hey irene

Hi all.

I'm going to be super quick here, because I'm simultaneously making a pea, rosemary, and parmesan omelet* before the power goes out (which I'm expecting it will, although who knows?). That's right, Irene. You can take our power, but not our taste. So far it mostly feels like a typical thunderstorm outside, although it's also oddly different in a hard-to-define way. It's the duration, I think, and also the massive size of the thing. It's been blustery and rainy and oh-so-very-dark all day long. Thunderstorms are quick. I taught today and had a very unnerving drive home, but now I'm home and safe and looking forward to a delicious dinner and a cozy evening watching the storm. As long as the power/internet hold out I'll continue to update you if anything interesting happens. In the meantime, be safe, be dry, and think happy thoughts for all the people who will be seriously affected by this craziness.

*Note: Becoming a vegetarian has done wonders for my cooking/willingness to experiment. Update coming soon.

8:24pm Update: Beginning to feel/hear some pretty gusty wind. We still have power and internet and can't see out much (just because it's light in our apartment... and dark outside). Doesn't feel like anything unusual yet. Just a really, really long thunderstorm.

Monday Update: Turns out that Hurricane Irene was a nonevent for Ross and me. We heard lots of loud, house-creaking wind, and it did a number on the river trail behind our apartment, but we never even so much as lost power. In fact, my Sunday classes and church were both canceled, so we spent all of Sunday lounging around, reading, going for walks, and eating. LOTS of eating. It was kind of awesome, actually. Basically, Hurricane Irene gave me my one and only day of summer vacation. Also, the day-after weather was fantastic. It's a dilemma: on the one hand, I got a much-needed day off to spend with the spouse. On the other hand, other people got flooding and property damage. Boo.

sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje zyje nam

Dear Ross,

Please enjoy this online birthday card. Please also enjoy the scavenger hunt (!!!) I have created for you and upon which you will now officially embark. Some rules:

• You must go in the order dictated by the clues. This is true even if you see something out of place or suspicious, eagle eyes.
• Because we live in a tiny studio, hiding things has been challenging. Not that there are any things, but... you know. Anyway, because of that you are not allowed to poke around in our house anywhere. At all. If you need a pencil, it needs to go through me. 
• You are allowed one (and only one!) phone-a-friend if a clue is too hard. That friend is me. You don't actually have to phone.
• Almost every clue leads directly to the next clue. Occasionally you may run into a dead end. Do not despair! Help is on the way.
• Actually, that's pretty much all the rules. If I think of any more I'll let you know.

Now that that's out of the way, I also wanted to wish you a happy, happy birthday. I've been thinking a lot about you and about us lately, and I wanted to know how very much I love and appreciate you and all that you do. Thanks for letting me live my professorial dreams, thanks for moving across the country with me, and thanks for all the adventures and support and love. You're the best. Life's been more fun since I met you. 

As proof, here are some nostalgic photos of us from when I was living in California: 

I love you very much, Rosco. Niech zyje zyje nam. 

Kocham cie, 

Haylie

P.S. There is one important question you need to try and answer during the Scavenger Hunt: Where is Chonchito?!? 

john brown's body is a-moulderin' in the grave

Ross and I both had the weekend of the fourth off (the only weekend I'll have off all summer, I'm afraid, thanks to my stupid demanding job), and so we decided to go camping. We were able to get reservations at the Treehouse Camp, which is about an hour away from us, right near the West Virginia border (and no, there aren't really tree houses. They're more like cabins on stilts). On the way, though, we stopped at lovely, historic Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, where we found these signs posted on nearly every door:

Harper's Ferry is a remarkably well-preserved town, made famous during the Civil War by John Brown's raid on an armory building. This building, to be more specific: 

In case you've forgotten your Civil War history (and since most of my readers are from the West Coast, I'm betting you have), John Brown was an avid abolitionist. His raid, in the course of which he and eighteen other men held the building for several days, was intended to spark a slave uprising. He was caught and hanged, and is still a super controversial figure, which was obvious in the town. Although we saw a lot of plaques and thing honoring him, there was also this carved gem: 

I was going to write out the whole inscription, but I'm too lazy. Instead you should click on it and read it. It's a masterpiece of double-talk and innuendo. Good stuff. 

