Marathon Weekend

I have definitely run more than 26 miles in my life. But not in a row. Yesterday Rosa's sister Monica and her husband Matt did just that in the Marine Corps Marathon up in DC. We drove up there after church to catch them in the end of the race. They did it in under 5 hours, which as far as I'm concerned is a miracle.

Matt is a firefighter in the Cleveland area. They met up here with a bunch of fellow firefighters. This is their group outside the IAFF tent.

Back inside the tent, there were a million little bottles of Gatorade, bananas, cookies, bagels, and Goldfish crackers. The gatorade and bananas I understand, but cookies? I guess they're shooting for replenishing carbs. Matt and Monica told us that pretty much everything tastes good after the race.

It was so fun to see them! We don't live near any family, so we gotta take every chance we can get.

In front of the Iwo Jima monument. Congratulations, M&M! See you again at Christmas!

Chocolate Festival

This past weekend, right here in our own little city of Charlottesville, they held a Chocolate Festival! Could there be anything in the world so exciting?!

A few steps into the tent, and who did we find? Our good friend Jenni Bowman, selling her beautiful faux chocolate.

Her husband Jeff was reeling in the crowd with real chocolate.

Jenni makes these deceptively delicious looking cakes and candies for decoration. They look great at parties, weddings, or as a fun gift.

This tree is covered in beautiful handmade faux chocolates. You can store this tree and bring it out every December. And you don't have to worry about little hands eating your ornaments.

Don't those cupcakes look tasty?

Yum.

I like the dipped apples. They'd make a cool holiday decoration.

While our senses of smell and taste were being entertained with fudge samples and cupcakes, our ears were filled with the fun folk music of... these two dudes.

Virginia's favorite son Robert E. Lee looked on approvingly.

I think the cream cheese chocolate muffins were Rosa's favorite.

Or was it the Melting Pot strawberries and pineapples dipped in warm chocolate?

I think the Melting Pot chocolate won. This is the cleanest picture I had of Rosa eating it. Don't worry - her fingers were clean before she started "scooping" out the chocolate.

Although Rosa was in heaven, I found something I loved too - dark chocolate fudge! What a delicious day.

Rosa's Charlottesville Debut

The Curtises and I packed into the back seat of the Olsons' car this past weekend to go out to Barboursville. Why are we so dressed up? Because Four County Players was having its 35th anniversary Musical Revue and Celebration, that's why! Rosa had two big solos in the production of "The Little Theatre That Could."

While we were packed in the car, she was busy getting ready backstage. Note the two bags of kettle corn.

She did a GREAT job! We were so proud! She got a jillion compliments from the audience members after the show. Of course. Some of the older ladies were especially fond of her beautiful dress, commenting that they wore similar dresses "back in the day." I seem to recall the word "classy" being used several times.

After the show we gathered out front of the beautiful building with the big red doors to take photos which ended up looking like awkward prom photos. It was fun despite our awkwardness.

We're so proud of you, Rosie!

Shadow Puppet Show

Raymond Crowe is one of Australia's leading contemporary magicians. And I say he's one of the most incredible shadow puppeteers ever born. Check out his stuff:

A Day in the District

I had a little break from school last week, and Rosa took Wednesday off of work just so we could spend a day together. We decided to take a little day trip to Washington, just two hours to the north of our home. Our first stop was a visit to the LDS temple in nearby Kensington, MD. It's one of the largest temples in the world, and it's absolutely breathtaking. It was, as always, a refreshing couple of hours we spent there. So good! (except for my crooked tie in this picture)

We grabbed a quick bite in nearby Silver Spring, where Rosa discovered... a JAMBA JUICE. After chocolate, Jamba Juice ranks as Rosa's number two biggest addiction. She's basically obsessed. And surprise surprise, we found that Silver Springs also has one of my favorite places from California: Baja Fresh. Yum.

Since we've both done the DC tourist thing a few times, we decided to try to find something we hadn't done before. Rosa went online and found a place we had both never been: the International Spy Museum! So cool! I've always wanted to be a spy, so of course this was the perfect place for me. Actually, maybe I already AM a spy! Just kidding. Or am I?

So we got there and it was CLOSED. What?!! We had checked online and the website advertises in multiple places that the museum closes at 8pm. We got there a couple minutes after 6pm. Yes, two hours before closing time. But some bus full of teenagers informed us that it had just closed a couple minutes earlier. So after we spied the hours on the door, apparently "Hours Vary By Season." SO HELPFUL!! And of course it would be very hard to put the hours of the different seasons. Or a sharpie-handwritten 8.5" x 11" explaining the current hours. Or seventeen seconds updating the so-called "website."

Oh well. We cut our losses and decided to make an evening of it. We headed over to check out Ford's Theatre, the famous theatre where Abraham Lincoln was shot. We knew ahead of time that the theatre is closed these days, so it wasn't quite such a shock when we saw the closed sign out front. But did you know they're still using it as a theatre? It hasn't been continuously open since 1865, but it has been running again since like the 80's. They're doing A Christmas Carol there this December for example.

