A true fan.

As you all already know, Chris is a very dedicated Redskins fan. So much so, that he would eat dinner all by himself during a game so he wouldn't miss even a single play.

I bet some of you are wondering why I'm totally okay with this. Well, 1, because it was his birthday, and 2, because I know that his level of dedication to me is much higher than it is to the Skins :)

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Today is Chris's birthday! He turned 23 today! Our families got together to celebrate. We all had dinner together and my mom made a birthday cake.

Lauren painted a mug for him for his birthday. (LJ this picture is for you!)

Hillsboro Winery

The Strattons came out to Leesburg this afternoon/evening for dinner and the Redskins/Cowboys game (and the Redskins destroyed the Cowboys!!). We took a trip out to a winery that I haven't been to before (they're all so close!) and enjoyed a short break from the rain this weekend.

The Big Apple

We started out at 5:30 in the morning and headed up to the NYC for the day. It wasn't too long of a drive. We started out in Times Square because it was right near the parking garage.
There's so much to see that it's overwhelming to walk around there! Your eyes never stop moving. We walked up to Central Park to meet up with Lisa and Pia (friends from school).
They are loving life up there; it was so good to see them again! Then we found a ticket place that sold half price day-of tickets for Broadway shows, so we ended up going to see Spamalot.
It was really really funny. We walked around for a bit longer, saw Rockefeller Plaza, and then it was time to head back home.
A long day in the car, but a great day overall!
It was so foggy you couldn't see the top of the Empire State Building.

Lost plate? Use cardboard!

While Chris and I were driving home tonight, we passed a car with a cardboard license plate! I guess he lost his and made himself a new one. I've never seen anything like that before. I didn't get a picture (because I was driving), so I googled the subject and came up with this one as a visual.



On another note, what are we doing tomorrow? Here's a hint! (and no, we are not in that picture, I found it on google, also.)

The Office...

...came back tonight! I missed not having any new shows to watch, not that I watch TV all that often, but I was starting to get tired of re-runs! It was definitely a good one if you missed it :)

Nash uh nulz

Tonight we witnessed the Washington National's 99th season loss! We were given free tickets, so Chris and I and our brothers decided to head over to enjoy the second to last home game this season. I really enjoyed going to the game. It was my first time at the new stadium and it was really impressive! Maybe tomorrow they'll get in their 100th...
This is their new HUGE scoreboard that we sat under.

Fall

I love Fall. It's my favorite season. By far. Until it gets too cold and I'm freezing all the time.. but the first few days are amazing. All that nasty VA humidity is finally gone. The leaves change colors and then start falling..
Anyway, today was a great night. We decided to take a walk around the area and went to Baja Fresh for dinner. It was so good! I've never been there before, but I will definitely go back. I wish I could cook really good Mexican food. Someone send me some recipes!

An interesting start to the week

So this morning I was riding the metro to work just like any other day. In between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom the train came to a stop, which isn't unusual. But then there was this burning smell, and a couple minutes later the driver came over the speakers and said he was leaving the cabin to check some things. And so we sat there and waited. For about 30 minutes. Then this guy came walking through our car:
I couldn't get a better picture because it was pretty crowded in there and I could barely reach down into my pocket to get my phone. But he came through and picked up one of the benches and did something to the brakes, then announced that they had a "rescue train" coming up behind us to push us into the next station. By the time we got into Foggy Bottom, the car was filling up with smoke and people were coughing and stuff. They took the train out of service, and I decided to walk the 10 blocks or so to the office instead of waiting for the next train. Despite all of that I only got into the office about a half an hour late. Here was the station right after we all had to get off the train. Pretty crowded. If you look close you can see some of the smoke.
To top it all off, today was the Metro's Car-Free Day to promote using public transportation.
Somehow I don't think today helped their cause.

Back Home

We had a great weekend house sitting, hanging out with Chris's twin sisters, and hosting a house full of people! It is nice to get back home though; we are tired (and I have to be at work in 9 hours), so more on this subject another day!

