a year end list.

I'm a sucker for lists and love the 'year in review' shows on TV and articles that seem to show up in every media venue known to man. Not one to be left out in the cold I'm shamelessly stealing the idea from everyone who has already posted theirs the last few days. Here is a brief overview of some of my favorite happenings throughout the months of 2012.

JANUARY

The once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica.  (really the list could stop there, it doesn't get much better than this!)

FEBRUARY

A behind-the-scenes visit to the Library of Congress

MARCH

A fantastic St. Patrick's Day brunch

APRIL

Spring in the District

MAY

Camping in Pennsylvania

JUNE

Hanging out with the cutest nephews in the world

JULY

Nats games!

AUGUST

Road trip to Rhode Island

SEPTEMBER

The US Open

OCTOBER

Running a 5K

NOVEMBER

Hosting Pie Day

DECEMBER

Capping off a year of great performances and concerts with a few holiday shows

It always gives me pause to see just how far I've come and what has happened in the space of 12 short months. Lives can change in the blink of an eye and yet sometimes the longer increments of time seem to fly by without any noticeable changes at all. I'm grateful for the various outlets I have for keeping track of all that I've done, the things I've seen and experienced and learned that help me keep life a bit more in perspective when I feel as if I'm stuck or not accomplishing all I'd hoped to accomplish. Sure, there are a ton of things still left on my list but I've crossed off quite a few too! Here's to a new year, new lists and new experiences. Tune in tomorrow for the latest edition.

a road trip! Part 2

After Rhode Island we went north to Boston. We spent a few days wandering back and forth between the city proper, Salem, Concord, and Plymouth.

We started where it all started, with the Pilgrims in Plymouth.  We saw the Mayflower (replica) and Plymouth Rock (it says 1620 on it, I promise, the sun was shining in such a way that I could never get a good photo.)

We spent some time with the witches in Salem, ate some glass in a lovely little restaurant on the wharf (long story) and toured the house that was the inspiration for Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables.

We ended our day by wandering the shores of Marblehead, the perfectly charming coastal town nearby.

One of our evenings in the city included a visit to the north end for Italian, a not-nearly-as-long-as-it-looks wait in line for fabulous cannoli at Mike's, a stroll past the Old North Church and a stop at Fenway.

Another visit took us past the Boston LDS temple and to dinner at Armando's Pizza.  Did I mention we spent a lot of time eating?  And gained several pounds? We did, and we did. And every bite was worth it!

More to come but I'm afraid I have to pause now to drool a little and wish I was eating pizza and cannoli.

a road trip! Part 1

Sorry for the silence of late. My sis came in town a couple of weeks ago and we spent some time playing tourists here in DC and then bailed for some true touristing elsewhere.  We'd ventured up to Boston a few years ago and decided we needed to spend a little more time in the area meandering a little on the journey up and back.

Hurricane Isaac threatened to dampen our plans just a bit but he mostly behaved himself. He made for some great skies and sunsets though and kept the weather on the pleasantly cool side.

on the road

the fog rolls in

First up was a stop in Newport, RI. We basked in the sunshine while sailing the bay, soaked up the hoity-toity ambiance in the shadow of countless humungo houses, ate tons of amazing food and moseyed along the seashore. It was heavenly.

 

Sometimes you just need to take a step back and find a way to breathe deeply, forgetting all the stress and grind of daily existence. We took it and it was so worth it!

Happiness is...a lovely memory.

One month ago today I jotted this down in my journal....


The water runs the gamut from deep blackish blue to a rich soft velvet to sapphire to the azure of the desert sky, veined like fine marble with the foamy remnants of waves and wake. The currents and years working the miracles of an unseen Michelangelo creating unrivaled masterpieces; a floating museum created and curated by the waves of the sea, endless galleries of rotating special exhibitions, pieces seen once and never to be seen in exactly the same way ever again. This morning we passed an aircraft carrier, a rising submarine, a lighthouse, the crenelated ruins of a medieval castle, a family of paddling ducks, the Sydney opera house and a prehistoric water dragon all meticulously carved into the ethereal blue glacial  ice. And we're only privileged enough to see the 'tip of the iceberg'.  What watery marvels must the whales and penguins be privy to? 


Hard to believe it's been a month already, and almost harder to believe I was actually there.  Take a look at some of the wonders that sailed by my window just a few short weeks ago.

I couldn't NOT throw some penguins in, now could I?

What an incredibly beautiful world we live in. And what a lovely memory to keep me content on gloomy winter days. What memories do you find yourself falling into time and again? I'd love to hear about them!

Happiness is...a penguin party!

I wanted to give you a few of the promised pictures today. When anyone asks about the trip I begin spewing the overused and completely inadequate superlatives of 'fantastic', 'awesome', and 'amazing'. Then there's the descriptions of the ice (more of that to come) and then waxing poetic about the penguins. I've taken to saying 'penguins' in this squeaky, double speed sort of voice, like a kindergartener on crack....be grateful this isn't a vlog so you don't have to be subjected to that. And apologies to anyone who has already heard it. But it kind of encapsulates how they make me feel; childlike and giggly and super-excited. I still can't believe I was able to see so many of them in the wild.

So, here are some photos and a little poem I scratched out over the course of my travels. Enjoy!

Penguin Promenade

dressed in his formal finery
he waddles and wanders from berg to floe
awkward as a newborn colt
wobbling and weaving
slipping and sliding
until he reaches the waters edge

tentatively he peers over the brink
and into the brine
until tumble,
fall,
splash~

he's in
and takes off like a well-dressed torpedo
cutting through the deep
with laser speed and precision
flightlessly flying through the blue sea sky

Gentoo Chick

King penguins on the Falkland Islands

King Penguins

Magellan penguin-Punto Tombo

Magellan penguins-Punto Tombo

Tell me they aren't cute?!