jude.love

Cherry Blossoms

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:07:00 +0000

Two posts in less than a month might be a new record for 2013! Actually, I think this is the second post I've done in ALL of 2013... all well, dc cherry blossoms are just too hard to ignore. :) They've had all of us patiently (or maybe not so patiently) waiting for them to bloom for at least the past 3 weeks, and so you better believe we were going to get our fannies out to see the peak blooms when they hit yesterday. For examples sake, last year they bloomed in mid March, and we've had three weeks of "cherry blossom" festivities happening all over the city... so these babies are tardy! The sheer number of people here to see them along the tidal basin is overwhelming, but the site is truly breathtaking, and well worth pushing your way through the crowds. Apparently, due to the big warm up this week (it's supposed to get up to 90 today?!), we may only have our dear blossoms in all their glory for another couple days, but in my opinion, I think that might have made them all the more magical. xoxo

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:27:00 +0000

Happy Easter! It's a gorgeous 60 degree weekend here in dc, and we've all been itchin' to get out and enjoy a little warmth and sunshine... I mean, it snowed on Monday. What? It's also cherry blossom season, (no pretties yet - hopefully in the next weekend or two!), but that still means we've got tourists a plenty invading the district. In order to *somewhat* avoid the rush, we decided to get out early for a little stroll around the Lincoln Memorial to enjoy this gorgeous Saturday. The real camera hasn't been dusted off in ages (blast that iphone...), so apologies in advance for the Emily, Jonathan, and Jude heavy picture post.

Jude loves watching all the pond ducks {they don't love him quite as much}

Jonathan might kill me for including this next one... but I'm sorry, he just looks so stinkin' handsome and it's my blog so.... ;)

WWII Memorial

Washington & Lincoln Memorials + tourists, but still so beautiful.

Happy Easter everyone!

*And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. - 1 John 2:25*

extra, extra: (the new scoop)

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 01:05:00 +0000

{not pregnant people - we're still in law school, slow down} ;)

We have been sitting on some rather big news for the past couple weeks though, and I'm incredibly happy & proud to announce that that smart, hard working, and super sexy husband o' mine has officially landed a job post law school graduation. He has worked so hard and long for this moment and I truly couldn't be more proud! Also, since he never brags about himself.... I'm definitely going to :)

While pretty much all of us who knew the second he was offered the internship at Navy he'd be able to land the job in the end, Jonathan doesn't share that same complete faith in himself - or better - he truly doesn't know how incredibly amazing he is. To prove my point, the office within the Department of the Navy where he interned (the same office he's going to be working in) told him over and over again during the internship that they pretty much never hire first year attorneys, so he really needed to not expect that. Come to find out, in the end, they fought to make sure they got first dibs on him! *GUSH ALERT* I'm just so darn proud. I know I said this already, but he has worked so hard over the past three years, and all the while still being a wonderful husband to me and a true leader for our family. Everyone says that if you're married in law school, you just have to deal with the fact that law school comes before spouse, and that's the only way you'll be able to succeed. I can honestly say Jonathan never made me feel that way and STILL excelled. Love him.

Ok, gushing over (let's be honest, it's probably not, but whatever) - time for the actual details. The job is with the Naval Litigation Office, which doesn't mean he's enlisted in the Navy or anything, it's a civilian-side position within the Navy. The job is here in DC at NavyYard and actually only about 4 blocks from our apartment. Basically that means every day he'll be able to bike to work in under 5 minutes (not commuting in dc = big win)! While we were kinda hoping he'd get a job within the Navy a bit closer to all our friends and family back in GA (there was an office in Charleston, SC as well), we feel so very blessed by the opportunity and excited to see what God has in store for us over the next few years here. It's always so interesting when you really feel that God has been pointing you in one direction all year and preparing your hearts for it, only to realize that He was actually working on something else. ;)

