Wine and Meeko (a.k.a. My First Raccoon)

Last week my friend, Elspeth, and I decided to FINALLY use the Living Social deal for The Winery at Bull Run that we had purchased way back in July (read: it was about to expire).

So, we made plans to meet at the winery after work on Friday. . . . We left our respective locations at exactly the same time. I made it there on time, she got there an hour and a half later. . . . That's the difference between going to Centreville from Sterling and going there from Arlington. Gotta love that Northern VA traffic.

Anyway, while I was waiting, I decided to walk around the property a little bit and just enjoy nature. It was a beautiful night and it had been a little too long since I had spent more than a few minutes outside, especially outside in a deliciously cool, woodsy/field smelling spot.

A view from the winery

The Winery at Bull Run

The cool hearth/stone space where I sat for a little
while just enjoying the November evening.

Once Elspeth finally got there we did a wine tasting and enjoyed the yummy bread and cheese basket that the Living Social deal got us. The wines were all really good. I probably would have bought a bottle or two if I were feeling rich enough, but since I (1) barely ever drink and (2) am very happy with wine that costs under $10, I decided that a $29 splurge was above my price grade for the moment.

When I got home, I had another exciting event. I saw my first raccoon (I think). 

It was huge, sort of adorable, and digging through my dumpster. I acted like a huge city girl and sat in my car taking pictures with my phone . . . I felt like my college roommates who got excited when they saw cows or ducks or most "wildlife" in general.

I may or may not have even waited for him (her?) to climb back out so that I could get a better shot.

It was so big!

I was super surprised at how much he looked
like Meeko from Pocahontas!

The Purrfect Little Lady

My favorite kitty is so dainty when she sits with her toes all lined up.

She's so cute ♥

Ballet is Hard!

I just watched this video and just about died laughing. This little girl is 100% the cutest thing I've ever seen. She also reminds me of exactly how I felt every time I tried to do a turned-out first position.

I feel her pain.

I think I'll watch it again.

Pigs May or May Not be Flying Right Now. . . .

Why yes. I did just win in Words with Friends by more than 100 points. 

Thanks for noticing.

This will probably never happen again.

Ever.

Feeling Legit

I was in Barnes and Noble the other day and I saw a book on display that I (thats right . . . me, myself, and I) copyedited. It's the first (and hopefully not the last) time that's ever happened to me!

That was exciting.

DC Wandering, Friends, and TOTEM!

A few weekends ago, my friend Jason came down from the Big City to visit me in the Capitol City for the weekend.

Love this guy!

I met him at Union Station and we proceeded to walk around the city a little bit... it was only his second time in DC, so he was excited to see more of the memorials/important buildings.

Side of the Postal Museum

First we tried to go to the postal museum, which is conveniently located next to Union Station. I've been there before and I found it fascinating (although my a weird obsession with stamps may have had something to do with that). Unfortunately these plans were foiled by the smoothies we had only partially finished, because drinks are not allowed in the museum.

The building that houses the museum is very cool though. It's also a real post office, so we looked around a little bit, and I managed to snap a quick photo of the ceiling before we left.

I would love this to be my post office!

Then we started walking towards the back side of the Capitol building. I'd never realized you could get there so easily from Union Station. On the way we saw this cute little squirrel "sleeping" on the side of the road.

RIP poor little squirrel.
Now you won't be able to chew anyone's fuel lines.

I've never seen the Capitol building from the back before and it was beautiful! There is so much more to it than I ever realized! We walked around for a little while before heading back home.

The Capitol from the back

The Capitol from the front/side.

Then on Saturday night we saw TOTEM, a Cirque Du Soleil show! We were joined by Jenny and Mik and my friend from school, Jamie. Totem was probably one of my favorite Cirque shows so far (I've seen two others, Kooza and Ova).

The show is sort of an evolution/nature based one, so there were lots of "animal" acts and Native American things and then the introduction of science and technology a little at the end via an appearance by Charles Darwin. There was one hilarious scene where they recreated the monkey to human evolution picture. There weren't as many terrifyingly dare-devilish stunts in this one as there were in Kooza, but there was so much cool artistry and the acts were just fascinating, that I didn't feel like I was missing anything.

Jason, Me, Jamie
and the TOTEM frog man!

The Cirque logo was projected onto the ceiling and it looked very cool.

Check out the TOTEM trailer below... The Native American ring dancers were one of my favorite acts!

A Little Meal Time Humor For Your Tuesday Afternoon

{via}

I was going through my old emails today and I found this little gem from my amazingly articulate father... Enjoy!

Dearest Melissa,

It has come to my attention that I have not the slightest idea what you would desire to tempt your pallet while you dine at our humble table.

Only you can remedy this fearful dilemma. The cats have made some suggestions but I've tried to explain that you have never gotten into a diet of fresh insects, rubber-bands, and other assorted things they find delectable.

Please help solve this towering imbalance in the universe.

