Battling Bedlam

I went on a trip to a land far, far away...

2011-07-06T20:39:00.003-04:00

Last week, my husband and I went on a trip to a land far, far away, also known as Germany and Austria.

We went without our kids, because my incredibly amazing aunt drove 7 hours to stay with our three rugrats for an entire week while we were gone. (Note: If you don't have an Aunt Carolyn, go find yourself one. You can't have mine though, because I don't know what I'd do without her!) This was our first trip sans kids in years. That's right: years.

Can I tell you something? It was AMAZING.

Don't get me wrong, we definitely missed the kids. I'm pretty sure that I drove my aunt crazy by calling every day to make sure things were ok. (I wasn't worried about the kids; I was worried that the kids had driven her insane.)

Still, it was pretty terrific to have some quality time with my husband. But what made it truly spectacular was that we were experiencing Europe for the first time - together.

We stayed in Oberammergau, Germany.

We also stayed in Munich (but not for long).

We hiked around on mountain tops.

We took a romantic stroll around Schloss Linderhof at sunset.

We toured Neuschwanstein Castle.

We learned that churches are to Bavaria as Starbucks shops are to most US cities/towns/truckstops.

We saw a lot of dirndls and lederhosen (and I had to be stopped more than once from dropping a few Euros on a set of my own).

We consumed ridiculous amounts of incredibly delicious food.

Oh, and we had beer. Lots and lots of beer.

Did I mention that we took a day trip to Salzburg? I may or may not have been singing "Edelweiss" as we strolled through Mirabell Gardens.

We took in some spectacular views.

We took a lot of pictures.

But most of all, we took the time to enjoy our surroundings with each other.

More posts to come with recommendations for what visitors should and shouldn't do in Germany and Austria (Example: Avoid getting a flat tire in a rental car. Trust me.). Until then, I'm going to dream about how I can swing another TDY to Germany...

Heading North - Part 1

2011-03-25T10:12:00.000-04:00

Last Fall, I had the opportunity to travel to Ottawa, Canada. It was my first time above our northern border, and I have to say - I'm absolutely smitten by Ottawa.

It is such a beautiful city, even when it's covered in snow (there will be a post about that... eventually). Luckily, my first trip was in September, so I was able to enjoy the transition from summer to fall.

I was even luckier to have the opportunity to participate in a 'Monuments and Memorials of Ottawa' photo safari hosted by local photographer Ray Pilon and his lovely partner Isabel. They were extremely knowledgeable about photography and the iconic landmarks of Ottawa - I really could not have asked for a more perfect introduction to such a wonderful city! In fact, many of the pictures I'm posting here are from that excursion; you can find the rest in the Picasa album from that trip. It was with their help that I was able to take my photography up a notch - so if you're ever in Ottawa and have a couple of hours to spare, I strongly recommend that you contact Ray and set up a photo safari. He was extremely kind to schedule a one-on-one excursion for me, so don't think that you need to wait for an already scheduled event!

In addition to improving my photography skills, I also learned quite a bit about the city and its landmarks. I stayed in the gorgeous Chateau Laurier, which is right next to Parliament Hill, ByWard Market, Rideau Canal and the War Memorial. I'll have lots more about my visits to those locations in the next post - stay tuned!

International Travel - Part 3

2011-01-14T21:17:00.048-05:00

In parts 1 and 2 of my International Travel series, I told you about much of my trip to Taiwan in Summer 2010. This post will finish up my trip to Taiwan with details of my bus (ok, really just a van with three tourists and a tour guide/driver) trip out of Taipei and to the Northeast Coast National Scenic Park.

It was kind of a miserable, cloudy day, so unfortunately my pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped due to poor lighting conditions and a less than satisfactory camera. You'll just have to trust me that the drive was beautiful!

But wait! There's more >>

International Travel - Part 2

2011-01-11T15:41:00.002-05:00

As mentioned in my last post, I had the opportunity to visit Taiwan this past summer. The first several days of the trip were filled with meetings and amazing dinners presented by our extremely gracious hosts. However, our busy schedule kept us from "playing tourist". Luckily, the day before we returned home, we had some time to do some sightseeing.

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International Travel - Part 1

2011-01-02T20:49:00.008-05:00

Now that I have (finally!) completed my series on our End of Summer Adventures, I want to post a few entries on two international trips that I had the opportunity to enjoy in 2010.

First up - Taiwan!

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End of Summer Adventures - Part 4

2010-12-12T15:50:00.001-05:00

Continuing with my series on our End of Summer Adventures (yes, I know it's December), I wanted to take you with us on our day trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

We could not have asked for a more perfect summer day. Ok, maybe we could have asked for some slightly cooler temperatures, but by the end of our trip, we found a way to cope with the scorching humidity. More on that later.

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Our cat is weird.

2010-11-27T15:44:00.000-05:00

Our cat is weird. The evidence is as follows:

Fact 1: She likes to hide behind doors and wait for you to stick a finger or toy in the crack so she can attack it.

Fact 2: When she feels that you are devoting too much time to the computer (never mind the fact that you have a 20pg paper due in a week, even though you've been procrastinating instead), she will lay on top of the keyboard until she has your full and undivided attention. This is occasionally connected to the status of her food dish.

Fact 3: Her favorite napping place is on the back of the couch. She doesn't mind if she slides down behind the couch cushions.

Fact 4: In addition to hiding in paper grocery bags, she likes climbing into the laundry hamper. She specifically has an affinity for climbing into the bag that holds the dirty socks.

Still, she is awfully cute. I think we'll keep her.

End of Summer Adventures - Part 3

2010-11-18T22:30:00.001-05:00

**Editor's Note: Yes, I know that Thanksgiving is exactly one week away, which means that summer is long since gone. However, sometimes life gets in the way (read: kids and I are back at our respective schools), which means that blog updates get pushed back. I promise I'll get everything updated eventually!

Continuing with our theme of visiting National Parks before the end of summer vacation, our next adventure took us to the Maryland side of Great Falls to the C&O Canal.

For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to visit, "C&O" stands for the "Chesapeake and Ohio" Canal. Take a few minutes to get your history on and learn something.

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Annie's First Day

2010-11-09T06:35:00.001-05:00

Well, we all thought that little Annie needed a night at the vet so that she could have a little surgery done. Turns out she didn't need it at all, so we got to pick her up a day early!

We thought that she would need some time to get acclimated to each room in the house; we figured on one room per day.

Annie knocked that expectation out to approximately 3 minutes per room.

This adorable new member of the family explored the house...

...jumped all over the piano...

...and then settled down to allow herself to be fawned over by the kids.

This is one seriously happy, lovey kitty. :)

New addition to the family

2010-11-05T16:30:00.000-04:00

Meet Annie!

We've adopted her from the local shelter, but we can't bring her home yet. Our beautiful new 2-yr-old orange tabby needs to get spayed first, so we'll have to wait four long days before we can pick her up from the vet. We're really excited, especially since she is just about the sweetest kitty in the whole world!

Welcome to the family, Annie!

Way behind in my updates...

2010-10-31T17:58:00.001-04:00

I know, I know - I've been horribly remiss in posting updates. In between this and this, there's been a lot of this:

...and this...

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Updated: School Boundary Study

2010-10-24T00:31:00.002-04:00

Our local school district has decided to redraw the local elementary school boundaries. We knew this was being discussed, but we were not informed that our childrens' school would be affected until the district released map pdfs yesterday. Needless to say, we were quite shocked to learn that two of the three proposed changes include an option to move our neighborhood to a different school. We oppose this change for numerous reasons, many of which are captured in another blog that my husband and I update infrequently. However, we feel strongly enough about this issue that a very detailed post went up today in anticipation of my husband's attendance at a neighborhood meeting hosted by the district on Monday. We can only hope that the district board sees reason...

UPDATE: My husband attended the "meeting" and provided a report of the proceedings along with the literature handed out at the meeting. To say I am appalled at what transpired is a gross understatement. You can read my post here if you're interested.

An Experiment in Contest Baking

2010-10-21T16:34:00.002-04:00

Ok, so it wasn't exactly the Gold Medal Flour Baking Contest, but I did sign up to enter a baking contest put together for the annual office picnic. With more than 100 people in the division, I shouldn't have been shocked that there were 17 entries, but still - dang! 17 entries!

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End of Summer Adventures - Part 2

2010-09-12T08:33:00.001-04:00

Our next adventure took us to Manassas Battlefield, where I was determined to begin fostering an interest in all things military history in my children. Some of my favorite memories as a child were of visiting Fort Macon and Fort Fisher with my grandfather. (I'm pretty sure that those trips and our long talks about history and the causes of war were some of the major reasons why I joined the military.) With those memories in mind, I wrangled the kids into the car and we headed off to Manassas.

Henry Hill, Manassas Battlefield - 55mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200

The weather wasn't terribly fabulous that day, as we had the remnants of a tropical storm moving through. The up-side was the improved lighting conditions that helped me avoid overexposed images (which had been a problem the day before in Great Falls). So while the kids were having fun running all over the expansive open fields...

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End of Summer Adventures - Part 1

2010-09-03T19:25:00.003-04:00

With summer drawing to a close, my husband and I found ourselves staring at our calendars one day and came to one horrible realization: With summer camp over and the start of school two weeks away, we had no one to watch our two oldest children. At 11 and 6 years old, we couldn't leave them at home alone. So, with much grumbling and negotiating, my husband and I agreed upon the days that we would each take off from work to stay home with the kids.

It's been a busy summer for me and my husband; I was promoted at work and traveled internationally, while my husband attended a couple of out-of-state conferences and took on extra responsibilities at the office. Our kids, however, weren't experiencing such grand adventures. So I figured that if we couldn't afford to go someplace fabulous (like Europe!), I would at least try to be a good parent and take them to some of the amazing national parks that we have here in the D.C. area.

