Seeya, 2017... Bring on 2018!

The physical cards returned this year! Hooray!

I am ending 2017 as I spent a lot of the year--away from home. I've been temping and freelancing, the best part of which is the flexibility to travel! I spent half of January in Europe, half the summer in New England, and half of November in India. I may be ready to settle down into something longer term, but we'll have to see what the new year brings.

The first two photos on this year's card are from the Europe trip. When I was 15, I was very lucky that my parents met a French couple working at the embassy in DC who asked if they knew anyone interested in hosting a Parisian girl for the summer. Agnes stayed with us for a few weeks and it worked out so well that I went to her house the following summer, and she returned to ours, and so on and so forth. I even lived with her parents for almost a year after I graduated from college! She and her husband now have 4 kids and it's been years since we've spent more than a day or two together. I loved staying with her family for over a week, getting to know her kids, and reconnecting with some old friends and places in that magnificent city. I tried a few new things as well, including a day trip to the monastery at Mont St. Michel, which was wonderfully free of crowds (visit Europe in January, there's a hot tip for you!). I also visited Rome for a few days on my own--can you make out Pope Francis at the window?--and returned to another fabulous city, Barcelona, where I was hosted by a sweet former IDB officemate. All in all, I was thrilled to be away over the inauguration, though regretted missing the epic Women's March. I had such FOMO seeing all my friends' postings that I bought a bright pink scarf in Rome...

Life in DC offers plenty of opportunities to protest, however. In the third photo you see a versatile small sign I made from foamcore--it's light and fits in most bags, so you have it on hand whenever you need to stop by Lafayette Square and yell about something. Friends and I got into a rhythm where we'd hit a rally, then go have a drink and catch up. A very satisfying way to socialize.

Photo 4 is from the extremely Instagrammed Yayoi Kusama retrospective at the Hirshhorn modern art museum on the Mall. I bought a temporary museum membership that apparently should have worked only once to get into this very hot exhibit, but somehow I managed to make it work 4 times. Loved it.

Photos 5 and 6 were both taken in Falmouth, Mass., where I went for the 4th of July and then again for nearly all of August. My parents, sisters, nieces and nephews enjoyed the partial eclipse from the back yard of the family beach house, and we used my sister Ellie's small geodesic dome as a photo prop for extra special shots during the eclipse.

I got to see the family again over Columbus Day weekend in New Haven (photo 7), where we celebrated my birthday. My nieces and nephews are getting bigger and more entertaining and fascinating every day. It's such a joy to get to see them all often and know them.

Photos 8 and 9 were taken during my second trip to India, also led by my amazing yoga teacher and friend Gopi Kinnicutt, owner of the wonderful Bhakti Yoga DC. She and also-fantastic co-leader Braja Kisiori took us on an adventure through the pilgrimage town of Vrindavan and the spectacular state of Rajasthan. I loved it and want to go again and again!

Let's see, what else happened this year...?

I started wearing glasses for the first time!

I worked for the IDB (again!), Accion, and the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development!

I went on 2 weekend retreats, one with an Episcopal priest and one with my yoga studio!

And went to plenty of concerts, plays, restaurants, and such!










As I write this, I am with some good friends in very chilly St. Mary's County, Md., spending several days cooking and eating lots and lots, and staring out the window at the Chesapeake Bay. Hoping for good things in 2018, for me and you and all of us.

Welcome, 2017

Greetings and happy holidays (we're still in the 12 Days of Christmas)! I didn't do physical cards this year - hopefully they will return. But I still wanted to send out a greeting and share some highlights and events of my 2016. I surely didn't escape its notorious brutishness, but thanks to wonderful family and friends like you, there were plenty of good times as well.

In January, I ignored dire travel warnings and headed to NYC for a college friend's daughter's Bat Mitzvah, which was soon dubbed "Daphne's Blizz-Mitzvah." My intrepid college roommate Esther Choo was so fearless she even brought her infant daughter with her. The Starbucks near the synagogue were all closed, but thankfully Scandinavians are used to snow and we managed to get breakfast at a Swedish cafe. Daphne did a beautiful job and it was extra sweet to see my other college roommate, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, presiding over the service. Mazel Tov! And somehow, my train south made it out on time the next day!

