Churros!

Let us discuss for a moment how I am craving weird foods. Or just delicious foods. Despite my weird eating habits, I enjoy food.


This is what I had for breakfast one morning in Spain. Those are Spanish churros. I have no idea what's in them other than they are deep fried and the chocolate you dip them in is as thick as liquid fudge and sticks to you for at least seven months a long time after you eat them. They're so delicious, though. They're the reason that this past birthday trip is the only time I've ever come home from a vacation weighing more than when I left (I usually walk it off or limit myself which clearly didn't happen).

This is what I am planning to eat tonight because my darling cousin Erin is making them. Because she is amazing. She also deserves a lot of praise. I probably won't even take pictures of them because I will be too busy eating them. And watching Scrooge.


Also, I was editing pictures from Prague this weekend (because my fish game that I normally use to waste time is no longer working and all that's left for me is photo editing, reading and cleaning my room. It's so disheartening). It only took me seven months. The pictures made me laugh so hard, though. This was my favorite. Basti likes to pose (which is great for me). I told him to be a hand model like in Zoolander. If he'd seen the movie, he would have found this picture a lot funnier. Granted, he hasn't seen the picture because it's been hiding away on my computer. I am so ready to go back.


While I'm thinking of food, I should probably give a shout-out to the BEST pumpkin ravioli I have ever, ever, ever eaten. Oh, man. This is the real reason I want to visit Prague again (o:

Ziggy: The Hooky Monster

And the tale of why I don't care to decorate for Christmas:


Jenny and her children have been coming over to our house a lot lately to decorate for Christmas. We don't usually do much. Mostly just get out the tree. Which is fake. And has lights built in. I remember one year when JennyandMark came in from Illinois Christmas Eve (or so) and our tree wasn't decorated. She was disappointed with us, but decorated it and all was well.


Sometimes Giselle is afraid of Christmas, so Jenny has to pretend to be a talking nutcracker ornament -- for some reason this doesn't scare her more. We were talking at dinner last night and Jenny asked if it would kill us to see Scrooge twice (because she can't come to our legendary Scrooge Party on Monday). MamaLynne said she can live through a lot of things and Dad said, "Like seeing the Nutcracker every year." Jenny's in it again this year and we're all hoping we don't actually have to see it. That year JennyandMark got engaged, I think he had to go to every one of her performances. We all felt for him, but it was a good initiation to the family.


The other day I came home to a trail of green things all over the floor. I didn't think much of it as I sat at my computer. Then I heard a voice, "This floor is getting hooky!" Ziggy peeked out from behind the couch and I had him repeat what he said because I wasn't sure that's what he meant. Nope, I'd heard it right. He was making us a hooky floor.


The hook-spreading culprit. He said, "Do you want to see a HOOK SHOW or a WATERFALL SHOW WHERE PEOPLE DIVE OFF?" Clearly I chose waterfall -- which wasn't the right answer, apparently. "No," Ziggy protested, "in the waterfall show the guy dives off and then he and another guy DIE!" I told him that sounded interesting and I still wanted to see it. "And after THEY die, the WHOLE WORLD DIES!" He said dramatically. I asked him how we were supposed to see the waterfall show if we were dead. "Kristy," Ziggy said with as much patience as his four-year-old self possessed (which is not a lot), "there isn't a waterfall show. All you get are the hooks." I was disappointed, of course, because I was curious to see how he was going to make a waterfall show in our family room (or maybe I shouldn't be curious because Bridget and I made a waterfall show when we were little by flooding the bathroom sink so it spilled over and leaked down to the family room. Then remember that one time last year? The one where the bathroom pipe burst and we had an impressive amount of water coming through the ceiling and light fixture. Wow, my house is fun).


The hooky show -- far less impressive than any of the waterfall shows.


In the mean time, Giselle was upstairs dressing MamaLynne is gaudy jewelry (not even mine!)


The build-a-bear was being subjected to all kinds of fashion horrors at the hands of a stubborn, erratic 18-month-old.


Not that this has anything to do with Christmas, but we had a lot of fun balancing a plate on Giselle's head (it's plastic).


