Where's that sound coming from mom?

We listen to a lot of music around here. During the day, I can't stand the quiet and I love tunes, so I put a CD into my Sony CD/cassette player (that I inherited from my older sister back in college) and we listen. We sing, we dance, we play with blocks to tunes. What's best is, when each song starts, Oliver turns around, in the direction of the stereo to find out where the sound is coming from. Once he figures it out or doesn't care anymore he'll go back to what he's doing. When the next song comes on, it happens again. Each time just as curious as the first, looking at me with a face saying, "Who's that singing?"

SLC via RIC

Snowmagedon was fun until it affected our travel plans.

We were supposed to fly out Thursday morning, the day after the east coast blizzard, but our flight was cancelled (along with myriad others). So I called customer service to see what we could do. We had a wedding to attend and didn't want to miss it. After several rings, a five minute session of answering voice activated prompts, and some very static-y hold music, a representative came on the line. You could tell she'd been juggling a lot of people's requests to "get me on a plane right now even if the weather is not fit for flying!" I was doing the same.

After some talk and finding no solution I said, "Can I speak with your supervisor?" in the kindest tone I could muster. I knew the situation proved difficult, but I needed to try the next level in the heirarchy. Supervisor proved very helpful. After some discussion, she was able to get us to Salt Lake by way of Richmond, Virginia (a 2 hour drive from DC). I must admit, I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, I worried about driving on icy streets. But here's a tip: Drive around DC after a huge snow storm during the early morning hours and you'll be going faster than you've ever driven on the roads before (even with the ice!).


Needless to say, our visit to Salt Lake was swell. The wedding was wonderful. The company superb. It was a whirlwind of a trip. Only wish we could have stayed longer and visited with more good people. And I like the Richmond airport. The people are nice, the parking is cheap, and the shuttle buses are much faster.

An attempt at efficiency

Have you ever had those days where you think you've planned to have a perfect day of errands? You've addressed every package you're taking to the post office, you've prepared healthy snacks for your errand-going buddy, you're even looking put together for a nice trip to the clothier. The drive to your first stop is pleasant. You sing to the CD playing. You enjoy the surroundings. "Wow," you think to yourself, "I am really efficient today." Then, as you get out of the car and walk into said first stop, you realize you've forgotten noneother than your wallet. Yep. You need your wallet to complete all errands. Even to pay for the postage on those wonderfully packaged mail items.

We had a nice drive though.

Post edit: ran all errands today (2/18/10) with my wallet. huzzah!

Snowmagedon 2010

Our view in timelapse photography of the biggest snow storm in our area since 1922.



It was neat to watch and cold to venture in. Stores were closed, church was cancelled, and the trees covered in white were beautiful.

Bahh!

That's what I'm saying right now, as I just sent 42 invitations to people to join goodreads. True, some of those 42 I wanted to invite, but the other few dozen or so are people in my inbox that I hardly know or who I only emailed back when I was in graduate school. I can just see them now, "ashley... who? wants to be my friend on goodreads?"

This is not the only time I've clicked on a button too quickly, by mistake, never to be able to undo the action again. I wish the internet had an undo selection sometimes. I am fond of it in Word, iMovie, PowerPoint; why not the internet?

Well, here's to the 42 people I've invited. Who knows, I may get a few new buddies in the mix.

Driving at the speed limit

I remember riding in the car with my mom as a teenager. We'd be going 60 mph. "Mom, go a little faster," I'd kindly request. Her response, "We are not in a hurry to get anywhere. Enjoy the ride."

Now that I am a mother, I find myself driving slower and slower. Not so slow that I'm under the speed limit (goodness, no), but just at the speed limit, in the right lane. In truth, I never thought I'd be here. I fancy myself an aware, focused, fast driver; picking the fastest lanes, making the smoothest of lane changes, and "ace-ing" traffic (or in other words, making up 2 minutes of time by getting in front of the slow Toyota Tercel and going through the yellow light).

But on those days when I'm "not in a hurry to get anywhere" and Oliver's fast asleep, I take it easy. And I enjoy the ride. I drive through neighborhoods and look at houses, or I check out the new park I've heard about. Occasionally, I catch myself thinking, "Get in front of that Acura TSL Ashley, he's crawling," or "speed up now if you want to get on the on-ramp before the slowbee," but then I remember I'm not in a rush and I let the foot off the gas pedal and cruise.

Jess says I've gotten a little lax in my driving, and I'd say it's the truth. Cruising is the opposite of how I've driven all my licensed life, but I now see the value of it. This isn't to say that I don't enjoy rushing downtown, weaving in and out of lanes, beating a Mustang off the line (hey, it's happened...maybe the Mustang wasn't really trying, but it's happened), and making it to a firm party just in time. But now I get where my mom was coming from and I can almost hear my kids in the future saying to me, "Mom, can we go a little faster please!"

Emma on PBS

For those of you who are big fans of some good Jane Austen, Masterpiece's Emma is showing on PBS. You can watch the episodes online. I've enjoyed the first 2 episodes and am looking forward to the last, and possibly the best, episode. Enjoy.

I like your hair Ms.

In September 09, this photo of a lady was featured on The Sartorialist. When I saw it, I must admit I found it uncanny that her hair was so similar to mine. I mean, from what I hear, the people captured in those photos are the creme al la creme of the fashion world. So, what this image is telling me is that I need to work on my clothes...and my smirk.