DC

DC Red Cross “Salute to Service” Gala

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Another exciting weekend here in the National Capital Region. I got to attend the Red Cross DC gala. Hubby hates getting dressed up but I simply love it. I think it’s wonderful to get into a gown and walk around in heels all night. Alright, maybe I’m lying about that last part but I do love getting fancy.

So back to the gala. My girlfriend works for the Red Cross and she needed more bodies to fill the seats for their “Salute to Service” event. So I informed hubby that he would be wearing his mess dress and taking me out on Saturday night.

During the open bar cocktail hour, there was an auction to look at. There were sports memorabilia, vacation packages, wine gift bags as well as military items. My spouse ended up bidding on a beautiful piece of airplane nose art. The artist was on hand to answer any questions we had. Hubby lost the auction because someone didn’t bother bidding, they just used the “Buy it now” option. I thought we dodged that bullet but he took the artist’s brochure so now we can have one custom-made (yay us!).

The gala was eye-opening. I had forgotten all the areas that the Red Cross covers. They participate in blood drives, disaster relief and classes. One speaker updated us on how devastating the California wildfires were. From 10 minutes earlier! Technology is cool!

There are amazing people who donate not only their time but their money too. Blood drives are in high demand right now. The hurricanes made the need great but having the California wildfires increased that exponentially, especially since all those planned blood drives on the West Coast had to be cancelled because of their own tragedy.

So donate your blood, donate your time, donate your money. The Red Cross and America needs you.

Traffic Nightmare

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If you are at all familiar with city living, then you know that traffic is an issue. Here in the metropolitan DC area, traffic is a nightmare. And we’re talking horror movie nightmares not “I had a scary dream” nightmare.

I’ve come across many people who are surprised to find out how awful traffic can be. One client told me that she moved here from southern Georgia. For the first year of her assignment, she was late. She told me that when you live down south, if your destination is 30 miles away, it will take you 30 minutes. That is not the case in our Northern Virginia area. Out here, traffic issues can make a 3-mile trip take 30 minutes.

Such was the case for me on Friday. My youngest needed a ride to the airport. Reagan National is 13 miles away from my house. It took me about 35 minutes to get out there. On a Friday evening, that’s not bad. I was able to get her to ticketing by 5:00pm. When I was ready to leave, I checked my driving app to see which was the best way to go home. Sure enough, it was to reverse my drive. So I set off.

Traffic on the Inner Loop of the Beltway (I-395 for those not in the know) was congested but moving. “All right, app” I thought, “you are correct.” I got off on my exit and proceeded to the main road that would take me home. As I turned the corner, I found myself in a dead stop.

My first thought was “accident”. Just last month my husband had taken the same route and was stuck because of a horrible incident. So I waited. I listened to various local radio shows so I could hear the traffic report. Nothing. I tuned into a station that only does “Weather, Traffic and News”. Still nothing. I was confused.

A half an hour later, I still hadn’t moved much farther than 400 feet.

As I finally was able to progress through an intersection, I noticed that cars were blocking the box. People were going into on-coming traffic lanes just to get across the intersection. Amazing.

An hour later, I had inched my way to the problem area. Construction crews had reduced three lanes down to one over a bridge. Of course, no one was working-it was 6:30 in the evening! Incredible!

My husband always laughs at me when I say how much I love living in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia). I remind him that I love the culture, the music and the experiences available while living here. I HATE traffic. Friday just reinforced my belief. I need to be rich enough to have my own personal helicopter.