I left Saturday afternoon for Baltimore. It took me a bit more than an hour to get to the bus stop in DC because I had to transfer rail lines and walk almost a mile and a half between stops! I got on the bus, and it was actually pretty nice. ...cushioned seats that adjust to lay back...outlets below the windows...a few TVs above your heads (not on for this ride, though)...a bathroom in the back...it was cozy! I sat next to this guy that was pretty chatty. (He wouldn't stop talking about his friends' weddings and bachelor parties.) Fortunately, the ride was only an hour or so.
Then, Mark and Drew picked me up from the bus stop! They dropped me off about 2 miles from their house. How convenient is that?! Once I got to their house, we got ready, had snacks, and went to the pool. Their pool is AMAZING! There are a couple small baby pools, a nice-sized regular pool, an adult (21+) pool with a hot tub, a snack bar, a grilling station, and below the hill there was a large "river pool" that had a steady flow going through it so you could float in circles. We spent a few hours there, enjoyed snow cones (yes, snow cones. Not snowballs, Mark!), and then headed home. That night, we had delicious ziti with garlic bread and salad.
Honestly, the weekend flew by so fast I can't remember which day we went to their friends' fourth of July party. I think it was Sunday. Haha. The whole weekend seemed funky because I had Monday off. I was all mixed up!
Well, we went to the party and it was a ton of fun! Heather gave me a fair warning before going, and even more than that, I felt like I was in an initiation!! There was karaoke, a water slide for the kids, and a bunch and a bunch of food (yummm). We all hung out, ate, and drank for a couple hours, until the egg toss started! I was on Stack's team. Actually, he was the one Heather was warning us about more because of how free spirited he was, but he was really funny. Now, I don't know if you've ever done an egg toss, but you NEED to try it!!
All you have to do is grab a partner, stand a fair distance away and toss the egg. Simple, right? Each team takes their turn down the line, and once the last team goes, you take a few steps away and try again. What you need to do is catch the egg and not break it. If your team breaks your egg, you're out and the team with the last unbroken egg wins! Very simple, right? There's a technique, though, that I haven't mastered yet (sorry, Stack). You need to catch THROUGH the egg, not stop it! Haha! ...Drew did a great job, though! He caught the egg maybe 10 yards away from Mark right in the chest!! It didn't break the first time, but once we took another couple steps back, he squared himself up, the egg hit his chest, and BAM! the egg crashed all over his chest, face, and arms!!! He stood for a second and walked toward Mark, starting to cry, but really just trying not to touch any more egg than he had to. He was very impressive. I only made it one more round, haha.
I played horseshoes that night as well. MISSSSTAKE! I was AWFUL! This is no exaggeration, either. I was awful. Horrible. Abominable. Horrendous. Bad. Really really bad. As bad as bad gets. I couldn't hit that stake if my life depended on it, even when they let me take 3-4 steps forward! I threw the horseshoe up in the air, to the left, to the right...the only thing I didn't manage to do (thank goodness) was throw the damn thing behind me.
Anyway, that night was really fun. They even had chocolate fondue for dessert (my favorite), and I kept eating and eating and eating it!! I really should invest a small chunk into getting one like her's (the host) because all she did was plug it in and it was good to go the rest of the night. Like magic!
The next day, Monday, Fourth of July, I had to go home. I left a bit after lunch unfortunately, after we took a nice stroll around the neighborhood and played at the park for a couple hours. I think we went to the park that morning. HAHA! I can't get my days straight.
Enough about the trip: let me tell you about the kids! They're so precious!! Lilly is such a DOLL!! Her eyes are so huge and blue...it's unbelievable how sparkly they are. She's always smiling, too. Drew, although he is a wild maniac, was so absolutely handsome and cuddly!! He loves to hug, kiss, and tell you he loves you. It's really special how loving he is.
I had a lot of fun. Booked my next ticket for Labor Day weekend!!!
Monday, after I got home, I laid around and just unpacked. I thought, since it was July fourth, I should go see fireworks. Of course, I didn't want to go through the hassle of surviving the DC madness this year, so I decided I would just go down to the harbor here in Old Town to watch them. I ran down there, and felt so proud I got myself out of the house to go see them!! I was one of maybe a thousand people. Fireworks started at 9:30pm. It was 9pm. Then 9:10. Then 9:30. Then 9:45. Nothing. I saw the fireworks from DC over the water, but that was as close as I got. I called Anthony: "Uh, where are my fireworks???" He looked it up online for me, only to find that they are JULY 9TH!!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAT??? Who does that?!?! Fireworks = failure. Fireworks are fireworks, though, right? Once you've seen one show, you've seen them all?
Tuesday I headed back to work. I corrected red lines all day, which I didn't mind at all! We also had a staff meeting, which I really like. They officially announced I am a full-time employee! Made me feel special. Free pizza, too! Not the best pizza...too sweet...but it's pizza, and it's free. That's always a nice combo.
Tuesday after work, Amelia and I ate at Chop't for dinner. It was so cool! You order the salad, they toss everything into a plastic bowl, and then the next person dumps it onto the cutting boards and chops the hell out of it. Then, they put dressing on it, toss it in a huge bowl, and puts it back into the original plastic bowl. I got something with lettuce, avocados, pepperjack cheese...and tex mex ranch. I asked Amelia, "What's tex mex ranch?" She said, "It's ranch...but more tex mex-like." HA! Ok. It was absolutely delicious! Who thought a salad would be so good?!
Afterward, we headed to Target and to Bed Bath and Beyond and to Home Depot to look at stuff for our apartment! We picked out a few paint colors...
Light gray for a wall in the bathroom...
Light yellow for a wall in the living room...
Light green for a wall in the dining room and/or kitchen...
and a shiny metallic orange for a wall in my room!
(I would put pictures up but it doesn't do the colors justice. Esp. the orange. I'll put up pictures once we actually paint!)
We bought these placemats in tan:
and we also bought a mat for our kitchen:
and tan oven mitts (not too exciting, so I didn't find a picture)
and the BEST purchase of the week...
MY CUPCAKE DISPLAY!!
SUCCESS! Next on our list are:
slipcovers...
tablecloth...
curtains (maybe)...
a few more things I can't remember right now...
Wednesday, I went to work again and worked on a ton of random things to help people out. Mostly correcting red lines again, but I don't mind it one bit! After work, the Interiors department (6 girls, including me) all went out for Happy Hour at Spider Kelly's. Talk about a great time!! I feel like part of the "crew" now, honestly...we talked about what we each could do to improve our work culture and what we look to improve at the office. Overall, we thought it'd be nice to have more conversations going on throughout the day and after hours, and going out for happy hours with people we work with is something we would like to do more often too! What's a better way to get to know someone than to be in a non-stress environment like a happy hour?!
Today was a bit more slow at work, though. I'm just too fast for everyone giving me work to do! ...Ha ha... I left right at 5:30, excited to come home and pack! Have I done any packing yet? Nope! What time is it? 10pm! Have I had dinner yet? Nope! Did I eat a chocolate brownie and a vanilla coke instead? Yep! I'll probably eat in a minute or two, though, after I do a bit of packing. I did do a load of laundry, though!! So I was productive after work.
In a way.
Tomorrow, I'm headed to Blacksburg for the weekend. Bittersweet, of course, because of the reason why I'm going. Grandpa's Memorial/Funeral is Saturday, as well as the Memorial/Funeral for Emily Stuart...
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