Movie Meme

(thanks, Amanda!)

1. One movie that made you laugh:
Garden State

2. One movie that made you cry:
My Life

3. One movie you loved when you were a child:
Muppets Take Manhattan

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once:
Disney's Robin Hood

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it:
Zoolander

6. One movie you hated:
Conspiracy Theory

7. One movie that scared you:
What Lies Beneath

8. One movie that bored you:
Yentl

9. One movie that made you happy:
You've Got Mail

10. One movie that made you miserable:
Adaptation

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see:
Hannibal

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with:
Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables

13. The last movie you saw:
Stranger than Fiction

14. The next movie you hope to see:
Prince Caspian

15. Your favorite movie:
Much Ado About Nothing

(Obviously, these are Missy's answers. Jason is not in love with Gilbert Blythe.)
I tag...Shaanti, Kaylyn

Rainy Odds and Ends

After weeks of crowing about the beautiful weather, we finally had our weekend of downpours--to the point where the gutters overflowed into our back door and we grabbed the clean towels from the laundry basket that was making its way upstairs to stop the flow. Lovely. It's just as well, though, as we've been sharing a cold the past few days and didn't feel much like going out anyway. I am very glad that I recently decided to purchase kleenex at Costco, so we should have enough to make it through this bug.

So not surprisingly, we didn't do much this weekend. Basically, the highlights from the past week, apart from lying on the couch watching TV or sleeping, include:

• Visiting the Jefferson's Library display at the Library of Congress. Pretty awesome, actually--my boss set up a tour for our staff and significant others with the Library's Curator. We could have listened to him for hours. In addition to a collection of books that Thomas Jefferson originally sold to Congress to start the Library, we got to see the original draft of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson's handwriting, complete with edits by Ben Franklin and John Adams.
• Going to Dawn's last softball game at Herndon High School, where she coaches the JV team. Fun, and I gained a deeper appreciation for my parents, who spent how many hours of their lives sitting in stands, watching me play sports.
• Really, REALLY looking forward to this. Nephews (and possibly a niece?) are coming out of our ears, and we LOVE it!
• Installing a sliding drawer into the cabinet in the kitchen, completing my "Pantry Renaissance" project that has been underway since March. Let me tell you, it is COMPLETELY worth the investment in snap-lock containers at Bed Bath and Beyond to be able to find the enchilada sauce and access the mixing bowls easily. It could seriously be featured in a "Real Simple" magazine article. Now if only my desk at work made me feel so happy.

Gardening with Parents!

My parents felt pretty lucky to have pulled off four outdoor wedding receptions at their house with absolutely perfect weather. We felt the same way about the perfect weather we had for our three sets of springtime guests (though, obviously, perfect weather for visitors is significantly less important than perfect weather for weddings). To round out our Spring of Visitors, my parents arrived late last week and spent a warm, fun weekend with us.

Friday I took the day off work and the three of us drove up to the National Arboritum, where the azaelas and dogwoods were in gorgeous full bloom. We walked around a bit and snapped some pictures, then darted to Wendy's for a late lunch.

While we love simply being visited by our parents, we couldn't help but take advantage of the opportunity to pepper first Jason's parents, then mine, with questions about how to do this or that at our house. One important question I'd been anxiously waiting to ask my parents was where I should plant the little garden I'd been planning in my head. During my last visit home, we'd spent quite a while scouring plant catalogs and talking possibilities, but I needed their actual eyes on my yard before I could get started.

They one-upped me. Not only did they suggest the perfect spot for a garden, but they volunteered to help build it--well, let's face it, they basically built it themselves, with a little help from us! Saturday was gorgeous, and I spent the morning with my dad at the nursery picking out vegetables and planting them in our freshly-dug garden. By the end of the weekend, we had also trimmed the bushes, mulched the roses, and planted a lilac bush. Then we spent Sunday afternoon sacked out on the deck in the sun reading.