She liked to shoot forward and see how far the plate would fly (we're all grateful it's plastic).


And this is from when I was trying to get a shot like Josh's, which I thought was gorgeous, but Giselle doesn't pose so well. And the lights in our house are incredibly yellow and sometimes b&w is just easier.

So, finally, the story of why I don't decorate for Christmas (because clearly you can see there has been decorating).

Growing up, I had a bossy older sister. Her name was Jenny and she liked to be in charge (and still does. I appreciate that trait of hers when we go on photographing adventures together). She would direct everyone what to do and how because the Christmas decorations had to be perfect. I got sick of the directing very quickly, so instead of participating, I'd just hide and not decorating at all. The house still was decorated so it was fine. We were all used to this quirk, but then JennyandMark got engaged in October. I think they'd known each other about three or four months total when Christmas decorating time came around.

The day after Thanksgiving is the traditional decorating time, so Mark came over and he and Jenny started in on the boxes of stuff we had. I'm not sure if Mark wondered why everyone else cleared out. He probably just thought we were being lazy and lame. It didn't take too long before Mark was not following directions. I heard yelling and went up to see them in the entry. Jenny was crying and telling Mark he was doing it wrong and he might as well just go home and she'd do it herself. Mark was holding some garland looking completely lost. I am pretty sure I asked if he was sure he wanted to marry her and they both told me I was not being funny.

That was also the day Dad back into Mark's car. It wasn't such a good afternoon for that boy.

Nevertheless, he married Jenny and it's worked well, but we still let Jenny do all the decorating.

Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

Hi, World. Between the weather changing and all the flights I took this past month, my sinuses have not loved life. So instead of blogging or taking pictures or pursuing adventure (as usual), I've been mostly sleeping. Which is admittedly not that exiting. Anyway, things that have made me laugh!

Erin (when I asked her if she was funny in Spanish as well as English): "I'm not as funny. I mean, I'm still funny, but it's hard to be as funny in another language."

Kristy (after Brooke asked me for something I'd e-mailed her not that long ago): "What happened to the one I gave you last week?" Brooke: "Lost! So long ago!" I do that to her all the time. Sometimes in the same conversation, because scrolling back is so hard.

David: "Oh man, I love Landesk more than I love the Budgeted Hours Report!" My office is so geeky. We're not as bad as Finance, though, so I take comfort in that (o:

Jenny (after Ziggy was petitioning me to put up the Christmas tree with him): "It's really easy, he tells you what to do and you do it." MamaLynne: "Oh, look, it's another Jenny!" I might have to, in an upcoming blog, retell the story of why I don't often get involved in decorating for Christmas. I think it is mentioned at least once a year, but the story still makes me laugh after 8 years, so I'll do it again.

Chance (on why girls shouldn't talk too much on dates (for the record, he was teasing)): "We prefer reading the book without having it translated."

Allie: "On the other hand, once you're in love, you feel guilty about flirting with others and your budget for food goes wayyyyy down. I could have scored like three dates this weekend if I weren't married, but, alas. Do you realize how much free food that is?" I don't remember the context, but that's okay. Allie's pursuit of free food always makes me laugh.

Allie (after watching a documentary): "I decided if I want to be on a documentary some day, I'd better be freaking good looking."

For The Record...

This is how I feel about my parents giving JennyandMark my coffee table. (The mug is where the coffee table is usually.) I might put piles of junk mail on the floor in the middle of the room in protest.

Why I Didn't Sleep Last Night

It is well-known among my friends and family that I don't like scary movies (well, okay, I don't normally like movies in general, but that's because I have trouble sitting still through the whole thing and get embarrassed for the people on screen -- to the delight of Lisa who has me watch a chick flick every time I go over to her house, like last night, so she can listen to me gasp, "No! They aren't!" when they main character does something mortifying like drunken bar singing or confessing her undying love to someone who doesn't love her back), so I understandably haven't seen a lot of them.

Last Saturday when Allie and I had dinner with Tesse and Amy, they'd just come from seeing Paranormal Activity and were very freaked out by it.

