284: My POV

Eddie and I returned to Newport News today. He headed out to watch hockey this evening and I opted to stay home in the hopes of being productive. My photo of the day is evidence that I was not successful:

283: Kennedy Center Honors

I AM CERTAIN THAT AFTER THE DUST OF CENTURIES HAS PASSED OVER OUR CITIES, WE, TOO, WILL BE REMEMBERED NOT FOR VICTORIES OR DEFEATS IN BATTLE OR IN POLITICS, BUT FOR OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT.

-John F. Kennedy, On behalf of the National Cultural Center which would come to bear his name November 29, 1962

Tonight I had the pleasure of watching the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony with Eddie, his grandparents and Eleni. It was a wonderful ceremony filled with everything that is great about the arts. I particularly enjoyed seeing the Obamas enjoying the music. I love watching them and feel that they are really getting a kick out of some of the opportunities that have been given to them with the office, including rocking it out to the Bruce Springsteen tribute tonight.

I hope that the Kennedy Center Honors continue for years to come. I love seeing the "old classics" like Mel Brooks and Dave Brubeck and find it odd to think about that artists of my generation will be honored in years to come. While I believe they don't make 'em like they used to, there are still truly great artists, musicians, actors, etc. out there. Which actors or singers will stand the test of time to prove their talent and passion?

Here is a shot of the living room of Eddie, MomMom and PopPop (my loyal reader!) enjoying the show. (Eleni-Sorry you weren't in the frame!)

282: Concrete Jungle at Night

Eddie and I headed into NYC this afternoon to pick up tickets for a show and to walk around a bit. We enjoyed wandering around Central Park and then met up with some family and friends to go see Ragtime. I had seen the show during it's first run on tour and was excited to see the revival. It was PHENOMENAL. As we were getting autographs at the stage door afterwards the actors shared with us that they found out right before the show that they are closing on Sunday! It's such a shame as it is a really wonderful show. So if you are in the New York City area between now and the end of the week, go see the show. There is a coupon code at http://www.broadwaybox.com/ for 45%off tickets.

Here is a shot of St. Patrick's Cathdral, snowflakes and a double decker tour bus:

281: Bowling

This morning was a bowling trip for the Seavers family (minus Karen and Mike, sadly). I am clearly the odd-man out when it comes to these trips as everyone else can bowl really well.....ridiculously well, actually. Suprisingly I did okay today and managed to not embarass myself!

Here is a shot of Kevin:

Reason #93 I love the Seavers Family:

280: Thumbs up for karaoke

Another fun day in Jersey. The rainy weather didn't stop us from enjoying some errands and eating delicious lasagna! I snapped this at the end of the night of Ellen upstairs playing with the karaoke game she got for Wii for Christmas. (I hadn't noticed that I also got the cat in the shot.)

279: Merry Christmas!

After a great day of presents, food and family Ellen (Eddie's sister) and I sat down to "open" our Farmville presents. It was pretty hilarious. I took some "real" photos today but thought that this one was fun. It's of Ellen and I "reacting" to our gifts.

Sidenote: I am very lucky to have married into such a great family. :-)

Merry Christmas all!

278: Christmas Eve Will Find Me...

Eddie and I had a safe (though longer than anticipated thanks to silly holiday traffic) trip up to New Jersey today. We went straight to his aunt and uncle's house for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, mass and presents. The other photographer in today's shot is Kevin, Eddie's brother. Rumor has it that he will be starting a PhotoBlog of his own on January 1st.

268 - 277: Adventures!

It's weird that it has been so long since I've updated this. We got back to the mainland yesterday, flew back to Newport News, ran into the apartment for a few things, got in our car and headed south for Christmas with my parents. We're now back in our apartment just until tomorrow morning when we head up to Jersey for Christmas with Eddie's family.

The cruise was AWESOME. We are heading out early tomorrow and I haven't unpacked and repacked yet so I'll have to keep it brief. Here are some highlights from the last ten days:

268: Leaving Fort Lauderdale

269: Entrance/Stairwell to Phantom Theatre on the Ship

270: Sea-Sick from the crazy waves and eating room service instead of delicious dining room meal.

271: Heading into a set of locks in the Panama Canal

272: Eddie after going through a set of rapids in Costa Rica (it was so awesome!)

273: A view into the main atrium area on our ship....gentleman in the wheelchair in the bottom of the shot was the most obnoxiously loud-trivia cheating-attention hog guest we have ever encountered. Yikes!

274: Belize It Or Not, we only stayed on shore in port for about an hour since we had already been there and weren't doing a tour.

275: The tulip lamp in the stairwell leading down to the Mad Hatter's Ball lounge on the ship.
276: On our way home....a view of our cruise ship from the airport in Fort Lauderdale277: Home for the Holidays: We were at my parents' house last night and today for Christmas. I did my traditional duty of putting the Nativity Scene up. Every year I change the set up but I always have the two little lambs kissing.

Nice to be back posting. My next post will be from the great state of New Jersey.

Happy Holidays!

