Woweeezowweee, I can’t believe that the new year is almost here, and I only managed to post twice before now in the month of December. We are still alive! We’ve been crazy busy, but in a good way. Finishing up the semester always feels like it rolls right into the holidays without much time for a breather, and with family visits, home projects, and all the rest in between, this last month has really flown by with lots of happy times. Matt and I each put two more grad classes behind us and are now a 1.5 years (Matt) and 1 year (me) away from our Masters Degrees. Woo hoo! Will life go back to normal after that?
In early Decemeber, David and Kristy flew home from Alaska to visit until Christmas Eve. We got to see them a bunch of times, and Kristy even came up to Delaware for the day with us ladies for the annual Christmas tea. A few nights before Christmas, we had the whole family over for dinner. We exchanged gifts, ate sweet-potato-chicken chili for dinner, and played Bananagrams (best game ever). Oh, and we all ate lots of cookies and drank chocolate falvored wine. Kristy and I came up with the idea that maybe we should line the rims of our wine glasses with Nutella. Kind of like the same idea as a salt rim for a margarita. Though we didn’t actually execute our plan, I still think we were onto something brilliant that night.
cookies, fudge, and bananagrams!
our stockings
please note the awesome tuxedo shirt that Kristy is wearing while playing Quordy so quickly that her fingers are blurry.
It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone and the holiday season is truly upon us. How did this happen already? I think I am starting to understand those people that just leave the Christmas lights up all year round… seems like it’s always time for them again. But anyways, I’ll save the redneck tendencies for another blog post.
We started our long weekend enjoying a full thanksgiving dinner together with both sets of our parents, our sisters, brothers, and aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was the last Thanksgiving celebration at Ivory Road before my parents finally finish packing up and selling the house for their big move. So hard to believe. I wish that the Alaskans could have made it home, but they were busy enjoying their moose meat! And they’ll be home in almost a week, so we can wait until then. We did the usual football watching, nibbling on homemade chex mix, napping on and off, and then went for a good, long walk before dinner in the unseasonably warm weather. The best part of the day was all the story-telling. The worst part was the lack of table-cloth and napkins that had already been packed up — way to go, Mom.
On Friday, we made the drive up to Delaware to spend some more time relaxing, eating, trimming the Steenhoek Christmas tree, and doing a little bit of shopping. I guess we’ve been making that drive for about 5 or 6 years now, and though I normally hate being on the road in holiday traffic, there is still something comforting about settling into the car together for 2 hours and making our way up 95. Usually we are pretty quiet as far as conversation, just Matt silently putting up with my singing along to every country song on the radio. I keep waiting for the year when he finally snaps and tells me his ear drums just can’t take it any longer. But until then, it’s just enjoying the miles going by while Bowser naps in the lap of whoever gets the passenger seat. This year, as I was belting out the Keith Urban, I was also mentally making a list of all the things I am thankful for: It goes without saying that our family and friends would be the top of that list. We are so lucky to have families nearby that we see often, and friends that we’ve known for decades, but also lots of new ones that we’ve met while living in DC. I would also add to that list our cuddly Bowser-dog (currently snoring away in the corner), who brings a smile and a slobber to my face without fail every single morning. Also on my thankful list is a house that we are working on making a home, a new business venture starting out well, bicycles to ride, lots of trips and travels both past and coming up, giant marshmellows on sweet potatoes… and… I could go on, and on. I’m thankful to have so many things to put on my list.
On Saturday, I did my bit supporting a small business in Newark with a $3 purchase. I can’t tell you what the gift is, but I will say it involves tacos and is for a very dedicated reader of this blog. Also, Matt purchased a lemonade from the local coffee shop for $1.50… so for a grand total spent of $4.50, TAKE THAT Black Friday. In the afternoon, we drove back to Maryland in time for my 10-year High School Reunion at Circle-D Farm. It was an interesting night, catching up with some old friends and trying to gauge just how much everyone has changed. Lots of new spouses, babies, jobs… Amazing how fast that time went by and suddenly we’re all almost 30 years old.