In February, I made my first visit to the republic of Texas to visit old friend Lisa and her sweet family, who had recently relocated to Austin. I discovered the joys of breakfast tacos, queso, and burnt ends, and Lisa also absolutely delighted me by driving me by the home of Coach and Tami Taylor from the TV show Friday Night Lights.

In early spring I had a lovely retreat day at a center in Maryland with members of the women's fellowship group at my new church, All Souls in Woodley Park. It's been great settling into the community there, and right at the end of the year we welcomed a new rector, who I'm also enjoying getting to know. 

This summer, both my parents turned 70, and we had great family celebrations for each! In June, we surprised my dad with a VIP tour of Fenway Park before a game at which the Red Sox obligingly beat the Mariners, and in July we gathered in Mom's native Hudson Valley area for a weekend at a luxe cabin-style vacation home. 

I had some DC fun over the summer too - the center photo was taken near the Folger Shakespeare Library before seeing a play there, and the one to its right was from the DC "Diner en Blanc" - a sort of pop-up dinner party for 3,500 people all dressed head to toe in white. Silly, but beautiful (and the best people-watching, bar none). 

Fall brought my cousin Alex's wedding on Cape Cod, which was a great time! The day after, I also got to see the odd sight of the horses from the Falmouth Carousel of Light being dropped off on my parents' lawn awaiting the availability of their winter storage home. 

Fall also brought the election. Voting for Hillary Clinton was incredibly meaningful and joyful for me, and nearly two months later my feelings of disappointment and loss are still extremely raw. She would have been an excellent president.

 Christmas, as always, was a sweet and wonderful time, though. I spent several days in New Haven, where my sister Amy and her family live and where for the past year-plus my parents have also spent their non-summer months. On my way up I also stopped in NYC to see Hamilton! I bought the ticket way back in January and even with almost a year of anticipation, the show totally delivered. Believe the hype! So that was great, but even greater was getting to spend lots of time cuddling the two newest family members - Caroline Rose, born to my sister Amy in March, and Fern Louise, born to my sister Ellie in August. They are two sweet and smiley little girls and we are all looking forward to watching them grow up as best of friends. 

Caroline in polka dots, Fern in mushrooms

A few other highlights not pictured but worth mentioning: in April, my good friend Gopi Kinnicutt opened an awesome yoga studio, Bhakti Yoga DC, in the Mount Vernon Triangle area (5th and K NW). I can't recommend it highly enough. I also got to go to Mexico for a few days in mid-October for the wedding of friends Monica and Brian near Cancun. 

So now it's 2017! Should be an interesting year in my hometown. I also am currently unemployed, and looking! My time at the Inter-American Development Bank came to an end along with 2016 - amid budget cuts and a lot of uncertainty, most consultant positions have been eliminated in the department where I worked. I had some great experiences and worked with awesome people over the last 5 years there, but it's also past time for me to find a new challenge and adventure. Given the political situation we're facing, I'd really like to do something where I can contribute to improving the world and helping those who may be most affected by the new administration's policies. So if you have ideas, I'd love to hear them. I am also spending the frequent flier miles I amassed from work trips to Latin America on a visit later this month to my very dear friend Agnes in Paris. First things first!

With love and hope,

Elizabeth

HAPPY 2016!

Dear friend,

As you probably know, I am a big ol' Francophile. So I am embracing the French custom of sending a brief New Year's greeting card in January, instead of having stressed out last month to try to get cards out before Christmas. I didn't even order the postcards until after Christmas! So now we all know we have safely arrived in the New Year, and I hope it is off to a sweet start for you.

2015 was a pretty sweet year for me. The first couple of photos on the card you received were taken in DC early last January. The "Let Your Life Speak" doorframe is in Zartman House, the administrative building at my alma mater, Sidwell Friends. I chaired our class's 25th (!!) reunion in the spring, and had so much fun scanning old photos, putting together an amazing late-80s playlist, etc. Our class is full of awesome people and it was very cool to catch up.

BONUS PHOTO: The SFS class of 1990, back in 1990

The next four photos on the card are from the trip to India I mentioned at the end of the 2014 year-in-review. I had wanted to go to India since just about forever. But as some people believe, you have to wait for India to invite you. I finally got the nod last winter and... I won't say it was the trip of a lifetime, because I expect to have plenty more grand adventures in my lifetime (maybe even in India again!), but it was spectacular.

Photo 3 was taken en route, in the airport in Doha, Qatar. It's a giant sculpture of a yellow teddy bear with a desk lamp stuck in its head. Getting to see this sculpture played a surprisingly large role in determining my flight itinerary.

