2012 in review

Long-time readers know that I am an incorrigibly inconsistent blogger. Sorry about that. However, there are a few things I try to do every year... I try to blog on my sister's birthday (sorry about missing this year, love!), I post New Year's resolutions, and I always, ALWAYS write a post in January reviewing the previous year (except for when I don't). Behold.

January began in the best possible way: celebrating with friends (and Cassidy!) in Portland.

(Congrats on your engagement, Jess!). Resolutions were also made, I was offered a research assistantship (complete with office!), and I began to hear back from PhD programs.

In February thank-yous were extended, mushrooms were harvested...

Valentine's day was celebrated with chicken/veggie pot pie...

and Leap Day was celebrated in an appropriately 30 Rock-ian fashion ("Real life is for March!). February was also my most successful blogging month, with four (count 'em!) whole posts. Sheesh.

March was nuts. In March I traveled to Orlando for a conference, to Buffalo to visit a PhD program there, and we got to see the cherry blossoms at their height:

While in Orlando I was able to meet up with some of our dear friends for a whirlwind day at Disney:

In April I posted a recipe for happiness (I highly recommend it), and we celebrated springtime in Laurel by cuddling with Creature:

April was stressful because we didn't know what was happening with school for me. I'd been wait-listed at GW, and there were some issues with finding a funding line for me. However, this was resolved in...

May, when I was able to officially announce that I'd been accepted into GW's program. Whew! This freed us up to do some fun things, like celebrate my newly acquired Master's degree with dinner at our favorite restaurant in Baltimore...

and build rock pylons and take a hike at Harper's Ferry:

June was busy, too, but in a fun, adventuresome kind of way. In June I started working at the Maryland Zoo, Charlotte sent me a sweet gift from my beloved England...

we went to Truckeroo and Moonrise Kingdom...

I was able to be involved with the DC Pride Parade...

and we had an amazing camping trip on the Eastern Shore...

June also brought us the derecho and a fridge full of other people's food (which we did not eat, to our great credit):

In July we celebrated the fourth of July with our second year on the Mall:

My birthday was an embarrassment of celebration in 2012, with an outdoor movie party with friends (O Brother Where Art Thou, natch)...

A picnic in the park with Ross...

and an amazing trip to Charleston and the Disney resort at Hilton Head with friends:

Even the elephants got presents on my birthday:

Later in July Ross went to visit his parents in Chicago, and then our dearly beloved, fabulous friend Heather came to stay! We walked and talked without break for two days. I think she might have been trying to kill us, but it was worth it:

While we were waiting for Heather's flight to arrive we visited the air and space museum, which was SO COOL.

In August we celebrated Ross' birthday with duck fat fries and ice cream cake...

...we found our dream apartment in DC and started to pack...

and we played mini golf at the National Building Museum with some of our favorite friends.

In late August I started school (again) as a full-fledged PhD student and teaching assistant.

In September we bid (a surprisingly bittersweet) farewell to Laurel and moved to DC!

Later in September I traveled to Boston for a conference where I got some unexpected good news.

In October we celebrated our third anniversary with another camping trip and a pumpkin patch adventure...

and we celebrated Halloween by dressing up as, naturally, a gentleman and a scholar...

and carving pumpkins with friends...

Photo from my darling friend, Kim's, fabulous blog.

In November I totally failed as a blogger, we had grasshopper tacos at Oyamel before going to the Kennedy center to see War Horse...

went camping again...

and had an epic solo Thanksgiving, if I do say so myself. Which I do. 

December was filled with all kinds of adventures, which I will blog about in the next few weeks. In the meantime, here's a taster: 

Happy New Year! Here's to an equally adventurous, exciting, busy, packed-to-the-gills-with-life 2013!

Psst: Previous Years in Review: 2009, 2011. So maybe I don't ALWAYS do it. Hush. 

home

Before I get to the good stuff, here's the obligatory Hurricane Sandy update:

There isn't one. At least not yet. It seems likely that the bulk of the storm will miss us entirely, which is fine by me, but also makes the city's epic preparations (everything was closed, from schools to buses to museums) seem a little silly. Ah, well. Better safe...

