March Comes in Like a...Polar Bear?

This is the view from our house this morning. I absolutely love snow...in December or January, even February. But NOT IN MARCH. Unbelievable. On Friday, when it was 61 outside, I started jabbering to Jason about how we should get out and do some weeding around our tulips from Amsterdam (which are peeking out of their bed). This morning we have five inches of snow and counting. Un.Be.Lievable.

One nice thing about the snow is that we are not going in to work until nine this morning, even though we got up and dressed as though we were leaving at 7:45. That means a little time to drink tea and blog before heading back into the "hot zone" that is work these days. As Jason-the-Blogger aluded to recently, I have been basically living at the office the past few weeks. Mom called me on Friday night when I was still at work and jokingly (I hope) suggested that I am a workaholic. Ha. There is not a workaholic bone in my body! It's just that there are so many hearings to prepare for and meetings to take a constituent letters to respond to and tops of desks to find... There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though--today (if we ever make it into work) we have a new staffer starting, and I'm already feeling much better about my day!

In other news, we are inching closer and closer to finishing our big basement project, which is very exciting. Mom was here last weekend, which was fabulous as always--we ate at Chili's and went early-birthday shopping and generally had a good time. This past Saturday we went to the Melting Pot with some friends, where we consumed copious amounts of cheese and chocolate. And I'm really hoping that school is cancelled tonight because of the snow (which would make snow in March all worth it)--even though it looks like grad school might be redeeming itself this semester (more on that later).

Whew! I think I'm all caught up! If it IS going to snow, at least I have been able to make a reappearance on the blog!

Getting Out There

Ice hockey is not one of those sports you just wake up one day and decide to do. That is, until they build a new ice hockey rink one mile from your house where the red-hot Washington Capitals practice. Ironically, ice hockey is one thing I never played while I lived in Toronto (although floor hockey and ball hockey during recess were regular staples). So, with a new rink in my backyard and the need to find something to keep me physically active, I signed up for skate and play classes about a year ago. It wasn't until the week after Christmas that I took the final plunge by investing in all the equipment (knee/shin pads, pants, chest pad, elbow pads, helmet, gloves, socks...). There was no turning back. So late every Wednesday (from 9:15 pm - 10:45 pm) over the last four weeks I have been learning to skate/shoot/pass and then scrimmage with 30-40 other guys (and gals!) who love the sport. It is a workout! One guy told me he dropped 20 pounds last year just from attending this class once a week. Despite the late hour, I feel energized (and gloriously sweaty) once it is over.

Last night, Missy and her mom (who flew in to visit us) stopped by to see me in action and snapped the photo. So, here is the proof. It is never too late for an old dog to learn a new trick. The key is just getting out there.

Houseguests

We always enjoy having visitors -- especially family! We hosted my (Jason's) parents over the just concluded three-day President's Day weekend. The visit served a double purpose -- spending quality time with mom and dad and finishing up odds and ends from the basement finish project I started with my dad last August. Besides sharing a delicious Valentine's Day dinner at home that Missy cooked, we also visited the Pentagon memorial (to the 9-11 victims) and the Air Force memorial. It was my first visit to the Pentagon memorial. It contains a bench for each person who died at the Pentagon on 9-11. It is a relatively new memorial -- one I suspect will be an important spot in years to come -- especially for educating the generation that will have no memory of that tragic day. My mom noted that she has reached the point where the sixth graders she teaches have only a faint memory of what happened on September 11.

In terms of the basement project, we made great headway. We were able to re-route the plumbing for an outside faucet that was inadvertently attached to the hot water line, and install new electrical outlets and switches for light fixtures. The rooms are really starting to come together. I will post photos soon.

Next up: Missy's mom. She arrives tomorrow night!

A Week Away: An Overdue Report

Let’s face it, traveling is exhausting! Last week involved a late-night flight to Boise, an early-morning flight to Portland, a drive to the beach and back, a back-to-Boise flight, a road trip through Idaho’s Second Congressional District, and, finally, a window seat on a 767 bound for Washington Dulles. In spite of the fact that I am still exhausted, and in spite of the miles traveled, there were several good and wonderful things that happened during last week, including:

1. Sisters. (And Mom and Aunts and Cousins): My dad is the nicest. He picked me up at the airport at 11:30 last Thursday night, then took me back at 5:45 the next morning, all so he could see me for the fifteen minutes we had together on the freeway each way. Over the weekend, we held the first annual Sisterhood Retreat at the Oregon coast with the aunts and cousins on my mom’s side of the family. We had a fabulous time together—playing games, laughing, catching up, freezing on the beach, eating chocolate covered Rice Krispie treats, etc. My time with my non-Idaho extended family is all-too limited, and I’m so glad I was able to be there for the weekend together!

2. Meeting Baby Mason: It may have been a Sisterhood Retreat, but it was also a Weekend of Little Boys. Shaanti and Jenny brought their boys for the weekend, so I got to lay eyes and hands on six week-old Mason. Love him. He is a brick—so solid and thick, and I think he weighs as much as seven month-old Troy!

3. Visiting with Grandad: I would prefer not to admit how long it has been since I last saw my Grandad, who will be 90 in September. It was good to visit the Farm, where many of my favorite childhood memories are set, and to watch Troy eye Grandad’s long beard with very sincere interest…
4. The Parade of Nephews: Until recently, the boys pretty much lived separate little lives, running around in the same circles but not caring much that the other existed. But recently Cole has discovered that it can be fun to make Troy laugh, and Troy has discovered that Cole is pretty much the coolest person ever. Troy smiles all the time, but he really only bursts out laughing when Cole says “boogaboogaboo!” It will be fun to watch them become better friends as they get older. In my severely jet lagged state, I love to just sit and hold both of them in my lap.

