Now Give Us Our Figgy Pudding!

Merry Christmas! P and I had a very quiet Christmas this year. It was really quite nice and relaxing. Alina came over, and as per our tradition we tried some new recipes. A samosa recipe--which really ended up more like an Indian eggroll. Not really any known dish, per se, but tasty none the less. The real highlight was our figgy pudding. Alina heard this story on NPR and decided any recipe that required enough alcohol to drive the NPR reporters from the room AND required us to set it on fire not once, but twice was something we had to make. I think the figgy pudding is a new Morris Christmas tradition. It was delicious and loads of fun!!! I highly recommend it. This is Alina and I with our finished pudding.

Mohammed Obama-Friend

So one of the highlights of Morocco was our time in Fes. While we were in Fes, we spent a good portion of one day at a leather tannery. Billy is writing an article on the tanneries so he needed to do interviews, take pictures, etc.

While Billy was down taking photo's of the vats of pigeon poo (read Billy's article to learn about the Fessian way of preparing skins--its worked for 700 years and starts with a good soak in pigeon excrement) we were up in a leather shop. I of course just firmly planted my bum on a bench--I could care less about shopping, particularly leather. Meanwhile, Peter was determined to buy himself a leather bag and jacket. He selected two items, and proceeded to start the bargaining game. (sidenote: P became sadly sadly addicted to bargaining..he even tries to bargain at Starbucks now!)

I got called in to be the bad cop a few times. 'You want to spend WHAT on that jacket?!?! Are you INSANE???' and so on and so on. Finally, Peter got to the point where the 'manager' had to intervene. And by manager I mean someone about our age, called Mohammed. Mohammed got the negations to within 200 dirham. He said he'd take P's hat ( a nike baseball cap) for the gap, Peter quickly said no way. Then remembered he had something in his bag, he rummaged around and finally pulled out a pin he happened to have on him. He offered it to Mohammed instead of the cap. The pin said 'Australiafor Obama.' (don't ask--long story). We had discovered during our first day in Morocco that Moroccans love Barack Obama. Mohammed instantly loved the pin, and put it on. As Billy spent a bit of time at the tannery we chatted a bit with Mohammed. He was very nice.

Later that evening, we had a rough time navigating Fes. The guides (or people wanting to sell you their guide services) were a bit relentless. As we walked back to our hotel we heard someone shouting 'Hello! Hello! HELLLLOOO!!!!' we ignored them and kept walking as we became conditioned to do.--then more 'EXCUSE MEEE HELLO HELLLO!!!" and then really loud 'OBAMA! OBAMA!!! It's me OBAMA FRIEND!' We turned around to see Mohammed.

Mohammed invited us over for harira (traditional Moroccan soup). We ate soup with Mohammed, he and P bonded immediately. He then invited some friends over and spent a good portion of the evening teaching Peter and Billy how to play an Arabic card game. As you can see, from the photos the evening with Mohammed Obama-Friend was a real highlight for us.

Here's Lookin' At You, Kid.

We just got back from Spain and Morocco! We had a blast! I’ve always wanted to go to Morocco (well since the first time I saw Casablanca anyway). We went with our friends, the Pulitzers. J.dub has already blogged about our trip with pictures—check it out here. I’m sure her blogs will be far superior (and likely more timely too) then mine.

I plan to post a few pics as soon as we finish sorting through the 8000 or so photo’s we took. A few highlights for me include:

Most novel site: The garbage donkey and coca cola delivery donkey

Most used Arabic phrase: LA! (means 'no'--followed by a strict wag of the finger)

Second most used Arabic phrase: Shokran (thank you)

Most worn clothing: all-purpose long black skirt (when cold I wore yoga pants underneath not just practical also classy) and skirt was able to double as a towel or napkin as needed

Most majestic site: the gorgeous stars above the the sand dunes in the Sahara

Surprising thing: being able to relate more to Jesus after experiencing a snippet of life in the mideast (or North Africa as the case may be)

Result of trip: A published WanMorris phrasebook for travelers to North Africa

Thing most missed: toilet paper and soap in bathrooms

Best friends made: Mohammed Obama-Friend (long story will explain later) and Akmed the Berber guide

Funniest site: Billy hanging out of car to ask for directions

Moment most feared for life: Taxi ride, bus ride, driving in Marrakech./Casablanca-- pretty much any moment in a moving vehicle

Proudest moment: only driver in car not pulled over by Moroccan police

Most shameful moment: nearly driving off road while trying to read sign in Arabic before remembering I can't read Arabic :(

Hobby likely to take up: flamenco dancing

Lifestyle most likely to pursue: life as a Berber nomad in the Sahara

My Husband is Awesome!

Last Saturday, P finished his first half marathon. He did such a great job! Congratulations, P!

