Speaking of adulthood...

About 6 seconds after I published the last post, I remembered an article I read last night called "What Is It About 20-Somethings?" And of course I laughed, because it turns out that apparently I fit into that 20-something "I'm-terrified-of-growing-up" category. There have been a number of articles, even books, written on the topic in recent months and years and everyone (Psychologists, sociologists, politicians, church leaders and especially our parents) asks the same questions: What's going on with the 20-somethings? Why are my friends and I leaving our budding careers to go "back to school" or to travel the world for a few months? Why are we still single? Are we just spoiled, self-indulgent adults who are shying away from real responsibility? Why do we need so much time to "find ourselves"?

From the above-mentioned article: "The traditional cycle seems to have gone off course, as young people remain un­tethered to romantic partners or to permanent homes, going back to school for lack of better options, traveling, avoiding commitments, competing ferociously for unpaid internships or temporary (and often grueling) Teach for America jobs, forestalling the beginning of adult life. "

I really wish I knew the answers to all those questions. Mostly because I'd probably win some sort of Nobel Prize if I could sort out all our issues (and I hear that comes with quite a chunk of change), but also because maybe then I'd have more insight into myself. This is a rather expansive topic and I don't want to write a book on the subject (why do you think I picked a Masters program that doesn't require a thesis?), but I want to look at the 5 milestones our author isolated that represent our transition into adulthood.

1. Finishing school. High School. Check. Bachelors? Check. Masters? Give me a couple years. The reasoning behind this one makes sense. We've been in school since we were 4 or 5, so it's logical that once we're done, we've reached adulthood. But what about those of us who finished school, worked for a few years and then went back to school? Is that a sign that we couldn't handle the responsibilities of being an adult? Maybe. A lot of our parents have stuck with their first post-college jobs for 20, even 30 years. So why can't my generation stick with it? Why the rush to "go back to school"?

For me, I decided that when I woke up every morning dreading going into work and secretly wishing for mono just so I could stay home sick for a month, it was time to do something else. I don't think that our parents just magically all loved their jobs. But we've convinced ourselves that our jobs should be entertaining, lucrative and emotionally rewarding and since a lot of us aren't married (see #4), we have the luxury of going back to school or switching careers in search of something that's a better fit. By the time my dad was 25, he had 1.5 children and quitting a job to go back to school would have been a much bigger hardship than it is for me.

And, lest you think I'm trying to rationalize all our behavior, partly I think we go back to school because we're simply indecisive. There are so many opportunities out there that we don't want to commit to just one. Sure, I like my current job, but what if there's something better? What if being a teacher is more rewarding than engineering? Shouldn't I give it a shot?

2. Moving out. Done. Except for a summer after my freshmen year of college and 6 weeks after I graduated, I pretty much moved out of my parents house the August after high school. I don't ever plan on moving back, although I am grateful that the option is still there if I ever needed it (I'm assuming at least. Mom? Correct me if I'm wrong?). I'm not sure if having the "i could always move back home" back-up plan disqualifies me from adulthood.

3. Financial independence. Again, a pretty obvious indicator of adulthood. I have friends that hit this one as soon as they graduated from high school and a few more friends who I suspect will never make it there. If you read my last post (yes, I'm spending far too much of my last day of freedom blogging), you noticed that a lot of the surprising/depressing realizations about adulthood were financial.

4. Marriage. I wish I knew. Like most of the intelligent, beautiful women that I associate with, I do want to be married someday. To be honest, it strikes me as quite remarkable that compatible people ever find each other at the right time, etc. etc., but I have faith and hope that things will work out, that the Lord knows me better than I know myself and that he will guide this one.

I do want to answer probably the most frustrating question I've gotten: "So, are all the women in DC like you, moved out east to pursue a career instead of getting married and settling down?"

The cynic in me replies, "Yep, that's it. And we especially like it when people accuse us of wanting to be eternally single." But I realize that's probably not the best answer. We 20-something women out here did NOT come here to avoid marriage. Believe me, there are thousands of cities all over this country with negligible social scenes if that was our goal. Most of us came here because we are single and because we saw that single-ness as an opportunity to improve ourselves and make a difference in the world. It's not that we're choosing careers over marriage and families. But I think we would all agree that a happy, productive individual is much more pleasant that someone who whines about being single all the time.