In other news, here are the long-awaited apartment pictures! As I've mentioned before, our location couldn't be better. We're a block and a half from the Capitol (the real one! of our country!), about a block from Union Station, and about three from the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Library of Congress. Perfect. Of course, our apartment is 380 square feet, but it's worth it. In fact, I think we like it.

It took us a really long time to figure out how to arrange our main living space, and I love what we came up with. Turns out there's something really cozy about having a couch at the foot of the bed. It's like comfort piled on top of comfort.

You can basically get the feel for our whole apartment with this picture. The living space (bed, couch, etc.) is behind me here. The kitchen is in that first opening to the left, and the bathroom is in through the second door. Our built-in closet is across from the bathroom.

Our cabinets are really tall, so I use the step stool all the time. We put the microwave on top of the fridge, which feels very clever and is only a little inconvenient.

There you (mostly) have it. I'm realizing now that I'm missing the bathroom, which is a shame, since it's one of my favorite rooms in the house. Next time. Long story short: we're in love.

fyi

First of all, since I'm pretty sure this is what everyone cares about (it's definitely what I would care about), new apartment pictures are coming soon. PROMISE.

Second, I just thought I'd share a piece of good news I received at a conference (specifically, the meeting of the BABEL Working Group) in Boston this weekend. I won a writing award! The BABEL Working Group is composed of some of my favorite scholars and people, and so it was truly amazing to be recognized by them. As part of my award my essay will be published in a real-life literary journal so, you know. That's pretty cool. Details and the announcement here.

In all seriousness, I'm really overwhelmed and gratified and humbled by the award, as well as how wonderful it was to have so many of my friends there at the conference to celebrate with me (two professors and five other GW grad students). They really went out of their way to make me feel special, and I'm super grateful for that.

I'm also really grateful for Ross, who whipped our house into amazing shape while I was gone and who just generally always works extraordinarily hard. PICTURES SOON!

oh, hey

Super quick update while I'm waiting for the library to process the book I came across town for. Yes, I know it's been a long time, but trust me, we've been busy. The summer ended, as summers do, with a huge influx of busy-ness, and much as I've wanted to, I haven't found time to blog. Anyway, without further ado, a bullet-pointed list:

• Almost all of you know this already, but we moved!!!! We found an amazing apartment in Capitol Hill (two blocks from the Capitol itself!) that we could actually afford. We officially moved in a week ago today, and so far we couldn't be happier. Pictures soon, I PROMISE. 
• I started my PhD program! I'm still at GW, of course, so some things haven't changed, but lots of other things have. I'm fully funded now, and I'm a Graduate Teaching Assistant, so I'm helping out with a class. So far I've just been answering emails and sitting in, but I teach my first section in about a week. Super exciting. 
• Next weekend I'll be in Boston delivering a paper at the 2nd Biennial Meeting of the BABEL Working Group. I'm looking forward to it and will keep you posted. 
• Ross likes his commute so far. It's longer, but he doesn't have to drive and instead takes the MARC train (which is what I've been doing for the past two years). The MARC is really comfortable, and the 45 minutes to an hour that he's on it give him time to read or sleep. MARC for the win. 
• I was accepted into a seminar at the Folger Shakespeare Library, a gorgeous research library about three blocks from our apartment! The Folger is an extremely important element in Shakespeare scholarship around the world, and I'm really thrilled to have access to the archive. The seminar I'm taking is on Paleography, or the reading of old handwriting. In theory, the skills I learn there will allow me to do some work with actual seventeenth-century manuscripts. Yay for research!

