Cherry Blossoms

A couple of weeks ago Bobby and I ventured out on our first date that didn't have a grandparent baby-sitting. Our good friends Dan and Sunshine (who are expecting their first in August/September) watched Rose for us.

We went to see the cherry blossoms that line the Tidal Basin. I was happy to see the blossoms but not too excited about the crowds. Living two miles away from the National Mall means a ton of tourists starting around spring break time. Luckily, most of the crowds stay on the west side of the Capitol and don't venture in to the neighborhood (case in point: there can be thousands protesting on the West -main- side of the Capitol Building, and we don't even really see that influx in our neighborhood).

Anyways, Bobby and I decided to venture out to The Other Side of The Capitol. We took the metro and then walked a half mile or so to the Basin. As expected, it was busy but beautiful. We then came back to the Hill for a great Thai dinner at a restaurant called San Phan, a coffee at Peregrine, and then home to our sweet Rosie.

The type of shot postcards are made of.


There was a dragon, and an open-top bus...


...lots of porta-potties for the crowd...


...and a ton of foot traffic.

The Blizzard of 2009

Adventures in DC

Georgetown in the distance

The whole island is very woodsy, then you get to the Memorial Plaza. Not pictured: the huge stones with engraved quotes of epic rhetoric.

Hey look! Through the trees - it's the Kennedy Center!

Little mushrooms.

He likes outside.

So sunny, so bright! The weather right now is very Nor-Cal fall. We're loving it!

What I said a few posts ago is true - I really enjoy not having to drive all that much! However, this week we became the proud owners of a 2002 Honda Accord. Yay! We've been planning to buy a car at this time all year, and are grateful to God that our plans worked out. Our basic motive was to have a means of transporting baby, but it is also helpful for errands, fun adventures, doctor's appointments, and so forth. It was so fun driving around yesterday and today and being able to enjoy the fact that we were in OUR car, not a borrowed car (though we are exceedingly glad for our generous friends who always let us use their cars!). Today we went out to breakfast, bought me some nice slip-on shoes - very important at this stage of pregnancy, went walking at Theodore Roosevelt Island on the Potomac (pictures above), and then to Trader Joe's. The rest of the day was spent either studying (Bobby) or napping and straightening up our Hobbit house (me). We've had an utterly delightful four-day weekend. Next week we will be enjoying a three-day weekend - Bobby has a lot of vacation days left, and he's taking them when I don't have work so we can have more time together before the little one gets here. Friday we're heading to Baltimore to go out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then go to the Baltimore Aquarium! Expect pictures...!

I Heart Not Having To Drive

Something I love love love about living in DC is that I do not have to drive all that often. We're very fortunate to have generous friends who let us borrow their car whenever we need it, but we mostly use it to get groceries and make it out to doctor's appointments (and, well lately...to get back and forth from church/work. I've been tired!).

Well, since Bobby's been gone I've been doing a lot of far-flung errands that I have been planning for awhile. On Friday morning I returned books to the Arlington library (fifteen minutes from my house) and then got lost for thirty-five minutes trying to find this shopping center with both a JoAnn's Fabrics and Michael's. I was so glad to finally get there! Then, a twenty minute drive home. Friday evening Ashley and I drove about a half and hour each way to get to these welll-recommended outlet stores. It was the first time I had driven on the freeway in the dark since I moved from LA! Bobby and I have together, but he always drives...that means over a year since I drove on the freeway in the dark. Whoa. I definitely noticed that I don't have my LA skillz, though I did okay.
(As an aside...awesome outlets. I was especially stoked by the Carter store - cutest baby clothes - and Gap, though at this point I just looked at stuff because I have my basketball belly to contend with : ).

Finally, today I drove to Ikea (about twenty minutes away) to get some storage stuff and new things for the bathroom. Whew. I feel like I've been living in the car! It's crazy how I've adjusted to my new surroundings - all of those trips would be nothing in LA. When Bobby and I were dating and engaged I'd drive a two hour round-trip sometimes twice a week. Now, we both can easily walk to church, work, the grocery store, our bank, some favorite restaurants, the metro, the dry cleaner, and the hair salon. Pretty sweet. I love my little Hill village!

(Also, it's going to save us money on car insurance. "Will you use the car to get to work?" "No." "Will you use the car to drive to school?" "No." We'll use the car to buy groceries, do errands, and take baby home from the hospital and to her appointments!)

Belly Shot!

I went to Conneticut this weekend to visit my parents, who just moved there (for my Dad's job). My sister Melissa is living with them through December and my sister Noelle flew in from California. We had a great time and got some fun pictures...Lady J is getting big, as you can see!

