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.

Tulips in a Row

Tulips in a row
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It has been a rainy spring (as lawn-owners, we appreciate rain on a whole new level!), but Saturday was an absolutely perfect April day. We have a lot of company coming (yay!) in the next few weeks, so we wanted to pull our yard out of hibernation and in to spring in whatever time the rainy weekend would give us.

We planned big on our trip to Home Depot, knowing we might only get a fraction of our list checked off between the expected morning and afternoon showers. Instead, the sun shined all day, and by afternoon we had given the lawn its first haircut, edged, weeded, and mulched the tulip beds we created last fall, and planted pansies near our steps.

Most importantly, we finally planted geraniums in the window boxes I've been antsy to put up since we bought the house almost a year ago. On our honeymoon, we stayed in an adorable Parisian hotel with red geraniums--in full August bloom--in the window boxes, and I don't care if it is cliche, I want Parisian window boxes this August. Thanks to George for helping us put the brackets up in November!

We were achy and sore when we woke up on Sunday, but by then the promised rain was falling hard and our house was looking so. cute. The dogwood in front is about to burst into bloom, and we are so glad to have so many friends coming to share it with us!

Onion Farming?!?

Onion Farming?!?
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Check out what we "harvested" yesterday when we weeded the flower beds. Seriously, the yard smelled all oniony when we were done. Whoever decided to scatter wild onion seeds throughout our yard, we appreciate the gesture, but we are not farmers!

Easter Traveling

IMGP0833
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

So, confession: I did hunt Easter eggs simply because I knew there were dollar bills in some of them. Sad. But I noticed that my sisters and their husbands also jumped off the couch when they heard about the money.

Jason and I are back home after a week of heading to Sudan and Idaho, respectively. We are patting ourselves on the back for successfully scheduling trips at the same time--something we've never managed to do in the five years we've been dating. Jason had a great trip, traveling all over the country and touching base with a lot of people while he was there. It's been over a year since his last trip to Sudan.

My trip was equally delightful. Since I worked in Boise the whole time I was there (versus traveling all over the state), things were laid back and allowed me plenty of time to shop, eat out, and visit. On Saturday, Mom and I went to the church just in time to miss Cole's Easter egg hunt, but we did play on the bouncy bounce and visit the Easter Bunny. And seriously, nothing could be cuter than Cole on Easter.

Plus, I love Easter. Every year I value the Easter story more and more. He is risen indeed. This year Easter was the third anniversary of the death of my Grandma Bunn, and what a great chance to celebrate her life and how she and we are brought to Life through Christ. Three years ago, Easter was the day before my grandma's funeral. When we arrived at her church, the congregation was singing "My Redeemer Lives," and I thought, "Yes! This is what it is all about!" I hope your Easter was equally hopeful.

(Oh, and I racked up a whopping 10 cents from the Easter egg hunt.)

29

It's not so bad, after all, when your week-long birthday celebration includes this:

Five Things that Make Me Happy

Just because it's Friday. And because, well, I love my spice cabinet.

1. My beautifully organized spice cabinet. Every once in a while it makes me think of a spice bazaar in Istanbul. Okay, so I have an overactive imagination.

2. Dark chocolate Snickers bars. Words are inadequate to describe how delicious they are. Regular Snickers don't even come close, and that is saying a lot because I have been known to have a serious affinity for Snickers bars. (Btw, we are so eating sugar again.)

3. Country music radio. In the car. As the morning alarm. In the shower. Nevermind that Jason turns the shower radio off the moment he comes into the bathroom in the morning, I could never live here without a decent country radio station.

4. Pride and Prejudice. I like the book, the A&E/BBC mini-series, the new 2005 version, etc., preferably interspersed and/or read and watched simultaneously. In a pinch I will be happy with Emma. Or Persuasion. Or even Sense and Sensibility. And if I'm desperate, this, which is currently sitting on my nightstand.

5. Cole laughing really hard. It tickles my soul. And I get to see him in less than a week!

Note to Krystal, if you are reading this: I still have the foot of toothpicks.

Happy News!

Oxford Friends!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I've been waiting for the official announcement before posting this picture, but it turns out that you can't actually see the ring on Jill's finger in this close-up. Upon returning from Hawaii we were greeted by dear old friends Jill, Sean, and Carrie, who stayed at our house for a few days while we were gone. It has been said before, but I love mini-Oxford reunions. And now that Jill and Sean are engaged (the news that they had started dating seven years after we were all at Oxford together made me very happy), perhaps we can coax more people into a reunion around wedding time!

Oh, and we can't have a post entited "Happy News" without at least mentioning this...

Is that Spring I see?

Just peeping!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I can't get TOO excited about the idea that Spring could arrive any day, since we spent our Saturday morning eating frittatas and drinking tea next to a roaring fire (okay, we suck at firebuilding, so a feeble fire). It was windy and pouring down rain, and we thought one last fire might be in order. But ever since arriving home from Hawaii to these little tulip spikes, we've been eagerly checking the beds in front of our house for signs of life. There is now a line of little spikes, and it looks like all the tulips we planted in the fall have poked their heads above ground! Yessss...

It is sunny and gorgeous today, and I WILL be walking down the street for lunch. Of course, it is also in the 40's, and probably downright windy, and I'm slowly getting used to the fact that March is not Spring in DC. It's only taken...(as I count on my fingers) seven Springs of living here? Wow. Still. We are right on the cusp!

We spent our weekend "not doing anything." Somehow, "not doing anything" required two trips to Home Depot, but after the towel rack in our bathroom fell off the wall for the third time, we figured that fixing it permanently wasn't a bad way to spend a couple hours. We also finished painting the trim from this project way back when. V. Pretty. We spent the rest of the weekend:
* sleeping. a lot.
* eating here with Dawn and Brian after seeing their new condo.
* picking out yarn for Jenny's baby blanket.
* reading this and this.
* watching some of the British "The Office" and, in order to recover, rewatching episodes from Season Two of the American "The Office," which we vastly prefer.

...and back to winter...

I have spent a lot of my adult life struggling to figure out how to balance my rather all-consuming job with my desire to have a fulfilling life outside of work. However, there is one small chunk of the year (the weeks between President's Day and Easter) when I give myself fully over to my job and let the rest of my life languish and gather dust (this is so not good for school, by the way, and as I type this I realize that I was supposed to do an interview for a project sometime today and it is already 2:30. Right.). Which is why I have worked 11-12 hour days each day this week, my clean laundry from Sunday is still in a basket by my side of the bed, and it is clear each time we open the refrigerator that something climbed inside while we were in Hawaii and died.

For me, this kind of schedule is unsustainable long-term, both physically and emotionally, but there is a strange sense of freedom in embracing the fact that I will NOT reorganize the pantry or sew curtains or cook a healthy dinner or, I daresay, put away my laundry until the next Laundry Day, but will instead eat ramen and watch Emma, then fall asleep at 9:30. Talk about embracing the simple life!

Jason has been working late and long this week, too, and last night he didn't even argue when I suggested having pancakes for dinner (though if I'd suggested canned green beans one more time, he might have decided to starve). We are playing this risky game this week called "Not Buying Groceries," and since we tried our darndest to eat everything in our fridge before we left for our trip (although apparently we forgot to finish of the now-revolting goat cheese), pancakes are about all that is left to us.

Last night one of my coworkers warned the rest of us to remember if we told him anything that after two days of non-stop meetings and hearings, his brain was mushy oatmeal. I feel like that today, which is why I'm supplementing my study of transportation funding proposals with this and this. And, of course, making a menu for next week (which required me to reread Andrea's entire blog in search of this), because we will certainly not make it past Friday without a trip to Trader Joe's...

Nephews, Plural.

By the way, it turns out that I have failed to mention in any obvious way on this blog that we will soon have a new nephew to dote on. Right before we left for Hawaii, Jenny called to say that it is officially a boy, and we can't wait to meet him, come the end of June or so. We felt the need to include the new baby in the Hawaiian festivities, so in the attached picture he gets a lei, too.

And while we're speaking of nephews, I just had to include this picture, as well...

Aloha

Hula
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Can I just take a moment to say how very depressed I am to be wearing a sweater and wool socks? Even after 15 hours of flying (which included at least two hours of being kicked from behind by a screaming baby during the red-eye flight to LA), I loathed to wash the Hawaii off of me when I took a shower when we got home this evening. (Of course, I did. Seriously, 15 hours of sitting on a plane in the same clothes takes its toll on you.)

If I could speak more Hawaiian than "Aloha" and "Mahalo" and "Waikiki," I might be able to better express how much I love Hawaii. We had an absolutely wonderful week.

We started our trip off just right with a short but fun visit to good friends in the LA area. We spent Friday night and most of Saturday with Telfer and Andrea, meeting Henry and their cute house, feasting on Foodie Friends delights, and making ourselves hungry talking about cheese in downtown Redlands. It was downright terrific. Then we drove about an hour and a half to have dinner with Amanda and Ben, full of good food and good company, before leaving early Sunday morning to head back to LAX (Amanda and I opted NOT to take an early morning photo...). It was a great little trip, and we commented regularly throughout the week how glad we were that we stopped in California.

Sunday was full of arrivals and a little bit of time exploring KoOlina before we all crashed--some of the crew had to be at the dock at 5:45 a.m. on Monday to catch the BoomBoom and, hopefully, some Mahi Mahi for dinner. Jason and I didn't go fishing, but, as we were on Cole-duty, we were up almost as early! We then spent the day moving between beach and pool, beach and pool. Perfection.

We did punctuate the lazying about with a few adventures. On Wednesday, Jason, Chad, Kim, and I went to the North Shore to watch the surfers and find some turtles. We took in some Thai food and famous sno cones at Matsumoto's in Haleiwa on the way and ended up driving around most of the island before heading back to eat the fish that the crew caught on Monday (and hear again the tale about "the one that got away"--a 200 pound marlin!).

We spent most of our time on the KoOlina resort, where we stayed, but on Thursday we headed into Waikiki. My first few trips to Hawaii were Waikiki-centered and involved throwing on a swimsuit and a backpack and heading down to meet my grandparents for breakfast at the Yum Yum Tree, then hitting the beach, International Marketplace, etc. for the whole of the day, and meeting up at the statue of the Duke sometime before dinner. We relived those moments a little on Thursday when we headed down for brunch at Duke's, then the boys went surfing on Waikiki Beach and the girls headed for some serious bartering at the International Marketplace. We ended up back at Duke's for some Hula Pie before heading into the mountains to hike through the jungle to Manoa Falls.

We had a week of sweet-smelling, perfect sunsets, seafood and pineapple, and hours of sitting in loungers, drenched in sunscreen, reading. It was more than delightful, and to spend it with family was wonderful. By the end of the week Cole was saying "Aloha!" in addition to "Mimi" (which is his name for me, much as it was Shaanti's name for me when she was learning how to talk). And now if only it weren't February and forty degrees outside...

Happy Valentine's Day!

We decided to celebrate by working late and eating whatever leftovers we had in the fridge so that they wouldn't spoil while we are gone next week. Luckily, Jason surprised me by getting take-out from our favorite Mexican restaurant instead, saving me from utter starvation--the miscellaneous collection of curry lentils, string cheese, and one sweet pepper available for dinner sounded pretty depressing by the time we left our respective offices after 7:30. I'm a sucker for a chicken enchilada and a man who can read my mind.

We have spent the last six weeks abstaining from sweets (sort of), eating vegetables, and bonding with the treadmill...and exchanging emails with the fam that have subject lines like "Hawaii here we come!" or "29 more days!" or "I want a sno cone!" It all comes down to tomorrow when we board the plane for LA (and a fun day with the Griffiths, Amanda, and (maybe!) Ben), then Honolulu. Jason already has the beach music teed up on his ipod.

Disgruntled*

I walked in tonight to the smell of lentil soup in the crockpot (that is, the actual smell of dinner ready, mmm…) and a box from Amazon. I’ve been on a bit of a book-buying binge lately, which, in retrospect, seems alarmingly rash and frivolous, like the shoes I almost bought online this morning when I was bored and out of humor, and I had to remind myself as I looked at the stack of clean, new books that I had been editing lists and scrutinizing titles for over a month in order to find just what I wanted. So now I have a pretty pile of fresh-smelling fiction (Morningside Heights, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Oscar and Lucinda, and One Hundred Years of Solitude), a crisp non-fiction hardback (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle), and two scary-looking books on web design (for school, thank heavens) sitting neatly on the beautiful pedestal table in our living room.

And now if only I could find the time to go along with the titles.

Today is a good day to come to home to dinner in the crockpot. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always a good day to come home to dinner in the crockpot, especially if there is also bread in the bread machine (alas for Phase One!). But today it’s particularly nice, having spent most of the day (until about 3:30 when I completely gave up on accomplishing anything of note) trying to recover from waking up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I arrived at work later than usual after having awoken to the horrible realization that it wasn’t Thursday like I thought, leaving at least two discarded skirts on the bed and a pile of unwashed breakfast dishes by the sink. There was an epidemic of wrong-sidedness at the office today, everyone on Team Simpson feeling the weight of February and a long and awkward legislative week.

