Virginia Beach in Photos

Sweet Shawn gets in the waves!


Shawn-N-Mari


Mari in the waves! Aiyiyiah!!!


Shawn with our "small family" bike. (We had a coupon) It's a bicycle built for two -- we rode for nearly two hours!

These are the best of. I'll post the rest at Flickr. ~Mari.

daddy sang bass...

mama sang falsetto...

Shawn and I heard a Guns N Roses song in a pizza joint and he told me the guy was singing falsetto then explained to me what that meant. Then we're listening to my MP3 collection on the drive home and Johnny Cash's "Daddy Sang Bass" came on. For some reason Shawn turned it into "Daddy Sang Bass, Mama Sang Falsetto" and did a funny falsetto voice. I thought we were going to run off the road we were laughing so hard. Maybe we just have weird senses of humour. I think that's OK though. It reminded me of how much I laugh with the people I love most - my mama and little sister.

Overall Shawn and I had a great time at the beach. Whenever I get myself in gear and upload the photos, well I'll have proof. :)

We played mini golf in a "3-D" indoor place - they had this weird paint on everything, you had to wear glasses and there were black lights to make it extra weird. We had fun. I was wearing a black dress though, so the fuzz all over it was obvious and gross. (I know a black dress isn't beachy BUT we'd gone to a fancy schmancy restaurant (Catch 31) and I wanted to look nice.)

We also got to see some street performances - a "famous" yo-yo'er (Shawn has one of his instructional DVDs) and a German juggler/performer who did funny things on a unicycle and with people from the crowd. Plus we had major fun in the water. I'd forgotten about going into the waves. It'd been a while since I'd gone out and gotten so wet AND SANDY.

Reminds me of a poem, I think by Shel Silverstein. I'll look it up. Anyway, I had so much sand in my bathing suit, probably a full pound. It had creeped its way through the lining and was between the layers of fabric. Too gross! Well I can't find the poem. Anyone else remember it? Something like "Sand sand everywhere, but something how can it be...when there's so much sand on me." I may be confusing it with another poem about something else entirely. Oh well.

Photos to follow. I hope on Tuesday. ~Mari.

To the beach

Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose.
- Evan Esar

Shawn and I are leaving for Virginia Beach in approximately one hour. Look for photos and stories next week!

Have a great weekend. ~M.

photo review

I've been reviewing my photo files, moving all the bath pictures, blurry shots and other non-desirable photos out of my screen saver folder. I came across some photos that make me happy, so I'm sharing:


Owen at the water tank on "The Red Hill" (house where my Grandpa grew up) -- there's a picture of my dad standing at the water tank when he was two, a picture of me standing at the water tank when I was two, and now this picture of Owen. Was it really necessary that he be wearing his FUNNY britches?


This is me and Owen. Isn't he precious? Most precious after a bath.


My two boys on a tractor: Shawn and Owen. (This was also on The Red Hill)

~mari.

an oldie but a goodie

what a precious moo hoo!

~mari...

Reduction Tote Bag | Crochet me Magazine

Reduction Tote Bag | Crochet me Magazine

Wasting time, looking at patterns. Here's something I'd like to make. I'm inspired by this silly cocktail ring. oh well. ~m.

A crocheted ring

  This is a ring I crocheted. It's a "cocktail" ring. Pretty funny.

Today was an unhappy day at work, and thinking of different things. I am webcamming now though, so things are looking up. Owen is great. I will be glad to go home for his birthday. ALSO, tomorrow is a new day.

PROMISE I will write an MSCL before this weekend.

~Mari...

How to Make a Pencil and Photo Holder Using Office Supplies - wikiHow

How to Make a Pencil and Photo Holder Using Office Supplies - wikiHow

Totally dude!

Count Down

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sweet skin

even on the computer screen over webcamming, owen's skin looks luminous. he's such a precious kid. starts school aug. 17. woo hoo!

~mari.

I'm dating a DOCTOR!

