Steph in DC

The end of the blog...

2009-07-16T21:19:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I've given up on blogging officially. I haven't blogged in months and really, my life isn't that interesting :) Plus, now I'm on Facebook which I'm much better at :) I apologize to all of you wonderful people who actually check this. Feel free to e-mail me at sreinitz@hotmail.com. Love you all!
Steph

My Weird Life

2009-03-17T20:55:00.002-04:00

So I haven't blogged in a million years and I've given up apologizing for it - I'm just bad at it.

That said, it's been a couple of really weird weeks around here and I thought I would share.

First and sadly, there was the loss of Everett Harris - my friend Dale and Hannah's baby boy who died on March 1. Hannah was 38 weeks pregnant with him and they lost him. I still can't believe two of my friends have lost baby boys in such a short amount of time. It's not supposed to happen ever, much less twice. It's just heartwrenching and horrible and I can't even begin to get my brain around what they're feeling. I always feel so helpless because my natural reaction is 'problem-solving' mode and there's not a thing I can do for them. It just so happens that we're talking about grief and mourning at church during Lent and Sunday night a guy I know named Mike came and was talking about lossing his infant son 3 years ago and just his experience of that - how he related (or didn't) to his loved ones, his relationship with God, etc. I sat and listened to him and just cried... just thinking of Bob & Sar and Dale & Han and how they're in the midst of what he's come through to some extent. It was comforting somehow... while really sad at the same time.

The day of Everett's funeral I couldn't go because I had an all day staff retreat I couldn't get out of and Tomoko was arriving from Japan that day. Tomoko is a Japanese woman that went to St. Cloud State last year and befriended my mom while she was there. She decided to come back to the States and wanted to see DC so we did the whirlwind tour over the weekend. I was SUPER nice in DC - I actually got a little sunburn - in MARCH! Sadly, it's cooled back off.

The day before Tomoko left, my friend Kevin came to stay. It was really strange because Kevin is a friend from grad school and I've never seen him anywhere but South Africa, where we've spent 6 weeks together over the past two years. He is moving to Baltimore to work for World Relief, from Liberia where he's been working for 3 years, and didn't have anywhere to stay so he stayed at my place for about a week (I'm about an hour from Baltimore). It was fun to have him around and it was totally comfortable which is hilarious since he's really almost a complete stranger - it's amazing how well you can get to know someone over a few weeks in a foreign country.

In fun news, I got to meet Brian McLaren. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he's an author and kind of the father of the emerging church movement and I love his writing. It's kind of a long story but I ended up on a panel of young people at a seminar he was teaching on preaching in a postmodern context. There were about 40 people in the room and a really great conversation. At the end of the event, Brian McLaren asked me if I wanted to go for a drink with him, his very attractive son, and some others from the conference. Ummm... yea! It was great - his son is adorable and I developed a pretty serious crush on him (no one get excited, we have since learned he has a girlfriend). We had really good conversation and I ended up driving Brian's son home, much to the amusement of a couple friends I had in the room. It was a pretty entertaining.

In probably the most surreal occurance in awhile - I had drinks with Charles last night. Charles is the guy I dated almost 2 years ago now. I hadn't talked to him in a very, very long time and last night he was in DC and called me. I wasn't sure how I felt about that but decided to go and I'm glad I did. It was good to see him and to catch up a bit. It was really strange, I felt like my life rewound 2 years for an evening. I think we even may manage to be friends now which would be nice.

Anyway, that's the beginning of March in a nutshell. I hope you're all well!

Inauguration Craziness

2009-01-21T20:36:00.011-05:00

Hello friends! So, it's been 2 months since an update and I haven't filled any of you in on my fabulous trips home over Thanksgiving or Christmas. There was also a New Year's Eve party that was great fun. And while all of that was great, I did want to do an update on the inauguration chaos that has ensued here over the past week.

Yes, yes - I was one of the 2 million people on the National Mall yesterday. I was also one of the 750,000 people on the National Mall on Sunday for the opening concert, which by the way, was AWESOME! (Garth Brooks, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, and a ton more!) It was cold (even for Minnesotans) - about 15 degrees with the wind chill which is the coldest it's been here in years. And it still isn't bad for winter but when you're sitting outside in it for 7 hours, it's a bit much. Thankfully, growing up in MN taught me about hand warmers, long johns, and dressing in layers!

