decor: santa brought me a typewriter

Tony and I are back in D.C. after spending Christmas in Ohio, which involved so. many. cookies. And loads of good family time. The highlight of the weekend was playing with the Lionel train set my dad has had since he was a kid. When Stephanie and I were growing up, he'd get it out, but it'd been a long time since he'd it set up. This year, my dad and brother-in-law dug it out and set it up in the basement, making a whole town, which they're calling Trainville. Here's Tony enjoying the fruit of their labors.

Cute conductor hat FTW.

Fun also was had shooting off model rockets. Last year, Tony and I got my dad a model rocket launch kit for Christmas. The two of them put it all together, and we went out to a field to shoot it off, but it disappeared into the heavens on its inaugural launch.

We tried again this year. We went back to the hobby store, and Tony, Ian and Dad each got their own rocket.

We shot them off in the middle of nowhere this year, and I'm happy to report there was only one casualty. One failed parachute put an end to my dad's rocket.

<3

As you may have been able to tell from this blog, I was very good this year. Santa clearly realized this because he left all kinds of goodies under the tree. Including this beautiful old typewriter. Santa must be a rowhouse home reader, haha.

I have the old girl parked in my dining room, on top of the white dresser.

And it works! Tony and I are using it to leave messages to each other. (Awwww.)

That deep dish reference, by the way, is a reference to our pizza dinner last night. So good. Recipe coming soon!

Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!

things to do: dulles air museum

If your brother-in-law is an aerospace engineer, and if said brother-in-law comes to stay with you for a long weekend, let me recommend taking him to the National Air and Space Museum near Dulles. He will love it. Trust me. Ian went bananas over it. Actually, I don't think British people go bananas; they're too reserved for that. But Ian did smile a lot.  

A co-worker of Tony's volunteers as a docent at the museum and agreed to come in Saturday afternoon to show us around. So Tony, Ian, and I piled into the car with Dr. V, a friend we met through my sister, and Dr. V's sister, Erin, who was visiting for the weekend, and the five of us made the 45-minute trek out to Dulles. 

I'm generally not someone who enjoys looking at airplanes. But honest, I enjoyed myself during our tour, and I stayed focused for two whole hours. This is the museum that houses the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It's an emotional exhibit. 

The biggest crowd in the museum was at the Discovery space shuttle. Everyone in D.C. remembers that morning in April when the space shuttle flew over Washington. Super cool to see it up close and in person.  

And apparently we don't know exactly how fast or how high this reconnaissance plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, can travel because that's classified. But we do know that on its last flight it made it from LAX to Dulles in just over an hour. 

And this spacesuit amused me. NASA needed spacesuits that would put enough pressure on the astronauts' bodies, so their blood wouldn't start to boil, which apparently happens in space. NASA turned to a Playtex company to design the early space suits because they definitely are the experts on supporting and tucking.   

<3

From the archives: 

things to do: george bellows exhibit

life: eastern market cake & sausages

Scott and Michele stopped by Saturday morning with a cake in hand. Apparently it's a Chinese tradition to bring your friends and family cakes as a thank-you for helping out after your baby is born. This is my new favorite tradition. I am on board with any tradition that involves cake.  

It's a strawberry cake from the bakery at Eastern Market, and it was quite tasty. I've never had anything bad from that bakery. My brother-in-law Ian, who lives in London with my sister was visiting for a long weekend, and the three of us managed to put a good dent in it. 

Before Ian came, I was making the grocery list for the week, and I called my mom to ask what kind of dinners she makes for Ian when he's at her house. Without hesitation, she said sausages. Any kind of sausages. Hot dogs. Bratwurst. Kielbasa. The man likes his sausages. So we had sausages Friday night. Tony and Ian picked out some whiskey-fennel-onion sausages from Eastern Market, and both gave them high marks. They said the whiskey added a sweet flavor. (Meanwhile, yours truly, the vegetarian, chowed down on a veggie sausage.) Here's Tony's sausage, topped with onions and hot banana peppers from the garden:  

d.c.: the storm

As The Storm and its 70-mile-per-hour winds approached D.C. on Friday evening, I heeded the advice of the TV weatherman, and I moved myself to the dining room in center of the house, as far away from the windows as possible. Meanwhile, Tony and my brother-in-law Ian, who was in town for the weekend, clearly didn't worry so much and grabbed the window seats at Biergartenhaus on H Street and watched folks outside run for cover and try to catch cabs. Mercifully, after living for part of the week without AC in 100-degree temperatures, the power stayed on at our house during The Storm; 1.5 million other houses in the area weren't so lucky.  

When we got out of the house Saturday morning, trees and branches were all over the place. This poor car, which was parked on 12th Street Southeast near Frager's, had a tree limb through its windshield.  

Apparently Mother Nature does not listen to sassy bumper stickers.