Basement Redux

Forgive the blogstraveganza, but our goal for the weekend was to get the basement finished...or at least to a point where we can post pictures to respond to Shaanti and Jenny's requests for updates. If you remember from way back in 2007, when we moved in, our basement looked like this:

Seriously, check out the exterior brick, the sweet paneling, and the creative insulation hanging down from the "ceiling" (cuz, yeah, there is no ceiling). You can't see it in these pictures, but my favorite is the clip-on desk lamp hung from the "ceiling" to provide extra light. Awesome.

Today, our basement looks like this:

Please excuse the ridiculous placement of the pictures, which are NOT cooperating at ALL.


We have (with lots of help) sheetrocked, moved doors, put in light fixtures, shifted plumbing, installed a new sink and lots of cabinets, painted, and built a laah-haah-haht of Ikea bookshelves. We now have a utility room that is not only functional but quite pretty and a library that puts to good use the space that we have, until recently, been referring to as "that little in-between room where we have the futon."

Since it's still a small space and hard to capture in photos for those who haven't actually been here, I've made a little video of the "tour." If it's not here now, check back later--I still need to post it. I will not be watching it, as my voice on video is scary.

There is still a little finishing work to do, including building the real workbench at the end of the room, finding a rug and wall hangings for the library (I'm totally open to ideas!), putting knobs on the cabinets, etc. But overall I consider this project officially complete. Perfect timing, too--this weekend the weather was very grumpy, but gardening season is right around the corner, we already have seed packets and hedger in hand!

When I can get the computer working properly, I will post more pics of the new space on flickr on the sidebar.

Surprise Launch of Birthday Week

I quickly learned that for Missy, birthdays are quintessential events. On my birthday, I prefer a quiet and relaxing night at home. For her, this is inconceivable. As such, I begin planning for Missy's birthday weeks in advance (it is not hard to forget, as she continually reminds me of the upcoming big day about once a week, starting the day after Christmas). In the past, Missy has also spread her birthday over several days, celebrating with her friend Dawn (who has a birthday the day before hers), and then traveling to Idaho for a follow-up celebration with family, usually at Red Robin. The latter not being the case this year, and it being the big 30th birthday, I knew I had to start the week off with a bang.


As social coordinator of our church group, Missy had already planned to have an after-church lunch today (March 15). To her surprise, I concurred with her recommendation to hold the event at our local Red Robin (while a fine establishment -- it is not my favorite restaurant spot). After she sent out the invitation to our class, I hijacked the event by sending a subsequent invitation that turned it into a surprise birthday party. I stumbled on a perfect solution. I essentially let her do the planning for the lunch, while I surreptitiously arranged decorations and a dark chocolate cake (her favorite)! Everyone in the class kept mum and Missy was caught completely unaware. Her decorated seat, complete with helium filled birthday balloons, was fit for a queen.

And so begins birthday week 2009. More to come ...

Bustin' a Move

Last weekend's other activity involved a dance floor and some very rhythmic clapping by a strict, sorta-scary salsa instructor. Our friend Steven's birthday was on Saturday, so we celebrated by heading downtown to Adams Morgan for salsa dancing lessons and Cuban food at Habana Village.

So, dancing really isn't, to put it mildly, Jason's "thing," and when he dropped me off to go park the car, I wondered if he wasn't just high-gearing it back to Virginia and away from anything resembling a disco ball. There are times when I really miss being surrounded by Nazarenes, and this was one of them--to say that "Jason doesn't dance" to our Baptist friends just elicited confused looks, not understanding nods ("ahh, he's one of those") and whispered references to "Nazarcising." Sigh.

Regardless, we had a good time learning our 1-2-3...4-5-6s, and at the end of the night we had managed to avoid flattening each other's feet. (On the other hand, who is actually leading the dance is still under debate... :)) And we were rewarded with really good food afterwards! Steven is a photographer (like, a real photographer), so kudos to him for all these shots, and thanks for sharing with us!

(Ironically--or, maybe not so ironically--on Thursday night we were making dinner and decided to do an impromptu dance session in our (unfortunately window-filled) kitchen...and couldn't remember a single thing. Those Nazarene roots run deep...)

So, Bruce Willis Called Today...

Yeah. Just thought I'd share. Usually I hate constituent calls, but when the constituent starred in "Die Hard" and "Armageddon" and is, let's face it, really hot, well, I try not to complain.

In other news, it is officially March, which means that in one week the flower beds went from covered in snow to this:

We had an absolutely gorgeous weekend of 70 degrees and sunshine. March weather is a lot like the stock market--it rallies for a couple of days, then it plummets again. Sadly, there's a chance that we will wake up to snow again tomorrow. Sad face.

It was an action-packed but delightful weekend. On Saturday morning Jason tolerated me prancing around, getting ready for a tea party (tea party!) with some friends from church. We had a book club where we read "Pride and Prejudice" and the proceeded to talk about everything BUT the book for three hours. So. Much. Fun. I want the book club to keep going. Does anyone have good reading suggestions?

I had to rush out so that Dawn and I could give ourselves an early birthday celebration and go get massages and pedicures. Mmmm...I like this tradition. (And so does a doubly pregnant Dawn!) We have back to back birthdays, and when we lived together we always celebrated over breakfast--when I turned 26, we had an "Incredible" breakfast. Massages is probably a good substitution... Oh, and for the record, I didn't actually talk to Mr. Willis, the intern did. That's what I get for making the interns answer the phone at work.

Scoring One for Green

The final night of the six-week ice hockey drills class climaxes with a full 90 minute scrimmage - the most highly anticipated session -- and quite a step up from the 30-minute scrimmages we normally do.

My first go out on the ice was exhilarating. I played right wing and pulled up on the right side of the net just as a sweet cross-ice pass slid my way. I one-timed it for a goal -- putting the green team up 1-0 in the first minutes of the game. The momentum surged from that point, and by night's end, we destroyed the blue team by a final score of 9-1. What a game!

It is hard to believe that less than one-year ago I decided to get out on the ice for the first time and learn basic hockey skating lessons. I still surprise myself each week when I strap on the pads! I can't wait for the next six weeks!

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.