Lion's Share

Aaron asked me out last night and told me he had a surprise for me. He let me ask a few questions and all I could get out of him was that it some how involved animals and was like a zoo but not at the zoo and it wasn't bingo or at a bingo hall but the food would be similar.


We ended up at the Presidential Box of the Kennedy Center watching the musical the Lion King. I'm not really a big fan of musicals but the show was AMAZING!! The costume and puppets were brilliant and the dancing was impressive. And our seats were better than anything I could have imagined. I can tell I don't have much experience with theater since I kept switching from feeling fashionable and elegant and part of a Russian novel or nervous that I was going to be shot in the back of the head like Lincoln. Oh yeah, and very in love with Aaron who pulled the whole thing off in grand style.



I found a picture of some of the awesome costume puppets. Those giraffes are people. Pretty amazing isn't it? And by the way, the food we ate was much better than what you'd get at a Bingo hall. We passed on the champagne, but Aaron raided the presidential candy bar for Jelly Bellys and M&Ms (the M&Ms are red, white and blue and actually come in a box with the Presidential seal).

Dangers of Unpacking

We've got most of the unpacking done, but I'm still getting everything organized. The really challenging part of unpacking for me is to resist the urge to read every book I pull out of a box. Unpacking means you get to handle every possession for at least a second and all those well intentioned but unfulfilled plans to brush up on my latin or Calculus or reread the Origin of the Species are right in front of me again. And there are some books that are just too wonderful to not open up again like the 1965 paperback of the Hobbit. It's the first edition released in the US and has some wonderfully bizarre cover art featuring emus. So I've found myself rereading Man's Search for Meaning, Ecce Romani, The Hobbit, The Communist Manifesto, The Norton Critical Collection of Darwin, Thoreau's Walden, The Jungle Book and Harold Bloom's Best Poems of the English Language ALL at the same time. I think I'm going crazy. I've started dreaming of rioting socialist Hobbits in Rome.

Orwell

Yesterday I found out that The Orwell Trust is publishing George Orwell's diary entries seventy years to the day that he originally wrote them on a blog!! They started August 9th. So far I've learned that Orwell's dog was named Marx which I think is hilarious and that he started his whole diary when he found a large snake in the garden. Just when I think I can't like Orwell any better than I already do, this comes along. I think the diaries last for six years and covers the approach and then the activity of WWII along with Orwell's daily life and observations. Fascinating stuff.

Happy 4th!

Aaron and I were married 4 years ago today. It's cause for celebration and reflection. I was thinking earlier about what I was doing four years ago (working like crazy to finish up my classes) compared to what I'm doing now (working like crazy to finish up work stuff and searching the DC area for a Bradley class that didn't fill up 3 months ago). While it may seem like not too much has changed I know I'm a lot happier having Aaron in my life.

Being married has taught us a lot. I can say it's taught me to be a lot nicer and more forgiving and more in love than I ever expected I could be. And Aaron has done a really wonderful job being married to someone that was in his words "more passionate" than he first realized. I am still surprised by how much he loves me.

Recently Aaron agreed to answer a few questions for the baby shower and I really enjoyed getting some insight on his thoughts. I thought you might as well. #3 is by far my favorite answer. I still laugh about Aaron's fear of my "crazy anger" and um...my bad hair? (By the way some of Aaron's answers were wrong, like what he's going to do in the middle of the night and what the baby's political views will be and probably the vegetarian thing too. He he he)

1. The first thing you said when Katy told you she was pregnant:

That's wonderful! Are you ok? (cause I was worried she'd be upset)

2. What sex are you hoping for or do you think it will be?

I'm guessing it's a girl. Hoping for a boy so there's at least one. Odds are it'll be a girl.


3. Aaron says he hopes the baby has Katy's ______________________________________________
a.) eyes definitely
b.) smile yes
c.) nose yes
d.) hair I think so. Might be easier to deal with my hair. Less crazy.
e.) temperment Creative and sense of humor and passion for life yes. Crazy angry no.
f.) smarts yes

4. Aaron says he hopes the baby has his._________________________________________________________
a.) eyes
b.) smile
c.) nose
d.) hair
e.) sense of humor sure. I need someone on my side. Might be nice to have my family's temperment: obedient and basically cheerful.
f.) smarts

5.) Aaron says now that the baby is near he worries most about ___________
a. money. I can handle the rest.
a.) money
b.) lack of sleep
c.) its health
d.) changing diapers

6. What do you think your reaction will be when the baby starts crying at 2am in the morning?_____________________________________________________.