During my first few days in the country, I stayed in Delhi with American friends Matt and Trang Ho Morton, who had moved there a few months earlier for jobs with the World Bank and Unicef, respectively. They were awesome hosts and they and their intrepid driver Chander gave me super sightseeing opportunities, including the Red Fort palace complex, the Qutb Minar tower, and the Taj Mahal (photo 4) in Agra, a few hours from Delhi.

From Delhi, I flew to the southwestern state of Karnataka and embarked on a two-week spiritual journey led by DC-area yoga teacher Gopi Kinnicutt and musician Gaura Vani. There were about 30 people in our group, and we visited the ancient kingdom of Hampi, the coastal temple town of Udupi, a retreat center a little north of Mumbai, and then gigantic Mumbai itself. A year later, it's still really difficult for me to sum up the trip in a few words or to choose just a highlight or two to describe. Photo 5 is of a lotus pond at the retreat center, and photo 6 was taken during the "Flower Festival," an annual celebration at a large temple in Mumbai during which literally tons of flower petals are showered first over the deity statues on the altar and then scooped up and poured on the audience. That was the last night of our trip and a totally fitting way to end the voyage - crowded, colorful, confusing, musical, and full of love! Anyway, if you want to hear MUCH more, look at these photos and then make a coffee or phone date with me. I love to remember that trip.

I took photo 7 at the Kennedy Center in DC in the early spring, and I just like the sentiment (a good one going into an election year). Photo 8 is from a Memorial Day weekend trip to Chicago, a city I hadn't visited before, with my dad. We had such a nice time together we are thinking of other cities we should explore together (considering Toronto for the next one - any recommendations?). Photo 9 is just one I liked from a sunny day in the Dupont Circle area of DC. Photo 10 is from late summer in Falmouth, Mass, Falmouth is the hometown of Katharine Lee Bates, author of "America the Beautiful," and photos like this explain the line "from sea to shining sea!"

The last two photos I took in December on a weekend trip to the Hudson Valley area of New York state. 11 is from a chilly walk on the grounds of the Holy Cross Monastery, where I participated in a beautiful retreat led by Martin Smith, one of the wisest priests I know. And 12 is from a greenhouse where I bought a poinsettia to bring to my grandmother Rosalie, who lives very near the monastery. Grandma's 90th birthday party in early summer was another highlight of the year! Her main request was that there be 90 actual candles on the cake; she didn't want anything symbolic. Most of her great-grandkids were there, and they helped blow them all out.

Deep breath!

Thank you, 2015, for awesome adventures, already-beloved new friends, time with long-beloved old friends and my amazing family, and so much more. 2016 has a lot to live up to, but I'm pretty optimistic.

Love, Elizabeth

(Click to enlarge image)

HAPPY 2015!!

As you can see, in 2014 I adopted a new social media platform: Instagram! Check me out at @etindc. Or keep following me on Facebook. Or just look forward to receiving my annual updates!

It was hard choosing the photos to feature from the past year. 2014 was pretty good! Some nice travel opportunities, quality time with old and new friends in old and new places, and a new family member! Read on for more on my 2014 adventures, as seen in this photo collage.

Starting in the upper left hand corner:

1. Cherry blossoms in DC! I didn't make it over to the Tidal Basin, but snapped this over near the White House. Come visit DC--it's wonderful.

2. and 3. I visited New Orleans for the first time! My sister Ellie was at a math education conference down there that ended just before her spring break, so I joined her for a few days of fun. We Did It Right, renting a little shotgun house uptown (not the one in this photo, but almost as cute), sampling the French Quarter Music Festival, joining a second line parade, and eating a ton.

4. From a book club excursion to the National Arboretum, which somehow I had never visited before.

5. and 6. I served as a co-chair of my 20-year Yale reunion, and while the weekly conference calls were not my favorite, the overall experience was incredibly rewarding. We broke attendance records right and left, and if there were a record for awesomeness we would have broken that too.

