Another One Bites the Dust…

There’s an epidemic going on here in DC—it’s called All-of-Our-Friends-Keep-Moving.  Apparently, The Hububs and I are the only ones who love Washington, DC because all of our friends keeping leaving in mass droves!  Every six months there’s a new going away party and every time we meet new couples, T and I start whispering about their potential to be our new buddies.

Do we have bad breath??  Did we not return your table saw??  Why do they keep skipping town??

Sadly, Elizabeth was our most recent bucket kicker, so she’ll lead the way in our list of friends on distant shores…

Miss Elizabeth Leasure

Date of Departure: January 2010

Nickname: I Should Start a Blog About My New Life in Texas

Reason for Departure: Something about getting back into the career she loves…

City better than DC: Pflugerville, Texas… (Okay, Austin. But doesn’t it sound worse to move from DC to Pfleugerville?)

And since Elizabeth is gone, Neal is soon to follow…

Nealers

Date of Departure: March 2010

Nickname: I’d Rather Be Running an Ironman

Reason for Departure: Something about wanting to live in the same city as the woman he loves…and where he grew up…and where his family lives. Puh-lease.

City better than DC: Austin, Texas

The Blakes

Date of Departure: June 2008

Nickname: The Original Offenders

Reason for Departure: Something about having a kid and wanting to raise her in a place with grass… Whatever.

City better than DC: Lincoln, NE

The Fentons

Date of Departure: November 2008

Nickname: I Thought You Loved Politics…and the Redskins

Reason for Departure: Something about being close to family and going to law school and buying an adorable house for the price of a DC parking spot.  Lame.

City better than DC: Austin, Texas

The Sasses

Date of Departure: July 2009

Nickname: You’re So Important I Had to Steal Your Picture from Google

Reason for Departure: Something about a prestigious professorship and taking over as president of university and wanting to raise their girls in his hometown. Gimmeabreak.

City better than DC: Austin, Texas…then Fremont, NE

Stay tuned for…

The Gees

Date of Departure: As soon as Chris gets a job

Nickname: Maybe If We Invite Them To The Pool More Often, They’ll Stay?

Reason for Departure: Something about loving Texas…DC is expensive…Family…blah, blah,blah…

City better than DC: Any city in Texas… (What is it with Texas???)

So, there you have it.  Just a brief overview of friends we’ve loved and lost.  Okay…we still love you…and you’re still our friends.  We just miss you. :)

Tyler and I ARE, however, accepting applications for new couple friends who plan to stay in DC for the next few years.  Any takers?? Click here if you’re interested.

Cabin Fever: It’s a snowy, snowy, snowy, snowy, world!

I swear, my next post will NOT be snow-related, but hey—this is what’s going on around here!  What else is there to write about?  (Plus, I need to let Abbie live vicariously through me for a minute…)

To bring you up to speed, the DC area received 2+ feet of snow (the numbers are different for every area, but it was mid-thigh outside of our place and Dulles airport got 33 inches!) over Friday and Saturday.  It’s been gorgeous, but cold ever since, so nothing is melting and there is a big fat mess outside.  The schools are closed (which is why I’m posting at 11 am), the federal gov’t is closed, city buses aren’t running, you can’t get a cab to save your life, and the metro is only running between underground stops.  Even Tyler “You-Call-This-Snow?” Grassmeyer called me from work this morning to say, “It’s really bad out here…”  On top of this, we’re supposed to get another 6 to 12 inches on Tuesday night.  This is out of control, people!

I think it’s all a lot of fun, but I know a lot of people are frustrated and without power… My car is literally buried under snow, so anywhere I go this week needs to be within walking distance—luckily, there’s a grocery store nearby, but it looks like that might be the height of my excitement for the next few days.

Friday AM before it all started…And so it starts… These poor guys shoveled night and day… Our kitchen window.We ventured out on Saturday before the snow stopped.Can you see it?  That’s my car…Thigh high.Poor Dr. Seuss trees are not holding up well.Underneath a tree…The end of our street—I swear, we don’t live in a rural area! We walked to Shirlington Village… Because we wanted to make Randy even more jealous-er than he already was!That’s right, Rando… We walked to Caribou through 2 feet of snow. (But they were closed.)A deserted  Shirlington Village—this fun area close to our place was not so hoppin’ this weekend.Frozen river between the dog park and running trail…Note to self: don’t start snowball fights with people from Nebraska.  I have amateur written all over me. I will sacrifice my pride and show you this picture… :)

And then it’s always gorgeous the next day!The Big Dig.

