Victoria after dark

I just realized that title sounds a lot sexier than this post really is...ah well, we'll keep it. Maybe that'll get more of you to click on it and read the post :)

Anyway, when I went to Victoria I walked around quite a bit in the evenings, since as I mentioned before, it stays late there quite late at night. In my previous post I showed some of the photos I took with my phone, but one evening I went to dinner with my coworker and his girlfriend, and this time brought along my camera to take some night time photos. The quality is not quite as good as I'd like if I were going to post on my photography blog (mostly because I didn't have a tripod with me), but I like the photos enough to want to show them here!

This was the view from our restaurant as we finished eating - the sunset over the water.

 We then decided to walk around the other side of the water, where I had no yet gone exploring. It got dark quickly at this point, letting me take some evening photos of the harbor (with hotels and government building). Again, they didn't come out as well as I might have wanted since I didn't have a tripod, but the overall effect was good!

 What proved to be really fun to photograph was my hotel. This building is stunning, and the lights used on it at night only made it more so!

 The government center was also really beautifully lit at night.

 And one last view of the hotel, this time from the other side. So pretty!

I went to British Columbia!

Back in early June, I had the opportunity to spend 5 beautiful days, in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). I went for a conference (International Behavioral Neuroscience Society), as we were one of the vendors. I've been to this conference almost every year I've been with Noldus - last year was just a quick one day in Vegas, and a couple of years before that was a lovely time in Colorado (which it doesn't look like I blogged about here, at least not that I can find). Every 3 years this conference goes over to Europe (next year it's in Budapest), so I won't get to go, but that's ok - it would take a lot to top how awesome my time in Victoria was!

Everyone who I told I was going there mentioned how beautiful the city is. They were not wrong. Getting there is a bit of an adventure - it's an island, and so the only real options are to fly into Seattle or Vancouver, and from there take the ferry. I decided to make it into an adventure, and fly into Seattle (which was cheaper than Vancouver!), which then led to a 2.5 hour car ride to the coast, and a 90 minute ferry ride into Victoria. However, I didn't really care when the scenery on the ferry ride looked like this:

 Despite the overcast day, and the cold wind,

the ferry ride was really nice; I spent most of it walking around the boat taking photos. Even coming into the harbor, tucked behind the glass (we couldn't be out on deck), was really pretty.

 After checking into my amazing hotel...

 it was time to go take a walk around the area! It turns out that the sun sets very late up there, and so I was able to go on a nice walk to see the harbor area until pretty late that first night. I put on my sneakers, grabbed my phone, and headed out!

 The hotel was just down the street from the capital/government building. I love how it was list up at night!

 As I walked around the harbor, I was able to see lights for the buildings all around me...

 including the Fairmont Empress, where I was staying! So beautiful on the water.

 I was actually there for work, I promise. On my first full day I set up our booth at the conference center, which was attached to the hotel.

We had a nice space (I was able to take this whole side of the room), and on the whole it was a really nice time. I like this conference as I know lots of people, so it's nice to catch up with them for a couple of days.

 I talked to a lot of people, and on day 3 of the conference I hosted a symposium that I submitted to the conference organizing committee. Here's my friend Jill giving her talk (she graciously agreed to be a part of it!)

The area wasn't just overcast, as it was on day 1 - in fact, most of the time it was brilliantly beautiful.

 So, what else did I do? A ton of walking around - in the middle of each day I had a few hours free between exhibition times. On the second day, I took a walk (over 3 miles) over to a beach I'd been told about, and then back around the harbor. It was also a  bit overcast that day, but still amazingly beautiful. I have a ton more photos from this, and will probably just stick them in another post, either here or on my photography blog!

Two other awesome things that I did: First, my colleague was at the conference with his girlfriend (who also spoke in my symposium!); on the last day there, after I'd packed up my booth, the 3 of us went whale watching! That will definitely be a post in and of itself, but in the meantime here are the 3 of us dressed in our safety/warm weather gear (it was f-ing cold out there!).

 

And, on the total opposite end of the temperature spectrum, I drove about 30 minutes away to the Butchart Gardens, which I had been told were a must-see. This is DEFINITELY going to be its own post, as I took tons of photos. It was a lot warmer that day, and stunningly beautiful to walk around in. This is just with my phone - wait til you see what I took with my camera!

