WWJD?

So, I'm in church on Sunday standing along the wall and a guy who looked like he had just been on a run, wearing running shorts, flip flops and a t-shirt stood right next to me. Usually the folks standing against the wall stand the whole time, but this guy sat when everyone else sat. He then proceeded to take off each flip flop and massaged his bare feet! I have to admit that it completely distracted me. I moved before we got to the 'peace be with you' shaking hands part of mass. I guess I didn't do a very good job at loving my neighbor :(

SNS

Sunday Night Syndrome

I was suffering from SNS last night. It's a very real condition that I've experienced since I was a kid. I settle down in bed, trying to get a good night's sleep for a jump on the week. Even though all of the conditions may appear to be in order for sleeping, that's when you start trying to solve the world's problems. I start thinking about what I've got to do at work that week, how I need to get my car inspected, I start running through my grocery shopping list. The internal struggle starts...I KNOW I need to relax and sleep. I try to let the sleep kick in...but then I'm tossing and can't find a comfortable position. And it creeps back in. I need to return phone calls to a few people, I have to stop in at the dry cleaner's this week, will i go to that happy hour on thursday, what should I cook for dinner tomorrow?

When I was a kid, instead of trying to fight it, I would just get up and run and around and rile my parents up on Sunday nights (trying to prolong the weekend as much as possible). My mom would be so mad...she would just be falling asleep and I would run and do a flying leap onto the bed. Ok, I did this well into adulthood too. She helped come up with the name for this disorder, and I can't help but think of her on Sundays when I can't easily fall asleep and have to say goodbye to the weekend.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Matt's off to an island in Ohio for Rubin's bachelor party this weekend with the usual cast of characters..Dtox, Justin. How is there an island in Ohio..that sounds so fishy!? Matt's already laid the ground work to warn me that phone service won't be good...

Uncle Jimmy

I've been meaning to blog about Uncle Jimmy, especially since he's managed to access it. He's my Hungarian Godfather and sometimes I even forget we're not blood related. Uncle Jimmy is from New Jersey and met my Dad during college. My Dad would tell me he was one of the coolest 'cats' at Salem College and one of the first to bring bell bottoms to West Virginia. Ever since then, they were like brothers and shared many things in common (Hungarian heritage, Shop Teaching, Seafood, Beer). Even after 30 years of friendship, they could still discover new similarities and would exclaim "ANOTHER thing in common!"

(Please note his Woodbridge T-shirt. I have no idea where he got that!)

One of Uncle Jimmy's passions is music, and he's been in a band most for most of his life. He's been a part of a country western band, a gospel group, oldies band, and a duo. My parents always partied the most when he was in town and would invite Uncle Jimmy's old musician friends over to jam (Uncle Jimmy lived in Woodbrige for a few years after they graduated college before moving back to New Jersey). As a kid, I remember staying up late and always asking him to play La Bamba. I even found a bunch of his guitar picks when I was packing up the house.

Uncle Jimmy retired and moved to Myrtle Beach a few years ago with his soulmate, Sue (who once beat me in a limbo contest). I took a little road trip down south last fall to visit the Blacks and Uncle Jimmy. He's got an adorable house about 2 miles from the beach. He's got a great garden (complete with a lime tree for fresh gin and tonics..see picture below), hot tub, screened in porch, and an evening cocktail area. I have to say that it was a little bittersweet seeing his life down there because it's sort of what my parents had in mind for their retirement, but I love that he's living it out.

Before my trip, I asked him if there were any bike trails nearby, so when I arrived he had a full itinerary planned for us to explore a local park on bike. Of course, he cooked up fresh crabs and shrimp and took me out to his favorite beach spot. I've never really spent a lot of one-on-one time with him, and I think one of my favorite parts of the weekend was sitting on the back porch drinking coffee and listening to stories about my Dad.

