Officially Spring!!

As of Thursday March 20, Spring has officially arrived. Normally I would be thrilled about this.... if there wasn't snow in the forecast for Tuesday evening. I've heard reports of everything from mostly rain and possible light snow, to 2 feet of snow predicted. I'm really really hoping for just rain. I can deal with an inch or two of snow, but that's it, especially considering how beautiful yesterday's 70 degree weather was! We were already out of work last Monday due to the government being closed, and I do not want to have to miss ANOTHER day of work, especially considering I'm trying to work 10-11 hour days to make up for the first one! So here's to crossed fingers for no significant accumulation.

Morgan's birthday was March 16, but since she was with her mom that weekend, we went out for her birthday on March 8, with Josh's parents, at The Melting Pot. Yummy yummy fondue...of course ate WAY too much, but I guess it's okay since we only go once a year! The chicken and steak that I ordered was good, but the best part is always the cheese at the beginning and the chocolate at the end, that's for sure. We ordered spinach artichoke dip and fiesta for our two cheeses, then the salads and the main course, and for dessert was Bananas Foster for one pot, and S'mores for the other. Delicious! And hard to believe, Morgan is 15 years old now!! We gave her a heart-shaped necklace with a cross in the middle made of her birthstones, and of course the obligatory iTunes gift card that gets used in about 2 minutes! I cannot believe she can get her learner's permit in 6 months (I think it's 15 years 6 months now?? I can't keep up with the rules anymore. I just know it was 15 for the permit and 16 for the license when I was in high school), and then she can legally drive in a year! And who knows about boys and dating....could be any day now. Josh better get that shotgun out of the closet and start getting it ready!

I didn't feel as bad about everything I ate though, since that morning I finally got myself back to the gym. Been 4 months since I had gone, the last time was Thanksgiving Day, so it was definitely time. And to celebrate, I got myself a new pair of shoes from Potomac River Running. They watch you walk on a treadmill, and help you pick out shoes specifically for how you walk and how your feet are shaped. I got a pair of shoes there back in college, so it's been about 8 or 9 years. You are only supposed to wear them for 300-500 miles, and I think I definitely surpassed that YEARS ago, so it was definitely time! I love them, my feet can already feel a difference! I went to the gym that weekend, last Friday, and yesterday.....already starting to feel back to my old self. I always feel so much better when I'm able to work out, these months of cold and snow and sitting around had really been getting to me! Normally the weather wouldn't affect it, except that I walk to the gym, and walking 2 miles round trip in freezing cold weather just did not appeal to me. But now that's it warming up a bit, the walk isn't quite as bad!

Goodbye old shoes!

Definitely don't have to worry about someone hitting me with these on....

Last weekend, Morgan was in a play at her high school, or at least what we had been TOLD was a play. When we got to the school, it was pure pandemonium, and all I could think was, this reminds me of Odyssey of the Minds. And sure enough, that's what it was.....I was in the program in elementary school, and it was a lot of fun, we had to create a little skit to perform for judges, and if you're group wins, you go on to the next competition level. So Morgan's group performed their skit, it had to be 8 minutes or less, so it was very very quick. But they did a great job. I'm not sure if they won, we left before they announced the winners, which wasn't going to be for another 5 hours. I haven't heard that they won, so I assume they didn't but I'm not sure. They did a great job though! Afterwards, Josh and I went to get lunch, and then went for a walk since it was such a beautiful day out, 60 degrees! The wind made it much colder; it seems like every nice day ends up being really windy and feels much colder than it is, but I'm not going to complain as long as we can get SOME ounce of Spring-like weather! After our walk, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

On Sunday, we headed into DC....I had surprised Josh with tickets to the Washington Capitals - Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game at the Verizon Center, as his Valentine's Day present. So we had lunch at a yummy restaurant called Nando's of Peri Peri, and then headed to the Verizon Center for the game. We were rooting for the Maple Leafs, and unfortunately they lost, but we had a great time! I love watching sports live, so it was a lot of fun. As soon we left, it started to snow, and didn't stop until Monday afternoon. We ended up getting about a foot and a half of snow, so work was definitely closed on Monday. Josh was able to telework so he didn't have to use PTO, but we don't have the option at my work unfortunately, so when the government closes, we are outta luck! But the roads were TOTALLY clear by that afternoon, so Tuesday there were no problems. I'm hoping that was the last big snow of the year, and this Tuesday's forecast is just a fluke that will either result in no snow, or very little.

