Rut?

(stuck) in a rut

Fig. kept in an established way of living or working that never changes. David felt like he was stuck in a rut, so he went back to school. Anne was tired of being in a rut, so she moved to Los Angeles.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

  One of the perks of my job is being able to have a change of scenery every other week. Business trips are seen as glamorous by most. Sometimes they are; sometimes they're not. Often times I find myself in a cool location but working and viewing the city from my hotel room--that part not so glamorous. Meeting new people, experiencing the culture of a state (particularly those past the Mason Dixon), and eating at local establishments is the fun, glamorous part.

  While the coordinates on the grid change there is one thing that remains the same, no matter the duration of the trip: I find myself grappling with familiarity in a brand new place. For example, there is a restaurant in Toledo that I love, and while I'm sure there are lots of great eateries in the city, I ate both lunch and dinner at this restaurant in the same day. Why? Because i really like the food and I can't get it back home. I often wonder if this means I'm getting stuck in a rut when I visit a city for a day or two. Is that even possible, by definition, if I'm only there for two days.

   I write this seemingly pointless yet observational post because I found myself already doing it today. I'm in Columbia for the very first time and will be here until Friday evening. My hotel doesn't offer breakfast so I googled coffee shops near me and found two local spots near the hotel and the station. I made the decision to try one this morning and the remaining one tomorrow morning, but my breakfast was good and the coffee even better. I decided right then and there that I didn't even need to try the other spot because it couldn't possibly be more quaint than Immaculate Consumption, and there's just no way they can make better hand-crafted lattes. 

   I guess I'm getting stuck in a rut all over again....but at least there'll be good coffee. :)

Night y'all!

DC for NYE

  I've been meaning to update the ol' blog site for a while now. So here goes....

  Back story on how this came to be:  It all began at a work soiree (fancy for retirement reception) on December 20th. I have a couple of coworkers from the DC area, and they were urging me to plan a trip to our nation's capital one day. Fast-forward to a couple of weeks later. Anthony and I are having lunch with a friend, and she mentioned she was going to visit her parents in DC and suggested we should join. A couple of days later, we're in the car making our way to DC.

  We were able to spend two full days visiting museums and walking the Mall.

Starting off Day 1 with this cutie pie. The first museum we visited was the National Museum of American History. This museum was super cool! I especially enjoyed the Star Spangled Banner: The flag that inspired the National Anthem exhibition. This flag is HUGE and almost 200 years old. It really gets the emotions flowing when viewing it. I also really enjoyed the First Ladies exhibition. It had so many beautiful gowns!!

The White House. President Obama was on vacation in Hawaii during this time.

Next, we visited the Botanical Garden. The colored foliage was sparse which is completely understandable for this time of year. It was still a cool place to visit.

Lastly for day one, we visited the Air and Space Museum. To be completely honest, I was tuckered out by the time we reached this museum so there are no pictures. 

The Capital. We were unable to take a tour of the Capital, unfortunately. It's on our list for next time!

We started Day Two off right with the reflecting pool. 

The whole group on Day 2. :)

After about 22 years, I finally got to see this man! I remember a classmate taking a trip to DC with his father and showed us pictures of the Lincoln Memorial back when I was in first grade. After hearing his story at show and tell, I've always wanted to visit this memorial. See, dreams really do come true!

Love how the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, and the Capital line up. Great shot by Anthony!

We meandered over to one of the art museums, next. This was a wonderful experience! We spent a good bit of time in here and only scratched the surface. You'd need at least one full day to experience all that this museum has to offer.

Next up was the Library of Congress. This was the most beautiful building by far! I honestly couldn't say if I spent more time looking at the exhibits or the walls and ceilings. I cannot tell you how neat it was to see Lincoln's speeches written in his own handwriting! We even saw the Wanted poster for his assassin.

We decided to celebrate NYE with Georgetown cupcakes! The line was crazy long, of course, but that didn't deter us from joining it. We spent the evening with great conversations over dinner and cupcakes. It was the perfect NYE. :)

  I cannot tell you how happy I am that we decided to go on this trip at a spur of the moment. It was absolutely wonderful, and if you haven't had the chance to visit, I strongly suggest you start planning a trip now. You'll need a good week to see everything!