February is so much worse than January. It’s a good thing it comes with chocolate.

When I was 23, I used to have these random days that had this faint whiff of discontent that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Kind of quarter-life-crisis, John Mayer’s “Georgia” days, when for a few hours everything lost a little bit of its luster and seemed slightly less-than-satisfactory. Last month I heard “Georgia” on the radio again and realized that I hadn’t had a day of nebulous discontent for a while. These days, the source of disgruntledness is easy to pinpoint—the sheer boredom of having the same painful meetings with the same nameless people for the seventh year in a row, a complete and utter disinterest in theories of rhetoric my professor is trying to apply to document design, downright disgust with the idea of cooking dinner in an apron and heels on weeknights before collapsing in front of a Seinfeld rerun.

So by noon I decided that fresh air—and a little sweat—was required, and I pounded out some of my frustrations between the Washington Monument and the Capitol. It was a perfect day to be a tourist. If I were actually a tourist, I would have thought otherwise—it was cloudy and humid, and the severe thunderstorms threatened by the weather channel seemed imminent. But I thought the damp air was so delightful that I ran even more slowly than usual just to stay out in it a bit longer. I was so anxious to stay outside that I briefly but seriously considered stopping in at the orchid exhibit at the National Botanical Gardens. Wisely I did not, since my next meeting showed up early, but, for a few hours at least, the fresh air did the trick.

Wisely also I did not buy shoes on a disgruntled day.

*Disgruntled: the name of the form letter we send to constituents who have so many complaints about so many things that we cannot possibly begin to respond to all of them.

Flashback to July

Amphitheatre
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I know, you hardly know what to do with the fact that I've posted THREE TIMES in less than a week. It's unbelievable, yes. But Jason finally got copies of the pictures from his trip to Libya this past summer. The highlight of the trip was a visit to Leptis Magna, the ruins of an ancient Roman city on the coast. There are no restrictions or preservation efforts underway by the Libyan government, so he was able to climb among the columns and even test out the amphitheatre himself. The pics are posted on flickr, so feel free to take a look at them.

Addendum to Previous Entry

...or, we could turn this:

...into this:

I promise, it is MUCH prettier. The teal in the small bathroom got a little sickening after a while...and, while we make no claims to be good painters, the old paint job was a bit subpar. Now we just need a couple new white towels, and voila!

In addition to painting the bathroom, we also went to a Wizards game yesterday, which was quite fun. Jason and I went to a Wizards game before we were dating, and we got to see one of the best games Michael Jordon played in his last season with them. That was pretty cool. These days the Wizards are a young and up-and-coming team, and they won, so yay! Jason and I share a love of the "old days" of the NBA, complete with Clyde Drexler and the glory days for the LA Lakers, so going to a basketball game is like reliving something together for the first time.

Suburbia

Okay, first of all, we are currently sitting in our tiny little office upstairs, Fall Out Boy absolutely blaring from Jason's computer (which has a ridiculously amazing sound system), yelling over the music about whether or not the lead singer from Panic! At the Disco is part of Fall Out Boy. I think we're just having a moment of glee about not having to worry about Bobbi next door or Linda upstairs--yes, we've lived in a real house for going on six months, but every once in a while you have to let loose just because you can.

That we are having a conversation (as we click around iTunes) about music we don't usually listen to is a sure sign that we've been in the car listening to the radio today. This morning we had a brunch with some folks from church who live in Herndon, so we decided to head farther west to the outlet mall in Leesburg and make the most of our time in the suburbs. A day in the suburbs usually means a trip to Wal-Mart (where we bought the same fake tree they were selling at the craft store near our house for $19.95 instead of $79.99. Score.) and hopefully includes a meal at Red Robin. Walking into Red Robin is like being suddenly transported to Meridian, and I fully expected to meet my mom and Cole at the table when we sat down--in fact, the similarities are so uncanny that while I was reminiscing about my days as a Red Robin waitress I actually said "living here is a different experience than living there," and by "here" I meant Meridian and by "there" I meant DC. Weird.

Once we got our dose of cheap products and steak fries, we drove back to Arlington with the radio on, discussing whether Alanis Morsette has lost her edge now that she's married and happy and what we were doing the year that Wallflowers song came out. One of my coworkers, who lives on Capitol Hill and walks to work, always talks about those of us who drive to work as if we are raising chickens in our back yards, but she is misled. DC is a weird city. Since it was created by Congress sort of after-the-fact, most of the closest surrounding cities--Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church--actually existed before the Revolutionary War. Perhaps that means, then, that DC is a suburb of Alexandria, and not the other way around? And Arlington, where we live, used to be part of DC until the city retroceded it back to Virginia in 1846. (Other tidbits from Wikipedia--did you know Arlington was ranked the most educated city (even though it is actually a county) in the country in 2006?) In fact, because District law restricts the height of buildings in DC (they cannot be taller than the US Capitol Dome), there are no skyscrapers in the city--they are all across the Potomac in Arlington.

Today's trip to the land of falling prices and chain restaurants, then, required a good 45 minute drive. I'm slightly conflicted about suburbia. On the one hand, it seems nice to get out of the city, and I do love big parking lots and new houses. But it's always a relief to get back to our tiny little house on the edge of Old DC, complete with fantastic ethnic food and easy access to downtown--only with cheaper gas and groceries stores that are not known as "The Un-Safeway."

Last week my mom cashed in a frequent flier ticket and came to just hang out for a wonderful, laid back weekend during which Jason promised she wouldn't be put to work. We went shopping and ate Chocolate Molten Cake at Chili's--twice. It was simply the best.

In other news...well, there is no other news. When you work for the government, you get used to having three-day weekends now and then, but I have to say, MLK weekend is one of the best--mostly because it always sneaks up on me, coming in the middle of January when I don't yet desperately need a long weekend. It's easy to fill other long weekends with trips and projects and guests, but since I always forget about MLK weekend I never think to plan ahead and instead simply spend the weekend just being. When we wake up tomorrow, it will be snowy and cold, and after church we will light a fire and curl up in blankets and read books. Or turn on the space heater in the basement and finally put away the Christmas decorations. Or make cookies. Or...

Back in the Saddle.

And happy 2008, by the way. We've made it through those awkward days between Christmas and New Year's, when Christmas is over but the tree is still up, and it's not quite time for that "fresh start" that is January. I'm always a little sad those few days, especially the ones following a return from Idaho (the only snow around here is the picture on my computer's background). But then January hits.

