeks ago and was officially accepted this past week. My tentative plan is to go to Thailand and then fly to Europe afterwards to spend more time with my family and travel around a bit. I am so, so excited. More details will be discussed in the coming months, but that's another happy announcement.
  
• I'm moving apartments (again, yes, again)! I'm moving so that I can save up for said program and traveling. I'm moving to Noe Valley, where about 95% of my friends live, to a great house. I found the place on Craigslist, and will be living with 4 other people - 3 women, 1 man. They are teachers, architects, and students, and I got along with them really well at their open house. The house is fantastic - 3 levels, backyard, huge comfy living room, large sunny kitchen, all with a really charming, homey feeling to it. My room is the master bedroom - light filled, two (two!) closets, and best of all....my own bathroom. Lady readers of the blog, and men who need a little more room, you can appreciate this. This will be the first time in 5 years I will have a bathroom all to myself. There's even a window in it! Best of all, I'm paying about $225 less a month on average. It's really win-win-win.
• Last, but by no means least...my brother got into med school! I am SO proud, SO happy for him, SO excited that things are working out splendidly for him. He's going to med school in Germany - thus far he's been accepted into med school in Berlin, and is still waiting to hear back from a few more. He's already over there, and I can barely wrap my head around the fact that for the next few years my big brother will become a doctor all while living in Germany. I'm thrilled.

Those are my new, happy updates. Also, it's finally raining here in CA. After a long drought I felt the first rain drops hit my head this afternoon, and now sounds of cars swishing over wet pavement are coming in from the street. It's Sunday evening, and I'm warm in my living room. As I said, many good things are happening.

Better Days

The title of this post isn't to say today was awful. It was just one of those days that drags on forever, with minor mishaps casting a pretty negative pall on an already-boring day.

To start, I could barely get out of bed this morning. I decided to treat myself to a coffee on my way in from work - normally, I try to make coffee something I really enjoy on the weekends, something I take my time with and that eases me into a lazy Sunday morning. Today though it was just a desperate move to jolt me awake. I head into Specialty's for a small plain drip, and as I'm going to sprinkle a little cinnamon on my coffee (if you haven't tried this, do it) my gym bag swoops in like some sort of angry hag determined to keep me from starting my day well and coffee gets everywhere. On the counter, on the sugar packets, dripping into the barista area, and onto the cup lids. Ugh. I apologize profusely and offer to help clean up. The girl at the counter was really sweet, and I gingerly refilled my cup and hustled out of there. I didn't want to risk another mishap.

The morning crawled by.

At lunch I headed to Subway to get my normal lunch. About 2 hours after the fact, when I start thinking about what I want for dinner, I remember: I packed my lunch with the tofu stir fry I'd made last night. Bum.Mer. I took a bite of the stir fry, and my crappy work mini-fridge had morphed all the delicious flavors into "fridge taste." You know it. It tastes kind of like cold plastic and coolant. Gross.

Afternoon........snail's pace.

At this point I'd really gotten myself riled up and ready to get to the gym. I get changed at work and what do I realize? I forgot my gym shoes. All I had was my shirt, spandex (yeah that's right), and socks. And black ballet flats. It was atrocious. Can you imagine me on the rowing machine in ballet flats? With white ankle socks? Okay, I'm stopping there before I vomit in my mouth. Needless to say, the gym didn't happen.

So where does that leave me? At the end of a long Tuesday with laundry and a shower still on my to-do list. Can it be the weekend? Please?

Back in Action!

Hello loyal readers!

So the big report is done, work has slowed down a TON, and lots of exciting things have happened here lately. Where do I even begin? I suppose I'll break it out into sections, writing more when I feel like, and sticking to bullet points when I get lazy (often).

So, let's see....

Alumni Weekend
So. Great. I got to spend all of Friday with my Button, and we even made the trek out to Court House to see Linds, watch movies, chit chat, and basically act like it was senior year all over again. Seeing them was so good. It felt like my life had been on pause from graduation til that Friday, and being back in DC started everything up again.