This being the Fourth of July weekend as well as the Civil War's Sesquicentennial (didn't know that? Me, neither), there were a lot of Civil War reenactors in town, which made my nerdy little heart almost explode with happiness.  

Our favorite of the day's festivities, surprisingly, was the gun talk and demonstration. During the Civil War, apparently, Harper's Ferry was a huge gun manufacturer, and we got to learn about all the different types of guns they produced. Ross and I were fascinated, and I say this with no trace of irony. I never thought I'd find guns at all interesting, but it turns out that guns plus historical locations plus costumes equal an interested me. Learning!    

Guns are loud, by the way. Also, after being fired a bunch of times they get freakin' hot. I know this 'cause I picked one up. What?! I know. It was a first.

From Harper's Ferry we drove a few miles to our campground, which was crawling with these incredibly creepy dudes. I'm not usually very scared of spiders, but these guys were intense.

Saturday night there was a huge thunderstorm. Luckily we were already in our tent (which dealt with the rain like a champ), but it kept us awake for a long time.

Sunday afternoon we rented kayaks from this shop in Shepherdstown, WV, which is officially the most charming town I have ever seen.

Here are some things Shepherdstown has to offer on its historic, tiny Main Street: a tiny university, a juice bar, a yoga studio, a store devoted to "Natural Running" (which means as close to barefoot as possible), the aforementioned kayak and bike rental place, at least one independent coffee shop, several lovely restaurants, an organic food shop, a twice-weekly Farmers Market, and a bakery. It's also right next to the Potomac River and the C & O Canal Trail. Seriously, it's my new favorite place. Although we did have a brief and tantalizing conversation with a resident who said that sure, the town may be cute, but the local businesses had "a dark underbelly." Um, that's awesome.

Anyway, like I said, we rented kayaks and used them to stalk wildlife. We saw a groundhog, a turtle, and a lot of fish, but mostly we just stalked this Great Blue Heron.

Shepherdstown is really great. I think someone should take me there for a romantic weekend away. 

Sunday night it rained for a couple hours, during which we sat in the car and read junk food books, which was delightful. After it stopped raining, we made tin foil dinners and banana boats/bombs and went to bed. Thanks, Western Maryland! We liked you.  

Up next! Fireworks on the Mall and the most Mormon Mormons I've ever met. 

happy 4th of july

More Confederate soldiers coming tomorrow. It was nerdy. It was patriotic (sort of). 

It was awesome. Stay tuned.   

creature stuck in things

Creature likes to get stuck in things. Please enjoy this random sampler.

Sometimes Creature gets stuck (like, really stuck) in the corner behind our file cabinet. We always pull her out.

Eventually.

a downer, but with ducks

Public Service Announcement: This post is probably going to be a big ol' downer. In recognition of that fact, I've decided to include a picture of baby ducks at the end. Choosing to skip the written post to go straight to the smorgasbord of cuteness at the end is a completely valid option. 


Today was bleak. Yesterday was kind of bleak, too. Let's get some things out of the way: Ross is fine and our relationship is fine. Our jobs are both fixed firmly in the "okay" category and the finances are surprisingly good. Everything is good, actually, except one tiny huge thing: Zoo Camp began on Monday and I am not there. I realize this may sound childish. After all, we're here in DC, notably away from Zoo Camp and all the other things we love, because of me and my professorial dreams. This is the choice we made, and I get that. I do. And yet.

Here is a sad truth of my life. Up until about three years ago, I was absolutely wretched at making or keeping friends. I'm not entirely sure why this is, although I have a couple of guesses that would be self-indulgent to go into now (look who's worried about being self-indulgent all of a sudden! Don't worry... there are ducks!). The point is simply that I can literally count the number of lasting friends I had amassed before about 2008 on one hand. And then, gradually, everything started to change.

