baby love

another weekend, another several hundred miles logged on scratch's odometer. but, as usual, it was worth it! i love philadelphia, and never have a bad time there. enna&her husband's party was every bit as fun as usual, and had a huge turnout of folks who drove hours to celebrate with them. they're so worth it! plus, they're incredible hosts. this morning i woke up and told cam i had a deam enna had a freezer full of eggo waffles for everyone's breakfast, and it wasn't a dream! we chowed on coffee, hash browns, and eggos, and slowly came back to life after a long, late night. squidpants came by to catch a ride home, and the three of us got back to dc by 3. cam and i decided we wanted steak for dinner and lucked into an amazing special - ny strip, $5.99/lb! we got enough for 2 meals each - actually, more like four, but when he set that beautiful piece of beef down in front of me, i knew there was no way i'd leave leftovers. i barely touched my potatoes, but i ate every bite of that steak!

and now the kitchen's clean, and we've got fresh flannel sheets on the bed, and the tree's glowing and we watched elf and all's right in the world. i'm so thankful for all of that, the little things, and for my wonderful cam and family. and every second my mind drifts, i'm thinking of just one thing, and if you all would too, i'd appreciate it. here she is:


she's beautiful olivia helen cheek, born a little too soon and spending some time growing and getting strong in the hospital. things are a bit touch and go for her, so if you have a spare second - staring out the kitchen window washing dishes, or folding laundry, or whatever - think of little olivia and her wonderful family and send them wishes of love, health, and strength. i know i am, as hard as i can.

remember that theme?

photo by shannon hibberd

remember how the theme for this whole nablopomo nonsense is thanks? well my cup is overflowing at this moment. this has been a day jampacked with goodness. first, my sister is now blogging! check out her awesomeness. secondly, my evening went nothing like i anticipated. not knowing what to expect at my expecting friend's house, i sort of figured we'd stop in, heat up dinner, and make an exit, so as not to disrupt the calm. negative! the soon-to-be-papa assured us they'd love our company for a bit longer, so instead of ducking out, we joined our friends at the table, had a meal they swore they enjoyed, and then played a rousing game of parcheesi. it was a perfect night, and, selfishly, it was so good for me to see my friends doing so well. plus, i came in second at parcheesi, which sure didn't hurt.

riding home with the warmth of a great night with friends surrounding me, i didn't think this night could get much better, but my inbox held further delights. first, another baby! a good friend of mine just welcomed little arlo into the world with much fanfare and few complications, and i'm gushing with excitement for the new family. secondly, my sister forwarded the photos - nearly 600 of them - from her wedding, and cam and i just watched the complete slideshow. re-living that incredible, amazing, life-affirming event has me overwhelmed and overblessed. i have more to say, a good thing in a solid month of blogging, but for now, just look again at the picture above, of love.

true love!

my beautiful sister and her amazing boyfriend are engaged! friday night, the evening of their 4th anniversary, he popped the question! i'm beyond excited! i couldn't ask for a better match for my sister - i mean, how lucky am i to wholeheartedly love the man she's going to marry? no one's ever supposed to be good enough for your sister, and lo and behold, he is. they have a beautiful life together already, and i can't wait to see what the future holds for them. plus, selfishly, they're two of my absolute favorite people in the world, and now i get to have them together forever, and the best brother-in-law a girl could ask for!

wires and waves

it's sad, but true... i just don't go to as many shows as i used to. i'm no less a fan of music, at least, and my xm has really gotten me back into it. but shows? maybe it's a function of aging and having the kind of job that i both MUST be sharp for and WANT to be sharp for. maybe it's because tickets in this fine city are so much more expensive than in athens. maybe i'm a bit jaded and tired of standing through less than stellar opening acts (and secretly mortified that i hadn't heard of them prior to arriving... when did i go from the kind of person who knows every band on the bill and actually prefers the opener to the headliner to the kind who doesn't recognize those kids up on stage?). it stresses me out a little. but last night i got off my lazy butt and saw rilo kiley with my sister. i've been a casual fan for a while, and my admiration jumped considerably with jenny lewis's rabbit fur coat. my sister loves rk, so going seemed like a decent idea. it was SO much more than that. trust me, rilo kiley puts on a hell of a show. they were incredibly tight - no wanking between songs, just the right amount of chatter, all equipment functional and tuned... and lewis is just luminous. i can't say anything about her that hasn't been said before, but i can give you this: the show we attended, courtesy of npr. it's wonderful, and it reminded me what i love about live music. thanks, rilo kiley.

