Weekend Whirlwind

Since we last spoke...

I survived a very busy weekend complete with Jazz in the Garden on Friday, Service Saturday and Mt. Vernon and Movie Night on Sunday.

Jazz in the Garden was a wonderfully relaxing start to the weekend. We gathered in the Sculpture Garden around 5pm with hundreds of other Washingtonians and our picnic blankets. We secured a grassy spot near the stacked chair sculpture and enjoyed some jazz guitar until showers spoiled our evening. We fled to the safety of an Austin Grill, a tex-mex chain that offers hearty food at friendly prices.

After dinner, another round in the cupcake showdown ensued with a stop at Red Velvet Cupcakery in Chinatown. I was pleased with my Cookies and Cream flavor choice. In fact, we all enjoyed our choices (a downright miracle). Our rankings are a little different, but generally, Red Velvet placed somewhere in the top three.

I successfully led a group of 11 students in their Service Saturday project at the Capital Area Food Bank. We set out at 7:45am for a 9:00am start sorting food donations into appropriate category bins for further sorting. There was a visceral irony in sifting through these cast-off products, Trader Joe's chocolate bars and seasoned quinoa. Just weeks ago, these items sat on shelves, hallmarks of our successful American economy; now they lay discarded like trash because despite the fact that we produce more than we could ever consume, we cannot get these products into the hands of those in need. I appreciated the staff's dedication to reducing waste. We received very thorough directions to look past the dents and dings in packaging and remember that what mattered was the sustenance inside.

Summer months and a struggling economy meant fewer donations which equated to a shorter work day. This put my group first in line for pizza. {{Papa John's, of which I have eaten more times in the past week than in my whole life}} I especially enjoy the garlic dipping sauce which accompanies the pizza.

I finished Saturday afternoon by thoroughly exhausting myself with cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping.

Sunday brought my second trip to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's estate which overlooks the majestic Potomac River. Because I couldn't be home with Toby, visiting the homestead of the father of our country seemed an appropriate alternative activity for Father's Day. I feel some obligation to educate myself about George Washington considering my position as a Washington College student. In fact, school was forefront in my mind for most of the day for many reasons including some of the reasons below.

In the museum portion of the estate, I spotted Washington College on a map of schools with the name Washington in it. I also noted the same bust of Washington that appears outside of Hodson, spied the Code of Civility (which can be found posted across campus) and noted Washington's official signature penned on just about everything.

Finally the weekend came to a close with Movie Night, the first IPVS fundraiser of the summer. We showed National Treasure and the committee raised about $300 in concession sales and donations.

P.S.-The movie is even cooler when you recognize the locations of the filming. ;)