Zipcar Take 1

Meet Truman. He lives a few blocks away from me. He's available to rent by the hour and came in quite handy on Saturday when I had some furniture to pick up didn't feel like harrassing some guy to help me. If you ask me, Zipcar is a totally genius idea. Especially when I purchased a membership via Groupon and saved a ton of dinero. What is Zipcar, you might be wondering? It's car sharing. You pay an annual fee and then you are able to rent cars/trucks (they range anywhere from Kias to BMWs) by the hour, for a very reasonable price. These vehicles 'live' all over the Metropolitan area, close to Metro stations. I first heard about Zipcar a few years ago and have now experienced firsthand how practical it is in a big city like DC.

Back at the beginning of March, I was lucky enough to score some free furniture off the listserv (Craig's List for Mormons, essentially). The only problem was the girl who was giving the stuff away kept changing plans on me, so I continued to sleep on an airmattress and live in a chaotic/unorganized room in the mean time. When things are free, you cannot complain too loudly, right? Anyway, the day for pick up finally arrived. Enter my first time using Zipcar. My roommate Laura was nice enough to come with me into the District to help navigate, bright and early on Saturday morning. If you think you are a competent person, drive in D.C. and all belief in yourself will be lost. Ok, not completely, but it is a confusing place to get around, even with GPS. What makes it even worse is when you are on a strict schedule (Zipcar late fees start @ $50. Yikes). After some anxiety and a few illegal U-turns, we made it to our destination and worked quickly to haul my new bed, dresser, nightstand, and headboard into the truck. Free is pretty hard to beat; bless the girl who gave them away for saving me a bunch of money!

Thankfully getting home wasn't as complicated and we unloaded everything in approximately 8 mins. I had some other things I needed to pick up so I hurried over to Target. Zipcar is good for a lot of things - one of them being efficiency. Usually when I go to Target I will meander around and waste time looking at random stuff. Not so on this trip. I was in and out in a record 10 minutes - I should get some type of award or ribbon for this accomplishment. Traffic in Arlington on Saturdays is no joke and I knew that I would probably get stuck in some. Luckily I made it back to park Truman right on time. Happy, oh so happy.

My Saturday got even better when Heather came to pick me up and we headed over to Costco. Also adding to our joy was the fact that it was around 70 degrees and sunny. YES. Costco on Saturdays with Heather (and once upon a time, Neebs) is one of my favorite things in the world. Not exaggerating. When we lived in PHX it was tradition to hit up Costco for samples, lunch, and occasionally we would actually buy stuff. This particular trip I accomplished all of these things. Including checking out this regional item Costco has to offer: chocolate capital building, anyone?

Temp it Up

The day which seemed unfathomable for so long finally arrived: I moved into my new place and retired my couch surfer status. I have no desire to pack a bag for a very long time. Mostly because I am still not totally unpacked and am living the glam life a la sleeping on an air mattress. Nonetheless, I am grateful for a sense of normalcy and to have all of my things in one place and to not feel like I'm infringing on someone else's space.

I have been temping at a large non-profit in DC for the past week and a half. This is positive for several reasons, including the structure it brings to my day and the cash it puts in my pocket. My commute isn't too bad, although waking at the crack of dawn has been a rough adjustment. I've been enjoying scoping out Dupont Circle, an area i the District I haven't previously been to. A few gems I saw one morning on my walk from the Metro station to the office:

Picture uno: I, for one, find this shop's honesty refreshing.
Numero dos: how awesome is this sweater? Bright + squiggly; is there a better combo?
Tres: I'm applying. CC's got what you need.

February Recap

Apparently my passion for blogging was short lived. Just kidding, mom. Things got a little (ok, a lot) crazy/stressful which left me zero motivation to record them for posterity's sake. Because, yeah, it wasn't the great month ever. My sublet in Bethesda ended January 31st so I played couch surfer the remainder of my one month stay in Northern Virginia. Living out of a suitcase started to take it's toll, along with staying at various friends' houses and mooching rides off of people. The record was 4 different places in one week. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful that I had shelter (free shelter, no less) though there's no place quite like your own space. Despite the challenges, I decided that I do want to stay in DC permanently so I began searching for housing. That proved to be a whole new ordeal - I will get back to that in a bit.