Over the past three years here in DC, we've understood more and more how important family is to both of us and feel very confident that eventually, we're supposed to be back closer where we can be more involved in everyone's lives. Ok, honesty time, we really felt like we were supposed to be headed back closer this next year, but clearly God has other plans :) We both struggled with that a little when we first got the news we would be staying here in DC, but over the past few weeks we've really opened our hearts up to the side that was going to be really sad if we left. We hadn't really allowed ourselves to get too excited about leaving or staying (we stayed in 50/50 land just in case), but now, all the things we really love about our life here are sinking in. For instance, we absolutely LOVE our little Capitol Hill neighborhood. It's the small town feel while still living in the big city, but with access to the arts, walking everywhere including our neighborhood coffee shops, restaurants & the fresh market, driving across town and getting to see the beautiful monuments, and most importantly of course - the sweet relationships we've built here as well. Plus, it's one of the best places for Jonathan to start his career with the federal government (obvi). There's a lot of good in this city, and it's been awesome to really get to embrace it over the past few weeks. We don't know what the rest of our lives are going to look like, but we sure are excited to start the next phase, here at caphill.

xoxo

a thanksgiving throwback

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 01:32:00 +0000

Although we are already in full Christmas mode here at the casa de Mayo, I'm going to take a minute to step back and post a few photos from our Thanksgiving trip back to Georgia. To sum it up: we ate, hugged, caught up on life, bonfire-d, and then ate some more. This post is practically all photos of family, but after all - what's more important than that anyways?

mikey is clearly unimpressed by his food-stealing mother...

mmm... Thanksgiving cheerios :)

we are blessed with the *most* beautiful little kiddos in our fam

my other weim.love - rose, and her stuffed "baby". oh so dignified in her old age

(and now for a few from the iphones, too)

casseroles are my family's Thanksgiving go to, and I couldn't be more happy about it

because who isn't mesmerized by Gaston and that he can eat 12 dozen eggs?

see if you can spot the puppy rump in the next set ;)

when it's too windy for bonfire smores, a fireplace does the trick.

love you all, dearly.

xoxo

Hey, It's Christmas! - Vol. 3

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 03:10:00 +0000

Because if this hasn't been a part of your Christmas Playlist for the past few years... it's time.

*merry christmas y'all

p.s. I'm particularly enjoying 12, 14, & 15 this year

Thankful

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:18:00 +0000

November is here and it has really gotten me thinking about the things I'm thankful for (well, that and because of everyone on fb's daily Thanksgiving thankfulness lists...). Truly though, we have been so blessed by our friends this Fall that our hearts can hardly stand it. We don't deserve the lot of you and we can't even begin to express how much each of your visits truly blessed our family over the past couple months. Here are just a few haphazard iphone photos to remember it by. :)

xoxo - love you all dearly!

hugs & loves

*just a room

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 03:24:00 +0000

It's kind of embarrassing how long it's been since I've posted anything....

alright, moving on!

We did (quite literally) move recently (not that recently), and while I truly meant to be more diligent about posting photos, etc., it just didn't happen this time. I decided to remedy that today and only got to one room (wellwhadyado?). Not surprisingly, I started with the room I've been dreaming about ever since I began working from home... the office. Well, office/guestroom which makes it all the better as it's not only a room in which I can separate work from well, life - but it houses all of our dearest friends too! I'd say that alone gives it the merit of its own post. Here are a few photos of this wonderful little room that I'm just so thankful for. Happy weekend everyone!

Promise I'll do better and there will be more to come soon(ish) :)

New Nest

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 02:58:00 +0000

Apparently I've been taking a short blog hiatus... I haven't done this purposefully, life is just a bit different when I have my husband back from GWLaw during the summertime. Let me tell you, this whole two income, non student household thing? Yeah, I could definitely get used to it. Unfortunately I can't let myself get too used to it just yet (one.more.year!) but a girl can dream of the future can't she?

I'm pretty sure there are about a gazillion things I should have blogged about in the past month, but today I'm going to focus on the one, semi-big and exciting thing happening in our lives right now (and no I'm not pregnant - I've found that's everyone's immediate "go to" when I say things like this). ;) So, we're moving! As per typical DC fashion, we're only moving about 8 blocks down the street from where we are right now, but here's the kicker: it has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Yes, you read that right - two. I might just die from excitement. Kicker numero dos: it's only about $100 more in rent than what we're paying right now for double the size (at the very least), a better area of our neighborhood, a backyard, and parking space. This is the place where someone who hashtags would hashtag #2good2betrue.

