I Wish I Had A Mouse in my Brain

Or a mini monkey. Perhaps a possum? (No those are gross looking) Small bunny perhaps. I guess anything that could take notes on my thoughts when I am walking to work and could then send me a memo later in the day so I could remember all those brilliant, hilarious and perfectly worded blog ideas I had.

I had inspiration hit for a post today when I was like 2 blocks away from work. I kept chanting the post title as I walked into the building, rode the elevator and walked to my office. Then I was bombarded. When I finally could sit down with a notepad to document the inspiration. Poooof! Gone. Like a fart in the breeze. No way to recover it. (Unlike the fart, I wanted to hold on to this thought). All I remember is something to do with the idea of when do you fully commit to a relationship. I mean obviously, no one puts all their cards on the table (or rather shows their partner all their cards) before they are sure that they want them to be involved in their game of poker. That moment. When is it? When is it appropriate? When is it way past the point when both parties should be doing that. (Ahhh, yes. It is all coming back to me now). I'll get this into another post for another day. Meanwhile, if anyone knows were I can buy a small animal to put in my head that will help me remember all these brilliant thoughts, let me know. I am in the market to purchase one.

In other remember news. I dug out my few Christmas decorations I have ( a few more purchased this year from trusty ol' IKEA) and spent a few hours last night hanging garlands, lights and ornaments around my room (remember I only have 415 sq feet) to ringing in my favorite time of year. I resurrected my Christmas Camel I bought last year at Mount Vernon, put out my sequined squirrel my sister bought me a few years ago. I named him Nibblet. I woke up this morning, and was so thrilled to see all the festivity going on in my small space. I can't tell you how excited I am to get home this year (and never ever come back...ok not really, but one could wish) and get my Christmas on.

Perhaps someone will buy me my mini head bunny that I need this year!

How does everyone else stay organized and on top of making sure their blogspiration doesn't just slip on out of their heads?

You Won't Find this on WedMD

When I get really fired up, or really upset I sink into this almost sub-human, not-natural, overly cordial and appropriate human who goes through some coping stages to gain "control". Now, this isn't common, but just sometimes I go through what I like to call the 4 phases of freak out.  

Phase 1: Detached and Cordial Hear me Roar

Not much to see here folks. I pretty much become the fake sorority version of myself that got me through rush pulled together power house of a woman I can be, sans the "err, umm" ness that typically accompanies my personality. If you don't spend a lot of time around me, I probably just come off as distracted. BEWARE: Deep down it is like a really tired three year old who is all fun and games until they trip and fall.

This gives away to my need to see results...

Phase 2: Baking to Cope

Cookies typically. Chocolate chip is usually the for sure sign I have moved into phase two (or if one missed phase 1- this is a pretty apparent sign). Sometimes I will go for something really complicated. Seven layer cake. Baked Alaska. Truffles. Usually I go with something that is quick, comes with clear direction and I know the outcome. I like the feeling of pulling out a sheet of cookies and knowing that I followed the directions and therefore got exactly what was expected and predicted. No back talking, no behavior that makes me want to bang my head against a wall. Just pure, delightful cookies that I can eat to distract myself.

Phase 3: Cleaning

If the cookies don't make me feel better, or don't give me time to sort through my frustration (or I realized I made my tush bigger and didn't solve anything).  I move on to cleaning. Deep cleaning. Refrigerators, nooks and crannys, drawers that I usually just pretend don't exist, closets, and under furniture. Luckily, for me this usually results in a pretty clean apartment. You can get out a lot of frustration scrubbing, scrapping, pushing and pulling cleaning products around. You also can run through a few rolls of paper towels. Your skin can also get so dry it hurts the next day. Oh, but it feels so good?

This is the phase that usually breaks me. I can't say I have hit the cleaning phase and not finally, completely and totally lost my ish and finally just cried, and finally verbally diarrheaed on someone. That isn't to say there isn't a Phase 4....

Phase 4: ???

I hope that this could potentially be excessive working out and healthy eating habits...but let's be real, this is me we are talking about. I am thinking it is something more like excessive poodle purchasing. I'd probably have 8-10 poodles in this phase and would start wearing knit sweaters with poodles on them (oh wait....I already do that). You get the point. I don't think I or anyone every wants to see Phase 4.

Let's add some real life examples to this, shall we?

This weekend. I baked. I baked brown butter, nutella stuffed sea salt cookies. I also bought everything to make chewy pumpkin cookies. After the baking? Well I just finished a marathon 5 hours deep scrub of the main room of my apartment. Oh! You are going to open that drawer in my tv stand? Oh! It is perfectly organized and clean? Yea, that is right. I went a little nuts. My hands hurt. I am down one roll of paper towels and my apartment smells like synthetic lemon. I also didn't stop because I felt better. No. Instead I stopped so I could take a shower and put some real clothes on. Pretty sure I have another few days of the Phase 3ness. Unless I lose my ish. Which I might. Never can tell when I am going to hit that point.

