ICE CREAM TRUCK

Yes indeed, my complex has an ice cream truck that drives around and plays music. How fun is that?? I just haven't gone out and actually gotten anything. Maybe tomorrow. 


Tomorrow which is Memorial Day and so I don't have work. Most popular question this week: Do you have plans for Memorial Day? Umm, no, I've only been here a week. But, in the spirit of Memorial Day here goes for remembering our troops

Everyone who follows this blog I'm sure knows that Dave is in the Marine Corps and is deployed in Afghanistan right now. For those who don't follow this blog, well now you know. Lucky for me as the fiancee left at home, he's had a pretty boring tour so far. Many thanks to him and to all of the troops serving now and who have served, especially those who make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom and liberty.

It's rather interesting the sorts of questions you get as the one who is supporting a family member in the military. Of course it is hard being separated from the person you love. And knowing there is a slight chance that something could happen that he or she doesn't come home. But it's worth it. You learn to cherish the time you have together a lot more. But I don't know if being apart is really any harder than being together for some people. Love takes work, you know? Near or far. It's about choosing to be committed to another person through everything.

On a different note, I finished my first week at work. Looks like it should be a good time from what I can tell. They're going to try and have me flying solo on Tuesday. OOO scary! But, since everyone pretty much has said that if I have any questions I can ask them, I have a good number of people to question at every turn. 

Pretty building from the outside. Looks very much like an office building inside, but I don't know how they feel about me taking pictures inside, so I'm probably not going to try. 


Stella's been having a grand old time. She's discovered squirrels to the everlasting dismay of my shoulder. Don't let the innocent nose fool you!

Bob the Builder

My dad would clarify and say I didn't actually build any of this. It was all purchased from Target and all I had to do was assemble it. But, I scared my poor little dog with my electric drill, so I will tell you I built them.

two sets of knick knack shelves

book case 

bar stool

wire storage shelves

my poor baby Stella

no animals were harmed in the making of this picture. She was actually just about to go on a Walk...

I'll probably get more 'finished' pictures after I get my kitchen table. It is the last major item that I am still missing. But that won't be for a while because I am perfectly contented to use my lone bar stool. I am very proud of all my furniture though, it took me almost an entire day to buy it, bring it inside, and put it all together. Next up is drapes and mounting all my pictures on the wall.

oH the Places you'll gO

What would DC be without some site seeing???

James Madison's Montpelier  

Inside the Library of Congress 

I was really surprised, you have to 'be part of' a tour group to see any of the books! 

Capitol Dome! 

Our poor little interns didn't really know what they were doing on our inside the Capitol building tour. 

My wonderful mommy was so much fun to go around town with! It's a lot of walking and I'm pretty sure her shoes were still wet from all the rain we'd been having. Got to see the original Constitution and Declaration of Independence at the National Archives no photography allowed though
I'm going to have to think long and hard before I decide what I want to see the next time I head down town.

I'm home!

Well, as home as this will ever be until. Amazing how the word home can shift depending on the situation. When my dear mom was still out with me, Aunt Julie's house was 'home' even though we were only there for a few days during the transition!

SOOOO... Time to make up for all the lost blogging time from not having the Internet. my phone really likes to capitalize Internet because really and truly it is a proper noun. How funny. I can't decide if I should just do one MEGA post or if I should split it up. I think I will probably split it up since then it looks like I've actually blogged more than I have :)

So, to carry on my last post about windmills:

The last time I drove across the country I was obsessed with farm houses. Let's face it, they are pretty adorable if you drive by the right kinds. This time it was definitely windmills though. They are seriously impressive and there isn't anything more to it than that.

The drive actually wasn't too bad all told. We got some rain but it wasn't ever really bad, and it did get hot towards the end, but it wasn't too bad either. And we really only hit construction on our last day of driving. We did it in three days. My dad thought we were really slow, but there wasn't really any hurry to get here, I had no furniture! But oh how I dislike ORANGE!!

Virginia!

It will probably take me a few days before I end up posting any pictures, but WE MADE IT!! Three days of cross country driving madness. We crossed Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Well, parts of them at least.

I discovered I have a weird fascination with wind mills. Well, maybe not that unexpected since they are a pretty cool feat of engineering. 


I have now checked in to my new apartment and I think it looks pretty swell for having no furniture :) Got to do a little bit of shopping too for all of the things that got left in Provo because they weren't mine. I'm really excited for all my stuff to get here so I can get started putting my life together in this new place. The apartment is a little corner apartment with a bit of a view across a courtyard and a bit of a parking lot. It is yet to be seen what the ambient noises will be since mom and I have been staying with my aunt and uncle since there is nothing to sleep on over there.

Church today was stake conference with my old stake. I love seeing people's faces when they go through the perfunctory 'hi' in response to you saying hi and then realize they know you and didn't expect to see you ever again. Happened twice today. 

The Beginning

I was sitting in my living room tonight and thinking about how I will keep in touch with everyone since I've graduated and will be moving away from home and family and pretty much most everything I know. There's always Facebook, but let's be honest, who actually posts things worth paying attention to on Facebook?

My sister claims if I start a blog I'll be one of THOSE people. I don't know what that means though. So, here I am, one of THOSE people. 


So, here are logged the voyages of the young adult Karen as she grows up. Well, maybe grows up :)