The crowds on Tuesday were out of control - shoulder to shoulder people for as far as the eye could see. I've never been at anything like it. The coolest part, however, was the energy of the thing. People were freezing, tired, and in horrible crowds for HOURS and were still in a great mood. There wasn't a single arrest and people were just amazingly happy and patient.

They had to close down a ton of streets into DC - and by streets I mean freeways. I couldn't have driven anywhere near downtown even if I wanted to. There were so many people that the cell phone towers couldn't handle the load and we couldn't get phone service. I tried connecting with Joey until my phone stopped sending text messages.

I had an intern from Australia staying with me. We took a shuttle down there which worked out great. Getting home, however, was a crazy adventure. The lines for buses and metros were hours long and the crowds were so thick we couldn't even get to the museums (which were open for people to stay warm in). So we decided to walk to my office to warm up and then metro home from there(about 4 miles). It wasn't a bad walk but it was surreal walking down the freeway without any cars on it. It was like we were in one of the alien invasion or disease outbreak movies where they are evacuating the city and everyone is walking out of town. There were National Guard troops lining the road and everything!

All in all we were down there for about 7.5 hours but it was definitely worth it. We were far away (I decided it wasn't worth it to get there at 4 am to get up close) but could see and hear everything on a jumbo tran. It was the coolest and craziest thing I've done in a long time.

Here are some of the pictures for your enjoyment! The first few are from the concert:

These are from the inauguration:

This is my partner in crime for all things inauguration. Suhanya is an IJM intern in Uganda who was in town for training and was staying with me. She didn't have a hat so she bought this styling Obama hat which was just plain hilarious. Also notice the pin - it says "I witnessed history - Barack Obama Inauguration" which she got for free from Potbelly's when she went there for lunch. All the hype was just hysterical!

Turkey Bowling!

2008-11-23T14:35:00.009-05:00

So last night was my first experience with Turkey Bowling! Turkey Bowling is a kind of sort of annual event put on by a friend of a friend of mine out here. It's about 100 people bowling complete with costumes, team cheers, and other silliness and the proceeds go to provide turkeys for needy families for Thanksgiving. It was hilarious.
You had to wear a sombrero if you got a gutter ball, a top hat if you got a spare, and a lei if you got a strike. There were refs going around handing out random points for all sorts of silliness or simply for bribery. I went with some friends from work and there were about 15 IJMers there. It was great fun, even though I can't bowl to save my life!
I do have a confession to make, however. On Friday in snowed out here. It was only flurries and only lasted about 20 minutes but... it made me miss home. There, I confess. I still hate the cold, but the snow did make me ready to come home for Thanksgiving. See you all soon!

My friend Emily & I with our flare :)

Ruthie, Esther, and Emily (yes, Ruthie is wearing a prom dress). Patti & Michelle (friends from IJM)
Ruthie & Karen (the organizer & lead ref)
One of the teams

Theresa & Austin (friends from work)

I remembered to take pictures!

2008-11-09T12:19:00.006-05:00

Hello friends! I remembered to take pictures at a couple of events lately, and decided to share! Aren't you all proud of me?

First, I had a Halloween get together at my apartment with some friends from church and a few people from work. We got together to watch scary movies (since it was Halloween and all), eat, and hang out. My friend Matt was more in the Halloween spirit than the rest of us and came complete with a "couldron" of punch that "smoked" (had dry ice in it). It was a good evening and fun to have a crew of people over - it was the first time I had done that with a large group since I moved out here. For those of you who like scary movies, my official advice - rent The Orphanage, don't rent The Happening.

The other holiday related activity recently was a party my friend Erin (first picture below) put together to make Operation Christmas Child Boxes. For those of you unfamiliar with OCC, it's something Samaritan's Purse does and they send shoeboxs of goodies to children in poverty all over the world. Volunteers create boxes and donate funds toward shipping and Samaritan's Purse distributes them. Erin organized a group of us to each buy stuff and collect shoeboxes, and then to have a little shoebox stuffing party at a local church. We made a ton of them - enough to fill the back seat of Erin's car and a good time was had by all.

And mom, this picture it just for you - this is Wesley (in case you ever need itfor a police wanted poster) Just kidding :)

Finally friends, as I've already happily shared with many of you, the weather out here is amazing. Last weekend I spent the weekend outside studying in a park and it was warm enough to do it! In early November!!! It's seriously thrown off my sense of time - it just barely feels like fall out here now - much less almost Thanksgiving. No worries, I'm not complaining.

