Summer Just Got a Little Less Awesome

Summer is a great time to enjoy the outdoors, and when you add the outdoors to fun activities, it equals a really awesome good time. This year, the awesomeness of summer was dealt two huge blows.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company generally presents one of its plays out in Rock Creek Park during one of the summer months. The outdoor amphitheatre nestled among the trees and under the stars is a magical way to experience Shakespeare. Last year all the roommates of the Harry Potter House went out to see Hamlet. It was a great production and such a fun summer evening spent beneath the warm DC sky. This year, their Free For All under the stars is under the stars no more. Citing unpredictable weather and trying to be more accessible, the Free For All is being moved to the STC's downtown location at Sidney Harmen Hall. I will be there, but with the production no longer under the stars, the twinkle in my eye will be missing.

The big sucker punch in the stomach of summer is the announcement that HBO is pulling its sponsorship of the Screen on the Green outdoor film festival on the National Mall. One night for several weeks throughout the summer a movie is projected to a giant screen right smack in the middle of the Mall with the Capitol in the background. It's one of the coolest things ever. Last year a group of us packed up our blankets and food, smuggled a bottle of wine, and claimed our patch of grass. On the screen that evening: Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace - one of my favorite black and white films!! Just recently I had commented to some friends that I was looking forward to SotG and couldn't wait for the films to be shown. What a giant let down! Sure places like Arlington and Crystal City have similar events, but it's not quite the same. They don't have the Capitol in the background. Sigh...

Photos taken by Laura

Urban Dare: BECAUSE WE CAN - Not Revisited

Last year, Mel and I participated in Urban Dare, "the adventure race that's part photo hunt, part trivia, and part DARES." We decided that since we did a lot of things just because we could, we would be team BECAUSE WE CAN. We surprised ourselves by finishing in 17th place out of just over 100 teams with a time hovering above two hours. It was one of the best times we had and a great way to learn and see the city.

I am sad to report that we will not be participating in the Dare this year. Mel will be in Arizona that weekend and I'm traveling to Boston for a Renee Fleming recital (not a total loss:). I strongly suggest checking their website to see if a Dare is coming to a city near you. I guarantee you'll have a great time. In the meantime, I'll see if I can talk my mom in doing Urban Dare: Las Vegas in October...

Check out the Urban Dare Blog for pictures and results from prior Dares.

I just learned how to hyperlink so my apologies for getting a little hyperlink happy in my posts.

Hurry on over to Puerto Rico

“What’s the hurry? You’re in Vieques.” That was their motto and I didn’t question it. Why should I? I was on a small island hundreds of miles away from DC – away from the inauguration, away from the crowds, away from the cold, and away from the hustle and bustle of life. With the sun overhead, a book in my hand, and the sand between my toes I hadn’t a care in the world.

Torrey didn’t want to stick around DC during the chaos of the inauguration. Who could blame him? I’d been there and done that two other times, and for a guy I voted for. A crowd of millions in freezing temperatures was not appealing to me. When Dad put the kibosh on a ski trip, I jumped on board Torrey’s Puerto Rico trip. We left Monday for the island territory. The following morning we were on a ten-seater prop plane headed for the tiny island of Vieques, known for its bioluminescence bay and a one time weapons testing site for the US Navy (they left in 2003). Vieques was the perfect island getaway. We stayed at a cute little island guesthouse on the Atlantic side – Casa de Amistad. Using el Publico, we made our way to the Carribean side of the island where the beaches are said to be unmatched in beauty. Tor and I grabbed a quick bite to eat coincidentally enough at one of the few establishments that had American cable and the very thing we were trying to escape – the inauguration.

After a quick bite to eat, we strolled along the beach until we reached an adequately sandy area. What joy to be away from it all! What relief!!!

I wish I could tell you something exciting, but I did nothing. Soaked up the sun, swam in the water, and decompressed, that’s what I did. Torrey did swim out far while snorkeling and I’m pretty sure I saw a fin of sorts. Whether it was friend or foe, we’ll never know.

We met a nice couple at our hotel and pal’d around with them the rest of the trip. We went to a local bar and chatted with the islanders- mostly about life on Vieques and why so many people throw in the proverbial towel regarding life in the states to retreat to the island life. What an enticing idea…

The next day was much of the same. Sandy beaches, clear blue water, and a tropical storm thrown in for good measure. I’m sure it’s the island god’s way to force lazy beach bums to actually get up and find/explore a new beach, which is what we did.

Our stint on the island came quickly to an end. Before I knew it, I was on a ferry headed for the main island followed by a plane ride back to the states, back to reality. The reality of a cold winter and a presidential term just beginning. Back to being in a hurry.