It was a wonderful visit. Part of me feels a bit guilty when our parents spend their vacations working up a sweat in the back yard or unpacking boxes in the basement. But I think the productive time together is important to both of us, especially since we don't get to do it very often. Plus, let's face it, Jason and I would have been totally lost planting a garden by ourselves!

What a fun spring! Now the rain can come whenever it wants...although I could handle this type of weather for a few more weeks. We have a pretty glorious summer stretching out ahead of us--no weddings to travel to, no moving, no getting married ourselves. Is it possible we could get bored?!?

English Nerdiness in Washington

Eating Lebanese
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Andrea is here this week for a librarian-type conference, so she came out a day early to hang out with us. Yay! We had the type of Saturday that two former English majors should have, including a tour of the Folger Shakespeare Library and a visit to Politics and Prose.

We did a couple things that were less nerdy (but still quite fun!), like paying our first visit to Eastern Market this year and, of course, introducing Andrea to Lebanese Taverna. Again it was supposed to thunder and shower on Saturday, but, again the rain held off until we had dropped Andrea off and walked back into our house. Perfect.

It did pour down rain on Sunday, but after a day of sun (and even a little hint of scary humidity) and walking, it felt pretty good to curl up on my favorite chair with a good vampire story and read the day away. This activity (reading the day away, not reading vampire stories. Oh, but have you read "Dracula?" You so should.) has become habit again lately, ever since I stopped doing homework a few weeks back. It is really nice not to have homework hanging over my head...even if it should be, well, hanging over my head... Don't worry, tonight is the last class of the semester, so one more night of faking it and I'm home free.

The Snow Queen

I know we've been posting a lot of pictures of flowers (hey, it's spring!), but over the weekend the dogwood in front of our house burst into bloom, and now the view from our bedroom and living room is a collage of petals. I think we might be living in a fairy land...

Touristing with Parents!

The weatherman is 0 for 2 in accurately predicting downpours for Saturdays. Such a losing record is good news for us! Two Saturdays of gorgeous, warm, springy weather have been delightful. To make things even better, we got to share this past one with Jason's parents.

On Saturday, we had breakfast at home then went to visit Lincoln's Cottage, where President Lincoln spent about a fourth of his Presidency and much of his time during the Civil War. We had a good tour and a great view of downtown before heading to lunch/dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill, an iconic DC dining destination near the White House. Parking being what it is, we were required to walk across the Ellipse to get from our car to the restaurant and back--with tulips blooming and a few cherry blossoms hanging on the trees, it was more than pleasant. It is fun to have an excuse to be touristy.

On our way back, we stopped by the Japanese festival, the swan song for this year's Cherry Blossom Festival. I must confess that this year I only saw the cherry blossoms on my drive home from work, but it was fun to be down with the masses for a little while. We finished off our day with a show by the Capitol Steps, a funny political satire that we all enjoyed.

We don't get to see Mom and Dad Small nearly as often as we'd like, and we had a wonderful, full-but-relaxing day on Saturday. Sunday was church, dinner, and rest, and then goodbyes and drives to the airport. We're already looking forward to the next time!

Visiting Parliament

Visiting Parliament
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

On Monday a colleague and I spent the day in Ottawa to visit an ethanol company that wants to build a new plant in southern Idaho. We had a great trip, despite the snow still piled on the ground, but our highlight was definitely visiting the Canadian Parliament. I have to confess, we both agreed that it was nice to get a tour of the capitol instead of giving one!

We also got to watch the questions session in the House of Commons, which was especially cool to two semi-nerdy legislative staffers. If your not familiar with the Canadian style of government (and I wasn't), it is very similar to the British government. Rather than having separate executive and legislative branches, the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet are elected from among the majority party (or, in Canada's case, the party with the most votes, which is currently not in the majority). The Prime Minister is still a sitting Member of Parliament, so during the question period, the opposing party hurls questions at him and his cabinet about their policies, looking for answers.

When we were there last week, the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet were actually present. We watched them yell and cheer and boo and do all sorts of things you don't get to see on C-SPAN. Of course, I spent part of most days yelling, cheering, and booing at C-SPAN myself, so I wholeheartedly approved.