The Lord's Been Good to Me

Weekends in DC are busy, busy, busy (especially when you start Thursday night). Shonni and I hit up a couple noteworthy events this time.

Thursday: Double date to Vapiano

Shonni and Nikee planned for us to do a double date, and we played the evening somewhat by ear. We went down to Chinatown and ate pizza at Vapiano. Sidenote: ask Nikee about her near-death experience in the women's room with a couple drunk and belligerent ladies. Ok, not near-death, but definitely near-beat-up. After dinner, we went to see The Proposal (any guesses on which two picked that one? haha). Walking back to the car, a vent sparked some classic images and the ladies just had to briefly imitate Norma Jeane.

Friday: Pool Party at Adrienne's

Adrienne wanted to celebrate summer, and she knows how to throw a good gathering and make it interactive. She started things off with a pool party and swimming, followed that up with everyone making their own pizzas (BYOT: bring your own toppings), and then watching some Sandlot.After some swimming, Shonni and Lindsay decided to show off their back handspring skills. As I can't actually do a back handspring, they helped me get into a backbend and then we used the magic of photography to make it (somewhat) look like we did a synchronized back handspring. Yowza, those gals make it look easy! Saturday: Rascal Flatts concert

Being from Utah but living in DC, we're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. Fortunately, there are enough country music fans in Virginia to get some of the big-name bands to come. This weekend Rascal Flatts was in town, and we decided Saturday afternoon to go. We donned our cowboy gear, drove out to Nissan Pavilion, and had ourselves a rootin' tootin' good time.

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Biking in Fabulous Waldorf

One thing that attracted me to Shonni was/is her sporty attitude and athleticism. It just so happens that she is a gifted cyclist and has even competed in some events over the years (primarily in mountain biking, but I won't embarrass her by detailing her victories and championship exploits here). We decided to go for a bike ride after work. I drove down to Waldorf and we met up at Shonni's place. After taking Bax for his walk, we headed out for a quick ~15-miler. I'm not sure on the exact distance, but we rode at a decent clip for about 45 minutes, so that's my guesstimate (I love that word, by the way).We're definitely looking forward to many more cycling and sporting dates in the future, as this one was a smashing success.

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Weekend with Shonni

Friday night: Shonni invited me to her apartment in Waldorf, and we had a delicious dinner. Then we went to see the movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" at an outdoor showing that her neighborhood was putting on, but we missed it because we took too long having dinner. Instead, we put out a blanket by the neighborhood lake and enjoyed our movie treats. It was an excellent evening.

Saturday night: We made dinner again at Shonni's after she got off work, and then we watched a great movie, "Facing the Giants". If you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend it. Inspirational and wholesome, and pretty good production quality to boot.Sunday: After church, Shonni and I had lunch at my apartment. Since we were both tuckered out, we went to the park near Joyce St & Oakcrest Rd to try and take a nap, but mosquitos kept chomping us and some kids started practicing golf, so we left. Later we went to the Why I Believe fireside at the DC Temple Visitors Center. Senator Orrin Hatch, his wife, and a couple of new converts spoke, and they all did a great job. As a bonus, we were able to get a picture with Senator Hatch afterwards.

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Madison-Chicago 200

I'd never really been to Chicago, IL (drove through 3 times while traveling to/from DC and SLC) or Madison, WI, so when I was offered a chance to join the Deloitte Running Team in doing the Madison-Chicago 200-Mile Relay, I jumped at it.

The flight to Chicago on Thursday was uneventful, and I met up with Randy, Jessica, and Jenny at the rental car place. I've known Randy for a while, but he was the only teammate I knew. The four of us drove up to Madison and got a little Wendy's on the way (ah, the meal of champions!).

Our team met up on Friday morning and signed in for the race. We got our directions and information packets and then went to the store for some supplies. Just the basics: bananas, Gatorade, water, PB&J's, etc.

We started the race at noon, but I was in the second van, so we had some time to kill before we ran our first legs. So we decided to go into downtown Madison and get some lunch. I was runner #10, and my first leg was a 5.5 miler along a trail. Nothing too exciting. In fact, it got hard to stay focused, because I was just running along this same path in almost a straight line for the whole time. There was some scenery, which helped, though.

After our van was done with its first legs, we went for dinner and then to our next van transition (a high school) to catch some shut-eye. My second leg was a short run, just 3 miles. I love having a short night run. Short, so I could just book it and be done with it, and peaceful because there aren't lots of cars out on the roads.

Next van transition was at a church, and we slept inside, because it was raining and we were tired of being in the cramped van. Unfortunately, there weren't any couches left, so we just had to sleep on the floor. Not the most comfortable, but we were tired, so we still were able to sleep a couple hours. My last leg was 5.75 miles through the Chicago suburbs, and it was quite enjoyable (maybe because I knew I was almost done haha). Lots of trees and running pathways.

We finished in Chicago with a total time of 26:11:58, which gave us a 7:45 min/mile average. That gave us a 6th place finish in our division (61 teams). And of the full 114 competing teams, we took 22nd overall. Great race, Deloitters and Friends!

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Nancy's Bday

"One year older and wiser, too. Happy birthday (clap) to you!"

-LDS Children's Songbook

I met Nancy on February 17, 2008. As such, that is the friend-iversary for Nancy, Sarah, Stanley, and me. Ah, fond memories.

Back to the purpose at hand. The celebration on this evening was for another reason: the 25th anniversary of her birth (hope that's ok to put your age, Nancy). We were able to gether at the guys' house on 23rd St, so we didn't have to party in the rain, and lots of FoN (Fans of Nancy) were in attendance.

Per the birthday girl's wishes, pancakes were the main course, and her tasty cake was for dessert. I got to cut the cake, and someone encouraged me to cut out a balloon as its own slice. Hope Shonni loves blue frosting!

Nancy, we're all grateful to have you as a friend. You are such a good person and you're so caring of all those around you. We look forward to seeing all you'll achieve in the future! Happy birthday!!

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Up at the Crack of 3:30

That's 3:30 PM, mind you, not AM.

So, apparently this is the recipe for health disaster: take one week around a bazillion people, add liberal amounts of pizookie and other treats, subtract sufficient sleep, and sprinkle on a few people with a "cough".

Since Duck Beach, I've been sick, sick, sick. Haven't been to work, haven't been out of the apartment much, and have been sleeping for most of the day. Fortunately, I've had great friends come by and bring me food to supplement my meager cereal, oatmeal, and fruits diet.

The PRN I saw at Minute Clinic (Wonderful service, by the way. I highly recommend it.) said that it's the flu --not swine flu -- and prescribed some meds, more liquids, and more sleep. If it'll help me get well sooner, I'm all for it. Ok, I'm tired, so I'm just going to go ahead and wish myself this, "Get well soon!"

Note: I wrote this a while ago, but I couldn't post it immediately, because I didn't want my mom to get concerned if she read it. It's kind of like in the mission, when you can't tell your parents that you got chased by an angry drunk with a broken bottle, or your face got burned by boiling tortilla mix, or you hurt your ankle, or anything like that, because you don't want to make them worry.

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