Booyah Wins!!!

I have been playing fantasy football with my brother and his friends for like six or seven seasons. I have never won the entire thing until this year!!! I am the champion!

I did not think I had a chance because I was not so great in the regular season but I just barely made the playoffs and then the awesomeness of Booyah (my team's name) just kept on coming! I even had one of my major players not play this week and I still won. Where all this talent came from I am still unsure but I am quite proud.

It sure feels good to win especially when I get a little reward for it.

Christmas Traditions

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and a beautiful day of celebration and family. My Christmas day is a small, simple one but I am enjoying the slow day. In preparation for Christmas I have participated an many of my regular Christmas traditions. Here are a few of them.

Getting our Christmas tree. We used to cut them down at a farm but those days have past. As I always say, "it is the best Christmas tree ever!"

Spending time with life-long friends I do not get to see often enough.

Cookin' yummy food in the kitchen.

Playing Wii. This is a new tradition but it has become a regular activity of our holidays.

Hanging our Christmas cards. My mom has done this since before I can remember. She loves displaying her cards. Another point to note, it is warm enough in Houston to wear shorts. Or it was that day at least. Gotta love the first day of winter being 80+ degrees!

Starting the fireplace with the leaf blower. Something about the cold air being heavy and pushing the smoke into the house. I don't know but it happens every year and always makes me laugh. This is actually from today so thankfully it is a cool Christmas day here now.

Every holiday season has its traditions and it's peculiarities that are not expected but enjoyed. Here are a few new additions to my holidays.

Me hanging out with a huge metal rooster.

Searching for a cat around the house and finding her looking down on us. No this is not a new cat, we are cat sitting. Isn't she cute though!

Realizing that I am more like my family than I thought. We love our boat shoes. Mine are the ones on the bottom.

I hope you are enjoying your holidays, traditions and peculiarities both!

I Did It Again

I chopped 9 inches off my hair this week!!!!!!!!!

I know all of you are very interested in my Hair Chronicles so let me just tell you all about it.

The before shot

Four+ years ago I decided to brave the world of long hair. I grew it out for two years and then chopped off 10 inches to donate. You can read about the first time I did it here. I really enjoyed the whole process and grew to like my long hair so I decided to do it again.

As you can see from that post, that was May 2009 and now we are at December 2010. I probably could have let my hair grow out even longer but I wanted to get a good cut before I left for Chile so it was now or never.

Before from behind- look at those luscious locks :)

So I did it. I cut off 9 inches and it is short! I have had it this short in the past but not in a long time. I really like it but it does take some getting used to. I love how little time it takes to wash and dry it and how little mousse it takes to style it. I enjoy my short hair. I also enjoy the fact that now I don't have to get it cut again for quite a while.

So check out my new Christmas do!

The After shot

Adios hair

It Begins

Remember my birthday post in April? I got a surprise harmonica and I thought maybe I had found my calling. Well since then guess how much I have practiced.

NONE!

Well, none until today. Today my dad found an old harmonica book in some of his files and he gave it to me. My past excuse for not playing has been that I have been living with people and did not want to be disruptive. It was a legitimate excuse.

Now that I am at my parents house where my dad practices his guitar each day I think that excuse no longer works so I decided to give it a shot.

Did you know playing the harmonica is hard? I didn't! When I was a kid I used to blow on an old one we had and thought, "hmm, no big deal."

Wrong! It is quite hard and I am going to have to work on my technique a lot but I think it might be worth it. I kinda enjoyed sitting around, practicing an instrument. It has been a while and I am going to have to brush up on my music note reading skills.

F-A-C-E

Every Good Boy Does Fine

Sound familiar to anyone?

So I was practicing a little and attempting to get down covering certain holes with my tongue so that I could play one note at a time (not easy). I thought I was getting ok at playing Row Row Row Your Boat (gotta start somewhere) so I attempted to play it for my parents. I asked my mom what song I played and she said, "umm, Mary Had a Little Lamb?" Ohhh I was crushed! I guess Row Row Row needs a little more work.

I think I am up for the challenge. I might take a little hiatus again while in language school and living with a Chilean family (can you imagine their surprise) but once I have my own place I am going to rock out!

