My Haircut

I've been in desperate need of a haircut for a while now. So I asked around the office to see if there was anyone really good near my new offices. I got a recommendation that seemed really good and reasonably priced, but I was warned 'he's very very opinionated.' Given my complete and utter lack of fashion and style, I don't mind having a bossy stylist. Yesterday I trekked down to the salon and had to fill out a form detailing my usual 'routine' with my hair. The form was turned into the stylist whom I shall call 'S.' I should preface this with, he did a great job and I'll definitely be going back to him. In fact, I think he's the best I've been to since I've been in DC. The conversation with S though was hysterical, it went like this:

S: 'I see you do not do anything to style your hair.'
Me: 'Yes, that's right-- I'm fairly lazy.'
S: 'So you only blow dry?'
Me: 'No."
S: 'No??? NO BLOW DRY?!?!?! You don't do anything?'
Me: 'Ummm I brush it and wash and condition and... '
S: 'Well, I will tell you my opinion'
Me: 'Okay, pray tell...'
S: 'Your hair needs to be longer, it has nice wave. You need to grow it. I will fix the layers in the mean time.' (I'll spare you the details of his long drawn out elaborate plan for the future of my hair)
Me: "I will dedicate all of my free time to growing my hair."
S: "Good." (not even the hint of a smile--that's a funny joke right???)
(then he starts cutting my hair-- DRY! No wash, no rinse, NADA!)
Me: ''Do you always cut hair dry? I've never had my hair cut when it's dry. "
S: "No. Never"
Me: "umm.... what?"
S: "If you will not bother to dry your hair why should I? You will not do it anyway."
Me: "ummm... what?"
S: "Well, I need to see how it is when it is air dryed. I need to see growth patterns, since you will not blow dry it."
Me: "Okay, fair enough."
S: "You need to grow your hair."
Me: "Yes, I got that, I'm busy right now trying to grow it faster than you can cut it."
S: (frowns) "You could be sexy if you only blow dried."
M: (confused) "I don't think the blow dryer is my problem."
S: "If your hair was longer it would look like the hair of a Victoria's Secret model."
Me: "Pity I don't have the body to match."
S: (not even a glimmer of a smile!) "You will. I will cut good layers"

I hope he meant in my hair and not my hips!!!!

The Nerdiest Baseball Game Ever?

Last month, P and I attended the annual Congressional baseball game. It was a pretty neat experience. P and I enjoy going to baseball games anyway, so it was particularly fun to watch the Dem's and Republican's battle it out.

The fans were particularly nerdy, myself included. I've never seen so many people in full suits at a game! Most of the audience was also busy sending work mails on their blackberries -- that never happens at a regular Nat's game (except for maybe P and me :) ). Additionally there were signs like 'The Majority Rocks!' and 'Republican Revolution.' A particularly nerdy highlight was when Jeff Flake (R-AZ) was up to bat the audience taunted him by chanting in a sing-songy voice 'Earmarks, Earmarks, Eaaarrrmarks'.

If your wondering the R's won for the 8th straight year.

Meet Mercy

First off, I just want to thank you all for your support and prayers. Knowing I have such great friends in rough times makes a world of difference.

Now, in happier news. Well, different news anyway. There are a ton of feral cats that live in my neighborhood. We've given some of them nicknames-- there's 'One-Ear' 'Black Cat' and 'Scruffy' and 'Orangey.' For the most part they go about their business and we go about ours. On Tuesday morning, I left my house and saw a tiny kitten (clearly stray) under a tree in our front yard. Of course, I attempted to catch it to no avail. However, I did see where the little kitten lived and it was awful --under a step surrounded by beer bottles and rubbish. So sad. This bothered me all day long. Poor kitten!

When I got home from work, I spent 30 minutes carrying on to Peter how sad I was that I wasn't able to catch the kitten. The poor kitten destined to live the life of a feral cat. It's particularly sad because stray kittens under about 9-12 weeks are usually able to adapt to humans before becoming feral. Peter took pity on me and said he'd go look to see if the kitten. As if it would still be sitting under the tree. Well, she was!!! So I spent the next 45 minutes trying to catch her, stealthy following her down the block and finally was able to catch her by the tail (much to her chagrin). I carried her inside and set her up in our guest bathroom with the basics (food, water, litter). I gave her a few minutes then gave her a bath -- again this poor kitten was so traumatized. We took her to the vet the next day, and learned she was in good health with no diseases, and is about 8 weeks old.

Naturally, what I didn't consider is I'd end up with a third cat. An idea I'm not crazy about!!! I think that makes me a crazy cat lady. I desperately pleaded with Alina and my mom to take her but they neither one of them was even slightly interested in a new kitten and I couldn't bring myself to take her to the humane society. Of course, now I've bonded with her-- kittens are adorable.