Not all of this had to do with the zoo (meeting Ross, and the wonderful people he knew, like this girl, also made a big difference). But a lot of it did. This probably sounds so corny, but I was really-truly-aw-shucks the happiest I've ever been when I was working at the zoo, especially this last year. Really. And that's because of the zoo itself, sure, and because of the work I did, but mostly it's because of Miss Amanda. And Mr. Chris. And Jessica. And Miss Anna and Miss Lauren and Miss Jo. And Kathayoon and Kendall and Krist. And everybody (and I really mean everybody) else. Because of how much I love these people, and because of the way these people made me feel like I was worth being around. Like I was capable, and important, and lovable, and ooooookay, Miss Haylie. That's enough sharing for now.

But really, Zeta Chi. Really. You were my home for four years and my life is less brightly colored (and certainly less covered in marker) without you.

Behold! The promised pick-me-up ducks. Discovered Memorial Day at the Mall. Nothing says "Get Over It!" like baby ducks. Am I right? 

confirmation of here-ness and southern adventure

Hey guys.

We're still here, I promise. Between finals and training for my new job, it's been remarkably hard to sit down and blog, which is a bummer because we've been having some adventures and I have lots of cool things to share. Soooo... yeah. We're back.

By the way, props to both Ross' and my moms for finally getting me to do this. Moms. Gotta love them.

So, without any further ado, here's an adventure! About a month ago Ross and I took a road trip South. We started in Charleston, SC, where we mostly admired the architecture:

Psst! Super important note: If you'd like to see these pictures in their full glory, click to make bigger. The end. 

Also, while we were in Charleston we decided that our destiny involves big ol' porches.

We were trying to keep our lodging budget small, so we stayed with people we found on airbnb. I was nervous about it, but it was great. Our hosts in Charleston loaned us bikes, and we rode to the beach. This was exceptionally brave of me, by the way, given my bike phobia and overall uselessness with two wheels.

The beach was lovely and warm, by the way. We're not in Oregon anymore. We also went hiking in a bona fide swamp in a state park, where we were bitten demolished blitzkrieged by mosquitos...

...and I got to cross an animal off of my "To See In The Wild" Lifetime List.

Thanks, American Alligator. The coolest thing about this hike (just kidding... obviously, the alligators - plural! - were the coolest thing) A cool thing about this hike was that we didn't see a single other person the entire hour and a half we were out. That was probably because of the mosquitos, and because we're idiot Yankees who don't know to avoid swamps in the summer, but it was still rad to be all by ourselves.

Other notable flora and fauna:

The baby bird was sitting in a tree right on the main path. We saw a lot of other baby birds of the same species, also in conspicuous places. Those mother birds suck. Also, that flower is the most freaking ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

This isn't chronologically relevant, but we also ate a lot of really good food, including deep fried peanuts and coke, which has changed my life forever.

On our way out of Charleston and to Savannah we stopped at the angel oak, which my pictures utterly fail to do justice.

Finally we made it to Savannah, where I fantasized about staging a coup of this building...

... and I read Flannery O'Connor (because I'm a huge nerd and she's from Savannah) and we discovered the best drain pipe in the world.

Clearly, a good time was had by all. Especially the mosquitos.

Seriously. We were unprepared.

how to have the best day ever

Step One: Finish the paper that has been making your life mis-e-ra-ble for almost a week now (and feel pretty good about it, as well). Email the sucker off with nary a look over your shoulder, just in time for...


Step Two: Yoga class! For best results, choose one with a warm and lovely teacher with tight red curly hair. Chaturanga like the BAMF you are. Namaste. 


Step Three: What?! Two whole hours before your next class?! That's okay... read outside in the sunshine (86 degrees today!), your only regret being that you wore the jeans instead of the dress. 


Step Four: After class (this wasn't your favorite class, and therefore doesn't count as part of the best. Day. Ever) take the Metro to Union Station. Catch the early train!


Step Five: Spend the evening working on the garden you are co-opting with good friends (they have the yard, you have the will). Eat delicious veggie tortilla wraps and homemade mango ice cream. Get home at ten and throw open all the windows, because it's still lovely outside. 


