our girl.

“It's a GIRL. It's a little girl, with scrunched-up petal lips and a tuft of dark hair and hands in tiny fits, up by her ears. All that time, that's who was in there. And it's weird, but the minute I saw her I just thought: IT'S YOU. Of course it is.” 

― Sophie Kinsella

As my belly swells and baby girl's little movements become more frequent (or rather more noticeable), I can hardly suppress my excitement. Already I can't imagine not having this belly...this belly I'd dreamed of for years but didn't expect so soon. The moment the doctor wrote, "Hi Mom and Dad, I'm your daughter!" on the ultrasound screen, I thought my chest would burst with joy. I immediately felt so much closer to the little babe growing in my belly...no longer referring to Baby D as "it" but rather "she." We love her so much already.

I can hardly wait to hold her in my arms. This baby girl I already know. 

----------------

We are on our way to New York City for a few days!! Oh how I love this time of year.

a blizzard blows through Brooklyn.

“I love you because no two snowflakes are alike, 

and it is possible, if you stand tippy-toe, 

to walk between the raindrops. ”
― Nikki Giovanni

 We arrived in Brooklyn in a legitimate, full flung blizzard.
There was something wonderful about 

driving up through the first snow storm of the season in a car full of good friends.

First stop, Grimaldi's for some delicious pizza. 

There wasn't even a line because so few had braved the white stormy weather.

The weekend was wonderful and filled with so much delicious food -

 I so wish Monday hadn't arrived so soon.

The weather cleared up beautifully [although quite chilly] on Sunday 

and we headed to Brooklyn and stopped by the flea before piling back in the car for drive home.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend

and Happy Halloween!!

the road to New York

“Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.”
― Walt Whitman

 Hot chocolate warming my hands, I'm ready to hit the road.

We are going to NYC this weekend with friends - 

a trip that we have been talking about for awhile now.

I can hardly wait to pile into the car 

and chase the changing leaves (and snow?!) North. 

We are leaving sweet Moose at a kennel for the first time.

She had to go to an orientation all day yesterday in preparation...

everyone loved her! But it sure was sad leaving her.

Hope you have a happy weekend!

photo here.

New York on my mind

“I would give the greatest sunset in the world 

for one sight of New York's skyline. 

Particularly when one can't see the details. Just the shapes. 

The shapes and the thought that made them. 

The sky over New York and the will of man made visible."

- Ayn Rand

 Mr. D and I got back from NYC late last night. 

And if you think our eyes look tired in these pictures, you should see them now!
We are exhausted...
but would do it all over again in a heart beat.

Talking with dear friends until 3:00 a.m. | Cuddling their new baby Eloise, the cutest little French Bulldog | Visiting the 9/11 Memorial | Birthday celebrations at Cipriani and the most delicious bread | The High Line - a new favorite | Brunch with friends at Eatery | Meandering through Eataly and swooning over the pasta and cheeses | Subway sounds and a growing new skyline

This weekend was devine. 

But its the friends we saw that made it so fun and worth the while.

Now we are back in the District [much to Moose's delight] 

full of memories and longing for a much needed and highly anticipated nap. 

date night and new seasons.

“What is that you express in your eyes? 

It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.”
― Walt Whitman

 Mr. D took me to dinner last night. We went to Floriana in Dupont. 

The restaurant is housed in an old brownstone and our table for two was right in front of the fireplace.

The food was delicious, but the candle light and the gray-haired waiter who 

described the menu with his hands - 

as if he himself was garnishing the dishes right in mid-air - 

made the night even more delightful.

The misty rain falling in between the white Christmas lights outside 

filled me with such excitement for this new season. 

Mostly, though, just glad I have Mr. D to enjoy it alongside.

--------

Tonight we are going to Opera in the Outfield

and Friday we head to the Big Apple. 

I can hardly wait....

Photo #1 by Stefany Alves
Photo #2 by Husband

cake & flowers

"When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. 

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too."
— Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist 

 Whenever I get a little stressed thinking about the day or the next 6 months...

I think about our wedding day - a reminder that everything always works out, 

a token to just enjoy every minute.

On New Years Eve, the day before our wedding,

we went to the flower market in NYC to pick out flowers

and later that night we walked a couple of blocks to this little bakery on the Upper West Side

where the sweetest old women anxiously whipped together our wedding cake. 

I treasure each and every person we ran into that weekend

and their shared excitement and joy even though we were strangers.

 Hope you enjoy every minute of the weekend -

knowing full well that it works out...

sometimes even better than you could have imagined.

photography by Carin Davis

wet graffiti

  "It always smelled like it was raining outside,

even if it wasn't,

and you were in the only nice, dry,

cozy place in the world."

- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

New York has a distinctive smell to it - even as it rains on heaping piles of snow.
Maybe not a smell so much as it is a feeling.
And so as we walked the streets in the cold rain and sought comfort
in warm store fronts and delicious eateries,
I felt nothing but cozy exploring the city with my husband
and our dear upper-west side friends.

I had a hard time getting up this morning,
but I feel inspired about this week and our weekend trip ahead.

friends in the city.

"Can miles truly separate you from friends... 

If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?"
— Richard Bach

 We are headed to NYC this afternoon 

to visit good friends. 

Can't wait.

Happy Weekend.

 

[picture taken by Carin Davis at our wedding]

one month.

"If I get married, I want to be very married."
— Audrey Hepburn

"No long-term marriage is made easily, and there have been times when I've been so angry or so hurt that I thought my love would never recover. And then, in the midst of near despair, something has happened beneath the surface. A bright little flashing fish of hope has flicked silver fins and the water is bright and suddenly I am returned to a state of love again — till next time. I've learned that there will always be a next time, and that I will submerge in darkness and misery, but that I won't stay submerged. And each time something has been learned under the waters; something has been gained; and a new kind of love has grown. The best I can ask for is that this love, which has been built on countless failures, will continue to grow. I can say no more than that this is mystery, and gift, and that somehow or other, through grace, our failures can be redeemed and blessed."

— Madeleine L'Engle

people

"I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited."

— Sylvia Plath

I have such a fascination of - and an admiration for - people. The things that make them happy... what they count as success. The people and situations that have molded them to become who they are and the things that sent them running the opposite way.

It is the allure of both joyous fulfillment and heartbreaking pain that makes me want to read about, photograph, watch and listen to their unique beholders. The rawness and the truth behind it can be so shockingly beautiful. 

Maybe its the realization that we are all so intertwined and similar, even when we feel as lost and alone as can be.

I will never forget New Years Day on the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Adopted and cherished by strangers.

 --------------------------

Thank you:

• Colin Ball from Liverpool who sat on the bench with the piano man and sang "Hey Jude" to Mr. D and I on Thursday
• the people with the animal hats who waited around for 45 minutes to take a picture with us on the bridge
• for the wedding toast over the weekend from the lovely and courageous group of women in my mom's Bunco Group who have met for 20 years (and only played Bunco that very first time)
• for the woman who gave us the left over minutes on her parking space in Chinatown
• for the man who opened the door and carried the groceries in the freezing cold for the woman with the tennis ball adorned walker
• for the bright, contagious smile of the heart-transplant survivor woman whose blood now pumps through the heart of an 18 year old boy who died in a car accident
• to the 10 year old boy who pointed at us and started the whole line of people clapping as we walked up on to the bridge

Brooklyn Bridge - New Years Day.

"New York! I've always wanted to see it and now I've see it. It's true what they say-- it's the most wonderful city in the world." 

— Betty Smith (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

photos by Carin Davis

moving stillness.

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. 

When images become inadequate, 

I shall be content with silence. " 

— Ansel Adams

I just had the opportunity to look inside Carin's computer 

at all of our wedding pictures. 

She is such an amazing photographer... 

They are even more stunning than I ever imagined. 

I cant wait to share them! 

Thank you so much, Carin! 

handwritten words

"This place where you are right now,
God circled on a map for you." 

-hafiz

words have always meant so much to me

they simultaneously steady my heart and send it racing

they clear my head of clutter, organizing my thoughts

in shapes made of sweeping ink on lines of paper

i wrote my first letter to 'my husband'

and received a letter in return moments before 

I held his hand in a room garnished with 

cherry blossom branches [a nod to the District we love]

and a candle lit glow

back.

"Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky." 

-Hafiz 

My favorite thing looking back at our wedding day

is that I felt nothing but overwhelming joy. 

Everything worked out so perfectly and all came together so seamlessly

[thanks to family and friends who are in huge part the reason for this outcome -

I cant thank them enough]

I never once felt even an ounce of stress. 

The day was focused on our marriage and love and not about a big display or

full of distractions. It was an absolute celebration.

Now that we are home, we are getting back into a new routine

and I am loving every minute. 

We made a big costco run last night 

and now we are set to start planning our big May celebration.

I married the most amazing man and feel so overwhelming blessed.

Married!

This is one of my very favorite pictures - 

We are still on our way home from our honeymoon, 

but I wanted to share some of Carin's amazing photographs from a week ago today.

I cant wait to see the rest of them, but in the meantime I cant stop smiling at these...

We have loved the past 10 days, but I am so excited to get back

and finish making our new little home homey.

Here's to a wonderful new year!

January 1, 2011 - New York City

Best day of my life to date. Everything was perfect. 

Cant wait to share pictures...

but for now we are headed to the Bahamas!!!

So thankful and incredibly blessed. 

she started writing notes...

she started writing notes and keeping them under her pillow,

and then she started writing them on her pillow case,

hoping they would help her have better dreams. And if

she couldn't sleep, 

she could just read them and be reminded of 

something so stunningly beautiful 

that her heart would swell and 

her bones would sigh

and for just a second, the world would not seem like

it was going to crush her. - Michaela Lynch

 We are headed to NYC the day after tomorrow

and in four days we will be celebrating 

something much more than just the new year....

licensed.

"Cut off as I am, it is inevitable that I should sometimes feel like a shadow walking in a shadowy world. When this happens I ask to be taken to New York City. Always I return home weary but I have the comforting certainty that mankind is real flesh and I myself am not a dream." 

— Helen Keller (Midstream: My Later Life)

We ended the week by spending a quick 16 hours in New York...

We had very important [and quite fun and exciting] business to take care of in the wonderful city

but we also made time to eat brunch at Penelope's.

(thank you, sweet kellie)

The hot chocolate was sweet to my lips and warm in my chest. 

There is something so indescribable about the city around Christmas. 

It evokes almost every Christmas childhood memory of mine, 

like holding a snow globe in my hand as white sparkling flakes

fall around Rockefeller Center, 

somehow very much alive in that clear glass ball

with every twist of my wrist.  

Oh new york, my love. 

Thank you Cartier for your wrapped building, and whoever hangs the snowflake at 57th and 5th 

and Rockefeller for your white trumpet-playing angels.  

Please dont ever change.

photo here.

snow in the district.

"Perhaps I write for no one. 

Perhaps for the same person children are writing for 

when they scrawl their names in the snow."
— Margaret Atwood

It is heavily snowing outside in the District -

I would say our first real snow of the year 

and perfect timing for Christmas. 

I left work to get my hair done...and for amazing Corey 

to show me how to do my hair for the wedding.

I wish I could take her with me, but I think Ive got it down.

After, I stepped out into a winter wonderland.

We are headed to New York City for the night 

and back in time for a shower tomorrow! 

What a wonderful time of year...so much to be thankful for.

photo here.

another weeks end.

"Sadly, I part from you;
Like a clam torn from its shell,
I go, and autumn too."
— Basho (Narrow Road to the Interior) 
 

Last night Mr. D surprised me with a trip to my favorite museum in the District

where we listened to a lecture by photographer Tim Hetherington whose film, Restrepo, won the 

Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

The weekend ahead is giving me a funny taste in my mouth

it feels heavy, and yet I feel a since of freedom in its very silence.

A chance to be numb even in warmth

I have filled it to the very brim with occupied time

and as the moments steadily beat along, their consistency brings much comfort.

Hurry home Mr. D. 

both photos found on weheartit.com