Hello Texas

I made it!! I am safely back in Texas and have been here a couple of days. My bags are finally unpacked and I have even started going through some of the many boxes crammed in my closet here. The Goodwill around here is very lucky. My dad has already taken TWO LOADS for me.

My sorting goes something like this.

I start off asking "Do I want to take this to Chile?" If the answer is yes yes, it goes in one pile.

If the answer is no this I ask "but do I want to get rid of it?"

If the answer is no, it goes in a box in my closet again.

If the answer is yes it goes to Goodwill!

It may not seem like a good system but it is working for me. I am already a few boxes less. Simple is the way to go people.

I love cleaning out my stuff. I mean yea the teddy bear I got for some unknown reason 10 years ago is cute but wouldn't it have a better life with some poor child than gathering dust in my room. Yes!

On another note, the travel to get back to Texas to go through all my stuff was great. I won't bore you with the details but here are a few pics to tell the story. St. Louis was a lot of fun and our time was filled with eating, watching football, playing games, playing wiibuilding fires and visiting the arch. Good times.

Building Fires

Playing Wii- showing our dancing skills

At the Arch

Pod to go up in the Arch

Beautiful at night

And I'm Off

I'm packed. My car is fueled up as am I with coffee. I'm ready to join the other million people on the road today. Grrrr, I have my game face on. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! :)

My plan is, since I have never driven on any of the roads or through any of the cities I am about to, I am just going to enjoy the trip, traffic, rain and all. I get to drive through Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Wow! Us Texans are not used to being able to cross that many states in under 24 hours. This should be an experience.

According to the Weather Channel I will only be driving on one of 10 Most Congested Roads and that is right here in DC and I drive on it many times a week. This will be breeze! :)

Pray for my safety and give me a call. I am sure I can only handle so many hours of audio books at once.

Farewell lovely Virginia. I will miss you!

Where is Harry when you need him?

I could use Harry Potter this morning. I really need someone to magic all my things into suitcases and into my car with the swish of a wrist. I don't wanna pack!!!!!!!!!!!


I purposefully did not pack this weekend, leaving it all until today but now I'm not feeling it. I will get over that soon because I am leaving tomorrow morning whether I am packed or not and I would rather be packed. I just needed to whine a little to the blogging world. I usually do not mind packing for a trip but packing all my things is a totally different story.

I also don't wanna pack because I am sad to leave. I have had a wonderful weekend with my wonderful friends here and it was hard to say goodbye. I enjoyed my favorite place in the city, ate yummy food, laughed, worshiped in Spanish and in English, ate more yummy food, and I feel so blessed and supported. Thanks to all of you for making my time in DC amazing. It is amazing how attached I can become to a place and to people in just three short months. I think my mission here is accomplished. :)

Adios DC

What I do have to look forward to now is seeing my family. I have not seen any of them since August and I am excited to visit St. Louis where my brother and s-law live. We are going to have a wonderful time relaxing and eating. That's what T-day is all about right?

Hello St. L

So what do I need to do in order to see them soon? Pack.

Ugh. Here I go....

Best Way to Travel

Road-tripping alone is not exactly my idea of fun, even road-tripping with friends is not my preferred method of travel, I would rather fly, but sometimes its gotta be done. This is one of those times. Tuesday I leave the lovely metropolis of DC and my lovely friends of DC and head back South by way of Ohio and Missouri. Not exactly a direct route but it will work.

The first two days of travel, with the end goal being St. Louis, will be done alone. Two days in the car by myself. Ick. How do I survive? Only by the invention of audio books.

When I started traveling a lot, especially between Texas and Colorado, I discovered audio books. I think the first one I listened to was Little Women. I soon discovered that some of the classics I felt like I should enjoy but could never work up enough of an attention span to read, I could listen to. You see, since I was already bored in the car and had not much else to pay attention to (besides driving of course), it was actually quite entertaining to listen to authors like Jane Austen, Emily Bronte and Jack London. They became wonderful stories that kept me alive while driving for so long alone.

My list of books I have listened to has continued to increase as the miles have increased. I have not only read classics, but mainly. I have listened to My Antonia, Call of the Wild, Emma, Mansfield Park, Wuthering Heights, and Brave New World and I am in the middle of listening to War of the Worlds.

