Update

Pink shirt guy? Remember him? Yeah well, I've now decided that he's gay. Why? He gave the point and shoot/wink to some guy as we were leaving the office.

I pointed him out to Lisa saying, "Lis, that's the cute guy from my office!"

Her response? "That's the gay guy from your office!"

Apparently I have terrible taste in men.

What I've decided

Pink shirts. Not that cute on men. And, for some reason they were everywhere in my office today.

No big deal right? I can be ok with that.

There was the guy in the magenta; my boss, in dusty rose-ish color and he's married; even a guy in a peach (kind of pinky right?) and he's a baby daddy.

But, I'll tell you what, I was not ok with the only young, nice, attractive, single guy in the office walking by in a pink shirt.

Disappointed would be an understatement. Devastated would be exaggerating a little much. Slightly crushed maybe?

But, I walked by his desk later--No, I wasn't doing a "walk by" I actually had a purpose of walking by and it would definitely have been out of the way to go a different way. So ANYWAY, I walked by and I decided that someone who takes their dry cleaning to work with them and has it sitting in their office must be at the bottom of their pile and in need of laundry and is therefore still available.

Yes!

(Because lets be honest, having an office crush on someone gay is just kind of pathetic don't you think? So, he's straight until the next pink shirt incident. And lets hope that happens on laundry day again!)

Dream Jobs

If you've ever talked to me (or an female member of my family for that matter) as summer comes around you will know that we LOVE weddings. Seriously love them. I may or may not read a few wedding blogs daily and I have decided a few dream jobs for me would involve the wedding world.

Dream Jobs:

1. Wedding planner
2. Wedding inspiration giver (that I just made up myself, but it sounds pretty nice)
3. Art museum tour guide (obviously not surrounding weddings, BUT, people do have their receptions at museums sometimes...)

Ok, there is a few because I want to get to the most exciting part about this little blog post. Last night as I was driving home from the airport having spent the last seven hours of my day traveling from Portland Oregon back to Washington DC (and it was waaaaay past my bedtime) but, I got a text wondering if I was still up, I gave my answer, which resulted in a phone call from Liz telling me she was engaged! You can read the story HERE on Mark's blog (and I think you should. It's totally worth it).

(Thanks Mark for letting me steal your picture. I just can't resist a fantastic picture of my lovely Liz looking so pretty!)

Anyway, what does Liz getting engaged really have to do with my dream jobs?? Well, nothing. Except, LIZ, give me a few details (ie, colors, venue, date, you know, the usual) so I can start scouring the wedding blogs and fantastic other things online and I can feel like a really awesome wedding planner!

PS- A long long time ago in November I once posted a video created by a guy in New York who had taken my dear Liz out on a few dates. I posted the video with the comment, "Created by Mark Weinberg (who I don't know, but might someday...)" well, now he's marrying Liz. So maybe I should add Wish-Maker-come-true-er to my dream jobs. (Though maybe it would have to be my wish coming true... Any takers?)

Three Years Ago

On this day, three years ago I got on an airplane to return home from my mission. April 20, 2007.

Tomorrow, April 21, 2010, Jess returns from hers!

Lifetime To Do (Post 5)

I haven't written one of these for a few months I realized. So today I scoured my brain trying to think of what something I wanted to do in my life was. (Besides traveling, because a few of those were travel ones, and I just really really really want to travel all the time.) I thought about writing down some things that I could write check next to since I had already done them. (Like go to the Holy Land, or serve a mission.) I thought about doing something crazy like skydiving, but I figured I wouldn't really want to do that unless it was a moment of sudden mental loss, because I think I'm a little afraid of heights. I thought, maybe I'll make it something that's not quite so grand. Redo something maybe? I don't know, I can't really think of something that great. But then I thought of a fireside I went to last night. A member of the Seventy was there. He talked about holding to the rod of iron. Actually, he talked about clinging to the rod of iron. And pressing forward. He said if we weren't clinging to that rod, if we weren't pressing forward, we needed to start doing that and face the Tree of Life. So, without further ado,

Number 5: Be a disciple of Jesus Christ

(Standing on original Roman stairs in Jerusalem. Our teacher said Jesus would have walked here when he was put on trial.
And look how fabulously tan I am! Jerusalem in the summer was definitely good for one thing!)

This is a post for a Sunday I think. But, I have walked where Jesus has walked, I've swam where he walked (we'll leave the skinny dipping part out of that for the time being...), and I want to be his disciple, his follower. I know I can't be perfect. But, I can try to press forward and be better, and that's all that's really asked of us isn't it?

Step one: Find out who I visit teach.

Remember when you're asked to do something

My roommates and I left for church kind of late today. We walked into Sacrament Meeting during the second verse of the opening song. We sang, it was a song I liked, Redeemer of Israel, I was glad. 

