Mississippi, DC welcomes you with open arms!

Lucy's in town!! Yay!

I'm so excited to welcome one of my dearest friends from college to the city for the weekend! Lucy made the trek up from Mississippi on Thursday, and did some touristy DC things for Thursday and Friday while I was at work, but in the evening... it's play time! Thursday was the first time I'd seen her since January of 2009, and it was as if I'd been with her just yesterday. Don't you just love those friends? :)

Thursday night we went out to dinner with some other friends of hers in Dupont Circle. I was haggard from a long day of work, so please forgive the unflattering photo. Lucy looks lovely as always!

But on Friday the real fun began with girls night at jazz in the sculpture garden. My new friend and fellow DC blogger Maria came to join Valerie, Sarah, Lucy and I for an early evening of jazz music, sangria, and a great time. After that we left and headed for dinner at the famous Good Stuff Eatery, where former Top Chef finalist "Spike" cooks up the best burgers on the Hill. Although we lost Maria to her evening plans, my lovely cousin Christina joined us for dinner. Christina just moved up to the city from Mississippi, so she and Lucy had some common connections. It was such a wonderful evening, and I'm so glad to have Lucy in town for a bit and Christina in town now! My turn for the bathroom, so I'm off to get ready for another fun evening. More updates to follow tommorrow. :)

4th of July in DC, take two.

Well my dear ones, a year ago tomorrow, I got on a plane headed to Spartanburg with the knowledge that the next 4th of July, I would spend being the local in DC not the tourist. Did I know because I had a job, or a place to live, or the promise of a future in the city? No, I knew because deep inside my heart I had known all weekend that THIS, DC, was the place that I was supposed to be at this point in my life. And I am so grateful for the wonderful blessings of a great job, a beautiful new home, and friends that care about me. :)

Ok, now that I've gotten the sappiness out of the way... this weekend was fabulous! And last week was too, for that matter. (Sorry no blogs, I was super busy, and didn't have pictures to prove it.) I spent the whole weekend with my friend Valerie and her sweet friends that were visiting for the weekend. Be prepared, this one is long.

Friday night I jetted home from work to get ready to rush out the door to meet Val and the gang at Jazz in the Garden at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. I thought it was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from me, but the walk ended up being a good 40 minutes in the heat. Needless to say I was a little wilted when I arrived! It was a packed garden, and the hot salsa music was keeping the crowd excited. Sangria pitchers were flowing, and all were having a fabulous time. Some folks (no one from our group) even ran through the quite wide fountain only to get escorted by security once they reached the other side. The hot salsa night at the garden looks like it might be a tradition for this little lady, but I promise it was just as fun the second time!

Val and I by the fountain

Sarah, Justin, Callan(Sunday dinner regular), Rebecca, Valerie, and I

Notice the folks running through the fountain? This was taken on our way out after about 10 people had already taken the plunge into the water. Hey, it was hot salsa... can you blame them for wanting to cool off?

After the evening of music we took a leisurely stroll (30 minutes) to a not-so-nearby sushi restaurant to fill our increasingly noisy stomachs. I will not eat there again, but the company was fun.

 The famous Chinatown arch by our metro stop for the evening

Saturday morning I woke up to rush off to kayak on the Potomac with the gang and meet the two friends that didn't arrive til late Friday night. However, the sequestered-cabin-on-the-river place that Val's crew chose to go to had me driving in circles on the Maryland side of the Potomac for a good 45 minutes. The blackberry and google maps gave me the exact same directions, but I promise.... the street sign they told me to look for did not exist. I even got out and asked someone to help me, and the woman offered to lead me there... but she drove me to the exact same place I ended up the other three times, the National Harbor NOT the Fort Washington Harbor. I had this feeling the whole time that I was within a stone's throw of the place, and Val confirmed today that we passed all the same landmarks and the same streets, but the last turn I kept missing was into a residential area that was not well-marked. Needless to say... I gave up and went home VERY disappointed that I did not get to go kayaking (which I enjoy thoroughly).

But have no fear, I got to meet everyone later in the evening at Valerie's cookout!

Derrick, Jacob (Sunday dinner regular), Josh, Justin, Trevor, and Ben

The boys are always the grill-masters. It used to be our friend Jordan's job at Sunday night dinners, but we unfortunately will be without him for the next little bit. He was always required to sport an apron, as it improved the taste of our food magically. :) So the boys wearing aprons are part one of the funny picture. Part two... Somehow I always get the kitchen task of making the margaritas, and usually only 2 or 3 people (girls) have one. But on this particular night we bought just enough for the girls and a little extra, and who decides they want one?! ALL the boys, except Josh who said he was too manly for a margarita. Needless to say, the margarita mix was all gone by the beginning of dinner and a picture had to be taken to document the momentous occasion.

 Me, Ben, Rebecca, Derrick, Val, Josh (nice one, Josh), Sarah, and Jacob

After the fantastic burgers we walked to the Dairy Godmother for some frozen custard. Some were a little excited they got to sit in this chair...