We've been praying and praying for this situation to work out (it's a pretty involved story and a very unique situation which I'm too lazy to go into right now), and we really didn't think we had much of a chance of getting it, but God just keeps on providing. It's been pretty amazing. In two weeks time I'll no longer live, eat, work, host and relax all in one room every day. Finally, I get some work-life separation and a door to separate it (a door!!). I could go on and on about all this for paragraphs, but I'm sure that would get pretty boring in no time. In short, we're beyond ecstatic. Here are a few iphone photos from our walk through. Many more photos to come after we move in in t-minus 10 days!

We have the top two floors and someone will live in the basement apt. below.

A big and open kitchen!

View of the living room looking into the kitchen area from the front of the house.

View of the living room facing the front door from the kitchen.

Up the stairs... to the bedroom closets!!

My new office (and guest room too) ---> come visit us! :)

3 = Leather

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 13:06:00 +0000

The traditional 3 year marriage anniversary gift is supposed to incorporate leather in some fashion - much to Jonathan and I's mutual surprise this year. We remembered to check this traditional list after exchanging our gifts, and were kicking ourselves for never remembering to follow fun traditions such as these. Apparently though, the stars aligned and had us participate unknowingly! There's truly nothing better in the world than gift giving - it's amazing how things so simple can make one feel so known by another. Can't wait to get started on the hunt for next year!

Forgive the ambiguous photo of my gift from Jonathan - it just so happens to be a beautiful, handcrafted, leather camera strap which found its way onto my camera almost immediately... and isn't the easiest to get on and off. Just take my word for it, it's stunning and it's never coming off.

p.s. the flask text :: "put a little hair on your chest" :)

Year Three

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:55:00 +0000

Happy 3 year anniversary love of my life! Gosh that flew by - I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us.

You are my best friend, my fellow adventurer, my coffee maker (every dang morning, and I don't deserve it!), my constant strength, and my perfect example of how to love selflessly.
I've loved growing and changing with you these past three years through our marriage, and I couldn't have ever imagined a better friend to partner up with for life.

*Love you more than dark chocolate m&ms and mac n' cheese* ;)

*A Past Weekend Post

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 22:28:00 +0000

just a few iphone photos from last weekend... an entire weekend late {apologies}.

we took a little bike ride around dc.

stopped by georgetown for a cupcake and a coffee for breakfast.

saw the fdr & the mlk memorials.

road home & nursed our sunburns.

spent precious time with our capitol hill family.

were completely spoiled by great wine & lobster boats.

laughed about basements, California, granola, lavender wands, & as always, confetti hearts.

AST M&P, we're going to miss you more than you could ever know.

Saturday Gelato Runs

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:10:00 +0000

There's just nothing better.

Emily's gelato(s) of choice: rhubarb + chocolate w. chocolate chips
Jonathan's gelato(s) of choice: vanilla w. chocolate chips + baccio

'Best of' quote from the Memorial Day Weekend thus far:

involving an old washingtonian guy working tirelessly to convince a few unbelieving & argumentative european twenty-somethings that he really did know that the closest bike drop off was 'that way'... and when they finally listened after we chimed in too...

(said begrudgingly by the old washingtonian) "...bloody tourists."

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, y'all. :)

OBX

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Mon, 21 May 2012 01:32:00 +0000

Oh beach. How we all miss you. Apparently Jonathan and I had grievously forgotten how wonderful vacations are, or otherwise we would have never waited so long between them. That's one mistake we will not make again and there's a good chance Nags Head, OBX will be a yearly thing for our little family. This is actually something Jonathan and I talked a lot about while driving down to our first little beach vacay together, the fact that this felt like our very first "family trip." Let me explain.

The two of us have definitely done our share of traveling together. We both studied abroad in college (he in Spain and I in Italy), then met up at the end to spend some time together in Spain, we honeymooned in Antigua, and finally took a trip to Paris & London (both firsts for me!) right before we moved up to DC. I'm so, so, incredibly grateful for those experiences and they've been a major part of our love story, but there's something to be said for taking trips together that are reminiscent of what it felt like as a kid with your own family, to make you really start feeling like a family yourselves. It's probably no surprise to anyone that we are a bit in the minority of our age group in DC when it comes to marriage. Getting married young just isn't as common here, and it's easy to fall into feeling more like roommates in a very committed dating relationship when many around us (our age) are in that same situation. The fact that one of us is still wrapping up his scholastic endeavors doesn't help either. ;) It's almost like we can sometimes forget the importance of a marriage and a family and that it really is so different from all that. Lately I feel that we've refocused on the importance of this and it's been something that's really hit home with us in a great way. We are a family and this fact has to be our number one priority. There's so much I could say about this trip and how wonderful a recharge it was for us, but as photos are typically a more fun way to really show it {and it's kinda my thing}, that's what we're going to do!

We were able to find an itty bitty house just 3 blocks from the beach, complete with a backyard and fenced in porch for nights of scrabble by tiki torch and takeout seafood. The house is rented out by a couple who live in Richmond, VA, and they sweetly remembered that this was a trip to celebrate our anniversary (albeit a little early) and so we arrived to fresh flowers and a warm beach time welcome :)

This post is going to be quite large (how do you pair down 8 ga-jillion photos taken between 2 iphones and your canon slr? you can't), so I'll post another day about anni gifts. Hint - this year's theme for Jonathan? Man things.

We arrived in Nag's Head on Saturday evening, hit up a grocery store for all the necessary beach snacks (cheese its, pb m&ms, oreos, cooler ranch doritoes, and coronas of course), then ran out to see our beach before the sun went down. Thrilled doesn't even begin to cover it.

After, we went back inside for a "we're finally on vacation dinner" and made some pan roasted steaks with red wine sauce (red wine, mushrooms and butter - you were made for each other. no doubt). We soon found out that our sweet beach house's fire detectors were a little too "detective" for their own good. It did make for a funny evening of mad-dashing between alarm and steak, let me tell ya. :) Team work - thy name is Mayo.

After the house convinced itself that it wasn't burning to the ground, we ate our lovely dinner and settled in to watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (super confusing, but good) and Jude got just a little too excited about a next day full of beach. Hence - he's got his beach gear ready to go.

We woke up early (ish) the next morning, had our coffee on the porch and then hit the beach.

We all had lots of fun. Jude loved to shake the sand from the seaweed and then eat it (see the third little photo below), oh, and dig too of course. Still pretty scared of the water itself... but we're working on it.

One of the few photos with the nice camera we actually got together... all well, we'll take what we can get.

This is my sea turtle creation which incredibly, lasted through the night. That is... until Jude found it the following day and proceeded to destroy it like it was his whole purpose in life. Thanks judebear.

I think we hit up this restaurant at the pier every day... actually we definitely did. It was only a short walk from our entrance to the beach and the absolute perfect place for a dinner or quick break from the sun. + it had great margaritas and we got free walks down the pier for eating there. Obviously we had to go back multiple times. There was really no other choice.

*Day 2*

It was another great day at the beach - full of reading, digging, and all around fun. :) It seems as though we have ourselves a certified beach dog...

or... we would. If he could just get past his fear of waves.

This hat was my godsend. Thank you jcrew panama hat, for saving my poor white face from third degree burns and premature wrinkles. I might never take you off.

{side note : not pictured, night one of take out crab legs & shrimp with scrabble on the porch}.

*Day 3*

We were supposed to go home after Day 2, but after realizing how wonderful vacation really is, we decided to tack on an extra day. We knew there was a good possibility of storms, but that didn't really matter to us. It actually ended up being really nice, the storms threatened - but mostly stayed away so that we could still get some beach time (just a little bit chillier).

Somebody definitely didn't care two puppy licks about possible thunderstorms. Guess who? We still had lots of fun digging... but even by day three, didn't get over our fear of waves :)

omg. we almost lost THE BALL. That was a close one.

This is what I like to call one. happy. puppy.

