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.

Passion Play

Today was a big day for two of my absolute favorite people in the entire musical world. Both Joshua Radin and William Fitzsimmons released their new albums! (Note: if you haven't realized this by now, let me just point out that I tend to get a tad passionate about music. Especially when it comes to Josh ;) ).

Let's start off with Joshua Radin a.k.a. the love of my musical life. If you haven't heard him before then you obviously need to check out my playlist. :) The man has been compared to Nick Drake and referred to as a modern day Simon and Garfunkle. Josh's new album is called Simple Times and it's brilliant. A little different than the first album, but it's still Josh. Let me just tell you why I love this man so much (well, one reason anyway). Colombia Records signed Josh probably two and a half/three years ago. He went with them because they said they'd produce his album just as he recorded it; no changes. Then when it came time for the sophomore record, they wanted him to make changes; move towards more of a mainstream/pop-ish sound. He wouldn't do it. He bought himself out of his contract and signed on with Mom and Pop Records, an indie label and was able to release his music how he feels his music should sound. Even if you hated his sound, you'd have to respect the guy for that.

The album has been up on i-tunes for the past four weeks and beat out Metallica for the number one selling album it's first week out. I was going to wait for the hard copy, but I just couldn't hold myself back. I did of course, order a hard copy but of course it wasn't in the mail. Hopefully tomorrow! Josh also performed on the Ellen Show today. I was stoked until I got home and found that the DVR did not record the event. Tragic. I feel I handled myself well though; no tears were shed, I didn't break anything, just complained a little. Good thing I'm going to see him perform live this weekend, or thing may not have turned out so pretty . . . Now if someone could just get the clip up on youtube . . . :)

Next we have William. William Fitzsimmons also released and album today called The Sparrow and The Crow. It's his third album, and possibly my favorite. I can't get over how talented this man is! I first heard WF towards the beginning of the year when I noticed him on the Hotel Cafe Tour's line-up. I instantly bought one his albums and later fell in love with it so much that I had to have the other one as well. Imagine my delight when I found out he had a third album on the way!

I pre-ordered the cd rather than waiting to buy it on i-tunes because it came with a free subscription to Paste Magazine ("the entertainment magazine for thinking adults, Paste looks for "signs of life" in music, film, and culture") and I like getting mail. I'm generally not big into the whole pre-order thing, but this time it turned out to be the best thing I could have done because when I got home on Friday afternoon, the cd was sitting in my mailbox . . . that's four whole days before I could have gotten it anywhere else. The album is amazing, I can't wait for November 7th when I get to see him perform the songs live!!!

For more details on Josh, William, or the Hotel Cafe tour, or to listen to their music, direct your eyes to the right side of your screen. For those of you who are directionally impaired, just take a look at this . . . (Josh appears at approx. 6:07) ;)

Someone Else's Life

Wow! I have been so busy these past two weeks going on all sorts of fun adventures. I really do feel like I'm living someone else's life. There is just so much opportunity to go places and see things! I've been to Baltimore, Fredricksburg, Annapolis, and all over DC. I've visited the National Aquarium, the Naval Academy, The Bureau of Printing and Engraving, The Capital Building, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, The Botanical Gardens, The Sculpture Garden, Barack Obama's office, Old Town Alexandria, Georgetown, and so many other places, all in less than two weeks! It helps that I've had a friend in town visiting for the past week. I haven't done too much in DC on my own since I've moved here, mostly because I have other things going on. Now I have a renewed excitement about going to all the different museums that exist right in my backyard! So cool . . . I have a bunch of pics to go through, and some that I'm waiting for my friend to send, but don't you worry, I'll post some soon! ;)

I can't believe how blessed I am to be able to do all these things, it's absolutely amazing. Up next on the list: Harrisburg, PA!