happy spring, jerks!

It's been a bitterly cold winter. But the beginning of daylight savings time, some sunshine, and hearing the birds chirping in the mornings over the past few weeks had me feeling hopeful that I'd made it! I'd survived another winter! But on the first day of spring, Mother Nature dumped a pile of snow on us.

23 weeks down, 17ish to go

It was actually our first/only significant snow of the year. This winter was cold, but we only got a few dustings of snow - the kind that melted before you could even put your boots on and head outside. I always get suspicious that there will be a spring snowstorm if we have a snowless winter. If it's going to be cold, I don't mind there being snow in the winter, but once it's spring - no thanks! I lived through five Syracuse winters where it snowed from October through May, and there's a reason I left that city behind when I graduated from college!

But it was nice to have Larry home from work and to cozy up with my family - dogs napping, fire in the fireplace, chili simmering on the stove, peanut butter blondies baking in the oven.




The snow will be melted by tomorrow, and hopefully Mother Nature gets the message that winter is over. I'm ready to bust out my Tevas for real! Here's what I'm looking forward to this spring:

+ A belated fifth anniversary trip to California in April. It's not Hawaii as we'd originally planned, and I won't be drinking virgin tropical drinks or wearing sundresses on the beach, but staying in a cabin among the redwoods and exploring Big Sur still sounds pretty relaxing. Plus, it doesn't require an 11 hour flight to get there!

+ I feel like I've finally hit the sweet spot of pregnancy. The first trimester (and let's be honest, beginning of second trimester, too) symptoms are gone, and I'm not yet feeling heavy and uncomfortable. (Yes, I know I look huge in the photos, but maternity shirts do a really excellent job of accentuating the bump! So far I've gained a quarter of the recommended weight, which means the belly will quadruple in size over the next 17 weeks. Yikes!) But right now, during the day I'm starting to forget that I'm pregnant, until I see my own reflection and think WHOAH! Thankful to be feeling pretty good right now and hoping to make the most of it.

+ Getting back on the trail! I can't wait to get outside and hike this spring. My regular winter walking loop around my neighborhood has gotten so boring, so I'm looking forward to a change in scenery. And maybe I can find some friends to walk with so I can get in some social time, too. It's been a long and lonely winter.

+ Getting back in the pool. When I first found out I was pregnant, I said to myself "I'm going to swim and eat spinach salads every day!" Yeah, that lasted about a week. Then I spent two months lying on the couch and surviving on scrambled eggs and pears and bread. But it's not too late for me to start swimming again. I just need to see if I can squeeze into my swimsuit!

+ Trying new recipes and reading more books. I'm finally starting to enjoy cooking and reading again! I've been making lots of trips to the library and am looking forward to spring at the farmers market and eating fresh veggies. (Maybe I'll finally start eating those spinach salads again!)

+ Creative projects. Creativity has taken the back burner lately, and starting up on painting/drawing/sewing projects again sounds daunting. My brain and hand feel rusty. I need to make this happen.

+ A last hurrah getaway with Larry. I don't know if I'll feel like traveling in May, but I'd love to go to Savannah for a long weekend. I hate the term babymoon, and last hurrah makes it sound like Larry and I won't have any fun after the baby is born (hopefully this isn't true - we're looking forward to doing fun things and traveling with the baby), but a short trip for just the two of us before finishing up the baby prep sounds great. If we can't make Savannah happen, then maybe we'll just take a road trip to somewhere within driving distance of home. The Eastern Shore? West Virginia? We'll see...

Speaking of baby prep, we haven't started yet, so that's also on the schedule for spring. I feel like we have to finish all the house projects that we haven't done over the past 10 years of living here, get our shit together, AND get ready for the baby. Overwhelming!

