Merry Week Before!

Matt and I haven't been scrooges this month, but we haven't been super "fa-la-la" either. I miss living in a neighborhood and having a porch to deck out with Christmas lights, but apart from our lack of contribution, there is no shortage of decorations outside in the shopping center. Christmas tunes are continually playing, a gigantic tree is lit and decorated for all to see, white lights are on most all the little trees and Whole Foods is selling real Christmas trees.

Our apartment has been spruced (sadly no real Blue Spruce; phooey on Matt's allergies) with a decorated faux wreath, clove studded oranges, stove-top potpourri, cute dishes, and today a fun gingerbread man filled with snacks arrived.




Most days since Thanksgiving Matt has been going in early and staying late at work in order to accrue time for our Christmas and New Year's adventures. (Unfortunately, the hours he started building up soon after starting work in August had to be used when he was out sick in October.) Bless his little hard working heart. That has taken a minor toll on our activity level. He understandably wants to hold he couch down and merely relax once he does get home. Thankfully, he's a hard worker and has a flexible schedule. Such a blessing.

On a work related note, I'm still hanging out with my baby buddy a few days a week and loving it. I'm still submitting various job applications to places within walking distance, but no bites yet.




Merry week before Christmas!

Cherry Blossom

One can't make or meet goals if they don't push themselves into them, right? And variety is the spice of life, so why not try something new, right?? And while I'm blessed with a young body, I should do my best to keep it in shape, riiight??? Oh boy. In light of all that, some peer pressure and a successful lottery drawing, I'm officially on the list to tackle the 2010 Cherry Blossom. I'm not a runner and I don't enjoy running, but I'm going to do this. Get ready pavement. My feet are going to be stompin on you... for 10 miles... at 7:40am...

Oh boy.

Sears Homes

Do any of you know of someone that built, lived in or currently lives in a mail-order Sears home? What a neat piece of American history. If we ever build our own home, I guarantee we'll use this archive for inspiration. I LOVE the cozy, nostalgic look of older homes. And if we're lucky enough to be picky, we'll live in a neighborhood with more than three house plans.

Clothes Swap

You've heard of cookie swaps, right? How about a clothes swap? I thought I had a genius & original idea to have one, but after a Google search I discovered it had been thought of before. That only motivated me more to host one at our apartment this past Monday night. After weeding lots of unwanted, but still wearable, articles out of my closet and helping a friend do the same with hers a few weeks ago, a "clothes swap" seemed like a great idea. Thursday night I tossed the idea around with girls in our Bible study; they ran with it and we all gathered here Monday evening with trashbags FULL of duds to share over a meal of winter white chili, potato soup and Christmas cookies. Eight of us had a ball as we slurped, snacked and shopped. I'm a HUGE fan of hand-me-downs so this was right up my ally! There were designated piles for shoes, coats, jeans, skirts, slacks, long sleeved shirts, short sleeved shirts, pajamas and even some men's clothing. We took over multiple rooms in the apartment and had a blast trying things on until items found just the right owner. Some found more to take home than others, but we all were able to replace old with "new." By the end of the night greed had not surfaced once, no punches were thrown, no clothing was ripped out of anyone's hand... it was a successful and unique girls night in :o)

The aftermath in our bedroom and living room:

IT'S SNOWING!

It's snowing outside RIGHT NOW! It's wet and not sticking, but boy howdy it is coming down!

UPDATE: It's sticking

Dining Table Makeover

Remember the $40 dining room table and chairs I found on Craig's List? Add less than $20 for materials, take away 4 layers of fabric on the chairs, throw in some old fashioned elbow grease and voila:

I'm thrilled that it's done and the price was certainly right! It was, however, a pain to lug back and forth to the parking garage. I don't think we'll be doing any more sanding or staining while in this apartment.

