Harper's Ferry

We love taking long drives on the weekends and one of our favorite destinations is West Virginia. By freeway Harper's Ferry is only about an hour and a half's drive - very reasonable especially considering what you get when you arrive! An amazing trail network that runs along the rushing Shenandoah River, a charming historic town full of cute shops and used bookstores, gorgeous mountain backdrops.

We parked behind the main strip and ran about 4 miles along the river, out and back. The day was perfect - sunny and cool. I've run about 15 miles in three days, which is great. I always take advantage of the fall and winter to start adding some length to my distances.

Facebook is bad for my blog

I've noticed that when I have something to say I'm more inclined to go to Facebook than the good old blog. Part of this might be the give-and-take found in reply comments... which, I admit, are staisfying. And considering I have no idea whether anyone is reading this blog anymore it just seems more rewarding to use Facebook to record my observations.

But then, Facebook makes one lazy. In one sentence I feel I can adequately say what it probably ought to take a whole blog post to delve into.

Lately I have Facebooked on the following topics:

Food
Running
Travel
Random obsevations
Sports
Photography

I haven't blogged hardly at all.

I miss blogging and I want to revive IaJtbH... maybe that will be my resolution. We all know how much I love new year's resolutions!

Tentative Thanksgiving Menu!

Most people who know me know that I really dislike Thanksgiving food. Turkey, stuffing, bread, green beans, cranberry sauce... blech. One of the best Thanksgiving meals I ever had featured baked salmon as a main course with a quinoa and pumpkin seed salad and pumpkin soup to finish.

But J, being a Southern boy, really appreciates the more traditional menu and I'm very thankful that he's willing to depart in order to make me happy. This year our Thanksgiving menu will be inspired by our trip to Italy this past September. We fell in love with black truffles and brought some (in various forms) home with us.

So the first course will be fresh ravioli with black truffle pesto. For the main course we will roast a duck and make some wild rice on the side. We'll also crack open one of the bottles of wine we brought back from the Casanova winery. For dessert we're keeping it simple - hot brownie with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge.

Yum! Now just to let the days tick by.

Proud of myself

I haven't had much blogging inspiration lately but I pushed myself on a run today and it was well worth the effort. After a later-than-usual night last night and a tough day at work, I got myself dressed and out the door for a one but my motivation wavered after a block. It would have been so easy to just turn back, but I convinced myself to go just a bit further and ended up doing a full 35-minutes around the neighborhood.

At the time I suppose I just didn't feel like it but now that I'm finished I'm very glad I powered through. I have to constantly remind myself that I love how I feel when I'm finished running and hate how I feel when I quit.

It's starting to get dark really early (4:11pm and already dusky) but I like dark, cold winter evenings. I find it easier to get settled down and read when it's dark outside as opposed to when the sun is shining at 8pm.

Up next - J and I have begun discussing Thanksgiving... I don't like traditional food so it's always a challenge to figure out an interesting menu that will satisfy the both of us. But this year we have some provisions from our trip to Italy that should enhance the meal quite nicely.

Stay tuned!

Catoctin Mountain

One of the things that we love about living in DC is how easy it is to get out of the city center and into almost total wilderness. In just an hour or two we can be at the bay, the moutains, deep woods, wineries, battlefields, and more.

We love to take long drives on the weekend and either explore areas by hiking or running. We've made our way through most of the national parks and forests in the tri-state area though by no means have we explored every trail.

Today we drove up to Catoctin Mountain to see the fall colors. Most people go to Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah but it can get crowded and there's plenty of countryside in Maryland and West Virigina to see the changing leaves.

Catoctin Mountain is in northern Maryland very close to Camp David. We took a short but hilly hike. The weather is perfect for being outside, and although I think we missed the real peak leaf color season, the landscape was still beautiful.

Good Stock-Up Run!

This week Harris Teeter is having a "Super Double" promotion where they are doubling coupons under $2 in value. Usually HT only doubles a coupon if it's under a dollar but about every six weeks they do Super Doubles and I'm able to get some really rock-bottom prices.

Harris Teeter also has electronic coupons that come off when you scan your club card (in addition to whatever club card discount is being offered that week) - and those combine with paper coupons. So these prices are unusal but GREAT and I stocked up on some stuff.

