No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service

Thursday was our second to last regular season softball game and had serious playoff implications. With storms rolling into D.C., we headed to the field in hopes of getting the game in. As Kelly was up to bat in the 2nd inning, a huge bolt of lighting lit up the sky. It struck so close to the Mall that several car alarms were set off and all the girls' hair stood straight up. Ben's hair would have stood up, but it smartly left long before the game started.  Despite the storm, Kelly was able to keep focus and pick up her second hit of the game. Ben also added 2 doubles and a home run. We fell behind in the 3rd inning and struggled in the field. The rain had settled in and it was hard to field, throw and run in the field. In short, it was dumb to be playing softball during this storm. We picked up 8 runs in the 5th inning all with two outs to take back the lead. We held onto the lead and picked up the victory. The win all but clinched the first playoff birth in team history.

Congress continues their recess so things on the hill remain slow. Fortunately, her office is 2 blocks from the National Mall, so Kelly has ample time during the lunch hour to hit up all the Smithsonian museums. With things slow at the office Kelly got to go on a Congressional Delegation trip to NASA's Goddard Space Center in Maryland. It was awesome. We got a tour of the facility and briefings on some of their high priority projects including the touted James Web Telescope, which will be replacing the Hubble Telescope in 2015. The telescope is the size of a tennis court and is about 1000 times more powerful than the Hubble. The greatest scientific feature is its infra red vision, which will allow NASA to see within stars and planets.

Ben has taken up a new hobby he calls "racing the bus."  In an effort to increase exercise levels and reduce his commute time, Ben has started running home from work. Remarkably, his office is only 3 miles away but it takes approximately 40-45 minutes to get to work via public transportation. While he is not fast, so far, he has been able to beat the bus that he normally takes home which makes the whole things a good two birds, one stone situation.  While running, Ben has been passed by faster runners, people on bikes, Segways, scooters, and even some person wearing weird spring boots like those below.

(These really speak for themselves. No caption could do them justice.)

Friday night we ran out to check out some wedding dresses.  It was an exciting experience for both of us.  Ben was mostly excited because the place was near a Trader Joe's.

More shocking than the bridal store was that we saw some guy walking out of a near by store in boxer shorts and a tshirt.  Apparently the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" sign needs to be amended.

Saturday was filled with wedding planning, shopping and life chores. With the wedding fast approaching, we have been trying to coordinate the plans with wedding central (Sparta, IL). We headed to Columbia Heights to do a little Target/Marshalls shopping. Our biggest purchase was canning jars for making homemade pickles. We read an article on how to make pickles and thought it would be a decent undertaking for us.

We stopped by the D.C. Farmer's Market to pick up pickling cucumbers and other required ingredients.  This was not your typical farmer's market, but more of a wholesale docks experience that seems to serve a lot of restaurants.  The market is very reminiscent of markets in foreign countries. As we walked back to our car we saw a woman selling something out of her van and wanted to check out what she was selling. The woman was frying empanadas, taquitos, and tacos with all the fixings. In terms of food that was fried in the back of a van, they weren't half bad!

(Now if I just figure out how to make these in the back of a van.)