Adventures in moving

"Adventures in moving" is just a little broad.  Let's also file this one under (1) the poor kitty who couldn't fly (Harrison was supposed to fly out Wednesday...and then Friday...and now MONDAY!  Poor little guy) and (2) what happens when a door seal is broken during Snowy Icy Disaster Times (bazillions of cold air molecules rush into your home, creating a thermostat reading of...freezing.  Not good to see your breath in your house.  Heat is now on and the door seal is now fixed, phew). 

Possibly also file under (3) North Texas goes Super Bowl crazy (but at least the Pittsburgh and Wisconsin fans know how to drive in ice and snow, right?) and (4) reacquiring your four-wheel drive vehicle in place of rental car on the day The Great Melt begins (although in its defense, the little Nissan Versa did just fine as long as I went slooooowly - driving on the frozen equivalent of a Slip 'n Slide isn't exactly my idea of a good time.  Glow sun glow!  Melt that snow!).

Who would have thought that I'd need to worry more about snow and ice blanketing North Texas than attacking D.C. this time of year?  After powering through Snowpocalypse 2009 and Snowmageddon 2010, I sent up little prayers to Mother Nature for her to please go easy on the East Coast during late January, early February this year.  Too bad I forgot to account for crazy Texas weather.  Dallas has been blanketed by ice ever since Tuesday...and another six inches of snow fell on Thursday night.  At least I was fortunate enough to be traveling on one of the few flights that actually made it from DC to Dallas on Wednesday.  Egads!

However...I'm remarkably impressed that both the movers with my giant truckload of stuff AND the car carrier got here TODAY.  Thanks for battling the elements, guys!  And thanks for unpacking my ridiculous amount of stuff while I spend the day tethered in, knocking out things like address changes.  And blogging.  And wondering how the heck to arrange the living room.

It's starting to actually feel like I'm back here now and not just on a short visit.  Phew.  Now, if we could just get poor little Harrison here...

Excuse me...where are all the pizzas?!?

I think I got a small inkling of what shopping in a communist supermarket might have entailed back in the day.  Or not even "back in the day" in certain parts of the world - the situation can be a little more current depending on where you are.  But let's not turn this into a discussion on world politics...let's focus on the craziness that was D.C.'s supermarket scene around the time of Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, and Snoverkill.  Oh, and while I'm preoccupied with the state of my refrigerator/freezer/pantry, someone else is much more concerned with the obscene rate at which snow was falling:

I ventured out at some point, in desperate need of actual staples like fresh vegetables and milk and personal staples like butter (crucial for baking adventures!!) and ice cream (necessary for personal sanity).  When you have four federally-approved days "off" from work (yes, yes, I actually accomplished quite a bit from the comfort of my living room while watching the snow fall and avoiding the slippery sidewalks) and spend a substantial amount of time confined to your city apartment, you might go just a teensy bit stir-crazy and try thinking of interesting combinations that you can concoct from the ingredients you have on hand.  Now, to be fair, I'm the type of person who always has supplies on hand, even with my reduced cabinet space here in D.C. - you can bet there's pasta and canned goods to be had (thanks for the training, Mom!), along with at least one Lean Cuisine lurking in the freezer (helllllloooo, butternut squash ravioli!), and I've never been opposed to fashioning a day's worth of caloric requirements out of cheese and crackers.  However, when I contemplated making my own tortillas, I knew that I was reaching a state of culinary delirium and needed to make a mission-critical grocery store run.

Not that I won't make my own tortillas.  It sounds kinda awesome.  But when you can buy a decent dozen and get that time of your life back...why bother at this particular moment?

As an additional component of this stir-crazy time, you may also have spent an excessive number of hours attempting to resuscitate a hapless, totally zapped wireless router with the "help" of a somewhat intrusive assistant:

It's definitely time to get out of the house...I'm taking pictures of Harry curled up on an ethernet cable?  Need human interaction.