Anyway, I think that's it! Ross is happy, I'm happy, and Creature is happy (especially now that things are returning to some semblance of normalcy... she was stressed for a bit there). We really liked Laurel, but we love being back in the city and in the heart of things. Hope you're all well! I'm going to go see if my book is available...

senor macho solo

Author's note: I'm way too lazy to do this, but I bet if I took the time to check, I'd discover that 30 Rock gets referenced more often than any other popular culture item on this blog. Today's title, which should read Señor Macho Solo, refers to the title of an episode and also, more importantly, to the fact that this weekend *I* am Señor(ita) Macho Solo. 

Much like the title of this post, this photo is apropos of nothing except that I like it.

For the first time in very close to two years, I am alone in the apartment. At night. While I have occasionally traveled for conferences, since we've moved to DC Ross hasn't taken a trip without me. This weekend, though, he's in Chicago visiting his parents and grandparents. I can't get off work, since I work with kids and there's nobody to substitute for me, so I am here by myself. It's funny... much as I love Ross' company, I also tend to really love time by myself, so I was really looking forward to this weekend. But now that he's actually gone and it's gotten dark, it feels totally weird. It's been such a long time since I've been here alone for longer than a work day that I've forgotten how quiet the house is without him. I sure like that guy.

Fortunately I have a few things to keep me occupied, including a mile-long list of things to do, a stack of books I've been needing to read, about 500 French flash cards, and a Creature, who I think will be foregoing her usual sleeping-in-the-bathroom routine tonight to cuddle with me instead.

a wish list

As I have undoubtedly mentioned before, my birthday is my favorite day of the year. I know how that sounds, and I don't care. One of my favorite parts of my birthday is crafting a wishlist ahead of time. I know how that sounds, too, but the thing is that I don't expect everything, or even anything, from my list. Making a wish list is an exercise in pure daydreaming, and there's something really delightful about that. Here are some of the things on my list.

1. A bag (not a backpack!) large enough to fit my laptop and books in and nice enough that I can bring it into my classroom. I'm pretty sure grown-ups don't carry backpacks unless they're hiking. This bag is from Moop and is ridiculously expensive beautiful expensive.

2. In the same vein, I'm on the prowl for clothes that I can wear to teach that are not jeans, but also not too fussy. Something sort of like the above.

3. As I've said before, Flight of the Conchords = Happiness. I already have the first album, and I'm pretty sure the second would just double the pleasure AND the fun.

4. I recently was able to experience a Baltimore tradition, lemon sucked through a peppermint stick. It was sweet, tart, and sticky. It was everything summer should be. For my birthday I would like to recreate this experience (major barrier: finding appropriately thick peppermint sticks. They're available online, but for a hefty shipping fee).

5. This birthday calendar from Linda and Harriett. A long-time staple on the ol' birthday list. 

6. Finally, for this list at least, we come to the iPad. I am extremely proud of the fact that in our house there is a carefully maintained line between needs and wants (even if I complain about it sometimes). So even though I'd like to claim the iPad as a need - it would be extremely convenient to be able to bring something smaller than the laptop back and forth to class, and there are a ton of apps that are extremely useful for scholarly, PhD-types such as myself - I can't quite bring myself to do it. The iPad is a want, albeit a lovely, useful, elegantly designed one. And that's why it's perfect for the birthday list.

Thanks for letting me share! In case you're curious, the rest of my birthday list (as well as last year's) can be found here. Happy July!

our moonrise kingdom

Suggested soundtrack for this post: Francois Hardy's Le Temps De L'Amour

Have you seen Moonrise Kingdom yet? I hope so, because it's absolutely lovely, and because the title of this post will make a lot more sense if you have. 

The weekend before last Ross and I went on our first camping trip of the year, to Tuckahoe State Park on Maryland's eastern shore. This is Creature on the camping box; I'm pretty sure she didn't want us to leave (the fact that she pooped everywhere while we were gone makes me even more sure of that, but that's a different story). 

I've wanted to go to Tuckahoe for a long time because of its 60 acres of flooded forest. It did not disappoint.

Our canoe rental was only $15 for two hours, and the ranger made it pretty clear that we could stretch that as we wanted. This is a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in the same shot. We saw hundreds of turtles, some small enough to fit in my palm, some the size of dinner plates. 

