We live in Stars Hollow

Our city has a neighborhood weekend where all the various neighborhoods in the city have their own get togethers to get the neighbors together. Seeing as how it was a gorgeous day, and seeing as how we signed dear ol’ hubby up to flip burgers and hotdogs so he was expected to be there, we trotted down to our very own Neighborhood Day.

It was like going back in time y’all. To Stars Hollow circa 2000. Gilmore Girls style. Picture a quaint little neighborhood filled with subtle self-importance with quirky characters and witty dialog. The witty dialog was all in my head, but everything else was on display like we were trying to win a GG reenactment contest.

(I should have known I’d write a post about this. Then I would have taken better pictures.)

Exhibit A: There were 5 booths set up extolling the fabulous things our neighborhood has to offer. One of those was a kids’ table with crafts and face painting. Two of those were animal rescue missions. Nothing wrong with that at all. Just the amount of booths and 40% are for the same cause.

Exhibit B: All the animal rescue dogs were leashed up in one area sniffing each other and being peddled to the unsuspecting parents who all the sudden had little kids tugging on their shorts begging to bring home a rescue pet.

Exhibit C: The president of the neighborhood association was milling around the crowd with a megaphone and microphone slung around his neck. You could only hear him if the megaphone was facing your direction. Otherwise he just looked like a mingling karaoke singer.

Exhibit D: The neighborhood elementary school’s strings orchestra put on a recital of what they’ve been learning. It possibly went on a little too long with just one or two too many wrong notes being played. Once again, very sweet, but just adding to that kitschy, little neighborhood feel.

Exhibit E: Megaphone man was introducing every single song the orchestra was playing and ended up saying things like, “let’s give them a big round of applause!” and when he had finally said that too many times went to, “let’s give them our undivided attention!”, but only the three of us who were in direct earshot of the megaphone sound waves knew to do that.

Exhibit F: A local cop drove his car up on the grass of the field we were assembled on and opened up the car for the kids to climb around.

Exhibit G: Du had to almost get physical with another one of the hotdog slingers. This guy obviously had tong control issues and was directing Du’s every move over the grill. He knew better than everyone else how dog flipping should go and wasn’t afraid to tell other men, volunteering their time, what to do. Du is a master griller. Du had to restrain himself or else he would have been put in the back of that open police car.

Exhibit H: There was a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate a new neighborhood picnic shelter. The orchestra was shoved out of the way so gobs of kids and old people could stand behind the ribbon with two pairs of humongous scissors to get the photo ops.

All in all it was a great day, but as a casual observer who has a tendency to see the sarcasm and irony in almost everything, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself throughout the day. It really was charming, if not a little saccharine sweet, and I do think it’s a compliment to compare my neighborhood with Stars Hollow, especially when I’m the one doing it.

Here are two bonus pics. Ash almost got carted off for eating too much cake:

And here’s Du smoothing things out with the officer, getting Ash released:

Catching up

I might as well let you in on what we’ve been doing. That’s the point, right? Last time I posted was back in April. Well, here goes (big inhale).

I’m going to try something new (to me) this time because I have lots of pictures, and if I were to try to put them all on this post one of two things would happen: either your computer would blow up from exertion or you’d get bored waiting and go find some other, more interesting, blog to read. You may do that anyway. I’ve posted the pictures on Flickr and I’m hoping all you’ll have to do is click the nice little links below to go to the pictures if you’re so inclined.

Who knows how long ago it was now, but the girls and I went to Clara Barton’s House and Robert E Lee’s House at Arlington National Cemetery. We were studying the Civil War in school and it made for a nice field trip day. Weather was perfect as well. Barton was the founder of the American Red Cross (among other things) and this “house” was the original headquarters. She worked tirelessly to reunite soldiers and families during and after the War. You know who Lee was, right? He declined Lincoln’s request to lead the U.S. Army and then accepted the request to lead Virginia’s militia, and later the Confederate Army. His house and land (which he was renting anyway) was taken over by the Union and turned into a graveyard amongst other things.

