P H O T O S

S E T S Insect Macro Photography My favorite macro shots. Probably my favorite hobby of all time (next to fencing and the press-a-penny). I recently joined the American Entomological Society, so my dork factor has doubled this year :) New! Best of (Ally & Josh) Collage of our shennanigans over the past year. We recently got engaged. New! Best of (Family & Friends) This is just a slideshow of some of my favorite pictures taken of my family and friends over the past few years. Videos Here are a few videos of fossil hunting, West Virginia get-aways, and more. O T H E R   P H O T O S Holiday 2008 This will be an ongoing set of photos throughout the holiday season. So far, we have Christmas tree shots and me recently discovering about 20 sweet potatoes growing in my garden after I'd planted ONE a few months back. New! Annapolis, MD: November 9, 2008 Weekend Josh and I headed off for a weekend trip to Annapolis. The Westin is great and takes dogs, so we brought along Buddy. Not coincidentally, we have lots of fire hydrant photos :) New! West Virginia Fossil Hunting Okay...so, we have to fess up that we didn't find a single complete fossil on this trip -- just some imprints and pieces. But, we had a great time seeing the Fall leaves, eating country fixins in West Virginia, seeing the mountains, and photographing the bugs. New! Larriland Farm, MD: October 5, 2008 Weekend Josh had the great idea to go and pick our own vegetables. We found Larriland Farm in Maryland, which in early October has/had beets, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, apples, and pumpkins. Us vegetarians were thrilled! And, boy did they have pumpkins -- acres and acres worth! Check out our haul... New England Trip, September 5, 2008 Josh and I went up to Rhode Island and Connecticut for his Cousin Eliza's wedding. We had a great time and, on the way back, stopped in at the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. New! Baltimore, MD: July 4, 2008 Weekend Josh and I took a trip up to Baltimore Thursday through Sunday for the 4th of July weekend. While there, we visited our favorite Scotch bar (Birds of a Feather), got an aerial view of Baltimore from the World Trade Center's Top of the World, went to the Baltimore Aquarium, and caught a wonderful fireworks display! Sargeant Pepper, 06/11/08 - 06/30/08 Unfortunately, our little guy passed away unexpectedly on June 30. We think the Mom may have stopped feeding him. I tried to feed him on Friday and he wouldn't eat, so I'd assumed that he was being fed. We had a nice little ceremony for him today and buried him out back. For a life of only two weeks, he had a very adventurous run. Brownie's Beach, Chesapeake Beach, MD, 05/26/08 We went fossil hunting at Brownie's Beach (aka Bay Front Park) in May 2008. We found the usual fossilized shark teeth and bone fragments, but this time we found a slew of weird glass beads in the ocean. People on the beach told us tales of some shipwreck that caused all the beads to wash up, but we haven't seen anything definitive yet to date them. St. Augustine, FL: May 2008, 05/24/08 I took a trip home to see the folks and Jordan. We had a nice time playing games, feeding the ducks (who looked like Don King), and avoiding the ticks. National Zoo Trip, 04/26/08 Josh and Rick and I took a trip out to the National Zoo to see the Asia Trail and the birds exhibits. Morel Mushroom Hunting, 04/27/08 Josh and I FINALLY discovered some morel mushrooms out in Fairfax, VA. We found two half-morels (brown ones) and three gray ones. We were too wussy to eat them (just in case), but I kept them in the freezer to show off :) Burke Lake Weekend, 04/20/08 Josh and I had a full weekend ... picnic at Burke Lake Park, walk in the woods, and Passover dinner with his folks. We even ran into Emeril Legasse at Whole Foods! Life in Death: Spring at Congressional Cemetery, 04/18/08 I actually went morel mushroom hunting (desperate lack of forests here in DC!) at Congressional Cemetery. No morels, but a ton of other goodies. Hazen Trail, Rock Creek Park, 04/18/08 I actually went morel mushroom hunting (again! poor Josh is about sick of morel hunting by now...heh). No morels, but a ton of other nature goodies. Front Yard Tulips: 04/17/08 I planted some bulbs out front last Fall and a few actually popped up! Spring at U.S. Botanic Garden: 04/15/08 Anthony and I took these recently for the usbg.gov homepage. National Arboretum: 03/30/08 Josh and I visited the National Arboretum on March 30, 2008. I forgot the memory card for my digital camera, so we took a step back in time and took these with disposable cameras :) Spring Flowers: 03/29/08 Flowers in the front yard... Fossil Hunting, Indian Field Creek: 03/23/08 Josh and I went to a site at Indian Field Creek near the York River. This was probably the most prolific fossil site I've been to... hundreds of large Chesapectens, lots of coral, oysters, and more. Just watch out when you take items as we accidentally brought a ton of live critters home with us! Easter Egg Dying and Hunting: 03/22/08 Josh and I decorated Easter eggs and then had a fun hunt. Rick came over a day or two later and we all had Easter egg fun, part two :) Radio Telescopes: Green Bank, WV: 03/08/08 NRAO operates the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the world's largest fully steerable single aperture antenna. In addition to the GBT, several other telescopes exist at the Green Bank site. Fossil Hunting, WV 03/09/08 We visited Green Bank, WV, to stay at a vegetarian bed & breakfast, "Sweet Thyme Inn," and to visit Green Bank's radio telescopes. On the way out, we stopped to photograph a bunch of ice from the storm and Josh spotted a fossil on the ground at the foot of the mountain. We found a good 10 more fossils over the next hour ... mainly bracheopods (sp) and these circular things that Josh says are the stalks from a now-extinct sea star animal. Three Foxes Vineyards: 03/09/08 Josh and Ally visit Three Foxes Vineyard for a tasting and a play down by the river, March 9. 