no place like home for the holidays

i don't sleep well on Christmas eve. whether out of excitement or anxiety at the prospect of being beaten over the head with a pillow while someone sings "It's Christmas! Why aren't you awake?!" i still wake up at 5:30 Christmas morning and about once an hour after that, which gives me pretty wacky dreams. it doesn't help that when i finally do wake up and go upstairs, i'm prone to be greeted by equally wacky figures.












yes, in fact, that is my husband wearing pleather maternity pants. why, what does your family do for Christmas?



apparently, robert rode by a couple of cops during his morning jaunt on his new bike, spreading joy and cheer.

in other news, i got a mango and a kiwi in my stocking! and we got lots of fun games and gadgets and yummy food. and to hang out with jared and sue and company. and i'm pretty sure i took about four naps in my new sweater. i'm sure gonna miss this.

what were you expecting?

jeff and i were going to dress up as sick and tired for halloween and take pictures, but he had to go on a last minute trip to DC for school, leaving me flying solo for dress-up day. so i didn't do anything. a couple people told me that i should have dressed up as a pregnant woman though. do all fairly newly married women get that? maybe i just look particularly maternal? what do you think?

If cleanliness is next to Godliness, then surely prudence is a close second.

Rebecca tells me that if I don't post these photos she'll run off with her dance instructor and take all my stuff with her. So, without further ado: our first day of school.


Aren't we good looking?

[end communication]

memiors of a mustard and other european thoughts

i was accidentally an illegal alien. when i arrived in dublin for my transfer, the immigration officer asked me how long i'd be in ireland and where i'd be staying. i said i was actually on my way to cambridge for a week. she sighed in an exasperated way and threw my passport back at me, pointing me to my new gate. when i got to london and wandered around until i finally asked where customs was. the guard said, "you're passed it! you got through!"i thought, "huh. that wasn't bad at all." because,in fact, i missed it. go figure.

illegal or not though, it was a fun trip. we spent the first couple of days at cambridge in jeff's apartment. obviously, the school doesn't expect multiple people to live in one room. it was...cozy. i appreciate a double bed so much more now.

i also appreciate grass. only faculty is allowed on the courtyard grass at cambridge. and in some parts they make the lawn especially big, to exphasize the drama and prestige of someone striding where others are not allowed.
on the other hand, they do have gardens where students can walk or study. jeff and i took pictures for posterity.




when we actually got to london, we did all the free stuff we could. here's the list:
- saw kensington palace and gardens.
- hyde park
- saw buckingham palace, and the beginning of the changing of the guard. we didn't stay because it was packed and i'm short.
- the outside of westminster abbey and st. catherine's chapel.
- the outside of harrod's
- big ben and the parlament building
- london eye (from a distance)
- covent garden (street market with lots of performers)
- the national gallery
- and the british museum



phew. i'm tired just thinking about it.



we grabbed some groceries on the way home. i love grocery shopping. the milk is expensive though, and comes in funny containers. otherwise, most things are pretty cheap. their cheese is amazing and cheap! and this mustard cost about a dollar. for whole grain, super-delicious, amazing mustard. we were going to bring it home (hence it's sitting in a sink of what was ice) but considering i was an illegal alien, and our backpacks were bursting already, we left it. i was sad.

day three

all the things that we saw today you've already seen, or can easily find. so i'll leave you with this, and the world war II memorial is a fountain you're allowed to wade in.

big fish

today was one of those days where i would have gone out to buy groceries and come back with a bag of live fish. the national aquarium is super cool. we got there during feeding time, so we got to see all the scuba divers at work!

one of my favorite things was actually a fluke--they found this guy off the edge of long island with a wounded fin. they ended up amputating. my heart went out to him, poor guy.

the aquarium featured a jellyfish exhibit. dude.






and, on the way back, there was this street performer. flaming skateboards. need i say more?

gettysburg

captain's daughter-in-law's log, day one:
the first shot is a field in gettysburg. it's way way bigger than i thought and much more involved. i obviously need to brush up on my civil war history.

this one is pretty self-explanatory, i think.

the last two are for jeff.