As far as the grocery store goes...just take a look at some of these pictures.  I mean, absolutely ridiculous.  My personal experience wrapped up with some typical scenes across our nation's capital:

• Lines halfway down the aisles...which is a far sight better than before the storm.  They were wrapping around the entire store and back again.  Yeesh.
• Boxes of produce haphazardly scattered about...the banana truck definitely made it to my Safeway, though.  Bananas everywhere.  I think everyone bought some just because they were there.  I also think I might be a fan of restocking in the form of just throwing the boxes out there and ripping them open - I don't care how pretty the broccoli is in its refrigerated case, this is much more efficient.
• Nothing available at fish/meat counter...but randomly packaged items strewn about in the freezer compartments.  Take it and run, folks, that's all there is.
• Only two flavors of Ben & Jerry's left!!  I've never seen such a thing!!  And yes, this is a necessity.  Just exercise portion control.
• The milk supply was surprisingly intact...guess that truck made it through ok, too.  Plenty of potassium and calcium to go around.
• I don't know if there was a frozen pizza to be had...I'm going to assume this was a Super Bowl holdover of some kind, or maybe the population of D.C. that frequents the Safeway at 5th & L NW really, really, enjoys the joy that is frozen pizza.

I'd like to know just what people did with their giant stash of milk, eggs, and bread.  Massive quantities of French toast, perhaps? 

Mmmm, that sounds pretty good...especially if your car is buried and you have nowhere else to be...

Snowmageddon 2010

Just to give you an idea of the snow accumulation in the D.C. area over the weekend...I mean, poor teddy bears didn't stand a chance:



In case you've been living under a rock, the Mid-Atlantic region was smacked in the face by some crazy-ridiculous snowfall over the weekend.  After Snowpocalypse 2009, a snowstorm here and there, and Snowmageddon 2010's accumulation, D.C. is on pace for its snowiest winter ever.  Thanks for giving me the true winter experience, Mother Nature!  We don't get these coastal double moisture something somethings anywhere in Texas.  It's just crazy out there.

The office shut down at 10:45 Friday morning...and hasn't been open since.  Not going to lie, it's kinda nice to work from the comfort of my couch in some cozy jammies, but I think I might go absolutely bonkers without some human contact and adventures outside of this apartment.  However, I am extremely grateful to be in the city, all urbanified, where the plows have actually come through, the sidewalks are relatively clear, and the electricity is still on.  Some of these poor folks out in the burbs haven't had power for days.  And honestly, I could really make it into the office if I needed to...but there just aren't too many people there.  A lot of them are stuck at home with stir-crazy children and are therefore all too happy to shut themselves in a home office and take on the day one conference call at a time.  My child doesn't know what going outside really means, so all is well here in the Bryan household.  Although I think I'm throwing him for a loop with my continued presence.

To prevent myself from going crazy, I've managed the following:

• Actually worked until 3:30 or so on Friday and then sought refuge with fellow co-workers and other snowy folks at an early happy hour.  Walked home (rocking the snow boots, I might add) in a peaceful, fluffy, falling-straight-down-and-not-all-blizzardish snow.  Pretty.
• Busted out the snow boots and layers to go explore with the camera on Saturday right after the snow stopped falling.  Streets functioned as sidewalks, people were skiing, general crazy winterness.  You bet I took a million pictures.  I also may or may not have gone up on the roof and made a snow person.  It's been a while since I just fell into a giant pile of snow.





• Braved the (mostly clear and slushy main) roads on Sunday to make it to a Super Bowl party.  I get really excited about any opportunity to spend time in the kitchen putting together BBQ jalapeño poppers and chocolate whoopie pies with salted caramel buttercream to share with friends, and I wasn't letting the snow get in the way of my kitchen adventures.  I mean, it's too dangerous to make that stuff for myself...I'll eat it all.  Oh, yeah, and the game was pretty good, too.
• Escaped for lunch today to walk a mere block and a half to Potbelly for a toasty sandwich.  I was really craving it.

