Civil War Museum

These photos are from a few months ago but I haven't posted them yet, so I'm doing it now. About a month ago, Timnah and Miriam came and visited. We went to this Civil War Museum in West Virginia, which at first seemed like a good place for a bad horror movie, but ended up being really fun. They had costumes we could dress up in and so we did. Unfortunately, Timnah was sick and couldn't come with us. We missed her!

New Blog

I have started a new blog as an avenue to focus and develop all my happy energy! I'd love everyone to share that energy with me.

Home Improvements

So we decided to shake up our blog a little bit. I know, the new header is an amazing mash-up.

This weekend we've been trying to make some little improvements to our apartment to make it a little more comfortable. We also enjoyed conference. Here are a few examples of what we've been up to, mostly thanks to the wonderful Swedes over at Ikea.

Guitar Stand
This is a guitar stand I made from Ikea shelves, an Ikea towel, and blue Ikea wood stain. Total price came out to less than $25, which is nearly less than a single, tubular guitar stand. This is much more sturdy, stylish, and I pretty much love it. It holds 6 guitars, which means there are two empty spaces. Now what should I fill them with? I'm sure you know that I've already got that all worked out...

Hope Chest

We've been planning to re-upholster Rose's hope chest for some time now. On this trip to Ikea, we found a cool print fabric we thought would be perfect and wasn't too expensive. The first time we put the fabric on backwards, but the second time we got it right. It really spruces up the entire room.

Printer Table
This is from a previous Ikea trip a couple months ago when they had side tables on sale for $8. We cut the legs shorter, cut a scoop out of it, repositioned the last leg so that it would fit under our desk, and now we use it as a printer stand. The reason the table is only $8 is because the top isn't solid. It's strengthened with corrugated cardboard. Luckily we had some paper that was just about the same color, so with a little glue, you can't see the ugly inside. From 10 feet you can't really tell, right?

Bathroom
We added a couple more pictures in the bathroom. The panel comes from a leftover piece from the Ikea shelves and is covered with the same fabric we used on the hope chest. We painted some yellow on there to add a little more color. Suave, ¿No?

That's mostly what we've been up to this weekend. We also gave the apartment a much needed scrub down. School has been busy for us both, but we've had a lot of little successes along the way. Ben came over for dinner tonight with his friend, Alvin, and that was a lot of fun. We forgot to take pictures of that.

Click on the pictures above for a bigger, better view.

Isn't She Lovely!

Rose got a new haircut. Here are the results.

Happenings

A lot of things have happened in the last couple weeks. Both Rose and I started school, which is going well. We're enjoying our classes and are quite busy. It is nice to have a lot going on though. We're never bored.

We also went to Hot Springs, SD over the labor day weekend for Rose's cousin's wedding. It was a very nice ceremony and we had fun being there. It took forever to get there and back, which was not as fun.

The Wedding Party

A couple of the more attractive attendees

Another happening on an unrelated note, is that our landlords have generously provided us with a new fridge. It's very exciting because now we can buy more vegetables and other foods and keep them fresh longer. Here's an idea of the size difference.




Pretty amazing right?

I have to go to bed now, so maybe we'll write in more detail about something else soon.

One Year

So we had a busy weekend this weekend because it was a weekend of celebration.

Friday we went to the US Air Guitar Championships with Ben and some friends. It was fun in some ways and not so fun in other ways. It was fun watching everyone play air guitar like crazed baboons, but it was not fun listening to all the judges & emcee's lame and stupid jokes.

Here are some example competitors:

Hot Licks Hoolihan and Bjorn Turok
Awesome
Romeo Dance Cheetah
The Fro

It was an interesting evening to say the least. As you can see, the costumes were amazing.

Saturday we went to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia to see the sites and get away from the city a little bit. We had both frozen custard and shaved ice, which was great. It wasn't too hot thankfully.

Our favorite thing to see was the Civil War artillery demonstration, which you can see below.

We couldn't believe how LOUD the cannon was. To be in a battle with 80 of them plus musket and other small arms fire would be terrifying. I can understand why Henry Fleming ran off at first.

Here are a couple other pictures.

