Spring vs. Winter

 

The recent snow storms that struck the Mid Atlantic created great photography opportunities!  When we moved to DC last Spring I took pictures of our view to show my family back home.  And as the snow piled up over the last couple of weeks I documented how our view changed.  As you can see the view last week was significantly different.

After reviewing the options, I choose Spring.  Please come back soon!!

For more photos of the storms' aftermath check out my "Just a Bud" blog here.

Life Saver

I've said this a million times, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record I'll say it again.  I absolutely love my husband.  There are a zillion reasons why, but today I'll share one specific reason.  He is, quite literally, a life saver.

Heading home from Christmas and News Years with the families in Oregon we had a layover in Houston.  We grabbed dinner and sat together chatting while watching an NFL game we cared nothing about.  About 45 minutes before we needed to head to our gate we decided to head that way anyway.  As we strolled down the hallway we suddenly heard people shouting ahead of us.  A man had just collapsed on the floor!

I tapped Tim's arm and pointed toward the man, "Tim, look, that guy just collapsed!!".  Tim, being the cool-headed one of the two of us, calmly took off his backpack and set it down, stripped off his coat and set it down, then walked assertively toward the scene of the incident.

And... I collected Tim's belongings and got out of the way.  Yup, I'm trained in CPR and First Aid, but somehow I just figured I'd better watch our stuff.  Obviously Tim's more of a Good Samaritan than I am.

Tim took control of the scene.  The guy was unresponsive, was not breathing and didn't have a pulse.  Tim started compressions.  Someone brought an AED from the wall and Tim and another guy got it hooked up.  When they took his shirt off we saw that he had a large scar on his chest - evidence of previous bypass surgery.  The AED advised a shock.  And shocked him.  His body shook and his arms and legs wiggled.  I felt like I was watching ER.

After 15 minutes, the Paramedics finally arrived and by that time the man had a pulse and sporadic breath!  He was still unconscious but there were signs of life which was encouraging.  Tim stayed on to help with the transition of care, giving all the information he knew about the incident, what he had done to help and his contact information.  And I stood back and secretly took photos with my cell phone.

Continental Airlines held the plane for us and we boarded still in a state of adrenalin rush.  Tim felt good about using the skills he had studied and I felt extremely proud to call him "mine".

But we still wanted to know what happened next.  The man was 64, of European descent and was traveling from Los Angeles.  But that's about all we knew.  He was traveling alone, so we imagined that if he regained consciousness he would do so without anyone by his side.  We wanted to know he was OK and with someone he loved.

Two weeks passed.  Then Tim got a call from a woman with a British accent.  She said she was the daughter of the man whose life Tim had saved.  This was the news we had been waiting for!  The doctors had told her that only 5% of people who experience this type of cardiac event survive if the event happens outside of a hospital.  But her father was one of the very lucky few.  He had woken up two days after the incident with no brain damage and was going to be completely fine!  They surgically inserted an automatic internal cardiac defibrillator (AICD) to help restart his heart in the event of a similar event in the future.  The woman said Tim's quick action saved her father's life.  

Pretty good reason to be proud of and love your man, huh?

Christmas and New Years

One of the great things about DC is that if your job is at all tied to the federal government this place pretty much shuts down for the holidays.  Every federal holiday.  This means an abundance of 3 day weekends and the week off between Christmas and New Years.

So, we headed out West and spent Christmas and New Years in Oregon visiting family and friends.  We had to fly on Christmas Eve, but we caught the same flight as our friend Anna so we at least enjoyed the company of a good friend all the way to Portland.  And even the small child throwing up in front of us (and all over Tim's coat under my seat) on the last leg of our journey wasn't going to dampen our spirits.

We spent the first few days in Portland with Tim's aunt and uncle and got to see just about all of Tim's side of the family while we were there.  And then we spent six whole days with our immediate families together on the Seymour ranch in Haines.  It was a very low-key and enjoyable time together.  There was lots of food, good conversation, card games, even some crafting.  And it snowed!

