a happy holiday weekend.

This week was crazy - we were preparing a presentation at work and I was a busy girl after hours, as well. There was trivia night, dinner with Momola and Daddo, opera night, and then Friday night Matt and Jo came into town. They're about to move to London and managed to squeeze in a holiday weekend visit down here. We had a weekend of great weekend and fantastic food - I took them to my favorite places and they loved them, too! We went to Mandu for Korean food on Friday night, followed by beers at Brickskeller (just ignore the mice as you peruse the incredible beer menu). Saturday I made omelettes before we went out separate ways - they wandered U Street while I headed off for zoo volunteering and we met up by the apes at the end of my shift. We met Kendra at Oyamel for dinner, and all of us enjoyed grasshopper tacos - oh, the tastiness of them. I tell you, some sauteed 'hoppers, in a tortilla with some guacamole and a little salsa on top. Add a couple of margaritas and you have one fabulous night! Yesterday we went to brunch at Busboys and Poets with Christopher's Jason - I love breakfast and brunch. Matt and Jo went to the Air and Space museum while I walked back through the park in the sunshine. I met them later on downtown with a cheesecake in hand and dragged them out to the suburbs for a BBQ at my client's house. It was perfect weather for a day in a backyard - the whole weekend was glorious weather, sunny and warm but we're still pre-humidity here in DC so it was only pleasant. We let the sun wear us out and spent Sunday night back at mine watching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Do you know what the best part was? That it was Sunday night and I didn't have to go to work the next day! Today was another omelette morning, they left for the airport midday, and I've been lazing about watching tv and doing sudoku today. Oh, it was a glorious weekend! I love having visitors; it feels like you're on holiday in your own hometown. I should have gone out today, too, but it was so great to lay about like a lump. I am a happy girl, and ready to go back to the office tomorrow refreshed and reinvigorated. Hope you all had a happy Memorial Day!

not ignoring the blog.

Just wanted to let you know that I actually have a post in progress, but it's a crazy week at work, and a busy week after work, so I'm working on it in small bursts. I also have to admit that I spent a large chunk of time this weekend on my computer working on something that's not related to either the blog or baby pages. It will be it's own post, but Emily told me that it was an allowed project. Now, speaking of work, I gots to get there!

Happy Birthday, Claudia!!

I'm just home from Claudia's birthday gathering. I feel great, I'm losing my voice, and I'm happy tired. Claudia found a fantastic South American tapas restaurant right in my neighborhood that does live music and great mojitos - we know I'll be going there often! It was great fun, even if not dancy dance music; mostly I was really excited to see everyone again. I don't see enough of the Maryland crew, if for no other reason than life is busy.

I was surrounded by astro- and physics people, but I was totally ok with the whole "I don't have a phd" thing, which was a first, usually there's a little tinge of what should have been. Instead tonight I just had fun. I got to tell people about the fun of my job and how cool it is. I did, though, meet a guy who had been up at Boston and worked at That Place That's Not BU with J-... when surrounded by people who know how I feel about the situation up there, it was funny to have someone sit across the table from me and tell me that J- didn't talk much about BU. I just told him that she didn't like me much. That's the quick run-down of the evening. I'm going to bed so that I can do zoo tomorrow. Happy 30th, Claudia!!

Just one day more.

I was home sick yesterday, and I had occasional thoughts of posting all the pictures from the weekend in Florida, catching up on one or both of Clara's or Dumpster's picture pages, doing laundry, or any number of other productive activities. I was in bed all day; I accomplished less than nothing. I did feel better by the end of the day, however, and I put in a full day at the office today, even managing a load of laundry when I got home. I still haven't unpacked the two suitcases (one from each trip) that are on the floor of my room. But now I've got some clean underwear and work pants, so the rest of the laundry can wait until this weekend. It's going to be a busy one - tomorrow is Claudia's birthday bash (yay!) and Saturday I'm volunteering at the zoo. Add laundry, going to the market, and Sunday brunch & promised pedicures with Christopher and I'm going to be a busy and happy girl! I promise to fit in some picture posting, though, and in the meantime...











This is me and that baby playing before bedtime - he's got the video camera from a plush "my first space shuttle" that I found in a toy store in Alexandria - it's got the camera and a tool pack that make fun noises, and two finger puppets, an astronaut of course, and a girl rocket scientist!! They all fit inside the space shuttle and he thinks it's great fun to take them out and put them back in!

The girl rocket scientist reminds me of an article I read on the flight down to FL which has me heated and ready to write a letter to the editor - it supposedly addressed the lack of women in research science. I'm going to use this blog to rough out my ideas for my letter, so you'll hear all about it, but for tonight, I'm tired. I've got an 8am meeting in the morning, and that's never a good way to start a Friday. So to bed, I've got to get my energy reserves up so that I can get my dance on tomorrow night!!

