My Place in History

March 1st I took a new job, working for U.S. Central Command's Legislative Affairs Office. My job entails providing Congress with the information they need to make informed decisions about the budget and policies relating to the US and coalition forces efforts over in the Middle East.

The first day on the job I was escorting Admiral William "Fox" Fallon, the Commander of Central Command to hearings on the Hill. He is a 4 star Admiral. I've only ever met two other 4 stars in my career--Admiral Vern Clark and Admiral Mike Mullen, both Chief's of Naval Operations at the time. However, with ADM Clark and ADM Mullen, it was more just a photo-op and handshake, one in the Persian Gulf, one at the Pentagon, and no actual conversation.

But with ADM Fallon, he actually had conversations with me, was genuinely interested in me and my life, and it was a very surreal experience for me! I thoroughly enjoyed the week I spent escorting him to the hearings, and at the end of the week, when the Admiral climbed back out of his vehicle to specifically thank me for my work and to tell me he was happy I'd joined the team, I could not believe my fortune! I then left for 2 weeks of vacation.

A sidebar to the week's hearings was the rumbling of an article that was to be published in Esquire magazine that didn't put the Admiral in a very good light with the President's Administration. I said my farewell to the Admiral on Thursday, and the following Tuesday, everything changed.

While on my two weeks leave, I received a phone call from a friend on the Hill telling me to turn the TV on. Having turned it off because I was tired of listening to the stories of the NY Governor who'd been exposed for his dealings with a prostitute, I turned it back on, not exactly knowing what to expect. Admiral Fallon had resigned!! I thought it was sad, really sad, that the media has this kind of power over our Nation. It wasn't 5 minutes later that I started receiving numerous emails and txt messages about the announcement. I was saddened, after all it's always great to have a boss who likes you! Now I had no idea what was going to happen, did I even have a job?

Turns out yes, I still have a job, and on Monday the 24th of March, I was able to take ADM Fallon to the Hill one last time. I then flew down to Tampa, Fl for all my in-processing for my new job.

Admiral Fallon is a runner, and of course was impressed by my triathlons. He actually led a command-wide formation run down at CENTCOM, and on Tuesday I was fortunate enought to get to run with him. It was a very short, slow 2 mile run, but pretty amazing when there are hundreds of folks running in formation shouting jodies, with the flags out in front waving as we jog around the base. At the end of the run he had a Commander's Call to explain to everyone why he was leaving. It was in that moment that I realized that this Nation is losing a great leader, and a selfless officer.



On Friday, I attended his Relinquishment of Command ceremony, attended by the Secretary of Defense, Dr. Robert Gates, and the Commander of Joint Chiefs of Staff, ADM Mike Mullen. It was a simple ceremony, lacking all the pomp and circumstance of normal retirements and changes of command, but it was amazing nonetheless.



I just know that this moment was a critical moment in the history of the war on terror, and while I wish I were still working for ADM Fallon, I'm glad that I was able to serve under him for even 4 weeks, and I wish him the best.

Fair Winds and Following Seas, Admiral!

Easter with Erik and Erin

Easter came so early this year! It awlays amazes me how we cannot have Santa and Christmas trees in school, and yet both Christmas and Easter are tied to the two pagen rituals of the Winter and Spring solstice! But I digress. It turns out that Easter is determined by the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring solstice....and this year is the absolute earliest Easter can ever be! And it won't be this early again for 200 years. Good thing, don't want to be caught off guard again, ha ha!


So, on Friday I hopped (get it, hopped?) into the car and started the never-gets-shorter-no-matter-how-much-you-drive-it 6 hour drive down to Jacksonville, NC. It was a beautifully sunny, albiet chilly day, so no top down. It got to C2E2 around 3pm and we had a great afternoon of fun in the backyard. Erin of course wanted a picnic, so we had carrots, grapes and hummus in the backyard while playing "Funny Bunny". Erin's actually pretty good, and can count very well! Time got away with us (as usual) and so we didn't get to have pizza and movie night, we just got to have pizza night, and then bathtime and storytime and then we went outside to check out the full moon. It was beautiful.

Saturday morning arrived early, and with the "coc-a-doodle-doo" of E2 waking Nene up at 8am. Guess vacation is over! We had a very full day planned, complete with yummy crepes made by Christopher, and then Erik wanted to ride his bike, but Nene didn't bring hers, so I ran with Erin in the stroller while Erik rode his bike. We did this for 30 minutes, or until Nene's arms were about to fall off. But it was fun. Then we "practiced" hiding and finding easter eggs for the better part of the afternoon. Finally we realized we had tons of things to do and were running out of time!

First, Grandma sent the kids an Easter gingerbread house, so we had fun decorating that, despite Mommy's efforts at breaking all the little furniture I'd made for the gingerbread backyard....



