Day-Maker #70

The NBC newscaster, after a commercial break, declared: "We're back, though that would appear evident." Thank you, Bob Costas, for noticing this little unnecessary moment of life!

Day-Maker #69

We ate lunch at Austin Grill, a little Tex-Mex place we stumbled upon in a shopping center between church and home. Our waitress brought a dessert menu we couldn’t turn away – photos of the food on a View-Master.

Psychedelic Mary and the Washtub Bass

It sounds almost like it could be a band name, right?  Other then, what would that band play?  Please ponder and comment.

Believe it or not, I discovered both in the same house on the night of the Gorilla Challenge.  The boy and I went to a coffee house later that day.  A group of Catholic men have a house next door to a convent of cloistered nuns in the city.  (Yes, this exists.  Tell me you are as excited as I am.)  This group of guys is musically inclined and at semi-regular intervals will set up a coffee house in their front parlor (er, living room?), where awesome and talented people gather to share their musical gifts.

As I stood taking in my surroundings and trying not to be overwhelmed by the excess of new places and people, I noticed Our Lady of Guadalupe hanging in a corner.  Her sunbeams were neon beams streaming out from behind her to meet a rotating circle of neon light.  From this auspicious beginning, the boy pointed out to me a conglomeration of religious images such as St. Brigid’s lake of beer, along with a few other essential pieces, such as a large cardboard cutout of Homer (Simpson) and a tiny figurine of Tinkerbell. 

In case you were wondering how the night could get better than that, the entertainment impressed me from start to finish.  We heard everything from a song mocking short people (possibly my new favorite song) to a capella Irish ballads.  Joni Mitchell made an appearance, along with Sarah McLachlan.

The last act of the night stole the show.  Just as I was telling the boy that I was falling asleep and we should go, a group of people began pulling out instruments – a guitar, a banjo, an accordion, and a washtub bass.  How could we possibly go before hearing them play?  Yes, they were every bit as awesome as your mental picture and more. 

In Which Two Guys Chase Down a Gorilla

When Larry sent me a Groupon link to the Gorilla Challenge, I thought, Why not? without really considering what I was getting myself into. I only began to realize a couple weeks later, when we registered and he informed me we were entering the costume contest.

The Gorilla Challenge is a scavenger hunt race. This particular one, being in DC, would take us running through the city, following clues, to take ridiculous pictures in classic DC places. Larry recruited another of our cousins and a girl from a running club, while I recruited a boy.

We settled on ’80s costumes, which made me freak out immediately. 1980s, according to every source on Google, meant bright colors and outrageous accessories… pretty much the opposite of my normal, understated fashion choices. However, I raided my little sister’s wardrobe to come up with something I found decently acceptable, although embarrassing for the Metro ride. I felt better when a random stranger turned to his friend and said, “See what she’s wearing? That’s what you should have done!”

We started in the middle of the city and followed clues that made us hug trees outside of the EPA and build a human pyramid on brick. (I got to be on top, so this was less painful for me than other members of our team.) We sang to random strangers and danced the YMCA in a city park.

In addition to the scavenger hunt, a man in a gorilla mask roamed the city and if we caught him, we got a prize. So of course the male-folk on the team wanted nothing more than to catch this gorilla-man. They spotted him at the same time another team did. As we watched, the gorilla ran from the other team and our guys sprinted at a diagonal toward him – intercepting him midflight. We got a gift card toward lunch.

That was our sole prize of the day; we didn’t place in the race. However, we acquired some excellent photos and had an excellent time. And I learned that with enough hairspray and three strong hair ties, my hair will stay in a high ponytail for several hours of running.

Ye Old Citty

On Friday my parents and sister and I took a trip to Historic St. Mary's City in Maryland.  The tiny recreation marks the first English settlement in Maryland and the first place in the nation to establish freedom of religion -- interestingly, termed "freedom of conscience."  If it weren't so far in the middle of nowhere, it would be an excellently symbolic place for our current fight for that same freedom.

The recreation was small -- only a few buildings, a handful of re-enactors, and a boat -- but everyone there was eager to talk to us about history and culture.  The place wasn't crowded either, so each place we stopped, we had extended conversations.  My mom was interested because we have old relatives who lived there; I was interested because culture fascinates me; and my dad was interested because he likes to talk to people.  Between the three of us, we talked a lot and my sister got to sit back and listen.