National Arboretum

On Saturday we went down to the National Arboretum, which is about a ten minute drive from our house. It is so beautiful and big - we went on a nice long walk and enjoyed all the pretty views. My favorite thing was the "touch and taste" herb garden, with signs explaining all the different kinds of plants and encouraging you to "Pick and eat!" Pretty cool. Also, the last shot is a candid belly shot. Bobby took some others but I look all squinty - this is actually the best view of our girl and my rapidly expanding abdomen. Sometimes I'm pretty sure she's grown overnight...!

Beautiful Book

I love used book stores. My favorite (ever) is Riverby Books on East Capitol Street, right across the road from our church. The Hill definitely has an intellectual culture, and it's evidenced in the great books (from all genres) that show up on Riverby's shelves.

Today Bobby and I ate lunch together then walked over to Riverby. Bobby got a book called Manhunt, a history of the capture of John Wilkes Booth - the author lives behind our church and next door to Pastor Mark. I found the new edition of Little House in the Big Woods, a collection of essays by Lisa Couturier called The Hopes of Snakes and Other Tales from the Urban Landscape (about wild animals in New York City...like hawks and stuff) and the prize: a large, beautiful hardback book called The Farmer's Alphabet by Mary Azarian. It's beautiful pictures of the alphabet done in woodcuts. The book was published in 1981 and cost only three dollars AND it's in great condition. You can get a new version for pretty cheap on Amazon, but there was something about finding this book (without an identifying dust cover) in the children's section and being blown away by the beauty of the art. Her work reminds me a bit of Nikki McClure (though McClure makes stencils, not woodcuts) and I'm so excited for little Lady J to get to look at these wonderful pictures.

Four hardover books for $19.00. Yup, I love Riverby.

Larriland Farms!

Today I went with my friends Lindsay and Lise to Larriland Farms in Maryland. Lindsay is an expert of the 'U-Pick' farm circuit in the area, and she says Larriland is the best. It was my first summer fruit picking foray, and I had a marvelous time! For twenty dollars I got ten pounds of fresh peaches and five (or six?) pounds of blackberries. I'm planning on making a few desserts, and freezing the rest for the winter.

It was such a peaceful time. I was happy that I had the energy to actually get out into the orchard and the brambles to find the best fruit. It was fun to sample the blackberriers - they are beautiful - they look like tiny little pearls, and even better to get to know Lindsay and Lise more on the drive there and back (about an hour).

It's so fun to get out of the city and into the country. The drive there is so green and we passed horse farms and other beautiful places on our way. I am definitely planning on going back in the fall for squash and apples (and maybe the second week in September for raspberries! : ).

Fourth of July

Not the clearest picture, but you get the idea! You can vaguely see the Washington Monument, and the dark building in front of the fireworks is the Supreme Court.

We spent our Fourth of July at a wonderful BBQ at the Lawrence's, joined by plenty of other church friends. We ate delicious food, including Connie Dever's homemade vanilla ice cream sundaes. Then we watched the fireworks from the roof of our church: four stories up, and five blocks east of the Capitol Building. We had spectacular views of the DC show, and a 360 degree view of other shows in the District, Maryland and Virginia. Good times!

National Folklife Festival

(I can't figure out how to flip pictures...hopefully a skill I'll develop soon).

On Saturday Bobby and I traveled down to the Mall for the National Folklife Festival, sponsored by the Smithsonian. This year the regions/peoples studied were Latin America, Wales (or Cymru, in Welsh), and the oral/literary traditions of African-Americans, past and present.

For all three, there was great music, interesting exhibits and delicious food. We had a great time singing Welsh folk songs. Bobby was particularly good at this (they're quite robust singers). One of the songs we sang was a hymn we sing at CHBC - "Guide Me Thou Great Jehovah". Turns out in Wales they sing it during rugby matches...

We didn't go at a meal time but are planning on maybe going back Thursday or Friday, to listen to some Latin American music and eat roasted chicken, french fries, and Inka Cola from Peru!

Natstown

I love baseball, and I love cheering on my adopted team, the Nationals - though they're the worst team in MLB. Games are still fun, though! Bobby and I went to a game yesterday. Nats lost to the Pirates, but we went with staff families from the church and 9Marks, so friends, baseball, and 'Five Guys' burgers made for a great night.

Spring is here! Hibernation is over!

Hey everyone (or anyone who still checks this...)

