Yesterday Atlas and I met up with Shel and Kate in Centennial park for a hot, but enjoyable walk around the lake. The weather was gorgeous, and everyone was out in full force – from kayakers to scooter riders.  Shel was pretty fascinated by the bikers and doggies running by, but I managed to get him to sit still for a few short moments.

I spent yesterday afternoon with Mae, Leeya and Ryan, enjoying a delightful brunch and taking these fun photographs of their beautiful daughter.  Here is a taste of the fun we had.

Every morning I take Atlas for a walk around our neighborhood. It’s harder to keep up with this in the winter, but in the spring and summer I’m pretty good about giving him a full hour of my time. I also have grown to love the early morning sunlight and observing all the pre-day activities going on in the neighborhood.

Since it’s getting hotter and hotter out and Atlas has pretty thick fur, our trips usually involve 10-15 minutes at some local fountains. Atlas hates water and does not enjoy swimming, however, he adores jumping on the ledge of fountains, splashing in them with his paws, and fishing out sticks and flower petals with his teeth. Usually his face gets soaked and the tips of his ears are dripping by the time we’re finished.

It’s pretty hysterical to watch him, yet very hard to catch on camera. Here are a few iPhone images from this morning’s walk, though I don’t think they do the experience justice :).

Many of you already know that I’ve been training for the Twin Cities Marathon over the past several months, and I’ve about reached the end of my preparatory, longer runs. This past weekend I was scheduled to run my last 18-miler (20 miles is this coming weekend!), but hurricane Hanna had other plans.

I had arranged to meet up with 4 other women from my running group at 6 am saturday morning, to knock those 18 miles out of the way before breakfast. I usually run at 7 am, but my running partner was out of town that weekend, and the only group of folks I knew that were also running 18 were even earlier risers than I usually am. That said, I thought this might be a good thing as the heaviest rains from the storm weren’t scheduled to hit until 10 am.

Though the idea of running 18 miles makes me physically ill, these longer runs are some of the most important training you can do in preparation for a marathon, and because of this amazing Cambodian organization that I’m raising money for (please help!), I am determined to finish Oct 5ths 26.2 strong.

Even so, I woke up at 5 am Saturday and looked outside, praying for a proverbial “rain-out”. Alas, it was just a light drizzle and incredible dense heat that met me. I took my dog for a brief walk, gathered up layers of dry clothes to put on afterwards, loaded up my gu and gatorade, and headed up to Bethesda.

Everyone in our group showed up despite the forboding sky. We headed out onto the dark, Capital Crescent trail around 6:20 am, with just a little drizzle and incredible thick air. As we neared Georgetown, most of us kept yelling aloud, “Where is this rain? It’s SO hot!” Soon enough, the sky opened up and a light rain began to cover the path and our wicking shirts. The dampness felt great on our boiling skin, and as we headed back up the long, 6+ mile incline back to Bethesda, our clothes and shoes soaked up the water and we lost track of what was sweat and what was rain.

This first 2/3 of the run wasn’t bad at all – in fact it was downright refreshing compared to the initial 80 degree, 95% humidity we began the run with. However, as we reached our Bethesda starting point, and continued on towards Silver Spring, the rain began to fall harder and things began to get less and less fun. Puddles filled up the gravel path and our shoes became weighted down with rainwater, sloshing with each step. Our legs became covered with mud puddles and debris, and things began to chafe more as our clothes became more soaked and the wind picked up. My ankle developed a nasty blister, which broke open and bled through my shoe (and never clotted because the rain kept coming). Our muscles stiffened, and instead of sounding cheerful, we began to complain more and more about the pain that was this run. Also, the path almost completely cleared of people; we were the only hardcore (idiotic?) folks out there.

Somehow we made it back to the cars in one piece – and surprisingly, with little injury. The rain never let up and instead seemed to worsen as the hours grew later. I sacrificed my cool down stretching routine for the warmth and dryness of my car, and headed back to Arlington to survey the overall impact on my person.

Despite the fact that it wasn’t fun at all times, the huge accomplishment – not just the 18 miles, but the horrendous conditions – made the run truly worthwhile. I also sincerely appreciated the support of the awesome gals who kept me running despite the weather (thank you ladies, you rock!). Each time I set my foot out on a running path and contemplate stretching my body to its ultimate limits, I consider the street children in Cambodia who walk into the Friends training facility in Phnom Penh for the first time, take a personal risk and stretch their own lives to the limit, considering that they could be something more than even they and their parents had imagined. And I watched their lives change permanently, for the better. All with one step.

