7 posts tagged “dc”

I took this photo on Saturday afternoon, on the Mall. Hard to believe, right? I was impressed with my own photographic skills luck. A big thanks to Chrissy for teaching me all about the digital macro function on my camera and how to use it! And here are a few more of me with the girls and the blossoms :)

 

Too hilarious to pass up -

This past Sunday, the Washington National Opera sponsored a live simulcast of La Boheme, which was being performed at the Kennedy Center. The event was to give people - who might not normally get the chance - an opportunity to see a live opera performance... bring Opera to the people. It was broadcast on the National Mall, near the foot of the Washington Monument, and also to a few theaters in the DC area, and 35 schools - college and high school - across the nation. It was an absolutely incredible experience! I feel so lucky to live in such an amazing city - there are always so many things going on, and a never ending menu of cultural events.

I had always wanted to see La Boheme, and had the opportunity once at Penn State, but things ended up not working out. Of course I was disappointed, but I knew there would be other opportunities. And what an opportunity it was this past Sunday! The weather was perfect! It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky, hot - but not too hot, with a tolerable amount of humidity. My roommate coordinated everyone, and we had a good turnout - about 8 of us, brought blankets and food and had a picnic on the Mall, while enjoying the opera. And it was fantastic! The director of this particular production of La Boheme, Mariusz Trelinski, brought his own interpretation to it, and it was incredible!

And the most exciting part - as if *free* opera on a beautiful Sunday afternoon on the National Mall wasn't exciting enough! - Placido Domingo, the General Director of the Washington National Opera, came to speak to the crowd at intermission. It was so exciting, and so amazing to see this incredible man standing just a few feet in front of me. I know I'm a huge dork, but I loved every single second of the entire afternoon. Definitely a worthwhile experience, and one I hope to repeat again next year. And maybe catch a few operas for a good price - thanks to Generation O - in the meantime ;)

p.s. For those of you who don't know, the musical Rent was loosely based on the story of La Boheme - its definitely a contemporary Opera, one that's relatable and certainly very enjoyable.

... but I also love Autumn, the bad example. :P

It's been a glorious weekend here in DC, and I fully took advantage of it. Well, almost fully - Friday doesn't count because I threw my back out and ended up leaving work early to go home and rest on the couch. Autumn came over and we watched some movies, gave ourselves home manis and pedis and gorged ourselves on the amazing food at the Amphora Diner in Vienna (which is right next to the incredible Amphora Bakery - their Amaretto Cake is to. die. for). Autumn and I had originally planned on going to this exhibition going on at the Kennedy Center called For the Capitol: A Projection by Artist Jenny Holzer, but since I really couldn't walk, we postponed it until Sunday.

It was a pretty full weekend. I took care of a lot of errands on Saturday, enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was crisp - sunny and mild with a beautiful breeze. Autumn (Fall) is definitely upon us - you can feel the shift of seasons in everything. (I don't want to pay attention to the fact that its supposed to climb back into the 80s by the end of the week). Saturday night Autumn and I both had plans with the boys, but we had another chick day on Sunday. I think we were both in need of some together-time - it seems our schedules have been so busy lately that we haven't been able to have enough of it - and some serious retail therapy. We had intentions of going to see the School House to White House exhibit at the National Archives, but we back-burnered it - again. We were putting it off all summer until the deluge of tourists subsided, and that's definitely happened, but the exhibition runs until January, so we're not in any terrible hurry. So anyway, we finally made our way to Georgetown, where we walked through the shops, had some mediocre crab-cake lunch at Third Edition and then shopped some more. We also did a lot of talking/venting about men/life in general, and paired with the retail therapy, was just what the Doctor ordered. Although we didn't really buy anything, the shopping atmosphere was enough. I did try on these amazing shoes at Bebe, and I was tempted to actually shill out the money for them, but they didn't have my size. Apparently Bebe doesn't make shoes in half sizes, and I fell right in the middle of two whole sizes... <sob!>

So after that, Autumn and I wandered around Georgetown. There are so many incredible homes there. And some crazy-ass doorknockers too. We saw a creepy looking fox/wolf knocker, and then the next house had a Moby Dick/Flipper looking thing. Bananas-crazy, people, bananas-crazy. We walked around for a long time, worked up some mileage, walked through the Georgetown campus and saw the exorcist stairs. We also managed to disturb the peace on Prospect Street - Autumn started making sounds that were eerily comparable to a turkey's gobble. I couldn't walk - or breathe - I was laughing so hard, and inevitably, the snort surfaced, which only made us laugh harder. It was funny, but man, we could NOT get a hold of ourselves. Once we finally did calm down, I asked Autumn to repeat the noise, and she did, and a dog up the street barked in response, and I lost it all over again. This was in addition to the wonderful cacophony of sounds I had created earlier, including the famous goat and - if I may say so myself - a very good interpretation of the cars driving over the cobblestone streets of Georgetown. All in all, it was a beautiful day, a perfect day to walk around and enjoy the city. Autumn and I agreed that it was one of those days that makes you feel so lucky to live here. It was almost too perfect.

