It's saturday!!!

Woot! So, in the trying to catch everyone up about our summer, I realized I forgot one key detail! We celebrated our 1st anniversary!!! We went to see the Proposal and to dinner at Carabba's --which is where we went the night we got engaged. It only seemed appropriate. I can't believe it's come and gone already. How fast a year flies by and it's only getting faster. With that year comes us, together, being in VA for a year and Daniel for a year and half. It seems so crazy. And then I think about the nieces---Elizabeth now two, Sam almost two and Chloe a year and half. They're getting so big and definitely more entertaining! Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it! I'm already starting to gather ideas for folks for Christmas and gearing up to start shopping early. I would rather get it all over early than wait and rush. And Congrats to Michael, Jackie, and Chloe!! Another baby is on the way and due in Feb! We are so excited about being an Aunt and Uncle again!

This week is restaurant week in Reston which means all the restaurants have really superb deals on 3 course meals--including the fancy restaurants. Next week DC will be having theirs and we may participate in that too. DC will have a lot more choices and it's a really good opportunity to go to a place that we wouldn't normally go to or be able to afford. We'll see though. Tonight, I will be singing at church for the first time with a couple of ladies and we'll see how it goes. I'm pretty excited and I've really missed being involved in the music end of things. After church we are gonna meet up with our friends Astu and Rishi and partake in restaurant week. We tried out a bbq place last night called Red, Hot and Blue--it was okay but not anything close to the BBQ we are used too. We have plenty of leftovers though so we've been able to get two meals out of RW deals. I went to the farmer's marketing this morning and got some squash, okra, and peaches. I hope to make some peach jam in the next couple of days. My peaches have to ripen a bit though. They are a little firm and I'm not sure which is better. I would think a riper peach would make a tastier jam but I don't know. On Sunday, Accenture bought tickets for employees and guests to attend a Nats game and they also preloaded our tickets with $20 bucks. The Nats are playing the Brewers so it's not a fantastic game but it will be our first time to go to a Nats game. Should be fun--we'll see Astu and Rishi there too!

Other than that, we've had quite a bit of rain in the last day and most likely will get more but at least it's cooled us off some. I also repotted some of our plants. I got rid of our strawberry plant and put our pepper plant there--which is starting to grow some more peppers. And our squash plant died out so I replaced it with all our basil which was severely needed a bigger pot. We are giving our green beans a second chance and I took out all the random plants, loosened the soil, threw the remaining packet of beans in the pot. Maybe we'll get lucky this late in the game. Okay, well that's all I got for now. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!! Love you!

Hey Kiddos

So, I thought I would update you a bit on what we've been doing this summer. I know it's been a while, so I thought I would try to catch you up a bit. In April, Brian, Janie, and Samantha came to visit us and to see the Cherry Blossoms. The blossoms were beautiful but it was sooo cold. Sam did such a great job putting up with us while we toured the city. (Oh, okay! Brian and Janie, you were good sports too.) We got to give Samantha her Easter bag and I think she liked the bubbles best. A close second was opening the easter eggs to find surprises in them. Also during this time, some of Daniel's family visited too--Judy, Richard, Maw-Maw, and Mr. Gene. Together with Uncle Bill we visited Harper's Ferry, WV and Great Falls Park in VA along with several other places. Those were some neat things that neither Daniel or I had seen. Great Falls was unexpectedly beautiful. I had no idea they had that kind of falls there. After visiting there, we only wished we had known about it before Brian and Janie had left so we could have taken them there. We definitely enjoyed having all of our family members here to visit with us. It brought a little bit of home our way just before Easter! As for the rest of April not much else happened other than I took a temp job with Tier Technologies and as for right now, I'm still there, going strong. I have no end date at this time and the people are superb!

In May, I headed to Atlanta for Amanda's 1st Holy Communion. She did beautifully and I'm so happy that I could be there to share that special moment with her. I also got to celebrate Adam's and David's birthdays with the rest of family, which was a pleasure. I really enjoyed spending time with everyone and getting to be a part of their family for the weekend. In the middle of May, we both flew to Birmingham for our friends Libby and Greg's wedding. It was so good to see everyone and be their to celebrate their love for one another. We also got to see Michael, Jackie and Chloe that weekend. I couldn't believe how much little Chloe had grown! I tried hard to get her to dance with me but she just wanted Mommy and Daddy. Oh well. We want to thank Steve, Susan and Elizabeth for letting us crash with them. Elizabeth's growing like a weed and likes to repeat things you say. She also likes you chasing her with the shopping cart around the circle. Daniel and I both got our miles in that weekend. For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Hershey, PA and camped out. We had our tent, grilled at the camp site, visited the Hershey story museum, the Hershey gardens, the outlets, and just enjoyed the general setting. It's a pretty neat place and we look forward to going back there.

In June, I flew down for Uncle Roy's Diaconate Ordination in Huntsville. It was such a blessing to share in his ordination. I was so proud of him and he looked very "Father" like. I can't wait for him to become a full priest. I know he will do well! I was lucky to see a lot of my family on Dad's side at the reception for Uncle Roy. I also want to thank Michael and Jackie for letting me stay the weekend with them. I did come down one day early and stayed with Mom and Dad on Friday night. I got to see Dad's handy work on the sunroom. It's quite impressive and totally changes the look of the back of the house. I can't wait to see the final product. I know Mom will be excited to look out all her new windows at the birds and nature. For the rest of June we wanted to relax because we had been going so much. So we did. Only other thing we did was visit with our friends Astu and Rishi which we hadn't been able to do since before we went to Paris. We checked out this restaurant downtown called Zengo and then to an irish pub called Fado. It was a great way to relax and catch up with them.

Now to July. As Daniel mentioned in the last blog, Ben and Celi came down to visit us. While they were here we checked out Natural History and American History Museums and also took them to Zengo and Fado. On the 4th we went downtown for the fireworks (which you already knew) and also took them to our local Gelato place. It's Daniel's new favorite "restaurant." It is very delish and quickly becoming our weekend stop. So far my favorites flavors are grapefruit, local strawberry, concord grape, (sorbets) and cinnamon. I know what you're thinking. Cinnamon??!!?? Well, it is fabulous! It doesn't taste anything like you'd think it would. Oh the other new thing is that I rented a Cello. I have always wanted to learn and now I can. It's coming along pretty well. I can play Jingle Bells, Old McDonald, and Twinkle Twinkle. I've learned 10 notes and I think I know two more even though I haven't learned them yet. Two weekends ago, Daniel took me to see Taylor Swift in Charleston, WV. She did a great job with her show. It was quite different to any other concert I had been too. It definitely catered to the younger crowd but still, it was superb. Wardrobe changes, set changes, lights, effects, videos, it was all pretty cool She even played in the back of the arena where we were so we got to see her up close an personal. We ended up being about 10 feet away from her. Her opening acts were Gloriana and Kellie Pickler, of which both did great jobs too. We decide that her show was about the most happening thing in Charleston. Daniel's commute has started to take a little longer now because of the metro crash and because the bus route that used to drop him on/off at our apartment got discontinued. He now walks to/from the bus stop in the Town Center everyday. In the evenings, I've started taking up running. I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm definitely getting better. I can run .5 mile without stopping now and I'll be winded but it won't take me but about 10-20 secs to really catch my breath. Which is a big improvement from when I started. So now, I go out about 20-25 mins before Daniel gets home and run/walk and meet up with him at the bus stop for a cool down walk. Okay, so I think that's about it for now. Oh yeah, I've also enjoyed watching all the gooses again. The babies are here and have grown up so fast. The look adult sized now, just a bit skinnier and shorter. Okay, really, I'm done. Have a good night! Love to all!

