Ann Coulter, please shut up

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003657196

Seriously. Why is this woman still on the air? Why does someone like Imus get read the riot act, and nobody blinks when she says that "Jews need to be perfected by becoming Christians?" I mean, I don't get it. Can anyone tell me?

My favorite is that just last week she was saying that women shouldn't vote.

Really, Ann, please just stop embarrasing yourself and women---if we didn't have rights to vote, you likely wouldn't have a job, so stuff it.

A walk on the breach...

So, turns out lil G is breached. I guess she doesn't like standing on her head-who could blame her? I'm 37 weeks pregnant, so at this point, I don't think she'll be turning. There is always hope. We've been doing all sorts of silly things to get her to move-yoga positions, acupunture, playing music, shining lights, doing inversions, putting ice on my belly. I guess she's just stubborn and headstrong like her mom. We'll continue to do our tricks, and should know by Monday for sure if she's turned herself around. If she hasn't, it's looking more likely that we'll have to do a c-section. Ick.

Aside from that-everything is trucking along. Trying to wrap up at work and get my ducks in a row so that I can be out for four months. I've been begging them to bring on a temp for weeks, and I will finally get one next week, but that sure doesn't leave a lot of time for training. I did have my review, and proud to brag that I got a "Superior" rating yet again-woop, woop!

We have been ever social the past few weeks-celebrating my birthday, and just trying to get in as much friend time as we can. Also, I knitted my first hat-a baby's hat for the lil dutchess. It's super cute-I'll have to take a picture and post it on the blog. Tonight we have a wedding to hit-should be fun, but my feet are so swollen! I went to shop for shoes at Pay Less out of desperation, but no luck there. I guess I'll just have to shove my dinosaur's feet into something and hope for the best.

That's it for this end of the world......

34 weeks down, 6 to go

Al and I have been keeping busy getting ready for baby "Whoopi's" big appearance.

At the end of August, we went to Wrightsville beach for a week with my family-I've been going to Wrightsville since I was about 3. It's pretty low key-lots of reading, walking, board games, swimming, etc. Despite the added weight and being in my final trimester, I was able to walk the loop every morning-which is 2.5 miles. Of course, it was not a speed walk by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't too bad for a pregnant lady.

We came back Labor Day weekend, and got the nursery all prettied up and ready. Of course, when we picked the first round of paint, what we thought was lavendar looked more like Barney purple. So, Al had to go back to the paint store and look at those wee lil swatches to find a more suitable lavendar. Luckily, we had success on the second round, but damn paint is expensive.

The following weekend (Sept 8), my friend Maggie held a baby shower for me at her house. The weekend was filled with family from all over and a lot of wonderful friends. It was kind of like a wedding in that it was totally overhelming to have so many people around. Plus, having that many Jewish moms all in one room-while hysterical-can make your head spin.

Mags did an awesome job-there were cute pics out of both Al and I as babies, and a onesie station, where all my friends could decorate onesies with cute little messages on them-my personal favorite is the I love Sting onesie!

Anyway, the day was wonderful, and it was so special to have so much of my family around me, including "Whoopi's" grandmas and 2 of her 3 great grandmas. Our baby will be well dressed after this shower-lots of beautiful outfits and all in pink too! (good thing Al and I both look decent in pink)

After the shower, my family went out later that evening to Maggiano's for dinner. A full day. My grandma S. was in her typical form of barraging people with uncomfortable questions and making herself the center of the spotlight. And, grandma A. kept telling me how tired I was-even though I wasn't.

All in all, it was a great weekend, and a wonderful way to get ready for our new arrival.

Since then, Al and I have started our birthing and baby skills classes. Of course, Al, being the jokester that he is, has had quite a good time lifting the play doll by the feet, suffocating her with the swaddle blanket, making fun of the "heeeee" breathing, etc. Only a good sign of things to come, I'm sure!!!

But for now, we have about 6 weeks left to practice....

Welcome back Dr. Booth!

A heartfelt welcome back to our friend Dr. Booth, who just returned from a 6 month stint in Iraq. We are thrilled to have you back safe and sound. We love you!

Vegas, baby

Well, as they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I have a few tales I can share from our trip two weeks ago.....

We got in on Friday night, and made our way to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino-starting our weekend-long "baby-moon" with a 2 am snack of waffles (for me) and a grilled cheese sammy and tomato soup for Big A. The next morning, we got up, strolled down to the "beach" and sat out by Mandalay's wave pool. So, it was Al, me and about 100 kids in the wave pool body surfing on the waves. It was a total blast-we had such a great time playing around and relaxing. After a few hours of fun in the sun, we went for lunch at "Borders Grill," restaurant of Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniber of Food Network's Two Hot Tamales. Unfortunately, the two Hot Tamales' restaurant wasn't so hot-but we were overlooking the pool, with misters blowing on us, and it was just great to be away spending time with each other.

After lunch, we strolled around the Mandalay Place stores, and then headed back to the pool for a bit. That evening-we dined at Fleur de Lys, restaurant of Chef Hubert Keller (if you watch Top Chef, he's been a celebrity chef guest). I opted for the three course dinner, and Al for the 4-I thought mine was definitely tasty-but for what it was worth, was a bit underwhelmed. I guess we are just loyal to that Michel Richard! After dinner, we made our way to the Rio for a night with Penn and Teller. Their show was great-they are totally hilarious and worth every penny. After the show, both Penn and Teller stay around and great their guests and take photos. With Penn, Al asked if we could get "a photo with the hand on the big belly," so I put my hand on Penn's belly-he was a pretty good sport about it!

After the show, we stuck around for a little while to watch the tables and put our money on a few hands of craps. I had no idea what we were doing-but I guess that's why they call it gambling!

The next day, we went back to the wave pool for a bit, and then off to the Mandalay's Shark Reef, which was a really cool aquarium. We were on and off the beach throughout the day, just making the most of our vaca. That night, we went to see Cirque de Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio Hotel. O is basically focused on synchro-swimming and a lot of tricks around a tank of water. Having seen another Cirque, our expectations were high. Lots of friends had built it up as the end all, be all show, but honestly, it just didn't do it for me. I didn't love the music, and wasn't overwhelmed by the talent. Some portions were good, but overall, it wasn't mind blowing. After O, we went to watch the fountains dance to "Viva Las Vegas" and then hit Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill restaurant and got some yummy apps to snack on before retiring.

On the last day, we hit Mandalay pool one last time, and then went to the spa for day-long spa appointments. After the spa, we went to the Mirage to catch another Cirque show-Love-which uses Beatles tracks for all of the performances. A FAR better Cirque show than O. Great sound, lots of energy, and the baby was dancing up a storm to the Beatles. After the show, we headed to the airport, and caught the red eye back home.

While it was sad to leave our vacation behind, it was the perfect amount of time for us and the perfect place for us to enjoy some of the last of our days before entering the joys of parenthood.

Viva Las Vegas

The Mr. and I have planned our babymoon-one last big, all-out hurrah that the two of us can enjoy before the bambina (who keeps kicking me as I type this!) arrives. Now, keep in mind we are going to the beach with my family at the end of August-so that ruled out any beach-type vacations. And, I don't have enough vacation time to do anything but a long weekend. So, where could we go that has good deals, and that we could feel satisfied after being there for a long weekend? That's right-Vegas, baby.

We're heading out at the end of July and have reservations at the Mandalay Bay. The plan is to take in 2 Cirque de Soleil shows (O and Love), see Penn and Teller, go to the spa, and take a dip or two in Mandalay's wave pool. Yes, a bit unconventional for a pregnant woman-but that's how we roll. We like going where our whims take us. I've never been to Vegas, and I can't wait to check it off the list-pregnant or not.

Will post pics and a recap after our trip.

Until then-Viva Las Vegas!

It's a......

