MIA

Job hunting and home visiting have kept me out of the blogosphere for the past week, and the only thing more overwhelming than interviewing for four jobs in one week and attempting to pack too much fun into a short weekend is opening up Google Reader to over 250 unread posts.

I did go home this weekend . . to talk in Spanglish with my 'seester' while helping her register for wedding gifts, to celebrate my uncle's return from Ir.aq, to meet two of my friends' new babies, and to have my cousin wave her magic wand, turning my hair back into the blonde it was meant to be.

I'm blaming this headache and exhaustion on all that fun. I'm also blaming this headache and exhaustion for not finishing this post right now. I'll be back once the Excedrin has kicked in.

He is Risen Indeed!

"God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son,that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." - John 3:16

be·lieve: to have confidence or faith in the truth of something

"I try so hard to find the words to say, to let you know how great is this God to whom I pray. Nothing can or ever will compare to the peace that flows in your soul when He is living there. Oh, I know you’ve been through so much; it’s hard to contemplate letting go and reaching out in trust. But I know the simple truth - that love is here for you, so take Him at His word and see what He can do. The promise is yours and mine; take hold of this love for the rest of your life. It’s time to take a step of faith. Be prepared for Jesus’ love to carry you away. He loves you so much. Just believe, just believe."

- Jaci Velasquez, "God So Loved"

craving

All I want right now is:

• a Peep
• a Snickers egg
• a Reeses peanut butter egg

Growing up, every Easter morning my mother would leave a trail of chocolate eggs from our beds to our baskets, hidden somewhere in the house. The above treats were among some of the sweets included.

What are your favorite Easter treats?

one very expensive snack

“I’m going to treat myself tonight,” I thought, as I headed to happy hour at Wolfgan.g Puck’s The S.ource on Penn.sylvania Ave. I rarely go out to eat anymore, and how often did I find myself at such a swanky place? I would order an appetizer and a glass of wine, I decided.

Without even glancing at the wine list, I asked the server for a Chardonnay. (I may be adventurous in the food department, but not when it comes to wine.) The two girls and I browsed the lounge menu and found ourselves interested in a few, quite pricey, small plates. Our server suggested we order five or six, but we settled on the following three: shrimp & scallop spring rolls with sweet chili dipping sauce, “American style” Kobe beef sliders with onion marmalade and chapel cheddar, and handcut fries with Bearnaise sauce. All ten bites I took were understateably delicious, but I was still extremely hungry. And as perfect as the dessert was (a crêpe filled with warm ganache, next to a cold chocolate mixed with heavy cream, and sprinkled with powdered sugar), it was dainty as could be and split three ways. My plans for the rest of the evening? Go home and eat a real dinner.

I pulled out my check card and opened the bill. One hundred and thirteen dollars! FOR A SNACK. Perhaps a gourmet one, but a snack nonetheless. I would’ve fed a toddler more! I skimmed the list of charges to find my glass of wine, some fancy name I’d never heard of next to the number 16, twice the price of the other girls’ drinks. Apparently I needed to specify that I wanted the cheapest glass of Chardonnay they had. I knew that stuff had been too delicious! I signed my name under “$44.76” and rode the Metro home, daydreaming about all the other things that money could’ve bought me. Three eyebrow waxings . . a week’s worth of groceries . . a new blouse . . transportation to and from New York.

But I’d paid for an experience, a very delicious one. And if I had to do it over, I’d pay $100 and actually get an entrée.

Mr. P comes to Washington

DunduhduhDUH: Dad ate seafood. AND HE LIKED IT.

This is a newsflash for a guy who grimaces before the fork even reaches his lips, because he’s SURE it’s going to be disgusting. It doesn’t smell like normal things, like chicken and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And if he doesn’t like it . . HE MIGHT DIE.

So I would consider eating seafood a big milestone in his life. Which is why I began to clap at the dinner table when he chewed and swallowed that piece of grilled trout. I blinked a few times and anxiously awaited the next words out of his mouth. “It’s not bad.” High praise, indeed. Maybe next time, we can grab some Ethiopian?

After nearly two years of me living in D.C., Dad finally came for a visit. Everyone seems to find it strange that I asked my parents to come out separately, but it’s twice the fun for me!

While Dad was here, we went on a West Wing tour (my second). They had re-opened the White House press room, so we snapped a few shots in there, and Dad found the designated Fox News chair and took a seat. :) Since he enjoys shopping more than my mother, he seemed to be fine with hitting up an estate sale and spending some quality time in Anthropologie. He even helped me pick out a rug for my newly painted kitchen.

We ate at some of my favorite places, of course, and also grilled out a couple of times at Cousin J’s house. Walker (J’s son) absolutely loved his Uncle Jeff. And I’m thinking one the highlights of Dad’s trip may have been meeting and chatting with a “very important person” who happened to be in my office the day he came by.

