Slowing Down

The past week has been pretty slow by "normal" standards. Compared to last weekend, this weekend's calendar is quite empty. Last weekend was a whirlwind of movies: Mama Mia!, The Dark Knight, and Wall-E (a few days prior with Tim). Wall-E left me in a melancholy mood. It was cute, but compared to other Pixar movies, was definitely lacking in the comedic delivery. Rather, the movie has several sobering messages revolving around the destruction of our environment and the gluttony of America. I'm not saying I disagree with the messages and undertones. Maybe that's why I was left in such a state. I connected with it and was left discouraged and downhearted. Despite the movie, I did enjoy a nice evening with Tim.

Mama Mia! was fabulous, however, and helped pull me from my Hollywood prescribed funk. I saw it last Friday with Mallory and Dave (who were in town the evening before flying from Reagan on Saturday AM to St. Croix). It was fun to see it with Mal. Dave was a good sport and even put up with our dancing and singing afterwards. I think Maryl Streep did a wonderful job (I honestly never knew she could sing) and the main young actress was beautiful and also has a equally stunning voice. The joke of the movie was Pierce Brosnan, who received only laughter and groans from the audience when he opened his mouth to sing. It was pretty funny to be sitting in a packed theater and hearing such a reaction to his singing. I felt an immediate bond with my fellow movie-goers at the expense of Pierce.

And The Dark Knight... wow. So, I have a few friends who said they need therapy after watching it. It's true to the title- it's a dark movie. When one weighs in the sad story of Heath Ledger, who obviously had trouble dealing with his character (Joker) in real life and died from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, it makes the movie a bit harder to swallow. The stunts and several chase scenes in the movie are incredible. There are also some other scenes, however, that are just disturbing. Overall, I'd say I enjoyed it, but it also messed with me a bit too.

Last Saturday night, I went to Kat's house, where she had made dinner and dessert. She'd also invited her boss and his wife and son along with another older man in her office and his wife. It was a wonderful evening. It took me over an hour to get to her house as I am living car-free now. My metro to bus to walking was quite an ordeal. Although a bit sticky from my long walk (uphill), I arrived in time to chat a bit before we all dived into dinner. It was refreshing to dine with one of my best friends and to chat comfortably with some pretty important folks. Her boss is a former ambassador to South Africa and, from what I gathered of our conversation, the other guy is a former Senator. Their wives are very down to earth (as are the guys) and our evening flew by as we discussed travel, politics, religion and exchanged some life stories. Five bottles of wine and several hours later, we had to say goodbye. It was an extremely fun evening. Plus, my new senator friend and his wife drove me home so I wouldn't have to metro and bus back to my house!

Though my weekend was fast, this week slowed tremendously. At work, we are hoping to launch our new website next month. This website has been a complete pain and was originally set to launch last fall/winter. So, I'll cross my fingers, but you don't see this girl holding her breath.

I officially have a new boss. She starts next week, where she'll be attending some board meetings in PA. Her first day in our office is the following week. I'm happy to finally have a boss again and am hopeful that since we are both new to our particular area we can learn some things together. Next Tuesday, I am riding with three of my coworkers (all male) to Gettysburg, where we will be staying for two days as we help with planning for the Council's International Forum in 2010. I've never been to Gettysburg, so was excited about going. Then I learned that our hotel is in the middle of nowhere and historical Gettysburg is quite a ways from us. I don't anticipate it to be the most exotic Council trip I've taken.

Kat has plans to come over on Monday night. We're going to review our travel options and hopefully decide on some plans. At this point, we're thinking two trips: one to Hawaii and one to South Carolina.

Another thing I am seriously considering: Grad School. I've been encouraged by Rich to look into a program at Nyack College here in DC. Nyack is a school in NY, but also has a campus here in DC. There's a one year cohort program that's an MS in Organizational Leadership. The program meets twice a week here on the Hill. Also, there are a few Saturdays required in the mix. It starts in January and ends one year later. I think it'd be a good fit. My main concern is the money. The idea of taking out more student loans is not appealing. So, as I apply, I'll be thinking heavily about it. If I get accepted (which I probably will), I'll have quite a decision to make. Not only would I be looking at loans, but I would also have to willingly embrace more time in DC. At this chapter in life, I'm not seeing that as a bad thing.

On a really random note- we may be getting a cat soon. We've been talking about it a while and Marie has spearheaded the conversation. It was discussed quite a bit about a month ago, but then discussions tapered. Four nights ago, we discovered that we have a mouse (again!) in the house. So, that brought back the cat idea. Marie has gone to NC for the weekend and may be bringing a Fluffy back with her. Fine by me. An animal in the house (and not a tiny one that eats our food) could be a good thing.