To Air is Human

Last night, Al, Hannah (Al's cousin), and I went to witness one of the most hilarious contests on the planet-US AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIP! That's right! Now, in case you think this is a joke, let me reassure you, there are very strict rules about air guitaring. And, suprisingly, few people have what is considered to be "airness" while playing the air guitar. What can I say? It definitely takes a certain je ne sais quoi to be a US Air Guitar Champion. We definitely saw some interesting looks, and some bad-ass air guitar playing. The champion goes to New York to compete, and then off to Finland for the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.

It was important to applaud talented players, because, after all, they ARE representing USA!! You can't just send anyone to the air guitar world championships!

It was a spectacular night, although I was highly disappointed that no girls entered. I think if I had gotten up there with my bad-ass rendition of Welcome to The Jungle, I would have won! (Plus the being pregnant thing helps).

Alas, not guitar for me. As they said in the biz, "if i can't play air guitar, then I don't want air."

Walking in Memphis

Last weekend we went to Memphis to visit with our friends Shannon and Rich. What a fun town-and more pork than I thought ever possible!

We arrived to the home of the blues on Friday and went straight to Rendevous, a local hotspot for dry-rub ribs and bbq nachos! Yes, that's right, bbq nachos-with pulled pork and dry rub seasoning along w/ bbq sauce, nachos sauce and jalapenos-the most heavenly thing I think ever invented. After Rendevous, we walked down to Beale Street-which reminded me a little of New Orleans with all of the open containers, and street performers-not quite as wild as Bourbon, but still lively and shakin'. We watched the kids doing flips down the street (seriously-these kids were pretty talented. Listened to some live music and stopped at Pat O'Briens for Hurricanes along the way (well, not me sadly).

Saturday morning we went to the Memphis Farmer's Market-more live music and cute food stalls. There was a live bluegrassy type of band playing all string instruments. I felt like running to a field, taking my shoes off and dancing. One of the musicions was a really cool elder gentleman in a barbershop type hat clanging what looked to be wooden spoons together. Awesome!

After that, we went home and cleaned up and walked over to Fino's Italian deli for some yummy sammys. Along the way, we caught some interesting sites-like a truck advertising for a single man, and a yard with astro turf as lawn.

After lunch-off to Sun Studio-where Elvis was discovered, and where several musicians have come to play-Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, U2, Liz Phair, etc. It was a short, but really cool tour-neat to see where a lot of no names first got their big breaks.

That evening we went down to the river (the mighty Mississippi) for Symphony by Sunset-an evening of symphony music (which included the theme from Star Wars), the Temptations, and a fireworks show. Shannon and Rich picked up some of Gus' world famous chicken for the evening-and I'll be damned if that wasn't some of the best fried chicken this southerner has ever had. Mmmmm!

On Sunday, Al and I headed to Graceland for a morning tour. Even saw an impersonator along the way. I'm happy to report the Graceland is just as tacky as it was a few years ago. Elvis had some interesting taste-and we're suspecting the King was a might bit kinky too, given the fur bed and some of the interesting accoutrement on display. After Graceland, we met up with Shannon and Rich-for you guessed it-more bbq at a restaurant called Central. This time, in the form of a sandwich. I thought it was very tasty-and loved their mac & cheese side.

After that, we went to Mud Island to see the scale version of the Mississippi-it's carved throughout a Park, and you can wade your way through the scale version. A cool way (literally!) to spend a hot day.

That night, Rich cooked us up a tasty dinner (and a healthy one too!) and we spent the evening relaxing by the (not so hot), hot-tub.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, and nice to get away. I dug Memphis-it's love of music and southern hospitality. No Reverend Greene this visit, but maybe next time....

Catching up

After my New Years resolution, I've managed to totally slack off on the blogging-but not without good reason. We've been busy since February-and so here's a quick recap of what's been going on....

February:

-Al and I find out that I'm pregnant!! (for those of you finding out via blog-my apologies, I tried reaching out to as many of you as possible by phone or email to share the news before blogging about it.) Our due date is October 25, which just happens to be our 4 year anniversary. We are going to find out what we are having in June. Luckily, no morning sickness, and only a little bit of naseua.

March:

-Dinner with lots of friends-it was definitely hard keeping the pregnancy a secret!

-Travel to Roanoke to give my parents the good news.

April:

-Al and I host our first "seder" with my brother, his girlfriend Elise, and our friends Paul and Erika attending. Elijah the prophet didn't show up and drink his wine, but luckily Al also refrained from drinking Elijah's wine this year.

-Al and I did our yearly GW Invitational volunteer shtick--while I didn't go to GW or row, I feel like one of the "Crew" gang, so I always try to help out at the races. Of course, this year, it was snowing in the morning before my shift. Brrr! It was not a fun 5 hours, made only worst by the fact that I couldn't enjoy cocktails afterwards to warm up!

-Al's parents came to DC and we got to share the news with them-and Al's dad, in turn, managed to announce it to practially the entire restaurant-including the water boy who didn't speak a word of English! During their stay, I came down with a miserable stomach flu, so I was mostly locked up in our room for the rest of their stay.

-Went to Richmond to celebrate my Uncle's 60th b-day. Here's a pic of me with all my boy cousins (I'm the only girl.) Also, got to tell my grandma that she's going to be a great-grandma.

-My friend Betsy from Portland came into town for a friend's bridal shower, so I got to spend a day with her. It had been a year since we had last seen each other-so lots of catching up to do. We hit the Jasper Johns exhibit in the Smithsonain, then up to Dupont Circle for lunch, then a shopping spree at Filenes, followed by drinks on the patio at a neighborhood bar, and then dinner at Zaytinya. Phew! The next morning, we hit the Eastern Market-this was before the big fire happened, so I'm glad we got a chance to go there while everything was still normal.

May:
-Al's friends we all in town for their 10 year Crew Reunion. 3 "bachelors" staying with us-all have wives/girlfriends, but all came stag, so they decided to crash with us. We had a busy weekend-a picnic, a banquet, and a Sunday brunch, filled with tons of laughing and getting to see alot of friends' babies and kiddies.

-Participated in Mags and Andy's "Yardapooloza" yard sale-Al and I only made $45, but we decided that our "wares" didn't fit the clientele's needs.

-Went to Charlottesville (Boarshead Inn) to meet my parents and grandma for Mother's Day. My grandma spent the better part of the day crying being "overcome with joy."

This weekend, we are off to see my friend Shannon and her boyfriend Rich in Memphis-so looking forward to a weekend of bbq, music, and good times with great friends.

More to come about livin' large with baby on the way....and, of course, a baby blog to come. Stay tuned!

hokies

tragedy strikes

I'm in such shock and awe about the news surrounding my alma mater, Virginia Tech. More than 31 students have dies in a tragic, horrible, senseless shooting. As an alumni, I just can't even believe this happened at my university...somewhere I always felt safe and protected. I can't stop thinking about the students and faculty there-you all are truly in my thoughts an prayers.

While Columbine and this shooting were both truly horrific, I hope that in this shooting, there is a lesson to us all. A wakeup call to decision makers to tighten up gun control laws. A warning to schools and universities to be VIGILANT-reach out to students before it is too late and tragedy strikes. It is also a sad reminder to us all to not take anything for granted-every day in life is sacred, and you never know what life will hand you.

Peace be with you Virginia Tech students and faculty. May you find your inner strength in a truly tragic ordeal.

Five for Friday (a bit late....)

This past week was jam packed-attended the Arctic rally on Tuesday and got to hear John Kerry speak along with several other Senators and Representatives (although Kerry was the big draw). Work has been crazy-we've hired a new person to fill my old supervisor's role who will be starting in a week (I may not have blogged about it since I was in denial, but my supervisor left a few weeks ago for a job at WWF), so we've been busy trying to get ready for her to start. Plus, we had a full day training on building relationships with donors on Thursday-for the training we had to take this DISC personality assessment-which I have to say is probably the worst "personality" test I've ever taken. I don't think that anybody in the training felt that their DISC outcome really represented who they are, or how they interact with donors. The training itself was good, but I just think if you are going to do a personality test, do one that is a little more accurate. For example, the test said I'm both an introvert AND and extrovert. I'm a "just the facts person" and a "big picture person." I just think that is crap. At least for Meyers Briggs, you can see where you fall on the line of introvert vs. extrovert, but you aren't both. (at least I don't think so....).