For now, I am going to ride out this cleaning craze. Hope I make it to my closet and then I will just anticipate the need to eat all those cookies I made....

Clean Bill of Health

Well at least for my teeth that is.

I won't even go into how long it has been since I have been to a dentist (shhhh, mom and dad, you don't see this), but it has been a looonnngg time. Growing up I have always had healthy, cavity free health, so needless to say, my palms were sweating on my walk to the dentist office thinking how they were going to tell me that I had to have all my teeth-pulled,  reconstructive jaw surgery, and braces again.

This was a new dentist office for me (if you are looking for a recommendation in the DC area, let me know), so I got the full run down of x-rays, pictures (upcloseandpersonal!) of my teeth and an all too peppy hygienist who could tell I was mashing my hands together until my knuckles turned white! (Did you know that if you had a sealant on a tooth and it came off it could actually stain your tooth!)

After a lot of scraping and me fearing the "ooo that doesn't look good" I was sent on my merry little way with a  goody bag of teeth cleaning supplies.  I walked out with some clean chompers and a clean bill of health! Amen!

Post-Election Sleep Needs

I would feel ashamed if I didn't mention the election on this little blog. It is Tales from Washington DC after all, not Tales from Boise or Tales from Seattle (sadly). So saying something about the election only seems fitting.

I am sure most of you (since most of you are my family or close friends), have figured out that politics is one of the furthest things from my mind on any given day. Despite my DC address and my politically themed job, I am pretty non-vocal about my political views.

This was my first time voting in DC (last time I lived in VA), and it was kind of fun to make a trip out of, following by post-voting Starbucks.

Living in DC during the past few years and witnessing Obama's first election, and now again, four years later, has been exciting and thrilling. Watching the election results on Tuesday night with friends, their little bambinos, and some pizza, was a fantastic DC memory to make.

I am hopeful for the next fours years and excited to get to continue to follow the beautiful first family. I love Michelle, the girls and Bo!

via USA Today

The punishment for staying up until the wee hours of the morning to watch the speeches and news coverage? Early bedtimes, a coffee IV at work, and haphazard lunches. I am certainly ready for a weekend, a Monday off from work, and lots of sleep.

Evening Stroll

Having a consultant for a boyfriend ( or is it a boyfriend who is a consultant :)?) can be really hard, and emotionally trying. There are a lot of nights and evening of wishing they weren't traveling and a lot of worrying about them when they are traveling. Needless to say, having someone who understands the perspective of a consultant SO can be really comforting.

A, not only understands it, she knows exactly what I am feeling most of the time, as our consultant boyfriends work together. A and I also work together, doubling the understanding part of our friendship. She has been such a supportive, understanding and caring person to have in my life. As time goes on, I know our friendship runs deep and I truly enjoy the time we spend together ( even at work). Now past the sappy part....

On Sunday, both our CSOs had left for work trips, leaving both of us a little blue. Thinking I had who ho hum night of watching TLC, I was excited to get a gchat from A asking if I to walk around Meridian Hill Park.

We met up 15 minutes later to stroll this beautiful DC park, listen to the drummers, and then went to the newish Pleasant Pops store to get some pre-dinner dessert.

While I did take my big girl camera, I sadly didn't check the battery, so I only got one photo before it died! It was a beautiful fall evening, complete with a poodle!

Posted with Blogsy

Never Long Enough

How is it that 5 days of work always seems like a month and two days of weekend seems like 15 minutes?

Other things that never last long enough (but perhaps because I just love them so much!) are my Toms. I can usually wear through a pair of Toms in about 6 months flat, but I somehow stretched the life of my current pair for exactly a year. These ones went to Turkey with me, survived the holidays in Idaho, a whole DC summer and a good chunk of fall this year. Sadly, they have finally bit the dust! Past the normal holes I wear in the toes and heels, I wore a hole in the BOTTOM!!!

Not much one can do once you have worn a whole like that in the botton! So to the trash they went.
 
I already miss them. My shoe selection is pretty much Toms-less at this point, and it breaks my heart!
 
Last night I started dreaming about what new pair of Toms I would like to add to my shoe collection. I found a lot more than just Toms that I want!
 
I am really liking these Toms though, not sure I could pick if I had to:

I also got a little carried away and found some other shoes I wouldn't mind getting my feet into.

 
These come in so many fun colors! A perfect weekend shoe (that maybe would keep me from wearing out my Toms so quickly!).
 
My boat shoes that I also got for our Turkey trip are on their last legs, and I am torn between a few different replacements to mix it up.

 

 

 

I also found this pair:

 

Love. Lust. Want.

 

The grey and cranberry colors are so perfect. I just die every time I look at them!

 



 Which pair would you pick for me to replace my beloved Toms?