I made a really great pork roast for dinner. That's right, a pork roast. I feel like when you reach the point when you are cooking pork roast for dinner-that is the point when you truly become an adult. Throughout college, students "cook" meals like mac 'n cheese, Ramen, and then later move on to a variety of pastas with simple sauces. But now--I cook pork roasts. I am an adult.

I suppose I've been an adult for awhile now. I'm closer to 30 than to 20. For the last year, I've been managing every penny of my budget-saving just enough so that I have enough money to meet my basic needs. I'm about to open a retirement account. A retirement account! That's insane!

My pork roast consisted of: the pork (of course), baby carrots, cauliflower, and a special sauce all thrown together in my crock pot. I love crock pots-but yet, another thing that only adults need and use.

Maybe this is also an adult fascination, but I find myself in love with food. It doesn't matter what type: healthy, greasy, international, american...I like it all...and I like to learn to cook it all. Next week I will make a tofu and potato yellow curry.

And no, I didn't take any photos of the pork roast. But trust me, its tasty.

Tuesday, September 29

Kitten Love

Monday, September 28 2009

Finally a 3 day weekend and a day off work. My beau and I took a trip to the National Archives so I could see the Declaration of Independence and other historic documents. I figured that I should stop making excuses and use the day off to go.

Sunday, September 27 2009

Finally, a sunny day in DC, at least for a few hours. This past Sunday was the Latino Festival in Mount Pleasant. The parade is the most impressive part of the day. What strikes me most about these photos is how colorful and festive the outfits are.

During the parade (which lasts about two hours) South and Central American countries are represented by musicians, dancers, and people walking in the streets. Children of all ages participate in the parade, as well as the very elderly. For these few hours on a Sunday afternoon I sat back and watched the parade participants and onlookers celebrate their culture and customs which are too often ignored and forgotten.

Saturday, September 26 2009

A rainy Saturday afternoon. A Peruvian BBQ at Nico's. A visiting boyfriend. A fantastic, relaxing Saturday.

I've been bad about the photos this week. Things have been crazy and I have a lot of projects in my new apartment. Our internet is finally up and that is fantastic. Next projects: figure out something to do with my bike (hang it in the main hall) and get a cable splitter to run the cable into my room.

Last night I volunteered at the Homeless Children's Playtime Project. It was my first night and something I plan on continuing to do at least every other week. I have no photo, because sometimes photos aren't appropriate. The kids are all 8 and under and living in a shelter. They're a bit wild and don't quite understand the concept of following rules, but as long as I can get through the two hours working with them without having anyone gravely injured, I figure I'm doing a pretty good job. Last night we had a freeze dance party, played with play-dough, and read The Little Mermaid. At the end of the night, the kids snuggled up against me and feel asleep in my lap while I read them stories. Again..for the safety of the kids, no photos were taken. I'll try to be better about the photos in the upcoming weeks.

Flooded by Negativity

In a fast paced city, its easy to get upset when things aren't going our way. To explain how things have been for me for the last few weeks, I will describe the things that went wrong with my day.

I get up for a 4 hour (2 hours one way) drive in a car to meet with a state senator. Get to my zipcar and GASP it isn't there. Zipcar takes 30 minutes to find me a new vehicle which means that although I speed all the way to the meeting, I was still 15 minutes late.

I got home approx. 2pm and needed to take a few things for the Salvation Army. Also had some work to do so needed to have internet. So, I went to Salvation Army and then yogurt place to use the internet. Their internet was out, so I moved on to location two. Their internet was also out so I moved to location 3. Not to mention that I had to buy something at all three places in order to use the internet that wasn't functioning. Frustrating.

And, I feel like thats how things have gone for the past few weeks. Just, small things, but all gone wrong. So here is my new motto: think positively. My negative attitude is affecting my emotions, and also my friends who surround me. I need to focus on the good in life instead of the bad, and get over it if something doesn't go my way. Time to stop being angry.