1 January
2 January
The house and me had a sexy photo shoot. Starring the house.
3 January
MB and I drove to the mall in Waldorf, MD. The photo below is from our journey across the Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac, connecting Virginia to Maryland. The bridge is narrow, and quite steep in the middle, and we do not enjoy being on it at night.
4 January
- Posted But the guest list was going to be significantly smaller this time around.
- Finished Silas Marner.
Read this article: America’s Rape Problem: We Refuse to Admit That There Is One
6 January
- Bought some books, and then made a Target run in Fredericksburg. Now that it's "winter," the lovely green foliage of the Virginia countryside is gone, and everything is brown, but the sunset will always help make things pretty.
Posted That sandwich truck on the base needs to go.
8 January
Read this article: Brent Musburger, Katherine Webb, And Football’s Culture Toward Women
And this article: Study: Male CEOs with daughters increase salaries of female employees
9 January
Read this article: Career Spider Not Sure She's Ready For 3,000 Children At This Point
10 January
- For lunch: pasta and mushrooms tossed with goat cheese sauce and tarragon. Yum.
- Finished Death Comes to Pemberley.
- Posted The 2013 Reading Challenge, a new strategy, and Death Comes to Pemberley
- For a late night dessert: mini-sundae in a glass. Yum.
11 January
Read this article, BUFFY VS. EDWARD FAN MASHUP WINS COPYRIGHT STRUGGLE WITH LIONSGATE, GETS BACK ONLINE, and enjoyed the video discussed, yet again.
Buffy > Twilight
12 January
MB and I watched Zero Dark Thirty at a theatre in Fredericksburg. I liked it a lot, but maybe partly because we were a little bit late, and I missed a bunch of torture scenes.
13 January
Had a lot of fun watching the Golden Globes!
Yay:- Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
- Awards for Lena Dunham and Girls
- Jessica Chastain wins.
- Christoph Waltz wins.
- Anne Hathaway wins. (Can someone please tell me why the Internet hates Anne Hathaway? What'd she do?)
- Quentin Tarantino winning for Best Screenplay
- Adele for "Skyfall"
- Jodie Foster receiving the Cecil B DeMille award.
- Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell
- British actors speaking with their real accents.
Meh:
- Argo wins.
- Ben Affleck wins, for directing Argo. (Really, everybody? Sure, it was good, but award-good?! Don't think so.)
- Only one nomination for Moonrise Kingdom.
14 January
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MB!
For his birthday dinner, MB received homemade lasagna, and this homemade chocolate pudding cake, which I conjured via a recipe from the Internet. That photo might make the cake look sketch, but served warm, with a scoop of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream on top? Holy Goodness, that shit was good.
15 January
- It was around one of these days that MB randomly brought home some brightly colored daisies.
- Posted A Mayan Apocalypse Breaking Bad Christmas in the PDX!
16 January
- Posted You win, Instagram
- Then -
An Afternoon and Evening in D.C.
We drove up to DC to check out a car. (A newer Audi. There was a stand-off on negotiations, and we decided to walk. Now we're thinking about not getting a new car at all. More about that some other time.) Later, we hit up a pub in Georgetown, and I did some "shopping" (I didn't buy anything). Since we had some time to kill, and since they are right there, we drove by the Exorcist steps so I could take a couple of creepy photos of them.
Then we still had a little bit more time, so we decided to check out the Jefferson Memorial at Night.
It was dead quiet at the memorial. Peaceful.
Then after about five minutes of quiet meditation with the statue of our nation's 3rd president, an entire charter bus full of children began to swarm the memorial. I was surprised that they would be visiting so late.
Finally, we left to meet some people (the former CO, former XO, and four other officers from MB's last ship) for dinner, our raison d'être for being in the city. It was a very lovely meet-up and dinner, with good people with whom we'd like to stay touch.
17 January
- Leftover lasagna for lunch!
- Those are my fingernails!
- Finished The Painted Veil!
- Posted Rush Limbaugh, Human Garbage.
- Ate chocolate pudding cake and ice cream for lunch, apparently.
- Later, MB and I met Josh and Windsor for dinner at Bollywood Masala, in Dahlgren, VA. Bollywood Masala is my favorite restaurant round these parts. We enjoyed an Indian food feast. Afterward, we had some Friday night drinks at a couple of places nearby, Steamers (where we were treated to terrible karaoke, except for the awesome kid who got up and danced to Skrillex - YES SKRILLEX AND IT WAS AWESOME), and Roma's, where I was the only one who knew/appreciated the Weezer song that the band covered ("Tired of Sex"). I was stunned to discover, after over five months of living here, that Virginia allows smoking in bars and restaurants. This indicates that MB and I don't go out drinking, ever. (We get drunk at home instead.) We have gone out in Fredericksburg a couple of times, but the establishments themselves must have had a rule about smoking.
19 January
A Day in Richmond
On this day, MB and I drove down to Richmond. Just to look around!
We saw some Confederate soldiers guarding the Stonewall Jackson statue on Monument Avenue.
Then we saw a Gun Nut Rally at the Capitol Square.