I won't lie - it was also a great excuse to try out my newest acquisition, courtesy of an award that I had earned at work. After years of a rinky-dink point-and-shoot, my Nikon D5000 is a pretty sweet upgrade!

Our first adventure took us to Great Falls Park in Virginia. We went early in the morning, even before the Visitors Center opened at 10am. The kids weren't sure what to expect; I think they had a good time, though. There were squirrels and grasshoppers and caterpillars and butterflies!!!

Great Falls, VA - 55mm, f/14, 1/160s, ISO 200

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Birthday Cake Goodness

2010-08-23T15:15:00.003-04:00

WARNING: This is a reeeeeally long post with a lot of pictures. It will also cause insatiable cravings for chocolate that cannot be ignored. You've been warned.

It all started with an indecisive Birthday Girl and a recipe that one of my favorite food bloggers (who, incidentally, has a fantastic name!) posted just in the nick of time.

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Beef Stew Goodness

2010-08-06T16:33:00.001-04:00

A few of months ago, I went out to lunch with a coworker and two of our foreign liaisons at a small Belgian/French bistro near the office. Since I'm not a fan of the very popular mussels, I decided to go with the Flemish Beef Stew. Simply put, it was amazing. It must have lasted all of about 2 minutes on my plate - it was that good.

Not to be outdone by a highly trained and experienced chef (and the restaurant's exorbitant prices), I decided that I would resurrect the Belgian Beef Stew recipe that I had discovered in a Cooking Light issue a couple of months prior. I had not tried said recipe due to my husband's ridiculous aversion to all things beef stew. I finally managed to convince him that my version wouldn't taste anything like the Dinty Moore version that he kept envisioning, and I was permitted to try the recipe.

I am so glad that I did! This stew is absolutely amazing. Go on, get thee to a grocery store and get the ingredients. You will not regret the time and effort involved, especially if you serve it over mashed potatoes.

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Unaccompanied Minor Travel FAIL

2010-07-17T17:54:00.002-04:00

Today, my daughter traveled from Grandma and Grandpa's house back home on an airplane for the first time. Grandma and Grandpa were terrific - they drove her from our house to theirs to spend the week, showed her a great time, then bought her a one-way plane ticket to come home.

Unfortunately, that's where the trouble began.

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From hobby to income?

2010-05-08T14:10:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite hobbies is photography. I'm certainly not a professional by any stretch of the imagination (I have friends who are), but I do enjoy taking pictures of my kids, my yard and my adventures in cooking/baking. A few months ago, I decided that I really loved some of my pictures and that they might look halfway decent on the otherwise empty wall in my front living room.

I really love how this wall turned out. One of my favorite photographs is featured in the middle:

Several other pictures are featured on either side, some from our yard and two from our trip to Massachusetts last October.

Every time I walk into this room (which is where my hubby is usually stationed at his computer), I stop to think about how proud I am of these photographs, especially since they were taken using the macro function of my tiny little Canon PowerShot SD1000. I've thought about putting more of them up around the house, but I can't decide where to put them (it would look cluttered to add more in the living room, wouldn't it?). A friend suggested that I should sell some of my photographs. That thought has been stirring around in my wee little head for some time now, but I haven't actually done anything about it.

And then a sign appeared at the entrance to our neighborhood.

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Can someone tell me why I do this again?

2010-04-27T14:36:00.002-04:00

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit A is the pile of books (some from the local library, some from my personal library) that will be resources for the paper I'm writing on the Vicksburg Campaign of 1862-1863.

Exhibit B is the pile of readings that will be resources for the paper I'm writing on the threat to national security posed by cyberwarfare (incidentally, can someone please figure out whether it's "cyberwarfare" or "cyber warfare" or "cyber-warfare"?!?).

Take a second and consider the differences between the two images.

Did your immediate response sound something like, "Gosh, it seems like there are an awful lot of books in the first picture compared to the puny pile of mostly hand-scribbled notes in the second picture!" Yeah, I said pretty much the same thing when I actually looked at everything piled up on my desk. Such is the difficulty in writing on a topic of current interest that lacks authoritative research vs. a topic that has entire library shelves devoted to a single battle.

Just for fun, here's a picture of my handwritten notes for my paper on cyberwarfare (and no, I can't figure out why Blogger isn't allowing me to rotate the image):

Can someone please tell me why I keep choosing to study a topic that no one else seems interested in writing authoritatively about? It's becoming increasingly difficult to recycle my own material and still make it seem fresh. Seriously, when I have to run out to the bookstore to grab the one copy available of a book that was just published last week so that I can have an actual book in my bibliography, what does that say?

I'm starting to seriously reconsider my area of focus. Maybe I should just get my M.A. in military history instead of cybersecurity policy?

I need a pep talk, stat!!

School, Hawaii and family - oh my!

2010-04-20T21:50:00.000-04:00

So it's funny how life gets in the way sometimes. I've been meaning to post an update for ages, but never quite got around to it. There was this whole thing with the end of Fall semester (A's in all my classes! 3.7GPA!), my parents visiting for Christmas, a new job... I also went to Hawaii in February to celebrate (and sing in) the wedding of one of my best friends. Seriously people - wedding in Hawaii on the beach at sunset! Highly recommended. (Especially if I'm not singing, because then I wouldn't be so wigged out and fun could be had by all.) I also tried kayaking for the first time, which was also pretty fabulous.

Fabulous seems to be the word of the day, oui?

Oh, did I forget to mention the new job? Yeah, it's pretty fabulous, but it's one of those jobs that takes a long time to explain and then I can't really talk about it anyway. So... it's a fabulous job and I love the people I work with. The best part is that I get to go TDY to some amazing SE Asia countries this summer. There will be lots of pictures. Guarantee.

With that, I leave you with this picture, taken just a couple of weeks ago in my yard:

Let the holiday cooking begin: Sweet Potato Casserole

2009-11-15T09:15:00.004-05:00

As soon as my birthday rolls by in September, my mind immediately turns to the food extravaganza that is the Holiday Season. Sure, Christmas is great and Halloween is fun. (It finally dawned on me this year that Halloween, in its current over-commercialzed form, must have been created as an excuse for adults to gorge guilt-free on the subsequent kid-collected haul. Brilliant!) However, my favorite part of the Holiday Season (yes it's capitalized - it is that important) is the food, which is why Thanksgiving is my knock-down-drag-out favorite holiday of the year.

When I was in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii, my friends and I would take turns hosting Thanksgiving at our homes. Every year provided a new logistical challenge, as our quaint (read: tiny) military housing became increasingly cramped as we tried to pack in our growing broods. Still, we didn't care - after all, the holidays are about the closeness of family right? We were a family, and we loved sharing our favorite stories, jokes and dishes with each other.

Now that we've moved to Virginia, we have new Thanksgiving traditions. Every year, we drive out to share Thanksgiving dinner with my husband's family, then drive home so that I can prepare my own turkey the next day (otherwise, we wouldn't have Thanksgiving leftovers! The horror!).

Every year, even though no one seems to eat it but me, I prepare Sweet Potato Casserole. My grandmother taught me how to make it when I was very young; I've been making it for so long that I can't remember a Thanksgiving or Christmas when I haven't had it on the table.

It's not the Sweet Potato Casserole that has been buried under a mountain of marshmallows. This is a more traditional Southern version with an amazing brown sugar-pecan topping. I plan on making this in the next day or two, you know, just for quality assurance purposes in advance of Thanksgiving. I posted this recipe on Facebook the other day for a friend in need (I hope it turns out ok for her!), so I thought I might post it up here. If I'm sharing the love with my family at the Thanksgiving table, I might as well share the love online too!

Sweet Potato Casserole
Courtesy of Grandma Edna, who always called it "Sweet Potato Souffle"

3 cups cooked/mashed sweet potatoes
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
½ stick butter, melted (DO NOT use margarine!)
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or a mix of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg)

1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
½ stick butter, melted (again, DO NOT use margarine!)
sprinkle pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray baking dish with Pam or other non-stick spray (I prefer the butter flavored one!).

Mix first eight (8) ingredients and pour into a 9"x13"x2" baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients in separate bowl and crumble over top of sweet potato mixture.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbles appear around the edges. Serve warm and enjoy!

The tradition continues...

2009-09-22T15:03:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately, my string of having lousy birthdays continues! Not because of my hubby or family (they've been great!), but because of other uncontrollable circumstances.

For example, the original plan was to go on a lunch cruise around the Potomac. First Day of Fall cruise and all that. So what happened last week? Cruise got canceled. They wanted to "upgrade" us to the dinner cruise, but as we have small kids and no babysitter, that didn't exactly pan out.

So far: Birthday Gods 1, Shauna 0.

Next example: The back-up plan was to go on a tour of the US Capitol and have lunch downtown so I could get my history geekness on (and get my husband some culture!). Everything is looking good so far, except for the fact that the lunch place I'd picked out has a "business casual" dress code - not good news for tourist activities. That's ok, we can improvise and just find something, right? WRONG! That would have required that we actually MAKE IT DOWNTOWN. Couldn't find a parking spot at the Metro, and had we driven in, we would have missed our reserved tour time at 1010, and the next one wasn't until 1430. The tour is 1.5hrs, so we wouldn't have been able to make it back home in time to pick up the kids and meet my uncle for dinner (who called yesterday to say he's in town).

Updated score: Birthday Gods 2, Shauna 0.

So, hubby and I decide we're just going to wing it. First attempt at merriment wasn't too bad; beautiful drive (despite the low, dreary clouds) out to Winchester for some apples and a shared apple cider doughnut (YUM!!). Ok, we're doing better! When we finish, we drive through Winchester and stop at a little antique place. We find a teacup and saucer that matches the MIL's china set. Yay!

Visiting team scores! - Birthday Gods 2, Shauna 1.

