Proud accomplishments

I was able to successfully parallel park my car on the left-hand side of the road. It felt really backward, but I managed to get in and out unscratched and un-bumped! Hooray! And I have now gotten home for the third time the "right" way (meaning no unintended detours) through that one section I despise :) That's worth cheering about, if you ask me.

Falling behind!

Well let's see... where did I leave off? I survived my first week! Day 1 was a general orientation for all new employees, Day 2 was with the pharmacy manager, covering some policies and procedures and basic stuff, and then the remaining 3 days I was training with this great veteran pharmacist (35 years at Georgetown) who taught me the pharmacy order entry program. There are countless new names and faces to learn, so that's a teeny bit overwhelming. The one who I totally learned, right away, was Honeygirl, but Friday was her last day so so much for the easy-to-remember names! Friday night I walked over to where the going away party was, at Continental Billiards. It was fun to hang out with my new coworkers and play some pingpong and see some most unique dance moves! :) Saturday morning, I got up bright and early and headed up to play Ultimate Frisbee with some friends from WA and OR who live near Baltimore. I have never played that particular game before so it was an interesting and fun time :) I would describe it as a combo of football, basketball, and soccer. Not entirely intuitive, but very fun :) As I was leaving here to go there, I was heading east on Highway 110 and westbound 110 was blocked for Clarendon Days 10K. It was great to see all those runners, and I had to laugh when I saw a guy running in a suit! :) It would have even been better if he would've had a briefcase with him! After Frisbee, I got to enjoy some homemade pizza - YUM! Sunday afternoon I took my bike out for its very first bike ride in 3 years. I am pleased to say I did not fall over and the tires did not go flat, so it was a successful adventure. My body is protesting loudly, but I'll go out on it again another day and try to remember what the different gears feel like and all that good stuff. I'm tempted to ride over and explore Theodore Roosevelt Island, which is near here. That night, I went to another friend's house for delicious pulled pork sandwiches and other great food. My face hurt from laughing, which is my idea of a perfect way to end a great weekend. Today I was back to work again, this time getting to enter real orders for real patients :) I still have the benefit of being under the watchful eye of my trainer, so that's reassuring. Odd things have come up already, so thank goodness he's there. For lunch, for my own amusement, I walked down the street to where the French Embassy is and stuck my foot under the fence, technically stepping in France :) Yep, I'm a dork. Not sure what I'll do this evening, but I'll think of something. Everything is going great. My navigation through that super tricky stretch is much improved, but I think the drivers here are rude and make the madness (try driving at the place called Seven Corners) even worse. Thus - I continue to do a lot of public transportation and walking :)

27.5 miles

My brother and I walked a grand total of 27.5 miles in the 3 days he was here! We covered everything from Georgetown in the West to Library of Congress in the East! I'll post pictures soon, but I'm still recovering :-) On Sunday I was invited out for lunch by some new friends, which was a delightful way to start the week. They are really good cooks and hosts! I can't wait to get more kitchen chairs so I can return the favor and not make people stand. That gets serious deductions in your hostess score! Today I started work, though it was just orientation. Tomorrow will be the first day I go to the hospital, so a big day for me! It will be more orientation for a while, but that's all good. Deciding what to wear has kept me up quite late tonight! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an excellent first day tomorrow. Here's hoping I get to sit down and rest my tired legs :-)

Annapolis

Today I was feeling pretty indecisive about what to do, because I didn't want to do the one thing I should do, which is finish unpacking!  I looked at the map and decided a day trip to Annapolis sounded like fun.  It was a nice little drive and I really enjoyed walking around Historic Old Town.  I took a tour, which I can't say I'd recommend.  We saw just a handful of things and the guy spent too long, in my opinion, talking about architecture of the buildings/houses.
I walked down to the end of Dock Street, hoping to catch the last harbor cruise and get a view of the town and US Naval Academy from the water, but there weren't enough people so they cancelled it :-(  I was really looking forward to being out on the water on a gorgeous, crisp day like today.

I'm still having the worst time with the freeways!  Exits are not always from the right lane, I have to pick between 95, 295, 395, and 495, and I think I've picked the wrong lane for the last time over by Memorial Bridge.   I have a pretty good sense of direction and am always the navigator, but there is nothing intuitive about the roads around here!  Also, it's surprisingly hard to find a car wash.