Rudy and the Wedding

Our legislative director was getting hitched in Baltimore. The office was given Friday off so we could make the trek out there in time for the 5:00 nuptials. The scheduler and I were taking the train from Union Station. While waiting against the wall for her, I noticed this important looking man walk by. It took me just a quick second to register that Rudy Giuliani was passing in front of me. I was too shocked by the fact that Rudy was in Union Station to even try chasing after him to say hi. So I smiled extra hard and hoped that he caught that. I immediately emailed Michelle and told her about my sighting.

We got to our hotel in Baltimore and put on our fancy attire. Because of traffic, we barely made it to the church on time. In fact, we walked down the aisle just seconds before the bride. The wedding was at the Basilica, which is absolutely beautiful!!! As was the ceremony.

The reception was at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which is right on the harbor. It was a gorgeous setting and everything about the evening was awesome. Most of us from work were in the far back corner. We felt like the kids table at Thanksgiving time. They split half of us up, probably for the best. The food was great, the dancing fun, the libations flowing, and the people merry. A fine combination for a great time.

After a late night of merriment, we got a late start to the day. We weren’t in any hurry to leave Baltimore and wanted to see what the city had to offer. Our hotel was super close to the harbor, so we walked in that direction and eventually made our way to the Maryland Science Center. “Body Worlds 2” was currently on display and since the three of us hadn’t seen it, we decided to take a peek at the innards of the human body. Boy was it crazy!!!

I really can’t give much detail to the Body Worlds display. It’s really one of those things that you just have to see.


After staring at cross sections of dead bodies, we had a hankering for some food. So we strolled along the harbor until we came to a Mexican Cantina place. We wanted to sit outside and dine and so did all of the pigeons. They don’t really make good company.

After a satisfying lunch, we headed back to the district.

Office Awesomeness

So two of our district staffers were in town towards the end of April. Penny and Teresa came in for a district fly-in and both gals are such a hoot to hang out with. We met up with them Tuesday night, and had an interesting convo. Thanks T!

A couple of us went to the Hawk and Dove Wednesday night for a light dinner. Penny, T, and I were walking towards the direction of Union Station and as we were walking, some person starts honking at us. It's our old CoS Patty. She's now working for a VA member. I told her to let me know how the election is going and if she needs help because I desperately miss the campaign trail.

Thursday was scheduled to be the big office get-together at Cantina Marina so everyone could chill and chat. Prior to that, a couple of us took an office field trip to the Library of Congress. Two of the DC guys had never been. For crying out loud, it’s across from where we work and they’ve never been. The shame!!!

The Library of Congress is probably my favorite building in DC. The murals are painted with such vibrant colors. There are so many books and so much history. It’s Congress’ library – it’s my library!

Anywho, Thomas Jefferson donated most, if not all, of his private collection of books to the Library of Congress. His books are on display and they are old, and super awesome. It’s amazing the diverse collection he had.

Cantina was fun. Super crowded, but it’s always good to hang with the office peeps.

I guess the point of this story is if you come to DC, you have to see the Library of Congress.

The Places I Go, The People I Meet

This trip took place April 25-28

After three months away from a place you've lived your whole life, you start missing some things. So after three months in DC, I headed back west to get a dose of western awesomeness. I was on a soccer team in Flagstaff before I moved, and they encouraged me to meet them in Vegas for a soccer tournament. I didn't need much encouraging. It would be prime opportunity to get out of the district, play some quality soccer, hang with some good friends, and meet up w/ my padres.

So off I went on a trip that turned out to be pretty awesome. I met a new friend on the plane. I had a layover in Atlanta, and this girl I was sitting next to had been coming to DC with her company to work for a couple of weeks. She was scheduled to come back a few weeks later, so I gave her my email and told her to let me know when she got back in town.

It was great to see all the Flagstaff girls again. We didn't do so well in the tournament, but it was still a lot of fun, which after all is the most important thing. The team is loaded with a good group of girls, and I was bummed to have left them after finding them just this past summer.

Mom came up to Vegas that afternoon. My wardrobe was desperately lacking in some areas, so we did some power shopping. We met a pretty nice lady in the JC Penny dressing room. She gave some pretty good input on the clothes I picked out and picked up a few things for me to try on even though she was off of work. We chatted a bit, so I’m going to take this opportunity to wish her and her son well.

Father rode the Harley up and met us for dinner. Rather enjoyable I must say. Although, he kept pestering (get it – pest) me about the mouse. Definitely not a rat.

After dinner, mom and I did a bit more shopping and headed over to Barnes and Noble so I could pick up a book for the plane ride home. Standing in line, this lady sparked up a conversation with me. We covered everything from where I worked, what I was doing out here, the presidential election (this always makes me nervous – never know if you’re talking to friend or foe), outgoing personalities, Arbonne, etc.

