Fireworks

Fireworks on the Mall
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Happy Fourth Plus One. We took a break from our endless home improving/desperately trying to find the rice cooker and ventured out into the wild blue yonder. Okay, not so much "yonder" as down to the US Marine Corps Memorial (fondly known as Iwo Jima) to get a great view of the fireworks on the Mall. If you look really closely and use your imagination, you can see our view in the picture--Lincoln, Washington, and the Capitol all lined up. It was an ideal alternative to fighting the crowds and madness down on the Mall. The first summer we lived here we did the whole Capitol Steps thing, and it is something everyone should do...once.

We also put up a pretty little flag on our house. It is cute. Hee hee.

I love Fourth of July. When we got home from the Show, our neighbor kids were letting off their own fireworks in the driveway. Fireworks smell like the beach to me, which is where I spent the first 22 Independence Days of my life (minus the one where we all went to Disneyland). Fourth of July meant roasting hot dogs and s'mores, three-legged races on the beach, watching my cousins from Oregon blow their fingers off (slight exaggeration) with fireworks from Idaho, and remembering how blessed we are to live in this country. Someday I'd like to take Jason to the beach. But for now, this Fourth was just right.

Welcome to Our Home!

Welcome Home!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Wow, we have a lot of stairs. And since we've been running up and down them for the past four days, wow, we are tired! I know a few of you have looked for pictures here over the past few days, and I apologize that it's taken me a while to get them up. I'd like to blame it on the fact that we didn't have our internet hooked up until now, but anyone who knows Jason knows that the Comcast guy was here before the movers finished. We all have our priorities...

Our move went pretty smoothly, and the movers would have been worth every penny even if all they did was get our couch into our basement. What is it with couches and getting them through doorways? About the only thing we accomplished on Thursday after the move was putting the bed together (as Shaanti said, "the best Mom idea ever," so that when you can't move another box you can plop into a waiting bed) and finding the toothpaste.

Between yesterday and today, we managed to get our kitchen at least functional, which makes me very happy. I am so tired of eating out! I've been wrestling with Contact paper (yelch) and Jason's been wrestling with new bits of hardware for the bathroom. We ran the sprinker all day in hopes of resuscitating our lawn. And we've taken our third trip to Home Depot. So far.

There are a few pictures on here of the rooms that are semi-put together. Of course, my favorite is Jason in the smashing living room furniture (aka lawn furniture). Actually, it's a good thing we don't have living room furniture yet--if we did there would be no room for all the cleaning supplies, boxes, and Target bags full of bins.

The best part of the day was when Jason turned up some "Shot Through the Heart" really, really loud. And no neighbors could hear. Yay!

This is a long entry, but it's been an exciting (albeit exhausting) weekend. Oh, and I'm on HP4 now, so it turns out I may manage to complete my sprint through the Harry Potter books...

The Big Dilemma

Since I'm sure you don't want to see the piles of boxes at our condo or the piles of tools at our new house, I'm going to write today about the other thing I've been doing this weekend. Namely, frantically trying to devour the first six Harry Potter books before the last book comes out in a few weeks. This is a strange predicament to find myself in, as I can usually swallow these things whole and am a little embarrassed about the fact that I read each of books four, five, and six in one sitting (HP5, aka "The Order of the Phoenix," is, you know, exactly 870 pages).

At this point, everyone I know is reading Harry Potter. I'm loaning my other books to coworkers (because of course they were left unpacked), Casey and Kim are careful to make sure that they aren't reading the same book at the same time, and Andrea and Telfer, who participated in the brilliant homework club, are already working their way to horcruxes and huge tears in HP6.

You'll notice, of course, that I am currently only on HP2, "The Chamber of Secrets" (is ANYONE reading this blog who isn't equally entranced by Harry Potter? If so, these titles are for you. The rest of you know what HPCOS means). Having utterly failed Andrea and the Harry Potter Homework Plan, I actually considered not rereading each book this time around--after all, I did just reread the whole series last November, making a point to read slowly and take it all in (since, after all, there was no work to be done at that point in the Otter office, and I had a lot of time to sit at an otherwise empty desk and stare at an otherwise useless computer). But earlier this week I finally took the Shakespeare book out of my bag and replaced it with HP2, and I'm in for the month-long sprint.