We call her Mercy after the hospital my mom was in-- so meet Mercy my newest cat. Older cats Noël and Toby are not pleased, but they are starting to adjust. The age gap is big -- N & T are 13 and 12, making them grouchy old ladies!

My New Favorite Restaurant!

We are busy preparing for our Morocco trip by reading travel books, watching movies involving Morocco, learning key Arabic & French phrases and eating Moroccan cuisine. As part of the preparation, this past Sunday P and I went to Marrakesh with Billy & j.dub. It was amazing! In my opinion, at $30 per head (plus tax & tip) it's one of the best deals in DC. It's 7 delicious courses and the atmosphere is phenomenal. If you live in the area you should definitely check it out. If you live far from DC you should come visit and we'll go there to eat -- dinner's on me :)

Back from Korea!

Korea was amazing! I had such a fantastic time. It's a beautiful country full of wonderful people. I'll share photos when I can they will be far more interesting than my rushed narration. Here's a brief recap of what we did:

Day 1: Leave for airport, realized I forgot my camera! Kick myself thoroughly then remember that Alina and Camille are likely to be better prepared than me. Or in the worst case, purchase new camera in Korea. Fly from Dulles to LAX. In LAX, get voicemail from Alina that she is catching an earlier flight to Seoul so please let Camille know. Send email to Camille's OLD email address with Alina's flight info on it. Camille never got the info. Then fly to Tokyo, and slept like a baby in business class (the seats lie flat!).

Day 2: Transfer in Tokyo to Seoul and arrive in Seoul. It was easy to pick out Alina & Camille because they were the only blonde's at arrivals! Caught a shuttle to our guest house in Seoul. I highly recommend the guest house we stayed at it's the Seoul Guest House. We stayed in the Sarang-chae which was a little 3 room house. It was so cute and built in the traditional way with rice paper walls, it was beautiful! Got organized in the guest house and went to bed.

Day 3: Woke up bright and early and headed out to find breakfast. Stumbled onto a great little bakery near the guest house and piled our trays full of mystery pastries (none of us knew any Korean or could read hangul). Lucky for us, all the pastries were delicious! We then headed off to Kyongbok Palace. It was great and they were reenacting a changing of the guard, and some of the Kings processionals as they were during the Chosan Dynasty. We even got our picture with the King! I'll share photos as soon as Camille & Alina upload them. We then headed off to Insadong for lunch. We had an amazing lunch. It was so delicious. I should add they we ate a huge meal about every two hours on the trip! Then we metroed to Seoul Tower, took the cable car up to the top and enjoyed great views of Seoul. We collapsed into bed exhausted at 8:00pm!

Day 4: Woke up went to the same bakery and stuffed faces again. (Notice the ongoing theme of stuffing faces!). We then went to Changduk Palace. It was magnificent. We wandered around Seoul a bit more then headed back to the Guest House to pack up and head to Camille's place. We metroed the hour and a half back to Camille's, dropped off our bags and headed out to eat again!

Day 5: We took a tour of the DMZ. This was amazing! We went to 3 different look out points where we could peer into North Korea, went to the third infiltration tunnel (one of the tunnels the North Koreans dug to move troops into the South), went to Dorasan Train Station, and then finished the tour at the Joint Security Area. Where we were told by ROK and US troops to keep our hands down, no sudden movements, gesturing or verbal/non-verbal contact with North Korean soldiers. I should add that Alina & Camille were slightly concerned that I would gesture while talking and get us killed!!! While we were in the meeting room about 5 North Korean soldiers came up and started peering int he windows. It was so exciting. Camille got a great picture of one staring in the window.

Day 6: Started off the day fully intending to go to Suwon, but got distracted in route and instead spent the day shopping. Seven large oil paintings, three purses, two robes, a blanket, a set of chopsticks, and countless souvenirs later we wrapped up this day by eating again.

Day 7: Went on a tour of Kosu Cave and took a cruise on Lake Chunchoen to the Dam. It was very relaxing and great to see the Korean country side.

Day 8: Low key day of more eating, packing, and general preparations for leaving. Alina & I said farewell to Camille and caught a bus to Incheon. Arrived in Incheon had quite the adventure getting to our hotel, and ate dinner at a nearby the restaurant. Lucky for me I can say bi bim bap! I think it may just be all the Korean I need! :) and kamsahamnida, of course.

Day 9: Catch shuttle to the airport and fly to Tokyo. Spent my 6 hour layover in Tokyo in the Admirals Club. Flying business class ROCKS! The Admirals Club had showers, nice bathrooms, free computers, free wifi, free buffet with snacks, free drinks, it was great! Managed to use my Korean calling card on Japanese phones which was a major feat considering I can neither understand or read either language! Then caught a plane to Chicago and left Tokyo.

Day 10: Arrived in Chicago wizzed through immigration and customs in record time and managed to find an earlier flight to DC. Traded my first class seat for a middle seat on a flight that left 4 hours earlier than my scheduled flight. Flew to DC squished in the middle. And arrived safely at home around 8 pm.

