Festival of Lights

I luckily have a week off between Christmas Eve and and New Year's. I went to DC to visit. I was able to make it to the DC LDS Temple to see the Festival of Lights. They also have a pretty cool creche exhibit with nativity scenes from all over the world. 

A kooky creche from Spain

Nick and I checking out the lights

The temple in the background

A Quick Visit

I started following a website that tells you when there are cheap deals. They have a formula for the prices. All I know is that I got a round trip ticket from Chicago to DC for $80. I was sold! 

The only touristy thing I really wanted to do was to go to the top of the Washington Monument because it was closed the entire time I lived in DC. It's more difficult to get tickets than I thought it would be. But I ended up making it in the first tour group anyway!

View of Lincoln Memorial from top of Washington Monument

 I love the WWII memorial. It is so interesting to me. And on a beautiful sunny day, you could really capture it's meaning.

WWII memorial

 A totally unknown gem is Roosevelt Island. I would definitely want a little island in the middle of the city if anyone ever built a memorial to me. Just saying.

Lynn and me. No hats! Weird light!

 The monuments at night are also great. Just a magical city.

Melanie C. and me

 Oh, DC. You know how to give me all the feels.

I was able to catch up with several people. Life is good. History is fun! Happy Fall! :)

Beginning of Summer

Nothing too exciting has really been happening over here. When I get an idea for a blogpost, I rethink it and decide it's lame/boring/nobody cares. So here are some photos of some recent happenings that you may or may not care about, but it's all I got right now:

Tigers vs. Nationals game with Lynn

 Lynn and I took in Nationals Park after a rain delay rescheduled our game. The Tigers ended up losing, but we got to see a lot of variety from the bullpen and some exciting hits, so all in all, a pretty great spring baseball game.

Virginia Beach

One of my roommates and I went to Virginia Beach on Memorial Day. It was a gorgeous day. I finished reading a novel, got some sun, saw some dolphins, jumped into the Atlantic, and got ice cream. No complaints. A great day off of work!

Virginia Beach

Protest outside my office

 Every few months we end up getting protesters outside of our office. The last protesters had nothing to do with our office and they played interesting (read: obnoxious) music all day. At least these protesters were directly related to some of our recent policies, so I felt like they had better reason to be there. Nothing too eventful happened. I feel like having a protest so close to me every few months reminds me about how people really care about a lot of things that go on rather than just going through the motions.

Kickball

 I joined a kickball league with a few of my colleagues. It's enjoyable, but I will never do it again because kickball is just not an involved enough sport for everyone (read: I'm really bad).

Teammate up to bat

I wish I had more profound or interesting things to say. I haven't been dating lately... so I have no good stories about that. If you know anyone in DC who would be a fun/interesting date... send them my way ;)

Hopefully I'll have more to report on as the summer progresses.

Passport DC

Even amid numerous budget cuts, Washington DC offers numerous interesting and free events. I started following a couple of blogs that post events that are free or under $10. There is always something that I’m game to do, it’s just finding the time and the energy to venture off into the city to explore and enjoy.

This weekend, the Embassies hosted one of the bigger cultural events. You could go around to several embassies and tour the estate, watch videos or live dances, listen to traditional music, eat typical food of that country, and explore the culture and history a bit better.

I had limited time due to some other previous commitments, so I was able to spend about 2 hours in several of the embassies. Some of the smaller ones offered a view of traditional clothing and artwork with some sample food, while others had live animals, art you could create, clothing you could try on and a whole host of offerings.

It seemed like some of the embassies were kicking off their tourism season with the enticements of discounted airfare, spectacular views, and sandy beaches. 

A few of the embassies I was able to tour:

Right by the Embassies on Massachusetts Ave is the National Islam Center. It is a beautiful building and I took a few minutes to look around. 

You could go inside the building, but women were required to wear a hijab. There was a women outside the door who had a bunch in a basket and was dressing numerous women in them. Here is a photo of me wearing the hijab.

However, I was not wearing long pants (I was wearing capris pants) and neither were other women, and that turned out to be against the rules. I'll have to go back another day dressed appropriately. (In my defense, the woman at the door dressing me in the hijab didn't even mention my pants...)

Stranger Danger

I probably don’t have a healthy understanding of avoiding strangers. I blame my mom. (Yes, my mom reads this blog. Hi Mom! Love you!) Whenever we went on family vacations, she always chatted it up with some random person whether we were in line at Splash Mountain or riding bikes on Mackinac Island. Occasionally, [read: often] I felt embarrassed by these encounters. Now, however, it seems that the apple has not fallen far from the tree.

A few years ago, I spent a whirlwind of two-and-a-half days in New York City interviewing for legal jobs. (spoiler alert: I didn’t get any of them). I had never really been to NYC before, so in between interviewing, I wanted to see some of the city. While I was in my hotel, I ran into a fellow tourist who was interested in seeing the city. He was in his mid-40s and Vietnamese. We soon were speaking about some things that we wanted to see, and as it turned out he knew of a $1 bus that I could take to get to Grand Central Station.

I decided he had done his homework and we decided to take a walking tour of the city for the afternoon. Yes, I walked to the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, and the Brooklyn Bridge with a complete stranger. Looking back on that experience, it was probably a terrible idea, but it really worked out well for me.  

I have since spoken with numerous strangers and felt enriched by what they have to say and immensely enjoy the experiences. (Future children beware of the extreme embarrassment of this character trait).

But let’s fast forward to today. I have been working in DC for about 8 months. And nearly every day in my commute I cross paths with this one man. He wears a suit and tie. We pass each other on a path where not many people are traveling (through a park in my neighborhood).

In the beginning when we ran into each other frequently we would nod at each other in acknowledgement. Shortly that turned into a nod and smile, and then it graduated to the polite “hello.” Recently, I’ve been going into work at more sporadic times or driving to different schools in the city, so I haven’t seen him much. Absence must make the heart grow fonder because our last greeting, I smiled and he said, “Hey, Good Morning!”

I find this particularly amusing because that is often more than I say to colleagues that I work with who I ride with in the elevator for a few floors. Maybe my mom and I aren’t the only ones who like to speak with strangers.

Full Plate

This was a jam-packed week for me. I did something every night. And that is definitely not like me. Normally, I like to come home, eat something small, run to the gym, come home and catch up on tv shows that I haven't been watching. I didn't make it to the gym once... I may need to start going at 6 am... It's currently under consideration. I'll see how I manage this week, and then decide if I need to get up early to get the workout that I need.

I met up with a lot of great friends and saw a lot of cool things in the city. The Cherry Blossom Festival, Kickball on the National Mall, Busboys and Poets, etc.

On Saturday I met up with an old coworker of mine to watch the DC United game. We had pretty decent seats. In the throes of all the action and the screaming and bouncing fans, the "screaming eagles". (I was not anticipating standing the entire time, but it was fun!)

DC United ended up losing (2-0) to the NY Red Bulls. I seriously am always impressed by the athleticism and control that these soccer players possess. What can I say, I love this game!

Hanging out with the "screaming eagles"

My old coworker and I

Taking in all the action

I wouldn't mind going to another game. I can feel that the summer is going to be bursting with tons of activities... I'm going to have to pick and choose wisely! I may have already over committed myself... We'll see how everything shakes out.

Cherry Blossoms!

Spring in Washington, DC means Cherry Blossoms! Although I think we missed the "spring" part since we went from cold to summer in 2 days, I'm enjoying the signs of spring.

I did my best to cover up the scaffolding. 

I love the reflection of the Jefferson Memorial

 I still am looking for cherry blossom postcards. I couldn't find one in any of the shops. Maybe that's a sign that people really don't send postcards anymore. If I find some, I will buy in bulk!

Spring is in the air

Life definitely picks up when spring is around the corner. I'm still wearing my winter coat to work, but I don't think I will be for much longer.

The reason I can sense being busier as the weather improves is that I haven't even had time to check my blog in the past few days.

On Thursday, for Pi(e) Day, I was expecting my roommates to know about some parties that were going on (since they know about stuff like that), but surprisingly they didn't. I was pretty shocked. Well, we decided to get pie, so we went to Ted Bulletin's, but it had a 40 minute wait, so we went across the street to Banana Cafe and listened to interesting Karaoke with the pianist running the show. Then after 40 minutes, we went back to Ted Bulletin's and got shakes. I'd say it was a success. I'd upload the photos, but it wasn't a good hair day for me...

On Friday, a random girl in my ward invited me to dinner. So we met up with another friend and went to dinner. Then we walked around Georgetown. I found out that Zara has stores in the US. And not only in the US, but in Georgetown. I had no idea. Zara was my favorite store in Spain. Yes, I bought pink paisley skinny jeans. And they look fabulous.

Saturday was extremely busy. I went to a Women's Conference at my church in the morning. Then, I went to an Ultimate Frisbee game (quote of post-game synopsis "Defensive award this game goes to Melanie.  I ran out of fingers trying to count her defensive plays.  Nice job!"). (we don't need to talk about my abilities on offense...)

Then I went to a chocolate tasting at Cocova. So many kinds of chocolate and so little time! It was tasty. I ended the evening with a documentary entitled “Wonder Women!” which discussed the portrayal of women in the media and specifically going through superheroes and strong female characters.

Life has been good. I’m enjoying the free stuff in the city and working on my 1000 goals (as my mom says).

City Faux Pas

When I'm visiting a city, I try to look as much like I belong there as possible. That's why I leave my fanny pack at home. But sometimes, you just look like a tourist with your backpack, tennis shoes, and camera. I understand that. While on vacation, I often try to talk to local people to find cool restaurants or off the beaten path things to do.

Now that I live in the city. I most definitely want to let people think that I know what I'm doing. Even when I don't. I walk through the metro like I know which direction I'm supposed to go and which train I'm supposed to get on. Even if I'm checking the Metro app on my phone, it's not obvious to the outsider that I'm completely lost.

I know the metro system pretty well. I ride it nearly every day. I often meet up with friends on lines I don't normally travel. But I don't know the bus system at all.

A few weeks ago, a coworker and I went to visit a school for something related to our job and we were at a place where taking the metro back to the office was going to be a bit out of our way. (we took metro from our homes to the school). I google-mapped us the best route to get back to the office and it said to take a bus. And it told me how to get to the bus stop. We found the stop without a problem. And then we waited. After no buses went by us (like 10 minutes) I call the number on the stop and find out that the buses have been rerouted and don't pass by that stop anymore. Ugh!

So we end up taking the metro and it was pretty quick in the end. But it was my first attempt at the bus system and it was an utter failure.

Last week, the same coworker and I were to visit another school. We were going to use the agency cars (like zip car system), but it was going to be a pretty big waste of time to go pick them up. So we were set to take the metro to Chinatown and then hop a bus from there.

Seeing as the only buses we had really taken in DC up to this point were to Georgetown, this was definitely a different experience.

We got on the bus, and we definitely stood out. Of course I seemed a little green because I asked the bus driver if the stop we needed was indeed on that bus's route. She confirmed, and then I walked right past her. I completely forgot to pay! So I went back to pay.

Definitely a greenie move.

But that's not even the worst of it.

As we continued to venture into less familiar territory, I was checking the maps app on my phone to make sure that we got off at the correct stop. As we got near the stop, I informed my coworker and she requested a stop.

Then to our chagrin, my phone said, "Get off at the next stop" clear enough for several smirks and chuckles. Oh man! I didn't realize that my phone talked to me when I was navigating on a bus route. It was pretty embarrassing. But what can you do? Laugh it off, and chalk it up to experience.

The next time I ride a DC bus, I'll know to turn the sound off as I'm tracking our route!

The YSA Charade

"I already know an awful lot of people; until one of them dies, I couldn't possibly meet anyone else." – Reggie (Audrey Hepburn) in Charade

As clearly evidenced by my over 1000 facebook friends, I know a lot of people. Granted, I probably am only friends with about 10% of the people who I was once acquainted with enough to befriend via facebook. But still, having 1000 friends on facebook has to mean that I at least know a lot of people. (Or at the very least, it shows that I’ve moved around a lot and been in college forever…)

Having moved to the Washington DC area has presented me with numerous opportunities to meet new people on a fairly consistent basis.

And if you know me, you know I like to talk to people (or inanimate objects, I guess it doesn’t really matter). But I don’t like to talk to complete strangers in huge groups. That’s just not my element. I like to command the room of 15 people, rather than be a minor participant in a room of 150.

And, my friends, the YSA wards in DC are seriously cramping my style. I cannot attend any function with less than 80 people. I don’t understand how anyone is able to meet anyone and remember anyone. I get a little frustrated when I have to introduce myself to the same person 4+ times. But then I find myself talking with a group of people that I probably met in September and had absolutely no recollection of our conversation or any sticking points about the individuals, who apparently remembered me. (Sometimes it’s just as bad to find yourself on the other side of the equation).

My DC philosophy is that I didn’t need to befriend any females. Let’s be honest. I don’t want to attend another bridal or baby shower. And if I have to play another game of make a toilet paper wedding dress, you may get a real reason to use that much toilet paper… And to add insult to injury, nobody has ever bought me a set of Pyrex mixing bowls or some fancy kitchen gadgets that I could use just as much as them. I’d like to have a “Melanie Likes Kitchen Gadgets, Too” party so that I can recoup some of cash I’ve shelled out for the friends that disappear into coupledom never to return. But alas, I don’t think anyone would attend (or worse, get me gadgets!), so I’ve refrained.

But seriously. I have no desire to befriend any females here. I could probably use the strategy to have close female friends to introduce me to their cute male friends. But I’m not. There are just so many people that I need to focus my energies on friendships that will yield better results for the endgame. Am I right? (You know you’re secretly agreeing with me on this one).