Today, Sunday, the last day of a four-day weekend is always tough. We did a fair bit of “yard”work cleaning up the leaves around our front and back this morning. We took out the Christmas boxes, and strung up red lights around the front yard. I promised that I wouldn’t turn them on until Decemeber 1st, and that I just wanted to put them up while it was so warm and beautiful out today, but I lied, and they are on tonight. Our neighbor stopped by to see what we were up to while Matt was up on the ladder, saying he was “sizing up the competition” — I can’t wait for his light display to go up now and start turning our street into a lovely Christmas wonderland. Ahhh..
This afternoon, we continued putting off schoolwork by taking a bike ride down to Gravelly Point, stopping first at Paul to pick up some treats. Matt had purchased a picnic basket awhile back at a flea market for $10, and it fit PERFECTLY into the front of his bike rack, so I made him promise me a real picnic sometime soon, and he delivered. We had croque-monsieurs and macaroons while we watched the sun set and the planes roll in overhead to Reagan National Airport. Probably more planes than ususal at the end of a travel-heavy weekend. It was pretty much the perfect end to a perfect weekend. Thanks for reading this, I hope you had a happy thanksgiving!
Hope everyone had a great Halloween!! While Matt was at class last night, my mom and I had dinner here and waited for trick-or-treaters to come. In the end, we had about 8 total — a few dinosaurs and an Indian, some witches, and some teenagers without costumes. Not exactly the hoards I was hoping for, but oh well. Guess I will be eating the leftover candy until Thanksgiving!
Speaking of which, it’s hard to believe that November is here. Out with the pumpkins, in with the Christmas trees!! Here we go…
Bowser the bat-dog was tired after answering the door several times.
Last night was the 25th running of the High Heel Race down 17th St in Dupont Circle. It happens every year on the Tuesday before Halloween, and it’s always one of my favorite nights of the year. It seems to get more and more crowded each year that we go, and this one was no exception, especially because the weather was actually nice last night. Perfect for watching divas parade around in heels! There were lots of amazing Black Swan costumes this year, and a group dressed as the Royal family/wedding, but my personal favorite was the cast of Drop Dead Gorgeous in their pageant costumes, including someone as Denise Richards with her Mount Rushmore look.
Me, Jill, and Matt, like nearly everyone else there, watched from a few rows back from the front, craning our necks for some glimpses of the lovely ladies. It’s always hard to get a good view unless you get there early. But my friend Riles took it upon herself to carry a 6 foot ladder over to watch the race from above the crowd, and she was nice enough to share her video with me, so check it out.
Yesterday we drove out to Queen Anne Farm in Mitchellville, MD to pick up some pumpkins and enjoy the fall weather. I found the address for the place in a random online search for farms near DC, and we decided to just take a chance and go check it out. It was a cute little spot. There was a barn filled with all sorts of delicious treats, a fenced-in area with chickens, roosters, and miniature ponies, a hillside covered in sunflowers and pumpkins, a corn maize, scarecrows, and red radio flyer wagons to pull your pumpkins around in. I felt like a little kid. After we wandered around a bit and went through the maze, Matt and I finally decided on a little green pumpkin to take home. I’m not sure why we chose that over all the perfectly orange choices, but we did. We also got some Pumpkin Pie popcorn, jalepeno jelly, pumpkin butter, tons of different apple varieties, and some little funky shaped gourds covered in bubbles and bumps. My favorite are always the ones that are all gnarled and crazy looking. We ate all the popcorn in the car on the way home, it was delicious.
lost in the corn maze, luckily we did not have to call for help
Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th! We spent it with both the family and the masses – we checked out the parade that marched down Constitution Avenue in the morning, enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch in Chinatown (where Esther was also thankfully reunited with yummy Bon Bons), ended the day watching both the Hare Krishna festival and fireworks on the National Mall (great combo), and bringing in the wee hours of the morning over beer, cupcakes, sparklers, and enlightened argument conversation.