My brother comes tomorrow, so I need to have the roads figured out by then so I won't get too much grief from him.  As it is, I've spent the last 4 hours unpacking and organizing my office so he can use it as a bedroom while he's here. zzzzzz. Good thing I have 23 more hours to get everything just right :-)

Saturday, I decided to drive up to see a museum that's a bit off the beaten path.  It was a folly-filled adventure, and I'm sure I broke a driving law or two, but at least no accidents happened.  I drove up to one of the many military joints named Walter Reed, and perhaps this museum once existed there (as indicated by the sign outside the big fence that said "museum,") but it certainly doesn't anymore.  In fact, I'm not sure much exists there anymore because all the gates were closed!  It wasn't the nicest part of town, either, so I had a pile of feelings to sort through, plus the stubbornness that I was going to find it.  I gave Siri another chance and this time found my way to the right one, another several stoplights and awful traffic scenarios away.
One of my new pet peeves in life is 2 lane streets where residents are allowed to park in the outer lane!  Who came up with that bright idea?!  It was especially dangerous when there would be a street or two with no cars, so I'd switch back over to that lane, only to have cars parked in my lane another block up!

So why did I want to go to the museum?  I heard there were odd things there, plus the bullet removed from Lincoln's head by the surgeon on the night Lincoln was assassinated.  This museum, by the way is the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

I saw the bullet, a lock of his hair, misc Lincoln-related stuff; this surprisingly significant slab of concrete, and all sorts of specimens of bodily malfunctions.  The saddest were the babies, of course.  Getting back to this slab:  it was part of the floor in a trauma bay at a tent hospital, Balad, during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  They had an astonishing survival rate, and it was all at once both hard & easy to imagine all the carnage that came through this room.

Here are a couple pictures.

Ok, I won't lie - today wasn't my favorite day.  I started the morning off by going over to the storage shed I'm renting so I could unload my snow tires, skis, and other things I won't be needing anytime soon.  I had to hurry back, change clothes, and speedwalk a mile over to Georgetown for my stand-up paddle board lesson.  I thought it was awfully windy and thought it might be a disaster, but nobody called so I kept going.  Of course once I got there, "Oh yeah, sorry, we've cancelled that for today." Grr!  So back up the stairs, over the bridge, and up the hill I went.  I decided my mood was already annoyed enough, I might as well spend the rest of the afternoon at the DMV getting a Virginia drivers license and get my car registered over here.  Indeed, that took a full 3+ hours, sitting in a room with no wi-fi, no magazines, and no vending machines.  I had a terrible headache by the time it was my turn, so here is the plate I picked, to match my mood today :-)

Another annoyance today -- Siri has been messing with me!  She's been directing me into this awful round-a-bout which is just the most accident-prone awful one I've ever encountered, right near Arlington Cemetery.  Fortunately I've discovered a bypass and will avoid THAT mess in the future!

I'm hoping for a good sleep tonight and fun adventures tomorrow.

Time to play!

My law exam was yesterday evening so now I can start being a tourist and play! Wheee!
I sure hope I passed, but it's behind me now and I can't change anything, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I think I'll go check on the Hope Diamond today and the Reagan China... two faves.  I was going to go to the zoo to see the baby panda, but apparently it doesn't get to come out until it is 4 months old, so I'll skip that trip for now.  Oh, so many wonderful options!!

I'm sure no one is too interested in hearing how I took the cardboard boxes downstairs, and the day-to-day dull stuff, so let's skip to the good stuff.
Trader Joe's = quite possibly the most fun grocery store ever!  I snapped some quick shots of a couple of the first signs I read.  Someone there has a sense of humor :-)

I took the subway to DC to go to a pharmacist there and ask them some of my law questions that I was not finding answers to.  Rather clever of me, I must say.  After that, I took a bus over to Georgetown and spent well over an hour wandering along M Street.  The Home Store/TJ Maxx was impressive.  Here's a photo of just one of the steals you can find!  Once I got home, I could've kicked myself for passing on this.

I don't have any photos from my walk home, but it was lovely.  I stopped in at Dean & Deluca and bought a little demi baguette, then walked to Key Bridge and crossed over the Potomac into Rosslyn.  I've got some blisters for my efforts but it was just the most wonderful day and the most wonderful walk.  I kept smiling for no good reason at all, other than loving my surroundings and finding it hard to believe that this is now home!  