I will agree, however, that marital status is an enormous dividing line, especially in the church. We are designated as "young single adults" and then "single adults". More thoughts on that later. But yes, despite careers and education levels, etc., it seems that my friends who are married have been accepted into the church's "adult" club much more readily than we singles have.

5. Children. No way. Not happening until after #4.


I reiterate: I have no real solid answers. I do recognize how easy it is to get self-absorbed in this current situation and I know in my own experience that I'm considerably happier when I'm actively and "anxiously engaged in a good cause" than when I'm trying to figure out my life. I also, however, entirely agree with the author that we all feel the "30 Deadline" creeping up on us faster than we'd like. I'm searching for a way to feel content with my current situation in life but to continue progressing and reaching my goals. And although it still scares me a little, adulthood has its perks, right? I'd love your thoughts.

When did I become an adult?

It really hit home this weekend.

A friend and I wanted to take a quick trip to NYC to see a show, but we didn't want to pay for a hotel, so we caught a 3:30 am bus out of DC. It dropped us off at Penn Station with just enough time to grab a quick breakfast before hitting the theater to pick up our tickets. (Being a student is the best - second row seats for $27!!) We spent a couple hours just wandering around Central Park before our matinee, which is when the sleep deprivation started to kick in. In my anxiety to not miss our ridiculously early bus, I hadn't slept the night before, and I definitely didn't sleep on the bus. Luckily the show was fabulous enough that I stayed awake, but I was more than ready to crash when we boarded the bus back to DC at 7:30 pm. A couple big discoveries: First, a trip like this would have been no big deal in college. I didn't sleep much for those 4 years. Now, it was a little painful. Second, I love that I have friends that will still do crazy things like that with me, even if we pay dearly for it afterward.

Worth it? Absolutely. Bernadette "the BP that isn't destroying the planet" Peters and Elaine Stritch were brilliant in Sondheim's "A Little Night Music".

Other recent "Whoa. I'm really a adult" moments:

• Dealing with identity theft
• Actually owing taxes for the first time
• Getting called "Ms Chamberlain" every day for 3 years
  
• Choosing to stay home on a Friday night because I was too tired from the week.
  
• Replacing all the tires on my car
• Road tripping to visit college friends with 2+ kids
• Someone asked me last night how long I'd been playing the piano. And I realized the answer was TWENTY years. Holy cow.
• I am a "former" teacher
• Cody's wedding & Michael's graduation
• Paying for my own insurance
  

Maybe going back to school will make me feel more like a kid? Here's hoping...

Reasons I love my life this week.

10. Gianduiotti made their way back into my life. If you're not lucky enough to have ever tried these little nuggets of joy, think Nutella. But in bar form. Thank you Luigi and Janine for passing them on. If you ever get a chance to eat one of these, don't think, just do it.


9. My new room is finally going to be all put together. I moved 3 weeks ago to a little basement apartment about half a mile from my old place. With Emily's help, I got my desk moved over to the new place and I finally get to unpack the final box!! Pictures to come when it's actually finished.

8. Watching (or re-watching) some really beautiful movies & documentaries with my roommate. On the list this week: God Grew Tired of Us, Il Postino, The Red Balloon. I would highly recommend God Grew Tired Of Us, about the lost boys of Sudan. It's heart-wrenching and life-changing.

7. I'm getting really excited to start school in the fall. I'm starting some prep work for one of my classes this week and trying to remember how to study. Any suggestions for reading "The Federalist" ??

6. I survived the dentist.

5. Paid unemployment is one of the best things on earth. I get to spend my days reading, shopping, working out, cooking, watching movies, etc. I honestly don't know how I ever had time to work with all the other things that are going on!

4. D.C. has really awesome things to do in the summer. Case in point, the US Air Force Band Summer Concert Series. Every Wednesday and Friday night during the summer, the USAF Band (or different variations of it: the Singing Sargeants, Airmen of Note, etc.) plays a free concert at the Air Force Memorial here in Arlington. The band is incredibly talented and the view of the city is breathtaking.