So yeah - there are at least 3 or 4 more posts coming from this trip (whale watching, gardens, Victoria at night, and the beach)...it was such a beautiful place to visit, and I'm so glad that I had the chance to go there. Definitely need to try to go back with Evan at some point!

Weird Al Yankovic!

Tonight I'm taking Natalie to her first concert ever (we are both so excited!), so I thought before that I'd post up photos/video from the last concert I went to. Back in June, Evan and I saw Weird Al Yankovic at Wolf Trap. I was so excited we were able to get tickets - I love his new album, and he's just such a fun guy. Turns out he puts on a damn good show as well (not that I was really surprised).

He came out to "Tacky", actually walking out through the Wolf Trap grounds and up onto the stage. It was a great entrance!

 I also have to say how happy I am with using my Powershot at concerts - we were pretty close to the lawn (only a few rows into the seated area), and you'd never know it with the zoom!

The concert lasted a couple of hours, and he did not stop once the whole time! He would perform a song or two, then head back stage (often with the band), where they would change into new costumes and come back out for the next. While they were changing, there would be funny videos and scenes playing on the big screen. You almost didn't notice that he was gone off stage!

 This was really a show, too. Costumes, videos, multi-media presentations. An acoustic set, excellent singing and musicianship...just very impressive overall!

They've really cracked down on taking videos at Wolf Trap (at least in the seated area), but I was able to sneak one in!

 There were a couple of "different" parts. He's got a song that consists solely of bad pick up lines, and when performing that one he came out into the audience to "hit on" women while singing. It was great!

 And there was a complete acoustic set, as well as at least two "montage" sections (snippets of various songs, played one after another).

I also really liked the use of the screen behind him!

 But I think everyone there agreed that the topper to an already fantastic show was the Star Wars-themed finale. He played "The Saga Begins" (to the tune of "American Pie", if you haven't heard it), Yoda, and a couple of others. The set design was awesome, and it was definitely one of my favorite parts of the show.

Local politics matter the most

I don't think I've EVER posted about local politics on here before (or politics of any kind, really), except mentioning when Evan was chair of the Loudoun County Democrats - and even then, it was mostly just to say that he was, and I thought he was doing a great job :)

I try to stay out of political discourse too much - I leave that to Evan! I've certainly become more liberal over the years, and less tolerant of "facts" that are really opinions. I think that's my biggest pet peeve for sure - misconstruing data, and numbers, to achieve agendas. I know that happens on both sides (and as a scientist, who tried to stay really impartial when it came to my own data, I know how easy it can be to think "massaging" the numbers is ok - we have to fight that urge!), so I also think it's important to gather data from as many different sources as possible, to really get at what the truth is, and not just what someone has spun for you.

Anyway, that's where I've mainly focused. But another area that Evan has really gotten me to care more about, and what this post is about, is local politics. Most people don't realize that what happens locally - town, county, and even state level - affects us on a day to day level SO much more than anything nationwide. Yet turnout on election day is so much less when there isn't a US senate, governor, or Presidential race.

This year, we in Loudoun vote on a TON of local election. Yes, I have some stock in this, given that Evan is running for Treasurer of Loudoun County (and I of course think he'd do a damn fine job). But more than that, this year we are voting for our Board of Supervisors. They set SO much of what the county does, including what it spends its money on, and how the county grows. Unhappy with the fact that we still don't have full day kindergarten? That's the Board. Don't like the new developments going in? That could be the Board, or the Leesburg Town Council, depending on location. They can adjust local tax rates, approve taking on debt, spending money - all of that is the local government, not the state or federal. So really, who is in these positions matters to us on a day to day basis WAY more than who our senator, or even governor, is.

Leesburg Today currently has an opinion poll up on how the Board of Supervisors has done with managing the county's growth. almost 40% of those who have responded are unhappy with the board, particularly with their consistent approval of more and more housing developments, with no real foresight as to how that affects the county in the long-term.

The only way to do something about that is to VOTE THEM OUT. If you don't like the job they're doing (and we have some really winners on this board - note the sarcasm), then vote them out of office. Read up on their policies, and their voting records. Look into who their new opponents are - maybe you like what they have to say better. Do the research, and vote based upon who you think will do the best job.

