I've had a couple nanny gigs lined up this week that have both fallen through, my bank account is on the brink of extinction, and the landlord has taken forever to send over the lease, so I can't do laundry and my clothing options are becoming questionable. But honestly that's really all I have to complain about.
My new roommates are wonderful--we make a splendid little trio, going to church and FHE and other various ward activities together like we've been best friends forever. It's nice to have that unity. This past week we've totally revamped the apartment, and even though our window curtains are (literally) hanging off a cardboard tube and we have to sit on a rug on the floor to eat, the apartment is coming together quite nicely. We've got fresh flowers on the piano and a vanilla-scented candle on our coffee table. Sitting in the front room all day "applying for jobs" is much less depressing than it was last week.
On Saturday Becky and I volunteered at a local elementary school to help clean and garden and whatnot to get ready for the new school year. As I stood at the booth signing people in, I was smacked with the realization that I love volunteering. I love it. I don't know why I didn't do more of it in high school and college.
On Sunday we happily kept up the volunteering streak and helped serve food at a women's shelter in Anacostia. If you don't know DC, Anacostia is the ghetto where all the crime happens and everybody dies. It was the middle of the day, but even walking one block I was afraid we were going to get shot. I'd love to keep volunteering at that shelter, but unfortunately the experience didn't generate quite enough love for me to risk my life every day trying to get there. After saying goodbye we drove into the city and peered at the White House through an iron railing, sat atop some stone monument and once again, reveled in the fact that we actually live here.
And yesterday. Yesterday I was so productive. I woke up, made my bed for once, applied for two jobs at USAID, did some yoga, went for a 3-mile run, and then did some more yoga. There is no such thing as too much yoga. Then I spent fifteen minutes trying to coax our printer into functioning so I could print out my resume, but our printer is sneaky and stubborn. It makes all sorts of printery noises, tricking you into believing that something is actually happening in there, then it spits out a blank piece of paper! But I wasn't going to let the printer get the best of me, so I hopped on a bus and hoped it would take me to somewhere with a printer.
The bus took me to Barnes and Noble, which unfortunately is not equipped with a public printer but is equipped with an abundance of public printed material. After browsing around for awhile, I found a quiet spot upstairs next to a big bright window, pulled "The Opposite of Loneliness" off the shelf, and read the beautiful words of the late Marina Keegan in quiet contentment for a few hours.
What I'm really trying to say is, unemployment isn't all that bad.
I was going to take the bus back home, but decided to walk since it's really only a few miles and it was a nice 75 degrees outside. So walk I did. I chatted with my mama and admired the green beauty of this place I live in called Maryland. At home I rendezvoused with my roomies and we walked over to FHE, which consisted of a Mormon message, a confusing game of Munchkin with the missionaries, and a beautiful view of the sunset from a 14th-floor apartment. The blinds were closed, but I shamelessly walked over and opened them because there's no way social propriety is going to stop me from seeing a sunset, especially one as good as this!
After FHE we went to the grocery store and I bought baked beans because I was craving them and Not-Your-Mother's Beach Babe Texturizing Hair Cream (that's a thing) because I'm not that poor yet and my hair is finally getting long enough to wear down (I know I've been saying that for months, but I actually mean it this time!).
After we unloaded our groceries, some girls who live up the road stopped by and we chatted in our cozy, candle-lit living room and then Melanie asked me to dump a bucket of ice water on her head.
I stayed up late and went to bed happy. Woke up happy, too.
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