267: A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

Warning: History Lesson Ahead

I decided that since we were going to be taking a shore excursion through the Panama Canal I should probably read up on it a bit. I remembered that David McCullough had written a book about it and was pleased to find out that our local library's copy was available. I checked out The Path Between The Seas and have read about 200 of the 617 pages. It has been more interesting that I thought it would be. It is truly amazing that the canal was ever completed given the lack of initial organization, the complete underestimation of the money or labor it would take and the terrible health conditions the workers endured. I've been sharing fun facts from the book with Eddie so I figured I'd share some here too:

-Prior to the building of the canal the Panama Railroad was put in. During that time malaria and yellow fever killed countless laborers. Because of the swampy land there was no place to bury the dead. "And so many of those who died were without identity, other than a first name, without known address or next of kin, that a rather ghoulish but thriving trade developed in the shipping of cadavers, pickled in large barrels, to medical schools and hospitals all over the world. for years the Panama Railroad Company was a steady supplier of such merchandise, and the proceeds were enough to pay for the company's own small hospital at Colon." (pg. 37)

-The book also covers some basic information about the Suez Canal as there is a connection with one of its main men. When the canal opened they had inaugural ceremonies. "A Cairo opera house had been built for the occasion and Verdi had been commissioned to write a spectacular new work, Aida." Footnote: "The opera was not ready in time, so the performance was put off until 1871." (pg 54)

-One thing that keeps popping up in this book is descriptions of mustaches, which I guess were in fashion at the time. My favorite so far is about King Victor Emmanuel II : "With his long, elegant figure, his long, handsome face and spectacular Victor Emmanuel mustache-it mast have been the largest mustache in all Paris in the 1870's..." (pg. 60) David McCullough was NOT joking about the mustache. See for yourself:

I could go on and on with fun facts but will leave it at three. I am really looking forward to reading more of the book and even more excited to actually see the area and the canal in a few days! The cruise leaves tomorrow so I will be away from internet for 8 days so the photoblog will be on hiatus. I will (clearly) take a million photos on the trip and will have my Photos of the Day to update when I'm back to an internet connection.

266: Guest Photographer

Today I bring you the work of young Ms. Jai McHugh, daughter of one of my good friends and colleaugues. We were all at a CNU basketball game tonight and she borrowed my camera. She ended up getting some fun shots including this one of the cheerleaders in action:

And just so I get a photo in today, here is Jai with Jonathan at the game. :-)

265: The Blanket That Has Sleeves!

Thanks to our White Elephant/Yankee Swap Holiday Gift Exchange I am now the proud owner of a burgundy Snuggie Deluxe. What does the Deluxe mean, you ask? The Snuggie Deluxe features 50% thicker fleece and two convenient pockets! As much as people have made fun of Snuggies I have secretly wanted one because I usually have a blanket on when on the couch. I was pleased to open up the package to reveal the Snuggie. (It was funny because I had considered a Snuggie when picking out my gift to submit to the exchange.) Thanks Terry!

264: Kings Among Men

Jacqui made her triumphant return to trivia this evening and brought along her husband, Dickie. They are a very cute couple and I snapped this one when they weren't looking (or at least ignoring me). The team tied for first but lost the tie-breaking Rock Paper Scissors so technically we came in second. We're pretty sure we will win the year overall contest because no other team played as consistently (or as well!) as we did.

263: Luke!

Today we had another little visitor to our office. Today it was Luke, who has been featured as a Photo of the Day subject two other times. It's hard to believe how fast he has grown! What a cutie!

262: Just call me Martha

Eddie and I have been working on some crafty Christmas presents. I've really been enjoying it. I always forget how much I enjoy being crafty. I wanted to take a picture of a semi-final product but realized the recipients of the crafts may be readers so I don't want to ruin anything so I snapped this instead:

261: Delicious

Tonight Eddie made Chicken Voila (Garlic Chicken variety) for dinner. It reminded me of dinners in Olde Mill 13A....so tasty! (By the way, the Birds Eye website for Chicken Voila has some really neat family meal ideas including dinner time fun.)

260: Late Night Pancakes

Each year CNU has a Late Night Pancake dinner that is put on for students so they can take a break from studying for exams. Faculty and staff volunteer their time to make the pancakes and bacon, serve, bus tables, etc. It's a really fun time and a neat way to interact with students outside of the classroom. The students attending are asked for a minimum $3 donation that goes to Toys for Tots. This year almost $1600 was raised for the charity, which is awesome.

Today's photo is of some of the tasty bacon (expertly cooked by Eddie, his boss Jerry and my boss Kevin) with Julie (loyal blog reader) waiting to dish it out.

259: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Eddie and I had put up our Christmas Villiage and tree last weekend but had not put up our ornaments yet. We did that this morning and I snapped this quick shot of our crystal snowflake ornament.

258: Kaeona

Former co-worker Kristen came to visit in the office today with her daughter Kaeona who is 11 months old. It's hard to believe that she is already walking as it seems like yesterday that Kristen was pregnant and making us poke her belly. Kaeona is adorable and it was fun to have a little one in the office.

257: Huzzah!

It was a big victory for the Trivia team tonight. We only missed 3 questions out of the 32 that were asked tonight and came in first place. Another exciting part of the night was the fact that I did not smell like an ashtray when I left because Virginia's smoking ban went into effect on December 1st. Love it!

256: I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In

Tonight was the CNU Holiday Tree Lighting in the Library. It's a fun little event with a child of a staff member getting to press the button to light the tree and Santa coming to visit. I took the Santa photos this year, which was amusing. I snapped this as little Julia Larson (daughter of a co-worker of mine) got to light the tree. Very cute.

Sidenote on the blog post title: There was a small vocal ensemble that sang holiday songs before the tree was lit. One was "I Saw Three Ships", which I always enjoy at campus events. Christopher Newport (the man) sailed over to Virginia from England on the Susan Constant (sometimes known as the Sarah Constant), which was one of three ships that came over with the Virginia Company of London. (For you trivia buffs the other two ships were the Godspeed and the Discovery.) Anyways. Long story short, it's neat for the carol to be played/sung on campus given the connection of Christopher Newport with a group of three ships.

255: Reason #2791 I know my husband loves me...

....he buys me Star Trek waffles. :-)