The song ended and we waited for the opening prayer. No one moved towards the podium. I looked up on the stand and recognized both of the co-chairs from the committee I was on. That's when I thought, "I think I'm the opening prayer giver!" I practically leaped from my chair and booked it to the front--all the way from the back, the overflow section. As I walked up there, the bishopric member conducting was looking off to the other side and gestured to someone in the front row to come up and give a prayer. But then he saw me. There was hesitation on my part as I tried to decide whether or not to stash myself in a row or keep walking to the stand. They gestured to me to keep going to the stand. And the substitute prayer giver gracefully returned to his seat in the front row. When I got to the microphone I tried to steady my voice and calm my breathing-- especially since I wanted to avoid making one of those loud breathing noises into the mic at all costs! The prayer was short because I was still rattled from forgetting and running out of breath from practically running in heels, and also feeling embarrassed. (Besides, its not like I could give an apology before the prayer!) But, I made it. I gave the prayer. I had lots of comments, teasing and chuckles from people about forgetting the prayer, but I'm mostly just glad my roommates talked me into wearing a cute outfit, because if my first real public debut in front of the ward was to be an embarrassing moment, I'm just glad I could look somewhat cute doing it!

One Week!

Facebook says: Jessica Richey is in an internet cafe in kuala lumpur with the parents...coming home next week so don't get too excited!13 hours ago

I'm gonna be in Oregon in one week! I'm so excited I can hardly handle it! 

And, I finally got an email from my parents today about how seeing Jess was. This is the quick version, with my comments in italics.

• "We took the elevator up, come out, and we see Jess through the doors, just sitting there by some other elders who were going home as well!  There she was, our little Jess!  It was pretty exciting." (It's cool hearing the other side of this. I remember being so excited as I walked off the airplane in Eugene!)
• "Walked over, rested a bit, and then got picked up by one of the office couples for dinner over at the Clark's house. Had a good testimony meeting and I was so tired.  I could have fallen asleep and I think I did a few times with my eyes open." (I wonder if all missionaries do this. It would have been interesting with parents there. I'm sure my parents LOVED it.)
• "Me and Jess stayed up talking for several hours, probably until about 2 or 3 a.m.  She is wishing that she was going home when Sister McCurdy is leaving.  In about three weeks.  She really loves the KK area which makes me excited to see it." (KK is Jess' last city she served in and Sister McCurdy is her MTC companion. I remember being so excited to go home and then when it came down to it I was absolutely terrified and had kind of convinced myself that I could have lived in Bydgoszcz the rest of my life.) 
• "So hot here Lauren.  I don't know if you could handle it!  Seriously.  I think you would be miserable.  And Jess agreed. " (So glad I'm not there. Seriously. It's 75 here and I'm practically sweating on the metro. I think I was meant to live in Canada, or Scandinavia or something. Back to Poland?)
• "Today, we went to the Hindu temple that is in the caves.  Don't know if you've seen Jess' pictures from there or not.  Very impressive and so cool.  The also have all these steps that you have to climb up, which reminded me of the pilgrimage site in Montreal where the pilgrims climb all those steps with their knees.  They do that here too but only at a certain time of the year.  But it was unlike anywhere I had ever been before!" (I took a Humanities of Asia class at BYU so I'm pretty jealous of this. I think I really just like religions. I think they're so interesting.)
• "We are bringing home some cool stuff." (Yes! I love presents! I'm really hoping for maybe another house dress--read: mumu--and maybe something else pretty.)

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to go home. And I have a feeling this next week is going to draaaaaaag on!

And thank you Hayley Clark (Jess' cute trainer, pictured above) for posting these pictures on Facebook so I could steal them later!

I Love Poland

If you've been following the tragic events that took place in Poland on Saturday, you will know that the President, his wife and other prominent members of the government passed away in a plane crash. Today I got a lovely New York Times article sent to me from Ewa. And because I love Israel/Palestine and love Poland, it only made me love this article more.

Thanks Ewa!

PS--My neighbor over here just mentioned Poland in an important speech. You can read the whole speech HERE. (Paragraph's two and three are the good ones about Poland.)

5:00 in Singapore

And my parents are with Jess! They're eating dinner at the Mission Home! 

And she'll be home in a little over a week!

