Category: Life

Storm Damage

A powerful thunderstorm moved through Arlington and Alexandria, VA and Washington, DC yesterday afternoon.  From DC it didn't look all that terribly strong - not any worse than the 3 or 4 other storms we've had in the last few weeks - but it did some major damage to trees in the area. George and I had a party to attend.  An ice cream eating party, as it were, which was somewhat fortunate as our friends' power was also out.  The ice cream was getting soft so we went right to work.  But before we could get there, we had to sit through lots of traffic due to trees in the road and such: We passed a dude filming the above tree.  His truck was unmarked and he seemed to be alone.  Pretty impressive equipment for an enthusiast.  Perhaps local media? These last two are from right outside my apartment building.  We're still without power as of leaving for work this morning.  It's supposed to get to 93 today but in an act of optimism (always!) I closed the windows and put down the blinds.  When the A/C comes back, we won't want it blowing out the window!
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by Amber Categories: Life

Fairlington

With little to do at work yesterday, I was sent home early and decided to take a little photowalk.  It was hotter than I anticipated and it was really quite a miserable walk.  On the whole, though, I came away with a few images I thought worthwhile.  First, I stumbled upon some lovely foliage: As you can perhaps tell, I strapped on the 85mm to get some more practice in before my wedding on Saturday (not *my* wedding, of course).  I did have some focus problems, which I'm going to attribute to keeping the aperture at 1.8 the entire time.  I won't be so careless at the wedding. I love how the 85 gives you such beautiful bokeh everywhere - the 1.8 is sharp sharp sharp. These flowers have been feeling the pain - you can see how at the tips they are burning up.  Don't worry, flowers, this weekend looks very pleasant! Finally, finally I got to the footbridge that would take me back home.  Next time, I'll bring a hat.  It is ungodly humid!
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by Amber Categories: Inspiration, Life

Bethany Beach

Let me tell you: this beach trip took a lot of planning.  When 12 "young professionals" try to plan a weekend trip together, there are going to be inevitable conflicts.  I am amazed how busy we all are.  But in the end, fully half of us were able to make it to Bethany Beach this weekend.  The weather was amazing, especially considering the horrible heat waves we've been experiencing this summer.  It was very pleasant. We had a riotous good time playing board games, cooking and drinking far too much.  Within 10 minutes of arriving at the beach house, shenanigans were already well under way.  Here's the boys attempting to get the cork out of a huge bottle of red wine.  No one had thought to bring a corkscrew. The next day, we hit the beach.  I'm not much for sitting around in the sand, but I did swim in the Atlantic for the first time ever.  Later, we came back for more drinking/board games and Sara's birthday cake: Colin baked that cake.  He's something of a cake whiz. Ocean City, Maryland has to be somewhat famous for its mini-golf courses.  It was really quite exciting to see so many varieties - vikings, galaxies, dragons, dinosaurs - really, anything you can think of.  We chose Indian Jones golf.  I tied for second-to-last place with this good man. It was fun, but in the way of most vacations, I'm glad to be home.
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by Amber Categories: Life