ajmatt blog

Matt and I like Santiago. It is beautiful, ringed with mountains, and mild and green even in the dead of winter. I would love to live here, if only to wake up to mountains every morning and eat at a different Chilean restaurant every night.
Santiago is typically used by tourists as a jumping off [...]

Matt and I are midway through a five-hour stop at the Toronto Airport. “Didn’t they mention they were headed south?” you might ask. “Why fly through Canada?” It’s a good question—and one the customs agent asked.
We are headed to Chile, but stopping through Toronto was not much longer and much cheaper than flying through [...]

Finally, evidence that ajmatt kitchen is getting a facelift. Last night Matt and I moved halfway out of our kitchen, and we had our ugly kitchen wallpaper removed today.

On the plus side, we have already doubled our counter space, and I think the primer is a big improvement. [I'm tired; is this whole post [...]

It’s been a busy month, quite social for the introverted ajmatt blog, as evidenced by our lack of posts.
Last Sunday I went hiking with my friend Lisa in Shenandoah National Park. The park entrance is about an hour outside of DC, and our hike was at mile marker 19, about 20 miles south of the [...]

When one comes to the realization that her kitchen will be demolished in the near future, a burst of freedom ensues.
Today, while blending ancho chiles, I:

chopped garlic directly on the counter
wrote on the wallpaper in permanent marker *
let tomato sauce languish on the counter
slammed the cupboard doors
did all of the above without spilling anything on [...]

Matt and I are in Seattle for the long holiday weekend. While Matt and Austin were out buying fireworks, Lindsey (Austin’s girlfriend) and I inspected the wildlife in my parent’s yard.

The above two (super fabulous) pictures are by Lindsey. The below (boring vanilla) picture was taken by me—we’re going to have a good time once [...]

How do you know you are in the south?
In DC, shuttle drivers are mute and angry-looking.
At the Raleigh-Durham airport we were greeted by Fran, the Hertz courtesy shuttle, who gave us a hearty welcome to North Carolina. Fran was lovely, making sure everyone on the bus knew where they were going, and doling out directions [...]

Last night Matt and I waited in several rush hour runway traffic jams at Reagan National airport, but we had an excellent view. (As I took these pictures, Matt said, “You look like a tourist!” The sacrifices I make for blogging.)

I got this idea from my favorite author blog earlier this month, and thought I would give it a shot. It turned out to be a nice way to spend an hour of my birthday morning. Thinking of 28 good things was the easy part—the hard part was cutting the extras. Here they are, in [...]

Amtrak’s Acela Express is a nice train that provides business class service and rapid speeds between DC and Philadelphia, perfect for my travel needs. In fact, I traveled so much last year I made “select” status, which I took advantage of this afternoon on my way home by using a free upgrade voucher to [...]