Dedications

Dedicated to DJN: Yes, I spent my Friday night working on a puzzle and no I'm not at all ashamed. 1000 pieces, 7 friends, 7 pm - 2 am. And isn't that a good looking bengal tiger?

Dedicated to my cat obsessed friends. Sonks, Joe John, and J Mill.
Dedicated to Tuesday, October 28. A beautiful night where five friends had free dinner here and then watched with thousands of other spectators the parade of drag queens who descend dupont circle for the annual high heel race. And these aren't two random drag queens, these two are actually friends of mine.

Another winning week

I had originally started a post about how I was feeling a little apocalyptic and preparing myself to trek west, but then last week I had one of the best weeks I've had in a long time, and I figured I would lighten the mood by sharing a few highlights.

Sunday: Joyce Street hosted a lasagnaoff. Over the past few months we have been holding a series of offs. The first off in the series was a granolaoff between Ryan Bessey and I. Some of you who have known me for a long time know that my mom makes great granola. In fact she sometimes ships it to me in D.C. However, I lost to Ryan Bessey, he won the trophy, the glory and the bragging rights with a recipe he got out of a missionary cook book. My pride was hurt and I set the next off, a pina coladaoff out, then I decided to reenter this time in the lasagnaoff. Once again, I was overconfident, and I took third place out of four. Nonetheless the evening was filled with laughs, good food, celebrity judges, foul play, corry's cronies, apple crisp and more which more than made up for the loss.

Monday: Columbus Day I was supposed to have work off, but I opted to work from home to take a day off later in the week. This was my first experience working at home. I was surprisingly productive, it was a beautiful fall day and in between spurts of work throughout the day I managed to also squeeze in a bike ride, a run and two games of tennis.

Tuesday - Thursday: My little brother Brian and his friends Danny, Jason and Bradley were in town to see D.C. and this was such a treat. I love this city and love showing people the places that I love. We visited the national cathedral, the temple, amsterdam falafal, the white house, the monuments at night, the capitol, library of congress and eastern market. We cooked Moroccan food for my roommates, rode bikes to old town, stayed up late telling ghost stories and had impromptu dance parties. Although at times I felt totally uncool as I realized how out of college scene I was when they discussed the latest indie bands and took a break from touring to shop at Urban Outfitters and my roommate commented on how they use more hair product than any of us do.

See what I mean. These are the kind of boys that take pictures like this. I just can't hang with that. I can't be that cool I am "aunt jenny" for sure.What Corry siblings do when they're together, built massive forts from pillows and blankets and make ethnic food. Chicken Tajines with prunes, please.
J.C. and the boys enjoying Middle Eastern "Tacos" that's the best way you can describe a falafal.

Friday - Saturday: Dutch-Bike-Dutch
This is one of my favorite traditions on the east coast. I've already written posts on this event, so I won't say much, except that once again it was awesome. And this year we even had a sponsor, my old roommate (sniff sniff) Stephanie is a peanut butter heiress. And this comes with a lot of a perks, not the least of which is an unlimited supply of delicious all natural peanut butter.
This year was bigger and better than ever. The weather was perfect and it was just me and seventy of my closest friends traipsing through amish country and then having to endure jokes from a bunch of twenty something virgins when we decided to go visit intercourse, pennsylvania.
Part of the pack. This gives you an idea, but at times we were literally riding in a group of about 30, even though we were divided between four different rides.
Sarah, Amber, Will, Ben and I enjoying the sun and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the jeanette and company provided.
Me with Lisa and Tyler. DBD vets from Spring '08 reunited.

So an OFF, four fun visitors and a road trip to bike in Pennsylvania truly makes for a spectacular week.

"I've got a bracelet too"

What I have and haven't been doing this summer

What I haven't been doing? Blogging. It's not due to a lack of material, just inspiration. Tomorrow I start my second semester of grad school and since I feel like I'm more busy now than I have been in my entire life, I have a feeling blogging is going to continue to drop lower on the list of priorities. That said, I would like to share a few highlights from the last month.

My time for the last two weeks has been completely consumed by "the cleanse" This is a 28 day detox diet that I have been doing with my roommates and a few other friends. And I must say, as overly dramatic as it may sound, it has changed my life. It has completely changed the way that I think about food and nutrition. I read this article by Michael Pollan a year and a half ago. I was so intrigued that I printed it out at work and saved it in my desk. I even purchased his book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and was intrigued by his theories of natural eating. However, I never had the will power and the motivation to really change my diet. This changed when my roommate Leanna convinced our roommates plus a few other friends to participate. Your diet in the cleanse is basically a vegan diet, it also restricts any refined sugar or grain, no bread, even whole wheat, pasta etc. If any of you really want the sales pitch, call me and I'll give it to you. But let me just give you the highlights and changes I've experienced in the first two weeks of the cleanse.