And no Easter is ever complete without the Easter Bunny cake! This is a great idea my sister found years ago, and we've been making it ever since. This year Erik and Erin got to do some of the creative design, and it turned out very well.



Then it was easter egg dying time. Holy Cow! We boiled 7 dozen eggs and Erik and Erin had half of them dyed in about 2 minutes flat!!! So much for thinking this would take a long time......but then they decided that they needed to redye the eggs, and by the end we had a few that were a bit too brown, but overall, the eggs were very pretty and I'm sure the Easter Bunny (or Beagle) was very pleased with what we had to offer.

The kids had just seen Swiss Family Robinson for the first time a few weeks ago, and absolutely had to share that movie with Nene--it's the best movie ever! With Tigers, and snakes, and pirates, ARRRRRR!!!!!

We still had cookies to decorate, and cornish game hens to grill. Oh, where was the time going!?!

Finally got the kids to bed, and then we really had to get down to work. The Easter Bunny had over 84 hard-boiled eggs and 100 plastic eggs to stuff and hide. Not to mention Easter baskets! It was another late night for all.



Easter morning arrived again with the rooster at 8am and then a frenzy of "I see one" or "there's an egg", "oooo jelly beans!!!". Baskets were found quickly, and were quickly overflowing with eggs.

The suprise of the morning came when Erin found a very pretty egg down by Noah's Ark and went to pick it up, but her grip was a bit tight and she cracked the egg. That's when we discovered that in fact we had not hard-boiled 84 eggs. There were apparently a few that we only soft-boiled, or barely boiled at all.......

Let's just say we pretty much lost our appetites after a few egg fights at the breakfast table and the eggs looked more like the Cadberry's than something on a Cobb salad.

We spent the rest of the morning hiding and rehiding and rehiding easter eggs until it was time for Nene to go.


As always, the visits are too few and too short, but it was so great to spend Easter with everyone!

Spring Break in San Diego

I try to get back to San Diego at least once a quarter, just so I remember that DC really isn't where I want to end up. So, while "in between" jobs, I decided to leave the cold weather and head to San Diego to get in some tri training and hang with all my friends who are out west.

I flew out Thursday-Tuesday of St. Patty's Day weekend, and wouldn't you know that it had been 80 degrees all week, but when I arrived the highs were only in the low 60's. Oh well, one look at the sun and sand and sea, and I was home again.











Friday I took in a swim at the outdoor pool, and then went for a short bike ride up on Cabrillo. It was grey and overcast, but still, I was looking at palm trees! Then, as I headed up to La Jolla to meet up with Jess and the Tri Club for the first Friday night cove swim of the season, the marine layer disappated and the sun came out. It was amazing! The swim was great, the seas were a bit rough, but it was just awesome to be in the open water. We all then headed to Jose's afterwards for a great mexican dinner and cervesa!! I love San Diego.

Saturday morning Jess, her boyfriend Pat and I all went to the Del Mar ride. Usually this ride goes up and down the coast on PCH, but today we decided to go inland. OMG, I forgot how hilly San Diego can be! We did a great 48 mile ride though places I've never seen before, and it was really awesome, so great to have so many riders out there! We were pretty beat afterwards, I fell asleep at the pool, and poor Jess had to do her homework.


Saturday night all the Bellas in San Diego to together and we went to my favorite restaurant, the Wine Vault and Bistro, for a 5 course pairing dinner. It was fantastic! I wish we had something like that out here in DC. The owners are the nicest folks ever, and took care of us.


Sunday we were supposed to do the club tri, but after all that wine Saturday night, and a freak rain/thunder/lightning storm in the middle of the night (it never thunders in San Diego), Jess and I decided that we needed to sleep in rather than get up at 5:30 on a Sunday.....so we skipped the race (which turned into a du due to the rain) and instead headed back out to Del Mar for a nice 8 mile run along the coast. It was beautiful, and wonderful to see the runners, bikers, and surfers out!!

Finally it was warm enough for me to actually get some sunning in, so I was out at the pool for a few hours on Sunday, but we just had a lazy quiet evening at home that night.


Monday was St. Patrick's Day, and San Diego always rolls out the green carpet for the celebration. Bryant and I got tickets for the Shamrock Fest downtown, but he had to work during the day.

So, I went shopping, went for another outdoor pool swim and stopped by my old beach house in Ocean Beach. I miss that town!!



Then Bryant and I met at South Beach for a few drinks and their world-famous fish tacos (yummy lobster and shrimp!) then made our way downtown.











It was fun, great live bands, and lots of beer, but it wasn't quite the "Vail" experience without all my girlfriends with me. But we had a great time people watching and listening to the bands. We finally called it a night around midnight, and sadly I was on a plane early Tuesday morning back to DC.

