January has come and gone and we're in the middle of February. WOW it gets cold in DC! But instead of complaining about it, Ashley and I ended up really liking it. When we see FB status updates from friends in Boston, New York, Minnesota, Colorado and their constant sub-zero weather...we really have nothing to complain about. I think the coldest it got here was 9 degrees and that was including wind chill. It also only lasted for about a week. For the most part it has been a mild winter and the weather has generally been in the 20s to the 40s. Oh and we got snow a couple of times this winter which is still wonderful. There are few things more peaceful than watching the snowflakes tumble to the ground.
This month we were able to see how money is made at the
BEP...that's the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, not to be confused with the the
Black Eyed Peas who headlined the Super Bowl halftime show. It was an interesting little tour. We got a
sneak peak at the new $100 bill set to be circulated soon. No samples though. The picture shows that Ashley's about as tall as $1.5 million dollars in stacked hundred dollar bills.
We also visited the
Hirshhorn museum. Again, a smaller museum, not so intimidating. The highlight was Hans Op De Beeck's exhibition of Staging Silence in the Black Box. You can see it on his
website (click on Art Works/2009/Staging Silence). It's projected on a large screen and is really cool in person, a must-see if you're in DC.
Earlier in the month, we headed to New York...mainly to visit friends. Ashley's old dance company,
Backhausdance (watch this), was performing as part of the 2011
APAP conference. It was nice to see them perform at the city center. It was also cool to hear
Sonos sing. Still the highlight was catching up with friends from home - conversations, dinner, drinks, late night snacks, brunch, etc.
A picture of the company taking class in their teeny tiny NYC apartment living room to warm up for their performance.
Sunday morning brunch with Tawny, Jeremy, Avi, Jenn, Amanda and Liane.
We also got to meet two very cute new babies from two different couples in our small group bible study. Zera Grace is John and Anne Marie's baby girl (born in January, pictured below) and Joey is Matt and Amanda's baby boy (born late December, no picture).
We also went on a spur-of-the-moment wine tasting at
Sunset Hills vineyard on a snowy Saturday. We had a great time with great wine and live acoustic guitar music playing in the background. Thanks Ryan and Kelsie for being spontaneous with us...taxes can wait. Everything was covered with snow and the view was amazing. For a little while there, we didn't think our Honda Civic could make it up the long, icy driveway, but Ashley did a good job making sure we did.
This is what the vineyard looks like without the snow. I can't believe I didn't take a picture when I was there. It was gorgeous.
OK...that's all for now. Tune in next time for an update on my mom's surprise DC visit in early February.
