The Littlest Penguin

It’s not dead, it’s pining for the fjords!

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Well, with several months of near-inactivity on this blog, you’d think I would throw my hands up in frustration and just let the thing die. But not this penguin! I kept radio silence for a while partly because it’s tough to know who’s reading out there and I had some things going on that I didn’t want certain people to find out about until I could tell them in person. (My parents, family and friends, my boss. . . ) Also because blogging while stressed and busy didn’t seem like fun to me. Sorry.

However, that means that a ton of stuff has happened and you don’t want a novel of a blog entry, so let’s begin.

Back in November William and I started dating again. (We dated when I was a college freshman. Insert mooshy “we’ve been friends ever since” story here.) He spent Christmas with me in Tennessee, which was really wonderful even though I felt bad leaving him alone all day while I went to work. We started to talk about me finding a job in Virginia, near him, and plans. And then in February I realized I was pregnant, so we sped up the moving and planning parts of our conversations. Changing that much that fast is scarry as hell, and I have to admit I had a few anxiety attacks in the process. Not fun. (Telling your parents something like this, even at age 29, also not fun.) But I had a lot of support from William, from his mom, and from my friends. Mom and dad, too, once they got over the shock and the weirdness.

So my last day at the archives was May 15 and two weeks later my friends, who deserve more thanks than the pizza I got for them, helped me pack up the UHaul. William flew in to help me pack and drive the truck, and get me through a pretty tearful good-bye to everyone over dinner at MidCity. Next morning, Robb and Edie came over to help me throw the last few things into the truck, clean the apartment and load up the kitties (one with me, one with William). The drive up to VA wasn’t too bad, for the humans at least. Paddington and Anselm hardly came out of their carriers the whole time, and Anselm cried for maybe 3 hours striaght. Poor William.

We didn’t have nearly as much help unpacking, but William did a lot and my brother-in-law Paul helped a bunch. I’m still unpacking some boxes, but most everything is unpacked and integrated into the apartment. It’s a nice 2 bedroom place near the Occoquan River – our back windows have a view of trees instead of more apartments or highway. Anselm and Paddington have settled in and have made friends with Fezzick and Sapphire and the four of them keep me company during the day.

On the 29th our families came in and William and I did an itty-bitty exchange of vows at a park on the river. It poured down rain right up until we started, but it stopped in time for some pictures to be taken. My brother-in-law Jared did the vows and I wrote the short service. The dress I wore wasn’t the one I was hoping to, but it was still pretty and William looked very handsome in his suit. The we all went to Madigan’s next to the park and had a really nice dinner together. Mom and dad gave us two nights in a bed and breakfast in Manassas. The place was beautiful and the hosts were fantastic. And it got us away from the stacks of boxes at home. We only invited our parents and siblings to the vows, pretty much. Next year we’re planning to have a big reception-style party for everyone else. William sort of wants to run it con-style. We’ll see.

So here we are. I’m still learning the roads around here, and we’re planning a busy July of going to see our families in VA, PA, and FL. But first, I need to finish getting my name changed and there’s a Southeast Meetup that needs to be attended!

That’s not all the news that’s fit to be told today, but I’ll cut this short and blog about Kevin’s wedding and other fun later.

con collapse

Monday, September 1st, 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

A quick couple of photos from Dragon-Con before I zonk out

Joe and Stahl pose with Bad Horse cosplayers

Nick decides he wants to be a pirate wench

Cookie Monster shares his Chips Ahoy with Vader

surrounded by noise

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I’m at home this afternoon with the windows wide open in spite of 85-degree heat. Their is an electric air compressor running loudly somewhere behind me while the repairmen pump the coolant out of my air conditioning unit and prepare to replace it. The Science Hill marching band practice is audible through the window directly to my right, where Paddington occasionally makes shifty noises on the nylon cat gymnasium. Anselm is on my left meowing pitifully to get my attention. Someone else is mowing, probably at the high school with one of those big riding mowers since I can hear it from here. And my little instant message alert is ringing. It’s all very subdued noise, and I have to admit I’m happier hearing all of this than I would have been at work this afternoon. The pain in my shoulder that was nearly cripling me Thuesday, Friday, and some of Saturday isn’t quite gone and being able to move around and lay down at my leisure is nice.

lovely evening

Thursday, January 24th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I just had a lovely evening out with the Tri Wine Bunch wine tasting group. Rucht and McKenna invited me. Dinner was at Sahib and was lovely, with a little bit of wine paired with each of 6 courses. The only truly weird thing was that I knew all of the wait staff by name if not by appearance. *Twilight Zone music*

It’s no cheeseburger…

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 | Uncategorized, fun stuff | No Comments

Oldish photo

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 | Uncategorized, family, friends | 1 Comment

I was going through a friend’s online wedding photos today and found this from last spring. Isn’t he a cutie? There are also a couple of new photos in the Chicago album.

Tropical Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Well, I can’t access the internet from my parents’ because the baby sleeps in the office and I can’t find a wifi signal anywhere, so I’m reporting from McDonald’s. My uncle’s hotel has free wifi but I had trouble connecting. Sad, because I was going to report that I was blogging poolside in 78 degree weather. Tomorrow we’ll be smoking a chicken and a pork loin for Thanksgiving dinner, which will be eaten on the patio.

Friends reunited

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Good to see you again, Amber.

out sick

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments

I had a migraine over the weekend, along with a bunch of other very frustrating events. Homecoming is this week and I’ll try to blog a bit about it and the Cookie Making Session of Doom, but for now I’m going to bed.

Just so you know…

Thursday, August 30th, 2007 | Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The first time you leave a comment on this site I’ll have to moderate it. Subsequent comments should post automatically once I’ve approved you, but first I need to remember to check in on my moderation notices every so often!!

Also, RSS feeds are up for those of you who subscribe to your blogs.