Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily

My family came to visit me in the middle of June and we had a really nice trip. We had perfect weather for site seeing, much better than the humid mess we had when they came last June. One of my favorite activities we did was the pedal boats at the Tidal Basin. It was so much fun, and quite the leg workout. Mom sat out so she wouldn't get motion sickness. And Abbie sat out because she didn't think it looked as fun as the rest of us. We did sing "Row, row, row your boat" in a round to keep us entertained. But I guess we should have changed it to "Pedal, pedal, pedal your boat..." 

I Found it on EBAY

Does anyone else find this shot glass a little ironic?

BYU - rated the #1 Stone Cold Sober School in the Princeton Review (also took #1 spot in the "Got Milk?" and "Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch" categories).

Thank you Ebay. My shot glass collection is officially complete.

Monday, Monday

Awhile back I mentioned some of my favorite things. But today, in the spirit of Monday (my least favorite day of the entire week), I've been thinking of some of my unfavorite things, my list of dislikes.

So here it is, the world would be a better place without the following things:

Alarms. Bumper Stickers. Carrots. Doing dishes. Earwax. Freezing Weather. Good-byes. Hot Dogs. Ironing. Jellyfish. Kool-aid. Losing Things. Mosquitos. Nylons. Overeating. Public restrooms. Queasiness. Rodents. Shaving. Tiredness. UTI's. Velour. Whiskers on Kittens. Xyster. Yelling. Zits.

When You Think Tim McGraw

There is something about a man in tight pants and a cowboy hat...especially if that man is Tim McGraw.

We went to his concert this weekend and it was so fun. We got stuck in a little bit of traffic and then went past our exit by a good 20 miles. When we finally got to Nissan I was feeling a bit ansty so I skipped our planned tailgate and went straight inside to meet up with a few other friends. Jason Aldean opened and gave a great performance. Of course Tim brought the heat and the crowd went wild for him.

I love Tim's music, but he only played a few of my favorites. And he definitely didn't play some of the classics that I was hoping for, which was a little disappointing. But then again, watching Tim on stage is never disappointing.

Highlights of the concert include -
1. Having a half-naked drunk man offer to give me a proper dance lesson because he "reckoned" I never had one.
2. Where the Green Grass Grows - enough said!
3. A tasty cheeseburger with Swedish Fish for dessert. Yum.
4. Throwing cherry seeds into some country guys mouth to entertain ourselves while we were caught in traffic.
5. Did I mention Tim was wearing tight pants?

Running Just As Fast As We Can

Saturday was the annual Race for the Cure on the National Mall. I ran it last year and had so much fun that I couldn't wait to run it again this year.

That was until my alarm clock went off at 6:30 am on Saturday morning. I laid in bed almost convincing myself to Sleep in for the Cure. But knowing that my friends would be waiting for me at the metro, I got my bum in gear and headed downtown even earlier than I do on a normal work day.

The metro was buzzing and everyone was wearing their new race t-shirts (except Micah. I suppose it was because the pink and purple breast cancer symbols didn't match his red hat). Once there, I was immediately glad that I didn't sleep in. Races are so fun and energizing.

The weather was ridiculously hot and the air was barely breathable it was so thick. Once downtown, we could barely see the base of the Washington monument. The rest was covered in thick, humid air. Lucky for us, Condoleeza Rice was there with her personal trainer, leading us in stretches that made us forget we were sweating profusely.

It was a great race. My running buddies - Stephanie, Hilary and Micah - kept me energized to the very end. Yoplait provided us with fizzy gogurt which proved to be a better cold pack than as an edible substance. There were no breast cancer hats for which we were all very sad. But we didn't run into the creepy Ronald McDonald for which we were all very grateful.

I went straight home and rewarded myself with a little Nap for the Cure. No more breast cancer!

 

I missed the pretend phone memo

Early Metro Smiles

Ready to Run

Hot and sweaty but feeling good after the race

"B" for breast cancer

I'm sure as loyal readers you've diligently been checking my blog only to be disappointed as you've wondered where I've been.

Well, be disappointed no more. Here's a photo highlight of what I've been up to the past two weeks.

   

Driving to the Outerbanks

Poolside Cookouts

4 wheeling on the dunes

Sea Kayaking

Playing Tambourine with the Caribbean Steel Drum Band

Poolside Parties

Marathon nights of Rock Band

Relaxing at the beach with some of my favorites

Visiting some of my best friends from BYU

Attending Brent and Stephanie's wedding

 

Spending quality time with my best friends

   

Visiting the fabulous Las Vegas

  

Lots of dancing

  

Receiving balloon gifts from crazy man on the Strip

 

Cruising down the Strip in the Party Bus

Watching my favorite - the Bellagio water show

Excuse me, Mr. Officer

The first time I ever heard about DuPont Circle was in the movie The American President. I'm tempted to digress to tell you about why this is one of my favorite chick flicks, but I'll save you the spoilers so you can watch it yourself, if you have not already seen it.

However, there's a running joke in the movie about the traffic in DuPont Circle. "Just stay away from DuPont Circle. I hear it's murder this time of day." When I first moved to DC, that quote went through my head whenever I was near DuPont, and I quickly learned the movie was not far off from the truth. DuPont Circle is a highly congested area, especially during rush hour.

But, it's also one of the most charming and energetic parts of town. Last night, my roommates and I decided to go to dinner at Lauriol Plaza in DuPont and for some reason, I decided to drive rather than walk the 10 blocks that it is from my office. Big Mistake! I spent 30 minutes driving around looking for parking. Once I finally found a spot, I became incredibly flustered. A man in a big white truck pulled up beside me, trying to convince me I was about to take his spot. Are you kidding? This is my spot. I found it. I'm taking it. That's what I told him and the smile in his eye made me realize he was actually just teasing me, but I wasn't in the mood for jokes.

We had a lovely dinner and we stuffed ourselves full of Lauriol goodness. But, as we walked to my car, I became increasingly nervous because I could not remember where I parked my car. I know that I walked down Riggs so we started there, but an hour and a half later we were still walking and my car was nowhere to be found. My patient roommates were so helpful and encouraging, not complaining at all, even reminding me that at least we got to walk around and see all the beautiful houses (and walk off our dinner too)!

We decided we needed to make a decision on what to do. We could metro home and drive back down to cover more ground faster in a car, but that would take a lot of time. We could hail a taxi and hope we found the car before the fare became too outrageous. Or better yet, we could ask the cop that was driving by. I quickly flagged him down. At first I wasn't sure he was going to help, but after explaining my desperate plight, he told me he had to respond to a call 2 blocks away, but if we waited he would come back and help us.

We laughed on the corner about the whole situation until he returned. I explained more of the details to him and then we all popped in the car, me in the front and my three roommates in the back. My favorite part was when he reported in on his radio: "On the corner of New Hampshire and R. Flagged down by a citizen. Helping to locate vehicle."

That's me - citizen in need.

Thank you Officer Martinez.