Want a Treat?

Say that to Brokaw... and he'll sit, sit pretty, lay down and play dead, all in a sequence, without you asking.

I'll do the same thing... for one of these.

I share with you, a glimpse of my morning.  Au Bon Pain runs are becoming a regular Friday thing for me, which is delightful, yet very notty.

My favorite item is the Creme de Fleur.  I don't pretend to speak french (I took Russian in high school) but I'm pretty sure that's French for "Dana can't resist me."

I meant to get oatmeal, but the CDF shot its powers at me and I couldn't help but get it.

I was victimized!

Whatever.  It's Friday, and that, my friends, is reason enough for the perfect trifecta of sugar, cheese, and crossiant.  Cheers!

I just realized my coffee cup says "write this story." HA!  How appropriate!  Our story this morning is about Obama & Clinton coming together in Unity, NH.  I keep singing "U-n-i-t-y!" in my head (alternating with the freecreditreport.com songs of course, for which my undying love never ceases.)

Pool Report

I am up past my bedtime.  Don't tell.  Shhhhh.  I'm the one who will pay, anyway!

So, I'm back from another trip to the pool and it was just glorious today.  I am never going back to not having a pool.  I think having a pool is like having a DVR.  It's supreme.  Once you get it, you can't go back.  I can't imagine watching LIVE television - what is that?  

Today I cracked open a new journal. Aren't new journals the best?  That new book smell, those perfectly flat, clean, empty pages - just full of possibility? I think this each time I get a new journal and I commit to have only the best handwriting and months of pure and lovely thoughts to jot down... that usually lasts about a minute - or at least until page 3.  I've actually been journaling lately on my laptop so my hand was quite tired after writing just 4 pages or so.  I am a free spirit journaler. (I had to come up with a different word than journalist because that's what I do for a living - and believe me, it is quite a departure from how I keep a journal).  

I love my journal because I make the rules.  

I digress... 

Back to the pool - because I'm starting to feel just as "at home" there as I do in my journal.  Today there were more people than the normal dayside crew.  Us regulars still know who we are, though.  There's the old leathery lady who sits half way under an umbrella, half way not, wearing a baseball cap and reading the Washington Post all day long (how can you read one newspaper all day? I don't get that but she looks happy, so whatev.)  Then there's the older couple with their grandson.  The grandson and the grandpa spend most of the day in the water - and the grandma walks over there every now and then to check on the kid's swimmies.  Sometimes she gets in, but she never gets her perfect bun of hair which resides in exactly the center of the back of her head wet.  Ever. That's it.  Those are the regulars, plus me and the lifeguards.

Today there was a woman I've never seen before and I felt like she was looking at me a lot.  She was probably wondering what I was so furiously writing.   I didn't mean to be such an intense writer - like I said - I'm out of shape!

Maybe she thought I was a student. (As if) Or unemployed.  I don't know.  If I obsessed over what people at the pool thought of me, I'd probably never go!  Because I'm the girl who's probably just too fat to wear a bikini but doesn't care.  3rd front chair from the left, closest to the pool, from 1pm to 3pm.  And I couldn't be happier to be a regular!

Sun Day

Just got back inside after about an hour and a half at the pool.  Oh, that was just what I needed!  I think I am addicted because I hadn't been in a week - and I was starting to get white and grumpy!

Today I finished a spectacular book.  Made me laugh.  Think.  Tear up.  Consider changing some things on the inside and not worry so much about the outside.

More thoughts... maybe later.  I don't like to get too terribly intimate in this space.

But I really liked Nancy Ortberg's "Looking for God."    Check it out (ladies).

Brokaw Needs to Get a Job

It has officially been 2 years since I got Brokaw.  Yesterday, I took him to the Veterinarian for a check-up, his yearly shots, and to have a little eye gook suspected infection type thingy looked at.

YEAH.... $357 dollars later - I left with a tired puggle, heartworm and flea meds (he's never even had fleas!) an antibiotic and a hole in my bank account.