If you're interested check out the photos here .

Why I Dread Wednesdays

Every Thursday morning it starts--a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing that Wednesday is only 6 short days away. Why? Well, in short, it is because Alina is a moron!

Let me explain...

About 2 months ago, Alina found a notice for tango classes at a local university. So fun, right!?!? Alina's beau is many states away, so she asks me if I'd like to take tango classes with her. Of course I do! Who doesn't want to learn tango? I have visions of myself in a long black dress with a rose between my teeth tangoing like a pro.

Then I pause and say..."wait, if your beau isn't coming, can my hubby come? Do we need dates?" These are reasonable questions, right? Well, she tells me - pointing to the tango flyer - we don't need partners. Perfect!

Class is on Wednesday night. Every Wednesday, it is the same. Alina and I show up. The class is full of young undergraduates...more correctly, undergraduate couples! Everyone has a pre-determined partner! EVERYONE!

The lesson slowly disintegrates into a junior high dance. Alina and I line up against the wall and hope one of the 'men' without dates asks us to dance. (Note that by men I mean: shower-averse, uncoordinated, international, undergraduate students looking for girlfriends). During the dancing, they either fail to conceal their disappointment that we are MUCH older than the other girls (and therefore less attractive) or try to make the best of the situation by repeating classic lines like, "Maybe we like each other?"

So I spend the night being tossed around the dance floor (not kidding I think my wrist was sprained last night by the less-than-suave Mushbir) by some smelly teenager and constantly repeating to each partner: "My HUSBAND would be here, but my idiot friend told me we'd be fine without partners."

Only 6 more Wednesdays till we're done.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETER!

The Great Grape Stomp of Aught Eight

Like every little girl, I had big dreams. After my dream of becoming a mermaid didn’t workout, I turned my sights to the Olympic all-around title in gymnastics (I think I was closer to becoming a mermaid!)

Those dreams have faded but one remains - my elusive dream to emulate the life and hijinks of Lucille Esmeralda McGillicuddy Ricardo. I’ve had a few Lucy-esque shenanigans –the disastrous pull-up bar is just one of a litany of examples. Given my penchant for Lucy-like schemes, you can then only imagine how excited I was when Alina found the 2nd Annual 'I Love Lucy' Grape Stomp Competition at 3 Foxes Vineyard.

To prepare for the competition, we started by doing just the slightest research into grape stomping strategies (How do you stomp effectively? Common problems to avoid, etc). On the big day we donned our Lucy-inspired outfits and headed to the winery. When we arrived, the competition was already underway. We were placed in the 9th heat and competed with the over 50 teams that were registered. Then suddenly a crazy thing happened---I had a strange feeling wash over me—COMPETITIVENESS!

I suddenly thought, "we can do this! Look at all those people stomping without a strategy—wasting time and energy hopping around, or twirling about like a washing machine gone awry." It was stomping chaos and I knew that we could make it to the finals. After warming up, stretching, and a few practice stomps in the grass, it was our turn.

We climbed into the barrel full of grapes, and stomped. We executed our pre-planned strategy - of course, I can’t reveal the details of our strategy here, for fear our competition for next years stomp may be trolling the blogosphere in hopes of stealing our strategy! ☺ For 3 minutes, we stomped and filled 14 cups of grape juice—we were seeded 2nd going into the finals! HOORAY

The rules were different for the finals. Only one minute of stomping and we had to provide our own "cupper." Suddenly, JC - who we convinced to come along only to take pictures and hold the dog - was recruited as a critical team member! I talked her through our strategy and what we expected of her as cup filler/hole poker/stem remover and finished with some really encouraging words like, ‘if you screw this up for us—I’ll kill you with my grape-stained feet!’ Poor JC, she’s a good sport!

We were in the first group of finalists. The defending champions, a team of 60-something men with gigantic feet, were in the second group. We knew we had to be really effective stompers to overcome our biggest weakness—my tiny little (useless) feet!!!! WHY, OH WHY, wasn’t I born with giant clown feet. We had to stomp and hope our number held. Right before we went out, Alina said—‘we’re in it to win it!’ And we were! We climbed in our barrel, got the go cue and stomped like lunatics. The competitiveness was overwhelming, I found myself screaming things at JC like ‘NEW CUP NEW CUP’ and ‘GET THAT STEM CLEARED, NOWWWWWW!!!!’ A minute later, we had stomped 13.5 cups of grape juice. What WERE we doing the last 2 minutes of the first round?!?!

We had to wait, watch and hope that we had set an unbeatable standard. It was not to be! The defending champions (aka Big Foot) won the day! But, we came in second (and looked much more like Lucy and Ethel doing it!). We’ll be back next year ---I’m sure the defending champions are quaking in their giant boots.