Since I am about to depart again I have returned to my trusty provider of free audio books, Librivox. This website takes books that are in the public domain and uses volunteer readers and provides free audio books that you can download straight to Itunes. It is an amazing deal. If you do not like older books then you might look into buying audio books or visit your local library, as they usually have a decent selection.

This trip I am going to attempt to finish War of the Worlds and also The Scarlet Letter and Uncle Tom's Cabin, none of which I have ever read. Although I am sad to leave DC and am not looking forward to two days in the car, I am quite happy with my listening choices. I will let you know how it goes!

Here is my basic route according to Google Maps. Know any good places to stop?


View Larger Map

Again

I bought my plane ticket to Chile AGAIN today. That is right, again. I bought it a few weeks ago, canceled it, got refunded, did some more research and bought it again. It is a long, complicated and boring story but the end of it is that I now have a plane ticket to Chile. Ahhh! This has been so long coming. I feel so many varied emotions it is amazing I am able to think straight.

I am thankful the ticket is bought, that I have the funds to buy it, that our team received good advice on buying tickets, and that I now have one less thing to worry about getting done. No matter how prepared or unprepared I am, I will be flying to Chile on January 13th. Can you believe it? I almost cannot.

Pray for me. Pray for my team. Pray for everything we need to accomplish between now and January. Pray for us as we say goodbye to those we deeply deeply love. Pray for Chile.

Questions I get a lot

As a soon-to-be missionary, I get asked a lot of questions. To be more specific, I get asked a lot of the same questions over and over again. I really do not mind being asked these things because I am usually just so thankful that people care enough to engage me in conversation about what I am so passionate about. I also understand that my plans and what my teammates are going to do is a little confusing so it is good to clear some things up. Here are some of my regular questions as of late.

When do you leave?
I leave Washington DC right before Thanksgiving to spend the holidays with my family, the month of December in Texas getting ready to go and spending time with my home church and then I hop on a plane in mid January 2011.

Do you speak Spanish?
Eh, kinda. I have studied Spanish off and on for years but I have never become fluent. I can get around but I have so much to learn. My teammates and I will start language school as soon as we get to Chile and study for at least 6 months.

Where are you going to live?
Not sure yet. (Ha! I love telling people that) I will first live in Santiago for language school and the missionaries there are helping us figure out where to live, either in furnished housing or with a family. From there, I will travel to Conce (short for Concepcion) to find a place to live there. No, our whole team will not live in the same house but hopefully we will live close to each other.

What is the weather like in Chile?
Well, you need to be more specific. Chile is a really long country and has varied weather but in Conce it is quite mild. It does not get out of the 80s in the summer and does not get below freezing in the winter. I does rain a lot.

Are you going alone?
Nope, I have six wonderful teammates. Check out their blogs!

What are you doing now?
I have been living in the DC area for the past three months getting to know my supporting church family here. It has been wonderful.

How long are you going for?
At least five years.

Chile...isn't that where there was like a big earthquake or something?
Yes, in February there was a large earthquake but where are there not natural disasters? This is just a new one for me to learn how to live with. I survived the tornadoes of Oklahoma, the blizzards of Colorado and the hurricanes of Texas. Maybe I will be the next Bear Grylls. :)

Any other questions?

Violated

I got hacked!

I feel a little violated.

My old yahoo address sent out some strange link to everyone in my contact list. It was really strange and I see no evidence in my account of anything happening but it must have because I promise I did not send that out myself. I promise!

I have been working to fix the problem. It would make sense to just delete the old account and I would except that I am using that email to play in two yahoo fantasy football leagues and I might not be able to get back in. Wouldn't that be a sad day! After the season is over though that account is gone!

So, I did as much as I could. I deleted all of my contacts and all old emails saved there. I changed my name and my extra email address. I changed my password multiple times, so many times actually that when I tried to sign in this morning I forgot what it was. Maybe if I can't remember it then the hacker won't be able to either. :)

Hopefully the email world is safe from strange emails from this chica for a while. I apologize for anyone that received something strange from me.

Mini-Vacation/Roadtrip/Retreat

Thursday I took a quick trip out to the Virginia countryside and had a wonderful Mini-Vacation/Road-trip/Retreat that I did not even know I needed. Marilyn, one of the women I live with, has a country house out west of DC and she graciously let me visit for a night.

