Haircut

So I finally got a haircut and highlights. I was really nervous about getting highlights and a haircut here in VA. I finally bit the dust and did it--and I love it! It's cute and fun and looks great. It is such a relief!

I shouldn't wait so far between writing my blog because I forget all those thought provoking things I was going to say. :) Honestly I don't remember. Life is busy, but good.

Rockin' Slut Shoes

The shoe on the left is my regular high heel shoe--in fact my highest heeled shoe--until now. The shoe on the right--which I refer to as my slut shoes (ha, ha)--is almost double the heel. You can't really tell, but the black part of the normal shoe actually curves around my heel-it's not part of the heel.
I have been taking pole dancing for the past two and a half months. There are many different levels. In level one you don't wear shoes. However, in level two, which I just got to, they do have you wear shoes and not any normal shoe. They actually have 'pole dancing' shoes. These shoes are 6 inches high. You actually increase your heel length as you go up in the class levels. It is really quite funny to watch me walk in these. I have no balance. When I'm in class I have to be near a pole to grab onto so I can balance and not fall. I'm hoping after wearing them awhile I will get more steady. Everyone in class is enjoying the same aspects of them I am so I don't feel stupid in them. I was afraid of hurting myself doing spins, but so far I haven't gouged myself. Whew! My goal is to have way sexy calves when I get up to all of the levels. I figure wearing these should help with that! I've got a long way to go. :)

I also started a running program/class a few weeks ago. I would like to become a runner, but I keep getting these nasty shin splints. I thought by taking this 'class' would help me learn to run properly. It's a women's running program here in the area and it trains you for a 5k. I never expected to be a runner nor do a 5k so it's actually pretty exciting to think I'm actually going to do this. Needless to say with pole dancing and running and my other stuff going on I'm exhausted much of the time--more so than my norm. I found out that my body doesn't like to run at night. After the first class I literally did not sleep all night. You can imagine how frustrated I was because this was after the problems I have been having with those (expletive) birds. Let's just say the gym did not have my business much that week. I have kind of sorted it out and the program is only until the end of June so I think I will survive.

Melissa's Birthday

My dear friend Melissa Moss had a birthday a few weeks ago. Beforehand her birthday party, Tiff, Meliss, and I went and had pedicures done. It was so fun because we were just able to talk and have a fun time. We hadn't had a chance to catch up in awhile. We also did the traditional birthday thing and went to Chevy's--Melissa's favorite. A few days before I looked up the points on the food and was shocked by the calorie count!!! I basically had to get a salad with nothing on it to stay in my point value. :)

I had a flat tire (which I realized when I parked to go to the restaurant.) Ben, Melissa's husband had me go to a place that he knew of who could fix the tire. I left him there with my car and he just took care of it. I was so incredibly grateful. It was so nice to have someone just take care of my car. That is one of my big worries in life--the car. He got it all fixed and it only cost $15.00.

Later I took my car in for a safety inspection and it did need some work done on it. My goal is too keep it two more years. We'll see how it goes. There is a place near my house that I can walk too. It is more expensive, but sometimes I don't feel like I have a choice. I have to do what's easiest with the time I have.

For the Birds--Ahh!

I live on the fourth floor of an apartment complex. This would lead one to believe that I am above the trees and therefore out of line of the birds all night mating song. Let me tell you that this is not true. I am so exhausted as I have not been able to have uninterrupted sleep all week (and probably for a few weeks). I so want to go home and just sleep for days. Even though the trees don’t reach my apartment I have a ledge just outside my bedroom window (which is three really large floor to ceiling windows). This one particular bird (I’m sure it’s just one bird that is torturing me. I think it has a person vendetta or it’s in love with me.) sits out there and sings all night long—very loudly! It’s way up there so nothing scares it away. I would have to figure out how to take off the screen to get it to leave and the ledge goes out further than the windows so it can be off to the side—not viewable, but very loud! Plus I figured if I shewed it away it would just come back as for some reason it really likes this particular perch.

Last night the bird was even in my dreams. In the dream I was in some bed – not my real home--I got out of bed and started shaking the tree the bird was in. The bird still wouldn’t leave or stop singing. I kept shaking the branch, but it wasn’t working. At some point I woke up and realized the bird hadn’t stopped because the bird was the real bird outside my window. Ahhh!

I didn’t even go to the gym this morning (and I haven’t missed this class in four months) because I was so exhausted because this bird kept me awake most of the night. It finally dawned on me this morning that I need to get my fan out because that will create white noise and hopefully dampen the bird noise. If I don’t get some good sleep soon I’m going to be in trouble. I’m getting desperate!

Speaking of dreams (not the annoying bird), I had a really good dream last night that had these gorgeous/enormous flowers in the dream. These flowers do not exist here, but they were spectacular. I wish I was an artist so I could draw them.

The other day I had a dream about the gym. I woke up (really all night because of the bird and I was really hot—our weather had gone from the 50’s to the 80’s) and debated whether I should go to the gym or not because I was just so tired. I fell back asleep and dreamed I was at the gym working out and I was really hot. I looked down and saw that I had put on like seven pairs of pants. In my dream, I thought I must have been sleep walking when I got dressed (in real life when I have slept walked I have put on bizarre outfits). I thought that was so funny that I had a dream about sleep walking.

P.S. I wrote this on post on Thursday. I finally took a wonderful sleeping pill and turned on a fan. I slept for ten wonderful hours. Should have done it the next night too!

