wait, wait, don't tell me

amy came east to celebrate the day of no labor with me, and a full recounting of our various and sundry adventures and death-defying feats will be posted as soon as the adequate photographic evidence has been compiled. to hold you over, here is a taste of our three-day weekend intrigue.





i know, i know. you can hardly wait to hear more.

and now, on a completely unrelated topic, one bummer about living with uncle bob (and there are very few) is that he gets A LOT of mail. and i do not. nor did i get a particularly large amount of mail before i lived with uncle bob (again), but something about his piles of fancy letters and invitations throws my own lack of (non-netflix-related) correspondence into sharp relief. (sometimes, i take his "newsweek" to make myself feel better. don't tell, ok?) so i was pretty excited when i opened the mailbox today and found an iron & wine mix cd from the cliff, just for me.

and that's the end of that story.

p.s. if that story made you feel guilty because you haven't been sending me mail, i am sorry. because i didn't mean to make you feel guilty. but if you are already feeling guilty and feeling guilty will motivate you to send me more mail, then i am not sorry at all.

and that's the end for real.

stress test

the mosquito problem here in the easterly united states is, shall we say, rampant and i absolutely hate it with all my might. probably because i am one of those people who always gets bit (bitten?). like, always. like, i get bug bites on my five minute walk home from work.

and they turn red and they swell up and they itch like the dickens and they take ages to fade. at which point they have already been replaced by dozens more.

and if you think i am being a complainer, you are right.

and then of course everyone always says, "it's because you're so sweet," in a sing-song voice.

if i am in a good mood when people say that, i will smile. if i am in a bad mood when people say that, which i probably am because i am covered with mosquito bites, i will gag. once that person has walked away, natch.

my first step in combatting this problem has been to add "bug spray" to the list of things i carry with me all times.

my second step might be to get more stressed out because, according to this wall street journal article (that's right, i am going high class this time), mosquitoes are repelled by the smell created in the oxidation of something-or-other, which occurs as a result of stress.

i would really rather those researchers come up with some compound that i can bathe myself in than be all riled up all the time, but i am the kind of girl who does what needs to be done, so i think i might give it a try.

watching half an hour or so of fox news should be a pretty good place to start, right?

running man

i am compiling a list of 28 goals for my 28th birthday (i will reveal the full list on the anniversary of my birth, which i will now unsubtley remind you is september 23rd) and i was thinking that maybe i would add "learn to love running" to the list because it seems to me that running is something that people actually do fall in love with and every time i read or hear about someone accomplishing an impressive running feat i think to myself that it must feel pretty darn good to have done that and i might like to feel good like that, too.

but then last night dana and i had to run from jess' house to the bus stop to catch the bus before it left and it was only five or six blocks or something like that but by the time i got there i was totally winded and thinking how much i hate running.

so now i am thinking that might not be such a good goal after all.

maybe i should replace it with "always be on time so i don't have to run for the bus."

well done, sister suffragette

it was 89 years ago on august the 26th that women in these united states of america were granted the right to vote.

and it was last week on august the 26th that we celebrated this most important of milestones.

first came sashes for everyone. (crepe paper was as classy as i could make it. better luck next time.)

then came a sing-along to this classic suffrage anthem.





and then a viewing of "iron jawed angels," a film, and more importantly a story, i love with all my heart.

a few thoughts.

1. the right to vote is one for which we should be grateful every single day. it is a right won just a few short generations ago. there are people living and walking on this earth today who were born before women could vote in the u.s. i can hardly believe that that is true. the fight is still so near, and it makes me want to take the greatest advantage of this privilege possible.

2. justice for one is justice for all. no group, in the majority or the minority, gains anything by denying someone else's rights. and if i believe in rights for my minority, whatever minority that might be, i have to believe in rights for your minority, too. a win for one of us is a win for all of us.

3. sometimes we have to be bold. there is certainly a time for tact and patience, but there is also a time to say what is unpopular and do what is risky. it seems almost ridiculous now that women had to go so far as to put their lives on the line to win the right to vote, but it is true. what boldness do we need now?

4. our daughters' daughters will adore us. suffrage is, to me at least, an enduring and precious legacy. and one that i feel responsible to protect and propagate. i am reminded of hillary clinton's speech at last year's democratic national convention in which she said, "my mother was born before women could vote. my daughter got to vote for her mother for president. this is the story of america."

i love that story.

hooked

it's restaurant week in this, the district of columbia, which means fancy food for cheap and there is nothing to argue about there. i tagged along with katie and her crew for dinner at hook, a high-end georgetown seafood joint.

the big news was the rachel had not eaten seafood in 11 years. she decided to go big to break the trend and ordered oysters for her starter.

she didn't puke, so i think it went pretty well.

really the only other pertinent detail is that we had three courses of some of the best food i had ever eaten. my dinner went like this: gazpacho with jumbo lump crab, artic char with basmati rice, peas and carrot curry, and lemon cake with lavendar buttercream frosting and honey ice cream.

i ate every single bite and then promptly died and went to heaven.

other people's dinners went like this:

katie and i are already plotting a return trip for lunch.

you might say we're, well, hooked.

all's fair

i was driving to target on saturday morning when i saw a BMW with a bumper sticker that said, "rednecks for obama."

and that's when i knew it was going to be a good day.

it was pretty much already destined to be a great day because, for one, i had target coupons! and, for two, it was the last weekend of the montgomery county fair!

as it happens, you can find pretty much anything your heart desires at the montgomery county fair.

por ejemplo:

wise environmental stewardship...




... religion...




... an earlier end to your life by way of delicious fried foods...


{i may or may not have eaten my whole corn dog and half of scott's.}







... true love...



... prizes to die for (maybe literally)...




...pigs on the run...



... and an education...




... about all kinds of things.

{yes, this poor bunny rabbit was disqualified for being the wrong sex.}


you can also find a big old rainstorm...




... which sadly led to the cancellation of the demolition derby, the planned highlight of our county fair excursion. luckily, we heard about another fair and demolition derby in september, and i am totally there.

if that fried oreo doesn't kill me first.

meltdown

guys, it is so hot here.

like walk out the door and your face melts off hot.

like move a muscle and the humidity sticks to you like a blanket of sweat hot.

like wear anything but underwear whenever possible or you might die of heat stroke hot.

but then, just a little bit ago, dark and sinister clouds came racing across the sky, bringing a few glorious moments of horizontal rain, and now it doesn't feel quite so bad.

though i am about to heat it right up again, because i just found this in my mailbox, courtesy of netflix:






oh, edward cullen. i wish i knew how to quit you.