We stopped off at our favorite pier (one last time) and watched the storm roll in with a few margaritas. Don't you just love stormy beach weather after a few great days in the sun? LOVE. For our very last dinner of vacation - we headed back to Tortugas and ate crab legs {again}... but this time we at least ate them at the restaurant. :)

Beach. We love you. We'll be back

Jude's DC Monuments Tour

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:19:00 +0000

Apologies in advance... but this is a Jude heavy post. Not that there's really much of another kind. Anyways, while Jonathan was slaving away studying for his last final a week or two ago, I decided that Jude and I needed to get out of the house and go for a run around town. We don't do this often, for a multitude of reasons...

a) running is boring

b) the temperature is unkind

c) jude likes to "run me" as opposed to me running him, which is both dangerous and awkward

d) there is a very high chance that jude will make a sudden directional decision, against what is generally acceptable (often due to squirrels or birds), and we will all go crashing down

Well, we decided to give it a go anyway (smart? - maybe not) and take a little dc monuments tour to make a) less true. We actually ended up having an awesome afternoon out in the dc sunshine. Here are a few iphone photos from our Sunday afternoon dc monuments tour:

We got tired from time to time and took little sunning breaks.

We got a little too patriotic...

We even got a little "arty" and stopped by the Hirshhorn to check out the new Ai Weiwei Circle of Animals - Zodiac Heads sculpture installation. They're truly an incredible sight and we'll definitely be back to see them again before they're gone (hopefully with Jonathan now too!).

We did eventually get kicked out (all well), but Jude did his best impression of a chinese zodiac head first. Not bad judebear, not bad.

All that running, art seeing and impersonating was pretty exhausting, so we stopped by the "Summerhouse" at the Capitol for a quick water break, and maybe just a little exploring too.

I'd say we had a pretty great day - that face says it all :)

Lastly, I don't know about you, but we're WAY excited that it's finally the weekend! Por que??? Because we're heading to the beach in the mañana!!!

{you can tell when we get excited... because that's when the bad spanish starts to come out}

Jonathan and I haven't really taken a trip together since we moved here (other than for weddings and family trips home for holidays), so we decided that it was time for a change! We've never been to OBX and surprisingly, it's only about 4.5 hours away! Thus, we're headed off for an early anniversary trip, end of 2L year celebration, and vacay before internships start (I'd say that's enough reasons for me!). Best part? Jude gets to come too :) Look out beach - he's got a years worth of digging to do!! For Jude's first beach encounter - see this old post. Happy, happy weekend everyone! See you in four days... unless we decide not to come back.

Cocktail Tuesday - The Winter Sun Cocktail

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:47:00 +0000

This recipe made me swoon over the weekend - seriously y'all, so easy & so good. Even though it had "winter" in the title, something about it really grabbed my attention (I'm thinking it was the rosemary). Trust me and give it a shot - you won't be disappointed.

Winter Sun Cocktail

juice of 2 clementines (about 1/4 cup) - (I used low calorie oj - worked great)

juice of 1/2 small lemon (1/2 oz)

1/2 oz triple sec

1 1/2 oz vodka

sprig of rosemary

lemon zest

sugar

1. Moisten the rim of your glass with some fruit juice. (The juice helps the sugar to adhere better than water does.) Combine zest and sugar in a shallow bowl or plate. Turn the glass over onto plate and coat with sugar.
2. Pour juices, triple sec, and vodka into a shaker. Shake and then pour over ice. Garnish with rosemary sprig. (Makes 1.)

Exams.Almost.Over.

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:34:00 +0000

We are sooooo close! Jonathan has been working his little 2/3rd's a lawyer butt off and I can't even tell you how ready we both are for this set of finals to be DONE. They aren't kidding when they say that they work you to death 2L year...

Last week I decided to make Jonathan an "Exam Week Survival Pack" because I thought he could probably use a little pick me up (obviously). What's in an exam week survival pack you ask? Well, let's see:

To set the scene... the scene of misery that is Jonathan's study room/our tiny apt, check out this photo. We love squeezing by his desk to get to the bathroom and/or my dresser drawers. Let.Me.Tell.Ya.

1. advil + vitamin c (we don't need any sickys)

2. raisinets (a favorite)

3. mike and ikes (also very impt)

4. cliff bars (for energy when the sugar high drops off)

5. gum... (after 8 hours of talking to no one...the breath can get intense)*

*sorry love

There you have it, an exam week survival pack.

