food and more important things

Food is a complicated thing.  It is a driving, motivating force, and it is a hindrance to many of my goals and desires.  It provides me with feelings of fulfillment, but also feelings of regret.  It is the bane and the boon of my existence.

Remember how I told you that it seems like I have been here a lot longer than two weeks?  Well, I think that food is partially the cause.  Carly, Kelsey, and I vowed yesterday that we are going to significantly reduce our eating out--for both our wallets' and our waists' sakes--and I think it will help slow down our experience as well.  (But don't worry, I'm still going running everyday.)  Going out to eat is such a way to measure things, and we were just so excited to be here and try everything that I think it got the best of us.  But, now that the first jolt of excitement has worn down, we can recognize that we have time to explore D.C.'s wonderful cuisine selection one outing-per-week at a time.

However, that being said, my first reports of the week will focus on food:  

Thursday, we went to We, the Pizza.  I didn't really realize how big the slices were when I ordered, so I was a little nervous about finishing them.  (But I saved some for lunch the next day.)

Friday, we went to a fancy-ish restaurant (fancier than our typical outing) called Zaytinya and I got an upscale version of a doner kebab.

Saturday, we got burgers from a wonderful place called Burger Tap & Shake.  Unfortunately, the shakes here in D.C. are not quite to my liking (aka runny aka not thick aka you-might-as-well-just-drink-chocolate-milk-with-whipped-cream-mixed-in-which-is-gross) but that's okay because the burger and fries were plenty.  We were really satisfied, but it was also the straw that had us decide it was time to just eat bird food for a while.

We decided that Sundays, however, are days that really need a good meal.  So today I made chili and cornbread for my dinner group--it was pretty tasty.  (Although the picture below might not show it . . . I don't know if it's really possible to take an attractive picture of chili.)

Now that food is out of the way, we can move on to the more important activities of the weekend.  On Friday, we went to the American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery.  I loved it.  I think it is my favorite so far.  There was some event going on though, so I was only able to see about 1/3 of the museum, so I need to go back.  We sat outside of the museum for a bit before dinner, and it was the most beautiful night.  No humidity, perfect temperature, beautiful sunset, etc.  And then after dinner, we got frozen yogurt and then went to the WWII Memorial.

We woke up at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday and took the metro, the bus, and a little walk to the Washington D.C. Temple.  It was so wonderful--probably the highlight of my week.  It was like being home again.  The temple is the one place where my mind actually slows/calms down, and I was able to actually to think through some things.  Ah, I love the temple.

  

After the temple, we went to the gym and then our plan was to go to Old Town Alexandria.  But right as I was fixing my hair, I heard a strange sound . . . and I looked outside to find a giant rainstorm.  IT WAS SO COOL.  But, it kinda killed our plans for the evening.  So instead, McKay and I went outside and jumped in puddles and ran around.  After that our evening consisted of talking, laundry, eating, grocery shopping, and the like.  And then we went to bed early{ish} because we were exhausted.

Today was a wonderful Sunday, as always.  The singing in church sounded like the usual chorus of angels and I took a nap and made cookies and watched the fireside.  And Carly and I made confessions to one another and now we're going to bed in hopes that a little extra sleep will help us prepare for a Congress in session.

[wish us luck.]