Snow Days, Spring Time, and Hockey

So this weather is getting stranger and stranger. Today was another snow day - the second one we have had this month. Two years ago I was in Chicago on St. Patrick's day and I wore shorts and a T-shirt all day because it was in the 70's. That was Chicago! This is DC where winter is supposed to be shorter and spring a lot nicer. As annoying as it is that the weather is still not warm, it was nice to be able to have a relaxing day of working from home. I got stuff done, but I also took a break and went shopping with some of the ladies I live with for while in the afternoon. I realized that it had been a long time since I had gone shopping with a group of girls and we had a lot of fun looking at fun outfits and picking out a few new items each. I am really excited about my new comfy, over-sized sweater. I also got pants with a pattern on them which is really not me, but I figure, I'm young, why not?

Just two days ago (Saturday) I went on a long walk down to the National Mall because it was so nice out. I really enjoyed the walk. It is right at 2 miles from my house to the mall. I took my time and just enjoyed the weather. It was great to not have an agenda or feel rushed to be doing something. Turns out there are some really cool churches tucked away between the buildings of the city. Here are a few:

I think this red door against the white church is really cool. Also it is an interesting contrast against the building surrounding it.

Last Saturday Corey treated me and Cara to a couple of tickets to see the Capitals take on the Coyotes. It was a fun game and we came back from a 0-2 deficit in the third period to win the game.

After the game we were going to go grab a bite and a drink, but decided that making a fire at home and roasting marshmallows would be better. Then we thought about it and decided that roasting peeps would be even better. Turns out that the wood we have was all too wet to burn properly, but we each managed to get one peep roasted before we ran out of dry-ish wood.

They were really tasty! I mean with the extra sugar, how could they not be?

Longest Winter Ever!

This winter just wont end! Last year in February we had consistent 50* days. Sure it got cold at night, but I was never tempted to wear my big winter coat to work the entire month. In fact I believe last winter I wore that big thing a total of maybe 10 days. Now it is March and Monday we had a snow day. There was ice under around 6-10" of snow depending on where you were in the area. I know you mid-westerners scoff at such conditions, but here they really don't have the equipment to deal with that snow and ice. We did have one normal February day on the 22nd. I happened to be on a Saturday so a bunch of us went to the Mall for the afternoon.

Alisha joined us for snacks and Frisbee

This is Ben, Grace's fiance. He was a little rusty. 

The sunset and the Capital at sunset are for you Mom.

Right as we were getting ready to go we saw this fox wandering around. No idea where it came from or what it was doing, but it was just on the lawn in front of the Museum of American History.

So that was the one day of spring. Three days later I left my house to head to work and this was our front garden. Currently it is even deeper (after the snow on Monday). 

In order to break up some of the monotony of winter Keith and Erica hosted a murder mystery dinner on Saturday. We were all given characters ahead of time (I was Cleptopatra) the light fingered Queen of the Nile. Everyone else was a roman. It was a box set complete with character profile booklets and a CD with background music. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed on another's costumes. 

I apologize that this post was so long delayed I hope all the pictures helped make up for it. I feel like I am constantly busy, but I am not exactly sure what it is that is keeping me so busy these days. Corey is enjoying London and feeling pretty well acquainted with the city. Because of the time difference we don't have much time to talk during the week (only over my lunch breaks, when I get them) so we try to talk on weekends. I am flying out on the 28th to see him and I am sure it will be great! We are going to spend one weekend in Dublin so that should be pretty awesome. 

Also coming up: Marlinda and Mom visit me! They are actually going to be here for the beginning of the Cherry Blossom Festival so they get to be part of the first wave of the new tourist season. I just hope it really is spring by then!

Not Much to Report

I know it has been a rather long time since I posted, but I just don't have much going on these days. Since Corey has gone I am spending a little more time hanging out with my house but work and other things have kept me busy. I spent the last Saturday of January babysitting for a family at church. Matthew and Lisa Watson are new pastors that have been working with our church while they research where they are going to start a new church in DC. They have two boys and a little girl ages 7, 5, and 2. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them and less exhausting than I had originally imagined.

