I’ve been slow to organize my photos from Israel, but here are some of my favorites from my trip.

I completely blame Steve Inskeep and NPR for my current obsession with Elvis Perkins. Ever since I heard this interview with Perkins during their coverage of SXSW, I’ve been listening to his new album, Elvis Perkins in Dearland nonstop. In recent conversations, his name keeps coming up, and I’ve found a few others mildly obsessed with him as well (about half of the people I know who went to Brown knew Perkins when he was there, and each has a distinct memory of him). Steve Inskeep, your influence knows no bounds.

But complicating Perkins’ twisted, dirge-like lyrics and soulful voice even further is his backstory, which is heartbreaking: His father, actor Anthony Perkins (of Psycho fame) died of AIDS when he was in his teens; his mother, Berry Berenson-Perkins — a photographer — was aboard one of the planes that struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. “The songs are their grandchildren they didn’t get to meet,” Perkins told Inskeep. “They strike me as offspring from time to time, and some of them on the new album sort of stare back at me a little funny.”

Perkins plays Iota in Arlington on May 19.

So I’m probably breaking the law by posting this, but honestly all of the photos they took of me during the Cherry Blossom run last weekend were pretty atrocious except for this one. Still, not feeling like I want one blown up on my wall either way. But it was my first big race back from a terrible ankle sprain last year (damn you Rock Creek Park!) and I was feeling good, so that’s a plus.

It was crazy crowded by the Tidal Basin on Sunday, but given the perfect weather, I didn’t really mind.

Out this month – my story in Marie Claire outlining the many many ways that you can manage your online profile. Cyber-stalking has never been so easy! Click here for more details.

Some nice news came out last week from the folks at Lonely Planet: Intelligent Travel won the best consumer travel blog award! In a somewhat intricate process that involved both public voting and judging by the Lonely Planet staffers, we came out ahead against some incredibly stiff competition. And me and my colleagues were obviously quite pleased with the outcome.