Can you believe someone lives here and sees this every day

I was able to take long walks, spend a lot of time in prayer, eat lots of yummy food, read and just enjoy the quiet. It was seriously amazing how quiet it was out there. No sounds except the crickets and the occasional gun shot from the neighbor. I also was able to see the stars so brightly. I had forgotten that I cannot see them in the city and I really enjoyed gazing at them, despite the cold.

I could walk/run here everyday

Marilyn took good care of me and gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted or needed. She provided yummy meals, gave me a great tour of the little town near by and took me to a delicious dinner at one of her favorite restaurants. We had a lovely time.

Beautiful contrast of green fields and colorful leaves

The drive to and from the country house was spectacular. Seriously, the leaves changing here looks like the trees are on fire. I saw some beautiful aspens change in Colorado but they do not compare to the color variety here. Amazing! There is everything from yellow, to orange, to red, to purple and every shade in between. There are even some trees with all of these colors plus green on them and those just make me so happy. I did not know that was possible.

I love fall and I love Virginia

I don't really consider myself a country girl, I prefer the mountains or the city, but knowing that country can look like this (and not just a dry farm like in Texas)...my eyes have been opened. Thanks for a wonderful time Marilyn!

Besame Mucho

We sing this song in my Wednesday Spanish class every week and every week I laugh, a lot. I do not know the tune at all and I know others do not either. We sound awful! Yet, we keep trying, I keep laughing, we do not get any better but it sure is amusing. Ever heard this song? You can read the lyrics in Spanish and English below.

Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche
La última vez

Bésame, bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte después

Quiero tenerte muy cerca
Mirarme en tus ojos
Verte junto a mi
Piensa que tal vez mañana
Yo ya estaré lejos
Muy lejos de ti

Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche
La última vez

Bésame, bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte después


English translation:

Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
As if tonight was
the last time.

Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
Because I fear to lose you,
To lose you later on.

I want to have you very close
To see myself in your eyes,
To see you next to me,
Think that perhaps tomorrow
I already will be far,
very far from you.

Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
As if tonight was
the last time.

Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
Because I fear to lose you,
To lose you later on.

Too funny. I love it.

Great Day

Beautiful cloudy day. Wonderful AM worship time. Blessing to teach such amazing women. Learned a lot from these amazing women. Challenged by our study of James. Nice, simple lunch at Wendys. Good conversation. Picked up necessities at grocery store. Speedy run. Talked with precious friends who give great advice. They pray for me and I for them. I am so thankful. Oil changed. Are my air filters dirty? Chat with the Madre and the BFF. Always good. Peaceful, fun evening. Mexican food. Stories. Laughter. Chick-fil-a milkshakes. Life changing. My life is changing...

Feelin' Thankful

I love when I think "I need to write a blog, but what should I write about" and then I realize it is Thursday and I get to share with my few readers what I am thankful for. If you have never done a post like this you should try it. It just makes my day!

Thankful for:

• My winter wardrobe- it is starting to get cool here and I am prepared
  
• The leaves are actually changing now- there are a few bright red ones that just make me smile
• Guilty pleasures- Regis and Kelly
• Friends who surprise me with their generosity
• The chance to teach
• The beautiful architecture at the National Cathedral

• My funny Spanish classes- it is so much easier to learn when everyone is relaxed and having a good time instead of fearful
  
• Halloween candy
• 30 Rock- makes me laugh every week
• Internet TV so I can watch shows later
  
• Sweet friends who visit and gave me the chance to see the monuments at night- so impressive

• Morning cereal
• My Wednesday adventures with J.
• The possibility of so many wonderful people visiting me in Chile
• The miners! Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le
• Still no wreck despite my driving mishaps, maybe I will make it out alive
  
• How close beautiful nature is to such a huge city

It has been a wonderful past couple of weeks and I am sooooo thankful!!!

I Saw Him

That's right! I saw the president! Mr. President Obama.

Or, well, to be more accurate I saw Mr. President's car but that is almost the same and I am pretty sure we made eye contact through those tinted windows. :)

This is the story. I was in DC looking at the monuments with friends from out of town. It had just gotten dark and we were heading away from the Washington Monument (which is close to the White House so probably on his drive home from somewhere important).

