I [HEART] my new Orla Kiely bag!

My big Xmas present this year - my long, longed-for Orla Kiely bag.  Sometimes stuff does bring happiness.

Procrastination

This is viral 'round these parts.
So. True.
Love. It.

What a life!

There is nothing like finishing a breakfast meeting at the Tabard Inn, and hopping on a CaBi bike in a pencil skirt/tall black boots with heels/pea coat, and riding a few blocks to the office on a clear cold January day. 

It's the little things that can give me such pure pleasure.

Everything's gonna be alright.

Sometimes the most difficult time being a mom is when saying everything is going to be ok, and there is nothing to worry about, when you're not so sure yourself.  The brave face, coupled with the whispered assurances, and the air of confidence - at times, it's all such a front.

So tonight, as I cuddled and coddled at bedtime, and quieted worries about strong winds and metro doors shutting a millisecond too soon, I was preoccupied with the scope and cost of some structural work that I will need to do on my house.  And not all that sure that the wind wouldn't in fact huff and puff and blow the house down.



  

The 45 Places to Go in 2012

Bali:  Eat, pray, love.

Another favorite annual feature in the New York Times, "The 45 Places to Go in 2012" gets the juices flowing with some enticing travel destinations to go to now and why.

Of those, I've already been to Panama, London (UK), Tanzania, Glasgow (UK), Florence (Italy), Wales (UK), Vienna (Austria), and Uganda.  Lucky me!

Of the others on the list, there are several that are especially appealing.

Helsinki (Finland) -  for the design and architecture, but not for the herring.

Havana (Cuba) - because one day its gonna be just a bunch of beach resorts with a faux Cuba backdrop.

Chatttanooga, TN because that sounds, tastes and feels like the Deep South, and I'd like to make a go of it.

and Dalarna, Sweden - Midsommer!  Need I say more?  Nordic countries really appeal to me for so many reasons - the design, the quality of life, the natural landscape, winter nights, and summer joy.  I have a friend in Copenhagen to visit on my list!

The real travel plans of this year for work and for play might end up quite enviable, if I do say so myself - New York (of course, and in multiples), London, Paris, Massachusetts, Senegal, Thailand, and Bali (!).  If I pull it off, it will be a minor miracle, though all are in the works in some capacity.  The Thailand-Bali trip is starting to look and feel a little like the idea was hatched among two friends drinking too much prosecco at a bar at Christmastime - and it was!

Me & Demi Moore

Good grief.  I don't really give a crap about Demi Moore, or her divorce from the young and restless Ashton, or her astonishingly skinny body, but I stumbled upon this quote on the Web today and I felt tremendously sad for her.

"What scares me is that I'm going to ultimately find out at the end of my life that I'm really not lovable, that I'm not worthy of being loved. That there's something fundamentally wrong with me...and that I wasn't wanted here in the first place."

My dear, I (still) (sometimes) have a long way to go - and I'm certainly not rich or glamourous or famous - but I do know for sure, it starts with self-love.

December 31, 2011

Great Falls, VA

December has included a lot of bubbly.

DC Good Eats

One of my favorite subjects in one of my favorite cities....the Washington Post names the 40 Dishes Every Washingtonian Must Try.  Admittedly, I've only tried a grand total of nine of them!  Shame!  Then again, of the forty, fewer than half were in The District proper, and I'm not often outside the city limits for eating good grub - at least not something like tacos.  Perhaps, next year, I'll expand my boundaries.

Shout-outs to a few of my favorite dishes - moules at Granville Moore's, Margherita D.O.C. pizza at 2 Amy's, the Blue Buck pancakes at Market Lunch, and palak chaat at Rasika.  A few treats from some of my favorite venues were also included like Founding Farmers and Sticky Rice.

I've been enjoying some festive meals and drinks over the month December with various friends for various festivities including The Tabard Inn (delicious house-smoked salmon plate with cocktails fireside); Adour at the St Regis (love me some holiday prosecco), Mio (excellent new chef, Puerto Rican-inspired menu); Lincoln (their kale salad is money! and their deviled eggs jar is garnished with caviar).  And last night, I enjoyed The Meal of the Year at Little Serow....shhhhh, please don't tell anyone, it's that special.

#OccupyDC - Action

Today there was some OccupyDC action.  Some planned protests of both the sleepers (those who love in tents) and other Occupy activists intended to disrupt Washington.

Today's demonstration was about 100 or so protesters marching down K Street NW, and blocking the intersection at 14th.  This is a block from my work, so I could see and hear it from the windows, and at some point walked over to observe and take some pictures.

