Women’s Leadership Symposium

I got a free trip to Washington DC last week, and it was pretty sweet!! I was sent to the Women’s Leadership Symposium for women in the Sea Services (Coast Guard, Navy, Marine Corps). I headed out of Seattle pretty early on Wednesday morning. It didn’t start out so well. The travel itinerary that I had printed out was apparently the old version. We have to make our travel arrangements through another company for the government, so I didn’t make the official reservations. I showed up to check into my flight (luckily really early) only to find that the reservations hadn’t actually been paid for. So I started calling around trying to find the people who had made my reservations. By this time it was about 7am so people were just barely getting into their offices. Many phone calls later, I finally found out that I was actually booked for a different flight that left in about 45 minutes and was with a different airline. So I booked it over to the other airline and checked in just in time. Then of course the security line was backed up. So by the time I got to the gate, they were almost done boarding. I barely made it in time to run onto the plane and get settled it. Whew. After one layover in Chicago, I made it to DC Wednesday night. I checked into my fabulous hotel room and decided to walk around the city for a while until my dearest friend, Evelyn, was done at a lecture so we could go play. It really only took about an hour to walk around the area and see pretty much everything that I would want to see. I was really glad it wasn’t raining like the forecast implied it would be all week. I met up with Evelyn a few blocks away from my hotel for dinner, drinks, and a little frozen yogurt. Already a fabulous start to my all expense paid work trip/vacation!

The symposium was also in the hotel, which made waking up bright and early a little more bearable. The first day we got all checked in, and got some sweet little goodie bags. One of the lecturers that day was Dee Dee Myers, the author of Why Women Should Rule the World, so one of the gifts in our bags was that book which we later had an opportunity to get it signed by the author. There were about 600 women there and about 5 guys sprinkled in the mix. Being in the military and especially a field that is dominated by men, it was really refreshing to be with so many women who were in the same situation. When I was doing my training in California last fall, there were two other girls in my class, and they were both at the symposium as well, so it was really fun to catch up. When we got out in the evening, I walked around the monuments again with one of the girls that I went to training with, and another girl that I had just met earlier that day who works at Camp David. We kind of walked around the same places that I had gone the day before, just a little more in depth. After a little while, I left them to head out to meet up with Evelyn and a friend of hers for dinner and drinks in Georgetown. It was nice knowing a local who could show me around to more than just the touristy things, and in more of the residential area. Friday was another day of the symposium, but this time we met with just the attendees in the Navy. In the afternoon, we broke down even further to meet with just the Civil Engineer Corps members of the Navy. There were about 80 women from the CEC there. Again it was really neat to network with other women who had been in my shoes, and even several much higher ranked officers who had been in my shoes but in a time were it was still not terribly encouraged to be a Civil Engineer Corps Officer in the Navy for a female.

We finished with our final session a little early, so I took a little time to catch up on my sleepy time before heading out again to meet up with Evelyn and friends. We went out to the sculpture garden to watch/listen to their jazz in the park, which I guess they have every Friday night. It was really packed, so we had snagged a little area of grass to lay out our blankets and snacks and drinks. I’m pretty sure I barely actually heard any music over the people, but it was a beautiful evening and it was fun meeting some new people and just hanging out. After that about half of us headed out to the new hip tapas bar/restaurant. It just opened recently, and was interestingly decorated with all kinds of graffiti inside, and was very poshly furnished. We just passed around a few dishes which were very delicious. As our dinner came to an end, the place started transitioning into a bit of a dance club. After enjoying the tunes for a few, we headed home.

Saturday was sleep in day!! That was my last night at the hotel, so I checked out and headed over to Evelyn’s for breakfast. The rest of the day was quite an adventure. We were planning on going to a BBQ, Bourbon, and Beer festival on the shore. It took so long to get there, however, that we got there when it was kind of winding down and decided to just head to another restaurant to enjoy some margaritas. After that, we had another long commute back into town. Apparently the new hip beverage in town is Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka mixed with lemonade. We picked some up and spent the rest of the night on Evelyn’s roof deck. After all the talk about it raining all week, it ended up being perfect…at least at the times that I was wanting to be outside! Oddly enough, that night ended up being all Auburn people as Evelyn’s boyfriend from Auburn had shown up the night before, two of her other friends from auburn were there, and at the end of the night, another auburn architecture grad just got into town for a visit as well. I was really good to see everyone! Unfortunately the evening ended on a bit of a bad note. As one of the guys was headed to the metro on his way home, he was robbed at gunpoint. They took everything he had which included his phone and keys and wallet so he couldn’t really go anywhere except back to Evelyn’s place. Luckily he wasn’t hurt, but it definitely shook us all up a good bit. The police were called and took him around trying to find any of his stuff or the robbers, but were unsuccessful. Hopefully he can replace most of the things that were stolen, but I am sure it’s going to be a huge hassle.