The next weekend I had to work on Saturday. (What a great way to being February) We had a training for our college employees so that we could get this semester started off on a strong note. We also did some hiring and I have been busy recruiting for the last few weeks. Saturday night our house went to the Green Sky Blue Grass concert at the 9:30 club. It was really awesome, but after a long week and working that day I was exhausted and some of us ended up leaving about a half hour early.

This last weekend my small group from church went on a retreat. We stayed at a cabin by a river in Maryland. It was cold so we were mostly in doors, but it was great to get out of the city and spend some time just relaxing for a weekend. We all shared out faith journey/story and got to know one another even better and on a deeper level.

I was supposed to be flying out to Atlanta tomorrow at noon for a conference, but because Atlanta is now expecting to get another storm* they have canceled all flights heading there after 6:30pm tonight. We have called and canceled our hotels and are planning on staying here.
*storm is defined as 2-4" of snow and temperatures as low as 30

Life

Last week was pretty hectic for me and this weekend flew by without me getting anything around my place accomplished and yet time keeps going forward and life happens. Sunday morning Corey left for London where he will be for the next 6 months working. This means that I spent last week helping him get ready to leave and just hanging out as much as possible. I wasn't at my place very much so my room never got cleaned and my laundry was never washed. Luckily all the things on his list got done though. One of those items was clean out his fridge which was fun for me (and by default my house) because I brought home a nice supply of goodies. We now have most of a gallon of ice cream, caramel for apple slices, a bag of shredded cheese, two bottles of wine, six random beers, a box of eggo waffles, and a few chicken breasts. Also in that list should be one steak except that I decided to make and eat that tonight with some onions. It was delicious.

Today was MLK day as I am sure you are all aware which means I sorta had to work. By sorta I mean I had to go into work, but it was a short day and we didn't do normal work stuff. Every year for MLK our office does a service project with some of our students. This year we made sack lunches and then handed them out to people in the neighborhood who are experiencing homelessness. I had to go into work early to help set up and run the event but we were finish up by 1 and I was home by 1:45. There were several groups besides our students who came to help out and all in all we had around 100 volunteers. The event went smoothly and was pretty straight forward which is why I decided to reward myself with the steak dinner tonight. Now I am going to spend the rest of my evening watching some Netflix and eating a bowl of ice cream. I realize that I should get my room cleaned and my laundry done, but I figure it has waited this long, it can wait another day or two.

Happy New Year

So the new year has come and I have been pretty horrible about posting on here. The end of 2013 was a lot of fun since I got to go to Florida to spend Christmas with my family. Doing a vacation over the holidays was a new experience and while it was great to be able to relax and do something different, it didn't really feel like Christmas. In fact we didn't go to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas day we were at Busch Gardens. Still fun, but not really Christmas.

The new year began with me laying on the floor on my back in pain while fighting off chills. I was sick for a full week starting on the 30th of December. It was timed just right to make my last week of vacation miserable and totally unproductive. I ended up not going back to work until the 7th. Since then I life has basically returned to the same as usual - work, living in a house full of people, small bedroom that is incapable of staying clean, and working on my quilt when I have time.

On Sunday Corey returned from Cancun. He was there on a family vacation and had fun even though it apparently rained just about the entire time they were there. While he was gone I found a guy to sublet from him while he is in London. Corey leaves this Sunday for London and will be there through June. This means he has one week to try and pack for London in addition to packing up any of his clothes and books and movies and games he isn't taking so that this new guy can move in. Needless to say, this is a hectic week.

Now I know that it has been close to a month since I have updated anything and really anyone reading this is just hoping for some pictures so I will try not to disappoint.

Here are a few from when our office went bowling at the White House:

 The lanes tilt to the left but it does have automatic pin set.

Here are some of the cups we gave one another for Christmas:

The cup Cara gave me which she bedazzled. 

And the cup I gave Cara which I etched.

Mariah's new cup.

Keith's new glass. He said it is good it has a heavy base since he is prone to spilling.

Now a few from our vacation:

Waiting for Journey to Atlantis

All ready for an awesome ride!

A super fat manatee that was trying to eat the leaves. They apparently grow to be almost twice their normal weight when in captivity as opposed to being in the wild. 

Some animals we saw at Busch Gardens: