What's In Your Fridge?

• Staples: eggs, milk, cheese, Ragu, Bisquik
• Beverages: grape juice, sweet tea, strawberry stuff, oj
• Splurge: Champagne, oreo yogurt
• Ethnic: cilantro, salsa, humus, pesto
• Favorite Condiments: Maille dijon mustard, orange marmelade
• Leftovers: teriyaki chicken, green beans, mushrooms, noodles

What's in your fridge?

New Couch

Apart from its ability to camouflage into the beige walls and carpet, we love it a little more every day.

Cherry Blossom 5K Day

Once upon a time in the fall of 2009 I, a non-runner and all around non-exerciser these days, naively and optimistically signed up for a 10 mile run. Long story short, in addition to the 80+ inches of snow we had, this winter was hard mentally and physically and I didn't get off my bumbum to train worth a flip. As race day approached, I still wanted to participate so got into the 5K lineup with no problem. While in DC the day before to pick up my packet Matt & I took our first stroll through Chinatown:


The next morning was gloriously beautiful and we arrived on The Mall just in time to watch the top three 10 mile finishers (from Kenya & Ethiopia) make their last dashes to the finish line... 45 minutes after they started.

I lined up with over 1,00 others to complete our 3 mile goal and though I assumed I would walk the entire course, it was easy to quickly fall in line with the slow jog of the crowd. We were off... past the Washington Monument, toward the WWII Memorial, beside the Tidal Basin, past the Lincoln Memorial, across the Potomac River toward Arlington and back the same way. Wow. There were moments of pain as my leg muscles ached and fear as my heart-rate skyrocketed, but more joy than anything. Beautiful day. Historic route. Good health. Home stretch was the worst, but when an announcer over a big speaker could be heard saying "Welcome back runners!" I was determined to get it over with as fast as possible. I know a 5K isn't a huge feat in the running world, but after this winter, it was for me. 39 minutes and 29 seconds after jogging out with the masses, I drug myself over the finish line and heard "Welcome Back Runner!" over the PA.


Afterward, at Old Ebbit Grill Matt and I shared Eggs Chesapeake (like Benedict, but with crab cakes instead of Canadian bacon) and Pierce munched on his Mom's phone.


Before heading back home on the Metro we stopped at the Renwick Gallery/American Craft Museum where we were pleasantly surprised to find more than typical woven basket and quilted crafts:


Ironically we didn't spot a single Cherry Blossom. But outside the Eisenhower Building were these glowing red tulips. It was a special spring Sunday morning.

Easter Weekend

This Easter weekend we made a surprise trip to SC to celebrate Matt's Mom's birthday. With his Dad's help, we walked into Outback Friday night as they were sitting to dinner with friends. It appeared that our sneaky efforts paid off:

Saturday we visited, ran around with his parents, did taxes (yes, on "vacation") and had pizza for dinner. Sunday, being Easter, we spiffed ourselves up and headed to church where hugs were given to family friends and we posed by the gorgeous Easter lilies:

We ate a filling lunch buffet in great company at Houndslake, which also happens to be where Matt played tennis day-in and day-out growing up. While there we walked by the courts to take a stroll down memory lane.

Once home and changed into comfy clothes, impressively no one crashed and burned on the couch. Instead we loaded up and drove to Hitchcock Woods for a walk through the forest (or a swim through the pollen) Aside from the pollen (see Matt's shoes below) it was a perfect day to meander through the pines.

Sense and Lamborghini

Last night I finished reading this 1965 copy of Sense and Sensibility. I came across it and dozens of classic novels stashed in my Mom's childhood bedroom over the Christmas holidays. What beautiful language and thought-provoking insights into the world of 1811.


In other news, Matt wants to show off his new car:

As of Lately...

We crossed paths with Sabrina Soto (host on HGTV's Get It Sold) while couch hunting. She was furniture shopping for an episode that was being filmed in the area and they were in a hurry as the (then recent) snow storms had bumped their schedule back a couple weeks. Despite that, she had a friendly chat with us and disclosed that her budget-friendly transformation tricks are greatly aided by low-cost furniture stores like Ikea and Room Store. We happened to be at Value City that day.

Just a couple days afterward we were at the grocery store when Matt spotted one of our favorite So You Think You Can Dance contestants from last summer, Caitlin. She performed this fun Bollywood routine, which we saw live in Baltimore while they were on tour. They were both fun "celebrity" sightings.

Last Saturday we and eight others from our church made the two'ish hour drive to Whitetail in PA for a day of spring skiing. Though the snow was thick and heavy, the weather was glorious and we had a fantastic time.

This past Thursday we completed our fourth year of marriage. And might I gloat on my creative husband... That afternoon I received a call saying there was a package for us in the leasing office (which is a common phone call if something comes in the mail that won't fit in the little mail slot). Once up there, I was surprised to find a colorful bouquet of flowers, BUT on the elevator ride down I was even more surprised that it stopped on the fourth floor where Matt, home early from work, got on smiling and saying, "Fourth floor, four years! Get it? Happy Anniversary!" Soooo sweet, romantic, cute and creative. The office is on the 11th floor and we live on the 3rd, so I don't know how he timed it so perfectly, but it was perfect.

Last week I had a temp-type job working for a guy in Angela's office. (I'm still keeping baby Pierce, but his Granna was in town that week.) It was a veeeery easy work week. He mostly wanted someone to man the fort while he was out of town and I was glad to do it.

We met with a realtor this weekend to gain information on how the home buying process begins. We haven't completely made up our minds about when to buy, but we're curious to look into it and have a couple months before deciding whether or not to renew our lease.

Did you see Google's home page today? For the life of me I could not figure out what they were commemorating or celebrating and had to click on the logo to find out. Much to my delight and amusement, as Pi Day info appeared and it was all making sense in my mind (being March 14th) I happened to look at the clock, which was displaying 3:14 PM. I love it when God orchestrates easy amusement! LOVE IT!

Success!

Thanks for all your input with the couches. It's good to get feedback. I had high hopes for those three sofas, especially the third because it came in my favorite charcoal gray color, but sadly it just didn't feel right. The second one felt oh so nice, but something else made me hesitant. The third was comically uncomfortable. After thinking, discussing and lounging between the first two we walked away empty handed. Onward and upward.

The last store we visited Sunday afternoon had a couch I've had my eye on since August, but it had been a wee bit expensive. Low and behold they were having a floor model sale BUT this sofa had already sold AND had a discontinued sign on it!!! ARG!!! The girl helping us did some legwork and found out there were four left (for the whole country) in their Ohio warehouse and we could still order one in a linen color at the sale/discontinued price. YIPPIE!!! So, one week from tomorrow we will have a brand new couch delivered. We didn't buy it for our current (temporary) space, we didn't buy it for our (rare) company, we bought it for how we primarily use our couch and that is for laying and lounging while watching TV. It's long, wide and practically an extra guest bed. Though it is discontinued, I did find this photo online. Woo hoo the search is over!

Cabin Fever Relievers

Whenever it was that the snow stopped (remember the week+ that was sucked into a black hole & turned into a blob of unaccountable time?) we took up on every opportunity to get out. Here are some pictures from a few of those outings:

Some of downtown nestled underneath snow.

Icy water.

The opposite shore was visible as a sliver of white.

Skiing in Annapolis? Apparently so.

Docks covered in snow.

Our dream neighborhood! (Riiight... it's waterfront)

Outdoor ice skating! We are now in even more awe of Olympic sports involving skates.

We took the Metro into DC one evening to meet and have dinner with some of Matt's fellow grad students and professor from Baylor who were in town for a conference: