6 Foot Dorothy

This year marked my first Halloween as an "adult," as well as my first Halloween not in the Midwest. Because I lacked a houseful of odds and ends and personal transportation to the nearest Goodwill (apparently downtown Bethesda is too classy!), I was forced to order my first mass-produced Halloween costume. Due to my roots, and an intense love of my patten red shoes, I decided to go as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

I ordered what I thought to be a happy median between "Grandma Dorothy" and "Slutty Dorothy"...but was extremely disappointed upon trying the costume on and realizing once again that I am way too tall to be wearing generic-sized costumes. (Next year, I'm thinking of Fionna...the female ogre in Shrek.) The problem was remedied with a borrowed tennis skirt, but let's just say that "6 Foot Dorothy" didn't go by unnoticed.

In fact, I wasn't the only "6 Foot Dorothy" to make an appearance in the area. The Tuesday before Halloween, Dupont Circle holds an annual drag queen high heel race. Yes, that's right, a large number of (generally gay) men dressed in Halloween drag and high heels parade up and down the street for several hours strutting their stuff before sprinting a four block strip in high heels. The other "6 Foot Dorothy" (wearing the exact same costume as mine) was joined by a few friends to portray the entire Oz cast. Other highlighted costumes entailed about 20 Sarah Palin's (this is DC friends) and a handful of Victoria's Secret Angels (with bikini's and 8 foot wings). I love how confident men in drag are, and I was secretly jealous of a few of them for having better legs than me :) A few of you might have been completely appalled had you attended High Heel Race, but I am definitely considering it my most favorite Halloween tradition.

With Halloween falling on Friday this year, planning to celebrate wasn't a walk in the park. I decided Thursday night around midnight that I was going to get ready at my co-worker Elizabeth's in Arlington, as that's where a bunch of my kickball acquaintances were gathering. This meant packing up all of the necessities for my costume and taking them to work. Not such a big task for me, as I have become accustomed to loading up my bag and shipping out of Bethesda for 24-36 hour adventures, but the planning wasn't quite as simple for everyone else.

Several of my friends had nothing planned in the way of costumes, which required us to drive to the nearest shopping center and visit a Halloween party store (NEVER a good idea on Halloween night) and Target after work (driving in rush hour traffic). As you can imagine, this took a considerable amount of time. I'm usually a very patient person (and yes, I know you've read this before if you've been following my blog throughout my internship stage), but I was extremely antsy by the time everyone was finally ready. We arrived at the party around 9pm, 2 hours after its start time. Did we still have a good time? Of course. The night just could have gotten off to a better start (and ended better for several of my friends).

All in all, it was a sucessful first Halloween away from the Midwest. While my DC friends were busy dressing up as Joe six-pack and hockey moms, I rocked the quintessential Midwestern girl costume. I love being out here, but I still haven't forgotten my roots!

Greatest Weekend!!!

Fasten your seat beats, friends, because you are in for a ride with this blog!

We'll start out slowly, but anticipate the high excitement to come.

FRIDAY
Work was busy, as my bosses were preparing for their trip to Denton/Dallas, Texas. We stayed a little late, but nothing too crazy. While on the Metro to Bethesda (where I ran into Alec from my kickball team), I decided to make pickle roll-ups and pepperoni bread for the Navy homecoming tailgate. So I stopped by Safeway to pick up the necessary ingredients, but failed to realize exactly how much time goes into making both of these items. The bread was a bit disastrous for several reasons...
1) I clearly didn't have time to let the frozen bread dough thaw in the fridge over night
2) We do not have a rolling pin
3) We do not have a slicer for cutting cheese
4) One cookie sheet is insufficient for baking three loaves of bread
5) I didn't have a recipe letting me know how long to bake the bread, and consequently undercooked one loaf

After that fiasco, it was on to the roll-ups where I didn't have much better luck.
1) There was no dried beef at my tiny Safeway
2) The ham I got instead was sliced too thin and kept breaking, leading me to use two slices for each pickle, causing cutting issues later
3) I didn't have a tupperware large enough to fit the finished product in

Needless to say, I was preparing this food all night long and didn't make it to bed until around 1am. This wasn't great news either, as I knew I had a long Saturday ahead of me. Here's how yesterday went...

