holy hades it's hot out there!!!

Well, summer has officially begun. Yesterday we had a high of 97 with humidity ranging from 41% - 90% throughout the day. I love Virginia but I think that I have selective memory when it comes to the weather/seasons.

The winters are beyond cold. Because we are on the coast (at least parts of VA) the chill factor makes the cold penetrate right to the bone. We generally don't get many snowstorms, but when we do they are so bad, and with limited snow removal resources the city is forced to shut down. Schools close (generally the night before a predicted storm) the government closes and the rest of the city follows suit. And now onto the summer. As evidenced by our weather yesterday, it can get miserable here during the summer months. It is typical to see the temperature in the 90's with a similar percentage of humidity. You can walk outside and feel like you've been hit with a wall of heat, and the air is so thick that it's almost visible. I don't think I stop sweating between June - August. So how do I get through these seasons? How exactly am I able to forget about them to the point where when summer and winter show up again I'm shocked at how miserable they are? Well, let me tell you about fall and spring, then you'll understand.

Because of the huge number of trees everywhere you turn, the fall here is beautiful. The fall foliage in Virginia can't be beat! Well I'm sure it can, especially in the Northeast but I haven't witnessed it so I can't vouch for it. Here in VA, everywhere you look there is a mosaic of red, yellow, orange and purple. Simply gorgeous. Similarly, the springs are breathtaking. The cherry blossoms in March, a wall of delicate pink surrounding the tidal basin; the magnolia trees that emit such a lovely scent, one that reminds me of my Grandma Clawson; dogwood trees which are so unique with their spindly, crooked branches and vibrant flowers. These are seasons that make me happy to be a Virginian, of living in such a climate that encourages such beautiful things to grow and bloom.

So moral of the story, the miserable summer and winter pale in comparison to the beauty of the fall and spring, so the bad parts are easily forgotten, at least for a season.

Typical...

So what was waiting for me when I came home from the beach today? Oh, my new laptop!! It is so nice and I love it already. You're probably assuming that I'm typing this entry from said computer. Nay nay. Of course I'm unable to connect to our network and I don't know why. I have placed a phone call to my personal IT support guy (my good buddy Nick) and hopefully we'll get it all worked out soon. In the meantime I will be using my big fatty desktop that makes whiny noises when it is on too long.

Trinkets

-I am going to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for the weekend with 350 of my closest friends. The forecast calls for a 30% chance of rain, but I'm going to look at it from a "glass half full" perspective and say that 70% chance of sunshine is pretty dang good!

-I spent all of my play money for the year on a new laptop. This will be my first major electronics purchase and I'm very excited about it. (not so excited at the extra "car" payment I just acquired though!)

-My company announced today that they are giving us June 30th off. So in addition to the 3rd and 4th of July we already had, that means I'll have a 5 day weekend...vacation anyone??

Photos

Well I went to my little photography fieldtrip on Saturday and it was a lot of fun. I took about 7 rolls of pictures and while a lot of them didn't work out (i need a tripod) I'm pretty pleased with those that did. Here are two of my favorites. If you're interested in seeing the rest, let me know. I'll be happy to email you the link to the photo album...

That little voice...

It was a beautiful day today here in V-town so I decided to take advantage. I went to a park that has a beautiful rose garden to take pictures and then went for a walk on the Custis Trail, which parallels the freeway. The wind was blowing, the birds were chirping, the bunnies were hopping, and this lovely tune was running through my head...

Sung (loosely) to the tune of the lullaby "Are You Sleeping"

"Chandra Levy, Chandra Levy...just remember, just remember"

This little ditty was composed by my mother one night as I told her I was going for a walk along one of the many public trails in the DC Metro area. Well mom, I remembered! For those of you who might not remember, Chandra Levy was found murdered along the Rock Creek Parkway, which is on the other side of the Potomac. My mom, bless her heart, is always concerned for my safety and is always quick to remind me of the different ways I could be maimed, murdered or otherwise injured. Well mom, I promise I always drive with the doors locked, I always have my cell phone (it's usually charged), I look both ways before crossing the street, and I memorize the path markers when I'm walking so that if I need to call 911, they'll know where to find me. Now do me a favor and stop watching Law & Order: SVU!

Tidbits

* I went to my photography class on Wednesday. Traffic was bad and I thought I was going to be late and have to do the walk of shame to my seat in the middle of the lecture. Luckily I made it with a few minutes to spare. There are 15 people in my class, and there are probably only 4 people under the age of 50. It's an interesting group. I sat next to the cutest older gentleman who had the greatest reactions to the slides that our instructor showed us, like "holy mackrel" and "mmmmmmmmmmm." I'm finding that the technical aspects of photography are very confusing and hard to grasp. I'm usually a fast learner, so this is beyond frustrating for me. The relationship between shutter speed and aperture are a little over my head, and it didn't help that the instructor and some other dude kept talking about things that were a little advanced for the first day of a beginning photography class. Amanda, you need to hurry up and get out here so that you can help me understand this stuff! We are going on a fieldtrip tomorrow morning and I'm pretty excited for that. I love taking pictures, and i'm pretty excited (but kind of nervous) for the critique that will follow.

* I spent all day yesterday working on graphs in excel to put into a report in powerpoint which will likely be sent to a client. Prior to this assignment I have had little or no knowledge of the programs, but now I feel like a pro, well kind of. Luckily I catch on to things pretty quickly. It helps that we have toolbars specific to our practice which takes a lot of the guessing out of it, but I'm still pretty pleased with my progress.

* So You Think You Can Dance starts next week, I'm beyond excited!

* Well, as my co-worker would say, "That is all." Have a great weekend everybody.

Back To School

My photography workshop starts tonight and I can't help but feel a little anxiety. I haven't stepped foot into a classroom in 4 years (well actually it's more like 5 considering all of my classes my senior year of college took place in either a gym or a bowling alley). I've already looked at the map of the campus to find out exactly where the building is, how to get there and where to park, which reminds me of college when I'd ask my dad, who worked at the U at the time, for the blueprints of the buildings my classes were located so I knew exactly where my classroom was so I didn't have to wander around the building looking lost. I've purchased my textbook and I need to make sure I take my camera and manual (hopefully it's still in my camera bag!). I think I'm golden, but I'm afraid that it's not going to be a big class so I think my standard of sitting on the very back row of the class trying to blend into the woodwork isn't going to work this time. What if I have to sit on the front row, and horror of all horrors, what if I have to participate?! *gasp* Wish me luck!

Proof

While looking for pics of my mom, I ran across these pictures of me dressing up when I was little. I was freaking cute!

Happy Mother's Day

I haven't exactly made it easy for you to be my mother, but as much as i might deny it, you've taught me a lot. Thank you.

Love, Annie

Randomness

-Is randomness even a word??

-I saw Mission Impossible: 3 last night. I stayed awake the entire movie (which started at 10:00) thanks in part by the gallon of Diet Coke I consumed as well as an overwhelming fear that i'd fall asleep and start snoring (I'm not a snorer though...I promise...but I am notorious for falling asleep during movies). It was a small miracle! Anyways, Phillip Seymore Hoffman is crazy scary, Shaun (of the Dead) is freaking hilarious and Tom Cruise is just plain crazy! AWESOME movie, I'm glad I was pursuaded to give up my Tom Cruise boycott.

-When I get in my car and plug in my ipod, I can't resist singing along to the music, and when i say sing along to the music, I mean SING along to the music. Like I was auditioning to be the next American Idol or pretending to be the 6th and only female member of N'Sync. I sing with gusto! I can only imagine what I look like to my fellow commuters. I should probably be embarrassed, but I'm not.

Big Head

I received the following compliment today:

"your blog was profound, very articulate, and above the level of understanding of someone with a simple mind"

Moms are so good at inflating the ego!

