Knitting my way to DC

Once again, I've safely returned from a weekend with the Amazing E. Sigh. It was a nice weekend.

I left for DC from the very important government job at about 3pm. I was supposed to take a 9pm flight to Baltimore, but I thought I'd try for an earlier standby seat. Everything looked to be running on time. Oy. I should have just had dinner with Marcy.

I got to the airport, and didn't know just what I was supposed to be doing to get on the standby list. So I stood in a line for 30 minutes until an agent told me to go to the other line. In the mean time, flights are taking off. Flights I could be on. So I got in the other (non-moving) line for 45 minutes. Eventually, after we all started bitching to each other about the lack of progress, another passenger who flies for business all the time told me just to leave the line and go to the gates to arrange the standby. So I got in the security line. For 30 minutes. And I was in a panic over the fact that my 2 ounce face cream (from Lush) was in a one gallon bag. Fortunately, the agents were in a rush to see us through the line and ignored my breach of protocol.

At long last, I got to the gates and discovered that a stationary thunderstorm was sitting and dumping water on the DC area. So all flights were delayed. My 9:00 pm flight would leave around 11:45. I did get myself on some standby lists for earlier flights to Baltimore, but they would not put me on a flight to Reagan or Dulles without some huge increase in price, even if seats were available on those planes. So I sat. And knitted. And watched the hours go by. Finally around 9pm I ran up to the boarding queue of a flight to Reagan, presented by boarding pass for the pitifully delayed Baltimore flight, made sad eyes, and asked if a seat was available. Success! There was one more seat, and it was mine. The seat was well earned, and I got to sit in it for a long time. The plane took another 30 minutes to get moving. During my seven hours of waiting at O'Hare, I managed to get the second Panda Cotton sock down down to the heel flap. Yay for that.

I have to tell you something about E. He seriously spent a lot of energy trying to convince me to move out there. He worked so hard at it. Do you know what he did? He found a yarn store and took me there. And it wasn't just any yarn store. This yarn store had my precious. Yesssss. I bought 2 hanks. I'll show you later if I can get the camera to work. The best part of my purchase of the precious was that E told the proprietress that I call the Koigu the precious, and she slyly replied "...it is preciousss." She knows.

I also got a skein of Trekking ProNatura in a nice colorway dominated by green. I've had my eye on this yarn for some time. It's 75% superwash wool and 25% bamboo fiber. E picked the color. The point of this trip was to show me that things that I like exist in DC. Now he should find me a SnB group with nice ladies.

Yesterday we went to the Shenandoah National Park for a scenic drive and some hiking along a short stretch of the Appalachian Trail. It was very nice. I got in early this morning and came straight to work. Not that I have too much to do here. Tomorrow is my last day.

E asked me something this weekend. He asked me to move to DC and live with him. I told him I would not. Sorry. None of this is to say that there is anything wrong with our relationship. I just won't live with a man I'm not married to. But I do know for sure now that he's serious. So am I. And at least I know that my precious lives in DC as well.