Pretty Perfect Day

I've been wanting to check out the western portion of the W&OD trail that runs from Leesburg to Purcellville because that's the only stretch I hadn't biked yet. I was especially interested because of all the farm scenery! I'm not sure if everyone knows about my little obsession with wide open farm land, corn fields, John Deere tractors, silos, and anything 'Americana'. I'll chalk this one up to my Dad's influence. Whenever we were on a road trip, he would point out things and say 'That's Ameeerica', including classic hot dog stands, diners and dive bars.

It was a beautiful day in the 80's with blue skies and sunshine. I parked in a lot near the trail and biked to the very end of the line at Purcellville. The ride back was a lot faster, and I swear those spin classes are paying off because I felt like I was kicking ass (or maybe because it was mostly downhill).

After my ride, I stopped in the Mighty Midget in Leesburg for a sandwich. It's a walk-up BBQ stand that looks like a camper and has lots of personality. I topped the day off with a visit to the Leesburg outlets (after trying to make myself look presentable and get all of the bike grease off my legs).

The drive out and back from DC was also ideal...windows down, radio blaring, and farm scenery rolling by on the Greenway.

Cunningham Falls

Anna was in town from Houston this week and we spent Saturday 'enjoying nature', as she says. Anna picked Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland, and it took me a while to realize that I had been there before with my parents and Nathan. I was so proud of my mom for hiking one of the easy trails (even though my Dad had to pull her up the hill).

Anna had all of us canoeing, hiking and we even did a little rock climbing. It was quite an outdoorsie weekend.

On the way home, I enjoyed the farm scenery and felt compelled to snap a few shots of 'Ameeerica'.

Isn't it great that you can see this sort of stuff only an hour outside of DC?

Running can be Fun(ny)

I have to give a shout out to a fellow blogger. In honor of Cashdollar's decision to train for the Marine Corps Marathon, she started tracking her progress and other funny commentary in 26.2 What?!

Way to go Kelly!

Still Not on Time

How is it that I can get up to go to a 6am spin class but STILL get to work late?

Thanks to Kirsten and Tracy for their early morning motivation!

Screen on the Green

It was opening night of Screen on the Green on the National Mall where you can lay out under the stars and catch free classic movies. Tonight's showing was 'Annie Hall' and it was pretty good, but hard to believe it beat out Star Wars for movie awards. Flauta organized a group of her co-workers and friends, and they reserved their spot 3 HOURS before the movie even started. I showed up with about 10 minutes to spare and took advantage of their key location (with just enough time to down some of Laura's homemade tabouli).

I drove a group of her buds back to Arlington and as one gal was giving me directions to her house...

Gal: I live on16th Street.
Jill: Aw, I used to live on 16th Street.
Gal: Yeah, it's off Barton.
Jill: What's the address?
Gal: 2607
Jill: NO WAY!!
Gal: WAY!

Ahh, it was a little trip down memory lane. G.J. Ghrahm (worst landlord ever), the scary basement with furniture and boxes from the last 10 renters, and late night chats sitting on the stairs with some my favorite roommates (Lis, Rach, and Murph). I'll always have a special place in my heart for Sweet Sixteenth Street.

I think the biggest bru-ha-ha we caused was the infamous St. Patrick's Day party that Murphy threw in conjunction with one of Arlington's first Shamrockfests. Murphy was all over the Irish theme and served Irish coffee and Guinness and had the place decorated with everything green. Using her creative teacher skills, she painted little green leprechaun footprints on our sidewalk leading up the tree in our front yard. It was adorable and needless to say we celebrated St. Patrick's day like any Hungarian-Polish-Czech would. Long after our hangovers were gone, the little green footprints stayed put. I guess Murph didn't use washable paint and those footprints persisted well into the summer. We were delivered a letter of complaint by the head of the homeowner's association..who happened to live next door..doh! She printed her scathing letter in the summer edition of the Lyon Village newsletter about how we 'defaced nature' and something about beer cans in the front lawn..blah blah.

