Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

I can't believe it's been 1 year since Rob and I got married! It has been one beautiful year with Rob as we've traveled to Ajijic for our honeymoon, Orcas, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Boston, Nantucket, and San Diego.We are looking forward to our next adventure, a trip out to Orcas Island next week.

A note for posterity: We are lucky that we have each other and we are blessed to know love of this magnitude. There is not a day that goes by that I truly do not think about this and thank God for what He has given me. To whom much is given, much is expected.....I know that Rob will share my sentiment regarding this and I hope that we can continue to grow with each other over the course of our lives while keeping this in mind. When we married everything changed, it was like a shift in reality, everything changed some how and yet we were the same. The way we view our life, one life not two; the way we move through that life; and our commitment to each other, has been effected and it is really one of the most beautiful experiences in my life...very difficult to verbalize. I am honored to be your wife Rob as I am sure you are to be my husband......"Can I just say, Forever?"

What better way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary than to be together, off on another adventure? Rob was the mastermind behind the gallivanting we did last weekend involving a very long bike ride on my new bike* out to historic Leesburg, VA.

Rob & Maria getting ready for the long trip

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Rob & Maria showing off our bikes!

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The Colonial Inn where we stayed the night

The trip there was amazing, (a bit hard for me), but satisfying when we arrived. the weather that day was gorgeous and breezy. Along the way we stopped at a farmer's market right off the bike trail in Reston, VA and enjoyed some delicious fruit, practically right off the vine! Once in Leesburg we checked in to our charming and dusty old B&B with it's four-poster bed and explored the area. After enjoying an intimate coffee bar and various sites around town, not excluding our delicious peek into Lavender Moon Soap Company, we got ready for an elegant dinner back in our charming B&B.

Maria enjoying a nectarine from Farmer's Market

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Our four-poster bed at the B&B

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After enjoying an intimate coffee bar and various sites around town, not excluding our delicious peek into Lavender Moon Soap Company, we got ready for an elegant dinner back in our charming B&B

Enjoying some freshly brewed coffee and chai tea

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Dinner was elegant and delicious with fillet and duck

After our wonderful time together it seems appropriate to reflect on the past year of marriage. It is appropriate to say that we are passionately and madly in love, but we are rational in our commitment and steadfast in our understanding of each other and how we may grow and change always together. I love you my dear husband with all of my heart and with all of my soul and with all of my mind. Three elements that are equally invested in you!

The Mandles in the Adirondacks!

Our recent trip to the Adirondacks in upstate New York with the whole Mandle Clan was a great three and half day adventure for Rob and myself. Rob and I were the first to arrive at our cabin site situated beautifully near Lake Raquette. As we waited for the others to arrive, we decided to canoe across the lake. We also enjoyed the paddle boat a few times throughout our trip and remembered Rob's first visit to Orcas and our paddling cruise across Cascade Lake.

As soon as all the Mandles arrived and got organized we set about the business of grilling burgers and catching up. With little Jackson fully mobile and chattering away in his wonderful baby language, we were all preoccupied for hours and stayed up talking and joking around until our exhausted bodies couldn't hold out any longer. It's a good thing we rested well that night because it was up early (for me anyway) to hike Blue Mnt., but not before a little birthday celebration for my 26th! Thank you Dan, Catherine, and Jackson for the beautiful knitting book and thank you Sigrid, David, and Joe for the precious leather bound, illuminated Bible.....yes, it was heavy carrying it back to Norfolk, but well worth it as it now rests on a prominent side table next to our reading chair in the living room!

We were fortunate to have good weather four our hike up Blue Mountain. Jackson was a trouper and seemed pretty comfortable on the back of his dad Dan. The Mandle brothers stopped to pose for a picture. It was great to see them together again.

There were a couple spots not captured with the camera near the top where the rocks smoothed out to form large, fairly verticle areas perfect for running up, like the scene in Last of the Mohicans. I challenged myself to make a go at it and managed to do so for quite a while. In the end, we all felt like champions when we reached the top to gaze out over the green landscape below.

The rustic cabin we stayed in was cozy and conveniently situated near a badmitten court, which we all frequented, and a play set. There was also a fire pit and grill just outside, but I think we can all agree that the highlight of the little cabin was the covered porch with a wide bench seat that had been turned into a lounging area with a covered mattress outfitted. We all took turns sitting there and reading, watching Jackson zigzag his way around us, and just relaxed, breathing in the cool clean air.

Our vacation in the Adirondacks was particularly special because of the time spent with our family. It was fun to see Catherine, Dan, and Jackson make daily walks around the entire cabin site because little Jackson could not wait to stretch his long legs and explore.