Sunday afternoon I headed back home to Seattle. It was a busy and eventful week/weekend, and it was great to come home!

Limpy Butt

Not only is my puppy old, but she's also an invalid now. Tara broke a nail. I know it's sounds terribly tragic, but it actually ended up being quite an ordeal. At first she just started out limping and I tried to figure out if there was something stuck in her foot. After a week or so, the crack in her nail, which was right at the base, started getting much bigger. About a week ago the nail looked like it was about to fall off and started bleeding a little bit too. I took her to the vet and they ripped what was left of the nail off. She was soooo good at the vet and didn't flinch and all or cry. They vet wrapped up her little foot in bandages so she looked like she had a little sock on. It's been almost a week now, and the bandage has since been removed and she's been on antibiotics all week, but the toe is still looking a little nasty. So I think I'll try to take her back to the vet for a check up to make sure it's not infected and going to make her whole foot fall off. Poor baby is so pitiful, and I wish I could make it all better!

LEED AP!

I am so happy to have gotten this Saturday over with! I've been studying for several weeks now for the LEED test (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). If you pass the test you become a LEED AP (Accredited Professional) and can write that certification on your resume or after your name to sound cooler. A lot of architects are now trying to have their buildings LEED certified, and it's really helpful for them to have a certified LEED AP in their firm to help with the building certification. I think at some point it's going to be more or less mandatory for architects to be LEED AP or at least have some in their firm, so it was really good to get this test out of the way. They are changing the format of the test in a couple of weeks, which is mostly why I wanted to get it done now. We took the test Saturday morning, and both Ryan and I passed. It felt soooo good to get that done, and throw out all of our study materials and forget everything that we learned in the last few weeks! Since we've missed out on doing things and enjoying the beautiful weather the last few weekends that we've been studying, we spent the afternoon at the zoo (I had a coupon). It was so relaxing knowing that I didn't have anything else (i.e.. studying) that I should have been doing all day.

Saturday night we joined one of the guys that Ryan works with and his neighbors and friends on a little bicycle bar crawl through Georgetown. Since I haven't gotten a bike yet (I have been trying hard to find a good one that I can afford) I was luckily able to borrow an extra bike from one of the neighbors. Unfortunately it was a little too tall for me, so I was a little shakey on it all night. I made it though, and it was a lot of fun to check out several little bars around Georgetown. Next time hopefully I can bring my own bike!

Sunday was even more relaxing since there was really nothing at all on the schedule to do! We went to see 'The Hangover'. It was pretty darn amusing!

Now I have two days of work till I head out to Washington DC for the rest of the week and weekend!

Mi Casa!

So this is my little house. I got it because it has a big fenced in back yard, and my dog is way too spoiled! I don't have nearly enough stuff to fill it with, but it looks like I'll be getting a roomie with another puppy soon, so that'll help out!

Dining In

This past Friday, I spent the day on the Naval Submarine Base in Kitsap. We started out the day playing ultimate frisbee with all of the officers from the surrounding bases. Yes...I get paid to play ultimate frisbee... Then we had a little bbq. After that, I snuck off to read my book while other people continued to play sports. I finally finished all of the Twilight books, so I can concentrate on other things!! Really, I was just wasting time until the real reason that I was way over on this other base. That evening we had a 'Dining-In'. It's a formal Navy dinner with lots of silly traditions and a script and such. Attending it was most of the Civil Engineer Corps Officers from my base and the other bases in Washington. We were having it in honor of one of the Captains that is about to retire from the navy. It was really good food and drinks, and we all got to participate in little skits for entertainment and such. It was a long evening. I got out of there after 10, and just made it onto the 1135 ferry to get back to Seattle that evening.

Saturday we were back into the studying fun. One more week until that will hopefully be over with! At least it wasn't quite as nice and sunny out this weekend, so I didn't feel so bad being a hermit and studying. Sunday we had lots of puppy fun! We did the Furry 5k run in Seward Park on Lake Washington. Although we didn't participate with Tara, most of the people running the race had dogs with them, so it was fun to see a couple hundred dogs running around. And it was a little bit of a challenge trying to run around them all. Afterwards we got Tara out of the car to walk around the pet expo. Maybe next time she'll be able to participate. I took her running a couple of times to see if she would be up for it this time, but she didn't even make it a mile, so I figured running 3 would probably not be the best idea. I don't need her to have a heart attack!

It's nice and sunny out, and I'm studying...

Ahhhh...the long weekend was fabulous. Probably not as productive as it should have been, but enjoyable none the less. I was actually supposed to have Friday and Monday off, but since several of the other people in my office were taking Friday off, I was asked to hold the fort down. After being there for a few hours, I had several people asking me why I was in since all the military people were supposed to have the day off, so I finally gave in and left. I'm sur

e life will go on without my supervision.

