We live in an apartment and a couple weeks ago, I came home to find a note on the door from our leasing company talking about making improvements to our apartments over the next year. Both the Architect and I were pretty excited. While our apartment is not horrible, we’ve had a few issues (my favorite being when our bathroom flooded because of a leak BEHIND the wall and we had to have our entire bathroom wall ripped apart).

We were supposed to get our countertops in the kitchen and bathroom replaced, all new appliances (fridge, stove, stove hood, washer/dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal), all new cabinetry, a few new light fixtures (dining room and foyer). They’re even replacing the door knobs on all of our various doors. And, they were going to totally replace the plumbing in the building. It sounded really freakin’ awesome but we were wondering whether or not we were going to be in our apartment still (we plan to move within the year).

Yesterday we came home to another note from the leasing company that they are going to start on our apartment on September 8^th . After initially being really excited, we then read that the project was going to take 10 business days, which of course means the project would end right after the wedding and when we are already on the honeymoon. Still not a problem but then we realized everything that we would have to do in order to get ready for the project… and then I started to freak out a little bit… Continue reading →

A few of my friends on Facebook posted an article from the NYT about 20-Something Year Olds and how they aren’t growing up as quickly as they used to in previous generations and basically making the case for how that’s okay.

Being an independent 20- Something myself (I’ll be 25 in October), I was a little taken aback by this article. The article had a few good points (one’s brain doesn’t fully develop until 25) but is it really too much to ask for people my age to actually start being responsible for themselves rather than relying on Mommy and Daddy to be fiscally and socially responsible for them? When is it time to cut the proverbial apron strings?

One of the arguments that some of the psychologists in the article make is that the 20s have become a time to explore and meander. I do believe that you do begin to figure out who you are in your 20s but that it doesn’t and shouldn’t excuse yourself from being responsible for yourself  while you are figuring out who you are. The 20s shouldn’t be a sort of ‘rumspringa’ (a free for all festival of finding yourself, common in Amish culture, as pushed forward by some of the psychologists in the article).

I do believe that there is some cultural pressure to slow down this maturity process. When I moved out on my own after college, my parents let me know that they could give me financial support if I wanted. I never accepted it even when money was tight.

I’ve seen a lot of cases where people my age simply meander and let their parents foot the bill. I’ve seen some of my peers see them as simply having the right to lean on their parents heavily. I know mid 20-somethings that still allow their parents to foot the bill for things like credit cards and such. I didn’t want that nor did I think my parents should have to provide that support. I paid my own way through grad school while working full time and I was fine. I don’t feel like I missed out on that whole “finding yourself” thing and the very last thing I wanted to do was rely on my parents who had already done so much for me. If I had to, I guess I would have relied on them more but I would have exhausted all other avenues before I did that. Call it pride, if you want but I think it was simply being responsible.

My generation takes longer to find work and get married than previous generations. With my impending marriage, I’ve had some people ask me if I thought I was too young (average age for a woman to be married is now 26) but I think at this age, I’m ready to take on the responsibility. I did get relatively lucky with my career but I worked hard to get where I am today. I was also responsible enough to hold down an internship for my last two years in undergrad to get to where I am today. It just seemed like a logical step.

I guess reading the summations of the so-called experts in the article made me feel like I’m kind of weird. It scares me to think that I’m now one of the exceptions and makes me wonder what the implications for future generations are going to be if we’re taking so long to get to the point where we finally take on adult responsibility…

What do you think? Should the 20s really be one’s time to meander? When is it the right time to take on all of the adult responsibilities?

One thing that I didn’t realize about New Orleans is that they have streetcars! Being a lover of public transportation, I was very excited about this (even though that we didn’t get a chance to take a ride). The streets of New Orleans looked a lot different than I expected (although I’m not sure what I really expected). There was definitely a French flavor with the wide boulevards and all of the wrought iron.

This is Canal Street, I believe. It’s super wide and has a nice mix of the South and French flavor.

View down the middle of the wide boulevard.

Love the palm trees!

Here comes the trolley!

A better view.

Aren’t these so cool?

New Orleans was another place that neither myself nor the Architect had ever been to. I chanced upon an awesome deal at a Marriott in downtown New Orleans so we stayed just about a block away from Bourbon Street.

When we first got to New Orleans, the Architect and I decided to go to the National World War II museum.

Cool mural outside of the museum.

Another mural on the side of the museum.

Cool plane. I believe it’s one of the bombers.

Tanks.

One of the smaller planes.

Most of the museum focused on D-Day but they had a couple cool sections on all of the propaganda used by all of the various sides during the war (this topic has always been of particular interest to me).