We had noticed some flashing red and blue lights at a few of the intersections and traffic backed up some and wondered what was going on but I did not want to go and find out. It is usually best to avoid flashing police lights.

So we were standing next to one of the streets and looked up and a helicopter was flying real low over the Washington Monument and I said that I did not think anyone was allowed to fly over this area and how strange that seemed. Then the road in front of us was clear and then came the motorcade.

There were probably 5+ motorcycles, numerous SUVs, then two limos with the presidential seal on them (eye contact made here), then more SUVs, two ambulances, and some more motorcycles. It had to be him. No one else would get that treatment.

Hello Mr. President!

NFL Thoughts

Brett Farve annoys me.

Why does Farve annoy me? I don't I have a good reason. I used to be a fan, I used to love watching him play like I love watching Peyton play. Now I'm just annoyed.

I heard the announcer say tonight that he just turned 41 yesterday and has to have shots in his ankles. Retire already, for real retire, not retire and then come back and then retire and then come back...

Oh yea, that's why he annoys me.

I can't say I miss grad school but I did enjoy our class discussions about our Farve feelings.

I watched a video on the Houston Texans last night on Hulu. I guess the NFL puts out videos about various teams. I don't know, but I enjoyed it. I remember how exciting it was when they were a new team and it did not matter how bad they were or how many times Carr got sacked. It was so exciting and still is.

I have missed not getting to watch them play this season.

What happened to the Peyton Manning commercials? I love those. They were so funny! I love Peyton. I never get to watch him play either.

It seems like a million years ago that I was sitting in Monday night class with Chris watching the MNF score on my computer while trying to be engaged in class. Thanks for not minding Chris and for even asking us what the score was.

I've Been Converted

I am a new NPR convert and I must proclaim it to the blogging world!!!

I have never been a huge fan of talk radio of any kind. I have listened to ESPN radio a bit but mainly I associate talk radio with me getting into my mom's car, hearing Rush Limbaugh and changing it to some pop station. I never had any interest in hearing him or anyone else talk on the radio...until now.

I think some of my conversion has to do with the fact that I am in my car more now than I have been in a really long time. I get tired of hearing the same songs on the music stations over and over (why do they do that, by the way?) and I have trouble finding a clear station to listen to my ipod through.

NPR was suggested to me so I decided to give it a shot and I really enjoy it. As I understand it, it is a liberal talk radio show but I cant really tell. I usually change the station if they get to talk about too much political stuff but what I really enjoy is the news from around the world. They are always talking about some situation somewhere and I love hearing about somewheres.

I have listened to reports about post-earthquake Haiti, the war in Somalia, FARC in Colombia, the situation in Iraq and the list goes on. I love learning more about what is going on in the world and although I may not take time to read a ton of articles about the news I am totally willing to listen to different people talk about it while I sit in traffic bored anyways.

Other memorable listening sessions have been about NASA- I love NASA and want us to go to Mars ASAP, Justin Timberlake- did you know he was funny, and Desmond Tutu- my hero.

I feel so up-to-date and educated after listening to NPR and I love it. I love world news and science news and especially positive news. NPR does not just focus on all the bad stuff in the world but the good stuff too and I like that. It is a good balance.

I am an NPR convert and I will not be ashamed!

The Kennedy Center

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to see the National Symphony Orchestra play at The Kennedy Center in D.C. It was such a surprise that I got to go and I was thrilled. A friend from church called me Friday afternoon and invited me and I could not turn it down.

The outside view

To be honest, before coming to this area I had never even heard of The Kennedy Center but since being here I got the impression that it was kinda a big deal. I had no expectations of ever being able to see a performance there and just hoped for a tour or something. Then this opportunity came along!

The Hall of Nations- I found Chile's flag

I tried to dress nice and look as formal as possible with what my informal wardrobe has to offer. Luckily there is no dress code so there were people dressed in jeans all the way up to formal gowns. The building is absolutely beautiful and has an amazing view of Georgetown and the Potomac River. These are not my pictures on here but they will give you an idea of what the place looks like.