AND while we were there, we celebrated the fact that my mom kicked breast cancer's butt!!  She had her last treatment just after Christmas and just like that the worst of it was over!  They just got back from Hawaii, celebrating and enjoying the warm weather.  I'd say that's a pretty good way to celebrate making it through such an ordeal!

It was a little hard coming back to the fast pace of DC after such a relaxing time in Oregon.  But in many ways our time there reaffirmed to us both that we are exactly where we belong right now, and exactly where we want to be.  That's good to know.

There are far too many photos of Christmas and New Years to post here... but a good collection of them can be found here. 

Halloween visitors

This is Tim's aunt Cindy and her man Byron.  They're pretty fun folks.  And they came to visit us in DC!  Granted, that was back in October and I'm just getting around to sharing the news now, but still.  They came over Halloween weekend and we had so much fun!

We took them to Eastern Market where we ate yummy food, saw a super cute pumpkin-costumed dog and purchased fresh veggies for Byron's home-made dinner that night.  Can I just say YUM?!?

We also walked out to Roosevelt Island and enjoyed all the Fall colors.

 

 

And went to the Newseum - my new favorite museum in DC!!

Then stopped by Ford's Theater and the house across the street where Lincoln died.

 

And stopped by the White House at sunset.  We even saw the president's helicopter come in for a landing then quickly take off with the president inside and the other two decoy choppers.  Pretty cool!

 

And every night we went to Capitol City Brewery at Byron's insistence.  Gotta have that local micro-brew.

On our way to and from all of these places we naturally stopped by the monuments - Washington, Lincoln, Korean War, WWII, the Navy Memorial etc.  And stopped in at the National Archives to see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.  For some reason we also have the Magna Carta at the moment.  So we got three documents for the (free) price of two!  Lucky us.

So, you're becoming Catholic?

Shortly after we moved to DC, Tim began attending Mass at St. Peter's of Capitol Hill.  It's this really beautiful cathedral between our flat and the Capitol.  I loved walking by this beautiful, old building when I first visited DC in January.  And now that we've taken up residence nearby, I love hearing the church bells when we have the doors open to let the cool, fresh air flow in.

But, for Tim, this place holds more meaning than a beautiful facade and the ringing of church bells.  To him, it's a place of peace, faith and inspiration.  He has long felt drawn to Catholicism, but recently decided to take action.  For several months he attended Catechism classes on Saturday mornings among other activities.  It's been really interesting and somewhat inspirational to watch him grow and find his place in the faith community.

So, a couple of days after I returned from El Salvador we had six of Tim's Catholic relatives in town for his confirmation.  Our marriage was "validated" in the Catholic church on the 21st with Tim's cousin Joe and his wife June as witnesses, and then Tim was confirmed on Sunday the 22nd of November.  We had a really great time with family in town and it was special to have them here for the Confirmation service. 

Tim's cousin Mary Hellen, Great Aunt Clare, Grandma Barbie, Tim, Father Burn, Joe, Aunt Kat and June after Tim's Confirmation.

Much more could be said about all the discussions Tim and I had before his confirmation and those we continue to have now.  But really, all that needs saying is that two people who love one another don't have to be identical in the ways I thought they did growing up.  We don't have to believe exactly the same things; differences can spark important conversations and make us stronger.  And I wouldn't have it any different.  So, a big congrats to Tim, and here's to many more years of learning from one another as we change and grow.

The New Left and Jesuit Martyres

Since I promised updates, let's start from the beginning of the months of silence and work from there.

In November I got to take my first trip to Latin America with my organization, the CDA.  We took a small delegation to El Salvador to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Jesuit Massacres there.  It was my first trip to El Salvador and I traveled with people who had been involved there during the civil war 20 years ago.  Their stories and familiarity with the country brought a whole new life to our trip.  Many of them had close encounters with death and were reunited with old friends for the first time since they left during the worst years of the war.

