We're not dead, I promise...

I'm just really, really behind on blogging. I'm going to try and play catch-up over the next few days. Here's the news from just after Thanksgiving:

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were mostly a mad dash to get presents ordered and bought and sent off. Christmas as an adult is not as much fun as it is as a child, but I think it might be more satisfying. It's certainly more challenging. I think I made five different lists to try and keep track of what went where and when it needed to be sent off. But I think I got everything straightened out and all the things in the mail that need to be there. Every day I blessed the fact that the nearest post office is on the first floor of our apartment building--and the UPS store is just the next building over. Shipping things doesn't get any easier than this.

In my hunt for presents I went to Eastern Market in DC. It's one of the oldest market buildings in the country, built specifically for that purpose in 1873, and has been in continuous operation for 137 years. It's got all kinds of produce and flowers and meats to choose from, and the day I went they were selling Christmas trees outside, which smelled divine. The variety of meat products there was kind of bewildering (as was the veritable army of mothers and nannies armed with strollers and small children that were milling around outside the entrance). I think I saw a dozen different kinds of fish and everything from pigs feet to tripe (eww!). I didn't end up buying anything, but I want to go back on a weekend when the arts and crafts vendors are there. I did, however, find my way down to the Eastern Market Pottery, which is in the basement of the building. They sell pieces made by the instructors and offer classes most weeknights and I think it would be super cool to take a class there. Alas, it's expensive and there's a waiting list, and if I get into the Mandarin class I want to take in the spring I won't have time. But it still looked super cool.

I also found a used bookstore across the street from the market and wandered around in there for a while. It's in this tiny old row house and books are stacked up to the ceiling and packed into every available space, including the windows. The filing system is archaic and snarky and there were all sorts of odd nooks and corners. I loved it. If my living space looked like that it would drive me crazy in minutes, but it's sure fun to visit.

I think they used books both as commodities and architectural supplies

Hahahahahaha

This was in the stairwell down to the basement. The sign on the
 right reads: "WARNING: Theft from the Troll's Hole may
 result in, among other things: crooked wall hangings,
 lost keys, bad cell phone reception, impotence,
broken underwire, passive aggressive email forwards
 from Republican family members, vegans, baby theft,
 and ill-fitting shoes."

Let the holidays commence!

Apparently it's been a busy two weeks. Funny how the day to day things add up into a life. Here's what's been going on:

Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a lovely holiday. Ours was pretty great. We slept in (hooray!) and then made traditional Haws scones for brunch via the Homely method, because I am impatient and believe in immediate scone gratification. They were very good and no one was harmed in my first attempt at deep frying, so we'll label that a success. We spent the rest of the morning playing a new game and then went to Aunt Traci's friend Shelly's house for dinner. We didn't know anyone but Traci, but that didn't matter because everyone was super friendly and nice and we had a grand time. I embarrassed myself at corn hole, we ate lots of good food, Mike won the "dollar game", and my pumpkin cheesecake was universally admired (it's my mission in life to replace pumpkin pie with pumpkin cheesecake because it is astronomically better). I'm really grateful for awesome people. They make life worth it.

The most surprising thing that happened last week was that I was asked to help fill out the instrumentation for the Washington Temple Orchestra for their Christmas concert. I don't really know how they got my contact information, but I'm glad they did, because it was super fun. The DC Temple has an annual Festival of Lights with nightly performances in the Visitor's Center auditorium (which I did not know existed), and the Temple Orchestra was performing on Saturday. So I got the music and showed up and played with them and it was awesome. Everyone was really nice and very excited that I was there--apparently they only have one horn on a regular basis--and hopefully I'll be able to continue playing with them next year. I also made friends with the other horn players and learned about some other community bands in the area, so hopefully I will be able to keep playing with another group too.

We hit a milestone yesterday when we had our very first houseguest! Somehow in over three and a half years of marriage no one has ever come to stay with Mike and me until yesterday. This is a little sad. But Rachel came to visit, so all is well, and it was super fun. We ate lots of food (because feeding people is how I show my love--seriously, I don't know another way to do it), played games, and worked on Christmas decorations during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Mike hung lights in the windows and I made Rachel cut out snowflakes with me to hang on the walls and we played "Spot Uncle Glen" during the choir numbers. We finished off the night with the fruit and cheese box Mike's parents sent (because I have the best in-laws ever and nothing you say will convince me otherwise) which was so so tasty. Those are the best pears I've ever had in my life. It was a delightful evening and I'm sad that Rachel had to leave so soon. Visitors are fun! Come visit, people!

Cheers,

Mrs. Hawsmo

Black Magic and Arsonist Pandas

So basically I sit down to blog and can't remember a single thing that happened in the last two weeks. Does this happen to everyone? Is it some sort of weird Pavlovian response to computer screens or writing in general? I don't understand. Here's the few things I do remember:

• Going to the temple. On Veteran's day Mike had the day off so we got to go to the DC temple. We got there right as a session started, so we decided to do sealings instead. It was nice. We got to help a couple with a big pile of family names. I think it really says something about the Church that our most sacred form of worship is made up of service. I thought about that the whole way home. 
• Later that week I went to an orchestra rehearsal for a Christmas orchestra that a friend's stake is putting together. She'd texted me and said they needed more horns, so I was curious and decided to check it out. It was absurd. I laughed the whole way home. If I had been expecting anything other than an enthusiastic but unskilled group of volunteers I might have been disappointed, but that was exactly what they had. We were all crammed in the choir loft of the church, trying to share makeshift stands and sightread songs that weren't always a good choice. Two versions of "What Child Is This" had been passed out--in different keys. We tried to play "Sleigh Ride" (to my undying horror. Ugh, that song) and since we were lacking a percussion section, the conductor's five year old daughter was in charge of manning the clapper to make the whipcrack (and she was actually really good at it). My stand partner was a tiny junior high school boy with glasses and a bowl cut who told me about how playing with three other horns was the most he'd ever played with, and I had to refrain from commenting that I'd been playing horn since before he was born. Oh gosh. It was hilarious. I would have gone back the next week just for the entertainment value, but we have a friend coming into town on the night of the performance and I couldn't make that commitment. Alas.
• We went to another Wizards game. Mike watched the game, I watched the people in front of us slowly lose their verbal filters as they became more inebriated. I think the highlight was when one of them--a dude in a beanie with a scruffy beard--yelled, "Kris Humphries you are a beautiful piece of man!" during some free throws.
• I started learning Mandarin! I found an app that takes you through it step by step (complete with a cute panda who gives you a thumbs up when you get something right and looks like he's gonna set your house on fire when you don't) and I'm liking it a surprising amount. It's like learning a secret code. I can't do much more than say "I am eating a yellow peach" yet, and I'm 600% sure that I won't understand anything spoken to me by anyone who isn't the little arsonist panda, but so far it's really cool and it makes me feel like I might actually be able to learn a new language. 
• I also organized our closet. This doesn't sound like a big deal but I'm excited about it anyway. I had to haul almost everything out and then rearrange all the bits and pieces, but the end result is so much nicer. I think it doubled the available storage space. Mike accused me of working black magic when he saw it all pretty. Now we just have to keep it that way...

This week we're looking forward to Thanksgiving (who isn't!?!) and celebrating with lots of food and pumpkin cheesecake. It kind of snuck up on me this year. Suddenly it's almost December and I haven't even thought about a Christmas list. What do I want this year? (The entire cheese aisle from Costco. What? Don't you?)

Cheers,

Mrs. Hawsmo