Washington DC: Hunger in America Day 7

Day 7: Friday May 24. In the morning we got lost walking around a residential neighborhood for a while, trying to find our way to the Capital Area Food Bank, for a short visit walking around their facilities and hearing a bit about their services and programs. At the end of the week we packed up to move out to our second home for the trip, Church of the Epiphany. Luckily it was only a few blocks away, though I'm sure it was a sight to see twenty of us walking the downtown streets with all of our luggage and bedding! We dropped off our things and headed out a ways to Alafia Baptist Church in Maryland, where we had lunch and then spent the afternoon doing service projects. The majority of us went to Richardson Dwellings, a low-income, black neighborhood, where we sorted through donated food and clothes, and brought food bags right to people's doors. Our guide was a little boy who knew just where we had to take the bags (and warned us what areas we should not go to). Afterwards we checked out their community garden, which was pretty great with lots of colorful signs.We had dinner at a nearby school with the little kiddos, which was really fun, getting to talk to them for a while. Of course, we went to the White House again in the evening, with a stop at McDonald's (I got hot chocolate since it was quite chilly out) before returning to the church (where we were locked in for the night).

^^little garden at the Food Bank^^

^^little strawberries under there^^

Day 6
Day 5
Day 4
Day 3
Day 1 and 2

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Introducing

Meet Luna! 

I will share more about her later, but I wanted to let you know that indeed, we have adopted a pup! She is about one year old, just under 50 pounds, and a lab/boxer mix (though she is small for both those breeds). I got her on the 31st at the Fort Hood Stray Animal Shelter. She came with the name Luna and I didn't see any reason to change it. Adoption was kind of a risk because you often don't know exactly what you're going to get, but I somehow lucked out and got the most well-behaved dog ever, plus she and the cats have been doing fine together (a big relief!). She knows to sit, stay, lay down, no, come, fetch, shake, up, and go to her kennel. She has not once barked even with all the neighborhood dogs barking at her, housebroken, she moves off the path when other people are walking, walks fine on a leash, loves the backyard and playing fetch, and she's super cute. She is a little nervous around new things and new people, but she's kind of the best.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Quarter Century

I turned 25 back on the 22nd of July! I'm not super into my birthday (better than being disappointed), but considering the circumstances, this one was pretty good. It was very chill; I enjoyed the royal baby crazy going on through the day (I totally called ahead of time that it would be born on the 22nd!), and met up with a few friends for dinner at Megg's, after which we went to see The Conjuring. Scary movies make me laugh, and oh how this made me laugh. I ran some errands in the morning, and got myself some frozen yogurt in the afternoon, too. As I posted on facebook, here are some of my favorites from the day. Thanks for all the love- you make my world. :)

Favorite royal baby: Duh
Favorite email/letter: Kyle
Favorite text: tie between Matt who indulged my royal baby jokes and Durwesh who told me to "please do something!"
Favorite new experience: chicken and waffles for the first time. Still confused, but not bad.
Favorite thing that made me laugh: seeing The Conjuring with Olivia and Venee, and that girl who ran squealing out of the theater.

^^Venee brought What About Cupcakes for us to split/try!^^

^^the best! big bag of veggies from Olivia's garden! Now I don't have to grocery shop for a while!^^

^^I really enjoy the creativity of movie theater carpets^^

PS- Happy belated, HRH! I look forward to celebrating every year with you. 

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Spaghetti Squash Latkes

I've bought and prepared spaghetti squash a time or two in the past, but this is the first time I've bought one lately. I wanted to try out some new ways to prepare it. I think it's great if you're on your own (for me especially, because I don't think Kyle would enjoy it much, particularly if it's meant to take the place of pasta or potato), because you roast it up and have a whole lot of spaghetti squash ready to go for your week. I think I got about six meals out of it. The first evening after I cooked it I mixed it with sauteed onion and bell pepper, and added pesto and parmesan cheese. It was really good! The next day for lunch I made some latkes, with onion and green onion, salt (some garlic some regular), pepper, one egg and flour (2-3 tablespoons probably). I didn't follow a recipe for either, just kind of made it up and checked consistency, and it worked really well! You just cook them in olive oil until they look done (nice and brown and a bit crispy). Very easy and very good! I didn't try it, but I think they'd be great with a little sour cream on top.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

How Does Your Garden Grow

We don't have a garden, but Kyle and I would certainly like to start one. The above is a photo of just some of a big bag of veggies my friend gave me from the garden at her house! Personal and community gardens are wonderful things, and an important part in transforming the way the nation views food, as well as solving our issues of food insecurity, malnutrition and obesity.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Snacks V4

What I'm snacking on this week: kale chips, blueberry muffin, frozen fruit, popcorn for girls night.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Boston in Summer

In August I will be taking a short trip back to Boston, as you probably know because I like to brag any chance I get when I have the opportunity to do something cool, to see Justin Timberlake and Jay Z in concert at Fenway with my sister! I will only be there for two and a half days or so total, but having been there already, my sister and I have been thinking of things to do this time around (also it's summer not winter, so that opens up an array of new opportunities).

1/2/3

- Concert. That will take all of Sunday evening.
- Duck tour. I've never done one of these in any city, but I have heard good things about the Boston duck tour, so this is on the top of my list. I am OK with being a tourist.
- Lobster roll. While we ate a great many things over spring break, we didn't have the time nor stomach capacity to fit in a lobstah roll, so I kindly request that happen (and hope I love it).

Ok, those are really the only things I for sure have down. Erica suggested a day trip to Cape Cod, which would be quite awesome. I might also be up for a little back-to-school/work/internship shopping on Newbury (accompanied by a Georgetown Cupcake, no doubt). And we will have to visit a bar or two to have a drink in Kyle's honor (his birthday is August 12th)!  Otherwise, I'm just looking forward to seeing friends again and drinking getting out of Texas for a bit before my last year of grad school (for now) starts!

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Some People Just Fall in Love Like That

I'm sure most of you have watched this already, but if you haven't, you're welcome. :)



Visit here if you need more smiles.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

A Gfit for Baby Aurora

My Finnish sister had a baby girl about a month ago, so I've been putting together ideas for some things to send her! The Finnish government provides her with all the essentials already, so I'm just looking at fun stuff :) ! I've ordered this dress on sale from Ruche; it makes me think of Finland (probably due to the birds and design) and she will be able to grow into it and use it through her first year, and the Perchance the Cat blabla doll, as my sis Eevastiina is a cat lady and this one looks most like hers. She'd probably be grown out of the FEED newborn onesies by the time they would arrive in Finland, but I still love them (and the cause!).

dress/ apple/ cat doll/ headbands/ shoes/ onesies/ print

I've never had to buy baby gifts before...so, yeah. Kind of weird, but mostly fun!

- From the desk of Mrs. M