I have no idea how I'm going to make up for this (I was not expecting it to cost THAT much!) but I know one thing... when I woke up last night and turned on the light and those little puggle eyes squinted up at me like "hey - I was sleeping!" I hugged him tight and thought, he is somehow... worth every penny.  Now, he needs to get a J-O-B!

He loves to ride in the car... little did he know where we were going...

 

Oh, man!

Brokaw, I didn't like it either.

Russert, Russert, Russert

(photo credit: AP) I made it to Tim Russert's wake yesterday.  I'm glad I did.

There was a pretty long line on Wisconsin Avenue, snaking through the gardens of St. Alben's School - of people, young, old, dressed up, not - to file by Tim's casket and pay their respects.  When I got inside, something shifted.

Tim Russert was a giant in politics and journalism.  A success story.  A regular guy who made it big.

But in that open room in the commons area of the Catholic school where his son was educated, where his casket now sits, covered in fresh flowers, I realized something.

As I shook hands with his wife, Maureen Orth, and his son, Luke Russert, I had a very "Wonder Years" moment.  It was personal.  No longer was I caught up in the "this is Tim Russert" or "this is history" fanfare, but I connected with that wife, and that son on a very basic level.  Anyone who has ever lost a loved one and gone through that knows exactly what I mean.  There is nothing else like it.  That autopilot mode that gets you through those incredibly trying few days.

So, I pray with a new perspective for Tim Russert's family today, as they bury him and say what some will refer to as "their final goodbyes" or "their last respects."  I pray knowing that this isn't their final goodbye at all, or their final respects.  This hasn't even hit them.  Goodbyes are never final, they kind of go on forever, as does respect.

Goodbye Tim

Okay, so it's Monday and I'm back at work in my office in downtown DC.  I guess in some weird way, I was hoping this whole Tim Russert suddenly dying thing was just some kind of nightmare, that it wasn't really real.

But, there's a wake tomorrow.  And a memorial service.  For Tim.  I just can't believe it.

This is just SO SAD.  Such a great loss for this town, for politics, for journalism.  I just listened to an interview Tim Russert did with WBAL radio Friday morning - just hours before he died.  Hearing his excitement about our country, our government, this presidential race, even the show he had planned for this weekend is just heartbreaking!

To All the Baby Daddys...

It's Father's Day.  Give yours a ring.  Shout out to my dad, Charlie Brown.  Yes, for real.  Charlie Brown. 

Okay, I'm going to get my box of tissues ready for Meet the Press now.

What a Loss

I couldn't believe it when I got the phone call.  I was praying that my mom was confused and that it really wasn't Tim Russert.  I rushed home and plopped on my couch and I was stuck for 3 hours.  Glued.  I can't imagine what this loss is like for his family - thinking that they got that phone call on the other side of the world.  And his co-workers who were there when it happened.  My heart, my prayers, my thoughts go out to them.

Tim Russert is a giant to me.  He has an incredible legacy and I owe him a "thank you" for inspiring me!  I was 11 years old when Tim took over "Meet the Press,"  and I remember watching that show on Sunday mornings with my dad.  It was key in inspiring my interest in politics and journalism and it was a big ingredient in my dreams to become a network producer.  No one could interview a powerful person like Tim Russert.  He made it look so easy, too!  I heard person after person reflect yesterday that he was fair and that he was a good person and that he did his homework.

Those three things that Tim Russert excelled in made him the giant journalist that he was.  He leaves huge shoes to fill.  And a void in Washington.  Election night will not be the same.  It will be like having a wedding with no groom.  Who could forget "Florida, Florida, Florida" in 2000?  Gosh, I just can't even fully express how much I trusted Tim Russert and looked up to him and how I will miss him.  It will not be the same.

Thank you, little Russ.  (This pic was taken by my co-worker earlier this year on the campaign trail.  It's so sad that he won't be with us to see this historical election through - I know he loved it!) 

Happy Friday!

It's Friday - celebrate!

