tom daschle as secretary of health & human services

You don't tap the former Senate Majority Leader to run your health care bureaucracy. That's not his skill set. You tap him to get your health care plan through Congress. You tap him because he understands the parliamentary tricks and has a deep knowledge of the ideologies and incentives of the relevant players. You tap him because you understand that health care reform runs through the Senate. And he accepts because he has been assured that you mean to attempt health care reform.

lieberman stays put

senators voted in secret for joe lieberman to keep his chairmanship. i can't believe they are keeping him on the team - but that's politics. some say he has been put on notice - he should have been put on notice months ago and this should have been the dismissal.

lieberman threatened to leave the democratic caucus if they stripped him of his chairmanship. reid said, "we'll see." i would've said, "good riddens."

i'm up on duffy

ok. so i saw duffy on snl a couple weeks ago. back when i was watching it regularly to catch the tina fey/sarah palin skits. hot. i love her music. another one of her songs came up on last.fm for me today. check out the video.

quantum of solace was excellent

daniel craig is the best 007 ever! quantum of solace was a race of a film - it's only real shortcoming is the lack of gadgets. i really wanted to see at least one cool gadget. but it is very clear that daniel craig has revitalized and reinvented bond the way christian bale did for batman.

must see!

sheila bair for treasury secretary

i surely hope the rumors are true and obama makes her hank paulson's replacement.

can't wait for quantum...

I'm not an athlete, although I've always enjoyed keeping fit in between bouts of minor alcoholism.

I live out of a suitcase, which I found tremendously exciting and romantic when I was younger, and is a pain in the arse now. I don't have any order in my life except when I'm working. Then I'm meticulous; I'm disciplined as much as I can be, because otherwise I can't do it.

pirates in the gulf of aden

pirates? really? how big of a problem can this really be? um, huge! $20M paid out in ransoms in the last year! some shipping companies are taking the hit to their pocketbooks and re-routing ships around the cape of good hope. i'm curious to see what our governments do.

rahm emanuel as chief of staff

good cop bad cop, anyone? it's definitely exciting to have a chief of staff with chops. chicago comes to washington.

michelle obama - 'our commander in sheath'

i am curious how michelle obama's style will change as she takes office. her dress on election night was a bit polarizing. alot of people hated it. one can definitely concede that no other first lady would have worn it, it was not 'safe'. and personally, it grew on me. the more i saw the dress, as it has been captured in billions of photos memorializing the historic win, the more it grew on me.

my favorite so far was her look maria pinto purple sheath worn when barack clinched the democratic nomination.

the one thing i can say about her style thus far is that she has made embellishments her signature. unfortunately, i am not a huge fan of embellishments. but i am a huge fan of having a signature trademark.

check out her style thus far.

our national love story

it's so nice to have a political couple whose romance isn't dead. there's something about the chemistry between the two - you can't deny it's sincerity. i hope their love story becomes a part of our nation's future.

alicia keys separates from phillip morris

alicia keys separates from phillip morris who was promoting her concert in jakarta.
it's great to see a celebrity take a stand even if it hits them in the pocket.

southwest airlines :: love the luv

fuel hedges are keeping LUV above the fray. southwest has and continues to use derivative contracts to hedge their fuel costs - as crude oil trades at $146 per barrel they are paying approximately $61 per barrel.

gotta love the luv - 69 consecutive quarters of profit.

the obama new yorker cover

satire? really?

i agree with bill burton of the obama campaign that it is excessively "tasteless and offensive". and i know alot of people are not - but i am shocked that the new yorker even printed it. despite the response by, david remnick, the editor of the new yorker.

obama, michelle and the girls

i *loved* the access hollywood interview with obama and the fam. his daughters are adorable. watching this gave me the biggest warm fuzzy. it's a shame he's decided not to do it again - the girls are great1

brinkley-cook divorce trial

the drama. i cannot imagine putting myself and my kids through such a messy trial. their dirty laundry is everywhere. but i would probably do anything to keep my kids.

archbishop of canterbury: the waterless pit

i so enjoyed the archbishop of canterbury's sermon at york minster..

