Mulberry Street

Idaho can receive several feet of snow each winter. NoVa on the other hand, only receives a few inches. We do however get moisture in various forms. The day after our latest snowstorm, the skies dumped inches of sleet and then rain and then it froze. The effect was ice - a lot of ice. I am impressed with nature all the time. I love that you can see the details of each subject through the ice, as if frozen in time and somehow protected. Photos by Alisha Photo date: January 28, 2009 I almost deleted this photo, taken during this week's snowstorm, because it isn't a great shot and a tad blurry. However, something caught my eye. In the middle-left of the photograph stands a single snowflake. Click on the picture so you can fully appreciate the shape and detail, albeit a little blurry. If I could have seen this individual snowflake with my naked eye, I certainly would have re-aligned the shot and tried to focus in on the snowflake. Until I get super-human vision, that will have to...

The snow in NoVa doesn’t last long, so we had to act fast. Genevieve and I suited up and headed out the door. (Also, we bought a snowsuit just for the Inauguration and I’m determined to wear it out before spring to justify the purchase.) I, of course, brought along the camera to document Genevieve’s reaction. At first she was pretty timid. She simply stood in place, cringing whenever a snowflake hit her cheek. As she got more comfortable she began to shuffle through the snow. Never quite picking up her feet, she left a distinct trail behind her. We made snow angels. Well I forced Genevieve to lie down, moved her arms and feet for her, then picked her up in a slightly agitated state. Then the time to go back inside came… her glove fell off. First of all, I was surprised she had kept her gloves on (she wouldn’t touch them to save her life during the Inauguration). But, I was anxious to see what she thought of the texture and temperature of the snow. However, before I could show her ...

It snowed today. Whenever it snows we toss Bisous onto the back porch. This forces him to walk through the snow to get back inside. I don’t know why, but every snowfall, (well maybe just the first snowfall of each winter because if we tossed him out every time it snowed that would be really mean) we toss him out like some ritual. I guess I like to see his cute little paw prints in the snow. When he is in a playful mood, he actually pounces on the snow. He kicks it up with his front paws then attacks it. Very comical – that cat. Photo by Alisha Photo date: January 27, 2009

I am so grateful for Eric. He is a great spouse and a great father. When I received an invitation to spend the weekend in New York City he encouraged me to go and even volunteered to take off work to watch Genevieve. I was able to fully enjoy the weekend festivities in the city because I knew Genevieve was in good hands. Thanks hun. So, moving on from sappy to sassy… I went to NYC with my friend Amber. Her sister, Rebecca, put on a performance of her dance choreography ( Rebecca Jennejohn Dance ) and we attended. We also saw Mamma Mia on Broadway (in box seats) and sang along while dancing in our seats. We walked along Times Square and shopped the street vendors. The entertainment was fantastic. We ate breakfast at a great café and dinner at a Mediterranean fusion restaurant. We ordered Thai food, NY style pizza, and bagels. The food was fabulous. Everyday we bundled up in as many layers as we could fit under our coats. We huddled together whenever we walked to the subway. The weath...

A: Go to the park. After weeks of chilly weather, we were blessed with a warm afternoon. Also, since Genevieve is only napping for 90 minutes we had some time to kill. We decided to take her new wheels out for a spin (the trike she got for Christmas). The trike was a big hit at the park and Genevieve had a difficult time deciding if she should care or not. Fortunately, she did share and lost all interest in her trike once Will showed up in The Car . Oh well. I forgot the camera so we took these shots when we got home. Eric bought Genevieve a helmet with bumble bees (because she simply gets enough pink so we try to be gender neutral whenever possible and before you criticize remember this and this ). She likes to wear her new “hat” and tries to make the buzz sound. Genevieve displaying her “game face.” Spring can't come soon enough.

Remember when Eric's commuter bike was stolen almost a year ago. Well, he emailed me this today: Sent: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 1:26 pm Subject: Check this out ... I hate to admit it, but I’ve been checking Craigslist & Ebay every other week for a possible sighting of my stolen bike since March. I came across this gem today: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/999628534.html I sent the guy my complete description of the bike (down to the scratches on the fork), but I haven’t heard anything back yet. Don’t want to get my hopes up, because it sounds like the bike has been trashed, but it would be nice to close that chapter of disappointment once & for all. xox Poor guy. Eric really misses that bike and the shiny new rims that attracted the thief in the first place. When he gets home from work today, I'll make sure he gets some quality time with the MacAttack.

We braved the cold today, in order to witness history when Barack Obama took the oath of office. After a very long night on the floor of an office in sleeping bags with a non-sleeping child, we walked to the National Mall. We settled on a location near the WWII Memorial and a jumbo-tron screen. The first half of the mall (east of the Washington Monument to the Capitol) had been closed to anymore spectators before 10:00am. Even with the cold and even with Genevieve's mini-tantrum, (right when Obama was being sworn in) Eric and I were really glad we went into the District. Genevieve has yet to decide but someday she'll thank us for it. It was special to see an Inauguration and even more special that Obama was the president-elect sworn into office. I appreciated his words to respect the constitution and to work together as one nation. We have a lot of work to do, but I am confident that Obama is the right man for the job. I don't think the projected 4 million spectators turned...