It’s been ages since I’ve written anything personal up here and that’s mostly because life has kept me busy LIVING outdoors and away from the computer. This is definitely a good thing but I do miss keeping this blog up-to-date. I certainly can’t promise to be more regular about my writing, but I do plan to post more frequently when there is actually something to share.

That said, over the weekend I had the chance to visit Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Virginia estate, right outside of Washington, DC. I’ve known that the attraction has existed for years, but never heard anyone say anything [positive OR negative] about it. Most recently when I was searching for local hikes that were dog-friendly, I came across a thread that suggested Mount Vernon as a wonderful place to take a dog. This sort of struck me as bizarre because in DC you can’t drink water on the metro let alone take dogs in many public spaces.

I did a bit more research and discovered that Mount Vernon IS indeed dog friendly, mostly because George Washington himself loved dogs and animals as is evidenced by the numerous farm animals on his estate. Dogs are allowed nearly everywhere except inside the manor and the museum.

Yesterday was a perfect afternoon to explore the property and my father who was in town accompanied us on the gorgeous walk. After walking through the main building (marble floors and dioramas – very Smithsonian-like), we found ourselves on a beautiful gravel path that wound its way around the main manor, down to the wharf, through Washington’s tomb, and past his working pioneer farm.

There were tons of tourists, though not tons of dogs. I imagine part of this was because of the heat. I kept waiting for an exhibit guide to tell us we were breaking a rule when we walked through the air-conditioned buildings or when I let Atlas step up and use the human water fountain (a great trick he has mastered), but all I got were kind nods and Atlas received numerous head pats and tummy rubs. Even though it was a very warm day for his fur coat, he enjoyed all the attention and the occasional rest on cool stones underneath log benches.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a chance to sit down and write. The holidays have come and gone, 2008 is here, and I’m just as busy as ever. With the launch of our new website coming at the beginning of February, over a foot of snow on the ground in Vermont (and lots of x-country and downhill skiing to be done), and a 9-month old puppy desperate for my attention, it’s no surprise I’ve spent little to no time at my [non-work] computer in the evenings. I’m hoping that once we launch our site in February, I’ll have more time to catch up on photography and blogging, but in the meantime, there are a few highlights of December I’d like to mention:

The snow has been virtually non-stop since the beginning of December and I’ve spent my early mornings borrowing friend’s x-country skis and gliding over the Brattleboro golf course with my morning dog group. Atlas has definitely enjoyed this new habit, and when he’s not diving for treats in snow-drifts, he’s pulling golf-ball sized snowballs off his fur. It seems like there isn’t one season that’s not amazing in Vermont.

My Christmas holiday started on December 21st with one of my many flights en route to Florida. The overnight layover allowed me to join Katherine, Josh, and Steve for dinner at the Helmand in Baltimore before I trekked down to DC and my dawn flight the next day.

I spent Christmas proper in Sarasota with my mom, step-father, and brother. My visit was extremely relaxed – lots of eating and sleeping. I think I actually spent Christmas day laying on the couch watching the Dog Whisperer, digesting a breakfast of pumpkin pancakes, and snacking on peppered salami and cheese. Definitely no complaints there. And in case you were worried about Atlas, he spent Christmas with his two best doggy playmates at a doggy daycare in NH. He was incredibly exhausted when I picked him up.

The weekend between Christmas and New Years I drove out to the Cape with Gordon, Jess, and Porter (Atlas’s first and most energetic playmate) to visit Stacey, Gary, and their perfect dog Bromley. We spent the weekend eating some amazing homemade food (thanks Stace!), walking the beaches with the dogs, and taking photos with my new camera lens. I have always wanted to see Cape Cod and the winter landscape didn’t disappoint.

New Years eve introduced me to Guitar Hero and the recipe for Magnolia Bakery’s famous cupcakes at Dori and Justin’s in Boston, and surprise!: more eating. After the Dim Sum on New Years day, I knew it was time to detox.

And now Atlas and I are cozy in the Cambridge Hyatt, one day into our working week at our design firm’s office. I’m amazed that the hotel allows dogs, but it’s incredibly convenient. It also helps that Atlas has been able to come to work with me, and is making lots of friends among our web developer’s staff.

So I think that about covers it. I have a bunch of New Year’s resolutions, but they will have to wait for another time. Happy 2008!

I tried something different this past weekend: staying put [in the area in which I physically live]. I honestly can’t visualize the last time I was in town for the weekend, and I guess that makes sense because I’ve been traveling non-stop for the past 10+ weeks, and even before that, my weekends in the Southern Vermont area have been few and far between. I took advantage of friends in nearby towns or beautiful places I’d always wanted to visit. I’ve had a lot of trouble exploring the space right underneath my nose.

