Hurricane Weekend

Our weekend plans were unexpectedly changed by hurricane Irene.  We didn't experience any major damage or power outages, but we did spring a leak in the roof of our kitchen bay window.  With the storm heading our way and plans to grill for dinner, we decided that we better get the cooking out of the way early.  Alex headed out into the storm to prove that he's the grill master!

Clearly, very happy to be grilling in the rain.

The wind picked up quite a bit and nearly snapped our poor baby tree in half.  One of our more unlucky neighbors had a tree fall on the front of their house covering their door and garage.  We found a ton of shingles on the ground this morning but where they came from will remain a mystery.

Our movie later than night was interrupted by a ominous drip drip drip coming from the kitchen.  What had started out as a slow drip was turning into a pretty steady stream flowing from the kitchen ceiling onto the floor.  We found a bucket, some towels, and started prepping for a long night of increasing rain.  Nothing beats hanging out your bedroom window in the wind and rain, putting plumbers putty on any crack in sight.  And it didn't even work!  At least someone was entertained.

So what did we learn in the end?  Hurricane checklist:

1) Paint your toes an awesome color

2) Drink some beers

3) Take a nap

We'll be ready for next time!

Free Bowling

I'm not much of a bowler.  I've never broken 100 and I still think that I need to take the plunge and drop down to the 8 lb ball.  That 10 pounder had my arm hurting so bad the next day!  Therefore, I only bowl when it's free.  Or forced.

This time it was free thanks to a Groupon (that was also a gift.) Alex and I bowled for an hour and a half and got some good moves down.  I even beat him on the last game!  And I scored a few strikes completely by accident.  I mean... totally on purpose.

Well, that was my bowling extravaganza for 2011.  See you next year bowling alley!  Just look at that big 97 score:

Yeahh baby!

Earthquakes and Mini Burgers

I was sitting at my desk this afternoon trying not to close my eyes for the 8th time since lunch when our building (and apparently most of the east coast) shook under the power of a 5.8 magnitude earthquake.  We didn't evacuate the building or even get up from our desks (gotta work, not time for safety!) but the earthquake was the strongest I've ever felt in this area.  Almost immediately, the web, Facebook, and twitter were overrun with people freaking out over what seemed like... not much of anything.  The 5th floor of our building was sent home early in what I can only guess was the inability to get back to work after the excitement.  DC appeared to shut down, and horrendous traffic ensued.

Alex and I decided to celebrate the earthquake by making mini burgers for dinner.  Related?  No.  Delicious and fun?  Definitely.  

They were actually mini bison cheeseburgers!  I prefer to buy ground bison over ground beef because bison is a leaner red meat than beef and tastes better (in my opinion.)  We don't eat red meat very much so we can take the extra hit on the price every once in a while.  It was a beautiful evening so we ate outside on the deck for one of the first times this summer.

Oh look, someone's ruining his mini burgers with KETCHUP:

BARF.  Hope everyone else had a good earthquake!

Closet Clean Out Day

My closet is a mess.  Although I have the best intentions, my shirts never seem to find their way back onto a hanger unless they are coming out of the dryer.  So that means everything that doesn't work with my outfit in the morning ends up on the floor of our closet, or the pile on my bedside table, or on top of my dresser... you get it.

I hate giving things away even if I haven't worn them in over a year, because what if someday that piece magically is exactly what I'm looking for to go with a new purchase?  What about all the clothes I bought and never wore because somehow they didn't quite work out as well as I'd hoped?  And what about all those legitimately decent pieces stuck in the back of the closet that I never take the time to fish out? (I grab from whatever is front and center)

So today was closet clean out day!  I didn't get rid of as much as I would have liked, but at least now I don't have to go out and buy hangers for the thousandth time so I can hang all my newer stuff.  I also had a cute little helper.

In the end, I had a decent sized pile to give away and a little extra room on the shelves for some fall shopping.  Goodbye college memory clothing... I'm too old for you now!

And on an unrelated ending note, I must include this adorable picture of a man and his cat:

Training is Hard

Alex and I are training for our first 5k (this is HUGE for me, not so much for him) and it turns out, training is really hard.  I've never been much of a runner, or a mover for that matter, and I'm paying for it now.  We're running the Dogfish Dash 5k at the end of September and I've been "training" since we signed up back in April.  I started out strong, but then I guess I got a little lazy once it heated up outside.  We have a treadmill now but I hadn't ran in the last month after a string of busy days and illnesses that lasted weeks.  We're finally getting back in the swing of things with a little over a month to go!

This morning we headed up to Centennial park and looped the lake using the same 5k path I took last fall for Steven's 5k.  It was a pretty morning and we took a lot of pictures along the way.  I recently purchased a schmancy DSLR and I was glad to have a sunny day to use it.  Now if only we can keep up with our lofty goal of training (every day?) next week, and hopefully every week to come if I'm ever going to run this thing...

We didn't realize that the Columbia triathlon, the TriColumbia, is taking place at the park tomorrow.  They were busy setting up the tents and participants were locking up their bikes for the night.  I can't imagine being in good enough shape to finish a triathlon.  Maybe that can be our someday goal, although mine might have to be a biathlon (no swimming!)

One last note - we found this sign at the lake.  I will take credit for that!

My Room

Ok, so I don't sleep in it and technically it's the guest room, but this room is my little space in the house.  The furniture was my grandmothers (build around the 1940's) and survived the trip from Illinois to Maryland with only a few scrapes.  The drawers are filled with yarn and my favorite sheets are on the bed.

When we first painted and I looked at the newly yellow walls, I was really afraid that we would have to re-paint because it was so much brighter than I had wanted.  Eye burningly bright.  Now that everything is set up, I'm so glad I chose the shade I did because it's so warm and inviting!  I went through a period where I wanted to use a lot of grays and cool paint colors but now I'm seriously considering re-painting the rest of the house in warm colors (although I think the master bedroom is still going to end up some shade of gray.)

I'm actually pretty sad that this room turned out so great because I know I won't love the master bedroom as much once it's finished.  Aren't you supposed to like your room the most?  But warm colors aren't really Alex's style so I have to blend both of our styles together in the spaces we share.

For now, my beautiful room is relegated to the place where Bean sleeps in the afternoons and where she stays when we're out of the house.  Maybe someday we'll have a guest to stay in it!

I still have a few things left to put up on the walls before the room is "done," but that might not happen anytime soon!

Rainy Day

This afternoon I was sitting around watching the rain and decided it was about time to get this blog up and running.  There are so many things I had wanted to put on here the past few months and I didn't want to miss all the good food, good times with friends, and fun seasonal trips coming up this autumn.  So while Alex graciously cleaned and organized the house, I got myself up and running!


Oh, and baked us a little something for dessert (or mid afternoon treat.)

(Peanut butter and jelly bars, courtesy of Barefoot Contessa) Recommended, as long as you have a large glass of milk! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/peanut-butter-and-jelly-bars-recipe/index.html