criplomats

David and Alison

Ahhhh, I’ve been looking forward to this week for a long time.  I flew to Hot Springs on Saturday to stay with David and Alison for the week on the lake. They are such gracious hosts, and the lake is so peaceful. I’m so happy to be here – just wish John could have made the trip with me. He would have enjoyed the Weldon’s steaks David grilled for us tonight!

We took the boat out after breakfast and noodled in the water for a couple of hours (I’m a convert now!), followed by grilled burgers on the dock. After that, I had to nap for two hours before getting up to eat steaks. What a great day!

The work week leading up to this weekend was fine. We stopped by a happy hour Monday afternoon to see our friends from Pakistan, Rick and Sarah. Wednesday night we had a recent Hendrix grad and his wife over to talk about careers in the Foreign Service, and Thursday night our old friend TFran from Juarez days came for dinner!

In the office, I moved from a pretty isolated cubicle to one in the midst of a good group of people who I work with a lot – it’s nice to be more integrated into the office. One of the perks is being included in impromptu outings, like walking down the street to see the Washington Capitols’ Stanley Cup parade!

Stanley Cup!

You would think it wouldn’t take almost 24 hours to get from Washington D.C. to Paraguay but you’d be wrong!  I flew down last Sunday (DC – Miami – Panama City – Asuncion) and flew home on Friday via Peru and Miami.  It really wore me out.  The week was good, though – it’s a nice little office with good folks – and as a bonus, I saw Kathy G. from Guadalajara and Elise T. from Juarez.  We, along with the fun consular chief there, went to Kathy’s house and yakked for a couple of hours Wednesday night.  The rest of the trip was just to/from work – it’s winter there, so it was dark by the time I left the Embassy at 5:30 to catch motorpool home.

Saturday, we gathered up Kristin, Brandon, and Jimmi and drove out to Herndon for a baby shower/party for Jim Jay and Kevin’s new baby at Kevin’s parents’ house.  There were several other A-100 folks there and we had a great time.  Afterward, Jim and Kellee met John and me at Ray’s the Steaks for dinner, then we had dessert on their rooftop afterward.  Such fun!

This morning we walked up to Dupont Circle and met Jimmi and Dave E., our friend from Israel and A-100, at KramerBooks.  It was fun getting caught up with him – we haven’t seen him in years.

With Sarah and Jimmi

I’m on a short layover in Panama on my way to Paraguay for the week. It’s a loooooong trip – there’s just no easy way to get there from DC.

I enjoyed my week at home, albeit short! John and I saw “Solo” on Memorial Day, after a celebrity siting of Gayle King at the gym (her daughter lives downstairs). I had lunch with my former boss Kristin on Wednesday, and we had a fun A-100 happy hour on Wednesday after work. I stopped by the visa happy hour on Friday, then John took me for my favorite seafood stew.

A short but fun week – now onward!

I had a quick turnaround in DC – back from Arkansas, then flew out the next morning for Nassau.  I had a great visit at the Embassy there, and enjoyed staying across the street at the Hilton. It’s right on the water, so I could watch the cruise ships come and go.

I flew home on Saturday. John and I drove to Old Town Alexandria to celebrate our friend Sarah’s birthday at an Escape Room – we had a blast! It was Sherlock Holmes themed, and our group of seven people made it out with two minutes to spare on the clock! Afterward we had a delish dinner at an Indian restaurant.

Sunday John went to play board games with some friends. I met my old manager and friend Caroline at the Renwick to see the Burning Man “No Spectators” exhibit – it was fantastic! Afterward we had lunch and yakked.

Today is a holiday, and John and I walked to Georgetown to see an early showing of “Solo,” in the Star Wars family. We walked around a bit after the movie, just window shopping – fun!

Tonight we watched a great documentary about Rose Marie called “Wait for your Laugh” – just wonderful.

Still no photos…John’s working on it! I really messed it up!

John and I made a quick trip to Arkansas this weekend to see his parents – American has a great direct flight to northwest Arkansas from Washington so it makes it really easy. We flew out Friday late afternoon and returned early this morning. We had a great time visiting – they took us to the Ozark Botanical Gardens which was lovely. Ginger and I got in a little shopping, too. Philip and Michelle had us over for yummy grilled steaks at their house last night, so we got caught up with them and their kids. And before you knew it, we were back at home in D.C.!

We had a pretty quiet week otherwise; we had dinner with our A-100 friends Kristin and Brandon Wednesday night at a good Indian place not far from our apartment. It was kind of a rainy week, but the sun’s out today!

Still no progress on my blog photos – stay tuned!