of parties & weather

So this past weekend, a hurricane's eye meandered along the coast of Virginia.

Those of us living inland were subjected to the same media hype as those on the coast, and being good NOVA'ns, accustomed to moderate weather year round, we panicked.

Whoever put water on sale at Giant last week is probably regretting that decision.

Being on the far east side of the hurricane, NOVA received only enough wind to knock some leaves onto the road (debris! drive carefully!) and enough rain to make walking outside uncomfortable.

Still, despite its generally balmy weather, my area of NOVA is historically plagued by the loss of power during the gentlest of weather (a cloud? power's out). Hence, batteries seemed a smart purchase.

My wonderfully thorough housemates ensured that if the hurricane did perhaps decide to visit our section of the country, we would have party supplies to welcome her. And water. Because it was on sale.

Ironically, the only damage incurred from Irene was in the bedroom of the native Deep Southerner who refused to take this East Coast hurricane seriously--myself.

Though, is it truly hurricane damage if the window already leaked?

Also, I really hope that the disappearance of the large spider that lives between that window and its screen means he drowned over the weekend.

quakers

To be honest, I had been muddling about for a topic for today's post.

However, in the middle of a longish afternoon at work yesterday (mostly thanks to my stuffy, sinus-ridden head), I had a flash of brilliance. Well, more like a quake of brilliance. Wait, was I quaking with brilliance?

Wondering if indeed I had become a Quaker, I soon realized that I was simply experiencing my first earthquake.

Yes, that's right, I'm an East Coaster and yesterday I lived through the Great DC Earthquake of 2011.

It was rather anti-climatic, nothing like the movies where pictures tumble, bookshelves snap, and buildings crumble. In fact, my first thought upon feeling the quaking and hearing the metal stands in my bookshelf rattle was "Gee, our mailguy has a heavy cart of mail today."

When the shaking continued for another few seconds, I thought "Oh, perhaps it's construction."

And then the shaking got harder, and I decided that this might be what an earthquake felt like. Of course, I then realized that I don't really know what to do during an earthquake. So naturally, I thought "Well, earthquakes make buildings fall over. So I should probably leave the building."

Many of my fellow East Coast co-workers had the same thought, so we stepped outside to enjoy the sunshine for a few minutes. That is, until one of the big bosses arrived with a strange stare: "Why are you all out here?" So we adjourned our brief sunshine escapade.

I returned to my office to discover that my little office companions hadn't even moved.

So much for a shattering earthquake story. It was more like 12 seconds of one of those "Jiggle off your fat!" chairs.

Two Ways to Conquer a Rock

(note: not sure these videos actually work, still learning that feature of Blogger! if they don't work, let me know and I'll try fixing it tomorrow)

We learned two ways to conquer a rock on our hiking trip. Choose your solution wisely, the wrong choice will hurt....

(1) Jump Off It

(2) Slide Down It

White Oak Canyon = highly recommended!

Hiking and an excuse

A couple weekends ago, a group from my church went hiking in Shenandoah National Park.

We found an awesome rock for jumping into a very chilly pool of water.

And this is my favorite picture of the day:

Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge Mountains are ranked pretty high on my list of 'Most Beautiful Places in the World.'

Also, a note and an excuse: I have a backlog of emails and a very messy room...and this has been the static state for almost 2 weeks now. So please excuse the limited blogging this week. Curly Chronicles will be here on Friday...but there won't be much chatter this week, just a couple videos!

A Poem in a Modern Style

Whenever I write the word "tubing"

I think it should be pronounced "tub-bing."

And Tubbing makes me think of The Borrowers.

Yes, the Borrowers, those little folk

Who float down a river

Because it storms.

(Am I remembering this rightly?

B/c my memory doesn't hold things tightly...)

So when a close friend borrowed my weekend,

We thought tubing (not tubbing!) would

Be a Fun Activity. And we proceeded to invite

Folks from all stages of life:

College, Work, Siblings.

They came.

We tubed.

We were not the Borrowers.

Because it was not flooding.

In fact, it was almost the opposite

Of flooding.

But we were afloat.

And enjoyment was had by all.

freedom from techology

Over Memorial Day weekend, I spent a very healthy amount of time outside. I also spent 36 hours without using any technology (excepting some texts and a phone call to the Bro).

Which means I have no pictures of my adventures.

I'm very sad for you...but man alive, those were some of the most refreshing 36 hours of the year so far! Do you know, it's probably been 6 months since I've done a technology fast of more than 12 hours? You should try it sometime.

I will confess, however, that the weekend would not have been possible without that wonderfully addicting technological advancement, the internet. Hence, I will share a website with you that will hopefully inspire you also to head outside into a land of trees, bushes, bugs, and no cell phone service for miles.

Hiking Upward: A website with lists and ratings of long hikes throughout Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. You can even pick your hike based on solitude! (which might be what we did...the views were nice too though...)

Go. Free thyself from connectivity.

Just be sure to check back in next week for pictures of Kansas.

a day in annapolis

Last weekend was quite busy! Not only did I dye my hair pink, I also hosted an awesomely fabulous guest, my friend JenniMarie.

(and this is the point at which you all go check out her awesome photography blog and hire her to take your family/wedding/senior/miscellaneous portraits, because she is the ONLY person who takes pictures of me that I like. she's good. really good.)

We lollygagged around on Saturday, as I was semi-co-hosting a goodbye party for my housemates (did I not tell you the weekend was busy?). Then, on Sunday, while leaving the early service at church, we looked at each other and said 'let's go on an adventure.' And Jenni suggested Leesburg and I suggested Annapolis.

I hope you can pretty easily guess which city won.

We spent about an hour and a half there, exploring mostly the statehouse and the shoreline. And a couple back alleys.
I'd definitely recommend Annapolis for anyone interested in watching lots of big boats with rich people driving (boating? rowing? steering? how do you describe navigating a boat??) them. Pretty boats, generally handsome people wearing Sperrys, sunshine, and seagulls make for a pretty entertaining 30 minutes of sitting on the dock.

Just be warned: if the rich people start staring at you and steering their boat toward your dock and keep staring at you and start pushing their little bumper things off the side of the boat closest to you...they're probably going to park that big sucker right where you are sitting.

And you should probably move before that happens. Not as it's happening. Because that can be a little awkward.

Just sayin'...