the hills are alive

on saturday we went up to the AFI silver and watched "the sound of music" on the big screen.

it was a singularly perfect event (EH very rightly stated it was basically the best thing that has ever happened) and i realized for this first time how hilarious baroness schraeder is. like this exchange:

the baroness (to maria): my dear, is there anything you can't do?

maria: i'm not sure i'll make a very good nun.

the baroness (with her hand protectively on the captain's elbow: well, if there's anything i can do to help...

that's funny stuff.

and, of course, the singing and the dancing and christopher plummer were all dreamy and the whole thing made me wish i had a guitar and a pixie haircut. but, i'm also not in love with a nazi, thank goodness. so, there's that.

grate-full

we had a lovely and balmy and delicious thanksgiving. how was yours?

the plan was to host a small group at our house but at the last minute we combined forces with another small group, which actually worked out brilliantly for us because 1) joni, who invited us, is a way better cook than me, 2) we had to do a lot less work including 3) we didn't have to clean our house, which was AWD's favorite part of the deal.

we had a relaxing morning (except for a mad dash to two grocery stores to procure what was certainly the last sprig of sage in the universe), a lovely lunch, and a screening of "while you were sleeping" (these mashed potatoes are so creamy!) before we headed out to gorge ourselves. i contributed bread pudding (ABK's recipe) and it was a big hit.

we capped off the night with "breaking dawn," which was terrible in all the ways i hoped and expected it would be.

so, a success. especially since we have so very much to be grateful for. most certainly too many things and people to list.

and, to top it all off, i got our christmas decorations up before the weekend was over, so the holiday partying is only going to get better from here.

the 72-day itch

i am pleased to report that, as of today, AWD and i are tied with kim kardashian and kris humphries for length of marriage. i have a good feeling about this one.

to celebrate our momentous 72-day achievement, we had dinner at costco and dessert at the dairy godmother (flavor of the day: pecan pie), which some of you might remember was also the site of our first date. it seemed appropriate. perhaps if kim and kris had done something similar, their wedded bliss might have lasted a bit longer.

as for us, i think we'll keep going for another 72 days at least.

you guessed it.

the weekend unfolded just as i suspected it might.

we saw this movie. (and liked it.)

bought furniture.

assembled furniture.

made these decorations, plus party favors made from giant marshmellows.

enjoyed a delightful baby shower (nice work, d!).

looked at more furniture.

ate here for the first time. (and liked it.)

made a not-so-delious lentil stew.

organized books and various knick-knacks on newly assembled furniture.

made completely delicious cookies (the leftovers of which were thankfully finished off by the poynter dinner crew last night).

and now it's tuesday.

the end.

thursday is the new weekend

today is the best kind of thursday. namely, a thursday preceding a friday off work. hurrah!

we'll be pretty busy, i think. (more) furniture shopping and (more) house organizing, hopefully some baking, a (coed) baby shower and a george clooney political thriller.

i'd also like to read my book, clean my bathroom, wash my laundry and cuddle with my husband. (not in that order.) so we'll see what really gets done.

full report to follow.

enjoy the weekend, my babies!

the name game

before AWD and i were even seriously dating i announced that when i got married, whenever and to whomever that happened to be, i wasn't going to change my name. i didn't know at the time if i was going to marry AWD or not (for the record, turns out i did), but i figured that whatever happened, he should have all the facts.

and he took it like a champ. in fact, the next day he came back to me and pointed out that he wouldn't want to change his name, so why should i want to change mine? and you better believe that tipped the marriage scales in his direction.

on the one hand, not changing my name has made my transition to marriage a pretty uncomplicated one, record-keeping-wise at least. i didn't have to change credit cards or social security cards or drivers licenses or passports or utility accounts or any of the 1 billion other things that have my name on them.

and, not to be over-dramatic or anything, but i also didn't have to change my identity. i've been myself (first and last name) for a long time and i am sort of attached.

