My Bucket List

This is what I've got so far...

Dogsled across Antarctica
Go to the top of the Empire State Building
Perform in a play/musical
Master the piano
Buy a scooter (moped)
Own a small farm where i can milk cows, gather eggs, ride my own horses
Have an large garden
Have an orchard
Travel all over Europe
Walk on the Great Wall in China
Make a quilt
Cultural trek in Nepal (everest base camp)
Write a novel
Coach a volleyball team
Run a marathon
Meet George W. Bush
Go to Savannah, Georgia
Discover more family history stories
Host a segment on the Today Show
Run for a political office

You know who you are! ;)

An Early Halloween Celebration!

BOO!

I love Halloween. Just love it. I will be in Chicago for work next Saturday and will unfortunately will be missing all of the festivities. Lame. In an attempt to celebrate early I made these yummy Halloween sugar cookies. Delightful.

la Bencina (la-ben-cheena)

Many people don't know that I am an art lover. I was two classes away from humanities being my third major in college. I just kept taking the classes for fun. I've never been to Europe. Always wanted to but haven't had the chance. I do, however, feel like I have been because of all of my studying. This painting by guy you might know, Leonardo daVinci, is entitled "Ginevra de' Benci" but is known by contemporaries as "la Bencina". I'm not sure why, but it is one of my favorite paintings. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that it is located in D.C. at my favorite museum, The National Gallery of Art. It is also the only daVinci located in the United States. When I give tours of the museum most people ask for a brief one. This is a must-see painting on that tour.


Here's a little bit about Ginny, as I like to call her.

She was the daughter of a wealthy Florentine banker and is estimated to be about 16 years old. During the Renaissance wedding portraits were typically made in pairs with the woman on the right side of her husband. Because Ginny is facing the right, this is more than likely a painting commissioned in celebration of her engagement. Ginny was celebrated by many during her time because of her purity, virtue, intelligence and of course, beauty. DaVinci recognized all of these characteristics by painting her without jewels and extravagant clothing, near a juniper bush and outside of her home.

DaVinci painted Ginny with a juniper bush in the background. The junipers are not only a symbol of chastity, which was the greatest of characteristic a Renaissance woman could possess, but also refers to her name. In Italian the word juniper is ginepro. Something interesting about junipers is that they are very green when they are a young plant and turn more brown with age. DaVinci was a smart man. The original painting also showed her hands holding a pink flower that represented virtue and devotion.

I think that Ginny was a forward thinking woman. Typically women of her status were painted wearing large jewels and opulent clothing to symbolize wealth and beauty and ultimately the dowry that the man marrying her would receive. Surprisingly, she is painted without those things, in a plain dress and a simple necklace. I like to think that she wanted the focus to be on her intelligence, rather than outward appearance. Other features of Ginevra's portrait reveal young Leonardo as an innovator. He placed her in an open setting at a time when women were still shown carefully sheltered within the walls of their family homes, with landscapes glimpsed only through an open window.

Only one line of Ginny's poetry survived and I think that it just sums this girl up. "I ask your forgiveness, I am a mountain tiger." I like to think that she recognized her part of being a woman in her Renaissance society by the politeness of the tone, but she also recognizes her free spirit. I think that daVinci did a fantastic job of capturing it. What do you think?

A new obsessioin -- Laughing Cow Cheese

Yes, I think cows are funny. Really, I do. They chew funny, talk funny and produce funny things (rather, milk that is turned into funny things).

The cows in Vermont are just funny looking.

In all seriousness though, this is my new favorite snack. Each wedge is a mere 30 calories and 2 grams or fat. Add with pita chips or apple slices and you've got a perfect mid-day low fat, health snack. Yum.

Baby Eva

I got to watch Natalie's niece Eva...she was just too cute! Even with her crazy mohawk!

VERMONT--I'd tap that

I have been absent. Absent from my social life. Absent from my ever-growing pile of laundry. Absent from blogging. Absent from my writing. Absent from a normal meal. Absent from sleep. Absent from anything resembling a normal life. All because of a little thing I like to call health care reform. Thank you Sen. Baucus, Pres. Obama, and more importantly Sen. Snowe (Republican or not, you are now on my hate list, Snowe!).

To counter balance this I went on an adventure to Vermont with some great friends to check out the fall foliage. Sometimes I complain about how busy this city is but it's things like autumn on the East coast that keeps me living here. The leaves were absolutely incredible.

Scott's bridge--Vermont's longest wooden bridge.

Taken at Mt. Ascutney. Home of a hitchhiker that murdered three people.

There's another thing that I love about the East, proximity to amazing opportunities. Growing up in Texas it took us a minimum of at least four hours to even get out of the state. Our drive started out in Virginia. Then within a matter of minutes and hours we had made our mark in D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire? and Vermont.

A few highlights from each state (or district?):

Virginia: Where the fun began after I skipped out of my office early...well tried to anyway.

D:C: I am pretty sure all we did here was pick up Peter...but what would we have done with out those amazing dance skills?

Maryland: Mostly driving through this fine state. But we did see a pick-up truck engulfed in flames. That was pretty cool.

New Jersey: Why is it called the "Garden State'? Because "Oil and Petrochemical Refinery State" wouldn't fit on a license plate? Also, no one would want to visit if you referred to NJ as the "Smelly State". Also home to a very nice hole-in-the-wall chicken places that had bullet-proof glass over the serving counter.

New York: We decided that it was time for a midnight snack so we stopped in Manhattan for a NY style pizza. I know what you're thinking...You drove in NYC? Yes, yes I did, NYC cabbie style of course. Most importantly, we saw Jude Law. Yes, THE Jude Law (from the movie The Holiday").

I did in fact take this picture...while driving. Oops. NYC Theatre District.

Connecticut: Home of Yale. Also, home of Brazis, world famous for housing mobsters and "interesting" ravioli. If you are wondering how to get there, it's in the Food Plaza.

Peter having fun with "good but interesting" cheese.

Massachusetts: A quick visit (we didn't get in until like 2 a.m.) with Kyle's parents. I'm not sure anything super funny happened here. Nevertheless, it was a good visit.

New Hampshire?: I was beat in a foot race against Kyle (who is MUCH taller than I am) from Vermont into New Hampshire. Then Michele and I decided to work off some of the junk that we had eaten by running from Vermont, across a bridge and into New Hampshire.

Vermont: Where do I begin? Vermont is an interesting place. Lots of tree-hugging liberals. Perhaps that's why they tap the maple trees? They spent waaaayyyyy too much time just hugging the trees so they decided to do something useful and produce very yummy syrup. We had a great time just exploring the area, eating, snuggling under quilts by the fire while playing endless games, roasting mallows and watching the all of season two of The Office. The leaves were pretty incredible, we had great weather and even better company.

The view from Scott's bridge. Hey Kyle, I can see the leaves in the reflection on the water.

One of our many stops along the way.

Me, Peter, Kyle and Michele-- I'd tap that

Virginia: Where the fun ended with yet another round of Chris Brown's "Forever". It is always nice to climb back into your own bed at the end of a trip but I did wake up missing the smell of a fire and Michele, Kyle and Peter. Do we really have to wait until next year's leaves to go back?