Last night I got home from Lisa's, got ready for bed, turned off all the lights and was about to go to bed when I saw an IM from Tesse. She saw Ragtime on Wednesday and I've been wanting to gush about it with her, so I ended up talking to her. The conversation went back to Paranormal Activity, so I read the plot on Wikipedia (thanks, Wikipedia!) because we all know I will never willingly go and see the actual movie. I'm still trying to get over my wary distrust of the big screen TV in our family room after watching The Ring and will probably never go to Japan after watching The Grudge. And that's about the extent of scary movies I've ever seen.

We're discussing the movie and she's explaining things to me in greater detail as I'm reading along. I just got to the end and she was elaborating on that when the dryer's loud buzzing timer decided to go off. In the complete dark. I made a mental note like, "so THIS is how it feels when your heart just stops," and had to sit there for a good 15 minutes breathing deeply so I wouldn't be too scared to go to my bedroom in the basement.

I finally felt my rational senses returning and went to bed (it was well past one at this point). As I was laying with my back to the door and moments away from falling asleep, I hear a shuffling in the hall outside my bedroom. The door opens slowly. More shuffling. I'm more awake now, convinced that I'm letting move over-active imagination run away with me I decide to ignore it. Then a hand grabs my shoulder.

My mom, of course, didn't appreciate my screaming, panicked reaction, but her timing to see if I'd come home was TERRIBLE. I'd been home at least two hours and she couldn't have come downstairs then?

Then it took another hour to get my heart beating at a speed that would allow me to sleep. This is exactly why I don't need David pranking me back, because I'm perfectly capable of scaring myself.

Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

Melanie: "This is one of your good qualities, to complete my song verses with the next line." Melanie was speaking to me only in song verses. It meant a lot of our conversations didn't get resolved.

[Anonymous](because Melanie said she needed to be)(on why she isn't excited for Thanksgiving with her in-laws): "The whole family tried to talk him out of marrying me, and the only one who stuck up for me is in prison, so he can't even come defend me!"

Cari: "I wish I could get away with saying 'badass' on the board so I could describe Atticus Finch. Oh, 100 Hour Board, sometimes you kill my soul."

David: "Do you think it's a little too formal to put a probation letter on cardstock?"

Melanie: "Why am I talking about throwing up? I need to talk about something else. Hurry, quick, CHRISTMAS!"

Alexis (because Melanie and I were trying to talk her into naming her baby Levi Percy): "Here's the deal, if Levi comes out looking like a pug dog, then I will name him Levi Percy."

Jenny: "I'm actually starting to understand your weird abbreviated Kristy-Lingo. That worries me just a little." I said "SD". I didn't think it was THAT weird.

Chance (making fun of people who make everything a "tender mercy"): "I just caught a green light so I can be extra early. Tender mercy joyful sigh!" I will admit that we spent a good portion of an online conversation mocking excessive spirituality and it was wonderful.

Dan: "Once I realized that what you say is not in any way a reflection of how you feel, you started making 100% more sense."

Jenny (after I told her a half a story involving a car seat): "I was a little worried that you had kidnapped someone's baby! Or worse, were carrying around your own empty carseat in some disturbing, twisted Chilly's World fantasy you might have! Glad to know it's just a normal explanation."

Jenny H. (after I made fun of her for being attracted to Jacob -- like from Twilight): "A guy with an eight-pack and huge biceps? Geez. It's a primordial thing. I'm programed to be attracted to that."

Chance: "The dude across from me is like 60 and has the top three buttons of his shirt undone. It's like looking at an apocalyptic version of the Great Plains."

Why I'm Afraid to Go to Work Tomorrow

I have a reasonably good relationship with those with whom I work, especially my two bosses, David and Ken. David, however, this week has been difficult.

It started a long time ago. We have another coworker (who shall remain nameless because I'm annoyed (in the mildest of annoyances, I assure you) at this part) who likes to hand me his binder clips (those black triangle ones with metal flippy things...) when he gets them on something. I take them to the supply room. Later he'll ask if I have binder clips and I say no because I don't use them so I take them to the supply room. I would think this is code for, "so stop giving me yours!" but it's not. Which is fine. Anyway, last week he handed me another. I stuck it in David's inbox (which is on my desk). David attached it to something on my desk. I attached it to something on his. All week long.