2008. The wines here were interesting...the pinot grigio tasted more like a muscadine. Smoke Hole Caverns: 03/09/08 Josh and Ally visit Seneca, WV for Smoke Hole Caverns, March 9, 2007. Fossil Hunting: 01/19/08 Josh and I took a last-minute trip up to the Chesapeake Bay region to fossil hunt at an out-of-the-way location called Bayfront Park (also known as Brownie Beach). First Snow!!!! (And Happy Hanukkah for Mr. Josh!): 12/05/07 Washington, DC, December 5, 2007. Views of the Capitol, US Botanic Garden, Moi, etc. Braddock Brass Quintet: 12/01/07 Josh and crew play their annual show at the Old Town Alexandria Holiday Boat Parade. The city of Alexandria arranges for them to play every year and this year was spectacular.... folks were even asking for CDs. So, next year I'm insisting on being the "merch" gal. :) Dad and Mom Play Guitar: 11/25/07 When I was a youngin', Dad and Mom would play guitar and we'd have sing-a-longs where we'd sing everything from "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain" to "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." Yeah, I know...we were hippies. Anyway, Dad and Mom got out the ol' guitar for the first time in decades! Dady's Early Birthday Party: 11/25/07 Dad was kind enough to move his birthday celebrations up a couple of days so we could all celebrate together. I got dad a mandolin, so he'll be a troubadour before you know it! Washington Oaks State Park, Garden Side: 11/25/07 My family and I picnic-ed over at Washington Oaks State Park, then headed down to the gardens and trails. Washington Oaks State Park, Beach Side: 11/25/07 My family and I picnic-ed over at Washington Oaks State Park, then headed over to the beach side for some shenanigans and shelling. Dad and I both found whelks, which was pretty cool. Apple Picking: 11/10/07 Josh, Monique, and I went apple picking out in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia. I'm in the process of baking an apple pie out of our newly-acquired York apples! Josh, Ally, Milo & Buddy: 11/10/07 Milo likes going for walks; he's Monique's baby. His favorite activity is to get a running start and climbing the nearest tree, which is made especially cool by him being a 17-year-old cat! Buddy's Josh's dog, and he's the sweetest pup you'll ever meet. He also poops a lot, but maybe that's a dog thing. His favorite activity seems to be chewing on himself and making multiple trips out to Wylie Wag in Fairfax for doggie bagels :-) Corn Maze!: 11/10/07 A slew of us went to the infamous Corn Maize (yes, pun intended). I was no help at all since I can barely find my way out of my apartment. Flowers from Josh: 11/07/07 I'm a lucky lady. In addition to him being the nicest guy I've ever met and him being a fellow vegetarian, he brings me goodies like bonsai trees, stationery, and gorgeous flowers. Halloween Night With Rick: 10/31/07 My best friend Rick came over so we could hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters, We actually had 50-75 kids come around, which was a ton for my neighborhood! Rick dressed as Harry Potter. I dressed as Galadriel. We had spiced apples, candy corn popcorn, and purple cocktails, and watched the Legend of Sleepy Hollow on DVD. Kick-arse evening :) Capitol Visitor's Center Tour: 10/30/07 We took a private tour of the contruction site for the new Capitol Visitor's Center (CVC), which is slated to open to the public in 2008. Halloween Party @ Josh and Monique's Place: 10/27/07 Josh and Monique hosted their annual Halloween Party on Saturday, October 27, 2007. The photos I took reflect the quality and quantity of the beer present; so does me walking into their screen door at the end of the evening. You'll notice a few ongoing themes ... LOTR, DDR, and Dog the Bounty Hunter. Buggy @ Halloween: 10/31/07 I know this was probably a bad-pet-owner thing to do, but since Buggy likes collars so much, I figured I'd pick her up a little Halloween costume when Josh and I went shopping for Halloween fare. She loved it for about the first 10 minutes -- was even purring. This may or may not have had something to do with the cool Halloween toy she got when I first put the rooster costume on her :) Mom, Dad, & Jordan Visit DC: 10/20/07 Mom, Dad, and Jordan came up in October 2007 to visit for the weekend. We had a great time eating good food, playing Rook, getting brunch, and hanging out at the U.S. Botanic Garden. Josh was kind enough to escort us around for a bit, which earns him bonus points. Oh, and Jordan tricked out my computer to the point of it being ready to take over the world. A great trip! Josh, Ally, Monique & Dave Go Boating: 10/13/07 Dave was wonderful and took us out for a boating trip. We visited Occaquan, had lunch at a great place with beverages called things like "The Mind Eliminator," and had boat-top apple pie. A great trip! Josh & Ally Visit Williamsburg, VA: 10/05/07 - 10/07/07 Josh and I headed down to Williamsburg, VA, on Friday, October 5, 2007 and arrived at the historic Piny Grove Plantation's Bed & Breakfast (http://www.pineygrove.com/). Despite a slew of black cat's walking under ladders, vultures swarming our picnic, nearly hitting a deer in the road, and poor fortune cookies, we had a wonderful trip. You'll see photos here from the William & Mary campus (Josh's alma matter), our bed & breakfast, our tour of the Williamsburg Winery, and shots from our main event -- fossil hunting at a gorgeous spillway site :) Josh & Ally Visit Jamestown, VA: 10/07/07 On Sunday, October 7, 2007, we hit Jamestown for the 400th Anniversary. We got a little sidetracked by accidentally finding and participating in the 2nd Annual Minis on a Ferry event. Josh was stoked. Polo, Great Meadows, VA: 09/15/07 Ally & Josh & Jenn Visit Great Meadows, VA, for polo (Note: I managed to sneak out of having my mugshot taken)! Ally & the Band at Practice, 9/10/07: Ian, Ally, Christine, and Lisa at band practice. NSF Bridge Collapse Luncheon @ Congress