We dug out Tyler’s car (we gave up on mine), which was in the parking lot (It was like a big party out there—I’m surprised no one was serving drinks!).  We did about 60% of it with my trusty Georgia Bulldawg popcorn bowl, but Tyler wasn’t satisfied with this and finally borrowed a shovel from a neighbor. 

This is where I felt like I had the upperhand: he kept looking for a shovel while I happily scooped with my bowl and said, “I grew up on the beach!  This is nothing! I have no problem digging with plastic buckets—snow is just like cold sand…Amateur.”

And lastly, some aerial shots of my beautiful city stolen from the internets.  I love this place…

The Jefferson Memorial

Georgetown

Arlington National CemeteryJust kidding!  But that’s what it seems like...

(Sorry for the length…what else do I have to do??)

I’ll be back soon (probably tomorrow!) with a non-snow post.  I promise.

How to Survive Snowpocalypse: The Snowmageddon

A 36 hour photographic essay of the caloric consumptions of husband & wife waiting out a snow storm.

Outside

Inside

(Russian Tea)

 

(The beginnings of white chili)

Not pictured: pancakes and french toast.  It’s been a carb-errific few days…

Hunker Down, Y’all!

All of you down in Texas and Alabama- you know all of that rain you’re getting right now?  Well, it’s headed our way in the form of a nasty little nor’easter and people here are FREAKING. OUT.

I think it’s all rather exciting, what with the nothing-has-changed-in-the-last-ten-minutes-and-snow-isn’t-even-falling-yet-but-let’s-interrupt-our-normally-scheduled-programming-to-tell-you-the-same-thing-we-told-you-an-hour-ago weather alerts.  And the-world-is-ending-so-let’s-spend-all-of-our-money-at-the-grocery-store-and-get-lots-and-lots-of-eggs grocery store lines.

But seriously, I LOVE the snow, so I think it’s all worth it!  This is my fourth winter in DC and by far the whitest.  Just this week, we got six inches on Saturday, another 4 or so on Tuesday night (and they canceled school on Wednesday!  Even my little southern self thought that was ridiculous) and now they’re predicting we’ll get anywhere from 12 to 24 inches this Friday and Saturday.

That’s right folks.  Another snowpocalypse!

When this happened in December, school was canceled for a week.  I’m stocked on soup, grilled cheese fixins and I’m also thinking a pot of Russian tea and homemade bread are in order… Bring it on Old Man Winter!  I’m ready and waiting.

Fickle

I was going to put up a quick “Note to self” post tonight about how after I put up my snarky Facebook status telling everyone to “Chillax” about all of this snow, I happily pulled on my new, red Hunter wellies and headed off to Bible study.

But THEN, I started driving in my new, red Hunter wellies… Holy Not Safe, Batman!  Driving in tall rubber boats is the equivalent of driving with diabetic feet wrapped in plaster casts with cement bottoms to allow absolutely no movement or sensation of the lower extremities… In the snow, in rush hour, no less.  I probably should’ve had a “Student Driver” sign on my car [break-br-br-br-break-break-gas-br-br-brake].  Yay snow, yay cute boots quickly turned into “Note to self: cute boots no good for driving”.

THEN, after a great night at my Bible study (my friends really are fabulous…), I headed back to my car.  And in my head, I changed my quick post to something like this… [cue emotional music] “I wish that everyone could experience the beauty and tranquility of walking in the quiet of night, down an empty tree-lined street with the snow falling all around and the only thing you can hear are the snowflakes landing on your shoulders…Surely snow is God’s most peaceful precipitation.” (Moving, right?)