Moving on.....last night we went to our friend Colleen's to watch some March Madness. I normally wouldn't care, but this year I entered into my first bracket, and I'm tied for #2 right now. I hope I win-momma needs a new pair o' shoes!

On to the five for Friday (or Saturday as it were)....while the bracket winnings would be a mere $100, I'll go with the "what would I do if I won $1 million-the sky is the limit!" list: (why not?)

1. I would probably invest in a house that had a yard so that I could get #2 on my list....
2. Buy a dog
3. Go on a shopping spree
4. Buy a Prius
5. Go with Al to the Inn at Little Washington

(#6 would be make a donation to Virginia Tech to support the English Studies Study Abroad program that I participated in, #7 would be to invest in a personal trainer, #8 would be get a cleaning service, #9 would be take a trip, and #10 would be to put away for a rainy day).

Friday already!

Thank goodness it's Friday. This week just seemed to drag on, didn't it? Anyway, time for the fabulous five for Friday. I'm going to play anywhere but here-it's rainy out, and there are about a billion places I wish I could be right now....so, five places I wish I was instead of the office on a rainy day:

1. England-yes, it would be rainy, but it's England, and I love it no matter what the weather.
2. Australia-what I wouldn't give to be diving the coral reef right now. Or stolling Bondi beach. Or eating Australian cuisine. Mmmm.
3. Carribean-would love to lay on the beach, read a book, and dive into the crystal blue waters. And eat fritters. Yummy.
4. Vermont-I know it would be cold, but I had such a lovely time when we were there and could go for a cup of cocoa in front of the fire.
5. Africa-would love to be on a safari hanging with the animals.

Five for...Wednesday

I missed doing the Five for Friday last week. So, I'm going to make up for it today. While I love having more hours of daylight now, I'm still bitter at Bush that this is his "big energy plan." The man is pushing for drilling in the Arctic, but apparently, having three more weeks of DLS is supposed to save the world of its energy crisis!

So, I'm going with five things you can actually do to help the planet. These are taken from the Inconvenient Truth website-which I highly advise checking out! If you try one, let me know:

1. Install a programmable thermostat-it will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

2. Only run your dishwasher when there’s a full load and use the energy-saving setting, you can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

3. Buy recycled paper products-it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.

4. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen-frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce and require more packaging.

5. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible-avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Click here to find transit options in your area.

Five for Friday

Okay, in order to (ahem) encourage more blogging as part of the New Year's resolution, I'm going to do a five for Friday. Kind of a top five books, top five songs, top five foods I'm digging now, top five dream destinations, whatever! The world is my oyster. That is where you come in...it would be lovely if my readers would post suggestions for categories, but since you all are more the silent crowd (echoooooooo, echooooooo!!!), I guess I'm on my own. But suggestions are welcome. I'm begging here people-please don't make me!

Five Favorite Animals!
1. Golden Retriever/Dogs
2. Panda!!!
3. Penguins
4. Elephants
5. Red Panda

Rude Much?

Why is it that people feel the right to be rude in the morning? Better yet, why do people feel it's actually OK to push their way around on the metro on the way to work? You know what? We are ALL trying to get to work in one piece. And alot of you (in fact a good majority) are not hourly, you are salary. So, what is your rush--is your life going to end if you take the train that is DIRECTLY behind the crammed one you are so desperate to get onto? I'll bet you anything that the next train has room, and you will only be about 5 minutes behind the one that you are holding up because you refuse to move the hell away from the closing doors.