3. Marvin Hamlisch directing the NSO with Idina Menzel singing the acoustic/Glee version of "Poker Face". This is maybe one of the more ridiculous musical scenarios that I could even imagine. But it was indescribably fabulous. Thanks to the girl who managed to tape at least most of the song. Youtube clip here .

2. I have amazing friends. People that inspire me to be better in so many different ways. Intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, physically. Love you all.

1. In just 3 days (plus a few hours) I'll be heading home to Eagle to spend two weeks with my wonderful family! Camping trip, plenty of yardwork and a WEDDING. Wow.

Roommate of the month award... (and a confession)

This post is going to be a little less introspective than the last, but maybe just as revealing.

I have always prided myself on not being one of those squeamish girls. We all know the type. The girl who jumps on a desk and hikes up her skirt whenever a mouse scurries by (yes, I have seen a grown woman do that. best day of my life). I have no problems dissecting a frog or a fetal pig and on one occasion picked up a black snake to show my (slightly less adventurous) inner city students.

I do have a couple standard phobias. I really don't like heights, especially if there's actually a physical possibility of falling - for example, the ferris wheel in Chicago was considerably more traumatizing than the Ledge at the top of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. I'm also not a huge fan of bats or rats (mice are ok, rats are not).

The latest inexplicable and frankly embarrassing phobia that I've discovered is of this little guy:

(Ewww. It took all the self control I have to search for and post a picture of that thing. And to be honest I might take this post down simply because I can't handle looking at it. )

A few of these charming little creatures have found their way into our bathroom in the past few weeks. Not only are they actually very large bugs and ugly as sin, but they JUMP. I can't think of anything more terrifying while you're using the bathroom or showering than one of these jumping on you. I heard about the first one because Callie had strategically placed a toilet plunger over the cricket to keep it in place until we could get someone to kill it for us. After the first , she got brave and killed the next couple herself. I was sorely disappointed to learn that I am a little squeamish after all.

So. Roommate of the month award goes to my dear camel-cricket-killer-Callie.

And now the confession. A week or two ago as I was washing my face, I noticed a large blackish spot on the wall that wasn't usually there. When I put my glasses on and discovered what that blackish spot was (suddenly in focus and VERY close to my face)... I grabbed my toothbrush and avoided our bathroom for about 24 hours. I should have dealt with it, I know, but I just couldn't. Next time, Callie, I promise.

Shoutout to Great Friends

July 2009 - my Month of Awesomeness - began fabulously with a visit from two of my favorite people. I'm sure you all don't want all the details of the week they were here, but let's just say that I didn't actually think it was possible to fit in everything that we did in such a short amount of time. (recap: lots and lots of touristy DC stuff, a whirlwind 2-day trip to NYC, a small-town parade in Harper's Ferry contrasted by DC's 4th of July Fireworks, the DC Temple and a beach trip). But what I really loved was being with the girls again. We were roommates on and off all through college, and Amanda and I have been friends and travel buddies since high school. I've come to realize lately how blessed I have been in my life to have people that inspire me to be better - both of these girls do that constantly. Motivating me to do the best at whatever I'm pursuing. Setting an example of constantly building a personal relationship with our Savior. Reminding me to always continue learning. And of course still being the friends that can get me rolling on the floor laughing. I have some incredible friends these days, but there's nothing like spending time with old friends.

Me, Amy & Amanda.

A & A. Amanda found this beach volleyball tournament at Coney Island. So fun!

Me and Amanda at Times Square

A and A. We found this awesome little parade in Shepherdstown, WV.

Chris, Me, Russ, Amy, Amanda. I think we forgot to tell Chris that we were going to a church service.

Russ, Amy, Amanda and Chris at the White House.

Amy, Amanda and Me. You can sort of see the Washington Monument in the back.

Amy and me the day she left :(

Summer Vacay

In approximately 288 hours, I will be released from my voluntary captivity and free to enjoy my summer! In case you're wondering, I really do like my job... but when you're this close, you can just taste summer... It turns out that teachers are just as excited for summer break as the students. I didn't realize that growing up - I thought they just LOVED spending all day every day with us. Turns out I was mistaken. Somehow I don't think I'm going to miss the daily arguments: "You stole that pen from my desk!" and "Ms. Chamberlain, Rakim is still singing under his breath". And if I ever start to get nostalgic for the impromptu dance parties that break out in the halls periodically, I'll just remind myself that I'll be back here soon.

