Yesterday we had a Relief Society sailing trip on the Chesapeake Bay ... a few of us went to Solomon's Island to the little shops in the morning and then went back for lunch and an afternoon sailing trip. 
What is Pocomoke, you ask? Pocomoke, Maryland is just what it sounds like ... a little po-dunk town in Maryland. When I set my new year's resolutions this year, I decided that I wanted to do a triathlon ... so I set out to find one. Well, as races generally go, they were all on Sundays, so I did a lot of research before finding the Pocomoke Triathlon on June 2. I roped a bunch of friends into it with me and we all set out to "train." I, of course, had my issues with passing out and my back, and the training didn't go as well as I would have liked, but I was signed up and I wasn't backing out.
I guess when I said that all I cared about for this triathlon was that I finished it, I was setting myself up for this! I did finish it and I am proud of that accomplishment - but now I feel like I need to do another one to prove to myself that I really can do one without it being a half-hearted effort! I just have to find another one that's not on Sunday. I will definitely make sure that a few things are in order first though ... no nasty pond water, I will get a road bike, and I will make sure that nothing is going to stop me from running like I know I can!! Despite all of that - which is pretty much par for the course in my life - I am glad that I did it. It was a fun experience and now I can say that I have done a triathlon (and I didn't even pass out). And, I successfully accomplished one of my new year's resolutions! Whew.
I got suckered into going to the Nats-Orioles game on Saturday night. Not like it was that hard to twist my arm to go to the cross-town rivalry baseball game! ha ha Its just too bad that neither team is really good ... but it ended up being a good game when the Nats tied it and took it into 11 innings, until the Orioles finished it out. The Orioles newly called up LDS pitcher also started.
The last time mom and dad came to visit was when I went through the temple for the first time. So, when they were here this time, we made a return trip. This time, we went to the DC temple to do some sealings. Mom had a bunch of daughter to parent sealings to be done, so we thought that would be fun to do. There was this cute little old man who was there when we got there. He took one look at me and came over and said "are you sure you're old enough to be in the temple?" He was shocked when I told him that actually, I was 27. He told me that I didn't look a day over 16 ... now I am all for looking younger than I really am ... but wow that puts me younger than my youngest brother!! Too funny. He also made sure to ask me another important question before we left: "Now how does a girl as pretty as you stay single until you are 27? Those boys must be blind!" ha ha if I had a penny for every time I've heard some version of that question ...
My dad started talking to this man and found out he was originally from Blanding, UT. He asked him if he knew any Washburns. I had no idea who dad was talking about, until he said that his mother's brother Ben married Lydia Washburn ... and this man definitely knew my great-aunt Lydia. His older sister was good friends with her and he said they were the nicest people, and he remembered having them to dinner at his sister's house in Salt Lake once. Small Mormon world ... yet again!! It was fun to reminisce with him about my great-Uncle Ben & Aunt Lydia ... they lived in Provo just south of BYU campus, so I visited them every so often before they both passed away.
Its always a great reminder to serve in the temple and remember what a great family I have!
What better way to celebrate Mother's Day than to pick your mom (and dad) up at the airport right after church? That's what I did this year ... my dad has meetings Downtown for the next few days, so mom came along with him and its been great so far. I made my best replica of Cafe Rio pork salad/burritos for Sunday dinner (yum) and then we went to my boss' house for dessert later that night.
Yesterday morning dad spoke at Tom's Rotary Club meeting, and then I brought them into the office to meet some of the people that I work with in our building (they've already met everyone in my office). Then while dad had meetings, mom and I headed out for a little shopping trip. We went to the Leesburg outlets and to Dulles Town Center (to hit up H&M). Unfortunately for my mom though, I was the one that kept finding cute things ... so maybe not the most ideal situation. There are some weird styles out there right now! But regardless, it was fun to spend the day with mom.
After the shopping, we drove downtown to their hotel. They had a
reception to attend until 7, after which we headed to RFK to the Nats - BRAVES game. Being the big Braves fans that we are, we were very excited - especially when we found out that John Smoltz was pitching. However ... the Braves had a less than stellar night, and to the 8th inning, had NO hits. They made a nice attempt at coming back in the 9th, with runners on 1st and 2nd and Andruw Jones ahead 3-0 in the count, but he ended up striking out to 
finish up the game in just over 2 hours!! We sat out in centerfield for a good chunk of the game and then headed behind home plate to meet up with Jenny, Russ, Becky, & Ben. Even though the Braves lost, it had all the makings of a great night - family, friends, and baseball!