Repeat as necessary. 

Hope you had a lovely day, too!

writing day

Mission: Write 7 reasonably eloquent pages for Virginia Woolf final essay (due Saturday; aiming for first draft by end of Thursday). Do not give in to any of the following: despair; paranoia; the beautiful day tantalizingly waiting to be enjoyed outside.


6:30am Crawl out of bed to see Ross off. Heat up some eggs (my weirdo weakness). 15 minutes of youtube yoga.

7:00am Breakfast, my very favorite part of home days. Two hardboiled eggs; a glass of water; plain yogurt (a mistake... I thought I bought vanilla) with banana slices and the rest of the frozen berries. Quiet time bliss. Put the chickpeas in water to soak for chana masala tonight.

7:30am Back to bed. I know, I know... but before you judge me too harshly, may I submit to the court that I'm currently taking a new medication which makes me insanely drowsy in the morning, even though I take it at night. Not my favorite. Sleep until 9:30.

9:30am Wake up. Open all the windows and move plants into sunny spots. Think about what a beautiful day it is and how I'm stuck inside writing all day. Stop thinking about that. Shower.

10:00am Open this new blog post. Type previous. Open blank word document. Stare at it. Fight rising panic. Type header and "TITLE" for title. Feel pleased with self for filling even a small part of a page. Cut apples and cheese for snack.

10:30am Freak out because it's 10:30 already with nary a word. Close blog window to focus. Actually get some writing done (a whole half-page)!

11:30am Open up the internet again to look up an essay. Get distracted by thinking about dinner tonight. Stress about how few Indian spices I have; stress about whether or not Ross will like it. Read comments on recipe site. Realize how distracted I've become and reel it back in. Write a little more: almost a full paragraph/page. I am a writing God.

12:00pm Lunch time! I'm a big believer in two conflicting things: forcing oneself to sit at the computer for hours, and scheduling breaks. I think my subconscious needs time to sort through the things I was thinking about when I was chained to the desk. I also think this process happens best when it's combined with food and old episodes of Parks and Recreation. Lunch: Half of the biggest grapefruit ever; two pieces of toast; three chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. Cleaned up the kitchen so I don't have to worry about doing it when Ross comes home, thus freeing me to... just... write. Hmm. Maybe I should spill something.

1:00pm Lunch over. Back to it. Le sigh.

3:00pm Or not! Turns out it was supposed to be really hot today, ergo I should have left the windows closed, ergo I became really hot and dehydrated and fell asleep post-lunch. Whoops. Ok... NOW we're back to it. Good heavens.

4:30pm Yeah... this essay is going really slowly. I'll let you know when I've finished the wretched thing. Haylie OUT.

Edit: Writing yesterday was an utter disaster. I couldn't get my thoughts to congeal or my attention to settle and this morning I realized I'd have to start over almost from scratch. Bright side? It's going much better today (Thursday). Although my thoughts are still somewhat fuzzy, I have a better idea of where I'm going. I doubt I'll have a draft by day's end like I'd hoped, but I'll be much, much closer to that goal than I was last night. Writing is hard, man. 

acknowledgements

Today I spent some time fantasizing about the acknowledgements page for my future first book. Here are some possibilities.

To my husband, Ross: Thanks for making sure that neither the cat nor I starved to death. On an unrelated note, thanks also for making sure the bridges of Maryland don’t fall down.

To the English Departments of Cornell, Brandeis, UMass, NYU, U of Virginia, U of Chicago, Penn State, UConn, Urbana-Champaign: Thank you for your rejection. The English Department at GWU is awesome. You, clearly, are less so. Thanks for helping me dodge a bullet there.  

To my friends on Facebook: Thanks for responding to even my most narcissistic, whiny, and/or needy status updates. Put another way, thank you for responding to my status updates.

To Portland: I think I’m speaking for everyone when I say thanks for allowing me to be the girl who talks about how her hometown “is, like, waaaaay better than this place.” Because everybody loves that girl.

To Don, the man I sit next to on the MARC train almost every morning: Thanks for making room for me. I hope the USC basketball team does well.

