The Other Washington-home Sick

So close to home, yet so far. I love seeing the mountains of Vancouver BC! If I was not trying to be a responsible adult, I think I know where I would choose to be. Not in DC, but rather BC. Growing up we went on a family Thanksgiving ski trip up to Whistler and visited Vancouver and Victoria BC during various seasons. It's surely grown SO much since those days... still beautiful as ever! Watching the Olympics is so inspiring. It's become a daily tradition for a girl who grew up asking Mom if we could set some family rules to limit how much time we watched TV.

I love watching while I am at the gym trying to bear the treadmill, I love watching it while eating dinner (not a good habit, I must say), I love watching it when it's past my bedtime, I love watching it when I should be headed out the door.... Go team USA!!!

Goals for when I return to a land of mountains and snow: take up cross-country skiing as a winter hobby and continue to enjoy snow shoeing adventures... snowboarding is also a dream skill I'd like to work on with my brother.

My roommate, Aubrey, was watching this video again this morning, and I just love it too. If you have already watched it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it again :)

International News Debut

Aubrey, Simone and I took a friend's toboggan to Capitol Hill...During our patriotic visit, we were interviewed by 2 news crews, 1 national and 1 international...And we made the cut for one of the stories! Mr. Habib, a correspondent for Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., shared this video of the broadcast that aired just yesterday. Check it out!!! Now here's your challenge... It's called "Where is Jenni?"

Hooray for Sunshine!

While the snow was nice to watch build up hour-after-hour, it is sure refreshing to enjoy the sunshine. Aubrey and I took turns shoveling the driveway and road to free the cars (25'' was our final measurement). It was like weightlifting for 2 hours straight- whew! I have high hopes that we can create a snow cave out of the heaping snow that is piled beside our driveway.

Aubrey took the task of packing the snow mound seriously... preparatory for the snow cave.

Blizzard 2010

Anticipating a storm worse in comparison to the Dec 2009 blizzard, county schools closed for Friday and government employees were sent home early along with the majority of all other workers. The weatherman was right again. and the storm started at 9:55am on Friday.

By about 5 pm it was time to get out again, so Adrienne, Aubs and I hit Wali-World (aka Walmart) which was outlandishly deserted by the general public. You would have thought Snomageddon had hit! Well, it kind of had by that time- the roads we slip but due to low traffic, Mali (my car) was not scared at all. She made me proud.Saturday we woke up to about 15 inches of snow and more coming down. Enough accumuluated overnight that even our front porch was well covered. Because of my nonsense fear of getting stuck in the house, my love for shoveling snow once again overcame me. There was not intention to release the cars from their snow-covered state, she they were not the priority... A path to the semi-plowed road was the first feat in line...Then, as time passed indoors, it was time to gear up for a nice snow run. To my utter excitement, Annie texted me and decided to make the trek in her supposed all-wheel drive Rav. With increased energy, I set out to the winter wonderland once again to clear to place for her to park upon her arrival. Perfect time and just enough space, she pulled up just as the parking spot was prepared. Annie came to visit!We water and wind-proofed our feet with plastic grocery sacks and hit the road for a nice run in the center of the main streets. It felt so nice to get out and run--- I love snow running so much and it was fun to have company join me!In the evening we made a no-sauce pizza. It was deliciously garlic and basil flavored with a mixture of cottage cheese and mozzarella, diced and free tomatoes, atop whole wheat dough. Delicious ending to the day!

"Hard Times" Good Times

Last weekend, my friend DeEtte, came to town for a work trip and built in an extra day for some fun with the girls! I love time with DeEtte. We (DeEtte, Mel, Kari and I) lived together last year, and DeEtte has since been married and moved with her hubby back to the west. It's great to be able to still see her occasionally on her work trips!

We braved the snow that came in the late morning and went to lunch at Hard Times Cafe. The theme of our excursions was naturally, "We're having a hard time."

"Hard Times," is such a relative term, so it was humorous to play off of... Really the snow was SO slight compared to our December blizzard. It amounted to just a few inches- just enough to enjoy for its beauty and still get around with no troubles.