5. Coming Home to Jason: We had a great week of work—traveling from one end of the state to the other, and meeting with lots and lots of people—but oh I was ready to come home! How nice to see Jason’s car pull up at Dulles and pour myself into the passenger seat!

Employed (with a job to do)

After several weeks of training, extensive networking, and anxious waiting, today I (Jason) accepted a Fellowship position with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations (on the minority/Republican staff). For those of you who never read your government textbook, the Constitution of the United States vested the "power of the purse" in the legislative branch (not the executive). So, while the President and the federal agencies spend the money, they don't get it until the Congress appropriates it each year. The appropriations committee has wide jurisdiction, including having most recently worked on the stimulus bill. It is arguably one of the most powerful and important committees in the Congress. I'm looking forward to this new challenge.

So, my days of employed unemployment come to an end. I've tried to use the time productively, filling each of my waiting hours with the selling of old furniture and other items on craigslist and overseeing the finishing and painting of the walls in the basement. But alas, I'm not made out to be a house husband and I'm ready to get back into the thick of it. And for Missy to come home (she's been traveling since last Thursday). On Monday we start our commuting lives together.

What I do all day ...

So apparently heading off to a one-year Congressional Fellowship is not as simple as one might think. After two weeks of excellent orientation seminars hosted by the Brookings Institute (which ended last Friday), I am officially "on my own" to land an assignment in a cramped office on the Hill. Office space is at a premium, so most Fellows are squeezed in -- with the option of a desk by the front door or in the broom closet (literally, I'm not kidding). This is quite a departure from the cushy offices with sofas and large windows that I and my fellow Fellows (is that how you phrase it?) are used to back in our home agencies.

It has been several years since I've had to dust off and update the old resume and start interviewing. It has been a revitalizing experience (yes, I know more than just Sudan). I have an advantage of course -- the State Department considers this Fellowship a training opportunity, so they continue to pay my salary (good news in this job market). You'd think offices would be clamoring for the free labor. Indeed, if they can dig out from their overwhelmed email boxes and overflowing voicemail to return my call -- they are doing well. Case in point: It is now 7:25 pm on a Friday night and Missy is still at work. Since her boss became a ranking member on the Interior Subcomittee of the House Appropriations Committee, her job has taken on a whole new dimension.

So, at the moment, Missy and I have had a bit of a role reversal (sort of). After a "hard day" of pounding the pavement job searching (sending emails, networking over coffee, an odd interview or two), I come home at a decent hour, make dinner (chicken tortilla soup is brewing in the dutch oven), and write on the blog. I could get used to this.

Inaugural Chaos

There were two pretty sweet moments today when I felt like it was worth leaving our house at six a.m. in frigid weather to brave the crowds and watch history in the making. The first moment was when we reached the 14th Street Bridge, where traffic was being diverted from all of the DC-bound interstates, leaving Virginians with no way to drive into the city. Ah, but we had an "Essential Congressional Support" pass, and when Jason and I and my coworker Kaylyn and her husband arrived at the baracade, Jason simply pointed to our special reflective sign in the windshield...and the police cars pulled out of the way, letting us onto the bridge--the only time I'll ever be the only car on northbound I-395. Pretty sweet.

And any cool factor was balanced out by the chaos of driving down Independence Avenue, where the crowds pressed against the car so much that the Chief of Police had to basically escort us down the street.

The other most awesome moment was finally getting to our seats (after over two hours in line) and looking behind us to see the masses of people waving flags. Let's be perfectly honest, I was there for history, not for Obama, but it was a pretty breathtaking sight. And there is something awfully majestic about watching the peaceful transferral of a power so great. My boss generously gave his staff great seats, but Jason, Patrick, and Chris (who came down from New England)--as well as the friends and family of my coworkers--weren't so lucky. Even though we left so so early, they never made it through the mob-like security line. Jason ended up watching the inaugural speech from my boss's office. At least he was warm. Brrrr! Thank goodness for the Shaanti's hand-me-down fleece-lined pants, circa 1996--they kept me warm during the last inauguration, and they didn't let me down today.

What an amazing moment to witness! And now I can safely say I am never going to another inauguration again.

As a fun side-note, our house was full of revelers, since Sean and Jill decided last minute to drive down and sleep on our floor the night before. Also, I figured you might want to see pictures, which are scattered here and will hopefully soon be on Flickr. I also uploaded a video of part of Obama's address. You'll have to excuse the jittery cinemography, but my teeth were chattering.

Cold Snap

It’s a balmy 14 degrees outside, so we’ve given up any pretense of going outside the house today in favor of curling up by the fire and burying ourselves in blankets. When it crept into the single digits (with a wind-chill factor of negative something) last night, we felt very grateful for a warm home and a down comforter and previous owners who replaced the windows. Last night after I put together the menu (yes, I write out a menu every week, and no, I will not apologize), I glanced over it one more time and realized that we are having soupish items five times next week (and I will be putting the le Creuset pot that Jason spoiled me with for Christmas to good use). Brrrr!

As long as it warms up to at least 30 by the inauguration on Tuesday, I really like cold weather. A winter without a cold snap feels makes me feel a bit incomplete—a friend recently compared herself to a tulip bulb, who needs freezing temperatures so that she can bloom in the springtime, and I completely agree. And tomorrow it may snow… After seven-plus years, I’m getting used to DC weather—snow comes in January, spring comes in April.

Last weekend I almost posted a nice entry about how we spent the rest of our Christmas vacation, but when I went to save it, it deleted instead. I’ve tried twice to recreate it, but it isn’t working. So here’s the summary: dinner parties, sweats, butternut squash risotto (see picture), hockey gear, wedding album, watching House. It was lovely, and while there are great things to look forward to in 2009 (new opportunities at work, leaving our 20’s behind, over-the-phone garden planning with Shaanti, and an anticipated visit from Casey and Kim in the spring), I kind of wanted to stay in that little in-between stage a bit longer.

But 2009 has come upon us in a rush. Going back to work was like jumping right into the fire. My boss has been swiftly become more senior and more influential in Congress, which has provided me with some really cool opportunities…and a lot of late nights at work where I leave an unfinished to-do list longer than the one I had when I came in that morning! I can feel any resolutions to introduce balance into my life oozing out… Jason just completed two weeks of orientation for his fellowship program and is working to land himself in just the right spot on the Hill. We’re beginning to adjust to our new morning routine of commuting together, and I’ve been awfully thankful that while I work late, Jason has been mastering the bus schedule and cooking dinner each evening. And really, really grateful that we have a nice, long weekend ahead of us.

Ringing in 2009

After ringing in the new year until early this morning, we decided to celebrate the coming of 2009 the old fashioned way--by sitting by the fire with new January magazines and the Post, drinking tea and coffee, and staying in our pajamas until 3*. It is possible that the neighbor saw me in my pjs, yikes**.

Last night we had some friends over and sat around the table eating baked potatoes with chili and all kinds of other toppings. When we bought our dining room table last year, I insisted that we get one that would expand as much as possible, even though we have a little dining room and had, at that point, never had more than three dinner guests at once. For some reason, even though we live a continent away, I feel compelled to have a table at which my entire family could eat (and enough place settings on which to feed them). Ridiculous, I know, but it has paid off twice this week--first with the Oxford folks on Tuesday night, and then for potato bar New Year's Eve. This is a fun picture, except it is minus cutely-pregnant Dawn (maybe that's her eye?).

We spent the rest of the evening munching on goodies, drinking wassail, and enjoying the last lights of the Christmas tree before counting down to midnight by the light of Steven's iPhone. Welcome to 2009!

* Okay, so actually I was in my pjs until 4:40.

** Truthfully, there is really no doubt that the neighbor saw me in my pjs--of course he walked out his back door as I stepped outside for the only time today to help Jason get the Christmas tree out the door. I quickly slunk back inside without saying hello.

An Oxford Union

To my utter delight, Oxford reunions (of sorts) have happened more frequently these days, as though we have realized that those of us who live within a tank of gas or less don't have to wait for a momentous occasion to see each other. But this was the first time that a reunion coincided with a union--the greatly anticipated marriage of Sean and Jill, who have been friends since our days on Canterbury Road but recently decided that they would very much like to spend the rest of their lives together. (See the last chapter of Anne of Avonlea for reference, which was aptly quoted during the ceremony.)

We left Ohio on Saturday after breakfast with Mom and Dad Small, Justin, and Grandmom. Early afternoon we hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike and headed east toward Harrisburg, where we arrived in time for dinner and lots of good catching up with Chris and Angie, good friends who moved from Arlington a couple of years ago. We went to church with them on Sunday and hung out a bit with their pack of adorable kids (almost-five year old Joshua took pictures, but we left our camera in the car :( ), then drove to Carlisle for the wedding.

Jill and Sean's wedding was simple, heartfelt, and lovely. We Oxford folks spent the reception doing what we do best: talking, deeply and thoroughly. Near the end of the night (we closed down the place!), Jason suggested that perhaps since we weren't dancing, we could move to a different table that wasn't near the dance floor so that we could hear each other! We talked late (late) into the night, and then decided to keep going by having dinner at our house on Tuesday! I have already tried (and failed) to put into words how I feel about this crew. Laura perhaps put it best by saying that we awaken within each other something that is dormant with everyone else, and it is so nice for those parts of us to come out and play. You can imagine, then, just how happy Sean and Jill's wedding made us.

A Merry Little Christmas

It may have taken Christmas a while to get off the ground at our place, but by the time Christmas morning hit yesterday, we were in full celebratory mode. One of our own little Christmas traditions since we got married is to go to the theatre (clearly the tradition of a couple without children)--last year it was The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center, a few years ago it was A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre, etc. So on Monday night we went out for a delicious dinner at Olive's, one of our favorite DC eateries, and then to see Twelfth Night at the Shakespeare Theatre--not so Christmassy, but still great fun.

The next day we loaded up the car and made it to Mount Vernon by dinnertime. We celebrated Christmas Eve at the skating rink, where Jason showed off his new moves, then went to the candlelight service, as is tradition in the Small house. I didn't grow up going to the candlelight service, and I have really loved singing "Silent Night" by candlelight on Christmas Eve when we've been able to celebrate Christmas here!

Christmas morning we had fun opening up gifts and all ate dinner together. Then we took up the other classic Small tradition--the annual viewing of Independence Day, complete with surround sound. It seems to be the Christmas for hats, and one of our favorite pictures is one of the Georges, Sr. and Jr., with Grandpa's Christmas hats!

Today we drove to Akron to visit Stan Hywet Hall, a Tudor-style manor house built in 1912 for the family that co-founded the Goodyear Tire Company (Jason's note: we learned that the company was named after Charles Goodyear, who discovered how to vulcanize rubber in 1839, but died before its use found wide application -- rubber for wagon and then car tires.) It was rainy and cold, but it was fun to see the fancy house (seriously, who says "Hmmm, I think I'll build a mansion for myself in the Tudor style, complete with authentic Tudor paneling shipped in from England"?) all lit up for Christmas!

We feel so blessed to be able to celebrate the birth of Christ and the newness He brings with our family--both here and afar. And tomorrow we will continue the celebration with a visit to friends in Harrisburg and a wedding we've been looking forward to!

Published on Christmas

So, Merry Christmas everyone. I (Jason) trust your morning of wrapping paper and turkey was all you hoped. In Mount Vernon, Mom received an unexpected Christmas gift -- a letter to the editor she wrote published today in the Columbus Dispatch. While we tend to keep our blog politically neutral, we couldn't help but brag a bit... enjoy!

A Perfect Moment

There are times amidst the chaos of our lives that everything seems to fall just perfectly into place, where you could hardly ask for things to be better and you are suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude, you know? Our evening was just such a perfect moment. Christmas has not come gracefully at our house this year. For some reason I thought that having most of the Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving would make this season less stressful, and I imagined a blissful December of coming home from London and reading A Christmas Carol and delivering homemade fudge and peanut brittle wrapped up in pretty bows to the neighbors. Instead, we've given up all pretenses of putting lights on our house and we are feeling lucky that the Christmas tree has not fallen down this week.

So it was absolutely lovely to find ourselves sitting by said tree late this afternoon. In our cozy living room we could ignore the disaster of unwrapped gifts in the basement and pretend that we had not left the kitchen in a state of disarray after making muffins for a Christmas brunch with friends today. We just sat there quietly, the Christmas lights twinkling and the fire crackling, wrapped up in blankets and reading. Even when we got up and started doing stuff that magical feeling of peace and contentedness remained. From the kitchen where I was chopping up butternut squash and humming along to some Christmas music, I heard Jason call my mom to see how Baby Mason is doing, and it made me happy that we are now a part of each others' families. We ate dinner together and chatted comfortably about working for Congress and what we should make for our family for Christmas Eve dinner and whether Dick's would still be having a big sale on winter coats after we get back from Ohio. And tomorrow we get to go to church and sing, "O come let us adore him!" and then do it all over again (only hopefully with more gifts wrapped at the end of the day).

It is so pleasant to be in our lives sometimes, which is funny because I keep wracking my brain to figure out how we can simplify or slow down or just change the status quo. We are blessed to be warm and full and loved by each other and so many people around us, even when we are spinning around so fast we can hardly see straight. Maybe all that spinning makes me appreciate perfect moments when they come.

So Long, Sudan.

Yesterday was Jason's last day at the Sudan Programs Group at the State Department--after two weeks of vacation (during which he apparently means to sleep a lot), he is starting a one-year fellowship on Capitol Hill (during which we will have to become accustomed to sharing the same side of the city). Thursday afternoon his office held a really wonderful farewell party for him, which was attended by all sorts of people with whom he's worked on this issue for the past six years. People said wonderful things about him and his wife nodded in wholehearted agreement. He was lavished with awards and commemorative items, including a framed letter of appreciation from the Assistant Secretary for Africa and a really awesome scrapbook that his staff put together with notes from people who have worked with him--both here and abroad--and newsclips that mention him and his work on Sudan. It was a great way to end a good era of his career.

Jason has been doing Sudan almost as long as I've known him, and it seems strange that I'm no longer married to "that Sudan guy." Now maybe I'll be married to "that guy who works down the hall"...

Baby Mason

Wow, after a long blogging dry spell, four posts in three days! This is the latest pic of the Bucher boys. Here is Mom's email out to the extended fam, announcing the birth--both Jason and I laughed at loud: "When Denny told Cole we needed to get his coat on to go to the hospital because his mom had a baby, his response was, 'another one?' He is a proud brother, even though he's not completely clear on all the details."

Nephew Number Three!

This morning we got a text message that Mason Benjamin Bucher had arrived, in all his 8 lb. 7 oz, full-head-of-dark-hair glory! I love technology--by mid-morning Shaanti herself had sent a picture of him to my cell phone. He is sweet and gorgeous and looks an awful lot like his big brother Cole. We are definitely getting into this having nephews thing!

Seven Things I Love About London:

Tea Drinking: I am a tea drinker, and in a world of mochachinolatte drinkers, I feel a bit out of place ordering my usual cuppa with milk and sugar. But I fit right in in London, where tea drinking—and a lovely afternoon tea with scones and tea cakes—is as normal as bobbies and royalty. I’ve always liked tea, but when I was in England in college I decided to do as the British do and take milk with it. It is a habit that stuck, and when I met Jason and he took milk in his tea, too, well…

Buskers in the Underground: Navigating the tunnels of the Tube is so much nicer with someone playing “Silent Night” on the saxophone, even if you keep calling the Central Line the Red Line.

Book Shopping: The nice man who tried to help me get my suitcase out of the overhead compartment about threw his back out. I tried to warn him; my bag was full of books. Maybe it was the three months I spent in the library, but bookshops and London just go together…especially the iconic Blackwell’s, whose flagship store is across from the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. I stocked up on all the things that I can’t get in the U.S.—another volume for my Shakespeare collection, the British versions of Harry Potter, and a couple more adorable little Jane Austen editions that sell themselves as modern chick lit. Mmm… Just sitting among the stacks in Blackwell’s makes me happy.

Whirring around on the wrong side of the street: It’s sort of exhilarating to turn right in an iconic British taxi—it feels splendidly out of control for just one second. Actually, what’s really a treat is sitting in the top of a double-decker bus and spinning around the streets of London. Remember that scene in Harry Potter where the Knight Bus squeezes through London? Sometimes it almost feels like that. I also like looking right first when I cross the street. It makes me feel like a local—and, after all, I did sort of learn to cross streets in Oxford. It took a long time to learn to do it the American way when I moved to DC. (Yeah, this picture doesn't match. Go with it.)

British Money: No offense to U.S. currency, but there is nothing like a pound, sitting gold and weighty in your hand. Or like the five-sided 20p coin, that always looks worn and stable. Or like the little 5p coin, which is actually smaller than the 10p coin—imagine! Rational money! I like holding it and feeling it and being able to pick out the right change quickly. And I like spending it, especially when that uninspiring dollar is buying me more pence for the penny than I expected!

Pub Eating: You go to London for lots of reasons, but eating isn’t one of them. Pub food is warm and cozy—shepherd’s pie, stew, fish and chips, bacon sandwiches that I love—but nothing to write home about. It is the experience of eating in pubs that I like. It’s the names, like the Lamb and Flag or the Dog and Gun or the Eagle and Child. It’s the dark wood and the tiny, rickety tables with the numbers on the corner. It’s mastering the art of ordering your food in a pub, which is trickier than it seems. It’s the atmosphere that makes you laugh heartily and talk books and swagger just a bit more than you probably should. (Of course, it totally weirded me out that the pub we lunched in offered a choice of white or whole wheat bread. And they came and took our order, like a normal American restaurant. What the--?)

Christmas: We joined the mobs of people oooing and ahhing at the Selfridges Santa window displays on Oxford Street and listened to the Salvation Army band play "Joy to the World" on the street corner. We spent Saturday afternoon eating nutella covered waffles at a German Christmas market on the South Bank of the Thames. Nothing like London in December to get you into the spirit for a happy Christmas!

There are, of course, lots of other things I love about England, like the way the rows of stovepipe houses look when you fly by on the train or American candy bars with British chocolate (soooo much better) or the green parks where people walk their babies and dogs past palaces or words like “lovely” and “gorgeous” sprinkled throughout sentences in the most unexpected places. Really, it’s sort of amazing that I come home at all.

Thanksmus

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Jason joked that Christmas would be at 10 the next day, Thanksgiving would be at 2, and New Year’s would be at midnight. He was almost right. The next morning we finished decorating the tree, put the turkey on the smoker, and then surrounded ourselves with piles of presents and had fun digging in. Opening presents with the Johnson clan always involves someone asking, “Does anyone have a knife?” and at least five people reaching into their pockets. This year it also involved easy clean-up, as Cole designated himself garbage man after opening his first present, urgently asking if I had any wrapping paper for him to throw away. This, of course, was my favorite picture. Apparently you DO start to look alike when you've been married for 33 years...


After Thanksgiving dinner, we all (except the McAfees, who had to work that night) went to the Boise Rescue Mission to serve dinner there. It was a great experience for all of us, but watching Gramps was the highlight—he is definitely in his element welcoming people in the door and thanking them for coming!

Despite our earlier assertions, we didn’t carve out much time in our week for relaxing. In fact, we were on the go most of the time! We loved having dinner with a group of my friends from college, and Black Friday shopping with Mom, Shaanti, and Kim was great fun.

We also had a fun little tea party for Shaanti to pamper her a bit before Baby Mason arrives (any day!), and Mom put together a fabulous blessing quilt for her, made up of squares from all of Mason’s aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents (and cousin and brother!).

And, of course, we basked in nephew time. Cole gets funnier every time I see him, and he is so big and smart! We had a great time taking him out for ice cream (where he managed to eat both his cone AND mine!), and we loved chatting, playing, and baking with him. For a taste of the fun, just check out the video below. As Casey said, “This just never gets old.”

And Troy is such a smiley sweetie! I managed (but just barely!) to refrain from waking him up when I thought he had napped too long and needed to come out to play. We were commenting that next time we are all together for Christmas there will be three little boys running around—wow!

Done! (well, mostly)

I had a strong affinity for my college laptop. I'm not really a namer of things (Dawn is the one who named my car Beatrice), but if I was, my laptop would have been the first thing I named. We spent a lot of time together. We traveled overseas together. We mastered Shakespeare and footnotes and surfing the web together. I loved nagivating with its little green finger button (what were those called?). I willingly paid out the nose my senior year when the mouse needed fixed. And I was very sad when suddenly the "b" key stopped working...and then the "t"...and then, well, it's a good thing I met Jason, who knows how to take a hard drive out of an otherwise completely worthless laptop.

My new Dell (which is actually not new, it's two years old, which is, like, really old in computer years) is shiny and pretty and has a DVD player and wireless capabilities and a wide screen. But, like the pet you get to replace Fido when he dies, we've never really been close.

Until now.

After what feels like three solid weeks of doing homework during every waking minute, we have definitely bonded. I carried it to and from Idaho and started putting it in my car on the way to work, just in case. In fact, on Monday night we pulled an all-nighter...or as close to an all-nighter I can come at the ripe old age of almost-thirty-and-have-to-work-the-next-day...finishing my last paper. I seriously, seriously didn't think I would actually get it done. But the Dell and I pulled through, and I walked away from class at 10:00 last night, paper turned in and a small bounce in my step. I'm free. (Mostly. I still have a final in two weeks, but that is so not the same.)

Now I can decorate the Christmas tree that has been standing naked in our living room since Sunday and finally finish Breaking Dawn before Kaylyn sells it on e-bay. And read The Deathly Hallows again before Amazon delivers my Beedle the Bard. And, let's face it, go to bed early. So happy.

The First Snow (sort of) and Other Newsworthy Events

Remember when you were in college and you couldn't get started on your homework until your room was spotlessly clean? (What? Just me? Oh dear...) I think the same principle applies here, but instead of a little homework and a small dorm room, I've been battling between three major grad school projects and a modest-sized house. Not surprisingly, our house is currently in a state of supreme cleanliness it has never known. The homework? Not so much.

The blogging has been a bit boring these days, which seems sort of strange because our schedules have been anything but boring. Soon we'll have interesting pictures and stories to share, but for tonight it's just the wrap-up:

Boxes: We spent the day at work packing up our desks and boxing up our files to get ready to move to a different office building (seriously, didn't I just do this?). Here's my favorite part--we could be scheduled to move, with very little notice, any time between December 1 and January 4. Since Congress has yet to adjourn for the year (fuming inside), there is a very real possibility that I will need any number of files in the coming weeks that may or may not be in the bottom box of my 5-box-deep stack. Should be fun.

Flurries: It snowed today--just a few flakes, and just for a moment, but I happened to be walking to Cosi to order my obsessively favorite Roasted Turkey and Brie sandwich as the flurries started. Mmm... Love of snow is very strong.

Ice Cream: The season for frosty desserts is, obviously, over, but Cole and I have a date for ice cream when we go to Idaho next week. Shaanti said he was very excited. I'm not sure whether he is more excited to see me or to have ice cream, but I have a sneaking suspicion that if it really came down to it, he'd go with the ice cream. I mean, ice cream is really good.

Sleeping: It has been a fun fall, but we are ready for vacation. Early morning French, two grad school classes, and looming economic disaster have really worn us out! Luckily, we are packing up fun reading material and boarding a west-bound plane on Sunday. It will be "Thanksmas" at the Johnsons'--my mother, who on principle strongly opposes any opening of Christmas presents before December 25th, has decided that if we are going to do "Christmas" together when we're all home for Thanksgiving, she is going to make it official with the tree, all the Christmas decorations, and group viewings of "White Christmas."

Boys: There are a few other really good reasons we are looking forward to our trip--namely this and this. And, of course, lunch at Red Robin...

Veterans Day

We government employees get pretty used to having a Monday off every month or two for a federal holiday, but Veterans Day is always a bit weird, appearing exactly on the 11th of November instead of the second Monday or the fourth Thursday or whatever. Since the 11th was a Tuesday this year, we had a pretty random day off in the middle of the week. Weird, but nice. Especially since somehow last week all the balls I'd been precariously balancing in the air went a'tumbling.

It was a brilliantly sunny but freezing day, so I was delighted when I got back from my run to see Jason building the first fire of the season in our little fireplace. We brewed some tea and cooked up some breakfast, then promptly curled up in our little living room with books and stayed there for a while. Ahhhhhhh... And the best part is that all day today it felt like Monday, but in truth the week was half over. Hurrah!

Jason is reading The Historian now, and of course he is enthralled. One nice side effect of marriage is that our tastes seem to merge a bit as the years go by. Gone are the days when I was baffled by the idea that we didn't have anything in common. These days we both really like cashew chicken curry and watching "House" and singing "Victory in Jesus" when things get a little too Baptist on Sunday mornings. Perhaps I will win Jason over to country music eventually--I mean, we're going to be married a long time, after all.

Downward Facing Dog

So, this will be week three of the Missy Tries Yoga, Part Two, experiment. Missy Tries Yoga Part One (circa 2006) ended up with a bad headache that lasted, oh, two months. So far, Part Two has been much more successful. There was a time when I equated yoga with eating organic food (which I sometimes do) and voting Democrat (which I never do). But then my favorite sister-in-law turned out to be a pretty skilled yoga instructor, so I decided to reconsider my position.

Turns out that yoga is pretty great. As I described to a patient Jason last week, I can see why people are so into it. And it turns out that contorting my extremely inflexible body into strange poses like "cobra" and "pigeon" and some other dog pose is surprisingly relaxing. Who woulda thunk? Maybe I'll add yoga to my List of Things That Makes Missy Feel in Control, along with having my nails painted and writing lists on restaurant napkins and drinking tea with milk.

In other news, we've been flying along at an almost alarming pace this fall. Add to that the fact that my family is opening Christmas presents when we are together at Thanksgiving, which means that I'm actually really behind on my Christmas shopping, and my head is spinning! Our past two weekends have been full of all sorts of domestic-ish things, like:

• Yard Work: It has been getting downright chilly around here, but on Saturday the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we headed outside to plant the tulip bulbs that we bought in Holland. What started out as a small project ended up as an all-day yard work fest, which included expanding the strawberry patch, cleaning and organizing the gardening stuff for winter, and mulching around our trees. Thanks to lessons from my dad and lots of practice, we are much better at yard work that we were two years ago, and I'm excited to see our pretty tulip bed in the spring!

• Baking: I love grilling in the summer, but I have to confess that I've really enjoyed getting to know my oven again. I've been experimenting with seasonal eating this year, so I've had to beef up on my squash recipes (turns out the delicious, sugary squash bake my mom makes for Thanksgiving is not the kind of thing you should eat every day). I found this amazing little number in the Williams-Sonoma catalog that arrive a couple of weeks ago. It is on the menu for Wednesday again this week. Also on the menu for sometime this week is pumpkin pie ala real pumpkin. We'll see if it's really worth the hassle.

• Church Stuff: Somehow, we have had some sort of church activity not just every weekend, but every night of every weekend for the past few weeks! Friday was the big Halloween festival at church, where I got the privilege of manning the bouncy-bounce when it deflated on five small children. Those suckers go down fast! It all ended okay, but it made for an eventful five minutes.

• Studying: Yesterday I got my first public library card in, like, 20 years. I'm pretty sure my last library card (for the Meridian City Library) was a paper one with that metal clip that they used to imprint your account number on the card in the front pocket of the book, and it's possible that my last library book was a Babysitters Club book. Turns out that these days they have fancy electronic key fob library cards and that the Arlington County Public Library is a pretty sweet place. And, for the record, it's not that I don't believe in libraries--it's just that the Library of Congress delivers to my office. That's a pretty hard system to beat.

• Knitting: Tonight I'm watching the Redskins (lurve the Skins) and knitting up a storm. There's Baby Mason's blanket to finish before he joins the family in a few weeks. Then I was planning to get a good head start on a blanket for Baby Crosson, who won't be making an appearance until summer...and then Dawn called to say that it is not Baby Crosson but BABIES Crosson! I wasn't kidding when I said that babies are overtaking the planet!

• Batwatching: Seriously, just try to read about Cole's Halloween without laughing out loud. (Troy was a hotdog. Still waiting for the pictures.)

The Cuteness that is Nephew Number Two

Troy and Jenny
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Jenny has been a bit wretched about sending pictures of Troy (love you, Jen!). After realizing that the most recent picture of him that I have is one that I took when I was there in early September--like, half of his life ago--I started pestering Mom. I have been well rewarded for my nagging.

