Thoughts of the day...

1. First, I think/hope the interview went well. I mean, besides the fact that I was sweatin' like a whore in church and stumbled through some questions. Forget my nervous laughter and lame attempt at making anyone laugh. Oh geez... hot.mess. I met the VP of HR and then my potential supervisor. For about an hour. And they asked for a writing sample, good sign? I think so. We will see. Oh, we will see.

2. These stinking hills are hurtin'. My shins huuuuurt. I mean, I enjoy the challenge and admire the scenery, but shoot, why? WHY? Why when I run to Georgetown (which is becoming a 2-3x/week route) I must go down and then come back up on my way home, when I'm hot and a little tired and thirsty. Yeah, thirsty. The only thing I can find to complain about living in DC right now is: NO public water fountains. What the what?! Rude.

3. The Post Office is hell on earth. Even the little neighborhood one I visited this morning. The website said "open at 8:30." LIES. It opened at 9. So I sat in the parking lot, hungry, groggy (hadn't had my morning coffee, even though I'd been up since 7:00), and now perturbed. Then when it opens the guy behind me is Mr. Obnoxious. Is it necessary for you to hum loudly? And tap your fingers against your cardboard box you're probably sending to your equally obnoxious prep school nephew? Oh, happy birthday nephew-- I'm sure you'll enjoy your new coffee mug and I heart DC t-shirt.

4. Nilla Wafers. Nabisco must put crack in those delicious little treats. Will not be purchasing them again. Would eat entire box in a sitting. And then I would be as big as a house and probably sweat MORE in interviews. Gross.

TMI? Tough. My blog, my rules.

5. Busy weekend ahead. I'm always busy. And I like it. You want some of this? You better speak up fast. Tots McGoats.

Big girl panties.

Ah! Interview today.... Getting nerrrrrrvous. Getting exciiiiiiiited.

You can put the girl in a black suit, but you can't take the personality out of the girl. I will WOW them. Bring it on, BoardSource. I'm POSITIVE I would be awesome at this job. Totally qualified and I have the spunk to back it up.

I like people. People like me. Let's work together and make some magic happen. (I like magic too.)

BIG PRAYERS at 4:30 today. Until then, I must run (get out the nervous energy--plus I do it everyday), find low(er) heels, and not throw up. I think the last one is absolutely necessary.

I love this city more and more each day.

Weekend recap: Friday, ran 6.6. Ventured to Potomac Mills and did some shopping. Bought a suit (my first!) and cuteness. Ikea too! Whoop! Saturday I missed the DCRR SLR b/c of street shutdowns (Stupid Clarendon Day), so I ran 12 by myself, up around Georgetown. Beautimus. Went on a day date. Watched the Gator game. Sunday: Churched it up. Gave blood. (Buh-looooood, Noooot funnnnyyyyyy). Good news--my iron is up! Hey iron supplements, way to do your job! Had tapas with Jo and Audrey--LOVE them-- at Jaleo. Nummy num nums.

Life is good. Life is busy, but SO SO good. Walking in blessing, and I love that.

Thoughts of the day...

Monday, September 20.

Day 6 in D.C.

1. It's amazing to be somewhere and in such a short amount of time feel completely at home. I'm gathering my bearings fairly easily. I can maneuver the area without anxiety, not that I have any anyway (except for the big issue of J-O-B).

2. I think I need to start carrying tissues/chapstick on my runs now. 8 miles today. 4 to Georgetown, 4 back. GLORIOUS. I love running fast past all those yuppies... And window shopping.

3. This weather is so so so great. Cool, but not cold. Warm, but not hot. And humidity? Not really! Ah, my hurrrrr hasn't looked better in a while.

4. DCRR is great. Meet some cute, nice girls! Yay new friends! Edith's show was wonderful. The space was so fitting, exposed brick walls, old wood floors, exposed air ducts. Very cool and eclectic. The Falls Church is great. Again, met new friends! Can't wait to get more involved in everything.

5. The job hunt is going well. Everyone I talk to is very encouraging and helpful. Lurv it.

Love this. Love D.C. So grateful and thankful for all that has been given to me.

"Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" -Luke 6:38

So I copied and pasted an e-mail. Call me lazy. Or genius.

Hi!!!!

Alright, here we go.

Left Jville at like 11:30 on Monday. 1-95 was a boring bummer. And another disappointment? Water for Elephants on CD. Woof. It was this old slurring drunk man who narrated it. I honestly couldn't even listen to the first chapter. Bust. But I listened to this other novel, Karen Kingsbury something-something. It was ok, not mind blowing, but it passed the time. I arrived in Raleigh about 6:45. Pretty easy to get to! And beautiful! And cool outside! So nice to feel cool air again. Monny took me to this cute Mexican restaurant, Cantina 18 in Cameron Village. Nummy num nums. Then we went back to her place and watched the Bachelor Pad. Best show ever? Doubtful.

