Category Archives: Adventures

52 dates // 30

52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // Newport

As is usually the case with vacation, it’s taking me a little bit of time to come back to the real world. And to be completely honest, because of some bad news we received upon our return I’m not sure I want to. But setbacks pass, and if there’s one thing they’re good for it’s making you even more grateful for trips like this.

I have so much more to share from our three days at Folk Fest, but for now I thought I’d focus on some of the quieter moments in Newport. The ones we really, really needed.

These past few months have been all go go go, so the chance to sit back and relax, share a bottle of wine, stare at the water, and bike over to see some of our favorite bands play in one of the most beautiful venues I’ve ever seen was more than appreciated. It was everything we needed to recharge, and as it turns out, build back our strength to weather the storm that was waiting for us back home.

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Essential Newport Folk no. 2

essential newport folk fest playlist no. 2 // a thousand threads
So it might’ve been kind of hard for me to weed this one down (even now I’m still mourning the songs I left off) but that’s because the lineup at Newport Folk Fest this year is so. good.

… and we’re leaving in just 2 days, which means that at this point I’m pretty much doing nothing but staring at the clock and running circles around my cell office, counting down the hours until we leave.

It’ll be hard to top our experience last year… the perfect evenings, the perfect shows, the best luck ever that kept us out of the rain and in the room just a few feet from some of our favorite bands… but I can barely stand to wait. So I made a list.

LISTEN HERE

The Devil Makes Three Old number seven
Lucero Texas & Tennessee
Houndmouth
Hey Rose
Dawes
A little bit of everything
Gregory Alan Isakov
Saint Valentine
Shakey Graves
Unlucky skin
Trampled by Turtles
Are you behind the shining star?
Band of Horses
No one’s gonna love you
Jenny Lewis
The voyager
Leif Vollebekk
Cairo blues
Noah Gundersen
Nashville
Pokey LaFarge
Central time
Shovels & Rope
Birmingham
Hozier
To be alone
Anais Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer
Tam lin (child 39)
PHOX
Evil
Ages and Ages
Light goes out
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Diablo rojo
Deer Tick
The rock
Valerie June
Somebody to love
Mavis Staples
I like the things about me
Jack White
Lazaretto

P.S. You can see last year’s essential playlist here.

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52 dates // 29

52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // A pilgrimage to the original Jimmie Cone
The bonus // An amazing night with friends, old and new

We all fall into our little routines… our happy places, or sometimes just our comfortable places.

Ice cream is most certainly one of ours, especially in the summertime (but let’s face it, always too). Want to do something special but don’t have plans? Ice cream is the answer – or at least an answer we consider – almost every time.

And I’m pretty okay with that. But there are other routines I’m less fond of.

DC has a routine. A go to work, come home, check email before bed and go back to work kind of routine. Maybe you’ll hit a bar somewhere in the mix, socialize with folks who work on the Hill or at a nonprofit like you… talk about work, because who knows who you might meet. Every drink is an opportunity.

… the problem is that I’ve never been one for opportunism.

When I moved to DC to go to George Washington, everyone I met was gunning for the same internships, then the same jobs, and the ones who weren’t seemed even more lost than I was. Trying to find their place in a world that wasn’t catering to them, that might even have felt like it was working against them. A world where the first question you’re asked when you meet someone new is “what do you do” and the second is “where did you go to school?”

But it’s not just the monotony or the intimidation that forces folks back into themselves. In most cases it’s also the fear, or even the true belief, that they are legitimately alone.

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52 dates // 28

52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // Curling up for a night on the couch.

Sick always seems to come at the most inopportune time.

But then when is there ever really an opportune time?

These past few days have been slow for me, moving at half speed while my body forces me to slow down at just the time I wish it would sit back, shut up, and hang tough.

But there is at least something of a silver lining, in that the sick has afforded Mark and I a good chunk of time to snuggle up on the couch. We’ve been able to keep up with the latest crashes and dropouts on the Tour (wo this year), watch a few more episodes of Breaking Bad, and jump into the new season of Masters of Sex… perfect activities for the dark summer storms that have been swirling outside our window all week.

(Do a little anti rain dance to ward off the storms on Saturday for me, will you? We can move our party inside, but the outdoor location is so gorgeous I’d just hate to have to.

… then how would we roast s’mores?)

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52 dates // 27

old rag hike // 52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // A hike up Old Rag in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The snack // Hand pies, a baguette we snagged from the market, a little cheese, and the best apricots ever at the summit.

Yesterday Mark and I put everything else in the world on hold. We packed a bag, pulled on our boots, and drove to the Shenandoah National Park to finally tackle a trek we’ve been talking about for years.

After a 2 1/2 hour drive through some of the most beautiful country around, we started our 5 hour round trip hike straight up the hill — something Mark warned me was coming, but I had no idea.

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52 dates // 26

harpers ferry // 52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // Watching the sun go down over Harper’s Ferry.
The snack // Custard, for the second time that day…

One of my very favorite places, especially in this area, is Harper’s Ferry. We try to get there at least once a year to hike Maryland Heights, wander around the colonial town, and of course, eat some custard at Swiss Miss.