After traversing a giant section of Georgetown, we wandered over to Foggy Bottom, walked around GW's campus until dusk fell, and then made our way over to the Kennedy Center.

The exhibition wasn't quite what I expected - I appreciated all of the effort necessary to the creative process and also in securing such an awesome venue - but I think I was too cold to full appreciate the art itself. Autumn and I did make sure to enjoy the view from the rooftop terrace of the Kennedy Center though, and took a few photos of the sunset over Georgetown, and also some of the monuments at night. My camera isn't the greatest in the world - nor am I the best photographer - so the photos really don't do the scene justice.

Then it was time to head home, because we were underdressed and freezing, and because it was getting late and we were pretty tired. But more than anything we were hungry, so we stopped at Potbelly to get some food. I got a "Pizza on Wheat" and had some peppers thrown in to spice it up.

Well, spice it up is an understatement. I thought I was going to ignite the place, the fire in my mouth was so strong. I ended up picking all of the peppers off, but the residue (and some seeds that were left behind) still left a pretty intense fire in my mouth. It was crazy. Even my lips were burning. I actually poured some half and half in a cup and drank it in an attempt to douse the flames. It worked to a point, but my mouth was still pretty fiery the entire metro ride back to Autumn's place. I finally put the flames out with some of Autumn's roommate's homemade raspberry pie. Mmmm, it was good. We had a few more ridiculous moments where the Madelyn-cackle resurfaced, with the requisite snorts and fun noises, and then I made my exit. All in all it was a pretty good day.

Yeah, I definitely fell off of the wagon this weekend with food and whatnot. I couldn't work out because of my back, and I definitely gorged myself on a ton of rich food. Oh well, you only live once and I'd rather be chubby and happy than skinny and hungry ;) 

So for those of you not familiar with it, last week was Restaurant Week in DC. Restaurant week comes once a year, in August, and participating restaurants offer fixed-price lunches and dinners - $20 gets you a three course lunch and $30 gets you a three course dinner. You can eat at some of the best (and priciest) restaurants in town. The Restaurant Week menu generally contains less than the normal menu, and some of the items may be of a slightly lower quality than normal, but you get what you pay for, and the restaurants have to accomodate the lower pricing somehow, right? This Restaurant Week I went to two different restaurants. Autumn went to three, and I'm pretty sure she's going to rate all of her experiences on her blog. So here are my reviews...

Last Thursday we went to Zola which is at the International Spy Museum. They specialize in American cuisine. The restaurant is very nice... its primarily a brown and red color scheme, and the overall atmosphere is fairly modern. I overheard someone saying they thought it was a little campy, but that's part of it's charm, considering its location (at the International Spy Museum). Autumn and I sat in front of a huge window that looked out at the National Portrait Gallery - it was a very nice view. We started with drinks - we both ordered the Blue Sting (fresh Blueberries, Mango flavored Rum, Blueberry Honey, crushed mint, limes and white cranberry juice). It was excellent, although we couldn't tell at all that it was alcoholic. We questioned whether or not they gave us virgin cocktails, but still very good. Then for appetizers, I ordered Truffled Sheep Ricotta Tortelloni (fresh anise crema, truffles, shaved manchego) and Autumn got an order of the Tuna Tartar (spicy lime vinaigrette, cucumber salad, whipped lemon cream and giant taro chips). They were both delicious. I definitely helped Autumn eat hers for various reasons, but the tuna was absolutely delicious. Then for entrees Autumn ordered Lamb which she said was delicious (I'll take her word for it, I'm not quite big on lamb) and I ordered Lobster Roll. Now, in their defense, the waiter did warn me that my dinner was going to come served in a "hot dog bun," but I thought he was joking. Seriously. But he wasn't... my New England Style Lobster Roll (toasted almonds, mint, ginger vegetable slaw and crispy fries) came in a toasted bread folded up into hot dog shape. It was really good, but I felt sort of like the little kid at the adult's table eating french fries in a restaurant that was so nice. But the food was delicious. And then to top the evening off, I ordered Lemon Chiffon Pudding with Raspberries and Autumn ordered Bananas Berg (baked Alaska meets bananas foster). Autumn's dessert looked very good, but I was very, very happy with my own. The Lemon Chiffon Pudding was resting under a wonderful cake covering, and it had just the smallest, perfect sized dollop of delicious cream on top, with 3 raspberries nestled on top. It was fabulous, and I will certainly have it again in the future. Overall, I was very happy with our dinner at Zola - although I could have done with a different waiter. Ours was very nice, but slightly creepy - he hovered a lot, but never actually delivered anything to our table.

