Delays, delays

I've still been taking pictures every day, but have been having trouble uploading pictures as I was trying to catch up these past two days. Hopefully it'll all be resolved by tonight. If you've been keeping up with my photo project, sit tight!

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Day 17 - Leftovers

We live on the sunnier side of the street, which means our snow always disappears first. I was so happy to see these remnants still hanging around this afternoon.

Day 16 - Mason

When I got into work this morning, the roads were clear and there was not a drop of precipitation. 90 minutes later, this is what campus looked like. I have no windows in my office, so imagine my surprise when I walked out and past this window on the way to the bathroom.

Day 15 - Boxed

Only one or two more things to go with Christmas shopping. Thank you interwebs.

Day 14 - Countdown

Sorry again for the late updates--between visiting old friends 'til the wee hours of the night to just being plain ol' tired, I haven't been to my computer in the evenings these past few days. That said, this photo is from my office desk perspective--my calendar countdown (with a cheery bouquet of crocheted flowers) to winter break at work and a few days off to relax.

Day 13 - First Snow!

Is it cheating if your sweet husband leaves some pictures on your camera because he knows you love your sleep so much you'll miss this first light dusting of snow? Courtesy of J.

Day 12 - Pho

Another cell phone photo: Pho from a great place in the Eden shopping center, in celebration of not having a migraine and almost finishing our holiday shopping.

Day 11 - Migraine

Sorry this is so late--I had a migraine this day and spend most of it in bed. The only photo I managed to snap was this one, on my cell, from my bedridden perspective: my conure Bartok attacking a piece of bread with jam on it. The darkness, blurriness, and overall disorganization of this shot encapsulates how my head felt pretty well.

Day 10 - Red and Green

You know you're excited about Christmas when you start gathering everything you own into groups of red and green.

Day 9 - Sorry, Santa

Sorry Santa, but this one's mine.

Day 8 - Wreath

We're a little behind in decorations, so our wreath just went up last night. This weekend: tree!

Day 7 - Inhale, exhale

 

The air's been extra dray these past few days, and I keep forgetting to take my nighttime dose of my asthma/lung maintenance medicine. Definitely feeling the effects of my stupidity tonight, but at least I have the blanket my mom crocheted for me last Christmas to keep me cozy.

Day 6 - Little Things

While searching for something to photograph today, I ran into (as I often do) this little gift from my oldest nephew. He gave it to me sometime last winter, and it always makes me smile to see it. Note the penguins on the pencil--this kid has me down pat.

Day 5 - My DC

I love DC most in the winter. It's stunning in the spring and summer, sakura wrapping around the Tidal Basin, and festivals giving the city a bubbling exuberance. Fall is a beauty to behold as well, but wintertime just always felt right.

Because I can't just leave well enough alone, here are a few token federal buildings for your viewing pleasure:

The Capitol

Supreme Court at sunset

Library of Congress, Jefferson Building--a shout out to my librarian friends!

Day 4 - March of the Penguins

Penguins are my favorite animal. Period. I've loved them all my life, before they were cool. My sister thinks I have a thing for Arctic animals; maybe she's right. Either way, I look forward to pulling out my cute and many times tacky collection of penguin socks when winter rolls around--gotta keep those feet cozy and stylish!

Day 3 - I'll be home for Christmas

J has always been really close to his maternal grandmother. Everyone thinks their grandmother is a special lady, but J's grandma really was. Shortly after we began dating, I met this wonderful woman who would eventually become as much as a grandmother to me as any of my blood-related grandparents. This past April, we lost this amazing lady to cancer. As the weather grew more crisp this fall, and as the smell of chimney smoke wafted through the air, we worried about what this Christmas would be like without Grandma D here with us.

Grandma D was a lover of all things plant, her favorites being bonsais and orchids. When went to Louisiana for  her funeral, all of those close to her selected a few of her precious plants to care for. We flew back solo, and J's parents brought back four healthy bonsais and two orchids for us via a rough two-day truck ride. The orchids were limp and wrinkled when they arrived, losing their beautiful flowers (among the last orchids Grandma D set her eyes on before falling into her eternal sleep) and we steeled ourselves for the worst. I enlisted the help of my mother, our resident "plant lady", who reluctantly performed triage on the dying plants. You see, while my mother has always kept orchids, none of them had bloomed in the last couple of years--she was doubtful she could do anything.

At the beginning of November, we noticed stems coming up from one of the plants. On Thanksgiving, one of the flowerbuds grew big and heavy, ready to bloom at any moment. Finally, on the first of December, the bud opened. Today, another flower bloomed. As you can see, there will be many more to come, just in time for Christmas.

Those who know me best know that I am not the most spiritual and am at best skeptical about the afterlife. I don't hope for or look for miracles. But this--this brings me some peace and comfort to know that in some way, Grandma D will be with us again this year for Christmas.

Day 2 - Schooooooool's out for the summer (winter)!

Turned in my last project this morning, and I am free as a bird--until mid-January, that is. Now to sit back and enjoy some Thursday night television.

Day 1 - First Real Chill

It's been getting colder, steadily, but today was our first real chill. We woke up this morning to a driving, soak-to-the-bone rain, and it kept getting colder and winder as the day went on. My cozy wool coat has officially come out of retirement for this year, and accompanying it is my newest favorite accessory--a thick plaid scarf with pleats instead of fringe.

Hello, hello, hello again!

Summer flew right on by, and so did most of fall! I've been swamped with my coursework and work-work but still knitting. Just haven't had time to put my thoughts down into a blog yet.

My wonderful friend Jackie of Jackie Ranson Photography (check out her work! I'm not just plugging her because she's my friend, but she really is super talented) is doing a 25 Days of Christmas photo challenge on her blog, and I thought I should jump on the bandwagon. I've been thinking about participating in something like that for a couple years now, and thought it would be a great opportunity to get back into blogging after my hiatus. 

I'm still finishing up a project for class, so my first picture will be up later today (or maybe tomorrow--I hope you don't mind me cheating just this once--I promise it'll be taken tonight though), but I won't leave you without new photos of a project I finished a couple months ago, Circe' Belle's Sixteen Cable Hat, as modeled by my very  lovely sister. If said lovely sister looks weirdly drunkenly red, it's my fault--I went a little red-happy when using my photo editor for the first time, unaware that I could isolate areas of the photo to enhance instead of doing a blanket type thing.

Hat was knit up in Cascade Pure Alpaca, and the red in real live is really as luscious as I've enhanced it to look in this photo. The yarn was soft and I'll definitely be using it again in future projects.