The Art in Life

Counting this as the first day of summer.

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Hannah

Spring-133 Spring-134 Spring-138 After a couple weeks of insane paper writing, grading, projects, and massive consumption of Siggi’s coconut styr yogurt (Y’all, this stuff is like magic ice cream masquerading as food acceptable to eat at breakfast… or lunch… or midnight. All three have happened in the past week.), the semester is over. The German exam is submitted, the student exams graded, and the living room cleared of the hurricane of papers that whipped through it a couple weeks ago. I can’t even begin to tell you how good it feels. Despite all the awesome things from the past couple months, this semester really took it out of me. That breakdown over the magazines? Totally not the only one lately. The moments where I informed James that I was quitting grad school? A regular occurrence.

But now, it’s done. Finished. Closed. Completed. And summer is coming.

When I look over the next couple months, I feel panic rising up because they already look so full that next semester seems only blink away. No. Not yet. We have a lot happening this summer, some good things, some hard things, some daunting things, and I am ready to embrace them all.

But first, I’m excited about this next week, this first week post-semester, this magical early Memorial-Day week where summer seems to sneak up and start early, giving me a blissful breather before June rolls in and the next thing I know, it’s the end of August. I’m starting summer now.

Yesterday, after the last exam was graded and submitted, I headed out with Christine to do some lazy-day exploring of the little Northeast corner of DC that holds a special place in my heart. It’s where I lived when I first moved here, where I learned to love this city, and where we love to spend saturday mornings at Union Market. Christine and I sweet baby Everly — in leggings that have bows on the ankle BE STILL MY HEART — in tow, spent a quiet morning wandering around Union Market before checking out the new Dolcezza gelato factory and bar that opened recently.

I’m hoping for more days like this as summer continues, blissful days that I know are a luxury purchased by graduate school schedules and miserable semesters. I don’t really know how many there will be, at least not in DC. I’m not complaining, because I know that evening having a summer break is a gift that most adults don’t enjoy. I’m just soaking up whichever ones come.

We have family coming into town over Memorial Day, which does mean I get to show off my city. Any exciting plans for this weekend to kick off summer?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged DC, photography, school, summer | Leave a comment

Baby John

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Hannah

Meet John, a sweet newborn baby boy I got to photograph on Mother’s Day.

Just in case your Monday needed tiny baby toes, perfect baby fingers, and little baby smiles, you’re welcome.
John4 John John2

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baby, photography | 4 Comments

I want it to matter.

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Hannah

A couple weeks ago I started thinking about what I wanted to teach for my last class of the semester. I think endings are really important, really necessary in tying something all together and locking it in your brain in a certain context that invites you to revisit what you’ve learned. I hate having to end with a test or project, and up until this semester, I’ve always had to.

This semester, I taught an introduction to literature course and as the final days drew closer, I kept on telling James, “I just want them to know why it matters, reading literature.” He kept kindly reminding me that the average student doesn’t care why it matters, just wants the credit and an A and to get to summer. But what are teachers if not perpetual idealists, people who genuinely believe in the importance of their subject, even if no one else does? As a teacher of French literature, I like to think I have the market pretty cornered on “potentially useless subjects that people undervalue,” but still… I want it to matter, because it matters to me.

I want them to know that all these poems, short stories, excerpts from books and plays, matter because they all reflect some author’s attempt to understand humanity a little better and share it with the world. I want them to see Molière’s portraits in their fellow man and take pity on the lesser members of society like Zola’s Grand Michu. I want them to see the world through the different lenses of post-colonialism, feminism, and poetry that we spent the semester studying. I want them to know that humanity comes in so many different backgrounds, shapes, sizes, colors, temperaments, and stories, and that literature shows us that. I want them to see the world just a little bit clearer because they sat in my class for a semester.

