Tomorrow we are leaving for Chicago. This week has been really busy back home. We have spent a crazy amount of time in the car...but it will all be over tomorrow! We left from Alexandria this past Friday morning and drove for like 10 or 11 hours to Shawn's parents house. We've been back and forth between Muncie and Kokomo all week with a daytrip to Chicago on Tuesday for some job interviews for Shawn. He has some second interviews set up this week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so its seems like he should have a job by the end of this week :) We've spent some time this week with both of our families and had some time to visit some friends too. I had to move out of my house in Muncie, so that was fun of course...not as bad as usual though because I got rid of a bunch of stuff before I left for Alexandria. I was thinking ahead! The move didn't take too long though. We haven't been able to see Theresa or Al this week, but we are planning on stopping in South Bend to see Theresa tomorrow on our way to Chicago. Otherwise we'll visit her next weekend. When we were in Chicago on Tuesday we drove by our apartment and it looks pretty nice. It is in Oak Park and it seems like a pretty nice area. We live near the public pool and not far from the downtown area with shops and restaurants. I'm excited to get there and get settled. I'll post some pictures of the apartment after we get there.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
End of Chapter 1
So comes the end of my first travel assignment and 3 months of my life. Things have turned out much differently than I expected, some good and some bad, but I'm ready for the next journey to begin. I started this adventure by traveling to a place I'd never been to work at a hospital I knew nothing about in an area of nursing that I hadn't worked in for some time with a great friend. Now I've found that I would never want to live in Washington D.C. (but it is an awesome place to visit), I hated the hospital and I really miss working with the babies, but I made some really wonderful friends and my great friend turned out to be someone I hope to spend my life with. So, now we are heading home for a week before starting a journey together to Chicago. Shawn has a couple job interviews lined up this week and so hopefully we'll be staying in Chicago for awhile. It has certainly be a wild ride but I have loved it!
This past week we got a couple final touristy things in by going to Mount Vernon (something Shawn really wanted to do) and we went to see the Washington National Cathedral (something I really wanted to do). Unfortunately, the Cathedral was closed but we got to at least see the outside and the last night chapel. Plus, on our walk back to the Metro we ran into a road block set up for the Pope, who happened to be in town. We didn't actually see the Pope, but there were cops everywhere and road blocks. Plus, there were like a thousand people (I really have no idea how many people, but it was a lot!) and they were from all over the world with signs in other languages for the Pope and singing songs and dancing in honor of the Pope. It was really a neat experience, even though we didn't go to the Papal Mass or actually see the Pope. It was still cool. Anyway, here are some pictures from this week.
We're heading out of here in the morning. Our schedule for the week is Kokomo area with Shawn's family for Friday & Saturday then to Muncie around lunchtime on Sunday - Thursday afternoon sometime. I gotta pack and move out of the Mann House (the actual move will probably be Wednesday afternoon sometime if anyone wants to help...I pay for service with a meal and beer - if you're old enough. Then Thursday evening we'll head back to Kokomo until we leave either Friday or Saturday for Chicago...with a stop off in South Bend on to way so I can see my bestest, Theresa!!!
I SURVIVIED INOVA MOUNT VERNON HOSPITAL IMCU!!
This past week we got a couple final touristy things in by going to Mount Vernon (something Shawn really wanted to do) and we went to see the Washington National Cathedral (something I really wanted to do). Unfortunately, the Cathedral was closed but we got to at least see the outside and the last night chapel. Plus, on our walk back to the Metro we ran into a road block set up for the Pope, who happened to be in town. We didn't actually see the Pope, but there were cops everywhere and road blocks. Plus, there were like a thousand people (I really have no idea how many people, but it was a lot!) and they were from all over the world with signs in other languages for the Pope and singing songs and dancing in honor of the Pope. It was really a neat experience, even though we didn't go to the Papal Mass or actually see the Pope. It was still cool. Anyway, here are some pictures from this week.
We're heading out of here in the morning. Our schedule for the week is Kokomo area with Shawn's family for Friday & Saturday then to Muncie around lunchtime on Sunday - Thursday afternoon sometime. I gotta pack and move out of the Mann House (the actual move will probably be Wednesday afternoon sometime if anyone wants to help...I pay for service with a meal and beer - if you're old enough. Then Thursday evening we'll head back to Kokomo until we leave either Friday or Saturday for Chicago...with a stop off in South Bend on to way so I can see my bestest, Theresa!!!
