Oops

I can’t believe I skipped three days.  And I can’t even use vacation as an excuse.

I am officially shopped out.  I met Jess at Tysons early Saturday so we could find shoes for her and a dress for me to wear to her wedding.  I get tired of trying on clothes pretty quickly, so it was good that I found the dress in the second store.  Third, really, but I didn’t try anything on in Macy’s.  Too disorganized.  I don’t have the patience for that.  But I love the dress I found.  Of course, then we had to find shoes.  Nordstrom has a shoe department on every floor (three floors at Tysons), and we found that the shoes get cheaper as you head downstairs.  A shoe salesman on the top floor tried to show me $500 Jimmy Choos!  We practically ran for the lower floors.  Anyway, we had lunch and then continued with the shoe shopping.  Jess found a pair (gold, strappy, sparkly – gorgeous) at Bloomingdale’s, but she was going to try them on when she got home to make sure they’d look good with her dress.  Verdict?  I don’t know yet.  It was fun.  We must have walked the length of the mall at least four times.  And we started the day by browsing through Levenger’s, of course.  🙂  Oh, and Jess brought me a book, ’cause she’s cool like that.  We traded, since I remembered to bring her copy of A Three Dog Life.  She brought me Gentlemen and Players, which I am now reading.

Sunday I went to the mall again (different mall) ’cause I realized I needed another suit.  I went to Lord & Taylor and discovered that I love Anne Klein (brand, not person).  🙂  Anne Klein very definitely thinks I’m a size 8.  Tahari thinks I’m a 10.  Plus, Anne Klein makes one-button suits, which are my favorite.  So now I have a black one, too.  But seriously, that’s all the clothes shopping I can take in one weekend.

Shopping was not the only thing that exhausted me these last few days, though.  Saturday night we went into DC to meet Ryan Evans and his girlfriend, Laura.  We haven’t seen Ryan and Laura since Brian’s wedding two and a half years ago.  Laura was in town for a conference, so when Ryan came up for the weekend, we made sure we were free to see them.  I like them.  We camped out at the District Chop House for about four hours (until they closed and kicked us out at midnight), and then hung out in the lobby of their hotel until about 1:30.  We got home around 2:15.  We had a really good time, but god that was late.  I’m old.  Oh!  We saw Helen Thomas at the hotel!  There was some kind of formal event just ending when we got back from dinner (a little after midnight).  There were a ton of people coming off the elevator and going through the lobby.  The men were all in white tie and the women were all in formal gowns.

Ah.  Mystery solved.  It was the annual Gridiron Club dinner.  And that explains the motorcade, the line of black SUVs parked outside, and the secret service in the lobby.  Senators and presidents attend and sometimes speak at this thing, although apparently Obama did not go to this one.  Anyway, shortly before John and I left, the four of us were standing in the lobby.  I was facing the elevators, and I looked around Ryan, elbowed John, and whispered (loudly, I’m sure), “Isn’t that Helen Thomas?”  It so totally was.  And that was totally cool.

I’ve started my spring and summer grocery shopping.  All that really means is that I go to Wegman’s and buy stuff to grill.  🙂  But it also means I eat healthy stuff!  Last night we grilled steak kabobs.  Tonight, I grilled salmon, mushrooms, asparagus, and two pineapple slices.  Add a little teriyaki sauce, a little soy sauce…delicious.  And good for me.  And I’ll probably do the same for both of us tomorrow night, since I got more salmon.  Maybe broccoli, since John’s not crazy about asparagus unless it’s wrapped in bacon.  🙂  John is taking his Theory of Algorithms midterm tonight.  He studied all weekend (while I was shopping) and all last week, and I think he spent most of today trying to get time to move faster so he could get the test over with.

Oh, so I started Gentlemen and Players today because I finished the third Mistborn book last night.  It really surprised me.  I mean, I got to the end, found something out about a plot point that truly surprised me, and then realized that the author had been telling me that little secret through the ENTIRE book.  Looking back, it’s so clear, but I really didn’t get it at all until Sanderson (author) was ready to tell me.  I’m impressed.

6 Comments

  1. Jessica

    Sanderson?

    I felt the same way when I got to the end, which is why I liked it so much. I’m not often so completely surprised like that. I was onto it, sort of. I was seriously suspect that one particular character of somehow being involved, but that’s as close as I got. (Not sure if that made sense to you, but I didn’t want to give anything away in case your mom wants to read it.) We can talk about it in a couple of weeks anyway. 🙂

  2. Zannah

    Sanderson is Brandon Sanderson, the fantasy writer who was chosen to write the last book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series (since he died before he could finish it).

    And in case anyone is confused, the book I was describing in that last paragraph was Hero of Ages, by Brandon Sanderson, not Gentlemen and Players. I haven’t gotten to the end of that one yet. 🙂 Working on it.

  3. Jessica

    Yeah, I was totally confused. I thought that bit about “a plot point that truly surprised me, and then realized that the author had been telling me that little secret through the ENTIRE book” was referring to Gentlemen and Players. And I was really impressed at your speed reading. 🙂

  4. Zannah

    Thanks. I practice. 🙂 I think the big surprise from my Mistborn book made me look for it in Gentlemen and Players, ’cause I was pretty sure I had that one figured out before the halfway mark. But that didn’t make me enjoy it any less. Actually, I think I enjoyed it more ’cause I turned out to be right. 🙂

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