Green warm-up jerseys for St. Patrick's Day:

This weekend has been pretty relaxing for the most part. We went to dinner Friday night and got some frozen yogurt for dessert, and then I passed out pretty early, I was exhausted! Saturday I got up and went to the gym....I wasn't planning to go to spin class, but I figured after 4 months, it was time to get back in the saddle (literally!). I usually go to one or two spin classes a week, and it's not going to get any easier the first time back so it might as well be now! And I am really proud of how much I pushed myself yesterday....I was there for about 3 hours, and felt amazing afterwards. The soreness hasn't kicked in too much yet, but I have a feeling tomorrow will be bad! After the gym, I got ready and we went out to get lunch. We had planned to go to the Pet Expo at the Dulles Expo Center; they had toys and treats and grooming and puppy play areas, and you could bring your animals if you wanted. But it was 70 degrees out, and we couldn't bring ourselves to pay money to stay indoors, so we ended up skipping it. We wouldn't have brought the dogs anyway, since we were going to be out at lunch, so we probably wouldn't have had much to do after an hour or two of being there. After lunch, we came home, and I had some errands to run, so I decided to enjoy the weather and walk into town! It felt great being outdoors again and being able to get a little more exercise! I hope we have more days like this, and SOON....and not just one here or there but weeks at a time. I am normally not a huge fan of really hot weather, but after this winter you will not hear me complain abut the summer temperatures! The rest of the night consisted of laundry and passing out super early, I was so tired.

This morning, we were up bright and early at 7am to get ready for church. Josh had been in the process of converting to Catholicism in the Fall, but he has already done a lot of research on becoming Catholic, and the classes he had to take in order to convert were just a repeat of everything he had already learned. Since I'm Catholic, I'm his sponsor so we had been attending the classes together, but it seemed to be an hour and a half every Monday night of learning nothing, so we stopped going, and he planned to convert after we move out of Northern Virginia, years from now. But with Easter coming up, which is when he would officially become Catholic, he decided to contact the ministry and find out if there was anything he could do. Turns out a lot of the classes had been cancelled due to weather and just people being gone for the holidays, so we really hadn't missed much. Long story short, they said we can return to classes (only a few left now), and Josh can complete his confirmation on Easter as planned! So today at the 9am Mass, they had a special prayer in the service for the Confirmation candidates. Josh had to stand with the other candidates and he received a copy of the Nicene Creed, so that was exciting. We had been going to the 10:45am Mass before, but I think we'll continue with the 9am Mass.....I didn't like it when my alarm went off at 6:45am, but we were up early enough to actually be productive! After Mass, we went to Clyde's for a delicious brunch, and then ran errands at the grocery store and the dry cleaner. Josh dropped me back off at home and is over at his parents' house helping Morgan with a project, and I'm finishing up the laundry and getting everything ready for tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

18 Days Until Spring....

Well, March has finally arrived....and is bringing with it an expected 4-8 inches of snow. I thought getting through February meant going through the worst of it, but apparently not! March is my least favorite month anyway, just for my own reasons, and this forecast is certainly adding to the dislike! Work is officially closed so I'll get a day to relax, but I tend to get a little stir crazy when I'm cooped up, and on top of that, no work = either using PTO, or making up the time, neither of which anyone likes to do, I'm sure! But this has been a pretty busy weekend, so tomorrow will be relaxing I'm sure. And I parked in the driveway this time, not in the parking lot, so much less snow to shovel, and no having to dig my car out of the lot after the snow plows have blocked me in!

I was off work Friday for my flex day, so I decided to use the day to catch up on some errands. I went by the post office, then got my car washed (just in time for a snowstorm, go figure, but it was so nice and salt-free for 2 days, at least!), went to Costco, Target, and got lunch. Afterwards, I got my nails done, and treated myself to some frozen yogurt, since Sweet Frog got my favorite Peanut Butter flavor back in! I decided to head to the mall to indulge in some retail therapy (like I really need to buy clothes, but there was a good sale going on, and honestly, who can resist a deal??), before meeting up with some friends and coworkers for Happy Hour at Bungalows Billiards. I think my tolerance has gone up because I had a few more drinks than I'd like to admit, in a very short amount of time, but it doesn't really seem to affect me. Which may be a good or bad thing, not sure which. But I had a great time, which is all that matters! Josh met me there after he got off work, and we went to Picante's for dinner. Ate way too much, but it was delicious, that's for sure. Came home and that was about it for the day!

Saturday, we got up and went to Ross so Josh could get some new shirts and ties. They always have great deals, and I found so many dresses I want to buy. I was good and didn't pull out the debit card this time, but there's always next week. Josh found 2 shirts and 2 ties so he was successful. Afterwards, we made a quick run to Costco to look at their pants (noticing a retail trend here?), and then went to Moe's for lunch. We ended the day with a trip to the movies to see Non-Stop, the new Liam Neeson movie which I'd been really wanting to see, and I gotta say, it was really good! I wasn't totally blown away or anything, but it was definitely entertaining, which is what movies are all about, right? So it was a nice way to end the day.

Today has basically just been a day of lunch, taking Lucy to the vet for some shots, and laundry laundry laundry! I had a feeling work would be closed tomorrow so I've been taking my time, since I don't have to go to bed quite as early. But who am I kidding, it's 8pm and I'll probably be asleep in an hour. We'll see. I just finished the last episode of the entire series of Sex and the City, so I guess the next step is to catch up on the movies. I was never a huge SATC fan back in the day, except for a few episodes here and there in college, but for some reason I decided I wanted to get the series on DVD, so I've been watching them religiously, and just finished up tonight. Now time to start on a new series I guess, or else finish some of the ones I'm halfway through. We have some many incomplete series on DVDs, it's ridiculous. But I'm working on actually finishing them all, one at a time!

This has been a somewhat busy, but still relaxing, weekend. We have been so busy the past couple of weekends, we needed this one. Of course we went out of town to PA for Valentine's Day, and then last weekend, my dad came up on Friday to give us some help with our ceiling. We noticed right before heading out of town to PA, that there was a big crack in the ceiling in our front hall. Come to find out, the toilet in the half bath on our main floor had a broken seal, and water was coming through the ceiling. We immediately called a plumber, and found out it would be $900 to fix the toilet (yes, $900 for something that required a $4 part and apparently $896 worth of labor). On top of that, it would be a $500 deductible to our insurance to have the ceiling damage repaired as well. So that was a bit of a shock. Luckily, my dad is a an expert in home repair so he volunteered to come up and give us a hand. So on Friday morning, he drove up and had planned on being there about an hour, but by 5pm he was still hard at work. There was a lot of damage to the drywall so after he fixed the toilet, he ended up having to replace the drywall as well. He had to wait for the sheetrock to dry before he could sand and re-paint, but it was late by that point so we still need to get that part finished. But he did a great job and saved us so much money! We all headed to Firebirds for a delicious dinner and treated him to some yummy steak! After dinner, he headed home to Beaverdam, and Josh and I went to the movies. I had wanted to see Non-Stop, but it turned out it wasn't out for another week, so we saw 3 Days to Kill. It started off being really good, but I was so exhausted, I ended up falling asleep! Which sucks lol, that nap cost me $12. At least I got to eat my snack first lol! But Josh said the movie was really, really good, so at least he did enjoy it! Oh well. I've learned my lesson in going to the movies on Friday night, after I've been awake since 3:30am.

The next day, we headed into Richmond to meet our new niece! I already knew she was adorable from the pictures, and seeing her in person did not disappoint! She was so good, and slept the entire time we were there! Which was great but at the same time, I can't wait to look into those big baby blues. And I'm sure her parents prefer that she stay asleep when THEY are able to get some sleep as well. I bet she woke up and stayed awake for hours after we left, isn't that how it always works?? But it was perfect for me because I don't have much experience with babies, other than babysitting back in the day, and a few moments here and there with cousins, nieces, and nephews. But I still freak out when they cry, or start squirming around a lot. So for her to just sleep all bundled up on my lap was the perfect situation for a newbie like me. Of course, for Josh, it was just like riding a bike, even 15 years later, so he was good to go!

After we visited with Andrew, Meredith, and Ellie, we met my parents in Ashland for Casino Night, which was held at St. Ann's church, the church my mom attends, and where Josh and I were married. Every 2 years, a Casino Night is held in the building next to the church, and my parents went last time. They kept raving about how much fun it was, and how they wanted us to come this time, so as a present they bought tickets for us. And it definitely was a great time! They had an AMAZING buffet, which I indulged WAY too much in (seriously, these past 2 months, you'd think I'd never seen food before in my life lol! Hurry up warm weather so we can begin our usual walking-filled weekends!), and then the games started! We walked around and looked at all the raffle and silent auction items, and then got down to business with Blackjack! I actually ended up doing really well! After an hour or so, we headed over to the poker table but it was full, and by that point it was 9pm so we decided to head home, since we had a long drive ahead of us. But we had a really great time. And to top it off, my parents ended up winning the 42" LCD HDTV that was being raffled, so they were thrilled! We weren't there when the winner was announced, but my mom quickly texted and told us they had won. So that was a great end to the evening for them!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend, and if you are in the path of this latest snowstorm, stay safe and be careful shoveling! I'm finishing up the night by catching up on American Idol, and hopefully by this time tomorrow, the snow will be done falling and the roads will be on their way to being cleared for Tuesday!

Baby Shower / Baby / Valentine's Day

My brother and his wife, my sister-in-law Meredith, just gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Friday. So to celebrate the impending birth, my mom and I threw Meredith a baby shower at the end of January. Meredith's due date was February 18, but by the end of December, the baby was already so big that the doctor said she may deliver up to 3 weeks early. So we were a little worried that by January 26, when the shower was scheduled, the baby may either already have been born, or the shower may be taking place in the hospital! Luckily, everything ended up going as planned, which was good! I know Meredith wanted to go as full-term as possible, as well.

We held the shower at a restaurant in Ashland, Va. called Trackside Grill. The owners live next door to my parents, so they let them rent out one of the rooms in the restaurant. About 20 people total showed up, and it was a lot of fun! We played a lot of fun games, including trivia and name-matching games, had delicious food, and of course oohed and aahed over the adorable presents! My dad and my brother hung out upstairs watching sports for most of the shower, but came down for cake and presents towards the end.

 

For Valentine's Day, Josh surprised me with a trip to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. We didn't do much for each other for Christmas, since we were a little financially strapped, so we decided to go a little bigger for our Valentine's Day presents. I surprised Josh with tickets to the Washington Capitals/Toronto Maple Leafs game in March, and he surprised me with an out of town trip to see....LUKE BRYAN!! I am a HUGE Luke Bryan fan, and I've wanted to see him for 2 years. The first year I wasn't able to get tickets, and last year, we had tickets to see him but we ended up needing the money for an emergency, so we had to sell the tickets. I swore that no matter what, I was going to see him this year. But when I looked up his tour schedule, it didn't show him coming to Jiffy Lube Live. It did, however, show that he was coming to Pennsylvania on Valentine's Day, so Josh surprised me with tickets to see him on Friday, and then a stop at the Hotel Hershey on the way back for dinner on Saturday. But wouldn't you know, we ended up getting a blizzard two days before the concert. He had to reschedule his concert in North Carolina on Thursday, and I was praying our concert wouldn't be rescheduled as well, because we might not have been able to get off work again to go see him on the new date (if he was able to work it into his schedule). But as of Friday morning, the concert was still on as planned, despite the foot and a half of snow in the area. So Friday at noon, we headed up to Pennsylvania! We checked into the hotel that afternoon, then went to get a quick bite at Logan's Roadhouse, and headed over to the Mohegan Sun Arena. It is kind of weird to go to a country concert in the middle of the winter but beggars can't be choosers! The concert started at 7:30pm, opening with Cole Swindell. I only know a couple of his songs, and he only performed for about half an hour, but he was really good! The sound was a little off though, which I guess is to be expected from the acoustics in a hockey arena. Then Lee Brice performed for about 45 minutes, and he was very, very good. I'm a big Lee Brice fan, and the sound had been fixed a bit, so he sounded really good. And then....at 9:30pm....out came LUKE BRYAN!! And wow, the effects were AMAZING. He came out on top of a truck, with bonfires in the middle of the stage. Amazing. I had heard he put on a good show, and that was definitely the truth. And WOW, his song may be called Country Girl (Shake it for Me) but he was DEFINITELY the one who was shaking it lol. In fact, when he was singing that song, a girl ended up climbing on stage and was hauled off by security lol. Not that I can say I blame her. He brought Cole Swindell and Lee Brice back onstage at one point as well, which was cool. They seemed to be really good friends which I'm sure makes it much more fun to tour together! All in all, definitely an amazing concert. And it turns out, he IS coming to Jiffy Lube Live this year, not only for one show but TWO (by popular demand, according to the website, which is no surprise). He's coming on Friday May 30 and Saturday May 31, so I am definitely getting tickets. Josh had originally asked why I would want to see the same tour twice, but he was so impressed by the concert that he is now totally on board lol. Plus, I'm sure the sound will be better at an outside venue, although the effects might not be as impressive, but that's okay. This way I get the best of both worlds. I had originally brought the camera, but indoor pictures never come out that well, and how many different pictures can you get of the same person onstage? I am going to bring it to the May concert though, partly for pictures of him, and partly for pictures of tailgating pre-concert! So yeah, it was definitely an amazing present.