Love you husband, you are so incredibly close to freedom!! Persevere :)

Everybody say a little prayer for Jonathan between 6:30 & 9:30 tomorrow!

Medium Format - Take Two

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:53:00 +0000

Take two! This time around since Jonathan has been sooo swamped with exams and all kinds of other law school craziness (three...more...days...), I ventured out a little further than just Capitol Hill with the yashica d. A few photos are just from walking around Georgetown after running an errand or two, but most are from a long walk I took along the Potomac River and GW Parkway last weekend (it's actually a portion of the Mount Vernon Trail). It's such a beautiful little hike and a really great way to get out and see a few different views of dc. If you're ever here visiting, I highly recommend renting a bike from capital bikeshare and checking it out!

LOVE using film as an excuse to get outside. Happy Sunday everyone!

Little Joys

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:50:00 +0000

Poketo stick up weekly calendar = making my Wednesday morning.

LIST LOVE

Oh. Sweet. Weimaraner

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:40:00 +0000

You know, I don't even think I really have to say anything for this post. I believe that the pictures will speak for themselves.

Oh.

Sweet.

Weimaraner.

First - "luna" love (never gonna let that ball out of his sight).

Then - yep, he's dead asleep (although, not actually dead - I checked...multiple times).

Goodnight!

Cocktail Tuesday & Tiresome Tuesday Combo

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:38:00 +0000

Don't judge, but tonight it was time for a cocktail. Nothing went wrong, actually it was quite the opposite! I had a really nice day. It was beautiful here in DC at 70 degrees, I continue to feel more and more every day the true blessing my job at OLAS has been in my life, and I even got my butt out of the house and went to my cardio dance class. All, good! Still though - I was craving a good cocktail. Here's the recipe I found to go with the ingredients we had in the house:

Ingredients:

1/2 oz Bulliet Bourbon
1/4 oz Grand Marnier
1/4 oz Vya sweet vermouth - {I didn't have any sweet vermouth, so I substituted a splash of lemon juice and water}
1 oz orange juice
caramelized orange wheel for garnish - {I just used a regular ol' orange slice}

Preparation:

In a cocktail shaker, add Bourbon, Grand Marnier and sweet vermouth. Add orange juice and ice.
Shake vigorously for 30 seconds, then strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a caramelized orange wheel.

{If you want to know how to do the caramelized orange wheel} : For the caramelized orange wheel, cut one orange wheel and toss in granulated sugar to coat. Place on aluminum foil or other nonflammable surface. Using a hand held propane torch, lightly caramelize the sugar by passing the torch flame 1-2 inches over the surface

What is it about a cocktail that makes everything seem fancier and more delicious? :) It was scrumptious.

Also, we've got a quick little edition of Tiresome Tuesdays... although it's been ages since I've actually done a tiresome tuesday post. Jude would very much like to know when Jonathan is going to stop with this studying for finals nonsense. He believes that it's very obvious from this photo that life is much better just cuddling here on the couch.

*Happy Tuesday everyone*

Medium Format Mosey, day one

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:28:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've been out to do some shooting (ahem, photographs), and even longer since I've been out to do some shooting with the much loved Yashica D. Tammy and Ashley loaned me this gem of a medium format camera early in our friendship, and dodged every attempt I made to give it back to them all the way up until they moved back to Texas... where they dodged me one last time! My goal for this super sweet and generous long term loan? Uh... USE IT. {love you guys btw}.

I dusted it off a week or two ago and took a long walk around the hill to soak up some dc sunshine - it felt so good to be out and shooting film again. Not to mention the fact that I finally have the iphone 4s and therefore have access to a built-in light meter app (thank you, thank you, thank you technology). Let's just say that in the pre iphone 4 days when I was lugging around the canon slr to act as light meter, it was a little less freeing and a little more cumbersome and annoying. I'm excited to get back out and play around with it a bit more, now that I've learned to push the film a little and am seeing how accurate my light meter is for this particular camera. Half the fun in photography is developing the relationship with your equipment :) I'm ready to dig in. Here are just a few shots from day one, medium format mosey, 2012.

...and judebear. obviously.