Our delegation participated in the official vigil at the University where the Jesuit priests were massacred,  attended official government ceremonies and met with numerous governmental and community leaders to discuss the future of the country after the recent FMLN victory in the presidential election.  We also traveled to the countryside to take aid to those who were affected by the floods which happened shortly before our arrival.  It has been interesting to watch how the Funes government has responded to the needs of El Salvador - keeping an eye toward the poor and the helpless.

To see all the photos from our trip, click here.  For the grouping of photos I whittled down for facebook, this is your link.

Just a couple:

LOVE this girl.

In front of the presidential palace.

The Alfombras commemorating the massacre.  They are made of meticulously placed sand.  This is on the campus of the university where the Jesuits were killed.

Stair Fun

I've been making a concerted effort to take the stairs whenever possible lately.  It's my little way of adding a bit more exercise into my daily routine.  And it feels good.  Then I saw this video on one of the fitness blogs I follow and it made me wish my stairs, which I usually have all to myself, were like these ones!

Is that really necessary?

It's noon, and I'm still mentally disturbed by what I saw this morning. 

Tim and I had a nice little stroll to the Metro where he "dropped me off" with a kiss goodbye and the usual well-wishes for a good day at work.  I snagged my daily Express newspaper (news. brief.) from my favorite Express distribution dude at Capitol South and headed for the escalator as usual.  That's where the pleasantries stopped and the creepies crept in. 

At the top of the escalator there was a man (I assume it was a man) dressed as the grim reaper.  I couldn't see his face (does the grim reaper have a face?), but I could hear his evil laugh and I could definitely see the very large poster he carried. On it was a blown up image of a bloody fetus' head.

Are you disturbed yet?

As if that wasn't enough, Grim had some form of voice amplifying device that made it impossible to block him out.  He was laughing the most evil laugh I have ever heard in my life.  (Worse than Heath Ledger as The Joker or the laugh from MJ's Thriller.  And, no, I am not exaggerating.)  Once his sinister laugh dissipated he proclaimed, "Keep fighting for the right to kill your babies and I will reward you for eternity...." punctuated by more evil chuckles.

Can you see why I am still disturbed hours later?

Shutter Bug

In this season of swine flu scares I feel it would be good of me to warn you... I've caught a serious case of the shutter bug and can't seem to shake it.

Saturday I took the plunge and invested in a quality digital SLR camera.  After hours and hours of research, and years of yearning for a camera that made that dreamy shutter sound, I went with the Nikon D90 and am extremely pleased so far.  Of course, anything of higher quality than my little point and shoot Canon PowerShot SD 750 would have me in awe I'm sure.

I spent most of Saturday snapping photos at every turn and playing with all the dials I've never had before.  Fortunately there is always something to capture in DC, and if the cityscapes and public protests aren't enough, my husband, friends and kitty have been very patient "models" (so far).  A word to the wise, however, if you'd rather not have a camera in your face I'd stay away from me for the foreseeable future, or the next, oh, 2 years at least.  I figure that's how long it'll take me to learn most of what I want to learn about portrait photography.

And if you're interested in following my journey as I learn about photography and Photoshop ... among other things, I'm sure ... you can check out my new blog over at Just A Bud.

NYC

I'd never been to New York and I guess I didn't know what to expect, but it was nothing like whatever I didn't know to expect.  I suppose I had glamorized the city...  Unbeknown to me, my imagination had created a vision of a clean, beautiful city where everyone was fashion forward and the air smelled of roses and cinnamon rolls and the streets were paved in gold.  Ha!

A few eye-opening observations from my first trip to NYC:

- This city overwhelms the senses (and not in the cinnamon rolls and roses kind of way). It is a loud, dirty, smelly, huge city. Most of the time, except for Central Park and the MoMA, I felt like I couldn't get a deep breath of air. My lungs apparently knew not to take in that much fowl "air" at once. The streets are covered in litter and everything seems to be in disarray.  Nothing is kind or gentle about this city. Everything is in your face (or up your nose, as the case may be). Times Square is the best example, of course. And that was our first stop after we dropped our stuff off at the hotel (which is another story entirely).

 Times Square

- The Statue of Liberty is not nearly as big as the movies make her look.  I thought she would tower over the city, but the skyline actually dwarfs her.  Which just seemed so wrong!

- A dump of a motel is more expensive than the Hilton in Oregon.  I'm not so clueless as to think that for $200/night on Labor Day weekend that we were going to get a stellar hotel. (or am I?)  But what we did get was still a shock to the system.  There were two double beds in our room each butted up against the wall, and there was almost enough space to walk between them.  Nothing matched (see photo below).  The bathroom had mold growing on the ceiling and along the tub, toilet and sink.  All at once Laura managed to pull the curtain rod above her bed down on herself while trying to shut the curtains for privacy, Tim nearly fell through the rock hard bed (did they screw up and put the box spring on top?) in an attempt to fix the curtain rod, and I realized there was no TP in the bathroom (mid stream of course).  That pretty much sums it up.  I slept with my hands between my face and the pillow in an attempt to keep from breathing whatever was surely inside. 

On the plus side...

- Central Park is as beautiful as one would imagine an 80-block green space in the middle of a huge city.

- The food is amazing! We planned our trip around Laura's favorite restaurants and other places recommended to us.  The food might have been my favorite thing about the City.

- One can easily catch a cab at any hour of the day or night. This is in stark contrast to DC where you practically have to order your cab online in advance unless you're on Pennsylvania Ave. or at the airport.


By Labor Day even Tim was saying, "I can't wait to get home to DC!"  Which is saying something for a guy who has no great love for DC (or any city with a population larger than 50,000).  And upon arrival back in the District we were both shocked by how clean (sterile, even) our city felt.  It was kind of refreshing.

I have to admit that I do not *heart* NY (does this make me un-American??).  But I DO *heart* the view from the top of the Rockefeller Center!

Call me Uncaring

I have a confession to make: I'm pretty sure DC has turned me into a B.I.T.C.H.

- Here's the proof -

I used to be an idealist. One of those annoyingly optimistic people who think they can fix all that is wrong in the world. After just five months living in DC, when I walk down the street between the Metro and my office I don't want to be stopped by people out to save the world. I don't want to be annoyed daily by people from CARE, Greenpeace, PETA, or those people who make Obama out to be Hitler. I most certainly don't want to be approached (and made to feel guilty for not stopping) by three people from the same organization while walking from my office to the post office two blocks away. I'm just trying to go about my life. I don't want you asking if I have a moment to save the planet, or a moment to help abused animals, or a moment to solve world poverty. Your incessant attempts to stop me on the street drive me crazy. I'd like to think that I'm just annoyed by their patronizing ways - treating me as if I'm not already doing my part to help make the world a better place. As if every person walking by is not already helping, but maybe I'm just completely uncaring and heartless.

Not only that, but I have become the most annoyable person I know. People who don't follow the "rules" of the Metro system make my blood boil. I have too many stories to share on this topic for the short time I've been using the Metro Rail system. And if I recount them my blood pressure will likely shoot through the roof, so I'd better not. But suffice it to say, people are crazy. And when you put them into small spaces like mass transit trains and tunnels they seem to lose all common sense and politeness that their mama's (should have) taught them. About once a week I leave work in a pretty good mood only to arrive home fuming. I've got to find a way to control this pent-up frustration. I can't control them, I can only control me. *deep breath* I can't control them, all I can control is me.

A Pacific Northwest Retreat

We spent three days over the weekend camping at Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho with Tim's family and mine. Our time, though short, was blissful. I didn't realize how much I miss the Pacific Northwest.

Tim's little cousin Kirsten instructing him on how to arrange our tent.