The Artillery Demonstration

Trying to redecorate the bathroom

Our bathroom is interesting because it is in the basement. There are many, many pipes and electrical cords that criss-cross the ceiling and walls.

This morning, I decided to try and spruce it up a little bit and try and make it a little bit nicer. Here are the results.

The sink and mirror with a painting and our old license plates.
Close up of the picture hung on the pipes below.
The wall nearest the water closet.

Scout Camp and the 4th of July

Last week I got to go up to scout camp for a couple days. It was a really nice camp. They set up the tents for us, made our food, and provided all kinds of activities. We had two boys go up, one for the whole week (Jamal) and one came up with me Thursday night (James). They're cousins, and I'm not sure they went to sleep at all that night. Too many spiders in their tent I guess.

James and Jamal and the rifle range

We played so wiffleball and spent some time in the archery range. I also saw some kind of water snake at the lake (even heard it hissing) and a fairly large wolf spider.

A wolf spider

I came back Friday night in time for the folk life festival and the 4th of July celebration.

The folk life festival this year focused on Wales, the "Americas", African American Speeches, and Hare Krishna. We spent most of our time at the Welsh booths because they were the most plentiful and Rose studied Welsh in Wales and still speaks it fairly well. At least, she could translate all the signs for me.

We met Ben for the festivities, which was heaps of fun.
The longest city name in the UK. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which means "St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave." So the name of the village almost amounts to directions on how to find it!
Welsh Scrabble. Rose destroys me at English Scrabble, so here I would have no chance.

After the folk life festival we got to go to a party for America's birthday in the Capitol building. That's right, the US Capitol building. It was amazing. It was a party for the Lantos Foundation and Pride in America. They gave an award to a woman who makes handmade furniture for making quality products in America.

We got to see Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, Natascha Bedingfield, the Marine Band, the fireworks, and Jimmy Smits. It was pretty cool and we felt pretty cool being there.

On the West Terrace of the Capitol.
The fireworks!
The Washington Monument in the background (with a different kind of fireworks in the foreground).
More fireworks.

So last week was quite eventful. Things are going well otherwise too. I've been observing a trial at work and Rose just arranged to work part-time at the Corporation for National and Community Service in the fall, so everything is falling into place that way. I can't believe it, but it's already time to start looking for a job for post-graduation. One more year of law school and I'm done with law school. It goes by fast. So that's a very short update.

It's Not Them, It's Me. Or Maybe It's Them.

The picture above, you will find, is somewhat misleading. I'm afraid this post may not be terribly sweet and flowery, though part of it will address flowers in a roundabout way. In fact, I feel the slightest bit guilty about posting this post because it is about something that annoys me, and I think annoyance is not a very nice emotion. But I wanted to get other people's thoughts on this one.

Jordan and I have a friend on a mission in Britain. Not only do I really like her, but I think she is smart, funny, and good. However, she sends emails home that sometimes get forwarded to me, and the other day she said something that inspired a negative emotion on my part. This is what she said:

"We went to Lyme Park for our P-day. Lyme Park is also known to the Jane Austen lover's world as Pemberley. Yes, this is where Colin Firth was filmed as Mr. Darcy in the 6 hour P&P. Very exciting, but oddly enough (or maybe this should be a given) it was not as fulfilling as teaching the gospel. I don't really know what has happened to me, this is Mr. Darcy we are talking about here...but I will say, that the gospel is much cooler."

Now, I have to say that I think I know what she's doing here. She's trying to stay focused on the gospel so she can be a better missionary and I think that is commendable. But part of me thinks, "Come on. Lyme Park is completely different than teaching the gospel. You're not supposed to compare it." I think by comparing something like that you take away from an experience that could be thrilling and even spiritually enlightening all by itself. Lyme Park is GORGEOUS. I think God would want us to appreciate a place like that for what it is. If we believe God created the world, can't we learn something about him in studying his creations as well as teaching the gospel? And, in fact, aren't God's creations part of that gospel?

I felt similarly to the way I feel when LDS people, on being asked what their favorite book is, say it's The Book of Mormon. I want to say, "Right. That's a given. There are so many other books out there. What else do you read?" I suspect that I'm not being fair. Maybe people that say The Book of Mormon is their favorite book love it more than I do or maybe it really is such a vital part of their lives that they are compelled to say it. And I think that is admirable.