Giant Cookies

A&J made cookies last night that were the size of my head! They're delicious.

Dishwasher!

It is so nice to have a dishwasher for a few days! We technically have a dishwasher in our apartment, but it’s portable. (This means any time you want to use it you have to wheel it over to the sink to plug it in.) We decided to not use it because it would be such a pain and so that we could have room to put a table and chairs in the kitchen. It’s shoved in the back corner of the hall closet for the year. We have a system of doing dishes at home and I really don’t mind it at all, but it is nice to have one for a few days!

Packed and ready to go!

We've packed up everything we need for the weekend. See you when we get to the Strattons!

Car issue: Resolved!

It is a fixing things type of day today! The Pontiac has been having some problems with its brakes recently. Every time you’re driving on the highway, if you try to slow down, the whole car shakes. We decided something needed to be done about it, so we asked Robert’s (Chris’s brother) roommate Chris if he could do anything about it. He said of course he could, so he bought the parts that week (we will pay him back, of course!) and we went over tonight. In return, we made him and Robert dinner and brownies, and let’s be honest, we got the better deal out of this. He is fixing the car for us for free minus the parts!

Here is the problem: Bad rotors. And he's replacing the brake pads while he’s at it.

In the meantime, I am sitting on the floor of his garage blogging :)

First night

I'm so excited! Tonight we turned the air conditioner off! It's the first night of the season that we are sleeping windows open :)

Garbage disposal issue: Resolved!

Chris worked from home today so that we could get our garbage disposal fixed. Apparently there was a piece of metal stuck somewhere down in there! I don't know how that happened, but I'm thinking it happened before we got here. The fixing guy came out early this morning and was only there for about 5 minutes and solved the problem. Is that possible for the garbage disposal to work for a month with a piece of metal down there and then all the sudden stop?

What is that even?? It looks kind of like a fish hook, but neither of the edges are sharp.

The end of being lost?

Those of you who know me well know that I have a terrible sense of direction. Last week I called Chris on two separate days because I had gotten turned around/lost on my way to various places. On one occasion, he didn't answer his phone right away and I got even more lost. The other time, he answered the phone, tried to direct me on mapquest, but the road I was on wasn't showing up! One of the times I was so late that the place closed by the time I found it and I had to reschedule the appointment.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind getting lost. I sometimes enjoy not knowing where I am and figuring out my way back by myself...just as long as I'm not trying to get somewhere in a hurry or by a deadline. I do not like being late.

So today Chris gave me a GPS! It was supposed to be a Christmas present but he decided it needed to happen a little earlier (I think as much for my sake as his!). I'm very excited about it and can't wait to figure out more about it!

Beautiful day

Monday always seems like the beginning of what's going to be a very loong week to me. I much prefer when it gets to Thursday and then finally Friday. This week especially it felt like it was going to be a long week. I knew Chris would be working late for a few nights, we need to get our garbage disposal fixed, we need to get Chris's car fixed, and it just seems like there are too many things to do! But today, the weather was great. It was warm but not hot, there was a little wind and not too much humidity, and the sky was blue. I ate lunch outside and just enjoyed the fresh air and calm of the afternoon. It was a good start to the week.

D.C. United

A friend gave us two free tickets to the D.C. United game last night.
I've never been to one, so I was pretty excited. Outside RFK while we were waiting for the tickets we ran into Allison and Bill! I haven't seen them in about a month, so it was fun/random to see them. Our seats were really good and we were given tons of free stuff! They gave us hats, t-shirts, and towels.
The soccer game was so much fun! D.C. United scored two goals, and every time they scored, the fan section pulled up a huge jersey and a huge flag across the stands and started waving them.
We played FC Dallas, but unfortunately the match ended in a draw. The FC Dallas players were such fakers when they got hurt!

Rock Steady

My best friend from hs, Erin, came over last night with her new dog, Rock Steady. First of all, what an awesome name. Second, he had so much energy! I've never been a huge fan of dogs because of my allergies, but he was really cute. I think she said he was a mix between a chihuahua and something else. We went for a walk around the neighborhood with him and then came back and he played with all his toys.