I was scheduled to fly back to AZ on Feb 12th. I've never been so excited to get on a plane before. Unfortunately, I ended up missing my flight because of traffic on the freeway courtesy of a bad car accident. There were no other flights out that day, so I was stuck an extra night. Big disappointment, especially because I had plans to hang out with the amigas once I got to PHX. However, the night turned out a lot better than expected because my friend Katie introduced me to a delicious Indian restaurant and we had fun reminiscing about our time in U3 years ago.

PHX greeted me with exceptionally warm weather (80 degrees when I landed) and I was rejoicing after a month of snow and cold temperatures. It was great to be amongst family and friends and not have to provide a bio sketch about myself every other minute. Some of the highlights included:

*Reuniting with Last Chance, aka my favorite store of all time (2X) - found some amazing treasures, per the usual.

*Yogurtland, LGO, Pita Jungle, Rumbi, In N Out, Joe's Farm Grill, Pomegranate - none of which are located on the East coast. Sad.

*Galentines day celebracion, complete with MoBach throwdowns and 'A' mountain night hike

*Susan's Run - loved seeing old friends and honoring Susan's memory

*Jill's no-bakes, aka the best chocolate morsels ever. I think it's all the love they are made with

*Never Say Never with SK. Bieb's has got it going on and tween girls are hilarious.

*I finally got an iPhone. Worth it, worth it, worth it. Best decision I've made in a long time.

While I was in PHX, things started coming together for the house I was hoping to move to in Arlington. This was a miracle in itself because getting the house was contingent on a zillion other things working out. Anyway, I booked my one-way ticket to DC thinking I would be all set to move in Feb. 25th, the day the lease went into effect. Wrong. I am still living out of a suitcase (love the patience lessons, yes I do) and bunking in with strangers, though we should be able to move into our new house tomorrow. Unless something absurd happens. Given the events of the past month and a half, I'm not ruling it out...

Caralie + me. It makes me sad to think about how much older/taller she'll be the next time I see her.

Waiting out the Storm

Back porch during Snow Dump '11

..and a storm it was! Wednesday night the forecast called for a 'few' inches of snow. I didn't think much of this, because snow has been in the forecast a lot since I've been here, and the result has typically been a lite dusting. Wednesday was the exception. The snow came fast and furious and before we knew it, our power was OUT. Apparently, Parkside is infamous for being without electricity when a storm blows in. Last year during Snowmaggedon, these poor residents didn't have power for 3-4 days, and were basically confined to their homes because the roads were so bad. So awful.

Anyway, the first night wasn't so bad because our place stayed relatively warm. And thankfully these girls were prepared. We had plenty of candles/flashlights/blankets to go around. Some other neighbors came over, we made rice krispie treats (the stove is gas so were still able to use it), roasted marshmellows over tealights and made the most of the situation.

Thursday was a different story. The temperature in our apartment was steadily dropping and I knew I needed to get out. There is a mall not far from our place so I had my roommate drop me off there so I could revel in the heat. It was almost comical how many other people were there doing exactly the same thing. Laptops and cellphone chargers galore; people sprawled out on benches reading. After a few hours I walked back to our the apartment, and decided while I was tromping through the snow that cold is easier to handle than the AZ summertime heat. Because at least when you're cold you can layer adequately and eventually reach a comfortable temperature.

Which is exactly what had to be done to sleep Thursday night. The temperature dropped to around 55 degrees in our aparement. Holy miserable. Imagine my sheer delight when I woke up Friday morning to a note from my roommate insisting that I use her car and go to her gym to take a hot shower. Of course I took advantage and got in a good work out; endorphins = huge bonus. Done and done. I spent most of the day out and about at Barnes & Noble bumming free wi-fi and did some other errands. The power was finally restored around 7pm Friday night so life is good again. One thing is for sure, I'm certainly getting my fair share of adventure here in DC.

Shortly after the power came back on. 57.2 and rising!

Becoming an Urbanite?

Not 100% sure if I'll ever truly be "urban", but now that I've become predominantly pedestrian, with the exception of friends/roomies taking pity on me, the issue of footwear has been called into question. For instance, Tuesday evening it snowed, which meant icy/slippery roads followed. Wednesday morning I had an interview, which meant trekking into the District, in business suit, attemtping to look the part of a young professional.

