design your life
Late yesterday afternoon I left Arlington for a few minutes and went for a drive into Washington D.C. I snapped a few photos, thinking that I would post them with an essay that, if it wasn't overly long, would at least include a few profound thoughts about what these past few weeks have been like. [...]
Most of Washington D.C. doesn't feel much like a city to me. My town is long avenues and parks and statues and domes. It lacks grit. But Adams Morgan is a bit different. It is not quite the same as it was when we were young and heading to Madam's Organ. Expensive condos have taken [...]
This weekend I met my first blog friend. Okay, in full disclosure, she went to college with my sister, and so we have known of each other for many years. But we have never hung out until my blog prompted her to write a few weeks ago and invite me out to visit her hometown [...]
It has been one week and a zillion unforgettable moments since we arrived in Italy, and it still feels like I am living in a dream. We've been to Rome, Florence, and are now in Cinque Terre. Tonight we took a walk around the town where we are staying, Manarola, just before the sun set. [...]
It seems a fitting follow up to my last post to write about the Waterford Fair. The same professor who taught me how to look for clues to the past is also who first told me about the annual festival in Waterford, Virginia. My teacher was from the little Loudoun County town, which was established [...]
It was the first week of my freshman year at Mary Washington College, and my historic preservation professor announced that we were going on a walk. Awesome. A stroll through Fredericksburg, Virginia, was better than a dark classroom, even if we were sweltering in the late August heat. We fell into line behind the tall [...]
I spent the last week of August on the Pacific coast of Mexico at the exquisite St. Regis Punta Mita. My review can be summed up in one word: Go. From the cascading beachfront pools to the impeccable service to the lush tropical grounds, everything combined to make our stay feel like paradise. My brother, [...]
Once upon a time, in a showing of bipartisanship never seen before or since in this capital city, all of the residents of Washington got together to discuss an important matter. A vote was taken, and it was unanimous. We were not joining the masses. None of us were ever going to set foot in [...]
Off the coast of Punta Mita lies a group of small, uninhabited islands. Formed thousands of years ago by volcanic activity, today they are protected by the Mexican government. But this was not always the case. In the early 1900s, bombs from military testing caused craters and caves. Eventually, this stopped and now only about [...]
The weekend is here. It has been a long week, and I am planning some leisurely strolls to recharge. One of my favorite places to wander is the farmers' market in Alexandria, Virginia. It is "the oldest farmers' market in the country held continuously at the same site" but I don't really care much about [...]