Going Dutch

You know how you always say, "Hey, we don't have kids, we both have passports, we live on the East Coast, we (fill in the blank with your favorite "we're not tied down" line), so we can just hop on a plane and go to Europe any time we want."

Yeah, well, we did it.

Seriously, how spontaneous are we? A couple of weeks ago Jason found out he had to go to the Netherlands for a meeting, so, since Congress isn't in session, we scrounged up a ticket for me and spent the weekend in Amsterdam. I met Jason in the Hague on Thursday morning and

walked around the city/sat in a cafe with a book and goooood hot chocolate for the afternoon,

then we went with his colleague to a Rijsttafel--in Dutch it means "rice plates," and you basically start with a stack of rice and then add delicious Indonesian dishes around it for, as the menu put it, "variety of tastes in each bite." Apparently it dates back to the days of the Dutch West Indies Trading Company and is quite hip.

On Friday we took the train to Amsterdam, where we walked over lots of bridges and wished we had cool European bikes, like everyone else in the city. We took a canal ride, saw some Rembrandt and Van Gogh, checked out the Blomenmarkt, where they sell all kinds of tulips and bulbs, and took the tram to the edge of the city to see just one windmill.

The best two highlights of the trip were the Anne Frankhuis and the fantastic Dutch meal we had on Friday night. The former was...actually, I don't think I have good words to describe how it felt to walk through the small, dark rooms of the Secret Annex and imagine what it must have been like for Anne Frank and her family to hide there from the Nazis for two years. The whole time I felt my heart in my throat, hoping illogically (yes, I read the book) that the story would end happily when we got to the end of the tour.

Our Dutch dinner was more light-hearted. We tucked ourselves into a small table in a tiny restaurant on Leidseplein that served "traditional Dutch food" by candlelight and ordered pea soup and "hutspot." It turned out that the restaurant also served traditional Dutch singing--most of the other guests were with a loud and cheery group of Dutch folk, and halfway through the meal they burst into song, singing to what we assumed must be the time-honored tunes of Holland playing in the background. It was hilarious and loud and delicious. We brought a slice home for you to enjoy as well (at the bottom of this entry).

Amsterdam was lovely--the canal houses with their stepladder gables, the arching bridges, the bustling bicyclists, the changing leaves--and now we're home and the laundry is done and the Redskins won and we are oh so tired but happy.

Fall Food

We usually like to go apple picking in the fall, but this fall has been extraordinarily busy, so on Saturday I settled for the apple stand at the Arlington Farmers' Market. By the end of the day, these beauties had become this fall's batch of applesauce and the first apple pie of autumn. Mmm... We ate it with chili and Dawn and Brian while we watched the Redskins lose. At least the pie was tasty.

(Oh, and a new ww pie crust recipe, this time a real one from my Aunt Kathy, who is knowledgable in things like whole wheat crusts and apple pie. Waaaaaay better than my last try...and almost as easy as buying the frozen kind at Safeway!)

It was a long, lovely weekend, and until about noon on Monday we reveled in the long-weekendness of it (fall is delighful for a lot of reasons, and one of them is the regular sprinkling of federal holidays). By Monday afternoon, we started thinking of other things, like homework...work...Jason's meeting in the Netherlands, etc. But it was gooood while it lasted.

A Quick Trip

One of the nicest things about living in Washington, DC, is that people tend to come here for, you know, family vacations, eighth grade field trips, work conferences, etc. And then I get to see them! Such was the case this last week when Laura flew back east for a conference at a hospital in the area...then got to come over for dinner and stay the night! Yay! It's not every day one of my dearest friends can leave her two sweet kids at home and just hang out with me, so we made the most of our evening and morning together.

Wednesday night we just hung out at home for risotto and talked and talked, then Thursday morning we did a little sightseeing and snapped some pictures before Laura headed back home. It was a blessing to have a few hours together, and I love having her as a friend!

Rex and Christine's Wedding

Last weekend I visited Toronto to attend the wedding of a dear high school friend, Rex Lam. The wedding was beautiful and provided a good excuse to see old high school friends I had not seen in ten years (Bahi, Keith, Ray, Ken, and Karen). In keeping with Chinese tradition, Rex's bride (Christine) changed dresses frequently throughout the reception. I was told it was a tradition that demonstrated opulence. The bridesmaids also organized several games for the bride and groom during the reception, partly as entertainment during the 10 course Chinese feast. (I still maintain that a hired comedian would be an appropriate and novel addition to a wedding reception -- despite Missy's continued protests.) For the meal, I tried many delicacies, including shark fin soup!

I also had the chance to visit Diana Clark (my old Sunday school teacher) and attend Rosewood Nazarene Church with the Dookheran family to celebrate the denomination's 100th anniversary. All in all, a great weekend! Next stop, the Netherlands...

Saturday

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. It is finally over. And, just for the record, if you already called your congressman last week, you shouldn't call again on Monday, even if you don't like the response that you (intentionally) received late on Friday night when it was too late to call back. You only get counted once, so you're just wasting both of our times.

I have been attached to my blackberry (or, rather, it has been attached to me) for 12 days straight now, and it was strange to leave it home when I went to the grocery store this morning. Strange and wonderful. And it is sunny and lovely to boot. I'm wearing a long-sleeved T and jeans and the leaves on our pretty dogwood are turning reddish and the chrysanthemum that has been the bane of my existence all summer because it swallowed up everything else I planted in the flower bed is redeeming itself by bursting into lovely maroon flowers and there is a pretty red cardinal right outside the window and last night I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and ate them all by myself. All is most certainly right with the world.

Jason is in Toronto at a wedding, and I was originally planning to spend the weekend in New York for more of this, but alas, work interrupted. And now, recovery. Homework. Playing with Dawn. Finding a place for the 20 paper towels from Tuesday's trip to Costco. Pulling out the fall table linens. Taking a bubble bath. Baby gifts (is everyone pregnant? I am so not in the cool club.). And maybe even reading something that's not for school...?