Three strikes, but not out

I came home early from work today, because I felt like crap. I thought this morning that aside from the sore throat that I was just tired - my weekend was a blast but not exactly restful, and last night I literally ran all over the city (see below) - but as the day progressed my head got fuzzy and I could feel myself tuning out. So home I came. I napped, did a little work, and am currently curled up in bed with kittay and faffing about on the internet.

So my company does its own version of Amazing Race to race money for a local animal shelter, and teams go all over Arlington, VA and DC. My team involved myself, a guy from my pub trivia team who telecommutes from Michigan and is in town a couple times a month, my office mate, and a friend of hers from college. We were G-MEN: Globally-Motivated, Extremely Nerdy. The only downside to our team? I don't drive in the city, Daryl is obviously an out-of-towner, and Karen and her friend live in VA. Since the key to the race was getting places fast, we were at a disadvantage. But it was a lot of fun, we made a lot of people stare as we ran down Metro platforms and city blocks. Our biggest mistake? We went to the Russian embassy at one point instead of the bar called Russia House - that slowed us down. I think the first time one participates the thing is a little more stressful than fun, but it was interesting, and we learned strategies for next year... watch out!

It was a chilly, rainy night, though, and that didn't help me resist the germs I was exposed to during my visit with the Snot Bucket (I swear, Dumpster generates more snot than any kid I've ever seen!) - I think his mucus production rivals Clara's early spit-up issues! So Auntie is sick again, and trying to recover without getting hit too bad - I've got a busy couple of weeks at work! This is the third time I've visited that baby and gotten sick after, hence the post title, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to see him all the time! But, it's Claudia's birthday this weekend, and I need to be ready to dance Friday night! I am looking forward to it! And there are more pictures from the weekend (we took about 100!) but I don't feel up to dealing with photos and a fuzzy head, so they'll come soon.

Auntie in for a visit!

I got in to Tampa this morning, picked up Mark's car at the airport and drove to Meredith's house, where a very happy dog-giant was waiting for me, and we proceeded to wait for Meredith that that Dumpster! They got there earlier than I was expecting, and little Dumps walked right across the room for a hug from his Auntie!! There was some shyness after that, but by the time we unpacked my suitcase (he likes to help) and finished lunch that was done, and we went off to the park, where Dumpster and his auntie went down the slides together!

It was good fun, and we've succeeded in getting that baby to bed well before his normal bedtime - visits with Auntie are very exciting! Now he's konked out and I'm pretty tired myself! Meredith and I are watching some tv and thinking we'll be in bed early. The capper on our day? A bowl of ice cream to share! It's so cute to see him shake his head yes/no to questions! Meredith says that his teachers at day care say he's actually quite chatty, but at home his big works are "mama" and "tooka-tooka." I'm still quite set on getting something "auntie"-like out of him! I've got a video, but haven't been able to post it... I'll try again later.

Thursday = Friday

So I spent a grand total of two days in the office this week. Monday and Tuesday I was still on travel, and yesterday and today I played catch up from my trip. Tomorrow, however, tomorrow is my day. I'm waking up ridiculously early (which will be all the more rough for my slight continuing jet lag) and get on another plane to fly down to Florida - that's right! I'm headed down to see that baby! I'll spend a couple days down there, take Dumps to the zoo, and just play with him and Meredith - I can't wait! Here's a picture of him with his mohawk, and I love it!! He's also just enormous! I'm glad to be getting down to see him again; the last time I saw him was at Christmas, and that's just too long. He's walking now, and I just found the button that lets me post a video here, so maybe after this weekend I'll have a video to post of the little mover and shaker! My goal is to teach him some sort of word-sound that indicates Auntie and Auntie alone. I'll keep you posted... In the meantime, check him out:

A week away...

Sorry guys, but I've been out of town without time to think, much less blog - but there are a couple of things I jotted down that I want to consider and write up later. In the meantime, here's a quick recap:

Wednesday there was the big meeting banquet and I was sorely tempted to skip it. I'm glad I didn't, though - open bar, tasty food, and an exciting speaker! George Whitesides, who works for Virgin Galactic, spoke after dinner. I want to go to space! All I need now is $200K... the night ended with a lot of beer and pool. I am really bad at pool, which is so frustrating because I feel like I can see what should happen!

Thursday I had dinner with a former student who's now in grad school out in CO, a bad margarita but good tacos and dessert, and fun catching up. So all in all, a great night!

Friday was the end of the meeting, and midday found me heading to the airport, not to come home, but to head south to Albuquerque, and a drive to Los Alamos to visit my friend Sigrid and her family - she was my sanity in the early years of grad school, and is now working at the lab, living in an amazing house atop a gorgeous mesa with her husband and two beautiful daughters. It was a wonderful weekend, with much fun. I got to visit the lab on Monday and am only just getting home from this long trip tonight. I was exhausted getting off the plane, but now I'm watching the primary returns, and we all know that keeps me up later than is good for me. So there's more to tell, but my tired brain can't form many more sentences, especially in the growing Obama excitement tonight - hurrah!