It was a cold morning in Winchester. The coldest morning this season. I know this because the fountain froze!
Normally, it would have warmed up during the day enough to melt the ice but it was still there when I walked home.
Are you cold now?
While walking home for lunch today, I saw the above and it made me laugh. The shop is a new baby store and the giraffe has been outside everyday but this is the first day it has been facing the store. This is also the first day that we've snow this year. Poor giraffe!!!
The town is building a new parking garage downtown and I think it's going to be the largest building in town judging by the crane that they're using. I don't know how big this thing is but it's too big for this town. I tried to take some pictures to put it into perspective but there's nothing big enough or close enough for a comparison.
This week's theme is "Night". I had a lot of night pics ready to go but I thought I had been over using pics of Vegas and Apple Blossom so I wanted to take some new ones. As Carmi said, night pics are hard. These were all taken downtown while I was walking back from Poker on Thursday night. People were looking at me strange while I used trashcans and a parking meter to steady the shots. It didn't completely work but a few of them turned out pretty good.
This one is of the Obama Office in town. Boring.
But this is the first one I took. I love what happened to the lights!
This was the first one I took on the walking mall. This is when I started using the trashcans. I like the glowy effect on the street lights.
This is in the other direction. I like the tiny tree with it's tiny leaves set against the blackness of the night sky.
These are the last two that I took almost directly across from the entrance to our building. The town had been working on getting the lights in the trees working all week and these show them well.
You got any favorite night shots?
It's time for some bitching! We live in a lovely apartment on the downtown mall. Life is great living there. There are lots of shops and places to eat and things to do. I watched parts of "A Bug's Life" out my window this year, listened to a Jazz band in my PJs, avoided many DUIs, and have loved it all. Now that the weather is turning colder, all that is changing.
I'M FREEZING! Our lovely old apartment was 55 degrees when I got home yesterday. I could stand by the closed window and have my hair blown back by the amount of wind coming through the cracks. The charming radiators were ice cold. I had to call the emergency number to get some heat and even with heat, it barely made it to 62 degrees. I did find out something interesting.
Before I tell you that, I should start be letting you know that we had NO heat last winter except what could be made by space heaters and the oven. At the beginning of December, the furnace died in our building. We were first told that it would be fixed in two weeks. Those two-weeks came and went. In the end, the heat was fixed in late February but only somewhat. We still had to run the space heater. By then, we only had one space heater left because they came and took the one they gave us in December to use. anyway, it warmed up rather quickly so it wasn't too much of a pain. Now that it's getting cold again, I'm starting to get pissed again.
Now, about that interesting thing I found out. The thermostat for the old furnace was on the second floor in the hallway. Not the greatest place considering the interior of the building is about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the place. When they installed the new furnace, they moved the thermostat and you'll never guess to where. Inside one of the apartment on the second floor in their KITCHEN! Turns out that the lady that lives in that apartment was baking something yesterday and her kitchen was already 72 degrees so the heat didn't come on! Why am I surprised?
Our goal is to move to a bigger place on a second floor somewhere else downtown where WE control the heat. Living downtown is great but I'm going to turn into a popsicle if we don't move soon!
On a "Bummer Free" note, I did find out that the handyman is an Obama guy!
I'm taking a cue from President Bush (aka Will Ferrell) and creating a "Bummer Free Zone" on this blog for this post (maybe longer). In keeping with the Bummer Free Theme, I'm posting some images that go to Carmi's theme of "Happy" this week. Instead of just posting pictures of smiling faces, I decided to post photos of things that make me happy.
First up is living downtown. I love living downtown. You see the strangest things sometimes.
You REALLY see strange things over Apple Blossom.
This picture of my husband was taken one Saturday morning when there was a wine festival downtown and a band was playing across from our apartment. My husband makes me happy and this is another reason why living downtown makes me happy.
Vegas makes me happy.
Nature makes me happy.
Being crafty makes me happy.
I guess that's enough for now.
Your turn...what makes you happy?
Yesterday was a busy day for me. Mike was suppose to go to Rockville so I woke up way early to drop off the laundry, get the car an oil change, and get home by 9:30. I did all that and came home to Mike telling me that he wasn't going to go. Well, crap! Oh well. At least I got an early start on the day. Since Mike was going to be in Rockville, I scheduled a necklace and bracelet class at the new store downtown, The Potomac Bead Company, and couldn't cancel. I went and made the above. I think it turned out great!
