Visiting Washington DC

It has been a couple of weeks since my mom visited me. I was so glad to have her visit, although the visit had a few missteps. Most notably my aunt who came down from New Jersey to spend the weekend with us got ill, and the weather was less than perfect but it was a nice visit none the less.
My Dad comes to DC frequently for work but this was the first time my mom had visited, in fact it was the first time I had ever been her hostess in any capacity an it was a nice experience. (I always lived in a dorm or my sorority house in college so there wasn't much of an opportunity.) I like hosting people and DC is a great place to have people visit me in, there is plenty to do, it is easy to get around and I know the city well enough that I can integrate a visit into my hectic life with [relative] ease. Sometimes I think that if the whole law school thing doesn't work out I will open a bed and breakfast, so I can bake scones and have visitors every day. (And then I realize that I would never have my house to myself and that dream dies.)  Generally visits are very different depending on who is coming to visit and why:
Business Trip: (usually my dad) generally he has a rental car and at least a few nice meals I can tag along on. Basically this is my opportunity to eat and live like I did before loans. Generally includes trips to home depot and target.
Tourist Visit: Someone who is excited to see me but also excited to have a tour guide. These trips involve a lot of walking and eating usually at place off the beaten path. Typically I get about a week behind in my work (which is entirely my fault, I will use any excuse not to read.) These trips offer an opportunity to see the sights I never see in my day to day life. Although I refuse to go to the Air and Space Museum, seriously you can't pay me.
My mom's visit didn't really fit into either of these categories. It was closer to a "here is a window into my real life." We made pizza and watched West Wing reruns, we went on a grocery run, and spent some time with my DC family. She helped me get my house a little more together. It was the perfect visit, and now I can look around my house and see little pieces of her. Thanks for visiting mom.

[F]EASTER

Exams are quickly approaching but my roommate and I decided that Easter is not a holiday we can overlook. While we could have been observant and gone to church we decided to recognize the holiday the way we recognize most things, we cooked. I wasn't too excited about it at first, I knew the time involved with this kind of meal and I am starting to feel the exam pressure. But we did it anyway and the results were amazing (if comically large.)

First we had to buy a ham. The smallest we could find bone in was ten pounds. There are two of us (and Grace) but we decided to get what they had and figured the bone was a good portion of the weight. (Why is it that meat can't be found in reasonable quantities?) I think that the people at the supermarket thought we were crazy, our bodies half in the freezer hoping to find one that weighed an ounce less.

 Notice the ham, with a glaze homemade by my roommate. (Oh and did I mention that on Thursday we had a whole chicken so while we were making the feast I was also making chicken stock?)

 My asparagus with a lemon rue, and my first attempt ever carving. Neither, my roommate and I, who both have extensive cooking experience, had carved and we find it funny that it is such a "man's task."

Notice the yams, and the mashed potatoes and the homemade bread. Also not pictured the mini-cheesecakes we had for dessert. (Guess whose house is not carb free?) 

Grace waited patiently hoping ham would fall.

And yes that is a croque minsieur,
which I will be consuming throughout exams.
We still have 9.8 Lbs of ham to consume

Okay so I kinda love exams...

Well only sorta...

First off I know that this puts me at odds with most of the world.

And it doesn't mean that if, given the choice to not have to take them or not have them count for a grade I wouldn't jump at the chance.

What I mean is, accepting the reality that this is something I have to do I will accept it and see the good in them:
I like the idea that I have four hours to sit down and prove myself. It is kind of exciting, like I am in some sort of epic, albeit nerdy, battle with my professors where I have to save my self from a death of drowning in debt or sodium poisoning from over consumption of ramen. Okay, so it isn't really all that epic but the idea of sitting down and proving yourself does have a certain appeal.
The other thing I like is that they bring with them this weird other worldliness where you are both EXTREMELY crazy busy and stressed and at the same time have no plans and quite a bit of freedom. I loved winter exams at Cal especially, because there was a general sense of batting down the hatches and all focusing together; everything would get really quiet. You would walk by a frat house on a Friday night coming back from the library and it would be silent.
Law school it is a little different, in part because I am no longer surrounded by students, and Grace could care less, she just cares that we aren't giving her nearly the level of attention she expects for when we are at home. Honnestly at one point I was sure out lack of attention had "broken the dog," when I was cooking eggs and bacon and she stayed looking sad on the guest bed. (Don't worry she recovered.) Also because my roommate and I are both stress eaters, this time involves a lot of supplemental baking, I am pretty sure the peanut butter cookies are what revived Grace. In all it has been a good thing for our relationship as roommates (which is not always the case with exams.) We both take the same approach to exams: getting through what we can and trying to preserve sanity, trying not to deviate into extreme behavior (of either the distraction or focus type.) We spent the better part of an hour laughing over our favorite blogs.* It is one of my best memories for the semester even if it did give me another thing to waste my time with.