This morning I thought I was just going to lose it. A man who was walking with his wife actually pushed me into the cement wall. Yes. Pushed me. So, I pushed back, because oddly enough, I don't like being pushed into walls. He starts yelling at me (oh yes!! this is true!) that I shouldn't be pushing him, and that he is trying to follow his wife. Okay, first, not to be rude, but your wife isn't a small lady. I'm sure if you got separated for a minute, you'd friggin' find her. Second of all-YOU pushed ME! I was simply self defending. I told him such, to which he replied with "I'm trying to follow my wife!!!" So I yelled, "well, you don't have to be a dick about it, we are all trying to walk here." And then, the words that came out of his mouth were icing on the cake: "You do not want to push me, because I'm bigger than you and in the end I'll win."

Yes, this asshole who was huge was threatening all 5'3 of me. All I could yell back was "I think it's horrible that you would threaten a woman." And walked away. I had about a billion things in mind to say, but I didn't. I wish I had. I think it's nice Mr. Asswipe that you want to take the metro with your wife, but it's rush hour, and you need to acknowledge that there are about 500 other people milling about, and that pushing a girl that is less than half your size and weight is a dick move. So there!

And for you other metro takers, be nice-because I may look small, but I'm not afraid to stand up for myself and tell you where to shove it.

Boobs and babies

A few weekends ago, I took a road trip with three of my GW girlfriends down to Fayettville, NC to visit our dear friend Boothie, who will be enroute to Iraq in a number of days, leaving behind her hubby and two darling twin new borns. So, picture this--a five hour car ride down to North Cackalacky with the girls-talking about what else??? Babies. And, also opening the Schwarz bag-o-fun car goodies along the way (Mad Libs, cats cradle string, mini band instruments, the works).

So, we get to B's house, and meet the twinkies (fraternal). Later, 3 more GW gals shuffle in, one of whom is carrying in her 4 month old baby. So, there are 8 of us gals, two of whom have babies, and one who is about 4 1/2 months pregnant. You can imagine the focus of the conversation. At one point, someone compared our get together to a fraternity party-throw-up everywhere, boobs popping out, and inevitably there is always somebody crying or hungry. Not too far off the mark. While I definitely love kids and babies, three was more than enough to go around, and admittedly, made one look like a breeze!

After some baby lovin' and chit chat, it got to be about 7 pm, and I swear it felt like 10:30. I have a new appreciation as to why mom's are always so wiped out. You all get major kudos.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and reassured me that I have some know how when it comes to lil ones. But, it did set that biological clock back a little bit! Still, it was reassuring to know that all of us are somewhat clueless, and that when the time comes, I'll have a sympathetic group who has stumbled their way through to success.

Pics of the weekend and Booth's scary, scary kitties can be found here.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Mall

So, I decided to take myself shoe shopping this past weekend-I haven't bought myself work shoes in about 4 years, (I know, I'm not the typical "woman with a billion pairs of shoes,") so it was high time to treat myself to some new ones. I got myself a little zipcar and drove on out to Tysons to begin the hunt. But, a funny thing happened on the way to the mall. My feet shrunk. Yes, crazy, I know, but it's true. My feet are already pretty small as it is, but I've consistently run about a 6 1/2...hard to find, but possible. But, as I was trying on shoes, the 6 1/2's seemed like I was a little girl playing dress up in her mom's shoes--they simply didn't fit!

I decided to go down to size 6, and see if those worked, and still, I needed the shoe pads in order to make them fit. It's official though, I am now the floor sample girl. I've been reduced to buying whatever is out on the floor-something I'm sure hundreds of people may have stuck their feet in....I don't get the new shiny in a box pair--no, no! I get the floor sample-and not even at a reduced cost! I mean, if you buy the sample furniture on the floor, it's for sale, is it not? This is an injustice! I'm here to fight for the rights of small feet-because given this latest event, it seems as though my feet are getting tinier. It couldn't be my hips or my butt, nooo....it's my feet. Gah! Sometimes the world is just so unfair.