I guess my real problem is that when people say things like this my instinctual reaction is to think, "You're not someone I find very interesting," and I feel guilty about it because it's not very nice. So maybe my frustration over comments like the ones mentioned above is just the sign of a guilty conscience.

Sick!

I've been feeling unwell - whether it's tooth/jaw aches, stomach aches, or head colds - consecutively ever since Natascha left DC. Seriously. Every single day since then, something has not felt right. So I figured out what's wrong. I must be allergic to not being around Natascha. Please come back. I would like to feel good again.

Hottest Book this Summer!

Some of you may know that my mother is a published author (yes, I'm proud) and that this summer she has had one whole book published (I know, right?) It's called The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival: Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low (which is my mother's sobriquet - which word I like to use instead of pen name.) It's a clever title, right? That's because my mother is clever. In fact, the whole book is clever, and everyone should read it (and then everyone should make all their friends read it) because it is the cool thing to do this summer. Because it's the hottest book. (And don't you think it has a clever cover?)


Also, if you want to see some really adorable shoes, check this out.

I help Alan out for his ward talent show.

This is our cover of a song made popular by Beyonce.

I got shocked by the microphone pretty bad and decided to stop singing.

Also I used my looping pedal so when it sounds like more than just 2 guitars, it is.

Rose took the footage.

Possible Other Career

On Saturday I thought about going to a film festival with a friend while Jordan studied. Instead, I made this necklace. It's crooked in this picture, but you get a sense of what it looks like.

The oval beads I bought at Michael's months ago, simply because I liked them. They're not super great quality, but then they didn't cost very much either.

The blue circlular beads I painted with acrylics and then covered with shiny ModPodge to give them a glaze.

I was pretty pleased with how well the necklace turned out. If you look closely you can probably tell it's handmade, but I wore it to church on Sunday and everyone wanted to know where I bought it. A nice little confidence booster. The necklace was a great project for Saturday, when Jordan had a lot of studying to do and I had to keep myself entertained in order to avoid distracting him. After making this necklace I want to make more. Does anyone want to come out to DC and have a craft day? Yeah!

In upcoming posts: Pictures of Jordan studying = evidence of Jordan's only activity for the past month. We can't wait 'til he gets done with this last essay final.

Trousers

Yesterday a girl at work was wearing the same pants as I was. My first thought was that it was convenient that in my position behind the desk she couldn't see my pants, consequently avoiding a potentially awkward--though probably humorus--conversation about how we both have good taste and etc. My second thought was, "Those look even better on her than on me," thus highlighting one of my little vanities (my taste and individuality in clothes), because I honestly can't remember ever thinking that before. No, usually when I come across someone with the same article of clothing, I tell myself (with a metaphorical pat on the back) that it looks better on me. I reveal this now, in a public way, as a sort of penance.

But I'm also quite proud of myself, because when I thought that thought about the pants looking better on her, I was not in the least upset about it. Perhaps my ego is growing more tempered.

Just as a side note, I keep seeing matches of my clothes on TV shows. It's kind of trippy to have the fake world and the real world collide like that.

Empty Pot Syndrome

Before getting married I cooked. I didn't get too creative, but I did cook. Now that we're married both Jordan and I cook; whoever gets home first or is the least stressed out/tired/sick usually takes care of it. The difference between before marriage and after marriage is that before marriage it was just me, so I didn't care if I couldn't come up with something good to eat and resorted to Beef Ramen. After marriage, I worry about making sure Jordan gets a real meal. And I've discovered that the hardest part about making real meals is coming up with real meals to make. I mean, it doesn't take long to get really sick of having the same sort of dishes every night.

Tonight it's my turn to make dinner because Jordan's wasting away at school, studying. He's going to be really hungry when he gets home. Once again I find myself staring into our cupboards and wondering what I could possibly make that sounds appetizing. When I get fed up with staring into the cupboards I stare at the empty pots and pans, willing food to appear in them like they appeared on the empty dishes of the lost boys in Never Never Land. If that happened for me, I'd definitely shout "Bangarang!"