I think we're going to be making a blog come-back. I also realize this corresponds with the full bloom of spring, so I will say that I was hibernating through my first Real Winter. Now, some (say, those who live in Minnesota or upstate New York or something) would say DC doesn't have a real winter. I disagree: in February it was 9 degrees with a negative 3 degree wind-chill - and I dog walked! I used to go to the beach in Southern California in January. This "real weather" was unheard of. Bobby and I persevered, though, and now we are happy to see DC in the spring. It really is like a different city - big, leafy trees and beautiful flowers and gorgeous blue skies. We're loving it. Today it was 90 degrees with no humidity (yet). I love hot weather!

Now - brief update? Hmmm. Let's see.

Bobby's job: is going so well. He loves what he is doing. He started off working for 9Marks just as an interim job: six months until he came on the church as a Pastoral Assistant. However, within a couple weeks the crew at 9M realized Bobby could help Jonathon, the director of communications and main editor, more than they realized. Jonathon writes a lot of 9M material (books included) as well as edits their bi-monthly eJournal. Having Bobby on hand means that he can take over a lot of Jonathon's work and free him up to continue writing and traveling for 9M conferences, while still getting lots of work done. They offered him a job through next summer ('10), and the church will possibly have him for a year after that for the PA position. Bobby's big project right now is writing multiple question and answers (basically small essays) for each of the 9 Marks (find them here) that pastor's can look through. I think he's written around 170 or so so far. They are still all being edited and worked on but we pray that the Lord will use them to encourage pastors and help spread biblical truth about the Church!

My job(s): Right now I am doing a bunch of industrious things that help us save money and allow me free time to pursue relationships, taking care of our home and hobbies. I work less than full-time doing a couple different things: house-cleaning for this lady on the Hill every other week, being a mother's helper for five hours each week for the Lawrence family (Michael Lawrence is an Associate Pastor at CHBC), dog-walking, and working at CHLG on Fridays. I was offered a job at CHLG (Capitol Hill Learning Group) for the Fall - four days a week, 8:30-1:30, teaching the 3.5 - 5 year olds. This group is called the "Grasshoppers." Right now I teach the Fireflies. I love this age group and since being a kindergarten teacher was one of the things I was pursuing before marriage, I was grateful to accept the position! I will most likely be done dog-walking mid-July.

We are so grateful for the kind ways the Lord has provided for us. We have a great place to live (our studio is the size of a one-bedroom, very open and spacious, with a great kitchen), we both have jobs, our marriage is a delight and a joy, and our church home is a place of rich blessing.

We love that we are going to get to stay at CHBC for at least another year and a half. It is such a privilege to be in fellowship with all our brothers and sisters at the church - young and old, married, single, kids. I learn so much daily from watching everyone around me. In my free time, I am discipled by Moriah Gilbert, an elder's wife and a wise woman of God. When I work at the Lawrence's I get to hear and see the gracious, kind and wise ways Adriennce Lawrence shepherd's her five children. I meet with my dear friend Ashley regularly - iron sharpening iron. I also get the blessing to disciple and meet with two college students: Juline at Georgetown and Kaia at George Washington. Bobby and I have been getting more involved with college ministry (he recently preached at Georgetown IVF), and I have been continuing in my weekly study of Biblical Counseling with a small group. Most importantly, we get to gather with our fellow members of CHBC to hear the Word preached faithfully to us every week. Such blessings our God has bestowed on us!



Upcoming events:

Women's Retreat this weekend!

Three-day weekend to Wildwood, New Jersey. Geoff and Stephanie, a couple in our married small group, have family with a beach house there and they are letting us use it! Yay!

California! Jon and Jeanette are (finally!) getting married in Ventura on May 24. We will be flying in to LAX, staying through the wedding, and then borrowing B's parent's car (thanks!) to have a romantical road trip up PCH, stopping at Big Sur and then spending three days at a cottage in Santa Cruz before hitting up San Francisco and the East Bay. We cannot wait!

Hopefully I'll be able to do an OC trip near mid-summer...not sure, but a possibilty (I miss my ninos!)

Anyways, that is all! Hope you are well friends. Take care!

Hebrews 13:20-21

Thanksgiving

Bobby and I are really enjoying this four day weekend. On Thursday and Friday we were in Annapolis with Bobby's Aunt JoAnn and Uncle Jim. Their kids are grown and live far away (Colorado and Alaska) and as we are way out here away from our California roots, it was a great time to get together with family.

On Thursday we walked along the Chesapeake Bay shore, on land owned by the US Naval Academy but not developed. It is such a different body of water than the Pacific in so many obvious ways, but it was beautiful none the less. The rest of the day was spent in feasting and in a couple rousing games of Quibbler.

