Buddy Birthday Lunch

13 August 2025: Best part of the day? Having a birthday lunch with Hannah at Kome. Hard to decide which gift I love more: the winter hat that Cory made for me or the little picture of Theo in his Yankee outfit that I hung right on my fridge. 

Theodore...

27 April 2025: Baby Theodore arrived last night. And wow: does our world need this little boy, born to two of the finest people I know. Even before he got here, he has given me (and everyone who loves his parents) such hope and joy. 

Baby Shower!

8 March 2025: Just an absolute joy to attend Hannah and Cory's baby shower today. I am so excited for this little baby boy to arrive; he's already brought such joy and hope to my world and he's not even here yet. 

Day in Rockville

6 July 2024: Spent almost all day today just hanging out with Tim, Kevin, Hannah, and Cory in Rockville. You know you are among good friends when just talking, playing dumb games, and laughing makes eight hours fly by before you know it. 

Flying Cows!

14 April 2024: Cory's company did some free design work for the new basketball team in Frederick, so he had some free tickets and invited me to join him and Hannah. It was a blast. And they won!

Dinner and a show...

29 March 2024: Thanks to my rapidly-improving health, I was able to end this long, difficult week on a high note: dinner with Tim, Kevin, Cory, and Hannah followed by the Rude Mechanicals' opening night performance of Lysistrata. Just a perfect evening. 

Oscar Party!

10 March 2024: Cory and Hannah came over to watch the Oscars and it was such a blast. Just so lucky to have them as friends. 

Labor Day Weekend Hang...

3 September 2023: Very lucky to spend most of today at Tim and Kevin's, just hanging out with them and Cory and Hannah. We never need to "do" much: have a meal (Tim always kills at that part), sit and visit, tell stories, and just laugh and laugh. Excellent way to spend the dya. 

Kinky Boots

18 February 2023: For Christmas, Tim and Kevin got tickets for all of us (them, me, Hannah, and Cory) to see Kinky Boots at the Olney Theater. We had lunch first, which was amazing (the food and the company). The show was great, too. Carpooled with the kids and treated them to some Dairy Queen treats when we got back, which made it and end-to-end perfect time. 

Smile

8 October 2022: Saw a movie in the theater for the first time in months, joining Hannah and Cory in Winchester to see Smile (which was fun and dumb and scary enough). Afterwards, we had lunch and just talked and laughed. Perfect way to spend a big chunk of the afternoon--even with big old stacks of work waiting at home. 

Dinner at Hannah and Cory's

3 September 2022: Got to spend yesterday evening at Hannah and Cory's--along with Tim and Kevin. Still feeling a bit under the weather at times (yet testing negative) but for those hours I was there, I felt just terrific. (Started coughing near 10:00, but what can you do?)

Pumpkin carving...

 23 October 2020: Carved a pumpkin for the first time (I think?) since my senior year of college. Happy to have done it outside on a warm-ish autumn night with two of my favorite people six feet away. Add some Chinese take-out, smores over the fire-pit, and some dumb movies and it was a perfect night.

National Book Festival, 2018

[Catch-up post]

1 September 2018: Some lines that stood out to me at this year's Book Festival:

Tayari Jones:

• "Who am I now versus who I was seven years ago?" 
• "What happens when people are forced to make choices they should never have to make?"
• "How much of yourself do you devote to a relationship and how much do you hold back for your dreams?"

Min Jin Lee:

• "I had no intention of writing this book." 
• "What is it like to forgive people who hated you?"

Tracy K. Smith:

• "Poems bring unlikely language to things deep within us."
• Poets "go to the wrong context to get the right feeling."

Robert Hass:

• "Poetry is the place where you wake up to yourself."

Celeste Ng:

• We should be "advocates for empathy."
• Books "open spaces for ambiguity."

And I got to hang with this great crew again. 

Movie night!

3 August 2018:

[Catch-up post]

Hannah, Cory, and I decided to re-watch two of our favorite films from last year, Phantom Thread and Call Me By Your Name. When it came to dining options, rather than leaning into the theme and keeping it classy, we veered in the opposite direction. So the theme was “watch beautiful movies featuring beautiful people in beautiful places wearing beautiful clothes while you eat trash food.” It was gosh-darn delightful. Not pictured: Domino’s pizza. Oh, and us.

So long, Pittsburgh...

3 June 2018:

One last stop (at the top of the Duquesne Incline) before heading home. It was a great trip.

More Pittsburgh...

2 June 2018:

[Catch-up Post]

A great day in Pittsburgh. Some silly photo highlights...

With Cory at the Warhol Museum.

Tim and Kevin stealing the show at the Warhol.

Being ridiculous in front of the Willie Stargell statue at PNC Park.

Pittsburgh bound!

1 June 2018:

[Catch-up post]

Off for a quick road-trip to Pittsburgh with some of my favorite people: Tim, Kevin, Hannah, and Cory. We go here yesterday (Friday) and are having a blast so far. Just a couple of pictures might suffice for a post?

Pit-stop find: this inspiration to "share a Coke" with my favorite Williams.

Lord, this dinner we had a Lydia Bastianich's restaurant...whew! Delicious from start to finish--and the finish was this limoncello tiramisu. 

Dick: A Card Game

14 January 2018:

Hannah: "Men or cheese, T. Which is it?"
Tim: "Cheese."

This context-less exchange brought to you courtesy of "Dick," the game I spent hours playing yesterday with Tim, Cory, and Hannah. I bought Tim the game for Christmas and almost immediately he was like, "Game session at my house on MLK weekend?"

So much fun. A terrific day.

2018: Here we go!

1 January 2018: As I alluded to yesterday, I haven't decided on a blog theme this year. I've been thinking about it for awhile and nothing really came to mind. So instead, I am simply going to aim to post something every day. That's enough. And I have a feeling that the previous three themes that I've done--"a year of thanks," "one good thing," and "listening"--will provide some guidance, almost like templates.

So here we go...my first post of 2018 is a combo "one good thing"/"thanks" post. I am so thankful for these amazing friends who helped me welcome the New Year.

Art with friends...

19 November 2017: "Guys, we had a day!" --my good buddy, Hannah, towards the end of a very satisfying trip to DC.

Sylvia Plath at the National Portrait Gallery, Vermeer at the National Gallery of Art, and Ai Weiwei at the Hirshhorn. A fun day with these two lovely people!