With humble anticipation,

The Bearded feeder of the flock (do cats come in flocks?)

How Cool Are These Little Guys???

So it's a well established fact that while I'm all about words and punctuation at this stage in my life, I'll always be a science nerd at heart. So imagine my excitement when I stumbled across this crazy awesome picture that a friend of mine posted on Facebook!

a water bear, courtesy of a scanning electron micrograph and Nature

How incredibly adorable is that?? Is it weird that I really want to hang this picture on my wall? I'm smitten.

This guy is seriously tiny and has been deemed the hardiest animal on Earth, thanks to its ability to live in sub-zero temperatures, solar winds, and the vacuum of space! Cool. To learn more about them, check out this super interesting article from Nature.

One Reason to Live Near DC

Yesterday after work I hopped on the metro and headed into the city to meet up with some friends and see . . . BATMAN!

No, I'm not a crazy batman fan (although I am a Christian Bale and Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan), but who wouldn't want to see a movie on the huge IMAX screen at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History?? It was 100% worth it. The movie was great and the screen was so big that I almost felt like I was in the movie . . . it was kind of amazing.

Anyway, I got there a little early so I hung out on the Mall and snapped a few pictures, awkward tourist style

Washington Monument

Batman IMAX here I come!

my shadow!
I felt super awkward taking this one. . .

Another highlight of the night? The amazingly absurd hat the guy in the row in front of us was wearing. I tried to snap a pic surreptitiously, but failed miserably. 

no flash + darkish movie theater = picture fail.

Never fear! I found it here!

nice and classy

Sometimes its fun to be nerdy...

We watched this video recently in my marketing class and I'm pretty much obsessed with it. I love these nerdy statisticy videos. This one was done by a website called Socialnomics. If you like them too, check out this one by National Geographic to find out if you are a typical human being. In the meantime, let's be nerdy together and watch this little gem.

via

I may or may not have downloaded the song in this video and it may or may not be my new happy tune... although this one still does it every time, too.

Quarter Life Crisis???

Fortunately not yet! But considering that today marks my quarter-century milestone, I feel like one should be coming on pretty soon...

via

Fortunately I have lots of friends who will help me be a whole parade to make it all better!

Happy Birthday to Me!

DC Fireworks!

Yesterday I experienced my first ever Fourth of July in a big city, and it wasn't just any big city, it was DC!

Well, technically I never left Arlington, but that's just getting technical.

My friend and I decided that rather than braving the crazy crowds that were clogging up the metro and the National Mall, we'd take it easy and walk over to the Air Force Memorial to watch the fireworks instead. What a great idea.

Air Force Memorial

For those of you who don't know, the Air Force Memorial is on a hill in Arlington that over looks DC and the surrounding area. From there you can see the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, Arlington Nat'l Cemetery, and the Pentagon. More importantly, you can see the National Mall's fireworks display. Added bonus? You can also see the fireworks displays from tons of surrounding areas... no lie, the whole of the skyline was filled with fireworks. It was awesome.

USAF Band playing the 1812 Overture

The USAF Band was playing a Fourth of July concert when we got there, which was very cool. I absolutely loved that they played the 1812 Overture at the end of the concert, complete with cannons (which totally freaked out the little girl who was sitting next to us) at the end. They were super loud and bright, but we were also basically sitting right next to them.

Smoke from the cannon fire...
So glad they included them!

As soon as the overture ended, the big fireworks show started. It was very cool to watch fireworks bursting over DC, although it made me realize how much I love watching fireworks in the valley. You see, one of my favorite things about fireworks is the sounds they make... I love the booms and crackles and wizzes. These sounds are magnified 10-fold at home because the sounds bounce off the mountains and reverberate through the valley. In the city, which is relatively flat and mountainless, the fireworks made almost no noise. It was crazy!

Fireworks over DC.
To the right you can see the Washington Monument.

On the way home, we each picked up an American flag from the information booth. It was a great end to what has so far been quite the stressful week!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Yum.

Check out this thing of beauty...

Yes mom, those are mushrooms on this pizza.

While I was at Trader Joe's today, I saw a package of rustic ciabatta flatbread and BAM! inspiration hit.

Pizza.

So, for lunch/dinner today I'm having a mushroom, yellow pepper, and asparagus pizza. I think that the only thing that could have made it better was more mushrooms, peppers, and asparagus...

Right now everyone who knows me is asking, what happened to the Carbohydrate Kid??? and Are those REAL vegetables on that pizza???


I've officially grown-up... quarter-century bday here I come...

The Epitome of Up-cycling

I have an old school iMac (well my parents do) that is seriously calling my name right now.... how hard do you think this would be to DIY?

Source: fab.com via Melissa on Pinterest

I'd totally get a cat if it would sleep in this!

A Prairie Home Companion!

 On Saturday I got what was probably one of the best (and honestly only) Memorial Day presents of my life... I got to go to a live taping of A Prairie Home Companion!