And most of all, if you're not happy, vote for some new ideas and let's see if they can work. When the county that has the highest median incomes in the COUNTRY can't afford to offer full day kindergarten to all of it's students, and recently misplaced $200,000 that was supposed to be looked at by the Treasurer's office, maybe it's time to get the 20 year treasurer out of there, and inject some new ways of thinking into our great county. Maybe you'll go on November 3 and vote for Evan Macbeth for Treasurer :)

Posting, and being busy

I can't believe how crazy this summer has been. I didn't even notice until right now that I hadn't posted anything in almost two weeks! I think it's because the posts that I have planned are "big" ones - they'll be a lot of pictures, or a lot of explanation, and I have not had the time to write that at all!

Most of my time is still being taken up with finishing the dance recital photos. I'm on the home stretch...I can see the end! I had thought I'd be easily finished before we go on vacation this coming weekend, but in thinking about it, it will probably only happen with a few late nights this week. But with only 13 more classes to go (after starting out with well over 65!), I'm definitely nearing the end. I can't wait to have the parents and students see them all! That's two posts lined up for me as well: the two days of dance recitals from June, focusing on my kiddos.

Since I'm going to be editing, editing, editing this week, my hope is to get caught up on posts next week while on vacation. I actually did a pretty good job of that earlier this summer, and then got a little behind again. Once I have the pressure off on these photos, it'll be very easy to get posts written. My new goal is to be 100% caught up from the summer before the school year starts...with the very few activities that we have scheduled for August, I think this is doable. Here's hoping!

I've also been really busy for work - my webinar last week went quite well, and was not quite as stressful as I thought it would be. I've also been taking a few new directions as we started our new fiscal year, focusing on some different things as I moved into a purely managerial role. Time to help my team out in every way that I can!

Finally, we've been traveling a lot. Not just me, for work (that's actually been pretty low-key this summer), but our family! I've got posts coming from our trip to South Carolina, the Outer Banks for July 4th, and this coming weekend we head back to the OBX for a week with our friends. While I do plan to get caught up then (hopefully!), it'll be nice to relax and have fun for a week as well.

Let's see...I'll leave everyone with this great video of Natalie from last week, just so this isn't all text. I think a roller skating birthday party is in the future....

Natalie's Glee concert

During this past semester, the kids have been taking music classes in addition to their dance classes. We started both of them out in piano, and it has been a huge hit for Henry! (I'll probably do a post on that later.) However, while Natalie did enjoy learning piano, it never struck her the way that it did Henry. But one evening, she tried out the Glee club class, and fell in love. She's always enjoyed singing, and the opportunity to learn to sing pop songs, and even more than that, sing them into a microphone, was too much for her to pass up. So, we switched her from piano lessons to Glee, and she did that for about 3 months. It worked out well for Evan and I, as both of their classes were then on the same night, at the same time, leaving us with an hour to have dinner just the two of us! Perfect.

As we entered the end of year rush of recitals and shows, there was of course a Glee concert. This took part during the school's end of year Music Showcase. Most of the show was students performing their piano pieces, but there were two singing components. Natalie was in Junior Glee, and there was also a senior Glee club as well. Each Glee group got to sing three songs, with a minimal amount of dance as well.

Turns out, that was quite the day for Natalie! We started that morning with an assembly at Natalie's school (the last awards ceremony of the year), where Natalie won not one, but two awards! Attendance (perfect for the last two marking periods) and Citizenship. Not many kids from Natalie's class got an award this time, and we were very proud of her for getting two.

 Henry actually tagged along with me as well, and he was very excited to see Natalie get her awards! The teachers sitting nearby thought it was very cute that he went over to give her a big hug before we left.

 

That afternoon, I picked Natalie up at home and we headed to day 2 of 4 of dance recital rehearsals. Tuesday was Ballet, and my friend Stephanie grabbed this photo of Natalie, her daughter, and another friend as they waited patiently to go up on stage.

We then raced from Ballet rehearsal to meet Evan and Henry at the Franklin Park Arts Center for Natalie's Glee concert. The "costume" was a colored polo and khaki shorts (which you can see not everyone adhered to); Natalie's was complete with bun still from dress rehearsal!

As I said, they sang 3 songs. First up: "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train

Second: "Brave" by Sara Bareilles. Note that I took this video from higher up; this was during the second performance (yes, there were two!), when Natalie asked for me to sit up at the top, not right in front of her

Their final song was "Shake it off" by Taylor Swift. The only video I have of that is the full song, which is over 3 minutes long, so I can't easily post it here. But it was darn cute!