For all pics see here, courtesy of JC

No Such Thing As A Free Lunch?

Think again. That line is for free salads, sandwiches and soda's from Chop't. P and I stood in line for 40 minutes for our free lunch. Yumm--totally worth the wait.

Drop That Cookie

For the first time in my entire life, I’ve joined a gym. There is one right across the street from my new firm so it is very convenient. One of the perks (perhaps the only perk) was a free consultation with a personal trainer. I’ve never been to a personal trainer before, so as I headed over to they gym, I was pretty nervous. I was expecting a high-pressure sales routine, like the only possible way for me to understand the gym or its equipment was to pay the trainer $5 zillion dollars a minute three times a week for him to explain it to me.

Before the workout, we started with a ‘health assessment.’ I was told I have great muscle tone, and am in great shape. The trainer kept telling me, ‘oh I can tell you are a runner and work out, you’re in great shape’ ‘you’ve got a nice low heart rate– that’s great!’ So I was feeling pretty inflated and responded with things like “Why yes I AM in great shape, thank you” and ‘I am a triathlete you know.’ Then came the body fat assessment and that’s when it all went plummeting down hill. He pinched my fat, of which there is plenty, then *gasp* weighed me. The jerk! He then looked at me sadly as if delivering the news that I have a terminal condition, and said, “I’m sorry your body fat is, well your body fat—it’s poor.” He then slid the chart across the table to me, with my profile circled just in case there was any doubt. I exclaimed “WHAT!?!?! How can my body fat possibly be poor? I mean I have plenty of it—that has to be good! It does everything it is supposed to do—it jiggles well, it sits around being fatty—I mean honestly, trainer what more do you want from my fat!!!”

He then very very gently suggested I lose 10lbs. To which I graciously responded, “NO WAY—I love eating…it’s one of my very favorite things. YOU lose 10 pounds! Maybe YOUR body fat is poor—what does your body fat do? Tricks!” (I’m very mature in these types of situations.)

Anyway, I’ve come to grips with my ‘poor fat’ and am now sadly on a diet. Farewell, cookies! Farewell, chocolate! Farewell, wine and cheese! Farewell! I will see you all in 10 pounds, but until then I will miss you. I miss you already!

PS—if you catch me eating any of the above recently banned foods, please tackle me down and wrestle the offending food away from me.

Labor Day Weekend!

After a hard year of laboring, finally a long weekend! P and I had a great time. We started off by going to Peter's first 10k. Alina and I tagged along to cheer P on. It was my first time being the cheering squad rather than racing squad and I admit, at first I was worried about how I'd do as a cheerer. We got at the race plenty early and Peter got himself psyched up with his ipod. Alina and I cheered loudly as the race started, it turns out my *ahem* well endowed vocal cords make me a natural born cheerer! After the beginning of the race we wandered around wondering what to do until the racers returned. Suddenly, we spotted a table of doughnut boxes!!!! We pounced! Typically, the doughnuts aren't eaten until the racers return, but they were there and we like doughnuts and the table was foolishly left unmanned. Peter returned in a good time and we were able to finish our tasty treats in time to return to the finish line and cheer him across. Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! It turns out I do make a good cheer section, when fried dough is involved! :)

After the race, P and I headed off to Charlottesville for the weekend. We stayed at our favorite B&B down there, which is on a working farm. We spent the weekend wine tasting and relaxing. Two of my favorite things!

My Haircut

I've been in desperate need of a haircut for a while now. So I asked around the office to see if there was anyone really good near my new offices. I got a recommendation that seemed really good and reasonably priced, but I was warned 'he's very very opinionated.' Given my complete and utter lack of fashion and style, I don't mind having a bossy stylist. Yesterday I trekked down to the salon and had to fill out a form detailing my usual 'routine' with my hair. The form was turned into the stylist whom I shall call 'S.' I should preface this with, he did a great job and I'll definitely be going back to him. In fact, I think he's the best I've been to since I've been in DC. The conversation with S though was hysterical, it went like this:

