kite festival

Statue outside of the portrait gallery.

VERY large squid kite. It landed on us.

Crab!

lots and lots of kites. Amazing they didn't get their lines crossed.

Cherry blossoms!

first photos from the new camera

Spent my tax return on a nice new camera. It's only been on my wish list for the last 10 years. Concepts I learned in high school are slowly trickling back to me. Ruby is going to be photographed a lot in the next few months. I think we can all agree she is a photogenic dog.

a spring-ish weekend of culture

I can't say it's spring yet, because I don't want to jinx it. But with temps in the 50's and the sun shining... it feels close! The 10 day forecast is placing our highs in the 60's... dare I believe them?

With the warming trend, everyone wanted to get out this weekend. Friday night I met up with Sarah and her roomies to see a performance at the Shakespeare Theatre. It was put on by Charlie Chaplin's descendants, his daughter and grand daughter. It was a fantastic show! Very beautiful and creative. We then ate at Ella's pizza, because Zaytinya was too long a wait.



Saturday I took my roommates to an Amish market in Maryland I had heard about. Since they are from the west coast, they aren't familiar with the Amish and are intrigued. The market was really busy, but it gave them a taste and they are eager for more. I'm going to have to plan an outing to Lancaster so they can see buggies, farms and an actual market not in a strip mall! We also went for a walk in a county park. It was so nice to get outside, but strange since there was still snow on the ground in the shade.

Sunday I puttered around the house until the Jamie Cullum concert. The opening act was Imelda May... she was fabulous!



Jamie Cullum was an excellent performer... kind of reminded me of Jerry Lee Lewis (he might have jumped off of his piano). He played for three hours straight. You can tell he loves it and that every show is different. Gotta love a musician who changes things up just because he feels like it. That's talent.



And here he is doing Rhianna... I like it better than the original.



Today was spent constructing my garden table. It's only a little wonky; not bad for my first real construction project. It's not done yet, I needed a second pair of hands for one of the last steps. It will be getting it's own post.

ruby + snow 2.0

more snow photos

friendly neighborhood snowman (made with trash)
Cars.
scooter!
near Target, a couple blocks from the house.

man she loves the snow.
Wonderland (bar up the block) snowman. With PBR and a wink.
She may or may not be peeing.
so photogenic. probably watching snowflakes.
The wind was too much.
Vines on the neighbor's house.

DC Snowmageddon 2010

So much snow. Even Ruby is a little overwhelmed by all of it (not really). Snow started falling Friday morning, around 11. We got off work 4 hours early to ensure people had enough travel time, but it didn't really start sticking until about 3. The real storm didn't start until later that night, around 8. Chloe and I went to a friend's house within walking distance for dinner and socialization before the blizzard. Walking home was not fun. the wind was gusting snow into our faces and under our hoods. Saturday it snowed all day, finally stopping around 5. We had girls over for chili and a movie and then went out and played in the fresh powder. That night I got the stomach flu and it laid me up for the next few days... and I'm still feeling the wrath. But the good news is that we've gotten 3 straight days off of work, and I haven't used any sick leave! It also means I haven't gotten that many pictures. That's ok, because there's more snow falling now!

Contemplating the snow up to her chest.

After our walk home Friday night.
Friday night, Joe rolling a giant snowball.
This is actually from a storm we had last week that dropped 3-5 inches. it was so pretty.
Also from the baby storm last week.

iPhotos

Pictures that have been lingering on my phone. An accurate portrayal of my life?

Gnome candle

Vegan carrot cake cupcake. Not as bad as you might think. I still prefer real cream cheese.

dancer with fire at the Palace of Wonders.

Ruby pondering the snow plow outside our window.

Leaves from a walk way back in November.