Cut to ten minutes later as I turn onto my street and drive up and down and up and down and up and down for 30 minutes trying to find a bleeping parking spot at 10 bleeping o’clock so that I can parallel park in the bleeping snow, in my sensation-stealing, movement-robbing boots while Sheryl Crow sings to me about soaking up the bleeping sun…

I had to park so stinkin’ far away that I had a nice, long walk back to the house down a quiet snowy sidewalk in my cute red boots…

Ta Da!

I think most of you have stopped by and have seen my new layout, but here it is… The official reveal!  My new spring digs.  Hope you like it because it’ll probably be up until summer…

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately on how I do all of this “blog stuff.”  I make all of my headers on Photoshop (which I could never begin to explain…) and use scrapbook papers and elements from sites like Shabbyprincess.com, Designerdigitals.com, and Shabbyblogs.com.  Over the last several months, I’ve downloaded a ton of “kits” and have acquired quite a collection of papers, elements, and fonts.  It takes some time, but everything I have, YOU can have too! (I’m using my best infomercial voice). 

Most sites I use also have kits and papers for sale and are relatively inexpensive.  (Tip: Designer Digitals puts a ton of stuff on sale every Thursday for Thrifty Thursdays!)

I’ll try to get a post up this week for some basic tips on how to format your blog for a more “personal” touch.  In the mean time, thanks for the compliments and questions!

(BTW, I’m experimenting with this font in Live Writer—is it too much or hard to read?  I can take it.  And for the life of me, as much as I can do on here, I still can’t change the font of my post titles!  Grrrr….)

(Another by the way… Thanks for all of the well-wishes—I’m feeling much better!)

Update: I heard that unless you have the specific font I typed in on your computer, it came out super small.  So back to Arial we go…

The upside of sick…

So I was lamenting to my sister the other day how the only upside of being sick is that you usually lose a few pounds, but my weight hasn’t budged an ounce!  Sure, I haven’t been to the gym in days, but my body’s been working overtime to fight the infection (Did you know you burn 7% more calories per degree your temperature is raised?) and I haven’t been able to stomach much food for days (I’m drinking apple juice like it’s my job just to get some calories.). 

Then I decided to shed the 12 layers of germ-soaked clothing I’ve been wearing for 3 days and tada!  Two pounds down… “I’m one stomach flu away from my goal weight.” (Name that movie.)

[FYI, I would never wish to be sick to lose weight (trust me, I LOVE food), I’m just trying to find the positive to my third day stuck inside on the sofa.  I swear, I’m developing pressure ulcers…]

So to inspire you those of you who CAN go to the gym, I’m sharing those treadmill routines I mentioned a few weeks ago.

These are great for those just learning to run who want to ease into it or for avid runners who want to work on speed training.  I love them because it keeps me from getting bored—keeping track of the timing and having mini-goals within my workout distract me.  Plus, the variation in speeds keeps your heart rate moving up and down, which is good for you.

The first one is pretty simple—I learned it from my friend Lindsey in college.  It’s a 45 minute routine: you walk 3 minutes, run for 1, and repeat twice more (total of 3, 3:1 cycles).  THEN walk 3 min, run 2 and repeat twice (for a total of 3, 3:2 cycles).  Are you seeing the pattern? Then walk 3 and run 3 (for a total of 3, 3:3 cycles).  You can vary your speeds to your liking… I generally start high at the beginning since I’m only running for one minute.  By the end, you’re running longer but at slower speeds than when you started so it doesn’t seem as painful.  Anywho—here it is mapped out:

Clock	Minutes	Speed
0:00- 3:00	3	Walk
3:00- 4:00	1	Run
4:00- 7:00	3	Walk
7:00- 8:00	1	Run
8:00- 11:00	3	Walk
11:00- 12:00	1	Run
12:00- 15:00	3	Walk
15:00- 17:00	2	Run
17:00- 20:00	3	Walk
20:00- 22:00	2	Run
22:00- 25:00	3	Walk
25:00- 27:00	2	Run
27:00- 30:00	3	Walk
30:00- 33:00	3	Run
33:00- 36:00	3	Walk
36:00- 39:00	3	Run
39:00- 42:00	3	Walk
42:00- 45:00	3	Run

Routine #2

This one I got from Fitness Magazine sometime last year.  This one’s only 30 minutes, but trust me, it will kick your butt.  I think it’s the incline…