Cabin Fever

Over the weekend, the Mr. and I headed out of town to celebrate shepdc's 30th birthday extravanganza at Lake Anna. Mr. Shepdc and I went to Tech together (i hung out with his fraternity throughout my college days), so it was heartwarming to be included in shepdc's festivities, especially since the Mr. and I are so fond of her!

This trip was perfect for the ADD in me-because there was always someone around to play a game with, take a walk with, jump trampoline with, etc. And plenty of time to read my new book (Blink) as well. Lots of vino throughout the weekend, and at one point, a few of the people decided to polar bear it into the lake-which was following by loud screeching, and a lightning fast run to the hot tub. It was an awesome weekend away, and I enjoyed meeting some new folks and getting to spend time with shepdc and mr. shepdc, and having some time to decompress. Now if I could only do it more often....

2006 in review

Now that we've kicked off 2007, a quick look at all that happened in 2006:

January: Al and I ring in the new year first at Katie and Matt's, followed by meeting up with my friends from high school and new friend Colleen at Rosa Mexicana. At the end of the month, Al and I decide to travel East, and buy tickets spontaneously to go to Japan.

February: Our friend Kristen from California comes in for a quick visit-while she's in DC for work, we got a full weekend in, including a trip to the Corcoran to see the Warhol exhibit, and of course the annual Super Bowl activities at the Russell's household.

March: Al and I take off to Japan! Highlights include seeing the big Buddha, dining with perfect strangers under the most magnificent cherry trees in Tokyo, diving with amazing people in Okinawa, strolling the path of philosophy in Kyoto, a delicious french/japanese meal, bath time with old japanese ladies, and karaoking with new friends Jez and Emma.

April: We head to Roanoke, and get to spend time with some of my favorite great aunts and uncles. Tons of great food, laughter, and tears.

May: Off to NYC to see the Odd Couple with Al's family, and spend some time with our friend Mangan in Jersey getting drunk out of our minds and singing along to Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer. Good times! At the end of May, my girlfriends Bets, D, Shannon, and Kat all come in to town for a girl's weekend extravaganza.

June: Mom and Dad come to town and we accidentally take them to a gay line dancing club.

July: We head to Utah for Clay and Nicole's wedding. While we are there, I get to go horseback riding, and Al and I get to attend a fantastic concert and go hot air ballooning.

August: Al has jaw surgery. And then has it again. And then returns to the hospital for an ulcer. His jaw is wired shut for nine weeks. I realize my friends and family are the most amazing people in the world! Our friends Josh, Jenny, Erik, and Ilona all breeze through town, but it's good to see our friends faces, and makes us feel loved. We also get some Boothy time in as well.

September: I turn 30. My friend Colleen hosts a girls night out for me to celebrate. Al still has jaw wired shut.

October: Al throws me a Spytastic Surprise 30th, which is attended by friends and family from near and far. Again, I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have such great people in my life. Al becomes unwired about 10 minutes after our last guest leaves (of course!). At the end of the month, Al and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary by going to DC's 1st Annual Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival. We also host our annual pumpkin carving party.

November: Have my review at work-get a "Superior" rating! Al and I got to experience our first Cirque du Soleil, and I went to an incredible Acoustic African concert. We went to CT for Thanksgiving for a blink of an eye, and came back to a fun weekend in DC with our friends Katie, Hillier, and Ilona all in town from Boston. Nov 30th, we celebrated Al's 32nd.

December: What a busy month! Holiday parties galore, a weekend in Roanoke with my family, and then birthday celebrations with friends. On Dec 31, we had potluck dinner at our house and had about 13 people total over. Drank lots of yummy kir royal.

January: My supervisor gave her notice, and Al has some sort of stomach ailment, not sure what though. Can only hope the year improves!

Grown up moment

So, recently I have been put in a kind of weird situation-I don't want to get into it too much, but basically one of my friend's spouses has put me in the middle of a very private battle between the two of them. First, I live thousands of miles away from this friend, so I'm not quite sure why their spouse feels the need to involve me. I talk to this friend maybe 4-5 times a year-birthdays, holidays, and the random check in. But their spouse has been sending some pretty harsh emails, and quite frankly, not something an outsider like me should be receiving. I'm not going to pass judgement, there are 3 sides to every story, but honestly, I just don't want to be in the middle, and shouldn't be for that matter.

