I'm off to the Midwest

On Saturday I will board a plane to Illinois. This is a solo journey - as I head to my old college town to see my sister sing in her Master Recital. She will be performing in front of a panel of judges who will critique her and "grade" her on her vocal skillz. (In a few weeks - she'll offically have her Masters degree and walk at graduation.) Go Kris!

Since Jason and I moved to the east coast in June of 2001, we have not been back to our college town. It's been 7 years. That's probably just long enough to get lost trying to re-locate our favorite hangouts. Ha!

Oh, and on an awesome whim, my good friend Stephanie called me out of the blue and now will be joining me to face the memories of the past. She hasn't been back in 11 years! Yikes.

Jason has commissioned me to take a lot of pictures and smuggle some specific food items and Cubs gear back with me. Namely bread from Avanti's - he loves that bread!

Wish me luck on my travels! It should be a busy weekend.

Good To Know: Kristin's recital is at Noon Sunday, April 27th @ Kemp Recital Hall.

The World Is Just Awesome

Pope Benidict XVI is just down the street - where the arrival ceremony is underway on the south lawn of White House this morning. They are saying it's one of the largest ceremonies ever conducted at the White House. There were piccalo players dressed in old school outfits, opera singers doing "Ave Maria" (soprano Kathleen Battle), a choir singing "Glory Glory Halalujah" as the entire audience waved little American flags, a 21 gun salute and lots of trumpet players. They also sang "Happy Birthday!" - it's the Pope's 81st b-day today. With so many people on the White House lawn this morning, you'd think there would be traffic backed up into Virginia, but somehow I got to work just fine. Maybe because today is also Emancipation Day?

For those interested:

The municipality mof Washington, D.C., celebrates April 16 as Emancipation Day. On that day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia. The Act freed about 3,100 enslaved persons in the District of Columbia nine months before President Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation which presaged the eventual end of slavery to the rest of the nation. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act represents the only example of compensation by the federal government to former owners of emancipated slaves.

It also means that Jason has the day off. Whoo hoo!

It just seems like there's almost too much pomp and observance for one day! They should spread it out a little.

Which reminds me. Did you see this commercial for the Discovery Channel. It's my favorite!

Crispy Grapes

The grapes in my lunch were so crispy that I felt complelled to log-on to tell you. I don't usually comment on my lunch, but today it seemed important. Another important fact about my lunch. Jason makes it. Now, before you roll your eyes, Know this! He likes doing it! ( i think)...i mean...he hasn't said anything lately......shoot...what if he doesn't like to make my lunch? Well, i'm guessing he'll comment if he decides he's done making lunches. (geez...this post isn't very benifical for me)....

Over the weekend, while prepairing some homemade mac & cheese, i set the oven timer and when it went off i didn't hear it right away - and Leia (our dog) went into the kitchen and started going "rooooooooooooo roooooooo" - as to alert us that there was in fact an alarm beeping. Holy cow! Did she use to work for the fire department? We still don't know how many lives she's saved using these skillz. She's got SKILLZ! I'm waiting for her to ask me if she can have a glass with ice for her water. Leia is proving to be very smart.

Good To Know: I hate answering my desk phone at work, so never call me there.

My Arm!

Before the rain started on Saturday night, our weekend was going really well. Jason and I hopped out of bed early Saturday morning and took Leia for a walk down to the coffee shop where I sat outside and waited for Jason to get 2 small coffees. To my delight, he also grabbed two biscotti sticks and breakfast was served! (sort of) We sat outside the coffee shop and people wanted to pet our dog, so we let them. The sun was shining and once again...for like the 5th time...I wore my winter stocking hat for warmth. I ended up carrying it there and back because it was too warm. (We don't have the luxury of stepping outside to check the temperature before we dress, so it's kinda tricky in the mornings.) I learned a lesson. If it's 55 degrees, you don't need a winter hat...unless it is really windy.

After our walk we headed off to run some errands and then back home for a late lunch. We were talking about the new National's ballpark and Jason suggested we should have a catch, because it was so nice out. So, after lunch we got our gloves (not mitts - those are only for the catchers) and the baseball and headed outside. I was against bringing the dog, but Jason said it'd work - so we brought Leia and attached her to the bench with plenty of leash to spare. We put down her small travel bed and after she settled down, she pretty much slept through the entire outdoor activity. Which brings me to my blog title "My Arm!". My arm is very sore from playing catch. So is Jason's. We were having so much fun and it was so nice out, we just kept on playing catch for almost 1 hour. Now we're paying for it. Jason even mentioned that we should play more on Sunday, however, the sun never came out and it was the most dreary Sunday ever. When I was on my morning walk with Leia, I swear the whole town was making pancakes to cheer themselves up. At least that's what it smelled like.

Leia and Lynette in the rain