Big Smile!

Game 1 final score: Panthers 26 - Chargers 24!

A few bits of news...

I'm trying really hard to keep up with my current blogging routine. But I'm running out of material, what with not being able to snap a few dozen shots of the Capitol every day anymore. So, instead...here are a few things that I've found exciting in the last few days.

#1 - a new Chick-fil-A is being built about three miles from my apartment. This makes me very happy, but I realize that it may not matter to you. So on to...

#2 - Tim Gunn's Guide to Style is back...on October 2nd. Very excited to hear that he'll be joined by Greta Monahan this time around. Love her!

#3 - Confessions of a Shopaholic has a release date...but it's not until next February. I really don't get this whole idea of promoting a movie five months before the release. I'm more into the instant gratification thing, I guess. I've read each of the Shopaholic books several times over and Becky Bloomwood has me giggling every time. I tried really hard to find the movie trailer on YouTube, but it doesn't seem to be out there. I saw it tonight on tv, though...looks great!

Sorry, that's all I've got. It's about time I call it a night. Hoping for some better blogging material in the next few days!

These are a few of my favorite places

I took the day off work today, fully intending to clean and do laundry all day. Well, I got the laundry done (no thanks to a power outage mid-day), but the cleaning took a backseat to my latest home dec project.

On my last two trips (to California and DC) I picked one picture as my favorite and had it enlarged and framed it. Today, though, I decided to go through a bunch of old pictures and pick out pictures that represented my favorite places. The result is the wall that you see above.

The places range from Fair Park in Dallas to Arlington Cemetery. Some of them are widely recognized as beautiful, such as Alaska and the Bahamas. For most of them, though, such as Derby, Kansas and Culiacan, Mexico, the appeal lies in the memories. Still others wouldn't be recognizable to anyone but my own family...the backyard of the home where I grew up or the bird fountain in my grandparent's front yard.

Anyone who knows me knows how nostalgic I am. This is just the latest expression of that nostalgia. Call it a scrapbook on a wall, if you will!

Capitol City Day Four

Sunday was arguably my favorite day of this trip. We got up early and went to Mount Vernon. I've loved Mount Vernon ever since I first visited it, probably thirteen years ago. The estate has undergone extensive restorations since then, including a beautiful new visitor's center and museum. Before touring the mansion, we decided to take a Potomac River cruise. The views from the ship were incredible - views of the home Washington loved from the river he loved equally. I've now got a nice sunburn as a souvenir!After spending about six hours at Mount Vernon, we rushed to Arlington National Cemetery and were fortunate to catch the very last tour and the last changing of the guard. The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a very solemn moment. Before beginning the ceremony, the guard requests that all observers stand in silence. We also saw the Kennedy tombs, as well as the Challenger and Columbia Memorials, from a distance.From Arlington, we went to our very last stop...the Jefferson Memorial. This may have been my favorite of the memorials. I love the shape of it, which hints at the shape of Monticello.
We reached the Jefferson Memorial at sunset, so the views were amazing. This is the Washington Monument, viewed from inside the Jefferson Memorial. I sat on the steps of the memorial for about fifteen minutes, snapping all sorts of pictures, trying to catch what I wanted. This city is beautiful at dusk - the lights are reflected in the Potomac and the Tidal Basin.

It's been such a fun trip, but we're both ready to get home. I'm watching the news right now and praying that our flights aren't delayed. We're flying from Baltimore to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Dallas. We'll be crossing the path of Gustav, so I'm concerned that we might run into some weather delays. But we'll deal with that as we come to it!