Streets were blocked with heavy metal newspaper boxes, trashcans and chairs, and the Occupiers stood in the boxed intersection in the pouring rain chanting.  Police had all four sides cordoned off with police cars, horses and ultimately a wall of police facing off.  It was pretty non-confrontational - protesters chanted and sometimes taunted, police watched them stone-faced and sometimes took the bait.  There were easily an equal number of protesters and police, and an even greater number of spectators taking pictures with their phones.  But you can't block traffic forever, and eventually police began clearing media and bystanders to sidewalks, and then told protesters to also clear the street or face removal.

At this point, as I understand, police rode a bunch of horses slowly into the center, scattering a good number of protesters who did not enjoy facing off against a large imposing animal.  Soon enough the protesters played their role and lay down in the street.  And the police played theirs, giving them warnings, and then began removals and arrests, as protesters again played their part resisting arrest in acts of civil disobedience.   I checked Twitter a few times - #OccupyDC - to see how the scene was described, and I was a bit disappointed to see the tweets, while overall accurate, seem more sensational than what I had witnessed,

I'm quite proud of my city in the handling of OccupyDC.  There hasn't been evictions of the tent cities.  McPherson Square park (and Freedom Square a few blocks away) have codes of conduct posted by the protesters, including how to interact with police and respect the park.  Likewise, park police have posted signs of what is and is not allowed (generators must be cordoned off, for example).  DC's mayor and  Council has expressed support - as long as health and public safety are not threatened.  So far there has not been pepper spray, raids or helicopters as in Oakland and Atlanta.

The methods are a bit fringe-y for me, and the messengers far too scraggly to be effective.  But the principles of the movement speak to me - even with my iPhone and Starbucks and desk job.  Long live Occupy!

Occupy: Great Graphic Design

This, and many other fabulous graphic posters available at www.occuprint.org

Occupy DC

I am an avowed sympathizer of the Occupy movement.  Some people question it's coherence and challenge its lack of clear objectives.  Fair enough criticism, but I'm quite clear about it.  The income gap between  rich and poor is widening, and the super rich are becoming richer by orders of magnitude, while the middle class stagnate and fall behind  Foreclosures, upside-down mortgages, and student debt prohibit decent hard-working people from getting ahead, but these ills were in many ways created by the large financial institutions that are reaping record profit, with the managers of said institutions rewarded with massive bonuses.  And all the while, fiscal policy is structured to save, if not reward, these structures.  That is the 1%, and the rest is the 99%.  The tail is wagging the dog.

The Occupy DC site is in McPherson Square in view of the White House, and about 3 blocks from my office.  Over the last month, I've made it a point to use the Metro exit that allows me to walk past and through the tent city.  I've enjoyed watching it grow and take shape.  It now consists of about one hundred tents - residential sites - pretty much right next to each other in the center and southwest of the square.  The northwest section has grown to become a community hub, complete with medical tent, kitchen, community library, media tent (with solar panels and generator) and message boards.  The south end of the square seems to be loosely organized around social and community affairs - frisbee playing, spontaneous (or not) musical performances, and a meeting area.  Urban planners could not have done better - and this Washington Post article makes some interesting organizing and planning observations around that.

Who says they're not organized?  Check this out!

DAILY SCHEDULE
11:00 [Scribble unclear] Outreach 102
12:00 pm Political education discussion
12:30 p.m Announcements
2pm De-escalation training
5:00pm Newcomer orientation
5pm Roots of the Crisis Workshop
6:00pm General Assembly
8:00pm Committee Meetings

NEEDS
juice
cooking oil
PLATES
Water
Round table for library
Sleeping bags
Tents
Giant coffeepot

This photo shows the library about 2 weeks ago, back when the request was out for a round table.  I passed by again today, and I wish I got a picture.  The library tent is gorgeous, complete with a round table, about four to six chairs, and at least four bookshelves brimming with over 800 books.

Other organic and spontaneous community innovations have taken root.  There is  a "Human Mic," where when announcements are made.  A person says "Mic," and three to six people around him (or her) echo "Mic" and the announcements proceed from there - a natural human amplification of sound.

And while I haven't fully figured out the kitchen, here's a WaPo article about cooking 3 meals a day every day for 100 to 200 protesters with volunteer labor, and donated foodstuffs.  There's also a steady supply of donated prepared foods - burgers from Five Guys (it's not clear whether the store donated or a citizen sympathizer bought and donated), day-old pastries from the Starbucks across the street, and Cherry Garcia ice cream served by Ben and Jerry themselves earlier this week.

This year, we witnessed an Arab Spring, in which long-standing, firmly entrenched and protected government structures were toppled from a more or less spontaneous uprising of civil society.  No one would have bet on it a month earlier.