Aaaaaand that's when tragedy hits. We drive out to Middleburg looking for lunch. First place we try isn't open on Tuesdays. Second place we try wants $8 for a grilled cheese sandwich (!). Third place we try has several outside tables full, so we decide to see what's up. We grabbed a table and waited for the waitress.

And waited. And WAITED.

Finally she showed up to get our drink order: "What do you want to drink?"

No, there wasn't a "Hi, welcome to the Red Horse Tavern! My name is _____, and I'll be your server today. Can I start you off with some iced tea or a glass of wine?" She just went straight to "What do you want to drink?" and tossed the menus on our table (which, btw, was dusty and had cobwebs - EW!). When she returned more than five minutes later with our iced tea in cheap plastic picnic cups (seriously, I have bought better cups at Costco!), she was "ready to take [our] order." Nice.

A little while later (while we were marveling at the women nearby fawning over their dog that was sitting in a chair at their table), she arrives with the daily special of "breaded calamari" that we had ordered. Three words: STALE RUBBER BANDS. As Drew appropriately stated, he would have expected about the same fare from the batch of "fried calamari" that the bowling alley buys in bulk from Sam's Club.

The next disappointment was when our "entrees" were delivered. Plastic shallow baskets, wax paper too small to really fit the basket, and small, pathetic sandwiches accompanied by stale potato chips. Drew's "Cuban" was an insult to the communist country that bears it's name, and my "wrap" was stuffed with lettuce that was, conveniently, not listed on the menu. Did I mention that the chips were STALE?!

The waitress didn't even bother to make any kind of effort to earn a tip - she clearly couldn't have cared less about being there or about having us as customers. Sucks for her, because we are usually very generous tippers (having been a waitress at several restaurants in a past life, I know how hard the work is and how bad the pay can be!). All told, our horrible meal cost us $30.52. In an effort to escape (and hope to avoid getting my credit card # stolen), I paid in cash: $31.00. Drew said that I was overly generous in my tip, but I was simply too lazy to count out exact change from my wallet.

So, the new score: Birthday Gods 3, Shauna 1.

We did have a high point immediately following: In an effort to rapidly remove the taste of the food from our mouths, we stopped at an ice cream shop down the street. It's run by the Middleburg Humane Society, and it was terrific! The ice cream was delicious, the shop was cute and quaint, and the server was very friendly. Super awesome points for the ice cream shop for being a major bright spot in our day!!

Final score (thus far today - it's only 3:30p): Birthday Gods 3, Shauna 2.

I'm hopeful that tonight will greatly improve so that at least I can break even on the score. I think wine and chess with the hubby might do the trick! :)

A little chip of heaven

2009-08-09T21:50:00.001-04:00

Sometimes, we all have to cave in to the demands of a 5-yr-old. You know what I'm talking about: You take him to the store, he's a good helper and can point out all the important vegetables ("Look, Mom - carrots! Spinach! Asparagus!!"). So when he looks up at you with those big brown eyes and bats those long eyelashes and asks if we can make chocolate chip cookies while he's presenting you with a bag of your favorite 60% cacao Ghiradelli chocolate chips, how on earth are you supposed to say no??

You can't, so you cave in.

This is what happens when you cave in - a couple of hours later, you somehow find yourself halfway through a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

These are not just any chocolate chip cookies, mind you. These are cookies straight from Williams-Sonoma's Essentials of Baking. You know the one - the recipe titled "Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies" on page 32. The one you modified with triple the amount of your favorite 60% cacao Ghiradelli chocolate chip cookies, because you don't have any milk chocolate chips and you don't like white chocolate. The kids don't like white chocolate either, so it's okay, right?

Don't worry - the cookies still love you. See that adorable little mound of cookie dough right there? The one shaped like a heart? Yeah, that's proof that the cookies still love you.

An hour later, you're looking at these. Can you resist? No, you can't. Good thing the cookies can't put up much of a fight, especially with that glass of milk just waiting to wash it all down.

Life is good.

A Fortnight of Fun

2009-07-24T17:51:00.003-04:00

From 13-24, I was out in Lansdowne, VA at the National Conference Center taking a leadership course titled "Preparing for the Challenge". To be perfectly honest, I was pretty apprehensive about the course, especially as I have taken numerous courses on the topic and even re-vamped a 5-day leadership course for junior sailors back in my Navy days (a whole two years ago - seems like a lifetime!). Still, I really needed a break from the office drama and welcomed a chance for a breather, even if it did mean that Drew had to deal with our three little munchkins by himself for nearly two weeks (it was an overnight thing).

Luckily for me, I actually really enjoyed myself! Once people started to connect and open up, things went very well. We had a great time one day out at the National Training Center doing outdoors-y type activities, and we had some phenomenal guest speakers (one of my favorites was the guy who taught "Leadership Lessons from Star Trek" - my inner geek loved it!).

However, I think the best day of all was our trip out to Antietam Battlefield. Our guide, Greg, does historical reenactments pretty much full-time these days, and it was an amazing experience. He taught us about some of the leadership choices made on both sides of the battle by taking on the persona of various soldiers present during the battle. Greg had a book with letters and personal accounts from many of the solders there that day, and you could feel and see what they went through as you stood at sites around the battlefield.

Each of us also selected a person to be that day (I was Maj Gen Fitz J. Porter) and we were responsible for conducting research in advance on our characters so that we knew what choices they made and why. As a Historical and Political Studies major as an undergrad with a focus on American History, I had a fantastic time with this evolution. I took some pictures, which you can see here. It was a humbling and heartbreaking experience, and one that I hope to have my children experience one day.

All in all, it was a great experience. I've made some wonderful friends, some of whom I have already bumped into at the office! We're planning to hold "reunions" quarterly so that we can keep in touch, which should be interesting from a VTC scheduling standpoint as some of my classmates are not located in the DC area. I was planning to bake brownies - maybe I should send some to my geographically dispersed classmates...? ;)

Newest obsession

2009-06-27T07:39:00.003-04:00

One of my projects lately has had me out in the garden taking pictures to document the progress of my veggies, fruit and herbs. I've been very surprised at just how well they're doing. The tomatoes are getting bigger every day, I'm always finding new cucumbers on the vines, and some of my strawberries are just about ready to be picked. But that's not why I'm posting here, I've got a whole other blog for that.

No, photographing flowers/plants/etc is my newest obsession. I took a picture a few days ago of this amazing flower that is now happily blooming along my front yard. (Check out my profile picture or this blog entry for more details.) What I discovered in that picture was a need to replicate the amazing success I had with that one picture. Yes, I'm aware that it was probably just a flash in the pan (found out what that means in Williamsburg!!), but that doesn't make me any less determined to find a way to repeat it. So, I've been roaming the yard, armed with my trusty Canon PowerShot SD1000, looking at the blooms that have popped up in the last few weeks. Oh yeah, and discovering that I want a much better camera for my birthday. ;)

I have to admit, some of these pictures turned out pretty nice. I really love the first one, because it's presence was a complete surprise in our yard. I'm not even sure what it is - it's this amazing three-tiered lily that just popped up amongst the vinca that we're trying to eradicate. I like the second shot too, because Taylor and I had just watered these flowers and you can see the droplets clinging to the petals.

So what do you think? Should I continue to take more pictures or should I direct my energies elsewhere? I know, I know, that mountain of laundry ain't gettin' any smaller...

My first tomato!

2009-06-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

To be honest, I was really beginning to worry about my tomato plant. It was becoming quite the monstrosity; it had grown nearly five feet tall, and was threatening to overtake my spinach, carrots and cucumbers (until I pruned it, that is). It also had any number of beautiful flowers, but they were all dropping without so much as a hint of things to come. But just as I thought all hope was lost, there it was - my very first little tomato!! I was so excited that I actually ran inside to get my kids to show them the tiny thing (and to grab my camera, hence the picture). I even called my mother to share in the good news. You called your mom when you discovered your first tomato, didn't you?

So the question now is: What do I name it? It needs a name. Not a boring name, like "Bob" or "Tomato #1". It needs something with flair, character... Any suggestions?

Field trip madness

2009-06-05T08:15:00.000-04:00

I am currently sitting on a charter bus with 40 4th graders (there's another bus following us) on our way to Williamsburg and Jamestown. The kids are generally well-behaved (must be the parents strategically located around the bus), but VERY loud. Taylor has actually been very good; I'm hopeful that will continue all day.

It's a little crazy that I actually volunteered for this, but I think it will be a lot of fun today. Well, the weather is terrible, but I'm excited about where we're going. I'm such a history nerd, and I'm really looking forward to sharing some of my knowledge with Tay and her classmates.

Just wish me luck in staying sane (such as it is)!

Never forgotten

2009-05-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

We visited Grandma and Granddaddy yesterday, and they've been in my thoughts all day today. I can't think of a better place for them to rest than Arlington National Cemetery, especially as it affords us the opportunity to visit often. They, along with the countless men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country, have earned a place of honor. I, for one, will be forever grateful and will never forget.

I've died and gone to caloric heaven...

2009-05-13T21:43:00.002-04:00

I had some (all too brief) free time this afternoon before I had to pick up the kids, so I decided to fit in a long overdue haircut. As I'm walking to the salon, I see a cute little cafe table outside a new store next to the salon, where three young ladies were chittering over cupcakes. My interest piqued, I wandered inside.

Lo and behold, I had come upon a place a glory - a cupcake heaven placed conveniently next door to my favorite salon! And what's more, there were adorable cake stands nearly overflowing with cupcakes of all the colors of the rainbow! Oh, it was a beautiful thing to behold. Let me tell you, it was really hard not to order one on the spot. But, my common sense actually kicked in (for once) and I decided to wait until after my haircut.

*fast forward 40 minutes*

Back in the delightful confines of Cupcakes Actually, I had an extremely difficult time deciding what to order. I finally decided on one of their signature "actually dipped" cupcakes - dreamy, light and fluffy peanut butter frosting dipped in rich fudge and then placed like a pillow from the gods upon an amazingly moist chocolate devil's food cupcake. Oh, and I got a cupcake for the hubby (flourless chocolate cake with vanilla bean frosting - yum!).

