Why I love where I live

It's true that I often complain about living up north. I miss so many things about living in the south... mostly just that feeling of being "home!" And why does everything have to be so darn expensive (by everything I mean houses)!? But I have to admit that I do love living in Baltimore and DC! I can easily claim that I live in both cities since we live exactly between the two. Maryland in general is so scenic and I never get tired of driving around, especially on the roads north of Baltimore where there are endless corn fields and horses everywhere you look! There are truly 4 seasons here- it's plenty hot in the summer, but you still get lots of snow in the winter. And fall! Wow, I've never seen such an array of colors in my life! You definitely don't get that in the deep south with all of the pine trees!

Lately I've really grown to appreciate downtown DC. Everytime I'm near the Mall, the monuments, and the museums, I feel so grateful to be there as a "local" and not a tourist! I mean, people travel from all over the world to see the things I can see every day! This past Saturday I had a great time just hanging out in this really cool city. For the past 3 years, Eric and I have played flag football on the DC Tigers Young Alumni team. We usually play one game or two every weekend against other alumni teams from all over the country. We used to play on the Ellipse in front of the White House, but since they're doing some re-sodding or something over there, we've been playing in front of the Washington Monument instead. Of course, this year I'm not playing... but I still love to go out to all the games to cheer the team on! This past Saturday we were playing Maryland (yes, same as the "real" football team) and I decided to take Elvis with me. He loves all of the attention! Before the game, Elvis and I went on a little run around the Washington Monument and then around the reflection pond in front of the Lincoln Memorial. It felt sort of surreal to be running there amid such history and symbolism. It sounds cheesy to say it, but it's true. It was like being in a movie or something. I kept thinking about that scene in Forrest Gump where he's in the middle of the big anti-Vietnam crowd and he runs through the reflection pond to get to Jenny! I love the part where he tells Jenny, "I'm glad we're together here in our nation's capital" (or something like that)! When Eric and I were walking towards our car after the game (which we lost on the very last play... sound familiar?), I thought about that very same line in my head. I was really glad to be there with him right then, and there really wasn't anywhere else I'd rather be!

Where I ran:

Beside the reflection pond, with the Capital, Washington Monument, and WWII Memorial in view:On the sidelines at the flag football game:

View from our game of the WWII Memorial and Lincoln Memorial:

Go Tigers!

My husband got a little dirty... but that's okay, that means he played hard!