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.