S: 'I see you do not do anything to style your hair.'
Me: 'Yes, that's right-- I'm fairly lazy.'
S: 'So you only blow dry?'
Me: 'No."
S: 'No??? NO BLOW DRY?!?!?! You don't do anything?'
Me: 'Ummm I brush it and wash and condition and... '
S: 'Well, I will tell you my opinion'
Me: 'Okay, pray tell...'
S: 'Your hair needs to be longer, it has nice wave. You need to grow it. I will fix the layers in the mean time.' (I'll spare you the details of his long drawn out elaborate plan for the future of my hair)
Me: "I will dedicate all of my free time to growing my hair."
S: "Good." (not even the hint of a smile--that's a funny joke right???)
(then he starts cutting my hair-- DRY! No wash, no rinse, NADA!)
Me: ''Do you always cut hair dry? I've never had my hair cut when it's dry. "
S: "No. Never"
Me: "umm.... what?"
S: "If you will not bother to dry your hair why should I? You will not do it anyway."
Me: "ummm... what?"
S: "Well, I need to see how it is when it is air dryed. I need to see growth patterns, since you will not blow dry it."
Me: "Okay, fair enough."
S: "You need to grow your hair."
Me: "Yes, I got that, I'm busy right now trying to grow it faster than you can cut it."
S: (frowns) "You could be sexy if you only blow dried."
M: (confused) "I don't think the blow dryer is my problem."
S: "If your hair was longer it would look like the hair of a Victoria's Secret model."
Me: "Pity I don't have the body to match."
S: (not even a glimmer of a smile!) "You will. I will cut good layers"

I hope he meant in my hair and not my hips!!!!

The Nerdiest Baseball Game Ever?

Last month, P and I attended the annual Congressional baseball game. It was a pretty neat experience. P and I enjoy going to baseball games anyway, so it was particularly fun to watch the Dem's and Republican's battle it out.

The fans were particularly nerdy, myself included. I've never seen so many people in full suits at a game! Most of the audience was also busy sending work mails on their blackberries -- that never happens at a regular Nat's game (except for maybe P and me :) ). Additionally there were signs like 'The Majority Rocks!' and 'Republican Revolution.' A particularly nerdy highlight was when Jeff Flake (R-AZ) was up to bat the audience taunted him by chanting in a sing-songy voice 'Earmarks, Earmarks, Eaaarrrmarks'.

If your wondering the R's won for the 8th straight year.

Meet Mercy

First off, I just want to thank you all for your support and prayers. Knowing I have such great friends in rough times makes a world of difference.

Now, in happier news. Well, different news anyway. There are a ton of feral cats that live in my neighborhood. We've given some of them nicknames-- there's 'One-Ear' 'Black Cat' and 'Scruffy' and 'Orangey.' For the most part they go about their business and we go about ours. On Tuesday morning, I left my house and saw a tiny kitten (clearly stray) under a tree in our front yard. Of course, I attempted to catch it to no avail. However, I did see where the little kitten lived and it was awful --under a step surrounded by beer bottles and rubbish. So sad. This bothered me all day long. Poor kitten!

When I got home from work, I spent 30 minutes carrying on to Peter how sad I was that I wasn't able to catch the kitten. The poor kitten destined to live the life of a feral cat. It's particularly sad because stray kittens under about 9-12 weeks are usually able to adapt to humans before becoming feral. Peter took pity on me and said he'd go look to see if the kitten. As if it would still be sitting under the tree. Well, she was!!! So I spent the next 45 minutes trying to catch her, stealthy following her down the block and finally was able to catch her by the tail (much to her chagrin). I carried her inside and set her up in our guest bathroom with the basics (food, water, litter). I gave her a few minutes then gave her a bath -- again this poor kitten was so traumatized. We took her to the vet the next day, and learned she was in good health with no diseases, and is about 8 weeks old.

Naturally, what I didn't consider is I'd end up with a third cat. An idea I'm not crazy about!!! I think that makes me a crazy cat lady. I desperately pleaded with Alina and my mom to take her but they neither one of them was even slightly interested in a new kitten and I couldn't bring myself to take her to the humane society. Of course, now I've bonded with her-- kittens are adorable.

We call her Mercy after the hospital my mom was in-- so meet Mercy my newest cat. Older cats Noël and Toby are not pleased, but they are starting to adjust. The age gap is big -- N & T are 13 and 12, making them grouchy old ladies!

My New Favorite Restaurant!

We are busy preparing for our Morocco trip by reading travel books, watching movies involving Morocco, learning key Arabic & French phrases and eating Moroccan cuisine. As part of the preparation, this past Sunday P and I went to Marrakesh with Billy & j.dub. It was amazing! In my opinion, at $30 per head (plus tax & tip) it's one of the best deals in DC. It's 7 delicious courses and the atmosphere is phenomenal. If you live in the area you should definitely check it out. If you live far from DC you should come visit and we'll go there to eat -- dinner's on me :)

Back from Korea!

Korea was amazing! I had such a fantastic time. It's a beautiful country full of wonderful people. I'll share photos when I can they will be far more interesting than my rushed narration. Here's a brief recap of what we did:

Day 1: Leave for airport, realized I forgot my camera! Kick myself thoroughly then remember that Alina and Camille are likely to be better prepared than me. Or in the worst case, purchase new camera in Korea. Fly from Dulles to LAX. In LAX, get voicemail from Alina that she is catching an earlier flight to Seoul so please let Camille know. Send email to Camille's OLD email address with Alina's flight info on it. Camille never got the info. Then fly to Tokyo, and slept like a baby in business class (the seats lie flat!).

