Highlights

Life, as they say, is in the details. So here are some highs and lows of life lately

Highs:

• Coming around the bend on the 495 and seeing this gorgeous site (sorry it's such crappy quality, I snapped it on my iphone, the one on the right I found online but gives a much better sense of the gloriousness)

Tell me that doesn't remind you of Emerald City? The DC temple is one of my faves and the way it is perfectly situated on the 495 is nothing short of magical. I've even heard tell that there are frequent traffic issues along that stretch of the freeway because of distracted driver's.

• Ebay. I'm obviously super late to the game on this one, but is there anything more satisying than paying super cheap prices for awesome goodies? Plus the whole bidding system just appeals to my competitive side. The key is to never bid early.
• Opening the mailbox and finding a nice stash of new fall catalogs instead of bills.
• Getting to meet Brody for lunch on Mondays and Fridays. It really just makes my day :)
• New episodes in the Hulu queue
• Getting to the metro station just as the train arrives

Lows:

• Getting your utility bill with 3 months worth of charges...
• Taking the time to wave your hair in the morning, only to have the curl pretty much gone by the time you get to work ten minutes later. Thanks humidity, really fantastic.
• When it rains pretty much every, single, saturday for I can't remember how long.
• Going to the DMV, which you loathe, so you procrastinate it even though your license has expired and you've been putting it off for weeks and weeks because you aren't really in the mood to wait in a crowded line for 3 hours next to people who may or may not have bathed in the last week. I mean really, I feel like I'll need a silkwood shower after that.
• I will never understand why office buildings are always freezing. It doesn't have to be 65 degrees for people to be productive

I'm trying to be better at taking pictures, but we just haven't been doing a lot that merits legit photos (going back to the raining every Saturday), but here a couple shots from the last few weeks:

Columbia Heights at night / Brody waiting patiently for the metro at the Friendship Heights station

"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you."

You thought I was going to say home is whenever I'm with you, didn't you? Well no, although I do love that song. I was just gchatting with a dear friend today and I was telling her how much I miss her and how weird it is to live somewhere where almost nobody really knows me, except Brody of course. But she has known me since we were maybe 12 years old and was there with me through the highs and lows of adolescence. She and the rest of my wonderful friends in Salt Lake, whether they've known me since we were barely 6 years old, taking swimming lessons together at the tennis club, or when we were stupid teenagers driving around in a van listening to eminem or razoring down the gulley because you know, we were just so cool like that.

But being out here I realize how I took that familiarity for granted.

There are pros and cons to such an existance. You get a blank slate, you get to be whoever you want. And yes, that is great and all, but I'm not a 18-year-old going to college to figure that out anymore. I am very secure in who I am and almost more importantly, who I am not. I'm not busy checking facebook anymore to see what my 'friends' are up to, or updating my status with blatant cries for attention/validation (we've all been there, especially those of us who were in college when it all got started anyway). I'm not concerned about the number of people in my 'friends list' or the number of comments I get on my little blog. That's not why I do it.

I just don't need that anymore. I'm secure in the fact that I have a handful of really great friends that I keep in touch with through daily chats, texts, blogs, and dare I say it, even phone calls... Just the other week I had an hour-long phone call in the middle of a crowded CVS with one of my closest friends from college, and it was like no time had passed even though we hadn't kept in as good of touch as we would like. But she knows me, we lived together for 3+ years and even though so much has changed in our lives and we literally live on opposite sides of the country, it's still the same. Whether we are all getting together for lunch at CPK, or leaving voicemails about listening to FM100 and thinking of each other. And it was refreshing to talk to someone who knows me, who was such a huge part of that time in my life.