I'm not sure how, but the cupcakes actually managed to make it all the way home and into the fridge without being devoured. (At this point, you should all be applauding me for my incredible restraint. Seriously, I deserve a medal or something.) In order to avoid upsetting the wee beasties (aka the children), hubby and I waited until they were in bed before breaking out the cupcake goodness.

And oh, what goodness it was.

Seriously, if I could bake like this, I'd quit my job and open a cupcake boutique too. These things were AMAZING. They were definitely the best cupcakes I've ever had, and as my hips can attest, I've had quite a few cupcakes in my time. If you do not stop what you are doing, get in your car or hop on a plane and get yourself out to Fairfax Corner for some of these cupcakes, you will never forgive yourself. I may never forgive you. They are that good.

So now, I just have to hope that my job, my school, my hubby and my children all keep me busy enough to keep me away from Cupcakes Actually. Otherwise, I might soon find that I cannot fit through doors and I certainly won't fit into my suits for work. I will work on reinforcing my willpower and keep to this promise: I will only go out to Cupcakes Actually for major celebrations.

I just finished this post - it's cause for celebration!! Who's up for cupcakes??

;)

Cox Cable is terrible!!!

2009-05-09T22:59:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to talk to my mother for the last half hour, as I know that I won't get a chance to speak with her tomorrow for Mother's Day (too much going on between visitors, lacrosse double-header and a term paper that's due). Unfortunately, she now has digital phone (they switched to one of those horrible bundle things for their cable/phone), and we were cut off FOUR TIMES. I got a tip-off each time because her voice would become digitally garbled, and then the call would drop. It happened twice while talking to her on my VoIP phone (started to think it was me!), then two more times on my cell phone. It took several minutes between calls just to stop getting her busy signal so that my call could go through. The final call lasted less than 30 seconds before it cut us off again (garbled voice upon pick-up until cut-off). Apparently my Aunt June is having similar difficulties with her recent bundled service (Mom and June both live in Tucson).

Rant for today: Cox Cable digital phone service is worthless and should not be used - EVER!

Our newest experiment!

2009-04-18T18:37:00.005-04:00

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but we've been busy around here! I finally had a few seconds and wanted to post an update on one of our biggest projects yet: a fruit/veggie garden!

After tearing up more vinca (vines) than I thought possible, we built a 4'x4'x2' raised garden bed. I've been working for almost 2 weeks to fill it with compost (LeafGro) and topsoil, along with a layer of terracotta pot shards (Mom's suggestion). Last week, while Taylor was on spring break, we finished filling the bed and started planting our crops. We started with two rows of butterhead lettuce, three rows of spinach (which, in hind sight, was spaced too close together, so I'll have to thin it eventually) and bordered off an area with marigolds. (A friend recommended per her mother that marigolds were good companions for tomatoes, so I took her advice.)

Last weekend, Cameron and Taylor helped me to plant some mint (already established), cilantro, basil and parsley in smaller pots. I didn't want them to overgrow the plants in the bed, so I decided that pots were a better idea.

Yesterday I purchased an established "Better Boy" tomato plant, two cucumber plants, three strawberry plants and two spiral posts. The tomato plant was placed in the area bordered by the marigolds and a spiral post was placed as a support for the tomatoes to climb. The cucumbers were placed in the left corners of the bed (I'll need to go buy more spirals for them as they grow). The strawberry plants were placed in a separate pot (about 18-20" in diameter) next to our neighbor's fence. It's at the kids' height and I thought they'd enjoy "helping" them grow. Finally, the second spiral post was placed halfway between the tomato plant and one of the cucumber plants; I've got some green bean seeds soaking overnight and we'll plant them tomorrow. (The spirals were only $5 and look much nicer than the wire cages that were $15/each!)

Finally, I tilled the ground around the garden bed and mixed in some more topsoil and LeafGro, then Taylor helped me throw out some wildflower seeds. (The seeds came from a package called "Bring Home the Butterflies" and the wide variety of flowers is designed to host butterflies at all stages of life. I thought it would be something for the kids to enjoy.) I finished off with some mulch around the edges of the garden bed to hide the newspaper that we had put down before we started filling the bed with soil.

Today, Cameron helped plant three short rows of carrots in addition to watering the entire garden. He was a terrific helper, and he is really excited about our project.

Whew! As you can see, we've been pretty busy around here. We're really looking forward to watching our garden grow and truly enjoy the "fruits" of our labor! I'll try to keep posting the details of our project so that we have a record of what we did in case we want to try this again next year. I've posted a link to some pictures that I've taken during the process (mostly just the beginning and the end!). I'll also keep taking pictures and will update the album as I can.

Wish us luck!

Garden Bed

Post-Inaugural Ball exhaustion

2009-01-21T08:13:00.003-05:00

We didn't get back from the GWU Inaugural Ball last night until around 1am, and William and Thomas (our friends from AZ) didn't leave for the airport until 2:30am, but here I am at 8:15am updating my blog! I should still be in bed, but the kids have school this morning and Hubby has work, so someone has to be the responsible parent around here and get everyone moving. ;) I'll head back to bed in a minute, but just wanted to get a quick post out about last night. Pictures will be up as soon as I'm feeling more awake.

Our ride into DC was blissfully uneventful. There were more than a few well-dressed guests on the Metro, including an adorable Navy couple that scored tickets to the Commander-in-Chief Ball. (I gave them my email address, so hopefully they'll send me pictures of President Obama's dance with Michelle!) Once we got off the Metro, we hailed a cab to our pre-selected restaurant of the evening, Napoleon. The service was ok, but the food was fabulous! My Coq au Vin was divine, and the appetizers we ordered (Apple & Brie Crepe Chips and Croque Monsieur) were perfect matches for each other. Honestly, I think that I had a better time at dinner with Hubby and friends, having a great conversation over great food, than I did at the Ball!

The big reason that the Ball wasn't such a hit was the fact that they waaaaaay oversold the event. I read somewhere that there were 5200 attendees expected, and for all I know, there may have been more. You could barely move in most places; the coat checks were crowded (though we managed to get in and out quickly due to our exquisite planning!) and the ballrooms (several were reserved for our event) were so packed that you could not move for several minutes in any direction. There were far too many overprimped and inappropriately dressed young co-eds, though as Hubby mentioned, the painfully skewed male-to-female ratio made the evening more visually enjoyable for him (grumble!). We also felt like the old fogies of the night, as at least 80% of the crowd consisted of undergrads. It really was a prom-like atmosphere. I did manage to bump into two girls from my grad program, so the evening wasn't a complete wash. Hubby and I also got to do some dancing (if swaying in a cattle car is dancing) in the ballroom with the "swing" band. The dance floors were way too small, the areas set aside for food were way too big, and there was no place to sit down. And not only did we have a heck of a time finding the bar, drinks were $8 each! Even my tiny water bottle was overpriced at $2.

Still, it was fun to dress up with friends and have a night out, and at least I can say that I got to go to one of the many inaugural balls for the 44th President. I'm glad I did it, but unless I can score tickets to one of the "official" balls with the A-list performers and guests, I don't think I'll be going to another ball any time soon.

Merry (belated) Christmas, everyone!

2008-12-27T09:21:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm a slacker. I have long since accepted this about myself, so it really should come as no surprise that it's taken me until 27 December to post my "Merry Christmas!" blog entry. Besides, we're still receiving (and mailing, but that's another story) packages filled with Christmas goodies, so I figure it's okay to prolong the merriment. Ho ho ho, dangit!

Our Christmas was filled with orange frosty rolls (a family tradition), stockings and presents piled so high you could barely see the Christmas trees. Yes, that's plural - we found the glowy, fiber-optic tree that Hubby and K#1 had in Houston oh-so-many years ago. We needed it for all of the ornaments we had, and we still ended up hanging some of them on the garland around the fireplace mantle and on the wall next to the big tree in the living room. Note to self for next year: find a way to pare down the ornaments, or discover a new and creative way to display them.

Pretty much everyone got what they wanted this year, even me - I got lots of fabulous yoga and pilates equipment for my morning workouts (and a promise from Hubby to get up and work out with me!), a gift card to Williams-Sonoma (which I'll spend on Monday, my CWS day), some books and a new TV to replace the one that has been slowly dying in my bedroom. Hooray for new technology!

I hope that everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas, though it appears that folks on Oahu had a bit of a bumpy holiday. What I think is funny is that the media only now finds this phenomenon a big deal since the President-Elect is staying in HI for the holidays. As anyone who has lived on Oahu in the last 5-10 years can tell you, power outages aren't exactly rare. I seem to recall scheduling time every third Sunday to be out of the house and doing something at the park or the beach since we knew that the power would go out at home. Oh, and the major outage after that earthquake - that was great fun. Ice cream for breakfast, being jealous of our neighbors for having the foresight to have a gas stove to cook bacon and eggs... Yeah, lots of fun.

Anyways: Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever else you celebrate - hope you had/have a great time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T17:21:00.003-05:00

Things I am thankful for this 27 November 2008: the world's greatest husband (who never complains when I have class or need to work late or travel); three adorable kids (who I love even when they make me crazy and leave Legos out for me to step on); extended family; amazing co-workers; my health, such as it is; the opportunity to attend grad school in Washington, DC; the batch of Joy the Baker's pumpkin pie bars that should be on their way back from Dayton at this very moment; fabulous friends all over the world; positive political change; crackling fires and hot chocolate; good books; Thanksgiving leftovers (which I won't get until Saturday!); one successful year in a job I love; tickets to GWU's Inaugural Ball; pancake breakfasts with my children every weekend; my newly discovered theme song; and the chance to keep on truckin' every day.