We watched the new Star Trek movie this weekend. It was definitely much more humorous than I expected...for true Star Trek fans, it was probably over the top cheesy humor, but I was completely amused. I was also quite impressed by the little uniforms that the female officers got to wear in the Starfleet. Why can't the US Navy have that good of a sense of fashion!! Not fair! I would love to wear a little red dress to work everyday! I actually just got the skirts to go with my uniforms a couple of weeks ago, and got the cute

little black pumps to go with that this weekend. So now I actually get to dress like a female when I go to work! It's so much more flattering, and I think it's boosting my moral and confidence in my workplace, and I think I look much more professional now. It's not nearly as cute as the Starfleeters, but it's an improvement. Whoever designed the pants for the female officers should be shot! Not cool.

Sunday we got a little reminder taste of the ol' south. We went to a birthday pig roast for a couple of guys. One of the guys is in the firm that Ryan is going to start working with next Monday, PBelemental. It was such a nice day out, and even hot enough that we were inspired to stand in the shade for most of the afternoon. The guy whose house it was at had built a pig roaster into his deck specifically for this annual birthday bash. There were also an assortment of other southern foods like okra, greens, hush puppies, and banana pudding. It was amusing to me that a lot of the people had never had a lot of those kinds of foods, but thinking back, neither had I before I spent 5 years in the south!

We spent a good amount of our free time studying for the LEED test that we're planning on taking next month. There is sooooo much to study and memorize it's really overwhelming! It was also hard to buckle down this weekend when it was so nice out and it was supposed to be a nice relaxing holiday weekend. It should not have been spent studying! Hopefully it'll all be worth it in a few more weeks.

I also dug my yummy muffin cookbook out this weekend to try out a new recipe. This time it was spiced carrot muffins. They're essentially little carrot cakes, and they were quite delicious. I also tried out some lemon blueberry scones that turned out quite delicious :)

Lopez Island

So, I had to 'work' on Saturday this weekend (lame, I know). Really I just needed to be around the area to be on call if anything bad happened that needed to be reported on base. So I had to go in Saturday morning, pick up the phone and such, do a little paper work in my office, and head home for the rest of the day to be on call. Ryan took the train up to Mt. Vernon Friday night, so we hung out in Oak Harbor on Saturday watching movies and putting together my new inversion table. I have yet to decide if it was a valuable purchase, but my physical therapist says he personally owns 3 of them (I don't know why you would need more than one) and swears they healed all of his wife's back problems, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Since we were already on the Island this weekend, Sunday, after I was officially relieved of my duties in the morning, we took the ferry from Anacortes to Lopez Island. It's one of the San Juan Islands (there are several other ones as well). We decided to go to this island this weekend because Ryan's firm has a couple of projects in the works on the Island right now. First we went to check out a project that the firm had done a few years ago. Apparently some really rich person owns a whole peninsula on the island and has created a little resort of his own. The part of it that the firm did was the pool house which is really the only thing that the public can see without going onto the private property. The building holds an olympic sized pool and that's about it. The front glass facade opens up to make it more of a covered outdoor pool in the summer. It's a pretty sweet little building that apparently doesn't get the use it deserves. I guess when you have lots of money and own a peninsula you can make expensive things like that just for kicks and giggles.

Next we ventured on to the Bumblebee house (named such because it's on Bumblebee st.). It has the most amazing view of the sound! The house sits on a cliff and has huge windows and a big wrap around deck that faces the water. It would be amazing to just sit there and stare out onto the sound all day long! The house is still under construction, but it's close to being done. Another highlight of the house is the little bath house off to the side. We peeked in through a hole and saw two little bath tubs inside the room. The roof of the bath house can open completely up so people can take a bath and stare at the stars. It would really be a pretty awesome experience! The whole complex looks awesome already, but it would be really cool to come back and see it when it's done. Or even better, it would be great to be friends with the people that own it and hang out there for the weekend!

The last site we visited was at the early stages of construction still. The project is being built into a rock, so a lot of the rock had been carved out leaving parts of it that will be incorporated into the building in different areas. One rock face will become one of the walls, and another part of the rock was acting as the base for what looked to be a fire place. So far there were just a few concrete walls starting to go up. This house also had a water view and sat up on a grassy hill. It was hard to tell exactly what it'll look like completed, so it would be interesting to go back in a few months to see it a little further along in construction. Giving the firm, I'm sure it'll be another really amazing house. Plus, I love concrete, so it has a good start in my book already!

After lunch, we spent the rest of the day hiking through some of the parks. We saw a little island off of the island we were on that was covered in seals bathing in the sun. Tara thoroughly enjoyed all the running around, and even got a little sore again the next day from climbing up and down the cliffs. The whole island was just full of beautiful views, and it gets me excited to check out the other islands in the sound too. These island are where they filmed 'Free Willy' too, but I didn't see any whales this time. I am definitely going to have to do a whale watching cruise at some point if I don't see one on my own soon!!