friday goodness.

enough said.

Thanks Meg for sending this gem my way.

ryan's first day of work

Today is Ryan's first day of work in his new job! This is his first job where he has to head to the office each morning and last night he mentioned how this is really his first day of work ever. I felt that we should document this momentous occasion. So in the vein of first day of kindergarden photos, here is Ryan's first day of work:




Go get 'em tiger.



We are so incredibly grateful for this job. Ryan has been job hunting for several months and we really are thankful that this opportunity has come along!

Anyone want to do a marathon?

return to ramen

After a delightful run around Mount Trashmore last night Ryan and I headed to Bottom Dollar to pick up some cheese for our taco dinner. Now, Bottom Dollar is not exactly the most immaculate grocery store I've ever been in, but man do they have some good deals. Last night I found myself with childlike glee when I discovered that Ramen noodles were on sale for 9 cents. Nine cents! Less than a dime! I've had the appropriate period of separation from Ramen -- during finals one semester of college I basically only ate Ramen and Moon Pies (courtesy of an exams care package from Mom) and I haven't been able to tolerate the noodles chocked full of sodium ever since. But last night the prospect of two weeks of lunch costing less than a dollar just seemed too good to pass up. We we bought our Ramen and went on our merry way. Day 1 Ramen lunch here I come.

I am still perplexed, however, as to how they are able to get 7 grams of saturated fat into a package of dried carbohydrates and sodium. Oh, the mysteries of processed food.

(photo via thisnext.com)

snow day

But where are the snows of yester year?

Francois Billon, Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis

After a conference finished at work last week, it was time for a snow day. The Weather Channel was actually calling for snow (100% chance), but in true Virginia Beach style the snow never came. The children of the 757 rejoiced anyways since school was cancelled at the chance of snow. Classic.



Ryan and I had already made plans to head out of town to see some real snow. And by real snow I mean man made snow. Nevertheless, it was white and frozen and it did the trick. I can't remember the last time I went skiing. Probably with Club Snow in high school when I had a crush on Ryan. Please take note of our one picture from the mountain, thank you Ryan for closing your eyes.

mr. fix-it

"Make it work."

-Tim Gunn, Project Runway

One of the many reasons that I love my husband is his incredible ability to fix things. I mean he tore apart our home (in the renovation process) and then put it back together and made it so wonderful. He really is so good at fixing and repairing things.

So when he stepped on his video game headset and cracked it into two pieces, it really wasn't a problem at all. First, he tried super glue. No luck. Then he tried getting me to apply super glue while he held the two pieces of headset together. Apparently two pieces of plastic cannot be attached using super glue. Ryan wasn't discouraged. "Why not tie the headset to my head with my ipod cord?" he thought.

Clearly. Great solution, Ryan. I think I laughed for 20 minutes straight when I walked into the den and saw this:

merry christmas

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

Oh night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O Holy Night, O night divine!

Truly he taught us to love one another,

His law is love and his Gospel is peace.

Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise his holy name.

Merry Christmas!

(images from the National Gallery, December 20, 2008)

commonplace

"Commonplaces never become tiresome. It is we who become tired when we cease to be curious and appreciative."

Norman Rockwell

Have you ever stopped and looked at a Norman Rockwell print? I hadn't until recently. I have memories of a glass cabinet at my grandma's house in Pennsylvania where my Grandpa Russell displayed plates with Rockwell prints and old Saturday Evening Post magazines. I wasn't too interested in them as a kid and don't remember ever stopping to look at them. I wish I had.

In November my dad and I went to the opening of the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Chrysler. My expectations were low. To be quite honest I enjoy scoffing at cartoonish art and prefer the ornate style of Italian Renaissance art -- this is art that is both thought provoking in deeply spiritual ways and also breathtakingly beautiful with delicate, lacy gold details. There is this room in the Louvre, you go up the stairs towards the Winged Victory and then you turn right and go through this corridor lined with incredible Giotto pieces and frescoes and then you enter into this mesmorizing Italian Renaissance room. Each time I find myself in that room I feel small and simple, in awe of the ability of beauty to communicate true, eternal things.

So Dad and I went to see Norman Rockwell and I was taken aback by his work. So simple, yet incredibly communicative and stylized. Commonplace and yet not the least bit trite or cliche. I couldn't quite put my finger on what drew me into the exhibit. Was it his depiction of faces? The way he uses the face as a means of evocating emotion? Certainly that was something I've been thinking about often these past weeks. The paintings recalled faces from deep in my memory -- loved ones, children in need, leaders of our countries. But that didn't seem like the thing that was drawing me in. We enjoyed the exhibit for an hour or so and then decided our ability to appreciate it was saturated and we exited although we had not seen one room in the back was the exhibit.

Tonight we went back to the museum. I was feeling slightly off-kilter, loose ends left undone from work pulled for my attention. The nagging feeling that days are just flying by without acknowledgement as busyness has crept in and pauses and rest and opportunities to notice beauty have been pushed out. The weather was warm, not at all Christmas-like and I have yet to really feel settled into the holidays. These thoughts swirled in my mind as I walked into the Chrysler. The atmostphere inside is always warm and inviting, but this evening felt especially so. The most beautiful evergreen roping glowing with white twinkle lights was draped down the staircases and a tree formed from gorgeous red pointsettas was set to the side in the main room. The wonderfully simply, elegant decorations felt comforting and reorienting. Dad went to get two glasses of wine and we sat and talk and kept saying how pretty the museum looked. We finished our wine and headed into the Rockwell exhibit, into that back room that we had left unexplored during the previous visit.

The room is painted a vibrant yellow and each wall holds a portion of Rockwell's 353 magazine covers. Some of the covers are from actual magazines, mailed to subscribers. They sit in simple frames and they hold still shots of wonderfully American, wonderfully human moments. A girl holding up her prom dress looking in a mirror, a family saying grace before dinner, a young girl self-scrutinizing as a beauty magazine lay open on her lap. I started thinking about these shared moments, about the ways that the magazine images conjured memories from my own life. The anticipation of Christmas as a child, the joys of summer, long car rides torturing my little brother on our way to my grandparents house. It was such a neat experience to walk around this room, to see framed moments and memories and to see things I have not yet experienced which I look forward to. I'm learning slowly that the commonplace is not necessarily cliche, but instead that it is shared experiences and moments. And, I'm learning that a great deal of joy comes from these simple, ordinary moments.

So, may your Christmas season be filled with wonderful, ordinary moments. And may you find great joy and great awe and wonder in each of them.


Ok fine, and may it also be filled with a few beautifully ornate and grand moments as well.

(images via www.normanrockwell.com and nrm.org)