7. NYC over 4th of July weekend, where I celebrated the wedding of dear friends.

8. Carouselfie! My parents serve on the board of the beautiful Carousel of Light in Falmouth, Mass. Come take a spin!

9. Lying on the lawn at the Kripalu yoga retreat center in the Berkshires in August. OMMMMMM

10. Tori Amos concert at Constitution Hall! Still the best!

11. Feeling lucky at the US Botanic Garden

12. DC's first Diner en Blanc, a sort of flash-mob dinner party held around the world where ticketholders dress all in white and pack their own picnics (including table, chairs, china, and linens--again all in white) and convene at a location announced at the last minute. This took place at Yards Park near the Navy Yard in Southwest DC along the Anacostia. Beautiful, chic, totally insider event.

13. Lunch from Nica's Market in New Haven. Why can't DC have deli sandwiches like this?

14. THE BIG ONE!!! My baby sister Ellie's wedding at Club Getaway in Kent, Conn. She married the awesome Tim Vierling in a lovely ceremony that was part of an incredibly fun camp-themed weekend. Here's Ellie and Tim showing up for the rehearsal. My phone photos can't do it justice so take a look at the official photographer's shots.

15. Fall weekend in Bethany Beach, Del. with some good friends.

16. Snapped on the edge of my grandmother's house in Kingston, NY, up on the Hudson River. I divided my birthday weekend between the Hudson River Valley area and Manhattan.

17. Selfie taken at an over-the-top event a friend who lives in Rappahannock County, Va, took me to that involved a bonfire, a Celtic rapper/storyteller, bagpipers, and a "spectacle" loosely based on Dante's Inferno performed in a stone circle by masked actors of all ages.

18. and 19. I spent a few days in Guayaquil, Ecuador for our annual MIF conference dedicated to micro and small business development. Ecuador has amazing chocolate--photo 18 shows a bin of cacao beans drying out--and the city has a park with free-range iguanas, as seen in photo 19.

20. Thanksgiving in Falmouth, where my parents live and where I am always thankful to visit!

More adventures and photos lie ahead in 2015--in mid-January I am off to India for a couple of weeks!!!

With hopes that this note finds you and yours well, and best wishes for the new year,

Elizabeth

2013 Year in Review

Dear (Your Name Here),

The photos above (and on the card you received from me) were all taken by me during my travels this year. Looking back, I saw a lot of beauty and had a lot of fun with great people in 2013.

I am still working in DC as a writer-editor at the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund, which continues to be a rewarding and interesting place to work. I love having colleagues from so many different countries and I love knowing our work has an impact on so many lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. I have had the opportunity over the last few months to take language lessons through work and my Spanish is slowly improving, though it really is true that learning a new language is not quite as easy at 40+ as it is at 14...

So - Top row, left to right. First photo is from Sanibel, a lovely island off Florida's Gulf Coast that is a great destination for shell collectors. I have visited several times with my parents, sisters and their families. The top middle photo is from Ojai, California, a sort of mystical hippie spa town north of Los Angeles, where I participated in a weekend yoga workshop/retreat organized by Laughing Lotus, an NYC-based yoga studio I endorse heartily! I also endorse visiting Ojai in the spring, when the orange trees are blooming. Amazing!

The next four photos were taken during my August vacation, during which I spent two weeks driving up and down the East Coast visiting friends and family. It was by far the most ambitious road trip I have ever undertaken, and my aging red Ford Focus, "Ruby," met the challenge, especially once her battery was replaced by a AAA guy in my college roommate's driveway. Thanks to #ETUpNorth hosts Lizzie Skurnick in Jersey City, Esther Choo and Rob DeMayo in Providence, Don and Denise Terry in Falmouth, Kathleen Stanley in Wellfleet, Kristin Leary in Wolfeboro, Amy and Colin Sheehan in New Haven, and Ellie Terry and Tim Vierling in Brooklyn. The photos representing the trip were taken on Skaket Beach in Orleans, Cape Cod while catching up with Margie Nilson (upper right), on Lake Wentworth in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire while staying at the Leary family "cottage" (middle left), at  Laughing Lotus Yoga Studio in NYC (center photo - really, check it out if you get a chance), and at Yale University in dear old New Haven, Connecticut (middle right).

The bottom left corner photo is of the cathedral in Guadalajara, Mexico, where I spent a week in the fall for a work conference, writing speeches, editing press releases, and learning about the production and consumption of tequila. Bottom middle photo is of the barn on the property of dear friends DeeDee Slewka and Horton Beebe-Center, who moved to Rappahannock County, Virginia over the summer and were kind enough to host me for my birthday weekend. And the bottom right photo was taken over Thanksgiving weekend in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the delightful Cape Cod town where my parents now live.