I was not one of them for obvious reasons if you know me at all.

Sunday everyone came over to my house in Eastern Market for another cookout and pre-fireworks fun. We had an easy meal of hotdogs, veggies, watermelon, slaw, and baked beans. Dessert got eaten too quickly for me to get a photo of my patriotic decorations. 

What's left of the lemonade pie courtesy of The Neely's on Food Network

We played some frisbee, ladder ball, and scattergories to pass the time until we made the trek to the opposite side of the mall where the Lincoln Memorial is to watch the fireworks. It was so worth it but I do mean long trek....

 We found a great spot with a great view and plenty of space for all of us (11) to eat our Subway dinner, play some Apples to Apples and stretch out for the fireworks. 

Happy Birthday America!

After the fireworks we avoided the metro lines by walking across the Memorial Bridge to Rosslyn to hang out there for a bit before braving the metro lines. On our way we saw a few sights I haven't shared with you before, and one I hadn't seen up close. Unfortunately it's also pitch black most places in DC at night, so the photos aren't so great, but I thought I'd share, then I must cut this off, because I know you're getting tire of reading. :)

 My future place of employment (one day). The Kennedy Center. 

The tradition view of Iwo Jima.

 

 The view that I like. 

It won't be so long next time, I promise. xoxo

 

Success!!

I have a bed that's no longer sitting on the floor! Yay!

Which leads to my Home Depot rant promised on Monday, but it'll be brief because I'm tired and have no pictures. (If you work with me you may as well not read this, because you've heard the story at least twice.)

So, as everyone knows my box springs did not fit up the third flight of stairs in the new house, which left me without anything to set my mattress on other than the floor where it's been the past 3 weeks. With much debate, it was determined that I would purchase particle/OSB board for to separate the mattress from the frame. A queen size bed is 60"x80" by definition, so I went to Home Depot (one in Alexandria because I happened to be in the area, but it is far from my new home and the office) and purchased 2 pieces of 4'x8' plywood (the only applicable size that wasn't huge) and had the Home Depot staff cut 4 pieces measuring 60"x20" for me. I said over and over to the two men cutting my precious plywood, "Please make sure it is 60"x20"." They measured it and proceeded to cut it in a rather lackadaisical manner while speaking in a foreign tongue I could not recognize. They then told me they'd help me get it in my car (which never happened). So, I load the wood into my little civic by myself, drive home to DC, unload the car, carry the wood pieces up three flights of stairs, set up the frame, attach the frame to the headboard, and go to drop the plywood into the frame of the bed.....

Dun, dun, DUNNNNN....

The plywood is LITERALLY 1/16" too long. Since the frame has an 90 degree edge that the boards must drop into, I cannot use the boards. So I have to undo the frame from the headboard, break the frame down, put my mattress back on the floor, take the wood back down the stairs and RELOAD my car. It's as if you pushed Rewind on me, and I did everything again but in reverse. I was so LIVID that the reloading didn't happen until the next evening.

The next day I call Home Depot in Fairfax to see if they'd help me out at lunch to save me the trip back to Alexandria. I ask to speak with the manager after the girl at the counter couldn't help. And do you know what he tells me?!
HD: "I'm sorry but we cannot make cuts less than 4" ma'am, so unfortunately we cannot help you. Did the people that helped you not inform you that our cuts are not precise?" WHATTTTTT?
Me: "Excuse me, are you saying that the none of your cuts are precise, and you can't cut less than 4" so basically the boards I paid good money for are useless."
HD: "Well, ma'am, I don't know why they cut them wrong, but I'm saying we can't change those boards."
Me: "Again, so my boards are useless?! So what are you recommending I do sir. I'm a single female living in the city with absolutely no access to tools or a mover to do this yet again, and I think what you are telling me is absolutely ridiculous." 
HD: "Well you can bring the boards back and I will make a special case for you to return them."
Me: "But sir, you are also saying that you make no guarantee that this exact situation won't occur with another set of boards."
HD: "That is correct ma'am, we cannot make precise cuts due to the machine."
Me: "I am a little baffled at this situation."
HD: "Well I am offering to take the boards back in their entirety ma'am."
Me: "I don't HAVE the whole board!! I got it cut, and left the leftovers at the HD because they won't fit in my tiny room."

HD: "I'll take them back as is, just bring your receipt. And, I won't be here tomorrow when you bring them in so you'll have to speak with one of the managers and tell the (name omitted) approved the transaction." 

I got off the phone with the manager, and stormed down to Son's office (my voice of reason many days). Fortunately handyman Eric overheard me ranting and offered to cut the boards for me over the weekend (it was Thursday). After the whole issue with HD, I was very eager for someone else to fix the problem they had created, so Eric it is! And just a few days later... I have perfectly cut boards that hold my bed up just great! I would take a photo, but it's night time and one thing this room is lacking is an overhead light, and I've yet to get a floor lamp. So, pictures will come later.

I hope you enjoyed my rant and imagined me telling it in person. :) xo