Of course, you all know what this means: Our house will not be acceptably unpacked until August. Oh well. And in the meantime, there's the movie, the previews of which make my spine tingle with excitement...

The Keys are Ours!

The Keys are Ours!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

We are House-owners. No one above, below, or on either side of us. Two parking spots that are ours-all-ours. A washer and dryer that don't take quarters. And a mortgage the size of...

Well, that would ruin all the fun, so let's not think of that part! :)

We finally closed on our little house today. It was a bit rough, and I still feel slightly nauseated, but when it all came down we walked up the steps this afternoon and stepped into our new place. It was fun to see it all cleaned out and empty--a blank slate ready for us to make our own. We spent the afternoon measuring windows, talking to painters, and deciding which light fixtures we would replace "if we had our way." It was fun. And now we are exhausted. Signing my name a hundred times seems like long, long ago.

We don't move until next week, so we still have a few days to pack and make the small changes we want to make before we move in. But we thought you might be excited to know that the little blue-shuttered house is finally ours.

(Oh, and congrats to Jenny and Chad. We had twin closings today--they just bought a cute place in Star, Idaho, and I got a text message tonight that said "It's official!" Can't wait to show and tell!)

To Philly for Dinner

Apparently we are taking a spontanious break from packing, as Jason just turned on the TV and I logged on to Blogger. Must confess, is nice relief, as boxes are now coming out of our ears. It will be very difficult to label them all properly, as what is currently in the spare room will likely NOT be in the future spare room, and I foresee many, MANY trips up and down stairs with boxes that ended up in the wrong place. Sigh.

Anyway, that is not the subject on this blog. On Friday, we hopped up to Philadelphia for dinner. Yes, for dinner, and then we caught the 9:00 train back to Washington. Slightly crazy, no? I mean, it isn't like we don't have pretty great places to eat around here. But a few stars aligned this week that made it seem like a good idea to go adventuring to the City of Brotherly Love.

On Tuesday Jason found out that he would be part of a panel discussion on Sudan at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday and would be taking the afternoon train to Philly. He quickly remembered that his mom would also be in the Philly area, visiting a friend, and so he concocted a plan: His mom and Denise would attend the forum, I would take the train up after work, and the four of us would have dinner downtown before we headed back to DC. It all went swimmingly. I actually got off work early and spent a delightful afternoon with Laura of Oxford days, taking conversation from a coffee shop to her cute apartment in West Philly to the trolley (exciting new experience for Missy). When we parted at Penn campus, I went in to hear the tail end of a number of political diatribes on the situation in Darfur. Then Lynda, Denise, Jason, and I had a lovely dinner at Penne, near campus. We got back to a muggy DC at about 11, walked across the Hill, and soon landed, exhausted but happy, in bed.

There is something nice and free-feeling about hopping a train, landing in a new city, and exploring a bit. A wee bit mad, yes, but all-together very nice.

Saturday was a day of packing, and we can now add the linen closet and the walls of our condo to the list of places that have been boxed up. It's a bit sad to see our first little home come to pieces, but we are very anxious to move in to our new house! We had dinner at our favorite Korean BBQ with some friends from church and then wandered down to Del Ray for some delicious frozen custard.

Apparently it's a weekend of eating, because today after church we joined Josh and Natalie at Georgia Brown's for their famous Sunday Brunch. We now have southern food in take-away containers for dinner, yum!

And would you believe it, the camera stayed on the dresser the entire weekend!

Traveling. A Lot.

Cole and His Mama
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I should have warned you to expect another onslaught of Cole (what will I do when I have another niece or nephew (Shaanti keeps suggesting that Cole needs cousins, but so far no one is biting)?), but somehow almost three weeks have gone by without a blog entry. It's also been a couple of days since I got back from my latest trip to Idaho, but all that traveling was exhausting and, after a few nights of going to bed waaaay too early, I'm only now feeling back in the swing of things.

