A Decade of Marriage

Thursday was our 10th wedding anniversary. In one way it seems to have flown by; in another it seems like there's never been any time in my life when Rob and I weren't together.

Putting on the Ritz
Rob an I had a leisurely morning at home Thurs before heading to Georgetown around noonish. TD Ernesto was making his way up the Atlantic Seaboard so it wasn't a pretty day; still, it would have been hard to make the trip unpleasant given the occassion and the beauty of George Washington Parkway in full summer foilage. So there we were with our Slurpees and chips, nibbling our way to a couple days of leisure.

The Gtown Ritz-Carlton is beautiful. Its situated just off the intersection of M and Wisconsin, the veritable heart of Gtown commerce, on the C&O canal. Its actually built in the old DC incinerator which provides much of the architectural theme (no, sillies, not trash; the bricks and black heat panels...) for the property. The decor is modern in golds, reds, pale greens; lots of textiles (silk wall coverings...) and deep wood. Absolutely beautiful place with lots of fine modern art. It is actually a place that is completely in keeping with both of our personal tastes.

The lobby is beautiful with lots of couches and tables, a huge non-heat radiating fireplace at one end. Given that it rained all weekend, it provided a great sense of coziness for our visit. I awoke fairly early on Saturday and not wanting to wake Rob, I went to the lobby to read. It was sheer HEAVEN. Quiet, nice music playing a mix of jazz standards and late 60's pop (who was that Brit chick that did "Son of a Preacher Man"? Dusty Springfield?). I had brought a cup of coffee with me and as if by magic (I swear I never saw or heard a service person) it was kept full and hot for the couple of hours I sat there. Oh my oh my oh my. How could I ever go home again?

A great book
I devoured a book while we were away. Its called the The Secret Lives of Bees. I hadn't heard a lot about it, just enough to be a little curious. It was easy to read, nice narrative voice and just a really wonderful tale of individual strength interwoven with wonderful parallel vignettes in the natural and spiritual worlds. Just beautiful and really well done, with plenty of humor. It was that rare gem of the artistic world that gives us something so stunningly sweet it might have actually been made of spun sugar but isn't smarmy; a delicate balance of humor is achieved that never overwhelms the true sentiment. Its like a good red wine... You boys who read this blog might want to put it on your wife/girlfriend's gift list.

Back to work
One of the wonderful things about a long weekend is the resulting short weeks at work. I'll have just two days of work this week. I cleared a lot of stuff off my "to-do" list last week so I'll get to focus on the content aspect of the CATI project this week. I'm looking forward to that. Did I mention we've purchased the hardware and software? yep, yep; this is rolling now.

Mary at College
So Mary is settled into her dorm, Dawn and Mike have gone home and there she is, ready to be a freshman. She's giddy and looking forward to getting classes rolling. We've tentatively arranged for me to go visit the last weekend in October. Should be wonderful!