I SURVIVIED INOVA MOUNT VERNON HOSPITAL IMCU!!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Last couple of weeks...
The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy. Things are getting close to the end here and we've tried to get in a few more things that we wanted to do while we were here. Also, since I'm getting ready to leave Inova Mt. Vernon Hospital I've been trying to do a few things with the people from work as well. We had a party here at my apartment in honor of Jennifer's last day. Her next assignment is in Cincinnati and she started there this past Monday. The party was a ton of fun and I will really miss all the people that I've gotten to know at work during this assignment...I will not miss the hospital though! I only have 2 days of work left here!! Woohoo!
Only 1 week left!
Last Thursday and Friday Shawn and I took a trip to Philadelphia. It was a great mini-vacation! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing. It was a really nice hotel...except Shawn was upset that there was no hot tub! There was an indoor pool though, and the water was really warm. We got out there around lunch on Thursday and headed straight to the Franklin Institute Science Museum. I was really interested in seeing the Science Museum and Shawn was happy because there was a special exhibit all about Star Wars. It was a great exhibit. There were miniatures from the movies, as well as some larger pieces. There were a bunch of costumes from the movies and props as well. We toured the rest of the museum after the Star Wars exhibit and it was really fun...even Shawn enjoyed it! The museum would be great for kids because most things are hands on so you can really learn what you're seeing. There was an exhibit about genetics and heredity, one on the human body with a huge human heart model that you could walk through following the path of blood flow (it was really sweet!!), one about trains, one about planes, and the list goes on. When you first walk in the institute you see the Franklin Memorial. We visited Logan Square after the museum, seeing as it is right outside of the Franklin Institute. There was a beautiful fountain and the Ben Franklin Parkway extended toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Along the parkway is a flag for each country in the world. Outside to the left of the stairs leading to the Philadelphia of Art is the Rocky Statue. I didn't know much about Philadelphia before our trip, but I was amazed at how much there is to do there! We only had 2 days and it wasn't nearly enough time. Friday we woke up early to start doing all the touristy things. Independence Hall and all of those historic places were walking distance from our hotel so we did A TON of walking. We took the tour of Independence Hall and Congress Hall, we saw the Liberty Bell and several of the parks in the historic district. In Washington Square there is the Tomb of the Unknown Solider from the Revolutionary War with an eternal flame. There are also a TON of places to eat. We made sure to have an authentic Philly Cheesesteak...yum! A friend made sure to tell me before we left that we had to get ours with Cheese Whiz...not any of the other cheese choices because that is the best way. She was right...it was great! We found a Cuban restaurant that I wanted to try, but we ran out of time. Next time! Friday night we went to Citizens Bank Park to watch the Cubs play the Phillies. It was a great night...the Cubs lost, but it was a great time anyway. When we got back to the hotel we were getting ready for bed when a fireworks display started out over the Delaware River and our room windows looked out over the river. It was a great ending to the trip. We loved it!
When we got back we realized we only had 1 week left and a bunch of stuff we still wanted to do, plus we both still had to work. So...several things had to go :( We went to Mt. Vernon this morning...but I've been talking too much so we'll hear about the rest of this week later. Here are some pictures now!
Only 1 week left!