Day 2: Transfer in Tokyo to Seoul and arrive in Seoul. It was easy to pick out Alina & Camille because they were the only blonde's at arrivals! Caught a shuttle to our guest house in Seoul. I highly recommend the guest house we stayed at it's the Seoul Guest House. We stayed in the Sarang-chae which was a little 3 room house. It was so cute and built in the traditional way with rice paper walls, it was beautiful! Got organized in the guest house and went to bed.

Day 3: Woke up bright and early and headed out to find breakfast. Stumbled onto a great little bakery near the guest house and piled our trays full of mystery pastries (none of us knew any Korean or could read hangul). Lucky for us, all the pastries were delicious! We then headed off to Kyongbok Palace. It was great and they were reenacting a changing of the guard, and some of the Kings processionals as they were during the Chosan Dynasty. We even got our picture with the King! I'll share photos as soon as Camille & Alina upload them. We then headed off to Insadong for lunch. We had an amazing lunch. It was so delicious. I should add they we ate a huge meal about every two hours on the trip! Then we metroed to Seoul Tower, took the cable car up to the top and enjoyed great views of Seoul. We collapsed into bed exhausted at 8:00pm!

Day 4: Woke up went to the same bakery and stuffed faces again. (Notice the ongoing theme of stuffing faces!). We then went to Changduk Palace. It was magnificent. We wandered around Seoul a bit more then headed back to the Guest House to pack up and head to Camille's place. We metroed the hour and a half back to Camille's, dropped off our bags and headed out to eat again!

Day 5: We took a tour of the DMZ. This was amazing! We went to 3 different look out points where we could peer into North Korea, went to the third infiltration tunnel (one of the tunnels the North Koreans dug to move troops into the South), went to Dorasan Train Station, and then finished the tour at the Joint Security Area. Where we were told by ROK and US troops to keep our hands down, no sudden movements, gesturing or verbal/non-verbal contact with North Korean soldiers. I should add that Alina & Camille were slightly concerned that I would gesture while talking and get us killed!!! While we were in the meeting room about 5 North Korean soldiers came up and started peering int he windows. It was so exciting. Camille got a great picture of one staring in the window.

Day 6: Started off the day fully intending to go to Suwon, but got distracted in route and instead spent the day shopping. Seven large oil paintings, three purses, two robes, a blanket, a set of chopsticks, and countless souvenirs later we wrapped up this day by eating again.

Day 7: Went on a tour of Kosu Cave and took a cruise on Lake Chunchoen to the Dam. It was very relaxing and great to see the Korean country side.

Day 8: Low key day of more eating, packing, and general preparations for leaving. Alina & I said farewell to Camille and caught a bus to Incheon. Arrived in Incheon had quite the adventure getting to our hotel, and ate dinner at a nearby the restaurant. Lucky for me I can say bi bim bap! I think it may just be all the Korean I need! :) and kamsahamnida, of course.

Day 9: Catch shuttle to the airport and fly to Tokyo. Spent my 6 hour layover in Tokyo in the Admirals Club. Flying business class ROCKS! The Admirals Club had showers, nice bathrooms, free computers, free wifi, free buffet with snacks, free drinks, it was great! Managed to use my Korean calling card on Japanese phones which was a major feat considering I can neither understand or read either language! Then caught a plane to Chicago and left Tokyo.

Day 10: Arrived in Chicago wizzed through immigration and customs in record time and managed to find an earlier flight to DC. Traded my first class seat for a middle seat on a flight that left 4 hours earlier than my scheduled flight. Flew to DC squished in the middle. And arrived safely at home around 8 pm.

Korea was a terrific experience and all three of us had a great time. I managed to grow my stomach three times its normal size and learned mad charade skills! Pics will follow soon.

Harebrained Schemes

Among some of my close friends I've become notorious for my ridiculous ideas. For instance, I once changed all the electronics in my house to French thinking that this would help my French language skills. It didn't work. And because I don't have a strong French electronics vocabulary, it took me forever to figure out how to reset it to English! Additionally, Peter really didn't like watching movies in French. He was particularly annoyed when I surprised him by switching his google to Spanish. Then there was the time Alina and I thought it would be a good idea to transport 7 individual containers (no lids, no trays, lots of air conditioning) of ice cream across town from our favorite ice cream place in July. Note to readers: ice cream does not travel well!!!