Inside the concert hall- we sat on that far wall in the first box next to the stage

So we attended the symphony and it was amazing. The first piece they played was a little odd and modern but the second piece, Beethoven's 9th Symphony was spectacular! I was just happy to listen to something but someone I knew their name but it really was a wonderful performance. In the last movement a large chorus was on stage and they sang along while the symphony played. I absolutely love hearing a large chorus sing and they were wonderful.

It was all wonderful. I had such a good time and I am so thankful to have had the chance to go!

Gnnochi

I made Gnocchi last night!!! That's right, the Italian dish made out of potatoes and I had a true Italian showing me her ways. It actually was not too difficult but you have to own some kitchen gadgets that I do not. We did a wonderful job! They were so yummy and I had a great time.

This is not a picture of what we made but close enough

I actually first tried Gnocchi in South America (Argentina I think but I forget exactly) and I really liked them. When I learned that my Italian friend could make them because she learned from her mom, I jumped at the chance to learn. Mmmmmmm!!!

My beautiful friends

Not only did we have really yummy food, also including a spinach salad, home grown green beans and creme caramel, but we had great company. We had a wonderful evening of eating, chatting, laughing and looking at old pictures. It was a perfect way to spend a raining day.

It's Time for Another...

...Thankful Thursday!!! I have not done one since May and that was actually a Thankful Sunday so it almost does not even count. I have so much to be thankful for and I'm going to share it all with you.

I am thankful for:

• The amazing rain we are getting in DC due to some tropical something. I am loving this. It was a little hard to get out of bed this morning but I managed.
• Morning coffee
• Everyone here in DC who has helped me so much- helped with offering directions, providing meals, giving advice, making me laugh and just being my friends
• The relationships I am forming
• Excitement over little things like new jeans
• The chance to cook and eat new foods
• Visits- those who have come and those that are coming

Cathie and Daniel visited their daughter and had time see me!

• I have not gotten in a wreck since living here
• Funny friends
• The leaves on the trees just starting to change
  
• The chance to serve
• People who help me make decisions when I cant stand to make another
• Exploration

My exploration of Old Town Alexandria- beautiful place

• Restful sleep, seriously, so thankful
• My running trail
• People who challenge my view of the world
• The amazingness of being able to communicate with people far away

I love Thankful Thursdays!

Tee Hee

Things that make me laugh:

• West Wing characters
• Attempting to sing really high notes in church
• Funny stories from friends
• Remembering my funny stories
• People who don't know the sounds that "h", "j" and "ll" make in Spanish
• This guy in my Spanish class that says "um" more times than actual words, so that by the time he finishes his sentence I cannot remember how it started
• Lanes that randomly end when I am driving in them
  
• People who try to convert random shoppers in the mall
  
• Me being stupid enough to stop and listen to these so-called evangelists
• When I fall out of my yoga poses
• Thinking that the Texans might actually be good
• Checking my fantasy football scores- I am terrible
• Saying "nos vemos" in Spanish
• The Pioneer Woman
  

Weekend Fun

If you know me at all you know that I like to have fun, to try new things and to spend time with people. This past weekend was full of that and I loved it all.

Saturday I went to the H Street Festival with some friends from church. What is the H Street Festival about? I still don't know. It was just a festival to have a festival I guess and it was perfect that way. The weather was beautiful and the street was full of interesting food, people, sounds, and smells.

Eating Thai food and a snow cone, all from the same booth

We mainly spent our time walking around, seeing what yummy food we could eat and watching the interesting people. There were people doing crazy things all the way from singing in a gospel choir to having hula-hoop contests to having a dance/paint party.

I think this car was trying to grab us

There was also an art car exhibit which was cool to look at and admire their work. I was so impressed! I seriously felt like I could have stayed at the festival all day just looking at people go by, wondering why they were dressed in costume and what they were thinking about the festival. There were people of all ages and all races, some with dogs, some with kids and some just having a good time. It was great!

Lots of people there enjoying the festival

Sunday was a a wonderful surprise, not that I did not know what I was going to but that I did not know I would enjoy it so much. I went with friends from church to what is called Opera in the Outfield. It is an event located at the Nationals baseball stadium. The Opera that is being performed at the Kennedy Center is simulcast to the stadium for everyone to watch. For free!!!