All of you in Minnesota - MOVE! Hurry -there's still time before full blown winter hits! That said, here are some fun pictures of the fall colors our my apartment window.

Crazy Fun Busyness

2008-10-23T20:41:00.005-04:00

Hello friends!

So once again, we've proven I'm a terrible blogger. My only excuse is that I've been incredibly busy since my last trip home.

It all started with IJM Staff Retreat. IJM does this wild and crazy staff retreat each year. This year, I got to be the primary planner (along with my bosses). Unfortunately, we didn't start nearly early enough on the planning and I ended up working super insane hours for a couple of weeks. The retreat itself was amazing though and I'll post pictures soon - they're pretty hilarious. I got to know some of my coworkers better which was really fun.

Despite the insanity and stress from the retreat, it ended up working out awesome because I got some last minute visitors!!! Holly, Joe, & Alex were able to come visit me at the last minute in between Joe's job change. Again, I'm terrible about taking pictures but I stole a couple off Holly's blog. They got in about an hour after I got home from retreat and we were able to hang out for 4 whole days. It was horrible to see them leave, but it was wonderful to have them there. Sadly, it insisted on raining on us most of the trip but we made the best of it :)

So after my work chaos and the awesome visit, I was VERY behind in school. Fortunately, a couple of marathon weekends at Panera (endless Diet Coke & free wifi) got me caught up.

Last weekend was a retreat with church. My church (both the emerging service I attend and the larger church body) are engaged in what we call a year of discernment. Basically, the congregation is taking a year to pray and discuss what God is leading the church to be. I'm part of the discernment team and we spent a weekend at a monastery near Baltimore together. It was really good to get to know people better and we had a lot of fun.

Things have seemed to mellow out a little bit now. My friend Ruthie is planning some "fall fun festivities" this weekend but I'm not sure what it will entail... I do know, however, with Ruthie it will be a good time. Hopefully, I'll remember to take pictures this time!

Trip home

2008-09-07T16:11:00.010-04:00

First, I apologize to any of you who have tried to comment on my blog and couldn't because it wanted you to log in - my aunt Gail alerted me to the problem and it's all fixed.

So I've already admitted I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures... luckily my friends and family are better at it than I am so I have some pictures from last weekend (thanks Jennie & Cheryl).

I spent Labor Day weekend mostly in Little Falls, with a whirlwind swing through Minneapolis at the end. My family didn't go to a cabin this summer, like we usually do with some of the extended family, so instead a bunch of us spent the weekend at my parent's house. They live right on the water and it feels like the cabin anyway.

There were lots of cousins, lots of fishing, lots of feeding ducks, lots of sleeping in tents, lots of eating, lots of campfires, and lots of sitting around doing nothing. It was great. Holly, Joe, and Alex came up on Saturday in their new van which was very exciting.

Some of you may remember my soon-to-be brother-in-law from a certain slurpee incident while I was moving out here. This is Erick and his daughter Faith showing off their catch from one of the many fishing expeditions.

My cousin Adam and his family brought a giant three room tent to sleep in... this is the crew trying to get it put together.

This is me, my dad, Alex, and my cousin Matthew feeding the ducks at the neighbor's house. We also had a great time chasing the ice cream man and learning to share the new tricycle I got Alex for his 2nd birthday.

The big news from the weekend is that my cousin Lindsay is pregnant! For those of you who are familiar with my family, Lindsay is Tom & Gail's daughter (Kelly, Adam, & Nate's baby sister). Her and Bryce are just simply the greatest and I'm really excited for them.

After the fun in Little Falls, I headed back to Minneapolis to hang out with a bunch of friends. Sadly, the Calvillos and Coyers were sick and missed out on the festivities, but their was definitely a great crew gathered.

It was great to see everyone and to meet all the new babies!!! I got to meet Isaac Anderson and Eli Sanborn for the first time which was wonderful. Johanna Bonnett and Carter Donely have grown leaps and bounds since I moved and Jaydon Donely & Jeremy Sanborn were a riot. And you can always count on the Bonnett kids to liven up the party.

The weekend went way to fast and I feel like I barely got to spend time with people, but it was great to be home all the same. As much as I'm really enjoying DC, it was tough to leave on Monday. Hopefully I'll get more time with everyone at Thanksgiving. I love you all!

Adding a State to my Visited Places List!

2008-08-26T22:01:00.012-04:00

I got to spend the last weekend in a new state - North Carolina. And not just any part of NC but the mountains of NC! It was my friend Ruthie's birthday and her brother and sister-in-law threw her a weekend long extravaganza at her dad's house. His place is way up in the mountains and they also take care of a neighbor's house so we had lots of room to hang out. There were about 25 people there from DC, NC, Atlanta, and other places. It was great fun.

This is Laurel and Graham setting up their tent. Laurel is one of my co-workers and Graham is her husband. The three of us drove down together. Theoretically, we were caravaning with 3 other people. The other carload took the car bingo game Ruthie made up for the journey a little too seriously, however, and took a full 2 hours longer than we did to get there... mostly in the pursuit of trucks with gunracks, Cracker Barrels, roadkill and Christmas tree farms to take pictures of. It was pretty hysterical because they also happened to be wearing wigs and other random "flare" enroute.

Ruthie's dad's house - where we spent a lot of time bonfiring.
Joe and Ruthie at the campfire. Both of them work with me. Joe is actually the recruiter that hired me (yes, the one I wasn't a big fan of at the time - he's actually a great guy, he just has an alter ego interview personality I didn't like much).

On Saturday we went on a great hike that ended at these natural waterfalls and a swimming hole. The water was a little cold for my tastes (like people screamed when they jumped in), but it really fun nonetheless.

It was great - really gorgeous and really relaxing. I can't wait to do more of the same in Minneapolis with you all next weekend!

2008-08-17T22:21:00.006-04:00

So I'm a terrible blogger and I think it all stems from the fact that I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures and blog postings are way boring without pictures. But, since I haven't taken any pictures, I decided to do an update anyway :)

Life has been busy since I've been back from South Africa. I've been hanging out with people from both work and church and discovering new fun things to do in DC. One of my new favorites is the Wolf Trap theater. It's this awesome music and theater venue in a national park. It's got a bunch of covered seats but then it also has lawn seats where people come out and sit on blankets and picnic during the shows - it's the best thing ever. I went for a friend's birthday and the National Symphony Orchestra was doing a tribute to Alfred Hitchock - playing clips of his movies on a screen while the orchestra did the music. It was great. Some friends from church and I are going to see Le Mis there in September too which will be fun.

I've also been going to "Monday Night 1/2 price Burger Night." My friend Matt has been going to Crystal City Sports Pub every Monday night for 5 years because it's 1/2 priced burgers. He has a random assortment of people join him each week and it's been fun to go the last few times and get to know some people. Many of them also go to church with me at Holy Grounds, where I've been going for awhile now.

It's a good church, actually, it's a service of a larger church called Fairlington Presbyterian (yes, I've done Catholic, Baptist, United Methodist, nondenominational, Baptist again, and now Presbyterian). Holy Grounds is their emerging service (like Berean's Soulstice). It's tiny right now, about 15 people or so, but it's been growing each week and we have great discussions.

Next weekend, I get to add a state to the places I've been. I'm heading to North Carolina for one of my coworkers birthday. Her parents live in the mountains in NC and are inviting her DC friends down to celebrate with a bonfire, hiking, bluegrass music, and general silliness. It's going to be a long drive (like 7 hours one way) in one weekend but I'm looking forward to it.

Okay... I'm off to bed. I'm really going to remember to take pictures in NC so next time it'll be interesting again :)

OH! And I'm coming home Labor Day weekend! Anyone up for the State Fair? Can't wait to see everyone (and meet the newest members of the Anderson and Sanborn families!)

South Africa

2008-07-20T19:00:00.024-04:00

Part of my Master's program through Eastern is a trip each July to South Africa for 3 weeks of intense classes in Stellenbosch (little town near Cape Town). I went last summer and I just returned from my second and final trip.

It was exhausting and intense but it was also really great to be back with old friends and meeting new ones. It's hard to explain, but you end up really close to your cohort because of the intense time you spend together at residency, the time you spend online together, and the similar thoughts and experiences you're trying to process together. It was great to be back with them and really bittersweet to leave knowing I probably wouldn't see most of them ever again (since they live all over the world).