By Monday I'd forgotten about the clips. Around 7:30 my phone rang and I went to answer it. The phone, as I pulled one way, pulled the other and flew out of my hands and crashed back to the desk. I screamed, of course. Luckily it was someone who I've worked with a lot and we're friends so she could laugh along with me. Apparently David had clipped my phone cord in such a way that I had no cord.

The other coworker gave me another clip that day.

That night after everyone left, I crawled under David's desk and used my two clips to secure his mouse cord tightly under the desk so it had no slack.

On Tuesday David came in and tried to pull the mouse and it wouldn't move, so he just moved his mouse pad. I shook my head and felt cheated. However, he did keep picking up his mouse, pulling (it wouldn't give), looking at it and putting it right back down all morning, so that was funny, but still too lame for me. I took time to ponder a better prank.

Which somehow brings us to today. With the help of Melanie for the idea, Joanne for the distraction and Kate as watch-person, I went to David's computer and changed all his sounds from normal sounds to moos. He came back and was listening to Pandora when the mooing started, so he just thought it was a weird song. Later, though, the mooing happened when he got IMs (from me!). He went, "Kristy! What happened to my computer?" and I burst out laughing (because I can't hold in laughs). So he starts asking me what I did to it and I can't stop laughing. People were walking by to ask what had happened and to listen to the moos.


David couldn't believe I would do something like this to him. He called Dave, whose office is around the corner, who tried to help him fix it, but I'd done my job well, so it required more than one place to correct the sound.


Still trying to fix it. He eventually fixed the IM program to stop mooing but not everything else. I took pity on him after he had to endure a phone call filled with moos (why he didn't just mute the phone, I don't know) and fixed it.

But that wasn't enough. It never is. Later I went and turned his screen so it was displaying upside down*. David tried to fix it himself and discovered more mooing!


His completely unposed face of cow defeat.


David called Dave back and Dave just looked at it and laughed and offered to hold the monitor upside down so David could try to fix it.


This was about the point where Dave said, "Whatever you did to tick her off, just apologize for it." Absolutely.

So, while it was a productive day, I'm a little nervous to see what David gets me back with.

For the record, I set his screen right again. Also I had flipped Mark B.'s screen while I was at it and forgot about it. He went back to his office and a few seconds later I hear, "Kristy....you punk!" and remembered. There was a lot of laughing.

Also I might need to be on the lookout for Kali. Yesterday I was walking by her desk to talk to her and she wasn't there, but as I was about to go around the corner back to my own desk, I heard her talking and coming back. I jumped out of sight and scared her when she came around the corner. She screamed, people came out of their offices to see what had happened and Dave (whose office really isn't that close) said he wondered if he should go help whoever was in trouble until he heard laughing. It was loud. I never realized she was so jumpy!


And while this is not related to pranking in any way, Melanie's roommate's cat keeps eating her clothes. Which is also funny. And office-related.

*I would now like to thank Social Media (namely Twitter and Google Talk) for the inflow of great prank ideas.

On To The Shows

I was going to write a long, detailed post about how much I loved Ragtime and The 39 Steps and why, but...then I decided to just post pictures instead and let everyone imagine.

I will say, though, that they were both worth the trip alone, together it made everything perfect. Ragtime was great. I'd never seen it before, but I had heard Back to Before (Rachel York sang it at Bravo Broadway) which made me want to hear a few other songs and then I started following Ragtime on Twitter and I got all excited and...in the end, clearly I went to see it.

I loved the minimalistic set. There was maybe one scene change, everything else they brought on/took off with them or we had to imagine. We were in the third row which was even more wonderful because I enjoy watching facial expressions. I would, and hope to, see it again.

Mother and the Baron had SUCH great chemistry in the scenes they were in together. Sadly, Coalhouse and Sarah did not (we still liked them, they just didn't click for us). The Little Boy was INSANELY cute. Allie and I both found it well-cast.

Afterward we Stage Doored, which was convenient as the stage door is right next to the entrance.


