Staycation

Technically, I think a "staycation" is supposed to take the place of a vacation, and we are most definitely going on a real vacation later this summer. Still, the past two days have felt lovely and staycationy indeed--after sleeping an absurd amount over the weekend, we took today and yesterday off to try and remember what it was like to be at home and forget, even for a brief time, what our desks look like. So sweet.

What we really did was sleep and run errands, actually--Costco, grocery store, Home Depot (of course), fabric store, etc. It was nice to have four days to get things done instead of just two! We also tended to the garden, picking a basketful of green beans and snow peas, harvesting lettuce, and tying up our six-foot-tall tomato plants (!). We get better at this tomato thing each year, and after doing some serious research (aka Google), we've now learned to cut off the suckers and tie up tall, slender plants instead of be buried under heavy, bushy ones. We'll see how it goes come August...

We also did a bunch of projects. I am a reluctant seamstress at best, and while I remember the basics of sewing from the old Caravan days, I usually remember the order in which those basic steps come once I've already started the project. And I invariably sew things wrong-sides together instead of right-sides together every time. Needless to say, my seamripper and I are close. Still, over the past few weeks I've completed a number of projects--curtains for the dining room and library, baby gifts, my mom's yet-unsent mother's day gift, a yoga mat carrier, and, most recently, new cushion covers for our deck furniture. This may be my best accomplishment (albeit UNFINISHED accomplishment) yet, especially since today we decided just to see how much it would cost to just get new cushions. We had kind of croaked at how expensive the outdoor fabric was, but after today we decided that it is well worth the time and sweat it takes to sew them instead.

Finally, we did a lot of cooking this weekend. It is apparently the Summer of Thai Food, so today Jason took another trip to the Thai grocery store and made Basil Chicken for dinner. I think this is Thai dish number...five? And we really loved cooking with home-grown produce, including Ginger Chicken with Snow Peas and this delicious recipe with green beans from Bon Appetit, which George and Lynda gave me for Christmas. Jason made it on Friday night, and it was an heavenly end to a long week. I have been talking about how delicious it was all weekend.

Chicken with Haricot Verts and Lemon Butter (serves 4)
4 boneless chicken breast halves
All purpose flour
2 T extra virgin olive oil
8 shallots, peeled and halved
2 T (1/4 stick) butter
¼ c fresh lemon juice
1 ½ t finely grated lemon peel
1 lb haricot verts or slender green beans, trimmed
2 T minced chives

· Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; lightly dust with flour to coat. Heat oil in large skillet over medium head. Add chicken and shallots; sauté until chicken is golden and just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate.
· Melt butter in skillet with shallots over medium heat. Add lemon juice and lemon peel, then haricot verts; toss. Cover and cook until beans are crisp-tender (3 minutes).
· Return chicken and any juices to skillet; sprinkle with chives. Simmer until sauce thickens enough to coat, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

See, nothing too fancy, but you get to use up those green beans AND home-grown chives (and if you’re looking for homegrown chives, please come see me. We have more than we will EVER eat.). So tasty. And now back to work. Which is so not a bad thing, since it’s recess AND in two days we have another long weekend. And, of course, August is only a few weeks away…

All in a Day's Work

People here often say that when you look up at the Capitol Building and no longer get that little shiver of awe down your spine, it’s time to get out of Washington. It hasn’t worn off yet for me. I know that being a legislative advisor to a Member of Congress sounds like a glamorous, cool job, but, like most jobs, the sparkle quickly gets lost under the reality of menial tasks, unpleasant politics (literally), and sheer, boring repetitiveness.

And then there are those times when the job is really as awesome as it sounds.

This week was just such a week. Our subcommittee’s appropriations bill was on the floor Thursday night, which meant a lot of long days and late nights but which also gave me the opportunity to sit on the dias during a full Appropriations Committee mark-up, attend a Rules Committee hearing in the Capitol, and be on the House floor for the first time. Very, very cool.

As we’ve mentioned before, this year my boss was appointed Ranking Republican Member of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. Each year our subcommittee determines how money will be spent in public land management agencies, like the Forest Service, the BLM, the Parks Service, etc., as well as the EPA. As we’ve been considering the funding bill for these agencies, then, my boss has played a key role in determining policy and leading the political response for Republicans. I’m a solid member of the Mike Simpson fan club, and it was so much fun to watch him be a rock star during debate the past couple weeks!

It was also fun to get to do some things for the first time. I spent a lot of time running around the Capitol this week (and getting lost, like a good little intern), delivering amendments we had drafted for consideration and preparing for floor debate. Most excitingly, I spent most of Thursday afternoon and evening on the House floor with my boss during debate on the bill (did you see me on C-SPAN? Oh, wait, you mean you weren’t watching C-SPAN at 11:45 p.m. on Thursday?) and then got to go down again for the vote on Friday. Not only was it great to watch the culmination of six months of hard work, but it is pretty darn awesome to have a front row seat to the greatest deliberative body in the history of mankind. I swelled with pride as my boss gave a rousing speech on the importance of preserving the institution (which he wrote himself—you should definitely check it out here), but I also sat next to the appointed Secretary of the Army for a bit and even stammered awkwardly while a Congressman from Texas tried to convince me that I should really think about having babies.

