Cherry Blossom Festival: Part One

We braved the crowds this morning and trekked into DC for Day 1 of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The first day is my favorite, as it's "Kite Day." Here's a few pictures to get you started!

We're also going in on Thursday, when they should be in full bloom (they're in the "puffy white" stage now, which really is the technical term for it. Seriously.) and when it will be 85* instead of 40*.


Puffy White







If you look closely you can see the bubbles this thing was putting out! Pretty cool:) I want one.


"To Mt Vernon Trail East Coast Greenway - Connecting Cities from Maine to Florida"

More to come so check back soon :)

Sour Puss

While talking with one of my 5th graders about "phases" (somehow it came up?) he said:

"My mom told me that my sister went through a phase where she liked to suck on lemons.

Maybe that's why she's so sour to me these days."

Aww! Good to know I can scratch figurative language off our to-do list ;)

PS - I don't recommend using Google Images for "sour puss." EVER. :-|

I'm a criminal

Before I get to the criminal part, I must announce that I FOUND MY CAMERA BATTERY CHARGER! Finally! It had been missing since we moved, though I didn't realize it until about a month ago. I looked everywhere. Well apparently not everywhere...until today! So anyway, I have it back and I am happy!

Onto the criminal part, though "criminal" may be a little too strong for this situation. Yesterday when I left in the afternoon to go see more clients, there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting outside our door. They were for "Veronica Perez" (no -- this isn't going to turn into some pseudonym sex game, haha *sorry mom & dad* LOL.) I guess she lived here before us and some friends of hers sent her these gorgeous flowers wishing her a speedy recovery. Ugh. Poor Veronica Perez! So I have stolen her flowers. (That's the criminal part.) Though I'm sure it's not actually a crime, I do feel bad. Why didn't the flower delivery guy knock on the door? I have the phone number of the florist and what I believe is Veronica Perez's number. Perhaps I should call.

Well anyway, here are her flowers (and the buds on the trees! We're about to have leaves! Yay!)





Not many things prettier than a spring bouquet of flowers!! I'll get some pics of the cherry blossoms sometime next week. They're predicting peak bloom to be April 1-4 so I'm sure they're out now! Some of them at least.

OK I'm off to watch The Middle and Modern Family! Love Wednesday nights! xo

There IS such a thing as a stupid question

And I heard it today.

"You and your husband are married, right?"

Whaaat?

Sunshine & Wine

That's what this weekend consisted of. It was amazing! I think quite possibly the most beautiful weekend (well, week really!) ever. It was all sun and mid to upper 70s. I really wish it would just stay that temp thru the summer. Definitely reminded me of Maine summers, ahh 8-)

It was also a very relaxing weekend, and it doesn't get much better than that in my book. Yesterday I resolved the library drama (see entry: Success!), we went to Kohl's (spent $93 and saved $112, ridiculous!!!), had dinner at Valentino's (our very favorite pizza...ever), went grocery shopping at 8:30 at night to avoid the crowds (which we did successfully), and bought some random odds and ends that we had been needing from Walmart (we had a gift card. It wasn't really our choice to go there) and rounded the night out with a few glasses of wine and some Wii with my favorite guy on the planet, Cristobal.

Today was equally as beautiful and relaxing. I woke up around 7 am (Thank you, Fenway). We had left the windows open all night long (all of them in the living room) so I thought it might be cold. But nope, it was a perfect spring morning. Smelled so nice and fresh and I could hear the birds chirping. I hung out with the cats for a bit then Chris strolled out of bed around 8 or so. After we had breakfast we went to Pinecrest Golf Course for Chris to hit a bucket 'o balls for the first time this season. he did a great job and I enjoyed the sights (it's right in DC so it's pretty cool) and watched the planes take off and land at Reagan.

Then we got home, had some lunch, went on a loooong walk (like an hour and a half) with great conversation and planning. Came back here and relaxed for a bit then we went to REI to look at some tents (we're in the market for another one, so maybe we can go camping with people this year, since no one seems to own one.) We've got our eyes on one and were hoping it'd be out on display so we can see it set up.