In the tradition of terrible pictures of me stage dooring, here I am with Ron Bohmer who played Father. I promise it's really us (o: I'll get a better picture when I go back at some point in the unplanned future. He did stop and talk to us for a few minutes when I mentioned I was from Utah, though. He said he did some things at Pioneer and thinks Utah is lovely. Clearly he won me over and I will be a fan forever now.


Less blurry, but still not all the way fabulous. Here I am with Christiane Noll who played Mother. The rain had washed off all my makeup at that point (o: Clearly she is wearing a raincoat.


Allie with Quentin Earl Darringtion who played Coalhouse Walker Jr. He also stopped to talk to us (and the lady next to us) and was funny and pleasant. Funny, pleasant and chatty is a surefire way to my heart!


After Ragtime, dinner and street cart shopping, we found the theatre for 39 Steps (which was admittedly not hard as it was two blocks from where we had dinner). We had to take some daytime pictures on Sunday because I forgot to get any Saturday night. Oh, and Melanie, the theater was right across where Hamlet was playing. I waved to it for you.


Allie and I laughed through the whole performance. The people around us, however, weren't into it as much. That was okay; we laughed enough for all of them. Again on the third row where we could see expressions really well. It was a FANTASTIC play. I hope it tours to Salt Lake or somewhere I have a friend to visit who will see it with me. After the show we went to Stage Door but the door was kind of dodgy looking and no one was waiting around. We were the only ones. This is Allie asking if this is really the door. It was and we met the cast (all four of them) who signed our playbills. I told them I'd come from Utah and apologized for the lame audience. They thanked us for laughing (we were laughing REALLY hard) and told stories about the worst house they'd had. This was a time I was sad I didn't take a picture. Maybe next time there, as well.


Allie inside the door that we weren't sure lead to the stage door. It did! We won. But there were some moments of awkward doubt.


In lieu of pictures with the cast, here's Allie with the wall outside the theatre.


And me with more of the cast! Granted, there are four people, so one guy plays one roll, the lady plays three roles and the two other guys play hundreds of roles between them. It's clever and funny. Really, everyone go see it and laugh for me.


As we were walking to the train station, we just happened to see a big group gathered outside for Bye Bye Birdie. Seeing as we had an hour before our train left, we grabbed a program and waited with everyone else to get things signed. So here's Allie holding out the program to be signed (because I was too shy to tell actors who I hadn't actually seen that they did a great job. Actually, I'm too shy to tell that to actors I HAVE seen).


I'm going to guess he was a main person because of all the screaming, but...one can never be sure. The mobs clustered around him. It was amazing to watch. Poor Allie was in the middle of it while I was out taking pictures.


John Stamos! We got his autograph and I told Allie we could go (as at this point we would maybe miss our train). As we were walking away she asked, "Who is he?" It was a great moment.

So now I've had some stage dooring win to make up for the last trip's lack of stage dooring and am planning to take Allie to everything with me ever.

Adventures With Allie II

Last weekend with Allie was in D.C., but this weekend she met me in NYC for a day full of shows, street cart food and wandering (yeah, we were barely there a day and a half. I should maybe stick around longer next time).


We stayed with Allie's aunt and uncle who actually live in Connecticut -- a state I had never been to before, which is always fun. Their little boy, Garrett, was SO adorable! He was singing me songs that had hand actions. On Sunday morning Allie was eating an apple and made the mistake of putting it on the table. Garret grabbed it and started eating it. Allie told him it was hers and he smiled and said, "Actually, it's mine now." before biting again. I was laughing so hard. He is cheeky.


Allie's cousin Cici gave us piano, violin and vocal performances to accompany our breakfast. Her uncle made pancakes and it reminded me how I still don't know how to do that.

Baby Hughy. Also adorably cute. I think he loves me. We played with a wooden egg on the floor together.


Allie and the final cousin Gigi.


Allie and I took the train into the city which meant more time to walk around and enjoy the city. Even if it was overcast and rainy.


We found a fallout shelter. What more could we possibly need? Of course, we'll never be able to find it again...


