post post post turkey day hangover
November 30th, 2008
The results of our first poll (28 votes) are in with stuffing and sweet potatoes tying for first place and taking in a combined more than 50% of the vote. This comes as quite a surprise to me but the loyal juxtaexposers (sp?) have spoken. Personally, I was pulling for cranberry sauce (carefully removed from the can so the lines remain, of course) which only received a single lonely vote. Having just enjoyed three separate T-giving dinners over the past few days I can certainly understand how Turkey, the supposed Thanksgiving staple and infamous purveyor of tryptophan hangover, would not receive a vote. By my second dinner I took a little bit of Turkey out of principle/tradition but come round three I let the turkey, both light and dark meat, be.
As for the photo above it has nothing really to do with Thanksgiving, or anything in particular, but I took on my day off before Thanksgiving and I like it. So there.
Also, Bread for the City is still collecting donations for their Holiday Helpings campaign to help provide celebratory holiday meals for over 10,000 low-income families in the Washington, DC area. Just $28 dollars can provide a much needed and greatly appreciated meal. I donated, it felt good, and you can still by clicking here. Thanksgiving has clearly past but Bread for the City is still accepting donations to for holiday meals during the Xmas season.
This is the first time in 3 years that I haven’t dressed as Gobbles the Turkey for the annual Silver Spring Thanksgiving Parade. So, I’m posting a photo from last year as an effort to relive one of my very favorite costume jobs… There is really nothing better than getting paid to walk around as a mute puppet for 2 hours.
Hopefully whoever was the turkey this year had just as much fun with it — as well as all the other emotions and situations that go along with being a costume character: the massive amounts of sweating into the foam head, the kids that you scare the hell out of and make them cry, the kids that pet you, the adults that pet you, the kids that try to peer inside the breathing hole and see if you are a boy or a girl, the cheesy jokes about getting eaten, the “Where’s the stuffing?! joke, people who try and pull your hand/gloves off, and oh that one parent who threatened me (a non-talking turkey) with legal action and calling the cops because I was walking around in public and her child was afraid of me, and I was causing her mental distress.
Midday Update: Our piranha lost an eye
November 20th, 2008
So last week at work we finally filled our fish tank (which had been sitting empty for almost 6 months) with some fish. There are two plecos that don’t do much besides hide in the back where you can’t see them, and then there are 4 vicious piranhas. The very first night, 3 of the bully piranhas apparently ganged up on the 4th one. When we came in the next morning, he had a mangled fin and his eye was all white and nasty looking. Well, today he lost the eye. It just floated away. You can see the empty hole in the picture. gross!!
Another Take on the National Cathedral…
November 20th, 2008
Matt shot this double exposure of the Cathedral with a Holga camera. I love how chunky and abstract it turned out. It kinda reminds me of the Disney version of Cinderella when Gus looks up at the staircase and it goes all blurry and he sees double because it is so high for a little mouse to climb up.
I love it when I get an email with “chocolate” in the subject line. Jill just sent me these pictures straight from the CIA, The Culinary Institute of America , and holy cow! YUM. It is her “Chocolate Showpiece.” And it’s made entirely out of chocolate… eeeeee!
…Sticky Fingers Bakery. They have really yummy hot chocolate. It’s so thick and rich that the recipe very well may be a melted Hershey bar in a cup with marshmallows. They’ve also got all the vegan and non-dairy/non-egg based sweet treats if you are into that sort of thing… plus a cozy little area for reading, lap-toping, and being generally trendy.
On Sundays there is often a drum circle in Meridian Hill Park , so we went to check it out last weekend. We were probably on the late side–it was close to 5:00 in the evening– so by the time we arrived there were just these two guys tapping away. It seemed like the old guy was teaching the younger guy as if it was his first time there. I sat and listened for a little bit while Matt took this shot. It was definitely a good background beat for fall in the park, but we gotta go back later to catch a bigger group of drummers…
What a crazy bicycle! I have never seen another one like it. You could fit a ton of stuff in that gigantic basket, and I bet the owner of it does. I wonder though, what is the point of the smaller front wheel and the crutch to prop it up?