About a week before the end of the semester I came across an amazing article for another class about how literature cultivates our narrative imagination, and thus our humanity. The author, Martha Nussbaum, argues that literature allows us to understand someone different than us and thus shapes our compassion. I kept on coming back to this quote over and over:

“Some characters feel like us, and some repel easy identification. But such failures to identify can also be sources of understanding. Both by identifying and by its absence, we learn what life has done to people. A society that wants to foster the just treatment of all its members has strong reasons to foster an exercise of the compassionate imagination that crosses social boundaries, or tries to. And this means caring about literature.”

Along with a French article, I gave my students an excerpt of this text for them to read for the last day. Then, before a boring review on grammar, we had a discussion about what good all they had learned this semester could serve outside of the classroom. I think they got it. They shared what they had learned from different things we read, and my little teacher heart just about burst. It’s also possible they were bored, or just trying to indulge me, or didn’t understand the French discussion. Those are always possibilities in a language classroom. But I like to think that at least one or two students got it, understood why all this literature matters. And that’s enough.

“I am persuaded for the moment that this is in fact the basis of community. I would say, for the moment, that community, at least community larger than the immediate family, consists very largely of imaginative love for people we do not know or whom we know very slightly. This thesis may be influenced by the fact that I have spent years of my life lovingly absorbed in the thoughts and perceptions of—who knows it better than I?—people who do not exist. And, just as writers are engrossed in the making of them, readers are profoundly moved and also influenced by the nonexistent, that great clan whose numbers increase prodigiously with every publishing season. I think fiction may be, whatever else, an exercise in the capacity for imaginative love, or sympathy, or identification.” –Marilynne Robinson

*You can read the entire Martha Nussbaum article here. I don’t always agree with her exact political application of her ideas, but it is still a totally worthwhile read. The second quote is from a similar article by Marilynne Robinson that my friend Bethany send me when I started excitedly texting her block quotes from Nussbaum. You can read it here. And you can read more book love here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged books, quota, teaching, words | 13 Comments

Baby boy.

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Hannah

Happy (late) Mother’s Day to all you moms out there, among which I feel pretty special to call this woman mine. On the subject of mothers, let’s talk about new mothers and new babies. In March, James’ sister and her husband (remember their wedding?) came to visit. We spent the weekend laughing and playing a lot of games, and then right after I took these pictures of them being all cute and enjoying their milkshakes…

…They announced that they were having a baby in September!!!!! Cue squealing and belly touching.

I’ll be honest, I was instantly imagining tutus, mini-hairbows and a little niece with a matching birthday month as me. But isn’t it the joy of a baby that no matter what gender you were expecting, the announcement can’t bring anything but happiness? A boy! A healthy baby boy with perfect tiny toes and fingers and nose. Instantly bows were replaced with foxes, whales, and nautical stripes. I spent yesterday afternoon photographing a perfect and fresh little baby boy and I cannot be more excited about my little nephew’s approaching arrival. I couldn’t help but take a little stroll around the internet and find some cute things designed with baby boys in mind. Don’t worry, I obviously wouldn’t actually spend that much money on baby clothes as they wear them for all of once, but still… that is a bear with a mustache. I just can’t. And that grey jumpsuit with the subtle bunny face? I am slain.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baby, family | 6 Comments

Why I love DC: Market Breakfast Pancakes

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Hannah

Yesterday morning as he was leaving for work, James turned to me and said, “Seize the day…. or at least say ‘Hey’ and try it make it through.” It’s been one of those weeks (months? seasons of life?). So instead of talking about that, let’s talk about pancakes.
Spring-66 I’ll be honest — I don’t really like pancakes. They are like the sadly flat cousin to waffles and I will always take the waffle. The only way I usually tolerate pancakes is if they have chocolate chips in them and can be eaten like a soft cookie. I’m not sure what it is about pancakes, if it is the overwhelming sweetness of syrup, or the bland taste, or the unexciting appearance, but pancakes just don’t inspire me.

Until Market Breakfast pancakes that is. I had heard of their legendary breakfast for awhile, but they don’t exactly serve brunch as late as James and I usually roll, plus the line is always way too long.