Ultimately, we decided not to continue with Glee club anymore. Really, the part that Natalie loved was singing into a microphone....and that isn't exactly worth what we were paying per month, particularly when they weren't really learning singing techniques. Instead, for MUCH less per month, we are going to add Musical Theater to Natalie's dance classes in the fall where she will sing and dance, and learn some singing techniques! We are very much looking forward to that. I'm all about having her pursue something she is passionate about (and she constantly talks about wanting to be a singer when she grows up), but we can't have it break our bank. Musical theater should be a good compromise!

First family trip to the pool, 2015

Crap - somehow I missed this post! I love Picasa as I can easily see all of my photo albums, and when looking through it last night I found some great photos and video of our first family trip to our pool this year. It was at the very end of May, before I left for my 6 day trip to Canada. The weather cooperated, and we had a blast! I really do need to get a waterproof camera (there are some very nice digital ones out there now), but in the meantime I tend to bring my Powershot with me, as if it were to get wet and ruined, I'd be disappointed but not nearly so upset as if something were to happen to my DSLR!

I posted previously about what an awesome swimmer Henry has become - check out how he launches himself into the pool, with no one to catch him!

Not to be outdone, Natalie showed off her perfect cannonball into the pool.

Finally, after a bit of trial and error, I got the both of them jumping in together!

This is just the first of many, many trips to the pool for us this summer, I'm sure. I think since then we've been back to ours at least twice, and to the pool at both grandparents' houses multiple times. Also in the ocean! I'm so glad they've become such good swimmers. It's not just a fun skill, it's a life skill.

We painted our house!

And...now it's July! I'm still happy that I only have a few things to post from June - I've now mostly caught up. I think I have about 6 outstanding posts from June, three of which are from before school ended (yes, I went a little bit out of order by already posting about the last day of school, but to be honest that was an easy one to post and these others will take a bit more time). The others will be from our 5.5 day trip to South Carolina to visit Evan's parents in their new home there...it was definitely a great trip, with a lot that happened to share!

The other thing that has been keeping me busy (I just realized I also shared this in my last post, but whatever) is getting the dance recital photos done. Just last night I finished up with the 15 different ballet classes from the ballet recital...I can't wait to share! These girls are beautiful, and it was so fun to get to photograph them. Up next I'll be getting the Rising Stars department photos done - very different, as these are the younger kids, but still fun, just in a different way.

So anyway, back to the big thing that we had done in June: we had our house painted! No the outside, which is fine (we just had all new siding installed on one whole side of the house, so the outside is good!), but the inside. When we moved in, the entire front of the house, foyer, and upstairs hallway was a lovely (sarcastic) shade of mint green. And the formal room next to it was a darker shade of green (see photo on the right). I was never a fan of these colors, but somehow two years went by without me doing anything about it. This year I finally  chose my colors and got it scheduled!

As Evan and I discussed the paint job, we decided to do the entire first floor of the house, as even the blue in the kitchen/living room was not my favorite (see photo on the right). I must say, Evan was pretty understanding given that he was perfectly happy with the colors...although he does agree that the new colors are better! We ended up painting the entire first floor (including laundry room, pantry, bathroom), the two story foyer, and the entire upstairs hallway. The company we hired did a pretty nice job (despite some conflicts with scheduling; the painting job itself was very well done).

Let's start with the before and after! I apologize in advance that I took the before photos on my cell phone, so they're not as good. The after are a lot better, although still not "great" as I didn't really move things out of the way, and I didn't do any real editing afterwards to save myself time. But I think you can easily see the differences.

First up, the view when you come in the house. This is the formal room to the left of the entrance before...

 and After!

 Hallway entrance before...

 Entrance after!

 Stairs before (left) and stairs after

 

Not to show too many photos, but here are a few other views I took of the front of the house. I can't get enough of this plum color!

You can see on the left of the two photos above that the great room in the back is no longer blue like it was

 But is now a darker sage green!

 Here's the kitchen before (blue; taken after I had moved everything off of the walls)

 And the kitchen after (sage green).

Oh, and what about the stairs and hallway upstairs? Here is a before and after shot, looking down the stairs.

 

The "neutral" that I chose ended up being a bit more orange than I thought it would be (I think it was called Autumn Spice), but it turns out that we both really love it! Here's the upstairs hallway.

You may notice that in a lot of the photos, the picture location in the before and after are different. One of the things that the painting allowed us to do was to simplify what's on the walls, and move things around a bit. Overall, we are absolutely loving the color (particularly the purple!!), and I'm so happy that we had this done. Now to update the kitchen to fully modernize it!