Good things come to those who wait.

The real reason for heading to D.C. in April was to see my friend Meghan get married. It's hard to imagine that we have both been such an important part of each others lives since 3rd grade. I'm so happy for her and think Jim is a very lucky man.



They were married in the Washington D.C. temple.




They had a ring ceremony on the Potomac River just down the road from Mt. Vernon at another one of Washington's homes. The weather and the setting couldn't have been more beautiful.

Caulk can be a valuable painting tool.

Hurray for carpet and other small luxuries this week!

The Master Bedroom


Mom and Dad let us have an old brass headboard they were no longer using. Thanks to 3 cans of Rustoleum oil-rubbed bronze spray paint, it now fits the room (thanks to Brian for the paint job!). A dresser hits the top of the list for this room so we can keep our closet from exploding into our bathroom.


The Nursery!

Again, Brian and mom did a great job with the paint job here, and mom gets credit for actually helping me implement how I wanted it to look. Mom would also not leave this past week until we got the farm blanket up. Although these pictures aren't completely finished, this will be the general motif of the room. Fitting, considering the view from this room is a giant red barn.

Now for our lessons learned from this little project. First, Dad gave me a tip for filling nail holes. We used a sand-able Spackle that worked almost exactly like drywall material. Fill the hole, sand off the excess. Next, in reading online for tips for painting heavily textured walls/ceilings, I found a tip to use caulk. Genius! I don't care how expert a tape layer you are, you are not going to catch every groove. So, first you lay down your tape, pull a line of paintable latex caulk down the groove with your finger, wait for it to dry, and paint. To remove, use razerblade for a perfect line. I also used the spackle stuff in parts where I needed bigger fill coverage, but I'm wishing I would have just used the latex caulk for those lines as well. Conclusion--best results come for a combination. Latex caulk shrinks, so when you put it in holes, they sometimes dimple and you can't sand it. FYI--it took an entire day--I mean entire day--to fill and prep this room for Brian to paint when he got home. Mom had already put the green coat on.

Of other note this past week we got blinds for the remaining blindless windows. Dad trimmed the exterior of our windows, finished up crown in the master bath and bed, got our guest shower up and running, installed some lights and plugs, and did a ton of other little odds and ends that have been waiting for a rainny day. Although we aren't "finished," we are darn close and it no longer fills like a construction zone.

There is much to learn...

Picture taken from "The Angle" looking towards the woods along Seminary Ridge where Confederate soldiers marched over the open fields and fences in the midst of deadly artillery and infantry fire...otherwise known as Pickett's Charge. The Angle was the point near the Union lines where a Confederate brigade under Lowell Armistead advanced. No Confederate soldiers advanced further than at The Angle that day.
This dude is hard core.
Gettysburg: Little Round Top off my right shoulder; Big Round Top of my left.
Changing of the Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The entrance to Arlington Cemetery. Arlington House, the former house of Robert E. Lee before the Civil War, sits atop the hill. JFK, RFK, and Edward Kennedy are all buried at the base of the hill.
We took in an IMAX while visiting the Natural History Museum. It was in 3D and about the Galapagos Islands. Very cool and very nice for Megan to rest her aching feet.

Crazy specimens hanging from the ceiling in the oceanic portion of the Natural History Museum. We enjoyed that place.

21st Century fashion juxtaposed with 18th Century fashion. I like when I was born...not just for the clothes. These were Washington's formal digs...he only wore them for portrait sittings and the like according to the info we read.
Line at the American History Museum.
If I was a mailman, I'd want to work here. (Old Post Office)

Meg and I recently traveled to the DC area to attend our good friend Meghan's wedding. The wedding was wonderful, as was the subsequent ring ceremony and reception--the latter occurring at property once owned by George Washington, property located on the banks of the Potomac.

We did have some time to take in some of the sites in DC and the surrounding area as well. Meg and I spent Thursday going through a few of the Smithsonian museums, as well as Arlington Cemetery where we were able to witness the 'changing of the guard' at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Throughout the day, with each new historical anecdote or object that I encountered, I was reminded how much there is to discover and learn. I look forward to returning to that area and taking in the DC experience with my children.

The following day, we (Brent and Diane--my inlaws had arrived) traveled to Gettysburg to spend the morning and afternoon. We hired a tour guide who took us through the battle as we drove through the battlesite. Our guide was terrific. I had been a few times prior, but not since the new visitor's center had been completed. There is a first-rate museum, a new theater where a short, outstanding movie is shown, as well as the famous Cyclorama painting from the 19th century that I've seen before, but which has been restored. The four hours or so we had to spend there was not nearly enough...guess we'll just have to go back. Darn.