♥

miss you already

♥

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!

Did You?

My voting center had
The. Best. I Voted Stickers. Ever.
Hurray for first time in person voting!

I had to get up at 5:45 a.m.
(it was dark)

I had to wait in line for nearly an hour and a half.
(at least 30 minutes of that was outside)

I may be on some international news broadcast tonight. . . .
(a news crew was filming us waiting in line)

I got several free things because of my sticker.

(thanks for lunch, California Tortilla)

I voted.

Did you?

Can it Just be Wednesday Already?

There are two things I hate about the end of October (actually most of October) and the beginning of November.

The disgusting abundance of Christmas/Holiday stuff out before Halloween and the disgusting abundance of political ads.

Seriously. 

Fortunately for me, the election is tomorrow and starting Wednesday morning, I'll be able to watch TV again without gagging every three seconds from a new political ad.

I. Can't. Wait.

The nearly unbearable bombardment of political disgustingness has been way worse than usual this year, mostly because I have the misfortune to live in a battle state and in a metropolitan area (that's right Marylanders, I know allllll about Question freaking 7). 

I have literally experienced entire sixty minute prime time television shows where there have been about four non-political commercials. My favorite is when there is an ad for a democratic guy saying that his republican counterpart cut tons of money for this or that program, which is then immediately followed by the aforementioned republican guy saying that his aforementioned democratic challenger cut the same (or similar) amount of money for the same program. 

Thanks. The other guy cut funding. We get it. What will you do for us?

I'm still waiting.

But until you're ready, from now on (in the months of August, October, and early-November) I'll be exclusively watching TV via OnDemand, the mercifully commercial-free PBS, and the less influenced channels like HGTV and Food Network, which have about an eighth of the number of rude experiences per commercial break.

Because, really? How many of these ads do anything other than lie?

I'd rather not let my vote be influenced by that rubbish.

It's Wet Outside.

Here are three Hurricane Sandy related pictures for your wet and wild afternoon pleasure. For those of you wondering about the window situation, so far, so good . . . mostly. So far everything is still intact, but there are some fun leaks springing around my A/C units.

Stay dry east coasters!

So true.
I'm the one with the bow.

This actually went around the office on Friday.
It was hilarious to hear people randomly burst out laughing. 

A friend of mine shared this picture.
It was taken this morning at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
That is dedication.

The Purrfect Little Lady

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

She's so cute ♥

Now This is What I Call a Preemptive Strike!

As most of my family knows my living room window and heavy winds don't get along very well. In fact, in the year and a few months that I've been living here, my window has popped out four times.

The first was during Hurricane Irene, when my window popped out at 4 a.m. Fortunately my mom was there and (after nearly an hour of holding in place ourselves) we finally came up with the ideal to lean my empty bookcase against a box against my window. That worked pretty well and a few hours later we hit up Lowes for some tape to hold it in place a little less cumbersomely.

It next happened a few months later. This time I was prepared and taped it in right away.

And then two more times after that. . . .

Well, when I heard that Hurricane Sandy was supposed to pound us with mad winds on Sunday and Monday (and maybe even Tuesday), I (with my parents' urging) decided to make a preemptive strike this time around.

Enter the 2 x 4.

For the record, a full 2 x 4 will fit in my car. Who knew?

My window is now taped, braced, and as I discovered today, it's also screwed into the window frame. I guess maintenance got tired of visiting my apartment armed with a caulk gun. However there's only one screw and it's not flush with the frame, so I'm not convinced that it will do much good, except to prevent the plexiglass from falling completely out. I've also got towels packed around the A/C unit to catch all the leaking water that inevitably happens when it rains hard.

So, BRING IT Sandy. I'm ready for you.

Just don't take my power. . . .

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.

How an Idea Becomes a Book... an Infographic

This little gem was going around our office last week. We all pretty much agreed that this perfectly represents how an idea becomes a book.

This may be why I'm slowly going crazy. . . .

 



Thanks weldonowen.com

Somehow This Makes Me Feel Better

I've had a super stressful work and school filled couple of weeks and something about this story (which a friend of mine just posted on Facebook) makes me feel like things can and will get better.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the two Beers.  

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty glass mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.  

The professor then picked up a jar of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open spaces between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.  

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous yes. 

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the grains of sand. The students laughed.  

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions—things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. "The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else—the small stuff.  

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for your life." 

"If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.  

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  

"Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Hang out with your friends. Play another 18.  

"There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.  

"Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." 

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked," he said. "The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers with a friend."

I See Lots of Soup in My Future

If I wasn't feeling the fall fever yet, this picture has definitely done the trick.

It's like squash heaven.