Grace "helping" bake cookies

All and all it is kind of nice. You don't have many times in your life where a period of time is set aside so that you can organize your life and get your head sorted out. Which is really what I try to think of this as. Because the alternative, three weeks where you do everything you can to keep yourself from becoming a smarmy plaintiffs lawyer who gets shot by a deranged client, after alienating everyone in your life close to you, is just too depressing to think about. (True albeit slightly altered story.)

*(The impetus of this being the author of my favorite blog writing to tell me that she liked the title of my blog. Insert obnoxious fan girl squeeing. -If you don't know what this sound is ask a thirteen year old about Justin Beiber or Edward Cullen. If you do not know who these people are you are a better person than me and obviously have a fulfilling life)  

Festive Winter Time...

I am feeling the holiday spirit. Notice the tree...

...and the advent calender,

Our tree was a gift from my dad, and while it might verge on being a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" I kinda love it. It currently has a Santa Clause, a Cinderella, a Package, a Cloisonne bell my mom brought me from china, a Dog that looks like Grace, a San Francisco skyline, and the ever ubiquitous pickle ornament on it. It is sparse but pretty good considering. It makes the house feel festive, like maybe we care about more than exams. Plus it is kind perfect in all of its sad quirkiness.      

In related festive news it snowed! Okay it was only a comically small amount, but it was enough to quiet the world as I ran. I told my self I didn't have to run on days it was snowing, because I am notoriously uncoordinated. But it was light and beautiful and had yet to make the roads icy. So I went out and let my self enjoy the winter. 

See snow, sorta...
it counts if you grew up on the beach

I have actually discovered that I like the winter, with a few all important caveats: I must be able to wear warm dry clothes when I get inside and I must have a good coat. Also I enjoy it a lot more when there aren't "winter sport people" to push me down hills. And who say things like "it isn't that hard" and "oh it is only a double black diamond called 'a devils death" and "oh wasn't Kate's face funny when she ran into the snow patrol." Haha... like I said I enjoy winter, but that doesn't make it easy for those of us who have difficulty staying on two feet.

A Project...

Goodbye Pedicure 

So there is a long running joke in my family about "projects." When I was little I relished going over to my Aunt's house (here after referred to as Aunt Artsy) in addition to her three kids who I grew up with and regarded as quasi siblings, I loved it when she took care of me because she put together the best art projects. Muffin tin crayons: check, magazine collages: check, egg carton caterpillar: double check. I loved them, I loved her big box of art supplies and the fact that she always sat down and worked with us (to my four year old self the fact that she as a grownup was actually an artist was the most amazing thing i could think of.) The first thing I would ask when I got in her house would be "Aunt Artsy can we do an art project."  Now while I loved the projects even at four I was already goal oriented and task focused so it was typical of me that I would sit down and within ten minutes be done. This meant I would get up holding my completed artwork and stand looking up at her and ask "Aunt Artsy can we do another art project?"
When I grew out of this and got to be a bit older it was a favorite story to retell. How in preparation for my visit my Aunt would spend hours coming up with an idea, collecting supplies, laying stuff out and then I would be through it and ready for a new one in a matter of moments. to this day when I ask for a favor my uncle will frequently say "Aunt Artsy can we do an art project."
Now for my immediate family a project has an entirely different connotation. A project is what happens when my mom decides the house is too settled and something needs to change. Depending on when this mood strikes this could be rearranging furniture (something that happens so frequently that it is a running joke in our family) contact papering drawers, framing things in my sister or my bed room or what my father truly dreads a painting or wall paper "project."

I really can't describe how
ugly these were 

But hopefully you get the idea
(I forgot to take a pre-primer photo)

Growing up it wasn't uncommon to come home from sears with a gallon of paint and plans for a desk, wall or bath room. In high school being involved with set dressing for the theater meant that i got even more experience. And know I say "oh I'll just throw a coat of paint on it and it will be as good as new" with as much ease as my mom does. As a result when my roommate found a set of free bookshelves a couple blocks away I said "sure lets grab them." Even though they were terribly ugly and in really bad shape, it was just a matter of throwing a coat of paint on them.
I wanted to paint one of the walls in my room, it would be easy enough to pain them as well right? Well as was the case with many of the projects of my youth, it wasn't as cheap or easy as I expected, but the results I can be reasonably proud of.
Now getting the bookshelves in the house wasn't easy, we couldn't easily carry them so we ended up propping them up on my roommate Miata and only barely getting them up the steps into the house. And then the week of painting started, of course it was the hottest and most humid we had. And of course it didn't want to stick,and the color was more "brown black" than the "black brown" it claimed to be and matches our furniture but after days and coats and patience we have a completed living room.  