(2) Blue Diamond almonds $3.49 (for both) - $1 coupon which doubled = $1.49 for two cans of almonds
(1) Celestial Seasonings tea on sale for $2.50 - $1 coupon which doubled = $0.50
(1) Satin Care shave gel on sale for $2.49 - $1 coupon which doubled = $0.49
(1) Tampax pearl tampons $3.99 - $1 coupon which doubled - $1 electronic coupon = $0.99
(3) Garnier Fructis shampoo/conditioner on sale for $2.99 - $1 coupons which doubled = $0.99 each
(2) Bayer Low Dose aspirin $5.98 for two - $1 coupons which doubled = $1.98 for two aspirins
(1) DayQuil $7.49 - $1 coupon which doubled - $1 electronic coupon = $3.49
------------------------------------------------
TOTAL AFTER COUPONS = $17.43
COUPONS TENDERED (store savings, store electronic coupons, paper coupons) = $29.66

As the cashier had started ringing up my stuff this guy started to get in line and saw me holding coupons and made an exasperated sigh and switched lines, well that line was apparently really slow because I zipped right through and was leaving register when I saw him jump back over to my line. Ha! Not all coupon users are crazy people! Trust me I want to get out of there as quickly and painlessly as you do!

Pretentious Ice Cream!

As I try to wind down from a really hectic ten (plus) days, I decided to treat myself to a small carton of Haagen Dazs vanilla-chocolate chip. It's delicious, but the side panel is hysterically pretentious:

Flavor Top Notes: floral, deeply bourbon notes of fine Madagascar vanilla.
Flavor Finish Notes: dark and delicious chocolate chips

First - I didn't realize that 'notes' could be 'bourbon.' Silly me, I always thought that bourbon was a noun and not an adjective.

Second - finish notes? Doesn't that imply aftertaste? The chocolate chips are all mixed in, the chocolate taste is right there in each bite. This is ice cream, not wine people!

Halloween

Halloween in DC is such a cute and fun time. People camp out on their porches with wine and, sometimes, their laptops, and spend the whole evening socializing and handing out candy. Some streets are busier than others and by now we know which ones are which so we can strategize our walk for optimal kid cuteness.

After a quick wander we headed back to J's to toast our pumpkin seeds. J did all the carving (he says *I* am the grouchy pumpkin!) and I got all the seeds. Not a bad deal.

Um, good luck?

Last night I was unchaining my scooter after a meeting when three slightly intoxicated people approached and asked me which direction to the White House.

I was at 6th St & Indiana Ave .... a good 10-12 blocks from the White House... but they insisted that they had "a bone to pick with Obama."

So I pointed them to Pennsylvania Ave and wished them luck.

What you wanna bet they ended up disappointed with their endeavor?

Rough Game

I got invited to the Red Wings game by someone who has great seats - lower bowl, right on the red line. He has season tickets and was generous enough to take me to the only DC showdown between the Capitals and the Red Wings this season.

Both teams were undefeated (after six games) going in so it was bound to be a disappointment for whoever lost. Unfortunately, the Wings lost, and lost big. But it was still great fun to be there and I took a few interesting pictures.

My apologies for the over-representation of number five... I never know when he'll retire so I need to photograph him when I have the chance!

Home Again

I'm so thankful to be home and in one place for the next few months. I do have a few small trips planned but they're all by car and most only one or two nights.

Between Allison's wedding reception, the trip to Italy, and the trip to Miami I am about done being on an airplane for the forseeable future! I'm also a bit desperate for a regular routine without a lot of anticipation about travel logistics, expenses, and deadlines.

I like quiet and boring. I just rarely have it.

A Week in Miami

I'm heading to Miami on business next week and J is tagging along. Unfortunately American Airlines massively screwed up his flight (mine was arranged by the conference event planners) so he will be arriving approximately seven hours before me. Ugh. Thank goodness for airport restaurants - I wouldn't even begrudge him a noon glass of beer!

My speech isn't until Friday which is kind of nice but in a way I wish I were getting it over with.

I probably won't be blogging much from Florida but I'll be sure to post some photos when I get back.

Tornado!

I feel like I'm back in the midwest where tornado watches and warnings were regular occurences. But nope, I'm in Washington DC watching a massive storm system with funnel clouds move across northern Virginia towards us.

The cats are slinking around, low to the ground, trying to find their hiding places. I haven't seen Elena in a while but Natasha can't figure out what to do with herself. She probably got pushed out of the prime space by Lanie. Every cat for herself, I guess.

Nice Day

I had the day off today in honor of someone who didn't actually land in America, but oh well. I'll take it. J is in Florida working so I really did have the day to myself!