Since I have the essentials on hand in the kitchen (and by essentials, I mean coffee, leftover whoopie pies, and assorted pantry items...vegetables are so waiting until week), I've completely avoided grocery stores.  We have caffeine-crazed people screaming at Whole Foods, empty shelves, and lines from the registers to the back of the store.  This last piece is  based on today's first-hand report from my neighbor who quickly discouraged my passing thoughts at heading down the street to Safeway to pick up ingredients for a pot of chili.  So much for my winter comfort food.

Oh, and have I mentioned that it's snowing again?  Ummm...right now?  Looking a little blizzard-ish outside my window right now, and I feel exceptionally sorry for the valet guys at the National Building Museum who are attempting to park and retrieve cars for some gala that's still going on tonight.  Office is shut down again tomorrow...and I'm guessing probably Thursday, too.  We're supposed to get 10-20" out of this one.  Since we've already run through Snowpocalypse and Snowmageddon, I think the suggested moniker for this one is Snoverkill.  Ridiculous.  I might have to head out for pictures again tomorrow after the snow stops and share them with you...provided I still have things like electricity and Internet access.  Which I really think I will.  Not too much danger of falling trees crushing power lines here in the urban jungle.

Go check out the craziness on Picasa from my snowy explorations.  It's a little ridiculous.  Set the slideshow on fast, because you know me...there are far too many pictures there.  Happy winter, everyone!

Holy Mather Gorge!

Last weekend, when the greater D.C. area wasn't covered in six inches of snow, I took advantage of Saturday's beautiful weather to do some "hiking" (you know me, it couldn't have been too intense or I probably would have twisted an ankle and ended up plummeting to jagged rocks below, rendering myself incapable of even blogging about such an experience due to extensive injuries...) and exploring in Great Falls Park.

The undeniable highlight of Great Falls Park is admiring the Potomac River rushing through the Mather Gorge, complete with surprisingly accessible viewing platforms.  Approachable from both the Virginia and Maryland sides!  Yeah, I'm still growing accustomed to the fact that I can be in two states and a district (D.C., I just don't know what to really call you - I want to refer to you as a "state," but you're just not) in a matter of mere minutes.

To borrow the National Park Service's words since my pictures don't really do it justice, "the falls consist of cascading rapids and several 20 foot waterfalls, with a total 76 foot drop in elevation over a distance of less than a mile. The Potomac River narrows from nearly 1,000 feet, just above the falls, to between 60 and 100 feet wide as it rushes through Mather Gorge, a short distance below the falls. The Great Falls of the Potomac display the steepest and most spectacular fall line rapids of any eastern river."  Sounds impressive, right?  It really is!  Got as close as I wanted to, though - there were some crazy kayakers attempting water feats that are completely beyond my realm of physical capability.

The camera and I also spent some quality time indulging in my unnatural obsession with zooming in on tiny little pieces of nature.  I can't help it, I'm just fascinated by all the stuff that grows on stuff here.  You just don't get it in West Texas.  And look, there was a little snow still hanging around from Snowpocalypse!  Little patches o' snow + frozen rivers/creeks = cool (literally) nature moments.

Great Falls Park is also home to the crazy-old Patowmack Canal, which demonstrated some early lock engineering and allowed the colonial folk to get themselves and all their stuff from place to place.  Nice work, colonial folk.

For excessive and kinda blah (hey, it's January - a whole lot of brown and gray going on out there) nature pictures, check out the Picasa album.  And for just a dash of human interest amongst the rocks, water, twigs, and mud...

Snow day!

When D.C. gears up for a winter storm warning and really any amount of frozen white stuff (come on, weather folks - couldn't you be a little more specific than "between a dusting and eight inches!" to prepare us for what may come?  Although you did get a little bit more specific as the snow made its way on top of us...), I'm momentarily thrilled by the thought of (1) a potential day off work and (2) pretty stuff falling from the sky that generally makes the world a softer, gentler place, covering the world with a coat of innocence.  Ugh, too mushy and Hallmark-ish on the last one.  Sorry about that.  Well, January Snow Day 2010 happened to occur on a SATURDAY, which meant no free time off work (although I have my doubts that the federal government would have closed shop today, which is what Uncle Pdub follows...drats), but I did embrace the general snowy joy and bitter coldness of the day by...well, by not leaving my apartment, cranking up the heater, and generally being lazy.  Let me just say, it's much more pleasant enjoying the snow from the comfort of one's own apartment than trying to fight one's way through it to get it out of town.