Either I won't hear it and will sleep through it or will

7. What's your favorite boy's name?

Right now Reuben Clifford or Asher

8. What's your favorite girls name?

Petra or Elinor

9. What is a bedtime story that you look forward to reading or telling to your baby?

Call It Courage.

10. What is one job you could picture your baby having one day?

Scientist, lawyer, artist,

11. What song will you sing to your baby to go to sleep?
All through the night
Horsey, Horsey

12. What will be your secret weapon for calming or entertaining your baby?

My baby skills. Good at rocking them to sleep, singing, etc. Throwing them in the air works well too.

13.What's one thing you did with your younger siblings that you wouldn't do with your baby?


14. Will your baby be a vegetarian and why or why not?

No. Too hard, can be exasperating in social situations. Katy handles it pretty gracefully though.


15. What do you think your baby's political views could be?

Ultra-conservative. My arguments are very persuasive. Katy is just stubborn.


16. What's one baby product that you think is absolutely essential during the baby's first year of life?

Danish hanging baby cradle. that'd be cool, but really diapers and bottles.


17. If your baby had a fairy godmother, what wish would you want her to give to the baby?

Faith, Health, Gratitude, and Prosperity.

MemSahib

First you MUST MUST MUST watch THIS video.

I've embedded it like three times but my youtube account is struggling. So once you've watched this video you will understand why I can NOT wait for tomorrow night. Aaron and I are going to MemSahib!

MemSahib is a jem of an indian restaurant located in a small strip mall just outside DC. The food is delicious and the atmosphere cozy. You sit on the floor on a bed of pillows and share a six course meal you eat with your hands and lots and lots of nan.

But best of all they play the MOST amazing bollywood music videos. Music videos like the one I linked to and you should have just watched. (You are really missing out if you don't watch it) And as a bonus, on weekends they open up the dance floor so you can try out the moves yourself with a professional belly dancer. Ward talent show here we come!

Aaron Skills

Aaron is blessed with many skills. One of his particularly eccentric talents is his optimistic belief that any task can be accomplished in under 15 minutes. Do all the grocery shopping? Clean the entire house? Get back from work? When asked he will always give you an estimate under 15 minutes. This has caused a few conflicts in our marriage, especially when a time estimate proves to be grossly incorrect. When that takes place Aaron usually patiently explains to me the extenuating circumstances that made the task take longer than the appropriate 15 minutes. Even more infuriating is when he can, through some mix of magic and will power, pull off the impossible to prove me wrong.

Last night was a great example. Aaron wanted to go to Ikea to pick up a new rug for our apartment. It was 8:40 and Ikea closes at 9:30. I asked how far away Ikea was. Aaron told me it was 10-15 minutes. I was more than doubtful that we could get to Ikea, make a decent decision on a rug and make it out of the store in time. But I gave Aaron a chance. We walked into Ikea just as the intercom announced that we had ten minutes to make our final selection and bring it to the check out counter. Ten minutes later we walked out of Ikea with a rug, a lamp and a cutting board all for 30 dollars. Aaron once again made the impossible possible and I was wrong again but impressed.

Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing

This weekend my family was kind enough to come up and visit Aaron and me in our new Alexandria location. Showing them around was fairly comical since I had moved up Wednesday afternoon and they came Friday afternoon. So they had a lot of questions that I couldn't honestly answer. Questions like, what's the closest grocery store to you? Where can you go to work out? What's around the corner? How do we get to...? My response to the last one was usually Ask Aaron or Well, mapquest says...

Still it was a lot of fun to see Dad, Mom, Abby and Robby. Friday night Abby and Mom let Aaron and me tag along to the B&N Breaking Dawn midnight release party. I expected more costumes but it was still a good time. Once Abby got the book in her hands we couldn't get much more than monosyllable responses out of her so I guess it's pretty good.

On Saturday we hung out at the Smithsonian and Aaron gave us a tour of the West Wing of the White House. Then they were headed back South but they left Aaron and me with a wealth of South Carolina ripened peaches and blueberries. I've eaten more than a dozen peaches each day and every time I bite into one I think, Wow, I know these are good but I can't believe they're THIS good. Sadly, they're so delicious that attempting to eat a store bought peach afterwards brings nothing but disappointment and resentment.