december

I've never been this bad about blogging before - but I guess I'm just going through a funk. So here is December in pictures. It was a busy month between work, friends, the holidays and everything! 

caramel pretzel making fun with patricia & mary jo!

little blurry - but jeanne & i at walburn's annual holiday party.
 it was a fun night in baltimore with 2 of my favorite college ladies! 

i had another historical moment - going to the 150th anniversary of the battle of fredricksburg! i've gone to 3 civil war 150th's this year! i was able to see a re-enactment and also went to a great talk on the battle by the NPS.

the civil war lover i am - i went to fredricksburg for the 150th anniversary of the battle! there was a great re-enactment! and the first one i've seen! i was standing up on the top of the hill next to the confederates - all those down on the ground are union soliders. 

union troops marching away after the battle. 

I was a promo girl at a Redskins game - when they played the Ravens. With my sorority sisters I handed out some flyers on the new NFL clothing line for women before the game and got the sweet jacket we are all wearing and a ticket to the game! My dad was so mad! He is a huge Redskins fan and it was the 2nd game I was able to go to this year! We had a blast - plus when 4 of you are walking through the parking lot after the game wearing the same jacket you get so many hilarious comments, plus some great self esteem boosting!

with my ZTA sisters at the Skins game! 

It was an amazing game! They came from behind to beat the Ravens! 

Went to my college's alumni holiday party in DC! Saw many of my DC WAC friends all in one place! And saw my kindergarden boyfriend who I went to college with - who now lives in the nova as well!

jackie, katherine, me, kaity & linds

On the way home from the party - Linds & I stopped at the National Christmas tree at the White House!

We also enjoyed seeing all the state trees as well! 

I wrote a post about this - but Linds and I went to Arlington to participate in Wreaths Across America where we placed wreaths at Arlington Cemetery.

wreaths at Arlington

Patricia, Mary Jo & I had a fun night at Zoo Lights! The National Zoo has all these lights and light up animals all over the zoo and we went and had fun walking around seeing all the lights!

Mary Jo and I 

My roomie and I hosted a holiday party for our co-workers! It was a fun night where I made mulled wine and we had a dvd exchange! And lots of our usual laughs!

susan, paul, me, shane, sarah & albert

amy came into town to do research on her thesis! i haven't seen her since august! we had a fun few days - on wednesday night when i picked her up we went to see the capital christmas tree! and then on friday night we did my favorite monuments at night! and saturday before i took her to the airport we went to the portrait gallery!

capital christmas tree 

the often overlooked - george mason memorial, right by TJ

MLK at night

my fav - TJ!

my boy GW at the portrait gallery! we also saw a great exhibit on art during the Civil War! 

I was lucky to to be able to take the whole week of Christmas off. So I went home to NJ on the 22nd and have been enjoying my week at home. I'll be heading back to VA on the first. I had a great holiday with my family.

the annual Christmas Eve - drive around to look at lights! 

Right before we opened presents on Christmas Eve! My parents got me clothes, new boots and a great book on Civil War Art - which was really funny because I just saw the exhibit at the Portrait Gallery! And from my siblings I got kitchen things!

my sister and the fluffy kitten deep in conversation

my parents and i went in to NYC to see the tree and all the decorations!

the rockefeller tree! it is from flanders, nj! which is just down the road from my parents house!

parents and i at rockefeller center 

tree at bryant park! 

momma and i at rockefeller center

So I've been on a BIG national park kick this fall. I've been to a different National Park site every week since October 13th! That is 13 weeks in a row! A few weeks I had multiple sites!  And if you include since moving to DC it would be 16 of 20 weeks. To say I'm obsessed would be an understatement! So I needed to do one while I was home and there are 2 local ones I haven't done yet. So on Thursday my momma and I went to Thomas Edison National Historical Park and Patterson Great Falls National Park!

One of the newest National Parks - #397/398

National Park #59 for me!