The weather was less than ideal, but nothing dampened our spirits. We spent two days enjoying a reprieve from the DC humidity and heat, bundled up in sweatshirts, jeans and tennies. And standing by a campfire felt oh. so. good. I think the majority of my time at the lake was spent just enjoying the fire.

Tim's sister and cousin jumping off the dock.

Our final day on the lake the weather decided to cooperate and gifted us a beautifully sunny and calm end to our Northwest retreat. The lake was almost glassy, coaxing us into a 6:00 AM wakeboarding run. All the boarding, tubing, skiing and boating that day took a toll on our poor muscles and Tim got pretty badly burnt. The physical effects of our day of boating fun are constant reminders of the fun we had. And it was worth it to play in the water and be out in the sun on the gorgeous glassy lake surrounded by green trees and a blue sky.

Wakeboarding. *sigh*

Like I said. Bliss.

Chandelier Obsession

If you are a friend of mine on facebook you will have already seen my latest status: I have a thing for chandeliers.

I'm beginning to think I might have an obsession with beautiful light fixtures. And given that we live in a rented basement apartment with low ceilings, this obsession needs an outlet somewhere other than our home. That's where you come in: I'd like to share with you a few of the lovely pieces of chandelier artwork I've been drooling over for the last few weeks.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Last week Amber came to visit DC as the final stop on her 3 week East Coast adventure. She, Laura and I had a great time doing girly things and seeing the sights together. Here are a few pictures from the wonderful 4 days we spent with Amber:

View from the top of the Washington Monument -
you can see the Capitol if you look closely

View from the bottom of the Washington -
best view ever

Dance party at our place with Tim as DJ.
This was obviously a little Thriller.

Rocking out to our own private dance party.
I LOVE Laura's face in this one.

National Cathedral - absolutely gorgeous
(and it had great chandeliers!)

Paddleboats on the Tidal Basin.
You can see part of the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art.
This fountain was amazing.

Anniversary #2

Yesterday Tim and I celebrated our second anniversary. My, how the time flies! We celebrated with a fancy, yummy dinner at The Source (by Wolfgang Puck). Tim also got me lilies and roses (my favorites).

There is a funny story there, though. I've taken to buying myself flowers so I always have something bright and happy in a vase waiting for me when I come home. Last weekend we were at Eastern Market and I wanted to buy a new bunch of flowers, but Tim adamantly said "no". I walked off pouting as we headed home only to realize maybe he had a reason for not wanting me to buy myself flowers so close to our anniversary. Low and behold, he was just planning ahead so there would be a vacant vase for the bouquet he would buy me. Good hubby.

Being the shutter bug I am, I couldn't go without taking multiple pictures on our anniversary date. So, here is your inside look:

Lovely smelling flowers!

"Here Tim, smell how lovely they are!"
His face made me laugh.

Appetizer

Free dessert. The sauce read: "Happy Anniversary"

National Holiday

Our first Fourth of July in DC was much less touristy that it should have been. We should have gone to the Mall and listened to all the concerts, been blown away by the loud booms of the fireworks and overwhelmed by all the tourists swarming the green space between the Capitol and the Lincoln.

We, however, spent our afternoon at a barbeque with friends in Virginia then moved on to another friend's apartment where we watched the fireworks with a view of the entire Mall.

Though it was nice to not be so overwhelmed by the large amounts of people, it would have been fun to do the touristy thing for our first year. Especially since we could have walked to and from the Mall and not had to worry about the crowded Metro. Ahh well, live and learn I suppose.

Beach Boys - Spirit of America, BBQ and
Apple Pie (being made in the background)

Laura and I had the patriotic thing going on.
We clearly love our country.

Tim, on the other hand, thought it best to wear a GREEN
Ireland, Ireland, Ireland, Ireland t-shirt.
Silly Timmy.

Our view of the fireworks. You can see the fuzzy outlines
of the Capitol on the left, the Washington in the middle
and the Lincoln on the right.