After lunch we chose to hit the Container Store- a place we had all secretly wanted to explore. It was awesome! My favorite part was realizing that a (granola/cereal) container I was considering for purchase was about 60% the cost at Target! I think it's a good place to get ideas and then purchase elsewhere.

Washington and Jefferson

In honor of Martin Luther King, we had a day off of work, so I went and spent some time with Washington and Jefferson, two of our beloved Founding Fathers!

It was a BEAUTIFUL DAY with temperatures in the 50's and blue skies with minimal wind. Many families were out touring the monuments, so the run was not solo in the least (I loved seeing people from all over the country and world out in DC).

Here's what Pres. GEORGE WASHINGTON has had to say:
"Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak and esteem to all" (letter to the Captains of the Virginia Regiments).


"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light."

A word of warning..."However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion" (Farewell Address, Sep. 17, 1796).

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."
Words from the mouth of THOMAS JEFFERSON:

"Never spend your money before you have it."

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine."

"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it."

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."

Seriously?

My 7th graders this year are incredibly respectful and generally VERY well behaved. Earlier this week, one student surprised me with this:
Response (admittedly not the most effective): "Don't let me see that again..." He put it away and we moved on. There was no time to rethink my response or waste time distracting the class from the lesson... Clearly they were not all as engaged in the discussion as I thought, afterall. Haha. I guess I'll have to be better on my toes next time.

Welcome 2010!

As the new year has come, I feel rejuvenated and ready to better take on the world ahead :) While that may be too large of a task, I will take each day as it comes and see the brighter side- it's all about the EXPERIENCE.

So, welcome 2010! You may see a new title to the ol' blog coming along, however I am happy with the notion still that there is something, at LEAST one thing, always to sing about.

I will not update on the past month, as I have shared it in my Christmas letter and my yearly update. In short, Christmas was spent relaxing and enjoying FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY. I love being with my FAMILY.

Post-Blizzard Thrills

Because of Saturday's blizzard, most local schools were closed, hence I was suddenly face-to-face with three additional days of vacation before I could fly home to be with the family.

While the thought of "don't you wish you had booked an earlier flight" was expressed by many, the truth of the matter is, had I booked it, I would have been stuck anyway, and had the "darn snow" not come, I would not have had these three extra days, SO I am happy with the situation... no complaints about three days to get things done that the hustle and bustle of everyday life does not generally allow, such as...

• Updating my blog ;)
• Christmas visits to friends with Adrienne
  
• Shoveling the driveway/street and reviving our cars of 24 inches of snow (Aubrey and I were joined by our new found friends (our neighbors) to help tackle part of the road)... It was actually really fun to shovel--- I think it might not be as fun if it was like this day-after-day, but it's sure a novelty here :)
  

• creating tutorials for my students
• going to the temple with Cara!
• DC monuments running in the snow... I repeat, I just never tire of this running route- our Nation's Capitol is Beautiful!

• Christmas runs to the local airports
• and, you know, "those" lerking errands
  

Winter Wonderland

The weather man was spot on! The big Dec 2009 storm started right at 9:00pm on Friday and did not cease until 11pm Saturday.

By late morning I measured 8 inches with my trusty ruler
By afternoon, my ruler was nolonger of use because the snow depth surpassed the ruler's abilities.
By 7:30pm I brought out the tape measured and measured 21 inches!
By 11pm I was too tired to measure again, so I will leave it to the news report... 24 inches!

While it was fun to watch the fun from the inside, it was even more fun to...
-Shovel the driveway of 15 inches so we could pile in Adrienne's car and try to find a good sledding hill
-Adrienne's windshield wipers broke so we turned around, headed to Kmart in an unsuccessful attempt to get some help from one of the few open stores, so we went home
-Run 10 miles up the middle of the local snow-covered roads
-Visit neighbors in the middle of the storm
-Make Snow Angels and Do flips in the powder in the front lawn- I've never done this at home before!!!