Korea was a terrific experience and all three of us had a great time. I managed to grow my stomach three times its normal size and learned mad charade skills! Pics will follow soon.

Harebrained Schemes

Among some of my close friends I've become notorious for my ridiculous ideas. For instance, I once changed all the electronics in my house to French thinking that this would help my French language skills. It didn't work. And because I don't have a strong French electronics vocabulary, it took me forever to figure out how to reset it to English! Additionally, Peter really didn't like watching movies in French. He was particularly annoyed when I surprised him by switching his google to Spanish. Then there was the time Alina and I thought it would be a good idea to transport 7 individual containers (no lids, no trays, lots of air conditioning) of ice cream across town from our favorite ice cream place in July. Note to readers: ice cream does not travel well!!!

Well I had another one of these ingenious ideas this week. I bought myself a pull up bar. BARGAIN! Only $20 and it just sticks right in the door frame so I can do pull ups and leg lifts and get a rock hard bod for tri season. Smart idea, right? WRONG! My pull up bar was quickly reduced to nothing more than a dangle bar. It's a lot harder doing leg lifts then I remember!?!? And is there such a thing as a pull up crunches? It's a tough realization to discover I'm a dangling blob rather than the pull up leg lift machine I pictured in my mind.

Anyhow after spending an inordinate amount of time sadly dangling in my doorway, and whining about it to Alina. She suggested I lower the bar to do dips and modified pull ups. Clever idea right? She has a PhD she's clearly quite bright. WRONG AGAIN! I pulled my back doing the stupid modified pull ups. I flew off the bar and hurt myself doing another exercises!?!?! That bar is pretty much a death trap. Mind you, this whole time Peter keeps saying 'just take it down before you really hurt yourself by flying off the bar, over the stairway railing, and down the stairs.'

Well, the pièce de résistance came a few nights ago. P is out of town and the recent storms have knocked out my home phone line so I use only my cell. So it's late at night and being the diligent student that I am I'm busily working away on my final. I'm in the room with the dangle bar in the doorway and my cell phone starts to ring. I remember it is in the study so I quickly finish my sentence and leap up to answer what I assume is my husbands call. Being the dedicated and devoted wife that I am, I sprint out of the room to answer his call and WHAM right into the *#&@(#&*@ dangle bar!!! Which I stupidly set at about nose height!!! I am knocked backward onto the floor from the force! My nose has taken the brunt of the force, and it's not pretty!

I didn't go to the doctor but I'm fairly confident my nose is hairline fractured at the very least! It hurts ALL the time, is red and swollen, and while I don't have black eyes they do look a little funny. I tried to cover up the red line that I now have imprinted across my nose with make up but dabbing at my nose with make up was just too painful. It has prompted people at work to ask if something happened to my nose. Unfortunately, P is out of town so I can't just say he decked me :) which is really probably better (and more believable) then my idiotic tale. My boss was so befuddled by the whole thing he kept asking... 'but WHY did you think the pull up bar would be a good idea?' Excellent question. Sadly, I don't have a good answer.

Your thoughts? Stong words from John P.

I accidentally stumbled on this transcript from John Piper's radio show. What do you think of this? I'd be interested to hear your views.

Is it wrong for married people to have friends of the opposite sex?

No. For goodness sakes, no. But one wonders, since it came up, if by "friend" you mean something too close.

I hope that my wife considers all of my male colleagues friends. But there are all kinds of logistical dynamics that she would avoid with men that she wouldn't avoid with women.

For example, we as a staff at Bethlehem don't ride in the car alone with any woman, period. If there are two women, yes. A man and a woman, yes. One woman, No!

My wife would do the same thing. She would feel very awkward being taken to the airport, for example, by a young man if they were alone. If our daughter is with her, not a problem.

Every now and then Noel will ask a woman in the church to come clean house for her. It takes her about four hours. If I'm there, Noel stays there. If Noel has to go, I go. I don't stay in my house with this woman, even though she is a friend and a member of our church. I count her as a friend, but we take steps to be careful.

I don't think married Christians should go out to lunch with friends of the opposite sex. This is really tough in the professional world, but I'll say it anyway. Say, for example, there is a woman lawyer who is married, and she's in a firm with fifty others, some of whom are men. And a guy says, "We need to talk about this case. Let's do lunch." I don't think she should do lunch. I think she should go into his office, leave the door open, and do business there. But if he wants to do lunch, she should say, "Can Jane come along?"

So those are the kinds of things that need to be handled carefully. Yes to the friendship. But we need to preserve the whole array of dynamics that cause our spouses to know that we're jealous for saying that we're married to them. And it's right to be that way.

Say, "I'm just eager to make plain to others, 'I'm not available!' I have a man (or a woman) and I'm very happily married. I don't want to compromise you and I don't want to compromise me."

I think we have become very lackadaisical about that in the professional sphere.