The Loudoun Wine Trail...

We took a trip out to western Loudoun to visit a few stops on the wine trail. It was so much fun! We stopped at a few wineries just to see the views and then did tastings at two of them. The first, Bluemont Vineyards, is the highest vineyard in Loudoun (around 950 feet above sea-level) and was beautiful. We were told that on really clear days you can see the Washington Monument from the mountain (although it was relatively clear and we couldn't see it).
The second winery, Breaux Vineyards, didn't have quite the views that the first offered, but was also gorgeous. It was much more established than the first with over 14 available wines to taste, and well worth a second trip out there sometime soon. Let me know if you'd like to go!

Ben & Jill's Wedding

We had a great time! The ceremony was beautiful and we got to sit in front of Reed Doughty and his family!

At the reception they had named each of their tables after meaningful places in their relationship, and we learned that Chili's is also where they had their first date and went every month for their anniversary. We sat at the "Blue Mini Van" table.

The cake was delicious, and they had three chocolate fountains!! Milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate. I ate so many chocolate covered strawberries/pretzels/oreos/etc.

We were sitting at a table with most of the ushers, and all the guys had a great time.
Then we were all given huge sparklers to line the walkway from the reception to the hummersine!

Katie's Coffee House

Here's Katie's Coffee House where I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee on my first day of work. Maybe one day I'll open my own coffee place somewhere... probably not though!

Nats bucks

At his summer outing thing, Chris also got nats bucks from Navigant. He used them to get me this t-shirt! Now I really want to go to a game, too!

My first try

Hey everybody out there in blogland it's Chris. Katie added me on as a contributor to her blog so I thought I'd give it a try. So tonight Navigant had our summer outing. We took buses from the office over to the Nationals' new stadium where we had food and a bar, then we had sweet outfield tickets to the game. It was my first trip to the new stadium and I loved it. We sat two rows behind the Dodgers' bullpen, but I mostly just yelled at Manny Ramirez in left field. Here's a picture I took with my cellphone:

How was my first blog post?

Down a computer..

It's official. Chris's computer is dead. We've tried everything we could think of, so if anyone else out there has some advice, feel free to let us know! Otherwise, we are taking it to my brother to see if he'll be able to help us get some stuff (music/pictures) off of it and then laying it to rest. As you can see, we've set up my computer in front of the old one and are good to go!

Twins?

I had forgotten about this: when we took Lauren down to JMU last week one of her new housemates walked into her room and asked, "hey, are you guys twins?" Now, I don't know about you, but I've always thought Lauren and I hardly looked like sisters most of the time! She's probably 3 inches shorter, blonde hair, and blue eyes! My old boss called us "sistas from different misters" and it took us about half the year to convince our art teacher (I took Art 1 with Lauren my senior year and her freshman year of HS so we could have a class together) that we were even distantly related!
What do you think? Twins?

Takin a walk

After work/dinner we decided to take a walk. It was such a great day today weather-wise, and we wanted to enjoy it a little longer. It's great that there are sidewalks everywhere.. I'm not used to that in L'burg!

First day of work

Today I started at JTI! It was a very informative and interesting day. I can tell that I won't ever get bored.. there's so much to do! Here are a couple of great things I was not expecting:
1. The drive is actually a lot shorter than I thought it would be, and there is NO traffic to speak of!
2. I get a sweet phone so I can check my e-mail among other crazy things that I can't figure out (Mom, I'm like you now! I have to carry 2 cell phones!).
3. There's a coffee shop called Katie's coffee house right next door (I'll take a picture later).

Anyway, thank you all for your encouraging texts!

Parking

My brother got home from work while Lauren and I were walking up the driveway to the house. We turned around and waited for him while he swung around and parked his car right behind mine. He did not inch up or ask for any guidance, he just sped up and hit the brakes. I thought he hit my car! I guess he's just a good parker.. but he definitely made me nervous!

Christmas came early this year!

Yesterday Chris & I drove down to Woodbridge to run a few errands. While we were out, we picked up our new TV! Now I've never bought a TV in my life, so I left this one completely up to Chris. This thing is huge! Definitely not as big as the TV in Lisa's beach house, but I still think it's gigantic! Chris especially is very excited.

JMU

We took Lauren down to JMU today. Her new house ("the girl's house") is awesome! I'm sure you'll hear more about her experiences from her, but we're all so excited :) After she moved in, we went out to dinner and then headed back towards home.

All over Harrisonburg restaurants and shops are painted purple and gold. The town is so school spirited!

Mini me

I would buy this chair if I had unlimited amounts of money.

:(

what's wrong with this tree??

pictures & blogging

I've been noticing that I have to charge the battery to my digital camera a lot more often than I used to. I started to think, maybe it's just getting old and the battery is worn. Then I thought about it..
I won this digital camera from the all-night grad party at the end of my senior year of high school. I was very excited, because no one in my family had a digital camera and I was going off to college, so I could take lots of pictures and send them home!
Well, my camera got about 2 months of use. Then I met my new roommate, Kayla, who was just about the best picture taker you'll ever meet. She always had her camera out, so about a week into my freshman year, I stopped carrying mine with me.
Now, four years later, I'm finally starting to use my camera again. I realized that since I started this blog, I've started taking pictures. I've had to charge it so often because it was actually being used!

Allison & Bill's Wedding

We left Williamsburg around 1:30 to go back to Washington D.C. for Allison & Bill's wedding. After some minor traffic we arrived at the National Cathedral just in time to witness their vows and exchanging of rings. The location of their wedding (I've never been to the National Cathedral before!) was stunning.

They had an outdoor cocktail hour where we got to mingle with lots of old W&M grads that I hadn't seen in awhile. It also brought a handful of my best friends in the world to the same place at the same time, which is always a great occasion! :)

The reception was a lot of fun. Allison was absolutely beautiful and so happy! They drove away in a blue cadillac. I love weddings!