4th of July

Hello! It's been a while since we've posted to our blog, so we thought we should! Last weekend, we spent the 4th of July in DC with Ben and Celi. We had a lot of fun and were able to make it downtown for the fireworks show that night. It was a really good fireworks show (although I thought they were a little close to the ground). And I just found out that I could upload video to the blog, so I did that too! We got a pretty good video of the finale of the show. Hopefully it comes up pretty clear on everyone's computer.

We also made it to some museums that we haven't been to yet. We toured the Natural History Museum for a few hours and saw some pretty neat things, including a huge squid! On the 4th, we went to the American History Museum but, as you might imagine, it was pretty crowded and we didn't get to see a whole lot. Afterwards, we found a place to get a hamburger and fries and then found a spot of grass to sit down and wait for the fireworks show to start. There was a very long line to get through security to get a place around the Washington Monument, so we decided to stay around the Natural History Museum, which is right next to the Mall. It turns out that that was a very good spot, as we had great views of the show as well as a quick escape once the show ended and we were able to make it back to our car at the metro station in a little under an hour.

We'll post again soon to give more updates, but I just wanted to go ahead and put the video up. Enjoy! Hope everyone is doing well!

Bonjour mes amis!

We are home from our journey! It was an absolutely wonderful trip. It started off just a bit rocky because the airport didn't like that my passport didn't match my ticket name. We originally planned to have my old name on the ticket, but were told differently. You would think the passport office could tell you the correct information, but apparently they can't. I was told that as long as I took a certified copy of our marriage certificate along with my passport, license, and ticket--that everything would be fine. They didn't like it too much. Lesson learned--in the future always match your ticket to your passport when going overseas. PS, the price for changing your name: 30 mins and $150 lighter. 

We saw some pretty incredible things while in Paris. The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees was probably one of my favorite things while we were there. We made it to the top of the Arc right at sunset and it was so beautiful. Of course the Eiffel was pretty awesome too. Daniel was stuck to the wall at the very top but it was really neat being that high up. The wind was blowing extremely hard so it made it difficult to get some good pictures. We also saw Notre Dame, Sacre-Coeur, Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Tuilieres Garden, Pantheon, the Concorde (not the plane), the Moulin Rouge, we took a Seine boat cruise, Versailles, and I'm sure there is more but I just can't think. We saw the Mona Lisa and one of Monet's water lilly paintings and many others. We have pictures to show so hopefully we'll get those up soon. We still have to go through them and get rid of the bad pictures. London was lovely too. It was pretty rainy so we ended up taking a tour bus around. We saw Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Hyde Park, Picadilly Circus, the Tower, London, and Millenium Bridges, St. Paul's Cathedral, and much more. We stopped at Harrod's and went in--what a massive place. We didn't explore the whole place but it did have a grocery store in it which seemed weird for a department store type place. Of all things, it also had a Krispy Kreme so we took advantage of an American delicacy. We saw Margaret Thatcher coming out of a church service so that was pretty neat too.  

Can you believe it?

It's March! I cannot believe how fast this year is going by already. Saturday, I got up early to go to Old Navy because I had seen an ad for $12 adult jeans and $7 kids jeans, but when I got there, there was no sign of it. They did have $19 jeans, so we each got a new pair. That's still a pretty good deal as compared to their normal $30. I also got Daniel two new shirts for his birthday. I gave them to him early so he could have them for Paris.

On Sunday we got about an inch (maybe a bit more) of snow in the morning. When Daniel and I went to Sam's, we had to clean off our car and ended up getting in a REAL snowball fight. It was a lot of fun and we had snow everywhere. We also went by Old Navy to return some things and they had polos marked down even further so we each got one. Daniel (of course) got a green one (it is a pretty green) and I got a navy blue one with an purple argyle print on it. By late afternoon, most of it had melted. It's unbelievable how the second we leave Alabama, they get snow twice--and real snow at that. Not the normal ice and sleet situation. What's up with that? Well, I think it was made up for Sunday night/Monday morning. It was incredibly beautiful. We had white outs Monday morning along with some really strong wind gusts. I think we got a good 6 -7 inches. I went to work about 30 mins late. It was coming down so hard that I wasn't about to attempt it. Our complex and the road in front of us (Town Center) wasn't in Good condition. The normal two lane road became a one lane road because you couldn't see any of the markings. No one dared drive next to each other except when someone had to turn at the lights. When I turned onto Sunset Hills, the crews had worked there and as a result the roads where mostly slush with some compacted ice spots. I thought I was about to get rear ended because some guy wasn't taking normal precautions like everyone else. Most people were leaving about a car's worth of space between them and the next person and this idiot was right on my bumper. I could only see about half of his hood and he was in on of those Ford Aerostar vans. Luckily, he didn't and stopped but, that was a little too close for comfort. Other than that, the trip was fine. By the afternoon the roads looked like a rainy day except for Town Center and our complex. They were solid sheets of bumpy compacted ice but at least people were driving in two lanes. Daniel was able to work from home. I was a bit jealous, cause I really wanted to play in the snow and just enjoy looking at it. When I got home, we went outside and took some pictures, I made a snow angel, and we frolicked through the deeper drifts. I'm gonna try to post some pictures before we leave for our trip. That night, I also made snow cream. (And yes, I watched out for the yellow spots--we took it from our porch--we figured it was safest.) It was actually good as opposed to the sleet cream we had attempted when we were kids. Just like ice cream. I made more last night and had a coke float with it. Pretty tasty, I must say.

Sooooooooo, we leave for Paris tomorrow and I am excitttted!! We both are! I think Daniel might be more excited about the airports and the airplane than anything. I know we are going to see some incredible things. We have made our itineraries out and are keeping a watch on the weather. We've tried to plan for some days of rain where we do more of the museum thing. It was looking like the trip was a going to be a bit rainy but that's already changed since Monday and looking more sunny now. That's good, I hope it stays nice. It will be a bit cold, but I think with all the walking we will be doing, we'll stay warm enough. We are making lists of all the things we need to pack and trying to be prepared.

About a week after we get back, Ben, Celi, Amanda, and Kevin will be here. Kevin and Amanda are on spring break so they wanted to visit and see some sights. I think we are planning on taking them to the International Spy Museum--we've heard it's really good. Then a couple-three weeks later, Brian and Janie should be here (hopefully with Sam), my mom, Aunt Therese, and I think Aunt Cindy will be coming, and also Daniel's mom and dad will be visiting. We haven't nailed down firm dates with everyone, but most are coming within the first couple of weeks of April. Some for Easter, some for cherry blossoms, and some for both. It's gonna be a good month coming up. We are looking forward to all of our visitors.

Well I think that's about it for now! I hope everyone is doing well!

Parlez vous francais...

By now, most of you have heard that Daniel and I will be going to Paris! We leave on the 5th of March and actually arrive in Paris on the 6th. We return on the 12th. On the 10th we've decided to take the "chunnel" to London. We are still nailing down our itinerary for each day, but we are accumulating a list of places we want to go. I am super excited about our opportunity and can't wait to go! It's somewhere I have always wanted to go in a few weeks I will be able to say that I have accomplished one of my dreams. I am trying to refresh my french skills and we are both trying to decide on clothing and things that we need to take--packing lightly and all.

What else has happened lately you ask? Not a lot in our world. It snowed a few more times here, but nothing really stuck. The last two weeks it snowed enough to stick for a little while and had to clean the cars off but the roads were completely clear. This morning it started snowing before we went to church around 9am and it was still going strong when got out around 10:45. It stopped closer to 11, but again it didn't stick. It was pretty watching it fall and it kinda made Mass this morning extra special.