Apparently this lady was drawn to my outgoing personality and the ease at which I was able to hold a conversation with her. She thought I was the perfect match for reaching out to others with a product that she endorses. I was dead tired, yet managed to discuss all of these things for well over thirty minutes. I gave her my blog address, so if she’s reading, here’s my shout out to you: HELLO! :)

After our losing streak ended with a win on Sunday, madre and I finished up some shopping and she dropped me off at Misty’s house. Misty is a talker. So we talked. For a very long time. And I was tired. But I listened. Because she had a lot to say. And I hadn’t seen her in forever. Misty is such an awesome, energetic person. It was a great opportunity to sit and visit with her. She took me to the airport early Monday morning and I came back to DC.
What I miss about Arizona and the west: the sunsets, good friends, friendly people, open skies, dry heat, cars, family…

Urban Dare: BECAUSE WE CAN

Melanie and I do a lot of things just because we can. So we decided to do the Urban Dare, and when we couldn’t think of anything clever for our team name, we decided to be BECAUSE WE CAN. Well, because we can. If you’ll recall, the Urban Dare is a mini Amazing Race with clues taking you all over a city. What is about to unfold is our journey around the district doing weird and cool things, because we can. I’ll give you the clue and answer and show you the picture we had to take.

1) Start – The Ellipse (White House) for the Guinness World Record attempt 3-legged race. Mel and I bound our legs together and practiced a strategy. It worked pretty well because we were one of the top ten teams to cross the finish line. And then the dare started.

We got our sheet of clues and called up two buddies for Google help. Shout out to the SB and Trey for mad googling skillz. I was able to answer a few of the questions, but would have no idea where to find them in the district. So we answered all the questions and located them on our handy dandy map and set out on our way.

I would just like to say that there were some pro looking teams that were in pretty good shape. I hadn’t played soccer since January so I had lost a bit of speed and my crap ankle was giving me problems. Mel and I agreed to just do our best and try to finish under three hours.

2) Get your picture with five different statues of persons known as the liberator.
I don’t remember their names, but they were all along Constitution Ave from 18th-25th streets. Most of them were up on a horse. We ran a lot. Also talked to a few people who were wondering what we were up to.

Did I mention we ran a lot? Plus it was a bit warm. And I kinda had to use the restroom. So we stopped at this gas station to grab some Gatorade – gotta replenish those electrolytes – made a quick pit stop, and had a dude take our picture of refueling at the gas tank (do you get that pun?).

3) He was first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen. Go to his circle for your spellbound dare.
So it’s Washington Circle. I got that it was Washington, but had no idea where it was. When we got there, we had to find the corresponding numbers to the letters that spelled out CONFIDENTIAL. It took us awhile to find one of the letters, and when I heard someone shout out “10 for T” I ran back to Mel and we submitted our number.

4) When Pinochet took power in Chile, Orlando Letelier went into exile in the US. Pinochet’s henchmen killed him here in DC with a car bomb. Get your picture with the memorial to this incident.
There’s a little plaque at Sheridan Circle on Embassy Row, Massachusetts and 23rd NW.

On the way to our next clue, we saw a statue of Ghandi. Some other Urban Dare-ites were getting their picture taken, and I told Mel we should to. You never know when we’d be back up in this neck of the woods, so might as well get a snap shot with Ghandi while you can. Plus, we ended up getting five minutes taken off our time with this pic. Don’t ask me how, but Mel finagled it out of the judge.

5) Remember a famous duo singing I Got You Babe? Get your picture with the plaque honoring the part of the duo who died in a skiing accident. That’s too easy – Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher fame. The plaque was located in Dupont on New Hampshire and 20th street. A little tidbit for all you readers: did you know that Sonny was a US Congressman representing the Palm Spring, CA area? And his wife, Mary Bono know holds his seat since he died in the skiing accident? See, I know some stuff.

6) Across from the District of Columbia Courthouse, get your picture with the woman who is clearly gilty.
We didn’t really have an answer for a specific statue and just assumed we’d head over to the courthouse and look for the “gilty woman.” We metro’ed over from Dupont and had time to contemplate the clue. Obviously “gilty” is spelled wrong, and right as we approached the statue, I exclaimed, “she’s gonna be gold.” Sure enough she was.

I wanted to get really close, so Mel and I hopped into the empty fountain.

7) Go to the outdoor rotunda that lies on sovereign territory of our neighbor to the north. Let out a yell and check out the amazing acoustics, and take your picture to show you were there.
It’s the Canadian Embassy (forget the cross streets, but I can see it from the Capitol). We didn’t give a shout out – just took the picture.