A couple weeks ago, James and I dragged ourselves out there before church. Despite the early hour, we still waited 45 minutes, but it was so worth it. Amazing blueberry buckwheat pancakes, gigantic eggs benedict, crispy potatoes, and giant flaky biscuits. Perfection.

It was all good, but it is those pancakes that had me waxing poetic to anyone who would listen, those pancakes that made me go back a second time that week, those pancakes that have redefined pancake for me. The manager insisted I order one the first time, all but forcing it onto our ticket, and he was so right. He knew that before they came into my life, I missed them so bad. And he was right.

What it is: Counter serving relatively cheap breakfast (and lunch!) inside the covered market at Eastern Market.

Where it is: 225 7th Street SE

Why you should be excited: Did you see those close up pancake shots? Yeah, that’s why. Plus, you will walk away having spent significantly less than anywhere else. It’s a pretty no frills kind of place, but again, PANCAKES.

It even has me considering making some pancakes at home… until I remember how cheap and close they are, and then I give up and go buy them.

But seriously, any rockstar pancake recipes out there? And I know it is a waffle, but I have been craving these grain free lemon blueberry waffles all week. How long till the weekend again?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged breakfast, brunch, DC, Eastern Market, photography, why i love dc | 9 Comments

We were made for Sunday.

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Hannah

Spring-123

I would say that a disproportionate percentage of the fun things you see on this blog happen on Sundays. Yes, we love Saturday brunch like nothing else, but most Saturday events have to be sandwhiched between lots of pesky responsibilities that leave little time for much else. This weekend for instance, we had a fun-packed weekend of taking friends to the airport Friday night, followed by studying for me and work for James. On Saturday I camped out at Starbucks to write papers while James worked at home. I managed to watched the Derby on a small corner of my computer while typing away on the other half of the screen. We ate dinner at home and then in a truly wild outing, I did grocery shopping at 10 at night to avoid the crowds. Bliss.

But then Sunday comes.

Growing up, we weren’t allowed to do homework on Sunday, or go shopping, or go to the movies. This also meant we didn’t do chores, or mow the lawn, or whatever other thing my parents could devise for us. You might see this as religious legalism, or overbearing rules, but you know what it really is? Bliss. For one day of the week, life wasn’t about working and getting things done, but about enjoying all the things you already have. For one day of the week, life was about rest and family and worship and peace. One time I remember my dad telling me that the Sabbath was a shield God gave us against the stress of this world, but a shield only works if you hold it. I’m pretty sure that teaching us to keep the Sabbath was one of the most valuable lessons my parents gave us, one of the things that has had the greatest routine impact on my life.

Which is why, once I moved out and went to college, I chose to keep Sunday as a day free from work. Not to keep some list of rules, but because life is so much better when you have a Sabbath keeping it in check. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made in grad school. When weeknights get stressful, when Saturdays are packed, when I struggle to make time for the things that really matter, Sundays come as a miracle every week. It isn’t easy, and involves a lot of planning ahead, time management, and dogged perseverance on Saturdays, but it is so, so, worth it.

Lately James and I have making our Sundays more intentional times to explore the city together. A couple weeks ago we made it up early enough for a pre-church breakfast date out and yesterday we headed to the National Gallery. They just opened an amazing exhibit on Andrew Wyeth, inspired by my favorite of his paintings. We wandered leisurely through the gallery before heading back out into the city to find some fro-yo. (For the record, I totally prefer old-fashioned ice cream to this crazy yogurt obsession, but Tangy Sweet is still pretty awesome.) On the walk back we sat on some benches for a while, quietly reflecting on some big things that are coming over the next couple weeks. I’m so glad I had this Sunday before heading back into the busy week.

I have nothing against work. I think we were made for work, were created to exhaust ourselves in the pursuit of good and useful things, were designed to feel tired at the end of the day and rise again the next to struggle for things. We were made for work. But we weren’t made just for work. We were also made for rest and laughter and taking time to enjoy the people we are blessed to love. Sundays remind us of that.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged DC, weekend fun | 19 Comments

What 30 Rock can teach us about love.

