Pack 'em up and move 'em out

Yesterday marked the end of a beautiful chapter of my life.

I packed up my life into a handful of boxes, 2 suitcases, and 3 Rubbermaid drawers.

I sorted out unneeded papers, junk I ended up with (where does this stuff come from?), and memories.

I took out innumerable bags of trash - seriously, how much old bathroom products can one accumulate?

I donated 5 large bags of clothing.

I fit all of the clothes I am keeping into a large rolling suitcase

and all of the clothes I'll wear between now and leaving DC into another.

I took art down from my walls, put all the loose change I found into one baggie,

and created a giant mound of documents that I have yet to sort and file.

I stared at the empty wine bottles above my kitchen cabinets and decided that I didn't have the heart to recycle those memories yet.

I cleared off my bedroom window sill, a place from which I've been admiring Capitol Hill for 18 months.

Oh gosh, I just realized I didn't pack my 110th, 111th, and 112th Congress mugs...

must. not. forget.

I did take a time out in order to eat We The Pizza and watch Moulin Rouge with Jenny.

Totally worth being up until 4am packing.

I'm not strong enough to carry my mattress downstairs (wait, all this time I thought I was Wonder Woman?)

so I have to figure out how to do that still.

I have absolutely adored living in my little house (except for one time when we got a rat), and I will miss it.

What a wonderful part of my life this has been!

<3

 

 

the little things i love about dc #1

there are so many reasons that i love dc. there are a few reasons why i really don't like dc either, and at some point before i leave, i'll touch on those too. but i have a bit of a crush on so many of the quirky, unique things about this city. my time here is coming to an end, so from time to time between now and the soggy, tearful, heart-wrenching day that i drive out of the city, i'll explain to you just what it is about dc that has won my heart. here are just 5 out of the many...

• the old man who lives across the street from me who, on every warm night in the city, walks his little old dog (of which i am not a fan-- it's small and kind of hates other people and especially hates people on longboards). they walk very slowly down the sidewalk together while the little old man sips on what i can only assume is a glass of scotch and smokes a cigar. i can't recall ever not seeing him out on a warm evening, really.

• the small ratio of pigeons to human population of dc. most cities have an absurd number of these winged creatures. birds put me on edge, and i consider pigeons to be city rats in the sky (or circling the sidewalk cafe table and hoping for a croissant crumb to scavenge- not happening, ya filthy bird!). in venice, italy, i about died of a heart attack in the piazza san marco where the world's pigeon to human ratio must be about 100:1. but dc has a really manageable amount of pigeons, and i really appreciate it for that.

• speaking of sidewalk cafes, in dc you can get food from anywhere in the world. seriously, name a country! name a region! name a continent or city! and i bet you can find the cuisine to match. maybe it's like this in all cities. i don't know. but as someone who adores traveling- nay, craves traveling, i like being able to know that at least my taste buds can go on a trip even if i'm stuck in this concrete jungle (except it is more like a marble or granite jungle, and not so much a jungle because of the building ordinances but more like a thicket or shrubbery).

• the capitol. i love the capitol. i love that i can go wander around the capitol and soak in its beauty on a tough work day. i love everything about that building. and my very favorite? the mint green corridor outside of the senate chamber. it's just so dang pretty. natural light enters through a window, and no tours go through there. it's generally empty save for the capitol police stationed there or the occasional hurried staffer, milling member of the press, or senator. ooo-ie! if only i could pocket it up and take it with me when i go. it breaks my little dc heart thinking about the fact that i will not be invited (and would be probably tackled or something if i tried) to be back there once i am no longer an employee. oh, frown. 

the delectable minty green-ness of the corridor

• my address. my cute, little, old, classic capitol hill rowhouse. it used to be a carriage house. horses used to ride right into the first floor of my home (we're talking over a hundred years ago here people)! i love the house number. i love that it's blue. i love each roommate i've ever had there (george, noor, courtney, jenny... that means you!). i love that i have good landlords. i love that it is impossible to combat the abundance of mint that takes over my garden in the backyard. i love that i even have a backyard (err... back patio, actually). i love the neighbor man who sometimes brings our trash and recycling bins back up to our fence. i love the winery tiles as the backsplash in our kitchen by the stove. i just lurve it all, and chances are good that i'll cry like a small child when i have to leave it.

my little house during snowmaggedon 2010!

i could go on and on about what makes life here so good. i will go on and on about all of it but only in installments of 5 at a time so that i don't overwhelm you with feelings on things. does my lack of capitalization today overwhelm you? i'm really enjoying not using my 'shift' key.

love always <3

What is this, a school for ants?!

I'm skipping swim practice tonight. Even though Zones is this weekend, and I'd like to kick, um, hard (the mom reads this, after all), ants have declared war on my roommate Jenny's windows. Well ants, you picked the wrong girls to terrorize with your crawling all over the place and being freakish and frightening in general. Mark my words: YOU WILL LOSE, ANTS.

Jenny and I are going on a cleaning rampage. Indoors and out. Poison included. We will take no prisoners. and hopefully my temporary foray into ant extermination doesn't give me a thousand tiny karmic points against me for killing things that are alive but then really, make a less creepy, squirmy, colonizing-y creature, ok?

I dig the warm weather, but I anti-dig the bugs. Ants sick me out. They always have. And they are not invited into my house.

The only ant related thing I like is this. And now, Ants Marching by Dave Matthews. you're welcome.


Oh yeah, and I'm so antsy (ha) because one of my favorite people gets to DC tomorrow. YAY for Noor!

Cleaning Schmeaning

Here is how my life seems to go much of the time:

I spent a lot of time this weekend cleaning my kitchen ceiling to floor and everything in between (including the catches under the stove burners!). While I was on a role, I decided to clean the downstairs bathroom in the same manner. After that, I figured the mop was out, so why not clean all the floors in the house?! I swept and mopped every floor in my house except for my roommates' rooms. It sparkled and shone, and there was not a speck of dust or crumbs or whatever else one finds on the floor. As a matter of fact, last night I was walking barefoot all over the place just relishing the cleanliness of my living space. 

Bubble Dishes!

Beautiful kitchen, shiny and clean

Then, today I walked into the house for lunch, and there were pieces of plaster E V E R Y W H E R E. Plaster dust and footprints coating my stairs that I had just days before so diligently cared for. Plaster chunks all over my downstairs hall. Workmen upstairs and downstairs snaking pipes and such through the walls, sopping up water in the hallway, and removing pieces of my ceiling. My beautiful, spotless masterpiece had transformed into something more closely resembling a war zone. Heartbroken.

The pipes in our upstairs bathroom do not drain, and so a request to the landlord turned into a visit from a plumber which turned into the discovery of more serious pipe issues. I'm glad everything will be in tip top shape as far as flushing water out of our plumbing is concerned. Now if only there were a house cleaning fairy that followed... Looks like there is more quality time with a mop in my future.

Love always!

Ps, I'm trying out a new pool tonight! The pool in my neighborhood has a busted heater (NOT awesome when it's freezing outside), so I'm venturing further away to a pool that is way better anyway. I'm nervous. It's like starting a new class. Will I be able to find it? What if it's busier than I'm used to? What if all the other people are better than me? Wish me luck!