Every once in awhile, you have an experience that really screams WOW ... that's exactly what happened to me on Saturday. Merrily was in town for her cousin Sarah's wedding, and I was her date to the reception. She'd told me beforehand that this was a reception that I did not want to miss - and once we arrived, I saw why. Seriously, it was something to rival a Martha Stewart wedding. A sit-down dinner and dancing for 300 people in North Potomac, MD. This is what I saw when I arrived, after the valets parked my 
car: a huge white tent in the massive backyard, complete with a full live band, a huge dance floor, beautiful meticulously set tables, hundreds of gorgeous flowers, fabulous hors d'oeuvres and drinks, floating candles in the pool, and everyone in fancy party attire - ready to have a grand time all night long.
The dinner was amazing, and the dancing was a blast (and coming from a girl who doesn't typically like dancing, that says a lot)! Even if there was a bit of an awkward situation involving a guy that I went out a couple years ago sitting next to me at dinner and dancing with off and on throughout the evening (who just so happened to be a cousin on the other side of the family ... and was in town for the wedding), Merrily and I had a ball together!
I've been MIA for awhile, but that is certainly not because there hasn't been anything exciting going on in my life. I've had some computer issues (no internet) ... so here is the recap (note I did not say quick recap) of my latest trip:
The first weekend of May, Jenny and I took another baseball trip to Florida. It was Nicole's great idea, but unfortunately, she had to cancel at the last minute - which is too bad because we had a great time! Jenny and I flew out on Friday morning into Fort Lauderdale. That's the first time I've been to that airport and frankly, could very well be the last and I wouldn't shed a tear. The carpet was this funky design that I think was supposed to be water on some parts and a beach on others. Interesting. I have been through a lot of airports and this one had the smallest baggage claim turn-styles that I have ever seen! Not to mention the fact that even though there were a ton of them, there just so happened to be four flights worth of luggage on ours when none of the others were even turned on. Go figure! However, I won't complain too much because both of us left the airport with our luggage - which is more than can be said for some of my recent travels!
From there we marched over to Alamo to pick up our rental - a hot little black Toyota Corolla, which we later learned had no power. But it sure did get great gas mileage, and that's all you can ask for from a rental car! We checked into our hotel, and decided to hit the pool for the afternoon before we headed down to Miami. I don't know why after 27 years of having sunburns I didn't think to put sunscreen on, but I didn't ... so my face, chest, and front of my legs looked oh-so-hot by the time we left the pool (which wasn't actually ALL that much later).
Miami was on the docket for the early evening - we were going to hit South Beach and see all the 'famous' sights and find a hip little spot for dinner. Well South Beach wasn't exactly all that easy to find, even with my GPS. We drove around and around and almost gave up, but we did eventually find it. The problem is that Miami drivers are nuts - people say Utah drivers are bad ... well, let me correct you: Florida drivers are horrible!! I think they should enforce the minimum speed limit rather than the maximum there, because no one came close to reaching that! Just this morning, I was validated in my thinking about Miami drivers - "Survey finds Miami worst road rage city" headlines on cnn.com ... enough said!!
Anyway, we were both tired and hungry by this point, so we were kind of irritable (go figure!) and just wanted to find a place to park so we could get out and (a) stretch our legs, (b) eat dinner, and (c) not be there too long so we could get to the game! We did see South Beach from the road, however, we never really got out to take a picture or really get a good look at it. But from the looks of Miami, I don't really think we missed out on all that much! Talk about trashy...
We did finally find a great parking spot, thanks to the nice man who motioned to us that the car behind him was leaving, and then went to a little Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was perfect - 
we sat outside in the courtyard and ordered our food - that part wasn't so perfect. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful by any means, but it just wasn't anything special. You'd think that Miami would have good Mexican food, but not so much. The highlight of that experience though was one of the waiters - Jenny left for a minute and he came walking by and as he walked by me said "wow you have beautiful eyes" and kept walking. ha ha Then every time he would walk past me, he would stare awkwardly at me for a few seconds with this big grin on his face until he realized that he was staring and then he'd look away. It happened a few time throughout our dinner, and then he muttered something under his breath as we left. Too funny.
The highlight of Miami: Highway A1A - Beachfront Avenue. I am not sure it is really called that, but it is in "Ice Ice Baby" - which, don't you worry, we listened to on my ipod as we were driving down it - just to make my brothers proud ;) Thank goodness for camera phones to make this picture possible - however, I can't really say that I think the song is all that accurate a depiction of Miami...
We made it out of Miami in good time and headed back up to Dolphin Stadium for the Marlins-Padres game. Dolphin Stadium isn't much to look at, but we were pleasantly surprised when we weren't even charged for parking - and we were able to park right in front of the stadium! Not too bad. The game was good - and the Marlins won, despite Greg Maddux (former Braves pitcher) on the mound for the Padres. Its always fun for me to watch ex-Braves play! 
Some observations about Dolphin Stadium: of course it is also a football stadium (the Miami Dolphins) so the seats are all bright orange and you can tell it was built for football, but the grass was beautifully mowed and it was quite a nice field. The DJ was excellent - he played great songs when all the players took the plate. The strangest thing though was the pictures of each player that they had on the jumbotron when they were up to bat - they had doghouses in them and then a variety of dogs. I did not get 
that at all. Its not like their mascot is or has anything to do with dogs, so that was all very confusing to us. The fans were pretty mild though and we had a good time - once we moved seats away from the loud girl who spent the entire game telling her date about the letter she was writing to the pastor of her congregation since she can't worship how she wants to if she is expected to be an engineer while she's at church ... interesting people in southern Florida!! AND, the Marlins had cheerleaders - yes, actual go, fight, win, pom-pom tossing, slutty (yes they were definitely dressed like you'd think they would be in Miami) cheerleaders dancing on top of the dugout. I have never seen cheerleaders at a MLB game - nor do I want to ever again!!
We got up early Saturday morning and hit the road - to Alligator Alley (Highway 75) to make our trek across the state to Tampa. Jenny saw a story on CNN a couple weeks ago about an alligator attacking a car that stopped on the side of the road - eating their tire - so we felt a little cheated that we didn't see any alligators on the road, or in the swamps that line the roads. We did see lots of fisherman though, if that counts for anything!
Once we got to Tampa, we decided to hit the beach for the 
afternoon. There are really no beaches on the Tampa side, so we crossed the bridge and headed to St. Petersburg, where we went to Madeira Beach. I was very smart this time - I put sunscreen on - on the parts of myself that had burned the previous day. Not so much on the rest though ... so yeah I now have some awesome racing stripes on my legs. ha ha
Back to the hotel we went (which was just down the street from Raymond James Stadium where the Buccaneers play - and across the street from the stupid Yankees 'Legends Field' - where they have spring training and a single-A farm club plays the rest of the season), to prepare for the next baseball game. We decided to grab some dinner beforehand - and then discovered that it was Prom night, so a lot of restaurants were out. We tried to find a good hole-in-the-wall Cuban place, but everything looked too scary for us to try. And then we found it - the perfect place - Jimbo's Pit BBQ, a local highlight that has been there for 35+ years. That hit the spot! And then it was off to St. Petersburg for the game.
About a month ago, I discovered that the game we were going to had a promotion giveaway for Cinco de Mayo - Tampa Bay Devil Rays Sombreros. We wanted those hats - we needed those hats - so we made sure to get to the game extra early. We pulled into the parking lot (which again, we did not have to pay for - these Florida baseball stadiums know how to do it!) and picked up our tickets to go through the gates at Tropicana Field a full 45 minutes before game time ... and guess what? The hats were already gone. WHAT?!? There couldn't have been 10,000 people there already ... but to no avail, they were gone. We walked to our seats and sat there for the duration before the game started - we were really bugged about the hats! Was it really so much to ask for? We didn't think so, but 
apparently it wasn't meant to be. The game was actually pretty boring. Tropicana Field looks like a spaceship from the outside - it is completely enclosed. We thought for a few minutes that the roof was retractable, but it wasn't. I guess its always a nice 72 degrees for the Devil Rays though!
We spent the first 8 innings of the game annoyed about the hats, and making fun of Tampa Bay because they kept making stupid mistakes - like the batter hits the ball to the pitcher, who missed it, but the first baseman got to it ... oh but there was no one covering first, so the runner is safe. Isn't that one of the first things you learn in little league? Always cover the bases ... apparently not! Though I do not think there 
were any actual errors charged to the Devil Rays, it was sort of a comedy of errors for us watching! We spent quite a bit of other time trying to figure out who around us would be drunk enough by the end of the game that we could steal their hats without them either knowing (or caring). There were a couple good candidates a few rows in front of us, but we weren't quite sure how we'd pull that one off. Our favorite was the cute little man ahead of us - he was the total package - a Dixieland band t-shirt, his grandpa hat, headphones with which he was listening to the game on the radio, and his scorebook that he kept track of every single play in the game! How cute is that?