And here we are, 7:15 with a delish lasagna cooking (ooh - 30 seconds to go! whoo!!), Harry Potter on TV, and Chris is completing his Fantasy Baseball draft.

Could life get any better? (Well, besides the fact that tomorrow is Monday)

Success!

Since we lost power again this morning (what is going on??) we took advantage of the first day of spring and another gorgeous day and walked back to the library. I was armed and ready.



But, new day, new librarian. She didn't even look at anything besides my stinkin' driver's license. Goo.

Also, I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that the Other Russian Librarian Nazi actually told me to mail a postcard to myself. Whaaat? I'll tell you what you can do with the damn postcard....asshat.

True (and long) Story

Today I took a walk to the library that's just down the street from us. It was a balmy 78* (or so the car thermometer said) and I enjoyed the 10 minute walk in the sun to get there. The photo to the left is the actual library, by the way.

I walked in to this huge, intimidating library and found the section I needed (children's) right away. Excellent. Now I need to find a book about policemen with no titles or authors in mind. Hmm, should be fun. I start perusing the endless aisles, and about 5 minutes later I happen to grab a book and poof! It's a policemen book. Looks great. Let's get a library card, checkout, and go.

I walk thru the makeshift single-line corral and wonder what will happen if the booth for "returns" opens up before "checkout." Do I go there even though I have nothing to return? I feel myself breaking out into a cold sweat. Don't worry about it yet, I think to myself. We'll cross the bridge when we get there.

Just as I thought, the "return" section opened up next. Great. "Can I help you?" a small blond woman said from behind the counter. I sure hope so!

Ok so here is the narration of how the conversation actually went. No joke, no exaggeration -- TRUE STORY. (FYI - the librarian will now be known as the Russian Library Nazi...or RLN)

Me: Hi, I just need to check this book out and get a library card.
RLN: *blank stare*
Me: Can I do that here?
RLN: Yez. (remember, she's Russian.)
Me: Ok... well, I need to do that.
RLN: I need your driverz lizenze and your address in print on an offeeshal dokooment. (are you getting the accent here?)
Me: Thinking to myself: glad I brought that piece of mail with me. Bummer I didn't have any mail in my name today, bt I'm sure this will do. Chris is my husband afterall. Alrighty, here's my license and I have this mail.
RLN: Zank you. Vould you like a wallet card or one for your keychain? (I chose keychain.) Just fill this form out.

I start filling it out -- all the standard questions -- name, address, email, etc. About 30 seconds later...

RLN: We haff a pwoblem. Zees is not your name. (on the mail)
Me: Yeah, I know. That's my husband. I didn't have any mail with my name on it today. I figured it'd be fine since he's my husband.
RLN: No no no. Eet has to be youuuuur name. Eet cannot be anyone elses. *Calls over someone else because apparently she thought that I thought she was lying....?
Other Russian Nazi: No no no. Eet has to be your name. Ve get peenalized vhen ve geev cards away without an offeeshal dokooment. (Apparently driver's licenses are not offeeeshal anymore)
Me: Ok, well you realize I live with my husband, right? I mean I get that you have rules but I do live at this address. Who knew you had to go armed with your lease when attempting to join a free and PUBLIC library?
Other Russian Nazi: Eef your husband had a card here, you could not even check out a book wiz heez card. We have very streekt rules at zee library. I can see that, thank you Captain Obvious.

(Thinking to myself: and this is a fricken library. I'm not trying to sneak onto a Military base or into a prison to bust someone out or anything! Plus, "Library privileges are extended to those who live in the following counties or cities: Arlington, District of Columbia, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Prince George's, Prince William and Montgomery." <-- That's right, taken straight from the horse's mouth. And pretty sure my DRIVERS LICENSE says ARLINGTON. So, why make a federal case out of it? Beats me.

So, I left. No policeman book in tow and completely beaten down by 2 Russian Librarian Nazis.

Happy Friday!

I Miss You

Happy Birthday, Pa!

