A Good Day

A few weeks ago I finally hit the big 2-7. I feel so grown up now . . . Okay not really, but maybe someday. I had a great birthday despite the fact that I'm thousands of miles away from family and the good majority of my friends. I thought I'd mention a few of the highlights of my day . . . or days because it almost felt like a week long event. :)

The cards-One great thing about not being by many loved ones is all the mail you get! I got so many cute cards from friends and family, and they started coming last Wednesday, it was awesome!

Phone calls-I hardly ever get phone calls these days, so it was a lot of fun to talk to a bunch of family and friends.

My "party"-The kids were so cute today. not that they're not cute everyday, but they were just so excited that it was my birthday. We went about our day doing most of our normal activities. When we got home from the library, Karen was already there (earlier than usual) and they had made me a cake and got me presents. We ate cake, well Karen, Matt and I did, Ingrid just eats frosting. Then Matt helped me open my gifts and sat on my lap the whole time. After that we went to a Mexican restaurant here in Arlington. It's highly unfortunate that I can't get to the picture of me in the Birthday sombrero, but here's me and the kids . . .






These are the beautiful flowers my parents sent me. :)

And I can't forget one of the coolest things about the day:

That's right, Greg Laswell took the time to wish me a happy birthday. (If you don't know who Greg is, then you need to look through my first posts). I have my good buddy Trent to thank for that one, he sent GL a message on myspace asking him to do it. If only everyone had a friend as cool as Trent . . .

Spencer ended up having to work all day Monday, so we decided to celebrate on Tuesday. We tossed around ideas of going on a little road trip, finding some sort of show to go to, etc, but nothing was really working out. We'd planned on giving my room a little makeover at some point, so we decided Tuesday was the day it would happen. We headed to Ikea, Potomac Mills, and Wal-Mart to get new bedding, lighting, curtains and other fabulous item that would help my room feel a little more like home. Something you probably don't know is that Spencer and I are two of the funniest people on the plant. No joke. So you can only imagine the kind of fun we had as we drove around and went shopping.

Before we could take the goods home and get to work we decided to stop and get something to eat. I'd been craving coconut shrimp and we thought maybe TGI Fridays could help me out. They couldn't. Don't worry though, I got this amazing jalapeno chicken popper sandwich that was beyond delicious and we actually re-created it last weekend, but in a healthier way. A little tip for all of you who are thinking to head on over to try it out: don't order a slushy! Number one, they're carbonated and it says nothing on the menu about that, and number two, all it is crushed ice and flavored soda. What a waste! Unless of course you get the Red Bull slushy, that was also delicious.


Here's me playing with our food. There were so many other good foods we were eating that we didn't have room for the potatoes. :)

We finally made it back to my place and Spencer proceeded to work his magic. Seriously, he has to be one of the most talented people on the planet! And I'm not just saying that because he's my best friend. You'll see.


I wish we took a few more before pictures, but I do have this one Karen sent me before I moved out here. It wasn't bad, it just didn't feel like me.

Here is what it looks like now:






And that's only part of the room! We're going to take a few more pics of my room for Spencer's portfolio, so when we do that I'll post those. There are a few finishing touches that need to be done, but I absolutely LOVE it!!!

Twenty-seven is definitely looking like a good year! :)

Love and Doubt

I'm a little behind on the blogging. A lot of fun things have happened over the past few weeks, so I'll try to play catch up. That means multiple posts in the next little bit; get ready. :)

We'll start off the blogfest with William. Fitzsimmons of course. He stopped by good Old Dominion earlier this month and my good friend, Spencer, and I went to see his show. I'll be honest, WF was not the greatest entertainer. In fact, he was pretty lame. I'm going to give him the benifit of the doubt and say he had an off night because all the things I've seen and heard about him don't match up to the William we saw. He didn't really have anything great to say and was overall pretty negative. His explanations of his songs were brief and vague. I have heard him say in the past that he likes to leave song interpretation up to the listener, but if that's the case he should mention that at all his shows. Also, there was the language issue. I worked at The Children's Center long enough to hear three year olds say every word in the book and then some, so unfortuantely I kind if go to hearing it, but this was just disappointing. Choose some more articulate words, you're an artist for crying out loud! I would never recommend going to a William Fitzsimmons concert (unless he's on the Hotel Cafe Tour, he might do better as part of an ensamble) but I would still totally recommend his music! Check him out here. You know if I'm endorsing the man after that show his music must be good. ;)

I will thank William Fitzsimmons for one thing: Slow Runner. A new favorite for sure. Check em out!


They have so many great songs, but I couldn't find either of my favorites, so you'll just have to settle for great. :) They have three albums. I bought their latest, Mermaids and have listened to Shiv. I'd recommend either of them. Oh, and in case you were wondering, that is William Fitzsimmons on guitar. He played most of their songs with them, which I thought was pretty cool.

Spencer and I decided to make an event of the evening so earlier in the day we went shopping for new concert attire at the greatest outlet mall in the world, Patomic Mills. I love that place . . . We both scored big time, especially in the shoe department!

FYI-I have not picked up any dirty habits as this picture may accidentally indicate. :)

Halloweenhead

It's a week late, but I wanted to write about all the Halloween fun that went on around here. Let's start with our visit at Cox Farms. A couple Fridays ago Matthew, Ingrid and I headed to Centreville, VA to have ourselves a little adventure. It's always quite the experience for me to take the kids places when I haven't the slightest clue where they are and what to do once we get there, but somehow it always works out and we end up having a great time. Cox Farms was no exception. Pumpkins, slides, a corn maze, the best apples I've ever tasted in my entire life, a hay ride . . . Well, just see for yourself! (click on the image for better viewing)


Then there was the haunted gingerbread house we decorated. The kids had a blast coming up with ways to make it "scary." Most of all I think they liked eating the icing . . .


I also made it to a couple Halloween parties this year. And I dressed up; not something I ususally do. Remember when I got drenched in the rain after coming out of Target a few weeks ago? Well, when I was nice and dry, inside the store, I ran into a couple girls in my ward who convinced me to go to a Halloween party with them. I was having a hard time coming up with a costume, when I remembered that my Mom made me a Harry Potter scarf a couple years ago. It was an easy costume to put together. A black skirt, white button up shirt, sweater, wand, the scarf and there you have it! I also used the occasion to get a new pair of shoes. They aren't exactly what you'd picture Hermione wearing, but they worked perfectly! I wore the costume twice, once for the party I mentioned and then again on Halloween. I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween and I pretty much hate dances, but where did I find myself on the 31st? In a barn where a bunch of young single adults dressed up in costumes, put on some loud music and decided that it'd be a good idea to re-live junior high. I'm not so sure why we feel the need to torture ourselves like that, but we do. And we call it fun. Sure it's entertaining, but fun? Not so much. But hey, it gave me something to do on a Friday night and I made a few more friends in the ward, so I guess it was worth it. :)

Monday!

For all of you who have yet to hear the amazing and talented Joshua Radin perform live, here's your chance! And if you are fortunate enough to have had a live experience with Josh, I know you're going to want to hear him again. ;)