I have no idea was the Occupy movement will bring.  I am disheartened, disappointed, and disillusioned by heavy-handed confrontations by police on Occupy protests in Oakland and Atlanta.  The Occupy message and the objectives are not concise; and discredited because those messages are expressed by a relatively disparate group of fringe progressives.  Winter is coming.  Attention wanes or gets diverted by Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber,  and Joe Paterno.  Yet still I remain impressed with Occupy DC's stamina, growth, and organic organization.  Thus far, there has been minimal police intervention and confrontation in DC.  I'm pleased for both the protesters and the police.  Occupy movements in other cities continue to form and grow.  They just may be another American Revolution ahead of us.

Fall Tabletop

City Love

Over the weekend, Dear Daughter and I biked our neighborhood for the Renovator's House Tour.  We hit 5 of the 8 homes on view, and she was one to point out to me this lovely green mural in view of the back yard of one of the homes.  So sweet.  I love this pic - especially the color blocks that come from the lines of the telephone wires, the wall color, the small white-framed window, the charming heart-shaped foliage, and the clear blue sky of a gorgeous fall day.

The Renovator's House Tour features homes that have been creatively renovated and restored in our historic urban village. The thing I love about this particular tour is that it often showcases how families can make a go of city living, and how small spaces can be transformed in big ways by using space in efficient and innovative ways, and making rooms multi-functional.  Even more impressive, the tour is open to the public, and raises $20,000 for the local public school.

Nice life. 

Watch this!

[Long time, no see...but I'm alive and well.  :-) ]

Want to know what English sounds like to foreigners?
This short film is in "fake" English, and gives an idea of what that's like.  It's really trippy.  I could tell what was going on, could get all the intonations and inflections, and it sounds "just like English," only I couldn't understand a word.  Check it out...



With thanks to A Cup of Joe for the discovery

Happy Birthday CaBi!

Shamelessly lifted from www.capitolbikeshare.com

After one year, Capital Bikeshare is thriving.  They clocked their millionth ride, and one recent fall weekend, casual riders (1 and 5-day membership) took more rides than regular riders (1-month and annual memberships).  The program is wildly popular - a red and yellow CaBi bike was definitely the accessory of the summer for urban men and women.  Another symptom of its popularity -  stations have had issues with re-balancing, being all empty or all full, and thus not in circulation for either rentals or returns - a phenomenon I myself have experienced no fewer than three times at less popular stations at non-peak times.  In all honestly, while annoying, I'm secretly completely tickled by such success.  Growing success, that is, additional stations and bikes are going in this fall...including one station just two blocks from my house (I currently use 3 stations nearby, depending on my route; each one is about 4 blocks from home).

Businesses are clamoring to get (and even sponsor) a CaBi bike station at their doorstep.  Residents are demanding them of their municipalities. Montgomery County - typically cool for the suburbs - wants in; but hat tip to Arlington as the first suburban county to go in, edging our MoCo as the hipper, greener, more innovative, more visionary of the two dueling inner ring 'burbs.  You snooze, you lose, MoCo!  This makes DC - yes, DC! - the proud home of the largest public bikeshare system in North America.  It's nice to be the cool one everyone else wants to be for once. Like NYC wants to be us, too.  They just announced Alta will be their contractor for the new bike sharing program of the Big Apple.  Welcome, New York, glad you could join us.  

I'm particularly proud to be a founding member - one of the first 1000 to join CaBi, I have a black commemorative bike fob, rather than the usual red.  I'm not one of their super users.  I tend to use the bikes a few times per month for quick neighborhood jaunts from Point A to Point B, rather than walking.  Each time,  however, I feel super virtuous - clean, green, active, urban, and hip.  I even handicap my cool factor, because I'm over 40 and a mom.

Nice job!  It's only been a year, but I can't imagine life and DC without it anymore.  Happy Birthday, CaBi!!!

Heads up!

There is a 1 in 3,200 chance of getting hit by space junk now hurtling toward Earth this week.  The falling satellite, UARS, is the size of a school bus, and will likely hit Earth on Friday (give or take a day) - somewhere between the northern Newfoundland and southern South America latitudes. Or more precisely, but less dramatically, between 57 degrees N and 57 degrees South, and thus could hit just about anywhere around the fattest part of the planet.  While it is expected to break into pieces in a fiery light show, and rain across a path of up to 500 miles, with the largest debris estimated at about 300 pounds.

Scientists say it is not likely to hit a person.  The planet is well-covered with water, and even on land, we are relatively sparsely populated, except in places like New York City and Dhaka.  In order to take appropriate precautions, I will be walking around in my bike helmet starting Thursday at noon.

DC school metrics

Here's an interesting ranking of the DC's public and charter elementary, middle and high schools that looks at students achieving "advanced" scores in math and reading, rather than just "proficient." This study combined the percentage of students at each school who scored "advanced" on standardized tests.  The thinking behind this different analysis is twofold.  First, proficient just isn't good enough. But, more importantly -  because, of course, some kids at Lake Webegon will just have to be average - what are these schools doing right?