 Luke coming out on stage:

Then on Saturday, we checked out of the hotel and headed towards Hershey. However, it had been snowing all night, and the roads were HORRIBLE. We literally went 20 mph down the road, slipping and sliding the whole way, and staying right behind an 18-wheeler the whole time so he could clear the road for us. We passed several cars in the ditch, and literally held our breath the whole trip down the mountain lol. We originally decided to skip Hershey and just come straight home, but luckily the weather ended up clearing so we were able to stop after all. Josh had been planning a wine and chocolate pairing course that was being held at the hotel, but unfortunately it ended up being booked early and we couldn't get reservations. But we had a delicious lunch at the hotel, at an Italian restaurant called Trevi 5, and of course chocolate-filled delicacies for dessert, because how can you go to Hershey and not gorge yourself on chocolate?? The hotel itself was amazing, as well. It's no surprise the rooms are over $200 a night. We are planning on coming back and staying the night at some point, maybe for my birthday. And of course I fully intend on taking advantage of the different spa treatments they offer as well! We were good and didn't leave with any candy, but I'm obsessed with Reese's cups so I did buy a Reese's sweatshirt I've had my eye on for awhile. Not as delicious as the candy but my blood sugar is probably grateful.

All in all, it was a really great weekend, and a really nice surprise! And to top it off, I got the news on Friday night that Meredith had given birth to her baby! Right as Luke came out onstage....maybe that's what the baby was waiting for haha. Meredith had a doctor's appointment last week and was told they were planning to induce her on Friday morning, so they checked into the hospital Thursday evening before the blizzard hit. My brother was born on February 16 in the middle of a blizzard, so I guess they were just carrying on the tradition! She was induced at 8am in the morning, but by 8pm there was still not much progress, so they ended up going ahead with a C-section. Might not have been how the birth was originally planned, but at 9:11pm, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, and that's all that matters! Elizabeth Grae Leffler (Ellie), born at 9:11pm on February 14, weighing 9lbs 15oz.. Definitely a healthy baby! Baby and parents are doing well, and definitely the best Valentine's Day present they could ask for, and a great birthday present for my brother as well. We didn't get home until last night, and I am working tomorrow, but I'm hoping we can get down to Richmond this weekend so we can meet our new baby niece!

Overall, it was a great weekend despite the 18 inches of snow that we had to shovel my car out of this afternoon. Luke Bryan, tons of chocolate, and a new baby in the family? What more could a girl ask for!! Hope everyone had a great weekend as well, whether you are single, part of a couple, or just viewed this weekend as a way to get a lot of candy 50% off!