Dad just sent me this (rather blurry) picture of the squash he and mom just picked from their garden. Those are twenty glorious butternut squashes, which can only mean one thing. . . my freezer had better be filled with delicious butternut squash soup pronto.

So. Excited. For. Fall.

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!

Speaking of Heaven...

I finally managed to upload the pictures from our trip up to Vermont and I'd say that these reflect a little slice of heaven too. 

While we were there, we went up to visit my brother's new digs in Burlington. It was pretty amazing up there... We went to some delicious restaurants and hung out in downtown Burlington, we also did the Ben and Jerry's factory tour (yummm!), beer tastings at Rock Art Brewery, visited the Lake Champlain Chocolates factory (although we were 20 minutes too late for the tour), and just generally had a good time as a family!

Check out the scenes from Burlington...

Lake Champlain at sunset

Mitchell works right off the lake, so he sees this every day.
Officially jealous.

He can also walk here from his apartment,
so he can get here pretty easy.

Mitchell's work home (kind of)

Ben and Jerry's Factory
Flavor Graveyard!

Glad none of my favorite flavors have a headstone here yet!

A Little Slice of Heaven

My parents are currently ensconced on a balcony at 5,000 feet altitude somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains... or as my mom called it,  "heaven."

Check out the views.

Are you jealous? Because I am!

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?)

I Never Thought I'd Actually Go Looking for Dishes to Wash!

There is something new in my life that makes dishwashing probably one of my favorite things ever.

Pear Ginger Dish Soap 
 Orla Keily for Method

I picked this dish soap up at target the other day, partly because I thought the packaging was adorable, partly because I had a coupon, and partly because I was intrigued by the thought of pear-scented soap.

Best. Decision. Ever.

It smells amazing and officially makes me want to do the dishes all the time!

In a completely unrelated (but strangely so) incident, I was perusing some of the blogs I read on the very rare occasions that I have free time, and I came across this umbrella...

Cross Hatch Stem Minilite Umbrella

...which I'm officially completely head-over-heels in love with. As in if I had $49 to spend on an umbrella, I would have bought it about 5 minutes ago. Guess who's website popped up when I clicked on the link? Orla Keily's!

If I had another large wad of cash around, I'd invest in these too... an awesome laptop case and this adorable mug.

Quilted Acorn Print 15" Macbook Sleeve

Scribble Multi Stem Mug

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.

Why Yes! That is a Lot of Stickers

Thanks for noticing!

I've been keeping up the gym going (and super fun sticker system) for a healthy six weeks now. I'm extremely proud of (and amazed at) myself for my spectacular dedication.

And it's paying off! As of my last "weigh-in" I'd lost almost 5 inches total (they measure various places on your body every 4ish weeks) and about 2 pounds.

But what was probably the crowning moment of my gym-results experience so far was when someone that I hugged commented on my arms and asked if I was working out! Score!

Check out my stickers below. Love the Hello Kitty encouragement stickers my parents sent me for my birthday : )  Also, check out my calendar. It's kind of awesome.

In June, I made it three times a week
that's every week day I didn't have class! 

In July I gym failed on my birthday week
but that was mostly because of a school project
Notice that I went four times last week!
Would have gone five, but Batman IMAX was more important.

In Memoriam

via

Yesterday I lost a cherished family member.

But, don't worry. It wasn't a person.

It was the Buick.

For those of you who aren't aware, the Buick was an amazing car that I 

sort of inherited from my grandmother while I was in high school. 

It was huge, it was red (inside and out), and it was probably the 

most comfortable car I've ever been in. 

Seriously. I could have lived in it.

I started driving the Buick during my junior year of high school after a deer 

destroyed the front and right side of my van. It still had its PA 

license plates, which I thought was super cool.

We had quite a time together. . . Here are a few of the moment's I'll never forget.

We were together when I returned to driving after breaking my foot . . .

and when I slid it under the back bumper of a jeep that same afternoon

what a nice welcome back to driving experience.

We were together when the Buick was the only car in our arsenal 

that could get up the driveway during a snow event

especially snowmagaddon 

and snowpocalypse 

once the van left the driveway, it didn't come back up for a week.
the Buick was back up that afternoon.

We were together when the Buick hit the 100,000 mile mark

on 2/16/2012 two days after what would have been

Grandmommy's 96th birthday ♥

Happy 100,000 miles Buick.
I'll miss you terribly.

We were together when I was driving to Ocean City, NJ 

and basically broke down in Towson, MD

And we were (almost) together when I rented my first car

(thanks to the Towson incident)

my first rental car!

We were together when I bought my new car

(an almost direct result of the Towson incident)

We were together for one last time after I lost my wisdom teeth

(thanks to the squirrels that incapacitated my new car)

We had a great ride together . . . I 'll miss you!