I got to see Garrison Keillor, Guy's All Star Shoe Band, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, Mr. Fred Newman, and all the rest of the Prairie Home crew. It was kind of awesome. And it was all thanks to my friend Elspeth and her parents, who gave me their extra ticket to the Memorial Day show at Wolf Trap.

One of my favorite parts of the show happened before the show even started. About 15 minutes before the live taping began, Garrison and Sara Watkins, one of his guest singers, walked all through the lawn at Wolf Trap singing song after song and signing autographs and taking pictures with the audience. It was so cool that he did that. Even cooler, Garrison was somehow able to sing and sign autographs and take pictures at the same time... he barely even hesitated when someone shoved a book and pen into his face or wrapped their arm around him for a picture. It was nuts.

Also nuts was Sara Watkins' outfit. I so wish I could pull that off. (She's the one in the hat with hipster glasses and a microphone.) Elspeth and I both decided that she is quite possibly our new favorite singer.

Once the show started it was pretty much like listening to the radio, only instead of watching the road wiz by (cause we usually listen to it in the car) you actually got to watch them on stage. 

Guy's All Star Shoe Band

And while it was pretty uneventful on stage (the pictures below were taken during the Guy Noire story) it was very cool to be able to see Mr. Fred Newman doing the sound effects.

From left to right: Mr. Fred Newman, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Garrison

Elspeth and I also tried this "great" technique of taking pictures through binoculars in an attempt to get a better close up picture... it kind of worked, but it was hard to take a picture that wasn't blurry. It's hard to stabilize a camera and binoculars and take a picture all at the same time.

When they started the power milk biscuits song a sign lit up on the side of the stage, which was cool. There was also a sign that said "on air" that lit up when the show was live on air.

During the break we went up to the balcony area of Wolf Trap to see what it looked like from up there... it was cool to see the stage from a different perspective (aka way closer and from above).

After the show was over and it was time to leave, the parking lot was literally a parking lot, since the traffic flow at Wolf Trap isn't exactly spectacular. We saw lots of people hanging out in the parking lot (rather than hanging out in their cars, in the parking lot, while burning lots of gas... that's what we were doing. And blasting some Sara Watkins music). People were throwing frisbees and nerf thingys, drinking wine, and doing what I would generally think of as lite tailgating, since they didn't have cooking implements and stuff. However, the best was definitely these people, who actually went so far as to spread their blanket out on the pavement and have a full blown picnic.

If you feel like listening to the show, you can get to it here. Just choose the 5/26 show. 

Or, you can just listen to clips... my favorites had to be "You and Me" (one of Sara Watkins' songs) and Guy Noir

Point Shoes

Check out this fascinating mini-documentary called "Point Shoes" that Galen Summer edited and directed for the New York City Ballet.

Then, when you're done, go to Galen's website and check out his other videos... my favorites were the one about making tutus and the one about a pas de deux from the dancer's perspective (obviously) but the others were pretty awesome too!

p.s. LOVE the guy from the "Whisky Stones" video and the scenery from that video is beautiful and has officially cemented my desire to move to Vermont.

And We Always Thought Staunton Was Lame...

I guess we were wrong!

Smithsonian Magazine and Travel+Leisure have both named my hometown on their respective best small town/main street lists.

That's right. Staunton was #10 on the Smithsonian's 20 Best Small Towns in America list and #5 on Travel+Leisure's America's Greatest Main Streets list!

Both magazines highlighted the Blackfriars (which is very cool, but the bane of many high schoolers' existences), Woodrow Wilson's Birthplace (an elementary school field trip staple), downtown's awesome brick facade, and of all things, the camera museum... I'm not sure I even knew we had one of those.

They just forgot to mention one thing though... Grandma's! Make sure you stop in the next time you visit... It's even on the way from the camera museum to the Blackfriars.

No. This is Perfect.

I think I'm in love.

Source: neatoshop.com via Melissa on Pinterest

This is the website's description:

"Is your glass half full or half empty? Pessimists and optimists alike agree that this clever glass will surely bring a chuckle to whomever you give it to. Unless they're engineer that is - they don't think that the glass is half full or half empty. Rather, it is twice as big as it needs to be."

I don't know about you, but I think it is absolutely half full... especially if I'm wearing my glasses.

How Perfect Is This?

I was trolling around on pinterest this evening (because that's what I do to avoid going to sleep) and I found this poster. I think it's perfect... it speaks to me. haha

Source: brainpickings.org via Melissa on Pinterest

Valentine's Day NPR Style

Last year, NPR put a bunch of silly public radio related Valentine's Day e-cards up on their website. I didn't find them until several days later, but I thought they were so good that I felt the need to save them for this year! 

You can find these (and more of last year's cards) as well as new ones they put out this year (not as good), on the NPR Valentines website. Enjoy!

Hands down, my favorite.

LOVE these guys!

Don't we all?