This time, not ALL the pictures are of Cole, but I love this one of him and his mama. I don't have nearly enough cute pics of Shaanti and the boy, as she's always the one behind the camera, and this one is so sweet. He is getting so big and funny--he's lately taken to making truck sounds and waving his arm like he's ready to lasso something. Wow. Typing those things out made them sound pretty unexciting, but its amazing how long you can be fascinated by such things...

It was a special treat to spend a bit of time with Kim and Casey. They were down for a wedding (they said they have 10 weddings to go to this year--ah, I remember those days!), so they stayed for a Memorial Day BBQ the day I got there. Short but great fun to catch up. I feel a bit like my mom, who gets a little sentimental "when all the kids--except Jason (and she makes a sad face)--are home."

This was another work trip for me, and I racked up a lot of traveling miles. I flew in Monday, then on Tuesday I drove to Twin Falls and back, and Wednesday I drove to Sun Valley and back. Long but good days. On Friday, Mom, Dad, Gramps and I piled into the truck and drove to central Washington for my Uncle Don's retirement party. Mom and I enjoyed a little of this and this on the way. Good times. The party was really nice, and it was great to celebrate with Uncle Don, but wow, we missed Aunt RaVae. Saturday it was home again home again, in time to greet cousin Katie at the airport--she's been in Norway and India this year and has finally returned. Then I packed up and headed out on Sunday. Whew!

As for life in Virginia, we are slowly packing up our condo and preparing to move--we close in a week and a half! It has felt like the 2 months between putting the contract on the house and closing have gone so slowly, but all the sudden we only have one room packed and not much time! Yikes! We're getting really excited, though, and I'm trying not to buy too too much fun house stuff before we actually move in and see where everything will go.

My Thoughts on Thursday Night Television:

This is all I'm talking about, people. Move over, Dr. House, "The Office" is back on top...

A Surprising Mother's Day Gift

Mom Small and her Boys
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

We pulled off a monumental surprise for Mother's Day, flying to Ohio to spend the weekend and totally shocking Jason's mom. What fun! We had a great time hanging out with family, and the weather cooperated nicely. On Saturday we had lunch at the Pine Tree Barn and ate on the porch in the sunshine. Jason and I volunteered to grill up some steaks for Sunday dinner, honing our grilling skills for when we have our own bbq. And of course there was lots of scheming about which project at our new house Jason and his dad should start first...

Back home now, we're thinking about the following things:
* packing up our condo
* whether or not to go to 10 year high school reunion (just found "MHS Class of 97" website, so strange...)
* this summer's road trip to Canada

Oh, and what Jim will say Thursday night...

Outside

Remember when you were in middle school and your teacher would let you have class outside, and you'd take "The Outsiders" or "To Kill a Mockingbird" onto a patch of green grass and squint as you pretended to read? I want to have school outside. And by school, I mean work. After all, I have a laptop AND a blackberry, both of which should make it easy for me to go sit in the botanical garden park across the street and bask in the glorious sun--all while doing the good work of the people of Idaho, of course.

It is gorgeous these days, and I want to be outside all the time. I've taken to running on the Mall after work, one of hundreds of government workers freed from the confines of office and suit, jogging (ever so slowly) from Capitol to Washington Monument and back again. Every time I do this, I remember the first time I was in DC in the 11th grade. My family came here for what we all agree was pretty much the best vacation ever, and my Uncle Jim was in Congress and we got to see, well, everything. I fixated today on one moment in time--an afternoon in early May, oversized T-shirts so popular with high schoolers in the mid-90's, standing on the Mall grass between afore mentioned places of national significance, and making fools of ourselves singing some crazy song about potatoes. I'm going to dig up the video next time I'm home (because yes, of course, there is a video).

It's May again, and school is out, and I am happy. I like school, but I also like the glorious feeling of watching American Idol without guilt. Plus, we're really, really into "House." In fact, until Jim and Pam get together (for the love), it might be my favorite show...