When it is here, January is my favorite month of the year. Of course there is March (birthday, what else?) and October (leaves, crispness, pumpkins) and December itself (twinkle lights, carols in church, cozy fires), and through the excitement of the rest of the year I forget about January. But then it arrives, like a calm stillness, like a reprieve, like a calendar of empty spaces, like a pile of well-organized lists sitting next to a stack of rubbermaid containers and my labeler, it is the best thing that ever happened, all over again.

My last list of psuedo-resolutions went half-finished--for example, I am currently about 50 pages into To the Lighthouse, and I'm still pretty afraid of Virginia Woolf. And I think taking step class twice a week is sort of like learning to dance. And, okay, I didn't learn to make croissants. I blame that entirely on spending most of my summer moving. Instead, I made a wicked pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. However, we did go fly fishing--once--and Jason actually got a hand-made fly rod for Christmas, so who knows where that will lead us?

For this year, let's see...
* learn to like mushrooms (a tall order, esp. since neither Jason nor I like them and are therefore completely unmotivated, but we'll give it the ol' college try)
* finish my wedding album (happy third anniversary?)
* join a writing group (and yes, Dawn and I getting together once a month does count, even if we mostly just talk. but seriously, I want to write this year)
* organize the utility room (when I said those words in my head, I heard them in my mother's voice. I have become my mother. Happily, that is not a bad thing.)
* keep a book journal (and keep it for real. it can't be that hard, it's just a matter of, well, finding it)

I still want to make croissants, but since we are joining the fam in Hawaii in six weeks, Jason is threatening for us to go back on the South Beach Diet on February 1, so I am trying my darndest to eat well enough before then to avoid that type of misery for two weeks. Yikes!

Happy Life Together, Kristy and Bill!

NNU Picture...of course!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

We made it down from the mountain in time to celebrate with Kristy and Bill as they said their vows and shared their cake (er, tower of delicious cupcakes). It was wonderful to share their special day, and it was great to catch up with old friends. Kristy and I went to youth group, high school, and college together, so there was a wide selection of people with whom to visit!

Stockings Hung with Care

Stockings Hung with Care
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I must admit, it was a bit sad to come back to rain and 50 degree weather after a glorious week in the mountains, buried in three feet in snow. We had a wonderful time in Idaho, celebrating Christmas with the family and the Thompsons. The last time we really celebrated Christmas together (because the Christmas spent in the hospital two years ago was...different...), Adam was the only addition to the family. Now that we are 11 (going on 12...), the pile of presents was a bit ridiculous. I have to say, it takes a much longer time to get to me now when we open presents from youngest to oldest!

Our Christmas was full of old and new traditions. Traditions inherited from our grandparents included reading the Christmas Story from Luke and "The Littlest Angel" (Bunn family traditions) and opening our stockings on Christmas Eve (Johnson family traditions--because Gramps could never wait until Christmas to open gifts). And in the spirit of the traditions we've embraced recently, we feasted on seafood on Christmas Eve and watched the extended versions of the "Lord of the Rings" movies (delaying Casey and Kim's departure on the 26th for a good 25 minutes).

The snow was so deep and plush that we found ourselves standing on the fence and jumping spread-eagle into it. We enjoyed sledding (we did NOT enjoy huffing and puffing back up the mountain) and snowmobiling (we did NOT enjoy crashing the snowmobiles because the snow was too powdery), and especially watching Cole head down the mountain in his little sled!

Cole got a sweet drum set for Christmas, but there is no feeling sorry for his parents--it was from them! We enjoyed reading "Rudolph" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with him and watching him run around answering the question "What does Santa say?" with the most adorable "ho, ho, ho!" ever heard.

Everyone else had to work on the 27th, so the 26th was full of packing and watching as much of "Return of the King" as we could. It was sad to see everyone go, but Mom, Dad, Jason, and I enjoyed a quiet couple of days before heading down the mountain.

Merry Christmas from Our House!

Merry Christmas!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

If you hear a cosmic rumbling this week, it is probably a huge sigh of relief coming from a little house in Arlington. Our Christmas party this weekend was a success...and now that it's over I can breathe easy and Christmas can really come! We had quite a few people brave the frigid winds to come see the debut of our little house, in all it's Christmas finery. It was really fun to visit with friends and we didn't run out of food, so we can't ask for much more.

We might look exhausted in this picture, which we took shortly before collapsing on the couch with plates of leftover goodies, but we loved that you can see the tree AND the fireplace. I also posted a couple more pictures on Flickr, my favorites being the mantel. What do you think?

Justice

Last night Jason and I went to a benefit dinner for the International Justice Mission, which is headquartered in DC and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

I first heard about IJM in a dingy train station in Glasgow, Scotland. Friends and I were on our way back to Oxford after a quick, "let's-go-see-the-Loch-Ness" weekend in the Highlands, and I spent the trip home trying to catch up on the studying that I had missed out on by not spending the weekend in the library. Our lecture the next day would ask the question, "Where is God in the face of injustice?" It was one I had struggled with for about a year without being satisfied with the typical Sunday school-type answers I'd received.

The reading we were assigned the week before told the true story of a young girl in Cambodia who had been kidnapped, dragged across the border to Thailand, and sold into sex slavery. It was members of IJM, an organization that works with local authorities as legal advocates for victims of sex trafficking, slavery, and other forms of violent injustice, who risked their lives to rescue this girl and bring her abductors to justice. The message was clear, and I have not forgotten it: God uses us to fight injustice in the world, and when we don't step up to the plate, injustice goes unanswered. Never before had I realized how critical I am to God's plan.

Three cheers for the CCCU, because Jason also learned about IJM when he did an off-campus study program in DC while he was in college. We strongly encourage you to check out IJM's website and see what they are doing--and what you can do--to help fight injustice in our world.

The Tree

The Tree
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It's been a solid week of alternately decorating the house and dragging boxes up and down the stairs, but I think we've finally reached a point where we can share a few pictures of our Christmassy house. I have a list of things to do to finish it up--most of them involve scotch tape (we ran out Saturday morning), and most of them, thankfully, involve the basement. No pictures of that yet.

As we expertly dragged our tree inside and set up the stand, I thought, "Hey, this is great, we're old pros at this putting up a tree business!" Then the tree fell down...and fell down again...and fell down again...and by the time we finally had it up for good two hours had gone by and neither of us cared if we ever saw a Christmas tree again! Thankfully, we got over it. More importantly, the tree has not fallen down again.

First Snow

I briefly thought that the first snow was actually on Sunday, when we went to get our Christmas tree and I swore a few flakes fell just as I found the perfect one, but as we were leaving the tree lot I realized that it was not snow but ash from the fire burning away the extra branches. So close...

