Remember Snowtorious B.I.G. aka Snowmaggedon in February? Frigid!

(How does it feel seeing this picture? Ready for winter?)

Then, we got a 3.6 earthquake. What? I swear this wasn’t a burp from my California days. This was really here in Maryland/DC! Violent!

And now, we have trees falling left and right because of really nasty thunderstorms. The humidity is through the roof! Hot flashes!

More extreme stuff is happening around the world, but you know what else is extreme? My little sister from Los Angeles is coming to visit! THAT IS EXTREME! Haven’t seen her in over a year!

In this case it couldn’t be truer! I was driving while the sun was shining down cheerfully. I saw major clouds rolling in quickly up ahead, and whaddya know, there’s this beautiful rainbow! I hadn’t seen one in years! I clicked away with my iPhone camera, then the next thing you know after passing the rainbow, I have zero visibility! It started to pour hard, each drop like the size of a golf ball! Then, boom, the sun came right back out and the storm never really happened. Or did it?

What a Florida-type of summer we’re having.

You wanna shower with the Washington DC Metro?

This was for sale at Bed Bath and Beyond. It’s even PVC free. Yup. You better believe it. WMATA for sale.

Just look at all these trees! I am constantly amazed at how many trees there are here! Talk about a major pollen festival.

If you’re bored one day, count the trees.

Alexandria, VA (I think).

Days like this, Washington DC isn’t too bad.

If you can’t read the last line, it says “And she could have been VP?!?!?”

Thursday had a great fall

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men

Couldn’t put Thursday together again

BECAUSE IT’S FRIDAY!

Or at least in a few hours it is.  Friday totally played games with me all week! So close, yet so far away. But at last, Friday is about to make a presence once again!  Even though the week crawled like the slowest turtle in the world, I’m really content with how the week turned out.  For the most part, it was sunny and the temperature actually crawled up to a whopping 50 degrees!

I started off the week by seeing the movie Avatar. Everyone has been raving about Avatar, and honestly, I had no clue what it was even about.  I wasn’t even going to go, but I thought why the heck not?!  I’m glad I went, because it was awesome!  My favorite quote from the movie was, “All energy is borrowed.”  In just four simple words, you can’t say it any better than that.  If you haven’t seen it yet, go!

For food this week, I’ve had delicious crab enchiladas that I really just died and went to heaven for.  Who knew this area had some good Mexican?! So glad El Mariachi exists – check it out!  I also had the biggest black bean burger that made lots of squishing sounds. None of that freezer crap.

After hours of practice, I now finally understand how to crochet three different ways, and got started on crocheting a scarf. Anyone want me to crochet some underwear?

And get this – this is the real kicker – most drivers were incredibly nice all week! Not once did I feel inclined to smile all fake-sugary and give anyone the middle finger.  I was with a friend trying to get into the carpool lane on the freeway.  None of the drivers tried to pull an ego trip to prevent me from crossing over to the far left carpool lane. What? Is this really the Washington DC area or am I just dreaming? WOW! Totally makes my week!

But…yesterday at noon, while sitting on my ass, I suddenly just stood up and announced, “I am SO taking my ass to DC now. What was I thinking staying home on my ass!? I am SO going to regret not going!”  This was history and I live right next door to it all!  This is OBAMA! This was CHANGE! This was HOPE!  And, Dude and Dudettes, there was a free concert in DC with Beyonce, Shakira, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, and so on!! This is exciting! What was I doing on my ass?! I started running around like a headless chicken getting ready to leave. I grabbed my scarf, gloves, hat, and whatnot, because baby, it’s cold out there.

Once I got to the metro, I saw three helicopters heading in the direction of DC. I can almost guarantee you that it was either Obama or Bush, because I’ve lived here long enough to know if its the Marine One or not. But then again, it could have been someone else important.

Upon arriving to DC, I could already see road blocks by cops and military. The buildings were plastered with welcome signs for Obama, our 44th President. It was so surreal. I’m sure Obama is flattered with all these welcome signs and support.  The concert was at the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall, but by the time I got there, swarms of people were walking to the Monument instead. I asked people what’s up!? Why is everyone walking in the opposite direction!?  Turned out that the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool were all blocked off, too crowded and that people were forced to go to the Monument area where there were screens scattered with a live feed of the concert. There was no way to get to my friend over in the Lincoln Memorial area. Worse, the AT&T network crashed! I couldn’t use my phone at all! Doesn’t that say a lot about how crowded it was?

