Being Crafty

I started sewing with my sewing machine last year. I decided to make a baby blanket for Charlie Pierce, Sara's baby. It's a really soft blue, yellow cotton, and denim. I think it turned out pretty cute. And since Charlie surprised us (no one more than his parents I'm sure) and arrived a month early - what was supposed to be a shower present is now a welcome baby present.


We love you Dave, Sara, and Charlie. Welcome to the world.
And oh yeah, I really like my sewing machine.

Because I'm a Geek Like That

We saw this wall display at one of the Smithsonian museums (Portrait Gallery Maybe?) and it made me laugh. Can you read it?

Washington DC

I went to DC last weekend to visit my Mom who was there for a conference. We went to lots of museums and geeky stuff that we totally enjoyed and both Rob and Chip were happy we did together so we never have to make them come along.

We went to the Library of Congress. I am now thinking up relevant research so that I can get a library card and access the reading rooms. Getting a PhD allows me to do this and I need to exploit it while I can.We went to the Newseum which Mom thought was great as a history teacher and I spent too much time reading. This is not the place to go if you don't like to read. But the view from the promenade was pretty cool.


The biggest surprise / really cool thing was this photo:
The Mountain Eagle is the newspaper from Letcher County Kentucky where my Grandma Frazier grew up. She still subscribes and gets a stack of papers every week / month - I don't know how often they come. But seriously, who knew that this small town paper (that publishes notes from readers to other readers as a mini-classified section) would be featured at a major museum.

We walked a lot, talked a lot, and ate a lot. Now if my library book wouldn't have been lost in the hotel (I'm pretty sure it got tangled in the bedding when the sheets were changed) the weekend would have been pretty close to perfect.

We were the Kickball Champs!!!

We won the semi-finals 4-3 and the Finals 4-1 in what were likely our toughest games of the season. GOOOOOOOO RUNS!

Kickball is Awesome

We've Got the Runs

Charlotte, NC

I was sent to work in Charlotte for a week a couple of weeks ago. It was nice, because since Dad recently moved to North Carolina, I was able to stay an extra day on the weekend and Dad drove out to visit. It's a five hour drive. When he dropped me off at the airport to go home, I beat him by 2.5 hours...
We went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Saturday. It was awesome. We went to the Levine Museum of the New South on Sunday. It was interesting.

I'm glad I got to see my Dad.

One Perfect Tomato

I have one perfect cherry tomato. The green one behind is actually twice the size of the red one. That pot is called a patio tomato. I think those are going to be big. And I might not get too many of them. Last year I grew grape tomatoes with great success. Home Depot was out of grape tomato plants when I was there, so I tried something new. I don't think I am going to have as many this year. But I'm learning.

Other notes on my garden. The parsley and lettuce are doing pretty well from seed. The lettuce could use some more room, but i work with what I've got. Next year I am going to wait on the basil though. It's not going to get very big from seed, and I will do better to just be patient and wait for the plants. My mint kind of died in a wind storm. It's perked back up some, but not great. My flowers are doing ok. I have one pot of random seeds, I still don't know what is growing there. Rob planted strawberries. They are nice and green, but tiny.

One of the problems with seeds is you have to pull up 90% of them from the pot if you want the few remaining ones to thrive, and I just hate to do that. I don't know why. But I do. I enjoy my little garden. And like to watch it grow.

4th of July

It's hot here. Really hot. We went to church then spent the afternoon working. Rob on freelance, me on my AERA abstract. Then to take advantage of other people's air conditioning, we went to see Toy Story 3. It was awesome. Then out to dinner for Rob's birthday week, any excuse to go out...his birthday is tomorrow. Then home for some fireworks. They are on the Hudson River so Manhattan blocks our view, but we watch with the TV on so we can hear the music. Keeping my fingers crossed that someday the fire works are back on the East River midtown. These are some of my favorites as I tried to keep the camera steady.

Our Cruise

7 days 8 nights. 4 days at sea, Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau. All in all a pretty good trip. Here is the photographic evidence...

Looking down from the top of the atrium.

Dancing waiters
Fruity drinks
With the Captain. The boat was on autopilot, we asked.
How I spent my sea days.
Hangin' on the ship.
Half Moon Cay. Water was perfect. Sun was HOT!
How Rob beat the heat.
Leaving port and going home.