 Alexander Hamilton first saw the falls and wanted to use them for industrial power - this was a hub in NJ industrialization in the early 1800s! 

wooo national park #60 for me! 

edison's workshop

 So it was a great December! I'm ending the year with a fun night in NYC with a few HS friends. We are keeping it low key - drinks at Suz's and then dinner and ending it at her apartment with more champagne! And then on the first I'm back to Virginia where things are going to just get crazy with work!

Hope you have a happy end to 2012 and a great 2013! I still need to write my 2012 post and look at my goals for 2012 and figure out what I want to achieve in 2013!

remembrance

So this morning I went with my friend Lindsey to Arlington Cemetery to participate in Wreaths Across America. They place wreaths at each gravesite in Arlington to remember and honor our veterans. They place wreaths at other veterans cemeteries across the country too. 

It was something awesome to be a part of. 

This was the scene at the Arlington Cemetery metro station this morning. It was a madhouse - and kinda claustrophobic.  I was coming down the escalator and had to get around all these people to get out of the metro station. (Though I guess preparing me for January and the inauguration...)

Arlington Cemetery metro station at 8:45am.

Once we got into Arlington we walked around until we found a good spot to help place wreaths. We walked around a lot and I went to places I've never seen in Arlington. 

trucks with the wreaths - they all came from maine

before - this was from section 54

We walked around and ended up in Section 60 - which we didn't know until we were there and realized this is the section where all those killed iraq/afghanistan are buried. Seeing the gravestones marked with birthdates in the 1980s and killed in the 2000s brought tears to my eyes. And even worse was the pictures and items left next to these graves, especially those of the solider and their families/children. It was very humbling to be here. (I posted a link to an HBO documentary which I plan to watch which is all about Section 60).  Also in that section are a lot of WWII, Korea & Vietnam veterans - and that is where I placed my wreaths.

Placing wreaths on graves.

 So I was able to place wreaths on 5 graves - mine were all WWII vets and most of them died in the early 1990s I tried to look up information on these men but wasn't finding anything. But it feels good to think about and honor these 5 men. 

 

After we placed our wreaths we walked around Arlington a little bit more - and it was incredible to see how many wreaths were placed around the cemetery. 

 

I was so glad I decided to do this and take a moment to think about all those who are currently serving and have served our country. 

I have a lot of other things going on and I wanted to take the time to write just about this before I catch up to my other fun! 

Hope you had a good weekend!

so i have a blog?

so i've kinda ignored my blog since thanksgiving. oops! i've been kinda busy, but after being on my computer all day at work the last thing i want to do is go on my computer at home. so here is what i've been up to the last two weeks! starting yesterday!

i'm probably going to get yelled at for this - but fun with patricia & mj! we made caramel pretzels!

my holiday cheer - not many decorations but i had to do something small!

what i came into tuesday morning at work.

went to top golf with coworkers last friday night!

yeaaaaa - i'm not very good at golf... 

fun scavenger hunt at a coworkers house
where i found a george washington candle!

endnote editing at work... but the student journal is at the printers!! 

on my way back to dc after thanksgiving - i stopped at gettysburg

the sunset over the field was incredible

it was kinda cold

the confederate side of pickett's charge

thanksgiving dinner! 

i ran a 5k on thanksgiving to honor a hs friend who died of brain cancer

so those are the things i took pictures of. last saturday i went to baltimore for a college friend's annual christmas party! it was a blast seeing jeanne & walburn and the wassail was awesome as usual! and i rocked at flip cup! and brunch the next morning was fab. this is another reason why i love living close to my friends again!

and this weekend should be good. i'm going to fredricksburg saturday for the 150th civil war anniversary. the actual anniversary is later this week, but the national park is celebrating this weekend. and then sunday i'm going to the redskins-ravens game! because of the zta connection i was asked to volunteer and get a ticket to the game! woooo! i just love going to football games, even if it isn't for my jets!

how have your last few weeks been?