4.56 miles today :-)

Amazon is my friend

Amazon sends me boxes most every day! :-)  I feel bad for the concierges because I imagine they're staying pretty busy sorting out all the boxes that come for people every single day!

Yesterday I went to church here and got to meet some nice people.  I was invited to stay for lunch, which I accepted rather than face my mountain of boxes and plastic silverware! :-)  It was a wonderful welcome and great food!

I'm loving the proximity to Safeway.  I walk half a block, cross the street when no traffic is coming (most of the time), take the walkway between some buildings, and then dart across the next street -again, when no cars are coming.  I am hauling everything back by hand, so I make small trips :-)
I bought a pedometer to satisfy my curiosity, and I'm averaging 4.1 miles/day right now.  I am going to be in fabulous shape by the next time you see me! :-)  Then again, I discovered a wonderful place today called Crumbs and they had samples outside.  Mmmmm - divine!  The Caramel Apple cupcake for the month of September might just be my downfall!

Wednesday is my DC Pharmacy law exam for licensing, so wish me luck!

Shopping and style update

For those Yakima ladies who have bemoaned the lack of remotely professional clothes available in town, particularly at Macys... come to DC!  The style seems to be skirts and dresses paired with flats (or flip flops after work).  The Nordstrom Rack has circles dedicated entirely to little black skirts and the regular Nordstrom had an impressive collection of versatile dresses.  I can't wait to see what they bring out for coats in the fall/winter!

Costco has a chocolate shop!

Well today left me feeling a bit like a college freshman... in a new place, I don't really know many people, and I don't have my car (yet).  After getting internet installed, I headed over to Pentagon City to where the mall and Costco and some other stores are.  I really wished I would have been wearing a pedometer today because I covered some ground!  My feet aren't city feet just yet! Ow!
I'd say the highlight of today was going in the Costco here.  Check out these solid chocolate capitol buildings!!  They also make chocolate Pentagons :-)  White, milk, or dark chocolate.  If I wouldn't have been carrying everything back with me, I might have been tempted to try one!
Tonight, I went over to Dupont Circle for a nice dinner, then came home to do some studying.

I'm here!

Hello, my blog readers!
I left Seattle at 8:10 AM, saying goodbye to Mom, Dad, and Aunt, and caught my one-way flight to DC.  I'm calling this my first day of 29th grade, and just like my other first days of school, my sweet Mom packed me a lunch :-)  PB&J and a bag of grapes = perfect!  I think the pilot knew I was anxious to get here so he stepped on the gas a little extra!  We made the trip in just over 4 hours instead of 5.  It was a spectacular descent, coming in over Georgetown University, then over the Potomac River, to the south of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, etc.  I spotted the White House, and the Capitol, and all those good things :-)  What a pretty, magnificent city!
I had to wait a while for a cab to come that had enough room for me & my bags. I weighed them at the counter and one was 35 pounds, one was 33 pounds, and one was 28 pounds.  :-)  The driver delivered me safely to the door of my new home.  A few details later, I had the key and was on my way up to the 15th floor.
It took me what felt like an eternity (over 5 minutes) trying to figure out how to work the fancy electronic key.  When I finally mastered that and stepped in, I was happy, relieved, and a little shocked. Somehow, in my memory, the apartment had grown in size.  This was quite a reality check!  Gulp!  Luckily the views, both during the day and at night, are awesome!
I took some pictures, then headed out to get some basic groceries and necessities (dish soap, paper towels) that I'd forgotten to pack or order online to have shipped.  I found a Safeway very close by, and then took the subway 2 stops to Clarendon.  I meandered my way all the way back from Trader Joes to my place, taking my sweet time and stopping into the Container Store, Crate & Barrel, etc to do some research/planning.  I must maximize use of cupboard space!  I checked and the walk, without stops and my side adventures, was 1.25 miles.  I'm going to get a workout while I wait for my car! :-)
Once back to the apartment, I made myself my first cup of tea and washed my hair, so I would really feel like I was home :-)  I also started measuring all the cabinets and drawers, and used painters tape to plot out where furniture might go.  Decisions, decisions!  I could use a second opinion!

Furniture/boxes should arrive on Saturday, and the car still hasn't been picked up :-(  I guess the driver says he'll be there tomorrow.  He's not quite as organized as my other guy seems to be.  Oh it will be so nice to have a chair to sit on and my stuff! :)
Time to sleep. It's later than I think!