The day after our long hike up Blue Mountain we set out for a canoe and kayaking trip across the Lake and up through a stream and marsh area to a beautiful small rushing falls. We had great fun in the canoes and kayaks and raced each other on the way back.

We enjoyed late night conversations, brownies, pumkin pie, board games, marshmellows, night time swimming, star gazing and more throughout the course of our vacation.

In closing I will leave you all with this: What better way to settle down at the end of a long day with a good book, great company, and a pumpkin pie in your lap?? I don't know, but that sounds like a little bit of heaven to me!!!!!

Much Love,

Maria & Rob

Maria's Solo Exhibition - An Intimate Series

After showing my work in D.C.'s Artomatic this last Spring, I was encouraged by the positive responses to my work and the mention in Alexandria's Old Town Crier by art critic Lenny Campello to do another show. The Intimate Series hit Norfolk July 9, 2007 in Share That Experience Gallery downtown. With a prominent image from my show and caption about the work featured in the Arts & Culture section of the Virginia Pilot, opening night on Friday July 13th was a huge success. The crowd must have hit a booming 100 count.








After weeks of preparation with email blasting, invitations handed out, artist statement written, limited edition prints completed, and a phone interview for the Virginia Pilot mention, I was ready for the opening night. Arriving fashionably late to my own show, I walked through the crowd dressed in my artist's 'all black' and prepared myself for the onslaught of questions and comments. Moving through the crowd was at first difficult, but soon I found myself staring at my show, brilliantly lit to highlight each of the 6 originals. Set behind single sheets of unframed panes of glass, the small graphite drawings tugged at you, whispering from the center of their expansive white landscapes. The setting was perfect, I concluded. Small and intimate, drawing the viewer in to the work.









A couple approached me and smiled as they clasped one of the framed AP prints and said that they were excited to present their daughter and her fiance with one piece on their wedding day. I spoke with them about my work, my inspiration, and my desire to engage and remind viewers through this series to slow down in this rapidly moving world and focus on the details that make up a moment, our relationships, ourselves, our lives..... I spoke about the metaphor of the work as well as the more literal representation of intimacy shared between two people and the beauty of surrendering and committing one’s life to another.






Throughout the night conversations like this were floating on the surface of dialogues between many groups of people. A local high school art teacher came up to me at one point and exclaimed that my work was inspirational. She told me that she wanted to use it to illustration a point to her art students: "own the space you create when working with a large blank canvas, don't be afraid of the white space." As the high school teacher told me this, she hugged me, and thanked me. It was all very strange. I have never thought of myself as particularly inspiring and to have people react this way took my breath away. I had a glimpse of this while showing last Spring in Artomatic, but mostly those comments were reserved for the signing book.







The astonishing thing about showing this body of work is that when I originally concepted the idea and committed myself to creating the series, I never intended them to be shown, much less sold as they were very personal explorations of my thoughts and opinions regarding intimacy, myself, the human experience, and life with all that should be held most dear....The relationships that we form, particularly the ones with whom we love the most. Which brings me to the most important element of this show, my husband, without whom this series never would have been dreamt nor completed. Rob has been by my side from the day we declared that our lives were not our own, but each others and certainly provided the inspiration for this series.

Rob's presence during the opening was wonderful and complete. I was also thrilled to have Lynnette visiting and was so grateful for her photography of the event! Chris Mendola, the gallery owner and director was amazing and provided a huge spread of food and wine! Our lounge area with black leather couches, plants, and cafe styled tables and chairs encouraged people to relax and stay a while. The atmosphere was brilliant.

The night ended with Rob, Lynnette, and myself closing down the gallery with Chris and crew. We were tired, but happy and encouraged by the sentiments from the people who attended the opening. I could not have been happier with the reception my show received and hope to sell a few more prints over the course of this show's life. A closing reception will be held on Friday, August 31st at which point my work will most likely be traveling up to Arlington for another show.




I hope all of you blog readers have enjoyed this entry and come back soon!



Maria Mandle

Updating our Adventures!

Well, it's about that time to update our blog! Rob and I have many adventures to share with you all and can't wait to do so, when I can catch my breath after our long 4-in-One vacation this last week to Bowdoin Reunion, hiking Mnt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park just north of Bowdoin, down to Boston to live the 'Good Life' with Aunt Leslie and Uncle Tim, down to Nantucket for a romantic 4 days together and celebration of our good friends Drew's and Libby's Wedding. Way to go Drew and Libby! Miss all of our family and friends and hope you all are doing well. Here's a couple teaser images of our great adventures. Keep checking back for the full story!

Much Love,

Maria and Rob