we're bad bloggers

hi everyone!
ok, since the last time we spoke, a lot has happened.
i had a fantastic time at girls' weekend, reminded once again why i love these girls and simultaneously why it's probably good that we are all together only about five days a year. anyway, i got to baltimore about 9 a.m., after about two hours of sleep (thanks to the woman next to me who kept doing that jerking awake thing and kicking me ever minute or so, yeah, that wasn't annoying at all!). heather picked me up, and we proceeded to dulles airport to pick up jill. evidently, none of us had gotten more than 3 hours of sleep the night before so we weren't super productive that day. unpacking and feeding ourselves was about all we managed. kiah came home and we went out to sushi for dinner (no hiro, but definitely still yummy). on friday, we did the monuments and the mall, covering the jefferson, lincoln, fdr, korean, vietnam, and wwII monuments, as well as breezing by the whitehouse and capitol building and the american and natural history museums, and a sculpture garden. did i mention that the only parking spot we could find was about a mile away from the mall? oh yeah, our legs were in pain, but it was awesome. on saturday, a friend of jill's from the a.s.l. world gave us a tour of gallaudet university, the world's first/only (i'm not sure which, possibly both) all sign language university. albert was a fantastic tour guide, had a great sense of humor and patience with us. he spoke pretty well, so between that and jill's interpreting his signing, we had a great tour. his grandson, riley, was visiting as well and was such a four year-old little boy that we all just had to shake our heads. then we hopped back on the metro to the eastern market, which was this really cool bazaare/farmers market/craft fair/flea market. on sunday, kiah surprised us with with tickets to a second city touring show called "barack stars." we thoroughly enjoyed its nonpartisan irreverence (everybody got slammed, i guess they figured that if everyone was made fun of, no one could be seriously offended). then she took us to the college/young adult service at her church. this place was huge! the program was five pages long with all of the announcements about classes, small groups, bible studies, service trips and projects, activities, and events. crazy! i kind of think she was a little dissappointed by our lack of awe and enthusiasm at the service, but it did spark an interesting debate in the car afterwards. i loved getting the chance to hear where my girls are at spiritually, since that's something i haven't felt free to question them about in a while. on monday we were lazy, spending two hours browsing target and most of the afternoon in the pool. on tuesday, kiah dropped jill at the airport on her way to work and heather dropped me at the philly airport on her way home. it was great, and i'm so excited for my turn to host next summer.
this last weekend, mom, dad, cassie, marly, and cammie all hauled butt out to us for a few days. it was fun getting all of us together in our apartment again. at least this time we had more space/beds than at christmas! since adam and i haven't done much exploring due to lack of finances, we all got to do some new things together. we hit up mcmenamins for food and bluegrass music, the farmers market, azteca for mexican food, uwajimaya (this fantastic japanese market that adam and i are planning to hit again soon!), new seasons market, powell's books, even the beach! of course, we all wore shorts and suits, and it ended up being cloudy and 60 degrees, the complete opposite of portland, but whatever, it was fun. mom was kind enough to drive me to my first audition in the area and even though i didn't get cast, it was a positive experience. they also stopped by kroma so cammie could get her hair cut, and we flooded starbucks to overwhelm adam's staff.
speaking of kroma, leza (the owner) told me yesterday that she's gotten good comments about me from both the clients and the stylists, so that's good. i also found out yesterday that she is a christian of some kind. we'd been talking about moving around and she said she'd spent some time in africa recently doing mission work.
this last wednesday, i attended a meet-the-teachers night at village home. i talked to six or seven kids, mostly girls, and a couple of moms. class registration doesn't open until the 11th, but i think i'll end up with a decent sized class. i already know that i'll have the full spectrum of theatrical experience among my students, so i suspect i'll have to make a "i don't care what you've done before, only what you bring to this class" type of speech. i'd also had a wake up call to how much more involved these parents will be than typical high school parents, i'd forgotten that homeschooling is a very deliberate choice.
adam's continued making a good impression on his coworkers, customers, and district manager. jeremy's begun assigning him various projects, including their bottled water promotion and being his store's representative at a couple of district-wide events.
tomorrow we're planning on doing some berry picking at a local farm, and it'll be our first opportunity to hit up the contemporary service at village baptist church. good times.