I am wearing a really bright orange shirt today.  I got it at ATL the other day (side note: it's style card time, ladies - time to stock up on your ATL gear!) and I thought, what a fun summer color!  I paired it with those white pants that I stress over each time I wear them.  I really am too thick in the thighs to pull off white pants but I'm trying to rise above adversity and be an inspiration to others, you know?  I don't want my thighs and my insecurity about them to hold me back in life!  It was you, my blogging buddies who gave me the courage to wear these pants in the first place, so I do, proudly.  Even though I feel a little bit like a construction barrel.

I hope you've all had a good week.  I wish you a sunny, stress free weekend and to all those to whom it applies - Happy Father's Day!

Still alive

No one checked on me, hey!

I am still here, although I have decided NEVER to go back to that grocery store because I think the milk I bought was stanky, too!

I have just three thoughts this morning..

1.  Please pray for Tricia & Nate today.

2.  You need to read Becky's version of the rafting trip, it is highly entertaining!

and 3.  Sometimes when I'm scrolling too quickly through my BlackBerry and I see "Cheney" I think it says "Chesney" and I get excited - then realize there's an S missing and it's SO not the same!  **Note: Kenny will be Live on the Today Show on Friday, mark your calendars!

Movin' On Up... (literally)

I am still kind of not really liking the new way to post blogs... I don't usually have issues like this with change. 

It's HOT outside!  I mean like 100.  I kind of want to go to the pool, but I kind of want it to come to me because I'm already in PJ pants watching episodes of the TBS version of Sex and the City (I re-added it to my DVR list even though, like Saved by the Bell and Friends, I'm pretty sure I've seen each and every episode)

NEWSFLASH FRIENDS:  I am moving!! Not far.  This is not a Dana sized move at all, really.  No new job, no new state, not even a new building.  I'm moving up a floor and down the hall - one month from tomorrow!  I'm so excited to have a BEDROOM and a BALCONY!  It will be so nice!  I never realized how much I took things like watching the TV from bed and actually being able to leave the room for granted.

I can't get that "Keep Bleeding" song out of my head!!  Actually, I'm alternating... between that song and one of those freecreditreport.com songs - f-r-e-e that spells free - credit report dot com baby!  So catchy - I love those commercials!

I am so Outdoorsy.

Update - pictures:

If you care about me, you should e-mail me and make sure I'm okay. Don't call. I'm not so good at returning phone calls. Right now I'm eating a sandwich with ham that expired 5 days ago and it makes me really nervous, but my hunger prevailed. And I'm even one of those people who are funny about food dates. Always have been. Can't believe I just ate that sandwich!

I wrote a whole blog earlier then when I went to spell check it, it disappeared.  So, I'm not doing that again.  If there are spelling errors, sorry.

It's hot, eh?  I was having a good hair day when I left for work.  It lasted all the way to my elevator.  Which I'm pretty sure could double as an easy bake oven right now.  Seriously, I dare someone to put some cookie dough in my elevator and give it a while.  Eeeewww.  The parking garages are nasty hot, too.

I listened to Alanis Morissette on my way to work - maybe that's why I'm coming off so angry.  I saw a profile on her on CBS News Sunday Morning and it made me remember being 15 and listening to Alanis, cleaning my room, and when I was learning to drive a car.  You Outta Know!!!! (Listening to it now, I wonder what business I had listening to that when I was 15!)

Anyway... oh, yes, I learned something new about myself this weekend.  I, my friends, am outdoorsy.  At least I was for a day.  Saturday, Becky and I rode the short bus with the National Press Club to Harper's Ferry, WV and we went White Water Rafting!!

I'm pretty sure after rafting 7 miles through three states, in three classes of white water rapids, I'm a pro.  Sorry, I don't have any pictures.  If we would have waited around for the disposable girl scout troop leader waterproof camera, we may have missed the raft.  We took pictures in our head.  We didn't even bother to go into the little store after our trip to look at the pics we could have paid for - I'm thinking because by that time, our outdoorsiness had worn off.