Last night I dreamed that my dad and I decided to expand the garden, but for some reason we cut grass out of the front of the yard instead of the side. I woke up and thought I should do some gardening (for the first time in weeks). We're getting close to the fall gardening season--planting more bulbs, trimming bushes, and, yes, expanding the garden for next year. I'm already planning what I'll plant--onions and spinach next time, and no arugula.

Our garden has settled into its matronly state of middle age--the zucchini and cucumber both died early deaths, but the herbs and tomatoes and even the strawberries have been a rousing success. In fact, I have not had to buy a single tomato since the beginning of August, and until last week we were tripping over ripe tomatoes. Then suddenly, nothing--we ate our last ripe tomato and looked out the window to see plants full of lovely green ones, but even now they are not even close to ripe. We've been eating tomatoes without a break for months now, and I feel confused now at their absence.

September Madness

So yes, for those of you who've asked, it's been a rough week and a half. Apparently I should have majored in finance, not English. Silly me. But I thought this was hilarious today. (I wonder if it's only funny if you've had your nose to the Wall Street Journal for the past three weeks...)

September Madness

What I do on a Saturday

Yard work is not my thing. But when you own a house, it is inevitable. Today I rented a chainsaw on a pole. Yes, that's right, a chainsaw stuck to the end of a pole that telescopes to 11 feet. I used it to chop down a myriad of dead branches on the tree in our front yard. I also borrowed the ladder from our neighbor to get up to the really high branches. It is quite precarious to ascend a 17' ladder and cut with an 11' pole.

So, anyway...

I like posting on our blog, and even more I like reading posts on other people's blogs. So it makes no sense that I have gone so long without a real post here. It's just that it's been so hot. And so busy. And so...okay, hot and busy.

Actually, we are finally getting our air conditioning fixed on Friday, and, right on cue, the beautifully cool fall weather just set in. I know it sounds like I'm complaining (just noting the irony!), but I'm so not--it is so worth living here just for fall. The humidity and the tourists both go away, the sun becomes friend instead of enemy, the leaves start to turn brilliant colors, I find time to bake... Mmmm, fall is delicious!

I realize, too, that fall posts seem to be a little more random than the ones, say, at Christmas, or over the summer. That's okay, too, we kind of like it when nothing happens around here. Right now:

* Parley Vou? This week Jason started French classes every day, first thing in the morning. He's been dusting off that junior high French from fifteen years ago. It aches him to be up and at work so early, but he sounds pretty sexy while he's doing his homework.

* Commas. So, I can't speak a lick of French, but while Jason is etudie, I'm mastering the art of the properly placed comma. I'm taking an editing class this semester, and it turns out that I should not be an editor. Even though I think sentence diagramming is a kick in the pants. Seriously.

* Hockey Skates. As if French wasn't enough, Jason is also learning to play hockey once a week. I think it's going to be awesome when I get to be the hockey wife. Fight, fight, fight...

* Stories. For the first time, this semester I'm taking two classes a week instead of just one. My second one is a folklore class on the art of the narrative. It turns out I have to start recording stories that people tell so that I can use them for papers, so don't be surprised if I pull out a mini-tape recorder in the middle of a conversation.

* Thursdays. Between grammar and French and hockey and folklore...and Sudan and lame ducks and long work days that go by too fast...the best thing that we will be doing all week is this. Yessssss...

The Big Two

Happy Birthday, Cole! We are sad to miss your big day at Chuck E. Cheese, but I have a feeling that you will have a darn good time anyway. Granny must be excited to have an excuse to go there again, since she loves the pizza. I hope that your cake tastes like watermelon, because then you will love it.

Hot.

So, during the hurricane last weekend, our air conditioner went out. While we are uber thankful that it is not still August, one of the unfortunate side effects of hurricane weather is oppressive humidity, the likes of which we did not see all summer. There was a time (before DC) when I thought that the purpose of an air conditioner was to cool a room, but it turns out that this is false. The real purpose of an air conditioner is to take away the humidity.

Needless to say, there have been a lot of cold showers in our house lately. Which made the fact that this morning we woke up to no water at all just a little worse than it might otherwise have been. There was a water main break on our street, so I bundled up my sweaty self and went to work, uber thankful for the gym in my building. Hopefully the water is back on soon, and hopefully we only have a few more days of sweatiness until we can get our air conditioner replaced...just in time for the cool, fall weather to set in.

On a happier note, I have more nephew pictures to share. Cole knows that Baby Troy is "so cute," but he doesn't usually have a lot of time for him between running and "ribbetting" and eating watermelon (a few of his favorite things). However, he got to hold him while I was there last week, and he told Troy that he would take him fishing. So adorable. There are suddenly going to be a lot of boys in our family in a few months. Casey will be so happy. My trip to Idaho last week was quick and filled with work days and events with my boss, so it didn't offer a whole lot of carefree social time. But Jenny and Troy came to stay with us while Chad worked, so I did get to spend my evenings getting to know Troy better and falling more in love with his gummy smile. He will be so big by the time I see him again!

Living Entirely For Pleasure

For the past few days we've had the pleasure of Patrick's company, as he came to spend the long weekend with us. Patrick is about the easiest, most pleasant guest in the world. For example, on Friday night he announced that if he had cable, he would quit his job, and then he decided that the flat-screen, hi-def television in the basement was the best feature of our house. It is nice to sit around on a weekend and watch TV, I decided after joining him for a few episodes of HGTV. Very nice.

I promise that we did more than just watch TV this weekend. Like eating at a Middle Eastern food festival at a Melike Greek Orthodox Church in McLean. And Jason and Patrick went to a Nats game. And today we spent the day at Mount Vernon.

And then we watched some more of the telly. Jason and Patrick like to work the phrase "living entirely for pleasure" into sentences whenever possible, and this weekend offered a few opportunities.