There were several highlights this year. The first was that we got a chance to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak (he was a huge leader in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and is one of my heroes). He and a panel of others were speaking about the situation in Zimbabwe at the University of Cape Town. It was really cool to get to hear him in person.
Another highlight was going on a vineyard tour around Stellenbosch, which is big time wine country. Some friends and I went - we saw three different vineyards, learned how to officially wine taste, and ate lunch at a cute little cellar at one vineyard.

Another highlight was dinner at my friend Gail's place. Gail is from Zimbabwe and made us (me and the other 2nd year international development students) a traditional Zimbabwean and South African meal. It was delicious!

We also got a chance to visit Robben Island - the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for part of his 27 years in prison. Now, it's being turned into a museum by former prisoners and former guards who live on the island together. The former prisoners actually serve as the tour guides. It was amazing. The cell below was Nelson Mandela's - not a great picture though because my camera was dying.

Another highlight was our "graduation." Since many of my classmates won't be able to go to the actual graduation in Philly in May, they hold a celebration early - complete with caps and gowns. It was fun.One of the best parts of Cape Town this year was seeing Gibson again. Gibson is on staff with World Relief Malawi and we became friends while I was helping with the Berean partnership in Malawi. He's a wonderful guy who started the masters program 2 years ago and then took a year off. He was back this year and it was really fun to hang out considering I hadn't seen him since my Malawi trip last April.

After graduation we went out to a local bar to celebrate - it was great fun. There were abourt 20 of us - both students and profs.

We were done with residency on Wednesday and several of us didn't have flights until Friday night. We were pretty sick of Stellenbosch so we decided to take off early and head into Cape Town for a couple days. It was a great mini vacation with 7 of my classmates and one of my friend's fiance who had flown in.

We went to a place called Hermanus where you can see whales from shore... it was an amazingly gorgeous drive out along the coast and just as cool driving back through the mountains.

We went for dinner that night on Long Street - a street in downtown Cape Town that reminded me of how I picture Bourbon St in New Orleans (although I've never been there). Lots of bars and restaurants... a little sketchy but lots of character.

The next day we went to a botanical garden that is supposedly one of the best in the world. It was gorgeous and just the relaxation we needed. I guess that's my last three weeks - it was great but it's also good to be home. Although I must admit it was strange to come "home" to DC and not Minneapolis. Next trip to Minneapolis will be Labor Day weekend - hopefully I'll see you all then!!!

Visitors

2008-07-20T18:48:00.003-04:00

Okay - so I'm terrible about updating my blog. I feel like Memorial weekend was a million years ago and haven't done an update since then.

The themes of life since Memorial weekend revolve around visitors and South Africa. I'll start with the visitors.

First, my parents came for a long weekend the end of June. My dad had never been to DC and my mom had only been here during the chaos of finding me an apartment and moving me out here. It was WONDERFUL to have them here. They got to meet folks in my office and we did all the touristy DC stuff - the monuments, a couple Smithsonians, Eastern market, lots of ethnic food. My dad spent hours and hours in the Air and Space Museums (there are two) and loved them.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures and will have to get some from them.

About 24-hours after my folks left, Hugh & Mary Brown came for a visit. They were just swinging through on their way somewhere else, but it was great to see them and meet their new daughter, Ruby. Ruby was born right before I moved and I hadn't gotten a chance to meet her yet. We went out for Thai food and they spent the night at my place. It was great to have them.

Trip Home

2008-05-30T22:00:00.010-04:00

So I got to go home for Memorial weekend. I was downright giddy on Friday waiting to get on the plane. It was a great flight - other than the ADHD 13-year old boy talking to me for the ENTIRE 2.5 hours of the flight.

I spent Saturday and Sunday at my folk's house. Holly, Joe, Alex, my sisters & my grandma came up on Saturday. It was SO good to see everyone. Alex is HUGE and knows about a million new words... although he just kept saying a few all day - Maggie, Toys, Duck, Boat, Truck. He got to go on his first boat ride too.

I hung out with the fam on Sunday and it was awesome to be home. I drove home Sunday evening through a very scary tornado warning. Then Jennie, Erick, and I went to have dinner at the bar where Kris works - mostly because Jeremy (an old friend from 10 years ago that lived with my family for awhile) is the manager there and I hadn't seen him in 10 years. It was awesome to see him. In a weird small world experience... my cousin Crystal was at the bar that night too who I also haven't seen in ages.

Sunday night I finally got to meet little miss Johanna Bonnett. She's so adorable! Mari, Holly, Johanna & I had girls night out at Dairy Queen.

