Missed May

May simply flew by, much like every other month of 2009. I can't believe June will be here next week, but I am very excited for summer. Nicer weather always brings many more opportunities to have fun and stay busy. All the rain this month left me desiring more, and I definitely had a few low points.  Most troublesome being, my wallet was stolen last week and I've been struggling to replace everything inside. I haven't had adequate access to my money, nor have I been able to enjoy going out with friends for lack of adequate ID. I also missed out on a big family gathering in Iowa on Mother's Day weekend, which brought on some very strong feelings of missing my family. That's definitely the hardest part about "living the dream" in DC. A brief visit from Aunt Marla and Uncle Mike helped out some. Thankfully, I am also in the position to take a few days off from work and will be flying back for a long weekend to attend a friend's wedding and spend time with family. I will also finally be able to replace my driver's license. I can't wait for next Friday!

My roommate Cat continues to have an abundance of visitors. I love meeting all of her friends and seem to get along with most of them very well. However, I have definitely realized that I don't like unstructured visits. So often, we spend so much time talking about things we can do and thinking about making a plan that we waste a lot of time that we could have been actually doing things/going places. If, and when, my friends are able to come visit, I will be sure to have at least a few things planned in order to avoid wasting such precious time with weekend guests.

Along with these visitors, we have been reminded of exactly how small this city can be. Rachel (Cat's friend) actually interned with someone I met at Union Pub and someone else who went to college with several people on my kickball team. Okay, that doesn't sound extremely exciting, but it makes more sense if you had any idea of the people involved. I continue to be amazed by how everyone is connected through just a few people. 

Work continues to be a bit challenging with my boss, but things have definitely improved. A friend of mine started grad school this past week and my co-worker Elizabeth is taking the GRE next weekend. This sparked my thinking in what is next for me, but I haven't gotten past just posing the question. I didn't think my "dream job" right out of college would turn into just a job so quickly. The Recovery Act (aka stimulus bill) has been our best friend and our biggest nightmare all at the same time. If I didn't need to keep such close tabs on that bundle of funding, I'm not positive what I would be doing each day at my job. Better to be busy, but it's definitely trying on our attitudes.

Last night I went to my first outdoor movie this year. Unfortunately, Screen on the Green lost its sponsor and will likely not be happening, but there are plenty of other outdoor movie locations. Elizabeth and I went to Rosslyn last night. We enjoyed some delicious burgers at Ray's while it rained, purchased two beach chairs at CVS on our way to the movie (so we weren't forced to sit on the wet ground), and laughed our way through The Blues Brothers. We'll definitely be going back to the I Love the 80s movie series several more Friday nights, because we had a lot of fun. But next time, we'll dress warmer!

I hope May treated all of you well. I look forward to seeing some of you very soon and hope to speak to the rest of you in due time as well. Please feel free to call anytime!