I think part of it is because I thought I might be terribly bored, or maybe that it would remind me of the fact that I’m up here without the same kind of community I had in Washington, D.C. Most notably, admitting I don’t have a social life whatsoever beyond hikes with Atlas, yoga, and trips to the Co-op.

Well I’m happy to report that this past weekend was none of those things. It went surprisingly well. From a visit to the monthly Gallery Walk in downtown Brattleboro on Friday night with Ben, Rachel, and Wendy (where I ran into half of my office colleagues), to my first experience contra dancing at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield on Saturday night. Finishing off the weekend was a hike through the vast dog park with Alejandra and Atlas on Sunday, some excellent Korean food in NoHo, and the requisite visit to Trader Joe’s in Hadley. I even took in a beautiful sunset in my own backyard. Not at all a bad weekend.

Although it’s been extremely easy to enjoy the beauty that is Vermont, it’s been hard rectifying the fact that my home and life are in two places at once right now. I know I ultimately have to return to Washington, D.C. – to figure out my next steps and to familiarize myself with the international development side of my organization – but it’s been increasingly tempting to delay that as long as possible. I’m not sure if the stress of figuring out if I want to relocate permanently not or the utter idea of packing up my stuff is paralyzing me, or if I’m concerned that when I get back to Washington, my lack of social life will be ever the more obvious because I’m in a city where things are constantly happening.

I think I underestimate what is possible in both places, so hopefully I’m in store for more pleasant surprises, and if I can stay in Vermont for the winter, I could hit up Killington every weekend if I wanted…. So tempting.

Decisions don’t need to be made tonight, or even in the next week, so for now I’ll do my best to finally let myself feel what it’s like to “live” here, rather than just “work” here.

The past four weeks have come and gone like a total whirlwind. I can’t believe it’s mid-October already. From Dori’s wedding in Boston, to my weekend in Northampton with Kerry, Courtney, and Ryan, my travel schedule has been full. On the off-weekends, Dori and Justin came to visit and explore some of the beauty a Vermont fall has to offer, and my mom made a last-minute breeze-through this past weekend so we could take photographic advantage of one of the more peak foliage weekends here. It’s all been a lot of fun, but I’m not surprised I feel as tired as I do.

And there is no time to rest! I’m heading to Montreal this weekend to meet up with Amy again, this time on her home turf. We’re packing lots of photographic equipment, our yoga gear, and maybe even something risque for the nightclub on a skyscraper. Next weekend is Hallow-fest at Cedar Point, an amusement park I’ve been wanting to see since I was in college – I just only wish Jenny was going to make it out to join us :o). The list continues on into mid-November, when hopefully I’ll have a bit of a respite. This lifestyle is certainly addictive, and Atlas is becoming quite the pro at playing car co-pilot.

Here are mini-descriptions of the past weekend’s activities (and some photos to accompany them):

Weekend in Northampton

I met up with Kerry and Matt in Northampton, the last weekend of September. Kerry’s sister Courtney and her partner Ryan live in “NOHA”, and we kicked-off the fall season with great food, beer, amazing weather, and lots of outdoorsiness. We started with a visit to the park on Friday night, a fantastic dinner of seared salmon, fresh polenta, spinach, and goat cheese, and a dessert of figs. On Saturday morning we went to the local dog park – which was really a dog PARK. Miles of trails, streams, pathways all open to off-leash dogs. Atlas was in heaven and he had a blast chasing after Wally. After a long walk we climbed in the car and drove up to Brattleboro to pick-up lunch at the farmer’s market on the way to hike Haystack Mountain. We finished off the hike with cold beers and a dinner of homemade pizza back at Courtney and Ryan’s place. On Sunday we finished off the weekend with a drive to the Berkshires to go apple picking. I ended up with 10 pounds of apples, of which I’ve barely made a dent after nearly 4 weeks. Good thing they taste fantastic. Thanks to Courtney, Ryan, Kerry and Matt for a great weekend.

Columbus day weekend in Vermont

What was originally expected to be the peak color weekend in Vermont, turned out to be a little less color, but truly fantastic weather. Dori and Justin came up for the weekend and we attended nearly every fall festival that happened in New England. Starting with the Brattleboro monthly gallery walk and ending with the Heirloom Apple Festival at Scott Farm the two days were packed, but every stop along the way was definitely worth it. In between we went to hot yoga, had sandwiches on the deck of the Front Porch Cafe, drove up route 5 to Springfield and Windsor for the Harpoon Oktoberfest, photographed the Quechee Gorge and visited the adorable town of Woodstock. We also attended the Dummerston Apple Pie Festival and the firehouse’s fantastic apple pancake breakfast, the Putney Harvest Festival, and a local sugar shack for cider and cider donuts. Needless to say there was plenty of food to go around :o).