Last Thursday and Friday Shawn and I took a trip to Philadelphia. It was a great mini-vacation! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing. It was a really nice hotel...except Shawn was upset that there was no hot tub! There was an indoor pool though, and the water was really warm. We got out there around lunch on Thursday and headed straight to the Franklin Institute Science Museum. I was really interested in seeing the Science Museum and Shawn was happy because there was a special exhibit all about Star Wars. It was a great exhibit. There were miniatures from the movies, as well as some larger pieces. There were a bunch of costumes from the movies and props as well. We toured the rest of the museum after the Star Wars exhibit and it was really fun...even Shawn enjoyed it! The museum would be great for kids because most things are hands on so you can really learn what you're seeing. There was an exhibit about genetics and heredity, one on the human body with a huge human heart model that you could walk through following the path of blood flow (it was really sweet!!), one about trains, one about planes, and the list goes on. When you first walk in the institute you see the Franklin Memorial. We visited Logan Square after the museum, seeing as it is right outside of the Franklin Institute. There was a beautiful fountain and the Ben Franklin Parkway extended toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Along the parkway is a flag for each country in the world. Outside to the left of the stairs leading to the Philadelphia of Art is the Rocky Statue. I didn't know much about Philadelphia before our trip, but I was amazed at how much there is to do there! We only had 2 days and it wasn't nearly enough time. Friday we woke up early to start doing all the touristy things. Independence Hall and all of those historic places were walking distance from our hotel so we did A TON of walking. We took the tour of Independence Hall and Congress Hall, we saw the Liberty Bell and several of the parks in the historic district. In Washington Square there is the Tomb of the Unknown Solider from the Revolutionary War with an eternal flame. There are also a TON of places to eat. We made sure to have an authentic Philly Cheesesteak...yum! A friend made sure to tell me before we left that we had to get ours with Cheese Whiz...not any of the other cheese choices because that is the best way. She was right...it was great! We found a Cuban restaurant that I wanted to try, but we ran out of time. Next time! Friday night we went to Citizens Bank Park to watch the Cubs play the Phillies. It was a great night...the Cubs lost, but it was a great time anyway. When we got back to the hotel we were getting ready for bed when a fireworks display started out over the Delaware River and our room windows looked out over the river. It was a great ending to the trip. We loved it!
When we got back we realized we only had 1 week left and a bunch of stuff we still wanted to do, plus we both still had to work. So...several things had to go :( We went to Mt. Vernon this morning...but I've been talking too much so we'll hear about the rest of this week later. Here are some pictures now!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Cherry Blossoms Everywhere!
I know I'm not keeping up with these updates weekly like I'm supposed to, but I like to wait until I've actually done something worth talking about and most weeks I just work and hang around the house with Shawn. I'm sure no one wants to hear the boring details of my daily life, right? Anyway, now I have some stories, and more importantly I have some pictures, from the last week or so!
Since I've been here in Alexandria I've made several very good friends at work. The people I work with are great, and if I were going to decide to stay at this assignment just based on the people I work with then I would stay here for sure! There are some really great travelers here too! Megan and Jennifer have become very good friends. This coming week is Jennifer's last week then she's off to Cincinnati, OH for her next assignment. Megan is here for another week or two after I leave and she's not quite sure where she's going to go next. I'm hoping that it is somewhere close to us though because Shawn and I have really had a good time with her. One night last week Megan had a friend in town and I went with them to a place in Crystal City called the SkyDome. It is a restaurant/bar in a dome on the top floor of the DoubleTree Hotel. The restaurant is circular and the center of the room is a dance floor while the outer ring revolves at a pretty slow rate. The outer wall of the dome is all windows and there is an amazing view of The Pentagon (which is right across the street from it) and D.C. At night the restaurant becomes a nightclub and that is when we were there. It was a gorgeous view, but other than that it wasn't anything special. The drinks were expensive, the food was shitty, and the people there were not exactly our crowd. There was some excellent people-watching though and we had a good laugh at the expense of others there! Haha. I wish I had some pictures of this place, but I forgot my camera that night! When Shawn got off work that night we picked him up and headed to a Country Western bar in Alexandria. That was an experience! There was a live band in the front room with lots of people in boots & cowboy hats dancing. Then the back room had another bar, dance floor and karoke. There were people doing more line dances than I knew existed! I got up and sang a country song and the line dancers came out and danced for me. It was great! We are planning a get together tomorrow for Jennifer's farewell. We are having a group of people from work over at my place to hang out with Jennifer. Shawn has to work but we'll all still be here when he gets home so he'll get to meet a lot of the other people I work with too! Should be fun!
Only 2 weeks left!