This is where the footwear becomes an issue. My walk to the Metro station is a little under a mile from my apartment. Once I get into the city, I still have a few blocks to walk. Lots of walking -- you get the picture. There is no way that my black patent leather pumps are going to make it on the slippery terrain. They have zero traction. So what'a a girl to do? Commit fashion suicide. Yep, I became 'that' girl. Now, by no means do I claim to be a true fashionista, though I try to look somewhat pulled together/polished. White shoes, black suit. What?

so hot right now.

About town

Since HDL didn't have to work, and I'm obviously unemployed after being here for 2 seconds, we met up on MLK Day to go to the Kennedy Center and try our luck in getting free tickets to see Patti LaBelle perform. The kicker was standing outside in a line that wrapped around half of the building. Did I mention it was below freezing? After approximately 45 minutes, one Larabar and one Sweet & Salty granola bar, we admitted defeat and went inside to warm up. The Kennedy Center is an amazing place and I will most certainly be back at a later date. Bonus: Free concerts every evening at 6pm, not just MLK day. Apparently it's not usually so difficult to get in...

Me + JFK's bust. Better luck next time.

HDL's friend (and my newest DC friend) Ashley graciously came and picked us up. She arrived just as HDL snapped this pic, hence the reason HDL and I didn't get one together. The three of us grabbed some dinner and then headed to Arlington Drafthouse. It's a movie theatre + restaurant + bar. On Mondays they show movies for a buck -- perfect for my budget these days. We watched "The Social Network", which I had already seen, but still found fascinating even after a second viewing. Afterwards, I made it home via the Metro without any complications. Success.

Big Day Out

After a little down time, I was ready to venture out of Bethesda and see what Arlington has to offer. Enter first Metro ride experience. For someone who, as a child, would get anxiety when navigating the airport, the idea of riding on various trains to get to a destination made me a bit uneasy. However, armed with my trusty Metro map, printed in color, I was certain that I could handle this. Easy enough, right? Wrong.

Things were going well enough, despite some delays because it was Saturday and not as many trains run on the weekends. Then it came time to get off the red line and change to the blue line. "You've got this", I thought as I headed down a flight of stairs to the blue/orange line. Feeling suave and maybe even a little cocky, I picked up the pace once I saw that the train was getting ready to pull out. Whew. Onboard and ready for the main event. It wasn't until a few stops later I look up and notice a sign, almost mockingly stating 'orange' line.

In a panic I get off the train and two Metro workers, sensing my distress, kindly ask if I need some help. They try to explain what I need to do to get to my final destination, and all I really hear is something about taking a bus. Huh?! Thankfully my friend HDL was waiting to meet me so I called her and explained my situation and she directed me exactly where I needed to go. People were not kidding when they warned me about the adjustment it is learning how to get around this city.

The drama of DC travel was quickly forgotten once HDL greeted me and we were able to visit Costco, a favorite pastime of ours when we were roommates in Phoenix. We also checked out the Pentagon City mall, another place of comfort for yours truly. Familiar face, familiar places. Couldn't ask for more. Oh, and I discovered the Nordstorm Rack here is pretty decent, which is helping the Last Chance withdrawals I've been having. Hallelujah.

Later in the evening, I met up with some girls who live in Arlington whom I'd never met before. I had been in contact with one of them a month or so ago about housing. She seemed really friendly when we talked before so I figured she would be fun to hang out with and would most likely have cool friends. My presumptions were correct and they were very sweet to let me tag along with them to eat at a delicious Thai restaurant in Shirlington. (Which, btw Jill, I already know exactly what you and I will share when you come visit and we eat there ;). Overall, a fun but exhausting day.

And I still had to Metro back home. Ugh. Roughly an hour of my life. As I entered the station to head towards MD, I felt confident that it would be easy peezy this time around. Not so. It wasn't a clear cut route, at least not for a novice like myself, because not only was it late, but there was also maintenance at some stops. Again, a Metro worker told me something about needing to take a bus which makes me think that it must be some sort of a joke they play on the obvious newbies. Luckily, I asked a nice older man if he could direct me where to go. He obliged and then we chatted and I learned that he had immigrated from Ethiopia three years ago and he told me a bit about his experience in America. So glad I didn't have the same ordeal that I had had previously in the day.

Fun Fact: the DC Metro takes great pride in cleanliness (as evidenced by the above sign)to the point that you can be ticketed if you are seen eating or drinking. I am definitely in support of this. Sure beats the Marta trains in ATL that would reek of curry, among other things.