So after church on Sunday we headed down to the stadium. I drove and got us there and back safely with only a little stressful moment when I had to parallel park with cars driving by. Ahh! Anyways, we took our lunches in and got seated just in time to not pay attention to the screen that was telling us the story line. I felt a little lost throughout the whole thing but not so lost that I did not enjoy it. We worked as a team and figured out what was going on.

Beautiful day to sit at the baseball stadium and watch an opera don't you think?

It was sung in Italian and they had English subtitles for us to read. In between each act we would read a little more of the story so we would know what was going on. They gave away the ending before it ended but I guess knowing that the main character is going to die in the end is not that unusual for an opera so I just went with it and tried to be surprised anyways.

The singing was AMAZING and so was the set and costumes. I just loved every bit of it. I also was impressed how easy it was to see and hear it all sitting in that bright, open baseball stadium but it really was not a problem.

I am not sure of the official reason for the opera but as I told my Spanish class about my weekend they asked me why they had a free opera. I thought about it and attempted to respond that I think it was so that those of us who knew nothing about opera can now appreciate it a little bit. I feel a little more educated about the opera and think it is something that is great. There are probably a couple thousand other people who feel the same way. Unless they didn't appreciate it I guess but I just cannot see what you could not appreciate about it.

Obviously we did not have to dress up for the opera

Anyways, it was a really fun weekend and I was so thankful to spend time with such wonderful people, enjoying the beauty and culture of DC.

Oh yea, and the Houston Texans beat the Washington Redskins. They were playing here and I really enjoyed trash talking my Redskin fan friends. Go Texans!!!

Quiet Time

The scripture meditation for today comes from Galations 6:11.

"See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!"

Haha, I know that is not meant to be funny, but it always makes me smile to read it. It seems so out of place, but such an interesting little glimpse into Paul's world. I wish in my Bible these words were capitalized or something so they would be large letters. That would really be funny!

I hope you got as much out of this quiet time as I did. :)

Espanol

I just attended my 2nd Spanish class since being here in DC and it went really well. I got a chance to talk about my weekend (blog about that coming up) and relearned for like the billionth time, the subjunctive. If you know what that is join me in shouting BOOOO!

Just to show that the opportunity to learn Spanish is all around me let me teach you a new word I JUST learned while sitting here at a coffee shop. I look up and see this sign that says "No Loitering" and underneath it "No Vagabundear." That is a great word. Say it with me, "vagabundear." That might come in a close second to my favorite Spanish word to say, "estacionamiento." What does that mean? Something deep maybe? Nope, it means parking.

It's the little things in life that amuse me.

Vagabundear.

Estacionamiento.

What a great day!

Pretty Shoes

I love getting new running shoes. They are so pretty. They are white and fresh and clean and ready to be run into the ground. It is like I get to help them do what they were created to do. Run! Silly, I know. I took these new babies out for a spin this morning and they felt great. My knees were thanking me for some new support.

National Zoo

On Labor Day I went to the National Zoo with some friends from church. The weather was perfect, the zoo was free, and we had a great day. We walked around for almost 6 hours and were worn out by the end but we saw a lot. My favorite animal to see was a tie between the panda bears and the jelly fish. Jelly fish? Jelly fish. They were amazing!!! Just look at the picture below. I seriously could have watched them for hours.

Sweet looking lion

The only thing the zoo was missing was giraffes. Giraffes are my favorite animal and I was really looking forward to getting to see these strange looking creatures with their awkward heights, bony knees, big eyelashes and purple tongues. How could the National Zoo not have giraffes! Even the Abilene zoo has giraffes!

Check out those brilliant colors

Sometimes going to the zoo can make me sad that the animals are stuck in cages and not able to roam as much as they would be in the wild. This trip was no different, but some of the signs in the zoo addressed this issue and said that many of these animals are more healthy and well fed than most animals in the wild and they are treated very well. I guess that's ok...

Panda bear- they are so cute

The pandas were also really fun to watch. They were very playful and it was cool to know that they are they only pandas in the country.What is funny is that they are on loan from China. It was funny to hear that the US and China are working on a new lease for the panda bears as if they were a rental house. Their 10 year lease just ran out and they are trying to keep them. I hope they get to stay. Their habitat was so huge that it was hard to find them unless they came inside (and they did). As soon as the pandas came in people crammed into see them and the crowd was super excited!