Happy Birthday Addison and Other Stuff

It was my favorite (and only) nieces third birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Addison!!! When JL was here I bought her a rodent thing that is really popular right now. I sent a note to JL and reminded her to give the rodent to Addison. When I called her JL told me it was a zuzu (I think that's the name.) I still think it's pretty funny to say it's a rodent. :) Evidently it's a popular gift--she received five of them. :)

It's finally spring. FINALLY!!! I really needed the spring to come this year--probably always. I feel like I am coming alive again just like the trees are all of a sudden a nice fresh new green and the ones that bloom start to show their blossoms. I miss living in Annandale as there were lots of azaleas and dogwood trees. Out where I live now I didn't even know they were blooming yet until I saw a young dogwood tree today. Despite the lack of the bushes and trees, I am still very happy with spring. There are trees that look like carnations popping up everywhere. There is a tree that reminds me of a weeping willow, but its blooms are a beautiful baby pink. It's a stunning tree.

I went to the opera Madame Butterfly the other day. I was super excited for this opera and have waited for it the whole season. It was very good, but the funny thing was that I kept waiting for this one aria. I waited and waited. When the opera was over I realized that the aria was in La Boheme not in Madame Butterfly. However, there was a gorgeous aria in it that I did not recall hearing (even though I have.) Love just always seems so hard. Look at all of the songs about love and loss and all of the books about the same topic.

The government was almost furloughed last week. I decided that day (Friday) that if they did furlough that I would go to Bahamas to Club Med for a week. I called a friend and asked her if I could spend the night and then have her take me to the airport at 5:30 am. I packed my bags ready for my trip. I waited up until 11:00 and heard the news that they were not going to furlough. Even though it was a very good thing for everyone that the government did not shut down, I must say that for me, I was disappointed. All week I kept thinking (as more stress was added at work or something happened I was not happy about) how I would have been in the Bahamas. Such is life.

Travel Show

Carrie (left in the top picture), Melinda (middle in the top picture), and Brian (our camera man) went to the Travel Adventure expo with me on Saturday. I had never been to the expo before and was surprised by the layout. I thought that there would be a bunch of vendors there showing the latest and greatest travel gear. I was somewhat disappointed they weren't there. I always like to know what people have so I know what to put on my list.

We gathered tons of brochures about different countries. Yesterday I went through them and threw out the ones I did not want. Specifically, the nudist colony brochure. I was walking by a booth and was interested in a give away they had on their table. I couldn't tell what it was. Well, this women at the booth asked me if I wanted a brochure. I said sure. When I looked at the brochure I found that it was for a nudist colony--though I was told that is not what they are called anymore. I was trying to extricate myself gently, but it took a little while. When I finally got away and joined my friends they were totally laughing. They knew what the booth was for and wanted to see how I was going to react. We had a good laugh.

The highlight (besides hanging out with my friends) was Samantha Brown was there. It was so fun to hear her talk. If you don't know who she is, she is on the travel channel and travels the world. She is very witting, charming, and fun.

She told one story of how in China she was visiting the one year old panda bears. The panda handler and the interpreter were with her. She was told the handler didn't know any English. Well, he turned to her and said 'keep moving.' She asked her interpreter what he meant by that. It was explained that they were bears. Well she said, her producer wanted her to stay still so as she is in with the pandas she is hearing in her ear--stay still and with the handler--keep moving--back and forth. She said she turned and made eye contact with one of the pandas and it charged her. The handler comes running around her yells at her-Run- and picks up the panda and throws him. It was a great story--one you wouldn't see on tv. She told other stories which I wish I would have written down because her stories were pretty amusing.

We were at the convention center in DC. The second picture above is one of their art features in the convention center. It was really cool. The other ones you can't see is a circle of guitars and one that had tennis rackets. I like fun art like this.

JL's Visit

JL came into town for a training. It was so fun to have her all to myself for a few days (after her training.) She stayed in Old Town Alexandria so I joined her there and what did we do? SHOP! :) It was so fun to wander around Old Town without a plan and with as much time as we wanted. The first night it was really windy (40-60 miles and hour gusts), but the next day it was beautiful.
I loved this hat. It makes me want to go back and buy it, but really where would a wear it?
The Torpedo factory is kind of like an art studio where people sell their art. We wandered around and looked at several artists studios and wares. It's a cool venue.
Of course if you haven't been to Eastern Market then it is the perfect thing to do on a sunny day. We wandered around and looked at all the vendors goods. I bought two bracelets, a ring, and a necklace. I only go there when people are visiting because otherwise I would be broke. :) There is just such fun jewelry.

They had these very fun animal hats for sale. They were just so adorable! JL is sporting a lion. She's so cute!

Here is another cute hat and other things they were selling. Such fun things!

JL and I took a tour of the George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria. I had never been even though two of my best friends lived near it for probably about six years.

JL posing with George Washington. I think JL is a lot cuter.:)
This is the only picture that George Washington posed for--for the Masons. He told them he would only pose for the picture if they would paint him 'warts and all.' We learned a lot of things about him. He had scars all over his face from (I think small pox he had as a child), he has a scar from his nose to his chin on the right side, he had fake teeth that were painful so he often did not wear them, he had a huge mole on the left side and would wear high collars because he thought people focused on the mole more than him. It was very interesting.
We went up into the tower for a view of Alexandria and across the river-Maryland.
This is one of the rooms in the Masonic temple. Evidently this is really a memorial to George Washington and to the Masons. So most of the rooms are more for show. This is one room that one of the types of Masons study in. Of course they couldn't tell us much so I'm not really sure what they do here. Our tour guide, Brian, said they tell each other Bible stories and talk about what they mean to them today.
This is on the steps of the Masonic temple. You can see JL's hotel just behind JL's head. We liked that the Masons purpose is to become better people and to contribute to their community.

I loved having JL here!

On a different topic, I have 'shedded' 8.4 pounds so far and have a bit to go. It feels good to make progress even though it feels so slow. My doctor said it's normal for my size and age. Really there isn't much going on in my life. I need to plan a trip!