This is going to be rather random. Consider the source.  I have been meaning to blog about a few things and I just haven't had time or I've been lazy.  None of these things may interest you.  But thanks for stopping by anyway.

1. Jenna Bush. Okay, seriously, I have a lot of respect for this woman.  I saw her interview on 20/20 this weekend with Diane Sawyer - she seems to really have a heart for poor sick children and I'd love to read the book she wrote.  Definitely has come a long way since her crazy college days.  And I think she's BEAUTIFUL. And tall!! She was walking with Diane, who I know is 6 feet and she was right up there with her. (tall women freak me out, but we'll deal with that another day)

2. Sam Champion filling in for Nancy Grace. Are you *kidding* me?!?! Oh, Sam. I love the way you do the weather on GMA - always using video and sound - telling a story. I love how you always GO to the storm. I can't even watch Nancy Grace. I can't even deal with it for one segment. I didn't actually see Sam in this venue, I read about it online, and I must say, it breaks my heart. Why???

3. I really try not to get too political in this space because it really is my job as a journalist to keep my opinions to myself.  But I saw something in a magazine this week that made me smile.  Mike Huckabee jamming on the bass. Very cool. You just have to like Mike.

4. Remember my master plan to make Brokaw behave? The pumpkin?  Yeah... well, he was just chewing on a couple of books so I applied the pumpkin, and that weasel took it off of himself?  I really need the Dog Weesperer!!  Anyone want to help me make a video to solicit Cesar? Becky?

5. Tomorrow is October! Fall always seems like it takes a long time to get here, then it's gone. Oh, the anticipation! I'm ready. Bring on the beautiful leaves and long sleeve T's. Perhaps next weekend, I'll switch out my closet - I LOVE doing that.

Okay... better get ready for work now. I have lovely new Hazelnut Creme coffee tonight and it's splendid. The Supreme Court is back to work tomorrow. I don't know why I just added that, just popped into my head.

There you go. Random. I wish you all a fulfilling week. I'm going to try really hard not to have ANY Pumpkin Spice Lattes because last week I had TWO. Sigh.

Super Sweet Saturday

Yesterday I had an unexpectedly awesome day.  I had absolutely nothing planned for this weekend.  When good, fun things happen unexpectedly, aren't they even more fun and good?

So, I got up in the morning and jumped on the metro with an empty backpack and plans to fill it up with fresh fruits and vegetables from Eastern Market.  And my camera, of course.

These made me wish I still had a yard or at least a porch of some sort.

This Bee is getting some action!

Millions of peaches... peaches for me.

Do people really hand tomatoes down through generations?

Ick.  I've never been a tomato fan, but they do take pretty pictures.

Is it just me, or do these look like they have necks and heads - much like swans or ducks??

Weird.

Granny Smith Apples.

Yum-O.

Oh, and the free samples are A-MAZING.

(I am such an Eastern Market commercial - they should pay me to shop there)

It always baffles me in the grocery store how much more yellow and red peppers cost than green peppers.  Why the discrimination?

At EM, they're much more affordable.  And fresh. And local.

I am such a spokeswoman.

Since I was so enjoying being with myself - much like one does on a date - I bought myself some ice cream and flowers.

Hey - why not?

:)

So, when I was at the market, I kept seeing people with these yellow canvas bags that said "Book Festival."  Well, if you know ME  you know I had to find out a) where it was and b) what I had to do to get in.

I found out it as on the National Mall, so me, my backpack full of peppers and peaches and my flowers hopped back on the metro.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I came up on the Mall. WOW!! Huge tents everywhere - books for sale - authors signing books and speaking. And it was all FREE. Seriously? This day's stock just kept rising.

So, I was walking around (trying to figure out where to go so I could score one of those big, yellow canvas bags) and who did I see zoom by on a golf cart?? Yeah -- MARTHA RADDATZ.  Martha is super cool.  She's the Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News, has been to Iraq like 14 times and sits in the front row at the briefings.  I was psyched.

So, I bought her book.  Then got in the line so she could sign it for me.  I decided it would make a perfect birthday present for my dad.  I'm going to have to buzz through it with out dog-earing.  My dad will want to discuss as he reads it, and I must be prepared.

