Everybody's Workin' for the Weekend

I enjoy rewards.  Like a big milkshake on a Friday if I've eaten healthily all week, or a sprite zero break after mowing the front lawn. 

But I especially love rewards when they come in the form of a weekend at the lake.  The only thing standing between me and Winni is this horrendous first week of classes.

I think I can, I think I can....

25 going on 15

Just a snippet from the conversation I had with the RCN salesman when I answered my door last night:

Him: "Hi hun, are your Mom or Dad home?"

Me:  pause pause.  trying to give him the stink eye, but mostly just embarrassed...  Ummm.  I own this house.

Him:  laughing   Really?

5.9 on 8.23

I knew today was going to be an interesting day right after I'd finished my sugar cookie-and-diet coke breakfast.  Usually I have granola with yogurt and keep it at that, but today was special.  (Any day with free treats is special in my book).

I made it through a large portion of my morning to-do list and headed off to a lunch of leftover pot stickers and rice.  After my pot stickers, three sips into my seltzer water, and mid-way in chapter 7 of Cold Sassy Tree, I started to get motion sick.  This happens to me more often than I'd like to admit, and I thought it was just the large man that happened to be walking by me at the time.  I couldn't believe how hard he was walking.  And how much vertigo I was experiencing.

Then he walked away and the booming didn't stop.  Then the booming did stop and the swaying started.

Note to future self: when the walls of the office look like jello, don't spend 20 seconds looking around and above you to see what, if anything, could fall on you before hiding under your lunch table.   Just hide under your lunch table.  Even if it means your slip shows because you're wearing one-of-those dresses today.

Instead of hiding under the desk, I did what any other seasick-stricken person would do and became a lemming and followed the crowds outside.

Georgetown evacuated and shut down its buildings.

So we spent half an hour in the hot sun, vying for shade and listening to the people from California tell us what pansies we all are.  Then we got the good news (well, good for me) that those who already had their belongings could leave for the day.  Those who didn't have their necessities and/or who had a car parked in the underground garage, were not let back into the building and had to stick around to wait until it was declared safe to enter.

Because I'd been at lunch, I had my purse and quickly left to try to beat the masses to Union Station.

Well, I didn't beat the masses.  There was a seething 40-foot-deep wall of humanity surrounding Union Station when I got there.  The entrance to the station was closed and not one of the 50 or so police providing crowd control could tell us anything about the state of the metro.  Blake reported by phone that the metro was still open, though operating under "Emergency" protocol and not going above 15 mph.  Still, they didn't give any information about station closures etc.

So I waited there in the hot sun with 10,000 other sweaty Washingtonians and a street preacher who, carrying a large bible, screamed in my ear that the end is 'nigh and I need to repent.

After 15 minutes or so, I'd had quite enough of the "you're going to hell" business, so I walked back to Georgetown where I could at least sit in the shade with people I knew.

When I did finally make it on the metro an hour later, it was packed cheek-to-cheek and face to sweaty face.  You know what though?  People were fairly pleasant.  I am always impressed at how well people come together when disaster strikes.

A man who works facilities at the White House was standing near me giving some tourists a lengthy and wordy virtual tour of the White House: "so, when you walk in past the situation room and on the way to the oval office, you'll see two Andy Warhol paintings...and I've always thought that in the event of a natural disaster, I'd sneak in and steal those two...and oh, I carved my name in the ceiling next to the stained glass, but I won't tell you what my name is because I don't want to get in any trouble."  And, my personal favorite anecdote from the ride: "I was at an inaugural dinner and was seated next to Tom Selleck.  We were all drinking red wine and having a good time.  But ol' Tom, he tucked the whole table cloth into his shirt when he tucked in his napkin and when he stood up to give a toast, he brought the whole table cloth with him...red wine and all."

In between his verbose stories, two people next to me on the train collapsed from heat exhaustion and had to be dragged off the train and resuscitated.

Good times on the metro.  Good times.

I got home to my Blake just 45 minutes before I would have normally gotten home. It was a long, sweaty, foot-blistered afternoon and I've never been happier to be sitting safely on the couch resting my feet with my Blake.

1 week down, 11 to go.

Georgetown gives 12 weeks paid maternity leave.  This is great for my (don't get any ideas here) future, but not so great for my present.

While my colleague is on her much-deserved maternity leave, I'm covering two jobs.  Unfortunately for my stress-level, it makes the most sense for me to do so.  I know the databases that she works with and am familiar with a lot of her job duties.  However, I am now tasked with working with adjuncts and full-time and visiting faculty (think: Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!).