Pictures of our Civil War day

Who knows how long ago it was now, but recently the girls and I went to Georgetown to their famed, annual French Market. Do not be misled, people. This was neither French nor a Market. It was a way for high-end stores to peddle their “clearance” items on a sidewalk that’s normally fit for a single-file line but during this busy Friday was set up not only with tables of food and goods, but also had traffic going both ways. We were there on a Friday and they had no intentions of blocking off the street for us. I think it’s the only thoroughfare in Georgetown (not really, but one would have thought with all the auto traffic). So, I’m pushing the stroller uphill fighting horrible wheels and people coming at me. I was expecting to find yummy French cheeses and breads and chocolates and lavender. I found crepes. One store selling crepes. $4 per crepe. Because it’s Georgetown and they can do that. I got a chicken sandwich farther up the hill ($8 and not even any chips), but I wouldn’t call it traditional French. I have no idea if it truly becomes a French market on Saturday or if the Georgetownians like to kid themselves and make themselves feel more European because their tiny enclave of DC kinda looks like Europe. Kinda. The best part was taking a break to eat lunch at a beautiful park with a nice view.

Pictures of us wishing we weren’t in Georgetown

Who knows how long ago it was now, but sometime recently the girls and I got some free food. And some almost free food. Toscana Grill, a restaurant in Arlington, offered a free lunch one day during the week. I know! And there really were no strings. I RSVPed for the girls and me and hauled our little butts over there. I wasn’t expecting much because, you know, there’s that saying, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”, so either it wasn’t really going to be free, or they were going to be offering yesterday’s food and a mite amount at that. Well, people, there is such a thing as a free lunch and this one was delicious. And organic. It was another beautiful day so we scored seats outside and dined al fresco.

Also, Baskin Robbins offered .31 scoop night one night. We’d be a fool to pass that one up. So I had to get a picture of how crowded our neighborhood BR was. Oh yeah, Du was with us for this outing. It was close to 10pm. We’ll keep the girls out late for some near free food.

Pictures of us noshing on free food

Who knows how long ago it was now, but recently Du & I went to a reception for the Ga Tech president held at the Rayburn House Office Building. You know I felt special. I got to hob nob with not only the Ga Tech president but some Congressmen as well. I’m movin’ on up, y’all. The food wasn’t bad either. And it was free. More free food!

Pictures of me acting like I’m someone, and pictures of the House Office Building b/c I thought that was so cool

Who knows how long ago it was now, but as recently as the beginning of this month the whole family got to enjoy one of America’s greatest pastimes. NASCAR. Don’t roll your eyes. The first ten hours were kind of hot. 90 degree and hotter hot. It was a night race so we got to spend the whole hot day out in the sun with no shade. The girls made it so pleasant for us. You’d a thought they were about to drop dead of sun stroke and they let us know OFTEN. It really wasn’t that bad. It’s all about perspective. I did admit at least once that it was blazing and that was when my shoe STUCK to the track. That’s right, part of the track was melting onto my shoe. So maybe it was a little hot.

We got to walk the track thanks to Coca Cola. I do love Coke so. And we also got to walk around the pits with our Pit Passes thanks to the awesome deal my hubby’s work scored us. We listened to the radio and pit crew conversations during the race and I only had about two heart attacks and only threw one hissy fit when my driver lost at the very end of the race because some other moron couldn’t keep his car going straight. I’m going to write him a personal nasty gram.

The exhilaration of watching and feeling cars drive that fast is what makes people fans of NASCAR. You’ve got to experience it folks. At least once in your life. Those 400 laps went by in about 20 minutes to us. We can’t wait to go back. Next time we’ll skip the egg-frying hot day though.

Pictures of us getting our redneck on

Who knows how long ago it was now, but recently I got to see Laura Bush and you didn’t. Oh sorry, it wasn’t supposed to come out like that. A friend messaged me one night informing me Laura Bush was going to be in the area signing her book and would I like to go. Wha? Would I like to go? I was hyperventilating just thinking about it. Obviously my goal was to add another notch in my camera case…I’m collecting pictures of me and famous people (it’s a hobby in its infancy), but to be able to meet Mrs. Bush would be an honor.

