Set to Jet.

There are about a hundred different things I should be doing right now...none of which is "update my blog."  But update I will.  Maybe it's procrastination from packing.

That's right.  Packing.  Jamie and I are headed to JAPAN tomorrow afternoon!  My school is out for Spring Break and Congress is on recess...hurrah!  Of course, we get to travel with my parents which has many great benefits including having someone fluent in the language and the fact that if Jamie and I had to pool together our savings for this trip it would have been a much shorter voyage.  Maybe something along the lines as a trip to Alexandria or something.

It is pretty daunting to think of the fact that we will be traveling so far for so little time.  It gives me a headache to think of returning to work the day after returning.  But so worth it.  I will be sure to take lots and lots of pictures.  While, I will not be able to blog from Japan (without paying exorbitant quantities of yen), I will try to make a point of writing something down each day and do a series of back posts when I return to the U.S.

But now, for something completely different.

Jamie and I went to the National Opera to see Porgy and Bess yesterday.  It was wonderful.  While I was familiar with the storyline and the music, I had never seen the actual opera.  It's nice when the male lead is a Bass-Baritone like my man, and not one of those Tenors.

While the show was fantastic, there was one mishap.  Unfortunately, the mishap had to happen at the most cringe-inducing time too.  On the final note, of the final song for the female lead (Bess), with hands in the air and hitting that high note, one of the walls came crashing down.  The man in the song saw it coming down and immediately rushed to safety...not thinking to pull her out of the way.  The audience was gasping/screaming and Bess was too wrapped up in her song to realize until the last second that she was about to get a three-story piece of plywood falling upon her head.  She crashed right through it, leaving a Bess-shaped hole in it and the curtain came rushing down.  The show went on after a 30 second pause.

Fortunately, Bess was okay and only looked embarrassed by it when it came time for the curtain call.  I was mad at that guy for not pulling her out of the way in a great show of heroism.  But, I'm sure it all happened so fast that he couldn't do much...

Jamie, bless his heart, turned to me immediately after the wall came down and said: "...um.  I don't think that was supposed to happen."

Okay.  So I now I should pack.  Prepare yourself for some pictures of authentic, Japanese Cherryblossoms when I get back.  I love getting a double dose of them in Japan and in D.C.

Oh Dubya.

While I love my dad and think he is the cat's pajamas we do not generally see eye to eye when it comes to great American leaders.`

Remember when W wiped his glasses on some random lady's shirt and then laughed about it on camera? No? Thank goodness for YouTube.

This is like that, except now he's a former President...wiping off a HANDSHAKE...on another former President...Bill Clinton.

Head-Exploding Cuteness.

Such a proud auntie. I literally got this video a minute ago and I cannot wait one more second to share it with the adoring masses.

Just One of Dem Days.

It's been one of those days where everyone (well, not everyone, but definitely more people than I could count on one hand) asks me "if everything is alright?" While I know I feel dead-tired...apparently, I look dead-tired too.

Must be time for some acapella simulator. You know you want to try it. It's way cool.

Go Time.

This has been all over the interwebs lately, but I figured I shouldn't let that stop me from posting it here. After all, I've made something of a habit posting Ok Go! videos here...(in case you are feeling nostalgic, they are here and here.)

This latest one features one crazy, CRAZY Rube Goldberg machine. And this time, we are given some hint as to how many countless attempts and do-overs they must have done to get it just right. Bless their hearts and paint-covered faces...