After walking around and seeing a few more sites, we visited la Casa Blanca. I don't think W was there, but if he were, I know he would've hung out with us. Even though we were a couple acres away and in front of the big bars. And there are probably fifty snipers between us and the mansion. Okay, so maybe he wouldn't have hung out with us, but he'd be pleased to know that we're still among the 3% of Americans that approve of the job he's doing. Except for Guantanamo. That's just messed up.

We ended the night doing cool camera tricks. And by "cool," I mean a 7th grader would want us to be in their cool club after seeing these pictures.

Even though we were fooled by the tricky spy museum, it still turned out to be a really fun day.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Rosa and I are taking a bite out of the big apple. I have officially accepted an offer to work as an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges next fall. I loved the people I worked with this past summer and the types of cases the firm handles. Rosa and I are both super excited to be moving to New York City!

Tonight I'll be attending a recruiting dinner for 2Ls who have received an offer to join the next summer associate class. Yum!

Hut hut... hike

Our friends have started a weekly tradition of playing powderpuff (ladies') football every Saturday morning. Since they're low on girls sometimes, the guys take a turn playing as well. We joined 'em today for a great morning of exercise, sun, and fresh air! The weather was perfect and the company was great.

It was Team Terror

against Team Snowflake

in a battle for the ages.

Free babysitting provided.

The best play of the day is a tie between The Pregnant Play, where Brianne put the ball under her shirt and Derek screamed "She's pregnant, nobody touch her" all the way to the end zone; and The Tower Play, where Rosa climbed on my back in the middle of the field to catch a high pass. The Pregnant Play resulted in a touchdown, so it probably wins. The pass on The Tower Play was a little low and Rosa ended up falling off my shoulders and we tumbled to the ground together. No harm done.

All in all, it was a great Saturday morning!

Take a Chance

People constantly tell me I remind them of Andy Bernard from The Office. I was somewhat offended by this at first, but now that he's singing a cappella to win over a girl, it's getting harder to deny.

Mmmmm... Hm.

I went to Staples the other day to pick up, of all things, a stapler. A very nice fellow checked me out at the register, and right before I walked away I caught a glimpse of his nametag:

DARREL DARNELL

That might be the greatest sighting of 2007.

Go Dons

Last year sometime early in the year I spotted a dude in an Acalanes shirt. What's "Acalanes" you ask? It's the very unique name of MY HIGH SCHOOL back in California! And here's a kid right in front of me wearing the shirt from my school! So I said, "Did you go to Acalanes?" "Yes." Woohoo! Such a random occurrence that two people from the same high school come to UVA Law (where our entire student population is something like 1300). And even rarer that two people from the same high school on the exact opposite side of the country would be standing in the same hallway. And that they'd know about it. So we chatted about my hometown, Lafayette, the school, family in the area, and what we've done since graduation. So cool!

So fast forward to this past week. I went to support my first-year section in their softball game against a rival section. As I leave the game, I see a woman from the other team wearing an ACALANES SHIRT! Turns out she went to Acalanes too! Turns out we've got THREE people from my high school here! What are the chances?!!

Why the name "Acalanes"? It's a reflection of two old cultures in the history of the area. When the Spanish people came to the area, they became friendly with the local Indian tribe, the Ahalan people. In the Spanish pronunciation, they called the tribe "Acalan" and the people "Acalanes." The area is named for them, and the school is named for them. (I learned most of that from my Citizenship in the Community merit badge.)

And our mascot, the "Don," follows in the same light. Some people think the school is named after some guy named Donald, but that's just lame. In fact, a Don is a Spanish knight (like Don Quixote). At all games, we yell "Go dons!" Except at the cross country races, where for some reason they say it backward: "Snodog" (snow-dog).

Here's a photo from up on the hill above the school. You'll notice that it's not all one building. In fact, the door to each classroom leads outdoors. It's an outdoor school. There are overhangs to keep you from getting wet in the rain, but there's no need to keep it all indoors since it never gets colder than the 40s (and even then, the 40s are like the dead of winter). And it never snows! Gosh I love the Bay Area. And check out the beautiful golden hills.


So many memories in this place. The parking lot on the right is where I used to sit in my car with my friends in the morning and listen to our favorite radio show. On the left side of the photo is the building where I spent a zillion hours in choir, practicing musical scenes, and singing in my little a cappella groups. Junior prom happened somewhere in the middle of this photo. This is the place where I grew up. (And my house is less than a mile down the road to the right.)

A shout out to my fellow Acalanes Dons everywhere!

Rahzel with Saian Supa Crew

This is everyone's favorite beatboxer, Rahzel, with an impressive French hip-hop group Saian Super Crew. One of the coolest displays of live beatboxing I've ever seen.