SATURDAY
Our (Anne, Jenny, and I) commute to Annapolis started at 10:30 from Bethesda. We had long wait times for the Metro, but luckily Jay was there to pick us up at the end of the line when we got there. Upon arriving in Annapolis, we met up with David to help him finishing sewing bean bags for the cornhole game he and Jimmy made earlier in the week. Crazy, I know. That took quite some time, but it allowed Cat and Kristin to catch up with us. We were a huge hit when we showed up to the tailgate because nobody else had brought food. Although we had all had troubles with our food items, it was an easy crowd to please.

March on was fantastic, again. It was like an entirely different event with the Mids in their winter uniforms now. We forgot the candy to throw at them, but it was still very enjoyable. The game was oversold by a few thousand extra general admission spots on the hill, so we had nowhere to sit and watch the game. Jay led us into the student section with all the Mids in uniform next to us. Because it was homecoming, nobody seemed to care. We avoided being scolded by the guys in red, which was a step up from last game. It got really cold, but we toughed out the entire game even though we were getting stopped by Pitt.

The post-game '69 tailgate was great. My burger was delicious, and the retired Navy guy tending the bar made me excellent vodka crans. I saved the cup! We would have stayed longer, but everyone was freezing. We all went home to Jay's for a bit before hitting up a few bars on the water. Nobody seemed too upset after the loss.

SUNDAY
Our commute home was interesting. We got a ride from Andrew in his jeep with no front passenger window and practically everything he owns in the back. There was just enough room to fit everyone. Then we Metroed in on the orange line to Smithsonian, were Cat and Kristin were monument walking. We did that whole bit so Kaitlin could take massive amounts of photos on her fancy camera. After walking to the "backside" of the White House, we ran into a lady handing out tickets to tour the rose garden!!!

Apparently this happens only twice a year, but it's open to everyone. The people at the gate handing out programs said "Welcome to the White House," and we all freaked. Then this little boy summed up the prestigiousness of the situation best with..."(to a secret service agent) So, THIS is the White House? (to his father) I'm not dreaming, this is the White House, Dad!"

The Navy traveling band was playing music next to the fountain, there were signs of former presidents and first ladies all over the lawn, and plenty of secret service people to answer all of our questions...including the guy I talked to about hating his job when I toured the East Wing earlier this year. It was SO MUCH FUN! I mean really, who would have guessed that everyone could just tour the White House lawn on a Sunday afternoon? Somehow, some way, we were in the right place at the right time and got to experience that. I'm thinking the big guy upstairs was looking out for us today.

Nothing could really top that, but the day did go on. Anne, Jenny, and I decided to walk to the National Portrait Gallery for a special exhibit on Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams, of which we made it just in time to grab a quick beverage in the cafe (with a talking trash can that said "thank you") and hop on the 4pm once daily tour. Perfect timing yet again. It was a great exhibit, and so was the women's photography exhibit upstairs. Great idea to go there, but we were straight up exhausted by the time we finished. I made it home around an hour ago, a day and half and a million memories after leaving yesterday morning.

*ONLY IN DC*

October Already

After keeping you waiting for over a month now, I promise to stop promising that I will blog more often. It turns out life in the city keeps me quite busy. The month of September simply flew by!

I continue to learn new things at work each day. I've been keeping busy planning trips for my bosses to our client cities both before and after the election, as well as researching major issues of interest that we will lobby for/against when the new administration takes office. I'm currently watching the second debate between Senators Obama and McCain, and I'm not happy about the fact that the campaigning has gotten dirty so quickly. Now that election day is just a month away, I'm sure everyone will eat, breathe, and sleep political ads. Smear tactics don't help anyone make an informed decision at the voting booth, and I will be happy when November 5 rolls around. Whatever the outcome of this significant election may be, I'm sure DC will be an exciting place to be in the months ahead.