I started out by sleeping in until the luxurious hour of 8am. Then I went for a lovely run from home around the Tidal Basin. It was a little longer than I've been doing so the final stretch was a struggle but it felt good in the end. I got to see the new Martin Luther King, Jr memorial which faces the Jefferson Memorial and got buzzed by Marine One (the presidential helicopter) which was a little scary.

Then I met up with a girlfriend for some coffee and a muffin on Pennsylvania Ave. It was great to have some real catch-up time as opposed to the few minutes here and there we usually have.

Now it's almost evening and I'm just going to do some reading, get organized for tomorrow, maybe take a short walk before dinner this evening. It's been a nice day off!

A Nice Ride

This has been a picture perfect weekend. The best weather in DC is in the fall - it becomes sunny and cool and dry and the absolute best conditions for running. In order to be outside as much as possible J and I decided to take our traditional weekend roadtrip on our two-wheelers.

Can you tell which one belongs to which of us?

It's easy to avoid the freeway if you go north out of the city. There are some great winding two-lane roads with very little traffic and lots of nice little coffee shops along the way.

We made our way about 20 miles up to Great Falls and took a nice four-mile run along the canal trail before heading back the same way. The weather was perfect for a ride and there were hardly any cars on the road!

I tried!!

The Washington Monument sustained some damage from the freak earthquake we had a few months ago. (Relatedly the news obtained the security video from inside the monument when the quake hit, and it's terrifying!).

In order to survey the damage inspectors have been rapelling down the sides. The other day I took a jog down there to see for myself, but apparently they have finished up. Oh well, I tried!

Here are some photos I pulled off the web. The news anchors have been interviewing the inspectors, many of who have brought their family down to the site because it's such a unique opportunity!

Cold and Dreary!

It got cold fast - overnight! And rainy too. Our grand plans to go apple-picking and hiking on Saturday were rained out, but we took advantage of the farm's own market and came away with lots of sweet peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin-cranberry loaf, an eggplant, and a jug of apple cider.

On the way home we found a great little Salvadoran place for lunch (I love pupusas). The whole experience was great - we were the only people there and the owner herself waited on us with her two young (and attentive!) daughters in tow.

I had chicken tacos and a pupusa and J had the winner of the afternoon - cubes of pork lightly fried with a plantain-garlic-spice mixture lightly fried. It was a great find!

I think we have one more warm-up coming this week before it starts getting cold for good. It's never too cold in this house what with two cats constantly on top of me (especially in bed... which is amazingly toasty...) but I have the flannel sheets in the dryer anyway and all ready for tonight!

Never a dull moment

On my way home from work I thought I was going to have to call the office for some help.

I was at an intersection on my scooter (so I could see/hear everything) and I saw that a guy walking his dog had just put a plastic bag of dog poop in a woman's trash can that was on the curb.The woman came running out of her house and yelled at the guy to take the bag of poop out. He started yelling back and insulting her, she was having none of it. It was getting pretty heated.

The woman was in her mid-60's, guy in his mid 20's.

Eventually he came and dumped the trash can over (the poop was the only thing in it) and picked up the bag and walked away, but for a moment there I honestly though it was going to get physical!

I can sort of see both sides - he obviously didn't want the poop in his trash or he would have taken it home, so why would she want it in hers? Then again, it's the trash, it will get picked up - it's not like it was going to go inside her home at any time.

Never a dull moment in the city. People are always negotiating the fine line between anonymity and communal living.

Silence

It's so odd to have silence. On a number of levels.

From the moment I wake up, or from the moment anyone wakes up really, everything is noisy. We turn on the news, we go out to our cars to drive to work with the engine humming and radio going (or we take noisy public transportation), at work we have ringing phones, people talking, the TV on, after work more TV or running through the city with sirens and horns. In the evening more TV or at least conversation. Maybe music. But some kind of noise.

To just turn everything off and sit and read in silence is disconcerting. It's startling to have silence; the very fact underlying how much noise we tolerate in our daily lives.

I try to make a point of having at least an hour of pure silence in the evenings. Reading without music, a little bit of yoga, a crossword puzzle.

No music, no TV. If I'm lucky no sirens or helicopters. Just a slow, quiet hour, a short segment but a very large contrast to the rest of the day.

Feeling Better

After yesterday's disorientation I am feeling great about being home. I missed the comfortable weight of a purring cat on my feet and my own coffee pot, my own books, my own shower, my amazing view of the Capitol dome.





I'm ready to jump back into my routine Monday morning. A detox from red meat, sweets, and alcohol is necessary and will be started this week!