Well I had another one of these ingenious ideas this week. I bought myself a pull up bar. BARGAIN! Only $20 and it just sticks right in the door frame so I can do pull ups and leg lifts and get a rock hard bod for tri season. Smart idea, right? WRONG! My pull up bar was quickly reduced to nothing more than a dangle bar. It's a lot harder doing leg lifts then I remember!?!? And is there such a thing as a pull up crunches? It's a tough realization to discover I'm a dangling blob rather than the pull up leg lift machine I pictured in my mind.

Anyhow after spending an inordinate amount of time sadly dangling in my doorway, and whining about it to Alina. She suggested I lower the bar to do dips and modified pull ups. Clever idea right? She has a PhD she's clearly quite bright. WRONG AGAIN! I pulled my back doing the stupid modified pull ups. I flew off the bar and hurt myself doing another exercises!?!?! That bar is pretty much a death trap. Mind you, this whole time Peter keeps saying 'just take it down before you really hurt yourself by flying off the bar, over the stairway railing, and down the stairs.'

Well, the pièce de résistance came a few nights ago. P is out of town and the recent storms have knocked out my home phone line so I use only my cell. So it's late at night and being the diligent student that I am I'm busily working away on my final. I'm in the room with the dangle bar in the doorway and my cell phone starts to ring. I remember it is in the study so I quickly finish my sentence and leap up to answer what I assume is my husbands call. Being the dedicated and devoted wife that I am, I sprint out of the room to answer his call and WHAM right into the *#&@(#&*@ dangle bar!!! Which I stupidly set at about nose height!!! I am knocked backward onto the floor from the force! My nose has taken the brunt of the force, and it's not pretty!

I didn't go to the doctor but I'm fairly confident my nose is hairline fractured at the very least! It hurts ALL the time, is red and swollen, and while I don't have black eyes they do look a little funny. I tried to cover up the red line that I now have imprinted across my nose with make up but dabbing at my nose with make up was just too painful. It has prompted people at work to ask if something happened to my nose. Unfortunately, P is out of town so I can't just say he decked me :) which is really probably better (and more believable) then my idiotic tale. My boss was so befuddled by the whole thing he kept asking... 'but WHY did you think the pull up bar would be a good idea?' Excellent question. Sadly, I don't have a good answer.

Your thoughts? Stong words from John P.

I accidentally stumbled on this transcript from John Piper's radio show. What do you think of this? I'd be interested to hear your views.

Is it wrong for married people to have friends of the opposite sex?

No. For goodness sakes, no. But one wonders, since it came up, if by "friend" you mean something too close.

I hope that my wife considers all of my male colleagues friends. But there are all kinds of logistical dynamics that she would avoid with men that she wouldn't avoid with women.

For example, we as a staff at Bethlehem don't ride in the car alone with any woman, period. If there are two women, yes. A man and a woman, yes. One woman, No!

My wife would do the same thing. She would feel very awkward being taken to the airport, for example, by a young man if they were alone. If our daughter is with her, not a problem.

Every now and then Noel will ask a woman in the church to come clean house for her. It takes her about four hours. If I'm there, Noel stays there. If Noel has to go, I go. I don't stay in my house with this woman, even though she is a friend and a member of our church. I count her as a friend, but we take steps to be careful.

I don't think married Christians should go out to lunch with friends of the opposite sex. This is really tough in the professional world, but I'll say it anyway. Say, for example, there is a woman lawyer who is married, and she's in a firm with fifty others, some of whom are men. And a guy says, "We need to talk about this case. Let's do lunch." I don't think she should do lunch. I think she should go into his office, leave the door open, and do business there. But if he wants to do lunch, she should say, "Can Jane come along?"

So those are the kinds of things that need to be handled carefully. Yes to the friendship. But we need to preserve the whole array of dynamics that cause our spouses to know that we're jealous for saying that we're married to them. And it's right to be that way.

Say, "I'm just eager to make plain to others, 'I'm not available!' I have a man (or a woman) and I'm very happily married. I don't want to compromise you and I don't want to compromise me."

I think we have become very lackadaisical about that in the professional sphere.

Two down in 08

I have a secret ambition to visit every continent. At this point in my life I am less than 50% of the way there. However, this is a big year for me because I am knocking two continents off my list!!! That’s right count 'em-- two continents. At the close of 2008 I’ll be over 60% of the way there only South America and Antarctica will be left.

Next month Alina and I are going to Korea to visit Camille. (Asia—Check!) We’ll be there about a week, and I’m so excited. Neither of us have ever been to Korea and Camille hasn’t been able to escape from her base much so it will be a new adventure for all three of us. As I understand it, when in Korea I should plan on eating, shopping, eating, shopping, and even more eating! I do plan on eating my way through Seoul! We also have a trip planned to the DMZ—other then that we’re still planning so if you know any good things to see and do in Korea I’d love to hear them!