but, that's not to say there haven't been some complications, especially at church. my name was changed automatically on the church records and i had to ask for it to be changed back. and i feel like i am always sort of apologetically explaining to people that AWD and i have different last names but that doesn't mean i don't like him. i am probably making it harder than it is, feeling like i need to walk everyone through all the reasons why i kept my name every time i introduce myself, but i do it anyway.

so maybe this is why more and more women are choosing to take their husband's names? i have to admit, i was a little surprised at that, but i suppose it provides it's own brand of simplicity.

there are obviously arguments, and personal motivations for either side, and i am not here to say one is better or more right than the other, but i am sticking to my choice for now. partly because i am lazy, but mostly because i am me and i'd like to stay that way, name and all.

obsession session

basically i am obsessed with the following things:

1. the kim kardashian divorce. i simply cannot get enough. i am reading everything i can find, mostly because i still can't even understand how the whole thing happened. and now i learn that she flew to minnesota to meet with poor kris humphries and the pastor who married them so everyone could get some "closure." i am more confused than ever. the good news is, AWD and i only have to stay married until november 22nd to beat their record. i totally think we can do it.

2. herman cain. it just keeps getting better. or worse. i can't decide which. depends on your outlook, i suppose. i am enjoying watching him squirm, but i feel like he should be squirming more and i'm disturbed out how little he and other people seem to be worried about these allegations. do people not take sexual harassment seriously anymore? (this very well-written article seems to think they don't. i am starting to agree.)

3. advent calendars. i really want to make an advent calendar this year. i have been trolling the internet looking for ideas. i want it to look good but not be too hard but be nice enough to be able to use it year after year. and it needs to be done by december 1st. i am leaning towards some version of this one. we'll see.

4. menu planning. in addition to the failed goal (my fault) of commuting to work together, AWD and i also made a goal to cook our meals at home as much as possible and to take our lunches to work. we're doing pretty well and it's actually really fun. i like pulling out our big stack of cookbooks every saturday or sunday and making a plan for the week ahead. and we've made some really delicious things. (remember the homemade corn dogs?) tonight is turkey chili and corn bread muffins. yum.

5. the lost city of z. i am currently reading this book all about percy fawcett a british explorer who disappeared in the amazon in the early 1900s and all the other explorers who have ventured in after him to try and figure out what happened. from what i can tell, not all of them made it out either. such an interesting read. i would read it all day every day if i could. but i can't.

6. furniture browsing. we are slowly but surely putting together out little nest, and for the first time in my life pretty much i am paying attention to furniture. one of the lovely things about marriage is a sense of permanence about these kinds of things. i know i am not going to buy something i really love and then have to get rid of it or put it in storage because i moved in with roommates who already had one of those. it's a nice feeling.

and that's pretty much what's taking up my time these days.

how about you, my babies?

we like to move it. move it.

we spent most of the weekend moving furniture and organizing the house, culminating in a saturday night date to ikea complete with a swedish meatball dinner ('cause we're high rollers like that), but we did escape long enough for a gorgeous saturday afternoon stroll through dumbarton oaks with elbert, heather and adorable baby penny.

it was a beautiful, sunny day and everything was a blooming explosion of fall colors, even the rose garden.

penny slept for most of our walk-about and then let me hold her while we all drank hot chocolate and ate churros in georgetown, but by the time anyone thought to pull out a camera she was screaming her head off, so there will be no pictures of her this time around.

you'll just have to take my word for it that she is basically the cutest thing ever. and that i was holding her for a pretty long time before she started to cry.

i swear.

noted

before AWD and i got married we hatched this plan that it would be really fun to commute to work together. we could wake up, have a little breakfast, and then i would drop AWD off at the metro on my way to the office.

perfect, right?

except that to make it work, i would have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning.

i don't do 6:30 in the morning.

and so, in the nearly two months that we have been married, AWD and i have commuted to work together exactly one time.

a lot of mornings, when i am still curled up cozy in bed as AWD is leaving, i feel a little guilty about it.

a little.

but then i find things like this on the front door...

... and i think i should probably just sleep in every morning.