Climb Every Mountain

Okay, I know what you're thinking: I am Sound of Music obsessed. This is the second time I've borrowed my blog title from the 1960s movie chronicling the musically inclined Van Trapp Family's escape from Austria on the brink of World War II. What can I say: it's a good film.

But I digress. My purpose with this post is not to tout the movie, but to reflect on how important it is to meet challenges head on, to try something new and when it's hard...to keep going. A few weeks ago, my father embarked on a nearly week-long, 60 mile trek in California's Yosemite National Park (elev: 8,000 ft and higher). Every morning, he'd wake up at the campsite, and after a hearty breakfast (the food, apparently, was to die for), load up his 30-pound backpack and hike across some of the country's prettiest passages. Under clear, cloudless skies he'd pass by navy crystalline lakes and spy wild deer prancing in their natural habitat. At night, the sun would drop, chilling the air and forcing him to bundle up in hats and gloves for an appetizing dinner meal.

My brother, too, adventured this summer. A timid traveller, he bit the proverbial bullet and flew over to Israel for a two-week Birthright tour. There, he rode camels in the Negev desert, floated in the salty Dead Sea, watched the sun creep into the sky from the top of Masada, and relaxed on the Tel Aviv beaches.

When I talked to them both about their experiences, saw their pictures and heard their stories, I thought that I too needed to take leaps sometimes. Try the untried. Go onto unchartered territory. Fear nothing. What should I do, I thought. A total physical adventure is off limits right now, thanks to a persistent leg injury. But then I thought of something so painfully obvious, I am embarassed it wasn't at the top of my mind. Getting married! Not planning a wedding and thinking of flowers and guest lists, but actually embarking on a lifelong commitment with someone. For me, it's untried and unchartered. It's perfect. And, if the smiles on my dad and brother's face after their respective trips are any indicator--it's that new things, even if they're tough at times, are really rewarding.

A Snapshot of the Crazy Cousins

At our engagement party, I heard my dad yelling for me to come downstairs. I was fixing my hair and reapplying some lip gloss when he announced it's time for the cousins' picture. And so, I raced down stairs to join the ranks of the cousins, who were already assorted in age order. Luckily, it was easy for me to fit in. I am the oldest.

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This cousins' photo began probably 15 years ago, when my six cousins, brother, and me--in chronological order from the date of our births--affixed ourselves on a sofa and smiled for a series of cameras, each held by an adoring aunt or grandmother. I was around 13, and my youngest cousin was 4. Over the years, relatives snapped a few other pictures of us eight cousins squeezed onto a couch (finding a seat got progressively harder to do as we got older). Even more photos survive of us at various stages of childhood, running through the Bethany Beach waves or eating creamy Vanilla Fudge at Candy Kitchen. It's been a while since the eight of us were all together. First off, Bethany Beach has gotten way too built up. The ocean waves are ridiculously overcrowded. Although it's probably more because each of us is searching, journeying, dreaming, and studying, and those activities usually involve some geographic dispersion. But it's nice that at times like an engagement party, all of us can find our place in the chronological line, ready to be photographed.

Some of My Favorite Things

Inspired by my coffee date entry, I have been thinking some more of my favorite small pleasures. Here they go, in no particular rational order: browsing through bookstores; soy lattes; The Sound of Music and other familar old movies that you can recite all the words; marathon phone conversations with out-of-town friends; sunflowers; the smell of freshly cut grass; vanilla fudge; nutella; old photo albums; summertime pedicures with cute sandals; Ugg boots in the winter; Tivo-ed Jeopardy; stir-fry tofu dinners; finishing a good book; a glass of water after a long run; yoga class; wearing a new shirt or pair of shoes to work; three-day weekends; a funny joke; a Redskins win; flossing my teeth before bedtime; libraries; sudoku; crossword puzzles; the Sunday paper; back rubs; Greek yogurt; sushi; wandering through Whole Foods; visiting family and friends; laughing until it hurts; leaves changing; flowers blooming; cloudless skies and 75 degree heat, with no humidity...These are some of mine. Agree, disagree? Add your own!!!

A Coffee Date

This weekend, on Saturday morning, Dan and I ventured to a new coffee shop by the name of Big Bear. We sat there for nearly two hours; I read my Rebecca Mead wedding book and he pored over Time magazine and the newspaper. It was a beautiful morning, sunny and cloudness but not humid, to enjoy a soy latte and bagel and cream cheese. That's one thing Dan and I love to do: find a coffee shop on the weekends (since our apartment doesn't have much in the way of outdoor seating), sit, relax, people watch, read the paper, glancing up to tell one another some interesting tidbit from the news or our own observations. From this Saturday in particular, we caught a glimpse of a DC celebrity as Mayor Fenty came in after us to order breakfast. Maybe not the most glamorous activity (the coffee date, that is, not Mayor Fenty. Seeing him was pretty cool), but as much as life is about the big moments--the weddings and whatnot--it is also about the lazy Saturday mornings, the soy lattes and newspaper reads.

So, I'm Marrying a 30-Year Old

As this title implies, today is Dan's 30th birthday. And I'm not too far behind. This picture is from his birthday fiesta last Saturday night, where he and I and some good friends celebrated the three-decade mark. Thirty can be scary because it's always been associated with the beginning of adulthood, throughout society and literature. And what is adulthood, really? Is it when falling asleep early on a Friday night after an exhausting week at work seems a lot more appealing than hitting up the bars? Or when you start looking to buy a home and matching pots and pans? And, of course, moving forward with careers. But as the two of us emerge into this grown-up world, having an inner, light-hearted child inside is more important than ever. And it's not mutually exclusive. We can look at china patterns, think about our future together, while laughing at silly jokes and even making it out to the bar one night!