Don't know what this is except for us being awesome???8) He is the only person to serve as the US president and as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. Go there for the next dare.
It’s Taft, and although I knew there was a president who became a chief justice after leaving the White House, I could not, for the life of me, think of his name. Anyways, once we got to his statue, we had to answer three trivial pursuit questions. They weren’t too hard, but it was definitely an outdated version.

Tired Still going strong


9) Do the words Pass and Stow ring a bell? Get your picture with a replica of a famous American icon with these words.
Ummm, yes they ring a bell! Thank you National Treasure. Pass and Stow – the Liberty Bell! I totally got that one. So we ran over to the replica that’s outside of Union Station.

10) When Andrew Jackson tried to fire this Secretary of War, he barricaded himself in his office and Congress began impeachment proceedings against the president. Go to this Secretary’s park for your next dare.
So it turned out to be John Henry Eaton and it was at Cleveland Park. Mel was a human wheelbarrow. After running all over the district, it’s hard to do a proper rendition of one, so we kinda struggled with this. Sadly, there is no video or photo documentation of this ridiculous stunt.

11) Go to the avenue where Barack and Hillary are currently doing battle and the intersection of the avenue where John Edwards is from for your connect four dare.
Mel got to this question before me and answered Pennsylvania and South Carolina. I thought about it for a second, and said, “that ain’t right.” John Edwards is not from SC. He’s from the same state as Elizabeth Dole and I always thought it was cool that Sam was represented by Dole in the Senate and Sam lived in NC. So we needed to head to Penn and NC. Where Mel played two games of connect four before moving on to the last clue.

Finish – There is only one amendment to the US Constitution that has been repealed. Go there for the finish and give thanks for the repeal.
Seriously??? Too easy!! The 18th Amendment established Prohibition of alcohol. It was later repealed. There’s a bar named the 18th Amendment and I knew exactly where it was. On Penn Ave near Eastern Market. We made a mad dash to the 18th. I turned on the turbo jets and kept my mind on that celebratory beer awaiting me.

Victory Face, which I guess is the same as tired and exhausted face. And the I really need a beer face.We made it in and our official time (with time bonuses) was 2:26:04 and we were 17th place out of 120+ teams. Ah-flippin-MAZING!!! I chugged a glass of water and threw back a glass of beer in no time. Then I hit the chips and salsa and two more cups of water and fell back into the couch in the corner of the bar. I was spent, but totally rocked the Urban Dare.

Oh man! Because we can, for sure! Sometimes I can't get over how cool I am and all the cool stuff Mel and I do. We're totally awesome. Next year, we're totally going balls to the wall and taking first place. Just you watch...

I'm going to Boston!

I just purchased two tickets to see Renee Fleming in Eugene Onegin out in Burkeshire. WooHoo!! I'm so excited! So I'm headed up to Boston on August 1st and staying with Megan for the weekend. She's coming with me to see it! I haven't seen her since she moved out East a year ago so this should be good times for sure. And it's Renee Fleming so YAY!

The Final Scene from the Met's 2007 production.

It's official!!!

Mel and I are such bad asses!!!

Our Urban Dare finish time is officially posted at 2:26:04 making us the #17th finishers out of like a lot of teams!!! Not bad for two Arizonans!

All the pictures are on Mel's camera and she's in Denver for a few days. Hopefully I can get pics and details up before I head out to Vegas on Friday. We are so awesome!

Urban Dare Today

Mini "Amazing Race" style. Pictures and stories soon to follow.

Quantico Revisited

Sam (HS Sam) called me Wednesday night of last week and asked what I was doing over the weekend. “No plans. Just hoping to relax after a crazy weekend in AC.” She was headed to the in-laws with my godson for the weekend, and I said to count me in!

I hopped on the train Friday evening and was in Quantico by 8:00. We had some grub, watched some tv, bathed little David and called it a night. The next day, we went to a little conference thing with Sam’s mother-in-law. When we got back, we cooked dinner, played with the little dude, then played cards till 1:00 in the morning.

Steve, Sam’s father-in-law, cooked us a big breakfast. I packed my stuff up, and Sam took me to the train station. I got home, unpacked my stuff, then went and saw Macbeth. A pretty super awesome weekend, if you ask me.

I love visiting Sam because it’s always a great time to just relax and have a nice, low key weekend. And David is sooooo flippin cute!! He’s crawling now, and he can pull himself up, and with a little help he can walk. I love that kid! Can’t wait to see him (probably walking) in a month.

As soon as a get a picture from Sam of little David, I’ll post it. Yay for godsons and best friends!!!