On Friday we walked around Annapolis and did a brief tour of the Naval Academy. The weather, for those of you who can relate, was like Santa Cruz in the winter - not too cold, but brisk enough; cloudy, with the sun shining through. Bobby bought me some beautiful earrings in a little shop and Jim and Joanna treated us to a lunch right next to the harbor - crab cakes and oysters, mmm.

They drove us home in the early evening Friday, and Bobby and I walked to Union Station and watched Austrailia. I either love movies or find them so-so, and I loved this one. It is definitely a pastiche of different genres, with some campiness thrown in - but the director/screenwriter is Baz Luhrman, so that is to be expected. The cinematography is beautiful, the story engaging, and Luhrman does not hesitate to display in all its awful reality the country's Aborigine re-education program, which took Aborigine and half-caste children away from their mothers to re-educate them to be 'fit' for white society (see Rabbit-Proof Fence for more on this). Austrailia is an epic romance/ cultural history/war movie/commentary on the director's own native country, and I highly recommend it.

In other news, we have secured our next home! Bobby is going to post soon detailing more of the work he will be doing, but for now a brief summary - for the next six months Bobby will be working as a writer for a non-profit that is run alongside our church called 9Marks. At the end of that time (July) he will (most likely) be coming on church staff as a pastoral assistant, a one-two year position. This would probably include housing, so from the time we move out of our church-supplied place until then, we will be renting a basement unit from another church member. It's a great little place and the rent is really reasonable. It's a bit farther away from the church but still on the Hill and close to a metro. It's a very kind provision of God and we're excited to move in (excited too because the reasonable rent means we can buy the furniture that we need - good thing, as we left all of ours in CA and have been using church-basement finds : ).

So, life is good. This weekend has been extremely restful and there is still a day and a half left. May all of you enjoy your time off as well!

Curb Shopping

Something I love about living on Capitol Hill is all the amazing stuff people leave on the curb on trash day. Now, being a dog walker I am out before most people get a chance to sniff out the good stuff. So, here is a list of the stuff I have scored since being in DC:

• Lightly used Ann Taylor brown leather boots (original price, according to the box $130.00)
• Nine sturdy plastic rectangular storage boxes with lids
• Small bookshelf
• Small end-table
• Drying rack
• Shelf with Hooks for the front hallway
• Working vacuum, with tools
• Kitchen cart, with three pull out drawers and a chop block top
• Cashmere sweater

Good things, good things.

*EDIT

I forgot the great wicker hamper with linen liner, and this Wednesday I found a five shelf narrow pine bookcase...woo.

Somewhat Scattered Thoughts From The Transplant

First, the purpose of the blog is to keep you updated, which doesn’t work if we don’t post for three weeks. So today, a long post…with thoughts AND pictures!

Bobby went hiking at beautiful Shenandoah National Park with some guys from church:

Four blocks away:

Goofy shadows taken outside the American Indian Smithsonian Museum.

Great Falls National Park, Virginia side:

In other news...
On Tuesday it was cold enough to briefly snow “flurry.” I was out walking dogs, and my first thought was “ASH!” I looked to the sky, wondering about fire, and in the same split second realizing, duh, these people have brick buildings, basements, and snow – not earthquakes and uncontrollable wildfires. It was hard to be convinced though, mostly because I was just wearing Target-brand Under Armor, jeans and a fleece and wasn’t that cold. Didn’t everyone tell me that the cold would get into my bones? It was about thirty-three degrees, with wind chill twenty-six. It feels like Northern California in the morning.
_
Produce is pretty sad on this coast. I didn’t realize until we moved here how fully California supplies the rest of the country with fruit and veggies. Everything is from California (I learned about this in fourth grade, but within state I never thought about it). In California, I would never buy produce at Trader Joe’s because it was prepackaged and I could get better stuff at Ralph’s, a Grower’s Direct, or the Korean market. It’s the best out here, so I always load up. TJ’s is my California fix – it’s a little bit of something normal in the almost foreign country of the District of Columbia.
_
When Bobby and I commented on how driven and workaholic a lot of people seem in DC, a guy from church told us that likely the most caffeinated, driven person in California would probably seem somewhat laid back compared to a Hill staffer. We both agree.
_
Maybe some of you would feel differently about this, but we had a choice to tour the West Wing or go to small group. I chose small group, and Bobby said that was fine with him, too. Apparently, this is weird to some people.
_
I also miss the boho fresh cafes that so liberally populate Southern California. I have started to make almost all breakfasts and coffee at our place, because it saves money, and the cafes here don’t seem to have the same choices as say, Alta or Gypsy Den or Urth Café (imagine that). It’s little bit more “hungry man” than say, homemade yogurt with fresh berries and fair-trade coffee. Haha.