In the bottom of the 8th, Jenny spotted Rusty - the promotional guy who looks like Ryan Seacrest's twin (highlighted hair and everything) that goes around to the crowd between innings and plays all the cheesy games - standing in the section next to us. She told me that I needed to go talk to him, tell him our story, and get him to get sombreros for us. She wouldn't come with me, so I got up and walked over and stood behind him, 
until the Devil Rays hit a home run to tie the game. Of course the fans were going wild, Rusty being among them. He turned around to yell something to me and give me a high five, and that's when I made my move. He asked what my name was, and I told him - and then I proceeded to tell him that my friend and I came all the way from Virginia for this game, and when we got here, all the hats were gone. After that sob story (ha ha) I asked him if he could get them for us (with a wink and a smile of course). He asked where we were sitting, so I pointed up to where Jenny was and waved. He said that he couldn't promise anything, but that he would do everything in his power to get those hats for us. Ok Rusty, thanks. Did I really think he would pull through? Hmm, that remained to be determined. We chatted for a minute more, and then I went back to my seat.
By this time, the game was in extra innings. It was anyone's game, and it could end at any time. Jenny and I spent the next inning or two cheering very loudly (for the first time in the game) for the Devil Rays - partly because the crowd was really getting into it by this time, but mostly because we wanted Rusty to see that we really were fans. He stayed in that section and didn't really look like he was doing a whole lot. At one point he went down with some fans in the section below us and they were all yelling and cheering for the camera, and then he left. We were not feeling so optimistic about our hats at this point, and started looking for the drunk unsuspecting fans again.
Then, all of a sudden, Jenny says "there he is, let's go!" - and there was Rusty, motioning for us to come down to see him. So down we went - and there he was, with 2 Sombreros in hand. Hooray! There was a man standing there that said "hey can you get one of those for me too?" and Rusty promptly answered "are you as cute as these two girls?" ha ha I happened to have my camera in my hands, so we put the hats on and took a picture with them, and then spent the rest of the inning talking to Rusty there. We couldn't just take the hats and run. He was very impressed when we told him we were visiting all the baseball stadiums and we spent quite a bit of time talking about which ones we'd been to, etc. Then he asked us if we were in college ... we laughed ... um, 
no, we graduated ... "from high school?" he said ... WHAT? Seriously, do we really look THAT young? I, for one, graduated from college 5 years ago! I mean sure, it is flattering to look younger than you really are, but THAT much younger - hmm, I'm not really quite sure how I feel about that one! He did tell us a couple hot spots of Tampa after he realized that we were old enough to hit the bars...
The Devil Rays ended up winning in 12 innings - so it turned out to be a perfect night. The first 8 innings were boring, but the last 4 were great! The home team 
won, we saw another baseball stadium, and I flirted my way to souvineer sombreros for us (good to know those flirting skills really CAN pay off!) :) We're not really sure what we'll do with the hats now ... right now it is sitting on my chest of drawers - but after all the hard work I did to get it, and carrying them back on the airplane, we're not about to throw them away!
Since I had done quite a good job at sunburning the front of my body at the pool on Friday and the back of myself at the beach on Saturday, our plan to go back to the beach on Sunday after church didn't work out so well. We went to the Pier in St. Petersburg instead. We took a little boat ride on an electric boat around the harbor, walked around, and then there wasn't a whole lot left to do ... so we, embarrassingly enough, ended up going to see Spiderman 3 (which was super weird - but air conditioned!) until we headed back to Sonic (which was unfortunately sandwiched between a few of Tampa's MANY strip clubs) for a late lunch before going to the airport to head back home. Yes, people looked at us funny with our sombreros in the airport, and yes, we were wearing them when we were picked up that night!
That about sums it up (finally) - another weekend, 2 more baseball stadiums ... #17 and #18 of the 30 active ballparks on my quest to visit every stadium (#23 & #24 if you count the ones that aren't being used anymore) you can't really beat that in my book. AND, these two actually mark my completion of both the NL and AL East division stadiums! :)
Wow ... today is FIVE YEARS since I moved to Virginia. How does time go so fast??? I am just not sure - it seems like just yesterday that I was 
driving across the country with my mom. But then again, it seems like forever ago. I haven't found out first-hand yet that "Virginia is for Lovers" but I do love it here - and I'm still on the lookout! That's all for now :)
Ok so its not 'a new car' like Rod Roddy always used to say, but I'm still happy ... even though a couple weeks ago a new car would have been heaven sent! But now that I've dumped more money into my car (thankfully only about 1/3 the price Honda wanted to charge me) though, I think I'll keep it for awhile until I can afford that Acura TL ...
