nostalgic elation

My friends and family, you've seen me happy before. But photos from Regionals from the end of the club season have just been posted at ultiphotos.com and the photographer, Kevin LeClaire, captured some frames of the happiest I have ever felt in my entire life.

I know that sounds like an exaggeration, considering that it was from an ultimate game, and I feel weird saying that the "happiest moment of my life" was from a sport and not from seeing my family after being abroad for a half year, or getting into college, or graduating from college, or landing my first job...nope. Instead, the happiest moment of my life was scoring the tie-breaking, winning point of the semifinals game of the backdoor bracket at Club Regionals, putting us in place to vie for the last spot to Nationals (which, as you know, we didn't make). It was a risky throw from my teammate into the front corner, where I laid out and caught the disc to win the game for my team.

If that isn't pure joy, I don't know what is. I remember diving, catching the disc, landing, and then realizing what that meant: that we had won the game! I got up and started screaming and jumping around as I tossed the disc in a sort of spirited celebration, and my teammates came screaming and running onto the field. Elation. That's what that was!

It's been three weeks since Regionals...*sigh*...I miss my Renegades.

cameo

This weekend, I spent a lovely, warm, sunny, Saturday afternoon in downtown DC with Sara (again). I have to say, it's been indescribably wonderful having one of my best friends living nearby, though our homes are more than an hour part, so it's not super convenient, but close enough so that I get to see her regularly. Over time, I've increasingly understood that it is not the building, the room, or the address that make a home, but the people and the relationships that you build with those people. So, really, having her nearby has been like being home :)

We went to the NSF's National Science Expo, which was a blast, though it was intended for people about...a third our age. Not only was it fun, we learned some things!

We learned about how light energy can be converted to sound at Cornell University's booth:

We learned how forensic specialists use devices such as this one to test for the presence of certain elements in materials (like our rings), saw ourselves in infrared vision, and observed sun arcs and the second layer of the sun...it was purple!

We also looked at special exhibits at the Hirshhorn Museum, including a cool set of installation pieces called Colorblock:

But the craziest part of our day had yet to begin! After we walked through the Smithsonian Castle and into the gardens out back, we saw a group of people working on a movie. So, Sara asked what they were filming. They were competing in the "48-Hour Movie" competition where they were given a plot and 2 days to make a film. They were using random volunteer participants as characters...and he asked us if we'd be interested! We said yes, of course! Little did we/I know that it would involve a scene with a group of about 10 high school students dressed up in zombie outfits (covered in fake blood). They were very nice and fun. The scene involved me:

1. Lying on the ground surrounded by the zombies:

2. Being lifted into the air as an offering to the gods:

3. And then get catapulted into the air by the zombies:

It was ridiculous. And random. But so fun and definitely added character to our day in the city! And you know what's awesome? When you have an educational, hilarious, sunny, liberating, relaxing day in the city with one of your best friends and you don't have to pay a cent for any of it. I really like Washington, DC :)

published.

This afternoon, my supervisor at work, the Research Director at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, called me into his office in a quiet, rather serious-sounding voice, so I was worried that something was wrong or that we had found some gross error in one of our projects. He told me to pull up a seat and then turned his computer screen towards me.

He had the title page of the final draft of a report that we had been working on pulled up on the screen, and he asked, "Would it be alright if I did this?"

And he typed my name in as the third of three co-authors for the report to be released in the next few weeks.

[ cue internal freak-out, squealing, screaming, clapping, and overall excitement ]

"Sure, that would be great" I replied, calmly.

THAT'S RIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AM OFFICIALLY A CO-AUTHOR OF ONE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN'S POLICY RESEARCH.

I can't tell you what it's about as the content of our reports are confidential until the official release date, but I'll let you know when it's available to the public!

a weekend at Pemberley

Before I moved to the D.C. area, one of my best friends, Sara, and I joked about naming her family's home "Pemberley", after the peaceful rural retreat in Pride and Prejudice. I would spend the weekdays at my own more urban home, and after a long week of work, join her at Pemberley, her "country estate" for a weekend of leisure.

This past weekend, just in time for the glorious arrival of Autumn, I did just that! Sara graciously invited me to her home to spend the weekend, and it was WONDERFUL. I brought an overnight bag with me to work on Friday and then met her at home, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner that we all helped prepare, consisting of avocado, tuna, and vegetable sushi, seaweed salad, and some un-matching but delicious hors d'oeuvres of hummus and tzatziki with crackers and bread. Yum!

The next day, we did some lovely outdoorsy autumnal things like go fishing at Little Hunting Creek:

Go to a pumpkin and mums sale to buy pumpkins to carve, mums to decorate the front door, and dry corn and a hay bale to make an autumnal scene in the front yard of Sara's house:

Drink mulled cider w/rum and carve pumpkins out on the patio to put outside on Halloween:

And make s'mores and toast marshmallows in a fire pit outside, while listening to Sara's brother play guitar:

What a perfectly relaxing, beautiful, delightful weekend!

friends :)

I competed with Renegade at Regionals last weekend and we lost in the game to go to Nationals by 5 points. A painful loss, but what a great season, what a great team. I've come out of this season having learned so much more about ultimate, in better shape than I've been in a long time, and with a whole bunch of new friends. What could be better than that?

Humans really are incredible. I've learned over the years that it's people, friends, family that make me feel that I am at home. I have to say that I miss my family a little as it's been some time since I've seen them, but getting to read their emails, hear their voices, and having the company of some wonderful, beautiful friends, old and new, are enough to make me happy and make me feel like I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.

*This is totally unrelated, but I realized I forgot to share a picture of my new cleats! I broke through my old ones at Sectionals (the inner seams of the body of each shoe broke open), and had to duct tape them together for the second day...about time for new ones! I stuck to the trend of brightly-colored cleats and got white and orange Nike Mercurials. Very comfy! It only took about one practice to break them in and I had zero blisters!