But I am pretty convinced that it is real snow today and not ash. Especially since we just had a fire drill (does it qualify as a "drill" if an alarm really did go off but there was no actual fire?) and ended up on Independence Avenue with snow falling on our heads. It is the perfect day to be cozied up between the fire and the Christmas tree, cup of tea and good book in hand. I'm making due with curling up between my computer screen and the heater with some hot chocolate and reading material entitled"Liquid Fuels from Coal, Natural Gas, and Biomass: Background and Policy." It's riveting.

Note: I obviously took the picture when I got home. I thought you might be able to see our Christmas tree light in the window, but alas. Plus, it's still snowing.

Tickling the Ivories

Cole and Aunt Missy, Playing the Piano
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Ah, you are wondering why it took me so long to blog about Thanksgiving. Picture: Sunday morning. Jason's parents and grandma leave. Jason and Missy collapse on couch to watch (from beneath our eyelids) the Redskins lose. Again. Missy frantically tries to write a paper, and eventually posts it on the class website with the subject line, "Yikes! This is a disaster! Help!" Missy packs her bags for Idaho. Monday. Jason and Missy wake up late and scramble around, trying to get to work on time. Missy gives in to the temptation to skip the gym at lunch and instead eats queso at Tortilla Coast with a friend. Missy goes to class and comes home, exhuberantly telling Jason, who is in bed, that her professor said her last paper was a "joy to read" (vast improvement over "plainly written"). After the euphoria wears off, she goes to sleep, because 4:45 am will come painfully early. Tuesday. It does come early. Jason drags himself out of bed to take Missy to the airport for her 6:40 flight, which leaves 40 minutes late and dramatically curtails her 55 minute layover in MSP. Missy sprints (as fast as she can with luggage--laptop=bad) from the G terminal to the C terminal and plops into seat 6A just in time...to attend her meeting with the new airport director in Boise minutes after arriving in Idaho.

Whew.

Obviously, the trip to Idaho was worth the headache, as you can see by the picture. Cole and I enjoyed our little piano duet. Actually, Cole isn't quite sure what to think of his Aunt Missy these days, but I can't decide whether that is because I'm absent or because he has developed a bit of attitude (albeit adorable attitude) since I last left in September. If only I could post the video of him taking Jenny's hand off the piano and putting it in her lap so that it was not next to his... I was certainly not "Mamamama" (translation: Cole's favorite person in the room, likely his Mama or his Granny, and, in a pinch, and only if Aunt Missy was the only other option, Aunt Jenny), but if I lured him with dried mangos and a good book ("Put Me in the Zoo," for example, or "Bears on Wheels"), he would decide that sitting on my lap wasn't such a bad thing after all.

At least I made Jenny feel good--apparently until I arrived he wouldn't give her the time of day!

Some crazy black ice on the road between Boise and Eastern Idaho transformed a really busy work week into a very calm work week. That made it fun to hang out with my mom and dad, sisters and brothers-in-law, and brum-brumming nephew. A foretaste of Christmas.

The Feast

Ready for the Feast
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I generally don't have a problem with meat, eating, cooking, or touching it, which is a good thing, since a few days before Thanksgiving I found myself wrist-deep in turkey innards, wrestling profusely with the still-frozen turkey neck to get the turkey ready to brine. By the time I won the battle, I was sweating and using harsh language directed at my bird.

Luckily, it didn't take offense and turned into a really scrumptious centerpiece for our Thanksgiving table. One, you'll note, we did not photograph. Sad. Still, all the cleaning and baking and list-making paid off, and Thanksgiving was delish. The Foodie Friends Turkey will be a repeat guest at my table, mmm... (So will the sausage stuffing that I parsed together from a couple of recipes--and a box of Stovetop--that was so good even Jason ate it.)

The above is an awkward picture, thanks to our small dining room and large (yay!) table, but you get the idea. Jason's parents and grandma came to eat, visit, and see our house. We did a little post-Thanksgiving shopping (new purses for Lynda and me!) and then spent Saturday at Montpelier, President Madison's home. The house is currently being restored to its original condition, and it was interesting to see the renovations. We'll have to go back one of these days and see the final product.

Plus, we got to use the china. Love the china. And my grandma's handwriting is still on the china protectors, labeling them, and that made me happy.

Crowder, and Other Weekend Adventures

I can only assume that the Redskins are losing, as the last few bellows I've heard from the basement have not sounded encouraging. Poor 'Skins, I think we doom them by watching games. I've been perched on my favorite living room chair (see last entry), putting the finishing touches on my cultural essay due tomorrow. This essay has been mounds easier than the last--less deeply personal, but much simpler to write and edit. Relief.

We have two weekends of activity to catch up on, yikes! The highlight from both weekends was the David Crowder Band concert at the 9:30 Club last weekend. The 9:30 Club is a dingy, intimate place where you sit on the floor or stand, surrounded by rusty fences topped with barbed wire. What a cool place to pack people in to worship! It was amazing, awesome, we actually watched the concert in North Carolina on MySpace just to relive it a couple days ago. I wish you'd been there. Also, we were surprisedly please with Phil Wickham, the opening act, who rocked the place with his band of Gibson and Taylor.

We had a long weekend for Veterans' Day last weekend (go government workers), so on Saturday, after an impromptu lunch with Ryan of the Oxford Days, we headed out west about two hours and spent part of the weekend with Rob and Taiya at their farm. First of all, it was gorgeous weather, that perfect moment when the trees are at their most brilliant, and their horse farm was really cool. They spend their weekdays in the city, but on the weekend they trade their suits and blackberries for cover-alls and boots, building barns and cooking up delicious grub. Their house was built in the 1850's, and we got the gorgeous balcony room to wake up in, looking out over the mountains. Jason even got to ride Thunder, Rob's new draft horse!

On Tuesday we decided to buy some new dining room chairs so that everyone can fit around the table at Thanksgiving (Jason's parents and grandmother are coming on Wednesday), and, after calling around to find a way to get the ones we liked at the sale price without having to pay shipping (and risk them arriving November 26th), we somehow found ourselves parked illegally on M Street, the insanely-busy-at-all-hours main drag through Georgetown, outside of Pottery Barn loading four wrapped chairs into the Eclipse. This, my friends, is living in the city.