Allow me to share in my laziness and general happiness about not doing much of anything today.  After all, what are weekends for?  I might even count this as a D.C. exploration since Dallas is not covered in snow.  Can only have this experience here, people.  Or possibly in Amarillo where the snow was ridiculously worse.

Sleeping in until 11.  Yes, I can still do that!!  Kinda proud.  Busting open altruistic Christmas gift from the Vaughns in the form of my first shipment of a three month coffee of the month program from Grounds for Change, a fairly awesome certified organic coffee roaster specializing in 100% fair trade coffee.  Delicious coffee AND supporting a good cause?  Sign me up.  Oh, wait - you did.  Thanks, Vaughns!  And this month's coffee, Ramelau from East Timor, is absolutely delicious.  I had a lot of caffeine this morning...and into the early PM hours.  Had fond thoughts of my Dallas people as I sipped away from my newest Dallas mug.  Miss you.

Opened up the blinds and watched the snow progress throughout the day while I watched crap TV, took in some college basketball, finished the book I was on, caught up on all kinds of magazines, cleaned, rummaged for food, spent at least an hour on the sofa in a coma-like state where I may not have done much of anything at all, and busted out the zoom lens to at least make it feel like I was up close and personal with the snow and those who chose to brave it.  It was lovely.

Inspiration struck late in the evening, and I finally managed to wrap up a project I've been meaning to finish for...ummm...kinda forever.  Another gift from the Vaughns, actually - a wine corkboard...board provided, get the corks attached.  Finally attached corks.  I think I really like it.  Dry, glue, dry.

I'm also on a real movie kick these days - Oscar season tends to bring that out in me, so this weekend I appear to have gone on a bit of a war kick with a Friday night viewing of Inglorious Basterds and The Hurt Locker tonight.  Enjoyed the former more than I thought I would (sometimes Tarantino just throws me for a loop), and now need chocolate or something to chill me out from the tension I developed while watching the latter.  Good movie.

And yes, I took pictures throughout my snow day and have now blogged about them.  I think I might be getting a little bored.  Maybe I should go to bed?  Oh, wait, I got up at 11...so I'm not exactly ready to call it a night.  Oh, SNL in just a few minutes?  With Jon Hamm?  I think I'm set.

Let me just say that I wasn't the laziest one around today...

Bryan Family Christmas Cruise, Part 1: Snowpocalypse 2009

Time to get caught up (or at least start getting caught up...this could take a little while) on the holiday adventures!  As most of you probably know, the immediate Bryan family (Mom, Dad, sis, me - we left the other siblings at home) made plans almost a year ago to embark on a seven-night Caribbean cruise adventure for the holidays.  How awesome is that??  Props to Mom for dreaming up a cool vacation plan.  The traditionalist in me did find it a little strange to be completely surrounded by water on Christmas Day, but the traveler in me found the whole thing to be quite fantabulous.

However, all holiday adventures begin with a little bit of travel, and for this particular holiday adventure, I had to contend with Snowpocalypse 2009 in getting out of D.C. and making my way to Galveston.  I snapped this picture on Friday night in the midst of a packing frenzy (swimwear AND winter coat?  what the what?) that really should have taken place on Thursday night so I could attempt to fly out earlier than intended.  The snow is beautiful as it's falling, but when it's already piled up this much by the time you go to bed, you really start to wonder about your flight actually taking off in the morning.  And thus begins the comedy of errors detailing my journey across the country.

