I feel like I've been incredibly busy lately with different activities, though, so you'd think there'd be something to say.
Not really.
My words are dried up at the moment - I'll call sunstroke. But in a slightly dry, to-do list sort of way, here's what I've been up to in the last month and a half:
I went sailing!
I've gone twice now, once when there was no wind at all, and once when there was quite a bit of wind. Sailing is easier when you have wind to take you places, but it certainly is relaxing just bobbing in the water when there's no wind at all, so I'd say I really liked the actual sailing that happened the second time, but I don't regret that first, calm sailing experience at all. Actually, now that I think about it, the only similarity in my two sailing experiences was the type of boat; otherwise, everything was different. The first time I went sailing, it was me and my two roommates, with no wind, at 1pm on a Saturday. Just the girls lounging on the river. The second time was Friday evening, with 6 dudes, and lots of wind to take us zigzagging back and forth across the river. It was a lovely sunset cruise, and I'm mostly just glad we didn't tip over - and we picked up a fishing rod! Sorry buddy who lost it out there originally, but I don't think you'll be getting it back. It's a pretty nice rod.
And I want to go sailing all the time now.
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I went to a reception at the Australian Embassy!
Some embassies are super smart and realize that the best way to get meetings with Congressmen is by becoming friendly with the Schedulers. While we don't necessarily make the decision about whether we schedule a meeting, we certainly control how a request is presented and where to put you on the schedule, so it helps to be really nice to schedulers - FYI for anyone thinking to request something of one of us in the future...
The Australian Embassy decided to follow the direction of the Canadian Embassy and they hosted a reception specifically for Schedulers - this is exciting for two reasons: 1. we rarely get invitations directed to us, for us. So this one, like the other rare invites, have to note explicitly, "schedulers, this invitation is for YOU, not your boss!" Awesome. And, 2. unlike other staff who mingle frequently with their counterparts in other offices, schedulers are kind of stuck to our desks, and we prefer emailing to any other form of communication (it's nice to have a paper trail...), so we don't mingle as much. So it's nice to have a chance to actually meet people. I can't say I did meet many new schedulers at this reception, but the opportunity was there. And that's a good start. And I did meet a few Aussies with really great Aussie accents. And they had some delicious macaroons. So the reception was a success.
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I went to a puppy party!!!!
I apologize greatly for this - I don't have any pictures. I'm sorry! I was too busy snuggling with puppies to take pictures! And they were darling. About a week from being adopted, these 6 little french bulldogs were darling and so fun! My friend had one last gathering in another friend's backyard for us all to go and meet the puppies before they go to new families, and I enjoyed every second of it. One puppy just snuggled with me while I stood and chatted with some friends - he was in heaven. And so was I. And later, I went and sat next to a friend on a couch on the patio, and suddenly we had three little puppies sleeping on top of each other, between my friend and me, with two of them resting their precious little heads on my leg. They had worn themselves out running around the yard and tackling each other. ohmygoodnessicouldnotcontainmyselftheyweresoprecious!!!!!! I loved them.
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I went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for Memorial Day Weekend!!
And enjoyed another lovely Duck Beach experience. I hate to keep failing to live up to expectations of some of my family members regarding this annual holiday excursion, but I just don't use that weekend like the young ones do in the documentary they made a few years ago (my first year going down there). But I enjoyed a rather relaxing weekend of sunshine and warmth. I wasn't sure how the weekend would go beforehand, as it was chilly and rainy, but once we got there, the sun emerged and warmed up our lives, and it just warmer and prettier every day. One year, I'm going to plan my vacation days well enough that I can take some extra days off to enjoy the beach longer. Because it is gorgeous. I mainly played volleyball and bean bag toss, sat in the sun for a bit (on and off - I'm not good at just sitting or laying out, I get antsy too quickly), enjoyed our house's private beach access (we're such VIPs), and got a good tan to start out the Summer. And now, the Summer season is on! Hooray!
My friend drew this in the sand the day we left - Duck '13, QUACK! This is our year!
I made this crossword up with all the bananagrams tiles while we all played a game akin to charades at the house one night. I apparently don't sit still very well on vacation these days...
This picture doesn't really show you much, but I really just wanted to convey how beautiful the nights were on the back deck of our house, overlooking the ocean. Full moon! So many stars - I miss those stars...
I dedicate this picture to my mother. Fish tacos - this place is the go-to spot for all Duckers in search of deliciousness. I actually got one fish, one shrimp taco (who am I?!). It was alright. No taco bell, but whatever.
I've been playing sand volleyball whenever I can!
And I want to play every evening! The first night I played this season, it was a little chilly in the sand, and the sprinklers came on near the end, but we played hard and it was a lot of fun. And then playing down at the beach was just fabulous. The sand was so soft! The sun was so warm! The breeze was just cool enough! I spent my whole afternoon/early evening yesterday playing as well - totally beat the errands and to-do list I had planned to do. I can go another day without groceries. I {heart} volleyball.
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I sure can't think of anything else I've done lately. Other than BIRTHDAY PARTYING IN CHICAGO! But that deserves its own post (which means you might get it in July...), and Instagram documented it decently well - not my best, but not my worst instagramming. Anyway, I'll re-live that weekend with you another day. Let's get back into the swing of blog things one step at a time. My lazy, Summer-crazed self can only do so much. But Ben, this post is for you - thanks for tough love texts this week to push me back to this blessed autobiography/public journal/random hangout that is my blog. Let's not wait so long to see each other again, shall we?
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