11.28.2007

A New Fantastic Discovery

Due to the fact that the corner market by my house only stocks one brand of ice cream, my roommates and I have become connisseurs of Ben & Jerry's.

My favorite ice cream flavor has always been Coffee. I really, really love Coffee ice cream. My adoration for coffee flavored ice-cream started when I was really little. My mom always bought vanilla ice cream when I was a kid. On the nights she would let us have some after dinner, I would always pour a little coffee on mine. I can't remember if it was my mom's idea first, but either way, that has forever influenced my love for ice cream.

So, anyway, I assumed that my favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor would be coffee too. And up until two days ago that was the case. You see, only one of the corner stores within a mile radius of my house has coffee ice cream. It also happens to be the one that you don't want to walk to once it's dark. This poses a problem now that thanks to Daylight Savings Time I don't get off work until it's pitch dark. So, instead I am forced to purchase my ice cream from the safe, well-lit corner store that's on my way home.

Since this corner store doesn't have coffee ice cream, I have to pick other flavors to try. I have tried several, but none have been as delicious as the flavor I purchased on Monday. At first I was completely skeptical of this new flavor. There was no way it could taste as good as the real thing. But that was before I tried it.

For the first bite I made sure to get some of the crispy sugar crystals with the ice cream. I put the spoon in my mouth, and suddenly there was an eruption of flavor. The pure amazingness of a delicious creme brulee suddenly coated my tastebuds with joy. I have never experienced anything like it. It was absolutely FANTASTIC!

So, my point is that you should definitely go try Ben & Jerry's Creme Brulee ice cream. It's absolutely A-mazing! Happy Ice-cream-ing!

11.27.2007

My Trip to Shenendoah

Here are some of the pictures I took during my wintry excursion to Shenendoah National Park a few weeks ago. Press the play button to watch the slideshow. Pretty nifty, huh?

Well, It's Almost Hump Day,

I can't believe it! Tuesday is already over! It's really interesting to compare the speed of time here in DC to the speed of time in Texas. Here I can wake up and suddenly it's Saturday. Last week in Texas felt like at least three or four weeks worth of DC time. I wonder why that is? Hmm...

Maybe it's because it's all a dream, or at least feels like a dream. It was so strange to go back to my house in College Station. I felt like I had never left. As I was sprinting through the rain to the front door I felt like I had just been there! Everything was so vivid and real. It was as if I went to sleep in College Station and during my dream somehow managed to get an internship in DC and lived there for a few months, then I woke up at home in Texas. Even though I've been here in DC for two months it definitely still maintains very surreal qualities. I can't quite put my finger on it, but maybe one day I'll figure it out, so that I can blog about it.

Today at work I did more boat research. Amazingly enough I am not tired of it yet. In fact, with every new boat that I research the more interesting it all becomes. Like this afternoon for example: I was researching a chromolithograph by a famous marine artist done in the 1880's of a yacht race. This is the second yachting piece that I have researched, so as I was going through information about the second one, I could incorporate the knowledge I had gained from the first one. I was so excited! I know this probably sounds ridiculous. Of course you can incorporate things you've learned in the past into things you're doing in the present, but this was different.

The paintings that I'm researching were part of the collections of another museum before they were donated to the Smithsonian. When they were donated, the previous museum also gave us all of the information that they had on file about each one. For many of the more obscure ships the first museum sent a picture of the painting, along with whatever information they had about the ship, to nautical history expert, the late Thomas Hornsby, who would then research the ship and send his research back to the museum. This was all back between the 40's and the 70's, so I have gone through countless brittle, yellowed, hand-typed letters written by this man. I don't know why, but I imagine him in my head as an endearing, stooped little man with thick glasses and neatly combed white hair rummaging through ancient books and charts. He has become my 'historical hero' so to speak. His letters are so polite and knowledgeable. Each letter is hand-signed. I wish I could have met him.

Anyway, today, when I was able to knowledgeably talk about historical yacht racing, something that two months ago I knew absolutely nothing about, I felt like I had a little Thomas Hornsby in me. I really do feel like I have accomplished something!

So, on to my escalator theory. When I first began to talk to people about moving to DC, I had several warn me about the rude Washingtonians. According to these people they are an ill-tempered lot, who grumpily stalk the streets of our nation's capitol. So, needless to say, when I moved up here I was prepared to battle my way through the rude denizens of DC, but aside from the occasional bout of umbrella dueling, I have not found that to be the case. I have had some lovely talks on the Metro with complete strangers. Clearly the people who warned me about the rudeness were wrong. Or were they?