VAIL: or "Hot, Tall Men who buy us drinks"

Being from Steamboat Springs, the idea of taking a vacation to Vail, the Disneyland of ski resorts, didn't appeal to me. I tried everything I could to convince my girlfriends that we needed to go to Steamboat or Winter Park, but they were having none of it. Vail had "hot, tall men who buy us drinks" and that's where we absolutely had to go.

Having just ended yet another relationship, I was all for the hot tall men, and decided that I'd get in my real skiing in Winter Park and Steamboat on either side of the Vail portion.

So, I headed out to Colorado for an unprecedented 10 days of vacation! I stopped and visited my grandparents for a day, catching up and looking through photo albums of the past. It was a great visit, and I even discovered that my Great(x5) Grandfather laid the cornerstone in the US Capitol! How's that for cool.








I then met up with my Uncle Bob and we headed up to Winter Park for an unbelievable day of skiing. Turns out one of my best Navy buddies, Bryant, was in town, back from a year in Tansania Africa and he and his father also met us at WP for a picture-perfect day, not to mention the best snow conditions I've skied in years.

Finally, on Valentine's Day, all the girls, Liz, Michelle and Amy, arrived and we made the trek up to Vail. Bryant decided to come with us gals, and discovered many many things "behind the cutain" as he hung with us. We stayed at a cute little condo at Eagle's Nest. We dropped off our things and headed into our Mecca, otherwise known as the Red Lion Inn.

Unbelievably, Michelle walked in first, I was behind her, and as I was putting my ID away I looked up and Michelle is turning around handing me two beers and introducing me to Charlie and Gogi. What? Do you know these guys? No, she had waled in ahead of me and they saw here, and immediatly ordered beers for her and her girlfriends. I was beginning to see what the magic of Vail was all about......


I did mention that it was V-day, and that I had just ended a relationship, so still feeling a bit bitter, I decided to wear a T-shirt I'd found that simply stated "Boys Stink." You can imagine that's quite the conversation starter in a place where the men outnumber the women about 7 to 1. Turns out Charlie liked my shirt so much we decided to do a shirt swap right there on the dance floor! Don't worry Mom, I didn't actually get half-naked. It's a skill one learns in California to be able to change clothes without ever showing any vitals. But it was quite entertaining seeing a man wearing a women's size small pink shirt dancing around announcing that "Boys Stink". Sadly, the Red Lion closes at midnight so we headed back to the bus stop, where Drunk Liz eyed a hot tall man and ordered him over to chat with us. Turns out he's a Doctor! And about 6'5". Liz is 5'2". But it was Vail, and so they didn't care.


The next day we all headed to the slopes, and I have to say that Vail has changed alot since I was last there--the mountain is HUGE, and there is so much varied terrain and it was not crowded at all! Bryant and I tore it up, and had a really great day skiing. It was unbelievable.

Apre ski again found us at the Red Lion Inn. Tonight we met another group of guys, this one having the hottie from Phoenix whom I just could not get enough of. Those dimples and that smile were amazing therapy for my "boys stink" attitude....Stone who? We all shared drinks for the night, and really had a great time. Yes, a great time ;-)


Sadly, Sunday came way too soon, and that day we awoke to cold, cloudy and snowy conditions. We tried to ski, this time over at Beaver Creek, but it was so cold and windy and visibility was poor, so Bryant and I decided that our fun meter was pegged, and we headed down to the base to get some coffee. By the way, I prefer Vail to Beaver Creek any day!


As we were trying to figure out how to get everyone back to the airport or bonus brother's houses, it turns out that the best option was for Amy to ride with Bryant. So, we said our goodbyes, and the 3 gals took off in the rental car (but not before Bryant had to give us a jump because dumb blonde Nikki left the lights on all day and killed the battery! DUH!!!). And we all wondered what the heck was going on with Amy and Bryant...

Turns out that of all the Vail hook-ups, the Amy and Bryant one seems to be going well! Amy just took a trip to San Diego to visit him, and next month they're going sailing in the Caribbean!

I finished out my vacation just hanging at my Mom's house, as I was too exhausted and sore from all that skiing to consider skiing Steamboat for a day. Maybe next year I'll know how to pace myself better....ha ha!

But alas, I am now a little wiser, a little more open-minded, and next year I will take the pilgrimage back to Vail: Hot, Tall Men and free drinks without question!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! WELCOME 2008

The end of 2007. Wow, seems like it was only yesterday that is was 1999 and we were wondering if the world would end with "Y2K". Fortunately, it didn't, and life has been going well!


