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.