Besides the main settlement, there is a tobacco plantation that, like Williamsburg, takes visitors back in time.  We chatted with an indentured servant who was very fluent in her assumed accent and diction, which impressed me, and wandered through the herb garden, increasing my desire to have a beautiful, useful garden of my own.

Some fun facts:  

*During their first year, the settlers lived with the Yaocomaco clan, side by side with them in their dwellings.  Eventually, each moved on from the area without violence.

*Maryland started with a guarantee of religious freedom, but later Catholicism was outlawed in that colony as well.  We never learned that second bit in history class.

*Margaret Brent, who is a distant cousin of mine, was fighting for women to have the vote way back in the 1600s.  

Day-Maker #68

On my early morning run, I encountered a mother walking with her three children.  One of them, lagging behind her mother and siblings, clenching a baggie of Cheerios, was decked out in a Batman costume, complete with a cape.

I don't know who that child was, but she has the best method of dealing with being up at 7am: Be Batman.

Matthew 5:15

I'm not sure I am making a wise choice, but here is the link to a talk I gave at the local young adult group.  The recording also include Father's comments and some group discussion.  The topic: Maintaining the Spiritual Life during Times of Transition.  Thanks to my wonderful sister for her input and all my many CCMers who helped me learn.

And While We're Into Feminism...

I found this on Julia's tumblr.... Enjoy!

Feminism and Femininity

Not terribly long ago, there was an internet hype about this article by Anne-Marie Slaughter of Princeton University.  I think I promised to blog about it.  The article is titled "Why Women Still Can't Have It All."  I took a while to get around to reading it, assuming it was just another feminist rant that might be true but missed the point and offered no realistic solutions.

Instead, Slaughter offers something new to the debate surround the work-family conflict.  She legitimizes women who feel this conflict deeply.  It is very rare to find an academic woman who states, "Women can't have it all."

Like the young women Slaughter brings up in her article, I find great relief in a woman of her position admitting it.  I am currently not balancing work and family, but I spend perhaps too much mental energy figuring out how I might be able to achieve that balance.

Not only does Slaughter admit the problem, but she sees it manifesting differently in men and women --and admits that this is okay.  Women not only seem to feel the separation from their families due to work differently than men do, but they also react differently.  Rather than suggesting that the two genders try to equalize their feelings, she suggests ways to keep women in the working world.

I don't necessarily agree with all the solutions Slaughter offers (longer school days would mean more institutional parenting and less parent parenting), but I am glad to see this piece entering the academic conversation.  I keep searching the Christian side of things to find the joining point between feminism and femininity, but maybe I should be scouring social sciences as well.

Close to Home: Confections

Cupcake Heaven has a rival!  Confections, a small cupcakery that started as a home-business and has grown, impressed us during the heat wave.  My mother and sister joined Larry's mom and me on this stop.  Actually, they are basically part of the tour now (although neither has provided reviews in writing) since my mom is out of school for the summer and my sister is back from Francophone adventures.

We came on a day of high heat and humidity and, after walking in, wished we had joined the patrons who brought iced coffee from Starbucks to enjoy with our sugary deliciousness.  The selection of drinks was narrow, which I would not have minded, except that I waited fifteen minutes for a cup of tea that was heated in the microwave.  The cashier was friendly and apologetic however.


After Cupcake Heaven, Confections had the largest shop of the tour, and they obviously expect people to sit and enjoy.  They had cute tables and Top 40 music and big windows and a little old grandma who mixed cupcakes as we ate them.  I think she was the secret weapon of Confections. 


Whatever the secret weapon, it worked!  I ate a salted caramel pretzel cupcake.  I don't know who thought of such a thing, but that person is a genius.  The caramel cake by itself was so-so, but it had a salted buttercream frosting and when their power combined, that effect was one of the most surprisingly yummy things I've eaten.  It came topped with a chocolate covered pretzel, so it even satisfied the not-at-all-hidden chocoholic in me. 


I give them a 5 of 5 stars.  The grandmother bumped them into the extra-credit zone that Cupcake Heaven occupies, but the slow tea brought them back down.  Not too far though.


Here is Larry's mom's review.  Normally I paste them in exactly as she sends them to me, but this one is edited with the proper pricing, which she was unsure of when she wrote the review.