I fought the battle with Verizon ... and I won. At least I think I did! That whole 'new every 2' thing is a bunch of bologne ... and I have not had a bologne sandwich since I was in elementary school if that tells you how much I like it :) I bought a phone last year at Costco, after being told by them, Verizon customer service, AND the Verizon store folks, that it wouldn't affect my upgrade. Well, I was pretty upset when I went in a few months ago to upgrade and they told me I couldn't for another year. What a joke!!
To make a long story short (yes I am capable of doing that sometimes) - I logged onto my Verizon online account yesterday and by some stroke of luck, I saw something that said 'click here for promotional prices' even though my 'new every 2' meter was barely halfway full. So, I clicked on it, and took myself through all the necessary steps to get a new phone. Could this possibly be true? Will I actually be able to get a new phone before February 2008 and not have to deal with my current phone ringing at the most inopportune times - when it is on silent?!? (doesn't do me much good to have a phone on silent mode if it doesn't work!!) I, for one, certainly have my fingers crossed that this one works!!
Well, lo and behold, at 11am this morning, the FedEx lady brought me a box from Verizon with my brand new Krzr Fire phone in it - how happy am I?!? I just hope my next Verizon bill doesn't slap me in the face and charge me the remaining portion of the full retail value of the phone ...
So now its off to play with my new phone and try to figure out all the fancy features. I'm kind of a gadget geek these days!
Revisiting the car fiasco from Friday ... Anne came over to jump my car so I could go to work. My nice neighbor Howard came out and tried to help us, and after a few minutes of letting it charge, and Howard thinking that it may be an alternator problem since the jumping didn't seem to be doing much, it finally started up. After thanking them profusely, I drove it to the shop where I get my oil changed (I'd already had an oil change scheduled for Friday - go figure).
I parked my car and turned it off, then decided to see if it really was dead - so I tried to start it up again - key word being TRIED. Yup, it wouldn't start. The radio and lights still worked, but it wouldn't turn over. I told them inside exactly what was going on, and they said they'd take a look at it. Of course, if it was a dead battery, they'd have to put in a new battery before they could really do any other work on it. I bought a battery at Honda not too much over a year ago, so I knew that it was still under warranty - but I was out of luck because I was not AT the Honda dealership - nor did I have any way to get there since my car wouldn't start. After talking to my dad though, I decided to go back and make it work so I could take it to Honda so at least they could test it and do a better electrical test on it than the tire shop could do. Or so we thought.
My boss came and picked me up to go to work just as my dad and I decided that I should take it to Honda. So we went to Home Depot to buy some jumper cables (since I still have not bought any after all these years). Home Depot of course had the super heavy duty ones for $30 - well I knew that I could buy the entire car emergency kit at Costco for the same price, so we decided to hang out until Costco opened in 20 minutes (across the parking lot). Of course though, our Costco was sold out of the kits. Just my luck. Back to the car shop to get my car ... it started ... and I took it to Honda. Of course they were very happy to help me and make me feel comfortable leaving my car there.
And the dreaded phone call came ... "Yeah, you're going to need some work done on your car, dear." Oh really? Like what? Well ... the battery was fine. That's the good news - although at this point I'd much rather pay for a new battery than the rest of the stuff! You need a new starter. Your front brake pads need to be replaced, and the rotors turned. Oh and by the way, your catalytic converter is bad, as is the O2 censor, so when you take the car in to have the emissions tested, you would receive a big fat FAIL sticker on my car. Nice. Not to mention the fact that power steering fluid is leaking onto your alternator, so you need to fix that and have your fluids flushed. And while you're at it, you should probably get a new timing belt, since your car has 110,000 miles on it. Wow, when it rains it pours!! The nice man on the phone then gave me the prices for all of this "work" that had to be done ... of course he didn't add it all up for me, but I promptly did that and came up with a whopping $3,500!!!! I don't think so...
I told him I needed some time on this one. I called my dad, who was floored (and also angry). I am so sick of car people (men) trying to take advantage of an unsuspecting female who apparently knows nothing about cars. I am sorry but I know enough to know that I am not going to spend $3,500 repairing my car!! That is completely absurd. My boss and I called the guys that work on his cars ... and I told him what Honda had told me. His response: "Is he trying to scare you into a new car??" Sounds like it to me! Now did I really plan on having the dealer work on my car? No thank you. Especially when they threw that bill in front of me. Of course when I called to tell him I was coming to pick it up, he gave me the "well if you go to an after-market shop, they will give you a better deal but you will not have a Honda certified technician working on your car, and you won't have genuine parts." Ok, fine. "And I'll have to charge you for the diagnostics too, which I wouldn't if you left the car with us..." Oh that's sweet - you'll throw in the $94 diagnostic fee if I give you $3,500 ... great bargain! ha ha
Tom drove out to Manassas with me to drop my car off ... and there it stays for a few days. I talked to them today and yes, I do need a new starter (hence the starting problem - that is not rocket science), the front brakes do need to be replaced, and I should have a new timing belt put on - the last thing I need is to be driving and have my timing belt bust! However - he did tell me that the leak from my power steering was very slight and shouldn't be a problem. AND - if I don't have to have my emissions tested when I register my car next month, then I don't need the catalytic converter right now - its not going to inhibit my car, so that's good. I just checked, and luckily, I don't need it right now ... so that's good news :) Its still not going to be a pretty ticket charge when all is said and done, but at least I know that I am not going to get royally ripped off like the Honda dealership had in mind. Even still though - so much for the tax return that I worked so hard to get this year!
So right now I'm car-less. It is a weird feeling to not be able to get up and go whenever or wherever I want. I am used to my independence and I never really thought about how much of that you lose when you have to rely on other people for transportation! Tom came and picked me up for work this morning. I was meeting a couple friends for dinner after work, so I decided to walk there. It was 3.2 miles, a gorgeous day outside, so that shouldn't be a big deal. It was a little warmer than I thought when I started walking, but not bad. There were sidewalks most of the way. People do it all the time right? Well yes, but maybe not in Fairfax, Virginia! I wasn't exactly wearing walking clothes - much less socks and shoes. I am pretty sure I have blisters on both feet now, but that's ok. Since I didn't have a car to get to the gym this morning, I had to make up for it somehow!! Oh well - live and learn right? I just keep hoping that soon my luck is going to turn around ... bad things come in 3's right? First my passing out, then my back, now my car ... hmmmmm. I guess only time will tell!!
I'm baaaaack. Jenny and I headed out on our weekend adventure to Cincinnati on Friday after we got off work, and after I took my car to the 3rd shop of the day (more on that story another time ... ) so we took Jenny's car for the weekend. Oh what fun it is to ride ... oh wait, wrong song ... but oh what fun it is to leave on a Friday night at 6pm. We hit traffic, but it wasn't terribly bad since we went a back way to avoid the Beltway (affectionately known as the 'parking lot of life').
We made good time other than the traffic we had at the beginning. We also learned that we would be totally ok without ever going to Cumberland, Maryland again. We stopped there for dinner. We went to Chick-Fil-A ... pretty safe, right? Well we went through the drive-through and when we got up to the window, the girl took our money, handed us our drinks, and then said "your sandwiches are not quite done yet - we have been really busy tonight, it will just be a few minutes." Ok, weird ... but whatever. We got our change, and then she handed us a bag - our fries or something (yes, really healthy, I know), and then said that the sandwiches still weren't done, "so if you could just pull forward, someone will bring them out to you in a few minutes." We looked at her confused for a minute and then just as we were going to pull forward, she handed us our sandwiches and didn't say another word. Bizarre. We left Cumberland just about as fast as we could ... and we drove all the way to Zanesville, Ohio, where we camped for the night - ok not really camped, but stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which we'd booked on Priceline for $40 before we left (isn't Priceline great?!?)
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to grab yogurt and bagels from the hotel breakfast and get on the road to make it to the Columbus temple for the 9am session. The Columbus temple is one of the small temples - one that shares the parking lot with the stake center. The session was 
completely full - even overflowing - since they brought in folding chairs for some men. It was one of the first sessions I have ever been to that there were actually more MEN than WOMEN. And probably more single men than in any session I have been to in the DC temple in a long time. Weird? I think so. The temple was great - and then we hit the road headed for our final destination - Cincinnati.
Sarah & Eric were nice enough to let us stay with them while we were there. I think Sarah is my longest friend that I still keep in touch with ... she and I met when I moved to St. Louis in 1989 and have kept in touch ever since. Well, we were slated to be at Sarah & Eric's house at about 1. I learned the hard way that GPS is only good if the battery is charged. Unfortunately, the charger that I have was left in my car, which was at the shop - not doing me any good when I am halfway across the country!! Oh, and so was the map that I swear by. Smart, Shanna, really smart. At least we had directions to Sarah's from the temple though, so we were fine. Or we thought we were. We drove and drove, and then hit Cincinnati - downtown Cincinnati. I didn't know exactly where Sarah's house was, but I knew that they did not actually live IN Cincinnati ... so I called her and found out that we had driven right by it. I guess I just didn't get the directions out soon enough. This is why I bought GPS - I am directionally challenged!! Anyway, our little detour cost us about an extra hour or so - but we did get to go to Kentucky en route :) So we hit 6 states on our trip ... Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. Not too bad for a couple days.