To my cat, Creature: Thank you for whining, freaking out, attacking my leg, and generally carrying on while I was trying to write this, and all other, books/papers/articles/emails/shopping lists. Although you make me crazy, unbroken stints of focused writing make me more so.

To Scott, another frequenter of the MARC system: Most flamboyant men are delightful. You’re mostly loud and obnoxious. Thanks for crushing stereotypes.  

To my third grade rival, Christopher C: Thanks for nothing. I still despise you for building a better model of a California mission than I did. I also despise your sister for narrowly beating me in the school spelling bee. A plague o’er both your houses.  

To Kelly Sirles and Chris McDonald: Thanks for being my Portland fellows in this crazy world of English. Chances are extremely poor that more than one of us will be successful and here I am already publishing a book, so, you know. Good luck with that.

Dear Ira Glass: Thanks for everything. I couldn’t have done it without you.

the big red button

Today I pressed the reset button. It was a minor thing, really... I didn't go to a class. But it felt like a really big deal. I always go to class. I'm just that kid. I can be irresponsible and flaky in some other spheres of my life (I'm big enough to admit that, I think), but I always, always go to class. So choosing not to go this evening was:
a) a big deal (I think that's covered now), and
b) extremely liberating.
It's been a slightly crazy couple of weeks, and it's only going to get more so from here. So tonight I just came home early. Ross and I took a walk, we had a nice dinner, and I've had time to sit down and write this blog post. See? Everybody wins.

update friday

Hello all. Remember that time in January when I promised that I’d blog more often? I believe 20 posts a week was my delightfully naïve goal. Ah! Something about the plans of mice and men (and graduate students). Please accept my sincerest apologies, and my (mostly sincere) promise to do better. In the meantime, here are some bullet-point updates for your consideration:

CREATURE:

• Loves her hexbug
• Misses her terrace garden
• Is otherwise pretty much the same she always was

ROSS:

• Continues to work extremely hard for the State Highway Administration, making sure that the bridges of Maryland don’t fall down. I think we can all agree this is an important service. Thanks, Ross!
• Had an interesting project lately in which he was checking the plans for a pedestrian bridge that really would have fallen down if he had cleared it. Which he didn’t
• Organized the bookshelf and “the office,” which means the house is pretty much all done. Thanks again, Ross
• Is reading the Harry Potter series in Polish
• Likes Creature a little. Sometimes
• Likes Haylie a lot. Usually

HAYLIE:

• Started working a lot more hours at her job with Kid Power DC.
• Is taking (and mostly really enjoying) classes on Shakespeare, medieval objects, and Virginia Woolf
•  Is presenting at her first ever conference (at GW, on a graduate panel) in a week!
• Is presenting at her second ever conference (in SLC! On a real grownup panel!) in April
• Is flying to Sacramento to visit her dad and family for Spring Break
• Got a summer job with the Institute of Reading Development
• Started a design and style blog which has been really fun (and fairly popular) with Kathayoon
•  Officially became a vegetarian a few weeks ago

ROSS AND HAYLIE TOGETHER:

• Are hoping to have some adventures this summer
• Are planning a co-op garden with some friends (who have a yard and a baby on the way!)
• Can't wait for it to get warmer
• Are really sad about a certain family moving to Seattle :o(
• Miss all of you West Coasters an awful lot

Love, 

Haylie et al    

happy valentine's day

Heart attack, by Creature. 

Happy Valentine's Day. 

leona and george

Happy Valentine's Day weekend (more Valentine's posts to follow: I'm a sucker for the V-Day). 

launch

Hello all. This isn't the update I'm sure you were hoping for. I apologize for my lack of blogging recently. New job responsibilities + new classes + trying to squeeze as much spouse time as possible = scanty blogging. I'm working on it.

In other news, though, I have been involved in a new project with this girl:

Her name is Kathayoon, we're zoo buddies, and just for kicks we started a design/style blog for people with I Am A Greedy Girl dreams but graduate school budgets. It's My Cherry Amour, and I modestly think that it's pretty awesome... check it out!