Wandering Through Time with Statues and a Pagoda...

While working a job The Bear discovered a fantastic little nugget of beauty that we had no idea existed inside the beltway of DC. The place is called National Park at Seminary. If you are interested you really should go visit their website. It's history reaches all the way back through 3 wars serving to rehabilitate wounded soldiers, a finishing school for girls in 1894, a lovely Inn in 1887 and finally back to it's original origin as a tobaco plantation. The gathering of architecture is out of this world. There's everything from and English Castle, a Japanese Pagoda to a Dutch Windmill. All I may add are for sale as either condos, townhouses or single family homes. So if you always wanted to tilt toward your very own windmill home, then this is your place! The Bear, Beanie and I decided to get out of the house yesterday and go explore this magical place. I had been hearing about it for days from The Bear so I was eager to get started.

It seems that no matter where you turn as you wander there's a statue of some kind. So awsome.

As we wandered further into the woods it began to feel like we were being swallowed by the secret garden.

I am just so very glad that all these beautiful buildings are being saved. It would be a horrid shame to let them disapear.

It's hard to belive that just a little ways through those trees is the very busy DC Beltway. The sound of the traffic a constant reminder that this land with it's magical buildings and statues are very precious and must be saved.

Little worlds everywhere.

On the left are stone stairs leading up the slope lined by what we belive to be Yews. On the right you'll notice the castle! Yep, that's right, a castle.

I feel like a fairy tale character. Princess rescue anyone?

She's been asleep for a long time.

This image is actually 2 photos stiched together. I wanted to try and give you a sense of what it felt like to wander around there with all the different trypes of architecture all connected together. This area sort of connects the older section with the castle to the newer section that has been turned into condos already.

As promised, here's the Pagoda. Yes it is for sale. Wouldn't that just be so very sweet? Invite people over and when then ask which one are you? Oh, just the first Pagoda on the right!

As we made our way back through the wonderland I couldn't help but walk up to the castle and peak in some holes in the boarded up doors. When I turned around to walk back I saw this image. What girl wouldn't want to live in a castle and wake up to walk out her door every morning to see a wishing well.

This magical tour could not have been possible with out The Bear. Days like these are just one of the many reasons I fell in love with him. You have to love a man who takes you to wander around a castle and secret garden statues, then when the weather suddenly turns dark and starts to hail on you, takes you for coffee afterwards.

No Travel Turkey Day...

Early in the year The Bear and I made the decision that we would not be traveling home for the holidays. There were many factors that were involved in this decision but let me tell you, once you put your foot down, decide it for certain and make the announcement to the friends and family back home, a weight is lifted, the stress is gone and all that you are left with is the feeling of Holiday Season Bliss! I mean I even found myself smiling and humming along to Christmas music in the aisle of the grocery store! Yeah, I know, that is soooooo not like me.

Turkey Day is my all time favorite holiday. I just LOVE the feeling of the season. Thanksgiving is about letting those that you love, know that you love them. You don't need to stress out, spend lots of money or travel hundreds of miles to do that. It's as easy as sending a card or making a phone call. To me Christmas is WAY too commercial and superficial, and though I could really go on and on here and give you my HUGE list of problems with X-mas I will refrain and leave that for another day. I want this to remain a nice post about a delicious turkey and a cute little pup that just loves meat, freshly pulled off the bone meat to be exact. The Bear and I spent the day home alone preparing a delicious meal that we would have the benefit of having ALL the leftovers all to ourselves. Let me tell you, this meal was soooo good.

There is a rule in our home that if there is meat, you will be stared at intently while carving it. This is a stead fast rule that is never broken. She never barks, she never makes a scene, just stares and if you are successfull in ignoring her she'll move to step phase 2 which is to sit on your foot till you trip and drop some on the floor. If that doesn't work then she'll pull out all the stops and give you her most pathetic "Please mummy" face till your heart melts. Trust me, this one always works. What's a mom to do?

Our spread included, Turkey, Mashed Taters, Noodles, Corn, some of the best from scratch gravy ever made and new to us this year some very delicious homemade REAL Cranberry Sauce complete with orange zest! Where is the pie you ask? There must be pie, right? Tell me you had pie! Well yes we did have pie, a homemade pecan pie that is not pictured here because it barely lived long enough to even think about photographing it!

I hope that all of you dear readers had a most wonderful and loving Thanksgiving no matter where you were, who you were with or what you ate. Hugs to all of you.

Now, let the X-mas season begin! Christmas tunes anyone?

With Friends at the Old Mill...

Any of you ever see the movie State and Main? Well if you haven't you should, it's a good little flick. It's a good comedy where the characters are making a film about "The Old Mill". Anyways I digress.

This weekend out dear friends Leah and husband Tim came to hang with us and we went for a little trapes around Colvin Run Mill in Great Falls VA. Leah and I just love to go places and take pictures. We also like dragging out hubbies around with us!

View as we were approaching the mill.
I don't think that you could take a bad picture of this so cute place.

A view of the inside. The light was beautiful, don't you think? They actually run this mill on Sundays and sell the flour and meal in their general store. I bought some Yellow Corn Meal because The Bear promise to make me Corn Bread! Yummy.

Even though I'm sure the hubbies rolled their eyes when they heard where Leah and I wanted to go I think they had a great time wandering around looking at old equipment discovering things we girls were overlooking.

This was the most popular view. There were actually several artists that were set up painting the mill. If you look at the lower right hand corner you can see an artist's canvas on and easle.

I was sad that the wheel wasn't running but that wasn't going to stop me from snapping some pictures.

Old swirly windows always catch my eye.

Sometimes getting a good picture means sitting on a bridge!

I love reflections in water, don't you?

Leah said " Check out the size of this old stump". She got right in and the cameras started snappin away like she was a Celeb and we were the paparazzi. So much fun!

Tim shooting Leah! With love of course :)

Leah took this picture of us checking out the inside of the mill. You can only go inside if you buy a ticket for a tour and we decided not to since it wasn't running. I have to say that I truly love you, dear readers, because otherwise I wouldn't post a pic of my dairy aire! ;)

Another pic by Leah. I was looking at the Holly in order to take a pic of it for my blog banner come winter time.

There is nothing better than getting out with good friends, exploring a new place in the crisp Autumn air.

Thank you Leah and Tim for coming out to play with us. Next time we come to your neck of the woods. Perhaps explore a Vineyard?

A Much Needed Weekend Away...

The Bear had to be in Charleston WV on a Friday afternoon for work, so why not make a long weekend out of it? We had hoped to get away in the Spring but it didn't work out. Since the weekend was already chosen for us, how could we argue with the universe, right? She was basically saying "Here, you have to be out of town anyways, sooooo what's the problem?"

Once Brian was done we had a 3hr drive to find the cabin we rented. By the time we got there it was PITCH BLACK out! It was fun driving the roads, watching it get darker and darker, finding the key in the lock box and getting through the gate. Navigating our way to the front door and trying not to crap my pants as I step inside and search for the light switch while every single shadow seems to be a serial killer. I watch lots of horror movies and this is a strange house in the dark. Before you call me too big a wuss, note that I was the one to walk through the door first and find the lights! ;)

Since we arrived in the dark we had no idea what the view looked like. I woke to the sunrise, and in slippers and a blaket walked out onto the deck and there it was, my view. The morning light was beautiful. There was a warm golden glow to everything and I just breathed it in slow and deep. This is the view of the cabin from the river. It was perfect, very clean and very well stocked.

This cabin really made me feel at home. The Bear and I are not city people at heart or by origin and this cabin was just what we needed to relax and remember who we are. We weren't circling eachother around the apartment, taking turns in the kitchen where we tend to elbow eachother etc.

Brian spent his time fishing among other things.

I spent a whole afternoon painting on the deck. Unfortunately the sun barely came out that afternoon but who cares right? Atleast it wasn't raining. Oh I had sooooo much fun. It had been so very long since I sat and painted, 3yrs I think? I wasn't going to pack all that but Bear said, "get those canvases out of the closet that have been there for YEARS". That's all the encouragement I needed. I'm so glad that he knows just what I needed. He's great that way.

Beanie even found a new pass time. She liked to sit on the futon and observe wildlife from the screened in porch. She's a city girl at heart and prefers to see nature rather than touch it. She spend half her time looking up at you and saying "MOM, I've got nature on me". Now she's a wuss.

The man loves to cook outside, what can I say. The only problem is that he cooks for us as well as the 4 teen age boys that we don't seem to actually have. "I thought you'd eat more" he says. I just look at him lovingly as I wrapped the leftovers up and place them gingerly in the fridge knowing that we won't be eating them since we only have 4 nights here and the Bear has steak, hotdogs, and sausages on the menu along with the 7 pieces of chicken he just grilled. Oh how yummy everything was, so good that I wish I could eat like 4 teen age boys!

Can't beat waking up to views like this.

And you definately can't do this in our apartment. Well we could string one up but then how to get the river in here as well. Hmm, workin on that one.

What relaxing adventures have you had or are planning this Fall?

Let the Fabulous B-day Gifts Be Posted, Two...

I know I know, but let's face it, time gets away from us and before you know it 2 weeks have gone by without another blog post. So before the complaints start filing in here it is, Oh man and is it a good one.

I know that by now you all know the Very Creative Sabrina of Pink Coffee Beans fame. If you haven't checked out her blog lately you really MUST go there and see what she is up to. To my utter giddy delight I recieved a great handmade knitted mug cozy from her. I LOVE green and you all know by now my nickname is Bean. How great is this mug cozy?

Her and I are both HUGE Starbucks addicts. We truly are. So she even included a package of their brand new Via instant coffee so that I could instantly enjoy my mug cozy! Soo very thoughtful of her. She truly is the greatest.

If you don't remember, Sabrina is married to my very musically talented cousin Adam James Hall. He recently took a month long sebatical from his day job to work on yet another album. I had put in my order for a copy as soon as I heard it was going to be coming. What great glee to find that arrived in time for me to enjoy it for my favorite all time season of the year. PLEEEASE support my "Little Bro" and go buy his CD at cdbaby.com

I am so very very blessed to have such drippingly creative people in my family. There are so many ways to be creative that I try to sing loud and proud about any and every bit of creativity I see in people.

Sabrina and Adam, thank you so much for sharing such wonderful treasures with me. I just can't say "I love you" enough.

Let the Fabulous B-day Gifts Be Posted, One...

I have to say that if you put great handmade vibes out there into the world they will return to you ten fold. If you follow this blog even a little, you know just how much I love to send out handmade mail, little sketches, recipe postcards etc. It gives me great joy to let the ones that are near and dear to my heart know that I care and that I'm thinking about them throughout the year.

Well, this year I was the VERY greatful and oh so surprised recipient of some extranary gifts for my birthday this year. I will be taking some time here on my blog to showcase them.

Fabulous handmade gift #1. I returned home one afternoon to find a package leaning against my front door. My birthday being some days away I was left wondering, what is this, who is it from?

Well here she is, my dear readers, in all of her handmade glory... Some of you may remember the post "And the Mystery Gift is..." on Sept 4th where my very talented cousin Noelle made me a purse. Well she surprised me with a new tote! Isn't it just gorgeous? And guess what?

It's reversable! Yep that's right. And it also has a pocket as well. I am so in love. It is my new Library bag and I can't wait to use it. I always take a bag with me to the Library but the problem is, the bag I usually take is WAY too big and I end up bring home WAY too many books. So many that I never actually get through them all before they are due back. So with this great new bag on my arm I'm sure to bring home just right number of book home in style!

Jealous? I know you are. Well, Noelle is really a sewing fool and if you ask nicely and send her a piece of loverly mail I'm sure you too can get something hew and handmade in the mail.

Thank you soooooooo very much my loverly little sis for the special gift.

Be on the lookout for other posts of even more handmade Bday gifts, cause there's more to come!

Adventures with Nathan...

Our nephew Nathan (man I hate saying Nephew, since that makes me Aunt and that's just weeeeeiiiiird) came for a wonderful week long visit. We has so much fun. We went to the Home Goods store and found some fun things that made us giggle.

Really? A pepper grinder bigger than a toddler? It too can be yours for the one time price of One Hundred Big ones. Um, let's just take a picture instead!

We had festive Octobery beers just about anywhere we ate. Tis the season you know *wink*.

Nathan got to ride the metro for the first time. "Man, this isn't so bad." That was Nathan's observation while we rode into DC around 2pm with only 20 other people. His view changed completely once we rode back with ALL the commutors at the end of the day. When he saw all the drones stepping off the metro train only to line up again to catch a bus his comment was this, "They they get home and open a vein".

And that my dear readers is why we work for ourselves! Nuff said.

While in DC, Nathan and I went to the Air and Space Museum. Air Panes! Wee!!!

And here's our bad selves on the National Mall. It's a beautiful day, the weather was perfect, and oh yeah, it was my Birthday! Sweet!

After the Air and Space Museum we walked over to the Capitol for a look see.

Gotta do the shadow wave, right?

Here in the Nation's Capitol we have what I like to call "The Dork Tours". There's nothing that will bring a warm satisfying chuckle to my lips like a group of these aimless wanderers crossing my path. Come on, you know you wanna laugh too!

Talk about a beautiful day.

Some of you may have hear us talk about the new Capitol Visitor Center that was built under ground in front of the Capitol. I had yet to actually go there. Last I saw it it was a gigantic pit under construction when Brian and I were working night shift surveying inside the Capitol building 5 or 6 years ago.

This picture above is of the scale model of the Statue of Freedom that is located on the top of the Capitol Dome. She's pretty cool don't you think?

Since the Visitor Center is below ground they put in cool sky lights that let you view the Capitol Dome from under ground. Also pretty cool.

Back on our side of the river in Virginia, this is the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center located next to Dulles International Airport. While Nathan and I were at the other location in DC we realized that the plane he really wanted to see what actually at this location. So, another roadtrip was born! Neither The Bear nor I had ever been here yet!

This place is HUGE inside! Seriously, they even have the Space Shuttle "Enterprise", no not from Star Trek. ( I know that was what you were thinkin cause that's what I was hopin for, hee hee. Who doesn't love Jean Luc Picard?)

This was the bad boy that Nathan wanted to see. Pretty impressive eh?

I think this pic speaks for itself!

Now this pic sure is a good one! I can't decide wether The Bear's face is one of surprise at me whipping out my camera or if he's gaurding his prize "Americone Dream" ice cream. If you are a fan of Stephen Colbert, and I KNOW that you are, you'll know how hard it is to find this dairy delight!

It doesn't take much to amuze these boys. You take them to dinner out at the Eden Center for some seafood Pho and a bright red shiny table with sparkley stars on it and they are instantly teenage boys giggling and asking for their picture to be taken!

All I have to say is that I really and truly LOVE these boys. Thank you sooo very much Nathan for helping to make my Birthday Week a very very special one. Including the sneaky way you put my Card out when I wasn't looking!