We relaxed at Sarah & Eric's house when we got there and played with Abigail. She is adorable - walking around everywhere and screaming all the while. She was a little confused about these new visitors for a little while but then she warmed up to us and we had fun. Sarah made us a great dinner and then we headed off to Cincinnati (again) for the main reason for the trip ... Great American Ballpark.
For those of you that don't know, I have a personal goal to go to a game at every Major League Baseball Stadium. The game this weekend was #22 on my list. However, the problem is that teams keep building new stadiums, so some of those aren't actually active, existing stadiums anymore (like the old Atlanta Fulton County 
and St. Louis' Busch Stadium) - so I just have to keep going to all of these places! Jenny and I did make a list though on our way there (we had some time on our hands!) and this was a milesone for me ... Cincinnati was my #16 of the 30 active ballparks, officially putting me over the halfway mark :) Hooray!!!
Well - who would have guessed that a game between the 
Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies would be soooo crowded that it was practically sold out?!? Neither team is good - so the only thing we could come up with is that it was a gorgeous day (first in a LONG time) and people wanted to get out and see a good ballgame (and as Sarah & Eric said - there 
really isn't much else to do in Cincinatti)! So ... we waited in the ticket line only to find out that the cheapest seats available were $32!! Crazy. But, since we drove all that way, we couldn't say no. The seats weren't bad though - we were right down the foul line in right field. They were prime foul ball territory - unfortunately, none came our way (wimpy hitters)!
The game was fun though - and the stadium and field were beautiful. It makes me realize (or 
rather remember) just how ghetto the DC National's RFK Stadium is (can't wait for their new ballpark next year)! Cincinatti has lots of team pride - of all those people in the sold-out crowd, I did not ever see one Philadelphia shirt. Sarah and I did notice an interesting sign though ...
In the 8th inning, I finally realized that the Phillies' bullpen was just to our right (below our seats). I guess I never noticed before since their pitcher pitched a complete game, so there was no action going on down there. I went to take a couple pictures, and some teenage boys also came over - to heckle the pitchers and catchers who were warming up. After the game, they went back, and we stood there for awhile watching. One of the pitching 
coaches threw a ball up, and this punk kid tried to catch it, but ended up swatting it back down to the bullpen. The coach pointed to him and said "this is for her" and threw it right to Jenny! Lucky for her :) That was about as close to the action as we got last night - it was lots of fun!
After visiting for a little while longer with Sarah, Eric, & Abigail this morning (and letting Abigail use 
my perfume, ha ha!), we went to a 9am ward this morning (and remembered how interesting it is to visit other wards...) and then hit the road. We made it back, despite all of our stops, in about 9 hours. Not too bad considering how much we were drinking and had to stop for bathroom breaks! Jenny even agreed to let me take a trip down memory lane by going to Waffle House to eat. The memory: that is where my family went to eat on our way home from my baptism in Atlanta (on Halloween morning). I am still not sure how that materialized ... Waffle House?? Mom, Dad, anyone?? I guess my taste in food has matured since then. Let's just say that I'll be just fine if I never eat there again. Not that it was bad - it was just that, a waffle house. But, all in all, it was a great weekend. Lots of travelling, lots of funny stories, and I am exhausted - but its all worth it! Next up on the baseball docket: Florida. Stay tuned :)
I should just expect random crazy things to happen to me, since that seems to be the story of my life lately. But for some reason, it never ceases to amaze me - or at least make me laugh about it!
I went to get my hair cut last night - everything was fine there. However, when I went out to my car to go home, it wouldn't start. Hmm. That's odd. I called Jenny and she was on her way to come jump my car and I'd be off. I walked around the parking lot and went to Baja to pick myself up some dinner, and then when I went back to my car, it started just fine. Ok...
At home, Jenny, Russ, and I were having a nice dinner ... and then out of nowhere, I started choking. On what? I'm not really sure. Seriously though - I could not stop coughing, and my gag reflex was kicking in and I thought I was going to throw up. Russ slapped me on the back a few times, but every time he thought he'd need to do more, I started getting what sounded like better. Tears streaming down my face, I could hardly breathe. The whole thing was quite humorous - well, when it was all said and done anyway! Not really sure what that was all about, but I survived (not that there was any doubt) - it was just really bizarre.