Fast-forward to this weekend. This afternoon we went to the Shakespeare Theatre to see Taming of the Shrew. I am never sure how I feel about Taming, I try really hard not to be offended but somehow always am. It was brilliant, though, and well worth waiting for (we've been trying to find discount tickets since the beginning of October!). Plus, Dawn went with us, and I have missed her. Otherwise it has been blessedly uneventful. I don't have to work this week, and I'm already trying to figure out how to divy up my time between making pies and polishing off the last of the grocery shopping and cleaning house and working on my next essay and relaxing... okay, so I've got to work a bit on that last one...

Musings

The Rotunda
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It is raining outside and my office closed at 2, making it a perfect day to curl up next to my fireplace with a book and a cuppa. Of course, we haven't cleaned out our fireplace to prepare it for winter or bought any firewood, and anyway I couldn't tear myself away from my desk until 4 (an appallingly bad habit I've developed on Fridays). No matter. The heat is working, the candles in the fireplace are lit, and the last bits of tea are getting cool in my cup as I sit here, listening to the sounds of a wet street and Nickle Creek.

Not bad for a Friday, even if I left two hours late.

I love everything about autumn--sweaters and jeans, colored leaves, soup, sifting through recipes for Thanksgiving--but this year it seems to have flown by and I've only had a hurried, fleeting glance at it. I think the small space of this Friday afternoon is just what I need, so I want to share it--and our fall happenings--with you. Just a few random things.

Belgian chocolate. It's really good, by the way, a fact to which my coworkers can all attest, since Jason brought back enough from Brussels to share with the whole class. He has been on a traveling spree, spending one day (and two days traveling) in Stockholm, San Antonio, and Brussels during three of the past four weeks. For the most part his sightseeing has been limited to the inside of a conference room, but in San Antonio he did get to have dinner with our good friends Jackie and Jason, who moved there last summer, in spite of the fact that Jackie and I had bonded over "Anne of Green Gables" AND "Persuasion." Sad. While he's been gone, I have accomplished...absolutely nothing. The fact that he came home yesterday and I had taken the trash out the curb was worth noting.

"Getting my trash kicked." I've gotten really into this step class at the gym, and I pretend that my legs have become very powerful and recently dreamt that someone asked me if I could run a half marathon and I confidently said yes. In real life, however, my legs are just really sore, and the idea of running a half marathon makes me want to lay down on the floor and kick and scream like a two-year old. Indeed, as my coworker Kaylyn says, the class "kicks my trash" twice a week. I am getting pretty good at it, though, if I do say so myself, and I wonder if perhaps this will fulfill the "take a dance class" resolution that I made for 2007. Thoughts?

Final draft. The past month or so I've spent frantic minutes and hours crafting, then recrafting, then recrafting a personal essay for my nonfiction writing class. The essay was supposed to be 1500 words, and somehow my final draft rang in at about 4079 words. And my professor says I'm not wordy enough... It has been quite an experience, actually. I wrote about Oxford--mainly our trip back there in April--and I fell right into the essay, remembering this particular Saturday afternoon at the library, writing a paper about Richard the Third, and how the misty, grey feeling outside seeped through the stained glass windows in front of my desk and mingled with the lamplight at which I studied, and how comfortable and happy I felt in that space. I've been looking for that space since I moved to Washington, DC, and I think I've finally found it again, right here in this little chair by my candle-lit fireplace.

Trader Joe's. Andrea encouraged me to check out Trader Joe's amazing cranberry sauce, so last Saturday I bravely gathered my grocery list and donned my baseball cap and made a trip to the Trader Joe's by our house. There are only, like, four aisle at Trader Joe's, but they are all confusing to me, and I admit to being there much longer than I intended. But I came home with my favorite dark chocolate covered almonds and these awesome branches of mini-pumpkins (Jason thinks they look ghoulish, I think they are adorable), as well as some tasty groceries, and I think I might be converted. Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, and for a little while I was panicking about the fact that I haven't bought a turkey (Jason's family is coming here for the holiday, yay!), but the new Foodie Friends website has inspired me, and I've finally compiled a nice list of recipes, ingredients, and timelines so that I feel prepared. Well, sort of prepared. I'm sure a few panicked, last-minute calls to my mom and sisters will still be necessary.

Face of Paint. I'm not sure what possessed me to pull out the old Point of Grace "The Whole Truth" cd on Sunday, but I've been harmonizing to it on the commute all week. Ah, the memories. I talked to Jenny this week and told her I had found it, and without my even finishing the sentence she said, "Ah, and you've been singing your part, right?" In high school, Jenny, Shaanti, my dear friend Laura, and I broke out the four parts to Point of Grace's "The Great Divide" and sang it in church. We jokingly called ourselves "Face of Paint," and I have to confess that I probably took our brief musical career a little too seriously. Still, I have every intention of putting a few of the songs on my ipod and taking it to the cabin this Christmas to see if Shaanti and Jenny can remember their parts.

Dome Tour. Yesterday the Simpson staff ventured to the top of the Capitol Dome. It's tough to get a dome tour, since you have to be escorted by a Member of Congress, and most of the staff had never been on one before. It was an interesting comparison--this year's tour with my current coworkers, and last year's tour with the Otter folks, which marked the end of our time together. There are so many similarities between my new job and my old job (same building, same issues, same gross cafeteria food), but there are key differences, and sometimes it is hard to put my finger on them. Today I tried to call our Boise office and accidentally dialed the old Otter office Boise number--thankfully Rep. Sali's staff was out, because that would have been way too confusing. Actually, it was confusing anyway. Weird.

Ride 'em Cowboy!

So, Halloween was last week, but we still have a few pieces of candy left (particularly the Dove dark chocolate pieces that, um, did not find their way into the bowl of trick-or-treating candy) so I think this post is still timely. And mostly I think this little fella is the cutest darn wrangler in the West. Dad said he was their first trick-or-treater in ten years or so, and when they opened the door he walked in with a mile-wide grin like he was bringing law and order to the place.

The Van Allens!

The Van Allens!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

So, I know that Bob basically looks like a head and a tie in this picture, but, with my battery dying (grrr...), this is the best I could do as far as photos went. I would highly suggest looking here for much better (and funnier) pictures of Bob and Erin's wedding. (And a quick shout-out to Andrea for not posting every picture that Telfer snapped while we were on the dance floor. There had to be a few incriminatingly scary ones when it was all said and done.)

Apparently blogging is not my calling anymore, as over a week has gone by since Bob and Erin tied the knot--and we held a small but delightful NNU reunion--but nary a word from me. Weddings are really so nice for that type of thing, and I appreciate Bob being so obliging (I missed out on the last wedding-reunion, since I was the one in the wedding dress). We had a great time together. It was especially poignant to eat greasy food at Denny's at 11:30 p.m. clad in sweatpants and glasses, playing "would you rather." It was a moment right out of college.

