Excuses

I hate excuses, but I’m about to give you a long list of them. These are the reasons I’ve neglected the blog all summer. I’ve been busy. REALLY busy. And I’ve had a A LOT of fun. So here it is. The reasons why I’ve not blogged / what I did this summer.

VA Beach – the boardwalk, a random firework show, the beach, and Elvis impersonators make for a great weekend

Kayaking – much harder to tip than a canoe and really fun

Camping – twice along the beautiful Skyline drive above the Shenandoah Valley

Tubing – there are few things more enjoyable than floating down a lazy river on a tube with a bunch of friends and cooler full of snacks in the tube next to you.

4th of July – What better place to be than DC? Fireworks, parade, food, fun and the Folk Life Festival.

Gettysburg – Huge Civil War reenactment. It was awesome. I felt like I’d stepped back in time. Cavalry, canons, Yankees, Rebels, bayonets, soldiers.

City if Alexandria Birthday celebration –fireworks!

Baseball games – incredibly on 2 different occasions my people were able to get free front row seats to Washington Nationals games in their bright shiny new stadium. We’re talking no one in front of us but the players. One game was even followed by a fireworks show.

DC – I just love visitors! It so fun to show people around DC. Arlington Cemetery, Tidal Basin paddleboats, Eastern Market, the Mall, the monuments, Mt. Vernon, etc etc.

Ghost Tour – nothing will beat the time that huge storm blew in and soaked Jordan and I as we ran from an old church grave yard, but I still keep going in hopes of something good.

NYC - I heart NY! I finally got to the Statue of Liberty, enjoyed some great NY eats, saw a show, shopped and enjoyed central park. Check me out on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-cEN1CrFvw

Hiking – along a river with waterfalls and swam at the base of some falls, beautiful and so fun!

Berry Picking – I have no qualms about picking and eating blue, black and raspberries ANYWHERE.

Manassas battle field – another Civil War battlefield, but no reenactment.

Concerts - Melissa Etheridge, Brandi Carlile, the Indigo girls and Neil Diamond. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Neil Diamond! Seeing him live has been a life long dream of mine and it was exhilarating to have it come true, for real. Love him.

Farmers Market – Del Ray has the most adorable farmers market with the tastiest yogurt and European breads.

Missouri – Lubbs and I visited Dad in Collins/the-middle-of-no-where, MO. We went to St Louis and I went to the top of the Arch. We visited historic Fort Scott, Kansas, Cahokia Indian mounds, put on our own fireworks show (all varieties of fireworks are for sale all year long in MO), cooked, enjoyed some Kansas City barbeque and just hung out with our old man.

Gardening – if the #$%& squirrels would keep out I’d have a lot more to show for all the work I’ve put in. It has been a ton of fun to play in the dirt again after living in a high-rise apartment.

Babysitting – I just adore my nieces and they both had fun fun birthday parties this summer thanks to their super mom!

Sailing – It is so relaxing to just sit in a sail boat on the water and feel the breeze in your hair.

Grilling – mmmmmmm

Crabbing – at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware we caught ‘em and had a fiasco trying to get them in the pot for cooking but it turned out pretty tasty in the end.

Soccer game – DC United, they have a serious Latino fan base that was so fun to cheer with.

Star Gazing w/ Smithsonian Air and Space Museum – Only an hour out of the city and you can see so many stars! This was awesome. An astronomer/huge nerd took us on a “star tour” with his super power pointer light and showed us a bunch of constellations after which we got to look through a few telescopes at the stars and planets.

County Fair – The best part about this is the people; Carnies, Latino families and high school kids. Grab yourself a funnel cake and enjoy the show!

And not to be forgotten are eating, sleeping and on occasion working. It’s not over yet though. I just got back on Tuesday from a long weekend in beautiful Nova Scotia and here it is Saturday and I’m in the Denver airport heading to Utah for a week. I promise I really do work…sometimes.

Tag! I'm it.

So I just got "tagged" for the first time. Which means I am morally obligated to complete the following blog entry. This is good for me. Thanks Carren! I really have neglected my blog this summer and this is a great way to start back into it. So here goes.

Here's how it works: For each question, look up the answer on Google image search. Then choose your favorite image from the FIRST PAGE OF RESULTS ONLY. Just remember this is google image answering these questions.

Name?

Favorite Food?

First job?

Nickname?

Birth place? Appropriate, seeing as how I was born at home.

Bad habit?

College degree? Yes that's right. I have a degree in Genealogy and yes it's from BYU.

Where I want to go. Prince Edward Island in a few short weeks!

Favorite place? I'm pretty sure my "dream land" is not quite so pink and has a few more dudes in it, but this is a dream land nonetheless.

Favorite color?

Favorite animal?

Past love?

What I am doing right now.

Where I live.

Favorite object?

Grandma's name?

Age?

Girls just wanna have fun!