Confections Cupcakery in Manassas/borders Woodbridge:

4 1/2 overall
I had the Pink Champagne cupcake which was different w/a slight taste of champagne in the frosting.
The cake was moist but plain vanilla.
The frosting was what made this cupcake. Pretty in pink, hint of champagne & not too sweet or greasy.
They had a nice variety of cupcakes & some pop-cakes. You could watch them make up the sweets as you relax in the well lit, spaciousness of the shop. You could also enjoy sitting at one of the tables outside on a nice day.
Drinks were limited. One could just cross the street to get Starbucks one & then sit outside either place.
The shop was clean, constantly busy which bodes well for the place, as well as in a very good location.
The price was reasonable ($2.50) & the size average.
I would return to & try another flavor.

Resistance and Martyrdom

I've struggled for a while with the Church's teaching on self-defense -- and just war since the two are linked.  I'm not sure how a religion that values martyrdom and eschews violence can come up with a theory that allows the killing of people.  I know they are not "innocent people," but my Church teaches love for the bad as much as the good and that none of us are innocent.

With this mindset, I found myself nodding in agreement when I read this post on lethal resistance, written by an atheist blogger who recently made waves by announcing her conversion to Catholicism.  Her basic point is that lethal resistance has no redemptive value for either soul involved.

My assumption here is that I need to read more Aquinas, not that the Church is wrong.  If any of my faithful readers want to recommend a good read on this topic, please send it my way!

Virile Agitur

I have a secret love for the website The Art of Manliness.  It consists of posts addressing how to -- you guessed it -- be a man.  Not that I am secretly trying to be a man; it just has a lot of good life advice, either that I want my male friends to take or that applies to all who seek a virtuous life.  It stopped being secret approximately now because of this post that falls into the latter category.

The post is about how to feel like a man: by acting like a man.  Substitute "man" and "manliness" for whatever virtue you seek, and it's a pretty good map for how to become whomever you want to be.

Latchkey Kids and Time to Shower

When I was in undergrad and it got to be crunch time for exams and papers, or retreats and SFL events, I used to turn to Wendy and say, "I can do without sleep.  But you know it's bad when you don't have time to eat, pee, or shower."  (That might be the crassest language my mother has heard me use.  Sorry, Mom; be assured it's just about as crass as I get.)

At the College, being busy was a badge of pride.  I don't remember ever comparing GPAs  (I only looked at mine when I update my resume), but we compared how much or how little we slept, the tiny amount of free time we had in a week, the number of overlapping and conflicting events each day.  It was a strange, twisted form of competition:  whoever is the least healthy wins.  I still, unfortunately, take a twisted bit of pride in often winning.

Busted Halo had an article that referenced a Times blog about the cult of busyness in our society.  Tim Kreider, who wrote the Times piece, refers himself as part of the latchkey generation, who grew up roaming wild after school, rather than jumping from activity to activity.

I'm not sure if I count as a latchkey kid, since my mother's work schedule changed throughout my school career and I was rarely home alone for hours.  However, I related to Kreider's description of his childhood activities: "everything from surfing the World Book Encyclopedia to making animated films to getting together with friends in the woods to chuck dirt clods directly into one another’s eyes, all of which provided me with important skills and insights that remain valuable to this day."

Our Encyclopedias were not World Book, we wrote stories instead of animating films, and we  tended to make homes under bushes rather than through dirt (the females were dominant in that group).  I too learned valuable life-lessons that I am rediscovering now that I have stepped back from the life Kreider describes.  (Not as dramatically as he has, but still back.)

I am discovering silence.  The Busted Halo writer, Phil Fox Rose, mentions this aspect that Kreider doesn't cover.  I could go on about silence, but as others already have, I will stop chattering at you and let you get to reading these two pieces and clicking the links in the Busted Halo post.

Sugar Buzz: Cupcakes and Cannoli

My own mother and Wendy joined Larry's mom and me for the most recent stop on the cupcake tour. We went to Sugar Buzz, a cute cupcakery and coffee shop in historic Occoquan.  I had done a reconnaissance mission a few weeks ago, and the owner told me they are "the anti-Starbucks." 

[Side Note: I love local coffee shops.  Little, non-chain places where you order in English and can sit for hours with a book or computer and secretly people watch.  In case you haven't figured it out, I am like the uncool cousin of a hipster.  We are vaguely related and have some similar tendencies, but clearly do not have all of the same genes.  (I have lots of real cousins, some of whom are "cool."  None, as far as I know, are hipsters.)]