We rode on rapids with hard core names like "Bull Falls" and "White Horse" I think there was also one with the word "Spike" in it.  Very hard core, people.  Our guide, Tonya, was rock solid.  She plucked me and Becky out of the water with one hand.  Like you see moms pick up toddlers wearing swimmies.  One handed people, by the backs of our life vests.  Remind me to never mess with a rafting chick!

Okay, I finished my sandwich.  I hope this works out okay.  I have to stop going to the ghetto grocery store, this is unfortunately not the first time I have bought something that was expired.  5 days! And I just bought it yesterday.

Side note:  I'm so glad Hillary is out.  I'm also glad that I was on a raft in the middle of a river, no where near work when she dropped out.  Now we (the media) can all start speculating with our red and blue markers and our maps of the continental United States, yay!

(*I'm sorry I lost that first attempt at this blog - I think it was much better.)

Love for Joe

Ladies and gentlemen, I would hereby like to point out that I totally saw a good thing coming - my faithful readers will testify to the fact that I love Morning Joe and I have for almost, forever, since it started.

Check today's New York Times!

I know a good piece of television news when I see it.  I should! Almost 10 years in the business - I would hope I have a good eye by now!  And my eye told me almost immediately that Morning Joe was BRILLIANT.

News.

Politics.

Personality.

Who could ask for anything more?

Do yourself a favor - check it out: MSNBC, weekdays 6-9am. (make sure you watch the very last segment if nothing else!)

JOE IS BACK!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love Mika and Willie but I am SO HAPPY Morning Joe is back!!!!  Celebrate!

I'm slacking, I know.  Don't hate.  I don't like to blog anymore unless I have pictures to play with.  I had a fabulous weekend but I didn't take any pictures, so as far as you know, it didn't really exsist.  But trust me.  It was grand.  Laughs.  Food.  Softball. Laughter. A church picnic.  All the good things in life.

Monday was super cool because I got to go to the White House - where I wish I worked more often.  Only in my dreams. 

I was there for a Medal of Honor ceremony and it was quite emotional, actually.  It was an honor to be in the room as the President handed the higest military award to a soldier's parents.  The soldier was PFC Ross McGinnis.  I remember when he was killed because he's from outside of Pittsburgh, and I was working there when it happened in December of 2006.  Ross was 19.  He was riding in a Humvee when a grenade was thrown in it.  He warned his buddies - 4 other guys in the Humvee, then jumped on top of the grenade, absorbing the blast.  He was killed instantly and those 4 other guys are alive because of his sacrifice.

Amazing.  Humbling.

I held it together during the ceremony, but afterwards, listening to his comrades telling the story, and talking to his parents - it was almost too much.  I am realizing already now that I am officially part of a "military family," and stories - realities - like this hit a little closer to home.  Thank you, Ross McGinnis.  Thank you, McGinnis family.

In other news.... let me just say it's a good thing this blog is not a newscast because THIS would be a super difficult transition for any anchor I know...

Fun things about being at the White House on Monday.

1.  I got to see my new friend Becky. Yay! She has an incredibly exciting life and if you're anything like me, you'll love her stories!

2.  I kind of lost a bet with our chief photographer, David.  But it ended up being pretty cool!  Ever wonder what is under that infamous White House podum in the press room?

And you thought hooking up your DVD player was an adventure in electronics, eh?  Miles and miles of cable and fiber and wires and stacks and stacks of computers, etc. fill the space where the pool FDR used once was.  You can read more about the history here.

Now people sign their names on what was once the walls of the pool, much like hoodlums did in the bathrooms in middle school.  It was fun reading the signatures and the dates and adding mine to the list! Oh yeah, baby!

I didn't know you could do this, or it would have already been on my list of things to do before I die.  Perhaps I will put it on the list, only to scratch it off. (Side note: when I went to work Monday "morning" I did not plan on going to the White House - or I would have put on make-up - oh well)