I’ve been meaning to blog about my trip south for about a month (oh how the time gets away). At the end of July, the Architect and I traveled down south for one of my very favorite people in the whole wide world’s wedding (La Bonne Fille). We flew into New Orleans and then drove through Mississippi to Fairhope, Alabama where the wedding was.

Fairhope is a really, really cute town on Mobile Bay.

Main Street in Fairhope

There are tons and tons of Pelicans (real ones) on the water near Fairhope. This (fake) one was outside the small town newspaper’s building.

Here’s another cute little guy.

This is downtown Mobile. There are three skyscrapers in Mobile. You’re seeing them all right now

Stay tuned for more!

I really enjoy being able to meet fellow Xangans. I’ve been able to meet quite a few but there are definitely some of you all out there that I wish I could meet. This weekend, I finally got to have lunch with one of my very favorite Xangans, ZSA_MD as well as her grandson, Noah. I was so excited!

ZSA_MD or Zakiah (as some of you know her as) is the type of blogger where going to her page feels like receiving a warm hug and comforting words from a dear friend. Her page always exudes warmth and I am a huge fan of her poetry.

Anyhow, when I found out that she was going to come to DC, I was very excited. We were going to try to meet up with her back in January but due to the horrific winter that we had, she was unable to make it. I was happy to get another shot.

What I always find most heartening about meeting Xangans is when they are exactly who you expect them to be and Zakiah is very much that way. We had a wonderful (albeit short) lunch at Union Station, one of my very favorite buildings in DC. We ate at a restaurant called America. They have tons and tons of different menu options and everyone always seems to be able to find something that they’d like to eat. The Architect and I chatted with Zakiah and Noah as if we had known each other for a long time (which in a way, I suppose I have “known” her for awhile). It was really fantastic!

It’s always surreal to meet someone that you have been reading for so long but this meeting was absolutely wonderful. I hope that Zakiah makes it back out this way again!

Recently, I’m sure that many of us have been bombarded by commercials and such that herald the coming of the school year. I’m still receiving emails from the likes of Amazon and Half.com trying to remind me that I might just need a couple hundred dollar textbooks. You can’t escape it. These things have made me a little nostalgic as for the first time in over 20 years, I will not be one of the ones going back to school in the fall. I feel like I should be figuring out a class schedule or ordering books.

It’s kind of a weird feeling…

School has almost always been a big part of my life for such a long time. I liked it and always found it pretty manageable in general.  While I don’t foresee any more degrees in my <near> future (hey, another Masters is always possible), there’s definitely a few classes that I wouldn’t mind taking for fun. I’m currently reading a book about a group of people taking Italian lessons. That sounds like fun to me. I also would love to take cooking classes, perhaps in some sort of foreign cuisine (Italian or Indian would be a blast). Jewelry making would also be a lot of fun.

The nice thing about living in this area is that the general populace seems to be interested in one way or another in education. There are tons and tons of places to take various classes either through schools or private companies. Basically any subject that you could care to learn about, there is probably a class for it.

I can definitely see myself being one of those people who is always in some class or another. I love learning with a passion. I just can’t see giving up some sort of formal schooling even if I’m not working towards a degree.

If you could take any class, what would you take? Why?

Since I’m doing too good with the whole frequent blogging thing these days, I’ll tell you a funny story told through emails between the Architect and I:

Me:

The Architect:

wow, you really are quite magical.  I only wish I could have been there to see it happen!

Me:

All I could do was laugh. The old guys were way more concerned about it than me

The Architect:

haha, thats funny.  I’m glad you at least had an audience to enjoy the morning’s events…

Me:

Yup… only me

I was very pleased to hear that California’s Prop 8 was overturned yesterday especially since I have weddings and marriage on the brain quite a lot these days (for obvious reasons, haha).

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about how I didn’t think that marriage was really going to change anything about my relationship with the Architect. I still stand by that opinion but that definitely does not mean that I don’t think marriage is something really special and something that all consenting adult couples should be able take part in if they so choose.

 To me, marriage is a legal and symbolic (and sometimes spiritual depending on the type of marriage) representation of your commitment to another person. I think that everyone should have that right to take on that kind of responsibility.  That kind of commitment and responsibility is awesome. The idea that not all people are allowed to have that symbol of their relationship is just sad. Love is something that you should be able to proclaim in public.

There is nothing ugly about love.

I truly hope that the strike down of Prop 8 acts as a catalyst for gay marriage legality and recognition throughout the country. Locally, DC already allows gay marriage, Maryland has played around with the idea of recognizing gay marriages performed in other states, and unfortunately Virginia is just being a bunch of big dummies about the whole thing but then again it’s Virginia and tis to be expected (haha). There’s a long road ahead but I’m hopeful…