It is amazing how much you can squeeze into a weekend, especially when you consider that the flight between DC and Spokane, WA, is 6 or 7 hours. But squeeze in I did--I arrived around noon and had lunch with Andrea at a cute little place with delicious sandwiches, then drove straight down to Moscow to visit Casey and Kim. I got to see where Casey works and their cute little apartment, then Mom and Dad, who had picked that weekend to visit them, too, arrived. We had a really delicious dinner (coconut shrimp, mmm...) and wonderful visiting time before coming back to Casey and Kim's, turning on a movie, and falling directly asleep. It was soooo wonderful to spend time with them, what a special, stolen-away moment! And, to top it off, now I can imagine where Casey is sitting when I talk to him on the phone (green striped chair, of course!).

I was exhausted when I got home (still haven't fully recovered, actually--apparently I am too old for this!), but it was worth every second. And, of course, I arrived home to find planted tulips, apple pie, and our utility room floor. I have just the best husband.

Things to Do While Missy is in Spokane

1. Plant tulip bulbs - The soil is much easier to work with when you finally get rain after 33 days of drought, and you have the proper tools. Oh, and buy some planting soil to mix in with the unforgiving Virginia clay.

2. Unpack the basement - Now there is room for the inevitable projects dad and I will get into when the family comes for Thanksgiving. Oh, and now one can get to the laundry without tripping over boxes of junk.

3. Bake an Apple Pie - Proving that one can succeed at cooking by following the directions in the Williams Sonoma baking cookbook to the letter.

Pumpkin Hunting

Pumpkin Hunting
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It is finally fallish here, and after we both shivered our way through getting ready this morning Jason agreed that it is time to turn on the heater. This is a good thing--we've been trying to act autumnly, what with the pumpkin hunting and the apple picking, but you'll notice that I'm wearing very short sleeves and sunglasses, and, though you cannot see it in the picture, Jason is wearing shorts. Sad.

The nice thing about living somewhere like DC is that fall does come eventually. In the meantime, we have plump pumpkins sitting on our steps to invite young trick-or-treaters on Wednesday (we've determined Halloween will be our best opportunity to meet the neighbors, NONE of whom have come over with cookies or even a hello!), and Jason even made a scrumptious apple pie this weekend (he is SO baking for Thanksgiving).

Happy Autumn!

Interesting.

At my writing class on Monday, my professor told me my sentences are too short, my style too matter-of-fact, and my writing not flowery enough.

Huh.

Who AM I?

Weekend

We have this cute little office in our new house with two desks, one Jason-sized and one Missy-sized, and as I'm typing up this post, Jason is behind me playing a "tribute to boy bands" collection on iTunes. I will never confess to being a fan of boy-bands (unless Rascal Flatts qualifies, which I do NOT believe), but the songs are providing a pretty thorough soundtrack to college. Scary.

It has been just the kind of weekend that provides time to do silly things like listen to NSync on iTunes, the first one since...May? For the most part, our housekeeping has been limited to upkeep (mowing the yard, cleaning the kitchen) instead of major new projects (unpacking the utility room, planting tulip bulbs, sewing curtains (thankfully done)). It has left us time for more important things. Like reading. And making cookies. And watching the Redskins lose. The Redskins have only lost this season when we have been watching the game. We must be a jinx.

One thing I did NOT do this weekend was get out my fall clothes. I bought two sweaters at the Gap over the summer (ironically, the two other girls I work with also bought two of the sweaters at the Gap. It's a good thing they came in lots of colors!), and I have finally been able to wear them. But I decided not to push my luck by actually packing away the warm-weather garb--less than a week ago it was 96 degrees here! Now it is nice and cool, and the tired, worn leaves look like they might have a chance to change colors before they fall to the ground, but I'm still hedging my bets...

Other things we have done this weekend:
* bought a shovel (a first!)
* watched more episodes from season one of the X-Files
* sprayed for spiders (last week when I put on a shirt one ran down my arm and I screamed like a girl, so Jason promised to spray. ew, ew, EW!)
* ate here and here
* bought tickets to this
* worked on my personal essay for my class. but not very much.

Bob and Kiki Reunite!

Bob and Kiki Reunite!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

So, Scott did a thorough job posting about our weekend together in the fair state of Kentucky here, and Jason posted briefly below, but I still (of course!) had to put in my two cents! For the first few years we all lived here in DC, we and SMC (then SMC-squared, the SMC-cubed...) were rather inseparable. I had lived here for about nine months before Krystal and I stumbled into Arlington First Church of the Nazarene, a week before Scott did the same and two weeks before Jason followed suit. In no time we were spending Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, even weeknights (a totally foreign concept in our current life) as a group. I distinctly remember the moment when, as we headed down the elevator from Bible Study at Jason's apartment to our car, I said to Krystal, "This is the first time I've been really happy here."

I had to tell that story to set up why our trip to Kentucky was so important. Scott and Lindsay moved there about a month before Jason and I got married, and they graciously made the trip to Idaho for our wedding. We had not seen them since then, so we felt it was imperative this fall that we make the trip to see them and Jake, who is now a little boy and not the baby we knew back at AFCN!

We had a fabulous time together--going to the races, hiking to Natural Bridge, eating really good grub, and, of course, playing games, which is how we used to spend every Friday and Saturday night. The Bob and Kiki story is too long (and, really, unexciting) to share in a blog entry, so just know that we laughed a lot. And, Chris and Angie, we missed you!

All of this happened between and around really great conversations, the type that have been lacking in our lives since they left the area. It was easy to pick up right where we left off--even with Jake, who had no problem deciding we were all pals!

Can't wait until the next time together--two years is too long!

Lining up at the Starting Gate

Lining up at the Starting Gate
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Missy and I decided to make a quick trip to Lexington, Kentucky to hang out with old friends Scott and Lindsay (and 3 year old Jake). After visiting Asbury Theological Seminary where Scott is studying, we sampled local culture by heading to the Keeneland Race Track. We weren't quite gussied up enough to blend in (high heels, summer dresses, suits and ties were more prevalent than not), but we enjoyed a couple of races in the grandstand under the blazing Kentucky sun.

Book Storm

Before
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

This is what our living room looked like last night. Proper bookshelving was the last piece of new-house-furniture purchased, delivered, and installed (huge trauma, but boring story). For the past three months all our books have been hiding in neatly stacked boxes along the living room wall, so it was a pleasure to meet them again as we organized them and put them in our bookshelf. (And by organizing, mostly I mean deciding which books were worthy of the new bookshelf and which ones would go downstairs on the old shelves.) Organizing them, by the way, was NOT the 15 minute job we expected, which we discovered about the time we took this picture. We have a LOT of books. And our new bookshelf? Full to the brim. But really fun. We are (for the most part) officially moved in!

