Oops.

Kim is a Speedo Girl!

I don't keep in touch with my High School girls NEARLY as much as I should but I can't tell you how cool it was to get the Speedo catalog with Natalie Coughlin (another Lafayette girl) on the cover and Kim Vandenberg with a TON of spreads in the catalog. She looks gorge as always :)

Kim is top seed going into 200 Women's Fly in 2008 Olympic Trials next week in Omaha. I think she swims in prelims on Wednesday, July 2nd so hopefully they'll be broadcasting it on TV. The Campo girls will definitely be routing her on from all over the US. Super exciting!

Catoctin Mountain and Spices

Couldn't resist this totally vintage picture I found searching "Catoctin Mountain" on google images. It screams, "Hey KIDS! Respect your National Parks and don't start forrest fires!" Anyway that picture is where I ate lunch on my hike on Saturday. I found the hike in my 60 hikes in 60 Miles of Washington DC book and it was perfect! Catoctin Mountain is out near Frederick, Maryland - so a good hour and 15 mins or so from DC. The trail I took was actually a bunch of various trails combined to make a 9 mile loop back to the visitors center. I saw a waterfall, three or four vistas, and even a deer. The trail was busy enough where I didn't feel unsafe (I was alone) but not overcrowded to the point of not having any solitude. This part of the country is just so beautiful - and in a very different way than California.

I had been craving good sushi for awhile so Saturday night I went to a great spot called Spices up in Cleveland Park with Lauren, Remi, Anna, and Anna's roommate Dustin/Dylan (I never got it right the whole night... whoops). Anyway I definitely got my sushi fix for awhile. Highly recommend the restaurant.

Sunday - Nats Game with Patrick, Bobby, and David (thank you AIR!); REI run with Patrick to get him a GPS run tracking thing followed by reading at Caribou; and Gone Baby Gone movie night. Gone Baby Gone was really... complicated. I liked it. Any plot that circles around gray area ethics has good potential to keep me interested.

Now back to work for a few days, then MADISON!

Buzzard Hill Hike

Last Saturday morning Shane, Lauren, Sweeting and I drove out to the Virginia/West Virginia border to hike a part of the Appalachian Trail called Buzzard Hill. It's about a 9.0 mile trek, 4 difficulty, 3,020 feet elevation gain. We went early so we'd beat the weather and were expecting thunderstorms in the late afternoon. So we're hiking along and I'm semi-keeping up. Shane is a speed demon and I'm out of shape soooooooooo that was not the best match up. I was holding my own until a ridiculous grade just zapped my energy. It was hard! The trail was rocky and steep! I kept going, but had the other three go ahead so I could go at my own pace. SO we end up agreeing they will continue and I'll start going back (we were almost to the end and I wanted a head start). Well at about 2:00pm or so I'm guessing, I start hearing thunder... and the woods start getting very very dark... and the wind starts howling. Pretty soon there is incredibly intense lightning, thunder, and ultimately a complete flood of rain. I'm like OH. MY. GOD. Haha it was seriously kind of scary! So I'm just saying to myself... Carrie, keep moving! Meanwhile a few Appalachian Trail hikers are speeding by me with their high tech boots and hiker poles and ponchos and are asking me if I'm okay and have everything I need. I look down at my gym clothes and sneakers and little dinky $10 Reebok backpack (if you can even call it that). Mmm hmm. Yep. Doing just fine! An hour and a half later, the storm subsides and I make it back to the lookout to wait for Shane, Lauren, and Sweeting to catch up. They do a bit later and get this... so Lauren grabbed for a tree to steady herself as she was going down hill. She saw a flash of light go into her hand and her arm went numb for a few minutes! We think that tree was about to get hit by lightning and she took the counter charge out of the tree! CRAZY! We saw a fallen tree on the way down to the parking lot that had a full bolt of lightning go straight through the trunk. It wasn't split or anything, just straight through from the top to bottom. Weird. Anyway we made it home and took long hot showers... we were pretty gross!

Sunday was ANOTHER concert at Nissan. Tim McGraw -- beautiful day, great weather, fun time with friends. We have a couple weeks break now until Brad Paisley.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

So for the second weekend in a row (and next weekend will mark the THIRD) I trekked out to Nissan Pavilion for what ended up being one of the best shows I have ever seen hands DOWN.

The weather last weekend was near-record breaking. Apparently some of the hottest June weather we've had here since like the late 1800s or something like that. REALLY... really... REALLY hot. So tailgating was more of a stand-in-the-little-speck-of-car-shade-and-drink-water concept. When the sun went down the temperature did not really drop, so we resigned ourselves to the sweat and being part of the sold out crowd. At one point during the concert, Petty was like "well how appropriate to be playing here on a hot Southern night." Crowd went wild.

The concert was just so good. I feel like I'm being annoying with how much I'm raving about it, but it was just SO good! The sound was great. There was a LOT of aggressive dancing going on.


He played so many of our favorites - Mary Jane's Last Dance, Won't Back Down, Even the Losers, Free Fallin', Honey Bee, Rebels, You Don't Know How it Feels, Learning to Fly, Don't Come Around Here No More, Refugee, Running Down a Dream, American Girl... I was only really sad about not hearing Wildflowers :(

Muffin and I kept shaking our heads and commiserating that we were born in the wrong music era. Pretty awesome we still get to see some of these legends while they're still around and touring!

Annapolis

In an effort to make the most out of summer, Bobby put together a list of a bunch of fun day trip ideas and activities we should try for. So last Saturday in the most miserable boiling DC heat ever, we headed for Annapolis hoping for some sea breeze. Patrick and Bobby hadn't ever been there and Keylin and Marco (our awesome Venezuelan hermana y hermano) came along also.

First stop- NAVY! Campus feels so different without all the Mids around, but we did manage to spot a few uniforms here and there. We walked by the Chapel and toured Memorial Hall. We watched the video on the way out of Memorial Hall and Keylin and I are pretty sure we broke all the rules when we were in there. Loud talking, cell phones, Patrick doing Ballet. Not very classy of us.

Patrick and Bobby trying to look tough by one of the flags. Bobby looks especially hard with his robo-boot...



We found a torpedo! Took this photo in honor of Little Vito (this is an indication on how much we are looking forward to the Madison weekend and how often we think about it)


Special homage to Big Wiz Allen...


After walking around the Naval Academy and Annapolis, we headed to a highly recommended crab place called Cantlers. Cantlers was a bit off the beaten path but that made it SO fun and local! I know I haven't found a place like that before so I can only imagine what the Venezuelans were thinking haha. It was so neat! Bobby was brave enough to go with the whole crabs. He had a tutorial from our super sweet waitress on how to attack the beast with the mallet and then went to it! It was impressive.


Too cute to leave out of Key, Marco, and Bobby...



The crew... This is a good one of the overall ambiance of the place too, I think. We had a great time!

Summer Megaticket Kickoff!

WOO HOO!!!! Nissan Pavillion Summer Country Concert season kicked off this weekend with the WMZQ fest featuring Sugarland! These concerts have become one of my favorite summer traditions. There are a few people I only know because of tailgating at these concerts ha. Poor Yale damaged the muffler of his car while backing up onto the embankment (because clearly we're too VIP for the average parking spot), but he was a good sport about it! Also we somehow avoided the torrential downpours around the area and had great weather.

We got in the pavillion in time to see Phil Vassar, which makes me think of High School days singing Six Pack Summer and Just Another Day in Paradise in my Jeep. Sugarland was great too - sang Baby Girl, Everyday America, One Blue Sky, Just Might, Settlin'... you know, all the good ones. Tim McGraw in two weeks!

I wish we had a picture of the dude standing next to us - He was wearing this shirt that said "Christian, Pro-Gun, Heterosexual, Republican... Any Questions?" We were all like ummm... no, no questions I guess. Like seriously!!?? Seriously.

Memorial Day in the Bay Area

What a jet setter I am these days. I flew home to California for Memorial Day weekend plus two days! Did a little bit of everything relaxing... hung out with the fam, went to Indiana Jones, finished my book, went to the As/Sox Sunday game and had GREAT weather, ate at Yankee Pier, walked the Reservoir with Erica, had the Ganeys over for dinner, got a massage at Dad's new business venture called "Massage Envy."

It was just a very classically laid back few days in the Bay Area. Plus it's reaaaaaalllllyyyy hard to complain when I wake up to a venti soy misto waiting for me in the kitchen every morning thanks to Dad :)

Colorado!

I'm a week late on this post, but two weekends ago I visited Liz in Colorado! It was a last minute decision and it was totally serendipitous that I was able to go. I had a free southwest flight I used to get there and back AND my boss was out of town on Monday and Tuesday so I was able to take the extra time off.

I had planned to take the first nonstop flight out of Baltimore on Saturday morning at 10:20 so I set my alarm the night before to give me plenty of time. I woke up in my bed with the sun streaming into my room and was very disoriented when I realized my alarm didn't go off because I had forgotten to turn off the "off on weekends" feature. So 8:56am I wake up and I'm like... OH MY GOSH I'm never EVER going to make it. But something in me was still going to fight to try, so I was out the door and on the road by 9:01am. I booked it down the parkway, hit a little traffic, and was basically resigned to missing the flight. I pulled up to the parking lot at 9:47 and surprisingly got on the shuttle and to the terminal by just before 10. Ok so 10:03 rolls around and I'm having to stand in line to check in since I was using a pass... anyway I tell the lady that I'd like to still try for the 10:20am so she hands me a security pass and just says "RUN!" So I get through security, run to the gate (which was a super far one) and huffed and puffed a "Did I make it!?" to the boarding people. And sure enough... at 10:18am... I make it into the flight and take a seat. I could NOT believe I made it! I was telling myself all along that I just wasn't supposed to get on that flight, but as it turns out I guess I really WAS supposed to get on it! I would have lost three hours or so in Colorado so that was a crucial catching of flight. 8:56am wake up in DC for a 10:20am Baltimore flight... OMG!
So I got to Denver at about noon local time and Liz picked me up in a sweet Tahoe Hybrid she borrowed from their fleet and we headed off to Aspen straight from the Airport. The drive was SO beautiful.

It was off season so we caught a good deal from the St. Regis there. I know, I know. We're so ridiculous. Liz and I always manage to "live well" together haha. It was a nice retreat - lots of time in the awesome bathrobes (I'll spare you the pictures) drinking wine on our terrace overlooking Aspen Mountain, relaxing in the hot tub, eating at an amazing restaurant for dinner, and taking advantage of the St. Regis hospitality. There were some VERY attractive men working there!

We went to brunch at this place called the Wienerstube (hilar) and when we came out it was like watch out for that enormous bear blocking the stairs...

So Sunday after we walked around some shops in Aspen for a bit, we drove back to Denver and had a BBQ with her coworkers that night. Fun to meet the people she has been working with for these past few months. It was a little behind enemy lines-ish haha but they are very nice people. I had never been to Denver before so I walked around the pedestrian mall area all day Monday... walked all the way down to the river and around the park and then made my way back up through the shops. Liz had a bunch of must see suggestions so it definitely took up the full day. We ate at the Vesta Dipping Grill that night. It was a neat concept - they have all these sweet, savory, or spicy sauces that you order to dip your food in. Clearly a place for Liz and Carrie. Tuesday I met up with my former coworker Jackie who just moved out there - fun to see her and hear about her great wedding just a short time ago. I flew out that night and made it back to DC in one piece. I'm really really glad it worked out for me to go out there - I would have been disappointed if I hadn't gotten the opportunity to see Liz's life out there so it was definitely a great trip!

The Return of the Lion

"Welcome, child" he said.
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."
For a time she was so happy that she did not want to speak. But Aslan spoke.
"Lucy," he said, "we must not lie here for long. You have work in hand, and much time has been lost today."
"Yes, wasn't it a shame?" said Lucy. "I saw you all right. They wouldn't believe me. They're all so -"
From somewhere deep inside Aslan's body there came the faintest suggestion of a growl.
"I'm sorry," said Lucy, who understood some of his moods. "I didn't mean to start slanging the others. But it wasn't my fault anyway, was it?"
The Lion looked straight into her eyes.
"Oh, Aslan," said Lucy. "You don't mean it was? How could I - I couldn't have left the others and come up to you alone, how could I? Don't look at me like that... oh well, I suppose I could. Yes, and it wouldn't have been alone, I know, not if I was with you. But what would have been the good?"
Aslan said nothing.
"You mean," said Lucy rather faintly, "that it would have turned out all right - somehow? But how? Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?"
"To know what would have happened, child?" said Aslan. "No. Nobody is ever told that."
"Oh dear," said Lucy.
"But anyone can find out what will happen," said Aslan. "If you go back to the others now, and wake them up; and tell them you have seen me again; and that you must all get up at once and follow me - what will happen? There is only one way of finding out."
"Do you mean that is what you want me to do?" gasped Lucy.
"Yes, little one," said Aslan.
"Will the others see you too?" asked Lucy.
"Certainly not at first," said Aslan. "Later on, it depends."
"But they won't believe me!" said Lucy.
"It doesn't matter," said Aslan.
"Oh dear, oh dear," said Lucy. "And I was so pleased at finding you again. And I thought you'd let me stay. And I thought you'd come roaring in and frighten all the enemies away - like last time. And now everything is going to be horrid."
"It is hard for you, little one," said Aslan. "But things never happen the same way twice. It has been hard for us all in Narnia before now."
Lucy buried her head in his mane to hide from his face. But there must have been magic in his mane. She could feel lion-strength going into her. Quite suddenly she sat up.
"I'm sorry, Aslan," she said. "I'm ready now."