 

Yesterday Autumn and I went to Cafe Atlantico, which is actually around the corner and not very far from Zola. I was very impressed when I got to Cafe Atlantico. It's very bright, very open and airy, and for awhile I thought it was a lot larger than it actually is because of their amazing use of mirrors. The space has been utilized extremely well. So anyway, we started with drinks, non-alcoholic for both of us. I got the limeade and Autumn got the mint limeade. They were both excellent, kind of like virgin mojitos, especially Autumn's. Then we got the guacamole, because we were afraid that if we didn't, we'd be on all of our friends' hit lists. They prepare it tableside and make it to your spice specifications. It's served with soft tortillas, which was interesting, but very good. It was excellent and so worth the extra cash - sadly, the guacamole is not included on the restaurant week menu. Then we both had the mixed green salad with herbs, cherry tomatoes, crispy “worms.” The worms are actually little pieces of puffed, fried rice. Very good... The whole salad was very good. I was very sad when it was all gone. ;) Then we moved on to the entree. The kitchen and waitstaff must have this planned perfectly, because our food took just the right amount of time to be brought out to us - not so long that we were starving for it, but just long enough that our salads and guacamole had settled. Autumn ordered the Mexican Torta (Chopped steak sandwich with black beans, avocado, Mexican crema, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and fried egg on a sesame bun) and I ordered the Sandwich de Salmón con Malagueta (Seared salmon with salmon salad, cucumber and mixed chips). I'm pretty sure Autumn thought hers was delicious, although definitely more food than one girl can handle. Mine was out of this world. I only ate half of it though because I wanted to save room for dessert. I had the rest of my sandwich for lunch at work today and it was just as good on the second day. Then finally, for dessert, we both ordered the Choco-Banana (Warm Chocolate cake with Venezuelan chocolate flan, banana foam and fresh banana lime salad). It was out of this world. The chocolate mousse that everything was nested on tasted like it was made with dark chocolate, the banana lime salad was like nothing I've ever tasted before, the banana foam tasted like a fresh banana, and the flan... oh the flan. It was this incredible little column of chocolatey glory and gooey goodness in the middle of all these amazing pieces. It was perfection, absolute perfection. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. In fact, my sweet tooth is salivating so much that I would love to go to Zola and get the Lemon Raspberry Chiffon for an appetizer and then go to Cafe Atlantico for Choco-Banana as an entree/dessert. Mmmmmm.....

Cafe Atlantico has actually extended their restaurant week menu and prices into this week because so many people wanted reservations, and I could easily go back for round two. I'm already dying for next year's Restaurant Week :)

Wow. I have so much to talk about, its going to take awhile to get it out, and probably two posts. Bear with me people... you're in for a wild ride.

So, after mooching off of my family for a little over a week (hey, being the baby definitely has its perks!), the movers finally dropped my stuff off at my mom's house. Then, with only a small amount of sorting (and a BIG thanks to my mom for letting me use her basement as my personal storage facility... for free!) we deposited what needed to go with me to my new place into a 14 foot uhaul and off we went. The actual move went rather well, save for the giant storm that knocked the power in my building out for over an hour and almost trapped my mom and her best friend in the elevator. But rain is good luck, right? Hee hee...

So without too much drama, (minus the power outage and intermittent downpours) we got everything into my apartment, and thankfully my roommate was at work all day so she couldn't see the havoc we were wreaking on her beautiful condo, lol. After getting everything as organized as it was going to be, it was time to return the uhaul. This is where it gets really good...

