Ring out the old, Ring in the new!

Happy New Year! I'm officially 3 years into this blog and attempting to bring it back in 2013. Unlike my first year in D.C., when I knew no one, had 4 hours of commuting each day, and spent every evening with the exact same routine, I cannot commit to a picture a day, but I AM aiming for one a week. I'm still debating whether or not Instagram pictures should be allowed on here. I'm feeling a sleight moral dilemma about it. Other resolutions this year....buying something new at Trader Joe's every time I go (this week was Kale...I don't even know if that's cheating and basically lettuce, but it's new to me...), running a half marathon, and finishing learning the guitar or the bagpipes...Oh, and finding a job, that's a good one.

I keep saying I'm going to blog about my experiences and reflect upon 2012, but it is seeming less and less likely. Stay tuned.

Week 1 Picture: Chatham, Fredericksburg, Virginia

I'm feeling like this is a bit of a cheat since this is one of the first locations I ever posted on here, but now it reminds me of Virginia's own Downton Abbey (or at least one of their summer cottages) so I'm counting it. For the history of it...click back to 2010. My thoughts when I visited this year were more about the landscape and the excellent wedding photos that could be taken at this estate! The backyard (originally the front of the house), overlooks the river and has steps leading down into a large open courtyard that I can only imagine would be lovely in the warmer months. A wrought iron fence serves as the center of the stairwell before taking stairs down on either side. The fence has music notes designed into it with a number of measures. I wrote down the notes and just now played them on the piano. It wasn't a tune I recognized, but the notes were definitely intentional and made sense! The gardens had charming brick columns that seemed to hold no purpose, but I'd like to believe that they are wrapped in ivy and canopied by the trees in the summer, creating a tunnel perfect for Sound of Music type strolls.