Erin Miller

I spent part of last week on a business trip to Arizona. It is looking like Arizona will be one of the first states to have all of its Local Health Departments complete Project Public Health Ready. My trip was followed by our first weekend in our new apartment that we did not either go to Target (Dan forbid it) or build at least one piece of furniture from Ikea. It was quite liberating. We spent time both Saturday and Sunday sitting in the sun, reading and eating the waffle breakfast special at the nearby coffee shop. Spot enjoyed trying to steal bites off our plate (and anyone’s who was innocent enough to pass close to her). We walked around the fish markets and had an appetizer by the Waterfront. We explored Chinatown, took Spot to the park to play with other dogs (twice) and Dan hooked up our TV to the cable and to the WII. Little by little we are starting to settle in.

Read Full Post »

Dan and I spent labor day weekend moving into our first truly joint apartment in Capitol Hill, DC. It is fun that neither of us will have to make duplicate keys for the other. It’s a one bedroom apartment with a view of pretty flowering trees from a bedroom window. The kitchen and bathroom are small and the bathroom has one of those claw bathtubs with a wrap-around shower rod that requires two curtains. Impressively, we have not yet managed to flood the bathroom while showering. The apartment is within walking distance to Eastern Market (awesome farmer’s market and also a metro stop) and to Union Station. We (I) hired movers so that I did not have to carry the freakin’ huge couches up the 3 flights of stairs (walk-up). All of our stuff was in our apartment by 1pm Saturday but then Dan and I spent the rest of the day rearranging things and arguing about how many book shelves and dressers we need to buy. Yesterday, we completed the Costco, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target trifecta — no, we still do not have matching curtains or rugs, but we did have plenty of other things to schlep up the stairs. After dinner we started the daunting task of building the world’s biggest wardrobe from Ikea. We were surprised to discover that our 2.5 hour time estimate only got us half way through the project. We are impressively sore and tired. But we are looking forward to having our apartment put together and finally having some time to explore the neighborhood and do other “DC things” like take a walk on the mall. Once Dan has re-registered his car and we have our new licenses, Dan has vowed to never drive again and has also limited his range to anywhere within 4 metro stops of our apartment. Luckily, this does put him within range of my work, but might complicate getting to the airport.

Read Full Post »