Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Snail Mail

Do you know what brings a smile to my face no matter what? Ok, lots of things do, but the answer is hand-written snail mail. There is something so personal about seeing an individual's handwriting. It's nice to get an email, but that's the quick way of just seeing what's up. I like walking in my door after work and seeing an envelope with my name on it in the handwriting of someone special to me! And just as much as receiving letters, I like to write them. I like to sit down and take the time. I think it lets the recipient know that I put thought into a letter just for him/her/them. I don't do that as often as I used to. I think I need to work on my correspondence skills.

Here is the most recent mail I received that brought me sweet wishes and a loving reminder that I have a wonderful family. Thanks, Omi!

I like how my Omi writes her "M"s and "N"s in cursive.

For the record, my mom is the greatest and sending mail and making sure I feel special.

Love Always.

Mid-afternoon Break

Here are some of the accessories for my Halloween costume. Guessed it yet?

I took a walk around the Hill on my lunch hour so that I could snap some pictures of the beautiful Autumn foliage. It's too dark when I get home from work to get any good ones, and the sun shining through the trees on my walk home for lunch was just too good to pass up. 

Good friend Zach is coming to DC today to visit all of us! We miss him out here! It's been almost a year since he finished his internship on the Hill and went back West. He is such fun, and this weekend is going to be sooo fun!

My current read (OK, if you know me, you know that I am always in the middle of 2 or 3 books) is the latest Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol. It is set in DC, and it's amusing to read because unlike his other books with the Robert Langdon character which are set in Europe, I can tell by description where they are in the city before the author reveals the location! And I know the Capitol building so well that I can even see the few flaws in his descriptions of various rooms or corridors. The villain in this one kind of scares me though (alright, everything scares me) so I don't like to read it before I go to bed or when I'm home alone. There is an episode of Friends where Joey reveals that he puts The Shining in the freezer whenever he gets to a scary part. Sometimes I want to put this book in my freezer when the plot gets tense.

That is all of the randomness I have for right now.

Love always.

Orange

These pumpkins were made for carvin'... Mine is modeled after the scary pumpkin from my favorite children's Halloween book The Magic Pumpkin (published in 1984).

Autumn treasures fall into my backyard.

Here I am showing off Autumn.

Love Always.

Can you dig it?

Can I just start by saying how much I love living in a place where on October 25th, the high was 75 degrees? Ah, it is so wonderful! My brother Christopher called to tell me that in Wyoming yesterday it was snowing big, f l u f f y flakes. That is my favorite kind of snowfall, but I am certainly not ready for it.

Christopher came to visit me for a long weekend this month, and we had such fun! It is so special for me when he can be here. I miss him all the time.

The trees weren't showing much color when he first got here, but by the time he left, fall was upon us! This week now, the leaves are stunning hues of crimson, orange, and gold. They adorn the brick sidewalks on the Hill, and they make the neighborhood look like beautiful artwork. Some trees are still completely green though, so hopefully these colors will last another few weeks. I stepped on the perfect crunchy leaf on my way to the coffee shop the other day. It was large and had dried in a convex shape- just waiting for me to crunch it!

I will be sure to put pictures up soon. My pumpkin is carved and the leaves are too beautiful to not share. Also, I have decided upon a Halloween costume. I finally found a reason to wear my little black dress! Hint:

"I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I'm not sure where that is but I know what it is like..."

Love Always.

An internet vacation to... Germany!

The dreariness of yesterday's weather made me think of the last time I was in Germany. It didn't monsoon when I was there, but it was damp and overcast- the kind of weather that makes me want to wear a sweater and drink some cider. Only, since this is DC, it was warm and humid between downpours so I opted out of wearing a sweater.
Consequently, today I have wanderlust. Badly. I decided to take a trip to Germany via the convenience of the internet! If I can't be there NOW, then this is a great alternative. Here's my favorite stop on this adventure so far:



Click on the picture to see where this is!

 I've been... but I'd also like to go back. Staying in a bed and breakfast (kind of- didn't serve breakfast, but certainly not a hotel), waking up and looking at the cool, gloomy fog covering the small main street of Bacharach is the memory that I always recall whenever the weather is similar to how it was here yesterday. It triggers my wanderlust. Lucky for me, I'm headed on a little trip this weekend!
Liebe immer.