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

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

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

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!

International Travel - Part 2

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.

International Travel - Part 1

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!

End of Summer Adventures - Part 4

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.

Our cat is weird.

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

**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. 

Annie's First Day

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

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...

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...

Updated: School Boundary Study

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

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!  

End of Summer Adventures - Part 2

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...

End of Summer Adventures - Part 1

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

Birthday Cake Goodness

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.

Beef Stew Goodness

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.

Unaccompanied Minor Travel FAIL

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.

From hobby to income?

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.

Can someone tell me why I do this again?

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!!