Stratton' our stuff...: January 2009

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Making History

Take a look at our amazing experience in Washington D.C. for the Inauguration of Barack Obama. I know that my slideshows tend to be a bit lengthy, so I put some of the best pictures at the beginning. Please take some time and look at the fantastic sites and parade towards the end of the reel. We'll never forget that weekend/week! It's hard to describe how close we were to the people and venues, so hopefully the pictures will describe it for us.

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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Quick Update

Okay, so we just got back from the Inauguration and the Inaugural parade and it was unbelievable!! President Obama (yay!) and Michelle Obama walked right in front of our bleachers waving, smiling, etc. and I was able to get some amazing video. Can you believe that he walked with his wife for four blocks? I was probably more nervous than he was...or maybe not. There are no words to describe it...or the cold that we've been experiencing since 5AM this morning....and the entire weekend. I will share pics, videos, stories later this week. I just had to give everyone a quick update on the last few days we've had in our nation's capital. I hope everyone was able to watch history at least on television.

WELCOME TO THE WHITE HOUSE OBAMA!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Inauguration '09

http://www.belgiantrade.org/aboutus222222222

The anticipation is killing me! I thought tomorrow would never come (and it still hasn't yet) but it's close enough. Shawn and I leave tomorrow to see Barack Obama sworn in as our new President on Inauguration Day. There are so many emotions - mainly excitement as we expect that the environment will be ELECTRIC - but also nervousness as there will be MILLIONS of people in attendance. It's going to be chaotic, yet calming. I have such mixed emotions, but they will will all come together on Tuesday afternoon.

We are attending the events at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday:

MyFoxDC reports WASHINGTON

-- When President-elect Barack Obama is welcomed to the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, he'll have plenty of famous faces on stage joining him. The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced the initial lineup of performers for Sunday's 'We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial'.

The event is free and open to the public, and will be shown exclusively on HBO from 7- 9 p.m. EST. It officially kicks off Inauguration Week in D.C. Among those scheduled to appear are: Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder.Also, Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington are scheduled to read historical passages.

As if seeing Barack Obama isn't great enough, we get to see and listen to lots of celebrities (a cup of Denzel anyone?). I was never the person that randomly "ran into" various celebrities like most people have that live in Atlanta, so this is a big deal for me I guess. We'll take a break on Monday to defrost our fingers and toes, and then we're off to the Inaugural Parade on Tuesday to watch the procession & the swearing in on the big screens!

My only concern is the weather. This morning in D.C. it was a whopping 11 degrees. Hmmm...what is a girl to do?! Hopefully it won't be too bad (again, this is my way of thinking positive...I didn't say anything about realistic), but all I know is that I will be dressing in layers and drinking loads of hot chocolate.

I can't wait to share videos, pictures, and tales of our first Inauguration experience. It's a great day in history....yippee!

Monday, January 12, 2009

It'll make you "Shutter"

I have taken on yet another project. As if keeping up with our blog was not enough, I wanted to have a website that didn't require people to read, as much as just sit back and browse. Shawn and I have had and taken advantage of many travel opportunities since we've met. Sometimes telling people about our experiences just isn't enough...our words are never able to describe the beauty of some of the places we've seen. I have (too often) wanted to share our pictures with people, but unfortunately I can't carry hundreds of pictures in my back pocket.

So, I created a new "Stratton" website using Shutterfly that works almost like a photo journal. We are able to post pictures into different albums to recount the adventures that we had in different places. All you have to do is click on an album and look. There are other cool tools to add to the site (calendars, other websites, contacts, members, etc. similar to a blog) and it allows viewers to add comments and even edit the page (if you wanted that option). I just started working on the site last week, so there's quite a bit of editing left to do, but I wanted to share what we have thusfar.

Check it out and tell us what you think. It's super easy to become a member, so try it out if you want...if you have the time. But I will say that I definitely don't have the time, and it didn't take long. It's pretty fun once you get it started.

http://shawnandalishastratton.shutterfly.com/

Monday, January 5, 2009

A Holiday Reflection

¡Feliz Navidad

Feliz Año Nuevo

a nuestra familia y nuestros amigos!

We hope everyone had a blessed, safe and peaceful Christmas, and that you happily ended the year of 2008 with no regrets!

We were fortunate enough to have two weeks off from work (hence the gap in our blog posts), and we took many pictures to remember our experiences with family and friends.

We hope you enjoy them...