Hope you had fun, Dad!

quote of the day

"If you think you could do it for a week without stabbing yourself . . apply for it."
- Co-worker/Friend

volume control

When is it ok to tell your roommate to TURN IT DOWN A FEW NOTCHES. As in, your voice. Because should I really have to turn my fan on high to drown out your squealy-voiced, after-midnight conversations? I honestly don’t know the answer to that question. I have a right to sleep. She has a right to talk on the phone. She could talk softer. I could turn on my fan.

Thoughts? Opinions? Anyone?

The Cupcakes

chocolate mint, chocolate coconut, bubblegum, triple chocolate, and chocolate vanilla

Yum.

EB

First of all, could I be any more tired? This daylight savings business is really taking its toll. I didn’t exactly have a late night-crazy weekend; instead I spent most of my time with my old bedroommate, EB.

I’m glad I love my bedroommate Lyn so much, because I really miss EB. The two are practically each other’s opposite, sharing maybe one similar trait, sweetness. Next to EB, I look quiet and nondramatic. In fact, I am often unable to reciprocate her excitement for things (believe it or not), and I never use words like “jubilant”. I can’t explain how lovely it was to hear her happy voice say “sleep well” on Saturday night. And I replied as always with “you too”. We didn’t really need to do anything when she came over, just sitting on the couch to chat was good enough. But we decided to venture out just after the rain had stopped, and our destination was Georget.own. I suggested we stop by the new cupcake place, but the sign said ‘closed until 3pm’. Instead, we popped into a bright yellow rowhouse boutique called Fre.sh. An adorable shop, there were different types of candy in glass jars, and fresh, flirty, flowy dresses and tops all color-coded. I bought the cutest green necklace for myself, but most of the dresses were shift dresses that didn’t really flatter my figure. At quarter to three, we got in line behind twenty people at Geor.getown Cupcake, and it was an hour before we were ordering our treats, while at least hundred more people waited behind us. The bakery really isn’t handling the demand well, but they are baking delicious cupcakes. It is hands-down the best cupcake I’ve ever had, and I can say with confidence that it’s better than Magnolia’s in New York. The moist cake and cream cheese frosting are amazing. Fortunately I bought a half dozen (all different flavors, of course), because I knew I wouldn’t want to stand in line again anytime soon. That evening, EB and I went to dinner at Del.hi Club with her Princ.eton alum friends. I like to call them “The Smarties”, but they are actually a lot of fun. I have to be honest, I never expected to enjoy people with such high IQs, as ridiculous as that may sound. Would they want to have intellectual conversations all the time? Would they laugh at things I didn’t understand? Would their advanced vocabulary annoy me to no end? And all of my assumptions were nearly true, except for the annoying part . . but they are a fun, normal bunch of people who happen to have Ivy League names and to have gone to Ivy League schools . . and who happen to love Cold Stone Creamery, which is reason enough for them to be my friends.

EB and I ended our time together at our favorite bagel place, the place we used to walk to every Saturday morning uphill, pumping our arms and squeezing our butts, only to enjoy carb-tastic bagels with high calorie toppings. Because we’d earned it. We hugged each other goodbye at least five times, and she hopped into her cute, blue Land Rover and drove south. And I thought to myself, ‘I’m glad I love Lyn, because I really miss EB.’

Dooce is right

I’m not sure I have ever agreed with another blogger more.

New Look

I had nothing better to do with my time this morning than play around with this new template, so I hope you all like it, because I'm not investing even two more seconds in xml code or adding links to the sidebar.

Let's talk about the old template and how ugly it was. Ugh. Gray blue. Seriously? Gray blue! That might officially be my least favorite color now. I'm surprised you didn't all fall asleep while reading the blog.

I'll admit that I was kind of hoping to find something a bit girlie for a template, but since I am head over heels for my current location, I thought I would feature it on the blog. Isn't it lovely? People, I can see all of those things from my rooftop! I think this might qualify me for the title of "Luckiest Girl Ever".

If you think D.C. is all about the monuments and the museums, you are . . almost right. But honestly, there are so many cute, historic, and diverse neighborhoods here. I've been living in this city for almost two years, and I haven't even begun to truly discover it.

So I felt that this template was appropriate, because I don't just love this life I'm living, I love this life I'm living in this city.

The search for a job is intensifying, as I am able to devote more of my energies to it. I've applied for jobs in a couple of other cities, but I can't pretend that I'm ok with leaving yet. I love it here, and I hope that love can continue awhile longer.

What would you do for a dollar?

I just ate a glazed donut in forty-five seconds, everything swallowed. And I was given a dollar for doing it.

It's not as easy as it sounds, and I think that dollar was worth the calories.