Clock	Min	Speed	Incline
0:00- 5:00	5	3.5 mph	0%
5:00- 10:00	5	4.5-5.0 mph	1%
10:00- 11:00	1	3.5 mph	0%
11:00- 15:00	4	5.0-6.0 mph	2%
15:00- 16:00	1	3.5 mph	0%
16:00- 19:00	3	5.5-6.5 mph	3%
19:00- 20:00	1	3.5 mph	0%
20:00- 22:00	2	6.0-7.0 mph	4%
22:00- 23:00	1	3.5 mph	0%
23:00-24:00	1	6.5-7.5 mph	4-5%
24:00-30:00	1	3.5 mph	0%

Lindsey, over at Those Mitchells, just put out a call for good running music, so head over there and share your ideas!

Now go hit the gym, ladies!  Just take it easy if you’re a beginner.  Read: if your feet are slamming the rubber like thunder and you’re holding the handrails for dear life, take it down a notch…

As for me, I’ll be on the couch watching the snow fall… (and reading trashy magazines and painting my toenails and watching 500 Days of Summer…)

Happy Saturday!

This could only mean one thing…

Can you feel the germs oozing out of this picture?

DayQuil: check

NyQuil: check

Lots of Advil and liquids: check

Earache, swollen throat, chills, and body aches: check, check, and check

That’s right, I have the flu.  And it’s miserable!  We work with a special-ed preschool class on Wednesday mornings and almost immediately after the group left yesterday I started to feel sick.  By the end of the day I was ready to crash.  My fever’s gotten up to 101.5, then it broke, then it went back up to 101, then it broke again… My body just can’t figure out what is going on.

And aren’t the chills just the worst?  When your skin is a thousand degrees, you feel like you’re breathing fire, but you’ve shivering and shaking under six blankets?  I always feel like I’m on my death bed when I have the chills.  Ick, ick, and ick.

Sick days always sound better than they really are…

Can we just talk about The Bachelor for a minute?

Fate would have it that my husband was out of town for the premiere of this season’s The Bachelor a few weeks ago.  I haven’t watched The Bachelor or Bachelorette in years, but I tuned in.  And if I tune in on the first episode, I’m hooked for the season.  From the moment they step out of that limo, the suspense is just too much...

So, I’ve either scheduled my gym visits for 8:00 on Monday nights (our DVR is booked elsewhere—House and Chuck—I know, we watch too much TV.) or tuned in via the internet the following day.  Don’t judge.

Anywho.  Can we talk about these crazy girls for a second?

Or wait.  Let’s look at Jakey Boy for just a minute.

Okay.

First, I really like Tenley and find myself rooting for her because I feel like she’s genuine, but I think if I knew her in real life I would hate her (and feel guilty about it).  She’s just so darn perky, which is part endearing, part you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me.  She is THE ANTITHESIS of who I am at 6 o’clock in the morning.  And I’m pretty sure she’s like that 24/7.  Still, I’m drawn to her…

Second fave is Ali.  I’d be happy and conflicted if it came down to these two.  I like that she’s real with people and not afraid to confront them, but isn’t a snot about it.  That said, as much as I also dislike Vienna, I’m tired of listening to her talk about it.  We get it.  You don’t like Vienna.  “If he likes her, I am not the one for him”  times-a-thousand-pleeeease-find-something-else-to-talk-about.

And Vienna—I didn’t like her from episode one when she was like, “I’ve crashed, like, sixteen cars {hahahaha} and, like, my dad just keeps paying for it {hahaha} and, like, I Iove tiny dogs and piercing my belly button and, like, tanning…and, like, being 23…”  And can you believe Jake spent their one-on-one telling her that she needs to understand when to just keep quiet and not say anything??  I died. I almost fell off the treadmill.  Go Jake.

 

No surprise that Ashley…I mean, Ashleigh and Jessie got denied.  Really, Ashleigh?  You weren’t reading his body language when you were all. over. him and he did. not. reciprocate. (Molly B—If you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure she’s your long lost sister. Based on appearance, nothing else!)  And I’m surprised she wasn’t let go after that comedy thing last week (which, by the way, if I ever had to do, I’d pee my pants.)