Travis & Sarah's Wedding

Yesterday we left the Arlington at 7am to head down to Williamsburg.

We headed over to the Capital (the new version Harrison House) to hang out with some friends before Travis & Sarah's wedding.

We got dressed and went over to the Wren Chapel for the ceremony. Sarah was absolutely gorgeous! It was great to be able to spend some time (very short amount of time) in the place we've called home for the last four years celebrating with people we love.

the Library

I decided to go get a library card today for Arlington County. Their organization system is new and slightly confusing, but I got used to it quickly. I got lots of books to read for myself and Chris and rented a movie. They even have books that they give away for free (including a Norton Anthology which I did not pick up as rebellion towards my brief stint as an English major). Anyway, there are about 10 different public libraries in Arlington!

Rock Bottom

Last night I met Maggie and Miguel at Rock Bottom for pint night. I had a great time just hanging out, catching up, and feeling like I was back in the burg at the Leafe again. I love living where everything is either in walking distance, or reachable by metro!

One Month Strong!

Well, we've been married a month today! I can't believe it. It still feels like yesterday..

Tonight we went the the 1812 Overture performed by the US Army Band. It was great. I've never been before, but it was a perfect night for it. Those cannons at the end really made me jump! Then we rushed home (like every night this week) for Olympic swimming!

Fantasy draft

Tonight was Chris's fantasy football draft. We went over to his brother Robert's house in Fairfax for the event after Chris got home from work. He had ordered pizzas (which were delicious) and I tried to figure out how this thing actually works!

It's going to take some getting used to...

Today is Chris's first day of work. He left this morning around 8:30 and I decided I would run some errands today. Well, I got lost of course! I had to go to Pentagon Row, and I got there with only a few turn arounds. Then on the way back.. well, I have NO idea what happened. But I did get to see:

(The White House, Kennedy Center, & Iwo Jima Memorial)

Also, did you know there are free parking meters? I parked and put a quarter in one today and no time popped up. I was getting confused until I noticed a button that said "Press for free time". So I pressed the button and it gave me a whole hour for free! (Minus the quarter that I put in before I noticed the free button.)

The Lion King

It was AMAZING. I am so impressed. I really can't say enough about it!

Birthday

Lauren spent the night and started out the day by making me waffles!

It was a great day. We went out to Leesburg and my mom made a delicious dinner and cake! Kayla also came out to celebrate with us :)

The Birthday Walk

We (Lauren, Mom, and I) decided to take a walk in the afternoon before dinner. It started out great!
Then we heard something...
A helicoptor was circling overhead and we heard sirens in the distance! We decided to walk up to the overpass over route 7 to see if we could see anything..There was a car up on the median, police everywhere, ambulances, and a tow truck. We talked to Loudoun police and found out that two passengers were ejected out of the car and helicoptered to Fairfax hospital. The driver? Took off on foot! Be on the lookout! The police described him as 5'6'', wearing a plaid shirt, and has a bloody face, as he hit the windshield himself. On the walk home we passed policemen with dogs searching the area for this man. Oh boy, we had an adventure this afternoon.

Chris bakes a cake!

Step 1: Mixing the batter & baking -

Step 2: Icing the cake -

Step 3: Decorating -

Step 4: Finished!

Family over for dinner!

My family is coming over for dinner tonight, so I have been at work making Friday Night Pizza! Last week the dough didn't rise but this week:


Success!! The dough just kept rising and rising and rising! I can't wait for my family to get here!

Couch!

We have a couch! Finally! We decided to go with a used one because we weren't sure what size we'd be able to get through our door, and we didn't want to keep paying delivery fees and have to send the couch back. So we stalked Craig's List (which I haven't actually used much, but is AWESOME). We found lots of possibilities and eventually visited this one girl who lives in a studio apt. on O St. She traveled with her job a lot so she didn't even use it much. Now she is moving out of the country for grad school and has to get rid of her furniture.

A slight mishap...

The good news:
we got a bed frame!

The bad news:the couch we got did not make it into the apartment. We had to send it back to the store and spent the entire day looking for a new one. We still haven't found one yet, but I'll keep you updated on the search!

Chris starts work on Monday and there's still so much we need to get done...

And so it begins...

The first Redskins pre-season game was tonight. Chris decided to wear his Redskins t-shirt for the occasion. He also made guacamole, we bought coronas, and Ashley came over to hang out! During half-time we played some mario-kart courtesy of Lauren :) It was a good end to a good Sunday.

Pizza Night

Last night was Friday, aka Pizza Night at the Strattons for those of you that haven't been yet. I got the recipe for the pizza from Chris's mom in my bridal shower recipe book so we decided to give it a shot ourselves. For our first try, I think it was a success! The dough did not rise at all; I really can't get the hang of yeast, but it still tasted delicious.

Hoopla!

Pia got us a Cranium-esque type game for the bridal shower back in May. We hadn't played it yet and decided to try this afternoon. It's so much fun! Everyone plays on the same team; there's acting, drawing, tongue-twisters, etc; and you play against a clock. We came really close to winning but didn't quite make it. Can you guess one of the clues??
That's right. That spiky-monster thing is a pinapple. :)

Lots of firsts!

We bought new pots and pans a couple days ago and have just started trying them out. We started with something fail-safe.. spaghetti! I also baked some cookies... the first batch of many. I am so thankful for our brand new oven :)

No longer 15...

We went to the DMV today to get new drivers' licenses. Surprisingly the whole process only took 45 minutes. We had to take new pictures, so I no longer have the same picture from my permit. I was a little sad that I had to surrender my old license though, so I commemorated it with a picture:

New license!