**update** So I can't really take credit for this unsolicited positive feedback. This comment was inspired by the 10 trivia items about me, which I did not write. But mom, I accept your revised compliment and it will forever be posted on this webpage, because you're right...I am articulate, observant and cleverly satirical...among other things. :)

New Addition

It looks like we have a new roommate at our house. He's pretty quiet but he keeps leaving his things in the backyard...

Crisis Averted

Thank you Tara for telling me how to get the title bar. My blog will be much prettier thanks to you...

My Not So Exciting Account of The Weekend!

This past weekend my old neighbors (practically my second parents) Tom and Wendy were in town to pick up their son Michael from his mission. I spent the weekend with them hearing all about how annoying I was when I was a little girl. Whether I've grown out of that or not is up for debate. Like how, at the age of 6, I would walk over to their house at 8:00 am every morning in my ballerina outfit and follow Wendy around all day. Man, when I was little I apparently LOVED to play dress up. In college (no I'm not saying that I played dress up in college) I TA'ed at my old elementary school. While sitting in the faculty room with several of the teachers, Mrs. Call, who was a teacher when I went there so many moons ago, told me and everyone else in the room that she remembers me coming to school with my mom (this was before I went there as a student) wearing all sorts of crazy outfits, sometimes several at the same time. I also have pictures of me at various stages of my young life wearing such getups as all of my underwear, my older brothers clothes, and yes....more leotards...lots and lots of leotards. I'm starting to see where my obession of clothing comes from. Anyway, back to the weekend...Friday night we went to dinner in Old Town Alexandria where I ate oysters for the first time (not my favorite, they won't be acting as an aphrodisiac for me anytime soon) and the most delectible salmon (it was melt in your mouth good). Friday's salmon made it the 6th day in a row that I'd eaten salmon for dinner. You know what that means...I actually cooked, and it was actually good! My cooking repretoire now consists of salmon and funeral potatoes. Mmmmmmm delish. Wow, I'm sorry for all of the tangents! Saturday we went to the Air and Space Museum (zzzzzzzzzzz), National Archives (we stood in line for 45 minutes to see the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I was a little disappointed that they were so faded you could barely make out the words) and the National Gallery of Art's West Gallery. It has been a long time since I've been there and I LOVED it. I decided to make art out of art and took pictures of heads that I thought were cool. There was an amazing exhibit by Frans van Mieris. His paintings look amazingly real. There are a few other exhibits that I didn't get a chance to see, such as the Photography Discoveries, Cezanne, and Dada exhibits, so I'll try to get back this weekend.

In other news, I saw United 93 with my friend Tara on Monday. It was very hard to watch, but I'm glad I saw it. I'm sure you've heard all about it it, it's presented documentary style and plays out in real time. For me, it started out as just a movie, just another fictional tale...I actually forgot (is this horrible) about the plane that hit the Pentagon, until it was unfolding on the screen in front of me. That was the point when all of the emotions I felt five years ago came rushing back to me and I sobbed for the rest of the movie. I had never given any thought to what the people on those four planes experienced that day. Until I saw United 93, I naively thought that they were unaware of the situation unfolding in the front of the plane and the fate that they faced. It was hard to realize the horror and helplessness that they must have felt, those in the planes as well as those on the ground. This movie is a wonderful tribute to those who lost their lives, and I'm glad that I now have a better understanding of what happened on that day.

MY HAIR ROCKS!!!

I don't know how it happened, but I looked in the mirror tonight and my hair looked like this...



I don't know about you, but I think it rocks! Not that I'd ever go out in public looking like that, but I'm not above broadcasting it on the internet. I've seen worse pictures of me floating around the internet (thank you Tara). Please forgive the chickenpocks (not really, but with the look of them they very well could be) on my chin. I have started treatments and it shall be gone soon. At least with 80 dollars worth of prescriptions it BETTER be gone soon.

My slogan:

"All you need is an Anne and a dream"

Love it!!