Lots to do and look forward to. Happy Spring!

weekend adventures | exploring hillwood gardens

Spring is always such a beautiful, yet fleeting, season in DC. It seemed to disappear even more quickly than usual this year, I think because we were traveling and because horrible weather (a month of rain) kept us from enjoying our usual outdoorsy activities. But in the middle of April, we had a weekend of perfect weather, so we took my mother to explore Hillwood Gardens for her birthday. The gardens were in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the sky was vivid blue.

Hillwood Gardens is an estate purchased by Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1955. Marjorie was the owner of Post Cereal, the founder of General Foods, and the richest woman in America. We toured the mansion, and it was ridiculous what money could buy - she collected Fabergé eggs, French and Russian art, and jewelry, had multiple estates, and a huge staff that kept everything running smoothly. I much preferred the gardens to the interior of the house (which was filled to the brim with all the expensive useless things that money could buy). But despite her tastes in decorating (so many portraits of herself!), Marjorie was a philanthropist, an excellent employer, a skilled businesswoman, and an animal lover.

But back to the gardens! I think of DC as such an urban space, and always find it surprising to stumble on gardens and wooded areas within the city. From the mansion's portico, there was actually a view across the lawn to the Washington Monument in the distance. Just imagine the garden parties you could have here. Someone get me a cocktail!








Most of my photos were taken in the Japanese garden because that was my favorite. But there was also a pet cemetery, a cutting garden, a French parterre, a putting green, a rose garden where Marjorie's ashes are located, and the lunar lawn which is watched over by Leo the stone lion and which offers that billion dollar view towards the Washington Monument. While I enjoy the gardens at the National Arboretum more, what's remarkable to me about Hillwood is that it was a privately owned residence. It's a lifestyle I just can't imagine living, though it was fun to pretend for a day.

back to your regularly scheduled programming

My blog has felt like an extended vacation this year. Two weeks in Hawaii turned into two months of blog posts. And while my blog became All Hawaii, All The Time, in real life we had a very busy spring here in Virginia.

Sneak peek | New art coming soon!

There have been good things: weekends out of town (Western Maryland, Durham, Richmond), cooking challenges, lots of books being read, the creation of new art, a book signing, lunches and happy hours with friends, dinners out with family, a concert, the start of a sewing project, and yes, believe it or not, a return trip to Hawaii...

And bad: jet lag, an injured pup, snow, a fender bender, tax and business stress, headaches, and the Boston Marathon bombing and ensuing manhunt.

My poor pup was prescribed two weeks of "bed rest." He was not happy about it. (He's all better now.)

And just general busy-ness: We've traveled every month of 2013 so far. We can't keep up with the yardwork. (Being out of town for a good chunk of the spring results in an overgrown yard - we're those weird neighbors who live behind the giant hedge...) We had another last minute trip to Hawaii to plan. (I'll spread out my blog posts and share the photos from Hawaii, The Sequel throughout the summer.) I have a truly sickening amount of unresponded to e-mails clogging my inbox. (Sorry!) My shop vended at two art markets in April and will be at two more this summer. (New art finally coming soon!) And my Etsy shop has been out of control while I've been traveling and on bed rest. (Thanks so much to my patient customers!)

Richmond Craft Mafia's Spring Bada-Bing

Welcome to the Jungle! (AKA, The Vine That Ate Banjo.)

Funnelcloud Studio's "Shipping Department." Ack.

And that doesn't even account for all the hours I've wasted playing Candy Crush!

I've kept a running list of a few of our favorite things to remember from this spring, since time seems to have disappeared into a black hole this year:

BOOKS
During these jet-lagged post-travel weeks, I've turned to books to get me through sleepless nights and sluggish days. I polished off five alone in the week after returning from our last trip. By far the best book I've read this year is The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. I can't recommend this book enough - by the end I had bookmarked 60 pages and added 30 new titles to my To Read list.

TELEVISION
Evidently political shows/thrillers set in DC are my thing right now:

Our cable provider gave us a free month of Showtime this spring and Larry and I immediately became hooked on Homeland. Yeah, we're late to the party, and still haven't finished watching the first season, but we love this show!