And here's a shout-out to Liz, who is thousands of miles from a homemade turkey feast (though at least she's in Germany, where the good beer floweth): I'm going to try and send a batch of these cookies your way. Not sure how, but I'll figure that out later. Hopefully Customs will let them through...

*Special thanks to Deb over at the Smitten Kitchen, whose recipes continually inspire me to try new things (and whose blog post gave me the inspiration for this entry)!

Election status (10pm EST)

2008-11-04T21:58:00.002-05:00

As of 10pm EST, Sen. Obama has a rather commanding lead over Sen. McCain in Electoral College votes (195-70 according to Politico). I find it interesting to compare the tallies between Politico, CNN and NBC. I don't even bother with Fox News since I know which way they're skewed.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be dancing in celebration of a Democratic win on 20 Jan...

;)

Voting

2008-11-04T12:16:00.003-05:00

I took my 5-yr-old with me to cast my vote this morning! He didn't really understand; he said he had already voted (in his kindergarten class, where they voted for their favorite animal - he chose the "buffalo"), so he wasn't sure why Mom was going out to vote. He asked if he could vote with me, but they didn't have the "Kids Vote" at our polling place. There was an extremely nice and gracious older woman who offered to give her "I voted!" sticker to #2 - he was most pleased and did remember to say "thank you".

As for the lines, there was a really long line at the school where I voted - luckily, it was only for those voters with last names that started with L-R. There was absolutely NO line for any of the other letters, which suited me just fine. I didn't see any reporters or exit pollers at my polling place, but when I went to my daughter's school for a parent-teacher conference, there was a young woman there. She asked if I had just voted, and when I responded that I had voted earlier at another location, she blew me off. Honestly, as if I don't have anything important to say as a voter just because I live in a different precinct up the street! *end griping*

In any case, I feel terrific about getting out today to cast my vote. It truly is our civic duty to exercise our right to vote, and it kills me that so many people choose not to, particularly in this historic election. Here's hoping that my candidate of choice wins!

One last thing: I just bought tickets to GWU's Inaugural Ball (20 Jan @ 8pm). How freaking cool is that?!?!

Wild week in Nashville

2008-11-02T10:55:00.005-05:00

I flew in Friday afternoon from Nashville after a week at the 2008 GEOINT Symposium. It was a truly wild week - I had tons of fun, but I am sooooo exhausted!

I thought I'd post some pictures from the event for your enjoyment. You can view pictures from the three days it took to actually set-up the booth, as well as some photos of the booth and some of our exhibitors. I also took some random pictures throughout the week; as a quick background, Craig is one of my co-workers (we work in the same branch - Greg is our branch chief), and the other girls are either fellow co-workers from other branches or exhibitors invited to participate in the show.

I had such a blast at this show. It was extremely hard work (too bad there aren't any pictures of me climbing the truss!), but a terrific experience. I met some wonderful new friends and made great contacts that I hope will pan out for future opportunities. All in all, it was a great time - I hope I can do it all again next year!

Off to Nashville

2008-10-25T06:21:00.002-04:00

I'm heading out to Nashville today to participate in the GEOINT 2008 conference. My agency has a massive booth, so even though the show doesn't start until Tuesday, I've got to be there early to help set-up. Should be an interesting time, though I don't particularly relish the drive up to Baltimore to catch my flight.

I'm a little worried about how Hubby and the kids will manage in my absence. Hubby never cooks, and will only grudgingly reheat leftovers if I'm not available. He's far more apt to hit the drive-thru at some artery-clogging fast food place. Bleh! I've tried my best to fill the fridge with leftovers, and I've given him instructions on how to prep some of the kids' favorite (and fast) dinners. He won't try to prepare flank steak, which is definitely a good thing. He might try my weeknight version of spaghetti (which is similar to my MIL's), or maybe tacos (which I make with shredded rotisserie chicken vs. ground beef). He's taking all of next week off to cope, so hopefully everything will be okay...

Hugs to all, and I'll blog when I get back!

Baking lesson learned

2008-10-21T05:58:00.003-04:00

I tried making blueberry crumb bars last night. They turned out great, but I felt the need to add something. The crust on top wasn't enough - it needed a streusel topping.

So I whipped up a quick topping (flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter) and added it to the top of the mostly cooked bars.

Five minutes later, the topping wasn't crispy yet, and I was worried about over-baking my bars. So I changed to heat from 'bake' to 'broil', and set the timer for 3 minutes while I was folding laundry.

In hind sight, that was a really stupid idea.

Three minutes later, with my timer beeping at me, I emerged from the laundry room to a smoke-filled kitchen. I turned off the oven, scurried around the house opening windows, doors and calling Drew for help.

Did I mention that it was 9pm, 50-ish degrees outside and we were trying to get the kids in bed?

So my adventures in tinkering with a perfectly good recipe resulted in a freezing cold, smoke filled house. Lesson learned: Don't broil baked goods, even if you are trying to achieve a perfect crust without over-baking the rest of the item.

New iPod and other tidbits

2008-10-20T10:51:00.003-04:00

I bought a new iPod yesterday. It's cute - one of those blue 8GB nano thingys. I guess it was some kind of defiant act of thumbing my nose at the world for having the last one stolen. Oh, and the fact that I'm flying to Nashville on Saturday for a show, and I hate flying without music (I need something to distract me from my hatred of flying). So while said new iPod is synchronizing and charging, I thought I'd post an update for everyone.

This weekend, I created a new family blog. I would like to add more pictures, but the battery in our digital camera has died and needs to be charged. I had to purchase a universal charger since we can't find the box with the original charger so.... yeah. I'm hoping to get it taken care of today so that I can drive around and take some pictures before all the leaves fall. The colors are just amazing!

We had our first frost last night, and let me tell you - it was dang cold this morning!! I had to go in search of all of our thick blankets last night, because it went down into the 20's. Brrrr!

iPod sync update: Finally done, and I still have 3.5GB left!

I'm off to buy new pants for Cameron, as he's grown more than an inch and all of his pants are too short for him now. Hugs to all!

Stolen iPod

2008-10-13T19:30:00.002-04:00

At 3pm today, I went out to my car to retrieve the garage door opener so that Hubby could replace the battery for me.

Instead, I discovered that my 80GB video iPod had been stolen from my vehicle.

I'm angry, hurt and depressed. I know it's only an iPod, and I am incredibly grateful that they didn't invade my home and hurt my family. Still, it happened to have pictures of my family and information for some of my contacts on there (I'm always forgetting addresses when I mail packages, so I put the info on the iPod since I don't have a Blackberry or anything). I hate the idea that some low-life creep now has access to that information. I feel.... violated.

I was really enjoying my new home and our nice, quiet street. Now I'm scared and paranoid, and I won't go out to my car after dark anymore, even though it's just in the driveway.

I wish I could just curl up in my bed and cry.

Day out with Hubby

2008-10-11T19:25:00.005-04:00

Hubby and I were able to get a babysitter today (due to my exquisite planning, of course), which allowed us to spend a child-free afternoon exploring the NOVA countryside. Well, we had planned to go into DC and visit the Library of Congress for the first time (I've been meaning to get my LOC card). However, after waiting 30min for the Orange line to arrive at Vienna, we decided to blow off our original plan and try something else. After all, this was our only chance for just the two of us to celebrate his 30th birthday next week (!!), so we didn't want to waste our time trying to transit into crowded DC.

Last night, we had briefly discussed going to Millwood, VA, because of an article that I found in the Washington Post this week. So, deciding to go with that idea, we swung by the gas station (where I was hit on by the clerk inside - weird!), filled up the tank, and off we went toward Fauquier County.

First of all, the changing colors of the fall foliage is GORGEOUS. Unfortunately, because we cannot find the charger for our digital camera, having moved three months ago and still surrounded by unpacked boxes, I do not have photos for you at this time. I'm sorry!!

OK - Back to our adventure.

We drove through Middleburg, which I swear is a New England version of Carmel, CA. I love Carmel, so I think Middleburg is great. More on that later.

We finally made it out to Milltown, after much oooohing and aaaahing at the scenery and the amazing houses on the way. We passed a few quaint towns, a horse show and a roadside stand at 50 and 15 where they were selling live Maine lobsters. Seriously!

Milltown is very small (there's no website!), and there was no parking in sight. Apparently, quite a few people had seen the article in the Post. In any case, there were a couple of antique shops (one was so crowded with overpriced junk I'm surprised that we were able to move), a pottery shop and the Locke Modern Country Store. Going to the store was well worth the trip!! The sandwiches that we had (Turkey BLT with dill havarti, avocado and scallion mayo) were fabulous, and the store was packed with some amazing local goodies. They happened to be hosting a wine tasting, which Hubby and I enjoyed immensely. We purchased three bottles from the vineyards that were providing the tasting:

Fabbioli Cellars, Loudoun County, VA
- Chambourcin 2007
- Raspberry Merlot (Red Table Wine)
Pollak Vineyards, Monticello, VA
- Meritage 2005

We also picked up a new Bordeaux to try: Chateau Suau, Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux, 2005

I really enjoyed the Chambourcin; it was a Bordeaux-like blend with a nice spice to it. And the Raspberry Merlot was great; considering that I generally detest dessert wines, I thought this was a terrific apertif that would be great to have for the holidays. As for the Meritage, Hubby and I both really enjoyed that as well.

Hubby and I followed up the fabulous tasting with a stop at the deli counter, where we ordered our sandwiches, then picked up a couple of teas, chips, cranberry dark chocolate and some apple cake. All told, between lunch and the wines, I was surprised that I only threw down about $100 for everything!

We sat at a picnic table near the mill. Sunshine, good food, good company - it was a perfect lunch!

