Bike Ride

I took a bike ride today. I'm not sure how cold it was but I could see my breath and by the time I got to my destination my fingers were bright red and I could hardly feel them. It was drizzling a little bit. It has been for the past two days. My hairstyle was completely ruined and my hair was starting to curl into itself. There was hardly anyone out, just a man walking his two small dogs and a couple walking together up the river path looking very much in love with each other. The dim, yellow flicker of oil lamps punctuated my ride. I could smell the river today - a complex and tantalizing smell of wild life and decay, earth and water. It was probably one of the best bike rides I've ever had. There is something beautiful in the starkness. Through it, there was the unmistakable smell of flowers as the daffodils and crocus gently push through the earth and the cherry blossoms begin to unfurl.

Things I did today

* stomped on snow, noted crunchy noise...also how it sparkles in predawn light.

* missed second bus, ran to work

* witnessed lady singing several stanzas of a song in checkout line to coworker for no particular reason

* got a nosebleed

* made and consumed new favorite snack - fluffernutter

* talked to Jen

* looked at 10 day forecast, 67 on Saturday. I have the day off! made note to wear capri-style pants that day and a t-shirt

* missed you guys

I bought a new pen!

It's one of the old fashioned kinds that you have to dip in ink. I bought it to draw with. I hope I draw this well every time I use it. I love camels. I'm going to name this one Herbert. I love my new pen.

Here's what I'm looking like these days, in the room I'm renting. Go eat a sammich, girl!

Have you ever been hit in the eyeball with a big, wet, cold snowflake? I missed my bus today and had to walk in the snow. I can now say with authority that snowflakes to the eye are rather unpleasant.

You know how the shower is one of the few places your mind truly wanders because you really haven't much else to do? I was having one of those random trains of thoughts that started out feeling frustrated how people often think I don't know anything about anything because of my age. Then I thought about what my mom was doing at my age. She had two children, tended to a house and had been married for 5 years. I started thinking about how someone in that position would probably start to command some respect for people and then I thought about what I was like at age 20 and wondered how my mom dealt with the challenges of being a wife and pregnant and a mother at age 21. How she dealt with the morning sickness and worrying about how to pay for me, whether I would be healthy, what I would be like as I grew. And when I was born having to deal with the demands of feeding me, changing me and tending to me when I cried. It's weird to think of myself as the way we all were once: tiny, helpless and the center of someone else's universe. Not only did my mom do all these things, but she did them really well. It was amazing to read some of the things she wrote about me in my baby journal once several years ago, talking about how much she loved me and how perfect she thought I was. Being a mother seems to be something she was born to do because she seems so natural at it. Even as an adult, whenever I feel stressed out or upset I know I can talk to her and she somehow always seems to have the right thing to say to make me feel better. My mom is amazing.

Food and Presidential Estates

I just ate a veggie dog with garlic aioli mustard from Trader Joe's. It didn't taste that strong but when it hit the back of my throat and up into my sinuses I thought I was going to bleed to death. Awesome. I'm going to go look at a house today near Mt. Vernon. That's where George Washington lived. I love how steeped in history Virginia is. I pass by Robert E. Lee's childhood home on the way to work every morning. I walked by Falls Church, a church with an ancient, crumbling graveyard established in 1734. It's still operational. Neato.