The weather has been quite wonderful here. It was rather cold for a few days, and rainy for a few more, but has been very nice for the most part. My friends and I have tried to take advantage of this by attending outdoor art festivals, fairs, and concerts. I apologize for not keeping you up to date on all of my social endeavors, because they have all been great. Here are a few highlights of my activities over the past month...

Tailgating/attending the Navy vs. Rutgers football game (including standing with the Mids in the student section...with a Navy alum friend of mine, but still definitely not allowed)
Debate party for first presidential debate
Crafty Bastard Festival (outdoor crafts festival)
Drag Queen Brunch (lip syncing performances by men dressed in sequence)
Trivia night with the girls at Fado (Irish bar)
Birthday parties of new kickball friends (karaoke, pub golf, etc.)
Taste of Bethesda (Food festival with the many, many restaurants in Bethesda)
Classy house party on the Hill with kickball friends
Redskins game (in full) at a sports bar with die hard fans
Duke Ellington Jazz Festival

I'm sure I left a few things out, but you get the picture. There's always something going on, and I enjoy experiencing it all. Unfortunately, my on-the-go lifestyle has hindered the healing process of my mysteriously swollen right foot. The most likely cause of this *injury* is kickball three weeks ago, but I didn't think much of it until my foot continuously swelled for the past several weeks. Because I do a considerable amount of walking each day, my foot will never get the rest it likely needs to heal quickly. But I've decided that I would rather live with that than sit around my apartment and miss out on the fun.

Now that you are all caught up on my life, please take a few minutes to fill me in on yours. Comment on my blog or shoot me an email at amyjo.jacobsen@gmail.com
I'd love to hear from you!

*HOME*

Today marks exactly two months since my return to DC, and everything has finally fallen into place. I've officially completed two weeks at my dream job, and I can't wait until Barbara (my main boss) returns to the office this week. I've gotten a good handle on a number of things, but I'm ready to be exposed to it all. Although I'm a bit nervous that I'll be overwhelmed when she comes back and once Congress reconvenes, I am up for the challenge.

This week proved to be quite busy outside of the office. I had my very first visitors from back home since the beginning of my time in DC seven months ago. Crazy, I know! Much to their dismay, Mom and Jay were one day late to obtain *first visitor* status. The Steenhusen family came into DC from Delaware on Thursday, and I met up with them for lunch. They weren't the most prepared tourists (no maps, no umbrellas, no definite plans), but it was great seeing them. I think they had a good time when all was said and done.

Mom and Jay detoured from their NYC vacation into DC for the weekend. It was fun showing them my old house on The Hill and a few of my favorite spots along the Mall. The best part, however, was having them visit me at my office in downtown DC and getting to take them to my new apartment. That's right, I finally found a place to call home! I responded to a Craigslist posting last weekend, visited the place and met my potential roommate (plus her current roommate, who will be moving in with her boyfriend not too far away) on Monday night, and confirmed the deal after work on Wednesday. I'm quite positive it was meant to be, because they had someone else lined up that had to bow out at the last minute and it really was crunch time for me to lock in a residence. In order to get my first paycheck, I needed to fill out tax information including my address. As paydays are the 1st and 15th of each month, you could say I waited until the last possible minute. It's not like I wasn't trying, but I think holding out for the right place with the right roommate will pay off in the end.

As today is Labor Day, and everyone is enjoying an extra day off from work, I'm capitalizing on the perfect opportunity to move. My dear co-worker Elizabeth graciously offered her assistance and will be driving myself and my belongings to Bethesda this afternoon. Anne (whom I've been saying with for nearly a month now) is also helping me get settled in to the new apartment, and will likely be my most frequent visitor. It's weird thinking about not seeing her every single day, as I've grown very accustomed to doing so, but I couldn't be more excited about finally having my own place to call home!

Here's my new address...
4887 Battery Lane
Apartment #31
Bethesda, MD 20814

I hope you all had an enjoyable long weekend. After I get settled into my new apartment, I hope to do a better job at blogging more frequently. And if you haven't talked to me in what seems like forever, please don't hesitate to give me a call. My cell number is (712) 579-2528, and I'd love to hear from you :)