Penultimate

It's our second-to-last week here in DC. I can hardly believe how quickly the summer has flown by! We're trying to squeeze in every last bit of living that we can out of this place because--to be honest--we don't ever see ourselves as coming back. (More on that later.) I'm so glad that we've had the summer here though because gosh there is so much to see and do.

Monday 7/25: Brock and I participated in the Barlow Center Talent Show! It was such a fun night. We did a parody of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." Brock and I lovingly refer to the BC as the friend zone because there's a whooooole lotta flirtin' that goes down here, but not a lotta datin'! So we wrote a song called "Platonic." Brock guitared it up while I channeled my inner angsty Alanis with mad vocals. And together, we came up with some pretty baller lyrics.

An old man turns twenty-eight
He plays the Xbox as his Friday night date
In the friend zone, and he can’t escape
The dinner group gives him stomach aches
And isn’t it platonic . . . don’tcha think?

It’s a bridesmaaaaaaaaaid on a wedding day
It’s a grandpaaaaaaaaaa who asks if you’re gay
It’s the bad adviiiiiiice from your roommates
And who would’ve thought . . . you’re single!!

Mr. Play-It-Safe was afraid to date
Sat in the commons room looking for a soulmate
He waited his whole dang life for a Cougarette
And as the years passed by
He thought “I love Jimmer Fredette”
And isn’t it platonic . . . don’tcha think?

It’s a bridesmaaaaaaaaaaid on a wedding day
It’s a grandpaaaaaaaaaa who asks if you’re gay
It’s the bad adviiiiice from your roommates
And who would’ve thought . . . you’re single!!

The Barlow Center makes people friends not lovers and certainly not eternal companions
The Barlow Center has lingering hugs but never never any kisses, bachelors and misses

So go and do what the Sowbys command

Quit flirting, quit talking, quit holding hands
It’s like 10,000 friends when all you need is a wife
How will you ever replenish? How will you multiply?
And isn’t it platonic . . . don’tcha think?
A little too platonic . . . and yeah, I really do think

It’s a bridesmaaaaaaaaaaaaid on a wedding day
It’s a grandpaaaaaaaaaa who asks if you’re gay
It’s the bad adviiiiiiiiiice from your roommates
And who would’ve thought . . . you’re single . . . . .

The Barlow has a funny way of sneaking up on you
The Barlow has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Of helping you out . . . of the friend zone.

Tuesday 7/26: I lunched with my old BYU cross-country/track friend Laura! She's just as saucy, opinionated, and brilliant as I remembered :) As if I should expect anything less from a person in their third year of Harvard Law School!

At dusk, Brock and I went on a therapeutic run on the Glover-Archbold trail. A little while ago I wrote about this wooded trail we'd found in the middle of DC--as it turns out, the Glover-Archbold trail is just a continuation of that! It's a perfect little 5-mile run from the top of the trail to our apartment, and it winds down through thick forests and streams.

I turned my iPod to Radical Face's "Welcome Home" and stretched my arms out wide as I ran down a hill. I breathed in the fresh air deeply and closed my eyes. We had the trail to ourselves for most of the run, with the exception of a few white-tailed deer and the occasional glitter of a firefly.

Wednesday 7/27: I lunched with Brock :) He bought us some awesome gyros at a local Greek place, and maaaaan oh man were they good. After work, we hit up the International Spy Museum. It was pretty cool, but definitely geared toward kids. Luckily it was community night (aka FREE)--wouldn't have been worth $20 admission!

Thursday 7/28: We made a quick visit to the National Air and Space Museum after work. It's a HUGE museum, and rightfully so--how else are you going to fit DOZENS of aircraft in a single building?! We saw the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, the Spirit of St. Louis (Lindberg's plane for the first transatlantic flight!), Amelia Earhart's Lockheed 5B Vega (plane of thesecond transatlantic flight, and first by a woman), UAVs used in Iraq and Afghanistan, WWI and WWII planes--the list goes on!

Saturday 7/30: Visited the infamous Ford's Theatre in the morning (see photos 150-168 here). I couldn't believe how many original artifacts they had in the small museum there--the suit Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated, the bloodied pillow his head lied on, the wooden stick that John Wilkes Booth used to jam the door . . .

It was so humbling to look up at the president's box in the theatre. To look at the stage and see the place where John Wilkes Booth yelled out "Sic semper tyrannis!" before making his getaway on horseback. The entire experience gave me an even greater appreciation for our 16th president. I would really like to name one of our sons after him. "Abraham Boyce." Hmmm.

After Ford's Theatre we went to the Corcoran Art Museum (see photos 79-89 here), which had an eclectic collection of American, European, and modern art. It was a fun, quick museum to go to with lots of gems littered about the galleries. Here's one of my favorites:

"Tamaca Palms" by Frederic Edwin Church. 1854.

Next on our list was the Air and Space Museum (yes, I know, again) to see the "space" portion of it (on our last visited we'd only seen the "air"). We also paid to see an IMAX movie called "Hubble 3D" which just blew our minds. I can't believe how small our little planet is in this vast cosmos! To hear nebulas being measured in trillions of miles across, with billions of galaxies in them--holy cow. I've always had a fascination with space, and I think it's because it ties in so well to my faith in God. It's hard to look at pictures like these and be an atheist.

We grabbed a quick dinner at Busboys and Poets and headed off to meet Ryan and Tiffany for s'mores and games in Rock Creek Park. Unfortunately, their car broke down right as we were about to drive off! The night ended up being a bust, but c'est la vie. If you're going to be stuck on a street corner for the better part of an hour, it's good to be stuck with friends :)