Beautiful jelly fish- these were my favorite thing to watch

Ladies of the group, riding home on the metro

I have to give the credit for these pictures to another party member not pictured. Thanks K. for sharing and for taking some great pics.

Sure, I'll Take an Ashtanga Yoga Class...

Since my weekly schedule has been quite irregular for the past few weeks...or months...I have not been able to attend any yoga classes. I have been missing yoga so when I arrived in Virginia I started looking for places around me. I found a little studio down the street and decided to check it out on Tuesday. I had emailed them to see which class I should take, stating that I had done some yoga before and wanted something challenging. Challenging was what I got!!

I arrived and the class was made up of me, another lady and this intense looking instructor. I knew I was in trouble when she said that to practice Ashtanga properly you are supposed to go to class six times a week. As she began to explain what we would be doing I was thinking "what is Ashtanga, what have I gotten myself into, and would they notice if I left." I told the instructor I had never done Ashtanga before and she said that was fine but I needed to check my pride at the door and know that I would not get it my first time. Awesome.

I also knew I was in trouble when she said that downward facing dog pose (using sanskrit terms by the way, not words like down dog but words like adho mukha svanasana) would be our resting pose and there would be no child's pose for us. Crap!

It seems that the basic move of Ashtanga is what you can see in the video below. I could not even do this basic move so of course I could not do the rest of the poses. Could you? I mean, I can hardly do a push up, how in the WORLD am I supposed to do THIS!!



I stuck it out through the class but when I left I was sweating and my arms and legs were like jello. That was NOT a normal yoga class, more like a body building class. I pretended like I had a good time and that I would come back sometime when in reality I wanted to pull the lady's arms off so she could not inflict pain on anyone else ever again!

Turns out I am not just a wimp and this type of yoga is real and is crazy. I emailed my old yoga instructor to see what kind of class I should be taking. I told her what I went to and she said "Wow! Power to ya!" and then told me what her style is called. I am going to do that next time.

You might think I am exaggerating about how hard this class was but I'm not. I could not even do the poses half way and 4 days later I am still hurting. My lower abs hurt, my upper back and shoulders hurt and my hamstrings are killing me! On a normal day I can bend over and touch my toes no problem. Not today! Not at all since Tuesday! I did not even go for a run yesterday because of my hamstrings. I have been stretching like crazy and am hoping for some relief soon.

I enjoy trying new things so I won't say I regret going but I am looking forward to a doable yoga next week. Hopefully that is what I get!

Old Spice Commercial

This commercial cracked me up tonight. It is so bizarre!!!! This is such great advertising that it makes me want to wear Old Spice!

Blog Advice

The Pioneer Woman today gave a list of 10 things she has learned about blogging, one of them being do it regularly, even if you don't feel like you have much to say. Tonight I don't feel like I have much to say. I have a lot on my mind but that does not mean anyone would want to read about it. The little cursor is blinking at me, challenging me to type something...anything...whenever I am ready...here it comes...

It has been a while since I have been the "new kid in town" but now I remember why I always try so hard to make people feel included when they are new. It is tough being new. Not that everyone here is not nice or welcoming or anything because they TOTALLY are, but it is not the same as when I am the regular kid in town. I like being the regular kid. It is easier.

I better get over wanting to be the regular real quick though and be ok with being the new kid because the next year+ of my life is going to be about being new. I am new here in Virginia, I will be new in Santiago and I will be new in Conce. I am ok with all of those things but I dream about being a regular in Conce.

A regular here, eating fruit, chatting with the salesman

A regular here, waving to those I know passing by

I dream about going to the grocery store down the street and knowing the people that work there. I am excited about having a usual place I eat at or drink tea at where I am known and I know others. I can't wait to get to know my neighbors and being the interesting foreign friend next door instead of the new girl who doesn't know anything. I look forward to running through the park and waving at the old man or the woman and her baby that I pass by everyday.

A regular here, no explanation needed

A regular here, see the tennis rackets?

I pray these dreams come quickly, but also that I am open and ready to learn from being the new girl. I try very hard to live in the moment and enjoy where I am at instead of always looking for something better, so until I am a regular in Conce I will attempt to thrive at being the new girl and see what I can learn!

A regular here, praying over the city

Hopefully not a regular on this route :)