I'm still working the same temp job and it looks like it will be continuing into March for a little while. This job might also turn into a possible permanent job too--just have to wait and see. Daniel's job is still going good. This past week was a little difficult because there were some bad Metro delays and one night it took him almost 3 hours to get home.

Today, I ventured into a new world. I decided to make a King Cake! It was kind of interesting. I looked up some recipes and finally settled on one from Emeril and one from a chick from Mobile. They were fairly similar so I combined the two to form what I thought would be the ultimate recipe. So far, they look really great. I had a little trouble put the twist into them, but overall the look pretty good. I'm going to put icing on them tomorrow. I've made one for Daniel and I and one for the ladies at Beeline. We went to lunch a week and half ago and they really weren't sure what a King cake was. I mean they knew what I was talking about, but they had never had one.

For Valentine's day, we had an extravagant dinner of Pizza Hut at Target. Then we headed to church for the "Dancing through the Decades" Valentine's dance. They had some professionals there to teach us swing dance. I think there were more people there than they anticipated, so it was a little crowded and to top it off they were having some sound issues. Overall, we did have fun and enjoy ourselves, but I think we would have had more fun if there weren't the issues and if we knew more people within the church. It was a good Valentine's. (Our real Valentine's is coming in about a week and a half.)

We are glad that MawMaw is home and feeling better. She even got to get her hair done the other day and I know she was excited about that. We hope Mr. Gene continues to feel better too. Mr. Gene had a small bout of Amnesia brought on by stress but from what we know, he is doing much better now too. We hope both continue to feel better and stronger everyday. My mom has had some sinus cold problems that's been going around and put her out of commission for a few days and just when she thought she was better and going back to work, she relapsed. I think the worst is over now. Feel better Mom!

Okay, well I guess that's it. I hope everyone is doing well! We miss everyone dearly!

It's been a picture of a day...

Hello All-

We've uploaded a couple of new slideshows to our blog so be sure to check those out. They are Christmas 2008 & Our Apartment 2 - The Outside Edition. Besides that, I've been working on my computer trying to convert it to purely a computer for music and pictures. I've been going through files, deleting them or copying them to cd, switching files and pictures to different drives, removing programs not needed and just general maintenance. I must say, it gets a little frustrating at times but overall it's not been too bad. We also cleaned the apartment again today and it feels better around here. Our condo owners came by to check on our water heater. We've been having trouble getting through even one shower with continuous hot water. We don't think anything is wrong with the water heater, just that because it's in an outside closet and the weather has been colder than normal around here, we think that's the problem. Anyways, the owners bought a water heater blanket and came by to put it on. Daniel wanted to watch 60 minutes and the Grammy's so he's been taking that in. Yesterday, we were pretty lazy. We did go to church and then afterwards, we took a walk around the town center. We returned the movies we had rented and stopped by for ice cream. It was good. We are looking forward to the weather--it's gonna be in the 50's this week and it feels sooooo good.

I'm still working the same temp job that I was four weeks ago. Tomorrow, will be the start of the 5th week. Still going strong. Our thoughts are with MawMaw right now. She's been put in the hospital, but it hasn't been easy. Her and Mr. Gene went on their cruise around Mexico and somehow, she came down with pneumonia and got hospitalized in Mexico on Thursday the 29th. They thought she was doing better but then she got put on a ventilator and they weren't even sure if they were going to be able to Med-flight her out of there. They finally got the okay and she arrived in Birmingham Saturday morning. She's still in the hospital now, but she is out of the ICU and in a regular room. We are hopeful that she will get out tomorrow. Last weekend, we tried a restaurant called Benihana (Japanese). Daniel was itching to try it because it's where they had eaten once in The Office. We also played a rousing game of scrabble. I lost but it was only because he took my spot at the end of the game. I came from behind and then it stayed close till the end. Oh yes, it was Brian Atchison's and Papa Joe's birthdays--so Happy Birthday to you both! We love you very much! Okay, well that's a positive note to end on, so that's where I'm ending. Hope you have/are having a good week!