Gandhi-Irwin Blog

Two days ago I became a political appointee. This was the third time that I applied for a position on the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) for the Parker Gray Historic District, in Old Town Alexandra. This means that once a month, I go to a meeting and listen to people make their case about a change they want to make to the outside of their house being in line with the character of the neighborhood, the time period of their particular house, and the impact on historic fabric. I, along with 6 other board members, then get to rule on if their proposed changes are in line with the guidelines for the district. The last two times I applied, I didn't work it politically nearly enough, but this time I asked friends and neighbors to write email endorsements, I went and spoke with some of the Alexandria City Council member (since they choose, by vote, who gets appointed) and I also met a few of the existing board members and received their endorsements. I also had the backing of city s...

We got back from our amazing trip to the Baltics a week ago, while Saha stayed here with my mom. I will do an update on that soon, but before that, I wanted to share/record some new things that Saha has said in the past week. On Thursday, she woke up and said, "Good morning hug!" and gave me a hug. I said, "I love good morning hugs," and Saha replied, "I love good morning hugs, too!" I was wearing a shirt with sequins on it, and she touched them and said, "I like it." Yesterday at dinner, I asked her to eat some cauliflower and potatoes and she said, "I don't want to." Now, this is the first time that we have heard her say this particular phrase, so it was hard for us to keep a straight face while telling her that she had to, since we were definitely caught off guard by it! And lastly, now, when you ask Saha if she wants to do something, and usually she would just say "Yes" now she's taken to saying "I do,...