Holidays, continued

Now that it's a month and a half after Christmas, I guess I should finish my update about the holiday! Since Morgan was with her mom for Christmas, we celebrated with Morgan and Josh's parents the Saturday before Christmas. We exchanged presents at their house, and then went out to dinner. I normally take a lot of pictures but I just didn't feel like worrying about the camera, so nothing to show unfortunately. I'm normally really good about taking pictures but just wasn't feeling it I guess! But we had a great time and everyone got lots of great stuff! We had shoes custom made for Morgan with designs from the show Adventure Time. I don't know anything about the show, but she loves it, and Josh's former coworker's daughter hand-draws designs from the show on to Converse sneakers, so we had a pair made for Morgan. They came out AMAZING. Expensive but worth every penny, and she LOVED them. She doesn't even want to wear them, which is fine with me because I don't want them to get dirty or have the artwork run if it rains. But it was definitely her favorite present, which made us really happy! Now that she's getting older, it's harder and harder to come up with presents for her besides just money and gift cards, so I was glad that was a success. Then on the actual holiday itself, we went with his parents for lunch at Benihana's. Nothing like a delicious Japanese steakhouse dinner to celebrate Christmas! Josh went to the movies with his parents after lunch, but I was already tired of all the decorations, so I ended up going home and getting everything put away. Generally I wait until New Year's, but I was ready this year lol!

The following Saturday, we went down to Beaverdam to celebrate Christmas with my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law. We had a delicious lunch, talked, and opened presents. It's nice having family so close that we get to celebrate the holidays with everyone.

 Family picture:

 

That's about it for the holidays this year. Nothing too exciting but we had a great time celebrating with both families. We ended the 2013 year with dinner at Sansui, a Japanese steakhouse, with a bunch of friends from work. We had a really great time, although two mixed drinks and two tequila shots did me in quick, so I was passed out before the clock even struck midnight. I wanted to see the ball drop but didn't quite make it! Maybe next year. But I'm hoping 2014 will be a great year. This is the year of the big 3-0, so I'm ready to make it count and get some things crossed off my bucket list!!

Finally back....

Wow it has been forever since I updated.....almost 3 months! I feel like a lot has happened and I don't even really know where to start, so I'll just summarize the past few months. Let's see....all three major holidays have come and gone; Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! I enjoyed the holidays but didn't do anything too big. We had Morgan for Thanksgiving, so we went to my in-laws' house. Since my brother and sister-in-law spent the day with her family, my parents came up for dinner with us as well. We had planned to get together with them the following weekend for a belated dinner, but since Thanksgiving was late this year, almost in December, my parents cancelled their dinner since be back down in Beaverdam a few weeks later for Christmas. So we spent Thanksgiving together up here instead.

Thanksgiving Day

My decorations:

The next day I was up early for work....where I was much happier to be than joining the crazy crowds of Black Friday shoppers! Nothing wrong with going out and getting those good deals, but it's definitely not for me. Although this year I think a lot of people were out even before Thanksgiving Day ended, I think every year the stores open earlier and earlier. But when I left work, I joined the masses of people out on the roads, and thanks to an apparently very impatient person, I was rear-ended on Route 7 and ended up in a 5-car pileup. Luckily, Josh had taken the day off work and was out shopping with his parents, and was able to come get me because my car was in such bad shape, it was eventually classified as totaled. The accident was really really scary; I actually had nightmares for weeks after, but I was super lucky to make it out of the accident with only a bruised nose and thumb, so I am still counting my blessings that it wasn't anything worse. I do miss my car, it was first ever new car and I took really really good care of it, but I WAS able to get a really nice new car afterwards so I guess there are always silver linings!

Old car: 

New car: 

I always put out my Christmas decorations on Black Friday, although last year I never really found the urge or energy to put out anything but the tree. So this year, I decided even though I'd been in an accident, I was still determined to put out my decorations, especially since Black Friday was so late this year! I try to have all my decorating done, Christmas cards sent, and presents wrapped by Dec. 1, and with Black Friday not until November 29 this year, I needed to work fast and was determined this accident wasn't going to stop me!

Well this update seems to be long enough for now, so I will post about the rest of the holiday in my next entry....hopefully it'll be tomorrow, not another 3 months from now!