There was no line for Martha's signing so I just walked right up there, and in full schmoozing mode (it really was authentic - I really do admire her work greatly) I told her how much I respected her work and that I too was in television news and that I was new to Washington.  She was very nice and inviting to me.

And she told me to stop her the next time I see her at a WH briefing.  Martha, meet your new best friend! HA.

I had to find a spot in the shade to take in the moment.

And I had to call the one person who would really appreciate it for what it was and make him envious.

(Insert sigh and blush here)

So content and satisfied under my tree I spent an hour or so in between books.

The view from under my tree.

I still can't believe I get to live here.

As if a network news correspondent, C-Span and a bunch of books wasn't enough to make me happy, there was this.

Look who was a sponsor.

Need I say more?

National Book Festival, people, it was THE DEAL.

I love it.

This is presidential historian and author, Michael Beschloss.  He's on NBC all the time.  I think he's doing a live interview on C-SPAN here but I'm not sure - I was just passing by on my way to Martha's lecture.

I enjoyed the talk.  Her book is about the War in Iraq.  She follows a group of Marines who fought in this on battle in Sadr City in 2004 in which 8 died.

Even Martha said there are two different kinds of truth in Iraq.  It's true that things are getting better.  But it's also true that there's not progress.

I think it's interesting to hear a journalist's perspective like that. 

Honest.

Here's the signature.

Picture Time!

Quintessential Washington Monument pose.

There we go, boys!!

With the Beautiful Becky Barber...

Tree hugger senior pictures.

Paul and Joel.

Circa 5 minutes before the frozen lemon pops that changed our lives...

Okay, who can name the Friends episode this is from...

Classic Sexy Paul.

 

Exhausted Joel in the 4 **star hotel.

In a 4 star hotel, you get things like "bath hats."

I love how right after I took this picture, Becky's like "is this going up on the blog?"

Yep.

 

Chillin' in my apartment -- I was pleasantly surprised that 4 people could actually fit up in here!! :)

Lots of eyes and teeth.

This is harder than it looks. This is the only shot we got of all 4 of us - and there's a lighting issue... whatever.

I was the uninformed, always lost tour guide to the Capitol.  Ha ha.  This is my group. Please stay with your tour guide at all times...

The Capitol dome really is breathtaking.

Pictures don't do it justice - come and visit me, and I'll take you!! :)

Capitol Tours by Dana.  Priceless. Yet Free.

I was psyched to see the Senate Floor in action for the first time!

I saw:
Sen. Robert Byrd, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Harry Reid, and Sen. Jim Webb.

It was cool.

What a great weekend!! This weekend = absolutely nothing planned, and that's just fine with me!

Pumpkin Head

Last week, when Granny Nora was in town, she sponsored a trip to Target (yay!) and Brokaw got his Halloween costume for this year.  You have to get them early or the good ones are gone, it's the same way for little kids.  Anyway, putting the pumpkin on Brokaw is HILARIOUS.  He is scared of it, so the second you put it on, he just stands there, still, afraid to move.  It's the greatest thing, ever.  The pumpkin is my new best friend.  When Brokaw is getting into stuff during the day while I'm trying to sleep (like going on the internet and IMing Ann or something) all I have to do is put the pumpkin on him and viola! Still, well behaved puggle.  This is going to be a whole-year-round kind of thing.  Poor pumpkin head.

Blast From The Past

I spent the weekend hanging out with an old friend.  I met Paul freshman year at Liberty -- standing in a long line in Religion Hall -- trying out for Youthquest.  We were drawn to each other -- well both being outgoing, charming and hilarious, of course.  I hadn't seen him in like 7 or 8 years - and a lot has changed since life inside the bubble.  But some things remain. And it was fun to feel young again.  I think the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young. Yes, that's a lyric from a song... I have almost no original pieces of wisdom.

I'll post more pics from our weekend with Joel and Becky soon.  For now...

Hi.

How are ya?

I'm sorry I haven't had a substantive post in a while... I keep meaning to blog, you know how it is.  Like when you keep meaning to send that thank-you note or return that DVD.

You're going to get a rambling mess... FYI, but hopefully, you enjoy.

Right now, I'm eating a Lean Cuisine at my desk at work. It's kind of stinky. I feel kind of bad for my co-workers - who have to smell the Sesame Chicken at 8:00 in the morning. Mmmmm....