It was all made clear to me one morning when I was on my way to work. I ride the Metro (subway train) to get to my job every day. Since the Metro is underground there are always large banks of escalators for commuters to go from street-level to the trains. All Washingtonians know that proper escalator etiquette requires that anyone who wants to stand, does so on the right side of the escalator, and those who want to walk, use the left side. Everyone knows this! It's obvious if you stand and look at an escalator full of people that all the walking people are on the left and all the standing people are on the right. It's obviously not a random phenomena. All the people in a hurry didn't just happen to pick the left side of the escalator!

Problems arise when people are unaware of this law of the land. It's really quite maddening when someone in front of you decides to stop on the left side of the escalator. And of course the right side is full of standing people, so it's impossible to go around them.

What does all this have to do with my revelation, you ask? Well, one morning I was running late because my train had taken forever to get to my stop, so I was trying to get to the office as quickly as I could. I hopped on the escalator and made it only a few steps before I was halted by a group of tourists practically lounging all over the left side of the escalator. If you have ever ridden an underground train system, then you know how long these escalators can be. Within seconds I had an angry line of my fellow commuters stacking up behind me on the blocked escalator. No amount of tapping your fingers can release the sudden stress brought on by these awful escalator loungers.

After what felt like an absolute eternity we reached the end of the escalator. By the time we got to the top I was so fed up with these completely uncordial tourists that as quickly as I could I shot past them to make sure that I wasn't stuck behind them for another eternity on the next escalator, and of course it had to be obvious to the disgruntled people behind me that I was not a part of the blockade.

To the untrained eye (i.e. the tourist's), by quickly passing them it may have looked like I was rudely flaunting my non-tourist-ness, when, in reality, I was just trying to get to work, something that they had impeded.

If you ask a person standing on the left side to let you by, no matter how politely, then you've really crossed the line. After doing this only a few times and receiving affronted glares from the not-so-polite escalumps, I decided to just wait them out. To them it seems less rude to fly past them than it does to kindly ask them to move aside. Therefore, I will be forever stuck behind escalumps on escalators.

Have a wonderful day, and watch out for escalator blockages!

11.25.2007

Man I've been Slackin'!

I feel terrible! I haven't updated for weeks! I have so much work to do if I am going to be able to make it up to you!

To start with, I finished a post that I started a while ago. I had tried to add pictures to it, but I think that Blogger's server was down or something, because it just didn't want to load my pictures. So, take a few minutes to browse through the new pictures in the post from November 12.

So, what has happened since November 12, you ask? What hasn't happened since November 12! Since then I have traveled to Virginia's Shenendoah National Park to see the fall colors on the trees (I'm going to post some of my pictures from this soon, don't worry). I have surprised my friends in College Station by showing up (almost completely) unannounced. I spent a few days with my mom and stepdad in Austin. Spent 7 hours in the car on the way to Beaumont, TX, with a dog in my lap I might add! I spent Thanksgiving day eating way too much food and playing guitar hero with my uncle from Lake Charles, LA.

I drove home to Austin with my dad, stepmom, and sister, getting home just in time to slide in front of the tv for the kickoff. If you don't know what kickoff I'm talking about, I must say that I am a bit shocked! The kickoff for the Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football game! THE rivalry game of the season! During the tense game I cooked an insanely large amount of chicken spaghetti on Tammy's amazing new gas stove. I think I'm in love... with her kitchen! I can't wait until Christmas break, when I can cook all sorts of delicious things on that amazing stove! I should've taken a picture of it, but I didn't think about it at the time. Darn. Anyway, back to the game. We won! Whoop! I won't spend too much time gloating over our victory, because I don't want to hurt the sensitive feelings of the Longhorns, who have now lost two years in a row... *sniff sniff*. I still can't believe we won.

College Station was a blast! I miss that town so much! Well, not so much the town itself, but all of my people! It felt so wonderful just to sit in my living room surrounded by the people that I love and have missed for months! I got into town about 10 pm on Saturday and, of course, it was pouring down rain. Absolutely POURING! After I worked up my nerve, I jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. I pulled back the screen door and knocked. Kyle knew to make Christina open the door (she was still completely clueless that I was coming). I heard her fumbling with the lock, and I just stood there dripping with water with a most likely ridiculous grin on my face. She looked at me for a second, and then it finally sank in that I was standing on the doorstep and she flipped out! She jumped about three feet in the air, then launched herself straight at me. It was great!

While still hugging we somehow managed to make it into the house and off the doorstep. Everyone inside had come to the door to see what the heck Christina was freaking out about, and it was hilarious to see the shocked expressions. It was hugs all around, and I just about cried I was so happy to be home. After standing there for several minutes, someone said that there were even more people on the patio that still didn't know I was there. I ran out to the porch, flew through the door and found Greg and Swink, two of my best guy friends chatting. The looks on their faces were priceless as I pranced out of the door. I think I was the last thing they were expecting to see!