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Hannah

While our pre-marital counseling was superb, there are some things it didn’t teach us. It didn’t teach us that my tears would double if confronted with logic and cold hard facts; it didn’t explain the mathematical mystery that is the amount of laundry James makes; it didn’t resolve our irreconcilable differences when it comes to cheese (me – stinky or from a goat, James — orange and solid). And it did not inform us the incalculable benefit of Netflix.

Listen up couples, or anyone who has to live with someone else, here is some advice of pure gold: find a TV show you like watching together. Because sometimes you are too tired to talk about your day but still want to hang out together. Sometimes it is cold and dreary outside and you are broke and there is nothing else to do. Sometimes you can really bond over long debates about which character is the best and how they would respond in hypothetical situations in the real world. Sometimes watching all of the seasons of a show in the rapid succession that is the miracle of Netflix will just make you get all weepy and know you married a winner.

Currently, we are at a loss and accepting new recommendations, because on Sunday we finished the final episode of 30 Rock, after which I stretched out on the couch and sobbed. There is so much to love about this show, from its quirky humor and perfectly quotable one-liners, to its utter devotion to repeat a joke throughout all 7 seasons, to its perfect character development and the wonder that is Liz and Jack’s relationship.

[Spoiler alert: Endings of several shows and movies might be ruined if you keep reading. Consider yourself warned.]

I will admit, the first couple seasons I was hardcore hoping for Jack and Liz to fall in love. I have been conditioned by every aspect of our society to root for a love story, the love story, the one where friends wake up one day and realize that they are in head-over heels, forever kind of love. I, like all of us, have learned that romantic love is the ultimate love, the one that trumps all other kinds.

But somewhere around season 4, I stopped wanting that, maybe because I realized that it really wasn’t there. The question that When Harry Met Sally taught us all to ask – can a man and a woman actually be friends? – was ignored as irrelevant and replaced by a better question: can a platonic friendship be so deep and wonderful that it sustains 7 series of television?

Yes, yes it can.

And when Jack told Liz he loved her in those final moments, I cried. I cried because that ending eclipsed her recent marriage and adoption of Tracey and Jenna twins. I cried because it was a beautiful declaration of deep and abiding love that hadn’t the slightest twinge of sexuality or romance. I cried because that’s a love our culture needs to talk more about.

I felt the same way when we finished 24, when you realize that the relationship you were pushing for wasn’t the one between Jack and whatever women he loved at the moment (and who would shortly be killed or maimed), but the totally platonic love between him and Chloe, two friends never dreaming of more. If the producers sully this beautiful bond in the new season, it will ruin it for me.

And I cheered at the end of Frozen, when the true love that could save wasn’t the love between Anna and the man she has known for all of an adventurous hiking trip, but that of her love for her sister. True love doesn’t have to be romantic, doesn’t have to be sexual, doesn’t have to be a married couple. I know that Frozen has gotten some backlash for supposedly pushing various liberal agendas, but I would like it to get a little more attention for pushing one very important agenda: there are valuable types of loves outside of romance, and they are not second rate.

When I look around our culture, I think this is a message we need to hear. We often glorify marriage and somehow manage to devalue all other sorts of love. Don’t get me wrong, I love being married and I have learned a lot about love from marriage. But this egocentric notion that claims that you only understand love when you are married, or only understand love when you are a parent, sure explains why we have such a screwed up cultural view of love. We should all be learning how better to love from whatever position we are at in life. I have single friends, or childless friends, or single mother friends, who are loving others around them in a rich and full way. As my friend Bethany quipped, “Good thing Jesus managed to love people unselfishly without getting married and having a baby. There’s hope for the singles out there. We’re not doomed to a life of selfishness.”