A Short Commute

I never thought I'd say that I got to work too quickly, but that seemed to happen to me today. It wasn't that Wednesday morning traffic (ug) was any better than normal, but since both the new David Crowder Band CD AND the new Rascal Flatts CD came out on Tuesday, I had far too much new music on my ipod to listen to, and the trip to Capitol Hill flew by. So I am now saturated with good music from my two favorite bands.

(Jason only has one of these albums on his new ipod. I'll leave you to guess which one.)

While the results are not completely in on either album, the general consensus around the house is: v. good. I have previously mentioned the profound impact that the last Crowder CD had on my life--at a time when my aunt was dying, it put to music the awesome story of being truly brought to life. Yet I find the slim, 10-song Remedy, which speaks of God's glory, a nice bit of relief from the powerful Collision. Right now I love tracks 1 and 3 (of course, we've been playing "Everything Glorious" on repeat for about a month in antipation) and the joyous "chorus" of "O For a Thousand Tongues." Again, as Casey says, "Davidcrowderbandrocks."

As for Rascal Flatts, you can say all you want that all the songs sound the same, the lead singer's voice is annoying, Joe Don's hair is ridiculous, blah blah. I will agree with you. And I will then pull out each and every CD they've ever made and listen to them again. I have an unending musical crush on Rascal Flatts, beginning with their very first album, which my mom sent to Oxford just as I couldn't stand listening to another song on one of the over-played CDs I'd stuffed in my suitcase two months earlier. So, Krista, as I listened to the rascally new music, I thought of you and our integral paper all-nighter, making cookies at 3am in the Canterbury kitchen and listening to track three on repeat. Oh! I just smiled thinking of it!

(And, by the way, I ate about four of those cookies today...)

It has been a mysteriously painful week, so it has taken all the good music--and knowledge that Thursday night is a'comin'--to get me through. Whoever decided that the ratio of five workdays to two weekend days is good math?

A Tourist Whirlwind

Bull Run
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Jenny and Chad (who work nights) were still asleep when we left McCall a few weeks ago, but we didn't bother to wake them up to say goodbye because we knew we would see them in less than two weeks. They spent a few days with us last week--yay, so fun! Chad had never been to DC, so we spent Sunday at Bull Run Battlefield (a new stop for us) and the newish Air and Space Museum out by Dulles Airport (favorite: space shuttle. Awesome.). Then we sent them out on a tourist whirlwind--monuments, Capitol, museums, and, of course, Crate and Barrel.

We had a great time, and though we sent them home with very sore feet I think they had fun, too. This is the first time we've hosted a sibling and spouse--we are so grown up! Sisters are such good friends to have, and we really enjoyed getting to know each other's husbands better.

Happy Birthday, Cole!

Can you believe it's been a year since little Cole made his grand entrance into the world? I wish I was going to be there for the time honored tradition of watching you smash cake into your face. It's a good thing your mom sends me lots of pictures!

Idaho, Part Two

View from the Cabin
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Fall has arrived in Washington, so I'd better get "Summer in Idaho" wrapped up so we can head into the new season!

Jason joined me in Idaho for Labor Day weekend. We had a really terrific dinner with Bob and Kristy and their respective fiances (who are both delightful!), then headed up to the cabin to spend the rest of the weekend with the whole fam. Forest fires have been raging throughout the state this summer (worst year on record, I think), so our time in McCall was a bit ashy and discolored as smoke came pouring over the mountains and into our little valley. But the mornings were beautiful, as seen by this picture of our view.

We had a great time together. Inside we were likely found either playing with Cole (who developed the exhausting habit of desiring walking all over the place while holding your finger!) or playing video games. The range of choices was dramatic--my parents got an old-school video arcade, and Jenny and Chad brought up their new Nintendo Wii. While I certainly enjoyed our tournaments on the classic bubble game, I must say that creating Miis for everyone in the family was my favorite.

We also enjoyed some four wheeling, and Jason had his first fly-fishing experience. In addition, we headed down to Ice Cream Alley in town to feast on huge cones. Then Mom and I took Jason on a tour of Victory Cove, our old church camp from days gone by. You can see the picture of me in front of the Dining Hall. Yippee!

We left early on Labor Day, heading down the mountain to have a quick lunch with Krystal before flying out. While it was sad (as always!) to leave, it was a good thing we got out of there when we did--shortly after we got off the road, a new fire swept through the canyon and shut down the road for hours...

Moving Out

IMG_1011
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It seems that Mom and I have both accepted the fact that--at this juncture, anyway--I am not going to be moving back into my old bedroom. (I think maybe the buying-a-house-in-Virginia is what tipped us off.) So we officially moved me out.

You may think it's strange that I have not moved out of my parents' house. You must remember that almost exactly six years ago I flew out to DC for a three-month internship on a round trip ticket. The plan was to actually use the return flight to move home, but somehow six years, one internship, and two jobs (a few roommates, lots of addresses, a diamond ring, many overweight suitcases, etc.) have gone by, and here I sit.

Thus, moving out.

Mom and I emptied my closet of school papers, oversized flannel shirts from college, and yes, a few of these. My life literally flashed before my eyes as we sorted through the piles. Among the treasures we found:

* Senior pictures from my youth group friends, complete with notes written on the backs. Shaanti's was signed, "Bare Bottoms Forever." Ah, our song-writing days (at ages 4 and 3).

* This sweet FFA sign, in addition to a bumper sticker that says something again to "FFA Rocks!" and a long-lost copy of my retiring address as a State FFA Officer. The blue jacket, unfortunately, is probably in the dress-up clothes now.

* Numerous bridesmaid dresses.

* Delicious letters from Oxford friends, received weeks after we parted ways and headed home. Also, a whole packet of "what to expect when you get to Oxford" information that would have been handy to have read before I arrived in the UK...

* The scrapbook I made of newspaper articles from the year NNC almost won the NAIA men's basketball tournament. Nerdy.

* The volleyball antenna ball that hung from the rearview window of our '89 Honda Accord (a moment of silence, please) all through high school.

*Lots and lots of mix tapes.

Of course, as the clock came around to 1 am, Mom didn't gush about these treasures nearly as much as I did. In fact, I'm pretty sure she only stayed up to finish with me because she knew that if she wasn't there watching like a hawk I would just curl up with a pile of old emails and never finish. I promise that we threw a lot of stuff out. Really, Jason, we did. No, we don't have to find a place for everything in our little house...