My mom's best friend had this little portable GPS unit - its made for cars, but you can use it walking and whatnot, and its not limited to one vehicle. So she brought it with her in my mom's car to help my very traffic-paranoid mother out in the 5-lane-traffic situations around the city. When we left to return the uhaul, I took my mom's car and my aunt drove the uhaul. We had to go 13 miles, in an estimated 16 minutes - according to Google Maps. My mom's friend suggested we use the GPS thing, and being as geeked as I am about techie gadgets, especially those that talk to me, I took her up on her offer. So I programmed in the address of where we needed to go and off we went. Well, at some point very early in the trip - we hadn't even made it out of my sub-division yet - the thing decided to stop talking to me, and it actually froze. Great. So while I'm driving my mother's vehicle, in traffic, I'm fidgeting with the gadget, trying to force it into submission. I was not so lucky with this finicky little gadget. I managed to get it to say one thing to me, and I thought I was ok, but then I wasn't. So I fidgeted some more, and missed the exit I needed. The little machine realized this too and started talking again. For a second. So it tells me its recalculating my route - and thankfully not saying "make a u-turn" 800 times. It recalculates and tells me that I need to exit in 6 miles. So I drive, and drive, and drive, and check the machine and the damn thing went mute again AND I had missed my second exit. At this point, we're getting really close to getting into downtown DC in rush-hour traffic. Perfect. And then I get this fabulous little message from the machine - "No route to destination." Excuse me? You're linked to a satellite and you're supposed to have the answers! No route to destination? I DON'T THINK SO!

Now I'm getting really freaked out. I'm driving my mom's car, which is substantially larger than my own, and my aunt is piggybacking me in a 14 foot uhaul. So I take an exit which I'm pretty sure will lead us to where I can get us turned around. Nice try, Madelyn. We end up circling the Pentagon. And then I get flustered and really start to lose my head. So I take another exit, and I'm on the brink of tears when I realize, we're about to head into downtown DC, the epicenter of heavy traffic at rush hour. So I'm creeping along in traffic, and I realize that this little GPS gadget is still in my lap, so I start clicking on it and pushing the screen buttons and finally manage to reprogram it to the destination address. And it begins to work! Alleluia! EXCEPT...

It is now guiding me into the downtown traffic. Yep. And it gets EVEN richer... I'm three lanes to the left of where I need to be to get where the machine is telling me to go. So I put my blinker on and try to get over. I manage to weasel my way over successfully, but I can't say the same for my aunt in the 14 foot uhaul. I get onto the exit ramp, in which all three lanes are blessedly empty, and I slow to a crawl as I look in my rearview mirror to find the uhaul. You can't even imagine the million emotions that ran through me as I took in the scene behind me. My aunt was trapped two lanes away from where she needed to be, and no one was letting her over, so she just stopped. Stopped dead in one of the middle lanes. There was a loooooong line of traffic building up behind her, and there were cars that kept pulling around her, which obviously prohibited her from pulling across to the exit. So she FINALLY just goes for it because she's clearly bigger than all of the other cars in traffic, and catches up to me. I'm near tears at this point (sadly, NOT with laughter, and I call her cell phone to let her know the wonderful news that we're heading into downtown DC. I'm practically having a nervous breakdown because I'm so worried about my aunt, but luckily she's the calmest member of my family, and took it cool as a cucumber. So there we were, a midsize SUV and a 14 foot uhaul, rolling down Constitution Ave in afternoon rush hour traffic. It took us 20 minutes to make it one mile, through all of the lights, and back onto the highway where the GPS-lady was telling us to go. We spent the time calling each other to talk about the monuments and landmarks we were passing, reminiscing about how long it had been since we last played tourist in DC (I won't say how long ago it was, we'll just say that it was a while ago). We could even clearly see the White House, set back to the right. And we had a wonderful up-close-and-personal view of the Washington Monument. It was glorious. Absolutely glorious.

And you'd think that that was the end of it, right? Nope, not with my family :) We get onto the highway, we're going along well, following directions, GPS lady is working well, I think we're set. We're driving, see the uhaul return place on the other side of the highway, follow the lady's directions to make a u-turn (well, the u-turn was technically illegal so we pulled into a driveway and circled and then went back out onto the highway). We go to pull off of the road to get to the uhaul place, but I misjudged where it was, though that I could shortcut it, and pulled onto the wrong road. This "road" was actually the entrance to a car dealership, so we had to drive down the aisles of cars to turn around. In a midsized SUV and a 14 foot uhaul. I think my aunt actually pulled a three point turn, adding just a bit more icing to the insanity cake.

So then we get back out onto the highway, and make the correct right turn into the uhaul return place. I find a parking spot, my aunt rolls in in the uhaul and makes her own parking spot, because hey, she's driving a 14 foot uhaul, hahahaha! And SUCCESS!!! We finally rid ourselves of the uhaul and made it back to my apartment with no trouble at all. Thanks to me and NOT the GPS lady.

