Monday, January 26, 2009

Six Free Valentine's Day Cards!

Get six free Valentine's photo cards with free shipping when you go to (http://stories.scrapbooksetc.com/landings/valentine0209.php) and use the coupon code Valentine at check out. Valid through February 1, 2009.
I still had to put in my CC but it said the total was $0!


I had fun making ours:




Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration Madness

In case you hadn't heard... Richard and I joined 2 million of our closest friends to attend Obama's 2009 Inauguration swearing-in ceremony yesterday.

Reader's Digest Version: Crowded, cold, awesome.


Getting There

Our adventure-filled day began when the alarm rang at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Well, it actually began the night before when we set out our clothes, toliet paper (!), snacks, camera, money, etc. before we went to bed. This ended up being a very good idea as we most surely would have forgotten everything if we rested solely on our early-morning brains.


I was very nervous about the chilly weather as I am getting over a cold, so I may have overdone it a bit on the layers. By the time we left the house, I had on underarmor, jeans, track pants, a t-shirt, a sweater, another wool sweater, a puffy coat, a scarf, ear muffs, a hat, gloves, wool socks, sneakers, and an extra blanket. I felt a bit like Randy from "A Christmas Story." Richard was similarly dressed, but somehow managed looked much more urban and chic than me in his clothes (how DO men do it?).



Our game plan was to drive to Richard's school at Virginia Square, take the metro about 12 stops (no transfer, woot!), get off at the mall, breeze through security and find a spot on the lawn. Sounds easy enough, right? I foolishly thought we would have our seats by 8-ish. Umm... yeah. Didn't happen.


I should say here that I was actually very impressed by the Metro. They managed to accommadate millions of people without any major problems, which is WAYYYY better than anyone expected. But we did end up waiting quite a while for our orange train to come at Virginia Square, which we later found out was because of a "sick passenger." Luckily, our car didn't smell like puke.

We finally were able to get onto a train car! It was insaaane. I have been on the NYC metro during rush hour traffic and was nothing compared to this. I could not move, could not see my feet, etc. Once, the train stopped abrubtly, but I didn't even move an inch because there was literally nowhere to go. It was crazy, and we were glad to get off and be able to breathe again!

Lines, lines and more lines

Since Richard was able to score us some tickets to the swearing in, we were pretty close to the festivities. Upon exiting the train, we were informed to go to the blue section, and followed a "line" which went up the street about 3 blocks and then coiled in on itself in a parking lot. As you may have guessed, the coiling didn't go so well, and as soon as the gates opened, the line dissolved and people just started running toward the security gate. It was pretty frustrating, as there was no direction, no police or volunteers trying to keep people under control or anything. You just sort of had to fend for yourself. And fend we did. We ran like our lives depended on it (well, they actually might have, because if we would have stopped, we might have gotten trampled!)

After securing our spot in line, we waited... and waited... and waited. Luckily, everyone was in a very good mood, and Richard and I met some fun people in line! It was really a festive and patriotic morning. We finally made it through sercurity, and found a decent spot on the lawn (about 1,000 feet away) about 5 minutes before the festivities began (around 10:15-ish). We were right around here:




















Which was a LOT better than being here:



















Well, the rest is history. Obama came, everyone FREAKED OUT (good). Bush came, everyone FREAKED OUT (bad). I felt really bad for him, and unsuccessfully tried to shush the people around me. Seriously, they were just being so rude; we're not 5-year olds. But I digress. After the Inaugural Address was over, we wiped our tears and bolted to the nearest metro stop. Since we were so close (as opposed to people in the latter photo) to a stop, we were able to get on, get a seat and head back home before the crowds hit. Good thing, too, because I heard that after we left, people were waiting in line for over 2 hours to even get on a train!

Basically, it was an awesome day!! I'm glad that I finally decided to go and be a part of such a historic moment. I felt really proud... er, pleased, to be an American and to welcome in a new president. Here's to the next 4 years!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Inauguration and Waxing



Unlike Emily, I'm not having the internal struggle about going to Inauguration (or eyebrow waxing for that matter: never, never, never). My basic argument goes like this: This is going to be a very historical moment by any account. Also, it will be a good prep for this weekend's winter campout with the scouts to stand outside in the cold for several hours. Indeed, I've heard it puts hair on your brow, or something like that...

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Blogs I Haven't Written in the Last Month

-An Encomium to Omaha
-An Encomium to IKEA
-Eyebrow Waxing = Labor
-GRE Prep
-My ardor for arduous (well, not too arduous) cooking, thanks to a special cookbook from Kevin & Emily
-Internal Debate: To attend or not to attend Inauguration?