Of course - and unfortunately - poverty and privilege, have something to do with it.  So the ranking also includes the percentage in the school who are eligible for free and reduced lunch.  With this additional insight, it's not all that surprising that Janney Elementary and Key Elementary - with 0% eligible for free and reduced lunch - have very high performing students, with combined advanced math and reading scores around 80% or better.  Both schools are in tony Upper NW DC - or Upper Cupcake, as I sneeringly refer to it.  Both schools are about 70% lily white - though in the grand scheme of things, that is still pretty diverse for fanciness.

It seems that the more interesting success are in those highly ranked schools, with a signifigant percentage of kids eligible for free and reduced lunch - or poor kids.  I'm told by a reliable soucre that a school with  fewer than 40% poor kids is pretty much a middle class school.  So which schools did well against the odds - those schools that made the top 25 ranking for advanced reading and math scores and have 40%+ poor kids?  Here they are below - # is the rank; bold represents the combined percentage of students achieving advanced on math and reading standardized test; the plain font number is the percentage of poor kids; italics means it's a charter school.

#6.  Banneker High (magnet): 54, 776. 
#12 D.C. Prep Charter Middle: 77, 55
#13 Capital City Charter (elementary): 41, 49

#14 KIPP KEY (charter middle): 76, 47

#17 KIPP College Prep (charter high school): 83, 42

#18 Wilson High School: 42, 41

#19  Haynes Charter (3rd-8th): 69, 40

#20 Height Community Charter Butler (elementary): 100, 40

#21  Ellington School of Arts (high school): 42, 39

#22 Stuart-Hobson Middle: 40, 37

#24 KIPP WILL (charter middle): 82, 36

#25 Ross Elementary: 40, 36

What's one to make of all this?  Well, this education policy novice, metrics aficionado, involved parent of a DCPS second grader, and amateur blogger has a few observations to ponder further.  

First, charter schools are doing a decent job of educating poor kids.  Well, that and their engaged parents are smart enough to get them out of their failing neighborhood school, find a good charter, get them enrolled (often by winning the admission lottery), and get them there everyday.  Theese parents are also probably the same ones who check on homework and go to parent-teacher conferences, and place value on education.  This is one of the biggest criticisms of charter schools - it robs the failing schools of the good kids and parents that can lift the rest up.  See City Paper artcile "Has the Black Middle Class Given up on Neighborhood Schools."

Second, not much is happening in the way of decent elementary schools - public or charter.  Ok, maybe that's a bit unfair. There are plenty of good schools - elementary, middle, and high school - where there are dedicated (and tired) teachers, good students, and engaged parents who are scoring proficient on the tests.  This ranking focuses on high-performing "advanced" students.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water!

Third, only Banneker High is in the Top 10, and it's a magnet school.  Self selection is self-selection - of course, they'll do well.  But here we have a self-selection of poor kids who are high-performing, and the school is serving them well.  There is something important happening here.  Personally, I think that self-selection at the high school level - college prep, magnet schools - that start culling to make sure those students get what they need to prepare them for when they graduate as 18yo adults is just fine.  And full disclosure, I'm a product of such an inner-city, highly diverse, highly socially-economically integrated magnet school.

Fourth and fifth, and a few more observations...Standardized tests are't the greatest measurment tool of a good school.  They're also not always the best test of a student's learning and abilities.  But it's what we've got, and I'm a big believer that we have to measure something somehow - we just need to know the trade-offs we're making in that measurement.  Stuart-Hobson Middle School is my local middle school - doing fairly well, and serving good a diversity socioeconomic backgrounds.  I've got my eye on middle school for Dear Daughter - just four years away.  My own analysis and assessment will include these thoughts and many others. 

And finally, and completely unrelated, I was originally pointed to the Jay Matthews Washington Post article and school rankings through the fabulaous WaPo local politics blog "District of deBonis, " and I have a secret crush on its journalist bloggerMike deBonis :-).

Missoni for Target Hits It!

Guess I''m not the only one psyched about the Missoni collection at Target!

Target's New Missoni Collection Brings Down Site  :-)  Shame on Target for not being better prepared.  I mean you'd think they'd've realized when the pre-opening pop-up Missoni for Target store sold out in a night last week.  And when the preview for fashion editors last fall left the shelves in a "mild ravage."

Admittedly, all this rave and rage makes things more difficult for me.  Of course, I haven't had a chance to make it to Target yet, and now at best, I'll be there on the weekend with the masses.  Can't wait to see it in person!

Simple. Beautiful. True.

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.


If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.


If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.


If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.


If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.


-Lao Tse