We saw these guys at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market on Sunday : The Who Farm, or the White House Organic Farm Project. They were collecting signatures on a petition asking president-elect Obama to allow an organic farm to be planted on the grounds of the White House. They do have a pretty cool bus with a garden on top of it — and lots of people were stopping to talk to them.
Yesterday we walked over to 11th and Park Ave. to check out a street art project called Albus Cavus (meaning white cave in Latin). The basic premise is to beautify streets in need of some prettying, in this case, they had a construction fence that was surrounding a run down liquor store. The developer donated the fence space to these artists for the next 6 months, until the new project is built.
It looks like the artists were out there for most of the day Sunday, painting and cutting out their designs. By the time we got there in the afternoon, they were just starting to hang the images on the fence.
Yesterday was way too nice outside to do all the things that needed being done inside (schoolwork). So, instead, we rode our bikes over to the National Cathedral. I had never actually been over there or inside the cathedral, so we spent some time wandering through the various chapels on the crypt level (oooo sounds so creepy) and taking pictures wherever services weren’t going on. And of course we walked through the gift shop, where the only thing that was remotely interesting was a calendar called “Nuns Having Fun” and I think they were riding a roller coaster or something on the cover. There was also an area of “state books” where you could sign one of the 50+ appropriate binders to tell the world where you were visiting from. I did look and see there were approximately 8 visitors from Alaska, one from Chugiak!
Unfortunately, the observation level on the 7th floor was closed. I’m not sure if that’s always the case or if it has certain hours, but it did sound like it would be a cool view. Anyways, the view from the ground was nice enough. We also walked through the gardens at the rear of the building, and sat down at a picnic table to eat our PB&J sandwiches. As soon as we had taken one bite, a fox and a dog that was chasing it came flying out of the trees in front of us and darted past our table in a matter of a few seconds. Yikes! Good thing the fox was being pursued and not lazily walking towards us with a foaming mouth.
The rest of the picture set is here, there are some really nice shots of the light coming through the stained glass windows, some arches, vaults, and one of me and a heart-shaped leaf.
Matt has titled this image, “clothed ascending an escalator”. I enjoy all the wobbly blur of people on the left side of this photo — those that were brave enough to try and walk up the monster of an escalator that is at Woodley Park Zoo.
I looked up Women in Black because I was curious about what it was. Apparently it is an anti-war group of women that hold silent vigils for justice and peace (and apparently shop at Kohl’s) not only in DC but internationally, too. The movement started in Israel in 1988 and is now practiced across the world in response to the many different conflicts of our times. I’m guessing, because of her location near the White House, that this woman in particular was showing her opposition to the Iraq war. What do you think about the statement on her sign?
Obama wins, and the people celebrated last night in DC. I was definitely awake last night — well past 3am — to the sounds of joyous yelling, car honking galore, and general celebrational noises (fireworks). It’s an interesting time to be living in this city, and I’m looking forward to seeing how things will change in the next 6 months.
“young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”
They made it! Though this news is a few weeks old, I thought I’d take a break from DC pictures to post an update from my crazy adventurous side of the family. David, Kristy, Dusty, and Kodi are now residing in Chugiak, Alaska on Lori Street (hell yeah!). I’m not sure how they took this picture, either they know how to use the camera self timer or they asked a wild moose or bear.
These are my sushi candy Halloween treats — rice krispy treats, fruit-by-the-foot, Swedish fish, marshmallows, and Runts candies. They look cute, but some of the flavor combinations could use a little work. I wish I could say that I came up with this delicacy, but I saw it on somebody else’s blog awhile ago… YUM
Absinthe Fairy costume = success
November 1st, 2008
My absinthe fairy costume was a great success last night at the “Dress Like a Drink” Halloween party we attended. Thanks to Jill’s old prom dress and Matt’s artistic tattoo skills, I got many compliments on my ensemble, as well as a few people who thought that I had a real tattoo. It’s amazing what a black and a silver Sharpie marker can accomplish! Also amazing that it is completely gone after just one shower… The other clever costumes in attendance included my date, Johnny Walker, our friends Jack Daniels, a Kamikaze shooter, Survivor contestants, a bloody doctor, and Zach who was just creepy with grey hair. We also saw Jello Shots, bloody marys, some fuzzy navels, a lemon drop, sake bombs, a land shark, Corbel champagne, makers mark, magic hat, and red bull vodka.