Last week was crazy.  Several new and unanticipated projects reared their ugly heads.  We made it through the new faculty orientation luncheon that I'd been planning for months.  And Jimmy left.  It was all such a blur.

I'm trying really hard to stay sane and take it a day at a time.  I survived last week (barely) and after sleeping in on Saturday and a three-hour nap yesterday, I think I'm ready to face the week. 

Speaking of yesterday.  We had a horrific thunder storm.  Lighting struck just down the street from us accompanied by thunder so loud that it shook the house and set off all of the car alarms.  We watched nature's violence and House Hunters from the comfort of our couch...until that Goliath lighting took out our power for the rest of the afternoon. 

But have no fear, staring at a blank TV screen gave me the push I needed to get up and get productive.  Productivity in general makes me smile, and I can't help but grin from ear-to-ear when I look at the progress below. 

The wall above our couch has been blank for the past (almost) two years since we moved into the house.  Wow! Has it really been that long?  We've been busily collecting antique maps with a gallery wall in mind.  Two weeks ago, when our collection was complete thanks to the Courthouse Flea, we went to pick out frames and matting.  Two weeks later, here is the finished product:

In case you were wondering:

Top (left to right): Paris circa 1910, France circa 1871, Rome circa 1910

Bottom (left to right): London circa 1870, Washington DC circa 1890.

There is nothing better than seeing a project come together even better than you'd imagined. 

I'll be posting more (real/ non iPhone) photos on our house blog, but for now I'll enjoying looking at this photo every time I get stressed. 

Linguistics v. English

I will never regret getting a degree in Linguistics, but it's times like these when I wish I'd put more emphasis on spelling and less on theoretical syntax.

Old Lady Feet

Blake and I finally got around to spending some of our birthday money.  We purchased ourselves the gift that keeps on giving (or taking, if you're counting personal poundage): running shoes.  I haven't had new running shoes in more than five years (don't judge me).  My old running shoes should have been retired several years ago and weren't doing my terrible feet any favors.

So, after much research and without further ado, I present to you my newest shoe acquisition: the Asics Gel Foundation.

Check out the description:

Looking for a motion control shoe that can deliver the goods? Well look no further as you have come to the right place. The Foundation 9 is similar to its predecessor with minor updates. With an increased midsole density, the Foundation 9 provides better support and durability for runners. To sweeten the deal, Asics has added a bunion widow to provide the runner with a little extra room. This is the shoe of choice for runners with low to flat arches. You can count on the Foundation 9 to get you though all your daily runs.

Low to flat arches? Check.

Bunion?  Check.

Feet of a 75-year-old?  Check.

(sigh) They had me at bunion widow. 

Taste of Georgetown

Yesterday was the Georgetown Law staff BBQ.  Jimmy and I spent an hour and a half eating to our hearts' content and chatting with some of our fun colleagues.  This year's theme was  "On the Boardwalk."  Complete with ice cream, salt water taffy, mounds of fudge (which, note to caterers, is not the best dessert to serve outside in 95 degree weather), and a photo booth. 

In hindsight - and in the sight of the below pictures - it may have been better for me not to eat that extra slab of fudge and the snickers ice cream bar. 

Jimmy and I made use of the photo booth.  I thought that black-and-white would hide some of my imperfections, but unfortunately it couldn't quite hide the double-chinned frumpiness that was yesterday.  Apparently we were supposed to be making silly faces in the first one.  I didn't get the memo, and decided to just have chipmunk face.  Oh well.

As Jimmy said, "this is the best day of the summer.  I just ate for an hour and a half straight!"  That's right, Jimmy.  Georgetown will miss you, too.

A Case FOR the Mondays.

My day started off ugly.  I woke up late-ish, dropped my phone down the stairs, tipped over my box of toiletries in my closet, trudged sweatily to work in the oppressive heat, and then rolled my desk chair over my big toe as I sat down at my desk. 

You could say that things were not looking so good for me.

But then I opened my email and saw an email from Emily Henderson's (yes, the very same Emily Henderson from Secrets from a Stylist!)Media Manager informing me that I'd won the Jane Marvel jet-setter bag that Emily was giving away on her blog. 

This is a pretty big deal for me.  I've never won anything before.  Ever.  Never ever.  And, as I mentioned above, I wasn't exactly having what I'd call a lucky day.

I felt like standing up and screaming "curse broken! curse broken, people!" (a la Michael Scott in The Office), but instead I called Blake and emoted about the beautiful new purse heading my way - free of charge.