I spent the post emergency room weekend relaxing at my cousin's house in Arlington. I felt rather lazy and guilty as they spread 72 bags of mulch around their yard in 95 degree weather... while I remained horizontal on the couch sipping iced tea. But I didn't feel a single tinge of guilt when I got to help eat the homemade lasagna and chocolate chip pecan pie they cooked as their celebratory "we're DONE!!!" dinner. They delivered me back to my dorm on Sunday night and I immediately went out for a walk, seeing that the only physical activity I had taken part in for the past week was lifting a spoonful of ice cream from the bowl to my mouth or making an expedition downstairs to acquire more of cousin Rachael's magnificent superb delicious peanut butter bars. I think my body was thrown off from all the tests they did at the hospital or something, because all I wanted to eat for about five days straight was sugar and/or red meat... and for anyone who knows me even remotely well, you know that's pretty abnormal.
I returned to work on Monday morning. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, everyone on the metro was smiling, the sky was blue!!! Well, not really... it was extremely overcast and quite chilly and everyone on the metro was extremely grumpy on a Monday morning per usual. But I didn't care. As I breezed past the oh so familiar hospital (which happens to be about 10 feet from the metro entrance... ), instead taking the escalator down to the metro, I couldn't help but smile.
I immediately hit the ground running back at work since we had four upcoming teacher workshops to finalize, one in Louisiana, one here in D.C., and two in Michigan. Thankfully I was able to pick right back up where I left off... but only after having to reassure pretty much everyone in my office that the bruise on my arm was nothing out of the ordinary and I was perfectly fine. (I opted to wear a long sleeved shirt the next day to solve that problem...)
Apart from a busy workweek, I also got a chance to actually get out and enjoy some of what D.C. has to offer. On Monday during work, I got a text from my roommate Kelly asking if I would be interested in attending an outdoor film festival in Crystal City with her and her friend from work, Jared. I of course accepted, and didn't even bother to ask what movie we would be seeing. Come 7:00, we all meet at the metro and I discover that I have signed myself up for an entire summer of Monday night Star Trek movies thanks to the Crystal City Summer 2010 Star Trek Movie Marathon. So basically, from here on out, each Monday night Jared, Kelly, and I will board the yellow line to Crystal City with a bag of candy and beach towels in tow to go lay on the grass and watch every single Star Trek movie ever made. Yup. I'm not joking. We're actually missing tonight's since both Jared and Kelly were busy for work. But never fear, tomorrow night we will reconvene at Jared's apartment to watch movie number two. Kelly and I will also be combining our cooking skills (she actually went to Johnston and Wales for a year with plans to become a pastry chef before she transferred to Georgia Tech) to craft a delectable (hopefully) meal and dessert to accompany the movie. So that should be an interesting evening.
Apart from Star Trek I also got a chance to do a little job hunting so I can finance this summer of mine in D.C. I had an interview on Thursday and got a job at Clyde's of Georgetown, a semi-upscale yet family friendly restaurant in Georgetown just about a fifteen minute walk from my dorm. I'll start that job in July after I complete training at the end of the month, so that'll be a great source of income to compensate for my tendency to spend way too much money on all the awesome ice cream and frozen yogurt shops they have in this city.
On Saturday my friend Jen came down from Baltimore to visit and stay the night. We went all touristy and wandered around the Eastern Market, saw an IMax movie at the Museum of Natural History, and then had sushi in Georgetown before seeing a movie. As much as I love exploring on my own, it was nice to have someone to wander around with and laugh at all the tourists taking pictures of squirrels and sporting American flag t-shirts and fanny packs. (And no I'm not joking about the squirrels, it really did happen).
So basically now that I am up and moving I am enjoying D.C. a whole lot more and have a pretty good routine going. I also finally bought myself a Smartrip card for the metro, so I've totally got it down pat. Now I sail on by the flustered tourists contemplating the metro fare card machines and tediously counting out their spare change (granted, I used to be exactly like them so I shouldn't talk too much). I've also mastered cooking in my little three foot wide kitchen with about 2 feet of countertop space. It's all about placement and utilizing all the available space... if you have to balance the cutting board on the edge of the sink and park a few ingredients on top of the coffee machine, no big deal. It's definitely not mom's home cooking, but it gets the job done.
That's all for now! I'm planning on heading to Baltimore to visit Jen if I survive this busy, busy, busy week at work, so I'll write more then I bet!
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