Easter Treats - Foods and Otherwise

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 16:28:00 +0000

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

John 11: 25-27

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you've all been able to take a little time this weekend to focus on what the resurrection truly means for those us of who believe. Something our pastor said this morning that really stuck out to me, was that while we would all probably say that we want to be a part of a miracle, none of us really want to be in the situation that necessitates a miracle {amen to that!}. Sometimes, things have to get hard, hopeless and desperate for God to intervene in a big, big way - and while that can be kind of scary, I hope it brings you a little of the hope it brings me this easter. He is Risen!

All things considered, it's been a pretty low key easter weekend at the Mayo house. By low key, I really mean that Jonathan has been overwhelmed with the amount of work and study he's had to do, so it's been a weekend of all day study for him, and a weekend of chill time for me. Yep, I'd rather be me right now too ;) I took a spin class, sun'd and read in the park (the weather's been gorgeous), did some photo editing (the Yashica D Ash&Tam "left" got dusted off last weekend, and oh how I forgot how much I love medium format film - photos to come soon), and then cleaned everything.we.own. One of the other things I finally found time to do, was make these delectable little treats. Bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate? No contest, amazing.

I can't even begin to describe to you how easy these were to make, or how good they are. You freeze them and they're like little ice cream bite snacks. YUM.

So, other than eating my weight in peanut butter banana bites (no amount of spin classes will make up for it), we had yet another treat this weekend! One of Jonathan's best buds, Mason, came up with his girlfriend for an impromptu dc visit, and we couldn't have been more happy to get to see them! Unfortunately because of law school insanity, we weren't able to spend more than an evening together, but it was just what the doctor ordered. We had a late night dinner at Cava (a very yummy greek tapas place down the street), followed with a little wine, easter treats, and fun conversation at the house. Wish we could have spent more time with you guys -- be sure to come back this summer! Happy Easter all, xoxo

The Last Week Of March

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:38:00 +0000

A few iphone photos from the last week of March {crazy}:

All the warm weather has officially kicked off spring in capitol hill, and it's vying for first place in my heart up against the cap hill fall... I don't think it can win - but it can absolutely try! It definitely makes my walks to and from the coffee shop, for a few "get-out-of-the-house-before-you-go-crazy" working hours, that much more lovely. Winter and Summer may be a little rough here at times (oh. so. cold. and then oh. so. humid.), but Spring and Fall make it all worth it.

Love that PENN sign

Final prep is really starting to take off for Jonathan (insert crazy town at our house), so last night we made sure to get out and have a little fun. H street dinner + drinks did the trick.

+ a little weim love when we got home to watch the mega millions. he loves this... really.

{p.s. I did get 2 of the numbers right... that's 2 more numbers than Jonathan got, just sayin}

Saturday morning you say? Sounds like a weim + coffee + computer kind of morning to me!

{note Jonathan's head in the corner... studying. poor thing. as you can see, jude's pretty worried about him}

Jonathan always makes sure to take little breaks for him though

Happy Saturday Everyone!

a proper dc goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:21:00 +0000

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to two dear friends. We're quickly finding out that the rumors about dc and goodbyes being synonymous, are unfortunately - very true. We first met Ashley and Tammy at the dog park (shocker, it's practically where we first met all of our friends here) and learned that they were also brand new to this city of ours and were adjusting to life as basement dwellers as well. Needless to say, we became fast friends over milkshakes, cards, and our love of Capitol Hill. We've been through a lot together over the past two years: adjusting to city life, law school, new jobs, multiple midnight dog hospital visits (and no, they were not ALL for Jude), becoming official live-in-the-same-house kind of neighbs, and brand new baby Payden. It's really kind of astounding how much we've all been through together in such a short period of time. They have been an unbelievable support to us here and will be so.dearly.missed. *T - what on earth am I going to do without our weekly girl nights?!

For our last hurrah, we decided to dinner at Ted's (where else could we possibly go?) and then take a walk down to the Capitol in the most perfect dc weather. I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that they're really already making their way back to Texas today, but I'm so thankful for the time we had together here in this city. Hearts Shugarts - you'll always have a home here to come back and visit! x's & o's

A Ham?

noreply@blogger.com (emily mayo) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:22:00 +0000

Not this weimaraner.