Oops, I got behind

First off, I'd just like to take this time to say: IT SNOWED!!  And it's about time, too!  I'm enjoying it while I can - it'll probably be gone tomorrow.

See that layer of ice on my car?  This is what winter is like in the East when we actually get some precipitation.  Same as the last picture - note that I'm actually standing on top of a layer of ice that formed on top of the actual snow.

Now, let's see if I can get caught up.

MLK weekend was a whirlwind.  I spent a few days down in Raleigh, NC helping Lauren and Yuriy do some painting.  (You can imagine the wild times.)  But I think they now have the most awesome-looking laundry room I've ever seen.

That same weekend, Marcia shared a birthday with MLK, Jr.  So, of course, we had a party!  An Indie dance party, with Gibby as our DJ.  I was impressed with the indie selection - I'll have to get the playlist.  

We did our best to dress the part, which includes all the crazy eye makeup, some purple tights, and my Music Snob tee.  

The next day was the Inauguration!  I decided to brave the masses and walk into town (7 miles round trip!  Not bad!) so that I could see history made.  I told the story on my family's blog, but suffice it to say, it was the most polite, well-behaved humungous crowd I have ever encountered in DC.  And after all the stories I've heard from my friends who also attended, we definitely chose wisely when we mapped our route into and out of town.  Here is my pictorial documentation.

I will now add to the randomness by bringing you to this past weekend.  

I attended a PostSecret seminar with some friends from my ward.  It was put on by the founder of postsecret.com, Frank Warren.  Just to give you a little background, this guy started a community art project that basically consisted of him walking around town and handing out blank postcards that were addressed to him.  The instructions were: Tell me your secrets!  So they did.  It started as a community art display, then he turned it into a blog, and then he started making books of them.  And then when he stopped the project, the secret postcards just kept coming to his house.  He realized that it can be very therapeutic for people to share something they have never told anyone else.  It can be a sort of release for them, and also for others who see someone else's secret and can relate.  Sometimes they're funny and sometimes they're very serious, but I think it's all very interesting.  

Lastly, I attended a Roller Derby with some classmates.  I had never actually seen one before, so this was new for me.  All I can say is, do not mess with the chicks with the skates.

We spent the first half of the game trying to figure out the rules, and the second half trying to figure out who would want to play if we decided to set up our own league (since we all have so much freetime), and what their names would be.  The players we were watching had names like Carnage Asada and Condoleezza Slice.  Obviously, this is going to require lots of serious brainstorming.

The rest of this week is looking to be equally awesome, with a little bit of The Killers, a little bit of some Census, a little bit of some Salsa...but I'll get to that later.

P.S. Why didn't anybody TELL me how much of a tax refund hookup it is to quit your job mid-year and go back to school?!