• Wake up at 6:30 to discover that my morning flight, along with every other flight out of this part of the country, is most definitely cancelled.  Immediately call customer service, wait on hold twenty minutes to reach somewhat helpful yet also incompetent representative who politely inquires if my travel plans are flexible.  Representative receives resounding "no" from me and would like to rebook me on a 5:45 AM flight out of Baltimore the next morning.  Respectfully inform representive that it is supposed to snow for the next 24 hours and not only will it be next to impossible for me to get to Baltimore, the odds that the flight will actually leave are slim to none.  Hang up.
• Pause for a moment of gratitude that the family planned to meet in Houston the day before the cruise.  Need to board giant boat in approximately 32 hours.  Back to work.
• Panic slightly and use interwebs to discover any other travel options.  Amtrak is running!!  Will take train to New York and catch flight there!  Oh, wait, the snow is now hitting New York...duh, Erin.  Not thinking clearly.
• Call voices of reason in the central time zone (known as The Parents) at this early hour and seek guidance.  Mother Guidance suggests heading south, through and then away from the snow, to an airport of reasonable size.  Which would happen to be the one my sister was flying out of, albeit a day ahead of me now.  Yes, brilliant! 
• Rebook flight myself online since I can't reach anyone on the phone.  Incur $160 change fee that I'm currently attempting to get back.  Am now flying out of Raleigh-Durham at 6:00 AM Sunday.  Day of cruise.
• Attempt to book business class seat (might as well travel a little more in style!) on late morning train to Raleigh out of Union Station.  Business class sells out before I can manage to get credit card entered.  Chastise self for being seat-comfort greedy and promptly book seat in coach.  Phew.  Goodbye, $100.
• Realize I will need hotel room.  Mother Guidance offers to surf the web and find me a place in Raleigh since I'm running short on time to get to the train station.  Profusely thank Mother Guidance and then...
• Hustle to shower and pack last-minute items, hug cat, and bundle up to face the snow.  Prepare to drag self, 50.5 pound suitcase, duffel bag, backpack, and giant purse through approximately two blocks of snow to get to Metro.  Do not trust any of the taxis attempting to make progress on the disaster that is the streets of D.C.
• Pause several times to catch breath on snowy walk as wheels on giant suitcase don't function when there are snowdrifts on the sidewalk.
• Attempt to cross 6th Street and unfortunate backpack/laptop incident occurs.  Curse the snow loudly and with great force.
• Slip, slide, stumble to Metro stop where escalator is actually functional.  Brief moment of thanks.
• Arrive at the utter madhouse that is Union Station.  Print boarding pass with relative ease and then attempt to check bag.  Stand in long line, determine I don't need to stand in line, and frantically flag down harried agent to collect bags from some twenty-odd people.  Am relieved to be relieved of bag and take the time to capture Christmas tree.

• Stand in loooong line to board somewhat delayed train and realize in moment of stunning clarity that giant bag has been checked through to the end of the train line...Charlotte...and not where I'm getting off...Raleigh.  Miscommunication with harried agent.  Curse self, snow, bag, travel in general. 
• Stomp through snow to board train.  Inquire with several people about status of bag and receive shrugs.  Say hopeful prayer that train conductor is a kind soul who will save me.
• Train finally begins moving.  Hooray!!
• Conductor Steve inquires as to why I'm going to Raleigh and my bag is going to Charlotte.  Make absurdly pathetic face.  Conductor Steve returns two hours later to inform me that my bag will now also be getting off in Raleigh.  Profusely thank Conductor Steve as Charlotte is approximately a 3 hour drive from Raleigh.  Because in my moments of panic I contemplated riding the train through to Charlotte, retrieving bag, and driving to Raleigh.  Did not consider rebooking flight out of Charlotte.  Obviously still not thinking clearly.  But saved by Conductor Steve!
• Travel approximately 60 miles in two hours.  This does not look promising.

• Train stops on tracks for ONE HOUR outside of Fredericksburg while engineers attempt to thaw computer that enables the track to switch.  Bond quite closely with seatmate Kristen on how we may die on this train.  Are reassured by Conductor Steve that we have plenty of fuel.  Hadn't even THOUGHT about that.
• Make excruciatingly slow progress through excessively snowy Virginia.  The snow is beautiful, but still I curse it.