That's it for today...expect more soon.

Things I Am Currently Enjoying About Life

Lists are good...so here goes.

1) Struggling to wake up at 6:00 so I can have a quiet time before the day begins. Somewhat achieved it this morning (6:30) and reading through Psalms and 2 Kings and some prayers from Valley of Vision was worth it. Going for the 6:00 again tomorrow.

2) Hospitality. We've been having lots of new friends over for dinner, and we had Jason here from CA last weekend. I always thought I am an introvert but time (and my husband) insist that I am not.

3) Leaves changing color like I've never experienced. It's so beautiful - golds, reds, and oranges. I'm going to take pictures and post them.

4 ) I take the metro to do most of my errands. No car, no car! Public transportation!

5) I walk a couple miles every day for my job. Today I started with a new client: a beagle/lab puppy. Yes!

6) Fall food. We've been eating lots of soup and home-made bread...because soup fits in the fall when the fall isn't 75 degrees and balmy (O, Southern California!)

7) There is a Happy Land. Our church sings hymns the way churches in old movies do...a piano and everyone's voices. In 2003 they recorded the congregation singing hymns for four hours, the result of which is the "There is a Happy Land" cd recording, which Bobby and I listen to frequently.

8) Being married. My husband rocks.

9) We can walk to our church.

10) Wool socks I bought at Costco today. I've never needed them before and they are very nice.

It's the simple things. : )

Apples!

My plan to have pictures of my first apple picking failed when I realized the camera batteries I thought I had charged were dead. Sad day.

However, we still had a great time. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. We drove to Maryland and picked apples in an orchard that had about ten different varieties. I appreciate knowing where my food comes from, and it was great fun choosing exactly which kind and which apple we wanted.

Together Bobby and I picked about twenty pounds of Red Delicious, Rome, Pink Ladies, Jonathons, and so on. The only thing I've made so far is an apple crisp - if anyone has any good apple recipes, email them to me or leave them in the comments for all to enjoy. We also picked up some butternut squash, a couple sugar pumpkins for baking, and lots of homemade jam.

We enjoyed great fellowship with our brothers and sisters in the faith: Sunshine and Dan, Lindsey and Josh, and Geoff and Stephanie. They are encouraging and open people, and so its been fun sharing both joys and stuggles of marriage and getting to know them more. Our small group rotation is two years, so we will be able to all grow together as our marriages progress.

Finally, this week Bobby is headed off with Mark, other church staff, and the rest of the interns for a week-long trip to Georgia and Tennessee. Please pray for their safe travel and that the trip would be fruitful (Mark is preaching the chapels at Covenant College, they are doing a 9 Marks talk, and Mark is preaching at an installation of a former CHBC member). Also pray for me - this is our longest time apart since we got married. I'll be staying with a family from the church, so I'll be occupied, but still.

Starting dog walking tomorrow. Updates soon.

And two things: Shai Linne at Crossroads? Incognito or did he perform? Haha. And - leave comments! If just to say hi - Bobby and I appreciate it.

C.D.W.

Well folks, for those of you who know that I've been searching for a new job for two and a half months now, I am pleased to announce my new career: dog walker.

There is a company that owns the dog walking market on Capitol Hill, and one day when I was burned out on looking for office positions on dcjobs.com and washingtonpost.com, I went to the "etc." column of craigslist, and there it was. The company needed new walkers. Preferably those who live on Capitol Hill and are flexible. Perfect! So, two "trial" dog walks with current employees and a full hour interview later, I am now, as Connie Dever says, a "certified dog walker."

The perks? I work 11AM - 3PM every week day, walking around 12-15 dogs in that time. My salary makes it feasible to work part-time, and I have no commute, get to walk around outside for four hours a day, and get to play with dogs...for my job. Sweet.

Also, there are other options like boarding, pet sitting and taking morning and evening walks. It leaves me enough flexibility to take care of necessary house stuff, hang out with cool ladies that live in my neighborhood, and pursue some volunteer interests.

Even though the search was at times discouraging, God is utterly faithful to supply Bobby and I with all we need, in a job that is better than I was expecting.



In other news: tomorrow we're going apple pickin' in Maryland with our "newly-marrieds" small group. How East Coast is that?! Expect pictures soon...