Mom’s last-minute Vermont tour

With another amazing weekend on the horizon and my mom getting ready to head south from Maine for the winter, it seemed like perfect timing for a last minute mother-daughter photo exploration of Southern Vermont. Mildly impacted by Atlas’ awful tummy infection, we still made good use of Friday and Saturday. On Friday we first drove west to Bennington, then up to Manchester. Even through the haze the colors were amazing. You really haven’t seen fall until you’ve seen it in New England.The weather was overcast and cloudy, but opened up into fantastic late afternoon light. We got a few amazing photographs of a tractor in a field, and drove all through the backroads in search of the perfect Vermont vista. On Saturday we drove north on route 5 through Bellows Falls (the only tailor for 100 miles so I could get some pants hemmed), through Springfield (to get the token Simpson’s photos for Will), then up to Woodstock and Quechee. We even photographed the famous Jenne Farm (along with 10 other people since it’s such a photo hot-spot) for that quintessential Vermont photo experience. We finished off the day with a yummy meal at Burdicks – truly the best food I’ve had so far up here. Atlas was extremely sweet and patient despite the go-go-go and luckily he left his stomach issues at home :o).

Overall the class went really well and I was impressed that Atlas seemed to learn everything so quickly. He did even better this afternoon on our lunchtime walk. All of the games we learned (that are associated with commands like “stand”, “leave it”, “trade” and “wait”) were completely applicable as we walked to the end of our road, and Atlas is definitely responding to his name now since he knows he’s going to get a treat. There’s also something very primal about tearing up hot dogs or roast beef, rolling the pieces in your palms, and feeding them to your dog.

I also learned a bit about myself in the course of the training class. One example is that I’ve learned I am capable of losing my temper, causing my voice to raise a bit. I also start to yell when my patience is totally gone. I really don’t do that in other areas of my life – I tend to be a pretty timid person, and have a lot of patience. I’m actually scared sometimes to lose my cool because of perceptions on that behavior in our society. But when Atlas is being a pain in the butt, I’ve been known to lose it completely. This scares me and I’d like to – like his jumping and biting – nip it in the butt.

I was impressed as I watched our trainer calmly tell my dog to stop doing something, and calmly praise him afterwards. It’s a lot easier said than done – in the midst of your dog chewing your fancy shoes, it’s easy to start screaming and chasing after him. But in reality, he responded way better when I calmly offered something else as a “trade” or ignored his behavior completely. The class is also teaching me to get some of my life back, to assert some of my own rights over my dog, and show him who’s leader of the pack. I think so many of these things are not only applicable to dog training or even raising children (though having a dog has made me question even having kids once or twice), but also to everyday things that happen in my life.

I know Atlas is going to learn a bunch and have a lot fun in our class, but I think, as many dog trainers claim, the class will really “train me”. Hopefully the other “training” parts of my life won’t require as many raw hot dogs and string cheese :o).

Last weekend I had the honor of attending the wedding reception of Dorothy [formerly Metz] and Justin Parmelee. Dori and I have known each other since we went to high school together and have stayed close over the years – from being roommates the year after I graduated college to staying in touch regardless of where we’ve lived. This summer has been especially fun as my stint in Vermont (and its subsequent proximity to Boston) has enabled us to spend more together and rediscover our friendship. I’ve also spent a lot of time getting to know Justin over the years and beyond being a great guy (fellow techno/photog nerd), Dori is just nuts about him. :o)

The reception was held in Salem, Massachusetts at Finz Restaurant, and was simple, yet elegant. Despite a bit of a challenge orchestrating the bus and its wedding passengers from Boston harbor to Salem, the evening went off without a hitch, and lots of fun and good food were had by all.

I recently picked up a new Canon DSLR – the 40D – and got it just in time for the reception. I was hoping to get some great shots, though was willing to accept a bit of a learning curve as I played around with the new camera. The lighting conditions were also really tough as it was during the evening and the lens I brought with me wasn’t fast enough to use without a flash. For the most part I’m happy with the “moments” I’ve captured, though much less happy with the grain that comes with 1600 ISO and the effects of the in-camera flash on people’s skin (both no-nos for good portraiture). The color in all the images just seems off. I’m hoping to clean up a few that I deem acceptable to share with Dori and Justin, but I definitely have learned something from this occasion – I will *always* carry around my 50mm 1.8 when I need to shoot indoors. My 24-105 F4 was not a great choice, even though it’s my best lens. I just figured it was a safe bet if I was only going to carry one lens with me. Next time I’ll know better.