Thank You

I just want to say thank you for telling me about the happiness in your weekends. I've loved the feedback. And if you haven't left a comment yet, what are you waiting for? :)

He gives and takes away

A few months ago, I had a need. For a couch. I came this close to buying a brand new set at the furniture store, but I knew I couldn't really afford it. So I asked God to provide one. Because I believe, I know He cares about the small things.

And He came through, as always. My roommate's friend was giving away his couch for free, and it was actually in great condition and not at all ugly. Huge blessing. And I recently envisioned the types of pillows I planned to buy for this couch, and the way I hoped to rearrange the furniture in the living room.

But that same roommate is moving out in April. She had planned to leave the couch with us, but plans have changed. We will now be without a nice couch, just an ugly fake leather loveseat that barely fits two people.

It seems like such a silly thing to worry about, but couches are so expensive and given the unknown in my future, it's not something I should be investing in right now.

I'm just going to pray and believe that God will provide again. I don't even care if it's ugly. No wait, that's a lie. I definitely care, but I'll still take it.

and a Happy Weekend it was!

Nevermind the mini breakdown I had on Sunday afternoon. I love how I can bawl one moment and just a half an hour later all is well in the world again. I rarely find myself in tears, but if anything stressful/confusing/disappointing happens during a certain five days of the month, look out!

Now back to happy things:

- My co-worker/friend and I (and I really feel like I should capitalize that, because she is that important) have been a bit, what is the word?, obsessed about decor and design lately. I have been tipping her off to my favorite design blogs, and she has been having more reasons to even be looking at these design blogs, because she's decorating her new house. No fair! I suggested that, along with the occasional estate sale, we hit up some of the cute decor shops in various neighborhoods in our city. She was the first to suggest a shop: Mis.s Pixie's in Ada.ms Morgan. So we headed straight there after work on Friday. And loved everything. I think I could "furnish and whatnot" my entire home from that place. Most of the pieces are pretty affordable, all used and vintage items that have a lot of character. You know I didn't leave empty-handed. I decided on an old MasterCraft "paint-it-yourself" bookcase whose owners had painted it red, then painted part of it green. Until I repaint it, I'm trying to make do by throwing this scarf over the top to hide the whole two-toned look. But even when I do paint it, I'm not so sure I want to change the color. I love green.

- I've still been out of commission thanks to my foot, but it doesn't mean I can't lift weights or use a stationary bike (yawn). And in order to prevent myself from additional injuries when I do run again, I thought I would try out yoga for the first time . . at 8am on a Saturday morning. The instructor said I was very flexible, and I plan to go again. But every time she closes her eyes and tells us to "focus on the light within yourself", the only light I'll be thinking about is Jesus, thankyouverymuch. He is the only light inside of me. I hate all that New Age crap, gag!

- After the gym, I went to my church's monthly women's brunch to mingle with the ladies. It's a great way to meet people, catch up with familiar faces, and also hear an encouraging message from the pastor's wife. I met an adorable girl who I plan to have coffee with in the near future. (But why does it always have to be coffee or a drink? How about grabbing an ice cream cone for once? Now that sounds like fun.)

- Immediately following that meal, my friend and I headed to Dupont to find a new cafe at which to have lunch. We loved the place we chose, Sette Oster.ia, where we enjoyed frittatas with veggies and arugula salad. And we stopped into the designer consignment shop right across the street, of course.

- That afternoon, I met up with my university's D.C. alu.mni board to discuss my potential involvement in getting a flag football team started next season. Next thing I knew, I was being nominated to be co-chair of our chapter's newly created sports committee and not only was I going to take the lead on the football team, I was suddenly assistant coach of the softball team. I don't even like softball! I'm also going to be a representative for our chapter at the D.C. alu.mni net.work meetings. I'm glad to be getting involved, but I had no idea it was going to turn into all of this!

- I spent the evening babysitting for two adorable little girls that I've watched several times over the last year. I always have cute stories to tell after a night with E.lena (4) and L.arissa (2). That evening, E grabbed three spatulas out of the drawer and told me to press play on the CD player. "Build Me Up Buttercup" began to play, and the three of us danced around the living room together. When tucking E in at night, she has recently been asking me to read the (pictureless) Bible. She is insistent that she be able to see the words on the page, and it is so precious to hear all the questions she has. "Miss L__, how does Jesus heal people?" "How did Zaccheus get up in the tree?"

- I was done in time to hit the bowling alley with a group of friends, but I never got in a groove, and I hate to admit it but when it comes to bowling, I'm not happy if I'm not winning. So maybe this isn't one of my happy things. Maybe I should take it off. But I was with friends, and there were Sour Patch Kids and high-fives when I got a few spares. So I'll keep it on the list.

Please tell me about the happiest part of your weekend . .