We made friends another night with the neighbors on the other side of us as we rolled in at 2am on a Wednesday night after being at Rock Bottom's Dollar Beer night and then hitting the drive-thru at Dunkin Donuts (best invention ever). Our next door neighbors had recently become parents, and I guess we disturbed the baby on our way into the house. Let me point out that we weren't hanging outside, but just making the trip inside to devour doughnuts. The husband came over just fuming, pushed his way into our house and started yelling (new parents can be sort of high strung). I told him in a very calm manner 'Dude, you'll be alright'. He got a few things off his chest and reluctantly went home, but that quote has gone down in the record books. Even now when I'm stressing out, somebody will throw me that line.

So, now that Murph is in the position of new mother, I wonder if she will be as cool and understanding to her Fredvegas neighbors if a rowdy bunch of Mary Washington College students ever move in next door? Oh funny how things come full circle.

Wolftrap

A bunch of us went to the Carbon Leaf and Pat Megee concert on Friday at Wolftrap. After Laura and I averted a fashion police disaster when we showed up wearing the same outfit, we were all off to the metro. We discovered that Wolftrap is metro accessible, which enabled us to have even more fun! Did you know there is a Wolftrap shuttle that runs from the West Falls Church metro station for only $5 round trip? Brilliant.

We loaded up with Italian Store subs, munchies, and beverages. Nicole and Cheryl took things up a level with their fancy cheese platter and silverware.

Big Blue new and old (i mean former) roommates were present, except for Ang...but we were thinking about her (please note her signature picture pose below).

Wolftrap is such a relaxed environment and a great place to run into friends, mingle, and sit back and enjoy some tunes.

I warned Matt not to pull a 'Giants Game' (see December 2006 blog entry), however it was me that may have had one too many glasses of vino.

Friday Fun

This website is a fun time waster.http://www.myheritage.com/

You can plug in a picture and the website will tell you which clebrities you look like.

So out of this group, we've got:
Ashely = Brigit Bardot

Tracy = Julia Roberts

Me = Jennifer Love Hewitt (ew)

Kirsten = Robbin Wright Penn

Alison = Andie Macdowell

Matt was very excited to get Bon Jovi, Eddie Veddar, and Willie Nelson!?!?

Isn't it Ironic?

I'm sure many of you know by now that my super exciting fabulous 40 day trip to Asia (Thailand and Cambodia) was cancelled by my esteemed government colleagues three days before I was supposed to get on the plane. After the initial shock and depression wore off, I find myself doing the "If I was in Thailand right now, I would be....."

In honor of the Fourth, Matt and I biked down to the mall. It was eerie how many roads were closed so we got to bike all over the place without any traffic. After successfully passing through several check points, we walked around the Folk Life Festival. For a couple weeks every year, the Smithsonian puts on a cultural festival in which the entire mall is covered with food tents, music and educational stuff. This year's theme included Northern Ireland, Virgina Heritage, and the Mekong regions. The Mekong showcased the cultures of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam! Who needed to travel across the world to get a taste of Thailand and Cambodia!? Everything was in my backyard. Hmpf! My passport still doesn't have the stamp.

Another Roommate Search

As Laura would say....UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Our beloved roommate Laura (Flauta) is heading to Law School at Marquette and we again have to find somebody to create that special Big Blue magic. Flauta has been with us for about a year and a half and I'm just not in the mood for a new roommate! Our roommate chemistry has been so great, but I guess Law School is pretty exciting too. Big Blue has been so lucky finding roommates that turn into dear friends on craigslist (i.e. Carly, Laura, and I would also say Angela via Amanda).

I sent this posting to Laura and she indicated...
"And you forgot to mention the roomie must like to lay on rooommate's bed and talk, be open to new spanish-inspired nicknames and large holiday gatherings. ;)"

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/roo/365674546.html

Sniff.