love is all around

ok, so the first round of the bad was pretty bad. even though cam was gone for 9 days instead of 10, i hit a low low spot around day 5. i love being alone, but this time, i was too alone. my best dc friend was out of town, my awesome roommate was out of town, and i just felt lonelier than patsy cline. after a fantastic phone date with cam i realized hey! i have the resources to fix this situation! and just a few hours later, my weekend was PACKED. friday after work i headed home to visit my bff, her hubby, and little evan, then dashed to my sister's and then to dinner downtown with her, her bf, and some other friends. we had two rounds of tapas at kyma, two bottles of wine, and more than two hours of good conversation. the funniest part came toward the end... i headed down the street to the atm to get a bit more cash for my share of the bill. the line took forever, and when i finally slipped my card into the slot, the brightest light shone straight on me from the street. what?! i shielded my eyes and checked it out - it was a cop car shining its spot on me. huh? i sort of glared and turned back to the atm. next, "ma'am: you there, at the atm, are you alright" boomed over the cop's pa. duh, of course i am. so i shot another glare over my shoulder and went back to the machine. again, "are you ok at the atm?" next thing i hear is my sister laughing, and i look over once more just in time to see her tumbling out of the backseat of the squad car - our friend, one of annapolis' finest, had picked her up as she trailed me to the atm to make sure i was ok (since i was taking so long). hilarious!

the next day was a doozy too - up early and over to newlywed ernie's new condo to hang out with her and her husband, over to mom's to say hello, then home for about 4 hours and off to a pig roast in brookland. it was fantastic - hosted by the parents of a former intern of ours who graduated from american this summer. they're latino, puerto rican and salvadoran, and man did they throw a feast! the pig was roasted slowly in a large box with coals on top, and accompanied by potato salad, spicy rice, and tons of beer. we dined under a large tent set up in the driveway at tables adorned with vases of flowers, and as soon as the sun set a variety of instruments emerged from the house, and soon thereafter the music began. it was so warm and inviting and fun, i had a hard time leaving.

sunday was another round of the good - more tubing! a different crew this time, and less drunken, but no less fun. and monday i dashed out of work and picked cam up and all was right in the world. he's gone again now, for a day or maybe two... the unpredictability is frustrating, but it's so important and his employer values him so highly that i know we'll make it work. and i'm so proud of him.

magic

ever since i returned from vacation (flickr photos soon, i promise!), i've been having the best time hanging out with friends i missed while i was gone. the past two weekends have been standout - last weekend i had psmee and her lovely love over for dinner, and it was one of those evenings that isn't special because of some amazing meal, or delicious gossip, or the announcement of good news (though there was some of that!)... it was just special for the intimate feel, the relaxing pace, and the quality guests. the meal was good, all thanks to TJ's - a variety of olives, followed by marinated pork loin on the grill, new potatoes with butter and parsley, salad in a bag with gorgonzola, spinach, and cranberries - but not at all difficult, and easy to make while chatting. it was just one of those nights that leaves you loving your friends even more than before.

this weekend was a total lovefest too, from start to finish. ernie got married, and all our high school friends made up the bridal party. friday night was the rehearsal dinner, a classy dress-up affair with mouthwatering food (i had rockfish over crab risotto, with lumps of crab... gorgeous) that made me wish my dress wasn't so tight. it was so fun to hang out with my girls, all dressed up - haven't done that since prom! - and meet their boyfriends, and see them all meeting one another. saturday was wedding day, which started with manicures and BLT's with my sister and her bf (well, just the BLT for him), followed by helping ernie into her wedding dress (an inexplicably joyful thing that made me almost hyper with anticipation), and then witnessing she and her betrothed exchanging vows. the reception was a ball of dancing and drinking and laughing and love. and sunday may have been the best day of all. after cam brought us all breakfast, my sister, her bf, cam, and i went to my best friend's house to visit her, her husband, and little evan. being a part of this family and this little guy's life is the most special thing, and he's so round and beautiful right now i never wanted to put him down. then the four of us had lunch and were joined for fishing and a swim by five more wonderful friends - quite a group! sister's bf launched plans to surprise the newly-27 twins with a birthday party, so he and my sister and i snuck around preparing tacos and cupcakes for everyone. it defies description... these are the events as they transpired, but i'm not nearly elegant enough a writer to get at the feeling, the warm, relaxed mood that pervaded the day. it was perfect.