My family then decided they should probably get back on the road and get on their way back to PA. And Autumn came over with some cheap Meijer champagne that she bought on sale before she moved out of Michigan last year. We never actually did get to drink it, but we did go out for a nice dinner of Mexican food and checked out the (very expensive) local Safeway to get some necessities. And then I drove Autumn back to her place without any GPS help at all, because contrary to what this post implies, I actually do know my way around the District and surrounding areas fairly well. When I'm not panicking.

This, ladies and gentlemen, concludes Part 1 of holy. scheisse.

...And so serendipitous too!

Let me start from the beginning. I picked up Autumn at the airport on Thursday night and we met Jon for a late dinner. After a few hours, we were all rather tired, so we all headed home. It was nice to have Autumn back in the apartment. I don't know if it was weird for her, but I can say that I kept wanting to go into her closet to borrow some clothes (forgetting of course that all of her clothes are now at her new apt. and that the closet is pretty empty, lol).

I had to work Friday so I met up with Autumn after work and we started doing what we do best when we're together... shopping! After some successful purchases downtown we headed for DSW, Marshalls and then over to the Mall. I actually made it through the day without buying shoes, which was really sad because I was really looking forward to buying a new pair of shoes. I did manage to buy myself a new toy however, so it wasn't a total loss of a day.

On the mall we got behind a car with a license plate that said YAY*BITS, and Autumn and I almost died. We tried to get a picture of it, but everytime we got close, her camera turned off because the batteries were so low, lol. Then we tried with her camera phone, but it just wasn't working. But we had a good laugh about that. It was a recurring theme for the rest of the evening...

After we tired ourselves out shopping, we tried to get some food. After some trials and errors (aka 45-50 minute wait times) we ended up just eating at Panchero's. But on the way there from the mall, we got stuck in some traffic at the light to turn left onto State from Eisenhower. We were sitting there and sitting there, and commenting on how long the light was taking. It was weird, and then the car in front of me put their car in reverse. The reverse lights came on, and Autumn and I both just sat there, trying to understand what was going on. And then they actually started backing up. I didn't know what was going on, but i reacted quickly... I said "nono, nonononono" and then I honked the horn. Autumn almost fell out of the passenger side door she was laughing so hard. It was really hilarious. It turned out there was a car broken down in the turning lane, and no one had enough room to just go around. Michigan drivers like to get right up under your bumper when you're waiting at a light, so that was the need for everyone to back up to get out. Anyway, that also became a recurring theme for the rest of the evening...

So anyway, we finally made it to Panchero's. For some reason, it was pretty dead on a Friday evening. After dinner, we went home and got ready to go out for some trashy fun in Ypsi. It wasn't as trashy as the last time we were there, which was very nice, but we had a good time. Hardly spent any time in Club Divine, but Pub 13 was actually pretty bumpin' so I didn't feel like I missed out too much on shaking my butt.

After a very late and very crazy night, I managed to crawl into bed around 5:00. I slept until 9:30 and then got up and started packing. Sadly, I wasn't going to get to spend much time with Autumn in Michigan - I had to head to DC for my PMF Exam - the exam wasn't until Monday, but the cheapest ticket I could find had me leaving on Saturday afternoon. So I said goodbye to Autumn and and headed on my way - she had a wedding to go to anyway - and off I was. It felt like the flight took forever, but that's only because we had to wait in line to be de-iced before we could take off.

When I finally landed in DC, it was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining (which is was not doing in Michigan) and it was 57 degrees, according to the pilot. I took off my scarf and my coat while I was waiting for the metro. It was really funny though because there was one woman who had her scarf wrapped around her face and up over her nose, a fuzzy hat on, and she was buttoning up her coat as far as it could possible go. Some people just don't know what real cold feels like :)

So off I went to Mark and Autumn's. It was really funny -  Autumn was going to be sleeping in my bed over the weekend and I was going to be sleeping in hers :) So anyway, I got to their place, chilled with Mark for a little and then we walked over to Old Town for a nice big dinner at Bertuccis. Then we headed home, got ready and headed out to meet up with Allison and Paul. It was a crazy night to say the least. We went to this bar that was pretty big, but was very nearly  something you might consider a dive, and stayed there for the night. Along the way we passed the Keg Bus, and took down the number for future reference, lol. So anyway, as always when I hang out with Allison and Paul, things were a little insane. But it was a really really good time.