Monday I went to check on the old house and the GIANT garden the new renters put in the back yard (sigh). Then we had a barbeque at the Bonnetts. It was wonderful to see my friends. Kirk & Sarah are heading to Morocco soon so it was especially good to see them before they go. It was fun to hang out, eat, and play with all the kids. Alex loved his first experience on a trampoline!

Tuesday was a full day too. I went to breakfast with Pastor Scott (my old boss), coffee with Jessie Sanborn, and then went to "lunch club" at Berean with my old co-workers. It was was really fun to see everyone and catch up.

Tuesday night was the IJM Minneapolis Benefit Dinner. Both of my sisters came and volunteered in the afternoon to help set up. It was a weird collision of my DC and Mpls worlds but it was great to have them there. Then mom, dad, Ben & Natalie Bonnett came for the banquet. The IJM benefit team did a great job and the whole night went well.

Finally, it was back on a plane VERY EARLY Wednesday morning. I was in the office by 11:30 am. The whole weekend was way too short and made me miss home both more and less all at the same time. Luckily, mom and dad are coming 3 weeks from today!!! Woo hoo!

Now it's just time for everyone else to start planning their trips to the National Capital... guest room... still calling your name!

A Church?

2008-05-30T21:46:00.002-04:00

So I think I might have found a church. I've only been there once but it's got the most potential so far. It's actually the evening service of a Presbyterian Church. It's called Holy Grounds. It's itty bitty - like 15 people. Very mellow setting - couchs, Christmas lights, candles.

When I walked in, they were selling copies of Shane Claiborne's new book, Jesus for President, because Shane is coming to town the end of June and they're helping host him. I happened to be carrying a copy of that very book with me that night. The pastor started the service after a sabbatical where she read Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis, another one of my favorites. The people were very friendly and I was really comfortable right away. It might be just what I need.

Not only that, but the service director (Matt) invited me to join the Northern Virginia Emergent Cohort which is having its first meeting on Monday. Emergent cohorts are groups in different parts of the country that are reflecting on what it means to be the emerging church, organized into something called the Emergent Village - http://www.emergentvillage.com/. I've been wanting to get involved in something like that for a long time so I'm excited to try it out. Matt has also been connecting me with other people who are thinking about similar things so it should be fun to meet new people.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

2008-05-30T21:27:00.005-04:00

So here's when you know you've actually moved - when you have to put plates from another state on your car!!! I must admit, it's a very weird feeling to have Virginia license plates and a Virginia driver's license. I guess it makes it official somehow.
Here are some things I've noticed about living out here:

Parking spaces are tiny! Dad, don't bring your Avalanche... we'll never be able to park it!
The city is so congested they do traffic reports at 11 pm at night!
People told me before I came that people on the East Coast are rude... I've gotta say though, people have been amazingly nice. Very polite actually.
Freeway exits are different. Instead of getting off at a street and going left or right, you take a completely different exit to go one way or the other. Sometimes helpful, sometimes annoying.
Today I had a discussion with a co-worker from MN about how people out here have never eaten the pickles wrapped in cream cheese and pastrami. She brings them to all parties because it weirds people out. Her boss also referred to a dish she brought to a potluck as a "hot plate" because he can't remember the term "hot dish!"
The diversity out here rocks! In one elevator ride in my building, I met two cute little old couples who didn't speak English - one from Iran and one from Jordan. While I'm used to living among other cultures, the vast number of them out here is great.

2008-04-27T21:02:00.004-04:00

So I figured I should probably give a little bit of a life update... where to begin?

The job...
I think I'm going to like it. I love the organization - more everytime I think about it. And I'm starting to get a hang of the job. I think the best part of it is going to be what I learn. I've already sat in on some meetings with some very smart people solving very large problems and I love soaking it all in. It's been great food for thought with my grad school program as well...

Speaking of grad school...
I'm almost done with my first year!!! I spent a great deal of time at Panera the last two days working on my final couple of assignments which are due next week. It will be nice to have them done. Of course, I already have my books for next year's classes so there's not a ton of down time but any break will be nice.