This is only HALF of what I had to choose from!
I'm surprised it only took me 45 minutes to pick out my beads.
This is how my project started out.
As it turns out, the only thing they really taught us was how to finish it off. I can string beads with the best of them and I'm sure everyone else could to. It's finishing them off and making something usable that I had a problem with. Here's what I learned:
Now, I'm ready to make Christmas gifts for everyone...once I buy the tools! The bead are kinda pricey too. The class was $18.00 and the supplies I used were an additional $24.00. Well, at least I know what I need to know now.
OH! There was also a car show being held downtown when I went to take my class. There were all kinds of cars and people downtown. Here's one of the cars.
There was a cooler car that I saw first but I didn't realize I had my camera until it was almost time to go to class. I promise not to be such a dunderhead next time!
Do you do anything interesting this weekend?
The weather was wonderful today in Winchester. So wonderful in fact, that it brought out not one, but TWO groups of monks.
Overheard walking to work this morning:
"We started getting high together and that ruined the relationship."
I live downtown and there are these meetings that happen in the morning, also downtown, involving 12-steps. The one closest to me is for drugs and the one that this little gem came from is for alcohol. In all fairness, I am assuming this since I didn't actually SEE the girl come out of the meeting. I would, however, bet all my money and everything I own in this world that she did just come out of the meeting. I would also bet that was was on her way back to Work Release (also downtown).
Living downtown is colorful!
Yesterday morning, on my way to work, I saw this nice naughty piece of vandalism.
Partial Building Collapse in Winchester
The old Taylor Hotel at 127 N. Loudoun Street has been empty for years except for the pigeons which is good since the roof caved in yesterday afternoon. For those of you familiar with Winchester, the building is located on the downtown mall directly across from Bell's. Here's a picture for you.
I left for work a little early so I could get some shots of it. It's a rainy day here so the pictures aren't that great (sorry for the water spots). This was the first shot I took when I saw it. It's from the ground so you can't see much. 
Here's another one a little closer. Actually, that's as close as anyone is going to get for a while. I've circled the entrance to the walkway from the Braddock Street Parking Garage to the downtown mall. A lot of people that work downtown park there and walk that way everyday. No one was there when it happened. They would have been fine...except for maybe their pants!
I took my life into my own hands for the next pictures. Just kidding! I went to the top of the parking garage to get them. These are pretty good but not as good as what's in the paper today! I'm not that nutty, sorry.
We now move around front. In this shot you can see a little bit of the collapsed part and the other side of the walkway. 
After all the years sitting there vacant something will FINALLY be done with the building! And, it has to be done quickly. Right now a big chunk of the mall is blocked off along with parking access. I don't think the business owners in the area are going to put up with it for too long.
I have a theory as to what happened. When I was walking to work yesterday morning, I noticed that the four trees in front and slightly north of the Taylor Hotel had lost all their leaves. It was like all of the leaves on those four trees turned yellow and dropped off overnight. All the other trees on the mall were and are still green and full. Later that day, the building collapsed. I'm thinking that, during the night, there was a micro burst or some weather related event that happened there. It took all the leaves and weakened the building enough so that the rain finished it off later that day. My husband thinks I'm nuts but I'm sticking to my theory.
I'll keep you posted if I hear what's going to happen.
Poker Weekend
We had a wonderful weekend! Brandon (Mike's son) was down for the weekend again which was is fine. He's pretty easy to please. Friday was also First Friday in Downtown. Which is when all the businesses stay open late and do special things. There's usually a few wine tastings, maybe a book signing, and a couple of bands. We went into the juggling store, Incredible Flying Objects, for the first time and loved it! They had these thing called Flying Monkeys. It's a monkey with long arms and legs and the arms are like a sling shot. You fling them across the room and they scream! Everyone is getting one for Christmas this year! They also had magic tricks, funny action figures (a Librarian for example), and bumper stickers. The one I remember the most said "Jesus is Coming. Look busy." We had dinner at one of the pubs then Brandon did his own thing and Mike and I went home and played cards for a while. We went out again and ran into a few friends, drank a few beers, and strolled down the mall. All in all, it was a perfect evening and just steps out our door!