Yesterday I was in the elevator in my building and this girl asked me if I went to Miami of Ohio (I've never understood that school name btw...) and I had to tell her "Nope."  This happens to me all the time. Not the Miami of Ohio thing but I feel like lots of people ask me all the time if I'm someone else.  I guess I'm kind of generic - looking... I look like lots of other girls or something? When I do that "celebrity face match" search thing on the internet, I always get Jamie Lynn Spears - what in the world?

Let me vent for a minute about how not-with-it I was last night on my way out the door.  I forgot my glasses (who does that?), my blackberry, and MY COFFEE.  It's truly a miracle that I'm still here. 

Just finished the Lean Cuisine. I hope you all have a nice Thursday and I hope to post pictures of my fabulous weekend with friends here in the city - and you've got to see Brokaw's Halloween costume.

Yes, he has a Halloween costume, and no, I don't have a life.

Cheers!

Read This!

My friend Shawn posted this on my myspace - and I think it's just lovely.

And SO TRUE:

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to
visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into
complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee,
the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of
coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal,
some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to
help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,
leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to
want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems
and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most
cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we
drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you
consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each
other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in
society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and
the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life
we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make
the best of everything they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Quote of the Day

"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything." - Theodore Roosevelt

Not much time to post today... sorry.

Welcome to Dana Perino, the new White House Press Secretary. Yesterday was her first briefing.  I got to interview her last week. She was very cool - when I didn't remember the name of an Iraqi Sheik who was killed - and she didn't remember where VP Cheney was going to be on Monday.  Us Danas stick together - and we're slowly taking over the world.

One size six shoe step at a time.

Today, on my way home from work, I discovered that I live only 0.8 miles from an Ann Taylor Loft. I wish I did not know this. It cannot, in any way, be any good.

Granny Nora is staying with me for the week! We're having so much fun!!!

Oh, happy birthday to a dear friend, :).

That's right :) is 25 today! I had no idea! We only met like 8 years ago and I thought :) was the coolest thing. :) has come a long way - but I don't know all of the cool codes - so I just stick with the basic :).  It makes me :).

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm very excited to go home this weekend - to see my family - and bring my granny back with me!

I don't have anything brilliant to write today... but I do have a beautiful blog you can read, written by NBC's Brian Williams.  He's a great writer.

Sometimes entire days go by and I just don't realize it.  When you don't sleep - the first half of the week really can feel like one. long. day.

Whew.  It is getting better though.

Happy Birthday, my dear Harry!

So, in the spirit of this new, reformed financial life I'm living -- I'm waiting until this weekend to get a burned copy of Kenny Chesney's new CD from my sister.  I love Kenny but that $10 really is better spent at the grocery store, sorry.

The Biggest Loser is back, yay! I love that show - I always think back to when I lost like 30 pounds 2 years ago - I felt like I bonded with the people on the show.  Tonight, they were crying a lot and that got on my nerves, but still, I think the show is very inspiring. 

I keep forgetting to watch The Hills... so glad it's on mtv.com. And Britney, oh, honey...

Sorry... I'm rambling tonight, big time.

Oh!! My kitchen is back in full order.  And I've been eating some divine leftovers this week from the fab meal I made.  Ginger glazed shrimp and zucchini with fresh parm over fettuccine.  Sometimes I don't only laugh and smile like Rachael Ray - I AM RACHAEL RAY, muah ha ha ha ha ha!!!

I love to take pictures of my cooking creations because I have to say, I impress myself.  If you knew my mother, you'd understand. I still can't bake anything that doesn't come in a tube, but if you want dinner, I'm your girl!

I was kind of trying not to write anything about today being September 11th, but I just don't think I can get away from it.  The thoughts keep creeping up in my head.  I have watched way too much History Channel in the past couple of days - and seeing all of those images again, hearing those phone calls from the people on the planes and in the towers - brings it all back. It's been 6 years, and I still can't wrap my head around the fact that THAT really happened.  Of course, like you, I remember exactly where I was when it happened (at work - and I don't think I even fully came home for any amount of time for like a week). I don't know anyone who was directly affected - yet I - now - 6 years later still feel deeply affected by 9/11.

I feel like it made me grow up. Realize the world. It changed me. And it still makes me very sad.

I'm glad tomorrow is September 12th.

I was glad to see Tom Brokaw on the air again. Man, I miss him so much...