I am already looking forward to 2014, which will bring many new adventures, including my 20th college reunion (of which I am a co-chair) in May, and my youngest sister Ellie's wedding in September!

Wishing you a joyful, peaceful, and awesome holiday season.

Love, Elizabeth

2012 Year In Review

Dear (Your Name Here),

The photos on the card you received from me this year were all taken by me in places I visited. It was a good year for travel and fun. I have spent the whole year working full time on a consultant basis at the Multilateral Investment Fund, and am about to sign a new contract that will take me midway into 2014. After so many years of wandering, it is really nice to settle in, and work alongside some terrific colleagues on cool projects that change lives.

Just to keep things exciting, though, I still wrote a few Date Lab columns this year. (Click each hyperlinked word to read them!)

Anyway, the postcard! Top left hand corner is a photo I took New Year's Eve Day on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where I joined friends for a festive/cozy couple of days.

The two other photos on the top row were taken in Quito, Ecuador, where we had a conference in May. I didn't know much about Quito before going but heartily recommend a visit -- really great architecture and culture, plus amazing views from various mountains, just watch out for the altitude!

Second row, the left and center photos are from Falmouth, Mass. My parents decided to leave their apartment in Bethesda and keep just one home, on Cape Cod. I'm sad they are not living nearby anymore, but it is a consolation that their place just happens to be a perfect summer vacation spot. I was there for the 4th of July week and got quality time with my nieces and nephews.

The center right photo was taken at the Montgomery County (Md.) fair. Somehow I lived this long without seeing a demolition derby before, but I am sure it won't be the last time.

Bottom row, the left and center photos were taken during another work trip - we had a conference in Barbados. Lucky me! My first time in the Caribbean, and again, I'm sure it won't be the last.

The bottom right photo is from Kripalu, a yoga retreat center in the Massachusetts Berkshires. My sisters' birthday gift to me was a weekend there. Did I mention I turned 40 in October?? No big deal!

Wishing you much happiness and good health in the new year!

Love, Elizabeth

2011: Year in Review

Dear [Your Name Here], I sincerely hope this note finds you and yours very well!

I am writing this at the very end of the year and taking comfort in the fact that technically the twelve days of Christmas don't end until Epiphany, on January 6. So what if my cards are going out after everyone else's?

For me, 2010 had some big changes, but overall much is still the same. The year got off to an amazing start, with the birth of my niece Annabel on January 4. All the Terrys gathered in New Haven at my sister Amy's house to celebrate Christmas 2010, and my parents and I stayed on into the New Year. Big-sister-to-be Lucy kept all of us entertained as as we waited for the new baby's arrival. Getting to meet Annabel only a few hours after her birth was such a special experience. I'm happy to report that as she closes in on her first birthday, she is blonde, smiley and sunshiny, and just starting to walk and talk.

The second big change was at work. After nearly two years as a communications consultant for the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority initiative, I moved upstairs to join the communications team at the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund. Like OMJ, the MIF works with the private sector to benefit the poor and excluded populations in the region. But it's been around much longer and does a wider variety of projects. I could go on for ages telling you about the great work we do, but am trying to keep this short. My dad, Don Terry, managed the MIF from its founding until he retired a little over three years ago, so it's been especially interesting to now work with many of his former colleagues and to see how the organization has grown and developed. I got to go to MIF's annual microfinance conference, "Foromic," in Costa Rica in October, where I wrote speeches for our general manager, saw a few of the projects we have funded there, and celebrated my birthday.

But overall, I still live in the same home, still drive the same car, go to the same church. I wrote several more "Date Lab" columns for the Washington Post Magazine (click on each word here for examples). I again vacationed in Sanibel, Fla. and Falmouth, Mass. with my parents and sisters and their families. I did have a really unusual and special experience this summer -- I was one of the leaders of a week-long San Francisco area "pilgrimage" with a dozen teens from St. Columba's. Our group had worked toward this trip for nearly two years, meeting on Sunday mornings, raising money and making plans. It was a wonderful journey, very intense and profound for me, and I think for the youth as well. The photo on the postcard you received from me is of one of the churches we visited, St. Gregory of Nyssa, which incorporates chanting and dancing into its services. Here's a short article I wrote about the pilgrimage, if you'd like to know more!

Wishing you much happiness and many blessings for 2012...

Love, Elizabeth