• Waking up is so much easier. I sleep better and can't sleep in past 7:30, even on the weekends
• I have increased energy during the day, my workouts have been much better and if I feel a little bit tired, I just take a five minute nap and I'm fine.
• I don't crave sugar. One day I was having some intense cinnamon roll cravings, but other than that I have felt great and I never feel hungry.
  
• It's been so fun to discover and cook so many new foods like wheat berries, oat groats, tamari, tempeh, kuzu, wakame and many many more.
• I love eating all my meals with friends, it's so much more enjoyable
• I went off all products I was using for my skin before the cleanse to see the difference it would make, and it has cleared considerably
• I didn't weigh myself before, but I know my clothes are looser and I would guess I have lost five pounds so far

The big downside is the amount of time it takes to cook and clean, but overall the benefits have definitely outweighed the costs. And if you aren't sold, talk to me more and we can discuss.

My other major project these last two weeks have be refinishing a table. I moved two weeks ago and we've been working on putting our house together and I was inspired by my brother, and I don't have any before pictures, but this table was just a basic brown wood table before. And here's the after shot:
If any of you are curious to know how I refinished this. I sanded the entire table first, then I painted on three coats of black paint, then I sanded down some of the edges to give it that antique look. Then I took some green paint and used a q-tip to put a little on the edges that now showed through because of the sanding, then immediately after I applied the green paint I wiped the excess off with a towel. After everything dried I put on two coats of polyacrylic. This may sound easy, but I had a lot of mishaps, the major mishap was when I knocked an entire bucket of green paint on the porch, I think I found my next refinishing project. But with a free hour or two here and there it took me about a week and a half.

I mentioned above that I moved, I hate moving and this is my fourth move in two years, but I had help from a group of my favorite guys. I was well taken care of. They not only helped me move, but Dan and Joe also helped out before and after to pick up random furniture that was purchased or free off craigslist. I love my new house, but it's always hard to move, I honestly love all the girls in both the houses on Joyce and Uhle, and continue to feel like I have 11 roommates (13 if I count the newlyweds)
Speaking of newlyweds, that's been another major part of my summer fun. Celebrating with Sarah and Hollie in Utah and Dallas on their beautiful wedding days. Their weddings were so different, yet so appropriate for both of them. I am so happy for them and for the amazing men that they chose to marry. I am truly blessed to have them as my friends and look forward to continuing to stay close despite this major life change.
That's about a wrap. Although you may not think the pictures can get much crazier than the one above. How about I try to top it by a picture of my slip and sliding into the ocean. Gracias Matt Fischer.

Pioneer Day

I haven't even been in Utah for twelve hours and it's been the best Pioneer Day I can remember. Despite spending four hours on the tarmac in DC yesterday due to "thunderstorms" and of course missing my connection from Dallas to SLC and spending the night in the Dallas airport last night (where I found an ipod vending machine, srsly?), the day has turned out to be fantastic. I am here for Sarah's wedding, but I didn't tell my parents and surprising them has been a real treat.
I love my life in D.C., but I definitely miss Utah. It's been almost two years since I've been here in the summer and can I just say dry heat is where it's at. In these twelve hours I've managed the following and I'm really wishing I had more than four days.

• Saw the new house my parents purchased in sugar house that my brother will live in while he attends the U and helped to refinish and move furniture. I'm in love with this house and it seriously adds to the temptation to move back west.
  
• Rode a vintage schwinn bike up 21st street
• Played basketball and sharks and minnows in the pool with my family
• Ate a delicious home cooked meal
  
• Took a nap
• Rode with my dad on a motorcycle up American Fork Canyon
• Enjoyed an evening around a bonfire with my family singing songs and telling stories from our ancestors. It may sound cheesy, but I loved it.
  

And finally, I can't think of a more fitting pioneer tribute than to share a poem that my grandmother wrote about Nellie Unthank, a member of the Martin Handcart Company and one of the first pioneers to settle in Cedar City where my Corry side of the family is from.

Nellie Unthank

aged ten,
walked, starved, froze
with the Martin Company
and left her parents in shallow graves
near the Sweetwater.

The Richards on First South
hugged their children's heads to muffle
Nellie, strapped to a board, without anesthetic,
screaming, her frost-black feet
removed with a butcher knife
and a carpenter saw

After that she walked on her knees,

married in polygamy to
William Unthank (of Cedar City)
who took her home to one room with a dirt floor
She damped and scraped the floor
hard and smooth as sandstone,
washed it every day;
clean muslin curtains at the window,
on good box cupboards,

Saturday nights the hearth whitened
and Nellie made her way
knitting, crocheting, carding wool,
kneeling by the washtub set on blocks
scrubbing townspeople's clothes on the board
and trade a yeast start for
a handful of sugar sent in the jar.