This past week, Shawn and I both had Tuesday & Wednesday off work, which was wonderful! We decided that we had put off Arlington National Cemetery long enough waiting for a nice day so we were just gonna go...well it turned out to be the most beautiful day this year so far! We spent about 2.5 hours there. I was amazed at how large it is! There were so many different areas with rows and rows of gravestones, plus there were so many memorials that I didn't realize were there. Right when you start there is a large memorial to Women. We were just going to walk though, so we didn't get to see everything, but we stopped at the Kennedy Grave Site, which had the Eternal Flame in the area with JFK's and Jackie O's graves. Near that is a nice area with a water tribute and Robert Kennedy's grave. This area was at the base of a hill with the Arlington House at the top. The Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee prior to the Civil War. There are tours of the house and a small museum about Robert E. Lee as well. The Slave quarters are still present behind the house to demonstrate the living environments the slaves lived in compared to the wealthy land owners. It was interesting to see the contrast. We walked over to the Memorial Amphitheater which is the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard. Shawn got a video of that ceremony. Near there is a tribute to the victims of the Challenger and Columbia Shuttles as well as Iran Rescue Mission Memorial. The afternoon at Arlington Cemetery was even nicer because the Cherry Trees there were blossoming and there were such beautiful flowers in bloom everywhere! We went into Arlington afterward for a quick stop at the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial. I had no idea how large that memorial is! That statue is HUGE! Then we were on our way into D.C. along the Memorial Bridge to check out the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival is 2 weeks long with daily events. The weekends have more events but also MANY more people...so we were happy to go on a Tuesday and just enjoy the blossoms. We took a ton of pictures which are below in the slideshow. There were areas along the walk where the branches were hanging down into the water of the Tidal Basin and it was like walking through a canopy of Cherry Blossoms. I can't remember the last time I saw something so beautiful, plus the fragrance is wonderful as well! Megan met up with us around dinner time and we went to eat at The Capital City Brewing Company. This is a local microbrewery and the food and beer were both great! By the end of that day we had walked enough for the whole week, but we weren't finished yet! Wednesday Shawn and I walked to the Metro and went into D.C. to check out the Spy Museum. This museum is fairly new and does have an entrance fee as well as an additional fee if you want to participate in Operation Spy, which is an hour long, hand-ons spy experience. Obviously we had to do that :) It was a really interesting museum and the gift shop was even cooler. We walked down by the White House after the museum and then we went to check out the garden at the Smithsonian Castle because Megan had told us the day before how beautiful the garden was. She was right! There are pictures in the slideshow! When we got back to Crystal City that evening we stopped for dinner at McCormick & Schmicks, which is a really great seafood restaurant. It was tasty...expensive but tasty. We also had the most delicious chocolate truffle dessert cake I've ever had! Wow! By this point I thought our legs were going to just stop working so we headed home for relax!
Tonight we're planning a West Wing TV Marathon and possibly some a SceneIt Tournament before the excitement tomorrow when my friends from work will be coming over. This coming week we are planning a trip for a few days to Philadelphia. We are going to check out some of the historical sites there as well as go to a Cubs game against the Phillies! I'm pretty excited about the trip and I know Shawn is too! Another reminder is that we will be heading back to Indiana on April 18. Our tentative plan for that week is to stop at Shawn's parents house first and stay there a day or two, then head back to Muncie because I need to pack and move all my stuff out of the house in Muncie and into storage. We will spend some time with my family and friends as well then stop back at Shawn's parents before heading to Chicago that next weekend. If you wanna see us, give one of us a call! I love you all and miss everyone!!
Since I've been here in Alexandria I've made several very good friends at work. The people I work with are great, and if I were going to decide to stay at this assignment just based on the people I work with then I would stay here for sure! There are some really great travelers here too! Megan and Jennifer have become very good friends. This coming week is Jennifer's last week then she's off to Cincinnati, OH for her next assignment. Megan is here for another week or two after I leave and she's not quite sure where she's going to go next. I'm hoping that it is somewhere close to us though because Shawn and I have really had a good time with her. One night last week Megan had a friend in town and I went with them to a place in Crystal City called the SkyDome. It is a restaurant/bar in a dome on the top floor of the DoubleTree Hotel. The restaurant is circular and the center of the room is a dance floor while the outer ring revolves at a pretty slow rate. The outer wall of the dome is all windows and there is an amazing view of The Pentagon (which is right across the street from it) and D.C. At night the restaurant becomes a nightclub and that is when we were there. It was a gorgeous view, but other than that it wasn't anything special. The drinks were expensive, the food was shitty, and the people there were not exactly our crowd. There was some excellent people-watching though and we had a good laugh at the expense of others there! Haha. I wish I had some pictures of this place, but I forgot my camera that night! When Shawn got off work that night we picked him up and headed to a Country Western bar in Alexandria. That was an experience! There was a live band in the front room with lots of people in boots & cowboy hats dancing. Then the back room had another bar, dance floor and karoke. There were people doing more line dances than I knew existed! I got up and sang a country song and the line dancers came out and danced for me. It was great! We are planning a get together tomorrow for Jennifer's farewell. We are having a group of people from work over at my place to hang out with Jennifer. Shawn has to work but we'll all still be here when he gets home so he'll get to meet a lot of the other people I work with too! Should be fun!