Saturday was just as awesome! Brandon slept in and Mike watched the news while I played Poker online. After a while, we hopped in the shower and went to play poker leaving Brandon to wander on his own (we gave him money for lunch at McDonald's). It was a smaller than normal crowd for poker due to the holiday last week but we had a good time. Angie came and played for the first time. She didn't do too bad. Everyone seemed to like her and she seemed to like everyone (except for one guy). After the tournament, we got a cash game going and I could do very little wrong! I was going to say "no wrong" but that would be lying just a little. I knocked out a few people and, in the end, managed to turn my $20 into $58! Mike did even better! We drank a bit too much during the day and had to walk home. On the way, we called in pizza for dinner. Brandon was glad to see us but not as glad as he was to see the pizza!
I hope your weekend was just as fun!!
Everybody's Working For the Weekend!
Ain't no doubt in my mind! This week sucked the big egg. Having the Fourth of July smack dab in the middle of the work week was a horrible thing (especially for those of us who weren't smart enough to take vacation). Monday was slow and painful because that's the way Monday's are for me. Tuesday was also slow because all I could think about was going home early (which didn't happen) and I didn't have a lot to do because most people took the week off (I really need to start paying attention to the calendar). Thursday was bad because of the slight hangover and the fact that I kept thinking it was Monday (two Mondays in one week, YUCK). Today is the best day of the week because, well, it's always the best. I haven't had much to do this week which is a bad thing when all you want to do is go home.
I did work on one neat project this week. Actually, it was just yesterday and today. A mobile dog groomer came in and needed me to do her logo, quick. She had been trying, for the past three weeks, to use another designer in town but had no luck. She came in with her idea and a font she liked and I came up with this.
I think it's just too cute for words! She really likes it as well. Other than that, nothing much going on at work.
Lots of things going on this weekend here in the old burg. First Friday, Poker, and the Blues House all just outside our door! First Friday brings a lot of people downtown to the galleries and shops to hear live music and drink free wine. There are other things to do as well but that's what I do, listen to music and drink! Poker is something we do every Saturday but we might not because of the Blues House. The Blues House a small street festival that we will be able to see and hear from our living room. The temptation to do that instead of poker is going to be great. I just don't know which is going to win. I'll let you know!
What are your plans for the weekend? Will I be jealous?
Tales from the Mall
I love living downtown! On the way home tonight there were two jugglers and I guy drawing a picture of one of the buildings. I see something new everyday.
Sanjaya update:
Fanjaya's are suppose to wear orange on Saturday and go out and try to meet other Fanjayas. I plan on going to the mall. I think this is a really fun idea! I do, however, resign myself to meeting a bunch of 12 year olds! Good thing I'm not a guy. Can you say pedophile??
-K
American Idol - Not today
It's Tuesday so it's American Idol but I'm not into it at all. After I got home from work, I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I'm pooped!
On my way home, I went to Dollar General and picked up a few things I needed. The rest of the way home was pretty interesting. I passed a woman talking on her cell phone, an old guy in a HUGE cowboy hat and a suit, and a juggler. I kid you not! There was a guy on the mall juggling 5 balls and trying to throw in a spin. He was getting frustrated when I walked by but I told him it was impressive! I love living downtown!
Idol started when I was sitting down to eat so I decided not to blog about it like I normally do. Scary Phil was good. Jordin was the best. Sanjaya sucked but his hair was interesting. LaKisha didn't quite do it for me or the judges. Chris sucked and is in danger. (Ryan is a tiny man. A tiny, tiny man.) Melinda was the same as always, good but boring to me. I guess Blake gets the pimp spot. He sounds fine...as usual.
Bottom three: Phil, Chris, LaKisha
Going home: Phil (I was going to say Chris except he's going to get a TON of votes because he was teary eyed when he gave a shout out to VA Tech.)
This season is disappointing to me and I'll be voting for Sanjaya. Lets hope he stays out of the bottom three again this week!! I hope that this whole Sanjaya thing changes things with American Idol. I want them to look for the most talented singer in America and not just have a casting call for another reality show. We have enough reality shows that those people can try out for. Let's have the singers, please!
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