Larry's mom and I got cupcakes and iced coffee.  The presentation was by far the least impressive we've seen: simple frosting and a few sugary sprinkles.  I think I've made prettier cupcakes.  However, the chocolate and white frosting on the marble cupcake called to me, so I chose it.  This was a mistake on my part.  I don't like marble cake.  Marble cake takes two elements that stand well on their own and mixes them into a grayness of appearance and taste.  That being said, the frosting upon which I based my decision was perfect and the Boston-cream filling in the center made me savor every bite.  The cake was dense, which I like best, but marbled.  Which you only expect when you order a marble cupcake.

Wendy went for a cannoli instead of a cupcake, and it satisfied her Italian taste buds.  They apparently buy the shells and make the filling.  The girl behind the counter made her first cannoli for Wendy.  By this and by her difficulty making change, I am guessing she was new.  In spite of slow cannoli and problematic mathematics, the service was lovely: both she and the owner were friendly, helpful, and talkative and helped accommodate a party of four, which seemed to be larger than they expected.

My main complaint about Sugar Buzz is that it is only open Thursday through Sunday.  Their iced coffee was yummy and I would love to become a regular to do schoolwork there.  Alas, I need a coffee shop for Monday through Wednesday.

Overall, I give Sugar Buzz a 4.5 of 5 stars.  You might not believe it based on the review below, but Larry's mom and I do review these places separately.

Rating 4 1/2
I would return because the cupcakes were good, it's close by & the owner/employees were friendly & helpful.
Price - average low @ $2.50 (was this right?).
The drinks were priced a bit high & OK. They did have bottle water sodas, fresh teas & decent coffee.
Variety small but decent.
Shop small but comfortable. It would be nice to sit outside on nice days.
Its hours are limited to Thurs - Sun.
The frosting amount, texture & sweetness were just right, not too greasy.
There could have been a little more filling on the inside. I had the boston cream. I was afraid of it being too donutnutty but it was light. Some of the cupcakes were made from pound cake instead of regular cake like mine was.
The company I was with was very good.

In Defense of Doubting Thomas

Happy Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle!  He has a rather negative reputation, since he is best known as "doubting Thomas."  If you don't know his story, he was absent when Jesus first appeared to the Apostles after the Resurrection.  He didn't believe that they had seen Jesus and told the others, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."  The next week, Jesus came back and allowed Thomas to put his hands in His wounds.

Thomas may have doubted, but he got to place his hands into the wounds that saved him.  Although Jesus tells Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe!" I am filled with awe at the thought of the immense privilege Thomas had.  I have been contemplating the wounds of Christ lately, so this awe is part of an on-going wonderment.

Thomas experiences this wonderment.  When he touches Jesus, he doesn't say, "I was wrong!" or "Sorry I didn't believe you, guys!"  He exclaims with awe and reverence, "My Lord and my God!" immediately worshiping his Redeemer.

Stop IV: Georgetown Cupcake

Although it's not in Virginia, we could not turn down the opportunity to visit Georgetown Cupcake for the tour when we passed by.  It's famous (apparently on TV?) and thus constantly busy.  It's a cute shop on a street corner in a cute town.  The day we visited, it was full of Girl Scouts, but I don't think that's an every day occurrence.  However, I think the stream of customers that created a line out of the shop was a constant, including the employee at the door handing out menus and regulating admittance to the indoors.  I'm pretty sure he was responsible for creating a line on the sidewalk to make it look like an awesome place to be.  Neither he nor any of the other employees seemed excited to be there.  For all the shop knew it was awesome, it didn't make anyone who worked there happy.

On the upside, the cupcake element was awesome.  They offer a variety of flavors that rotate throughout the weeks, months, and seasons.  They are decorated gorgeously -- I'm glad I chose based on the menu rather than appearances, or else I would not have been able to decide.  I had an Earl Grey Lavender cupcake.  The cake tasted amazingly like earl grey tea (my favorite!), complemented by a delicate lavender icing.  Whoever thought of that combination was a genius.


If I were rating just on the cupcake, they would have a higher ranking, but since I include the entire cupcake experience, they get a 4 of 5 stars.  I would enjoy going back to try some of the other specialty flavors.

Larry's mom gave the same rating:

Rate 4 stars - a little too much peanut butter to taste the cake, what I could taste was light & delicious & not overly sweet.

Shop - hard to tell sense they run off their TV reputation. It seemed quaint, but assembly line w/no personally. If you want to just get a cupcake & go, this is your place.

Size - average small

Price - Average.