I just realized that I have forgotten to tell you all about the everyday goings-on of my life in D.C.

I'll start with work. Last week both of the maritime curators were out of town for conferences, so I was left alone. To fill the void of their absence, they each gave me plenty of things to do. Plenty.

I have a relatively long desk beside my computer station, and as of last week, it is completely covered in (relatively) orderly stacks based on subject material. Every day I had a new research project. Things like: The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Mississippi River Pilots (navigators) in the 1820s-1860s, Towboats on the Mississippi 1960s to present, The maritime side of the Underground Railroad. Each of these subjects had its own stack of file folders, print outs, and books.

I finished those up Monday morning, and was then off to a computer training class on how to use the museum's collections database. It's crazy! The database program they use was made when I was in junior high! Think Windows '95. Yeah... Exactly.

It's really tedious and stuff, but it has some pretty cool information in it. It has all of the objects owned by the museum. All of them! Tons of stuff. The next morning I had to go back and learn more about the program, because it was a two day deal, and in the afternoon, neither of the maritime curators had given me any special project to do, and the one thing I could have worked on required that I use a different computer. All of the volunteers were in, and they were using the other computer. So instead of sit and be bored I went down to the creepy basement and helped the women in the conservation lab identify the different names used for the ropes which support the sails and masts of a sailing ship. It was awesome! They are conserving several ship models for On The Water, the new maritime exhibit that I'm working on. So much fun!

Today I was given several more research projects, one being showboats! I'm pretty excited about it. It should prove very interesting. Then I walked across downtown to go pick up a package for my supervisor. Downtown D.C. is a pretty desolate place. It definitely has the sterile urbanized look going on. It's interesting to watch the transition from the beautiful classical architecture of the older buildings to the stark plainness of the more modern ones.

Exciting things that have happened lately:

1. David and Kara came to visit me last week!!!!! It was sooooo awesome! I was so excited. I think having them here made this place feel like home. They came late in the evening and we walked through Capitol Hill and got icecream then walked back and watched an entire disc of third season of The Office. It was an evening extremely well spent. It was so good to get to spend time with them! It was like a little piece of home was here with me. I am so blessed that they came. Thanks y'all!!!

2. I went to an awesome small group tonight!!! I loved it. Whereas two weeks ago I was welcomed to a small group by a cold shoulder and some unenthusiastic exclamations about 'new people', this one was completely different! I was greeted by wonderfully kind people who were actually interested in me. Who I was, what I do, where I'm from, etc. It was so awesome. I got along with them splendidly. We studied chapter 8 of Zechariah, which is one of the more upbeat of Zech's chapters. It was mostly discussion based, and it was so interesting because everyone was very knowledgeable about the Old Testament. We all were able to put in our thoughts on what the Lord had revealed to each of us about the scriptures. It was a lot of fun! There were only seven of us, so I was able to get to know some of the other people, and they're all really nice. I will definitely be going back next week! Whoop!

3. I got my first care package!!! My mom sent me an amazing assortment of goodies from Texas including green chile enchilada sauce, flour tortillas, microwavable mac and cheese things, candy corn, and (drum roll please) my Granny Nancy's world famous (at least it should be!) jam! Yummy! All of my roommates were very impressed. I was actually so excited that I took pictures of every step of the opening up of the box. I would have included them in this post, but I don't have a cord that connects my camera to the computer. I left if in College Station. If anyone wants to mail me one, it would be greatly appreciated (hehe).

4. With the green chile enchilada sauce my mom sent me I made Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas for my roommates! They were really good, and all of my roommates loved them, especially my Italian roommate, Guido, who had never had enchiladas before! I had some extra flour tortillas left over so I cut them up and made my own chips, and then suddenly, the rarely seen creative chef inside of me decided to try my hand at sopapilla making. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a sopapilla, think biegnet. I fried the little pieces of tortillas until they were just crispy enough so that it was crunchy but still flaky in the middle, and then took them straight out of the oil and dipped them in cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious!!! Don't worry people in College Station, I will make them for you all when I get home! The Italians love them! I'm so proud.

5. One of my roommates might bring up her guitar next weekend from home!!!! Oh my goodness! That would be absolutely amazing. I am so desperate to play the guitar, that I have actually considered calling every pawn shop in town to find the cheapest playable guitar in the city. I'm completely desperate, so being able to play Liz's guitar would be just about the most amazing thing ever!

I think that's all on the list of super-exciting things that have happened lately. Although I'm sure I've forgotten something and that there are a lot more exciting things that I have left off. I'll just have to save those for another post.

Oh, for those of you who would also like to send a care package. (Don't worry, you don't have to! This is just in case you would like to, of course :) Here's my address:

504 C Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20002

Here are some things that would be wonderful in a care package:

Cans of green chiles or green chile enchilada sauce (I'm a green chile junkie. I can't help it!)
Cereal or bagels for breakfasts
Postage stamps so that I can send letters back to you!
Really any food item would be amazing!
Boxes of Mac and Cheese
A list of items that could be found at a Smithsonian Museum gift shop that you would like to receive for Christmas presents (I get a discount!)
Anything you can think of!

Use your imagination!

Anyway, I absolutely love you guys, and I really love knowing that people read my blog. I cherish each and every comment that I get. So, with that said, leave a comment, or give me a call! I hope you had an absolutely wonderful day today, and I hope that tomorrow is even better! Goodnight!!!