Left Raleigh around 9. Got to my place in Arlington about 2ish. Met Edith, who is super great. She's 65 and upbeat and especially cheerful considering her husband just passed away. I think she's glad to have someone around. She left to run errands and I unpacked everything. Surprisingly, it all fits! I mean, my room is definitely small. Smaller than Ben's. Like dorm sized with a queen bed. But my closet is adequate. And I have drawers. It's perfect for right now. I couldn't be happier. I wanted to go run at Iwo Jima with DCRR (DC Road Runners) at 7 that night, but I didn't finish unpacking until 6:20 plus I didn't know how to get there. Should I drive? Could I run there? Should I bike? So I left it and Edith cooked a pizza and put together a veggie plate with green beans and blue cheese, and roasted peppers, eggplant, etc. We sat outside in the backyard where she has a tented patio set up and ate and chatted. Lover-ly. Oh man, best part? She split this AWESOME dessert thingy she picked up from Costco. It's an ice cream bar dipped in chocolate and then dipped in almonds. Mind.Blowingly.Delicious. You can pick them up at the front, like with the churros and pizza slices as big as your head. Two thumbs up. And if I had more thumbs, they would be up too. Then I went to my room and made some phone calls (ahem, Mom and Dad) and applied to some jobs.

Woke up at 7:30 on Weds (yesterday), fixed some b-fast, made some nummy coffee in my super cool new coffee maker. Looked for some jobs. Tried to get oriented with the 'hood on googlemaps. Went for a run to Iwo Jima, which was fabulous. The run, the view, the neighborhood. EVERYTHING. Can you tell I am in hog heaven? LOVE this place. Best life decision ever! The memorial is only 3.3 miles from my place and is so easy to get to, plus I'm going straight through Ballston/Clarendon and checking out everything. I passed a Container Store, and Crate and Barrel, and Whole Foods and all sorts of fun stuff. Not that I will be purchasing anything from any of those lovely establishments anytime soon. Came home, showered, went and got a library card and explored that. Note: The Arlington Library has e-books you can rent. And if you're not a resident, you can pay for a membership for a set fee and rent them. Handy for those that are overseas (ahem, Kirbside). And cheaper than Kindle/Nook/what-have-you. Then Edith took me to (cue Hallelujah Chorus? No? Too over the top?) Trader Joe's. Loves it. Got some essentials... bananas, applesauce and peas (comfort food, just in cases. But obvi, I don't need any comforting!), frozen veggies, pita, tomatoes, rice, beans. Nope, no peach salsa. Not this go-around. Edith introduced me to TJ's Powerberries. Oh man, they are good! (She is SO bad for making me eat all this stuff!) The centers are juices from cranberries, acai, pomegranate, and blueberry and covered in dark chocolate. Whoa. Hey, new special treat. Went home, unpacked that and put on a cute black Target dress and silver TB flats to meet my friend Diana at the Verizon Center downtown. Yes, I navigated the Metro just fine. Child's play really. MB could do it in her sleep. (Miss you Mary Buck-Buck!)

She took me to this Launch Party for an "interesting" non-profit, Dog Meets World. It was started in Jville and her mom was involved in that launch, so she felt obligated to attend. And I'm up for anything, so whatevs! It was on the rooftop of the Newseum residences on Pennsylvania Ave with this ah-mazing view. Really, really cool. (Pics are up on FB) Good food, good people, good times. Then we went to a YNPN DC Networking gathering and I met a ton of youngsters with lots of information for me. But I got some more contacts and job leads that I'm going to follow up on today. Diana, her friend Sonya, and I went toNando's for some din-din, which was yummy and inexpensive (YAY!).

I love love love it here. Really, could not be happier.

Today's plan: Run (I'm thinking I'm going to check out Falls Church today. Find The Falls Church, so I know where I'm going on Sunday), and shoot out a bunch of e-mails. Wish me luck!

Love to all!

Kaylan

Me and Diana. And view. Oh hey, Capitol.

Old Post Office+Sunset=This.

Let's be honest, shall we?

It's D-Day.



Today is the day.



See ya Jacksonville. It's been real. It's been fun. But it hasn't been real fun.



(Yeah, I'm taking it back old school-- middle school yearbook signing old school)



I'm excited. Thrilled. Exhilarated. And terrified all rolled into one.



Time to be a big girl. Let's do this world.

Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

What, then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31