On our way back home, we stopped through Middleburg. We peeked into a couple of shops, but didn't find anything we wanted to buy. Then we steered toward the Boxwood Tasting Room, where we had a great time. It was a little odd that some of the customers brought their dogs with them (there was one woman with a puppy strapped to her chest with a Baby Bjorn - seriously!), but it made for an interesting atmosphere. We each purchased a "Bordeaux Flight", where we tried 1oz glasses of different types of Bordeaux. Here's a link to Hubby's blog with the details of our tastings that he dutifully typed up in his crackberry. Anyway, we discovered some new wines that we loved, and some that we hope never to encounter again. Either way, we had a great time!

It was actually a really terrific day. Hubby said that he enjoyed himself, and I know that I had a great time. I hope we can do it again soon - we passed some B&B's on our drive, so maybe I can find someone willing to babysit overnight so we can stay at one of them...

Thoughts on politics

2008-10-03T13:27:00.003-04:00

It's the day after the VP debate, and I need to throw out a few thoughts on politics that have been nagging me for the last several weeks.

1. When did "intellectual discourse" become a dirty word? (Ok, it's a phrase, but you get the picture.) Seriously - I wasn't alive before the 1970's, but as a student of American history, I have always been inspired by the educated and thoughtful (and grammatically correct) speeches of FDR, Eisenhower and Kennedy. Hell, I even liked Reagan's speeches. Unfortunately, it appears that well-reasoned and inspiring political discourse no longer appeals to the voters. Instead, some political "masterminds" seem to think that America is populated by uneducated dullards that find "folksy" and "cute" to be the only qualities necessary to lead one of the most powerful governments on the planet. I miss the days where politicians were allowed to exercise their intellect and use "big words" to explain their policies...

2. With that in mind, everyone MUST READ this book. It will inspire you to consider the true definition of patriotism, regardless of your party affiliation.

3. Sarah Palin makes me crazy. Of all the women in politics, why on God's green earth did McCain have to choose her as his running mate? I'm sure she's a wonderful person, but I have been horribly disappointed with her as a VP candidate. She is uninformed about major issues (ranging from foreign affairs to the economy to basic human rights), and I find her inability to answer the questions in last night's debate to be highly disturbing. I was mortified with her response to the question regarding VP responsibilities. Did anyone else notice that she's for expanding the duties of the Vice President?? Considering what Cheney has done to the office (let alone his inability to decide which branch of government he belongs to), I am terrified at the possibility of further disregard for the Constitution. I could go on, but I'll leave it at that.

4. I was a little disappointed with Biden for not digging into Palin for more specifics. Unfortunately, he did the best he could with the pressures he was under. He really was in a no-win situation with regard to facing off with Palin. If he had handled her with kid gloves, he would have been railed for sexism because he "didn't treat her like an equal". If he had fought back at her, he would have been railed for being combative. Poor guy was screwed either way. I think he handled it very well, though I wish he had called her out for not answering the questions (seriously - did she actually answer any of the questions other than the one about not believing in gay marriage?) and for resorting to a bunch of irritating punchlines that came off as horribly fake. Blergh.

That said, I have been very impressed with the class and integrity with which Obama and Biden have conducted themselves during this presidential campaign. I tend to agree with some of my friends in that McCain has come across as doddering, inconsistent and cranky. Palin has come across as fake, oblivious and inexperienced. Of course, none of the candidates are perfect. But I'll be honest: I'd much rather have a constitutional lawyer as president over someone who has made a career of running for President.

Wha.....?

2008-09-26T22:03:00.003-04:00

McCain just called Iran an "existential threat to Israel".

What in the hell does that mean?!?!

Audience Reaction update: flat-lined at just above average for McCain - oh wait, just dipped about his stammering over the Middle East; generally flat-lined well above average for Obama

Points update: on the positive side for Obama, especially after his demonstration of understanding of ME politics (especially the tension between Iran and Iraq)

Wow, just saw McCain take some hits from the pundits/audience...

This is so much fun to watch!!

Watching the debate

2008-09-26T21:40:00.004-04:00

Wow, I'm incredibly impressed with McCain - he managed to use every single tag line that he has in his (limited) arsenal, including his shout-out to his VP-nominee without answering the question! Way to go, John!

I'm pretty disappointed that McCain has not provided a single specified answer to any of the questions. Obama has done his fair share of question dodging for the sake of platform promotion, but at least he's provided some specifics. Sigh.

The numbers on CNN's "Analyst Scorecard" are really interesting. As of this moment (9:46EST), Obama's numbers are pretty damn high. Even the staunch conservatives at the analyst table are panning McCain...

BAM - Obama just served McCain for his lame attack re: the defense spending bill. It's starting to get ugly down in Ol' Miss...

So it's almost my birthday...

2008-09-21T22:47:00.002-04:00

... in about an hour. I'll be 29 this year.

Is it sad that my kids are more excited about my birthday than I am?

No, seriously - I really couldn't care less that it's my birthday. Even though it's my day off, I'll be spending it doing chores, editing a presentation and writing an 8-10 page paper. Oh yeah, and my daughter has field hockey at 7pm. So from my perspective, it's not much of a birthday. Then again, it isn't much different than past birthdays have been. At least it's better than last year, when I was in Hawaii with the boys and trying to finish checking out of the Navy, or the year before, when I worked late, had watch AND someone threw out my lunch when they spontaneously decided to clean out the office fridge.

Maybe that's why I'm feeling so apathetic about the whole thing. I hope next year is more interesting.

*sigh*

presentation ideas

2008-09-02T21:31:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to come up with some ideas for a presentation I have to have ready in two weeks for one of my classes ("Cyber Threats to National Security"). Here's what I've got so far:

- classification of cyberspace as a battlefield for the purpose of drafting operational doctrine
- disparities between US and international cyber warfare policy (NATO, Estonia, etc.)
- foreign policy implications of classifying cyber attacks (on economic, government, commercial infrastructure, etc.) as an "act of war"
- foreign policy implications of pressing charges against foreign nations for cyber attacks (can we prove it? if so, how will that affect foreign relations? will it reveal too much about our capabilities/vulnerabilities?)

Hmmmm...

Zombie Mom

2008-08-23T10:21:00.002-04:00

I am SO tired. It doesn't help that my husband has come home from work after 9pm every day this week (last night it was around 1am when he finally returned). It also doesn't help that I'm determined to keep the kids on a regular schedule, which means getting them in bed around 8pm and having them wake up around 5am.

I am SO tired.

Today's plan is to clean, do laundry and run errands. Totally boring day, if you ask me. I need a boring day, but I doubt the kidlets will cooperate. I was hoping to go for a picnic today, except it's the weather that has it out for me at the moment. Le sigh.

OMG, I just moved to take a sip of my coffee and thought my arm was going to fall off. One of my co-workers is developing a workout routine for me (which I desperately need), but boy am I sore today. He had me doing modified crunches with the medicine ball, along with assisted dips/chin-ups and dumbbell presses.

Maybe that's another reason I'm SO tired... ;)

:)

2008-08-17T14:50:00.001-04:00

Well said.

Way to go, Mr. Phelps. :)

Day off

2008-08-11T15:45:00.005-04:00

Apparently, I bake on my days off.

No, seriously - I have been a baking fool today.

For whatever reason, I've been ridiculously inspired to bake today. I found a recipe last week for Mocha Rum Cake, and it is now cooling on my counter (and smells divine). More later on how it turns out (will add rum glaze eventually).

It occurred to me that I couldn't take the mocha rum cake to work. First of all, I don't have a convenient way to transport it, as it's almost a mile from the parking lot to my office. Second, if I make a baked item with rum in it (especially for the first time) and don't let my hubby have some, I may find some divorce papers on my desk. You can't take a slice out of a bundt cake and then try to take the rest to work - that just isn't kosher. So since I am out of options regarding the cake, I guess it's a good thing I went to Whole Foods today.

While I was at Whole Foods buying bread flour to make chocolate chip cookies (forgot the unsalted butter though, so I'm SOL there), I grabbed a 2lb container of some awesome looking blueberries. What do you do with a 2lb container of plump blueberries? Apparently, I make Blueberry Crumb Bars. There is currently a 9x13in pan of these babies in my oven, and boy, does my kitchen smell yummy.

Oh, and did I mention the 6.5lb Boston pork butt that's slow cookin' in my crock pot? Yay for pulled pork!!

It is a good day off. :D

What happened to the national anthem???

2008-08-09T22:53:00.004-04:00

What in the world happened to our national anthem at the Olympics tonight?

Well, I guess it's "this morning" out in Beijing, but it's still only 11pm here (EST). We stayed up late to watch Phelps win (go USA!) in the 400IM, and then made it a point to watch the medal ceremony. When we heard the opening notes of the "Star Spangled Banner", my husband and I both looked at each other - something didn't sound right. Then the opening refrain repeated (you could see the confusion on Mama Phelps' face - I looked the same way). And then the unthinkable: at "o'er the land of the-", the song STOPPED.

That's right, the "Star Spangled Banner" got cut off at an Olympics medal ceremony.

I am, to say the least, horribly shocked. I might also be a bit offended - I haven't decided yet. Points to Phelps and Lochte, as they both handled the situation with grace. Same goes for the Phelps family and Bush delegation.

Still, what happened??

I rewound the footage (thanks to my trusty DVR) back to the beginning of the song. Sounds like someone had two tracks playing at once, then decided on just one. But that still doesn't explain why the song cut off.

And am I being overly paranoid about the fact that the song just happened to cut off at "free"?

Things that make you go "hmmmmm....."

Life coach or life insurance?

2008-07-28T21:22:00.002-04:00

Two pieces of mail arrived today: the county "Adult and Community Education" catalog for Fall '08 and a "letter" from New York Life Insurance.

So now the hubby and I are torn between two opportunities to spend our money.

Do we sign up for "Visions: Live Your Possibilities"? How about "Change Your Energy - Change Your Life"?