I took a picture of The Waldorf Astoria for Melanie (because she calls me her Waldorf salad nearly weekly). While Allie and I were standing there, not too close to the curb, I don't think, talking, a cab went out of its way to drive into a puddle and splash us. Allie looked at me and said, "Oh no! We just became cliches!" I hate that.


Since it was raining so hard, I'd straightened my hair and wanted to pretend it could still stay straight and I love churches, we decide to stop in one. I don't know which one because we didn't pay that much attention. You'd think after a million Europe churches I'd be sick of them by now, but it's not true.


I thought about lighting a candle for Lauralee's soul, but Erin wasn't there and she's probably the only one who would have found me funny. Also I liked the angel statue behind the candles and probably would have taken the picture again with the angel in focus if there weren't, oh, people ACTUALLY there in various stages of worship.


We also met my friend Jena Tesse for dinner. Tesse brought her friend Amy and we had fabulous times eating Chinese, discussing Broadway and watching Tesse shutter every time she remembered Paranormal Activity. I actually had a really bad headache at this point, so I wasn't the most fun dinner guest ever, but it was nice to finally meet an online friend. I met Tesse because she wrote an article for Broadwayworld and I decided I needed to be friends with her, so I added her on either twitter or facebook and....there we go. New friend! Brooke is going to design me a chart that rates people on the interestingness of the way I met them.

I also like this picture because I had to bend down to be at her same level. I was the tall one!


Tesse took a picture of Allie and me. We should have had a picture together at the start of the day when we still had makeup on and our hair down. Darn rain.


During the two or so hours that Allie and I had on Sunday before our plane/bus left, we walked aimlessly around the city eating. Perfect way to spend a Sunday. We found the Times building on our way to the post office! Allie loves the Times building.


Anyone who has known me for some length of time knows of my strange fascination and love for the post office, so I made Allie come and visit it with me. After I got home, I got online and the first thing Daniel asked was, "Did you visit the post office?" Corinthian columns, I swear they win me over every time.

(It maybe sounds like we didn't do a lot, but that's because I wanted the shows to have their own post.)

Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

This was a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to get it off my phone (texted it to myself so I'd remember). I fail. Carli: "I don't know if you noticed, but the only reason we voted for Jack Sparrow was the camera only focused on Jack Sparrow." We were at the Jazz game on Halloween and voting for the best costume and they kept the camera on these ADORABLE little kids dressed as Jack Sparrow. They were so cute. And that is how voting works.

Carli: "You could specialize in something; you could photograph mimes."

Allie: "Typically my goal in life is to be better than myself and/or my arch nemisis." She's very ambitious.

Carl (on a someone he and Allie thought I should be friends with): "He would either delight you or horrify you. Probably both. And you would love it."

Aimee (as we skipped church): "If you're going to ditch, ditch with aggression. Don't be wimpy about it."

Melanie (after I asked her if there was a Broadway Rockband): "I wonder how many guitar and drum solos could be in Les Miserables? But I would SO play that."

Jena Tesse (as I told her I needed a musical based on my life but the only problem was my life doesn't have much usable conflict): "Actually, this sounds suspiciously like a musical I was trying to write a few years ago before I realized I can't write musicals."

Jena Tesse (when I told her I need to date a tenor): "Pick a tenor? Sure, I know a bunch. I can't swear to the heterosexuality of all, but I'll put you in touch with them. I've dated more than my share." Kristy: "How did that work out for you?" Jena Tesse: "...Not all that great. But my wardrobe is faaaaabulous!" And that was the moment I decided Melanie would love her. Too bad, however, that Melanie is not coming to New York with us this weekend.

Kate (as we were discussing being able to sing the highest and lowest notes on the piano): "There's a tallest man and a biggest hamburger, why can't someone hit the lowest note?"

A Question of 8s

After spending a day writing employee ID numbers on a million I-9 forms, I started wondering:

How does everyone write their 8s?


In one continuous motion?


Or as two little circles?

Every time I wrote an 8 (and I had a lot of times doing that) I could hear my scary first grade teacher Mrs. Thomas getting mad at the kids who did the two circle way because it was not correct.

In either case, which is more popular?