And that’s why I found 30 Rock so valuable. The final season builds to a couple episodes where Liz Lemon sees what love really looks like. Sometimes it looks like getting married to your hot-dog truck driving boyfriend. Sometimes it looks like him selling his hot-dog truck so you can adopt and be a parent. But sometimes it looks like your best friend yelling he loves you from the boat he just bought after quitting his dream job.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged confessions, love, rants, tv | 40 Comments

Tyler & Katie: Cherry Blossom Engagement Shoot

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Hannah

Untitled-2 Untitled-1 PS: Cherry blossom engagement shoot from last year here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cherry blossoms, DC, engagement, love, photography, spring | 6 Comments

Just maybe.

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Hannah

Last week I was able to grab breakfast with some of my favorite ladies. In case you didn’t get enough of Elise’s sweet face from our Easter pictures earlier this week, here are some more. There’s a strong chance that I will never have a baby as cute as her. I’m not being self-depricating — just honest. Some babies are cuter than others and Elise is pretty perfect. But then again, I’m a little biased because I love her mama a whole lot. We are at that stage in life where I spend a lot of time squeezing all the cute babies that our friends are having and I couldn’t be happier.

We grabbed breakfast at The Market inside Eastern Market. I hadn’t been until recently and I have since been back several times. I’m seriously considering a An Ode to Market Pancakes post. It was a perfect morning, sunny and bright, with three childhood best friends in matching chambray shirts. We sat laughing and gorging ourselves on pancakes for a good hour until we stood up to go… and realized someone had come by and stolen Rachel’s wallet. They had stolen the sizable amount of cash she had pulled out, her credit cards, her IDs – everything. Since she is visiting from out-of-town, those IDs are especially rough to replace.

We aren’t exactly sure how they got it, as we were sitting there the whole time. I mean, who does that, steals a wallet from a group of girls holding a baby? Who does that? People, that’s who. Because the reality that I often forget in this beautiful, flower-filled, cheery city, is that it is still full of broken, cruel, hurting people. This whole world is full of people like that, people who do awful things. It’s the frustrating moments like standing up and finding your wallet gone that remind you how messed up our world is.

We called the police, and to their credit, they were awesome, searching all the trashcans to see if it had been ditched. But what was more impressive was the response of people nearby. I had to go to work, but Rachel called me later to tell me how it played out. Maybe it was the sweet baby, maybe it was the pitiful faces, or just maybe it was that humanity is better than we give it credit for, but everyone visibly showed their sympathy for Rachel’s plight. Most impressively, two men who were sitting nearby kept on apologizing that they didn’t stop it. Obviously, they were not responsible, and we told them so. But long after leaving, they came back and handed Rachel a wad of money to hold her over until she could get her cards back. Who does that?

People do that. People who live in this broken, cruel, hurting world. People who bear marks of goodness from their divine creator, even if they don’t realize it. People who are so much better than we give them credit for. People who surprise us and remind us we aren’t alone. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if, just maybe, humanity is better than we think. Just maybe there is a lot more goodness out there than we notice.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged breakfast, Eastern Market, friends | 12 Comments

How Easter looked.

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Hannah

// I mean, maybe it’s just me, but I find the many yards of bunting I have on hand to be one of my more practical possessions. You never know when you will need to whip it out and construct a bunting canopy. Nothing says “HE IS RISEN!!!” like brunch and bunting. Right? Maybe? We have a pretty amazing group that goes to church together every week and last year we established a pre-Easter service. Bacon, monkey bread (it is risen too!), these amazing crispy potatoes — the works.////After church, an Easter lunch out in Virginia with friends and the cutest little girl. Would you just look at those bows???//
//Ok, that top picture is just too much. And the bottom one? Husband holding babies just about does me in. //// In case you are wondering, yes, yes I do wear the same dress every year for Easter. Tradition is what separates us from the beasts. //// Sun! Open-toes shoes! Eating outside on blankets! Joy!//

All of these moments, these beautiful, sunny, delicious, sweet baby filled moments were wonderful. But none of them are as wonderful as that moment in church where we sing/yell the best hymns, the Easter hymns where we can finally say hallelujah again. Those moments where we remember why we celebrate Easter, the moments where the trumpets sound and you just know.

He is risen indeed!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Easter, friends, Holidays, photography, spring | 16 Comments