Sunday I slept in late, and then was kinda tired. Instead of studying for my exam, I did everything possible to procrastinate. Mark had work to do as well, but luckily he was in a procrastinating mood as well. He taught me how to play Lego Star Wars on his computer, which was pretty hilarious. I was terrible at it, and I couldn't stop laughing. It was hilarious! When you killed the little storm troopers, they blew apart into little lego pieces, hahaha! Then, I don't know what I was doing, but I ran out of Mark's room and tried to shut the door behind me and went to run down the steps. I soon realized that something was very, very wrong. Mark's doorknob was still in my hand!!! Hahahahaha! Apparently it was already broken - I swear i didn't do it! So I realized that I still have the doorknob in my hand and i almost rolled down the steps I was laughing so hard. I think I as crying, too... it was hilarious! So then Mark was like, umm, can you let me out? Hahahahahahaha.... I had the working part of the doorknob and he only had the other side, which was actually on the floor, so he couldn't get out of his room, HAHAHAHAHAHA. I think I laughed for a good 20 minutes, it was just too funny.

My exam on Monday morning went well, I guess. I can't really say for sure. I felt like I did the best I could and its just a matter of OPM deciding if I have what they think it takes to make a good PMF. I actually fell asleep in the exam though. Yeah, I know, leave it to me. I was so exhausted form the weekend, and I even caffeinated myself with a yummy soy chai latte. But it wasn't enough. I made it through the first section, which was very reading heavy, and I was so tired that I used the extra time I had until we moved on to the next section to take a cat nap. I was sitting in the front row, which makes it even funnier. But I just put my head down on my arms and I napped. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes, but it did me a world of good. I definitely felt more alert during the rest of the exam. I was really glad that I had gone business casual - there were a few people in suits, but most people were business cas... except for 3 of the people that were sitting near me. One looked like he had just rolled out of bed and came in wearing bedroom slippers, jeans with holes in them and a tattered hoodie. Another girl had on jeans with sequin embellishments, plasticy looking patent leather loafers, an old sweater and she was flipping her hair around like a regular cheerleader. And then another girl was wearing a tunic-y looking A&F pullover/hoodie thing, over jeans and I don't remember her shoes, but for some reason Ugg (uggly) boots come to mind. I was blown away... anywho...

So Allison wasn't able to meet up for lunch, but I was able to meet Mark for lunch. And this is when serendipity really made an appearance. I was telling Mark about the exam and everything and how it had gone, and then he told me about his morning meeting. Then we were talking about ASB and he asked me if I wanted a job. I was like "what kind of job? Part-time? Over ASB? what?..." and he told me it was a contract position doing some data gathering for a project that ALA is working on. I had actually seen the job when it had been posted, someone sent it around at SI, and I wanted to apply but flaked out and forgot. Well it seems as if they had a hard time filling the spot, so I ended up being lucky enough to just get it. It was awesome. So after lunch Mark took me on a tour of the ALA DC Office and I met his boss and supervisor and coworkers. They were all really nice people, and they seemed as excited as me to have found someone to fill the position.

Then I headed for home, packed up and headed to the airport. Things were relatively normal, and I was in a really good mood. It didn't take me long to get checked in and get through security, and before I knew it, I was on the plane. It was a pretty empty flight - I had 3 seats to myself. All was fine, and we were about 20 minutes early when we began our descent to DTW. We were getting closer and closer to being on the ground, I could see the buildings and the roads and stuff and I knew it wouldn't be long when all of a sudden the pilot yanked back on the controls and the plane felt like it went straight upwards. I seriously thought a wing was going to break off, and everyone got tossed around in their seats. So we started climbing again and after a few minutes the captain came over the loudspeaker and said, "Sorry for the missed attempt at a landing there folks, but there was another plane on the runway that would have been in our way." HOLY. CRAP. So yeah, it was pretty insane. And then we circled so long that we actually ended up landing on time, but whatever. I was just glad to be alive and on the ground, hee hee.

I then rendesvouz-ed in the airport with Autumn so that I at least got to spend a few minutes with her on her birthday. Then I headed out for home. It took me awhile to get home because it had been snowing pretty heavily and the roads were not in the best shape. But I made it, and did some homework before I headed to bed. I definitely needed sleep, and I still need sleep, so that's where I'm going to head now. But seriously, what a great weekend. I am so excited about the prospect of finding a job in DC and moving home to the east coast. And DC feels like home to me, I'm really comfortable there, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things work out. Anyway, cheers!

Song of the day: "I Feel for You" John Kano Club Mix