After everyone knew I was back, we moved into the living room and I grabbed some food; I hadn't eaten since my 'interesting' pizza from Subway in the DC airport. As I sat there trying to eat dinner and talk to everybody I looked around and realized that everyone in the room was looking at me. I didn't really know what to do or who to look at. I was just so happy to be home! We ended up watching Elf and just hanging out. The next morning at church it was even better! People just came running. I felt so loved! I can't wait to go back next semester.

Yesterday after a delicious meal of Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas at Matt's El Rancho I went to my uncle's house in Hutto and got to see more family. My grandparents were in town staying with my two uncles, and it was really good to see all of them.

I went home last night to a beautifully decorated bedroom in my dad's new house. We had gone to Anthropologie to get new bedding for my room. I picked out an absolutely precious duvet with blues, aquas, and yellows, and with the help of the store's Visual Director chose accent pillows, a bedskirt, pillow shams, and rugs. Nothing matches, and it's all adorable! I absolutely love it! The room is very fun and light. Tammy calls it the "Happy Room." Apparently Bertie, our Golden Retriever, had a great time 'helping' them while they were decorating.

I woke up at 3:45 a.m. this morning so that i could make it to the airport early enough to get on my 6:00 a.m. flight to DC. Ew. Amazingly enough it's warmer here in DC now than it is in Texas! I'm hoping that I took all of the cold weather with me to Texas and that it stays there for a while. I've had enough of the cold already!

One positive about the cold weather is the exciting new extracurricular activity of ice-skating! Outdoors! I know, what a concept! In the winter they turn a giant fountain in the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden into an iceskating rink. Me and my roommates might go tomorrow after work. Don't worry, I will inform you thoroughly about how much of a fool I make of myself. I don't think I have iceskated in about 6 years, at least! I'll be lucky if I walk away with only a few bruises. Goodness gracious.

Whew. I'm going to go finish my laundry and maybe get to bed early so that I'll have a good start tomorrow morning at work. I'm sure I have a huge stack of things to do that have accumulated in my absence. Eeek. Oh, and by using my amazing anthropological skills I have discovered the reason why people who visit DC (tourists) think that Washingtonians are rude. Interestingly enough it's all about escalators. But I will save that little gem for another post. I have to keep y'all coming back somehow!

Thanks so much for reading this. I really do appreciate every single comment or kind word that I get about my blog. Y'all are amazing! I am so thankful for you! Have a beautiful day!

11.12.2007

Another Wonderful Day

Thanks to the fact that Veterans' Day is a federal holiday, I didn't have to work today! Yippee for being a Federal employee! Needless to say, I slept in. I read for most of the day, which was cloudy and cold; the perfect 'curl up with a book' day.

In the afternoon I went with my friend, Laura, to get a hamburger (which was amazing!) at Five Guys in Chinatown, and then we went to go see Martian Child, a film with John & Joan Cusack. I absolutely love them! The fim was good, a little slow, but in the end good. It definitely wasn't the best thing I've ever seen. Let's just say it's a renter, not a movie theatre movie.

So, I know I promised you that I would put up pictures of life in DC. So, yesterday, I had quite an adventure trying to locate an electronics store where I could buy the right cord or a card reader. About a mile from my house I discovered a Radio Shack, so I was able to buy a memory card reader, and consequently I can now show you all of my pictures. Well, at least some of the good ones. So here goes. Be prepared for lots and lots of pictures!

Here are some pictures that I have taken in and around Capitol Hill.



This is my roommate Biz reading the newspaper on a Sunday morning. She's just precious!



This is across the street from my house.



This is my good friend Nathaniel Greene. I walk past him just about every day.










I walk through this tunnel of concrete arches to get to the Metro.




What is this strange building you ask? Perhaps an alien spaceship? Why no! It is, in fact, the Watergate Hotel, which I came upon quite by accident. It's not every day that you find a building with such a history.



This is the terrace of the Kennedy Performing Arts Center overlooking the Potomac River.



Another shot of the Potomac.




I walk in between these two pictures every day on my way to work. I'll miss that.



Degas anyone?



This is the mysterious door of mystery. I walk past this door all the time and for the life of me I can't figure it out. It's three feet off the ground, with no way to get to it, and no signs that there was ever a way to get to it. It's 2/3 the size of a normal door, yet is complete with a knob, lock, mail slot, and knocker! Is this someone's idea of a cruel joke? My inner anthropologist is just dying to know the story behind this door. But it may well be a history lost forever. Forever to be known as the "Mysterious Door of Mystery."






So those are the best of my pictures of Capitol Hill. I hope you like 'em! It is a beautiful neighborhood and very easy to photograph!

11.10.2007

What a Beautiful Day!

