With A Little Help From My Friends

You know you live in DC when this is the conversation that takes place in your car . . .

Ingrid (3 yrs): Teddy Roosevelt.
Matt (5 yrs): He was the first president of the United States . . .
Lindsie (26.9 yrs): Teddy Roosevelt wasn't the first president of the United States! Who was the first president?
Ingrid (3): John McCain!

If that's not funny enough, let me tell you what one of Ingy's best friends said to her nanny the other day . . . They were going by The White House when Elice, (2.5 yrs) points and says "Look, there's Barack Obama's house!" The funny thing is her parents are 110% republican! Maybe she knows something we don't . . . ;)

I think it's hilarious that both of these girls know enough to even associate John McCain and Barack Obama with being president in the first place! Unfortunately that's probably more than some Americans know . . .

One of my favorite things about moving to DC when I did is that I got here just in time for all the election excitement. I've always wanted to learn more about politics and be more informed and now I can't help but be informed. I feel like I am so much more prepared to make a decision this year than I have been in the past two elections . . . Even if I'm not the biggest fan of either candidate. Now if only my absentee ballot would get here . . . ;)

One more thing. Watch this and be sure to pass it on!

Rain

Normally I love the rain. Being inside wrapped up in a nice warm blanet or playing in the puddles, they both make for a good time. Well not today! I went to run some errands this afternoon and it was lightly raining. No big deal, not enough to need an umbrella or anything. I went to Target first and the trip ended up being quite successful . . . I picked up everything on my list, I talked to a friend on the phone, and I even ran into some people in my ward and made plans to go to a Halloween party with them tonight. Not too shabby. I was there for well over an hour because of all this fun and excitement. When I went to leave I looked outside and saw it pouring down rain. At that point I wished I'd grabbed that umbrella out of the back of my car, but figured it wouldn't be too bad. My plan was to hurry as fast as I could to my car. Genius idea right? I got out my keys, put my finger on the unlock button and made a run for it. This all would have worked out nicely had I remembered where I parked my car. I looked. And looked. And looked. No car. I started walking up and down the isles, swearing that I remembered parking my car near the back and wondering if I'd lost my mind. The pouring rain was now coming down in buckets. There was so much water on my face that I could barely open my eyes. This is when it dawns on me that I parked near the other entrance! I blindly made it to the other side of the parking lot and finally found my car. When I got inside I looked like I had showered in my clothes! I'm so glad I took the time to get ready today . . .

Find It In Me

I've been tagged by my fabulous former roomie, Brittany. I'm suppose to come up with six things people don't know about me. I'm pretty sure that there's nothing about me that someone doesn't know, but I'll try hard to come up with some of the lesser known facts for your reading enjoyment . . . :)

1- I love to run. Crazy, I know. My gym teacher would never believe it, but it's true, I love running. I think it has a lot to do with the quality time I get to spend with my i pod :)

2- I have an insane memory when it comes to social things. I can remember stupid little details that don't really matter about what day it was, who was there and what we talked about type things. Of course my everyday memory's not so great. Go figure.

3- Sometimes I get embarrassed because of what I remember so I play dumb . . . I say something like "have we met before? I'm not sure. Maybe. I think so . . . Oh yeah, we did hang out a little." Truth is I know where we met and what we were doing. If I thought about it enough, I could easily figure out the date as well. One time we played Cranium and I couldn't for the life of me figure out that you were humming Mary Had a Little Lamb.

4- I really don't watch a ton of TV, but I feel like I know what's going on in a bunch of shows I've never seen because I keeping up on them through their commercials. My favorite show I kept up on through commercials: Ed. You know, the bowling alley lawyer. I eventually caught most of the series in syndication. LOVE it! :)

5- I picked up a swearing haibt from the kids at the group home where I use to work. I'm doing a pretty good job of getting rid of it these days, but I refuse to let go of "bitcher," it's way too funny!

6- I'm going to Florida next month with The Knutson's. I think maybe three people know that. It's not some hidden fact about myself, just a recent development, and since I've been trying to come up with a sixth thing for over a week now, it's gonna have to do. Karen actually reminded me about it today, so it's been on my mind. I'm pretty excited about it. ;)

To Remember

Last Monday I went with my friend Anne to the Pentagon Memorial. I've been to almost all of the memorials and this one by far is my favorite. It seems to me like it was more thought out than the others . . . There's more detail to it. When we got there we didn't really know how to make sense of what we were looking at, but then we started talking to a nice "older" couple who explained it to us. They said that the walk way around the memorial is made out of the rubble of the building, then they pointed out how you can see on the Pentagon, where the plane crashed. Chilling. Then there are these interesting markers coming out of the ground. They pointed out that the direction the marker is facing indicates where the person it's representing died; in the plane or in the Pentagon. The markers are arranged by birth year and has each person's name on the end of it. If that person had family members who also died in the attack, their names are listed below the marker, in the water. You are then able to go around and find the site for each individual in the family. The youngest person to die in the attack on the pentagon was born in 1989 and both her parents and sibling were killed along side her. Going to any memorial is a somber experience, but the fact that I distinctly remember 9/11 enhanced this particular visit. It's surreal to actually stand in the place where this tragedy took place and remember all the things that went on during that period of our country's history. I guarentee this won't me the last time I go there.

I would highly recommend that if you ever get the chance to visit DC, that you put The Pentagon Memorial on the top of your places to see. Just a little tip: take the metro and go at night. There's not really any place you can legally park at the Pentagon at anytime, and also if you go at night it's all lit up and it adds to the atmosphere.

I Want You

Watch. Listen. Act.