Thursday

Wake up and nurse hangover

Metro to The Breadline for lunch

Walking tour:

Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian

Lafayette Square

White House (watch cavalcade arrival)

Views of Old Ebbitt Grill and Treasury Building

Washington Monument from the outside, with views of the Lincoln and Jefferson (*with plans to return)

Freer Gallery of Art (Asian)

Hirshhorn Museum (contemporary)

Home for dinner and Democratic debate

There is no way to accomplish all the things we want to do.  What a frustration.

More trip notes

What can I say?  It is great to be here.  DC is gorgeous, even when it is cold outside.  I am liking the city much more than I expected to, but I have no explanation for why that is true.  I am enjoying seeing all the government buildings, the museums, the parks, the monuments, and the people.  I hadn't anticipated being interested in the government stuff at all, but it is really exciting to think that this is where it all happens.  

Oh, and the bars are fantastic.

DC

I'm now sitting in my DC townhouse, happy to finally be here.  It was a two-day trip and well worth the wait!  The drive was not too bad, and we got here about 4 in the afternoon.  The place is totally spacious and will suit us all very well.  It is cold, it is gorgeous, it is pretty exciting to be in a new place with tons of stuff to do and things to see.  

Mollie and I stayed in Bristol, TN, where there was a cheap La Quinta Inn.  We got up and went to Starbucks, where they were OUT OF sugar in the raw.  I made a joking statement that there was NO way our day could go well.  Not five minutes (okay, maybe 20) later, I had a speeding ticket for doing 80 in a 65.  The guy got a kick out of telling me that 81 would have been reckless driving.  Ha.  The rest of the day went pretty well despite these omens, but we left dinner tonight in search of beer and gas and found neither.  I'm blaming it on raw sugar.

Of course I miss the boy and the wife.  It is not the same without them.  Ross is now making the frog sign of sticking out his tongue all the time.  He makes a "woof" noise and makes the sign for bath.  The rest of the signs haven't really taken hold.  Oh well.  He is brilliant anyway.

I am actually surprised that Barak got S.C.  I'm for the smart bitchy girl.

1-on-1

Erica is working tonight in the ER at Children's for extra dinero.  It's a 5-12 shift, which means I am solely responsible for all evening activities with Ross.  This is a shocker, I know, because E tends to be the primary caregiver when I am working all the time.  It was a lot of fun.  He played in the den before dinner, then watched me cook macaroni, peas, and open the can of mandarin oranges.  He is about orange-d out lately, so those were mostly reserved for me.  Anyway, dinner was followed by a bath and lots of book reading, during which he almost crashed as he turned the pages.  As a function of his tiredness, Ross had the Best Attention Span Ever.  Then he really did crash at an early bedtime of around 7:45.

Why so tired?  Today was his first day of Parent's Day Out at our church.  Erica was so anxious about it, which was quite endearing actually.  She made a long list of things to gather.  She reminded herself to label everything adequately.  She agonized over leaving him.  She didn't call to check, as well as I am aware.  PDO, as it is affectionately known, was a big success.  Our child has the hugest ego (so do we) when it comes to that nursery.  He is Loved in that place.  They go nuts over him.

Anyway, we had a great night.  I am headed to D.C. in a few weeks for a month of training for residency.  I don't think it has hit me yet that I will be gone from the fam.  On the other hand, I am thrilled and excited.  I will be going with friends.  We will study, we will play, we will explore, we will go out, and we will be ready to come home.  I thought about the upcoming separation often tonight during our one-on-one time.

Chewing

The new year seems a little anti-climactic this year, which is strange for me because I usually get really into recharging batteries and making semi-resolutions.  I don't make resolutions because then I would feel guilty about not keeping them.  But I do usually have a lot of good intentions.  Anyway, this year I just want to work out, clean the house, read lots of books, stay organized, not get behind on reading medical journals, run the 1/2 marathon, spend quality outdoor time with Ross, go to lots of baseball games, camp out, and get involved at church.  That's all.

I went back and read lots of old entries the other day.  I almost didn't recognize myself.  There were some posts that just didn't ring true to me.  Like when I was being whiny and bitchy - especially those.  But even some of the hunky-dory ones just didn't seem right to me.  I think there are lots of reasons for this.  There were times that I just wasn't being genuine.  But honestly, I think I have just changed THAT MUCH.  I am a real mom, a real wife, and a real doctor.  A lot of aging has occurred in the past few years; it has been one of the most transformative periods in my life.  It's really interesting to think about how different things are.   I turn 30 next year, and I have noticed similar changes in lots of my friends.  We are (for the most part) fairly settled in at this stage.  For those of us who are residents, the only big thing that will change from here on out is our jobs.  Once we are out of residency, married, parented, and mortgaged, there aren't many surprises in life.  This was how EBJ put it to me recently.  My friend, Erin, and I have been having this discussion (albeit virtually, in cyberspace).  We're chewing on it.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas.  I just realized this week that ALL of my pictures since before Halloween were taken in some kind of low-quality setting.  It is so frustrating.  They are 1/10th the digital file size that they're supposed to be.  Aaagggghh.