NYC Firsts

Firsts from this past weekend:

• Eating sushi with chopsticks the entire meal and not being embarrassed or even frustrated. (This may not seem that big of a feat to you if you are a chopstick user, but for someone not totally familiar with it and who usually gives up when it's too hard, it was pretty big. And, I think I was ok good at it. At least the food only fell off once. And I picked up a single grain of rice too. I was pretty impressed with myself even if you aren't!)
• Enjoying church, really enjoying church for the first time in a while. (Perhaps it helped that it was Stake Conference. I don't know why I haven't been enjoying church lately. Perhaps I get frustrated with stupid things said from the pulpit. Perhaps it's because I'm always sitting next to someone who will indulge in my boredom and chit chat with me. But yesterday was good.)
• Getting from the West Village to Upper West Side and to a restaurant by myself. In the dark. (I'm afraid of the dark. I really am. And perhaps that's naive of me and overly cautious, but I am. I don't even walk home through my safe suburban neighborhood by myself in the dark. So I definitely wouldn't be doing that in a place I'm not familiar with!)
• Brunch at Penelope (My friend Andrea is obsessed with this place. I think it's because all the male waiters are attractive.)
• Driving (I hitched a ride from The District to The City. It was definitely more convenient than taking the bus. And cheaper. And I got door to door service!)
• No pictures taken. (That's right. I didn't take a single picture the entire weekend! That's never happened before. I almost got it out multiple times, but never actually opened my purse to do it. Sorry no real documentation!)

And lastly, it's not a first because I always have fun when I go, but it was good to see old and new NYC friends I've met since going there. And a special thanks for a wonderful weekend with Carly and Liz, for Liz playing hostess and Carly keeping me entertained! Love!

Again!

I'm off to New York again this weekend and I have no concrete plans. Maybe I'll actually hit up the Met this time.

Security at the RRB

Ready for Lauren's embarrassing moment of the week? Put on your seatbelts folks, because it's a good (and kind of long) one.

Background: I work at the Ronald Reagan Building (RRB) in Washington DC. It's located at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue. (If you know your history/geography/city planning/are a fan of US Presidents past and present, you will know that there is a big White House located just three blocks down the road at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.) Like many big agencies and corporations these days, a badge is required to enter the building. That badge is then used again to admit agency employees into the elevator area. (You must be escorted by an employee if you do not have a badge.) So these turnstiles before the elevators are clear plastic doors. The open when you press your badge to the card reader. If someone on the other side's card is read first you cannot enter because the doors will automatically close.

I hope you see where I'm going with this...

This morning I woke up irritated because I couldn't sleep last night and tossed and turned from 12:30 am to 3 am after trying a myriad of different things to get to sleep--including opening the window, opening the door, changing pillows, switching my head to the bottom of the bed, etc. I get really upset when I don't get enough sleep and I was getting frustrated and emotional last night as I couldn't get back to sleep. I finally moved to the couch and slept relatively comfortably until my roommates got up for the gym and I moved back to my own bed. Anyway, that has nothing to do with RRB security...

I get to work. Lisa and I are rushing kind of. And I put my badge on the reader and start walking through when all of a sudden I'm not walking through the open doors, I'm being blocked by the door getting knocked on my knee and arm. And it's not like I'm trying to go through at some odd hour of the day. Nope, it's rush time. EVERYONE saw me bang into the door. The security guards as me if I'm ok, genuinely concerned, then he takes me off to the side and I think I'm going to get a lecture about proper turnstile protocol. No, he just has me write down my name and number so that if he needs to file a report he can.

I then make it up to my desk, recount the event for my boss who has a loud and friendly hearty laugh and likes it when I do stupid things to entertain him in the morning. About 10 minutes ago the security office calls me, I think they're just telling me I have a guest to escort into the building. He mispronounces my name and when I tell him I don't know who that is, he says, "Are you the young lady who ran into the turnstile?"

I could have died.

After publication edit: I have a bruise on my knee. It's purple and blue already. And I'm pretty sure they were calling because they were writing up a report. He asked exactly where I got hit and how I was doing etc. Nice, but still embarrassing.

Happy Easter!

(Mandi, Kristen and me at the Garden Tomb, August 2008--and yes, that's the Sweaty Dress)

I've been thinking a lot today about my time in Jerusalem and how grateful I am to have been there.
I'm a little "homesick" for it actually.
But I loved General Conference yesterday and today
and I loved the messages of Christ and His Atonement and Resurrection.
And because He has risen, so will we.

First Weekend of April,

and I'm totally sunburned.

We went to my friend Shannon's lake house and took the boat out. I'm red. Like a lobster. But as Julie said, I'll soon turn into a Hawaiian Tropic Model. Here's hoping it'll happen over night!

Spring Break Visit Post 1

My parents and little sister Rachel were in town last week. Here are a few pictures I managed to email to myself this morning before leaving for work so I could update today.

At the Library of Congress

Capital Building Front and Back

New Layout

Do you read my blog on Google Reader? You should just click over to the blog if you do. I changed the layout. What do you think? I'm not quite sure about it yet.