I found a site with some tasty sounding easy dinner recipes, but as I went through the recipes I realized that we don't have the ingredients. We just don't have enough space in cupboards, mini-fridge or minier-freezer to store a lot. I guess the answer to my problem is to plan meals in advance. Then we'd have the ingredients. But that doesn't help me right now. Of course, it doesn't help me to be writing this post either, but I guess it feels like a shout for help into the cosmos, and maybe after hitting the button to "Publish Post" I will receive divine culinary revelation...

An Adventure with the Missionaries

Last Saturday, Rose and I gave the missionaries and a young woman they are teaching a ride to the DC Temple visitor's center for a tour and to see the Joseph Smith movie. In order for this to make sense, you must first know that the young woman is living with a member of our ward and is here from Japan to study English.

Not at all by coincidence, there was a Japanese sister at the visitor's center. So, we had the tour in Japanese and saw the movie in Japanese.

Most of the movies I've seen in Japanese usually involve ninjas, samurai, or a combination of the two. So it was difficult for me not to be disappointed/confused about some of the things that happened in the film. For example, the scene where Joseph rebukes the guards in Liberty Jail is a famous story that depicts the power of the prophet as he silenced the men while he stood behind bars and in chains.

Well, for me, the Japanese voices they choice for the goons, and the powerful voice they chose for the prophet, combined with the camera angles they chose, made me expect the chains to snap, Joseph to karate chop his way out of the bars and then samurai slash the goons ala Beatrice Kiddo. Of course, that didn't happen. That period of American history and costumery combined with the Japanese dubbing also got me thinking that it was a steampunk, alternate universe where the Japanese had conquered the world and so everyone in 19th century america spoke Japanese, but looked like anglos. Anyway, this probably has more to do with the kinds of Japanese movies I like, rather than anything about the Joseph Smith movie.

One more thing about the film that doesn't have anything to do with the Japanese dubbing. The film ended with the assassination in Carthage jail, which was (and always is) quite a moving scene because it reminds me of who Joseph was and what he did for the world through the power of Christ. I think everyone who believes feels some sort of special attachment to the prophet, and so reevaluating his death is usually an emotional and spiritual experience. However, the last scene cut the feeling short for me.

As the scene is ending, the camera goes towards and then out the window, pointing up into the sky and the sun while heroic music plays in the background. For me, the emotional effect was great. I felt a connection, I remembered my testimony of Joseph, but then a transparent profile of Joseph's head appears in the clouds and then turns and looks into the camera. This instantly made me think of this...

... which made me laugh.

Even still, there was a lovely spirit throughout the whole film, and we had a good conversation afterwards where we got to tell the young woman why we were members of the church, and why we believed in God. It was nice to bear testimony and share what I believe and what makes me happy with someone else. I think she really enjoyed the visit and the Japanese sister is going to begin teaching her, so I think that will be a huge help. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.

Snowed in!!

So, this is our street. We had some snow overnight, looks to be maybe 6 inches or so in some places.


We both had our birthday's recently which was a lot of fun. We partied hard except Rose got sick Sunday through about Wednesday which wasn't a super fun birthday present. This week is my spring break, so we're hoping to celebrate some more!

Catherine came to visit! It was fun to hang out with her and Alexia. We went out to dinner at Oya, went to breakfast at Eastern Market the next day, visited the Smithsonian Museums of Natural History and Art, and had dinner at Matchbox. We had a great time.


We also dog sat for a few days for some people in our ward while they were on vacation. It was actually quite fun, but we both decided we probably don't want a dog. I've been biased against small dogs but after hanging out with Daisy and Miriam's Pip, I might be persuaded otherwise. Neither dog is very yappy though, and I think that's what might turn me off little dogs.


We're both doing well and I'm very excited for this week without having to go to school. I still have quite a bit of homework to do, but I think we'll still have time to have a little fun. We've been hoping to catch the Dark Night at the Imax for the last month and this weekend is the last weekend they'll be showing it, so I hope we make it. Neither of us has seen it yet. I'm also excited about this movie and this movie and if I'm honest, this one as well. Oh and also, Star Trek.