Adventures with Allie Part I

I realized that I'm embarking on Adventures with Allie Part II tomorrow (Hello, New York and Ragtime!), so I should get part I in really fast.


Besides touring the capitol with Chance and Jenny (who were in SLC today and I got to give them a tour of the Church Administration Building -- some day I'll even post pictures), Allie and I walked around D.C. for miles and miles enjoying all the architectural delights my heart could ever desire (I hear that's just because I didn't make it to the ugly 60s building -- then I would have architectural horrors). Here is Allie in front of the Library of Congress. Some day I plan to go in and this time I will remember not to wear a belt (darn security).


I have an unnatural love of friezes and Corinthian columns.


After the tour of the capitol, there was a protest happening against the health care bill. Allie and I went to that for 15 or so minutes. I took pictures for my blog, she took notes for her job and then we left to continue on adventuring. Isn't the little protesting boy cute?


This was as we were walking away from the protest. It was actually really cool experience-wise. I met and saw all kinds of people and appreciated that we have the freedom to do things like that. It made me feel ridiculously patriotic.

Allie and I then headed over to the Cannon building where Chance works (because while we protested, they went and ate lunch) and saw Congressman Flake's office. I LOVE old buildings. They have such character. It's embarrassing to see Chance's office and then take him to mine in the COB that looks like it got remodeled in the 70s and no one's bothered to realize life and style has moved on since (or was better a couple hundred years before).


Chance had to keep working, so we took Jenny with us to get delicious cupcakes. Jenny thought I hated them, but what she doesn't know is I just bought them to eat the frosting off the top because that's how I am. I can vouch with sticky certainly that the frosting was delicious.


Allie and I parted with Jenny and headed to the International Spy Museum where, lo and behold, Allie knew someone working there (because she knows people EVERYWHERE! Maybe more than I do, even).


Since her friend was doing the spy mission thing whatever it was, we decided to do that. Her friend is a fabulous actress and adorable guide through our bomb-finding mission, but things like that (interactive) stress the snot out of me. I love being a passive participant at things. I'm glad we went, though, because aside from having to DO things, it was fun. And not only did no one die, but we totally rocked the mission.


We came out and it was dark. Since I wanted to see the monuments at night, we headed back over that way. I like to use the zoom on my lens so I don't have to cross the street to look at signs. This is one of many pictures I took from across the street to see where we were going.

I just decided that now I should mention how I know Allie because it doesn't fit in ANYWHERE with the story and I sort of like that.

Once upon a time Allie wrote for the 100 Hour Board (dun, dun, dun!) and a friend of mine filled out her dating application and asked her on a date and she agreed. Long story short, we decided to make it a double date but then he dropped out so she found a different date and I invited another couple and we all went to see The Osmonds 2nd Generation at the Conference Center. Which concert we still mock aspects of to this day. I love that sort of bonding, the kind that's mockable. And Allie didn't go out with her date again and I didn't go out with my date again and the other couple married each other and Allie and I have been friends forever -- the end. Which means I was seeing THREE internet friends (Allie, Jenny and Chance) last weekend.


Our first monument! Washington's! I'm sad it's closed so we didn't get to go inside. Next time, though (because I'm realizing there can always be a next time). It was night, so I thought it would be a great idea to be on f1.8 right? Right!


Then I took this picture of the Lincoln Memorial as I laid on the grass by the Washington Memorial. I wanted little stars, so I put the aperture on f22.


THEN I forgot I changed the f-stop and WHY were none of my pictures turning out and how is life so horrible? (I have ZERO good pictures of the war memorial. NEXT TIME!) Then I took this picture and realized 1. Oh no! Star effect! F-stop!! and 2. Holy snot, my lens is dirty.


WHEW! Fixed f-stop. Thank heaven! The first time I was in there, NONE of the pictures were turning out and people were getting pictures with their cell phones and I could NOT figure it out and it was maddening. I am awesome.


Then we walked by the water to get to the Roosevelt Memorial. It was a gorgeous night. Actually, the whole weekend had perfect weather. All for me!


And back home here's a picture of Allie's husband Carl because I did see him this weekend, but he stayed home Saturday to get the emissions test done on Allie's car because he's a good husband.