Three Silly Things

(picture doesn't really have anything to do with the post...)

1. My roommate met a guy at a wedding, when she came home from the trip she told us about him, I pulled out my phone so we could see his picture on Facebook. Next thing I know, I've accidentally friended him! 30 seconds of panic ensued while I frantically tried to figure out how to rescind my request. Luckily I figured it out.
2. Sometimes I ride the bus to the metro, sometimes I walk. Last week I rode the bus and during the walk from the bus to the metro, I found myself walking the exact same speed as a little tiny Latino man. I sped up, he sped up, I slowed down, he slowed down. So I sped up again, walking like I couldn't WAIT to get to work. The guy slowed down and crossed behind me to turn into a building. But as he did it, he says very quietly in his Spanish accent, almost in my ear, "Seeeee youuuuu". I kept walking, slightly creeped out but laughing the entire way to the metro.
3. Last night was the Grey's Anatomy premiere. If you watched it you'll understand. If you haven't seen it yet, I'll avoid spoiling it. Basically I sobbed through the entire thing. And then I calmed down, went home, and started to tell my roommate all about it, only to start crying again. I'm so embarrassed. I had to remind myself that these people are not real. And it probably doesn't help that my old roommate Debbie and I used to call the characters "our friends". And I shouldn't be surprised when I know contracts haven't been resigned by actors. But it doesn't make it any less sad. 

England/Ireland Highlights: Post 1

Oh hey there! I'm blogging! Summer is over and I am back on my game.

Last month (ie. August) I went to England and Ireland. I never blogged about it because I was too lazy. So here I am, finally blogging about it and giving you five of my highlights. (Even though the entire trip was pretty awesome.)

Highlight 1: Visiting the Estates. We hit up Chatsworth (used as Pemberly in the 2005 P&P with Keira Knightly); Highclere Castle (better known as Downton Abbey); Haddon Hall (used as Thornfield Manor in three Jane Eyre adaptations); and a walk through the grounds of Lyme Park (used as Pemberly in the 1995 P&P with Colin Firth)

(Chatsworth. I think my favorite thing was that there were sheep all over. And once all the cars left for the day, the sheep moved in to take over their spot. And look at all our curly hair!)

(Highclere Castle. It was fun to hear about the real family that lived there and how they balance while living there and the show's filming.)

(Haddon Hall grounds, they were beautiful grounds. And the inside was so much older than the other estates we visited. And we liked thinking there was a crazy wife hiding in the attic.)

(Lyme Park grounds. It was a rainy rainy day. Lyme Park is barely seen at the end of the row.)

I think what I like most about visiting these places is that they're still kept up beautifully and it's fun to imagine people really living there, throwing parties there, and living how we see them in movies. I guess I haven't changed a whole lot from the squirmy seven year old who pretended with her grandma that they were princesses while walking around castles in Germany years ago. Now I just pretend to be an Elizabeth Bennett or Lady Mary. Should I be embarrassed?

Perhaps I'll start blogging again

The majority of my month of August was spent in England, Ireland and Utah. I came back to my new home in DC with only a week left of the month. I'm over my jet lag, wishing for a new job, and already aching to travel again. Perhaps I'll recap my trip sometime. Just the highlights. Definitely just the highlights.

Speaking of highlights from the trip, we went to Highclere Castle. It's where Downton Abbey is filmed. If you don't watch Downton Abbey, don't you even worry, season 3 starts January 6th. You have PLENTY of time to catch up. You won't regret it.

And Maggie Smith is magnificent. Here's a clip from the upcoming season:

Watch Downton Abbey, Season 3: A Scene from Episode 1 on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

More silly pictures to come, I'm sure. And now that it's past Labor Day, and I feel like the summer is over (though not quite officially) I can start to reminisce and wish I was still on vacation and wish it was summer all over again. Though, autumn in DC is my favorite time of the year.

Blog Neglect and Things I Wish for Today

It's been too long since I blogged. I'd like to pretend it's because I was having SO. MUCH. FUN. But sadly, that is not the case. Instead I've just neglected it. And I will continue to neglect until probably September. I'm pretty sure.

Things I Wish for Today:

1. That I drank coffee. I'm so tired. My eyes are kind of puffy, my tummy feels unsettled, and I just want to go back to bed. BUT, if I drank coffee, it'd perk me up. I feel equally adverse to any other stimulant for morning wakefulness, but I'm not opposed to an occasional Diet Coke when I might be staying up late.
2. That I was back in bed and that it was Saturday. Because like mentioned, I'm SO tired.
3. That it was Tuesday afternoon at 5:00 because I'd be hightailing it up to the airport ready to board a plane for London. Holla! Richey family vacay 2012: England (we're visiting Emma's mission)

Instead, I'm at work, at my desk, procrastinating updating our travel log by watching a remix of Bob Ross.

COLDPLAY

Last night I went to my second Coldplay concert. I hit up the Viva la Vida tour in 2008 with my lovely sisters Cami and Emma. Viva la Vida is my absolute favorite Coldplay album. I'm obsessed with every song. I don't love Mylo Xyloto as much BUT the concert was incredible.

Here are the couple pictures I snapped on my phone. You can hardly tell what anything is except pretty color. I'm still in love.

The crowd before the band came on. Totally full. Slash our seats were really high up...

Katie, me, Lisa. We were SO excited. It was hard to remain calm.

Opening number. The confetti they had blown into the crowd was amazing.

Changes of color in the opening song to highlight different parts of the song. Awesome.

The stage from our view. We were so high up but the colors were so cool it was fine

They played in red lights whenever a Viva La Vida song was played.

Here are my top three the reasons why I loved the concert:

1. They gave everyone in the audience light up wrist bands. These pulsed with the music when they played anything from the new album. Awesome.
2. Black lights, neon, color symphony galore. It was beautiful.
3. Chris Martin is hilarious. (He messed up while singing and apologized and made the band restart and it was kind of silly and endearing, even if he kept dropping the F-bomb, but a British accented F-bomb doesn't sound nearly offensive for some reason...)

BONUS Reason: They wore color coordinated jeans and t-shirts. Blacks, grays and muted pinky purple. The drummer wore purply pink jeans. And we had an excellent view of him rocking out. I kind of love the drummer a lot.

Happy 4th!

I love living in a patriotic city on The 4th of July. It was really fun to go into DC and watch the fireworks on the grass outside the Lincoln Memorial. I love it when the fireworks are big and practically right overhead and the booming can really be felt in your chest. And the white, semi sparkly, lingering fireworks are my favorites.

walking across an empty Memorial Bridge

view of the Lincoln from our seats in the grass

view of the Washington and Capital from our seats

white fireworks are my favs

the "weeping willow" ones especially the favorites

awesome finale, they just kept coming

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day too. I just wish I had today and tomorrow off to celebrate too.

Happy Birthday to me!

We're one day past my birthday and still in the middle of my Birthday Week so, for those of you not on Facebook or Instagram (my mother), I thought I'd share a couple of my Instagrams from yesterday. That and tell you I had a fantastic day that I did not spend at work but doing what I wanted at home, and spending it with friends. It was a pretty great day. And everyone told me my cakes were good so that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.*

*yes, "words of affirmation" is my language of love