The apartment...
Funny story about that. Yesterday it was 82 degrees here (don't worry I won't rub in to much the fact that it was snowing at home - that's just sad for the end of April, even for MN). I can never concentrate on homework in the apartment so I took a blanket, my Ipod, and my computer out to the front lawn and plopped myself on a grassy area in front of the building. Apparently, my neighbors found my little picnic hysterical. I'm not sure why this was so funny to people but they kept coming up and talking to me about how they "liked my style" or "thought that was a great idea." Little kids kept walking over too - apparently sitting on the front lawn makes you very approachable. It was a great way to meet the neighbors - I'll have to do it again.

Friends...
Well, most of my social time has been spent with Joey as of late but I'm starting to make friends at work. There are some great people there and I've started going to lunch with some or to coffee with others. A group of ladies invited me to a play (The Screwtape Letters) in a couple weeks with some friends from outside of IJM so that will be fun too. I've decided that I also no longer want to be someone with only Christian friends so I have to find a way to meet people outside of work and church. Haven't figured out where yet... I'll keep you all posted.

Church...
No luck yet. Visited a few places. The last one was promising until the pastor told us to turn around and "high five" someone else before we sat down. Little too high school youth group for me. And the pastor was a nice guy but a little less than inspiring. Oh well... on to the next one.

Homesickness...
It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. I ache to hold Alex and to meet the newest Bonnett kid and it was very sad I missed my parents' birthday dinner last weekend. And Mother's Day will be rough to miss. Generally, though, I'm not feeling sad and depressed or anything. I'm trying to keep busy, get out of the apartment a lot, and spend a lot of time on the phone. I miss everyone but it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be.

Other stuff...
Went running on the treadmill for the first time since moving yesterday and then again today. I'm really sore... it's very sad. That's what I get for being a slacker the last couple months.

New tenants moved into my Mpls apartment yesterday. We'll see how that goes - thanks Hol & Joe for getting them moved in for me.

I'm coming home Memorial weekend!!! Woo hoo! I'm actually staying until Wednesday morning because the IJM Minneapolis banquet is Tuesday night and my bosses thought I should stay. Of course I have to work Tuesday helping with the banquet so it's not a ton of extra time at home but it'll help. If anyone wants to join me for the banquet, shoot me an email and I'll send you the info.

Here are a couple pictures my mom took of my apartment building - doesn't the lobby look like a hotel? It's getting an exterior paint job at the moment which it needs badly but otherwise it's in good shape.

SLURPEES!!!

2008-04-27T20:37:00.010-04:00

Ok, so I'm going to be a bad blogger - I can tell already.

Anyway, I do need to share with everyone one of my favorite little things about living in DC now. Some of you are already aware of my obsession with Slurpees. Not Icees, not Slushies, but Slurpees. Slurpees are only found at 7-11. When I was a kid there was a 7-11 we could ride our bikes to and we always went to get Slurpees. Then stinking SuperAmerica bought out all the 7-11's and it was the end of Slurpees. Ever since then, whenever I was in a state that still has Slurpees I have to get one... or twelve. I explain it to people as being my childhood in a glass. It's ridiculous really. Anyway, the good news is that DC has 7-11s. As a matter of fact, there is a 7-11 less than a block from my apartment! We won't talk about how many Slurpees I've had so far.

I will tell you about the week my family was here with me when I moved in. While they were here, we went to have a dinner with some family that lives in VA at a restaurant a couple hours away. My family not only joined me in the Slurpee obsession on the way home - they encouraged it. My future brother-in-law and I had two 40-ounce slurpees in the 2 hour drive home... and considered a third! Between the emotional exhaustion of the whole move and the intense sugar - I was a little squirrely!

So was Erick...

Here are some other fun pictures from while they were here moving me in:

Things I love about my new job

2008-04-08T20:29:00.003-04:00

I was thinking that I hadn't written much about the new job yet and since that was the purpose of the whole move, I thought I should.

Here is a list of some of the reasons I like my new job:

They have WOMEN in senior leadership positions - and a lot of them! They even have men in assistant positions. It only makes sense, but it makes sense in a lot of other places too and doesn't happen.
There's ethnic diversity all over the organizaiton too!
They spend an hour in prayer EVERY day (1/2 hour individually and 1/2 hour corporately) and everyone participates!
Jars of Clay came to the prayer meeting last week.
A guy who wrote one of my textbooks for my Master's courses came to prayer meeting today.
They believe that just because they're a nonprofit, it doesn't mean they can give up having intense excellency. They also believe they owe that same standard to their clients - regardless of the fact that the clients are usually very poor and can't demand that excellency for themselves.
They realize that the heart of Jesus is about more than just evangelism or personal spirituality - it's about bringing God's desire for justice and freedom to fulfillment on earth.
There are a lot of people there that are a lot smarter than me who are going to teach me great things about running an organization.
Everyone has been incredibly friendly.

