Just a normal, wonderful day

Today has been an absolutely lovely day. If I had a list, it would probably be in the top five, if not top three Best Days of Summer. It started out as best any day could: it was sunny, not terribly hot, and I got to sleep in until NINE O'CLOCK. This late hour is unprecedented in the annals of my summer mornings. Win. I had a few necessary items to check of my to-do list (created the previous night), but I firmly believe that checking things off a list is a very satisfying action if the things are actually completed. So I went to the library, printed off three copies of my English paper and one copy of a reading response, deposited some checks at the bank, and then checked all of those things off my list. Next order of business: drive to Newburyport, find the paint-your-own-pottery place, and paint a plate.

Painting pottery is one of my favorite things to do and it has somehow become a sort of annual summer tradition for me. Last summer I painted a mug; the summer before that I painted a bowl; and today I painted a plate. I always thought it would be cool to have a full set of self-decorated plates. Maybe if I ever get married, that's what I'll do instead of registering for them. But I digress. I like painting my own pottery despite the fact that I am by no means a gifted painter. I like going alone, because no one can make fun of my finished product, no one gets to think it's a weird thing to do, and I can concentrate without distraction. Does that sound mildly hermit-like? I hope not, but even if it does, I don't make a habit of it, so it's probably fine.

It took me a long time to find the place. I walked around Newburyport for about an hour before finally deciding to give up, but not before driving by the place where I thought it should be one last time. Luckily for me, I found it! I was the only person there except for the lady who was working, and she was on her phone most of the time. Except when she went to pick up her dog from the groomer's, leaving me in charge of the shop, I guess. Good thing I had no ulterior motives to rob the place or anything. I finished my plate in about an hour. It's white with orange/yellow flowers with green stems, and the underside is blue and white with green and yellow polka dots. I'll take a picture when I go pick it up next week.

After painting the plate I went to the grocery store to pick up supplies for dinner, which I was making with my friend Beth before we went to our English class. We made stir fry with alfredo sauce, garlic bread with homemade garlic butter, and some white wine, which was a very nice addition to the menu. After eating, we drove to Salem State for English. English was also lovely today, because we got to discuss the culture differences between America and China. I haven't had a chance to discuss observations from my trip to China with anyone outside VYO ever, so it was a very refreshing experience. Overall, it was a great day, and I hope that going to pick up my plate is just as fun as painting it was.

Song of the Day (Week?)

Aside: about a million high school hockey players have taken over the campus. That's right. Hockey. In the middle of July. And they make more mess than the to-remain-unnamed-denomination-alists. This makes cleaning dorm bathrooms a rather nasty business.

Main point: this past week marked the beginning of a summer English class that lasts until the 20th of August, meeting every Monday and Wednesday. The class entails a drive of about half an hour, which therefore means that I have the full drive to sing along with any and all of the cds I have in the car. Thus, over the course of the past three days, I have listened to "Thank You for the Music" about five times per trip. Thank you, Mama Mia, for providing me with a new sing-a-long song.

Sun. Burn. Ouch.

Today I went to the beach. I put on sunscreen, but I guess I missed a very large portion of my back. Thus, I am now the color of a slightly undercooked lobster from my mid back to my shoulders, down my arms, and on my neck. So far it doesn't hurt too badly, and I'm really hoping that I'll avoid peeling, which I think is one of the nastiest things ever. Note to self for the future: if you can't tan, apply sunscreen with extreme liberality, and make sure that you wear a snowsuit, regardless of the outside temperature.

New oboe bag!

I went and picked up my new oboe bag at the music store today. It's SO FANTASTIC! Maybe I'm overreacting a bit. I mean, it's just a case, much like any other oboe case. But it's such an improvement over my old huge baby blue oboe-music-tools-everything bag that I think it's worth the exclamation. It looks like this:

The only disadvantage is that I now have to carry my music separately, which means that I have acquired a much higher risk of forgetting it or leaving something crucial behind. I guess I'll just have to develop a new music-remembering system.

A 4th of July to Remember

For the 4th of July, we (Nathan, Sarah, Chaz, Andrew, and I) went to Washington DC. We left soon after work - around 4 in the afternoon - and started driving, arriving around 1 in the morning.

Our hotel turned out to be right in front of a club, which must have been closing around the time we got there. Everyone was outside, which was a little nerve-wracking, but we got inside the air-conditioned hotel soon enough. The next morning, we got up and started sight-seeing. First we went to the WWII memorial, and then on to the Museum of National History. We saw some cool stuff like the costume worn by C-3PO in Star Wars, the earliest surviving John Deere plow, and some models that looked extraordinarily life-like. When we found them, we immediately decided to pose with them, resulting in some fun pictures....

We walked to a nearby food court for lunch, and then headed back to the museum for some more historical education. Unfortunately, lunch didn't sit very well with me and I ended up in the bathroom wondering if I'd make it through the rest of the day for about an half hour, but it passed quickly enough and life went on. We saw the Julia Child kitchen, some dresses of the first ladies, and, appropriately enough for five music majors, finished up with the musical instrument exhibit. That evening, Andrew and I walked to the capitol after dinner and found the Capitol Concert! We heard Lang Lang play variation 18 from Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme by Paganini. While it wasn't the best performance of all time, it was a fun walk and we took some great pictures of the capitol building at sunset.

The morning of the 4th, we went to church at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which was a 1.5 mile walk from the hotel. The church was small but beautiful, the priest was English (complete with accent), and the choir was magnificent. Furthermore, the congregation sang heartily, making the service a very satisfying experience for everyone. After church, we ran back to the hotel, then ran to the metro station, from which we went to the National Cathedral. There seems to be a theme in some of my recent travels: whenever going to a cathedral, a long, hot walk uphill is involved. This trip was no exception. Yet again, however, the hike was worth it as the cathedral was beautiful, huge, and full of people listening to organ music. We didn't stay for the concert there (see photo as to why), but we did see a stained glass window with a moon rock as well as the grave of Woodrow Wilson.

This adventure was followed by another walk to the metro station, then a walk to find food, a walk to other food after we found out Chipotle was closed, and yet another walk to the National Air and Space Museum. I found a funny sign in the women's bathroom there.

Finally, to cap off our 4th celebration, we went to the Air Force Band concert at the Arlington Memorial, where we heard some nice patriotic music, watched some fantastic fireworks, and met up with Nathan and Andrew's dad as well as some of Chaz's high school friends. We all thought the memorial was really cool:

In an effort to find some celebratory Mexican food or ice cream, we trekked around the city for another two miles or so until we decided it was time for bed and headed back to the hotel. Total number of miles covered on foot on the 4th of July: more than 13. Go us. Needless to say, we were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

On Monday, we said goodbye to Nate, who was staying in DC for awhile longer for a conference of the American Guild of Organists (I think?), got some breakfast at both the whole foods market and Starbucks, dropped of some Chex Mix and head phones that Nate forgot, and started driving back to Massachusetts. On the way back, we stopped in Philadelphia for some lunch (we finally made it to Chipotle!) and visited the Wanamaker organ in the largest Macy's store in the US.

After taking a few...ok, maybe several...wrong turns, we figured out where we were going and made it back home by 11:30 that night. All in all, I think it was probably the best 4th of July experience of my life so far. Maybe we'll do it again next year!