We're still huge fans of VEEP - the perfect Before-The-Work-Week-Starts way to laugh your ass off on Sunday night.

My friend Sarah recommended Scandal, and I recently finished the first season and am hooked. The plot is definitely far-fetched (as seems to be the norm for Shonda Rhimes shows), but it's definitely entertaining.

And since I still have a trial subscription to Netflix, I've just started watching House of Cards. I'm intrigued. Kevin Spacey creeps me out, and like most political shows, the plot is complicated and a little confusing, but I'm interested to see what happens next.

Josh Ritter at 930 Club. Our favorite - I think this is the 5th time we've seen him live.

MUSIC
Larry and I have a travel tradition of buying new music before going on a trip - we listen to a few albums on repeat as we travel and this becomes the soundtrack to our vacation. Even years later, I can't listen to Josh Ritter's The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter without thinking about driving around Olympic National Park in 2007 or Pinback without reminiscing about driving through Utah and Arizona in 2006. The soundtrack to our trip to Hawaii was Lord Huron's Lonesome Dreams which not only brings up visions of exploring Oahu's windward side, but has definitely earned a spot on my list of favorite albums of all time.

Other favorite albums this spring:
Tegan & Sara's Heartthrob
STRFKR's Miracle Mile
Stars' The North
Phoenix's Bankrupt!
Metric's Synthetica

FOOD
I'm addicted to the food at the new Cava Mezze Grill that recently opened up near our house. It's like the Greek version of Chipotle! Falafel and crazy feta on a pita? Yum!

I'm crazy for pistachios. I can't get enough of them on salads, in ice cream, or straight out of the shell. Have you tried pesto made from pistachios? It's the best! Throw it on some pasta with a couple of shrimps/scallops for a delicious, elegant, and easy meal. (We like a recipe from a Cooking Light cookbook, but the one from Food & Wine is also delicious.)

I bookmark and pin a lot of recipes, but I made Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Coconut Bread immediately after reading her blog post. It did not disappoint!

Did someone say coconut bread?!?!

Our time in the islands whet my already fruit-loving appetite for tropical treats: I've always loved pineapple, coconut, and mango, but now I'm obsessed with lilikoi (passion fruit) and especially guava. I LOVE guava and predict that many of our summer cooking experiments will contain guava in whatever form I can get here on the mainland.

Whew! We're pooped!

So that's Spring 2013. I have more to say on a few things we've done in the first half of the year, but am ready for a fun and busy summer. Onward!

hey may!

I wrote this post a few days ago and then hit a wall. A why-am-I-doing-this, maybe-I-should-shut-down-the-shop wall. Ugh. But I'm back on track now. Life is good. May is good. Let's do it!

Ok, I know we're already a week into May, but this is shaping up to be a good month, despite the fact that it seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate. We've got lots of fun stuff on the calendar: the Grapehounds Wine Tour, our annual friends and dogs beach trip to the Outer Banks, plus The Sara/hs are coming into town. (The Sara/hs are Sara & Sarah - two of my best and oldest friends who now live hundreds of miles away. We'll only have a day or so to hang out, so as The Sara/hs said "We'll be milking the shit out of that day!" ) At the end of the month, we'll be kicking off summer concert season by seeing Jason Isbell at The Mansion on O. This past weekend we went on the National Arboretum's Full Moon Hike and got to see my favorite place in DC via moonlight cloud cover. May is a good month.

In addition to the jam-packed weekends, I've got a few other things on my list to squeeze into May:

+ Exercise regularly. (I'm trying to commit to swimming twice a week, but sometimes life gets in the way.)
+ Do something outside EVERY day. (This is my 30 Day Challenge for the month!)
+ Eat dinner on the patio.
+ Create lots of new art.
+ Plant stuff. (Yard, you are looking mighty sad right now.)
+ Read a book. (Things got busy and reading has sadly taken a back burner this spring.)
+ Have a dinner/cocktail date with Larry.

