Ducks Don't Get Wet!

Growing up one of my favorite books was called Ducks Don't Get Wet! It discussed how ducks can't get wet because of the oils on their feathers. They will spend hours preening themselves spreading that oil. And as we know oil and water don't mix so when ducks swim the water slides right off their backs. I've always had a fascinations with Ducks.

So on May 16th, the day we DID NOT go to the Air Show, Mel and I wandered around DC and found our way to the Constitution Garden and there we saw...

DUCKS! And lots of them!





Aren't they CUTE!?

The daddy duck...or at least one of them :)

We watched this momma duck attach and chase off at least 3 squirrels

Don't mess with momma!

Congratulations Emma Lin!!!

Yup it's true...She survived! Emma graduated from Marymount on Sunday. She made it through her master's program and now has to grow up and become a real girl...adult.

Emma and her parents after the graduation ceremony

We threw her a fun a little party to show her how proud we are of her.

Some of the party goers

Emma's cake - my best one yet...I still need a lot of practice. Brian was teasing me that Congratulations was spelt wrong and I freaked out for a second because I checked it about 5 times before a I put it on the cake. Geez!

Congratulations Emma! You're Awesome!

Valory Comes to Visit!

My former roommate Valory Kneib just graduated with her master's degree in Speech Pathology. YAY VAL! Congrats! And in celebration she decided to take a vacation and come visit me. (or at least I like to think she was coming to visit me and not just because I lived near DC) She spent about 2 weeks visiting us and her Aunt. I've had a most fantastic time. I've been trying to convince her the whole time that she should move out here, but she doesn't feel that this is the place for her. I can respect that and will just have to visit her where ever she may end up. Here are some pictures from our activities.

Valory arrived Saturday, May 3rd and we planned on just sitting around and doing nothing when I got a text from Kendra. It was her birthday and she wanted someone to help celebrate. So we hopped on the metro and head up to Clarendon to the Cheese Cake Factory for some birthday celebration!

Happy Birthday Kendra!

I took Monday and Tuesday off and spent those days wandering DC with Val
Yes that is someone wearing a space suit or something. They were having a Military fair on the Mall and well...


We made it out to the Kennedy Center for a concert of the Millennium Stage

The Library of Congress - Jefferson Building

Kendra works for a congressman and took us on a tour of the Capitol Building, however my batteries had just died so Val has the pictures. Afterwards we went to find lunch. Basically we followed all the workers from the Hill and ended up in an area with long lines. We decided to go to this little store and just make due with whatever we could find...besides they had batteries for my camera.

I've now lived in the DC area for nearly 2 years and I still find it amazing that I live here. It's so odd, but I love it and I love it when people come to visit so I can share it with them.

I've been remiss...

I was reminded by my friend Mel that I neglected to publish a post about my Caterpillars



That's right caterpillars. I lived in a small little hick town, or wide spot on the road for many years and in that place there was a house. We called it the Caterpillar House. Why? You may ask. Well, because every spring the porch and yard would be covered with caterpillars! I mean, they were everywhere!



Image my surprise when one day I was walking home from the metro and I noticed what looked like huge spiders' nests in the trees near our townhouse. Although I don't like spiders (at ALL) I was curious enough to investigate. As I got closer to the tree I saw millions of little black bugs moving. Even closer I realized they were young caterpillars! Millions of them. All over the tree.



Later that week Mel and I went for a walk in the forest near her house. As we walked a long noticed the same web/nest things in several of the trees. Walking under the trees we notice again, millions of caterpillars.



Because of my Caterpillar House background I have always had a strange fascination with caterpillars, so we stood around for several minutes watching the caterpillars. Sadly I didn't have my camera, but fortunately my phone has a camera.




Aren't they cute?! There maybe more caterpillar pictures to come.

Happy Birthday to ME!

It's my 27th birthday today! Happy Birthday to me!

So my roommate decided to be sneaky...she and my friends conspired to throw me a surprise party last night. I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to have a party of any kind, since it was a busy weekend and today just as busy, but they surprised me. I had some suspicion and a small hope that something would happen, but I wasn't worried about since I plan on a big birthday next year, since it's my golden birthday (turning 28 on the 28th), but they got me anyway.

Emma invited me over for a picnic and I didn't think anything of it, expect I thought it was kind of weird that she only invited 4 other people. However with Emma's past history with planning picnics I thought that the small group was her way to avoid a repeat. I told Jess about it and she said she couldn't come...which is fine, she's usually busy, but when she said she just wanted to sleep and would be up to watching the movie with us at our house afterwards I was a little suspicious, but not really. The odd thing I should have caught on to, which did cross my mind, but I didn't say anything about it, was that we had the indoor picnic at Reed's house when mine or Emma's or even Mel's would have been closer to the majority of the people and why did we were going to my house to watch the movie? I mean Reed's house would work just as well and we were already there...As the evidence shows I'm really slow sometimes and they got me.

Reed made me a cake and we had it for the treat at FHE. They sang to me...which by the way is kind of embarrassing.

I definitely felt loved and enjoyed myself. I don't have pictures (which is my normal...a few lines and tons of pictures). I had my camera but never took any pictures.

YAY for friends who love me and birthdays that come every year!

Sonia and Juan Carlos

My friends Sonia and Juan Carlos were sealed on Saturday. The whole day was beautiful. The weather was perfect and Sonia looked beautiful and Juan Carlos so happy.

An Ode to Spring

I simply love this time of year. The blossoms and blooms. The flowers every where. I've never been a state where so many trees blossom.


Dogwood...does anyone know why it's called that? (outside the Greek Embassy)






I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, but I love it's flowers.

From the trees outside our townhouse



Like I've said so many times these pictures really don't do them justice. There is something indescribable about walking outside and seeing nature all dressed up for Spring. As cheesy as this sounds, I find myself smiling for no real reason as I walk by the blooming trees. They just make me happy.

It's a good thing I took so many pictures when I did. Most of the blossoms were knocked off the trees outside our townhouse by the big storm we had come through. Don't worry...they'll be back next year.