On Thursday night, we had a bit of a break while Members Luau’ed at the White House, and the wonderful committee staffer I work with took me out on the balcony of the Appropriations Committee room in the Capitol. It was the most splendid view of Washington, looking out over the Washington Monument and down to the Lincoln Memorial as the sun went down. My breath caught—as it always does—and I thought that the sparkle of the city and all the good things it stands for has certainly not gone away for me yet.

Happy Birthday, Troy!

I can hardly believe that Baby Troy is one--and "Baby" Troy no longer! Mom said he smashed cake in his face like a pro...I'm still anxious to see the pictures! Troy Boy, I bet you'll be running around by the time we see you next!

Weekend #2: Father's Day Fun

For Father's Day weekend, we "surprised" Jason's dad with a visit to Ohio (he totally knew we were coming). We had a great time--Justin had the weekend off, so we all went canoeing on the Mohican River. Being on the water was nice and calm and cool, and just the sort of fun we were looking for.

On Sunday we went to the church in Danville, about 30 minutes away, where George had preached for a few months last summer/fall. It was a tiny little country church with a handful of people--the perfect place to spend Father's Day together. I told Jason it reminded me of this church in Outlook, Washington, where my grandpa used to stand in as a preacher during the summers. Of course, back then Gramps would have his grandkids play the piano during the service when they came to visit. I'm glad it was Lynda who ended up at the piano this time...and so is everyone else!

We had a nice weekend away, and it was good to visit with Grandmom, Grammy, and Grandpa Small while we were there. We're already looking forward to George and Lynda's visit here in a few weeks!

Weekend #1: Al Fresco at Home

So, we're a wee bit behind on the blogging. A few late nights last week (particularly the 15-hour day I put in on Thursday...ugg.) + a quick weekend out of town = two blog posts at once. So last weekend...

We "went out to dinner" on Friday night by stringing up globe lights on our table umbrella and eating puttanesca on our deck. You remember last year's goal to eat puttanesca al fresco as much as possible? It's pretty good at home, too--especially with the first salad from the garden. Also, after multiple weekend trips to our local nursery, we finally got the last plant in the ground, and we are determined not to plant another flower for the rest of the summer. It will be enough just to keep these ones alive...

The other highlight of the weekend was an evening with Dawn and the boys. The high school where Brian teaches had graduation on Saturday night, so I went over to help with the burbing and the changing and the holding and the folding. We had a good time together, and the boys are so sweet. We took them to Big Bowl for their first official restaurant outing, and they (and Dawn!) did great. I think it's a really big deal to take one baby out for the first time, so it's a really really big deal to take out two!

Blooming

Our garden is so pretty.

The 'Hood

After nearly eight years (yikes!) in DC, I've finally discovered that I can like living here and miss Idaho at the same time. It's quite a relief, actually. And so I think it's totally okay that this video made me laugh incredibly hard today because, as my friend Solara said, it is SPOT on. Jason and I have watched it, like, 10 times already.

Our Weekend: A Picture Essay

It was supposed to be an easy week at work, but somehow we both ended up getting home at 8:30 tonight, which was really inconvenient for the soup on tonight's menu that needs a half hour to cook. Oops. So while it cooks (and we try not to eat each other), I'll tell you about our "relaxing" weekend.

And by "relaxing," I mean not. We started out Friday night at Jason's hockey game, which was the first one I've been able to attend. Go Red! (Jason is Number 4).

On Saturday, we hit the farmer's market for the first time (asparagus, mmm...), then spent the morning spending our life savings (or what is left of it) on perennials for the flower bed in front of our house. Much nail biting (on my part) and patient waiting (by Jason) was involved--I am no expert on picking things for a flower bed that we hope to last for years!

In the afternoon, we went to visit Calvin and Clark, who are already a month old! Somehow I've never managed to take pictures when I've hung out with them, so Jason made sure we came away with a few good pics of the boys. They are darling and so different...and I've missed Dawn, so it was good to get caught up!

With Baby Clark

Baby Cal

It was late by the time we got around to dinner. We've been working hard to stay in a budget, and the fact that we had $1 remaining in our "dining out" budget meant we had to get creative if we wanted to eat good Thai food from our favorite restaurant on Saturday night! We had stopped at the Thai grocery market connected to the restaraunt earlier in the day and purchased the ingredients for Jason to make pad see ew. It was the first time tofu had crossed the threshold of our house, but it turned out fantastic. And not just because we were starving.


After church on Sunday, we went straight home to put on gardening clothes and sunscreen. We had stayed out until almost 9:30 Saturday night, trying to get "one more plant" in the ground before it was too dark to see, but we ended up doing most of the work on Sunday afternoon. The flower bed has been a slowly-growing project--the first year we lived here, we expanded it and planted tulip bulbs. Emboldened by their success, last year I planted three additional perennials...which looked horrendous and very lonely. So this year we bit the bullet and filled it all out. No flowers yet, but here's the old version:


And here's the new version:

I'm cautiously excited.

The sixth thing I love about recess is that we can go into the weekend without being exhausted. Even with all this work, we felt like it was a pretty relaxing weekend after all.