"there is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience." ~french proverb

this morning I decided to get an egg sandwich and coffee from Dunkin' Donuts in the basement of Ivory before work. mmmhmmm it was delicious.
and would you believe that it cost me less than a coffee from Starbucks??

...amazing.




so this weekend was pretty good to say the least -->
on Saturday, Jesse and I enjoyed a fun day roaming D.C. after an enjoyable lunch at Benihana in Georgetown, we walked to the Verizon store in the business district so Jesse could replace his phone. unfortunately that never happened as they didn't have his phone in stock. however the trip there was not a total loss...next door there was a Borders bookstore. Jesse and I spent a good amount of time in there browsing the shelves for some good reads, though restraining ourselves from purchasing anything. as much as I love bookstores, I always feel a little depressed after being in one...so much I want to read and yet have little time and money to do so for that matter. I gotta get my read on asap.
on Sunday, Jesse's parents, sister, and grandmother came down to the District. we had lunch at a Thai restaurant and then spent the afternoon at Eastern Market in SE D.C. I love Eastern Market...it remains relatively unknown to the tourists of D.C. but is such a fun place to venture to. though it's not as big, it's not too much different from the French Market of New Orleans. from the magnificent carpet shops to the tables of stone jewelry and beautiful flowers, we soaked it all in. our day ended at the Bread and Chocolate cafe next to the market enjoying afternoon cafe lattes.


good times.




after much anxious waiting, I finally spoke to Alicia last night for the first time in long time. she is back from her abroad experience in London. for over an hour, she shared her stories of not really London, but of her weekend in Paris- our most favorite place in the world (though I've never been). she could not have put it better when she said that nothing could have gone wrong in Paris...I believe I would feel the same way once I travel there. like her, I want to drink lots of red wine on the Seine and then not be able to ride a bike. hehe. once I'm there it will be one of the sweetest feelings in the world.

:) :) :)



I needed to change my contacts Saturday, but was out of contacts from my current prescription. so I decided since I had a box left from my old prescription that I would just wear those for the time being until I get my new prescription when I'm home this week. well, bad idea. my eyes actually improved since I've had contacts...prescription decreased in power from -4.00 to -3.86. needless to say, wearing contacts with an increase in power has left me completely whacked out with a headache all weekend and feeling like my eyes were dilated. never again will I do that. should have left the old contacts in for an extra week rather than suffer and embarrass myself in front of Jesse's family.
heh.






hmmm.

I started another book last night...Rashid Khalidi's Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East. the place of my internship (Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution) had a few copies of the book, so they gave me and another intern the book. I would not call it a pro-Iraq war book, but I wanted to read as it presents an opposing opinion backed by political and cultural history of the region. it is not some book written by a pundit shooting his mouth off, but rather written by the chair of the Arab Studies department at Columbia University and an expert on the Middle East; thus, I am more inclined to read it. as they say, one must be able to educate oneself in the opposing opinion in order to foster his or her own opinion.






well, I think this is it for now.
I cannot believe it's August already
....in 30 days classes, as well as the second half of my college career, shall commence. ahhh.

I'll be home in Louisiana in just a couple of days....
looking forward to seeing the family and the pets! hehe.





tres amore!
au revoir.