Not surprised Vienna stayed because I think Jake is conflicted in that he had good date time with her but is starting to see the “red flags.”  Did you catch the “I heard every word you said” to Jessie?  It’s an omen of things to come… Jakey Boy ain’t stupid.

And can I get a “Thank the Lord God Almighty” that crazy Michelle went home last week?  Hide your wire hangers, people.

So, who are y’all rooting for??  And does anyone out there actually like Vienna?  Anyone?

[Crickets]

Weekend Update

Get ready for a post on a whole lotta nothing! (I tried to incorporate pictures because even if a post is dreadfully long and aimless, don’t pictures make it easier?) 

Our church challenged us to fast this weekend, but suggested it didn’t need to be fasting from food, but from anything that plays a big role in your life.  So we thought internet would be a bigger sacrifice… Therefore, there’s lots to catch up on.

So, I sort of had intentions to participate in Kelly’s Show Us Your Life Fridays (pre-fast), but my post ended up being something like, “I shop at chains stores (X,Y,Z), unoriginal recommendations, and available to everyone” so I just skipped that post altogether.  The only unique thing I had to say was that I liken J.Crew to Pottery Barn—I use the catalog as my inspiration to find pieces elsewhere because that crap is just too expensive.  (I do occasionally find deals though—I’ve got some great white jeans from J. Crew just screaming for spring to come…)

Speaking of Spring, it is 63 degrees today.  63.  That is crazy!  But there’s snow in the forecast on Friday, so that just shows you how fickle our weather has been.

I had a crazy busy weekend and just for the record, I hate busy weekends.  I need a 70/30 balance of laziness and productivity and this weekend was more like 10/90.  Not nearly enough lounging on the couch…

Jess and I went to dinner on Friday and I introduced her to Lost Dog.  I love me some Lost Dog pizza and I even branched out and ordered something outside of The Polynesian. (Plus, we had fun on our date!)

Tyler and I went to see The Lovely Bones after that.  Mixed reviews on the book, mixed reviews on the movie.  Even if I don’t love a book, I have to see the movie.  I thought they did a good job replicating the book, though there were several extended scenes of butterflies and bouncing balls in heaven, ooooh-look-at-those-Peter-Jackson- effects scenes that I could’ve done without.  Or at least had significantly shortened.

Saturday was interview day at my school for the next incoming class of DPT students.  I hadn’t helped with it before, so I hadn’t witnessed that whole scenario since my actual interview day.  How fun to be on the other side of the table!  To know their fate was partially in my hands—mwuhahahaha. No, it was really fun.  I was nice to them…

Saturday night was Tyler’s boss’ 50th birthday so we went to a big dinner at Cafe La Ruche in Georgetown.  We’ve only been there a few times, but every time we go we say, “Why don’t we come here more often??”  Quiche, salad, and lots of bread and wine…  We headed out for drinks with co-workers after that where I indulged in Champagne and Chambord.  I think I’ve stated on here that’s my new favorite drink, no?  If I haven’t yet, let it be known…

Sunday, we headed to brunch at Petit Plats (are you counting my calories yet??) with Kimberly and Michael who we hadn’t seen since before I went to Colorado, so we were overdue for a get together.  Great food, great to catch up.  I only wish I’d ordered their french toast…

We ran errands after that where I picked this up from Home Goods for $20.

Are you not in love?  This bowl is BIG.  Whatever salad goes in there, there’s going to be a LOT of it.

We then headed to Michael’s to buy a picture frame for Tyler’s office, but guess what we got instead?

Lots o’ paint! 5/$1.  I’ve been getting crafty lately and am considering selling on Etsy or Ebay (probably Ebay…not sure I’m talented enough for Etsy yet!).  I spent $7 for 35 bottles of paint.  I now have every shade imaginable and have already started my next project, whom some lucky family member will be the recipient of.

Here’s a sneak preview… My first canvas.

So, maybe you didn’t need an hour by hour break down of my weekend, but there you have it!  Even if it was busy, it was fun!

Hope all of y’all had a great weekend too.  Thanks for checking in. :)