I can feel you smiling down on me with every ray of sunshine that hits my face.
I love you.
I miss you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I really do love St. Patrick's Day and being able to flaunt my proud Irish heritage. You bet I wore my green and pinched Chris when I saw him this evening for not wearing green. Not having a green dress shirt was not a good excuse. A good Irishman would've figured out a solution. And being Dutch is not a good excuse for not being a good Irishman. Just sayin'

I went with "Sarah O'Yerxa" today, though it probably would've been easier to just go back to "Mahar" for the day :) But then again, doing the "easy" thing would be way out of character.

Anywho, it was a beauuutiful 70 degrees and ALL sun. (Hello, Spring. My, how I've missed you. There are not many things I love more than Spring in DC. It's amazing. But I digress.)

I met Chris at his work and we walked around DC a bit and went to the White House because they dyed the fountain green. It wasn't as bright as I would've made it (typical) but hopefully you can tell in the picture. Then of course we ate dinner at Potbelly's...yummm.

May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

Happy St.Patrick's day!

SpRiNg Ahead!

FINALLY! I know, I know. I'm not supposed to like this time change because it takes an hour away from our precious weekend, and I don't like that part of it. But I do like the extra hour of the sweet, sweet sunshine! So, don't forget to spring ahead Saturday night!

It should also be noted that tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of SAY What? Pretty special, I think ;)

And finally, only 14 days left to book your reservations at Hotel Yerxa for the Cherry Blossom Festival! The festivities begin in 15 days -- March 27th!

xoxo SAY

Welcome to Northern VA....

...EXPECT DELAYS.

'nuff said.

yes, I actually drive right here everyday. Jealous?

WAKA, Here I Come

I can't believe I did this! It is so unlike me, but definitely time I did something like this! I just joined WAKA - The World Adult Kickball Association! It starts at the beginning of April and apparently how much you drink is far more important than your actual kickball skills, so this league (DC Lightning) is right up my alley!

So not only will learning this new game and playing Wednesday nights be fun, but the games take place in one of my most favorite places - the National Mall!

So, WAKA, here I come.

ALSO, The Cherry Blossom Festival starts March 27th and lasts until April 11th! Don't miss it - book your reservation at Hotel Yerxa ASAP!

It's Actual... It's Factual (and too much information)

• Men have nipples because, an an embryo, everyone is a female until the Y chromosome kicks in.

After conception, the human embryo develops as a female. Only after 6-8 weeks does the Y chromosome kick in and the fetus begins developing male characteristics. By this point breast tissue, milk ducts and nipples have already formed. This happens in all mammals, the only exception being stallions, who do not posses nipples.

Generally evolution will only weed out a characteristic if it proves harmful to the creature, and of course, although having nipples provides no benefit to a man it has no ill effect either. Darwin (and others) wondered if at some point in the very distant past the males of a species from which we are descended suckled their young.

• A tigers tongue is so rough it can lick paint off buildings.

The tiger's tongue is covered with numerous small, sharp, rear-facing projections called papillae. These papillae gives the tongue is rough, rasping texture and is designed to help strip feathers, fur and meat from prey. Also, all tigers have a unique set of stripes, like fingerprints.

• The powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled Chile over the weekend likely shifted the Earth's axis and shortened the day.
  

According to NASA geophysicist Richard Gross, the huge shake altered the distribution of mass on the planet, causing Earth's axis to shift an estimated three inches and shorten the day by 1.26 microseconds.

• A first class (parlor suite) ticket on to the Titanic cost $4,350, which translates into $90,000 in 2006 USD.

Holy. Crap.

• In the time it takes to read this sentence, 50,000 cells in your body will die and be replaced.

We generate an entire new skeleton every 3 months, and a new layer of skin every month. The average person will also lose 100 strands of hair per day and over 10 billion skin flakes.
MMM, want some of my skin flakes? I have some to spare.

via OMG Facts

Cute Kid Story

I was doing some pretty basic speech therapy with one of my kiddos, working on the "th" sound. He's a 5th grader and I was giving him directions on how to stick his tongue through his teeth. Poor guy just couldn't quite do it, although it was certainly not for lack of trying.

"Mouff."

"Mouft." he tried again.

He got a little louder - "Mousf!!"

Right when he looked like he was about to blow, he had a bright idea.

"LIPS!"

I didn't giggle. At least not until he left the room.