While it's definitely a much more intense environment than I'm used to, and I miss my Berean friends terribly, there's a lot I appreciate about it already. I'm going to be BUSY! Please pray for my brain to be able to digest everything.

Thank you everyone!

Cherry Blossoms

2008-04-05T09:43:00.007-04:00

So apparently cherry blossoms are a REALLY big deal out here. They have a National Cherry Blossom Festival and everything. They are very pretty... Joey and I went to check them out one evening after work.

Hanging out with Joey

2008-04-05T09:28:00.003-04:00

Some of you heard how excited I was to find out my friend Joey had moved to DC a couple of weeks before me. He had been living in Germany so I hadn't seen him in 3 years. It's so great to have a friend in the city. The night my family left Joey and I decided to go to dinner in Dupont Circle. We found a cute little Malayasian restaurant with terrible service but great food.

Sorry the picture is so fuzzy, not sure what happened there. Bobby, notice the bar-b-que skewers - don't they look like the ones you loved in Cebu?

My new apartment...

2008-04-04T23:30:00.010-04:00

So I'm sure at some point there will be some pictures of the touristy stuff I did with the family while they were out here helping with the move but none were on my camera so we'll have to wait until they send me some.

Here are pictures of my new apartment though. It's a nice place - 1 bedroom plus den which is perfect for me. I have a guest room for visitors and plenty of closet space for all my stuff. The only sad thing was the lack of a washer/dryer in the apartment but the laundry room is right next door and it's been really clean so far. I can't hear my neighbors (it's actually amazingly quiet for a large high rise) and everyone I've run into in the halls have been very friendly. I thought there was going to be a parking problem but so far there's been plenty of parking. And there are a bunch of very fun ethnic restaurants within walking distance!

And so begins the drive...

2008-04-04T22:55:00.008-04:00

We were supposed to leave on Monday, March 24 early, early, early in the morning. Erick wanted to leave at 4:30 am!!! That's just craziness. We did decide, however, to leave on Sunday night anyway and pulled out with me, my mom, and Kris in my Jeep and Jennie & Erick (Jennie's Fiance) in the Penske truck. We drove really late that night and didn't stop until we got on the other side of Gary, Indiana. It was nice to get through Chicago with no traffic but we were dead tired by the time we got there. We were so tired we didn't care where we stayed and we found this scary little hotel somewhere in Indiana. My mom & Kris were pretty sure it was the kind of hotel people get murdered in but we survived! The beds were a little small though...

We got up just in time for them to kick us out the next day. Then it was on the road again. We got to Alexandria, my new home, really late once again. We drove through some VERY scary roads in Pennslyvania - very windy, very narrow, on the side of very high cliffs, with very terrifying semi trucks flying past us on both sides. Erick was a trooper and managed the moving truck like a pro.

We were all exhausted by the time we checked into scary hotel number 2. We were looking for a better one that night but had a hard time finding one and were too tired to care. It was amusing though because Jennie & Erick saw cop cars surrounding the same hotel the next night! Luckily we were all already nicely settled at my place!

Easter Sunday

2008-04-04T20:20:00.006-04:00

The timing worked out great and I got to see the whole extended family on Easter Sunday before we started the big road trip to DC. My sisters and brother-in-law got me a cake. Thanks guys!I got to hang out with my grandma... isn't she cute?

And here is dad and the other guys in their usual holiday poker game!

Smile for the camera, ladies!

Dinner out at Cap's

2008-04-04T20:03:00.006-04:00

A couple nights before I left some friends and I went to dinner at Caps. My dear friend Mari came along... notice how she's still pregnant. She was due the day before I left and I was hoping the little bundle of joy would come before I left. No such luck. I am thrilled, however, that Mari had a healthy baby GIRL named Johanna Grace about a week later. I can't wait to meet my new niece!!!

Going away dinner

2008-04-03T21:51:00.004-04:00

So I got this new job in Washington DC, working for a great organization called International Justice Mission. It all happened really quick but we managed to have a small dinner party with some friends - one last shin dig in my Minneapolis apartment. I'm keeping the house, by the way, just renting out both units instead of one now.