Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Vacation Time

Hey all I'm heading off to Japan for a week to visit one of my best friends that I haven't seen in almost three years. Yay!! So I'll be thinking of you all while I'm seeing a tea ceremony, eating Japanese and taking a bike tour. Don't worry you'll be in my thoughts during train rides, airports and restaurants. Stay tuned for pictures and just be glad you don't have to deal with a 13 hour time difference. Ha!

Talk to you all soon.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Springtime

It's springtime here and that means several things: tourists and cherry blossoms. Washington DC is home to cherry blossoms and is one of the most amazing and beautiful things about this area. I, naively, only thought these beautiful trees existed around the tidal basin, home to the Jefferson Memorial. However, that is not true for I even have cherry blossoms at my apartment complex, woohoo! I've since noticed them scattered all over the city and in Maryland, even a few places in northern Virginia. They really are a remarkable tree. Also, DC has a large cherry blossom festival that runs for three weeks. There's kite flying on the national mall, photography tours, bands, exhibits and even a parade. Yep, parades! Also, for the first time ever, there's going to be a big Japanese festival this weekend. Ironically, though, whenever I've wanted to come down for an activity on a weekend the weather has been awful, as it has been for most of the festival. So sadly, this year has not been one of the more pleasant festival times... alas, though, today is a beautiful day and so after work I'll be trudging down with my tennis shoes and camera to snap some beautiful cherry blossom pictures.

Spring also means a kick start to the tourist season and end of the year field trips. Over the growing weeks I've seen more and more school groups- you can always recognize them by their name tags, matching shirts, and haggard looking chaperones. Lines have been forming to view the Constituion and my work building has been overflowed by the number of people hitting the food court. It's just the start... wait until summer, it gets even worse. Tourist mobiles have been polished and taken out again. People with cameras, maps, and quizzical looks are seen on every conrner and I've found myself thinking, I was there last year. Now I don't even need to look at a street sign to know where I'm at or how to get there. Horizontal lettered streets crossing with vertical numbered streets that are intersected with state named diagonal streets no longer confuse me. I laugh at them. Even treacherous circles... i.e. Dupont Circle, are no matter. Ha!

This is a time to breath fresh air, enjoy the sunshine, when it's available, and rewaken yourself as the world is reawakening.