Happy May!

flyover!

Yesterday, I got to witness the Space Shuttle Discovery fly over the National Mall. Discovery made its final journey from Florida to Virginia riding piggyback on a NASA Boeing 747 aircraft. (Isn't it freaking amazing that they can engineer a plane to fly with a space shuttle strapped to its back? Boggles my mind!) The shuttle was decommissioned in 2011 and will be put on display at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport.

Waiting for the shuttle on the National Mall.

Thousands of Washingtonians looked skyward to watch the shuttle, the 747, and the fighter jet escort (it turns out this was a NASA-owned T-38 Talon and it took some spectacular aerial photos of the event) fly over the nation's capital yesterday. Larry and I went downtown to the National Mall to watch, but I think better views may have been had from Virginia. There were hundreds of people watching from rooftops in DC and there were even some amazing views through office windows and along the highways where people pulled their cars over to watch. (I wonder if I could've seen it from my own yard?)

For some reason, I thought the shuttle was going to be REALLY CLOSE and didn't bring the appropriate camera lens, but it was still awesome to witness the shuttle fly over the National Mall - even if I didn't get the perfect photo. (Check out the Washington Post's gallery for some amazing up-close images.)

It first appeared as a tiny speck behind the Washington Monument:

And then circled the Mall three times, flying down towards Alexandria and National Harbor and then over the Capitol and down the Mall again. Here she comes:





As you can see, Larry was fake smiling blown away:

After the flyover, we had time for a lunch date, and since I had my big camera with me - to play tourist in our own city. More thoughts/photos of that tomorrow - but this day was such an excellent reminder to take advantage of and appreciate where you live! DC is such a great place for witnessing history.

weekend adventures: potomac overlook regional park

Saturday was St. Patrick's Day. We don't do green beer or green underwear (Seriously, is there any other day of the year that's more embarrassing to be an American?), instead we get our green in nature. And since spring has sprung early around these parts (hooray!), we're trying to spend every moment that we can outside soaking up the sunshine, the breeze, the green, and the blooming flowers before the mosquitoes and humidity are here to stay.

So we crammed the fam into the Mazda and headed out for a walk at Potomac Overlook Regional Park in Arlington. The overlook unfortunately no longer exists (perhaps the park should be renamed You Can't Actually See the Potomac From Here Regional Park), but it's still a nice spot for a walk. It's a small park, but there are some neat features including a charging station for electric vehicles and a dog watering station.


Another weekend, another walk in the woods, another post full of photos of my dogs:

(Gravy multi-tasking: Touching his tongue to his nose while peeing on some underbrush. SKILLS!)

Despite the lack of green beer consumption, like true Americans, the pups were hungover the next day and slept in until 10:30 (which is four hours past their usual wake-up time of 6:30. Unfortunately, they are usually morning people). Never under-estimate the power of a good post-hike hangover!

Heavy drinkers:

Oddly enough, we've been heading east (towards the city) for our outdoor adventures lately. As a result, we've been able to stop for a late lunch afterwards, which always seems to bring us to our new favorite place: America Seafood. For years, I've been trying to find a fish market in Northern Virginia. I love seafood, but we don't eat it often enough because there are so few places to buy it. (I'm not touching the fish from our local grocery store.) When we decided to eat a vegetarian/pescetarian diet for Lent, I did some research and discovered that there was indeed a fish market right in Arlington. Eureka! We've been going to America Seafood every weekend for the past few weeks to pick up some fresh fish to cook for dinner. On Saturday, we were both hungry after our hike so we ordered a shrimp po'boy for a late lunch. As soon as we finished it we wanted another one. We might have to add shrimp po'boys to our weekend routine now:

Another weekend, another walk in the woods, another post full of photos of my dogs, ANOTHER SHRIMP PO' BOY DEVOURED.

P.S. Oh yeah, and we also stopped for ice cream. (Frozen custard, none of that fro yo shit.)