Alarm Clock Woes

My phone is pretty old. If I remember correctly, I got it after my freshman year in college, which makes it 3 years and 3 months old. Well here's the thing. I like my phone! I'm used to it and I don't really want to spend the time figuring out a new one again! I was just going to hang on to it for awhile to see how long it would last, but on Wednesday and Thursday morning none of my alarms went off! I woke up to Chris's alarm both days and was late for other things because of this. I tried last night to test it over and over again, setting the alarm for a minute ahead and waiting, but nothing would happen. The alarm would say that it had been activated, but nothing... I turned the phone off then on again and finally the alarm function started working and went off this morning, but I'm getting worried. I'm not sure how much longer it is going to last. (Another unrelated to the alarm issue: Chris called me last night on his way home from work, I opened the phone, and it froze! It wouldn't pick up the call, or get off the "someone's calling" screen)

Anyone else out there have phones as old as this one, or either of these problems and know how to solve them??

Ad

This is our photographer's new ad. I'm so excited that we're in it! She is sending it out in postcard form, and it will also be run as an ad throughout 2009 in Modern Bride. Look for us if you ever have an occasion to be looking through that magazine!

Reeally long day.

I had to stay at work later than usual tonight, and then had to swing by the grocery on the way home to pick up ONE item that I needed for dinner. I decided to take the whole grocery list so that I wouldn't have to go again later this week. Anyway, by the time I got to the GW Pkwy, traffic was bumper to bumper. I have never experienced traffic on the way home from work except once when there was an accident. I guess I normally leave at a good time. It took me twice as long to get home, and then I still had to return two books to the library! When I got home from the library, we started making dinner, and guess what? I forgot the ONE thing I went to the grocery for in the first place!! UGH! Now I'm sitting here blogging about it instead of making dinner or doing the dishes or any number of other things I need to get done.. but at least I feel better about it!

Hey Pete, What do you think of our wedding?

Glad to hear that buddy.

Gone...

The building we live in was built in the 1940s, so it's old. This also means that we have huge trees that were planted when the place was built. Well, I'm sad to say that one of the trees in our front yard was chopped down recently :( There are others, but I still wonder why it had to go..

Is this legal?

I mean, I know they're both small vehicles, but I'm pretty sure you can't do that! I'm not going to lie, I get very annoyed at that motorcycle as well, especially when I come home at night, search for a parking spot, think I've found the last one open on the street, only to realize that the motorcycle is sitting there at the back of the spot. I think it's funny though that the Euro-car finally did something about it.

Brian Regan

There was a new Brian Regan stand-up routine on Comedy Central tonight: "the Epitome of Hyperbole". Now I don't really tend to listen to a lot of comedy, but I love Brian Regan. He is hilarious without ever being vulgar, inappropriate, or cursing. It's pretty family friendly, and just grows on you the more you listen to it. Go check it out, you might enjoy it!

"Stuffed Animal"

This morning I decided to take a short nap because we had been out late the night before and I was tired. Chris asked if I wanted him to bring me a stuffed animal to sleep with and I said yes, because I knew we didn't have any in the house, and I wanted to see what he would do. So here's what he did!
He created one! It's not exactly "stuffed" but he did end up wrapping a papertowel around the back of it in an attempt at making it soft. The body is one of those backscratcher things, and the head is our salt shaker (currently empty) taped and rubber banded on. It definitely wasn't soft, but I think he wins on creativity.

Friday Fun

Tonight we had pizza, played mariokart, and then Hoopla! What do you do for fun on a Friday night?

Fun for everyone

Since I know most of the readers of this blog don't care about football at all, I came across this football-related blog that all of you LOST fans might appreciate (which I think is everybody who reads this). And though I'm not a LOST watcher, Hurley was my favorite, so I'm okay with our comparison.

Grocery List

Chris wrote the grocery list out last night because he wanted to make guac tonight for the Redskins game. He needed a lemon, but wanted it to sound more mexican because it's for guac.. so he wrote: