who's that girl?

It's Meghan!

(If you get that reference, then you're my kind of people.)

The classic "self-portrait in bathroom mirror" shot.

Trying without the mirror.

Neither picture is true to the new color (Where's Franklin when you need him?), but you get the idea.

Darker. Richer. Auburn-y-er.

the district

I spent Sunday in DC with these fine people...

... and their parents.

We started the morning off at the Washington Monument.

It's tall.

We then went to the tidal basin where we encountered a sidewalk full of sprinklers. Godsend. When not being sprayed with water we were pretty much dying. The kids, however, were able to sit in the shaded stroller.

Even if it was just made for two.

All 3kids have the same birthday (though the boys are a year older) and there's been some debate over whether Maddie will eventually end up with Ryan or Jack. I think it has now been determined:

Lucky guy, that Ryan.

It was then off to the nearby World War II Memorial where we were instructed to put our feet in the pool by the ranger.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Then lunch. Then children freaking out. Then saying bye to Meredith (hopefully not for another year!). Then driving home.

Then NAP.

friday

This week is really busy - my parents are visiting! and a trip to Boston! and a wedding in New Hampshire! - so I planned ahead with a series of scheduled posts involving the aforementioned picture library.  

I've had 3 pets in my life. 

First there was Orion, the albino cat with one blue eye and one yellow/green eye:

Then there was Shannon, the epitome of a (blonde) golden retriever:

 

Finally, there was Scout, a Siberian husky with a penchant for wolf-like howling:

 

thursday

This week is really busy - my parents are visiting! and a trip to Boston! and a wedding in New Hampshire! - so I planned ahead with a series of scheduled posts involving the aforementioned picture library. 

My friends and I used to be great fans of photo booths. I think this started in Germany were we stumbled across ones that would allow you to reject photos - prior to printing - if you didn't like them. Fancy, no? Anyway, for a while it was the "thing to do" to take pictures in photo booths. Below are the ones I have from the US, which are pieced together from multiple strips (my friends theoretically have the missing ones). I apologize in advance for the PDA ones.

wednesday

This week is really busy - my parents are visiting! and a trip to Boston! and a wedding in New Hampshire! - so I planned ahead with a series of scheduled posts involving the aforementioned picture library. 

Last Thursday I attended a lecture by an Israeli author and journalist, Tom Segev, who discussed his recent book on Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter.

The topic and talk were both riveting, but I found myself thinking that Segev was somehow familiar. Between his look and accent I knew this guy. I was mentally searching through various show and movies and actors, trying to figure out his doppleganger:

(source)

It then occurred to me who he reminded me of: my great uncle John.

First time fishing, with mom and Uncle John.

You may disagree - and even looking at the pictures I do too somewhat - but he's all I could picture after I made the connection. And that accent. That accent was spot on.

tuesday

This week is really busy - my parents are visiting! and a trip to Boston! and a wedding in New Hampshire! - so I planned ahead with a series of scheduled posts involving the aforementioned picture library. 

Let me introduce you to two of my aunts, Peanut (left) and Raine:

(Hopefully I'm not wrong and just awkwardly showing someone else...)

A couple of years ago my Uncle Karoly passed away, which prompted many Housleys to descended upon VA. I was flying into BWI, and my aunts Peanut and Raine picked me up from the airport. Though the occasion for the impromptu reunion was undoubtedly a sad one, I had a ridiculous amount of fun with these women that day. I don't recall the exact stories or events, but I'm left with such a positive impression of my time with them.  Plus it was inspiring to see the strength of the bond these 2sisters share, though they live on opposite coasts.

Returning to OH, my friend Dave picked me up from the airport and I proceeded to regale him with stories from my visit home, including the time spent with my aunts. Peanut and Raine this. Peanut and Raine that.

It didn't take long for Dave to question my aunts' names and ask if my grandparents were hippies. Those of you knowing my grandparents would know that being "hippies" is pretty far from the truth. Beside that, though, I wasn't quite picking up what exactly had prompted the question. What in my story, my weekend had triggered the query? 

Then in dawned on me: Peanut and Raine. Potential hippy names, I suppose. I quickly explained that both were nicknames. That Peanut was actually Susan and Raine was Lorraine (though to be fair, in a verbal telling of the story Raine could have easily been spelled Rain).

So a fun day with my aunts turned into a confusing conversation with Dave, which in turn became a highly amusing story. Well, maybe you had to be there. But my family sure thinks it's funny.

monday

This week is really busy - my parents are visiting! and a trip to Boston! and a wedding in New Hampshire! - so I planned ahead with a series of scheduled posts involving the aforementioned picture library.  

Last Friday some major snow came through. Had I not needed to be in the building that day I would have avoided going in to work, but alas there was much to do. I had a meeting with a guest speaker, the speaker's colloquium, and then I was to go to dinner with said speaker. By the time I left the building at 5pm the parking lot was near empty. 

After 15minutes of clearing off the car, I started to drive to dinner. I didn't get very far. I had to start, stop, and backup numerous times just to get through the parking lot. At this point I was glad there were so few cars (fewer obstacles), but was worried about the lack of people around in case I needed a push...

I didn't and was soon enough on an actual road. There are 2ways off campus: The short way that involves going down a pretty steep hill and the long way that involves, well, more driving in the snow. During previous storms I've always driven to school via the long way (to avoid going up the hill) and driven home the short way (the roads never seemed that bad). I decided to go with past experience and take the short way.

Big mistake. Gravity was not in my favor as I continued to slip and slide my way down. The worst part was not SLAMMING on the breaks. I was riding them a bit, but as you continue to speed up and loose traction every instinct in your body is telling you to hit the breaks. Though that would of course only make things worse. About half-way down the hill I decided going to dinner was just crazy and that I was instead going home.

Upon arrival to my house I stared at my unplowed driveway. This was going to be rough. Many attempts were needed just to clear the incline that sits at the very foot. I was pushing my car so hard just to make it in the driveway. It was ridiculous. I finally got up and then got stuck maybe 10feet in front of the garage. Fantastic. Out came the shovel and I dug my way in.

That's when my neighbor came home (I could have used his help earlier), but I was able to help him get his car tucked away for the night. And then we both joyfully discussed how we were hunkering down for the night.

I tell you all of this to make the following point: Sledding with my brother - which appears to be the goal in the following pictures - would have been a much less stressful way to spend almost an hour in the snow. Though, someone should have probably told me back then that is was summer...

 

 

photo chronicles

I better get on the ball... two whole people have already called me out for not posting yet today. Musn't disappoint my adoring fans! All... two of them.

Last June my mom and I went out to IN to clean out her parents' house prior to an estate sale. There was a lot to get through, but we both walked away with some goodies (e.g., basically every "grown up" piece of furniture in my house). Part of the loot my mom took were slides spanning the gamut from her youth up to the early years of mine, and maybe even my brother's.

This got me thinking that I should gift her a slide/photo converter for Christmas so these pictures could be viewed more easily. An added bonus was that this gift could also be used to convert the 2boxes of slides my parents already had at home. This was important to me because my childhood was on those slides - pictures I didn't often get a chance to look at.

So for Christmas I somewhat selfishly bought my mom a converter for Christmas. As part of the gift, I was also going to spend my time at home scanning some of the images. Coincidentally - and I also think somewhat selfishly - my mom bought my dad a converter for Christmas. I found this out a few days before the holiday and was equally dismayed and amused over the similar gifts under the tree. It turns out that it was actually serendipitous because the scanners performed different functions, that were absolutely necessary for the task at hand (scanning mounted slides, negatives, and actual photographs).

You see, in the week between Christmas and New Years - those 7 measly days - I scanned upward of 3600pictures.

Did you catch that? More than three thousand six hundred pictures. I am the best daughter. EVER.

Those 3slide wheels my mom brought home from IN were nothing compared to the 2boxes of slides and photos my parents already had in the house. PLUS those 3600 didn't even clear the house of everything. I managed to scan everything from about 1967-1990 in it's entirety, but there are still all of my pictures. Here in ME (since there were now 2 in the family, I took a converter with me) I've managed to scan most of 2002-2006 (after which I finally got a digital camera), but I still have all of my pictures from pre-2002 back in Reston, which will be making their way up here at some point. And there are also the "lost" pictures - our trip to Rome, my grandparent's trip to Germany - that are still somewhere to be found.

The point of all this back story is to stay that I now have thousands - literally - of digital pictures available to me (at this point: 6218), and as such I'm going to periodically share some here. 

I introduce you to baby me: (click to embiggen)