Only two more coats to go...

An ode to Ikea

Or maybe a lament...
So I finally have all my furniture. My house came furnished, which was a big plus but it was certainly not completely done. My room had a bed, made comfortable with the addition of a foam topper-thank you mom and dad-and two bedside tables. I also have a miss-matched dresser that belongs in my roommate's set but which she didn't want because she thought it would be too small.  Needless to say not furnished to the point that I could use it easily as a study/living space. So the search was on...
I started on Craig's list which appeals to me not only as a poor graduate student, (yea cheap stuff other people don't want any more, even bigger cheer to free stuff people REALLY don't want any more!) but also as a slightly hippy northern Californian (yea recycling!) But alas there wasn't really anything that struck my fancy. Also while my roommate has a car, it is a miata, as in a teeny little two seater that comfortably sits us and most of our groceries in any given week. So if we want to actually acquire any of the furniture we have to be motivated enough to either rent a zip car (aka free stuff suddenly isn't so free) or I have to beg Dip Girl or Surrogate Parents to use their vehicles. While hunting around looking for deals can make for a fun afternoon, only if it is for your own stuff and if the weather is nice and if gas isn't too expensive. But lets be honest DC gas is almost as expensive as California gas and it has been in the nineties and humid here, not weather that anyone wants to lug furniture around in.
Needless to say I didn't find anything that I liked enough to actually drag someone out of their house to help me get it. We also looked at Goodwill with little luck, a couple local thrift stores and even a salvation army (although it would have taken allot for me to actually spend money there as I ABHOR their discriminatory policies!) Anyway I wasn't having much luck.
I will admit that much of my not having luck probably has something to with the fact that I don't do well with hodge podge, and I get frustrated that places want as much for particle board as they do for solidly constructed wood. So I gave in, much earlier than my roommate who doesn't seem to have quite the same insane need for cleanliness, order and coordination that I do, and called Dip Girl, who has recently acquired a rather large all terrain vehicle so that she can navigate dirt roads during a monsoon (seriously.) So appealing to her friendship and her desire to shop in giant super stores before she is shipped off the the developing world I got her to join me on an Ikea trip.
I love Ikea, honestly it is a little sick, but I do. I love shopping there, the top floor full of little living spaces, each of them so easy to imagine northern European Alexander Skarsgard look a likes popping out of their hip, modern, color coordinated spaces.  Little blonde families, inhabiting the space without any of the clutter that real life brings along. (Like furnished show houses in new developments or people who have done a really good job for an open house.) I also like that they make no bones about what they are selling, attractive pieces that will serve you well but will not last forever. You are paying for functionality and appearance but not art or timelessness. They are also socially responsible. But mostly I just really like that I am able to find a ton of pieces in the same color that won't cost me an arm and a leg. So that I can create a space to come home to that is clean with good light and well ordered.
So Dip Girl and I are waltzing around Ikea, well I am waltzing, making her a bit uncomfortable as I ooh and ahh over the little pieces I love in each room, and test out way more of the spaces than she is comfortable while she is just trying to make like she doesn't know me, I finally decide what I will do with my room. I decide, after much back and forth over which bookcase and which desk, that I will get the desk bookcase option, with optional drawers (which is actually called some unrecognizable Swedish thing that means all of that in one word I am sure.) And a dresser.

My desk (but not in white) 

But Kate don't you have a dresser, you ask. Well sort of, my dresser actually matches my roommate's set and she was letting me have it because she didn't think her things would fit in it. After unpacking she decided that her stuff would fit in it if I wanted to give it back. She continued to hunt for a dresser and I decided that I would get one that matched my desk and give her the one that matches her bed. Finally I have all the furniture I need. Now it is just a matter of loading it onto a cart. (At which point Dip girl and I decided that we both need to work on our upper body strength, and that maybe we don't actually like Ikea as much as we though we did) From the cart we have to check out, where, after heavy lifting, cinnamon buns are being baked as you are rung up just to tempt you. (I am never quite sure if I love or hate this about Ikea.) We decided to be good and resist the baked goods and began to load all of my stuff into Dip Girl's car. After a quick run back in for blackout shades- my room has great natural light, downside it has great natural light at 6:20 when the sun rises, we are ready to go.

The Dresser 

So now the real joy of Ikea begins, the building. Anyone who knew me in high school will tell you that I fell woefully short wherever power tools were concerned. (probably because of my predilection for accidents, I stayed away from set building and stuck to painting, costuming and makeup) Thankfully my DC dad, Jim has power tools, patience and is willing to help me, but for now my boxes sit in a pile in the corner of my room tempting me with how amazing my room will be.