As I was talking it over with Al, it was another "wow, we really are adults" moment, when you realize that the people getting separated and divorced or having marital problems are no longer our parents' friends, but are our friends. Sometimes I wish I could reach out to college kids who get engaged right away and say, do you realize what "I do" really means? It's not just having the dream wedding (albeit, that part is nice), it's so much more-it's retirement accounts, wills, family obligations, sickness, health, adventure, extreme happiness, moments of discontent all wrapped into one. So, wait. Breathe. Enjoy life, learn who you are before settling into something that may or may not fit you. See the forest through the trees.

Look Who's Cooking!

That's right, it's me. Due to the ceremonies for Gerald Ford, I had today off, so I decided to make a fancy shmancy dinner for Al (who had to work). After hours of pouring over recipes (that new Gourmet book is huge--you could seriously hurt someone with it!), I reserved my lil Zip Car, and zipped my way to Virginia to stock up on some fresh tuna, and then started to prep. Now, most of you may know, my husband is the chef in our household, and I'm the mere "sous chef." I do cook every so often, but even when I make something and we have friends over, they mostly see Al at the helm, and compliment him for a lovely meal, making me feel like chopped liver (so, make that be a note to any of you who come over for a meal ever...I do a fair share of work, but someone has to chat to the guests!). Without Al though, I am a bit skittish around the kitchen, and don't have the most confidence when coming up with a meal. Nevertheless, I took the bull by the horns, and ended up making an asian tuna salad with pickled cucumbers, and a side of white beans mixed with red peppers and garlic. It was quite tasty, and the presentation turned out just how I had hoped! Yay me!

Tomorrow, Al and I return to sketchy yoga. Stay tuned.

Con Mis Amigos

The past few years, NY eve has been a bit lackluster-not that they haven't been fun, but it just seems to take so much more energy to get everyone to commit to anything. When I was little, new years always seemed so much fun, and I could never understand why my (or Maggie's) parents were asleep before the stroke of midnight. Of course, over the past few years, it's been a struggle to stay up to watch Dick Clark count down.

Leading up to New Years, we went out on Saturday to walk through Brookside Garden of Lights (filled with more than 600,000 lights, with tons of special effects) with our friends Paul and Erika, and Paul's sister, niece and nephew. I bought us all these fun 3D glasses that make shapes out of the lights-such as snowflakes and santas, and for the Jewish contingency-we had dreidels and stars of David. After our walk through the gardens, Al and I drove back home and hit a local Ethopian restaurant for some grub.

You know when you are in a restaurant and sitting next to someone and you start listening in to their conversation? For some reason, I coldn't seem to tune out the conversation next to me no matter how hard I tried. It was two girls out, and one was just being such a show off that she's had Ethopian food before and going on and on about what to eat and how many times she's been to the restaurant, and which beer is good, etc. And the thing is, when I go to a restaurant I haven't been to, and I want to know what is good, I tend to ask the person I'm with (assuming they've been there before), and I get a brief run down of what to try. But, this woman just went on and on. And, when they were getting full, she kept saying "two minute break! two minute break!" I guess maybe I just get annoyed easily, I just get irked by show-offy braggy types. Yes, yes, we all get that you've been here before and know how to moderate your eating by two-minute breaks. Sheeeeesh. More eating, less pontificating on the herbs of Ethopian cuisine.

Anyways, New Years Eve-we had a pot-luck get together at our place. I literally sent out an email on Wednesday offering a place to hang out for those last minute planners like Al and myself, and we ended up with 13 people at our place. See, noone is really getting psyched for New Years anymore. Why is it that a holiday centered around champagne is so lackluster? Well, we had quite a spread, and ended up retiring around 1:30ish. Not bad...but not exactly a rager. Anyhoooo...a happy new year to you all!