I’m not clawing my way past the 8:1 (exaggerated) female to male ratio to find THE ONE. Not.Doing.It. Instead, I’m just going about my business, finding things that I’m interested in, and slowly meeting people and probably not remembering them as they fail to recognize me as well. It’s likely that this strategy will not yield the optimal results (marriage), but I guess I’m ok with that. Because honestly, I have enough friends.

A Good Cause

I've been thinking about protests a lot lately. Mostly because of this:

Now this is my office phone. And what you hear is a group of protesters that is outside my office about 3 times per week. This protest is small enough for me to not really know what it is about other than the sign that the protesters display since my Google searching proves to be unfruitful.

So from what I can gather, these workers are protesting the conditions at the construction sites where DC Water is working. Apparently, they don't get water. Now this is a cause that I can support. But I'm really dumbfounded as to how I can support it. 

So if you know what I can do to support this cause, please let me know. I want people to have water. And I'd really like to get back to work...

The Holiday Spirit

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Is Christmas really in 2 weeks? I seriously need to finish shopping... I'm really bad at gift giving. I like getting people things that they like, but the pressure of doing it between November 15th when I start to think about it and December 24th when it has to be done is sometimes too much.

But this year, as Christmas approaches, I'm trying not to stress too much about gifts and I'm trying to enjoy the season and remember the birth of Jesus Christ. Basically the past 8 years (except 1) have been focused on final exams, so this year it's so nice to not have to think about memorizing [useless] facts and I can do start some traditions of my own in DC.

This past weekend I went to an ice show at National Harbor. The theme this year was "Shrek the Halls" and there were millions of pounds of ice and amazing ice sculptures carved with such detail that I couldn't believe my eyes. The only downside to the exhibit was the fact that it was only 9 degrees. Although we were provided with parkas, it was cold! But definitely worth it. 

One thing that really impressed me was at the end of the Shrek part, there was a nativity scene sculpted out of ice. I loved that it was just pure ice without any color and I also loved that every 3ish minutes, Shrek retold the story of the birth of Christ.

Even in a world where everything seems to be "PC" and Christmas seems to be more about Santa Clause and his Reindeer, this ice exhibit with its gorgeous nativity scene was able to remind me that it's ok to talk about Christ at Christmas. 

Although I've grown up celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas, and sometimes it is complicated to talk about religion and holidays, this really just reminded me that it's ok to celebrate and share things that are important to you. And to remember that Christ was born and that He lives.

Not NBA Rebounding

Well I find myself in an interesting predicament. I find myself being pursued by a man that I once was really interested in. The only reason why I say once is because after spending some time with him, he informed me that he was in a pretty serious relationship. We have remained friends throughout the last year and a half, but I no longer thought of him as a romantic possibility.

Well friends, he recently broke up with his girlfriend of 2.5 years. Recently - as in two weeks ago. He kind of broke down to me about it and I offered whatever help I could - ie moral support, moving help since he was living with her (he's not LDS in case you're confused), etc.

Apparently to him, that meant someone to hang out with. I naively thought that as his world was collapsing in front of him, he just needed to be around different people, and that I could support him while he is figuring everything out. So I invited him to a dinner I was attending with some other friends that live in the DC area and he came. We also went out to dinner this weekend and then watched a Spanish film.

Things were going well until we started watching the movie and I realized this was different. This was not two platonic friends watching a movie on a Saturday night. This was something. While I was trying to concentrate on understanding the film (the rule was no subtitles), I was half thinking: "what did I get myself into, and how am I going to get myself out of it?"

Not that I don't want to date him, but it had just been so long since I let myself wonder if we would ever be a good match to really wrap my head around my feelings for him in that moment.

Well, the moment of truth came when he kissed me. I'm pretty sure he was absolutely shocked when I pushed him off of me and said, "I don't think this is a good idea." I told him my concerns that he had barely broken off a very serious relationship and that I didn't want to be the rebound. I explained that I wanted him to want to date me as the person I am, and not date me because he was lonely and missed that companionship that he had for so long and I was conveniently around to fill the void.

I feel good about it and I told him that I'd be open to dating, but that it would have to be really slow. Well, I said a lot of things. The post-rejection reaction has been pretty good so far and we'll figure out what we're going to do moving forward. But, I'm really starting to think that I'm a heart breaker for real.

I can say that I've never been in this situation before. You would think that having someone who you genuinely like as a person want to date you would be so simple, but in my dating life, nothing is ever simple.

DC Bound

So I have a callback interview with the Department of Transportation in October! I'm really excited and hoping that this opportunity works out for me. Please send happy thoughts and prayers my way if you feel so inclined.

Here's hoping for no more job hunting!