But in the meantime... I've got a pretty rockin' summer planned.

First, these two lovely ladies are coming to visit me:

Well, ok, there would be a picture if I could find one. A &A - why don't I have any pictures of the three of us?

We'll be touring DC for a week (just ask them about The List... let's just say I'm a compulsive trip planner) and maybe even making a jaunt up here:

Then at the end of July, Emily and I will be heading here:

and here:

and here:

And on August 13, my favorite sister gets home from her mission to Brazil!

Add in a few camping/backpacking trips, a weekend at Virginia Beach, trips to Kings Dominion or Six Flags, a road trip or two and plenty of extra sleep, it's going to be pretty fabulous.

June 16th can't come soon enough!


P.S. If anyone wants to join me on any of my adventures / come visit me in DC / more suggestions, let me know!

See you soon.

"Shady Acres today?" I read the note passed to me from Heather, all the way across Hofstetter's physics classroom. I spent most of the lunch periods my senior year running with Heather to Albertson's or the local convenience store / cafe for typical high school food. (It grosses me out thinking about the quantities of tater tots we ate that year. And I wish that were a Napoleon Dynamite reference, but it's not. We probably ate tater tots twice a week.)

As I remember it, my friendship with Heather went back to 10th grade Algebra 2. Mr. Daley's 3rd period class. We suffered through a lot during that class. His hour-long slideshow of his trip to Ireland, accompanied by him on the fiddle (remind me never to do that to my classes). A mandolin accompaniment to "y is equal to x plus or minus the square root of..." whatever the rest of quadratic formula is. We knew a lot of the same people and had all the same classes, and it was fairly natural for us to become friends. By our junior year, we were inseparable: Heather, Amanda and me. Shopping, road-tripping, late-night movie dates with Chuck. Powder puff football, prom, morp and weekly "study sessions" for AP U.S. History that usually turned into pool/dart-throwing contests. Heather was a great friend - smart, witty and always ready to have fun.

Then, about a year and a half after we graduated from high school and went our separate ways, Heather was diagnosed with sarcoma. You all don't need the details of the past four and a half years, except to know that through everything, she remained the happy and spirited and beautiful friend I knew. I'm pretty good at complaining about everything wrong in my life, but I never saw Heather do the same. I have been so blessed to have this wonderful woman (friend, example) in my life and I know she will missed tremendously by all who loved her. I know that Heather has moved on from the pain and trials of this life, but that she is living still in the next, and I know that she will be reunited again with her family and friends. I can't answer the "why" question that I've been asking for the past couple of weeks, but I do know that the Lord has a purpose and that he is watching out for both Heather and for those who are left to mourn her.

http://www.legacy.com/idahostatesman/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=126046508

Love you and miss you, Heather. See you soon.

Happiness today

• The smell of Barnes & Noble. And the books.
  
• Sitting on the kitchen counter (or the floor, or anywhere, really) talking to my roommates about just about anything.
• A clean classroom.
• Random texts from people i love.
• The David Archuleta cd that has made it back into my car stereo.
• Using my sun roof for the first time in months.
• Discovering a new class at the gym.
• Great home teachers.
• Planning a trip to the temple with my roommate

Things I do not love quite as much:

• My car getting hit for the 3rd time in a month.
  

I'm Going There Someday...

As a child growing up in the LDS church, I've spent most of my life singing "I Love to See the Temple, I'm going there someday." Over Presidents' Day weekend, I decided to make the trek to Boise to finally make that real! I won't say much out of reverence for its sacredness, but it was a beautiful experience and I'm excited to spend more time there!

I also decided that if I was going to fly all the way out to Idaho, that I ought to just make a weekend trip of it, so I headed down to Utah on Saturday (Feb 14) to see some friends. Jessica & Reece picked me up from the airport and took me back to their apartment in the middle of a Utah blizzard to make breakfast and catch up. I've gotten really bad about taking pictures, so you get a lovely one of me and Jess at the Villa della Regina in Torino. Later on that day, I met up with Alicia, Sarah, Spencer and Amanda at the Timpanogos temple. What an incredible place! The rest of the evening / weekend, I spent with some of my favorite people: Damon, Amanda, Amy and Devon. For the first time in a long time, it was actually really hard for me to come back to DC.