In November, we are going to Morocco with the Pulitzers! (Africa—Check!) I’ve always wanted to go to Morocco ever since I first saw Casablanca. I’m really looking forward to it and j.dub has already started planning a great trip for us. We’re meeting this week to have a Morocco planning session. Should be heaps of fun!

Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.

LeechBlocked

I know some of you have already seen j.dub's blog on LeechBlock. P saw it on lifehacker a while back and sent it to me. I'm frantically trying to finish a paper by Friday so this weekend I decided that I needed a little extra help with being disciplined so I downloaded LeechBlock for the first time. It allows you to block certain websites from yourself and it can be set to only block certain websites at specific times of the day, say when you're most productive, or most susceptible to laziness, etc. So for instance, this week I've LeechBlocked practically every website not public health related from myself between the hours of 6:00 pm and midnight. It's been extraordinarily helpful! (Which, I suppose, speaks more to my lack of self control then to its greatness.) Now if only I could LeechBlock more things in my life like chocolate chip cookies, daydreaming, and t.v.!

In the meantime I'm off to write this paper--and Blogger is now leechblocked.

Ode to Mr. and Mrs. Pulitzer. Love, The Little People.

Every once in a while one gets the opportunity to bask in greatness. That happened to Peter and I this week. Our good friend Billy won the Pulitzer for his outstanding contribution to journalism!!! P & I were very impressed. In addition to being good friends B&J are also our neighbors so they came over last night to celebrate. P and I decided to have a bit of fun with them while properly honoring Billy's achievement so we got all dolled up in formal attire, (remember that dress KMS & KSV???) printed an 8x10 photo of B, presented him with a flower, and asked him to autograph his picture.

In all seriousness, congratulations to Billy!

PS-- I bet in no time Julie will get the Nobel for literature! Then they shall be known as Mr. and Mrs. Pulitzer-Nobel.

Farewell, Cruel Week.

This week was not stellar. Not the worst week I've had, yet it was a bit of a frustrating week. It started off with a bang. We sold our car on Sunday, and then Monday discovered we had mucho problems with the VA DMV because of their incompetence. (See P's blog for the details)

Then, I turned in my resignation at work this week. While it may seem like a shock to some, it has actually been something I've been contemplating for sometime. And quitting ones job is almost always a bittersweet experience. I'm very excited for a fresh start and am confident that this was the correct decision for me, but there will definitely be things I'll miss about my current job. I'll miss my big office with a gorgeous view of K Street and Franklin Park. I will definitely miss my staff they are really nice competent folks. I'll be sad not to refer to DC Coast as 'the cafeteria.' But most of all, I'll miss my boss. I adore him.

And in the midst of all of this insanity I had to turn in my preliminary data for my big paper today at Friday 5:00pm. Of course, this would have been less stressful had I bothered to organize and budget my time responsibly the past two weeks, but I don't want to dwell on that!

Springtime in Washington

The cherry blossoms were in peak bloom last weekend. I never tire of fighting the crowds to look at the blossoms!

Tea with Laura

Laura and I had tea at ching ching CHA - so much fun! I ordered the golden blossom tea. It started out as this hard little dry ball and then blossomed into this gorgeous flower complete with flower arch and all in the water. Laura describes it better in her blog :)

Only in DC...

do people care this much about politics. Not sure if you can make out the license plate of the car we were stopped behind yesterday but it says 'H8DUBYA'. If you're wondering, he was a terrible driver!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

We had a really good Easter weekend. This year was the first year our church held a Good Friday service. I really enjoyed it. I just loved our church in Tucson's Good Friday service and it's something I have really missed since being here. I think taking time for worship and reflection on Friday makes the celebration on Sunday so much more meaningful and joyous. It was made even more special because we had a friend visiting from Tucson with us -- it was fun to share the experience with him.

Our church hosts a giant Easter egg hunt after service so our Easter adventures always start Saturday night with me shoving chocolate into plastic eggs. Two for the egg, five for Melanie, two for the egg, five for Melanie and so on. Then I went out to a lovely breakfast with a friend of mine while P practiced his talk for the kids service.

I joined the children's service to hear Peter's talk-- or Mr. Peter as the kids call him. It was quite good. He illustrated the importance of an empty tomb by smashing an egg on one of the college kid's heads and smashing an empty egg (which he had carefully spent hours blowing out the night before) on another teacher's head. Thanks to Mr. Shane and Mr. Dan for being good sports! The message being that it matters that it's empty. I was hoping to post a video of the great egg smashing up here but Mr. John who took the video hasn't sent it to me yet. If you see Mr. John--harass him for me and get that video :)

I imagine tons of kids this week are smashing eggs on their siblings' heads thanks to Mr. Peter's lesson.

Go Cats!