Only 2 weeks left!
This past week, Shawn and I both had Tuesday & Wednesday off work, which was wonderful! We decided that we had put off Arlington National Cemetery long enough waiting for a nice day so we were just gonna go...well it turned out to be the most beautiful day this year so far! We spent about 2.5 hours there. I was amazed at how large it is! There were so many different areas with rows and rows of gravestones, plus there were so many memorials that I didn't realize were there. Right when you start there is a large memorial to Women. We were just going to walk though, so we didn't get to see everything, but we stopped at the Kennedy Grave Site, which had the Eternal Flame in the area with JFK's and Jackie O's graves. Near that is a nice area with a water tribute and Robert Kennedy's grave. This area was at the base of a hill with the Arlington House at the top. The Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee prior to the Civil War. There are tours of the house and a small museum about Robert E. Lee as well. The Slave quarters are still present behind the house to demonstrate the living environments the slaves lived in compared to the wealthy land owners. It was interesting to see the contrast. We walked over to the Memorial Amphitheater which is the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard. Shawn got a video of that ceremony. Near there is a tribute to the victims of the Challenger and Columbia Shuttles as well as Iran Rescue Mission Memorial. The afternoon at Arlington Cemetery was even nicer because the Cherry Trees there were blossoming and there were such beautiful flowers in bloom everywhere! We went into Arlington afterward for a quick stop at the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial. I had no idea how large that memorial is! That statue is HUGE! Then we were on our way into D.C. along the Memorial Bridge to check out the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival is 2 weeks long with daily events. The weekends have more events but also MANY more people...so we were happy to go on a Tuesday and just enjoy the blossoms. We took a ton of pictures which are below in the slideshow. There were areas along the walk where the branches were hanging down into the water of the Tidal Basin and it was like walking through a canopy of Cherry Blossoms. I can't remember the last time I saw something so beautiful, plus the fragrance is wonderful as well! Megan met up with us around dinner time and we went to eat at The Capital City Brewing Company. This is a local microbrewery and the food and beer were both great! By the end of that day we had walked enough for the whole week, but we weren't finished yet! Wednesday Shawn and I walked to the Metro and went into D.C. to check out the Spy Museum. This museum is fairly new and does have an entrance fee as well as an additional fee if you want to participate in Operation Spy, which is an hour long, hand-ons spy experience. Obviously we had to do that :) It was a really interesting museum and the gift shop was even cooler. We walked down by the White House after the museum and then we went to check out the garden at the Smithsonian Castle because Megan had told us the day before how beautiful the garden was. She was right! There are pictures in the slideshow! When we got back to Crystal City that evening we stopped for dinner at McCormick & Schmicks, which is a really great seafood restaurant. It was tasty...expensive but tasty. We also had the most delicious chocolate truffle dessert cake I've ever had! Wow! By this point I thought our legs were going to just stop working so we headed home for relax!
Tonight we're planning a West Wing TV Marathon and possibly some a SceneIt Tournament before the excitement tomorrow when my friends from work will be coming over. This coming week we are planning a trip for a few days to Philadelphia. We are going to check out some of the historical sites there as well as go to a Cubs game against the Phillies! I'm pretty excited about the trip and I know Shawn is too! Another reminder is that we will be heading back to Indiana on April 18. Our tentative plan for that week is to stop at Shawn's parents house first and stay there a day or two, then head back to Muncie because I need to pack and move all my stuff out of the house in Muncie and into storage. We will spend some time with my family and friends as well then stop back at Shawn's parents before heading to Chicago that next weekend. If you wanna see us, give one of us a call! I love you all and miss everyone!!
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