Friday night was not nearly as relaxing, but excellent. I got to see everyone, going from Marshall's to Froggy's (classic), ending with a cab ride back to Mt. Pleasant (one of many from the weekend). Many pictures were taken, lots and lots of hugs were given and received, and a necessary dose of Ruddiger was had. It was a great kickoff to the weekend.

Saturday was COLD. That is the best way to describe Saturday. I barely played at all, due to the weather and my hangover, and spent most of the time trying to get warm. Saturday afternoon we watched Wedding Crashers and I got the most pathetic grilled cheese ever. That night we trekked to Hillel for dinner and trivia, and made Pete's birthday video (hey Pete!). I headed to Naomi's with Kanika for a bit, pounced on Ryan (who was out cold thanks to a sleeping pill), and got to catch up with two of my favorites from GW. Excellent times. Saturday night's party was great, with a reprisal of jello shots and me accidentally (I swear) putting a tiny (miniscule) dent in the wall. It was tiny, seriously.

I made it to brunch on Sunday only a little late, and equally miserable as Saturday morning. Afterwards I saw Ivey for a bit, then made my way to Chinatown to hang out with the guys from my year. After lying down finally I realized I wanted to spend more time in DC so I changed my flight to early (I mean EARLY) Monday. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and watching football before I crashed in Dan's bed. My flight was a little miserable, with some major delays, but Delta was nice and gave me back $100. Woop woop!

Thoughts on my experience: I miss and love DC and my friends there. Like I said, sometimes it feels like I put life on pause moving out here, and it was just so comforting being back in a place that I know and where I feel at home. I know I'll be back soon, soon soon soon, and in a way that makes being away a little bit easier for now.

Okay, I'm signing off earlier than I thought I would - I've got some things I need to get sorted out tonight that you'll be hearing all about in the next couple of days. More updates are back, I promise!

Back to Normal Soon, I Promise

The past 2 weeks have been painfully hectic. Work has been a total drag - I have a big report due that's due tomorrow. It's been sucking up my time much more than I'd prefer, and has left precious little time for anything, much less blogging.

I also flew to DC last weekend for Alumni Weekend (more on that soon!) so I was MIA in that respect too. I'll be back to normal posting soon, especially now that I found out that people actually read this ('sup fan club!)

Happy weekend!

And because this really never gets old.....

In Pictures: My First Ever Business Trip

Yesterday I got on a 6:45am flight to Las Vegas for my first ever business trip - the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Approximately 130,000 people descend onto Vegas for this show, full of video games, TVs, and all kinds of gadgets. My company sent me so that I could both see what the fuss is all about, and to help support two of our clients who were on-site. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but here's a couple pictures I took with my cell phone.

Watching the sun rise over the mountains from my seat.

One section of Microsoft's ridiculously huge booth.

Panasonic's new super-thin LCD.

Samsung's ridiculous wing display of TVs (eek, sorry I couldn't rotate it).

Dinner at The Venetian (inside!)

A very blurry view of the Strip from my seat in the airplane.

Will I be back next year? Doubtful. But I'm glad I got to see what it's all about.

My Beautiful, Beautiful Sisters

My trip to Germany for Christmas was all I hoped it'd be: relaxing, and filled with good food and my wonderful family. It wasn't terribly exciting, in the sense that I didn't go sightseeing or out into the city much. Instead, the days were filled with long breakfasts (complete with freshly baked bread - every day- and cheese and farm butter and general deliciousness), afternoon walks, reading books to my sisters, and long talks with my dad and stepmom.

It had been two and a half years since I'd last seen them, and leaving was incredibly sad and difficult. I plan on making my visits more frequent in the future - I think I would regret missing out on the lives of my young sisters, and miss the company of my father and stepmother, both of whom I get along with splendidly.

Philippa (the 17 month old) and I got along especially well...she has these endearing habits of squeeeezing you really tightly, giving big wet kisses, and putting her forehead against yours and cuddling up. By the end of the week she was letting me comfort her and leading me around the dining room table, my finger grasped firmly in her little hand. I think I'm going to miss her the most of all, and I'm eager to get back as soon as time and money allows.

Here are a couple of photos from my trip, along with a video of Philippa roaming around with her Big Bear. As a note, Philippa is the blonde little baby, and Adriane is the brunette 4 year old.