Or do we pour our money into additional life insurance? New York Life makes the following compelling argument in their letter:

"Make sure your family can pay-off the $xxx,xxx mortgage should you die..."

Decisions, decisions...

;)

Painting

2008-07-28T13:15:00.002-04:00

Painting the dining room today. Not the whole thing - just the 3ft space below the chair rail. The area above the chair rail is beige (the label on the paint cans left in the garage by the previous owners says "antique white"), while the chair rails and other borders are just plain old white (probably "snowflake" or some other lame moniker).

The color I'm painting, you ask?

"Cranberry bog"

:D

Hubby picked it out from the 10 colors I offered (which were, admittedly, pretty similar). He likes it, and he dictated that the color was to be plum or maroon or something. If it makes him happy, I'm good with it.

Off to commune with a paint brush!!

GAI on Capitol Hill

2008-07-23T18:02:00.002-04:00

I've been attending a course with the Government Affairs Institute this week; the course is "Congress and the Intelligence Community".

Thus far, I've had the opportunity to interact with some of my peers, which is always a good experience (not to mention enlightening - for all of us!). Our speakers have ranged from scholars focused on governmental affairs to lobbyists to House and Senate committee staffers. This morning, I sat in on a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing ("China on the Eve of the Olympics"). I was scheduled to visit the House and/or Senate floor, but ran out of time before I had to fetch the children.

I have been incredibly impressed with this course, especially the quality of the speakers. Well, I wasn't a fan of the lobbyist, but what can you do? ;) I was already familiar with many of the concepts/issues covered throughout the course due to my own studies, but I have learned a great deal about the appropriations process and how the two intel committees tend view each other (which is less than favorable most of the time). The final day of the course should prove equally rewarding.

Overall, I've had a really terrific time in this course. I wish that my classmates were a little more engaged with the speakers (except for the Army guy who won't shut up, the Niles Frasier look-a-like [though not as cute and with a much bigger head], and the CI guy who keeps turning the conversation back to himself), and I feel bad for the counsel from Senate Judiciary who got slammed legislative decisions that were totally not his fault. But generally speaking, everything else has been extremely informative, professional and relevant.

Even though I got rejected from Georgetown (boo! hiss!!), I think I might pursue the Legislative Studies Certificate that this class is part of. I definitely want to pursue a Capitol Hill Fellowship when I'm done with my M.A.

Am I over-reaching here? Maybe I need to take a vacation and cool my jets a bit... ;)

Curly hair = problem child?

2008-07-14T21:06:00.003-04:00

K3 is about to get kicked out of day care - for the second time. He's pushing the other kids in his class. Mind you, he's almost 3-4 inches taller than the rest of his class (he's HUGE for his age - he's 2 and about as tall as my 4-yr-old). The teacher's don't like him because he continues to defy authority. Heh, wonder where he got that from? ;)

Unfortunately, we're seeing a pattern here. We had the same problem with K1 when she was younger; turns out she has ADHD with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. We have a hard enough time dealing with her, though the summer is blessedly easy (no homework to fight over every night). I can't imagine how we're going to cope if we have the same problems with K3... Though he's showing the same defiance, he's demonstrating it about 2 years earlier than K1. He also has no problem sitting down with the class to listen to a story, or to eat his meal (especially when he's hungry, which is pretty much all the time). He doesn't demonstrate of the hyperactive, impulse control problems K1 had/has - just the problem with authority.

Hubby posed an interesting question: Does the fact that they both have curly hair have anything to do with their behavior? K2 has straight dirty blonde hair; K1 and K3 both have curly brownish-blonde hair. I was hoping we weren't the first people to come to this conclusion, so I did a little digging online. No dice.

My new hypothesis is as follows: Curly-haired children have more behavior problems than straight-haired children.

Prove me wrong, world! I dare ya!!

Need plants to block view

2008-07-13T19:44:00.002-04:00

Note to self:

We need a fence, but it can't extend in front of the neighbor's house (which is difficult, since it's situated almost entirely behind our house, since we live on the corner of a cul-de-sac). The HOA says we can put up the fence, but it can't be viewed from the street. So, I've done some research and come up with some plant options:

Old-fashioned Lilac (Syringa vulgaris)
Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Eastern white cedar (arborvitae)

I need a plant/shrub/tree that grows quickly, can handle partial sun (mostly shade, frankly) and will probably grow when I forget to water/fertilize/prune it.

Any suggestions?

Recipe success!

2008-07-13T13:28:00.002-04:00

Pulled pork turned out AWESOME - I'm so proud of myself!!! :D

Here is the recipe I pilfered for last night's dinner. My family isn't fond of onions (bleh!), so I added onion powder to the sauce instead of layering onions underneath the pork shoulder. I forgot to add the water to the sauce mixture before I poured it (half as the recipe suggests) into my crock pot, so I added all of the water into the pot without thinking - oops! Luckily it wasn't a disaster - in fact, the pork was incredibly juicy.

As for the sauce: I didn't want the pork to be overpowered by the sauce, so I only added a little to each sandwich. Turned out that the sauce was so good that everyone asked for extra - didn't overpower the pork at all! Mind you, this was the half of the sauce that I didn't use in the crock pot, so it was lacking the water I dumped into the pot at the last minute. I think I prefer it that way, because it was deliciously tangy and thick. I also didn't have any tomato paste (which I properly scolded myself for not having, because it's a kitchen necessity!), so I used a little extra ketchup in the sauce. I don't care about my flubs - I think it made the sauce (and the pork) turn out fantastic!

Hubby and I just had pulled pork sandwiches for lunch, and they were even better today. I think it's just one of those foods that gets better after a day one or two. YUM!!

:D

5 minutes of peace....

2008-07-12T18:03:00.004-04:00

Hubby, K1 and K2 are out at a movie...

... that started at 2pm.

It is now 6pm, and my blood sugar is crashing. Must eat soon. Food in crock pot (pulled pork - 1st attempt) is ready to go, just can't eat it without rest of family. K3 is happily watching "Hercules" (Disney movie) in the family room, and I'm standing in the kitchen staring at the chaos that is my counter.

I have absolutely no motivation to do anything. Bleh.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I had even the tiniest inkling where the rest of my clan was, but as Hubby left his cell phone here (which is clearly doing him a world of good).... Yeah.

So instead, I'll catch you up on the latest happenings:

- moved into new house, which is still in a painful state of chaos. I'm lucky to get one box unpacked a week at this point.
- Hubby's relatives stopped by last week with tools and a chainsaw (swEET!). Had fun "pruning" the trees in the backyard. Up-side: yard doesn't feel claustrophobic and how have pile of firewood for winter. Down-side: huge pile of broken twigs to bundle for pick-up is sitting in back of yard.
- quiet week at work. Managed to score job shadowing with Congressional starting in Sept when things ramp up after summer break.
- scheduled to attend class on Capitol Hill in two weeks (cool!).
- hung 12 pictures today! Go me!
- trying to make pulled pork for the first time. Been craving it for weeks. Wish me luck!

That's.... about it. I'm ridiculously boring, I know. I don't even have any funny stories to share.

Blergh.

Put a fork in me....

2008-07-08T19:25:00.001-04:00

... I'm done!!

What am I done with:

- children who refuse to watch any movie other than "Sleeping Beauty" and "Shrek"
- bosses who take more time off in a month than I do in a year
- bills
- laundry
- cooking dinner for an unappreciative brood
and
- neighbors who prefer to park in front of your house rather than their own (and let their yappy little ankle-biters roam the street without leashes and poop in your yard)

I can't explain why I'm in such a funk. Honestly, I really don't have that much to complain about. I've just bought an awesome house (even though the husband has already managed to chip my granite counter top), and I've got NOTHING to do at work at the moment. I've even managed to score a 2 week job shadowing with our congressional team. All in all, things are going fairly well. So why am I in such a funk?

I'm going to blame my mood on hormones. That's what the husband does, and it seems to work for him.

:P

Where did May go?

2008-06-06T18:49:00.001-04:00

So I just realized that May completely passed me by without a single post.

Wow.

Where the hell was I?!?!
.
.
.
.
So anyways, we're about to buy a house. The day is nearly upon us - 16 June is the day I sign my life over for a ridiculous sum of money to purchase the home that (hopefully) my children will grow up in.

Considering I've already been through this "signing your life over" thing once (thx, USN), I figure this won't be as terrifying as everyone keeps telling me it will be.

Just in case, however, I will be baking cookies this weekend to help me cope. I figure I can justify 2-3 cookies per box that I pack. Now I just need to decide: chocolate chip or snickerdoodles??

:D

Noisemakers

2008-04-29T19:26:00.002-04:00

Hubby just came up with a brilliant marketing and counter-insurgency idea. Ever heard of the Annoy-a-tron on ThinkGeek? We've got a new tool that has this sucker beat.

Do you have coworkers that make you crazy?

Are those pesky insurgents holing up in your village and need to be exterminated?

Is your mother-in-law or that good-for-nothing ex-significant other constantly dropping by unannounced?

Well, your troubles are over. Just purchase your very own noisemaker! Cloned from day care-tested toddlers, these tiny wonders are sure to clear a room in record time. Simply provide these amazing feats of nature with some sugar, stand back and enjoy the show!

As an added bonus, these noisemakers also come with a variety of smells and bodily functions for you to choose from in case you have a particularly nasty visitor. These features also prove effective when combined with other interrogation techniques, ranging from sleep deprivation to Chinese water torture.

Call now to order your very own noisemaker! Act now - supplies are limited!

Disclaimer: Cloned children must be fed and cleaned daily. Failure to do so will result in mass hysteria, destruction of property and possible incarceration.

Best $12.12 ever spent?

2008-04-20T13:06:00.001-04:00

As it's raining, the kids can't go outside. However, I did need to swing by the bank to deposit one of our tax refunds (wheee!), and there just happened to be a McD's next door. As I am a mother who does not let an opportunity for quiet, happy children pass by easily, I pulled through the drive-thru for some instant sanity.