This is a beaver, who could not have cared less that we were there. We got within three or four feet, and he still didn't swim away or even really acknowledge us. Beaver don't give a s***.

Ross' sharp eyes caught some of our beaver friend's handiwork.

We only saw one other boat the whole time we were on the water. It was a fishing boat helmed by two old guys. If I were writing a short story about this, they would maybe represent the spirit of the river (subtly, of course). That's why I don't write short stories anymore.

This is our Moonrise Kingdom. 

This is Ross. He's whittling a polar bear.

The next day we decided to go to the beach. This is our super delicious breakfast cooked on our super reliable and portable camp stove (thanks John and Diana!).

This is the beach! It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but beaches in Maryland are insanely crowded. I'm from Orange County and I've never seen crowds like this. It was also 90 degrees, which was amazing.

After a completely decadent day on the beach, we stopped in Lewes, Delaware, which now rivals Shepherdstown, WV for the coveted "My-Favorite-Town-on-the-East-Coast" award. Shepherdstown has more vegan restaurants and crunchy folks, but Lewes is smaller and quieter and has the single most elegant bookstore I've ever seen. 

After another night of sleeping out, campfires, whittling and reading, we came home. It was one of the best weekends ever, and it felt just. like. this:

with great power...

Some of you may have heard that we had a doozy of a storm last night. I've never seen anything like it. I've been in some epic thunderstorms (I remember getting caught on a trail in Utah with Grammy and Grandpa during a particularly exciting one), but I've never seen wind like this, and I've never seen something move in so quickly and violently. It was pretty intense. The last report I heard had at least 15 people dead and 3 million people without power. Which brings us to the groan-inducing title of my post.

Ross and I have never lost power to this apartment. Not during Hurricane Irene, not during any of our (relatively mild, since we weren't here for the snowpocalypse) snowstorms, and not now. We are literally the only people we know in the neighborhood who currently have power. Our grocery store doesn't have power, and we do. So we feel like we have something of a responsibility to help out, which we decided to do by opening our home, yes, but mostly our fridge.

This is, without a doubt, the fullest our fridge has ever been. Here's hoping the power goes on before we eat everybody's food, and that all the people affected by the storm are able to stay cool and safe.

return to harper's ferry

Last weekend Ross and I took a Memorial Day hike to Maryland Heights, a short-ish (but demanding) hike that climbs to some cliffs overlooking the über historical town of Harper's Ferry. 

This was not our first trip to Harper's Ferry. Last year we went camping nearby over the Fourth of July weekend and completely fell in love with the town. Not only does it satisfy my nerdiest impulses, but it also happens to be in a breathtakingly beautiful location and not too far (about an hour) from our house. Maryland/West Virginia for the win! 

Before we visited the town, though, we hiked to the top of the cliffs, where we took in the view and made tiny, tiny little rock pylons. Here's mine:

And here's Ross'. His is taller, but mine is better lit.

Ross and Haylie and history:

To get from where we parked across the river to the town we walked for a while along the Appalachian Trail. I'm one of those people who's always secretly wanted to do the whole six month trip, so just walking on the trail for a few minutes was thrilling.

Although Harper's Ferry was much quieter than the last time we were there, we still got to see some reenactors. Love.

As is de rigeur for a trip to Harper's Ferry, I learned something! This time I learned (as will you, if you read the below sign) that Meriwether Lewis stopped in Harper's Ferry to gather supplies for his trip. It was cool to feel like there was a direct relationship between Portland and our new part of the world.

The hike Ross and I took is partially constructed based on old civil war roads. We thought a lot about the people (both Union and Confederate soldiers... Harper's Ferry changed hands a million times) who had taken these roads, and did some old fashioned pretending. I was Captain Pritchett, and Ross was Lieutenant Douglas. We were Union soldiers, for the record, although I have lots of Confederate heritage.

Until next time, Harper's Ferry.