Working at the DAR has given me the opportunity to go to a lot of concerts. Constitution Hall is a great venue and you can’t beat $2 employee tickets, 7 rows from the stage. Saturday night I took my friend Laura to the True Colors Cyndi Lauper show. My first indication that this show wasn’t what I’d expected came when on my way into the hall, looking hot in a new dress and heals, the group of guys I walked passed did not check me out. Clearly something was wrong. Then I considered what type of guys might be going to a Cyndi Lauper concert. Sure enough the tour was organized to promote gay and lesbian rights and the entire gay and lesbian population of DC was there. The show was hosted by Carson Kressley, from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, who pranced around the stage talking about his wardrobe changes. There were 4 acts to the show, which is why I’d gotten the tickets. The first act was Teagan and Sarah, 2 Canadian Lesbian sisters who rocked out on the guitar. They were followed by the very talented Regina Spektor. She was fantastic! She’s a one woman show and sounds amazing a capella. At one point she was stomping her left foot, playing the piano with her left hand, beating the drums with her right hand and singing! I can’t even rub my belly and pat my head at the same time. It was quite the performance. Next came the party known as the B-52’s. If you’ve seen the Love Shack video, you’ve seen the B-52’s; crazy guy yelling, chics with big hair, outrageous clothes and everybody dancing. All in all a lot of fun. And finally out came Cyndi Lauper; 55 but with all the energy and of her 1980’s glory days. She’s quite the performer and had the crowd on their feet right away. As she started in on her second song, Laura and I sat down, but no one else did. When you sit down that close to the stage you can’t see a thing thats happening on stage. We didn’t know the song so we weren’t paying much attention. I leaned over to say something to Laura and the next thing I know Cyndi Lauper has me by the right arm and is pulling me out of my seat! I did not at all see that coming. She then proceeded to stand on my chair and sing to the crowd but not before turning to me and pointing with the Cyndi Lauper scowl only she can give. I was dumbfounded. I stood there staring at her singing to the crowd and standing in my chair. When she got down a minute later she stepped on Laura’s purse, then bent down and picked the purse up off the floor and put it in Laura’s chair, all the while singing her song. It was one of those experiences where you ask yourself, “did that just happen?” Yeah, it did. Cyndi Lauper pulled me by the arm out of my seat, folks. The rest of the show was fun, especially when they released dozens of giant balloons into the audience and everyone who’d performed came on stage to sing True Colors. Laura described it as the gayest night of her life. I’ll second that!

Camping and Bluegrass

Some friends and I went camping in the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia last weekend. We planned the trip around the Graves Mountain Bluegrass Festival for a weekend of backwoods country fun. The highway we were taking through Virginia also happened to be the main road of the town of Sperryville (population 1300) and the town happened to be having their annual parade and town celebration. We were lucky enough to hit the parade at midpoint when they were letting traffic through and we told to drive alongside the beauty queen and in front of the pink and green spandex clad baton twirlers. We waved at the locals in their lawn chairs lining the street and wished we had brought candy to throw. It was great!
The Shenandoahs were beautiful. We found a great little campsite right along side the Appalachian Trail and met hikers who'd been on the trail for 2 months having started hiking in Georgia. I almost wished I could join them as they continued on the Maine, almost. Being out in the woods, cooking over a fire, hiking, and playing in the water reminded me of so many family vacations long spent, except there was less noogies.
The highlight of the bluegrass festival was the legendary Ralph Stanley. He was pretty fantastic for being as old as dirt. Check him out!

Florida

I recently spent a long weekend in Florida with a few of my good friends. It was a fantastic trip! It was my first time to visit Florida and I loved it. The wild life and plant life are so different from anything else I've experienced. We saw alligators just hanging out on the side of the road, manatees swimming with people, dolphins showing off jumping in the ocean, and pelicans having lunch on the waves. It was beautiful. Here are some highlights from the trip...

Lunch with an astronaut at the Kennedy Space Center,

my great pals Laura and Mellie and the rental Dodge Charger,

getting hosed at Universal Studios,

and the beach, of course!

Just Like Heaven...or 1989

I keep a mental list of people I want to see perform before I, or they, die. In recent years I've been able to marked several names off the list. Like U2, Dolly Parton, and Ricky Martin (OK he wasn't on the list but he sure put on a great show). Topping the list is Neil Diamond. I nearly lost it when a few weeks ago I heard he was coming to DC. I sat in my car open mouthed staring at the radio in disbelief until someone honked and I had to pull myself back into reality. I will be having my moment with Mr. Diamond come August 5th. Another list topper has been The Cure. I was able to scratch that name off my list a few weeks ago. Anyone, no no, any white person who was a kid or teen in the 80's and 90's is familiar with the dark eyeliner, red lipstick and spiked black hair of lead singer Robert Smith. I am happy to report that he is still sporting all 3 key elements of his signature style. However he has not aged well and gained some weight making his costumed appearance even more effective/frightening. The show was awesome. I went with 2 of my good friends and had a great time. One of the best parts was standing in the hall people watching. I love people! They're nuts. The band sounded great and performed all of my favorite songs: Just Like Heaven, Friday I'm In Love, Pictures of You etc. Should you get the chance I highly recommend going. Don't forget the black eyeliner!

My new best friend

Just up the street from my sister's house is a ghetto shopping center that plays host to a giant beauty supply store called "Beauty 4 U." One of my fellow white girls once ventured inside said store and was told she was too white, they didn't have anything for her there. I usually try to avoid this shopping center and, lets face it, most of the other stores in Oxon Hill. My sister once pointed out that there was a small bakery next to Beauty 4 U and suggested we try it sometime. I imagined it having a few stale donuts and M&M cookies under some glass guarded by a 400 lb former lineman named Gerard. Needless to say it wasn't a top priority to try it. But my mind was quickly changed when my friend Sam, a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, gave a high recommendation to "Desserts By Gerard." Turns out Gerard is not a 400 lb lineman but a culinary French genius whose delectable creations make me weak in the knees. The best thing are his mini tarts. Its so hard to chose one so why not go with 1/2 a dozen? These bite-sized treats are small enough that you can eat several and not feel guilty. This way you get to make an educated decision on what tart to purchase on your next visit. Desserts By Gerard is like an oasis in the dessert, not only is the food amazing but the ambiance of this bakery is fantastic too. Walking through those doors makes you feel like you've stepped right out of Oxon Hill and into a little taste of heaven. If you want to see for yourself come on by...I'll be there drooling on the glass http://dessertsbygerard.com/home.htm