Bread and Chocolate

Galaxy
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Whew! We made it successfully through phase one of the South Beach Diet. At 4:00 yesterday I dug to the back of my desk and quickly devoured the last little bar of Galaxy chocolate I'd brought back from London for my colleagues (I'd been saving it for two weeks!). Mmmmm... Then Solara and I went out and ate way, way, WAY too much Lebanese food to celebrate (Jason's in Libya, so he celebrated with airplane food).

I just about typed "Really, it hasn't been so bad," but that is because I got to eat oatmeal for breakfast today. A week ago it was all I could do to eat another vegetable or egg! But now we both slightly leaner and have a fridge of nice veggies and brown bread. If you remember, I don't always eat healthily when Jason is gone, but I've learned lots and lots about self-control this week, so we'll see how it goes....

It will be a pretty quiet weekend around here with no Jason--maybe a little of this and this or some of this. At least there's no more house hunting on Saturdays! And only one more week of school...

New Digs

Almost Home!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Confession: Though we've been saying that we've had nothing going on this winter, the truth is that we've been spending most Saturdays since February looking for a house.

And we finally found it.

Meet the newest addition to the Small family--a cozy, adorable little Cape Cod that we will call home in a few weeks. We are so excited, and not only because we will be able to pull things out of the closet without the entire thing crashing down on us! Our new place is actually only a couple streets from where we live now, which is good (we don't have to find a new grocery store) and bad (we still can't walk to the Metro). It made for a fun bike ride this afternoon.

We are very excited for lots of reasons--family room AND living room, real, true Spare Oom (instead of the spare room/Missy's office/place to put everything we can't fit in the closet or find a place for), nice big kitchen, and deck. We will be purchasing the long-wished-for grill soon. Please come over and bbq with us--heck, stay the night afterwards! Yay!

Note from Jason: I am still amazed at how much it costs for .18 acre in Arlington, VA. Good news: very little lawn to mow. Bad news: what was probably a 1 acre backyard in 1951 when it was built is now occupied by three monstrous (by local standards) houses. After we made an offer, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the house has two small driveways (instead of just the one you see in the photo), so marriage counseling won't be required to determine who gets to park their vehicle off the street.

We will soon have a 2 bedroom condo with balcony and pool view up for rent, with stainless steel appliances and silestone countertop ... so if you're interested, let me know ...

Eastern Market, Part 2

Eastern Market, Part 2
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Ever since we went to Eastern Market last fall we've been itching to go back. Unfortunately, the weather has been less than cooperative (to which my constant complaining since mid-January can attest), and each Saturday we've hoped to get up early and go for some famous pancakes we've woken instead to rain and temps in the 30s. And this just last week!

This weekend, however, is glorious, so we made our trip downtown. Spring in DC is amazing--trees a'bloomin', strollers a'strollin', people a'smiling...as we bare our scary white skin for the first time in months. When I lived in Georgetown I would go running in the mornings along the streets of the neighborhood, and it just smelled good outside--perfumey and dewy and...

Well, back to the subject. Unfortunately our horrible diet (whose idea was this?!?) would not let us partake of pancakes (this week), but we did come away with a fridge full of vegetables and the start of this year's garden. We now have a fresh new herb garden as well as some colorful posies to make it really feel like spring. It's April 22--can we safely assume that it won't snow again?

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

We're settled back into our little condo, still smiling happily when anyone asks us how our trip was. I think it was just 'zakly what I needed--I feel like a calmer, more put-together person after our little pond-hopping escapade. And I can read "Harry Potter" and Dickens with a knowing wink-and-a-nod. And a very brilliant British accent in my head.

(For the most part, we managed to avoid letting those British accents out into the open while we were actually in Britain. Except the one time that Jason insisted on asking two little merry men running through Sherwood Forest if they'd "seen ye olde sheriff." I think the small boys were torn between being afraid of the strange man and confused at his really very appalling accent.)