My girls are pretty good absolute saints when it comes to waiting in lines for things. We waited a total of five hours to walk by Mrs. Bush. I didn’t even get to shake her hand, much less take her picture. Darn those Secret Service guys and how protective they can be. The bright spot, however, was that Laura had a little conversation with us. Mainly the girls. She asked them their names and when she found out Reagan’s name she said, “my best friend’s name is Reagan, and in fact, she just emailed me.” She thought Ashlyn’s name was pretty too and thought the girls were so cute. Listen, I know she says that to every kid, I’m not ignorant. I will relish the fact though that she cannot tell everyone her best friend’s name is their kid’s name. The closest I got to a picture with Laura Bush is her signature. I should have gotten a picture of me with her signature…

Pictures of us in the same vicinity as Laura Bush

Who knows how long ago it was now, but recently…around Mother’s Day…I went to a Mother-Daughter banquet with my oldest daughter. Our church held it in a swanky hotel and we got to have a wonderful night out enjoying each other’s company. I even ordered her the adult plate instead of the kiddy chicken nuggets so that she’d feel more grown up. And she’s past the age of making gagging faces and noises at new foods. She’ll actually try new-to-her foods. I only got one picture that night so no need to click over for that one:

Who knows how long ago it was now, but last weekend we went to Embassy Row in D.C. for the EU Open House weekend. All of the countries in the EU opened up their embassies for the weekend so people could stand in heinously long lines for morsels of food and no air conditioning. That’s probably not their exact purpose, but it’s what everyone did. We had a plan of attack and were ready to execute. That doesn’t sound very good when talking about embassies. We had our map marked up as to which embassy we’d visit first and how we’d make our way to each one we wanted to visit. First stop, Greece. Last stop, was almost Greece. We waiting about 90 minutes to get inside that embassy and still had to wait for the bits of Greek food.

It was worth it. Kalamata olives, bread dipped in olive oil with the most delicious blend of spices. A dessert pastry so sweet and some kind of natural gum substance that is probably next in line to honey as the miracle food. Mastiha, look it up. I even scored a bottle of that most delicious blend of spices and found out I can get more (to feed my new-found habit) at Whole Foods. Greek dancers entertained us while we waited with grumbling tummies.

After all that we didn’t want to wait in line to get into Ireland or France or Germany or Austria. We chose instead Estonia. No food offered there and that one even had a small line. We blew off the rest of the embassies (again, not a great choice of words) and went to an American burger joint where I had the best sweet potato fries in the whole wide world.

Pictures of us trying to be cultural

Who knows how long ago it was now, but on Mother’s Day Du ran a half marathon. Almost all of Arlington ran that race. It was crowded. I had advised Du to spit on calves though so he made his way up to the front in no time flat. We loved to see Du race and even made a poster so he could see it and be motivated to push hard to the end. What was a little more interesting though was this tall, lanky man who thought it would be a good idea to juggle the whole 13 miles. Juggle. While running. Half marathon. My own neck hurts just thinking about what his must have felt like after staring at balls in the sky for over two hours. I know how long it took him because Pacers listed his time. Du, however, recorded a personal best for half marathons. No matter that it was his first. And he looked sexy doing it.

Pictures of Du being all in shape (and a guy juggling while running)

So there you have it (exhale). It’s not like we’ve been busy or anything.

The BFF

BFF* is such a loaded and deep term. Who am I kidding. It’s used to mean anything from, “you’re my life-long friend in whom I can always trust and confide” to “hey, I just met you, I don’t really know you, but we seem to like the same things so I’m going to pretend that we’re best buddies…or besties”.

Now, normally BFF is used more in the feminine circles. Girls tend to collect friends like jewelry…costume and fine (and you can probably guess which each of you tend to collect more of, hmmm?). Guys don’t really collect friends so there’s not usually the need for them to use such terms like “BFF”.

Unless you’re my  husband…

and my brother…

Lately they have become BFFs in every sense of the word. They will be life-long friends and can confide in each other and they like the same things and gossip about others (mainly me). The pictures above were probably the beginning of their BFF status. They even like to take the same style pictures. And here they are sharing secrets with each other:

Subtle. I know. They call each other all the time and talk about all the little things going on in their lives. Richard used to call me to tell me about that stuff, and I would relay that information to Du. Sometimes I would forget though, and so Du would be uninformed and ill-equipped. Like that time I was supposed to tell him to pack his golf clubs on our trip to the beach. Oops. Maybe it was my lack of attention that drove them together. Be that as it may, their BFF relationship has been blossoming and pushing me out.

This came to a head last night as my brother and I were texting each other, and at the same time my brother and my husband were texting each other. Here’s (somewhat) how the texting convos went down:

Du (to Bro): Dude, Vicki’s sitting next to me texting you. She’s, like, so lame for wanting to be friends with us.
Bro (to Du): I know dude. I couldn’t help texting back to her though. She was feeling unloved.
Du: laughs maniacally

At that point I grabbed Du’s phone to see what could be so freaking funny.