I was just thinking today that I am going on 4+ years of working full time. It's kind of crazy to think that I've been working professionally for the same amount of time I was in high school, and I don't think I would have made it through with without my long G-chats with another one of my best friends on all topics ranging from capital punishment and politics to harry potter. I lived and traveled with her for good month too, and it's always a comfort to get her perspective. Because she will tell me how she really feels--unabashed. I can have an intelligent conversation with her. And she knows the real me, the good, the bad, and the ugly choices I've made :)

A lot of my closest friends from college all came from working together at Cafe Rio of all places, and I still keep in touch with them and no matter how much time passes, it's still normal and fun when we get together (or when they post an ugly picture of me on their blog *hem hem). We can count on each other, even if it's something as random as things to do in DC during the fall, or hanging no parking signs and helping each other to the airport :)

And I've made some other suprising work friends too. It's strange to be in a new office where I'm not able to relentlessly make fun of my superiors and where people really don't go to lunch together. I miss my old work friends and our daily lunches. I miss our quote board and I miss that familiarity, but I still keep in touch through texts and emails (oh and pottermore), but again, now that it's gone I realize how much I took for granted.

But just this last weekend, I got to go shopping with a new girlfriend and it was so fun! We were planning on going to the Relief Society Broadcast but when our ride fell through we decided we might as well go shopping together :) I haven't been able to shop with a girlfriend since July! (Brody doesn't do shopping unless it involves electronics). But it was so great to get to know each other better and make a new friend (bonus, she has excellent taste).

And we have met so many other wonderful people in our ward, which I'm a little obsessed with. Let's jsut say that testimony meeting in the DC 3rd, is sometimes referred to as open mic night. It's wonderfully authentic and refreshing.

Are you still there...?

I'm sorry this turned into such a cheese-fest novel, but I just wanted to articulate how exciting and strange it is to build new friendships, and how comforting it is to have a solid network of old friends that keep in touch. Because next to my awesome family, they are the next big thing ya know?

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Which for me is Autumn and I believe today is the official first day of Fall!!!! And can I just say that I'm extremely excited about experiencing fall on the East Coast for the first time? I can't wait for the leaves to start changing, among a myriad of other fall loveliness including:

• Tights, tights, tights. I may have bought about 4 pairs the other day including a rusty-red cableknit, a solid deep forest-green, and a gray and beige in a lovely herringbone pattern.


• Boots. My favorite pair have been stashed away all summer and I couldn't be more excited for the temperatures to drop a little so I can bust them out.

• Hot chocolate. Is there anything better than cozying up in a soft blanket, with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book?


• Apple-picking. I won't lie, this hasn't exactly been a tradition for me, but I've been told that there are some gorgeous orchards in the Shenendoah's and I think this is going to be new tradition. At least for the next three years :)

• Scenic drives. I haven't driven a car since July. After getting pulled over on our very first night in the city (luckily she let me off with a warning), I banned myself from driving in the District, and although for the most part I've really enjoyed our new pedestrian lifestyle, I'm looking forward to some scenic drives with Brody. Perhaps to Foamhenge?

• The shows are back on! Finally. Although the only channel we are able to pick up with our digital antennae is NBC, luckily we have Hulu to catch up on the rest.


• Soup. I love a good soup, especially for lunch. There is nothing better to warm up after a brisk walk in the cool Autumn air.


• Scarves. And I'm not even close to a hipster. I just love being able to layer and bundle-up.


• Plaid. Tweed. Houndstooth. Leather. Corduroy. Wool. Nuff said.

• Quilts. I love, love sleeping in a cold room, but being toasty warm under my duvet and quilt. Although it does make it twice as hard to get up in the morning.


• "They call it, Cashmere." Now I definitely don't own a lot of this fantastic fabric, but I love that the weather finally justifies it.


• Halloween. It's just the greatest isn't it? However, I am a little shamed to admit that I haven't given my costume as much thought this year (I usually like to start planning in the summer), but I'm debating whether Brody and I (mostly me) could pull-off Don and Betty Draper...

• And you really can't forget Thanksgiving, although it will be sad this year not to spend it with our families but I'm sure some form of Skyping will be in order. I'm not really sure whether I should even attempt to cook a turkey. That could be interesting :)


• Pumpkin Patches! I'm betting there will be some serious pumpkin patches in Virginia with my name on it.