I know, short frizzy hair = not a good look for anyone.

Typical. This is what I get for leaving my camera in Alicia's car. =)

Damon & Me.
Leaving my camera in Alicia's car = very few pictures from the weekend.

Amanda & me.
When we were in Boston and then again in Europe a few years ago, everyone thought we were sisters.

"We Are One"

On Sunday after church, I went down to the mall to check out the "We Are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Designed as a kick-off event to a week full of inauguration madness, the concert was a huge celebrity tribute to our new celebrity president. We didn't get there early enough to get inside the secured area, but we got to see people like Bon Jovi, Jamie Foxx, Stevie Wonder and Josh Groban on the jumbo-trons a mile (literally) away from the memorial. My favorites? U2 and the fact that my kids were up there singing with Beyonce, Garth Brooks and Springsteen. Pretty awesome. You should check it out: www.hbo.com/weareone

On the way to the concert.
Just in case you were confused, the U.S. isn't a military state.

The crowds, just practicing for Tuesday

Jay and me, enjoying the crowds...i mean, the concert

Someone famous on stage. I'm still trying to figure out who it is.

The "O"-nauguration

I'm just going to assume that you all watched the inauguration and you don't need me to explain the process to you (plus I've done it in six different classes over the past 48 hours and the speech is worn a little thin). Before this year, I've never really watched an inauguration before. I just figured that the presidency would change hands (or not) at noon on January 20, and that things would eventually change a little bit. And also, last time we actually had a change in the president, I was 16.

I don't have a job that's cool enough to land me tickets to the inauguration itself, but I do have some friends that are willing to stay up all night and then stand all day in the cold to be a part of history. Louise, Emily and I started our inaugural adventure Monday night. Louise, who works at the National Academy of Science had been given permission to spend the night in her office in Chinatown in preparation for the inauguration, so of course we decided to make a night of it. After running into some friends on the metro (also heading in to sleep in Chinatown) and passing some vendors selling all sorts of crazy Obama gear (the weirdest thing I heard of: "Obama Scent". Whatever that is), we set up camp in her office.

Starting the trek to Louise's office. And looking like we're on our way camping.


Ok, maybe we were camping after all.

After discovering (thanks, Jay!) that we couldn't actually access the national mall from where we were, we joined thousands of other people in the 3rd street tunnel, passing under the mall to reach the south side, where the entrances were open.

How many of you can say that you walked through a freeway tunnel?

Then, after waiting around for several hours and allowing my feet to freeze completely, the program started, and you all know how that story ends.

Two million of my closest friends.

Marci, Lindsey, Alan and me, trying really hard not to freeze to death.

The man himself. Or rather, his image on the jumbo-tron since we were forever away from the Capitol.

I'm pretty excited about an Obama presidency. I mean, he definitely has some policies that I don't like (health care, for instance), but for the most part I think the hope he has brought to the country is a huge step. My biggest concern is this pervasive mentality that he is the Messiah. That all of the sudden, starting at noon on January 20, all the problems that this country faces are about to get better. I hate to break it to you, people, but he's still human. Give it some time. And take some responsibility for yourself. I think President Obama himself gets it, it's just everyone else that's a little off. Oh, and the Civil War? Yeah, that was over in 1865. Not 2 days ago.

La Befana

In honor of Epiphany... (today, January 6)

One of the last weeks I was in Italy, I went with some friends to Bolzano and Trento, in the northeastern part of the country, to experience a European Christmas market. Not quite as ideal as a German Christmas market, perhaps, but close enough to Germany/Austria to have the same feeling. Walking in and out of the stalls, I saw some really beautiful things, but the one that really confused me was an ornament that looks (somewhat) like this:

La Befana, one of my new favorite Christmas symbols.