Last night Peter & I had box seats for the NCAA playoffs. First Duke vs Belmont, and then UofA vs West Virginia. While the Wildcats lost we still had a great time and got to meet Wilbur in
person! Plus the executive suites are pretty cushy so at least we lost in style.

Disenfranchised

Most of you know that I lobby Congress daily. I lobby Congress as a paid representative on behalf of my clients, but I also lobby Congress as a private citizen. My primary choice of lobbying on behalf of my own interests is to write my Congressional delegation. I am on several 'action alert' networks that alert me when legislation on an issue I care about is moving. I instantly grab my pen (mightier than the sword) and write constituent letters to my Members. This worked well and was extremely satisfying when I lived in Arizona and then in Virginia. However, it has really lost its oomph since I've moved to DC.

I love DC. I love that it's the national capital. I love policy — and sometimes politics. I love the city. I love the brains of this city. And I love that everyone in this place knows politics. Walking through a restaurant the other day I overheard various conversations with words like 'obama' 'clinton' 'mccain' 'farm bill' 'reconciliation bill' etc. I love that almost every cab driver I've ever had has an opinion on all three branches of government and feels the need to share these opinions with me.

What I do not love is that now as a DC resident I have lost my voice as a personal citizen. My new representative is Eleanor Holmes Norton. She is a delegate to the House of Representatives and can vote in committee, can speak on the Floor but she cannot vote on the final passage of a bill. I have no voice in the Senate. I am without federal representation! I knew this would be the case when I moved to DC, but I didn’t expect it to bother me this much. Now when I get an ‘action alert’ I sigh and send a note to Eleanor knowing she can’t do much.

5th anniversary of the Iraq War

The view from my office today.

What a day!

After receiving four tickets from the District of Columbia for having out of state tags I figured it was probably about time to trek down to the DMV and register my cars and get my DC license. Because of an issue with P's immigration status this duty falls on me. I was told that if I go to the Georgetown DMV by 7:30 am (an hour before it opens) and line up I should be done by 10:00 am. BLAH!!! So I left my house at 7:15 drove to the DMV. I completely forgot that there is no left turn on
Wisconsin from M so I missed the DMV and was looking for a spot to turn around when I accidentally ran a red light. Too busy looking for a turn around spot. Anyhow, I ran it right in front of a police officer. I foolishly thought --I'm confused she'll likely go easy on me. WRONG!!! This was our convo:

Officer: (with attitude) What is your problem?

Me: (puts on kind and apologetic face) Oh I'm so sorry I missed the turn to the DMV and then didn't realize that lane (gesturing dramatically) was turn only, then I was in the middle of the intersection so I had to run the light to clear the intersection...

Officer: (rudely interrupts) And why did you go flying past me?!?!

Me: (completely confused because I didn't break 10mph and the limit is 30 mph) Ummm... I didn't realize I was speeding I'm very sor...

Officer: (rudely interrupts yet again) Clearly you are not aware of much!

Me: (speechless---rarely happens to me)

I got a ticket for red light running from Officer Grumpypants (while the ticket was rightfully deserved I was a bit put off by her manner). After my ticket I turned around and finally entered the garage for the DMV, parked the car, elevator into the mall and line up for the DMV. At about 7:50 the line wasn't too bad-- maybe 45 people. I settle down and happily read my book in line. After an hour I'm finally at the desk to get my number and the lady at the desk points out I don't have my social security card. I point out that the form I have says that only non-citizens must prove that they have a SSN. She tells me casually 'yeah, but I want to see everyones.' Okay, fair enough can't argue with that logic. I tell her I'd be happy to go home and get it but what about the line. She gives me a 'fastpass' (just like Disneyland!!!) so I can run home get my SSN and come back without the line. So I go back to the parking garage pay the $12 to get out of the garage, drive home get my social security card and drive back, park again trek back up, jump the line and get my number. Then I happily fill out my forms settle down with my book and wait for my number to be called.

Finally hoorah! My number is called and the DMV Man is the nicest DMV worker in the history of state, local and municipal employees! Unfortunately a computer glitch means I can't register my cars but I can get a DC license. So after six hours and $135 ($36 for the license, $12 for each time parking, and $75 for the ticket) I became a licensed driver in the District of Columbia!

I thought I rightfully deserved a good rant about the horrors of bureaucracy and my day. So when I finally reached P by phone I was intent on collecting some well deserved condolences about my day (he caught a plane to Denver at 5:00 am for a conference) I tell him 'My day was awful." He patiently listens then tells me...I'm in Shreveport, LA on a plane. I've been on the plane since 5:00am no food, no airport, nothing. He wasn't going to make it to his destination of Denver and wasn't able to make it home either!?!?! My bad day -- TRUMPED!