• More train stops, more slow progress, but finally FINALLY arrive in Raleigh at approximately 10 PM...after just over ten hours on a train ride that typically takes half that time.  Am extremely grateful to see giant bag waiting for me.
• $40 cab ride to hotel.  Discover it would have been more efficient to get off train in Cary, but no longer really care.
• Fall into hotel room, call family, cry.  Order room service and wake-up call for 4:00, cab for 4:45, attempt to fall asleep, curse the snow and my stress, then actually sleep for a few hours.  $125 to Hilton Garden Inn.
• Cab driver charges airport fee of $12 to drive me less than one mile.  Am not awake enough to care.
• Board plane.  Finally.  Wait 20 minutes just outside gate while they de-ice the plane.  Am not reassured by the term "de-ice" after previous day's adventures with frozen train computer.
• Connection in Atlanta.  Fortify self with coffee and bagel.

• 24 hours and several hundred dollars later than originally intended, arrive in Houston to smiling, loving family, complete with camcorder armed by Mom.  Bag, however, does not arrive on baggage carousel.  Almost lose it.
• Bag made earlier connection out of Atlanta and is waiting in baggage office.  A few more tears.  Mom with camcorder.  Not amused (sorry, Mom!).

And after all of that, the remaining travels for that day went remarkably well.  Made it to Galveston with plenty of time, enough time that we made a stop at the Texas treasure known as Whataburger for a little lunch before hitting up the boat.

I've already regaled several of you with this tale, although not necessarily with all of the gritty details, and several of you had quite the travel adventures of your own.  But you know what?  I think I needed the cathartic experience of getting it all out, so if you actually read through all of those mishaps, thanks for suffering along with me.  And I think you're right, Mom - I can laugh about it now.  Time to get on the big boat!

So much for catching up

Welcome to 2010!  I mentioned last time (allllll the way back in 2009...I know, a mere five days ago, but doesn't that sound more dramatic?) that I had some catching up to do what with the cruise adventures and general holiday cheer, but those year-end blogging specials just never came into being because I was having far too much fun with my friends.  Never a bad thing.  I was also somewhat hampered by that computer incident I mentioned.  To elaborate, I might have done some serious blog catching-up during my 4+ hours in the Charlotte airport yesterday (oh yes, another travel story for you!), but let me share just one minor part of the comedy of errors that was me escaping D.C. during Snowpocalypse 2009.

My college desktop is a bit of a dinosaur.  And not even plugged in at the moment.  So when I was going to be gone for two weeks and take 2,000+ pictures and generally miss being connected to the world, I decided to take along my work laptop (with a nearly full hard drive due to my excessive collection of music...pictures...ummm, oodles of personal things, really) to upload pictures and blog and watch movies on the plane, so on and so forth.  What I wasn't planning on was an unfortunate backpack incident in the middle of 6th Street in piles of snow where the zipper decided to part ways and release the contents of my backpack into said snow.  Oh, and onto the rather unforgiving pavement covered by piles of snow.  After frantically scooping up the contents and avoiding being smacked into by irresponsible snow drivers, I put it out of my mind (ha, not really, but I tried) until I had the chance to attempt to turn it on.  No dice.  It turns on but has some funky error and then I get a screen of death.  So, heads up to the PwC IT folks, you'll be getting a visit from me first thing in the morning.  And I lugged around dead laptop weight for the rest of my travels, which was slightly less than awesome.

However, upon my return to D.C., I resisted my innate ability to overanalyze purchases and basically all decisions in my life by actually going to Best Buy, sorting out my options, and just buying a dang computer.  So, tonight, I give to you this blog, courtesy of my sleek new HP Pavilion 1355, purchased mere hours ago.  And yes, I tacked on the handy service plan that covers things like me dropping my computer on the sidewalk/street and spilling Diet Coke all over it.  Knowing the abuse these things get courtesy of me, an extra $100 for the "accidental damage from handling" clause just seemed like the way to go.

