DC awesomeness!!! :)

Charleston, WV: ....THAT'S a place to visit?!?! wouldn't want to live there.

Washington, DC: very cool place to visit!!!! no one would ever see me again if I lived there!!!! because I'd get lost and die!!!!!! :-P

Philadelphia, PA: go to Damon's Seafood Grill if you visit, cuz that's about everything cool we found to do. um, I think I'd die if I lived there, too. Like, from getting shot.

Michael and I have caught a bit of the travel bug of late. Weekend before last we went to Charleston, WV for a Scrabble tournament, and were somewhat disappointed by the city. Lesson learned: we are not meant to be West Virginians!!! :-P lol Found one pretty cool restaurant - and - well - nothing cool to DO in the city, except a mall which advertised via many signs its methods to try to get rid of its gang problems. Er.....right.

Washington, DC was next for us! Just got back last night from a truly awesome trip. I honestly do not believe I could ever live in a city where "we're on Connecticut Avenue! except --- now Connecticut's over there! keep walking straight...and now you're on 28th Street! There's 1799 right there, there's 1801, there's 1802...but WHERE THE CRAP is 1800?!?!!?"

To visit, though, DC was wonderful! We got in on Friday and hung out with Soumya, which was fun - haha, always amusing to cross paths with a friend in a place that is native to neither one of you ;-) We saw Michael's favorite political singing-comedy group, the Capitol Steps, in a completely random fortunate alignment of events. (Michael, I just realized we never ended up getting you that sandwich you wanted from Quick Pita :-P)

Saturday involved walking, walking, more walking, seeing monuments, hanging out with Michael's friend from undergrad, visiting American University (where Michael went to undergrad), and having a very good and very humorous pizza dinner at a place on campus. It was so much fun finally meeting Patricia! After a day of walks-that-were-two-miles-longer-than-necessary-because-DC-is-confusing-and-even-people-who've-lived-there-for-four-years-get-confused-which-reinforces-the-fact-that-I-WOULD-DIE-if-I-were-to, my feet were about to fall off, and we completely conked out when we got back to our hotel (the Renaissance Mayflower). Felt a tad irreverent earlier in the day noting that one of the Vietnam War veterans had a full name consisting of two valid but unusual Scrabble words. Ah, well, the brain of a Scrabble nerd never quite does turn off... ;-)

Sunday I got to see where Michael lived during his senior year in college - Friendship Heights: hokey name for cute little random suburb of DC. Had lunch with his landlady, who apparently felt it her duty to inform me what a nice person Michael is (really?!?!?! okay, good, cuz after dating him for nearly two years I hadn't figured that one out yet)....lol lol j/k We saw the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and had dinner with Patricia at Cheesecake Factory (LOVELOVELOVELOVECHEESECAKEFACTORY :) Then Michael and I went around to the Lincoln and WWII monuments at night - so pretty!!!

Monday was definitely up there in favorite days of them all, though. Michael and I went over to Mt. Rainier, MD and saw Nate! It was an intricate maneuver of bus and Metro to get there, one that I am forever grateful to Michael for figuring out :) We took Nate to lunch at Maggiano's in Friendship Heights, and ordered family style so that once we'd eaten we could send Nate back to his novitiate house with a ton of leftovers. Four-plus hours flew by for us all - it was just great hanging out with Nate, seeing that he was okay and liking what he was doing, etc.

I must admit I had been worried - I know he followed his calling, but hearing that my friend was going off to a place where they beg for food on the streets of DC and that some priests get sent off to Africa missionary work kinda freaked me out. I've never had siblings but have always felt kind of big-sister-protective when it comes to Nate, so it was just good to see that my "little brother" is doing okay. Same old Nate, same sense of humor. :-D He looks healthy and actually said that his inability to eat sugar somehow corrected itself over this past summer, which is good - so it's not like he's at a place where he can't eat the food that they obtain through donations and begging! He feels like he's really where he's been called to be, too, which is important.

Got back from DC last night - but the events and busy-ness do not stop! The EMU Spring Party for April and August graduates is this Friday, as is Grand Rounds, and I take my Praxis the weekend after next. Really have to start studying for that, lol!!! Not terribly worried - but I know I do actually need to refresh my memory on things like voice and anatomy.

And with that - time to keep going on this week's busy-ness! Hope all is well for everyone!