One of the things we enjoyed discussing was the melting pot of American culture that came together on the Mall yesterday. David remarked to me that they had already seen more people in one spot in 5 minutes than they might see in a whole month in Glenallen, Alaska (home). Though this is kind of a no-brainer comment, it was interesting to consider the types and numbers of people we all encounter in our daily lives. Kristy put it a little differently. She just started moo-ing when we got herded into line for the security checkpoint, and said something about a panic attack under her breath. Later, Uncle Sid said to me separately that he was glad our younger cousins could see such a cross-section of America in one place, different from the types of people they see at home in Maine.
And that’s what the 4th is all about. When David in his redneck hat can have a discussion on the power of God with a Swami on the National Mall, and it ends with the purchase of a book on meditation for $1, that everything great about America all rolled into one.
oh also! I have some new ink. While we were waiting for the show to begin, Esther, Morgan, and I got henna tattoos done. Mine is a peacock on my forearm, done by 11 year old Rameni, who was from Hawaii but moving to Florida soon, and who was in DC for her grandmothers 90th birthday and also to (apparently) draw henna tattoos for people on the 4th of July for the price of $5. She has 7 brothers and sisters, and drew a damn good peacock!
America = an oversized birthday cake float
the eagle has landed
OOOooooooooh
AAAaaaaaaaah
sparklers!
Morgan’s star, a circle, and not sure what Elek was drawing
The 4th is almost here! Bring on the family, BBQ, redwhiteandblue, and fireworks. woohoo! This morning I put flags out in the front yard, cleaned out the wheelie cooler, and got out the red velvet cupcake mix. I still need to find my stars and stripes headband if this is going to be an official celebration, but the preparations are in the works.
SOMEONE I know is turning 60 today! Happy Birthday, Mom. Here are some interesting facts for you about the number:
From Wikipedia…
60 (sixty) is the natural number following 59 and preceding 61. Being three times twenty, 60 is called “three score” in some older literature.
Sixty is a composite number with divisors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60, making it also a highly composite number. Because 60 is the sum of its unitary divisors (excluding itself), it is a unitary perfect number, and it is also an excessive number with an abundance of 48. Being ten times a perfect number, 60 is a semiperfect number.
Sixty is the smallest number divisible by the numbers 1 to 6. (There is no smaller number divisible by the numbers 1 to 5). 60 is the smallest number with exactly 12 divisors.
Sixty is the sum of a pair of twin primes (29 + 31), as well as the sum of four consecutive primes (11 + 13 + 17 + 19). It is adjacent to two prime numbers (59,61). It is also the smallest number which is the sum of two odd primes in 6 ways.
The icosidodecahedron has 60 edges, all equivalent.
Because 60 is divisible by the sum of its digits in base 10, it is a Harshad number.
The atomic number of Neodymium is 60, and Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a radioactive isotope of cobalt.
The electrical utility frequency in western Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and several other countries in the Americas is 60 Hz.
The Babylonians used base 60.
There are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour
Sixty is:
* In time, the number of seconds in a minute, and the number of minutes in an hour.
* The number of feet in the standard measurement tool to evaluate an automotive launch on a dragstrip. It’s the time that it took to travel the first 60 feet (18 m) of the track.
* The number of miles per hour an automobile accelerates to from rest (0-60) as one of the standard measurements of performance
* The total number of years in a Sexagenary cycle
* 60 Minutes, a CBS investigative television show
* A common speed limit, in miles per hour, for freeways in many U.S. states
* In years of marriage, the diamond wedding anniversary
* The maximum number of marbles (game pieces) in Chinese checkers
* The code for international direct dial calls to Malaysia
* The highest obtainable level on World of Warcraft (not including World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade)
* Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a TV show on NBC (2006-07)
* The age for senior citizen in some cultures
* Number in Earth years between “Great Conjunctions” of Jupiter and Saturn
* In darts, 60 (treble-twenty) is the highest score which can be achieved with a single dart.
* New York Yankees Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927
We did the usual football watching, nibbling on homemade chex mix, napping on and off, and then went for a good, long walk before dinner in the unseasonably warm weather. The best part of the day was all the story-telling. The worst part was the lack of table-cloth and napkins that had already been packed up — way to go, Mom. 