Me (to Bro): Unloved huh?
Bro (to me): (verbatim) “I could see u were getting upset at me callin him and not u. Can someone say JEALOUS”

Then there were some words used that we really should not discuss. Like “loser”. And “Obama groupy”. It got rough.

Richard suggested we get counseling the next time he’s up for a visit. I don’t know though. I kinda like how he and Du are BFF now. It means that I don’t have to be responsible any more for passing along all those details that I could never seem to remember to pass along. I like my guy having a BFF.

*For those who weren’t 8-18 in the 80s or who haven’t been around for its resurgence in the 8-38 crowd this go around, BFF stands for Best Friends Forever.

NB: Little to none of this post may be true. Other than the male BFF part.

And P.S. You’ve got to check out my hubby’s comment defending himself below. It’s cute.

(Not) Forgotten

I’m stopping in for just a moment to let you know I still do plan on updating this blog thing. My life hasn’t gotten crazy(ier) or anything, but I can’t seem to find the time to update. I think the main culprit is one of my goals for the new year:

READING

It was a goal at the beginning of the year to read more than a couple of recipes throughout the year. The huge snow storms that this area got during the winter definitely kick started my re-emergence into reading. I joined Goodreads to keep track of my progress and to motivate me to continue reading. I started placing holds on books at the library.

Those holds started becoming available.

I now have so many books checked out from the library you could call me the Imelda Marcos of books.

Maybe it’s not that bad but it seems that way. The tiny bit of me that is OCD or AR or slightly control freakish won’t allow myself to lapse on the overdue dates or just return the books to the library unread.

I. must. finish. every. single. book.

I still only get about two hours to read during the day, right before bedtime usually. The rest of the day is filled with school, groceries, sometimes cleaning even, and general kid stuff. So the blog has moved to the back burner. Sniff. Sniff.

We’ve been doing some pretty cool stuff and have some cool stuff going on on the horizon so I really should be updating more often.

But I can’t seem to put this down when I have a free moment:

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

Great writing, clever craftsmanship and a subject that I am tangentially familiar with has drawn me into the story. I cannot escape until the last page, and even then I’m thinking that I will wish it weren’t over. Much better than the trash I read before it.

I hope to be back to blogging regularly soon. I’m not making promises until I’ve gotten this library book pile under control.

No one ever blamed us of being observant

So, I did a little bit of Spring Cleaning today and neither Du nor my oldest child could detect a difference. I told them to look at the room hard to notice. Do you see?

There’s Du in the second picture taking in the whole room, trying to figure out the difference.

When I got the third hole in my left ear I could only stand it for several days before I had to TELL Du to look for something different about me. He asked, “spiritual, physical, or emotional change?”

I wonder if he’ll figure out the living room change by reading this post. Look carefully at the pictures above, honey.

White House Easter Egg Roll

Squeeeee! We got to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll!!! In our attempt to do any and everything while we live up here I entered the lottery for tickets to the event. There were five different time slots and I had to rank them in order of preference. We didn’t get my preferred time, but the second one.

So, that meant catching a bus from the house at 6:00am! It was an early morning but it was worth it.

I described it to someone as Disney-esque in that everyone was there to make sure you were happy.

We did the traditional Egg Roll first

and then I let the kids decide what we were going to do. We did kind of coerce them to do some yoga (for you Heather),

then we did some hoola hooping,

face painting,

snack eating (courtesy of Whole Foods) and smoothie drinking,

craft making,

seed planting

near Michelle’s famed garden,

and general gawking.

This is the view the Prez sees from the White House. That’s the Jefferson Memorial in the far distance.

Several celebrities were there. We didn’t see the President and First Lady. They showed up at the time slot after ours, but that’s ok. We did see the cast of Glee (although I would have had no idea had they not stood out), Sara Bareilles,

and Reece Witherspoon.

There were tons of celebrities there throughout the day, but alas, attendees are only allowed a two-hour time slot to get everything done.

It was so neat to be that close to the White House and to take in the coolness of the event.

And when we left the girls each got a commemorative wooden Easter egg and a box of Peeps. Score!

Here’s to being able to go again next year!