Heard: "People on whose couches I've been crashing" edition

I've spent many--if not most--of the last eight weekends, on the road.  To Tennessee for my mom's (surprise) 60th birthday. To Boston for my friend's (surprise) 30th birthday. To Philadelphia to visit a friend who recently moved there. To New York with my cousins. Etc etc etc.

Consequently, I have lots of pictures to share, and lots of excellent food to tell you about.  But in the meantime, please enjoy these bon mots from my travels.

[In Philly, I had packed two pairs of boots, both of which I had worn while sight-seeing over the course of several days. On the last evening, as we sat watching the Oscars, Ryan noticed my rather ancient slippers, which are cable-knit with ties at the ankles.]

Ryan: You brought three pairs of boots?!

Me: These are slippers.

R: Three pairs!

H: They're slippers!

R: And they have those... bonbons.

H: .... You mean pom poms?

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[In Boston last weekend, I stayed with my old roommate Jay (who I have quoted at length in the past) and his girlfriend, Heather. After many years of resisting, Jay is reading Harry Potter, having burned through six of the seven books in just a few months. As is common among those who are late converts to this kind of cultural obsession, he has MANY THOUGHTS about the books and wants to talk about them. A lot. This is relevant to the conversation that follows, which will probably make zero sense if you are unfamiliar with the finer points of Harry Potter.]

Me: What's your wifi password?

Heather, from the other room: Hold on, I want to hear you explain this to her.

Me: Which network is it? [scans list of networks] "Sirius"?

Jay: [guilty look]

Me: Of course it is.

J: Okay, so if you needed the password, what would you SAY?

Me: ... Alohomora? What's the spell for "open"?

J: Say you need the password to COME to you?

Me: Oh, good lord. "Accio...Internet?"

J: [triumphantly] Capital A, capital I!

Just call me Picabo Street

I'm going skiing on Saturday for the first time, along with three friends. All but one of us are beginners, and to hear us talk, you'd think we were headed for the Olympic runs at Lake Placid. So, behold....

Things We Have Actually Said While Discussing Our Upcoming Ski Trip

"As long as we all make it out without any broken bones, I'll consider it a successful day!" 
"Really? THAT's the measure of success we're using?"

"How much should I expect to fall down?"

"....What do I wear?"

"Difficulty-wise, is this much like ice skating? Because I'm TERRIBLE at ice skating."

"Everybody remember to bring your health insurance card."


Seriously, though, I'm excited. We're taking a lesson and then attempting the easy trails, so I'm confident we'll have a great time and a lot of laughs. Learning to ski also happens to be a Life List item, so I'll be documenting it. Details to come!

Three things

1. The weather people are predicting snow tomorrow, except that they've changed their minds six times in the last eight hours about how much. Predictions run the gamut from freezing rain to six inches or more, which probably means that we see an hour of light flurries that don't hit the ground but still cause evening traffic to snarl beyond explanation. That's the way it goes in Washington. 

Personally, I've been waiting for snow since November, preferably a repeat of Snowpocalypse 2010. I'll be wearing my new snow boots tomorrow, come flurry or snowstorm. 

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2. I'm getting excited for the spring, which is booking up with a number of short little weekend trips. Notably, two of awesome cousins invited me to join them for a weekend in New York City in March. Neither of them have ever been there, and since I'm just a short train ride away and know my way around decently well (and am ALWAYS looking for an excuse to go to NYC), I'm excited to tag along. None of us have traveled together before, and since we only really see each other at family holiday events (once a year, twice if there's a wedding), it'll be a great chance to spend some rare quality time together. 

We're still in the early stages of planning, so tell me--what would you do (and more importantly, where would you EAT) if you were visiting the city for the first time? 

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3. That post about Holly and Lucky the other day might not have been the best idea, because now I cannot stop looking at pictures of dogs. My family's dogs. My friends' dogs. Your dogs. Strangers' dogs. Doesn't matter. But I stare at puppy pictures on Instagram for HOURS. Help.

2012 Catch-up: Atlantic/Pacific

A lot of things happened in 2012, particularly in the latter half of the year, and I barely wrote about any of it! So for the next few days (weeks?) I'm going to catch up on a few of the stuff I missed last year--and clean off my camera card while I'm at it.  Happy New Year, all! 

August was a weird month. 

I was off swimming in this during our annual family vacation... 

Edisto Island, SC

...and the next week I was dipping my toes in this: 

Holly and Lucky

We had an unusual Christmas this year.

For one thing, it was the first without my sister, who was spending her first Christmas with her husband's family. But even that was sort of forgotten, because this will forever be remembered as The Christmas We Unexpectedly Acquired Two Dogs.

Let me back up.