It's positively blustery outside, much more like lionish early March than mid-April. Sadly, I am currently wearing a turtle neck sweater. In April. At least so far the weatherman's outlandish prediction of "possible snow" has not been fulfilled. One good side effect of the storm (for me, anyway), is that Jason's trip to New York City for a meeting at the UN has been postponed until morning. We are about to enjoy one last bowl of pasta until we take the plunge into the South Beach Diet. My goal tonight is to make myself so sick of delicious pasta that I don't even want it for two weeks...

Adventures in Sherwood Forest

With the Major Oak
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

You probably have a list like mine, the one on which you keep all the things you want to do in your life? Well, today we checked one off of my list--visit Sherwood Forest in the springtime. I can hear the loud, cosmic chalk scraping a check onto my list.

To tell you the truth, Sherwood Forest and the whole Robin Hood side of Nottingham is a bit cheesy (okay, a lot cheesy), which should come as no surprise. We felt a bit out of place, being the only adults there without children running around in green felt hats with cheap longbows. But it was a fun kind of cheesy. The legend of Robin Hood is one of my favorite things, and I have always wanted to visit the greenwood when things were bursting to life in the spring.

So here we are.

We took a train up this morning, tooled around Nottingham trying to find the visitor's centre, and eventually convinced the fellow at the information desk that yes, we did want to spend most of our limited time in his town riding a bus 50 minutes each way to see what was left of the famous forest. Today was the first really cloudy day of our visit, but still no rain (!!! You have to realize that when I lived in England for 3 months it was the rainiest period in the last 100 years of British history. No rain is a spectacular thing to me.), so we charted our way through the path and to the visitor's center. We laughed a lot. Mostly at my insane desire to visit Sherwood Forest in the springtime.

It was colder in Nottingham than in London, so there wasn't as much green on the trees as I'd imagined, but it was still great, cheesy fun. You'll see us here in front of the "Major Oak," which is somewhere between 500 and 1000 years old (and obviously too ancient to hold up its own branches). Legend has it that the merry men used the Oak as a meeting place. We also visited St. Mary's church, which is also going on 1000 years old, the reputed site of the wedding of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. And we bought Cole a few things that he will enjoy in about three years.

Most importantly, we stood in the middle of Sherwood Forest and frolicked (in our imaginations--okay, MY imagination). Chhhheck!

The whole trip really was an adventure. I'm not sure if you've searched for Robin Hood visits on the internet, but they are pretty well hidden, so we weren't able to plan our trip very well (not a good place for Jason to be). All went relatively smoothly until we took the advice of the lady at the visitor's centre and decided to catch the bus back to Nottingham at the closer bus stop. After over an hour and an international phone call to the bus company, we finally followed our gut and walked back to the bus stop at which we'd dropped off, half a mile away, and caught the next bus in 15 minutes. Running late now, we literally ran through Nottingham for a quick photo at the castle and the statue (read more about the statue in the flickr comment), and jumped onto the London-bound bus.

We had a late and delicious Asian-fusion dinner with Jimmy and Kayrn, who graciously let us stay at their place this weekend while they were on holiday in Spain. It was so lovely of them and delightful to have our own place to come home to at night! We watched the highlights of the English football matches tonight, and now Jason is soundly sleeping. I think that sprint through Nottingham really wore him out!

Oxford Bound

Christ Church Picnic
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

We did at least three things today that I had not done in the three months I studied in Oxford during undergrad. As we strolled around the beautiful Christ Church College meadow, I kept wondering what I did with all my time. Then we walked past the Radcliffe Camera, the famous reading room of the Bodleian Library into which only readers are allowed, and I remembered how I had spent all my time.

We had an absolutely delightful day in Oxford. For me, it was really special to share this place with Jason. My three months in Oxford are stuck in my memory as a magical time, and walking the streets was like remembering a million conversations. We walked all the way to Canterbury Road, where I pointed out to Jason #10, the house where I lived with gobs of friends. We ate ice cream at G&D's (mmmm...). And we strolled past Keble College's multi-colored walls to University Parks, home of many Ultimate Frisbee Games and morning runs.

