just say no?

doesn't every mother teach her kids to never get in a car with a stranger?? does anyone ever say yes??

there i am, just walking to the metro rockin out to some kelly clarkson, when i see out of the corner of my eye a car slow down and stop right next to me. naturally, i just keep looking straight a head, but i can still feel someone staring so i looked over for a second.

"hey, i'm headed to the metro, can i give you a ride?"

"i'm just gonna walk...thanks though."

"which way are you walking?"

"this way..."

even if this fiftysomething's intentions were good, ya just don't do that! doesn't he realize how creepy that is on so many levels?

so i thought my day couldn't get any more exciting...until i went to safeway.

i'm just minding my own business bagging up some delicious artichokes, when...

"excuse me, you're really beautiful."

"umm, thanks..."

"can i ask you out? it's your eyes..." creepy maybes?

"you know, i don't think so."

"why not? i have a motorcycle and a helmet for you!"

"that's ok...i'm good."

"it would be fun, ya know just hang out or something. and i have a motorcycle. i'm sure you like motorcycles! can i get your number?"

now here's where i have a problem. i would rather make up a fake number on the spot then say no. so that's what i did...


not sure why i have an issue with just saying no...and i was terrified he was going to try and call right then and figure out it was fake! not sure what i was scared of, but you just never know i guess.

he was a little more age-appropriate than the previous grandfather instance...but really?

i've said it once and i'll say it a million times...kenny chesney is the only single man old enough to be my dad i wouldn't mind taking a motorcycle ride from.

mmkay.

first instance of d.c. savvy

well, i've figured out a system for car-less grocery shopping! i'm new to it and think it's pretty genius if you ask me. how do people live without cars??

my lovely roommates with their lovely cars would definitely take me when they go, but our schedules don't match up too well.

LUCKILY there's a safeway literally next door to comcast, my home three days of the week. i think i've been every day getting a few things i need each time. a bag or two each time back with me on the metro and my walk home and i've got all i need!

i've even gotten ice cream, people!

it may or may not be close to soup by the time i finally get back...
afterhavingtowait45minutesforthetraincausetheythoughtthey'dclosedownatrackeverytimeitrytogeton...but man does that triple-cookie sundae edy's sound delicious right now.

i also haven't been able to walk past those 50 cent artichokes without getting more each time...50 cents!! are you kidding?! 


my roommate Caitlin thinks eating a plain artichoke is the weirdest thing she's ever seen. i always thought it was normal?? they're a delicacy in my family!

artichokes & ice cream...i could get used to that!

humidity.

i really don't mind humidity. my hair, however, minds a lot.

i know it's only gonna get about a zillion times worse this summer, but i absolutely love heat of any kind. anytime i think i'm too hot, i just think of how miserable i am in the freezing winter and then i love it even more!

but i've discovered humidity affects a lot more than just my hair.

1. the gum in my purse is almost wet when i get it out
2. the sugar on sour gummy watermelons dissolves off of most of them before i eat them
3. it took a total of 48 hours for my sweater to air-dry in my apartment

but it's good in a few ways too!

1. the air smells awesome, especially around my apartment where there are a lot of trees
2. if you look outside and it looks cool and cloudy...it'll still be warm!
3. i think i've noticed a little difference in my dry skin..no more waking up in the middle of the night to get some lotion!

yay for the good stuff, and the bad isn't really that bad.

it does make me miss my dry desert of Utah, and growing up going on vacations to arizona and new mexico. i keep thinking of the red rocks and how awesome it is in the southwest. i'll always be a western girl, but i'm an eastern girl for now.

hopefully soon i'll be southern...

that time my dad dropped me off in d.c.

it's here! i flew out to d.c. last thursday with my awesome dad. he came out to make sure i could find my way around, and we had a great time! i'm really glad he came!

somehow this is the only picture we managed to get together...but i promise we were there at the same time!

we also got to drive to richmond per my request. i really wanted to see some of the civil war/confederate history there. we went to the confederate white house that belonged to jefferson davis, a sweet museum, a cemetery of confederate officers and monuments of robert e. lee, jefferson davis and stonewall jackson. my dad wasn't a big fan of the actual city and "downtown"...i didn't love it either...but i really glad we went. my dad is the coolest.

white house

 john marshall house

 cemetery

 on sunday we checked out the national cathedral...it reminded me of france and was awesome! we didn't get there til late so we couldn't go inside, but the outside was incredible.

we also ate at some great places. friendly's, don pablo's (or was it don francisco??) and good stuff...we had to try it, cause amanda swears by it! it made me sick..but in a good way. i was absolutely stuffed that i could barely walk afterwards. bacon cheeseburger, rosemary fries and a milky way malt shake. absolutely delicious, but note to self: never order all three in the same trip. me and dad even split the fries! but he made me get my own milkshake. the nerve...

on his last night here we went to a little pizza party to meet some of the other interns at n.j.c., and the next day he went home after walking me all the way to my first orientation! i know i'll always remember our time out here and i couldn't be happier that he came out with me!

love you dad!!

softballs are NOT soft.

well I've been twenty for a few weeks and I'm still alive. but I did kick it off right by going in for round 4 of stitches in my lip. the first was for running into a kid's head trying to get candy in fifth grade.

(some things never change).

the second was after I got hit in the face with a softball while fielding a grounder at shortstop. aren't grounders on the ground, you ask??

they should be. unless you're me, then they hit a pebble just right so it bounces up at your face at full speed.

the third was last summer...remember this?

just getting some scar tissue removed and trying to restore it to the way it was before the softball incident. he went conservative, cause you can always do more. so last week, he did more. and hopefully it's the last time.

i just got the stitches out yesterday, which, by the way, is only fun if you enjoy the skin around the stitches being cut up as well. ouch. the swelling is almost all the way down and my lip almost looks normal! yay for me!

i know this is really exciting, and it should be! probably mostly for me though. i'm grateful there are things to be done to fix the results of my graceful moments. :)

did i mention i'll probably have to get a root canal as another result of that darn softball hitting my mouth? it will never end. but if it does, i'm closer to it!