Day 17- Another amazing weekend has come and gone

I am already in to my third week here in WA DC. I seem to be slacking in my blog posts. Time goes fast when you are having fun. Let me catch you up on my weekend. Nancy and Dick took Archita and I out to Great Falls Park on Saturday. It's an 800- acre park in Virginia. The Potomac river cuts between the border of Maryland and Virginia and flows all the way to Georgetown. The park was full of families picnicking, hikers, bikers, and rock climbers. Advanced kayakers will even kayak the river despite it's dangerous currents.

We had a good time hiking in the woods beside the locks that George Washington decided to build. As an extension to the George Washington Memorial Parkway this park helps preserve the ruins of the Patowmack Canal and Matildaville. Although, Washington died in 1799, two years before the canal was finished he enjoyed visiting the canal during construction. Being able to be in Virginia and WA DC, walking on the same ground as our founding fathers is a great memory I will always charish. As I walked by the river talking with Nancy, Dick and Archita. I could hear the rushing water and couldn't help but think of the song "America the beautiful" play in my head. It is times like these that I remember and appreciate in awe and don't take for granted the real 'beauty' America is.

Following our hike we all headed back to the house and made chocolate chip cookies with dried cherries and walnuts. The cookies tasted SO good! Even though Dick thought there were too many chocolate chips. Next, we all went to David and Shaun's house to baby-sit Connor for the evening. Correction, Dick babysat Connor while us girls went over to Reston Town Center for a delicious dinner at Clyde's Restaurant.

I had sweet peas, red potatoes and trout with hollaindais sauce. Nancy had a bbq pork chop with mac and cheese and fried green tomatoes (with goat cheese). None of us had tried Fried green tomatoes before. I thought they were good. Archita had shrimp, clams and mussels with noodles and red and yellow peppers. For dessert we went over to a cake shop and bought a slice of lemon cake and chocolate fudge cake...yum!

We took the dessert home to share with Dick while we all watched "Touching the Void" until Connor's parents got home. The movie was intense! It was a documentary following two mountain climbers on their adventure up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. After watching that movie and seeing what those guys went through and revealing their 'will to live' it reminded me there is no reason I should ever give up on anything I set my mind to.

Archita and I slept in until 11am the next morning. That was the most sleep either of us had had since arriving in DC. And a true justification as to how comfortable we feel in Nancy's home. Nancy even made us scrambled eggs for breakfast before giving us a ride to the metro. I do not know how I will ever repay the generosity Nancy and Dick have given to me during my time here in DC. It was another relaxing weekend that helped me gear up for another week of research and writing at the office.

The rest of the day was spent with Archita, Julie (Archita's roommate), Kate, and Meghan (my roommates). We went to Eastern Market which is a huge farmer's market that has many venders on the weekends. We observed everything from art to clothes to jewelry it was really fun to look at everything. I bought a pearl necklace and pearl, drop earrings for 16 dollars.

Then we all went to Georgetown and walked along Washington Harbour, again. I think that is one of my favorite spots so far. The park and boardwalk with all the restaurants along the river is so nice. That is why I am really excited to see Old Town, Alexandria this upcoming weekend because I hear it, too, has a really nice boardwalk.

I FORGOT to talk about my first softball game which was last Thursday. We played our sister company GGMB and won! I played catcher while the CEO played pitcher. I got a few hits and our CEO was proud of us and even bought the whole team dinner. It was so much fun hanging out with my co-workers outside of the office.

Our next game is tonight against Burson (another public relations firm). Go FH!