"As legend has it, the three Wise Men were in search of the Christ child when they decided to stop at a small house to ask for directions. Upon knocking, an old woman holding a broom opened the door slightly to see who was there. Standing at her doorstep were three colorfully dressed men who were in need of directions to find the Christ child. The old woman was unaware of who these three men were looking for and could not point them in the right direction. Prior to the three men leaving they kindly asked the old woman to join them on their journey. She declined because she had much housework to do. After they left she felt as though she had made a mistake and decided to go and catch up with the kind men. After many hours of searching she could not find them. Thinking of the opportunity she had missed the old woman stopped every child to give them a small treat in hopes that one was the Christ child. Each year on the eve of the Epiphany she sets out looking for the baby Jesus. She stops at each child's house to leave those who were good treats in their stockings and those who were bad a lump of coal. "

from: http://www.italiansrus.com/articles/befana.htm

Farewell, 2008!

New Years Eve has never been one of my favorite holidays, but this year I opted to come back to DC and see what the festivities here were all about. My flight got in around 5:00 pm on the 31st, so by the time I got home, I was rushing to shower and get ready to leave again. A group of us got all dressed up and headed to the Carlyle Grand for dinner. I always feel bad for our waiters, since none of us order alcohol, but this time our waiter was LDS too and our drink order made complete sense to him! Pictures of the dinner are forthcoming.

Post-dinner, we split up and I headed with Louise and Lindsay to a New Years party at the Melrose. A picture is worth a thousand words:

Adri & Quinn

Ashley & Louise

Sarah & Me

Auld Lang Syne

(does anyone actually know what that means?)

Happy New Year! I don't know about any of you, but 2008 wasn't a stellar year around here. It wasn't horrible, don't get me wrong; it just didn't stand out as anything special. A failing economy, a long and dragged out presidential race and nothing in my personal life worth mentioning. There have been some good things as well. I've been able to travel home several times and spend time with the fam, both immediate and extended. And both my little sister and little brother left on missions, which has definitely changed the family dynamic, but has been really neat as well. I've made some great friends out here in DC and reconnected with old ones back home. I have a job that I enjoy (most days) and that's fairly stable. Even so, I was pretty excited to see the year coming to a close. (Although it strikes me as funny that we all have this perception that 2009 is going to be completely different than 2008. Mere hours really won't make a huge difference. Interesting to see time as a purely human construct.)

I've never been good at New Year's Resolutions. I usually scribble a couple things down on the 1st or 2nd of January, promptly lose the paper and forget what I'd written down by February 1. But even with my track record, it always seems appropriate to get a fresh start and set some new goals. (And no, this isn't all of them. There are some that just don't need to be published!)

1. Leave the United States. It's been too long, and I need an adventure. Any suggestions?
2. Cook more and eat out less
3. Visit friends in Utah. I haven't been to Provo since I graduated!
4. Develop some new talents or improve at some old ones **drawing, cooking, playing the violin/piano**
5. Be better at staying in touch with family and friends
6. Practice my Italian **and maybe even find a way to use it - see #1**
7. Exercise at least 4 times a week
8. Become more organized **maybe cliche, I know, but necessary!**
9. Be more grateful for the things I have.

Christmas Break highlights!

I love Boise. And as much as I love living on the East Coast, my roots are here. (My mom is really pushing for me to marry someone from Boise so I end up here. :) ) So it's nice to come home for Christmas break / a couple weeks in the summer / whenever else I decide to make the trek. Here are some of the highlights so far:

• Talking to Cody and Paul on Christmas Day!
• Watching my dad and Michael eating the canned silk worm larvae (bundigie) that my missionary brother Paul sent us from Korea.
  
• Playing Rock Band with the Hadfields / hanging out with Damon. (I've missed you!)
  
• Waking Michael up from his Sunday nap. Tonight my mom had gone in his room a couple times to try, but to no avail. Her solution: smear peanut butter on his face and put the dog on his bed to lick it off. Success!
• Reading through some old high school yearbooks and realizing that I can no longer remember about 50% of the people that signed my yearbooks. (Not to mention the other 2000 kids I went to school with!)
• Shopping with Mom. Two very indecisive people = long shopping trips.
  
• Skiing at Bogus Basin. The mountains and skiing are two things that I miss living in DC. Something I do not miss: malfunctioning ski equipment. I need to remember to buy insulated snow pants, gloves without holes in them and boots that actually fit. And maybe I shouldn't use the goggles I got when I was twelve...
• The traditional Chamberlain Sunday afternoon sing-a-long. We all gather around the piano and sing for an hour or two. Les Mis has always been the favorite, but we're working other musicals in to the rotation.
• Mostly just spending time with the people that know and love me best: primarily my family, Amanda, Damon...

Luminaries at Antietam

September 17, 1862 was the bloodiest single day of the American Civil War. The Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, was seeking international recognition for the CSA through a successful campaign on Northern soil. This first foray into the North was also an attempt to recruit Marylanders to join the Confederate cause. The Battle of Antietam (or the Battle of Sharpsburg if you went to school in the South) ultimately was a tactical draw, but was enough of a moral victory for the Union that President Abraham Lincoln gained the confidence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Once a year, generally the first weekend in December, a luminary is lit for each of the 23,000 casualties of the battle. The battlefield is literally lined with these candles, and to sobering effect. That's more people than live in the entire city of Eagle. Killed or injured in a single day. I really can't quite wrap my mind around that. The number of lights was really quite shocking - I only wish the pictures did it justice. Jay, Janine, Scott and I drove up to Antietam late last night to check out the display, and were awed by the beauty and the sadness of the memorial.

You can see the line of cars off to the right.

A close-up of one of the luminaries


And the professional picture.

Sick Day

Wednesday I took a bona fide sick day for the first time in a very very long time. It turns out that a "sick day" is a lot more exciting in theory than in reality. Here's the schedule:

6:00 am - Alarm goes off and I decide not to go to work. Not coherent enough to make the phone call.

7:05 am - Finally get up and call the office to request a sub. Text my co-worker Natalie to have her prep my room for a sub (Thanks, Nat!)

8:10 am - Call Nat to make sure she got my text. Grab a waterbottle & go back to bed

10:40 am - I crawl out of bed and make it as far as the couch. Watch Monday night's "Chuck" (for the second time) and finish writing a test on ancient Egypt.

12:30 pm - Decide I should probably eat something. Tuesday night's leftovers? Perfect.

2:00 pm - Naptime!

3:00 pm - Get up and return to the couch for tv and to write a worksheet for my unit on SE Asia. Sad that I spend my sick day working, I know. I also discovered today (when I passed out the assignment) that I shouldn't write tests/homework assignments when I'm not quite lucid.

4:30 pm - Naptime #2

Somehow the sick day didn't translate to my evening, which ended up as busy as ever. Bridal gown shopping with Diana and Book Club with Jay, Kim, Janine and Louise.

Sick Friday night in, on the other hand, is actually much more exciting. While it might be fun to hang out with friends, evite party small talk is much less enjoyable if you don't have a voice. So...after a nice long afternoon nap and curling up in bed to watch last night's "30 Rock", I made a quick run to Pentagon Row to pick up some Baja Fresh take-out. Then plopped down on the couch with my awesome roommate Amanda to watch a tv (extended?) version of Harry Potter 1 and try out a Serendipity Frozen Hot Chocolate mix. Yum. And the best part is that I don't have to talk.

My best friend this week. Thanks to my awesome VTs for replenishing my supply!

A Day of Thanks

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, definitely one of my favorite holidays (that and Christmas...). Nothing beats eating enough mashed potatoes, turkey and cranberry sauce and pecan pie to feed a small army. The best part, of course, is spending time with family and friends that I love. I haven't been able to be with my immediate family for several of the past few Thanksgivings, including this one, and I'll miss them immensely tomorrow. They are the people I am most grateful for - for putting up with me through those angst-y teenage years, for supporting me in all the decisions I've made, and really just for loving me. I have the best family I could ask for.

I've definitely had some memorable Thanksgivings. Growing up, the extended family usually went out to my grandparents' cabin. We'd fill the weekend with sledding, cross-country skiing and snow ice cream, on the snowy years. And while it wasn't quite as picturesque, snow-less years made cutting down our Christmas tree much easier (Although let's be honest, picking it out is the hard part. Indecisive +perfectionist = bad for picking out a tree). Great memories. Last year, the Pennsylvania Chamberlains invited me to dinner at their house. I got to meet Eden & Mike's twins for the first time, and hang out with Maleah right after her mission. Plus we checked out Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty and Washington's crossing point on the Delaware. Another great Thanksgiving memory. One of the most unusual though, was when I did study abroad in Torino. Not only was I not with my family, but I was in a country completely unrelated to Thanksgiving/pilgrims/etc. Below is part of an email that I wrote about the occasion:

________________

"For Thanksgiving dinner today, Dr. Noble requested that the kitchen make us a real Thanksgiving dinner, with turkey and mashed potatoes, but the head cook told us that they wouldn't be able to find a turkey so they were going to give us turkey breast instead. I thought it sounded fine - a little different than normal, but not bad. It doesn't seem like Thanksgiving here anyway, since it's just the 50 of us who are even aware that the holiday exists. But when we got down to dinner tonight, we walked into the dining area and the table looked just like it normally does, with all the antipasti and salad lined up down the middle, and when they started bringing out the first course, it was risotto instead of potatoes. The risotto had chunks of pumpkin in it, granted, but it still wasn't potatoes. We had all resigned ourselves to a much different Thanksgiving dinner, which was actually good, because then we started thinking more about Thanksgiving and less about the dinner. At our table we talked about what we were thankful for and sang some Thanksgiving hymns (well, they were mostly Christmas ones, but some Thanksgiving ones were thrown in there.). And then, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles... the servers started bringing out bowls of mashed potatoes and dishes of baked squash, and then the cook wheeled out a cart with this really enormous turkey! It was fantastic! Definitely a memorable holiday. I guess it's those ones that are really unusual that tend to stand out in your memory, but still..."The Feast

Good Friends: Danielle, Jewell, me

Duck, duck, duck BEACH

I did it. I broke down and went to Duck Beach. And you know what? I loved it! I'll probably even go next year.

Highlights of the weekend:

Cops showing up at the steel drum party just after I left it.
Running into old BYU friends at church.
The collection plate for the broken table at the NYC house.
Late night hot tubbers outside my window. (Yes, that was sarcasm)
The awkwardness that was the beach fireside.
Watching the very bizarre music video to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at 1:30 am (thank you Dan!)
Joni's amazing cooking.
Early morning run with Sam and Louise (ok, let's be honest, I hate running. But it was good company)
Trying to swim out to the pod of dolphins playing by our beach.
Watching the lifeguard rush out to save Tanner, who was also swimming with the dolphins (and definitely not drowning).
Sonic!
Belting out classic Beach Boys songs on the ride home.
Cursing I-95 N while racing Ryan & Meghan home.

Crabbing!

One of my friends from work is constantly telling me that my friends have cool jobs. Attorneys, lobbyists, linguists, journalists, congressional staffers, etc. But this week's "Coolest Job Award" goes to ... Kellee Koenig! A couple weeks ago, Kellee mentioned that through her connections at work (she's a cartographer), she was in contact with a biologist from UDel who was conducting a census of horseshoe crabs on some beaches in the Delaware Bay. The first time I heard about it, she was planning on including the census in a mid-week campout, which I knew I wasn't going to be able to pull off, so I kind of forgot about it. Plans changed though, as they often do, and Monday night I found myself squished in the back seat of the car between Eric & Ryan on the way to Delaware.

Now, to be perfectly honest, before we got in the car I don't think I could have identified a horseshoe crab from a lineup of 20 of the usual suspects. I did know that the species had been around for millions of years, but that's pretty much all I knew. That didn't last long.

(And see, now YOU know what horseshoe crabs look like too!)

We made it to the beach about 4 hours early, so we decided to hunt down some dinner. The local that we met on the beach kept telling us that "There ain't nothin' in South Bawrs" (and in case you were wondering, his "Bawrs" is actually spelled "Bowers"), so we headed north to Dover.

Liberty Bell replica in front of the state capitol. Just before we rang it and ran.

Our next stop was a fabulous seafood dinner at some local place we passed on the highway. Can't quite remember the name. Favorite part of the meal itself: baked carrot souffle. Anyone have a recipe?

Kellee, me, Eric, Ryan, Randy in front of a giant propeller.

We finally met up with Dr. Hall, who explained to us more about horseshoe crabs and why on earth there were a 100+ people scattered over beaches in Jersey, Delaware and Maryland in the middle of the night to count the things. Do the research or call me if you really want to know. Here's evidence of our adventure:

Me and the horseshoe crab. Upside down.

Kellee, me, Ryan and the horseshoe crab that leaked on him. Ugh.

Spawning crabs. What else can I say?