Plus, we did some new things. We climbed to the top of St. Michael's tower, which offered us a beautiful view of Oxford from above. We bought salads at Sainsbury's and took them to Christ Church College, where we picnicked in the meadow and strolled along the canal. We finished the day on a packed train back to London, tired and happy.

We have had two beautiful days. England in spring is just like I always wanted it to be. And tomorrow is Nottingham...

From Jason: Missy is a great tour guide. I have a new appreciation for her months in Oxford and her fondness for the place and people. Thankfully, it did not rain, which I was forewarned was more likely than not to occur. We must have hiked many miles because my legs are feeling it tonight. I suppose we both need to get out of the office more ...

Cheerio!

Easter at Westminster Abbey
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Cheers from London! Our second day here was pretty wonderful. We started our morning at Westminster Abbey for the Easter service. It was phenomenal. Nevermind that we sat next to Chaucer's grave and on TOP of Tennyson's. It was really incredibly cool to sing "Christ our Lord is risen today..." with the multitudes. Not bad for an Easter Sunday.

After the service we began what turned into a day-long walk around London. The day was amazingly gorgeous, none of the London rain for which I have been carrying an umbrella around (just in case!). Instead we had sunshine and flowers. We spent the early afternoon picnicking (we're cheap travelers, esp. at the current exchange rate!) and then strolling through St. James's Park (I kept hearing Sir William Lucas in my head). After a visit to the Queen--or at least the Queen's house--we went to the Winston Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms.

This museum was incredible. It was the one thing I wanted to do while we were here, having missed it when I was here in 2000. The Imperial War Cabinet ran the British resistence during the Battle of Britain down in these secret rooms. On V-J day, they turned off the lights for the first time in 6 years and walked out, leaving them just as they were then. Also, the Churchill Museum (part of the War Rooms) was opened in 2005 and is amazing. It was well worth the 11 quid.

We spent the rest of the evening walking along the Thames and went to a pub I'd really liked by St. Paul's Cathedral. Seven years has not been very good to the fish and chips there.

Yesteray we did the British Museum, complete with the Rosetta Stone and some of my favorite Greek statues. After we dragged ourselves around until the museum closed, we had a delightful dinner with my dear friend Nicole (now a Londoner) and her friend Claire...and then remembered to take a picture after we'd parted ways!

Tomorrow we're off to Oxford to retrace old steps...and it turns out you can forget a lot in seven years, so I'm brushing up by flipping through the "Cheeky Guide to Oxford." And practically falling asleep...

Laughing together

Laughing together
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

I have to write a quick note because it's been SO LONG since we blogged...and we are leaving in 13 minutes for the airport and a fun little jaunt to London (yay!). Not much time to blog anyway, since I just got back form a week in Idaho last night. You will notice that there are loads of new pictures of Cole in our flickr album. I love him.

(Luckily, Jenny is mad about him, too, so when I'm with her I'm not quite as silly as usual. :))

I also got to meet Baby Maddie May while I was there. Maddie was born two months early and is spending her days in the NICU, but she is a pretty good fighter. It was fun to see her with Laura and her big brother Jackson.

Most springish Idaho trips are also work trips. This was my first visit to the Boise office of Team Simpson, and it was really great--this new job is going quite well! I did the rounds with babies, meeting Sam and Kate, and I also got to stop by and say hello to the Governor...until we were interrupted by the Canadian Ambassador. Ah, well, what can you do?

Go ahead and enjoy smiling back at Cole. We'll post more when we're back on this side of the pond.

"All About You"

www.flickr.com

That is the caption on the front of the birthday card I gave Missy. Indeed, she takes her birthday seriously. I've been reminded about it every other day for the last eight weeks. And, she sent me a two-page birthday list, complete with helpful links to Crate & Barrel... so failure was not an option and certainly not a valid excuse.

We started off the weekend hosting Dawn and Brian for dinner. Missy made a delicious Chicken Piccata and Tomato Oreganatta. We topped the meal off with a creamy cherry cheesecake. We kept one eye on the HDTV, as Brian's alma mater, Virginia Tech, came from behind to beat Illinois.