Richmond is a cool little city, though. Many old, beautiful and historic buildings and homes.
We stopped in the Capital Ale House for a couple of pints. It had a very long wooden bar with an ice runner. I drank a tasty cider from the Bold Rock Cidery, a local (Virginia) cidery.
Then we toured the Capitol building! It was designed by Thomas Jefferson, and is 224 years old. (The oldest parts of the building, anyway.)
Above, the lady with the juicy, juicy melons is Virtus, of the State Seal of Virginia. Virtus was a Roman virtue, exemplifying valor and character. On the seal, Virtus is standing over Tyranny, spear and sheathed sword in hand. And they say women aren't capable of operating in combat.
This is Houdon's statue of George Washington, which stands in the capitol rotunda. One of the guides said that this statue is the most expensive piece of art in Virginia. It is considered to be as faithful a likeness of George Washington as was ever recorded. MB admired the Frye boots that Washington is sporting in the pose. I was more a fan of his skinny jeans.
The statue of Robert E. Lee in the Old House of Delegate Chamber was also wearing Frye boots, according to MB, who after researching the company, discovered that Frye is an old-ass company, and they actually did make boots for soldiers during the Civil War.
We joined a tour that was taking place in the capitol when we arrived. I liked the guide a lot. She was very knowledgeable, passionate about the history, and interactive with the tour group. The photo above was taken in the east chamber of the capitol, where the Virginia House of Delegates meet. Apparently the dude in the painting on the left is a current delegate, and he prefers to sit in the chair that is closest to my camera lens.
Next, we wandered around the Carytown neighborhood of Richmond. This is where you will find your independent retail stores, vintage and antique stores, cute little bookstores, cafes, and your classic movie theater.
Before leaving town, we got dinner in the Carver neighborhood, at a place called The Black Sheep. The jerk chicken sub I ordered (called the USS Brooklyn, and listed in the menu under "The War of Northern Ingestion," hardy har) could have come in a 2-foot version, but I opted for the 1-footer. Washed it down with Cheerwine. MB had the biscuits and gravy, and we both greatly enjoyed our meals.
20 January
Took myself down to the theatre in Fredericksburg and watched Silver Linings Playbook. Then I watched Les Misérables. Academy Awards To-Do List? Check and check.
21 January- Had some fun watching the inauguration!
- Posted Capitol Building Photo Essay on Inauguration Day 2013
- Meanwhile, MB worked on cleaning and organizing the garage. In other words, he was very peaceful and happy.
22 January
Posted some trepidation and ranting, and then a brief (spoiler-free) description of 'Silver Linings Playbook'
23 January
- Posted Just some thoughts about running!
- When I went up to bed, I noticed, while closing the blinds in the bedroom, that it seemed to be snowing outside. So I ran downstairs to open the front-door and inspect. Indeed! It was snowing! Yippee!
24 January
A Day of There Being Snow!
snowy backyard panorama
snowy neighborhood
the snowy walk to the lake
snowy trees by the lake
snowy Lake Monroe
25 January
- Posted Of course women should be allowed to hold jobs in military combat. Obviously.
- MB and I accompanied our pal Josh this evening, to dinner in Fredericksburg at La Petite Auberge.
Tournedos aux Champignons for my entree, and Josh requested that we order the terrine of foie gras "with lingonberry preserves & brilled baguettes" and the assortment of cheeses (Humboldt Fog, Brie, Manchego, Roquefort, Blue d’Auvergne, Mimolette) "with quince preserve" for our hors d’oeuvres.
26 January
Read this article: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice at 200: looking afresh at a classic
27 January
We got our electric bill in the mail.
28 January
Inspired by the central heating contribution to our electric bill, we turned off the central heating and went to Fredericksburg and bought a couple of space heaters. What pisses me off the most about central heating - other than the fact that it's a waste to heat the entire house at once - is that I'm never warm and comfortable enough, even when we have it set high. Ergo, central heating is a farce and I hate it.
29 January
We neglected to open up the space heater packages, since it was SEVENTY TWO degrees F outside. SEVENTY TWO! I opened up all the doors to warm up the house.
In the meantime, MB fixed something on my car. Anyone know what this thing is? *wink*
THEN he WASHED the car. Fixed it, then washed it. #overachiever
30 January
MB came home during his workday to have lunch with me. We decided to hit up a cafe in King George. I had breakfast for lunch.
After doing a bunch of cleaning into the evening, I kicked back with a glass of wine, and watched the premiere episode of The Americans. It was great! And I've had this song in my head ever since.
31 January
MB and I went to trivia at Bailey's Pub & Grill in Fredericksburg, with pal Josh, and two other dudes, Danny and Gary. We cleaned the floor with the other teams, but the venue was kind of uninspiring. The reward for winning is you get to spin a wheel for useless crap that the bar gets for free from their distributors. So now we're looking elsewhere for decent trivia.
***
And that is January 2013, in as brief a way as I can describe it.
2 comments:
Jan 19: George Washington, the original fucking hipster.
Jan 29: flux capacitor
Yes, and YES! Haha. Love it.
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