Actually, dating sounds like such a casual word. How about, I'm in a relationship with a doctor? Hehehehehe. PhD babee! Here are some pics:


Dating a doctor

Pre-defense jitters

This is what FIVE YEARS at Maryland will do to a guy.

Post-defense juggle. He passed!!!

Shawn and his advisers, after the fact.

It was a great day. ~mari.

marginal fiction

I was at an event last week, and I witnessed something and started taking notes. It wasn't particularly newsworthy, but it struck a chord with me. I decided to write it up anyway.

Two former college frenemies were both at the event. They were markedly different in appearance. One was in a fashionable 70s-print wrap dress with perfect make up, sleek long dark hair, a golden tan and spike peep toe heels. She was sitting alone and looked really excited to see a familiar face.

The other girl was less striking. Dishwater blond hair that might have been brushed that morning, wearing a black T-shirt and a grey corduroy skirt, with her work ID badge around her neck -- declaring her loyalty to the company and her complete transformation to DC worker bee. She's not wearing make up and has pale skin, but she's not alone. A colleague is with her.

She is polite to the better looking girl...almost. She answers the delighted, "Hi! How are you?" with a curt, "fine." Then when asked "Where do you work now?" responds with an acronym (the epitome of DC-insider talk). In the last attempt to engage the conversation, the dark haired girl says "Oh great, how long have you been there?" The response is a flat "since graduation." The blonde promptly turns around and talks animatedly with her colleague -- obviously trying to seem more business-like and important than her former college friend.

The taller, more-popular-in-college girl is a bit stunned. She shifts her eyes around, then checks her Blackberry (proof that she's important in this city too). She is silent for the rest of the networking breakfast. To pass the time, she writes the date, name of the event and location in neat block print.

and that's my eyewitness account, only slightly exaggerated...also by the end of the breakfast the plainer girl had turned around and they made up -- swapping cards and making plans to meet, but it makes for a better story for them to just be cold to each other. anyway. ~mari.

chop chop

got a haircut today (monday anyway)... it's pretty short, relative to what i was rocking before. but i wasn't taking care of my long hair, and it was damaged and out of control. hopefully this will be better. i really need to dye it and cover some of the grey.

i played around with my website a bit more, adding back the desktop feature that my little sister likes -- really her idea for me to rip off jk rowling...although mine isn't flash, and it isn't fancy...and there's nothing hidden -- YET!

i am so tired during the days...what would help is if i would just get my butt in bed at a decent hour! being an adult is hard work.

meh.

~mari.

...all is well.

anyone wanting to discuss/analyze/etc. the new harry potter book, please e-mail me.

~mari.

yard sale

hello. here i am blogging from shawn's front yard. pretty funny i must say.

we're having beautiful weather. highs only in the low 80s, and we're not at the hottest part of the day. so you know if i can stand to be outside it must be nice.

i talked shawn into letting me bring out his computer to blog this experience! haha. we've had 20 customers or so, but haven't sold a whole lot. we've got a taker for his mini sofa and chair if they haven't sold... the guy said he'll come get it tomorrow. so that will be good. i've sold a few of my books, but most of my random stuff had already been taken to the Good Will. Oh well.

There was a water main break nearby. Question: how do they gauge that usage? Is it split among all the people in the line?

Now shawn's telling me something about a south park episode...about Butters deciding to flood the world and take over by turning on the hose in the back yard. And the authorities just turn it off. Oh well. Surely that's not what happened here.

We had chicken for lunch, a nice little picnic under the tree. That was fun. There are some nice trees in the front yard so we've been shaded this whole time. There are cool breezes and the sky is a BEAUTIFUL blue, with a few puffy white clouds sailing along. I'm enjoying the great outdoors...sorta. :)

SO, I'm waiting to go home soon to get my Harry Potter 7. It should be waiting for me, assuming Amazon comes through. We'll see though.

More soon I'm sure, as I'll have thoughts about it and will want to jump into the discussion as everyone else!

~mari...

my sister the rock star!

Continual links, but my sister is on the front page of today's Lawton Constitution:

http://www.lawton-constitution.com/ftpage/072007.pdf

Check her out, and DON'T tell either of us about Harry Potter leaks/spoilers/etc.

~mari.

MISS

one week into my non-Owen time... for now.

here's a "lost" photo.





Owen all tuckered out on 4th of July.

Shawn has been juggling to relieve stress. He juggled for my family when they were here, and Owen was FASCINATED. Owen would try to mimic Shawn, moving his arms and whole body up and down with the balls in his hands. Then he'd throw them all up at once, watch them fly every which way and scream "Miss!" Oh he's a good boy.

~mari.

check www.gbgm-umc.org/indiahoma

Parade of Harry Potters

www.parade.com/slideshow/harry-potter/12.html

julyj - update w/ captions

The first day after a visit is the hardest. Here are some photos:


Beth told me where this took place, but I forget...not on the boat.


Owen screaming for me to get him off this canon in front of the Potomac.


Owen sleeping on our Potomac boat cruise.


Playing with the toys at Beverley Park in Alexandria. FUN times.


Snooze in his shades on the way to the airport.


why wear your clothes as a hat? why not? but remember, chicken is NOT a hat...


The sweet little boy and his mama.


on the 4th of july -- on the mall -- playing with his new back hoe...

~mari.

Pessimism

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.

- George F. Will

plasma pong

Shawn's sitting in my kitchen, playing plasma pong. Something mathematical about it. I dunno.

Not really much to say. I'm thinking of starting to write "creatively" again...not just doing things like journaling. I wonder if there's a need for a book of lists. There probably already is such a thing.

Again, I can't recommend StumbleUpon enough. SO MUCH FUN.

~Mari.

a quote

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.
- Miss Piggy

Stumbling

WOW, I am addicted to Stumble Upon. I find so many weird and fun things by just click click clicking my way around the web.

I had my annual review recently, and one thing I wrote was that I want to write more -- in all aspects of my life. I'd like to write a book -- children's, young adult or a novel. I'd like to publish my edited journals. I'd like to write Christian commentary... I dunno. I probably will stay stumbling.

Really tired. Should go to bed early tonight!

~Mari.

a day on the waterfront

Shawn and I went to a festival this weekend. We went on a ride that was crazy and I don't even think had a name. And we went on the ferris wheel.

Here's a picture of us before the crazy ride started:



Here's a picture of the crazy ride, which had arms that spun around then started violently going up and down -- mind you the ride was on wheels and powered by a gas motor it seemed (so non-environmentally friendly I'm sure plus possibly dangerous to boot!)



A picture of us AFTER the ride...a little dizzy. All I remember is screaming, having fun, then NOT having fun. Shawn was next to me saying "Oh No. Oh No!" Hehehehehe. I was also squishing him because of the force of the spinning. So that had something to do with it too!




We also rode the ferris wheel.







And Shawn juggled for the kids:

On Sunday we went swimming. I went to church and Sunday school, so that was a good time. I keep writing things in Blogger and they get deleted. Not sure what's up with that. I guess I'll just get back to it. Time to go to bed. I am ADDICTED to stumbleupon and highly recommend it to anyone who's looking to kill some time online!

~Mari...

Crochet: A blanket for Liz

This is a blanket that I haven't given away yet, but it's for my friend Liz, whose babyshower is Saturday. I've had it ready to go for a few weeks, so it's exciting. This is really just for me to have a record... I need to be sure I have it written down in my crochet book. Another entry to follow shortly.

~Mari.

white flag

www.whatshouldireadnext.com/books/search

Without a doubt, this is the best thing I've "stumbled upon" so far. I do recommend the stumble upon stuff. It's pretty fun.

Enough gibberish. No new pictures really -- waiting for Shawn's camera (which I had to borrow) to transfer its photos to me. I think a CD is waiting for me at Shawn's...just waiting for the weekend to make the transfer.

~Mari...

Tech Prof

Technorati Profile

Recent Reading

"All Too Human: A Political History"
"The Glass Castle"
"The End of Mr. Y"
"PopCo"

Just lately... without getting up to look at my books, off the top of my head.

~Mari...

Klingon baby!!!

O, Me and Beth at church.

v-day flowers

This is the third time i've tried to publish this... maybe it's the charm.

valentine's flowers

Almost a month later and I finally get around to posting them. In a few more weeks I should have some more images to post -- I've crocheted something that I want to display AFTER I give it to the recipient. Right now I'm working on crocheting a lining for my granny cart. Will post images of that when I'm finished too.

Not sure WHY I haven't been updating. I haven't sent a proper update since early January. There's plenty to say... I just don't know. I intend to try to do updates again, say maybe once a month at least... I've got to start though. So we'll see.

~Mari...

PS The flowers are from Shawn. :) They were delivered with the wrong card: "Hey baby, I wish I were there to deliver these personnelly. I have much love in my heart for you." The girls at work thought I was a horrible person for laughing -- but I KNEW my PhD-to-be wouldn't write like that... Moo haha!

Shawn's GRIP

Here's the first picture of the Oklahoma Christmas trip. I have more that I intend to send out links to on my e-mail list... It's just finding the time, hopefully tomorrow for MLK day. ~mari.

MSCL 5.7 Mari Christmas, Baby

Greetings from the land of the oddest weather ever. Here it is December 18, and it is downright sweltering outside!!!

I hope you all are having a great Christmas season anyway and that the weather holds out for all of us travelers in the coming week. I wanted to e-mail a quick schedule of when and where I'll be in OK.

My last day in the office is December 20, and I leave around 3 p.m., at least that's the plan. Then Shawn and I will drive to his hometown for Christmas dinner. We will stay there until Friday afternoon, and we will fly to my hometown on Friday, Dec. 22.

Shawn and I went to the Christmas lights again in DC -- saw the Capitol Christmas Tree and the White House Tree. SO much fun. We also walked around Old Town Alexandria this weekend and it's all lit up and just so Christmassy (despite the bizarre weather!)... So it's good times around here. I bought some purple Christmas lights and Shawn hung them around my balcony glass door, and I have a ceramic little tree that Beth got me at a garage sale a few years ago. That's the extent of my Christmas decorations though.

I've been crocheting up a storm though -- a small snow storm in fact. Next year I hope to learn how to make angels. Gran has to teach me how to get the starch right though.

I've been having some problems with my eyes, nothing major but still annoying. I wear contacts and since starting this job have been working 9 or 10 hour days regularly and sometimes much longer. The majority of my job consists of working at a computer, and while I have a flat screen, I am in a cubicle, so the lighting is harsh and my eyes have taken a beating because of it. I went to the eye doctor (for a check up and also because I was having a lot of trouble seeing with my glasses -- it just wasn't safe to go out wearing them because I was afraid of being an even WORSE driver!). SO, the eye doctor said my corneas were scratched from the contacts and that my eyes were inflamed and irritated, etc. SO, long story short, I got my glasses prescription updated and have been wearing those nonstop plus putting drops in my eyes as often as I can remember. (Plus some gooey-er stuff before bed) My eyes feel better, but they're not completely healed yet. I will probably be able to wear contacts again (and a higher dollar version of them!) in another week or so. I like my glasses, but I don't like having to wear them ALL the time. I will just be glad when my eyes are healed.

In other medical malady news, I went to the dentist for the first time in two years and had my first cavity filled! Yipes. I guess that's good, and I hope that I have no more. It was a small one. I really like the dentist I found. She's about my age and just really nice and likes to educate her patients, which is always nice. She didn't give me a toothbrush after the cleaning though. Isn't that weird? I thought it was mandatory protocol for dentists to distribute toothbrushes. Oh well.

Everything else is rolling right along. I work a lot and Shawn and I play on the weekends. Mostly watching silly movies or doing things around town. We've been shopping a lot lately for Christmas stuff plus we spent this weekend baking/making candy to take to his family.

I've been in a Sunday school class for a couple months now. We're reading a really awful book, but the discussions are better and it's nice to know new people. I haven't seen any of them outside of the class (I guess that would be too friendly of me!), but I enjoy it none-the-less.

I had a great birthday with Shawn and his family. They treated me so nice while we were there for Thanksgiving. We got to play with the kids a lot (they range from 9 months to 10 years I believe) and ate so much I thought we were going to pop. This is my golden year, so I anticipate great things after turning 26 on the 26th. I even got a little charm necklace with those numbers on it. Very funny. I am such a nerd, and I know it so you don't have to tell me. :)

So that's an update on me and all the goings on here. Pretty standard stuff, just plugging along. Send me updates from you too! Would love to know how it's going.

Merry Christmas! Hope to see many of you very soon. Only 4 more sleeps til Auntie M squeezes Baby O!!!

Love, Mari...

birthday necklace

 

Mari's So-Called Life 5.6 (truncated version)

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--I just realized the last "real" update I sent was July 23! Apologies. I have been regularly updating http://silvermari.blogspot.com with pictures, etc. So even when I'm a doof about sending mass updates you can check that. PLUS I always respond to one-on-one e-mails!

So I had an update written out and Firefox shut down, so I'm re-doing this. I should know better. But there you go.

The job takes up my entire life it seems, and it is INTENSE. I work more than I ever thought I possibly could. In terms of how the job is affecting me, it's good and bad. I'm gaining a lot of great experience and the people I work with/for are great. I'm exhausted though and insomniatic -- I can't get to sleep most nights because I'm worried about all the projects that are going on and what I may have forgotten (an example: I left a powercord to a laptop at an event venue…we got it back, but it was still a major stressor!). I work 9 a.m. until as late as 7 p.m. I rarely leave before 6 p.m. (we're supposed to go home at 5:30). But my boss stays late (she gets in around 10 most days) and there is ALWAYS more work to be done. I am a stickler for deadlines, and a lot of the work I do depends on other people, causing me to miss deadlines… It's a struggle but I'm making it.

Physically I haven't been taking the time to work out or really take care of myself other than basic things. I get home at night exhausted and just want to lie down… not work out. So I hope to get started on waking up early and getting the workout over with… I'm such an anti-morning person though so we'll see how it goes. I feel much better when I exercise -- I sleep better, etc. etc. so I just have to keep that in mind.

Last weekend Shawn and I went sailing with Dr. Nemecek and her husband, Glen. My undergrad thesis adviser was visiting DC on a book tour (I think) and so it was really fun to catch up with her. Shawn got to be "Commodore Walker" for a while and take control of the boat. That was exciting!

I got to go home for Owen's second birthday. It seems insane that he's already a little toddler instead of an infant. Life just goes by SO fast. He's growing and doing great, learning to speak. He can say "Mari," although it sound a little like "me-me" it's the BEST sound in the world. I love that kid. He's getting better about talking on the phone and we still web cam every week. It just isn't the same as living near enough to see him more than a few times a year. This is my main turmoil in life: wanting to be in two places at once: home in that life with Owen, Gran, Beth, Mama, etc. and here in this life with Shawn and my job, etc. Really how do you balance the two? Any suggestions are welcome…

My two worlds will collide at Christmas time. Shawn will be coming with me for Christmas. It is insanely scary but I think it will be a good time. I've got my vacation time approved and we have bought our plane tickets. I have to save my pennies to pay for the ticket, and I need to start my Christmas shopping… One thing I have to say is NO TICKLE ME ELMO FOR OWEN! Seriously… I guess that's really Beth's request, and she may differ from my opinion, but I can't imagine anything more annoying…

If you want the "full" version, e-mail me. ~Mari.

9/23/06: Sailing in Annapolis

Mari, Maureen & Jami on the Seville, Maureen & Glen's sailboat. What fun we had! 

Sailing 9/23/06

Shawn at the beginning of our sailing adventure.


Commodore Walker


Mari (w/ Glen in the background)