Halloween House

Yesterday I was on the bus, driving on 16th Street. 16th Street has a lot of really large, really lovely houses. We passed one that was made of stone, with a really big front yard, and a nice assortment of fall leaves lying in the grass. For some reason, I thought, "Oh! Look! A Halloween house."

I don't know what a Halloween house is, but this one just made me think that it was the perfect house for trick-or-treating. And it got me in the mood for fall holidays!

I wish I had taken a picture, but alas, the bus did not stop for me to snap one.

Where does the Time Go?

I'm leaving again on Sunday for Brussels. I've been home 2 weeks this time, and I feel like I've gotten nothing done! Well. I've seen a lot of my friends, which is great. I've been to the pool, I've cooked dinner at home, I've watched So You Think You Can Dance. I got some new summer work clothes and mailed some chocolates to my family. I went to the dentist and the dermatologist and the book store.

But I still feel like I've gotten nothing done. I've been out nearly every single night in this two week period, or had people at my house. Even tonight, I won't be home until around 8:30 since I'm getting my hair cut. (hooray. I've had to postpone the appointment 3 times!) My apartment is a total disaster area, even with having company over for dinner on Tuesday. I haven't cleaned out the pantry so there's groceries just hanging out on the kitchen floor. I forgot to give Kate her birthday present. I haven't really done laundry in a month. I haven't returned phone calls from last week. I haven't even had time to work on my knitting or watch much of anything I have saved on the DVR. (there's stuff on there from April. April. We're closer to July than April!)

Anyone have time management suggestions? I think I need them. Or, barring that, the phone number of a cleaning person in Washington? I think I'm going to have to give up on the cleaning and just pay someone to do it. Or, has anyone figured out a way to live without sleep? That might work as well.

Champions of Awesome

For my birthday, my friend Robin took me to Medieval Times. We went on Saturday. Neither of us had ever been before, and it was so, so awesome. Even though we had to drive to nearly Annapolis to see it.

They feed you, and they've got a live show. Highlights of the live show include, but are not limited to, a falcon flying around over everyone's heads, jousting, knights throwing themselves off moving horses, sparks that shoot off the swords when they fight, evil monks, a lovely princess, and cheering for a bat mitzvah party.

My dad was surprised when I reported there were actual live horses in the show. Yes! And quite a few, too.

The food was not bad, although it was a lot of meat and not a lot of vegetables, and they didn't give you silverware so that you could eat medieval style. And we also had very typical medieval beverages, of course. I had a strawberry daiquiri. Robin had a pina colada, and Allison had a strawberry margarita. They even came in souvenir cups! I'm now using mine for water at work.

This was a super fun, super fantastic outing. Very weird and very recommended!

Take the STING Out of the Spelling Bee!

Walking to meet Rachael for lunch yesterday, I passed the Grand Hyatt Hotel. They are currently hosting the National Spelling Bee in there, and there were all these trailers and filming type people hanging out in front. And...

There were protesters. Serious. Protesters at the Spelling Bee. At first I thought maybe they were protesting competition. You know, all kids are winners and that stuff. But no.

Turns out, they were protesting spelling. Yes. Spelling. They are recommending we reform the way English is spelled so that it will improve literacy rates. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but they were handing out brochures so I took one. Not because I think it's a good idea, mind you. But because I think it's a hilarious idea, and I'm always up for collecting brochures for hilarious ideas.