On Sunday we’d planned to make it up to Maryland Heights for the sunset, but made it just part of the way there before the sun started to fade, so we stopped to enjoy the rest of the day on a big rock in the middle of the Shenandoah River, just off the C&O Canal that I still swear we’re going to through-bike, and watch the AT through-hikers, who I still swear we’re going to join…

One of these days, when we can both work on the run, which is just what we both dreamt about as we sat there watching the sun dip beneath the clouds.

P.S. We’re halfway there! The year is flying by so fast.

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52 dates // 25

52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // A late birthday dinner down south.

On Saturday, still dazed from our 12am return from Alt and 6am swim team wake-up call the next morning, I’d just ordered Chinese and settled into a zombie-like state on the couch when Mark — slowly, carefully, so as not to provoke the tired beast — proposed an adventure.

And hey, who am I to turn down an adventure?

Or, more accurately, who am I to turn down an adventure that involves food?

We’ve wanted to visit The Shack for months now, and haven’t had the time to make the 3 hour drive down to Staunton. But given that we pretty much forgot to celebrate that whole birthday thing (and let’s be honest, Father’s Day before it) we were overdue for a little party.

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52 dates // 24

fathers day // 52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // Wine, cheese, and at least an attempt to relax on Father’s Day.

It was the weekend just before a vacation, so you already know it wasn’t exactly serene. Add Father’s Day and a Sunday market to the mix and we found ourselves searching for even the tiniest bit of time to carve out for ourselves.

I won’t say it was much, but in between shooting posts, selling pies, and getting Austin safely to bed, on Sunday evening we popped open a bottle of wine and sat down for a few minutes together.

Sometimes even the tiniest moment can be just what you need.

Earlier in the day, Austin and I gave dad some pretty prints for Father’s Day. Digital photos make it so easy just to file things away that we hardly ever print anything anymore, so we decided to order a few of our favorites for him to put around the house, in his office, or wherever he’d like.

All in all, it was a crazy day, but a good day. And soon we’ll be on our way to Salt Lake for a little bit of work, a whole lot of fun, and hopefully something that looks a little bit more like an actual break. (Although we’ll see.)

Tell me, what were you up to this weekend? Did you find any time to relax?

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Thirty

turning thirty // a thousand threads
I’ve been putting this annual birthday post off, partly because I’ll actually be away next week on my birthday, and partly because I don’t think I’ve quite had the time to let the whole 30 thing sink in.

For most of my life I’ve assumed that the inevitable approach of that birthday that’s not the new black would be terrible. But then, I’ve made a lot of assumptions over the years, and most of them turned out to be far from the truth.

At 20, if I didn’t think I’d be running the world by 35, I at least thought I’d be pretty well on my way.

I assumed I’d get a good job straight out of college. I assumed my first marriage would stick. I assumed I was analytical – as opposed to creative – and would be satisfied with a purely analytical job.

At 20, I tried very hard to fit myself into a box. I assumed that if I was one thing, I couldn’t be another.

I thought I had to choose. But at 30, I still can’t.

The difference is that now I’d never try.

I love politics and the issues I work on during the day. Surprises like the majority leader’s defeat and the ongoing shakeup in Washington give me an almost childlike thrill. I love to dig deeply into a subject and try to understand its inner workings, to monitor negotiations in Iran and attempt, somehow, to predict an outcome… but I also love to spend the whole day in the kitchen surrounded by a mess, with scorched hands and sore feet, creating something I can touch and feel. And I love to see the joy on someone’s face when they take their first bite.

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52 dates // 23

52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // A little Tony’s party with friends.
The food // Much too much good stuff… we brought pie, croissants, and a baguette.

I don’t always catch the Tony’s, but it’s really a shame. As a kid, my dream was to go to Juilliard. I never even applied – and I’ll admit that today I still feel a little pang of jealousy when I see a great show. But I also feel so terribly proud of my friends who have followed their dreams, and so very lucky that life has led me down the road it has. So I have no regrets… but sometimes, I don’t watch the Tony’s. Unless, of course, one of those amazing friends of mine has a viewing party.

We spent our Sunday morning at the market (another great day!) then came home to a little bit of clean-up and a nice long rest cuddled up on the couch. When the evening rolled around, even though the urge to stay right there was strong, we pulled ourselves up, dressed in our comfiest best and headed out to our party. And I couldn’t be happier that we did.

Sometimes we spend so much time avoiding a something, for fear of any bit of discomfort, that we completely forget just how much joy that thing can bring. I never did follow that dream, I found new ones instead, but my love for it will never die. I will always be that nerdy kid hanging out in the green room, singing songs from Rent and cheesing over Stanislavsky. And I will always love watching a good show.

Did you watch last night? How frickin’ awesome was Neil Patrick Harris as Hedwig? I think I might need a trip to New York.

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