Rain makes corn....

So this isn't anything new that I'm learning about myself or anything but I gotta tell you, I am one compulsive weather-checker.  I should probably just leave my home page as The Weather Channel because I'm pretty much always there.

I think my years of living in South Florida did this to me.  Wild afternoon thunderstorms, hurricane season, getting excited when it was a frigid 70 degrees...  I couldn't take the anticipation.  The 10 day forecast was just a tease of what could possibly be heading our way in the not-too-distant future.

So here I am, excited about this rainy day in the DC-Metro area because it reminds me of home a little.  I am NOT so excited, however, about fording the Potomac River to get to school in an hour or so.

Woohoo!

Disregard the low of 58 degrees.  That doesn't remind me of home...

And then we have the much-adored radar map.  Which forecasts rainy days once in a while up here but never seems to deliver a good torrential downpour.  In which case I'm generally disappointed.  Unless I'm doing something fun outside.  But thanks goes out to Tropical Storm Nicole for making it impossible to miss a good rain today.

Note to self: remember umbrella.

Over & out. :)

Chronicle of an "average" weekend

"Average" weekends in Virginia are my favorite.  This generally means that Aaron and I have enough free time and no major plans, allowing us to pick what we want to do rather than defaulting to work/school/pre-planned events.  Mostly, they don't turn out to be too average.

First on the agenda for this weekend was Bible study with our couples group from church.  Since you all know what a Bible looks like, I didn't take any creative pictures of that for you.

I did, however, discover that our friend Kaloon has a more than excessive collection of keytag "club" cards on his keychain.  Not sure why he needs a discount at grocery stores in Manhattan anymore, but I'm pretty sure he could probably win some random scavenger hunt one-day with these.  

...Oh wait.  Whattaya know.  A Bible made it in the picture. (Just noticed that.)

After Bible study we played a fun new game involving strategic bean-planting and harvesting.  It was a super-fun card game and totally appropriate for the start of fall.  After playing this and Ligretto (a game our friends Doug and Ashley picked up in Deutschland...) I'm finding that the Germans tend to make the best group games...

Watching us during game time was Hallie's new October decor and seasonal guest, a super cute TY ghost beanie.  I like him so I wanted to share him with you.

Today (Saturday), Hallie and I went to the National Book Festival on the National Mall.  We got to see several Teen and Children authors, much to my good friend Hallie's excitement...after all, she's the best middle school English and Reading teacher's I know :)  Even for me (who didn't know a whole lot about these authors' books before heading into their presentations), it was a great time!

Also on the agenda at the festival were Laura Bush (!) and Ree Drummond, who you may know as the Pioneer Woman.  (This is only a super-recent discovery thanks to my good buddy Amanda.  And if you like cooking, blogging, laughing, and all things country and sassy, you should check her out.)

(pictures of the festival to come...)

After that, we went with the Cases (generally meaning Bryan and Hallie, not a box with an excessive number of bottles of wine) to Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton, VA. There, we did a tasting of some Virginia wines and enjoyed the outdoors.  It was beautiful and we had ourselves a good time!  Afterwards we headed to Main Street Pub in Clifton, VA, and it was a great dinner to top off the day.

And as all weekends would have it, we made a trip to the grocery store (more affectionately known as Wegman's ...or WigWams if you're a smarty pants).  And I found the previously-mentioned little ghost's boyfriend, the cutest TY monkey I've ever seen.  Had to take a picture of him, duh.

Also while at Wegman's, I informed Aaron that Noa (our puggle) needed a new autumn wardrobe, so we bought her this snazzy new purple argyle collar.  Isn't it cute? :)

So, weekends aren't always birthdays or vacations, but we try to have a good time with our free time.  Especially since there is so much to do 'round these parts.  So that is the tale of this weekend's adventure.  Back to the grind on Monday, but we're hoping to enjoy our Sunday before then.

Ciao.

Birthdays, and Tigers, and Pandas, Oh My!

Yesterday was my 24th birthday, and it was a whole weekend full of fun celebrations!  Thanks to all (near and far) who made my birthday a special day!  Here's a little "picture montage" of the fun things we did.  

