The Rude Awakening:

Small town girl meets nation's capitol.

My first reaction to DC was "I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT." BUT, anyone who knows me knows that I'm more than just a little fickle, and right now (3 days later) I'm counting down the days til we go home (while still wanting to relish every wonderful minute of this great experience, of course). The city, well, its just not ME. I'm glad I'll be here for 3 1/2 months - the perfect amount of time. Any more and I'd lose it. It's not like I've never lived in a big city before, its just that the one time that I did (Rome, Italy) I was so smitten with everything Italian that I didn't really notice the everyday inconveniences of living in the city. DC is great, but it's not Italy, so I'm more likely to notice and complain about those everyday inconveniences. Inconveniences aside, this city has SO MUCH to offer, not exaggerating. We haven't had the chance to do much yet, but we have big plans, I'll keep you updated. So here's the story of the past few days:

Friday:
flight from SLC to Denver (thought we were going to crash, never experienced so much turbulence in my life, didn't realize I could feel so YUCKY/SICK/I COULDN'T FIND MY VOMIT BAG AND I PANICKED)

flight from Denver to DC (repeat of previous flight)

My new nanny family (well, i guess just the mom) picked us up from the airport. She's great!

We (well mostly me, why are boys so useless??) unpacked and settled into our FANTASTIC new apartment. It is definitely an upgrade from the P-town crib. And did I mention that it's a STEAL?!?! Studio apts are going for between $1000-1500 in this neighborhood, and we are paying only a fraction of that (granted, the church does own the building we live in so I guess my tithing is paying for some of it). Literally everything about our room is an upgrade (queen size bed, regular sized sink, full shower, running water, a desk, dining table and chairs, normal sized ceilings etc.) the only downgrade I can think of is a smaller refrigerator, maybe it will keep us from buying so much food!

We were starving and hadn't eaten for what seemed like days so we googled the nearest McDonalds and made our way there. It was a pretty short walk, but probably not worth the effort. I hate McDonalds and I only go there if there is no other choice. I figured I'd just order off the dollar menu but NO, their late-night menu consists only of "number" items, as the cashier told us. So we could only order one of the meals, nothing else. So 2 #1's and $10 later, we decided that it was our last trip there.

Speaking of food, we made our first trip to Trader Joe's (right across the street!!!!!!) to buy some groceries and I fell in love with the place. We decided to check out Safeway too, in case they had cheaper food. It wasn't a pleasant experience, so we'll probably stick with trader joe's.

ALSO speaking of food, my nanny family had Russ and I over for brunch on Saturday morning so I could meet the kids. They live in an adorable neighborhood called Georgetown, it is SO quaint, i absolutely love it. The kids were adorable, especially 15-month old Meredith who is learning how to talk. Ethan (3) is quite the bossy boy, but funny and friendly. Their parents are so great and accommodating, I can tell I will like working with them.

Sunday morning a girl from our ward that we'd be attending picked us up and took us to church. And by that i mean that she showed us where to go on the metro to get to church. Since it took about 45-50 minutes to get there, church is going to be a 5-hour ordeal. Just a little bit different than living next door to the church in Provo. Just a test of my faith I guess. I walked into the tiny building a few minutes late to see a large black man at the pulpit crying "Welcome to the true church of Jesus Christ" and I thought I was in the wrong place, but it turns out he was the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. I predict that sacrament meeting in the DC 3rd ward is going to be the most interesting part of my life here. One old lady got up to share her testimony and started singing and asked everyone to sing along (I guess I would have but I hadn't heard it before). It is such a culturally diverse group of people, and I am excited to get to know them.

One last story about food. The missionary couple (the Blanchards) that runs the Barlow Center where we live invited us over to their place (they live across the street from us) for dinner after church. We ate with them and with the missionaries and had a great time. We played Mexican Train wiht them after dinner and Russ (due to beginner's luck, i believe) came out the winner. The Blanchards are wonderful people and it will be nice having them around.

I always tell Russ that no matter where we end up living after he graduates law school, I have to be within 10 minutes of a walmart and a target. That's my number one priority. I am having a really hard time here not being able to just run to the store when I need something. The closest target is 45 minutes away!

to be continued...