Many stories to come, and hope you and yours had a fantastic holiday and are off to a great start in 2010!  One year of blogging is in the books! 

Thank goodness for the cute baby

And for amazing friends.  And for a lack of traffic disasters.  And for Sgt. Peppermint.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

For last weekend's holiday trip to New York City to see Carrie, Jason, and Baby Alan, I had grand plans to spend Saturday roaming the city with a dear friend, taking in the holiday cheer and checking out the tree at Rockefeller Center and gazing at shop windows and spending an inordinate amount of time falling with blades on my feet ice skating and sipping hot chocolate and just generally enjoying it all.  In anticipation of the slightly less than stellar forecast for Saturday's weather, I even packed my fabulous snow boots that can take a beating and still keep me toasty warm and unaware of the elements. 

Ummm....it's hard to appreciate general holiday cheer when it's raining horizontally and you're caught in countless wind tunnels.  Especially if you're trying to take pictures of anything at all.  Your hands are needed for much more important things like holding umbrellas and keeping flying scarves out of your face.  So, needless to say, our city adventures on Saturday were pretty limited, but we did at least catch a peek of the beautiful tree at Rockefeller Center shortly before seeking refuge in Anthropologie (please note all of the crazy umbrellas):

Even if the weather did foil our general city-fun plans, we still had a fantastic weekend enjoying the warmth of a cozy apartment while watching snow fall.  Very holiday indeed.  Some of my favorite things about the weekend:

• The scent of a real Christmas tree.  Ooh, and in NYC there aren't exactly tree lots, but crazy tree sidewalk stands.  I'm just fascinated by the lack of space.

• Curling up on the couch and watching The Cutting Edge.  Yes, this was a highlight.  Carrie and I both have very fond memories of watching this movie excessively...for some reason.  And have you listened to the soundtrack??  It's enough to make anyone smile.
• Adventures in sugar cookies and decadent hot chocolate.  Thank you, Sgt. Peppermint and Pillsbury.  There's something to be said for crafting your own cookies out of dough scraps.  Really let the creativity flow.
• A tasty Sunday brunch at 181 Cabrini - table covered with coffee and mimosas and French toast and bagels and eggs benedict.  Yum.  Also in the company of one very well-behaved baby who is just too cute for words when bundled up to face the cold:

• Stopping in at B&H before catching my bus back to D.C.  I felt like a kid in a candy store with practically everything I could every possible want for my camera staring me in the face.  I limited myself to one new lens, a Nikon 55-200mm telephoto zoom (should come in handy for Bryan Family Christmas Cruise!), and proceeded to hustle myself out of the store before I spent an entire paycheck.
• Just spending quality time with good friends and catching up on the day to day.  So grateful to have these wonderful people a short ride away.  And you know what?  The trip back to D.C. on Sunday night actually took the 4 hours and 15 minutes that Bolt Bus always projects yet never manages to actually deliver on due to ridiculous traffic.  Amazing!

If you want to check out the pictures from the weekend (warning: very heavy on baby pictures, seeing as how (1) he's such a ham for the camera, (2) Auntie Erin couldn't resist, and (3) we had a lot of indoor time this weekend), head on over to the Picasa album.  You might not see any more of what I'm calling his "superhero" pose like the one below, but there's an awful lot of cute Mr. Alan in there.

Flaky goodness

You think I'm going to go on this long-winded ramble about pie crust, what with the title of "flaky goodness" and all...and I mean, flaky pie crust is just one of the best things ever, but in this particular instance I'm going to use the "flaky" to refer to actual flakes. 

Flakes of snow!  I've moved to the East Coast, supposed land of blizzards and winters galore, but where do I see my first snow of the season?  Good ol' Amarillo, Texas.  See, it does snow in Texas.  People don't believe me on that one sometimes, and I just have to emphasize that's it an exceptionally large state with a vast, vast array of climates.  And up here in the Panhandle...it snows.  Happy winter, everyone, and here's hoping the Amarillo airport isn't thrown into a tizzy with the wintry mix we're receiving today.

To decorate!