On Friday night, we kicked off the celebration by going to Lucky Strike, a "big kid" bowling alley in Gallery Place (Chinatown) in DC.  We had a great time getting our bowl on!

At the counter where the guy was giving out the oh-so-snazzy bowling shoes, he handed me a pair so ugly that I assertively told him that it was my birthday and I needed a much cuter pair of shoes than the ones he was handing me.  He returned with another pair (pictured below)...not exactly a step in the right direction....

This event was planned and executed by my very best friend/hubby :)  He even brought along a cookie cake because those are my fave!  He is the BEST!!

Several of my GREAT friends came and this is a picture of some girlfriends (Michele & Annie) who currently live in DC but also hail from my hometown of Stuart, Florida, more affectionately known as "the STU".  I love having familiar faces around!  (Disclaimer:  Annie is putting her hands in a "U" formation, but I assure you she is a loyal Seminoles fan and was doing this in support of our hometown and NOT on behalf of the Miami Hurricanes, though her boyfriend would probably be proud. )

Also in attendance was my best Virginia buddy, Hallie!  We're so festive it's like Christmas in September! :)

But some days, this is more like it :)

We were having so much fun bowling like the pros.  I mean, I was able to end (just like I planned, yeah, I'll go with that) with a score of 86, in honor of the year I was born.  Hallie, on the other hand, schooled us all with a 125.

But those scores were not acceptable enough, so we decided to make the next round a little more interesting.  Here is Caroline (a good friend from school), attempting to bowl blind.  I wouldn't recommend it if you only reserve one lane for the night...

(And I couldn't just leave you with a picture of Caroline blind-bowling and not show you her pretty face... :)

Next, I tried my hand at the "Bryan Case original" backwards and through the legs move.  Aaron was so kind as to document the moment.

And then there's Michele with a good ole fashion granny bowl.

The scores say it all...

The next day (my actual birthday-day) Aaron and I got up and ate some yummy breakfast and hit up the National Zoo.  Here are some of the super-cool animals that we had a chance to see....

A not so ladylike panda bear,

a cheetah,

a super-cute Meerkat,

a not-so-P.C. bathroom sign,

and a tiger!  (I asked him and he was definitely cheering for Auburn...)

I realized after-the-fact that my birthday weekend could have easily been confused for a 5-year-old's birthday with bowling and zoos and all, but I'm chalking it up to embracing my youth!  Saturday afternoon I went back to adulthood and watched some Seminole football (GO NOLES!) and then went out to dinner at BRIO with Aaron and our good friends Bryan and Hallie.  I had a great birthday and realize more and more each day how very blessed I am with amazing family and friends.  Thanks again to everyone who helped make it a fun and special (couple of) days! :)

Seminoles 59, Samford 6 (just thought my readers might enjoy the reminder)

After a minor falling out with my Dell on Friday in an attempt to upgrade to Windows 7, Aaron and I took the opportunity to join the Apple family.  We decided it would be a nice investment for the both of us, so I'm having some good times on this holiday weekend learning the ins and outs of our new MacBook Pro!

Of course, as with all inductions to the Mac family, we took some excellent photos of ourselves using PhotoBooth.  Here are a couple:

We even let Noa in on the fun...

As for what's been going on on in our lives lately...Aaron's been busy plugging away at work (Happy Election Season!) and I just started classes again along with my first week at the intern position at Georgetown University Hospital Pediatric Outpatient Center for Speech Pathology (that is a mouth-full).  We're getting adjusted to a new schedule and back to the hustle and bustle of life after some awesome vacation time.  We've also been enjoying the weather up here...highs in the mid 70s!!  I could get used to that but unfortunately these lovely days mean we are on a downward slope to this:

We'll enjoy it while it lasts, though!  Anyway, that's just a quick update from us.  And for the sake of optimism, I'll leave you with a picture of what is to come before the snowy winter...my favorite season...fall!  and, more importantly, football season!!  I love that God made nature Garnet and Gold...

Go Noles!  Over and out :)