Taken To Task

Jim has expressed hurt feelings that I have not gushed over my belated Christmas present or my slightly early Valentine’s present (don’t go thinking we’re all into materialistic gift giving… we’re not… we just have unusual timing).

So anyway… back over the holidays, while we were in DC, we found a lovely, charming, delightful and excellent (yes it deserves all those) pen shop called Fahrney’s.  We ended up breezing through the shop as it was closing one night (literally got there 5 mins before closing and while the sales lady was most helpful, she did pointedly inform us several times that she had a 2 hour commute to home).  I ended up trying out a Pelikan 600 fine nib (it’s blue like the second one, but is a fountain pen) that I absolutely fell in love with, but didn’t purchase.  I loved that pen and it killed me to leave it there, as I felt fairly certain it would remain there until someone else bought it.

I did, however, purchase a Lamy Vista  fountain pen (because everyone needs one) and a Lamy ABC fountain pen that matches the pencil that is en route from Canada.  Both write reliably if a bit wet and we greatly enjoy them.

I also was able to purchase one of those elusive Clairefontaine notebooks and I’m sorry to say that I’m completely hooked!  How badly do you ask?  Weeeelll…. I love to doodle on the paper… practicing handwriting etc… but then I’ve wasted a whole sheet with meaningless scribbling… so during a water-fast ink test* (yes I know, it reeks of dorkdom) I discovered that my favored inks are not waterproof (bummer) but that the paper, after drying out was completely usable!!  Yeah! 

So anyway, I love the paper so much so that I ordered a whole pack of it from Nota-Bene… but I digress.

Anyway.  Turns out, Jim had a surprise in store!  Secretly and with much subterfuge, he ordered the Pelikan and presented it to me as a belated Christmas gift.  How great is that?  Diamonds? no thanks, Jewelry? too flashy, Fountain Pen? You betcha!

So yeah, I’ve been pretty obnoxious about it.  I think I’ve re-inked it at least 4 times (each time a different color… currently it’s inked up with J.Herbin Bleu Myosotis).

So, being all aglow with happiness, I totally missed Jim pointedly asking me about certain pens and which did I happen to like.

Due to a miscommunication with M, I found out about a package for Jim waiting at the hospital (sneaky having it sent there instead of here!).  I was exceedingly curious, but Jim didn’t seem to be concerned, which of course made me all the more curious! 

So taking pity on me (and because the surprise had already been blown) he let me have my Valentine’s Day present a week early   This time it was an Aurora Ipsilon extra-fine nib fountain pen, red with a sterling silver cap.  Red for Valentine’s Day naturally   It’s currently inked with J.HerbinRose Tendresse and while not as expressive as the Pelikan, still writes like a dream. 

I’m having a hard time deciding which pen to write with!  Currently they are both sitting here with me at the computer, just waiting for me to find something important enough to jot down

 

*I was doing a water-fast test to see if the inks would wash off as you are only supposed to use waterproof (or bomb-proof) inks for official signatures (checks, documents, etc).  Unfortunately all my J.Herbin inks more or less washed away with just water, so I guess I’ll have to save official work for the Retro… or re-ink the Phileas with Noodler’s Zhivago.

The Washington Post- Pictures

I’m being lazy tonight (this morning?) and linking to our Flickr acct so everybody that wanted to see the pics from our trip could see them.  I’ve written a good bit with some of them and there would be more but I’m out of room I’ll post more as I’m able

Christmas Recap

Wow!  I didn’t realize it’d had been quite so long since my last post.  I had meant to do a Christmas post prior to Sophie’s trip (more on that later), but somehow I didn’t manage to work it in.

So anyway!  Christmas was actually quite good this year.  Jim was off for Christmas Eve which made doing Santa presents so much easier!  We still ended up staying up to nearly 3am getting everything done, but it was sooo worth it!  We decided to wrap everything to slow down the kids present opening, which was a brilliant idea really.  They actually stopped and looked at everything instead of running from one toy to the next.

Check out Flickr for the photos, there’s too many to post here!!

Jim’s Dad and Judy spent Christmas morning with us.  We had a grand time with them here!  Jim’s Dad helped Jim feed which was great fun for Jim and we spent the better part of the morning in a mock Nerf dart gun battle!!  It was great fun!!

Jim’s Mom and Dan came over in the early afternoon which was nice.  The boys have loved their little mobile car playsets!  Sophie and I spent quite sometime coloring in her giant coloring book and the stickers, as always, were a BIG hit!

Unfortunately Kyle’s crew came down with a neverending stomach bug (which is why I posted the previous entry, as they kept saying they WOULD have a good Christmas regardless!!) and were unable to come down for Christmas, or the day after, or the day after or even the day after that!!! 

But, luckily, they did get better!  So Christmas ensued once again, only Jim, Sophie and I were not here as we were in DC (expect another post soon). 

All in all it was a brilliant holiday!  The kids are still playing hard with all their presents and we’re not yet willing to take down the trees as they’re just too pretty and we’re not ready to let go of the Christmas magic just yet.