Thanksgiving

We made the crowded, but beautiful drive down to Richmond for Thanksgiving this year. What an enjoyable few days we had with Matt's parents and aunt & uncle! Most of our time was spent visiting in front of the TV with a plateful of food in our laps. (Isn't that how the majority of Americans spend the holiday?) Thursday we watched the parade (well, I did at least) ate turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes, green beans, broccoli & rice, squash casserole and crescent rolls. As did many other thankful Americans, we went on a walk before driving out to the movin' picture show. Girls saw The Blind Side and guys saw 2012. Friday involved nooo shopping for any of us. Just more food, visiting and anticipation of the AU vs AL game. Might I say, "War Eagle!" Though we did end up losing (barely), it was an extremely surprising and fun game! That night Matt and I set up our tent in the backyard hoping to get one more fun use out of it before winter set in. It was going to be perfect, chilly, sleep outside weather... until a thunderstorm canceled our plans. Saturday we, you guesed it, slept in, ate and visited before making the beautiful drive back home.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good first week of December :o)

DC with the Beverlys

Saturday, once again armed with good shoes, cameras and snacks, the four of us rode the metro into DC for a full day of sightseeing. First stop, the White House! We were also able to go to the top of the Washington Monument to see amazing views of the city. A random highlight right after this was catching a glimpse at the 15 car Presidential motorcade. Next we ate lunch inside the Museum of Natural History then took the metro out to Arlington National Cemetery where we were in awe of it all. The graves, the views, the leaves... all of it. From there we made the trek down from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier across the Potomac River all the way to the National Archives Building, stopping at the Lincoln, Viet Nam and World War Two Memorials along the way. We wore ourselves out to the max, but it was worth it! An absolutely fantastic day with fantastic friends.

Leaving our apartment

We saw the White House!

Inside the top of the Washington Monument

One of many who served in both WWI and WWII

Arlington & The Pentagon

The view from Arlington House (Robert E. Lee's House)

Majestic Arlington

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

National Archives Building

Mustering up one last burst of energy after an exhausting but wonderful day!

Annapolis with the Beverlys

We started planning the trip in July, set the date in September and finally, two weekends ago Sarah Grace & Patrick flew up for a visit! Friday I took Matt to work so the three of us could have the car, cooked breakfast for our vacationers (their trip was an early Christmas present to each other) and we headed downtown armed with cameras and comfy shoes. We had perfect fall weather and a fun time seeing the sights. Later, after picking Matt up from work, we had a yummy seafood dinner at Cantler's.

At Annapolis City Dock

Naval Academy Fun

We felt sloppy in our blue jeans compared to the students uniforms.

John Paul Jones' crypt

Maryland State House Dome

Pretty fancy crown molding

Goofing around on the State House steps

Main Street, USA

Go Navy!

Stopped for a milkshake & cookie at Chick & Ruth's

Neat skyline & sky

Another adventure added to the list!

Snow crab for him & blackened tuna over blue cheese risotto and asparagus for her.

Snow crab for him too.

Fun times cracking crab, laughing & visiting at Cantler's!

Zoo

Yesterday the weather was perrrfect! It would have been just plain wrong to not get out in it, so we headed to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. The animals were entertaining, leaves beautiful, and surrounding downtown Baltimore neighborhoods freaking phenomenal!

Tug Of War

While at the Seafood Festival earlier in September, Matt and I got to talking with a man from Eastport, essentially a neighborhood of Annapolis. He was full of fun local information for us newbies and was very proud of his MRE, or Maritime Republic of Eastport. Among other things, we learned about the upcoming "Slaughter Across the Water" tug-of-war game between Annapolis and Eastport. (You can read more about the 2009 results here.) This good natured game has now been going on for 12 years and is the amusing outcome of Eastport semi-threatening to succeed from the city of Annapolis. Being the instigators, Eastport seemed to know how to have fun, so last weekend we joined them on their side in the Saturday sunshine while they ate, drank, and pulled with all their might. Afterward Matt & I walked back across the bridge to Annapolis for sushi and ice cream. Oh, the emcee of the event happened to be our local seafood festival buddy!

Setting the rope up across the water

Guarding the rope. This was serious business.

The crowds!

The music!

The effort!


The victory!