Wow, this week absolutely flew by! I've noticed that the last couple of weeks have literally felt like they lasted only a couple of days. All week I thought that it was the day before it actually was. On Tuesday I thought it was Monday; on Wednesday I thought it was Tuesday.

On Thursday I wasn't sure exactly what day it was, all I knew was that it was the 8th. On Thursdays at 10:00 am we always have meetings for the OTW staff (of which I am one), so on Thursday morning at 9:55, when everyone was still in their offices, I went to one of my supervisors to ask if we were still having our meeting. She kindly informed me that it was, in fact, Friday. My boss came in to remind me that Monday was a holiday, and not to forget to sleep in. If he hadn't, I probably would've forgotten. What can I say? Time flies when you're having fun, or in my case up to your eye lashes with mid-nineteenth century ship research.

At work I have been doing all kinds of fun research. I'm working on ship paintings. Finding out where the ship was built, when, why, for who, by who. It's really fascinating, and I'm learning what all of the different flags mean, the types of sails, the difference between a yard and a gaff, a schooner and a brig, or a foremast and a mizzenmast. It's basically awesome.

This morning I woke up early and went with my friend Joyanna to the Shenendoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I have never seen so many beautiful colors on trees. I took about a million pictures, but I still don't have a camera cord, so I can't put them on my computer yet, but I'm working on getting a hold of one.

I have never seen any country like that before, and the trees were absolutely amazing! There were reds, yellows, oranges, and greens. When the sun shone on the leaves it was amazing! We drove for about half an hour down Skyline Drive, which is alongside the Appalachian Trail. All of a sudden, what did we see? SNOW!!!!!! Yes, that's right, my first Blue Ridge Mountain snow! It was absolutely beautiful. The branches of the trees were covered with a fine fringe of snow, and the ground was covered with a light powder. It had started to get foggy, and it was as if I had stepped into a literal winter wonderland. I had to get out of the car and take pictures. I even took a short video of me in the snow! I'll post that too, as soon as I have that darn cord.

It was a lovely day. I'm now sitting with JoyAnna watching Miss Congeniality. It's great. What a lovely day! So, as soon as the movie is over, I'm going to go home and go to sleep, and sleep late. That's one of the benefits of Saturday night church. You can sleep in on Sunday morning, although I always feel like there's somewhere I should be on Sunday morning. Oh well. Y'all have a great day! Oh, and I can't wait to get home for Thanksgiving!!! I freakin' miss Texas!

11.06.2007

A Weekend of High Culture

Boy have I been busy! I've been trying to see more of the sights in DC. On Friday I went to the Folger Shakespeare Theatre and saw a wonderful production of As You Like It. It was a play I had never read, so it was really fun, and the theatre was absolutely beautiful! I spent Saturday morning at Eastern Market where I got my produce for the week, then walked to CVS where I purchased a hefty amount of Febreeze to remedy the fact that the couches in my house smel like... well, just use your imagination. then I went to church with my friend Brad that night. It was a really good message. All of NCC's messages are available for free online at their website, or as a podcast on itunes. They're really awesome!

Sunday morning I slept in, which was great! In the afternoon I went to the Kennedy Performing Arts Center on the banks of the Potomac River to pick up my ticket to the ballet the next day. It was a gorgeous building, and to get there, I had to walk past the Watergate Hotel, which is huge!! It's a really retro building, which I took plenty of pictures of. I walked back to the Metro and rode it to The Mall where I met my friend Annie, who was visiting DC for a conference from A&M. We went to the National Gallery of Art, then went and had Mexican/Salvadorean food. Which was fantastic! Yippee for salsa and chips!

Monday I went to work and did mostly research on different kinds of ships from the mid-19th century. It's really interesting! I'm having a blast doing it. After work I came home to get dressed for the Ballet! The performance was wonderful! It was a mix of ballet and salsa moves with an Afro-Latin jazz band. It was great! I walked home in the rain, and I've never appreciated my long coat so much!

Today it was back to research at work. I'm adding a new collection of prints which were recently acquired by the museum to the gigantic collections database. I'm doing research on each one so that people two hundred years from now who are doing more research will have a lot more information than I did to start with. It's lots of work, but very interesting. Tomorrow there is a group of students coming in from American University to learn about the Maritime department. I'm supposed to help with that, so we'll see how that goes. I just got home and now one of my roommates and I are watching Jurassic Park. Probably one of the best films ever! Anyway, I love and miss y'all!!! I can't wait to come home for Thanksgiving! Really, I can't wait! Goodnight!

11.05.2007

A Weekend of High Culture

Boy have I been busy! I've been trying to see more of the sights in DC. On Friday I went to the Folger Shakespeare Theatre and saw a wonderful production of As You Like It. It was a play I had never read, so it was really fun, and the theatre was absolutely beautiful!