And he calls himself an Advance Rep...

David: Did you get my message?
Carrie: Yes. I hate messages.
David: That's why I left you one!
Carrie: Jerk.
David: So you're thinking about coming to Europe with us for New Years?
Carrie: Thinking about it, yes, but... I mean... I just don't know what I'll be doing at that point. Will I be working? Will I even have a desk? Will we be totally displaced by then? Will we be starting a new job or moving?
David: $hit! This brings up much bigger issues for us than what we are doing for New Years!

Nationals Park

I don't think I have given Nationals Park its due yet on here. It is SO great! I seriously love it... and love living so close. I went to a game the first week it was open and then again last week. Tried to go yesterday but all the cheap seats were sold out since it was such a beautiful day in Washington.

Erin, Curran, Paul, and I went to last Thursday's game. We were lucky enough to enjoy my boss' seats and honestly I have never ever seen a game like that. I mean I sat that close last year in RFK Stadium for a Nats v. Giants game and Barry Bonds was like ten feet from me at one point, but it just wasn't the same or as cool as sitting behind the dugout at the new Park.



Here is by far my favorite picture of the evening!

Flat Tire

There I was... 8:15am Wednesday morning... hair down and done, color-coordinated-with-outfit-makeup, sunglasses, work bag, coffee, keys. I'm capable! Self-reliant! Confident! I can take on the world and do anything!

Nope. Flat tire.



Do you see that bolt in there? CURSES TO THE UNIVERSE!
So what to do, what to do. Call Patrick! Patrick proves totally useless and laughs loudly as I lament. I stomp back inside, grab my ipod, and suffer six stops on the metro to work. Enter Shane who sneaks up behind me on the street. Ha HA if he only had known I would woo him with my damsel-in-distress-need-you-to-come-over-after-work-and-fix-my-tire feminine wiles. They worked! That or the promise of free beer and dinner :)



All better now (or at least better enough to get me to NTB on Saturday). Thumbs way up for S-dub. He was top of the list to take the Nats game with me tonight since I got the boss' tickets.

The Horse and His Boy

I recently saw the trailer for Prince Caspian which comes out May 16th and pulled the full Chronicles of Narnia off my shelf last weekend to re-read it. Backstory on my copy of the Chronicles: Capitol Books is this amazing used bookstore in Eastern Market. You walk in and the guy is always like "fiction upstairs, nonfiction downstairs, poetry in the far back..." Then he'll insert something witty like "this is a recording, you are now free to roam." It has this old dusty book smell. You always have to watch where you're walking - one wrong step and you'll knock over a floor to ceiling pile of books. I'm telling you, book lovers paradise. So anyway the very first time I went in there was a illustrated hardback Chronicles of Narnia behind the counter and I just KNEW it was going to be mine. I never even leafed through it - it simply was MY copy that I didn't get to take home yet. Everytime I walked in I always looked to make sure no one had snatched it up. Sweeting and Muffin ended up being the snatchers and they gave it to me for Christmas last year. One of my best presents :)

Anyway so I pulled it off the shelf to re-read Prince Caspian and realized I never read Horse and His Boy which is the Chronicle after Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and before Prince Caspian. I'm in the throws of Horse and His Boy right now. Other than the nostalgia that reading the Narnia series effectuates, I wonder why we as adults love to read or revisit fairytales. We love them so much more, perhaps, than even when we first read them as children.

C.S. Lewis thought about this too. He wrote the following dedication of Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe to his Godaughter Lucy:

My Dear Lucy,

I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be

your affectionate Godfather,
C.S. Lewis

Sigh... The next time I check in, I will know if Shasta makes it to Archenland in time to warn that the Calormene army is coming to overtake them as a strategic entry point to invade Narnia if Cair Paravel doesn't give Queen Susan up to marry the evil, self-centered Rabadash. Until then!

Countdowns!

I have a fascination with countdown clocks. Actually, the overall concept of time is fascinating to me (one of many interests/concepts/ideas I share with both Patrick and TS Eliot haha). Here are some fun dates I'm looking forward to:

Bay Area for Memorial Day - 25 days, 21 hours, 36 minutes, 42 seconds

Madison for all things Fun - 59 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes, 35 seconds

Arkansas for SAS Reunion - 122 days, 16 hours, 29 minutes, 3 seconds

Unemployment! - 266 days, 21 hours, 26 minutes, 11 seconds

Weekend Weirdness

This weekend went SO FAST!

