What are we up to?

To sum it up...not really all that much, but I'll give you a random smattering since our weekend is intentionally uninteresting so that we can recuperate from our past travels, and gear up for school and work, which is definitely ratcheting up in intensity for both of us.

The Counting Crows' performance at Farm Aid was incredible, we can now fairly say. We're sorry we missed it, but don't know whether if we had it to do over again, we would have done it any differently. It was just too damn hot. But the band looked and sounded phenomenal and we're really itching to catch them by themselves around here soon.

The traffic in DC has become astronomically worse as Congress is back in session and a variety of other people seem to have flocked back to the city...so we've decided to ride the subway together mornings and evenings instead of Matt driving and dropping me off/picking me up, which is what we have been doing. At this point, it' s about the same length of time, nobody has to grapple with road rage, it saves a little money--and, as we like to say, it's greener that way. We get on together in the morning around 7:45 and Matt rides with me all the way to school, then continues on several more stops into Virginia where he catches a bus to work. In the evening, he calls me when he gets on the train, I leave school for the Metro, and meet him on the last car of the train. It all seems so foolproof now that we've done it all of once, doesn't it? Although, I think we both had second thoughts when our train this morning was stopped and delayed because some kid had decided to hop the turnstile.

Also pursuant to our objective of spending more time at home and less time in traffic, we've been working on shopping and cooking in 2-week rather than 1-week cycles. This necessitates some tricky figuring as far as what has to be made early in the cycle and what can be made late, and I'm sure there will be some trial and error associated. We're trying to incorporate a couple of meals each week that we can make ahead of time (such as on the weekends) and refrigerate or freeze; most nights we don't get home until around 6:30 if we're lucky, eat around 7:30, and by the time we get ready for bed a little after nine, the evening is pretty well shot. Friday nights, we'll plan to either try something new or eat up leftovers; and on the weekend we'll cook something more time-consuming, along with the stuff we want to prepare ahead. So far, we've been really happy with the fact that most things we cook translate into about 4-5 servings, which is perfect for dinner and then lunch at school/work the next day. Anyway, as with all new endeavors on which we embark, you can be sure we'll keep you posted as to how it goes.