On Saturday, we went out to Manassas Park to celebrate Dawn's Green St. Patrick's Day birthday. Missy won a shamrock cookie for wearing the most green -- socks, shirts, belt, earrings, and nail polish to boot! I settled for wearing a green sweater -- which was possible since the temperature plunged back into the 30s!

Sunday was the big day. Since I was teaching Sunday school, we started off the morning early with some baked chocolate chip muffins. Missy got to open two gifts, including a grill pan. The tag suspiciously said it came from Rachael Ray. I didn't know they were on such close terms -- I suppose that's what you get when you watch 30-minute meals on the food network everyday.

After church, we came home and she opened the rest of her gifts while I baked my first angel food cake. Rest assured, it is what she asked for -- I was fully prepared to bake a simple chocolate cake. Continuing our food theme for the weekend, we trekked to McPherson Square near the White House for a celebratory dinner at Georgia Brown's. Known for its fine "low country" Southern food, it's a popular DC spot. It was also featured in a James Patterson novel. We ordered flavorful fried green tomatoes to start. The restaurant was very busy but the service was good. Our entrees -- Mahi Mahi for Missy and bacon-wrapped Filet Mignon for me were both excellent.

In an awkward exchange, we let the people at the table next to us know that it was Missy's birthday, which must have been overheard by our waiter -- because next thing we knew, he brought Missy a complementary peach cobbler dessert, complete with lit candle! A weekend topped off with a sweet surprise.

Now, maybe she'll give me a week off before we start counting down to March 18, 2008 ....

Daylight Savings

I had an early morning meeting yesterday and, because Daylight Savings came so early this year (stupid Congress), the sun was just coming up as I navigated my daily commute. As I drove past Iwo Jima, it peeped its head up behind the National Mall, casting a rosy glow on the monuments. It looked just like this. These moments are nice. They remind me why I live here. Good morning, Washington.

Musings on a Wednesday

It is still snowing. It is March. Those two sentences should not be in the same paragraph, much less right next to each other. Of course it couldn't snow in January, it had to be 70 degrees outside so that it could save up all its wintry misery for Spring. I'm bitter.

Jason has been in Africa for the past week, and it turns out that without him I am an utterly worthless, unmotivated person. Things I have accomplished since Friday:
* eating three huge bowls of pasta
* watching numerous episodes of "The Office," "Friends," and "X-Files" on DVD.
* staying up until 1 am
* sleeping through my alarm
* not doing homework
* skipping Sunday School
* accumulating a disgusting pile of dirty dishes, disheveled blankets, and random crap from the spare room on the living room coffee table.

It is a good thing he is coming home tomorrow (tomorrow!). Actually, that dysfunctionality lasted through the weekend, but my tolerance for chaos only goes so far, so by Monday I was ready to do the dishes and clean up my act. Jason will never know...

In other news...well, there really isn't much news. I have been trying to update the blog at least once a week, but it's (obviously) been a bit difficult for me lately. On the one hand, nothing exciting is happening in our lives. On the other hand, everything ordinary is crazybusy, and after 12-hour work days, class, and watching "American Idol" (cringe), sitting in front of the computer to blog is less than appealing. So here are a few more bullet-points for you, my version of a random update:
* Babies are everywhere. Congrats to Janae and Travis on the arrival of Abigal Hope, and to the Reviers on the appearance of Sam and Kate! Three more babies to go this spring...
* (Babies are NOT at our house.)
* I am published. Okay, if "I = Congressman Simpson," as it usually does. But this was an exciting tidbit for me (and major motivation for Friday's bowl of pasta).
* My birthday list is full of cooking appliances and cookbooks. I'm not sure what that says about me at almost-twenty-eight.
* I am still amazed at the internet, especially when I can gtalk with Jason, who is oceans, continents, and 8 time zones away.
* I wrote a (not so) thrilling paper on cover letters for grad school a couple weeks ago. Despite this utterly dry, dull, and boring topic, I really like my class.
* Tulips are in bloom in our living room. I have one little glass container of spring in this dreary, wintry world.
* Only three weeks until I see my favorite boy.