Worth decorating for a party of one?  Sure, why not!  So last night, that's just what I did.  Ummm...does it take a little bit of the holiday edge off if I decorated to the sounds of Arizona vs. Oregon in double overtime rather than "sounds of the season?"  Whatever the setting, the apartment is now minimally bedecked with some touches of holiday cheer.

You know, they could make those artificial tree needles just a touch softer since they require a certain amount of fluffing and un-smushing every year.  Slightly ouchy.  And while I'm not necessarily a huge fan of artificial snow puffs, they do a bang-up job of concealing power cords and unattractive metal tree bases while also providing a soft landing place for any snowflake ornaments that may decide to take off on an adventure in parachuting.  I love those little snowflakes!  Carrie and Jason gave them to me for Christmas a few years ago, and they're just perfect for my little trees.

When I unearthed the Christmas wreath for the front door, I also found my fall wreath I'd forgotten about, which involved a random burst of creativity, bargain purchases at Garden Ridge, and some hot glue gun adventures with Amy.  Sorry I forgot about you, little fall wreath!  Maybe you can make an appearance next year.

Oh, and I've got more than just the trees and wreath going on - there's the squishy snowman (with berry wreath backup) guarding the living room from his perch on the bookcase:

And if that theory holds, then apparently Kerry and Carrie are also keeping watch over the living room from the picture frame, which is kinda cool.  Although they're wielding bridal/bridesmaid bouquets, which are much less menacing than the squishy snowman's rather sharp and pointy spade/shovel thing.  And yes, I realize inanimate objects are not actually going to come to life and defend my living room in any way.

Ooh, there are also jingle bell snowflakes dangling from cabinet pulls in the kitchen, which I might have to rethink.  Yes, they're festive and shiny and cheerful, but I don't know if I can really handle a jingle of holiday cheer every time I want to grab a spoon or pull out a box of pasta. 

A bit o' holiday cheer to all ya'll out there, and...Bryan Family Christmas Cruise sets sail in almost exactly twenty-eight days!  Yee-haw!

Let it snow

This morning, my eyes popped open when my alarm went off, and I gleefully rose from bed. At 6:45. On a Monday morning. Ponder that for a moment. Have you recovered from the shock? Yes? Ok, I'll continue with my tale. You know that giddy feeling you get when you think something kinda wonderful is about to happen? Not quite the "oh my gosh, I think I could win a million dollars on that next lotto ball!!" feeling but a little bit better than "ooh, maybe we're having chocolate cake for dessert!" - we're talking that kind of feeling, the one that can be brought on by....a potential snow day. I would be pleased to work from home in my pjs, thank you very much! I went to sleep Sunday night with predictions from the weather people of 6-8" of snow and the sight of snow flurries drifting down from the sky. Could it be??

Well, we got the snow, but not quite enough to convince the federal government to shut down offices for the day. Since good ol' Pdub follows government policy rather than the more rational minds that lead pretty much every school district in the area, "delayed arrival" it is! I threw on those warm, furry boots (they're cuter than they sound, I promise!) that were made for just such a day and traipsed off to work in the swirling snow. Really, it wasn't too bad. Just slow going to make sure I didn't bust it in the middle of the street, and I personally find snow much more pleasant to travel in than other forms of precipitation. There's something peaceful about it as long as it's not smacking you in the face too hard.

DC is a place that's prepared for snow. We have the snow routes (get your car out the street or they'll tow it away!) and seemingly massive armies of people/machines that are tasked with getting rid of the snow. Well, not really getting rid of it, but just shoving it out of the way. Oh, I didn't realize that ice-melty stuff they spread over sidewalks comes in different colors! This morning I passed by and crunched over brilliant displays of pink, green, and blue in aforementioned boots. Who knew?

I was going to snap some pictures of pretty snow scenes on my walk home from work, but by tonight most of the snow had been shoved into nasty piles and lost some of its beauty. Good thing I stuck my camera out the balcony door this morning! Please see below for National Building Museum, balcony ledge, and the corner of 5th & G with some snow action going on.