30 minutes and $12.12 later, my three wild children are now bounding around the living room with identical "Idol" musical toys.

Remind me to implicate Simon Cowell as a Leatherman-carrying maniac the next time I'm behind him in the airport security line.

Catching up

2008-04-19T14:49:00.001-04:00

I offer the following excuses for why I have neglected to update in recent weeks:

1. Got accepted to GWU and *squeeee!!!*'d my way through life for several days. I'm still recovering.
2. Lost attempted bid on a house (someone else threw down as we were signing the bid paperwork).
3. Went to St. Louis for several days during massive flooding. Reconfirmed my theory that people who drive into areas marked "Do not enter when flooded" are continuing to reproduce at record rates and must be stopped through innovative sterilization program. Still working out the kinks in my plan.
4. Put in for a new job (which would mean a promotion).
5. Consoled buddy who didn't get job he applied for when office politics took over and the least qualified person got the job.
6. Worked two conferences with long hours, including a last-minute show up in Baltimore on a Saturday. Blergh.
7. Put in bid on another house.
8. Countered the counter bid (same price, earlier close date requested by sellers).
9. Worked another conference that was a total waste of time. Confirmed belief that conferences are merely an excuse for slackers to scam out of work for free swag.
10. Found out that aforementioned counter bid was accepted. We will soon own a house worth half a million dollars. *faints*
11. Interviewed for aforementioned job that I applied for. Hauled arse home to fetch children after hubby left for FL.
12. Took Friday off to attend open house at GWU. Missed out on free cocktail reception to fetch children while hubby is in FL.
13. Still wondering how it's fair that hubby gets to party at Walt Disney World for 6 days while I get to wrangle three children, work full-time and plan for next St. Louis trip.

So.... yeah. Those are my excuses. Take 'em or leave 'em.

Must go deal with whining/crying/hungry children. Hope no one else is having as many problems with their brood as I seem to be having today.

Blergh.

Final Score: 1-1

2008-03-16T17:17:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I didn't get accepted to Georgetown. Honestly, it was a long shot - my GRE scores were abysmal at best, so I really wasn't holding out much hope of competing against thousands of applicants. Hey, at least I can say I tried, right?

The good news is that I did get accepted at GWU, which really does have a great program. I've been looking over the course offerings (many of which I knew I wanted before I even applied), and I feel good about the coursework opportunities. I sent back my "Declaration of Intent" yesterday, along with the $500 deposit (OUCH!). Guess that clinches it.

Eeeeek!

I can't quite wrap my brain around the fact that I'm going to grad school. It really is very exciting. I suppose it will sink in sometime next week while I'm in St. Louis on TDY.

Eeeeek!!

In other news, house hunting is not going well. I'm frustrated at the current house prices and the lack of offerings. My Realtor says that we're entering prime house shopping season, so we should see the available inventory grow exponentially soon. (Come on, be impressed I can use the word "exponentially"!) As soon as the weather started warming up a bit this past week, we saw no less than 5 "For Sale" signs pop up on our street. Here's hoping that more people put their places up for sale in the neighborhood we like!

How are you today? ;)

1-0-1

2008-03-12T17:47:00.002-04:00

After many days and hours of shaking fists in frustration at the unyielding mailbox, the following arrived in today's mail:

"Dear ___:

Congratulations on your admission to the Master of Arts program in Security Policy Studies, effective fall semester, 2008, at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs."

**SQUEEE!**

No funding, but that's ok - my GI Bill will help cover my costs. I finally discovered something good about serving in the Navy. ;)

So - one down, one to go. Wish me luck!!

Blergh to the mailbox

2008-03-10T16:24:00.002-04:00

Still nothing.

Nada.

没有。

Toooooootally empty.

ARGH!

I am not a patient woman.

2008-03-07T19:31:00.001-05:00

I somehow managed to last 7 hours in labor before asking for an epidural.

I waited until our daughter was three before finally getting a proposal from the hubby.

I even lasted 8 YEARS in the Navy before returning to the real world.

So why is it that I can't wait 2 measly months between submitting my graduate school applications and receiving decision letters?

:|

It's Friday and I still haven't heard anything about my apps. I've had a very busy week at work, during which many props were received for doing good things. I also applied for a promotion at work (it would be a new job in a different office, hence the need to "apply"). I even booked my hotel and plane tickets for the TDY that (sort of) starts next week. I feel rather proud of myself for being so productive.

So why is it that I'm so wigged out about not receiving letters?

ARGH!!

And thus it begins...

2008-03-05T06:10:00.001-05:00

Someone (not me) got their rejection letter for the SPS program at GWU this week. That means that the letters have been released...

Why do I hear "Jaws" music in the background?

Mailbox anxiety

2008-03-04T17:10:00.002-05:00

Every day (except Sunday, so at least I get a break), I walk to the mailbox with a combination of dread and excitement.

Will it arrive today?

Will it be an acceptance letter? (Yay!!)

Will it be a rejection letter? (Ok, don't cry in public...)
.
.
.
.

As of today, my mailbox remains, as always, full of junk mail, bills and letters from family. It remains empty of the two items I so anxiously await.

Blergh.

In other news, we might buy a house.

Is no news really good news?

2008-02-26T19:06:00.001-05:00

My mailbox continues to refuse to spit out any notifications from Georgetown or George Washington. I am greatly annoyed at it's insolence.

At least I can generally take comfort in the knowledge that no one else appears to have heard anything either. Ok, I take that back - lots of people have received the dreaded "letter", but no one with my academic focus. At least, as far as I know.

*squirms nervously*

Date Night Review

2008-02-24T09:40:00.002-05:00

Hubby and I went out to dinner in DC last night.

We had planned on taking the Metro, but that fell through when we discovered (online, thankfully) that Metro Center was experiencing serious delays for maintenance. Blergh. Good thing it's only $10 to park at the Ronald Reagan Building on the weekends.

The restaurant wasn't bad, but frankly, it was overpriced. The server was nice enough, but you could tell that he wasn't terribly interested in us (we weren't dressed to the nines like some of the clientèle). Hubby's lamb loin was pretty yummy, but my risotto was somehow over- and under-cooked at the same time. Don't ask how that happened, because I don't seem to have that problem with my risotto. In any case, dessert was the highlight of the meal - I had a "modernized" tiramisu that was fabulous! I enjoyed my toscana, but hubby was less impressed with his chianti. As we were leaving, we had to make our way through a packed bar populated with a bunch of sorority/fraternity alumni that clearly needed to learn that choosing fashion over survival (it was 20-something degrees outside!) is simply not attractive. Watching two scantily clad blondes try to defrost by the bathrooms was mildly entertaining.

Following dinner, we went for a walk outside. We were only a couple of blocks from the Mall, and I had hoped to see the various monuments romantically lit up. Unfortunately, poor hubby is still recovering from the flu and it was just too dang cold outside to do much walking. We ended up getting in the car and attempting to find a parking spot close to the Lincoln Memorial.

What a total bust that was.

Washington Monument parking? Bust.

WWII Memorial parking? Bust.

Jefferson Memorial parking? Nice view across the water, but too dang far to walk. Bust.

We did get good (probably illegal) parking outside the US Capitol, but the digital camera kept trying to focus on the closest source of light (nearby lamp post). So decent pictures? Yeah, that was a bust too.

The monuments were beautiful, and I'm really sorry that we couldn't see them up close. My hoped-for night of romantic walks in the moonlight didn't turn out as planned.

Sigh.

On the upside, we came home to discover two out of three children asleep on the couch. The babysitter, hubby's cousin, got handsomely rewarded for that amazing feat.

Maybe I'll get a chance to try this again next month when it's a bit warmer. However, notes for next time:

- don't waste time at "highly reviewed" but completely overrated restaurants - we're hittin' the pubs
- wait until the Metro isn't experiencing delays so we don't have to drive (but thank heavens for GPS!)
- screw dressing up, I'm wearing jeans and sneakers
- think about buying cheap disposable camera that won't try to auto-focus

Sigh.

Waiting for graduate school rejection letters = stress

2008-02-21T13:55:00.004-05:00

I know it's only 21 Feb, and technically notifications aren't sent out until mid-March, but I'm starting to feel like I'm in a constant state of anxiety about my graduate school applications. Why? Here are a few reasons:

1. My GRE scores were atrocious.
2. I still worry about my personal statement.
3. Reading about other people and their qualifications makes me feel horribly inadequate.

I haven't heard anything yet, but neither have many of the other folks I've chatted with on various forums. I don't feel so alone, but I'm still neurotic about the whole blasted thing. I think I'd feel better if I just got the rejections in the mail and it was over with. This waiting is horrible - it's like being pregnant and waiting to go into labor. You know this painful, miserable thing is going to happen, and you can't wait for it to be over. Still, there's that bit of hope that it will all go smoothly and the 40-billion complications that might pop up never will materialize.

So just tell me already! Quit messing with my head!

*shakes fist at The Man*

However, looking at the list of things "to do" from my last post makes me feel ever so slightly better about myself. I've actually accomplished most of them.

Go me!

Coffee is a beautiful thing.

2008-01-26T11:40:00.000-05:00

Things I've accomplished recently:

1. Submitted applications to Georgetown and George Washington University.
2. Finally hung up pictures and degrees.

Things I still need to accomplish:

1. Consolidate cookie orders and figure out how many cases to order for booth sales.
2. Organize personal files.
3. Do laundry. Lots of it.
4. Gather and drop off dry cleaning.
5. Send thank you notes to people for writing reference letters.
6. Make Costco run to order glasses and pick up food/supplies.
7. File taxes. (Joy.)
8. Get Christmas stuff back in the garage.
9. Clean out garage and put up shelves so we can put everything else away.

Looking at these lists depresses me. Guess I should get started on that stuff rather than wasting my time here.

HA!