Of DC, Austen and Marmite!

08-12-06--> 08-18-06

Hello everyone,

This entry does not begin with vacation boredom, but rather with an interesting drive to the wonderful Washington DC. Azadeh’s and Majeed’s wedding reception was not to begin until 7:30, and thus I decided to leave quite late in the day. The ride there was magnificent! It’s amazing how much green the eyes can enjoy in this part of the world… After years of the desert, this is fun. Well, you’d think that since this was my first time in Washington DC, I’d visit all the monuments and all the tourist attractions… nope, not me—I had a mission: get to Azadeh’s reception; nothing else was allowed to stand in the way.

For some reason, Triple A (AAA :o) ) decided to give me a map to go straight through D.C.’s downtown… It probably would have been easier to go around the city on their I-495. That’s okay—I did really well until I got to the suburbs… I got lost within a mile of the hotel and had to call Azadeh to get directions from her sister.

Well, to continue the complications, the hotel did not have my reservation, and I insisted that they had it, and that they needed to find it (they never did)… As I was talking to the receptionist in the hotel, this nice lady came over and told me she overheard me talk about a wedding, and if I was one of Azadeh’s friends. I was so happy to see this lady and her husband. She ended up being Azadeh’s mother’s best friend, and she insisted that I come to their room change to wedding attire, and if I could please, take them to the wedding, as their ride didn’t show up and they were waiting for it for over an hour.

That’s what we did… I changed to my nice clothes in about 3.2 minutes, hastily put makeup on, and managed to forget my camera in their room :o(

The reception was wonderful. I met some of Azadeh’s good friends from Grad school and we talked. I was made to dance by Ana (Azadeh’s sister) and their dad. I had a good time dancing, but I am not very good at it, so it’s not the first thing I’d chose how to do… The food was absolutely wonderful, and Azadeh’s husband is very nice and seems to be quite the gentleman. Their cake was heavenly… white cake with strawberries and rose-water-petal custard on the side.

Then at about 1am the party died down, and I took the nice couple back to their hotel room, where they asked me if I’d mind giving them a ride to the airport at 3:30AM. :o) Naturally I was up for the adventure, and told them that if they are willing to get lost with me on the way there, this was not a problem. We actually got to Dulles airport without a hitch, and I decided to just drive home from there.

I got home fairly early in the morning, and had a good nap for about 3-4 hours, then woke up and attempted to stay awake all day long.

From last week, up to Today (Friday), I’ve been volunteering at the animal shelter. I really enjoy it. I clean cages, do laundry, do dishes, play with the cats and talk to the dogs. This is keeping me busy and my body moving. I don’t think the people in the office thought I’d be back after the first visit, but I kept coming, and I truly enjoy it.

My furry trouble makers are doing good. Vega has been obsessed about the “outside world” She sits next to the door and Meows until I put her harness on attach the leash, and then allow her to take me on a walk. She is really funny, and I am happy that she enjoys the outside. I do admit that her meows ARE at time annoying. But that’s okay.

Two more things before I sign off… I decided to rent a movie and picked “Sense and Sensibility”—a Jane Austen adaptation to the screen by the wonderful Emma Thompson. This has become my new favorite movie (replacing the wonderful ‘Love Actually’)! I watched it twice already, and planning to watch it one more time before I take it back to Blockbuster… This is definitely a chick flick movie, but… Well… that’s Austen for you. I laughed so hard watching this movie. So far my two favorite scenes are the one when Elinor and Marianne together hear the news about Edwards’ prior engagement… and just the breakdown of Elinor afterwards when Marianne dare ask her: “Elinor, where is your heart?” My second favorite scene is when Elinor cries and laughs at the very end hearing the good news. Okay, enough of me spoiling the movie for those who have not seen it yet.

After watching the movie, I got this terrible craving for Marmite. Maybe it was subconsciously watching a British movie that caused all of this. Anyways, Marmite was no where to be found in the local stores, and I started searching it online. Finally I called another store, and they had it!!! So today I drove there and bought my lovely Marmite. When I told my friends that I was craving Marmite, they thought I was insane, but I can’t help it…Well, after two toasts with butter and Marmite, I feel much better!

That is just about the extent of this week.

Ta!

Reut