I never would have imagined being in Washington DC in 2007, and certainly never would have imagined that I'd be loving every minute of it! But it's hard not to be happy when you've got a fantastic network of new friends, a blossoming romance, and a satisfying job!


So, we all decided to celebrate at a "private party for 300 of our closest friends" at The Front Page in Arlington, VA. The party was nothing spectacular, but we did all have fun, great food, and of course, alot of libations!


Having not completely recovered from my trip to Mississippi, I was ready to call it an early night, and was more than ready to go home when we finally left the bar at 2:30 am, but Michelle and the gang stayed up partying at her house until about 5 in the morning! You go you!


We slept in until noon, watched football all day, and finally dragged ourselves out of Michelle's house around 6pm to head over to my cycling friends Jean and Ken's for a New Year's Day hangover house-warming.

I'm very excited for 2008 and can't wait to see how it unfolds.

CHRISTMAS LIGHT RUN

A wonderful tradition in DC, is the annual Christmas Light Run. This year I got to enjoy it with alot of my running friends, as well as many of the DC Tri Club members. We began at Union Station, which overlooks the US Capitol, then headed down to the National Mall across to the Washington Monument, and then over to the White House eliptical where we stopped and sang carols at the National Christmas Tree.

From there we ran up and down the streets of downtown DC, where all the people we encountered stopped and cheered, phoned their friends, and took pictures of nearly 400 jingle-bell wearing, santa-hat clad runners. The highlight of the run was our stop at the "Blue Christmas Tree" outside the Federal Police Station. The Blue Christmas Tree symbolizies all the men and women of our police force who have given the ultimate sacrifice in their duty to protect and serve.

We changed the words to the traditional "Oh Christmas Tree" song and sang this version at the Blue Christmas Tree:

Blue Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas tree,
We love our Christmas Light Run!!

We like to sing, we like to run
To do them both, is so much fun
Blue Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas Tree
We love our Christmas Lights Run!!

We are all filled with Christmas Cheer
That's why we do this every year
Blue Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas tree
We love our Christmas Lights Run!!

We gather 'round to sing to you
beneath your twinkling lights of blue
Blue Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas Tree
We love our Christmas Lights Run!!

It's cold and dark but we've no fear
Instead we're filled with Yultide Cheer
Blue Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas Tree
We love our Christmas Lights Run!!

'A Caroling with joy we come
A merry group to sing and run
Blue Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas Tree
WE love our Christmas Lights Run!!

You stand alone with grace and pride
Your spirit keeps us warm inside
Blue Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas Tree
We love our Christmas Lights Run!!


We finished back at Union Station, completing about 5 miles and many, many Christmas carols, and headed off to the Union Pub for some fine post-run refreshments!

For all the pictures from this year's run, and if you're interested in doing the Christmas Lights Run next year, please check out their website: www.christmaslightrun.com

IF HILLARY CAN DO IT, SO CAN I!

What the hell does that mean? Well, today I turned 35. The absolute LAST milestone birthday until I'm eligible for AARP. Yup, my driving insurance is now at the lowest it will ever be, and I can offically put my name in the hat for President of the United States.

Which seems somewhat fitting now that I'm living in Washington, DC. However, oddly enough, today I want nothing to do with DC or anything Presidential.

What was supposed to be a great celebration with my girlfriends at a great restaurant for dinner and then a co-ed party afterward with that All-American classic game of bowling, turned into an utter disaster.

First, the bowling alley wouldn't let me make a reservation until 24 hrs before, and then had the gall to laugh at me and actually comment "Don't you know it's the holiday season? We've been booked for months." For those who know me really well, you can imagine how the remainder of that conversation went.

To top it off, traffic was bad, and not all my 'party' made it on time to our dinner reservation, so we lost out on our table (another rude comment by the hostess with the mostest regarding the busy holiday season....) and so we had to dine in the bar.


But, to put it all in perspective, at the end of the night, I got to spend the evening with some really great friends who have come to mean alot to me since moving to DC. That's what matters most, being with those who make me happy!

Thank God I don't have to have another party until I turn 55, or is it 60?

ARLINGTON WREATH LAYING CEREMONY

Every year at precisely noon, at every National Cemetery across the country, thousands of wreaths are laid at the base of the headstones of the brave men and women who gave their lives to this country and our pursit of liberty and freedom for all.

It was a great treat, although it was freezing, to get to see the wreath-laying ceremony and all those wreaths that adorn the markers at Arlington National Cemetery.


Additionally, I got to witness, for the first time, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and all the ceremony that surrounds that most precious asset that we have.







We also walked over to the eternal flame, the final resting place of JFK and Jackie O. That was also very sobering to see. I have to say, the view from his grave is unbelievable, even on this frigid, grey, overcast winter day.



If you've never been, I highly encourage EVERYONE to get to Arlington at some point.