This morning: I got up and walked out to my car to go meet Michael at the gym at 6:30. Guess what? Yeah, my car won't start. Nice. "Hey Michael ... um ... my car won't start." Seriously, he is going to start thinking that I am making this all up!! Just one more excuse that I can't go to the gym and work out.
Thank goodness for visiting teachers. Anne is coming over to jump my car, after which I will be driving directly to the shop where I take it ... and hopefully they can tell me what is wrong with it. I bought a battery not too much over a year ago, so it hardly seems like that should be the problem. Then again - what do I know about cars?
I just hope everything is ok - since Jenny and I are driving to Cincinnati this weekend!! I kind of need my car for that ...
ha ha ha ... I just got this email from TurboTax ... I know I wasn't the only one with problems since it was all over the news, but I didn't realize it was that big of a deal! I can't complain though, since apparently I was able to file my taxes for free :)
Dear TurboTax Customer,
We want to let you know that Intuit will be refunding any TurboTax credit card charges that were charged to your credit or debit card between 3 p.m. PDT Tuesday, April 17 and 4 a.m. PDT Wednesday, April 18.
We deeply regret the frustration and anxiety you may have experienced trying to e-file your return on April 17.
We worked closely with the IRS to allow taxpayers who were affected by the delay to file their returns until midnight tonight, Thursday, April 19, without penalty. Intuit will also pay any other penalties that customers incur as a result of the delay, although none are anticipated.
We will be contacting you early next week with additional details about this refund. We value your business and appreciate your patience.
Sincerely,
Bob Meighan
Vice President, TurboTax Customer Advocacy
Intuit, Inc.
Its 11:52pm, on April 17 - and guess what I just did? Yeah, that's right, my taxes. Ok, I didn't just start them or anything, but I had to finish them up and e-file them tonight. Well of course I decided to go to the Nationals-Braves baseball game tonight because the Braves were only in town for 2 games ... I left after the 7th inning stretch since it was sooo cold and windy!! It was neat to see the Nationals all wearing various Virginia Tech hats as a tribute to those affected by the horrible tragedy at VA Tech yesterday. There's a cool video on espn.com showing it.
At that point, I decided that I should probably fill out one of the 'File an Extension' forms and take it to the Post Office to have it postmarked by midnight. I know of one post office that stays open until midnight, but have no idea if I can even make it there in time. So I'll take a chance that the other one closer to my house is open late on Tax Day. Unfortunately - my entire tax return - Federal and State - have to print in their entirety before the Extention form I just completed would print. Will there be any ink left in my printer by the time it gets through all the other pages? 
Its April in Washington DC and that means the Cherry Blossoms are out. Well, they were out. We've had some crazy weather lately so the cherry blossoms didn't stay out for quite as long as they usually do this year, but that didn't stop the Cherry Blossom Festival from happening downtown.
The Tidal River basin near the Jefferson Memorial is lined with cherry blossom trees, and in peak season, they bring to life the words to "Popcorn Popping." The sweet smell of the blossoms and the beautiful sight of hundreds of trees are one of my favorite things about spring in Washington DC.
I went with Mary, Camille, and Milu yesterday morning to watch the Cherry Blossom Parade. I've lived in DC for 5 
years and I have never been to the parade, and it was a great way to spend my Saturday morning. There were, of course, tons of people downtown, but that's all part of the experience! Japan brought the cherry blossom tree to Washington DC, so the Japanese tradition is very much a part of the Festival and Parade. Of course a parade is a parade, with all kinds of crazy floats, clowns, marching bands from all across the country, the Cherry Blossom Princesses and Queen, and even an American Idol finalist from last year (Ace Young).
Take 60 seconds to do this, it will give you a good laugh for the day!
1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. click on "get directions"
7. scroll down to step #23
And follow directions…
Google and Wikipedia ... what did we ever do without them?!?
A client of ours came in this morning and told us that President Bush would be driving by a little later today, after a brunch meeting he had just down the street. When we heard the helicopter overhead and saw the policemen lining the streets (which were completely blocked off), we walked down to the corner to have the Sherriff ask us if he could help us. We told him we just wanted to watch, and he said "ok the best place to stand is under the Rite Aid entrance."
So we waited and watched as the motorcycles started zooming around the corner first one at a time, and then two by two. Then came the cars ... I have never seen the President's motorcade in person before, and it was quite the sight. According to Wikipedia (the source for everything), it consists of about 35 vehicles - everything from the 2 limos to an ambulance. I guess I didn't realize just how many people it takes to escort the President anywhere he goes.
Too bad I left my camera in my purse, back in my office. But it was still a pretty cool thing to watch right here in little old Fairfax, VA :)