I couldn’t see ANYTHING! All the areas with screens were already super crowded, and I couldn’t even read the captions.  I could hear what was going on at the Memorial, just couldn’t see the captions. I dragged Jeff into all kinds of directions just to be able to see! Finally, I just gave up. Stood in the same spot. Ten minutes later, I was ready to go home. I was satsified just being there, but on the same token, also sad I couldn’t see anything! I figured it would suffice to see the concert on TV on HBO. There were firemen on top of their fire truck taking pictures for people just because people couldn’t see anything! One fireman stopped and said, “Hang on! Let me take my own picture with my own camera! One moment!”  Ha!

So, I proceeded to walk back to the metro, but Jeff noticed another screen.  We walked towards it, and saw that there was room for us to just sit at the front.  We had to kind of pull our heads back to be able to look up. AT LAST! I was one happy camper! The speakers were incredibly loud and with awesome quality.  The captions were clear enough! The experience was just so surreal. Every time Obama came on the screen, everyone cheered so loud. When Garth Brooks was playing, everyone followed his lead and put their hands up in the air whenever he sang “Shout!”  People were clapping their hands. I was thinking to myself that this totally beats watching it at home on HBO!

Let me tell you this, though. I have never seen so many porta potties in my life!  Everywhere I turned, there were porta potties lined up that seemed to go on for miles. They came in handy because I had to use a porta potty twice! I know this porta potty thing won’t end up as a feature in history books (or will it?), but for me, I am never going to forget this part!

What’s amazing is that no one was rude.  People were civil! Many of you have heard me say how rude people can be here, pushing and everything without even saying excuse me, and whatnot. But at this concert, everyone was just incredibly nice. They even let me through the crowds even though I stepped on some shoes. Everyone must have been just so excited and filled with hope, change, and a new presidency. On a second thought, maybe these people weren’t from DC! Hah! I’m sure many were, though.

Here’s a slideshow. To see the titles/description, just hover over the slideshow and click “Inauguration Concert Set.”

I’m incredibly glad I hauled my ass to DC to witness a part of this history in the making, and to support the person I voted for.

(The concert is running on HBO continuously if you want to see the whole thing!)

At this very moment, the trees here in Maryland are radiating beautiful colors. My attention is completely captivated by the trees.   The air is super crisp and making me breathe in more than usual.  Shall I dare say that autumn is making me fall in love with Maryland, at least just for now?  Suffice to say, yep.  I’m seriously enamored with all these colors. Why didn’t I notice it last year? Was I too busy missing California so much?  Too engrossed in my new love, Jeff?  Or did the leaves just drop dead too fast last year?  Or just simply that I lived on the DC border last year, where there are less trees.

Right before I left for my week-long vacation in Arizona, the trees were slightly changing colors. Nothing to make me go “WOW!”

I thought by the time I got back from Arizona, the trees would all be naked.  Imagine my surprise seeing that the colors are just even better now! So glad I didn’t miss the beauty.

Every morning lately, when I stumble into the kitchen half asleep dying for some water, I am constantly amazed at the glow this tree seeps through my breakfast nook.  The picture doesn’t even do justice.  Bright orange just shines through the windows and really just makes my eyes bulge and go, whoa.

This is what i see every morning this week driving to work:

Alright, enough of my incessant yakking about trees.  Point is: Maryland has it’s beauty, even if it’s just once a year (or twice, if you count the cherry blossom season).

Please pardon the horrible quality of this photo, as it came from my shitty cell camera. The sign at a Washington DC metro station says: “You gonna eat that? Unlike some subway systems (which will remain nameless), you don’t see rats the size of house cats roaming Metro. Why not? Because we’re so strict about eating and drinking in the system. Please help us keep the critters away. Please don’t eat or drink on Metro.”

Yeah, because those rats are in my apartment, which is clean. And just so you know, Metro, I saw a rat at the Metro Center station while waiting for the orange line not long ago. The little bugger, aka RODENT, was scurrying across the tracks. I don’t even want to know if it got smashed by the train. Yuck.