Movies, Mascots, and Sub Sandwiches - Oh my!

The work week passed with little excitement. On Thursday both of us had to attend a conference. Ben was there with his organization and I was there with mine. It was fun to be "working" with each other. People are always caught off guard when they find out we are married and both work in the same field.

Friday we decided to walk to work. It was a nice day and we are easing our way into training for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race that we are running in April. The 2.5 mile walk wasn't bad and ended up taking just about ten more minutes than taking the bus. We both had to attend the second day of the conference in the morning. The highlight of the conference for Kelly was listening to Ben on a panel. After lunch, we went our separate ways and finished up the day at our offices.

Saturday we woke up early and headed down the National Stadium. One of us, who signed a waiver not to blog about the experience, was trying out to be a Nationals mascot.

(This is from a game last summer.)

Because the Nationals are historically terrible, the President's race is often the highlight of the game. In between the 4th and 5th innings, 4 people in a Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson costumes race from the outfield fence toward first base.

The tryout included a 40 yard dash, two races, a freestyle dance, and a victory pose - all while wearing a costume.  Out of costume, there was an interview section as well.  Based on the waiver one of us signed, we really think that if you want to get a better feel for the experience, then you should check out this press coverage.

http://districtsportspage.com/nats-happy-racing-presidents-day-with-photos/5098

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/big-heads-bigger-rewards/2012/02/18/gIQAI3VOMR_gallery.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mascot-hopefuls-enter-presidential-race-119/2012/02/19/gIQAxmCyNR_video.html


http://espn.go.com/espnw/more-sports/7601949/espnw-amanda-rykoff-auditions-spot-nationals-running-presidents-team

After the tryout, we went out to the golf course and had a little contest on the putting green.  This was an opportunity for Kelly to tryout her new belly putter.

Sunday's forecast was cold and snowy, so we planned to have a quiet day at the apartment. It turned out to be a pleasant day catching on some quality R&R.  We watched the movie Contagion, which only encouraged Ben's compulsive hand washing tendencies.  We also spent some quality time with the dogs.

Monday was President's Day.  Sadly, Kelly had to work.  Ben took the opportunity to do something that celebrated freedom in a way that George Washington and Abe Lincoln could not even have begun to imagine.  He watched the Harold & Kumar Christmas movie.  Kelly had refused to watch this with Ben and as it turned out that was a good policy because it was pretty terrible.  Luckily, Ben rebounded by picking up sandwiches from Mangialardo's, which we are big fans of but is only open until 3pm and only on weekdays.  President's Day was a rare change to get a delicious Supersub and G-Man.