• Pumpkin Pie. This may just be bittersweet this year though because I've yet to find a pumpkin pie that comes close to my mother's. Just saying.

Kind of a big deal

New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera blows a kiss to fans after recording his career record 602nd save against the Minnesota Twins (Reuters)

Well it's happened, I've had another high-profile run-in. And he's a legit high-profile. I'm not sure how detailed I can be on my blog but let's just say that yesterday I shook the hand of a man that was once the mayor of a really really big city on the East Coast. He may have even made a bid for the Presidency once. Oh and he is a big Yankees fan, as was evidenced by the fact that he was watching their game yesterday on a laptop, in an office mere feet away from my desk, because you know it's not everyday that Mariano Rivera gets to save 602 and it "couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy". Oh did I mention this was just minutes before making a presentation to a group of important people? I may have even printed out the boarding passes for him and his secuirty unit...ya know, just another Monday.

All you need is a light jacket

Sorry for the lack of posts, it's been kind of a crazy week!

We did three filings at work, which was exciting and crazy to see how much goes into filing pleadings, motions, etc. for the Circuit court. I felt like a total moron all week while I relied heavily on the assistants around me to carry-out the cite-checking, formatting, and logistics of each filing. But it was interesting to see the 'late-night' side of litigation.

It was the second week of the tutoring program for the youth in our ward and let's just say we are learning as we go :) It was successful but let's just say we had about 5 people show up to be tutored that we didn't know were going to be there and had to do a little last-minute shuffling/scrambling to find tutors for everyone.

Friday night we were invited to a get together with some of the other students from Brody's section. It was interesting to put faces on some of the people I've been hearing about, and to be a definite minority of the group being both Mormon and married :)

The second was a Sunday dinner invitation from cute Ali and Brian, who invited all the new BYU interns in our ward, as well as a few of the other young couples over for some lovely dinner and conversation. It was so fun to get to know them, although I won't lie I felt a little old when I was asked when I graduate and had to think about it for a second, (2007). I can't believe it's been that long!

Let's talk about the weather this week...it was fantastic! It wasn't hot or cold, it was that perfect beginning of fall, crisp, cool air. Perfect jacket weather. Which of course meant that I had to watch You've Got Mail, I've decided it's my unofficial fall kick-off movie.

We are hoping to go see the new MLK memorial at the mall this week, we've heard some great things and can't wait to see it for ourselves!

Living / Dining

I took some pictures of the living and dining room this weekend, it was finally sunny and I actually had some natural light! It had been raining for about a week straight.


I got these lovely Robert Allen ikat pillow covers on etsy, and we covered our red lovesac with a beige fitted sheet.




Before:

After:

the full layout, with the lovely eye-sore treadmill (which we got for free!)


And the dining room, or really I should say dining area as it's just around the corner from the living area

I painted all of our mis-matched chairs and re-upholstered them in burlap


this was the lone painting of mine that made the cut this time around, possibly because it was my first oil and took a good month for me to finish.

And because I was struggling to take pictures with the natural light that were actually in focus, here are some with the lights on. Isn't it crazy how they completely change the coloring?


and here are the before's. One wall in the dining room was red, and one wall in the living room was purple. Yeah. red and purple in the same eye-line. horrific.

Before:

After:

New Bedroom

For the two people that care, I finally got around to taking some photos of our bedroom last week. The rest of the apt to come soon, enjoy!

Again, just to make them look better, this is the before with the previous tenant's horrible red...

And here is the after.



And I'm itching to paint this amazing 60's behemoth dresser...

a lovely soft blue and replace the hardware with some beautiful brass or rose-gold loveliness a la...

Did you feel it?

It was kind of cold today. No really, the high was only 64 degrees!

She's coming and I couldn't be more excited! I even saw two girls wearing Hunters in the rain. And I saw more than one trench coat and wished I had worn mine (I was kind of freezing on my walk home. )