Said never to another operation --
waddled on leather kneepads in her little skirt
dragging her unhealed stumps
or pushed herself on a board on wheels.

Once a year Nellie and her six children cleaned
the meeting house.
The boys fetched water.
Annie, Martha, Polly washed the windows.
Nellie scrubbed the floor.

--Iris Parker Corry

A few summer requirements achieved

I realize it's been almost a month since I updated, and this is not due to a lack of inspiration, but to the priority that I've placed on blogging. But I've committed to do a mini update tonight of what has been consuming the month of July, which includes a few requisite summer activities listed below.

1. Summer Reading
I'm obsessed with this book that I'm reading Three Cups of Tea if you've talked to me in the last few weeks chances are that I've brought it up. It's a truly inspirational story of former climber Greg Mortensen who recovers from a failed attempt at climbing K2 in a small village in Pakistan and vows to return and build a school there after he sees the longing for the children there to receive an education and the inability of the government to provide it to them. It is a story that I think anyone who has traveled to a developing country can relate to as you visit for a short period of time and I think in our most idealistic moments we all make promises or at least think to ourselves how much we would love to come back and try to do or create something for this community that has taught us so much. Greg Mortsensen is someone who did this and more. Nicholas Kristof wrote this article in the New York Times that acurately portrays what I think our approach to foreign policy and national security should focus more heavily on, building schools instead of bombs as he says.

2. Gardening
What started as an herb garden earlier this spring become much more a few weeks ago. I had a friend introduce me to the concept of square foot gardening, then we held a workshop where we had a girl who had taught square foot gardening on her mission teach us about gardening and composting. I was fascinated and the thought of becoming a little more self sufficient and watching something grow was very appealing. Setting up the garden really wasn't that much work or that expensive. And here are some pictures of my garden after three weeks. I'm hoping that it continues to grow and produces despite my late start. I am growing tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, cilantro, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, carrots, basil, rosemary, squash and zuccini. If any of you have minimal time and space for a garden I strongly recommend this method. Email me or do your research on the internet, there is a lot of information available.
3. Road Trips
Definitely an essential part of any summer and this summer has been no exception. I spent this weekend in Cincinnati, and thanks to the Jensen's and their hospitality and letting us take advantage of their "all inclusive suburban resort" we had a weekend that struck just the right balance of relaxation and fun.


Amber's family didn't seem to mind that at least one of the guys that went with us was trying to mold his tastes in baseball and music. There was also second cousin uncle Dan and Andy competing with Joe to be the competing to be the new favorite.

Cooling off after a morning of tennis and preparing for the first decathlon event, a race across the pool on inflated mattresses.

First and second row seats directly behind home plate with the diamond club. That's just the way we roll. I was agog I was aghast when we walked in an they handed us a gift bag, told us there was a gourmet all you can eat buffet, followed by full service during the game. Hot dogs, slushees, peanuts, nachos, ice cream and any other ball park fare on demand and included with the ticket. Diva Dan even wanted a Red's hat and so one of the workers brought him hats of varying sizes for him to choose from. I called my parents and had them turn on the game and they were able to see us on tv, my mom said she has never been more proud of me, I don't know if that's something that I should be proud of.

The game was great, and the reds won and don't you worry as if the best seats in the house, great company and perfect weather weren't enough. They had a softball home run derby after the game followed by one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen.

Saturday we went to King's Island, conquered the beast, ate skyline chili and had a hot dog-off. Who won is subjective and controversial, like most offs that have happened this summer. If you could the number of hot dogs that would be Joe, but if you think most food should win that would be Dan. That night we saw The Dark Night, which I'm sure everyone has or will see. It was incredible. We spent Sunday afternoon in Columbus Ohio and met up with my roommates Stephanie and Erika and our friend Kristie. Steph is from Columbus and it was definitely a treat to meet the Sonksen's and Stephanie's mom is incredibly kind and entertaining, just like her daughter.

I am recommitting myself to better document the rest of the summer and catch up on a few of the events that I didn't get to in this post.

Life Plan

Every couple of months I tend to come up with a new life plan. The plan usually involves me quitting my job in the next 3-6 months and traveling to some exotic location. Then I find a reason to not do that and 3-6 months later I make the same plan. I've realized there is a pattern here and this has been going on for at least a year and a half. Hmmmmm.

In the meantime I entertain myself by thinking of funny (in my head) captions to go along with pictures like this one. Please caption away.