"That's the waterless pit indeed - where we struggle ceaselessly, unrelentingly, to make ourselves more right, and to lay hold upon our future. We lay upon ourselves a heavy yoke, from which only the grace of Jesus Christ can deliver us. In a nutshell, we lay upon ourselves the yoke of desperate seriousness about ourselves."

damages will return

i am so excited to get confirmation that damages will return to fx as early as january 2009. woo hoo!

wanted: mcavoy & jolie

i was really excited about seeing this movie until i started watching it. in the beginning - i considered leaving because the idea of watching james mcavoy for another 2 hours was painful. but once he began his training in earnest - i couldn't take my eyes off of him.

he was a stand-out in an otherwise desperately boring 'atonement' and he more than holds his own against the stunning angelina jolie.

highly recommend.

it has looked very, very bad

"God, I trust that you will make alright something that to me looks very, very bad."

one can have an incredibly terrible situation - seemingly impossible to get through - and somehow in the end it all works out in your bene. not only that but you can look back and actually be grateful for the drama because not only has it made you better but it has quite actually made you good.

the hand of god

and then i remembered what He promised me..

compline

After Alpha tonight, I was invited to participate in Compline. An evening prayer which was completely foreign to me.

We used the Compline prayer from The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland.

It was so incredibly special. It was just the three of us speaking these ancient words of worship in unison and it was so powerful. I can't really explain it - it was just intimate and focused and amazing.

As I drove home, I thought how crazy it was that there were people all over the words speaking, praying Compline tonight, perhaps even simultaneously.

one bad week

i've been doing great with the running - at least 4x a week - until this week.
how is that i can have almost a month of greatness and then i fall off the wagon for one week and i feel god awful about myself.

the funny thing is next time i run i'll be faster and it will feel great - but right now i just feel terribly horribly guilty..

why is that i can have weeks of awesome performance but one bad week and i'm destroyed?

church shopping

well..

i've been looking for a home church for quite some time but today i decided to get really serious about it. i can't tell you what pushed me over the line from contemplation to action - but at 6:10p i found myself walking up a few stairs to the front door of an unfamiliar church for evening prayer and low mass.

there is always a sense of trepidation when i enter a new church for the first time unaccompanied. not that i think lightning will strike but i sometimes wonder. i almost expect someone to ask me what i'm doing there or escort me out. luckily this usually never happens and tonight was no exception.

in fact, everyone was quite welcoming and it felt somehow as if i had come home.

scenes from connecticut

ode to the party girl

weekend in old saybrook, ct

I'm up in Connecticut with the family for the weekend - celebrating my cousin's graduation from Brown. Of course, it's wonderful to chill with family but it is fantastic to just escape. Disappear from my life, the city, my place & the routine.

rainy saturday

today began with such good intentions. meandering through g street fabrics for a bit of inspiration. a run up 16th street. but never once did i think of staying in.. i slept in a little too long and now it's raining..

i'm an auntie!

finding my way back to 'fit'

ok. it's the beginning of spring and time to start fighting my way back to a leaner me. went for my first run since december sunday afternoon and let me tell you it was difficult. my quads are beyond sore - when i sit, walk, stretch - move period.

it's almost 10pm - i'm just getting home from work - and i am exhausted with still more work to complete. but i have got to force my way downstairs to the gym. i've got to make time for it.

dc cherry blossoms

they really are that beautiful.
and well worth the cold and crowd that we endured to enjoy them.

Condoleezza Rice on Race

"Descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that.. That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today,"

"What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them — and that's our legacy."

From the March 28th interview with The Washington Times

the sexiest ticket: obama&richardson

Barack Obama: A More Perfect Union

for my valentine