Stopped by Bobby's on Friday night. Weird story. This 40-something business casual dressed guy was literally dragging himself down the street fencepost by fencepost. He was standing/walking/dragging in this really bizarre angle. It was hard to tell if he was just very intoxicated or he actually was handicapped. Anyway Yale and Justin took charge (sexy) and stood on either side of him for support asking how they can help him, where did he live, what happened, was his back okay, etc. At first he said he got slipped something, but eventually we found out he was on other prescription meds and had been drinking wine that night. Also there was some discussion over how he had hurt his back when he was helping his friends move. It looked really really bad, though... not just some minor injury. I wonder if the mix of everything numbed him so much he didn't realize how bad it was? Anyway, ultimately Yale and Justin decided to call the ambulance and frankly I think that may have been a life saving decision for that guy. Humph. (Sidenote - another weird happening on Friday night - Sweeting almost got mugged by like 6 teenagers on drugs by Union Station were it not for the cops that came to his rescue. Aww... SWEETING!! I don't want anyone messing with Sweeting.)

Saturday started on a better note! Sweeting and I went to the Yelo Conference at Ebenezers. It was so cool! It was run by one of the pastors at Mosaic Church in Los Angeles who also works for Gallup. So interesting to hear and learn about your strengths and others strengths and how they interplay. The whole premise is about how we as a society focus on weaknesses and think our greatest area for growth is by focusing on improving those weaknesses. In fact, wouldn't we fulfill greater potential by cultivating and using our natural strengths? One of my favorite tidbits was that there is a one in 33 million chance that you will end up with the same top five strengths in the same order as another person. We're so unique. I can't get over it. It encouraged a LOT of discussion throughout the weekend after that. Had dinner with Patrick and Lauren at the house then went out to RFD to meet up with Shane, Carissa, Sweeting, and Muffin after that. Fun, relaxed night.

Sunday was Patrick and Carrie Extravaganza! We did everything I can think of to do on a rainy Sunday:
Brunch : Carlyle
Reading : On big fluffy red couch at Busboys and Poets
Movie : Baby Momma
Dinner : Whole Foods
TV : DH at Luis'

Awesome.

Strengths Discovery and Character Matrix Assessment

In preparation for the Yelo Conference at Ebenezers this weekend, I took a strengths and character assessment quiz. Here's what I came up with:

Top 5 Themes:

Intellection - characterized by intellectual activity; introspective and appreciative of intellectual discussions

Achiever - have a great deal of stamina and work hard; take great satisfaction from being busy and productive

Activator - can make things happen by turning thoughts into action; often impatient

Input - have a craving to know more; like to collect and archive all kinds of information (My co-workers and I got a kick out of this one!)

Self-Assurance - feel confident in their ability to manage their own lives; possess an inner compass that gives them confidence that their decisions are right

For the Character Matrix I asked Mom, Liz, and Patrick to take the test for me too so I could see how my scores stack up to others impressions of me. I'll have to wait for the conference to figure out exactly what the results mean, but for the time being here are the numbers:

Wisdom - Me: 31 Liz: 29 Mom: 32 Patrick: 29
Perserverance - Me: 34 Liz: 30 Mom: 39 Patrick: 31
Faithfulness - Me: 29 Liz: 33 Mom: 39 Patrick: 34
Courage - Me: 35 Liz: 31 Mom: 38 Patrick: 26
Integrity - Me: 31 Liz: 33 Mom: 38 Patrick: 35
Humility - Me: 27 Liz: 29 Mom: 35 Patrick: 29
Generosity - Me: 21 Liz: 28 Mom: 33 Patrick: 29
Wholeness- Me: 23 Liz: 24 Mom: 36 Patrick: 26
Gratitude - Me: 38 Liz: 32 Mom: 40 Patrick: 36

My favorite FAVORITE thing about this whole deal so far is how inflated my mom's numbers turned out. Like, Liz and my numbers are pretty much the same give or take a few points... but my Mom's are across the board higher. She thinks I'm so great haha! It's so cute! I love her so much!

Most interesting clock ever...

I literally sat watching the numbers tick around on this clock for awhile the other day. It's kind of emotional, actually. Anyway... click here and let me know what you think of it.

Dude!

Ebz in the news again!

Ben's Chili Bowl

So I finally finally went to Ben's Chili Bowl last weekend much to my heart and cholesterol's chagrin. Will I get stoned on the streets if I say I'm not sure it lives up to reputation? I mean, the place itself does... it has that old school diner historical feel to it, which I love. But I'm not like over the moon about the chili or the crappy napkins that don't hold up to wiping it off your hands once the chili drips off your chili dog. Gross. Anyway! Would I go again? Sure, if I happened upon the opportunity. Would I stand in line at 3am for 1.5 hours for it? Not a chance in the world.